It was midnight; Yang Bao lay in bed, listening to the hiss of the crickets through the night. The thousands of small voices in Yang Bao's head made him unable to sleep. He tossed and turned on the bed. A question that he couldn't understand kept lingering in his mind. Why did Teacher Lee teach them to love each other, help each other, and protect each other, but Guozhao Zhiqiang was punished by Fang Yaoting for helping Yang Bao. The more he thought about it, the more his doubtful heart couldn't rest. He rushed out of his room and into Fang Yaoting's room. Seeing that the candle in Fang Yaoting's room was still on, he knocked on the door.
Fang Yaoting said, "Come in."
Yang Bao slowly opened the door and said, "Third Master, I'm sorry to bother you so late."
Fang Yaoting looked up at Yang Bao and said, "I know you will come; I have been waiting for you, just say what you want."
"I have something I don't understand, and I need the guidance of the third master."
Fang Yaoting stood up from his chair and walked to Yang Bao, "What don't you understand?"
Yang Bao said, "I don't understand why you punish senior brother for helping me. Teacher Lee taught us to love and care for one another, but when senior brother sympathized and helped me, you punished him. Why would a master teach us to love each other, and another master punishes us?"
Fang Yaoting said firmly, "If he keeps helping you, how can you become better?" He looked at Yang Bao coldly. "When you are fighting the enemy in the real world, who will help you?" Fang Yaoting sighed. "This is also a lesson for Zhiqiang, if he has been helping you, you will never get better yourself, you will always rely on him or others to save you when you are in trouble. You experience it yourself, how much many sectors or clans has rejected you?"
Yang Bao lowered his head, "I forgot."
Fang Yaoting said, "You forgot because you admitted that whatever they say about you were right."
Yang Bao was immediately angry. He raised his voice, "No, what they say about me is wrong, I'm not useless."
Fang Yaoting challenged, "Prove to yourself that you are not useless." He patted Yang Bao's left arm. "Don't you want to stand on the fighting arena and challenge those who rejected you because of your disability?"
Yang Bao breathed heavily, "I do." He clenched his fists tightly. "I want to be able to look them in the eye and tell them it was wrong to label me useless."
Fang Yaoting said, "Letting others help you, it will make you feel that it's okay to lack on your training, do you think that becoming a good hunter is an overnight thing?"
Yang Bao replied, "No."
Fang Yaoting said, "Being an excellent hunter requires a lot of physical and mental training. In the future, you will be the one standing here teaching the juniors. If you don't train enough today, you will lack a sense of responsibility in the future training your juniors."
Yang Bao said, "Third Master, I will take your words to my heart."
Fang Yaoting explained, "As a man, your success must come from yourself, not others. Success takes time and hard training. Your legs are disabled, therefore, you must work harder than others." He patted Yang Bao's right shoulder. "Don't let anyone laugh at you because of your disabled leg. Do not let your disabled leg be an excuse to stop you from achieving your goals. You can do everything if you put your heart into it. With hard training, you can become a great swordsman like your brother or any other hunter. In the face of difficult enemies, if you don't train hard, you will be defeated or lose your life."
Yang Bao finally understood the master's good intentions. He was ashamed. He knelt on the ground and said, "Third Master, I was wrong. I'm wronged to doubt your teaching. Please forgive me. I have poor judgment and ignore your kindness. It's not right for me to hold a grudge against you and overlooking your good intention."
Fang Yaoting, "Teacher Lee is not wrong. Helping each other is a good thing, but you have to remember before helping others, you have to measure whether your help did more good or bad for that person." He helped Yang Bao up. He smiled at Yang Bao. "I believe that if you practice hard, you will become a better swordsman than Zhiqiang. Zhiqiang may be better at spells, but you will become a better swordsman than him."
Yang Bao said, "Third Master, I promised you that I might not be able to outrun senior brother, but I will only be a few steps behind him."
Fang Yaoting said, "I can only give you advice. It is up to you to take my advice or not." Fang Yaoting walked back to his desk. "Go back to sleep. You have to train tomorrow. If you can't water one hundred blossom trees by dinner time, then you will continue to eat plain bun for dinner."
Yang Bao smiled and said, "Third Master, I don't want to continue eating plain bun." He wiped his tears and walked out of Fang Yaoting's room.
When Yang Bao walked into the empty yard, he saw Guozhao Zhiqiang standing alone and doing horse stance. He walked up to Guozhao Zhiqiang and said, "Senior brother, let's do horse stance together."
Guozhao Zhiqiang turned his head to look at Yang Bao and asked, "Third Master also punishes you?"
Yang Bao smiled and shook his head, "No, I just have a heart-to-heart talk with third master." He spread his legs and performed horse stance beside Guozhao Zhiqiang. "Also, I have to train hard because I don't want to disappoint our masters." He looked at Guozhao Zhiqiang and laughed.
Guozhao Zhiqiang asked, "What's so funny?"
Yang Bao smiled and said, "We've known each other for four months. This is our longest conversation." He giggled. "Senior brother, I always thought you didn't like me because of my disability."
Guozhao Zhiqiang said, "No, I just don't talk much in general. I think you don't want to talk to me because of my appearance. Also, I'm not a talkative person."
Yang Bao said, "I can see now, if you were a talkative person, you won't end up in this situation." He looked at Guozhao Zhiqiang. "The third master said that this is punishment, and it also teaches you not to stick your nose into other people's problems."
Guozhao Zhiqiang, "Really."
Yang Bao said, "Senior brother, thank you. I may not see what you have done today, but I feel it. The third master is right, and I will never improve myself if I keep letting others help me. Therefore, from now on, I will work hard."
Guozhao Zhiqiang said, "Let's train together and get better together."
Yang Bao smiled, "Good, let's train together."
Standing not far from the two brothers were Guo Baiyu, Zhao Renshu and Fang Yaoting.
Zhao Renshu said, "Tsk... that stupid kid talks more with Ah Bao than us; his masters."
Fang Yaoting said, "Their age is not much different, maybe that's why they have more to say."
Guo Baiyu looked at the two young people and said, "It seems that Zhiqiang has found his best friend."
Zhao Renshu smiled, "This kid is really good." He looked at Fang Yaoting. "Yaoting, you didn't discipline that kid too hard, did you?"
Fang Yaoting looked at Zhao Renshu and said, "I lectured him just enough."
Zhao Renshu turned to Fang Yaoting and said, "Yaoting, let's bet."
Fang Yaoting asked, "What are you betting on?"
Zhao Renshu said, "We bet, after the training, who will beat who." He looked at Guo Baiyu. "Baiyu, you are the judge."
Fang Yaoting said, "You and I both know that Zhiqiang will have more advantages than Ab Bao, he is a celestial being."
Zhao Renshu said, "I'm not waging on magic spell. Since they want to learn from you first, let's see who is the better swordsman."
Fang Yaoting, "What is the reward?"
Zhao Renshu said, "The reward will not be given to you, but to the winner."
Fang Yaoting, "What is the reward?"
Zhao Renshu said, "My master's old sword and your Dragon sword."
Fang Yaoting asked, "You want my Dragon sword?"
Zhao Renshu said, "If the person I bet wins, your Dragon Sword belongs to him. If the person you choose wins, my master's old sword belongs to him. What do you think?" He winked at Fang Yaoting.
Guo Baiyu looked at Zhao Renshu, "You really intend to bet on Master Zhao's Morality Sword."
Zhao Renshu said, "Only the best can be worthy of my master's Morality Sword."
Guo Baiyu looked at Zhao Renshu and said, "What if Ah Bao wins, but the Morality Sword won't accept him as its owner?"
Zhao Renshu scratched his chin with his left thumb and smirked, "I haven't thought about it that much yet."
Guo Baiyu said sarcastically, "I guess you would say that."
Fang Yaoting chuckled and said, "I'll give him the Dragon Sword." He looked at Zhao Renshu. "Which one would you choose?"
Zhao Renshu said, "You go first."
Fang Yaoting said, "I choose Ah Bao."
Yang Bao looked at the full moon and at Guozhao Zhiqiang. He smiled and said, "Senior brother, I'll beat you if we ever duel."
Guozhao Zhiqiang scoffed, "I'll wait, just because you are my junior, I will go easy on you."
Yang Bao laughed, "Ha...ha...ha...ha...because you are younger than me, I will."
Guozhao Zhiqiang said, "Very well, let's see who beats whom in the end."
Yang Bao smiled and shook his head, "We'll wait and see."
The two brothers continue to quarrel over who wins and who loses, while they horse stance under a full moon.