Entering the door is a courtyard the size of a school field. A dozen strong men are exercising their bodies. Some are lifting stone locks, some are beating wooden figures to practice boxing, and some are jumping on plum blossom piles...
After the young man shouted, a young man with a yellow face walked out. When he saw Zhao Lin, he said "Hey", "I think I have seen you before."
"I used to be Lifu, and I used to deliver goods here."
Zhao Lin also recognized the other person, it was the yellow-faced young man who delivered the goods and received him a month ago.
"Oh, I remembered."
The yellow-faced young man smiled and said with some surprise: "Are you here to learn martial arts this time?"
Zhao Lin nodded and said: "Exactly."
The yellow-faced young man put away his smile and said sternly: "Our Liuhe Sect is strict about accepting disciples. You can't come in just by paying money. You must have heard about it."
"Let me ask you a few questions first. Be sure to answer them truthfully. We will investigate specifically."
"Okay." Zhao Lin responded.
"What's your name? Have you ever learned martial arts before?" the yellow-faced young man asked.
"I, Zhao Lin, have never studied martial arts." Zhao Lin replied.
"how old?"
"Sixteen years old."
"Have your parents or family members ever joined gangs or committed crimes?"
Zhao Lin was stunned for a moment, thinking to himself, is this a political trial? He replied: "None of them. Our ancestors have been farming for generations and have always abided by the law."
The yellow-faced young man glanced at him in surprise, "The monthly tuition for an apprentice is two taels, for three months at a time. Can you afford it?"
"Six taels of silver, I'm ready."
Zhao Lin said as he put his hand into his arms.
The yellow-faced young man stopped him quickly: "Don't rush to get the money first, wait until you pass the assessment."
He said to the young man who opened the door just now: "Go find the senior brother and ask him to preside over the entrance examination."
The young man responded and ran to the back hall.
After a while, a burly man about thirty years old walked into the yard.
The big man was born with a leopard's head and eyes, a swallow's jaw and a beard, and there was a mighty air in his movements.
"Big Brother."
The yellow-faced young man bowed his hands and saluted, pointed at Zhao Lin and said: "This person wants to enter our Liuhe Sect. Please ask Senior Brother to help with the assessment."
"good!"
The senior brother walked up to Zhao Lin, looked him up and down for a while, nodded and said, "Well, he has a good figure and a good frame, and he is not very old. He is expected to grow taller in the future."
As he spoke, he suddenly slapped Zhao Lin on the shoulder. Zhao Lin felt a stream of heat surge into his body, circle around his chest and abdomen, and disappear in an instant.
"I have never practiced martial arts, but my skills are not bad. I am qualified to take the assessment."
good?
After hearing what Senior Brother said, Zhao Lin was stunned for a moment and thought to himself that my body has been transformed by the souls of Old Scalper and Xiong Zhen. Is it just okay?
But then I thought about it, my predecessor had not had enough to eat or clothes to keep him warm since he was a child, so he owed too much. He was definitely not as good as someone who lived a prosperous life and grew up eating a lot of meat and fish.
It has only been less than a month since I absorbed the soul, so it is impossible for me to become a genius overnight.
Thinking of this, Zhao Lin really took this assessment seriously.
Just listen to the senior brother continue to say: "The assessment is divided into three parts, testing your balance, strength, and agility respectively. Let me tell you the assessment rules first, so you have an idea in advance."
"The assessment is divided into nine levels based on performance: upper third grade, middle third grade, and lower third grade. If you want to pass the assessment, the average must not be lower than third grade. Do you understand?"
"Understood!"
Zhao Lin felt a little relieved when he heard that he had strength, but he was not sure how he would perform in the other two items.
"Okay, let's test your balance first."
The eldest brother walked to the plum blossom pile and jumped up lightly.
He stepped on the wooden stake with one foot, raised the other foot, kept his thigh parallel to the ground, and his body was nailed to it, motionless.
"Stand like I am, the longer the better, you have three chances."
After speaking, he jumped down from the plum blossom pile and motioned for Zhao Lin to come up.
The men who were practicing martial arts gathered around and watched quietly from the sidelines without saying a word.
Do you want to do yoga?
Zhao Lin saw that the wooden pile was about three feet high from the ground, and its surface was only the size of the bottom of a bowl. Standing on one leg in such a small place required a lot of balance and coordination of the body.
He silently adjusted his breathing and calmed down his emotions. He looked at the two wooden stakes, jumped up and stepped on them respectively. Then he shifted his weight to one leg and lifted the other leg like his senior brother just did...
thump!
After a while, Zhao Lin fell from the wooden pile.
"There are still two chances." Senior Brother reminded.
"Come on, I can do it!"
Zhao Lin cheered himself up in his heart, stabilized his mind, and jumped onto the wooden stake again.
This time I held on longer and fell off the wooden pile after about ten seconds.
Zhao Lin's eyes scanned the faces of the onlookers. Although they didn't speak, judging from their expressions, his results were not ideal.
The third time I persisted for half a minute.
After landing, Zhao Lin looked at his senior brother.
The eldest brother said in a deep voice: "Middle to upper level, fourth grade!"
The second item is a test of strength.
The test equipment is very simple: a wide-mouthed stone urn as big as a bucket, and seven or eight large and small stone locks.
The senior brother pointed at the stone urn and said, "The stone urn weighs one hundred kilograms, and the stone locks weigh twenty kilograms, fifty kilograms and one hundred kilograms."
"If you think you can lift it, put the stone lock into the stone urn and lift it up."
Zhao Lin looked at the stone lock on the ground and asked, "How heavy can you lift to get to the first level?"
The senior brother smiled and said, "One hundred kilograms is the ninth level. For every twenty kilograms, add one level. How much do you need to lift for the first level?"
Zhao Lin said without thinking: "Two hundred and sixty pounds."
The eldest brother nodded, "That's right. But since you are young, the standard can be lowered, maybe 20 pounds less."
"Thank you, senior brother, but let's stick to the original standards."
Zhao Lin walked over, grabbed the largest stone lock weighing one hundred kilograms and put it into the stone urn, and then placed another stone lock of the same weight.
At first he was hesitant to hide his clumsiness, but now he felt it was unnecessary.
The first one was only graded fourth, and the third agility test was not yet known how well he would perform. He had to get the highest score in the strength test, otherwise he would not even pass the test.
"Three hundred pounds! How dare he!"
"Just show off, I've never seen anyone who can lift over 260 kilograms in the test."
The crowd of onlookers whispered.
Someone also kindly reminded Zhao Lin: "Little brother, the bottom of this stone urn is very slippery. It doesn't matter if you can't lift it. If you strain your arm, you won't be able to lift anything light in the future."
The yellow-faced young man also said: "You can start lightly and slowly increase it."
"I'll try it first!"
Zhao Lin smiled, leaned over and hugged the stone urn, lifted it up with both hands, and "suddenly" raised it above his head.
"This... really lifts it up!"
"You don't look strong, why are you so strong?"
Everyone's eyes widened when they saw it, and for a while, there were sighs.
"Good! You can conquer ten levels with one force. It's a good piece of martial arts training material." Senior Brother praised him.
The yellow-faced young man stroked his hands and said, "Based on your performance in this game, even if you fail the agility test, you can still be admitted, right, senior brother?"
Brother Dashi considered it carefully: "Don't talk too much. Let him take the next test seriously. Strength is only one aspect, and you must not generalize."
Zhao Lin put down the stone urn and deliberately wiped his sweat-free forehead, showing that he was very tired.
The performance just now was too outstanding, so you might as well keep a low profile and slowly show your strength after entering the door.
