This time, Yan Liqiang waited a little longer, nearly an hour, before a man in his forties, wearing a light blue gown, came back in, stood at the door of the room, and looked at Yan Liqiang.
"Are you Yan Liqiang?"
Yan Liqiang stood up and said, "Yes, I am!"
"Come with me, I'll take you to complete the entry formalities!"
"Okay, thank you!" Yan Liqiang said, and followed the man out.
"If you want to join the Sword God Sect, there are some rules that I have to explain to you in advance!" The man walked while talking to Yan Liqiang with an expressionless and official attitude, and his attitude was arrogant. "The Sword God Sect recruits disciples, and each one is selected from ten thousand, and each one is outstanding. It is as difficult for ordinary people to join the Sword God Sect. You are able to join the Sword God Sect today. This is a blessing that you can only cultivate in several lifetimes. You can join the Sword God Sect not because of you, but because of the key you brought, which opened the gratitude lock. The Sword God Sect allowed you to join as a gratitude, which is to repay a drop of water with a spring. Now this gratitude has been repaid. After you join, you will be the same as other disciples of the Sword God Sect, without any specialness. You do what others do, and you eat, use, and wear what others wear. Whether you can mix in a little bit of human appearance depends on yourself, and has nothing to do with the key you brought today. If you make a mistake and violate the rules of the sect, the Sword God Sect will never tolerate you. Do you understand?"
"I understand. After joining the Sword God Sect, I am just an ordinary disciple. Everything must be done according to the Sword God Sect's rules!" Yan Liqiang nodded and said calmly.
“It’s good that you understand. There were people like you who came to the Sword God Sect before. There were some people who came from small places who had never seen the world and didn’t know the rules. After joining the Sword God Sect, they still didn’t understand the situation and didn’t know how to cherish. They wanted to be taken care of and treated specially. They didn’t work hard, had no qualifications, and had no strength. They stayed in the Sword God Sect for a few years but didn’t make any progress. Now they are just called outer disciples of the Sword God Sect and work as stewards in several manors under the Sword God Sect, dealing with the peasants. That’s how their lives will be!”
"Everyone has to walk their own path. No one can blame others for how things turn out in the end!"
"Hmm!" The man in the light blue gown snorted, "I'm glad you think so..."
After scolding Yan Liqiang twice, the man in the light blue gown stopped talking and walked with Yan Liqiang on the mountain road of the Sword God Sect. After walking for about twenty minutes, they arrived at a large courtyard.
The compound covers an area of more than ten acres. There is a sign hanging at the gate of the compound - Juying Courtyard. There is a seven-story attic in the middle of the compound.
The man in the light blue gown led Yan Liqiang directly into the attic. An old man in gray clothes in the attic hurried over, glanced at Yan Liqiang, and smiled humbly, "Manager Xue, are you recruiting new disciples today?"
"Well, you go through the entry procedures for him..."
"good… "
The so-called entry procedure was not complicated. It was just to register Yan Liqiang's name, age, and family hometown, and then take the fingerprints of Yan Liqiang's ten fingers, create a simple personnel file, look at Yan Liqiang's figure, and give Yan Liqiang two sets of identical gray clothes, shoes and socks and a book of "Sword God Sect Rules and Records".
Then, Manager Xue, who was wearing a light blue gown, took Yan Liqiang out of Juying Courtyard and continued walking. After more than 20 minutes, they came to a courtyard with a sign saying "Discipline Courtyard" and took Yan Liqiang directly to a row of houses behind the courtyard.
From the row of houses in the compound, the sound of a few young people reading could be faintly heard.
"The first commandment of the Sword God Sect is to disrespect one's teacher and ancestors, and to be disrespectful to one's teachers... The second commandment is to pass on one's skills to others, and to betray one's own... The third commandment is to kill one's fellow disciples, and to be disobedient and unfilial."
Manager Xue pushed open the door of the room where the sound of reading came from and walked in with Yan Liqiang.
The room was a large dormitory with eight beds placed side by side. In front of each bed was a table and a stool. When Yan Liqiang entered, there were four young men wearing the same grey clothes, ranging in age from fifteen or sixteen to around twenty years old. They were sitting on the stools in front of the beds, shaking their heads and reading aloud the "Sword God Sect Rules and Records" in their hands.
After seeing Manager Xue come in, the four people stopped at the same time. One of them quickly stood up and stood beside their respective tables with his hands clasped in a proper manner.
Manager Xue pointed to a bed in the room and said, "You sleep there. For the next half month, you will study the "Sword God Sect Rules and Regulations" here. After half a month, when you have learned all the rules of the Sword God Sect and know what you can and cannot do, we will arrange your place!" After saying this to Yan Liqiang, Manager Xue glanced at the young men standing aside and said, "Ma Liang..."
"Disciple is here!" The oldest of the four quickly stepped forward and responded.
"This guy is new here, teach him the rules!"
"Yes, please rest assured, Manager Xue..."
"Hmm..." After snorting, Manager Xue said nothing more and turned away.
As soon as Manager Xue left, the eyes of the four people in the room all fell on Yan Liqiang. They looked at Yan Liqiang curiously. The other three people were silent. Ma Liang came over, raised his chin, and looked down at Yan Liqiang with a condescending look. A look of jealousy flashed in his eyes. Whether it was Yan Liqiang's age or Yan Liqiang's extremely handsome face, it made him feel a little uncomfortable. "What's your name?"
"Yan Liqiang!"
"Where are you from?"
“Huzhou people!”
"It's not easy to join the Sword God Sect. All of us were selected from the various branches of the Sword God Sect. How did you get in?" The young man named Ma Liang had a smile on his face, but Yan Liqiang knew what this man was thinking.
Yan Liqiang smiled faintly, his talent for pretense bursting out again. He said lightly, "It's nothing, it's just that my grandfather knows an elder of the Sword God Sect. That elder said a word, and I came in. Two hours ago, I was not a member of the Sword God Sect..."
Seeing the man named Ma Liang's face change, as if he was choked for an instant, Yan Liqiang ignored him, and went straight to his bed with the clothes in his hands, put the things on the table, and started to pack up.
“Um… which elder introduced you to the Sword God Sect?” Ma Liang asked curiously.
“I’m sorry, Steward Xue just told me not to mention that elder’s name too much, not to seek special treatment in the Sword God Sect, to be low-key, and to consider myself an ordinary disciple of the Sword God Sect. Brother Ma, you just need to treat me as an ordinary disciple of the Sword God Sect, and don’t take too much care of me, otherwise Steward Xue will be unhappy if he finds out!”
“That’s… That’s… I’m just curious, just asking…” Ma Liang’s face was suddenly filled with smiles, and his attitude towards Yan Liqiang changed 180 degrees in an instant, becoming enthusiastic all of a sudden, “Brother Liqiang, if you have anything you don’t understand, just ask me directly. By the way, Brother Liqiang, now you are also a member of the Sword God Sect, you have to change your clothes. In the Sword God Sect, only core disciples and elders can wear whatever they want. Everyone else in the Sword God Sect has rules for what clothes to wear, and clothes cannot be casually worn…”
"Okay, then I'll change now..." There were several men in the room, and they probably lived together as a bunch of people these days. Yan Liqiang didn't shy away from anything. He took off his clothes in front of everyone and changed into a set of gray clothes he had just received.
The grey clothes were made of cotton and linen. The fabric was not good, but not too bad either. Once he put the clothes on and tied a grey belt, Yan Liqiang's outfit became the same as Ma Liang and the others.
"Hahaha, brother Liqiang is handsome. He looks good in any clothes!" Ma Liang also flattered Yan Liqiang.
"Does wearing this mean you are a disciple of the Sword God Sect?"
"This gray clothing is the attire of the Sword God Sect's outer disciples. To be more precise, it is the attire of the menial servants among the outer disciples. After we leave here in a few days, we will all do menial chores in the mountains..."
(End of this chapter)