Chapter 7: Endorsement

It was crowded at the bi-annual martial examination venue, Zanglong City Martial Society. There weren't many examiners, but every examinee had a family member or a friend accompanying them. Moreover, the examination was only held once every six months, and there was only one examination center in Zanglong City. That was the main reason the entrance to the martial society was packed with people.

"Old Li, this is as far as I will send you," said Fang Yubai.

A few hundred meters down the road from the martial society, Fang Yubai brought his beloved car to a stop. The road was congested, and his car couldn't go any further.

"Thanks," replied Li Pin with a smile.

Li Pin knew better than to mention that it would've been better for him if he had ridden his bicycle over. After all, Fang Yubai offering him a ride was a gesture of goodwill.

"All the best. You must pass the exam. When the certificate is ready, take a photo for me. I'll post it on my social media," said Fang Yubai, waving his hand vigorously. "The president of Hanyang University's martial arts club hasn't gotten the level-two certificate. Having a bro who is a level-two martial artist will allow me to have my way at Hanyang University in the future!"

Li Pin waved back to Fang Yubai. Then, following the stream of people, he headed towards the martial society in no hurry.

𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

The president of the Zanglong City Martial Society, Jiang Qingyue, was an Aura Force Grandmaster. However, he was past his prime, and his physical condition wasn't what it used to be. He might not even be a match for some Core Force experts anymore. The truly skillful martial artists in the Zanglong City Martial Society were the vice presidents who had succeeded in Core Formation.

Nowadays, Li Pin was constantly acquiring knowledge from other people's experiences with regard to Core Force through the internet and was using his clairvoyance gift to work out what would be useful for him.

To Li Pin, reaching Core Formation and achieving Core Force wasn't a pressing concern. At the moment, he was more in the mood to integrate into this flourishing martial arts world. Li Pin watched the examinees who were passing by and noticed that they looked either nervous, expectant, or confident. Most of these people had already manifested Force, and some of them had even already achieved Covert Force.

There were probably several hundred people present. This bustling scene full of martial arts practitioners would have been an unimaginable sight back on the Blue Planet.

Following the stream of people, Li Pin made it to the martial society's examination venue for the martial arts certification exam, which was divided into a written test and a practical test.

Li Pin and several dozen other examinees entered an examination hall that was filled with computers. Each examinee sat down in front of a computer and entered their identification details.

Once it was the assigned time, the exam began.

Li Pin proceeded to answer the questions.

The main duty of martial artists... is to protect the country's interest, maintain regional peace, protect the weak, and aid in the fight against unlawful aggression....

The main rights and benefits... enjoy the country's favorable policies, have higher authority to take refuge during emergencies, have greater limits when exercising self-defense rights....

Injuries and disabilities resulting from martial arts spars should be pardoned from the law, or the accused should be given a lighter punishment... However, when a life or death fight is involved, the involved parties must submit an application with the martial society in advance....

Analytical question: Martial artists and martial institutions go by the rules of having a reciprocal degree of revenge. However after martial artist Zhang San had applied for and received approval from the martial society to seek revenge, he immediately located Li Si and killed him. Although Zhang San succeeded in getting revenge, he was ruled for having committed intentional homicide by the law and given ten years imprisonment. Was he given a correct sentence?

Li Pin filled in the answer textbox with "Correct."

Even after a martial artist received approval for their revenge request, they couldn't act until three working days had passed after the approval's issuance. This allowed the person that the martial artist planned to act against to prepare for the battle. The other party had the right to ask for backup from a friend. In terms of the punishments given for violating the rules of martial arts spars, a ten-year sentence... was considerably light.

Analytical question.... In a conflict, Civilian A threatened Martial Artist B with a sword but did not make a move to attack. Martial Artist B, however, killed the civilian relying on his powers. Martial Artist B was convicted of intentional homicide....

Wrong.

Martial artists were humans too; their bodies weren't tough enough to fend off blades and bullets. The civilian, who was armed with a sword, posed a threat to the martial artist's life. Given that martial artists had greater limits in exerting their self-defense rights, the martial artist would only be convicted for excessive self-defense even if the victim[1] had the help of a top-notch lawyer.

Li Pin continued to answer the questions.

He had studied for the written test for half a month and understood that the martial artists in this world were more privileged than ordinary people. However, he still couldn't help but feel these questions were absurd.

Take the next question for example.

Martial artist Zhang San owed civilian Li Si a debt of one million yuan and had not repaid the debt even after three years. One day, Li Si discovered that Zhang San had returned home. He gathered an unarmed group of civilians and broke into Zhang San's home. However, Zhang San killed them. The law ruled that Zhang San was not guilty.

This played out in this manner because martial artists were different from civilians.

Although Li Si had a reason for why he did what he did, martial artists had limitless rights to fight back against anyone, including civilians that broke into their houses. Of course, that was unless the trespassers followed proper legal procedures.

This law had been proposed by the disciple of a great figure. The disciple had killed his opponent during a martial arts spar. This led to someone breaking into his house whilst he was trying to attain Core Formation. That person intentionally caused him to enter a state of qi deviation.[2].

After that incident, the disciple proposed this law, and it was approved by all martial artists. Martial artists were not to be disturbed in any way during cultivation.

Fifty minutes later, Li Pin finished answering the questions. He barely scraped a pass.

Then, he queued up and waited for the practical test.

The martial society was equipped with all sorts of devices, such as ones that measured qi and blood, strength, reaction speed, and more. Li Pin went through all of them in one attempt. Lastly, he displayed the unleashing of Covert Force and completed the examination successfully.

After the examination ended, he waited at the issuance office for less than an hour and successfully received his level-two martial artist certificate.

"That was fast," Li Pin said to himself.

However, this made sense. Martial artists were significantly different from civilians. Therefore, the martial society naturally wouldn't treat them like how the Taibai government department treated civilians, getting them to wait for three to five days for every little matter.

Placing the certificate in his pocket, Li Pin went to the building at the side and signed up for the Jiang Province Martial Competition as a martial artist from Zanglong City. This process also went very smoothly, without him encountering any difficulties during his registration.

For official competitions that were vigorously promoted by the government such as the Jiang Province Martial Competition, the local authorities needed to show their greatest support. The higher the number of applicants, the more apparent it would be as to how much support the local authorities were providing for the event.

The staff members weren't going to advise Li Pin to rethink his decision to join the competition just because he was a level-two martial artist. Their bosses probably had targets to meet and would take the initiative to persuade qualified martial artists to join the competition.

Done with registering for the competition, Li Pin left the still-swamped martial society.

On his way out, someone called out to him from behind. "Young man, please wait!"

Li Pin turned to see a plump middle-aged man hurrying his way. The middle-aged man stopped and handed Li Pin a name card with a warm smile.

"Young man, I am Yuan Tailai, from Red Sun Fashion. I apologize for disturbing you. I was paying attention when you received your martial artist's certificate. First of all, congratulations on completing the level-two martial artist examination."

"Do you need something?" Li Pin asked.

Yuan Tailai was able to grasp Li Pin's personality with just this one sentence, so he went straight to the point. "You've become a level-two martial artist at such a young age. You're really young and promising. I also saw that you walked out from the martial competition's registration area. Could it be that you intend to experience the excitement of the Jiang Province Martial Competition for yourself?"

"

Mmm.

"

"I've seen many participants, but few are as young, handsome, and bright as you. We, Red Sun Fashion, are a local brand in Zanglong City, and we've been searching for ways to venture out of Zanglong City and spread out across the entire Jiang Province lately. We need a spokesperson, your image is perfect for our endorsement standards," Yuan Tailai said with a smile.

Then he continued, "If you are willing to be our spokesperson, you'll be required to shoot a commercial, take some publicity photos, and wear our clothes at the Jiang Province Martial Competition. We are willing to offer you a hundred thousand yuan for the job."

1. Editor’s thought: Isn't this talking about the hypothetical scenario above? The guy is already dead tho, what lawyer xD ☜

2. During martial arts practice, various effects can be encountered. While these issues may initially arise briefly and disappear with adjustment, ignoring them can lead to lasting psychological and behavioral problems known as qi deviation. The symptoms are the reversal of qi and blood flow, damage to delicate nerves or meridians, and the vomiting of blood. In severe cases, martial artists may lose their skills completely or die. ☜