The Huang Family's bone assessment concluded. Out of more than one hundred, nearly two hundred youths, exactly ten were ultimately chosen.
The best Root Bone belonged to a youth with an Upper Grade B, the only one in the B-class. Second place went to someone with an Upper C-class Root Bone, of which there was also only one.
Xu Yang's Lower C-class Root Bone placed him in the third tier. However, he wasn't the only one; there were three youths with Lower C-class Root Bones. The remaining five all had Upper D-class Root Bones.
The old master who conducted the bone assessment left immediately. Another important figure from the Huang Family then appeared: the Huang Family's Second Master, the Patriarch's younger brother—Huang Ping.
"Congratulations to all you fine talents for distinguishing yourselves..."
Huang Ping wore a friendly expression as he began by congratulating everyone who had been selected.
Next, he spoke about how the Huang Family would cultivate them all, providing different levels of support based on their Root Bone grade.
The highest level of support was for the youth with the Upper Grade B Root Bone, a boy named Lu Ren, whose monthly cultivation stipend was eight taels of silver.
Of course, this wasn't given as cash. Instead, it would be provided in the form of apprenticeship fees, food, and medicinal soups.
The Upper C-class Root Bone received four taels a month. For Xu Yang's Lower C-class Root Bone, the monthly support was three taels.
Aside from the apprenticeship fee paid to the Martial Arts Hall, his meal allowance was one tael of silver per month, enough for meat with all three daily meals. He would also receive three bowls of Strengthening Soup each month, which was worth another tael of silver.
In other words, the Huang Family was sending them to the Martial Arts Hall to train, and the apprenticeship fee was lower than if they had enrolled themselves—only one tael of silver.
As for the Upper D-class Root Bones, their cultivation support was only two taels of silver. After the one-tael apprenticeship fee, the remaining tael was just for food, with no medicinal soups.
Huang Ping spoke for a long time, explaining that after becoming Martial Artists, they must serve as Tributors to the Huang Family. He also warned that backing out in the future would result in retaliation from the family.
He spoke until his mouth was dry, for a full quarter of an hour. Not a single person backed out; they all accepted the Huang Family's offer of cultivation and the condition of becoming the family's Tributors in the future.
After Huang Ping left, the middle-aged man who had appeared with Zhou Shunchang earlier returned. He was to take them all to the Martial Arts Hall immediately to begin their training.
"Fifth Master, a moment. I'd like to have a few words with my nephew," Zhou Shunchang said, pointing to Xu Yang.
Only then did everyone realize this middle-aged man was also from the Huang Family.
"This kid with the Lower C-class Root Bone is your nephew?" Huang Jin looked surprised.
Zhou Shunchang lifted his chin proudly. "My blood nephew!"
Huang Jin smiled. "So he's one of our own. That's excellent."
Because of the connection to Zhou Shunchang, he showed goodwill toward Xu Yang.
Zhou Shunchang ran over to Xu Yang. He didn't have much to say, really—he just pressed a tael of silver into Xu Yang's hand and urged him to train diligently and not waste this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
The ten boys soon followed Huang Jin out of the Huang Family Mansion. They arrived before another large compound, from which came the sounds of martial shouts.
"It's Weiyuan Hall!"
Xu Yang looked at the two large, gilded words above the compound's entrance, a look of realization dawning on his face.
In his original plan, once he had saved enough money, he had intended to come to Weiyuan Hall to train. It was the cheapest of the dozen or so Martial Arts Halls in Qingyuan County. He never thought the Huang Family would choose it too.
'The Huang Family probably chose Weiyuan Hall because it was cheap, too.'
Following Huang Jin inside, the first thing that met their eyes was a huge Martial Arts Arena. All sorts of training equipment were arranged around it—Stone Locks, sabers, swords, and Meihua Posts, to name a few.
A dozen or so sturdy youths were practicing their punches, their bronze skin glistening as if oiled, with sweat pouring down like rain.
On the Meihua Posts not far away, a man in a white training uniform saw the group arrive. He leaped down, landing without a sound.
"Greetings, Fifth Master Huang!" he said, walking over quickly and cupping his fist to Huang Jin.
"You all wait here quietly. I'm going inside to see Master Lin."
Leaving them with these words, Huang Jin departed with the man.
"I can finally learn martial arts!"
"I'm definitely going to become a Martial Artist."
...
With no one from the Huang Family present, the group of chosen boys could no longer contain their excitement.
Although some of them came from decent families, they weren't much better off than Xu Yang, who had to scrape a living from the dirt. Otherwise, they wouldn't have had to "sell themselves" to the Huang Family just for the chance to practice martial arts.
They were naturally thrilled to be able to learn martial arts.
"Everyone, whether at Weiyuan Hall or with the Huang Family, we're all brothers eating from the same pot now. We should advance together, hand in hand," Luo Dehu declared, full of vigor.
"That's how it should be!"
"That should go without saying. As long as you're not an idiot, you know there's strength in unity."
...
As soon as he spoke, a few others immediately voiced their agreement.
He had a Lower C-class Root Bone and was in the third tier, so his words still carried considerable weight.
Xu Yang watched coolly from the sidelines, not joining in.
'He and Xu the Second were father and son, yet they weren't of one mind. Never mind these ten people he'd just met for the first time today. "Eating from the same pot" meant nothing. You couldn't even rely on fellow travelers on the same path.'
A few others also remained silent, just like him. They clearly weren't optimistic about this so-called alliance. They weren't brothers eating from the same pot; in the future, they would be competitors.
The Huang Family wouldn't sponsor their training forever. Eventually, some would be eliminated, and their resources would be reallocated to those with more talent.
Although Huang Ping hadn't stated this explicitly earlier, he had hinted at it.
"Brother Lu, you have the best Root Bone. In the future, you'll be the one to lead us in serving the Huang Family. Why don't you say a word about whether we should all be united?"
Luo Dehu wasn't bothered that Xu Yang and the others hadn't responded. Instead, he turned his attention to Lu Ren, the one with the Upper Grade B Root Bone.
Lu Ren was his true target; he was the only one Luo Dehu was actually interested in uniting with.
Others might not know what an Upper Grade B Root Bone signified, but he knew all too well.
Among the several hundred thousand people in Qingyuan County, you might not find a single person with that kind of Root Bone in a whole year. It was the mark of a true genius.
"Of course... of course we should stick together."
Lu Ren's face flushed red. He seemed shy and a little insecure. Judging from the patched clothes he had been wearing earlier, his family must be very poor.
But things were already different now. After his Upper Grade B Root Bone was discovered, the Huang Family had given him a new set of fine cotton clothes, making him look more the part of a young genius.
"Haha... You all heard Brother Lu!" Luo Dehu laughed. "Now, let's go around and introduce ourselves so we can all get acquainted."
'This guy has the makings of a natural-born lackey,' Xu Yang thought. 'He's already started acting high and mighty with someone else's power, barking out orders.'
"I'll start! My name is Luo Dehu!"
He was the first to speak, but before the next person could say anything, a curse came from a short distance away.
"If you want to bark like a dog, go do it outside! Don't disturb our training here."
His voice was loud, and he had been jumping around and chattering nonstop, finally drawing the ire of the people training nearby.
Xu Yang almost couldn't stop himself from laughing, and the others were also struggling to hold it in.
Luo Dehu's face flushed red, but he was too afraid to talk back.
As someone who curried favor with the powerful and was skilled at worming his way up, he naturally knew that the people training at Weiyuan Hall were all "young masters" whose families could afford to pay for their training.
Even if they weren't young masters, they had started their training earlier. He couldn't afford to provoke them, nor did he dare to.
He looked to Lu Ren for help, but while Lu Ren had been swept up in his little scheme, he wasn't an idiot.
Just then, Huang Jin returned with a burly, imposing-looking middle-aged man, saving Luo Dehu from his embarrassment.
This middle-aged man was none other than the master of Weiyuan Hall, Lin Cheng!