The third test was for agility: weaving through a series of posts.

The goal was to run from one end of the plum blossom posts to the other. The distance wasn’t great, but it wasn’t a straight line. One had to weave back and forth between the wooden posts in a serpentine pattern.

"You must be a little tired, right? Rest for a bit first."

The head disciple said considerately to Zhao Lin, then called over a slender young man and instructed, "Xiaofan, run it once to show him."

"You got it!"

The young man named Xiaofan acknowledged the order, walked to the front of the plum blossom posts, held his breath, and zipped through them. He was like a butterfly flitting through flowers, completing the entire course in just a few breaths.

"So fast!" Zhao Lin praised.

It reminded him of a dog agility competition he had once seen, with border collies weaving through poles.

"Heh, that’s Xiaofan’s specialty. He couldn’t lift the stone urn back then. He got into the sect thanks to his top-tier performance in this test," the sallow-faced youth explained.

A question suddenly occurred to Zhao Lin. "How is this timed?" he asked.

The sallow-faced youth smiled slightly. He clapped his right palm rhythmically into his left a few times and said, "We count the beats. A martial artist has an innate sense of rhythm, more accurate than a water clock."

"I see."

Zhao Lin stretched his arms and legs, then walked to the front of the plum blossom posts. "I’m rested."

The head disciple nodded. "Then begin."

Zhao Lin crouched slightly, then pushed off with his legs and shot forward.

He didn’t sprint at full speed. Instead, he mimicked Xiaofan’s movements from before, swaying his shoulders left and right as he ran, constantly adjusting his center of gravity...

"Nine and a half beats!"

Just as Zhao Lin passed the last post, the head disciple’s voice rang out: "That can be rated as Upper-Lower, the third grade."

"Not bad, congratulations!" The sallow-faced youth clapped Zhao Lin on the shoulder.

"Thank you!" Zhao Lin breathed a sigh of relief. He was quite satisfied with his performance.

"Haven’t you seen enough? Get back to your training!" the sallow-faced youth said, waving away the crowd of disciples like he was shooing flies.

As the crowd of disciples dispersed, the head disciple approached Zhao Lin. "You’ve passed the assessment," he said. "Your results are quite good. However, we still need to conduct a background check to verify your story."

’They’re certainly thorough,’ Zhao Lin thought, then replied, "No problem. Please, go ahead."

"Where is your home? And what is your esteemed father’s name?"

Hearing this, Zhao Lin roughly understood their intention.

In this era, common people didn’t have identification cards, but every household’s registration was recorded in the county yamen’s "Yellow Registers."

The Liuhe Sect just had to ask the chief clerk at the county yamen to find out if his background was genuine.

"My home is in Three Families Village on Baitou Mountain. My father’s name is Zhao Baotian."

The head disciple nodded. "Alright, you can go home for now. Come back this afternoon or tomorrow morning. If there are no issues, you can formally join the sect."

"Thank you both. I’ll take my leave..."

After leaving the Liuhe Sect, Zhao Lin thought for a moment and made a decision: he wouldn’t return to the village for now, but wait for the results in the city.

With nowhere to go, he wandered aimlessly through the streets. He saw a bookstore by the side of the road and remembered he’d been meaning to buy a history book, but had put it off until now because he had no money.

Since he had nothing better to do, he walked into the bookstore and bought a book titled *Eight Hundred Years of the Jianyuan Era*.

Zhao Lin learned from the shopkeeper that Jianyuan was the founding era name of the Great Yue dynasty, and that this book had been written less than twenty years ago.

In other words, the Great Yue dynasty had already existed for over eight hundred years.

’That’s strange. Don’t feudal dynasties typically last two or three hundred years?’

With this question in mind, he spent half the day reading the book from cover to cover. Not only was his original question not answered, but a new one arose.

’Why were there no peasant uprisings?’

The book recorded several wars, but they all occurred within the dynasty—either powerful ministers seizing power or influential families causing trouble. There wasn’t a single incident of a grassroots uprising!

Zhao Lin had a faint feeling that the root of both questions might be the same, but he couldn’t figure out the reason.

Seeing that it was getting late, Zhao Lin temporarily set aside his doubts and went to the Liuhe Sect again.

"We’ve checked. Everything you said is true."

The sallow-faced youth was much more enthusiastic than he had been in the morning. "My surname is Yuan, and my full name is Yuan Cheng. You can just call me Senior Yuan."

Although he had expected this result, Zhao Lin still felt a surge of joy.

"Thank you, Senior Yuan."

As he spoke, he took out the six taels of silver he had prepared and respectfully presented them.

There were a dozen or so disciples in the courtyard, so Zhao Lin wasn’t worried about Yuan Cheng pocketing the money. He was, however, feeling a sharp pang in his heart over the expense.

He had earned over twenty taels of silver from hunting in the mountains. After these two expenditures, he had just a little over five taels left.

’This will last me three months, but what about the next tuition payment?’

"I’ll take you to see the Master," Yuan Cheng said, accepting the silver.

The Liuhe Sect didn’t look large from the outside, but its grounds were vast. With waterside pavilions, rockeries, and covered corridors, it was a world of its own.

Yuan Cheng led Zhao Lin to a rear courtyard, where an old man was sitting on a stone step, drinking tea. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

The old man wore a cyan robe that was faded from washing. It was impossible to tell his exact age; he gave the impression of being somewhere between fifty and seventy.

Zhao Lin guessed this must be the Liuhe Sect’s Sect Leader, Zhu Huaishan.

Sure enough, he heard Yuan Cheng say, "Master, I’ve brought him."

Zhao Lin bowed as well. "Greetings, Sect Leader."

"Mm, I’ve heard about you."

The old man nodded, took a sip of tea, and said, "You’ve just joined. For now, let Yuan Cheng guide your martial arts training. When you break through the Power Realm and enter the Qi Realm, I will teach you personally."

"The assessment can only reveal your body’s potential; it cannot measure your character."

"No matter how talented you are, you’ll never achieve anything great without perseverance and the willingness to endure hardship. Remember that!"

Zhao Lin said respectfully, "This disciple understands."

...

Before sunset, Zhao Lin returned to Three Families Village.

He was wearing a set of tight-fitting black training clothes, with the two characters for "Liuhe" embroidered on the chest.

"Brother Zhao, what are those clothes you’re wearing? Why are there words on the chest?"

"You’re so ignorant. I’ve seen those clothes before. Niu Er from town wears the exact same thing. They’re for practicing martial arts."

"Weren’t you working as a laborer in the city? How come you’re learning martial arts now...?"

The idlers at the village entrance surrounded Zhao Lin, all talking at once.

"When I was delivering goods to the Liuhe Sect, they said I had a good physique and was material for martial arts, so they accepted me into the sect."

Zhao Lin said with a wide grin.

He had deliberately worn these clothes back home.

The Zhao family was well-known in the village for its hardships. Over the years, they had received a lot of help from their fellow villagers, but had also suffered bullying and harassment.

With the status of a martial artist, his family’s position in the village would rise accordingly. In the future, anyone who wanted to bully them would have to think twice.

"I hear learning martial arts costs a lot of money. Can you afford it?" someone asked.

Zhao Lin said without batting an eye, "Of course it costs money. But they know my family is poor, so they only charged me a little and told me to pay the rest back later when I’ve earned the money."

The person who asked was stunned. "There’s such a good deal?"

"Incredible! He’s met a benefactor!"

"See? I told you all! That Zhao family boy was bound to be successful when he grew up, and you didn’t believe me..."