Martial Arts: Starting from a Seemingly Real System

Shaolin backyard, three courtyards.

The yard is quite large, but there is no hall, only meditation rooms. Monks live on the right side, and lay disciples live on the left side.

There are cross courtyards on both sides, which are the places for practicing exercises.

After Qiao Rui came out of the guest hall, a novice monk led him to the west wing of the third courtyard. Hundreds of lay disciples were standing in several lines and practicing martial arts. Some lines were practicing boxing and palm strikes, and some were practicing swords and sticks.

"Uncle Ma, this is the Qiao Rui mentioned by Great-grandfather Wuwang. Great-grandfather Wuchen asked you to make arrangements for him!" The novice monk walked up to a burly man and said with a salute.

"Hmm!" The sturdy man responded casually and continued to stare at the disciples practicing martial arts.

The novice monk performed a one-handed Buddhist salute again and quietly left.

"This... Master, my name is Qiao Rui..." Qiao Rui greeted him. He didn't know how to address the other person. This guy seemed to be only a few years older than him. Judging from his aura and demeanor, his internal strength might not be as good as his. He couldn't call him uncle-master like a novice monk.

The sturdy man ignored Qiao Rui and didn't even turn to look at him. Instead, he quickly walked into the queue below and kicked a disciple down with one kick.

"I've told you so many times, you have to stand steady and straight. If you don't remember next time, get out of here!"

The disciple got up in a panic, not daring to say anything. He walked to his position tremblingly and continued practicing boxing.

The disciples nearby did not look away and did not dare to pause. It seemed that this kind of thing happened frequently and they were used to it.

The sturdy man walked back and forth in the queue, kicking out from time to time to correct his disciples' wrong movements, completely ignoring Qiao Rui who was left aside.

Something is not right. Is this a show of strength? Special treatment for newcomers?

Qiao Rui narrowed his eyes, looked at the figure walking in the queue, and decided to wait a little longer.

This wait lasted for more than an hour, until the sun set in the west, when the strong man named Ma announced the end of the training.

When the team was disbanded, he grabbed a young man and pointed at Qiao Rui and said to him, "You, take him to bunk number ten in the Gui room!"

Hearing this, the disciples who were about to disperse suddenly stopped, looked back and forth between Qiao Rui and the strong man named Ma, then lowered their heads and left in silence.

The young man who was held by the burly man named Ma trembled, responded timidly, and left with Qiao Rui.

Qiao Rui had a bad feeling. These people's reactions were a little abnormal. Was there something strange about Room 10? He walked and noticed that these rooms were named after the heavenly stems, Room 1, Room 2, Room 3, Room 4, Room 5, Room 6, Room 7, Room 8, Room 9, Room 10, Room 11, Room 12, Room 13, Room 14, Room 15, Room 16, Room 17, Room 18, Room 19, Room 20, Room 21, Room 22, Room 23, Room 24, Room 25, Room 26, Room 27, Room 28, Room 29, Room 30, Room 31, Room 32, Room 33, Room 34, Room 35, Room 36, Room 37, Room 38, Room 39, Room 40, Room 41, Room 42, Room 43, Room 44, Room

Room Gui was the last one. When he pushed the door open, he could smell a faint smell of rotten eggs, as if the door had not been opened and cleaned for a long time. Qiao Rui frowned, fanned his nose with his hand, and then looked around the room.

Opposite the door is a large bunk bed, divided into two sides by a wooden board. Each bunk bed can sleep about five people, and this room can accommodate ten people. Bunk number ten is either the leftmost or the rightmost.

This room was truly uninhabited. There were no bedding or clothes on the bunk bed, and there were no toiletries on the ten shelves on both sides of the door.

It seems not bad. It's a bit dirty, but after cleaning it up it will be a luxurious single room. Qiao Rui was happy. Otherwise, ten big men would live together, snoring, farting, sweating, and having smelly feet... Just thinking about that scene makes me feel so sad!

Qiao Rui chose the bunk on the far left by the window, put his luggage, bedding and daily necessities from the reception hall on the bunk, and pushed open the only window in the room, but heard the anxious voice of the young man who led the way behind him, "Don't open it!"

Just as Qiao Rui was about to turn around and ask why, a foul odor suddenly hit him in the face, causing him to take a few steps back.

"what happened?"

Qiao Rui reacted quickly and held his breath, closed the window, then turned to look at the young man who was leading the way and asked in a cold voice.

"That's the toilet over there..." the boy said weakly.

No wonder no one lives in this Zen room. Qiao Rui narrowed his eyes, his face so gloomy that water could be squeezed out of it.

"Are all the other rooms full?" Qiao Rui asked.

"Yes, A, B, C, D, E, J, G, X, and R. Each Zen room is already full of ten people." The young man looked at Qiao Rui with a complicated expression and said in a low voice.

Oh? Could it be that I was thinking wrongly, and it wasn't that the guy surnamed Ma wanted to punish me, but I was just unlucky to be the 91st lay disciple?

Qiao Rui shook his head, thinking that he was unlucky. He picked up the bedding and threw it on the bunk bed on the far right. No wonder there was a wooden board in the middle, it turned out to block the smell.

"Big brother, bed number 10 is over there!" The young man pointed to the bed that Qiao Rui had chosen earlier, which was next to the window.

"Huh?" Qiao Rui suddenly turned around and glared at the young man, his eyes as sharp as a knife.

Bunks one to nine were empty, but he specifically asked me to sleep in bunk number ten which was next to the toilet. This guy surnamed Ma was really making things difficult for me!

The young man shrank his neck, frightened by Qiao Rui's murderous look, and almost cried.

"Big, big, big brother, I'm just showing you the way. It was the Horse King who asked you to live there!"

"Lord Horse?" Qiao Rui sneered. This title was quite arrogant.

"Yes, it's Coach Ma. He is strict in teaching and ruthless in his attacks. Everyone calls him Ma, Lord Horse in private." The young man was so frightened by Qiao Rui that he could hardly speak clearly.

Qiao Rui nodded, he calmed down, patted the boy on the shoulder, and said with a smile: "Don't be nervous, I don't mean to vent my anger on you!"

The young man's expression eased a little, and he pointed outside the house and said, "It's dinner time now, we have to hurry over. If we go too late, there will be no food and we can only eat steamed buns!"

It’s no big deal to eat a meal of steamed buns without any vegetables, because there is no meat in vegetarian dishes anyway. Lay disciples in the temple need to observe the same precepts as monks. There is no meat in the meals, only vegetarian dishes, porridge, rice and steamed buns.

Qiao Rui waved his hand and said gently, "You go first, I still need to clean up here." He rolled up his sleeves, bent down and started to work.

"Then I'll leave, you go ahead and do your work!" Seeing that he was busy, the young man also said goodbye and left.

Just then, the door darkened and a man walked in. He glanced at the bunk bed expressionlessly and scolded, "Who told you to stay in bunk number one?"

Qiao Rui stopped what he was doing and saw that the person who came was Coach Ma. He replied casually, "It's empty anyway, so I'll stay there."

"You occupy bunk number one, what will the people who come later do?" Coach Ma said angrily. His voice was quite loud, attracting some disciples who had just finished dinner to peek in from a distance.

"Just go ahead and defecate downstairs. Aren't there still so many bunks?" Qiao Rui said nonchalantly.

"Buddhism is about compassion. We should always have good thoughts. If I don't go to hell, who will? The person who came first should stay in the worst berth number 10, and leave the good berths for those who come later." Coach Ma said coldly.

"As a coach, why don't you live here and set an example for others?" Qiao Rui was also furious and fought back harshly.

"Hmph, if I tell you to stay at bunk number 10, then you have to stay at bunk number 10!" Coach Ma was furious and said arrogantly.

"Why?" Qiao Rui looked directly at Coach Ma with a cold and stern look in his eyes.

“Why?” Coach Ma sneered. He grabbed the young guide who had not yet left and said, “You tell him the rules of the three-entry courtyard!”