The Mirror Master

Luo Qing frowned slightly.

Xing Ying’s actions were indeed in line with the academy’s regulations, so she couldn’t find any fault with them.

It was just that most of the time, as long as the discrepancy wasn’t too great, a bit of schmoozing would convince the academy Tutors to turn a blind eye and let it slide.

But now, with everyone watching and jeering, she was in a difficult position.

"I’ll go give it a try."

Just as Luo Qing was about to take Lu Bai and head back, Lu Bai suddenly spoke up and walked toward the stone locks by the weapon racks.

’Letting him try isn’t a bad idea. He can get familiar with it first.’

Luo Qing thought to herself. She quickened her pace to catch up, saying as she walked, "You’ve never trained with these stone locks before. Don’t just bend over to pull it. If your form is wrong, you can easily injure your spine. You need to keep your back straight, breathe in to build up strength, and keep your feet firm, a little wider than your shoulders..."

These stone locks looked simple, but someone who had never handled one wouldn’t know how to exert their strength. Even someone who had reached the Third Level of the Root Bone Stage might not be able to lift it.

Lu Bai, however, looked calm.

’Isn’t this just a deadlift?’

He was very familiar with them.

Over at the training grounds, a crowd of academy disciples was snickering and watching the spectacle.

"Brother, why is he here too?"

Chen Qianqian frowned slightly, muttering under her breath.

Even though her engagement to Lu Bai was over, they were still cultivating in the same academy. They were bound to run into each other, and she couldn’t help but feel a bit resentful.

Chen Xiaofeng said, "He might not pass this stone lock test. Just reaching the required Cultivation level isn’t enough; if you don’t know how to exert your strength, you might not be able to lift it. I failed countless times back in the day and had to practice with the stone locks for a whole month just to get the knack of it.

"The real reason I brought you here was so you could familiarize yourself with the stone locks and know what to expect."

Someone next to them glanced over, looking at the Chen siblings out of the corner of his eye. "That guy seems to be from your town, right? Do you know him?"

"Brother Sun, we don’t know him well."

Chen Xiaofeng quickly forced a smile and said, "This is Brother Sun, Sun Jifang. And this is my little sister, Qianqian."

"Brother Sun."

Chen Qianqian called out sweetly.

Sun Jifang’s gaze swept over Chen Qianqian as he chuckled. "Sister Qianqian, if you join the academy in the future, we’ll be fellow disciples. We should find a chance to get to know each other... more deeply."

"Heh heh."

Someone next to them waggled their eyebrows. "Brother Sun, how ’deeply’ are you planning to get to know her?"

Everyone understood Sun Jifang’s hidden meaning and let out a round of strange laughter.

Chen Qianqian’s face turned beet red. Flustered and angry, she glanced at her brother.

Chen Xiaofeng just gave a couple of awkward, sycophantic laughs, not daring to say a word.

Lu Bai walked up to the weapon rack and gave the dozen or so stone locks a quick look.

The stone locks were all marked with numbers. The lightest was one hundred jin, the next was one hundred fifty, and they increased in fifty-jin increments up to the heaviest, which was eight hundred jin.

Lu Bai walked up to the five-hundred-jin stone lock, paused, and bent down to lift it.

"Don’t!"

Seeing this, Luo Qing’s heart skipped a beat. She rushed forward, placing one hand on Lu Bai’s waist to support him and reaching with the other to grab the five-hundred-jin lock. "Warm up with a lighter one first!" she said. "Doing it like this, you’ll easily..."

Before she could finish, Lu Bai had already lifted the five-hundred-jin stone lock straight off the ground with both hands.

He didn’t even seem to be straining.

The laughter from the crowd gradually died down.

Xing Ying raised an eyebrow.

’For this boy to lift it so easily, he must have some brute strength. His root bone aptitude must be a cut above the rest.’

"Is this good enough?"

Lu Bai asked, turning his head to look at Luo Qing.

Seeing this, Luo Qing breathed a sigh of relief. She discreetly let go of him and took two steps back. A look of gratification on her face, she nodded and said, "Very good. Just hold it for three breaths, and you’ll pass."

"That’s enough."

Seeing how easily Lu Bai had lifted it, Xing Ying didn’t even wait for the three breaths and simply waved his hand.

The disciples who had been waiting for Lu Bai to make a fool of himself were instantly disappointed.

"It’s just brute force. He’s just like that Luo Manniu."

Sun Jifang gave a faint smile and shot a sideways glance at Luo Ben, who wasn’t far off.

Hearing this, Luo Ben’s bull-like eyes widened in a glare, and he looked ready to explode.

Luo Xiao quickly grabbed his wrist and shook his head.

Luo Qing beckoned to Luo Ben and Luo Xiao. Once they came over, she called Lu Bai and the two brothers to the side. "Xiaoben, Xiaoxiao," she said, "during the noon break, remember to take Xiaolu to get his academy Token, and then show him around the grounds."

"Okay, big sis."

Luo Xiao nodded in agreement.

Seeing that everything was settled here, Luo Qing gave a few more instructions and then hurried off.

"Xiaolu, from now on in the academy, just stick with me. I’ve got your back."

Luo Ben clapped Lu Bai on the shoulder, then shot another glare in Sun Jifang’s direction. "And another thing," he said, "stay away from that bunch. Our brothers don’t get along with them."

Lu Bai simply smiled without a word.

To him, these little academy cliques were like children playing house; he had no interest in them to begin with.

His sole purpose in coming to Bluestone Academy was to find a High Grade Cultivation Technique!

After everyone rested for a while, Xing Ying resumed his lecture on the Martial Dao, explaining the techniques and details of cultivating Inner Strength and stimulating the Nine Acupoints.

When noon arrived, the Luo brothers took Lu Bai to get his Identity Token.

It was made of Peach Wood, with "Bluestone Academy" written on the front and Lu Bai’s name carved on the back.

The dining area was a noisy great hall where disciples from the primary, middle, and advanced schools all gathered. Each school was further divided into A, B, C, and D classes, totaling several hundred people.

Most of the younger members of the Luo Family were cultivating in the primary and middle schools. Among the younger generation, Luo Qing was the only one who had opened her Seven Acupoints and was in the Advanced Academy.

"I heard there’s a Vast Martial Arts Pavilion in the academy that holds a lot of Cultivation and Martial Techniques. Let’s go check it out later."

Lu Bai said during the meal.

"Alright."

Luo Xiao nodded.

"Third Brother, you take him."

Luo Ben muttered while stuffing his face, "I’ve been there tons of times. It’s boring."

After the meal, Luo Xiao led Lu Bai to the front of the so-called Vast Martial Arts Pavilion.

"This is it?"

Staring at the unremarkable little single-story building ahead, Lu Bai was a bit dazed. He couldn’t help but ask, "This can be called the ’Vast’ Martial Arts Pavilion?"

In his imagination, something called the Vast Martial Arts Pavilion should at least be like a Scripture Pavilion, several stories high.

Each floor would hold techniques of different grades, and the higher the floor, the higher the quality of the Cultivation Techniques.

What was the deal with this little shack in front of him?

Luo Xiao explained, "The name ’Martial Arts Pavilion’ is based on the one in the Wu Dynasty Imperial Palace. To avoid having the same name, they just added the word ’Vast’ in front, taking it to mean the ’vastness of the Martial Dao’."

"This is basically false advertising."

Lu Bai complained internally.

’Whatever.’

’I’m already here.’

The two of them presented their Identity Tokens and walked into the Vast Martial Arts Pavilion.

The space inside was about forty or fifty square meters, and you could take it all in with a single glance.

There were only two rows of bookshelves.

The row on the left was for Cultivation Techniques, and the one on the right was for Martial Techniques.

A single look revealed there weren’t many books in total.

"So damn vast."

Lu Bai couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration.