Chapter 43 Punishment

  White, black, red, green and yellow are five levels, representing the degree of excavation of one's own potential by the stick holder. Meng Yuanhou did not paste this symbol on the stick before, he had his own reason: it was too early to let the disciples understand their own strength, people with poor performance may lose confidence, and simply give up the monthly martial arts competition, no longer practicing hard.

  Meng Yuanhou's judgment was especially accurate when it came to Xin You Tao. The prince had always thought that the strength he could muster was not just 80% or 90%, but 110% or 120%. What made him extremely disappointed was that after exerting himself and swinging his staff three times, the staff only turned a somewhat impure black color, indicating that he had unleashed more than 20% but less than 40% of his potential.

  The good side is that Xin Youtao discovered his own potential was still quite deep, the bad side is he could only dig out a small part of it.

  "How could this be?" Xin Youtao was extremely shocked and didn't know whether he should be happy or worried.

  "It's my turn." Xia Qiu gave Xin Yu Tao a reminder, then swung his stick, the rod quickly changed from white to black, merging with the last darkness of dawn, and stayed for a moment before turning red. By the time the stick was close to his opponent, part of it had already turned green.

  "I give up." Usually fine, now with a straightforward judging standard, Xin Yutao has no fighting spirit, throws down his club and surrenders.

  The opponent was too weak, and Xiao Qiu couldn't bring out his due level, so he had to put away his staff and go to the side to watch others compete.

  Many people, like Xin Youtao, underestimate their own potential and overestimate their efforts. They think they have given it their all, but the results are only mediocre, with some even being subpar. After stopping, the color won't fade immediately, leaving them to hold onto their work in shame, awaiting the teacher's criticism.

  White, black, red, green and yellow are the five levels. Less than half of the people's sticks turned red, more than 20 people were in various shades of green, no one reached yellow, not even the five Taoist disciples.

  Xiao Qiu was delighted to see that the young men of Yelin Town were all working hard, and even the worst among them had a part of their staffs turning red. Fangfang and Shen Hua's staffs were deep red, while Erliang Shen Xiuwei's staff had even turned green, surpassing Xiao Qiu's own level of purity. This made him so happy that he couldn't close his mouth.

  The siblings from Mount Furong, the Pei family, were also outstanding. Xiao Qingtao was normally timid and cowardly, but this time he surprisingly turned his staff into a light red color. If not for his inexplicable retreat at the last moment, the color would have been even deeper.

  The staffs of the five Taoist disciples were all bright red, and Shen Gang was nothing out of the ordinary, his opponent was too weak.

  The first round of martial arts ended, and Meng Yuanhou shook his head, "Bad, too bad, it can't get any worse than this. Some of you should stay here for a few more months. I hope that after eating breakfast, your strength will be a bit greater."

  He picked out fifty children to participate in the second round of martial arts, and when he selected the last few people, he seemed very reluctant. "Alas, there is only such a small piece of pale red color, it would be better if it could be as red as your face."

  Some people lamented the criticism of Doushita, while others didn't care and were even more relaxed for not making it to the second round, heatedly debating who would be the ultimate winner.

  Shen Gang and Xiao Qiu are still the most promising, many people believe that if these two meet, they will bring out more potential.

  At the dinner table, Xia Qiu revealed a secret that Xin Youtao had confided in her - Shen Geng was going to "go all out" in today's martial arts competition.

  "What's going on? Didn't everyone come with their true strength? Who intentionally hid their power?" Xia Qingtao said, then remembered her own retreat at the last moment and felt extremely regretful.

  "It's another lie made up by Xin Youtao." Er Liang Shen Xiu concluded on horseback, "I saw Little Autumn Brother let Xin Youtao win three moves, this time he can't ask for the dagger again. Look, he's coming... Hmm, strange..."

  They found it strange that it was already a bit late, and many people's eyes were fixed on Shen Geng's table, whispering to each other.

  Xin Youtao had anticipated that his poor performance would be criticized by his companions, but Shen Gang's approach still shocked him - his position was gone, and sitting there was another child who had performed well in the just-concluded martial arts competition.

  Xin Yutao didn't know why he still had to walk over, but his feet moved involuntarily, and a habitual smile still appeared on his face. "Shen Geng fellow Daoist, I just spoke with Meng Du, he admitted that Pang Shan is not particularly skilled at Fu Lu, there might be mistakes..."

  Shen Geng quietly ate his meal, when his younger brother Shen Ji raised his head and said: "Please ask Xin Dao friend to change places to eat, we are not fellow travelers on the same road, and in the future there will be no opportunity to travel together."

  Xin Yutao's smile froze, he had been warned that if his performance was too poor, he would be kicked out of the circle. But he always felt that his treatment should be different from others, because he was a prince, and in these days, he generously gave gifts, which was not inferior to the largest buyer in Xijicheng.

  But he still lost his place like ordinary people, how much he hated the status of ordinary people.

  Xin Yutao's stiff smile changed slightly as he pretended to relax and said: "Whatever, I don't care, as long as you..."

  Xianyi lowered his head to eat, and this table was already ignored by the standing Western prince.

  Xin Yutao walked towards the village woman who was delivering food, he thought of Mu Xingqiu's approach more than half a month ago and felt that he still had a way to save face. However, he overestimated his endurance, before even reaching the place, his willpower collapsed, and he suddenly ran out of the cafeteria, not showing up again for the entire morning.

  "He's really pitiful." Xiao Qingtuo said sympathetically, trying her best to lower her voice, not daring to let the people at the next table hear.

  "It serves you right." Er Lang Shen said what he truly thought.

  It ended like this. Xin Youtao had never truly and sincerely made friends with anyone, so no one was really sad for him, let alone resentful on his behalf.

  Xiao Qiu even felt that the whole thing was full of irony. Xin Yu Tao had a mouthful of profound theories about making friends and socializing, yet when it came to his own actions, he was ridiculously simple-minded. Had he never thought that as a Daoist who sought simplicity in everything, including eating, how could he possibly be interested in the clothes and gold and silver he gave away?

  Not long after dinner, the second round of martial arts began. All the children except Xin Yutao came to the courtyard, fifty contestants stood in groups, and the other children stood under the eaves as spectators.

  Xiao Qiu actively walked towards Shen Geng, hoping to "get real" sooner. Halfway through, he was intercepted by Meng Yuanhou, who instructed him to push him in front of Shen Zi without giving any explanation.

  "A stronger opponent can often bring out more potential, you all passed the first round, now it's time to use more strength, whoever performs worse than before breakfast —" Meng Yuanhou swept a circle with his sharp eyes, "I'll let him carry a stick to participate in the entrance ceremony."

  Onlookers burst into laughter, fifty martial artists looked serious and secretly began to build up their strength, no one wanted to lose face when they officially entered the door, that would be ridiculed for a lifetime.

  "Let's start!"

  The children shouted and confronted each other, Xia Qiu was the same, his voice louder than anyone else. In front of him, Shen Yi stood still, lips tightly closed, the stick in his hand lightly swung, white and black flashed by, and turned into deep red in an instant.

  Koharu's baton has also entered its red phase.

  The two sticks intersected, evenly matched in strength and momentum. Shenyi was indeed much stronger than Xinyu Tao, and Xiao Qiu even felt a numbness in his palm. His fighting spirit surged up, and he continued to shout loudly as the sticks rained down on his opponent like raindrops.

  Meng Yuanhou walked among the young men, his staff often brushing against their sleeves as he shook his head and sighed. He was stingy with praise for anyone's staff techniques. "If you practiced for a few more months... You should learn some skills instead of just wildly hitting like monkeys - hit hard! If you don't have skill, then you must be stronger than others in your fighting spirit!"

  The young men all learned a set of stick techniques and also explored some skills in their daily comparisons, which were not worth mentioning in the eyes of the masters.

  The martial competition continued, and Meng Yuanhou drove those who performed poorly into the crowd of onlookers, leaving only the disciples with red clubs, regardless of whether they won or lost in the fight.

  After a moment, there were only two people left on the field - Xiao Qiu and Shen Yi.

  The two sticks had now turned green, and each of them had taken a few blows, but neither of them showed any sign of giving up. Instead, they fought even more fiercely. Xia Qiu was no longer shouting loudly, but gritted her teeth and glared with her eyes wide open. Shen Yi had also lost the elegance and calmness of a Taoist disciple, his cheeks flushed bright red, and his eyes were about to burst out of their sockets.

  Meng Yuanhou finally nodded, "Look, this is what I want. Not giving up, advancing bravely forward. Do you think this only applies to fighting? The path of cultivation goes against the heavens, without this kind of determination, how can one go further?"

  The children murmured in agreement, their attention fully focused on the two martial artists, feeling that they were not just evenly matched, but actually bitter enemies.

  Xian himself had a swollen bump on his forehead, Xiao Qiu's stomach was hit by a stick and almost fell down, the two were really fighting to the death, one end of the stick even showed a faint yellow color.

  "Be more ruthless." Meng Yuanhou circled around the two children non-stop, "You still have strength left, use all your power."

  Xiao Qiu's staff had completely turned light yellow, and the onlookers cheered in unison. Xiao Qiu was the first person to achieve this step, as even Shen Gang had only managed to get half of his staff to display a faintly visible yellow color before.

  Shen Ji's expression didn't change, but a hint of panic began to appear in his eyes. He was used to seeing the elegant and refined bearing of Taoist priests, but he had never seen anyone as ruthless as Xiao Qiu.

  Meng Yuanhou suddenly appeared between the two of them, easily separating them: "It's over, both of you have passed, take a rest and continue in the afternoon."

  Half an hour later, Xia Qiu applied the highly effective wound medicine and her body was fully recovered. She could now enthusiastically exchange experiences with her companions.

  At noon, Shen Gang did another unexpected thing: his nose was blue and swollen, standing behind him, neither treating the wound nor being allowed to sit down for dinner.

  He was punished by his brother for showing a losing move in the final moment of a martial arts match.

  "Isn't Shěn Jǐ already good enough? Shěn Gēng's requirements are too high, aren't they?" Liǎng èr Liáng Shěn Xiū Wéi also felt that Shěn Gēng was being too harsh. In fact, the color of Shěn Jǐ's club wasn't inferior to his older brother's.

  The entire dining hall was filled with the sound of people chewing their food, and Er Lang's voice was almost a whisper.

  Xiao Qiu didn't make a sound, the strict requirements of the Daoist sect's disciples left a deep impression on him, and he began to believe that Shen Geng was indeed "coming in earnest" today.

  (Collection needed, recommended)