“We’ve received word from the temple that the first group of students will arrive today. Will you go to receive them at the entrance to the village?” Yun shook his head.

“They have the instructions from the temple. I’m sure they wouldn’t dare to disobey the temple’s orders.” Yun then jogged around the village several times before the first students showed up at the entrance to the village. When he saw some new people, all wearing the temple robes, he knew it was time to return and get cleaned up.

Yun jogged back to his home, removed his backpack, and took off his armour. He wiped himself down with fresh water and cotton cloths his mother set out, then took his practice sword and went to the new area that they called the dojo. It wasn’t a traditional dojo as there was no building yet assembled on site.

The temple’s students slowly arrived, but there was something wrong that Yun could not put his finger on. Shun saw what attitude it was immediately.

“I wonder how Yun will handle this.” He said softly. He was an experienced soldier, and had spent his entire teenage years under a master in a dojo.

“Are you the instructor?” One of the young men asked. They all had shaved heads, a symbol of their devotion to the temple, but Shun immediately detected some arrogance. They might have been born to one of the more influential families who were elders of the temple.

“No. I was taught here. The instructor is over there.” Shun gestured towards his son, and immediately saw the disdain on the lips of the warrior. He would not call him a gentleman in his mind as that arrogance was far too obvious. He watched him approach Yun, and smiled a small smile. Yun may be young, but his grasp of skills could easily overwhelm many, even a master of the weapon they wore.

“You’re the instructor?” He didn’t ask. It was a statement of disbelief. Yun did not answer him, but instead, he asked a question.

“Did not the other students leave at the same time? Why are there only half the number the temple said they would send?” The man shrugged.

“I don’t know, nor do I care. I did not come here to learn from someone who was wet behind the ears, like a little puppy.” His tone was sarcastic, and without even the smallest sliver of respect. Yun barely gave him any look, let alone any respect back.

“Then we’ll wait for any questions until the rest arrive.” Yun walked away and picked up his weapon.

“Are you a master of the sword, that I should learn from you?” Yun sighed inwardly.

“No.” He frowned, and his disdain grew.

“Are you a master of any weapon?”

“No. I am still learning.” The man rolled his eyes far enough back that he could see the whites of his eyes.

“Why am I even here then?” Yun lifted an eyebrow.

“Yes, why are you here?” He did not expect such a question thrown back at him.

“I was sent by the temple to learn from someone in this village. If it is from you, prove to me that you even have the qualifications to teach me.” He took his sword out of its sheath. Yun didn’t ready his blade, but looked at the seven others who stood off to the side, all with looks that ranged from contempt, and disdain, right along to complete disinterest.

“Are all of you of the same mind?” Most failed to respond, but three others nodded. Yun then turned his back on the swordsman.

“You may leave now. All of you. And be sure to tell Elder Qiyuan why I sent you back to the temple.”

“You will not fight me? Are you a coward?” Yun chuckled, and looked at him with a look that sent a shiver down his spine. He didn’t know why, but he suddenly had an image of death and despair in his mind as this ‘boy’ stared him down.

“The temple was to send me twelve students to teach. You are not them. Return and tell the temple why I refused to teach you.”

 

 

“Jian? Why are you leaving? Aren’t we supposed to be having lessons in this village?” Jian rolled his eyes.

“He’s worthless, Han. He won’t fight me, and he sent everyone back to the temple.” Han shrugged.

“Oh well, I guess what he was supposed to teach had no value. He must have conned the temple elders to set up this class with gold.” Jian frowned slightly, and wondered if he had made a horrible mistake. How could someone who had no masters to teach him, and had no mastery over a weapon, somehow pull the wool over all of the elders’ eyes?

 

 

“Jian? Why are you back so early?” Jian rolled his eyes at the acolyte.

“That supposed master the temple sent us to was worthless! He sent us all back without teaching us anything!” The gatekeeper frowned. The young man that he knew did not behave improperly while he was at the temple. How could he be worthless?

“Did he say anything to you before he sent you back?”

“He did tell me to report to Elder Qiyuan about why he sent us back, but I’m sure Elder Qiyuan is way too busy to deal with this kind of nonsense.” The gatekeeper smiled a small smile.

“Report to Elder Qiyuan personally, Jian. It was he who set up these classes.” Jian’s face paled.

“What? Oh no.” After he left, the gatekeeper smiled a bit wider.

“I can easily see the reason why Yun would send them back. I wonder if this was a test by the elder?”

 

 

“Jian, why have you returned so quickly?” Elder Qiyuan smiled softly. Jian relaxed. Maybe things were not as serious as he first thought.

“That teacher was not worth the temple’s efforts, Elder Qiyuan.” The elder lifted his eyebrows slightly.

“Oh, I see. Do tell me what happened.” Jian relaxed completely then.

“Myself, and seven others arrived not long after we were supposed to.” The elder held up his hand.

“Did not the number of the students come to twelve?” Jian nodded.

“That is true, but we met them on the way back to the temple. They were not that late.” The elder nodded, so he continued. “I asked the older man if he was the instructor, but he said he was also a student. He directed me to a much younger man who could barely grow a beard.” The elder chuckled softly. Yun was indeed young, as he was only sixteen. But he also took note of other things while Jian explained a few things.

“He was so young, I asked him if he was a master of the sword. He said he was not. So I asked if he mastered any other weapon. Again, he replied he did not. So I asked him to prove that he has the qualifications to teach us. I pulled my sword and challenged him, but he was too cowardly to accept my challenge.” He spoke with disdain this time, and not a little bit of respect.

“I see. Continue please. What did he do then?”

“Well, he asked if the rest were of the same mind, and while only three of my brothers agreed, the rest stayed silent. He then told us to leave.” Elder Qiyuan nodded with a small smile on his lips.

“I see. When did you meet the other four? It was on the way out of the village?” Jian shrugged.

“They did not manage to make it into the village, but we did meet Han at the entrance. The rest...I am not quite sure when we met them, although I am almost certain we were gathered at the same time to leave the temple.” Elder Qiyuan nodded again.

“Of course you were!”  He snapped out, and held onto his temper, but just barely.  He looked at one of the acolytes. “Summon the other elders that are present, and for those who are not, send them a summons.” He bowed deeply and left.

“Elder Qiyuan, I’m sure the elders can make a decision as to this boy’s actions and intentions without me present. I’ll be going.” Elder Qiyuan shook his head.

“Oh no, Jian, you shall not be going anywhere.” He heard the steel in the elder’s tone. “Your clan elder is still here. He will listen to the explanation you gave to me first.” Jian swallowed a lump.

“The clan elder? Elder Li is here?”  His voice rose by a notch, as did his fear.  Jian's earlier suspicion that he had done something very wrong continued to grow as a thin wiry looking man, with grey in his short goatee, entered the room.

“Of course I am here, Jian. This was an important thing for the temple. So tell me, why have you returned early? Did you already learn from Yun?” Jian was about to speak, but Elder Qiyuan spoke up.

“Elder Li. Please sit down. Let Jian explain the entire story to you.” He stared hard at Jian. “Exactly as you told me, Jian. Now.”

As Jian related his morning to his clan elder, he watched as his face grew red, the veins on his neck and forehead began to bulge, and his knuckles popped as his fists clenched.

“Now, Jian, before your clan elder loses his temper and beats you to death, let me tell you what mistakes you have made today.” Elder Qiyuan’s firm face only softened a bit as he smiled, but Jian noted that the smile sent a shiver down his spine. “Get ready to open your ears, Jian.” The elder stood up and looked down on him.

“Not only did you decide that our orders were not worthy enough to listen to, you showed extreme disrespect to someone whom we designated as your teacher!” Jian swallowed a lump.

“But he was not a master of any weapon!” His clan elder snapped his hand forward and slapped him hard on the cheek.

“Do not speak! Do you wish to add disrespect to Elder Qiyuan as well to your list of crimes?”

“Crimes?” The sound of the slap rang out loud again.

“Did you arrange the class for yourself? Did you hire the teacher? Or were you ordered to attend these classes on behalf of your clan and the temple?” Elder Li did not shout, but he might as well have.  Jian’s face paled as he realized only a small portion of what he had done. He bowed low to the earth.

“I am sorry, Clan Elder Li! Elder Qiyuan! I did not mean any disrespect to the elders or the temple, but this boy did not....argh!” Elder Li swung his foot out and kicked him in the shoulder. His aim was for his head, but he was so angry, his aim was off.

“You try to justify disrespect to your chosen teacher? WE chose the teacher! The gods chose the teacher! I shall not even tell you about the opportunity that you have wasted as you do not even deserve to know of the existence of the gods’ gifts!” Elder Qiyuan smiled again, but it was even frostier than before.

“Elder Li, do not be so harsh. Tell him what he has missed out on.” The clan elder nodded and took a deep breath. He knew the reason he was told to tell him. It would hurt that much more. He knelt in front of Jian and lifted his head from the floor.

“Jian, let me tell you what you have missed out on. This ‘boy’ that you disrespected and disdained as not having mastered a weapon yet....no, let him see the gift he gave the temple.” He looked up, and Elder Qiyuan nodded.  One of the acolytes ran to the temple’s vault in response to his gesture. Within five minutes, the acolyte returned, and handed Elder Qiyuan a long wooden case.

“Elder Li, I will hold it as I do not want the weapon baptized in blood.” He bowed his head and acknowledged that his anger was indeed that great. He opened the box and took out the weapon Yun had gifted to the temple. Elder Li explained it to him.

“This is the Wan Zhixing. The Night Killer is a weapon gifted to someone who came back from the gate, and he gifted it to us. But it was not only one gift that this so called ‘boy’ came home with!” Jian swallowed a lump in his throat, and he felt his world begin to crumble. “He learned how to perform skills without the compensation of his life, and had agreed to train those whom we chose to send! That is what you have done!” Jian began to stutter.

“W-w-w-without the c-c-c-com-pen-sation? How.....” Elder Li slapped his face hard again.

“You have disrespected at least two gifts of the gods, and forsaken your chance to learn from someone who may have spent a lifetime at the gate!” The elder looked behind him.  “Acolytes! Get my personal guards.”

 

 

“Forty lashes, and disabling of his hands. He gets to live his life as a lowly farm worker from now on. You should also break his knees so that he can not run away from his sentence.” Elder Li sighed sadly.

“He had so much potential, but became arrogant and immoral due to his own abilities. He looked down on those weaker then himself when he became strong, but before he was strong, he was also looked down upon. What about the others?” Elder Qiyuan stroked his beard.

“All of them were late. Four were so late, they didn’t even show up. The other seven showed their disrespect and disdain for our arrangement, even if they didn’t go overboard like Jian. What would be appropriate?”

“Forty lashes for all of them.” Elder Li said firmly. “They should be moved into the lowest of positions to show our distaste for their decisions, and actions.” Elder Qiyuan bowed slightly, to show his respect for his fellow elder, and the sentence.

“We must choose more carefully this time. How were we able to get twelve rejects when we looked carefully at the candidates?” Elder Li snorted.

“I think we chose based on family relationships, and clan standings.” He shook his head. “We can’t do that again. We’ll send notice to the individual clan heads, and let them know what their choices did. We’ll insist on some who may not have as great a lineage, but will be loyal to the temple, to their clans, then the country. If they can’t handle that, I’ll send word to a few other temples and get some students that way.” Elder Qiyuan smiled.

“The gods would expect no less of us.”