A jolt went through Gu Yuan, his hairs standing on end, a sense of danger prickling at his heart. His body, like a coiled spring, lunged forward, then spun around to face the person behind him.
He found the imposing man from last night staring at him, bewildered. Gu Yuan offered an embarrassed chuckle and, acting as if nothing had happened, walked up to Wang Hu, asking, "What do we do now?"
Wang Hu's mouth twitched. Looking at the smiling Gu Yuan before him, he couldn't help but feel a bit speechless. What was this kid's deal? He just wanted to pat his shoulder, was such a strong reaction necessary? And this was a large square, with so many people, what could he possibly do to him?
Sighing inwardly, and feeling curious gazes from all directions, he quickly said, "Follow me. Stay close."
With that, he left the entrance of Tianhai Square and headed towards a residential area opposite.
Gu Yuan quickly followed.
Along the way, the imposing man briefly introduced himself as Wang Hu. His cultivation technique was the Steel Claw Fierce Tiger Style, a ferociously brutal fist art that was either lethal or crippling when unleashed. It was a top-tier fist art.
He also introduced the Martial Pavilion.
The founder of the Martial Pavilion was so long ago that no records remained, but its history was incredibly ancient, even older than the Great Ming Empire. It was an organization dedicated to releasing various missions in this land. The organization cultivated its own forces and earned rewards by completing missions posted by the hosts.
Many of these missions were unsavory, and even the Great Ming Empire's official government posted missions on it. It was an organization that cooperated with the officialdom from the martial artist world, considered a righteous organization. They only completed missions, which were mostly related to martial artists and rarely impacted the lives of ordinary people.
This was why the Great Ming Empire allowed its existence.
After listening to Wang Hu's introduction, Gu Yuan had a basic understanding of the Martial Pavilion. As long as it wasn't an evil organization, he was secretly relieved. He didn't want to live a life where everyone shunned him.
As they continued, Gu Yuan followed Wang Hu into a small alleyway within a residential complex. Along the way, he curiously asked Wang Hu, "Why did you want me to join?"
Wang Hu smiled. "Because I saw you had good talent. Since you've witnessed me on a mission, I can't just let you leave safely."
He then explained the Martial Pavilion's training mechanism. They selected members from the outside and sent them to a unified training camp for special training. Those who failed became external personnel, working in roles like clerks, while those who were promoted became positions similar to Wang Hu's. Their type of position was called "Xingzhe" (Traveler) within the Martial Pavilion.
They were divided into four ranks: Bronze Traveler, Silver Traveler, Gold Traveler, and the final Diamond Traveler.
Above Diamond Traveler were Elder-level positions.
Wang Hu was currently a Gold Traveler, at the Hua Jin (Transforming Strength) stage. To become a Diamond Traveler required reaching Gang Jin (Unyielding Strength), or by continuously completing missions and accumulating enough mission points, one could also be promoted to Diamond Traveler if they met certain mission point and contribution requirements.
However, to compete for an Elder position, one had to break through to the perfected Gang Jin stage. The Martial Pavilion only had thirty-six Elders, and if the number was full, one had to challenge an existing Elder to be promoted.
Tsk, tsk, tsk! Gu Yuan exclaimed inwardly. He didn't know how many Diamond Travelers the Martial Pavilion had, but with only thirty-six Elders, he could imagine the fierce competition for these positions. 138 Reading Network.
Beyond Elders were Hall Masters. The Martial Pavilion had twelve branches in the Great Ming Empire, each headed by a Hall Master. These twelve Hall Masters were all experts who had broken through to the "Seeing God" (Jian Shen) realm, and each Hall Master had ascended to this position through thousands of battles.
Gu Yuan was somewhat surprised. The Martial Pavilion's strength was indeed formidable. He hadn't expected to have twelve Hall Masters at the Seeing God level. The Hall Masters who could rise above so many others couldn't possibly be weak. No wonder it had such a long history.
In addition, Seeing God realm experts who hadn't become Hall Masters had another option: becoming guest Elders of the Martial Pavilion. These Elders had limited authority, but their status was extremely high. Even Hall Masters couldn't exert authority over them.
The remaining positions were the Left and Right Protectors, and finally, the Pavilion Master of the Martial Pavilion. The Pavilion Master was one of the top ten experts in the entire world, while the Left and Right Protectors were considered top-tier experts in Xuanzhou.
Hiss, so he'd latched onto a powerful benefactor. Gu Yuan marveled inwardly. With such a strong Pavilion Master, there must surely be many martial arts techniques collected within.
Wang Hu seemed to read Gu Yuan's mind and smiled. "Martial Pavilion, Martial Pavilion, can it be called a Martial Pavilion without martial arts?"
"The Pavilion houses a vast collection of fist arts, which is precisely why it attracts so many martial artists. You can even find rare, century-old fist art manuscripts for your reference, not to mention countless experiences related to fist arts."
"I dare say, apart from the Great Ming Imperial Martial Hall, the Martial Pavilion collects the most martial arts in all of Xuanzhou."
"However, all of this is built upon the foundation of mission points, which I mentioned earlier. The more mission points, the better. Let me put it this way: with mission points, you can exchange for anything within the Martial Pavilion except for the most top-tier items. Those top-tier items require special contributions and status to exchange."
As he spoke, Wang Hu walked to the depths of the alley. Gu Yuan's left and right sides were walls. Wang Hu approached the wall on Gu Yuan's right, extended his palm, and struck a spot forcefully. A stone brick slowly moved upwards, revealing a piece of equipment full of technological flair. Wang Hu took out a token, similar to the one he had given Gu Yuan yesterday, and pressed it against the device.
With a 'ding,' a beam of light shot out from the device, enveloping Gu Yuan and Wang Hu, scanning them from head to toe. A mechanical voice announced, "Verification successful. Opening door, please wait."
Accompanied by a slight tremor, the stone brick, roughly the size of a bedroom door, slowly moved upwards in front of Gu Yuan, revealing a corridor filled with a sense of technology.
Lights along the corridor flickered on, illuminating the high-tech facilities.
Wang Hu turned to Gu Yuan and smiled, "Welcome to the new world!"