A Second Rate Martial Artist

-----------

Training doesn't only mean a repeated set of movements that should be repeated over and over again, training is an arduous process of completing something in various ways in outmost effeciency.

It should not be closed into this corner of some sort of systematic repetition. It should undergo testing through real-life situations. A battle is unpredictable unlike what you train, if you train a set of movements then you are expecting your opponent to do what you want them to do, but in real life there are dozens of variables. That's what Jin thought of what training should be.

So Jin picked that instead of advancing right through the realm of 1st Rate Martial Artist, he should first experience the taste of combat within the Second.

These are the three basic stages of a Martial Artist.

The Third Rate is where a martial artist can only do that basic of the basics of his/her martial arts.

The Second is where he can use the more advanced movements of his martial arts.

And First is where a martial artist can temporarily imbue Qi into a weapon or a certain part of his body.

Jin unlocked Qi but for now he still can't use it so he plans to engage in combat and awaken through it. Some might say that that is stupid he can awaken it safely by following manual but Jin knew that the best teacher is real-life experiences.

In real life he can be it more efficient because he knew that his life is on the line.

So for now Jin decided that his closed cultivation is over. After packing back all his things he headed back to the headquarters.

.

.

.

"Ahhh Warrior Jin there you are, hmmmm it seems that your training is successful but I wonder why not advance right through the First Rate when you can easily do so."

"I have my reasons."

"I see then, while you were gone your targets father seemed to have hired an Assassin to track you down."

"Assassin?"

"Yes, there have been people wandering around quangho and looking for clues and they even made contact with the Beggar Sect Quangho Branch."

Beggar Sect is one of the Ten Great Sects of Murim and is known as one of the most powerful intel-gathering groups. As the name suggests it is composed of beggars which are littered throughout the land so as long as beggars exist there is no information the Beggar Sect can't know.

Along with the Hao clan, they are considered the greatest intel, and some even say that their position as one of the Ten Great Sects didn't come from their martial arts but their intel power.

"Can you give me all the information about them?"

"Of course but why do you plan so?"

"I plan to take care of them before they become a variable to my Mercenary Works."

"Weeding the bad grass early I see, very well then wait for about three days and it will arrive."

.

.

.

In the works of a mercenary variables are unavoidable but even though that is that, it's always welcome to remove the ones you thought are.

After the information about the assassins were handed to him, Jin purposely left traces of him throughout the city. The assassin of course knew that so in the end this isn't your usual case of assassination no more, for them it became a request for the challenge.

This is not the usual fight between the assassin and the target, this is the fight between a Mercenary and an Assassin.

In the forest in the outside the city, three shadows were seen jumping from one tree to another. These three are the assassins of the Unknowns, while their leader overlooked them the three hunted.

While maneuvering around the forest suddenly one of the shadows passed through something, feeling unusual he stopped but before he could even land on the ground his body suddenly splits into four.

His blood stained the ground and even on his final moments he didn't have any clue how he died. The other two felt shocked and stopped, they cautiously looked around the surrounding and didn't noticed any strange. Up until when the moon who have been covered by the clouds sent it's moonlight, what they saw was terrifying bunch of tin silver strings covering the forest like a spider web.

They all though that they were the hunter but now it seems they are the hunted. After all this time they didn't noticed that they were already within the web.

------

The Unknowns.

A famous assassin group from the central plain, their leader known as the Fleeting Shadow ranked within 128th in the Murim Ranking Board.