A new day began, and Yang Kai woke up.
He cleaned up, took the broom lying in the corner of his small room, and walked out. Standing at the front door, he stretched a little.
He looked up at the touch of grey in the dawn sky and closed his eyes, breathing in deeply. He enjoyed this moment of peace before reopening his eyes to start sweeping the ground, clearing away the dirt and leaves.
He was dressed in simple and clean black clothes. The faded color of his garments somehow highlighted the youth's loneliness and his years of isolation here.
Yang Kai's spine was as straight as a javelin, and his face carried a meticulous expression. Even though he was completing the lowest-ranked job, his actions were very calm.
He didn't exert much force on the broom, and his body didn't even move that much. With only the rotation of his wrist, the broom moved effortlessly. When his body moved, the dust and trash on the ground seemed to magically accumulate in one place around him, almost as if they had grown a pair of feet.
Yang Kai was High Heaven Pavilion's experimental disciple.
For three years he had trained in the sect, but he had only reached the Tempered Body Third Stage.
Meanwhile, the other disciples who had entered at the same time as him had long surpassed him and reached higher stages. They were all able to enter the inner sect, pay their respects to a master, and make advances toward their futures, while he could only lament his inadequacy in the outer court.
Reaching the Tempered Body Third Stage in three years could not be called bad or good; it was simply incredibly mediocre.
Helplessly, Yang Kai could only continue to sweep out here in the outer court, working hard to support himself and to continue his training.
High Heaven Pavilion was a very unique sect. This uniqueness was seen through the ruthless competition between its disciples.
Within the sect, the strong were treated like kings, while the weak were eliminated. The strong eat the weak; the law of the jungle was actively followed by everyone in High Heaven Pavilion.
In other sects, you might find friendly competition, brotherly bonds, and people working together to achieve the same goal.
But in High Heaven Pavilion, you would only find false bonds formed to use each other and rise in power. Stepping over each other's bodies was the only way forward.
Because of High Heaven's strict system, it was well-known throughout the entire Great Han Dynasty.
Although its territory was not very large, the brutal nature of its disciples made their might second to none.
Because each disciple was as fierce as a tiger, no one in the martial world dared to provoke them when they walked outside.
However, High Heaven Pavilion had one specific rule.
For fourteen-year-old disciples, the first three years after their acceptance were considered a testing phase. During these three years, all of the disciples' food, clothing, and shelter were provided by the outer court.
Disciples only needed to focus on cultivating. If they could break through the Tempered Body boundary within these three years, they would be able to enter the inner court to pay their respects to the elders and become their students.
Of course, one did not need to take a teacher and could practice on their own, but the difference between learning by oneself and having a master was massive. In a way, the High Heaven rules did offer some flexibility and freedom.
If a disciple failed to break through in those three years, they could either leave the sect or be demoted to an experimental disciple.
Experimental disciple was Yang Kai's current status. He was also High Heaven Pavilion's greatest shame.
Compared to normal disciples, their treatment was vastly different.
Experimental disciples had to provide for their own food, shelter, and clothing, as the outer court would no longer waste cultivating resources on such trash.
Once demoted to an experimental disciple, a person basically could never advance, unless they somehow managed to increase their cultivation level quickly. Only then would the sect allow them to attempt becoming a true disciple again.
The entire High Heaven Pavilion consisted of three thousand disciples, but the experimental disciples? You could count them on two hands.
Yang Kai had faith that he could become a true disciple!
Yet, fate had different plans for him today.
The sky gradually began to light up as he swept, cleaning the trails and clearing the dust from the courtyard.
Even though sweeping itself didn't use a lot of energy, having neither food nor drink since the morning while constantly moving left Yang Kai covered in sweat.
This had nothing to do with his strength; his physique was simply very poor. He went hungry for two out of his three daily meals. For anyone living like him, how could their physique be good?
He was already starving.
Gradually, High Heaven disciples began to surround him. These disciples had woken up early not to cultivate, but to look at him. They took great interest in Yang Kai, staring at him with avid gazes as if they were looking at a naked beauty. A sweet fragrance like juicy meat buns wafted through the air.
Among the Pavilion disciples gathered around Yang Kai, a tense competitive atmosphere filled the air. They looked at each other warily, their expressions unfriendly.
It was that time again.
Every five days, these disciples came. Not to cultivate. Not to train. But to use him as their personal punching bag.
At this moment, the people gathered around him spread out and surrounded him, leaving Yang Kai in the center. A tense atmosphere filled the space; it felt as if the air itself had stopped flowing.
A burly teenager stepped forward. Zhou Ding Jun, Tempered Body Fifth Stage. His grin was full of malice.
"Yang Kai, no need to resist. Just lie down and let me get this over with."
Chuckles rippled through the crowd. Someone added mockingly, "Yeah, don't waste our time, trash. We've got real training to do after this."
Yang Kai remained silent. He had heard these words too many times before. He picked up his broom and casually tossed it into the air. Dozens of pairs of eyes followed it, praying that luck would favor them. The broom spun before crashing onto the ground... pointing directly at Zhou Ding Jun.
Cheers erupted. The burly teen laughed heartily.
"Looks like today is my lucky day!"
The others groaned in disappointment.
"Damn it, I've been waiting three months for my turn."
"Shut up, at least we get a good show."
Yang Kai exhaled slowly, preparing himself. He could already feel the pain coming. He was weak. He knew it. He had no right to fight back.
And yet...
Something was different.
A dizzy spell hit him like a crashing tide. His vision blurred, and his knees buckled. The world around him distorted. The courtyard. The mocking voices. The morning breeze... all fading into silence.
Then, everything turned dark.
.........
The young man... or at least, what remained of him... floated as something pulled at him. A force... powerful and unrelenting. He felt it dragging him down, forcing him into a new vessel. His very being was compressed, reshaped, bound to something... someone else.
Then... pain.
A flood of memories not his own crashed into him.
The High Heaven Pavilion. The years of suffering. The countless beatings. The despair. The endless struggle.
It was like living another life in an instant.
A name surfaced in his mind like a ghost from the past.
Yang Kai.
And with that name, the young man... now Yang Kai... opened his eyes.
A sharp breath tore through his lungs. Yang Kai's body shuddered as he jerked awake, gasping for air. His fingers clawed at the dirt beneath him, his chest rising and falling erratically.
Pain. So much pain. His muscles screamed. His bones ached. Every inch of his body felt broken, bruised, and battered.
For a moment, he was disoriented. This wasn't his world.
Then the memories settled.
The High Heaven Pavilion. The brutal hierarchy. The constant beatings. The experimental disciple... his new status.
He had died. But he had been given a new body. A new chance.
A roar of laughter suddenly shook the air.
Yang Kai's... his... eyes lifted to see the crowd of disciples mocking him. The fight hadn't even started, yet he had already collapsed.
"Oi, Yang Kai, you giving up already?" Zhou Ding Jun's voice rang out.
Yang Kai exhaled slowly. Something was different now.
The old Yang Kai had lived in despair, in suffering. He had endured... but never lost hope.
Time continued to pass.
Suddenly, the melodious Pavilion bells sounded. The chimes reached the ears of all the disciples surrounding Yang Kai, startling them. The bells tolled nine times, and from the east, the sun rose.
It was a new day! Everyone's breathing calmed down as they helplessly watched Yang Kai slowly get back up. He calmly glanced at the people encircling him.
In the courtyard, the others spread out, leaving only Yang Kai and the burly teenager looking at each other.
"Experimental disciple Yang Kai, Tempered Body Third Stage!" Yang Kai introduced himself to his opponent.
"Ordinary disciple Zhou Ding Jun, Tempered Body Fifth Stage!" the burly teenager introduced.
High Heaven disciples were also strictly ranked.
From bottom to top were the ordinary disciples, lower base disciples, elite disciples, and core disciples. Zhou Ding Jun said that he was an ordinary disciple, which meant he had yet to pay his respects and didn't have a mentor.
If a disciple broke through the Tempered Body boundary and gained a mentor, their status would immediately become higher than ordinary disciples, becoming lower base disciples. And those elite disciples were selected from the best of the lower base disciples.
As for the core disciples, they were treated as the hope of the next generation of High Heaven Pavilion and thus cultivated accordingly.
The awe-inspiring disciple hierarchy, though it seemed unreasonable, successfully stimulated the younger generation into a fierce sense of competition, which was the foundation of the brutal Pavilion regime.
This hierarchy was the main reason why Yang Kai fought countless people. It was all due to another rule of High Heaven Pavilion: the Challenge Rule.