The next day..
A youth walked through the family courtyard silently, ignoring the stares he received from the other family members. Qingxuan. Dressed in a normal long black pants and a handmade shirt, his long black and white hair was tied neatly behind him, while strands of white hair fell past the right side of his face and black bangs fell to the left.
The upper part of his face was covered with a white cloth. He was headed towards the branch family's Martial Arts Pavilion.
The family members who even recognised him stopped to look at him in shock, while others gossiped.
"Is that him?" Two youths walked by, discussing the matter as they watched Qingxuan pass by.
"That's him. The one who challenged senior brother Jiangbo to the battle."
"Woah! He really does not see and recognize Mt. Tai.. and he's as blind as a bat! How does he even plan on facing Senior Brother Jiangbo.."
Their words were not minced in the slightest. Qingxuan heard it all and couldn't help but even scoff. "Who said a blind man can't fight?" He whispered inwardly and walked off.
About 5 minutes later, he got to the entrance of the Martial Arts Pavilion. Obviously he wasn't the only one who wanted to train. Even the entrance of the pavilion was nearly crowded with students trying to comprehend martial skills and such. He quickly spotted a familiar face. It was Mu Rong. Standing there in front of the pavilion with a young girl whom he was obviously trying his hardest to woo.
Qingxuan found it surprising the young girl could even maintain her composure and stand so close to him despite his foul smelling breath.
The moment he spotted Qingxuan, the smile on his face turned into a scowl and his fists tightly clenched, before his scowl turned into an evil smile.
"Ok, Qingxuan, Qingxuan. What brings a disabled moron like you to the Martial Arts Pavilion?" Mu Rong tried to embarrass Qingxuan obviously but he paid him no heed and headed towards the entrance. But just as Mu Rong wanted, the moment the other students spotted him, they began to gossip.
"Is that him?"
"That's the Qingxuan fellow? He's not bad looking.."
Some speculations reached his ear but he ignored them all.
"Haha! Are you now going deaf too you imbecile? You're here to learn martial skills? Can you even read the scrolls, you blind idiot?" Mu Rong continued and even had the heart to even laugh. And as usual his voice was loud enough for everyone to hear.
"What he's blind?"
"What's up with the blindfold? And his hair?"
"I heard he challenged Mu Jiangbo. How's he planning on fighting Jiangbo with his measly 2nd layer Tempered Body Cultivation? Not to talk of the fact that he's blind. What a moron!"
"Does he planning on bridging the gap between them with a martial technique? Hai! That's the epitome of stupidity.."
Qingxuan heard it all. The hand that grabbed the handle of the gate leading to the martial pavilion clenched tightly, and he gritted his teeth, but said nothing and entered.
There, he walked straight to one sleepy old man seated at the counter.
"Name and cultivation.." The old man spoke in a sleepy voice.
"Mu Qingxuan. 2nd layer of the Body Tempered Realm.." Qingxuan took a deep breath and responded.
"Hmmm?" The old man raised a brow, and sent him a glance. "You're that blind brat. Interesting.." The old man sat up and handed him a token.
"The rules of the pavilion states that you can only pick out three martial techniques for a month. All the techniques here are Grade 1-3 tier. Do what you will.." He gave whatever speech that was and went back to dozing off.
Qingxuan received the token, bowed lightly and went into the library. "The skills here are only basic - high tier? I see. It seems all the advanced techniques are in the main clan's martial techniques pavilion."
He uttered to himself and picked out a scroll from the shelf. "Flaming Metal Fists. Basic. Grade one. Grants a 100 Jin increase in bodily strength and allows the user to erupt with a deadly force akin to an erupting volcano."
It was interesting to say the least. The moment Qingxuan opened his eyes to read through the scroll, he felt something. The information within the scroll naturally flowed into memory and simply stayed.
He closed his eyes and found he could remember every single word in the scroll, even the circulatory techniques to use the Flaming Metal Fists.
"Interesting." He laughed. He was basically a walking cheat code. With photogenic memory he could literally memorise every single technique in this pavilion as quickly as he wanted. But.. at the end of the day, more wasn't always good. Even if he could memorise them and so what? He definitely won't waste all his time trying to learn all of them.
With that he wrapped it up and moved to the next.
"Crazy Wind Blade. Low Tier. Grade one .Blade like the wind, powerful like lightning. Uses speed to win. Minimum requirement is 1st layer of the Body Tempered Realm. Talent Required: Average.."
Nice. Was what he thought it was. "I do like the sound of moving as fast as wind and lightning. Also using a sword seems rather cool.." Qingxuang thought for a moment and ultimately moved ahead.
"Angered Dragon Fist. Grade 3. Can increase the strength of the cultivator. Puts all strength into one attack and unleashes for devastating effect. Minimum requirement is 2nd layer of Body Tempered Realm.."
He skipped along. That was too much power for him.
"Wind like foot: Grade 2 A technique that uses extreme speed to win. At the peak user can fight more people at once and remain unscathed. Minimum requirement : 1st layer of the Body Tempered Realm. Talent required: Above average.."
He stopped here. This did seem like most obvious pick for him at this point. It was a movement technique that utilized extreme speed in close combat. He felt a connection as if it was tailor made for him.
He memorised it instantly.
"Severing Shadow Kick: Grade 2 The leg strikes before thought, the shadow arrives before the body. Can utilise multiple powerful, brutal and efficient kicks that focuses on speed to incapacitate opponents. Requirement: 1st layer Body Tempered Realm. Talent Required: Above average"
Qingxuan stopped here abruptly. Being a Bruce Lee fanboy in his past life, he wouldn't be able to count the number of times, he day dreamed about himself kicking like Bruce Lee. It was simply a match made in Heaven.
He quickly picked it up.
"Sky Trace Phantom Steps: Grade 3. Movement art designed for urban and uneven terrain. Combining extreme speed with instant momentum changes and momentum conservation.. Talent Required: Above Average.."
Having picked a movement technique previously, he was about to skip, but after reading through, he stopped. This movement technique basically combined extreme speed with parkour skills and acrobatics. Or at least that's how he understood it. Being an anime lover as well, and reimagining the crazy acrobatic stunts they could pull it was literally certain that he'd choose. Maybe he could combine the two skills together?
After the Sky Trace Phantom Steps he was truly satisfied with the boon and wanted to leave, but he found something else.
'Heart Piercing True Aim..' Qingxuan walked to the technique and examined it. "Archery?" He thought for a moment. With his unnatural eyesight, archery felt like the best fit for him, as it'd allow him to maximise his natural talents.
With this chosen, Qingxuan walked back to the counter. Staying any longer would convince him to look at other techniques. He handed the token back to the sleepy elder and the techniques he had chosen.
"Severing Shadow kicks, Sky Trace Phantom steps and Heart Piercing True Aim.." The elder's eye twitched for a moment and then he rubbed them.
Was Qingxuan trying to play tricks on him or was this a prank? Otherwise why was a blind kid trying to learn archery. That was like a tortoise trying to race. What kind of logic was that?
He stared at the kid in front of him, and squinted his eyes, but ultimately relented seeing the earnest determination on his face.
"If it were someone else I'd have advised you to change to something else. But do what you will brat.." The Elder handed it over and went back to doze.
Qingxuan only sighed deeply and bowed then turned around to walk away.
"Now that that's sorted out, the only thing left is to get a bow and arrow to practice the Heart Piercing True Aim technique.."
He walked out of the pavilion and continued on the Clan Vault. Lucky for him, Aunt Lin had been in charge of his allowances since he was young, hence he had quite a fortune for his age saved up.
At the counter of the Clan's vault, a young girl was busily munching on some dumplings.
The moment she spotted him, she rolled her eyes and gestured to him.
"Welcome to the Clan's Weapons Vault. How may I help you?" Qingxuan was taken aback by the level of sassiness and sarcasm and even stammered. "I-I'm here to buy a bow.."
He uttered. She sized him up for a moment and then let out a sigh before pointing to the back.
"Bows are in the storeroom. Get in there, take what you desire and get out." He flinched a bit at her words, nodded and walked briskly to storeroom.
Women were truly nature's most dangerous creatures. He thought. At the very least she didn't stress him about his blindness and why he was even taking a bow. More like she didn't even care..
He entered there quickly and saw multiple bows and cross bows lined up on a rack.
"Clear Horizon Bow: Allows one to see the horizon of the world.." He walked past. It was too grande for him. He preferred something a lot simpler.
"Far sight Bow: Can kill from extremely far distances.." He walked past. Too simple.
"Shadow line bow: Can kill as if from the shadows.." He walked past. Too mysterious.
"Silent Gale Bow: Emphasizes swiftness and lightning fast combat.." He stopped abruptly. It was perfect. The bow itself was a light mettalic blue color like clouds with a thin bowstring. It took quite a few adjustments to get used to the weight. But afterwards, it felt just right for him.
He also picked out a bundle of arrows known as Heart chasing arrows and walked back to the counter.
"15 Low grade Yuan stones.." She spoke without even raising a head. Qingxuang took a small bag from within his robes, paid and walked out of the vault without wasting time.
A/N: Enjoy people