A Small Group

Standing in the courtyard outside the Huang family hall was a group of young boys and girls, they were at most 11 years of age. None of them were born with the name Huang, yet they did not seem nervous. They all smiled and chatted with each other in good spirits.

This clearly wasn't their first time being here. As normal children would feel nervous just standing where they did, fearing the yells of the true family members.

The sun was bright and it had stopped snowing some time ago. While it wasn't really that warm, it didn't bother them in any way, shape, or form, they were just looking forward to the day that would come. It was another training day for them.

Ever since the incident in the outer estate, where Huo Yu Bo had tried to kill the grandson of the patriarch. Many servants walked around in fear of what might happen to them, for not putting a stop to the situation, not that they could.

In reality, their nightmare turned into a dream. The Patriarch had announced that he and his grandson came with good news. They were going to start training servants, especially those from the younger generation.

The happiness in the souls of the masses had reached its peak. Some old men and women felt regret about no longer being young, but at least their children and grandchildren still had a chance to join the world that they never could.

Some months went by and the most talented younger people had been chosen out from the long line of people. They would get special treatment, but other volunteers would still be allowed to study martial arts.

The only thing they had to do was swear upon the heavens that they would never betray the Huang family. While taking such an oath could be seen as a chain that somewhat locked them in place, people hardly hesitated when making their choice.

New soldiers were joining every day and the army of Huang began growing in size. While only very few actually advance at a great pace, a lot of them would one day become true martial artists.

The group standing in the courtyard was the youngest and most talented that they could find. It consisted of six people with Zhou Ru being one of them herself.

They were three girls and three guys, ranging from seven to eleven in age. Since Zhou Ru had been cultivating the most, she was naturally the strongest, while being the oldest. She had even reached the third stage of the opening realm, once again enhancing her power.

Just beneath her in strength was an amazing talent by the name Li Feihui, who was still ten but had already reached the second stage of the opening realm. He had blond hair and light blue eyes. Had he not been a servant, people may have mistaken him for a noble, due to his facial features. But he liked to prank and hardly had the bearing of a noble child.

Standing by him was Yu Jian who had stepped into the opening realm and was a couple of months younger than Li Feihui. He looked totally different with black hair and eyes, along with a more sharp aura, only dedicated to the use of the sword. He was actually a dual wielder.

Two girls who seemed to be about the age of eight were standing with a boy. The two girls looked exactly the same as if they wanted to trick people, with their dark red hair and black eyes. They each displayed a cute smile. This was the Xiao sisters, Xiao Jin, and Xiao Ling.

The boy, like them, had yet to advance in his cultivation, but this did make sense since they were only at the age of seven and eight. The boy had light brown hair and had a big smile on his lips, the thing that stood out about him was that his eyes were grey. This was Hao Hai who Huang Yang had met in the outer estate.

The chatting quickly stopped when a man appeared not far from them. He had a friendly smile, with the normal Huang family features. He was not too tall but still had some height, along with a carefree aura surrounding him.

He didn't seem to be the kind of person who would scream at others or abuse his power. He was wearing red simple robes and walked at a steady pace towards the front of the children.

"Greetings master Hao!", the children shouted in unison, while dropping down to one knee.

Huang Hao, the third son of the patriarch, was their master. He had always been fond of teaching the younger generations, which is also why he had taken in Zhou Ru as the personal servant of Huang Mei.

He displayed a faint smile before giving a quick nod. "Show me your improvements", he said.

The children all grinned with excitement, almost scrambling to go first. In the end, Zhou Ru won and stuck out her tongue at Li Feihui, who tried to go before her.

While the snow was no longer present in this month, she had achieved progress, which allowed water to circle her sword, after being produce out of her pure qi. It was water elemental qi which could cause extreme damage.

As if preparing for a dance, she raised herself to stand on her toes before her show began. Her feet moved as if dancing on the top of a river, while only landing on the necessary stones.

Each time her body graced the earth she would take off into a spinning jump, where more and more blue qi would gather around her simple sword. As she spun more and more, the power and speed grew, until her body seemed to be enveloped in a shield of blue water.

It was clear to see just how much she had improved since she started practicing. But as all dances do, hers came to an end, which led to the qi slowly dissipating.

The slow clapping of Huang Hao broke the other younglings out of their dazed state, who soon followed suit. They all clapped and smiled, Li Feihui even had a small blush on his cheeks after seeing the performance.

But since he was well aware that he was the next to go, he strengthened his resolve. In his hand was a blue saber, which matched his eye color. He took a deep breath before driving his qi, while he didn't possess much power, they all knew that he had talent in the art of saber combat.

He had gotten the manual called Cloud Splitting saber art. Soon light began emerging, from it was a domineering aura that had followed troop. The light seemed to extend the blade and as if wanting to reach the clouds.

He raised the sword high before slashing down in one movement. The technique was about pushing a person to the limit in a strike that could reach the clouds. It was not fluid, but it was majestic and strong.

Hearing the clapping from his master after his strike, made him sigh in relief. He had hardly gotten the chance to advance yet, he didn't have that much qi, but he still kept on training in this technique.

The next was Yu Jian who directly brandished his two short swords, he was as determined as ever. He was training in the dual Ground Gale swords art. He had great talent when it came to it. He went down into a stance with one sword held high and another held low. The top one gathered the air while the bottom one gathered the rock lying on the ground.

His movements were fast and fluid as each strike held great force. He was a true talent who apparently had talent in two basic elements. While this could not be directly tested, his pure power proved it.

His showcase would, unfortunately, come to an end, even though Huang Hao enjoyed watching him in action. Next up were the Xiao sisters who practiced the same dagger art. Hunting fang art.

Since they hadn't reached the opening realm yet, not much could be said about the performance, but he could tell that they had talent when it came to fighting.

In the end, he looked at Hao Hai, before showing a warm smile, without saying anything he beckoned a man over. The man had a handsome face with grey temples but otherwise brown hair. By his hip was a gourd and a sword, but people mostly saw the sword. This was Pen Min.

"Everyone, this is Pen Min, Huang Yang's sword teacher", said Huang Hao to the kids.

They all looked at him, except Hao Hai. Their eyes were shining bright. To them Huang Yang was like that of an idol, he was their age and even younger, yet he could fight people like Huo Yu Bo. What they wouldn't give to reach his level.

"Morning kids, I'm here to give a manual to Hao Hai, it is made by the Blind swordsman, so you should be able to read it", Pen Min said as he focused on Hao Hai. The boy had indeed learned how to read while being blind, so his excitement went through the roof.

He was soon handed the manual and began feeling it with his fingers, "Wind Reading sword art...", he said out loud in a dazed state, as he began diving into it.

Seeing this the two elders simply laughed before Pen Min once again spoke. "You can look through it later, but come with me first".

"Where are we going", the kids asked almost in unison.

"To see Huang Yang..."