Martial Hero Rebirth

Chapter 20: Oppressed new disciples

"I really admire your courage. You actually dared to step up again!"

Looking at Yu Hai who was walking up to the stage, the old disciple jokingly said, "Aren't you afraid of failure and be embarrassed in front of so many people?"

Yu Hai had a serene expression, yet desire for battle could be seen in his eyes, "I am never afraid of failure. Only by fighting people stronger than me can make me even stronger."

"You mean I will be your stepping stone?" The old disciple's expression became grave suddenly.

"You can understand it that way."

Yu Hai replied flatly.

"Good, good, good! You groups of new disciples, none of you have real capabilities, yet each one of you is more arrogant compared to the one before!"

The eyes of the old disciple seemed to be spewing out fire. He tried to suppress his anger by smiling.

Yu Hai didn't answer him, but drew his sword instead.

"Please enlighten me!"

"I will definitely teach you how to behave properly!" The old disciple smiled eerily while unsheathing his sword.

Seeing this, Yu Hai attacked!

As his body moved, his sword moved as well.

Fast as lightning, his sword light left a blur in the midair.

His sword was already in front of the old disciple.

He struck with his full strength.

Such a fast sword made the old disciple's heart sank instantly.

His heart thumped. He felt he could capsize in a ditch[1].

He lifted his spirit, trying to see this attack clearly.

His sword slid across.

The old disciple didn't manage to see the sword clearly. However based on his wonderful experience, his body dodged instinctively and escaped this attack.

A look of disappointed flickered in Yu Hai's eyes.

"Good, good, good! You almost got me there!"

Having managed to dodge this attack, the old disciple was dripping with cold sweat. Just as he was about to lift his spirit by giving a lesson to Yu Hai to vent his anger,

"I admit defeat, you have won!"

Yu Hai suddenly threw in the towel, turned his body and left the stage.

""

The old man stared at Yu Hai's back dumbfoundedly and was left speechless. He took a deep breath afterwards. Being unable to vent his anger made him stifled and dizzy.

The stifle almost me him fell ill.

After fighting for who-knew-how-many battles in lower courtyard, he had never seen someone like Yu Hai who only used one attack and admitted defeat directly if it missed.

This was simply depriving the chance of retaliating or venting one's anger.

Though he had won, the old disciple didn't feel much sense of achievement.

Instead, it was even more depressing compared to when he lost.

The old disciple who was staring at Yu Hai's back unexpectedly didn't let out any ridicule words.

The new disciple present were unable to see through this. They only knew Yu Hai admitted defeat after his attack missed. All of them were thoroughly disappointed.

"Oh no, we are finished. Even Yu Hai has lost!"

"How could Yu Hai lose? How could he lose?"

"Well, why couldn't he lose?"

"The problem is he admitted defeat after only one attack!"

"His ability lies in his fast and unpredictable sword, achieving results in one attack. If he is unable to achieve results in one attack, then he don't need to fight anymore. His first attack is extremely important. If he cannot achieve any results in one attack, that means he has lost. Someone like him whose sword moves with the side stroke[2] should be like this. Otherwise if everyone is like him, then everyone is expert already!"

"Ai, even Jiang Xiaoyu and Yu Hai was defeated. Who else can put these guys into order? I fear our generation will become the laughingstock of the entire lower courtyard."

"This situation is depressing indeed!"

The new disciples were all depressed. All of them kept sighing. Even the top hundred new disciples didn't have much fighting spirit left as each of them kept sighing as well.

Kacha!

The door of the second courtyard opened suddenly.

Everyone was surprised for a moment, then exclaimed after seeing the youth who walked out from the second courtyard.

"It's Han Bai!"

"The genius youth, Han Bai!"

"Will Han Bai finally take action?"

"Han Bai!" "Han Bai!" "Han Bai!"

A lot of new disciples exclaimed and cheered.

Han Bai seemed to be very popular.

However, he remained indifferent, seemingly didn't hear the cheers from the crowd. He walked past the passage made out by the crowd expressionlessly.

He walked to the front of Jiang Xiaoyu and Yu Hai.

"So even both of you have lost as well? Seems like that guy on the stage has some skills after all!" Han Bai remained coldly.

"Hmph!" Jiang Xiaoyu sneered, seemingly didn't want to talk more with Han Bai, "Even if it's you, you will still get the same result, even if you are the so-called genius youth."

Han Bai was silent and didn't answer him. If someone said he was a genius youth before, he would think of it as a praise. However since Lin Yi had defeated him, he started to face the cold reality.

The title genius youth' had become a stain in his life.

Whoever said this to him, he would feel that person was mocking him instead.

"Han Bai, that guy's fighting style is similar to yours. Now you have met your opponent!" Compared to Jiang Xiaoyu's frigid irony and scorching satire[3], Yu Hai let out a smile instead.

Facing someone stronger than him, Yu Hai would always give his respect.

He was different from Jiang Xiaoyu in this point. Jiang Xiaoyu was someone who couldn't distinguish right from wrong. Whoever had bad relations with him, he wouldn't give that person face.

"Opponent? I am really looking forward to it. Let me try the strength of old disciples then!"

Han Bai chuckled. Desire for battle was building up within him.

In fact, he valued this thing called glory.

He felt he had the responsibility to protect the glory of new disciples.

Who told him to have assumed to position of first rank, which was second now, among top hundred disciples before

Someone strong, in addition to enjoying fame, should take up the his/her responsibility.

Han Bai was precisely someone like that.

Even if he wasn't their match, he still wanted to go up to the stage, to defend the glory of new disciples, to fight for the glory of new disciples.

Holding his sword, he went up to the stage.

"Ranked two among top hundred new disciples, Han Bai requests pointers from Senior Brother."

"You are Han Bai?" The old disciple took a deep look at him then laughed loudly, "I have heard of you before. When you, the genius youth, entered Huashan's lower courtyard, your fame has spread throughout the entire lower courtyard."

"Hehe, let me see, you as a genius youth, after practising Huashan Swordplay for more than a month, just how much have you progressed and how much is your capabilities?"

The old disciple then drew his sword. His expression turned into a serious one, seemingly became even fiercer than before.

Han Bai, similarly, drew his sword. He seemed to have changed into a sharp sword which was ready to show off his abilities.

Each time they clashed would cause sword lights to flicker.

Their sword lights and silhouettes traversed throughout the stage.

Both of them were like raging waves in the sea which would set up tides and storms.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Dazzling sparks lit up between the two of them. This was the spark generated by the collision of their swords.

In a blink of eye, they had exchanged tens of moves. Both of them were neck and neck.

"That fellow, Han Bai, seems to be even more skillful in his sword techniques. I fear his Huashan Swordplay has reached advanced stage already." Jiang Xiaoyu stared with wide eyes and exclaimed, however he felt something was wrong, then abruptly shut his mouth with an overcast expression.

"Yeah, his sword techniques have matured a lot. Seems like we are not the only one progressing. The others are making progress as well!" Yu Hai nodded then sighed, "What Senior Brother Lin Yi said is right. Practising martial arts is akin to moving in a river against its current, either progress or regress. A day without progress and we will be surpassed by the others."

"Cheh, stop talking these useless things. I, Jiang Xiaoyu, firmly believe that I will progress faster than all of you and surpass all of you one day!" Jiang Xiaoyu twitched his mouth. His eyes, however, kept staring at the two persons who was battling on the stage.

Yu Hai shook his head and refrained from laughing, but he didn't speak anything more.

Compared to Jiang Xiaoyu's juvenile personality, Yu Hai was like an adults who was more mature and steady.

The personality and sword techniques of both of them were simply the complete opposite of each other.

Jiang Xiaoyu was lively and differentiated love and hate clearly, yet his sword techniques were calm and steady.

Yu Hai was calm and steady yet his sword techniques were extremely fast.

Probably this was what people meant by each person had their own extreme sides.

Yu Hai and the old disciple were neck and neck on the stage, causing everyone to lift up their battle spirits and trace of hope lit up in their eyes.

"Now that Han Bai has taken action, he could probably defeat those old guys, right?"

"Han Bai, defeat him!"

"Han Bai, I have faith in you!"

"All of us have faith in you!"

Han Bai turned a deaf ears to the cheers and cries below as he was deeply focused in the battle against the old disciple.

Both their sword techniques seemed to stem out of the same path.

They seemed to be carved out from the same mold.

Both their attacks were swift, fierce and raged like raging waves.

One move followed another, just like never-ending tide.

Han Bai battled happily and with all his efforts.

Fighting against this old disciples made him feel the fun of fighting.

Both their attack style were the same and they both used Huashan Swordplay as well.

One move from me and one move from you.

He was overwhelmed by this feeling.

Compared to fighting against Lin Yi, Han Bai preferred to fight against this old disciple.

It was too stifling when fighting against Lin Yi. He would get the stifle feeling when fighting Lin Yi as he was unable to fight to his heart's content.

However, as time passed.

After they had exchanged a hundred moves.

Han Bai's lack of fighting experience was gradually exposed as he started to show more openings.

Then, he was gradually at disadvantage.

At this moment, all new disciples felt their heart sank.

However, the miracle they wished for didn't happen.

After exchanging two hundred moves, Han Bai made more mistakes when confronting his opponent, exposing more openings, causing his storm-like attacks to disappear. Even when the old disciple sent out tens of attacks, he was unable to counter even one of them.

In the end, after two hundred and sixty moves, Han Bai exposed a huge opening. The old disciple grabbed the opportunity, let out an attack which sent Han Bai's sword flying.

Defeated.

Han Bai was defeated!

The new disciples were as dumb as wooden chickens watching all of this. All of them felt despair to the extreme.

None of them were actually able to defeat the old disciple.

The old disciple who was clearly the weakest among the three old disciples had actually defeated all of them!

They were completely crushed.

"Haha, so this is the genius youth, Han Bai, whom you placed your hopes upon? Hehe, he has lost! Lost under my hands!"

"You group of weak chickens, accept your fate!"

"Your generation is the worst of all!"

"You group of new disciples, compared to us, are far too weak!"

The old disciple stood on the stage, laughed incessantly. His mocking expression was clearly seen by everyone.

Everyone was silent as they didn't know how to refute or counter.

Even the second ranker had lost!

The defeat had thoroughly broken their hearts and caused them to be utterly despaired!

"SHUT UP!"

A shout rang among the group of new disciples.

The one who shouted was none other than Jiang Xiaoyu.

With enraged expression, he shouted angrily, "We haven't lost. We still have Senior Brother Lin Yi! Once Senior Brother Lin Yi takes action, all of you, old disciples, will be beaten thoroughly and scram!"

Everyone woke up after hearing Jiang Xiaoyu's shouts, and clamored suddenly.

"That's right, we still have Senior Brother Lin Yi!"

"Once Senior Brother Lin Yi goes up on the stage, no one can stop him!"

"What's so great about being old disciples? Facing Senior Brother Lin Yi, all of you will be beaten and taught how to behave properly!"

"Hehe" The old disciple on the stage sneered, "Since your so-called Senior Brother Lin Yi is so powerful, then tell him to come out!"

[1] , to fail miserably in an easy task.

[2] , unexpected winning move, unconvetional gambit

[3] , to mock and ridicule

update: the ranks of one hundred strongest disciples will be changed into top hundred disciples

After considerations, i end up choosing top hundred disciples.

The ranks of one hundred strongest disciples

• provides detailed explanation
• too long to type and read

Top hundred disciples

•  somewhat ambiguous, since it doesn't define on what basis the rank is
• easier to read and write
• personal preference