Chapter 7: Revenge Cannot Wait Overnight

“Not only is he odd, but he’s also a bit of a troublemaker!” said He Yi, who was wearing a veil, giving a different evaluation of Nan Feng.

The following day, Nan Feng disappointed the people who were waiting for him to play music. After he returned to his residence, he focused all his efforts on exercising his body and practicing martial arts, and he never appeared again.

Mu Mu had already bought the courtyard, so Nan Feng also moved from the inn to the small courtyard. Although the courtyard was smaller, it was more comfortable.

“It’s been four days already; I don’t think that kid will come.” Marquis Nan Yang shook his head at He Yi. They came to the bridge every day to look for Nan Feng, but he was nowhere to be seen.

“He’s probably figuring out a way to get into the martial arts academy! There’s no energy fluctuation on his body, so it might be difficult for him to get in. Although he has some advantages, such as music and elegance, he may not necessarily have the potential for martial arts.” He Yi spoke up.

“We’ll see! On the day your martial arts academy starts accepting students, if he doesn’t come, then he’s not meant for this path.” Marquis Nan Yang nodded, agreeing with He Yi’s opinion.

Nan Feng stopped going out and spent every day exercising, strengthening his physical strength and body toughness.

The reason why Nan Feng persisted in this was because he found that this was an era of cold weapons, and the guards everywhere were all armed with swords and knives, with no firearms.

In an era without firearms, what can one rely on to rise to power? It would depend on the strength of one’s fists and who was more ruthless.

Soon it was time for the Tieshan County Martial Arts Academy to recruit students.

Nan Feng had made significant gains during this period of time, but he was still not entirely satisfied. He had not been able to cultivate the internal force that he previously possessed.

“Let’s go.” After adjusting his long hair, which he was still not used to, Nan Feng and Mu Mu headed out.

In this world, both men and women have long hair, so there is no such profession as a barber. Nan Feng planned to trim his hair with a small knife, but Mu Mu insisted on stopping him. However, Nan Feng did not style his hair to be smooth and glossy like others did; he simply kept it clean and tied a band around the back of his head casually.

The Tieshan Martial Academy was located on the easternmost side of Wangjiang City, built with the Tieshan Mountains as its back and facing directly towards Wangjiang City.

The area around the Tieshan Martial Arts Academy was bustling with traffic, and various high-ranking officials and wealthy people could be seen. Of course, as far as Nan Feng was concerned, the so-called high-ranking officials and wealthy people here were at best just a little wealthy, and their status was not that high. The true aristocrats of the kingdom were all in the capital, and the families living in the counties outside the capital generally had relatively low noble titles, with some exceptions for those who had fiefs.

“Stand up straight, Mu Mu. We’re both wearing the same robes, but why do I look like a young master while you don’t? It’s because you lack confidence,” said Nan Feng, looking at Mu Mu.

These days, in order to let Mu Mu have some face when going out, Nan Feng allows him to wear his own clothes.

“I’m not a young master myself, just a young master’s follower,” whispered Mu Mu in a low voice.

Nan Feng didn’t say anything else. He knew that some things couldn’t be changed in a short time. The concept of hierarchy was deeply ingrained in Mu Mu’s bones, and building confidence wasn’t something that could be accomplished overnight.

Queuing up, Nan Feng went to join the line.

Joining the Tieshan Martial Academy is not an easy task, as one must pass through review and assessments. The academy does not train just anyone; they select promising individuals with excellent potential for cultivation.

There were many people queuing up, and Nan Feng squeezed his way in, asked for a form, and started filling it out with a brush.

Looking at the brush in his hand, Nan Feng was grateful that he was born into an ancient martial arts family and that he often used a brush; otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to write these characters.

After writing his name, “Nan Feng” in the name column, he found it difficult to fill in the columns for family background and address. He didn’t want to have any association with the Tang Marquisate, but writing false information would seem unnatural and might expose him. Leaving it blank was not an option either.

After thinking for a moment, he wrote the phrase “Heroes don’t ask each other for their background” at the top with his age, and didn’t write anything else before submitting the form.

The Tieshan Martial Academy was one of the twelve major martial arts academies in the Bauhinia Kingdom, with powerful instructors and a large number of people participating in the assessments. An old student in charge of collecting forms took the forms to a hall inside the academy, where several instructors began to review them.

Those whose ages were not suitable would be rejected. If you were too old, your cultivation would be delayed, and you would have no future. If you were too young, your body and bones were not yet mature, and you were not suitable. Also, those with a bad background would not be accepted. As for those who wrote false information, they would not pass the review either. The intelligence network of the Tieshan Martial Arts Academy was very powerful and could easily distinguish between true and false information.

Sitting in the main seat of the hall were Marquis Nan Yang and He Yi, who were drinking tea. Marquis Nan Yang had originally planned to leave Tieshan County but remained after seeing Nan Feng since he found him to be interesting.

“Heroes don’t ask each other about background? which family does this bastard come from? He’s even playing with his identity.” One of the instructors reviewing the forms cursed and threw Nan Feng’s application aside. Those who practice martial arts were forbidden from deception, and when the instructor saw Nan Feng’s application, he became angry.

The form drifted into the hall and landed on the tea table in front of Marquis Nan Yang and He Yi, who were sitting face to face.

Marquis Nan Yang reached out and caught the form, taking a glance at it before stroking his small beard and smiling. “He Yi, take a look at this form. I thought there were many troublemakers, but it’s actually only that one.”

Taking the form handed over by Marquis Nan Yang, He Yi stood up and placed it in the approved column. “Although it may seem arrogant, upon closer look, this statement is not wrong. In the past, there were also many high-level martial artists from commoner families, such as the young prince from the royal capital, who also came from a commoner background.”

“Yes, grandmaster.” Several instructors in charge of the review nodded.

“During the assessment, pay attention to the talent. If the talent is not good enough, we won’t accept them in our Tieshan Martial Arts Academy,” said He Yi, giving instructions.

Marquis Nan Yang was looking forward to the assessment of Nan Feng. He wondered if Nan Feng would be taught a lesson during the assessment, as he had not treated He Yi kindly that day.

Who was He Yi? Those from the Tieshan County know, as do those from the capital city. She was not someone to be trifled with, as she was the head instructor sent by the Bauhinia Martial Arts Academy in the capital to support the development of the Tieshan Martial Arts Academy.

Marquis Nan Yang still remembers what Nan Feng said to He Yi: “How would you understand my aspirations?” According to his understanding, it meant “Am I even obliged to explain it to you?” This was definitely not a respectful expression.

After registering, the next step is to wait for the list of selected candidates to be announced. Only those who were selected would be eligible to participate in the assessment.

“Move aside.” Nan Feng felt a great force coming towards him and tried to dodge, but someone was beside him and he couldn’t avoid it, so he stumbled forward and fell down.

“Are you a crab, walking sideways?” Nan Feng looked at the young man in front of him wearing a brocade robe, feeling quite displeased. He had stumbled because of the black-clad warrior who was clearing the way for this brocade-robed young man.

“Get lost, you piece of trash,” the young man in brocade clothes cursed.

“I f*cking can’t believe it! Leave me your name!” Nan Feng was angry; he had never been bullied like this before.

“From the Bodun’s earldom, Bodun Sha!” The young man in brocade robe replied.

Nan Feng didn’t say anything. He knew he wasn’t a match for the black-clothed warrior, but he wasn’t willing to just accept being taken advantage of.

Noticing that both Bodun Sha and the black clothed warrior were carefully looking at the list of approved names, Nan Feng walked to the side, picked up a slightly raised square brick from the side of the road, and walked towards the back of Bodun Sha. Holding a grudge for a long time was not part of Nan Feng’s personality.

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He Yi is called ‘Daren’, this word can mean many things, (my lord, your grace, your Excellency….) so until we know exactly what her position is, we’ll be calling her grandmaster.

“Nan Yang hou” can be translated in two ways “Marquis of Nanyang” or “Marquis Nan Yang” I’m sticking with the latter until proven wrong. Also, tell us if we’re translating anything wrong.