"Good morning everyone," the sect master said, many students before him in the hall. "I've been paying attention to some of you and I've decided to have a change of pace today."

Hearing that the sect master was paying attention to some of them, Mei was jolted from her daydreams. She tried to put on her best "paying attention" look. Hopefully, he didn't mean the ones being lazy with cultivation, like her.

"Normally, we don't teach students this stuff until they reach the foundational stage, but I think I'll make an exception this time since I've heard a lot of students here are having trouble staying motivated cultivating."

Mei started to get a bit of cold sweat.

"Ahem. I will be getting a few combat instructors to teach you some fighting techniques."

Murmurs of approval passed through the hall, along with one cheer that quickly died off after realising no one else was cheering. Mei was a bit stunned but felt a surge of excitment.

Finally, what she was waiting for!

"Remember, it's still only a side thing though! You still have to cultivate if you want to learn stronger techniques." the sect master shook his head. "I will also be hosting a fighting tournament to help motivate you, disciples. If you cultivate diligently and get a good rank, there will be great prizes!"

The disciples cheered. Mei looked around and saw that Liu Qiang and Yingyi seemed quite excited too. The nerve! Didn't Yingyi make fun of her for "reading too much xianxia"? He was just as excited!

Xiuying and Wang Wei didn't seem as interested, however. Xiuying looked quite reluctant, while Wang Wei seemed a bit nervous. Hah... nobles... too protected to have the guts to fight.

Mei ignored the little voice in her head telling her she had never been in a fight either.

"Haha, this will be fun!" Liu Qiang grinned. "I might not look like it, but I've gotten into a lot of fights when I was younger!"

"Is that really something to brag about?" Yingyi asked.

"I'm not bragging. Just saying." said Liu Qiang.

"Hmph, It won't be that easy!" Wang Wei said, albeit still sounding nervous. "We might have the same talent, but you're not as hardworking so you're still at the late stage of qi gathering!"

Mei: ...

"Hah! If you're good at fighting, I'm sure you can bridge a few stage gaps!" Liu Qiang said confidently. "And I can just cultivate more to catch up!"

"Bring it on!"

Mei didn't understand why Wang Wei was trying to pick a fight despite not actually wanting to fight but figured it was just some of weird noble behaviour.

"Disciples!" said the sect master.

The hall quietened.

"If you've discussed enough, let's head off."

Before her eyes, there was a huge temple of sorts. The tiles that made up its roof were a glossy black, the walls painted red, the pillars and windows jade green. It was very pretty.

What was most eye-catching though was the board with the words 武功 carved neatly into it stuck on it. There were also swords, staffs, spears, axes and other weapons attached beside the board.

Could those secretly be very powerful weapons hidden there? But judging from everything else in the sect thus far, they were most likely just wooden decorations. But that wasn't very fun so Mei decided to just pretend they were real weapons.

"Go to the rooms with the weapons you're interested in and try them out there." the sect master said. "The instructors won't be teaching you yet today, but you can pick one you like and bring it back to your dorms. Have fun!"

Wasn't that kind of dangerous? But then again, most cultivators probably had a few weapons in their storage ring at all times, she supposed.

"What weapon are you going with?" Xiuying asked Mei, to her surprise.

"Hmm? Why did you ask me?" said Mei.

"Well... you're the only girl in our group. And you seemed to know more about fighting so I felt more comfortable seeing what you were picking?"

That was fair. Though she had no combat experience either.

"Hmm..." Mei thought for a bit. "Maybe an axe?"

She did have some experience using an axe for chopping firewood. And she heard they were pretty good weapons.

"Uh... an axe... yeah..." Xiuying seemed taken back. "I don't know, just doesn't feel very lady-like?"

"Well, then what weapon would you consider lady-like?" Mei was a bit annoyed.

"I don't know."

There was a bit of awkward silence.

"We should go catch up with the other guys." Xiuying broke the silence as she saw Wang Wei walk into the temple along with the other two.

Mei nodded before following.

"So what weapon are you guys thinking of picking?" Xiuying asked them.

"Sword."

"Sword."

Yingyi and Wang Wei said that at the same time and looked at each other, surprised.

"You know what? Maybe I'll pick something else." Yingyi sounded quite miffed.

Wang Wei ignored him.

"I think I'm going with the axe. Swords are cool and all, but I heard they're more of side weapons than main weapons in real life." Liu Qiang said.

Huh, really? Mei was a bit surprised. Well, maybe cultivation added some new techniques to make them more powerful?

"I guess I'll try the axe then," Yingyi said.

"Wh-what? I'll go with the axe too then." Wang Wei stuttered.

Yingyi clicked his tongue.

"Ah... Mei wanted to go with the axe too..." Xiuying mumbled. "I was actually thinking of either the sword or the spear, but since all of you are going with the axe... I guess I will too."

"You don't really have to, you know?" Liu Qiang said. "Axes aren't the only practical weapon out there. I heard spears and polearms are really good too."

"It's still nice to have the whole group trying out the same weapon! Axe buddies?" said Xiuying.

They walked over to the room with an axe and the character 斧 over it. Mei couldn't help but reach up and try to touch it to see if it was real.

It was unfortunate she wasn't tall enough.