nycdaug Chapter 70 Closed-Door Disciple
Chapter 70 Closed-Door Disciple
On the stage, Huang Hong remained calm and composed on one side, while Bai Hao lay on the ground panting. The outcome was obvious.
In fact, many people had already foreseen the outcome of the battle halfway through. If the two were evenly matched at the beginning, Huang Hong showed terrifying growth as the battle continued, and by the later stages of the battle, it had become a one-sided crushing defeat.
Even a martial arts master like Xie Juxia could see that Huang Hong had been holding back, but even so, it was undeniable that Huang Hong's progress in battle was remarkable.
Xie Juxia looked around and said with a smile, "Well, do any of you still have any doubts?"
The group of martial arts experts didn't say much; they were all busy with their own little schemes.
Xie Juxia saw through it but didn't say anything. He nodded slightly to Huang Hong and stopped speaking.
Staff members carried Bai Hao away to treat his injuries. Although his injuries appeared severe, they were not actually broken bones. Given a martial artist's physique, it wouldn't take long for him to recover.
By this point, all the members of the various factions participating in the Hundred Alliances Gathering understood Huang Hong's power and terror, so naturally no one was willing to step onto the arena to be humiliated, not even those martial artists who were obsessed with fighting.
After all, there is a big difference between a thrilling battle and a one-sided crushing defeat.
After waiting for a while and seeing that no one was going up on stage, Huang Hong stopped trying to embarrass himself and leisurely walked off the stage back to his original seat.
As soon as Huang Hong sat down, many people came up to chat with him. After seeing that he was gentle and did not refuse them obviously, more and more people gradually gathered around him.
Huang Hong was certainly not adept at this level of social interaction, but having graduated from university and spent some time in society, he could manage to cope.
Once they had gotten to know each other well, Huang Hong finally managed to quiet down the area around him, citing his desire to watch the battle more closely.
Unfortunately, perhaps because of Huang Hong's previous brilliant battles, the subsequent battles were rather lackluster, and even the fighters on the stage seemed distracted.
What Huang Hong regrets even more is that those young talents from powerful schools who were originally highly anticipated to appear on the last day did not take the stage in the end due to various concerns.
Even so, Huang Hong still reaped considerable rewards.
He looked at the more than forty common quality and more than twenty rare quality skills that had appeared in his skill bar, and a satisfied smile appeared on his face.
It cost Huang Hong 60,000 to 70,000 energy points just to upgrade all these skills to the maximum level, but their impact on Huang Hong's strength was more than double!
As darkness fell, the day's martial arts demonstration came to an end.
Just as Huang Hong was about to get up to find his grandfather to discuss the upcoming itinerary, a man dressed as a butler came to his side and respectfully said, "Young Master Huang, my master invites you."
Huang Hong looked at him suspiciously and asked, "Who is your master?"
The butler was clearly taken aback, but quickly recovered and said with a smile, "It was my fault for forgetting to introduce myself. My apologies. Thank you for inviting me, Master Xie."
Huang Hong nodded slightly. Now that he was sharp of hearing and sight, he quickly realized from the whispers around him that he had made a mistake.
He looked at the butler's chest, where a flowing white cloud was embroidered, a symbol of the Southern Dipper Flowing Cloud Fist, whose current master was none other than Xie Juxia.
Anyone with a normal sense should understand who extended the invitation upon seeing this white cloud logo.
Huang Hong nodded slightly to Huang Yi, who was not far away, before following behind the butler.
Before long, the two arrived at a small wooden house. The butler did not continue, but bowed slightly, made a gesture of invitation, and left directly.
Huang Hong arrived at the cabin and gently knocked on the door.
"Please come in."
Huang Hong recognized Xie Juxia's voice, so he pushed open the door and went in.
The cabin wasn't large, and there weren't many people inside. Besides the martial arts experts who had been on the uppermost platform, there were three more people. Without exception, they all exuded a powerful martial arts aura, the kind that made you know they were very strong at a glance.
Of course, Xie Juxia is an exception; he possesses a kind of back-to-basics quality that makes it difficult to discern his true nature.
Upon seeing Huang Hong's arrival, everyone in the room showed expressions of either confusion or surprise.
However, soon, those who had witnessed Huang Hong's performance, including Tang Hui, all showed him friendly smiles. Bai Chang laughed particularly loudly, which left the three who had just arrived somewhat puzzled.
However, Xie Juxia's words quickly brought the friendly atmosphere in the room to an abrupt end.
Then Xie Juxia looked at Huang Hong with a smile and asked bluntly, "Would you be willing to become my last disciple?"
The stone stirred up a thousand waves, and everyone in the room showed expressions of disbelief.
Bai Chang shouted, "Boss Xie, you can't do this! You're breaking the rules!"
Xie Juxia ignored him, simply smiling as he looked at Huang Hong, awaiting his reply.
Without the slightest hesitation, Huang Hong quickly went to the table, poured a cup of tea, and then respectfully knelt before Master Xie, raising the tea above his head and saying, "Master, please accept my bow."
Xie Juxia's smile widened. Although he didn't care about such trivial matters, he was naturally happy from the bottom of his heart that his disciple was so obedient.
This land has always valued orderly succession, and there is a huge gap between direct disciples and nominal disciples. The former are as close as father and son, while the latter are no different from teachers and students in a private school.
Furthermore, there are additional considerations for closed-door disciples.
The last disciple is the last student accepted by the master. After that, the master retires and no longer accepts direct disciples. Instead, the disciples take on grand-disciples as the next generation of disciples.
Generally speaking, the last disciple is the master's most beloved and favored disciple, and therefore holds a special position among all disciples.
Since Master Xie said he would make Huang Hong his last disciple, it proves that he likes Huang Hong.
However, this is normal. Given Huang Hong's performance on the stage today, no one who saw him felt that he was unworthy of being the closed-door disciple. The reason for the surprise was simply that things happened too suddenly.
Seeing that the apprenticeship was a done deal, the group of people who had little hope of taking Huang Hong under their wing offered their congratulations first.
"Congratulations! Master Xie, you have found such a fine disciple; truly, your legacy continues!"
"That's right. With Master Xie's teaching abilities, he might surpass us old guys in just a few years!"
"Hahaha! With Junior Nephew Huang's talent, he has the potential to become a Grandmaster in the future. We should really let our sons learn more from Junior Nephew Huang."
"..."
Everyone chatted and laughed, creating a harmonious atmosphere. Only Bai Chang was sulking. He genuinely wanted to recruit Huang Hong into the Fierce Tiger Fist and had even prepared the conditions. He was just waiting to talk to Huang Hong alone after the meeting, but unexpectedly, Xie Juxia intercepted his plan.