Becoming an Apprentice!

The throwing knife technique is much simpler to practice than the Black Tiger Body Forging Fist. Even if you only practice for a little over an hour each night, you are already close to mastering it.

Of course, this is mainly due to the boost from the attribute panel; otherwise, the improvement speed would never be so fast!

Besides his throwing knife technique, he has also mastered an optimized version of the Black Tiger Body Forging Fist, the Nine Forms of Tendon Refining, which has greatly improved his body forging efficiency.

Immediately, Lu Ze arrived at the edge of the training ground and stood before the two-hundred-pound stone lock. He grabbed the handle with his right hand and easily lifted it up.

At this moment, the dozens of apprentices watching nearby were all shocked and incredulous at what they saw.

When Lu Ze entered the martial arts school, he was very thin and weak and his talent for martial arts was not good. Unexpectedly, he made great progress in half a month. In less than two months, he broke through to the initial stage of tendon refining and had a strength of 200 jin in one hand!

Zhuo Yunfei, however, had a more discerning eye. He noticed that Lu Ze could lift a 200-pound stone lock with one hand as if it were nothing, suggesting that his actual arm strength was probably 300 pounds!

However, he wasn't too surprised that Lu Ze possessed such strength.

Because he discovered that Lu Ze's Black Tiger Body Forging Fist Nine Forms of Tendon Refining had reached a state of perfection, and his body forging efficiency was naturally far superior to that of other apprentices of the same level!

Immediately, Zhuo Yunfei walked over, patted Lu Ze on the shoulder, and said with a smile, "Junior Brother Lu, come with me to pay our respects to Master!"

Lu Ze smiled and said, "Thank you, Senior Brother Zhuo!"

Immediately, the apprentices watched the two leave together, their eyes filled with envy.

The realms of martial artists and those below them are completely different!

There are over a hundred apprentices in this batch, and more than a dozen have already given up. Once the three-month period is up, most of the remaining ones will also give up, and in the end, only a very small number will be able to persevere.

Not long after, Lu Ze entered the inner courtyard for the first time with Zhuo Yunfei.

Zhuo Yunfei approached his senior brother Chen Xiong, clasped his hands in a respectful greeting, and said, "Senior brother, Lu Ze has passed the assessment and met the standards for entering the inner academy!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Xiong glanced at Lu Ze. He had broken through to the initial stage of the Tendon Refining Realm in nearly two months, showing decent talent and making him worthy of cultivation.

He nodded and said, "Go to the backyard and inform Master!"

"Yes, Senior Brother!"

Zhuo Yunfei went to the backyard.

At the same time, many senior brothers and sisters from the inner courtyard also looked at Lu Ze, their eyes filled with curiosity and scrutiny.

Lu Ze smiled and looked at the group of formal disciples. He found that there were more than 30 people, but only four of them were women. They were all good-looking, with fair skin and beautiful features, and had an extraordinary temperament. They did not look like martial arts practitioners at all. They obviously had special secret medicines for skin care.

Shortly after, a middle-aged man in black came out with Zhuo Yunfei.

The middle-aged man in black was burly, with a square face, short beard, and a dignified expression.

Upon seeing the middle-aged man in black, the eldest disciple Chen Xiong and the others quickly clasped their hands in greeting and said, "Greetings, Master!"

Clearly, the middle-aged man in black is Lin Feihu, the owner of the Black Tiger Martial Arts School!

Upon seeing this, Lu Ze also clasped his hands in a respectful greeting and said, "Greetings, Master!"

Lin Feihu nodded slightly, walked up to Lu Ze, touched his hands and feet, and then smiled, "Lu Ze, your natural talent is only average, but your comprehension is extraordinary. In just over a month, you've mastered the Nine Forms of the Black Tiger Body Forging Fist to perfection. That's very impressive. I wish to take you as my formal disciple. Are you willing?"

"Disciple greets Master!"

Lu Ze immediately clasped his hands in a salute, but he was still a little disappointed. He had thought his performance was good and that he had a chance to become a personal disciple, but now it seemed that he was still lacking, at least his martial arts aptitude was a bit of a drag.

Of course, it's also possible that direct disciples need to undergo further assessments.

Shortly after, in the hall.

During the apprenticeship ceremony, Lu Ze kowtowed three times and offered tea to the apprentices.

Lin Feihu took a small sip of tea, helped Lu Ze up, and said, "Work hard!"

Then, he looked at his senior brother Chen Xiong and said, "Take good care of your junior brother."

Then, Lin Feihu left again. Clearly, the real work of teaching Lu Ze was being done by the senior disciple, Chen Xiong.

However, Lu Ze was not surprised by this. In this world, strength is king, so the master of the martial arts school naturally wouldn't spend too much time teaching his disciples; he would definitely spend most of his time cultivating himself.

After all, martial artists open schools and take on disciples mainly to earn cultivation resources and improve their strength, not to become a burden to themselves!

Not long after, the eldest disciple, Chen Xiong, introduced Lu Ze to his fellow disciples, mainly the seven personal disciples besides himself: the second senior sister Zhao Yueling, the third senior brother Wu Tao, the fourth senior brother Zhou Hai, the fifth senior brother Liu Meng, the sixth senior sister Lin Muxue, the seventh senior brother Sun Li, and the eighth senior brother Song Linfeng.

The second senior sister, Zhao Yueling, is a tall and beautiful woman, standing at 1.9 meters tall. She has an exquisite face, a voluptuous figure, but a cold expression and an arrogant demeanor.

The third senior brother, Wu Tao, was a square-faced young man with thick eyebrows and big eyes. He had an upright appearance and a robust build.

Fourth Senior Brother Zhou Hai is handsome and has a refined demeanor.

Fifth Senior Brother Liu Meng is a towering giant, standing two meters tall, much more imposing than Wu Tao.

Sixth Senior Sister Lin Muxue was a dashing woman in blue, not as voluptuous as Second Senior Sister, but even more beautiful. She was also the sect leader's daughter!

The seventh senior brother, Sun Li, and the eighth senior brother, Song Linfeng, were both dressed as wealthy young masters and were quite handsome.

Apart from the eight direct disciples, the other formal disciples are actually just nominal disciples, not ranked in order of seniority, and their status is determined by the order in which they entered the sect.

Lu Ze also greeted his fellow students.

Then, Chen Xiong continued, "Junior Brother Lu, since you've just entered the inner courtyard, you were originally supposed to prepare a ten-tael silver apprenticeship gift. But I know your family situation, so you don't need to pay that for now. In addition, I will arrange a job for you. You can choose to work as a guard in a wealthy family, or you can work for a gang. The monthly salary for a guard is slightly lower, only one and a half taels of silver, but it's safer. Gang disciples earn two taels of silver a month, and there might be other ways to make money, but you'll inevitably be involved in fighting and killing. Think about it."

Martial arts schools not only teach martial arts skills, but also arrange jobs for their formal disciples. This is why each martial arts school has so many apprentices.

Lu Ze hesitated for a moment, then said, "Senior Brother, can I choose to become a butcher? I want to hone my courage so that I won't be unable to run away when I encounter strange creatures!"

He actually planned to work as a butcher for a while, accumulating more Source Points to increase his strength. Once he was strong enough, he would go and slay demons and monsters to acquire Source Points even faster!

However, several formal disciples couldn't help but laugh when they heard this.

Many formal disciples couldn't help but shake their heads.

It's incredibly foolish of him to throw away a promising future and choose to slaughter pigs!

However, all the disciples remained calm and showed no signs of mockery.

At this moment, Chen Xiong smiled and said, "Junior Brother Lu's idea is good. When faced with attacks from strange creatures, ordinary martial artists who have refined their tendons and muscles lack pure yang qi and blood, making it difficult for them to resist. Butchers or executioners have the best chance of survival. As the saying goes, strange creatures fear evil people, but what they really fear is the murderous aura produced by a ruthless killer! The murderous aura produced by a butcher slaughtering a pig or an executioner beheading someone can also deter some low-level wandering strange creatures and resist some of their illusions. However, it would be a waste of time to become a butcher. Lu Ze, I'll contact a butcher for you and have you slaughter a pig every morning. As for work, since you've just started, you should start as a guard."

Upon hearing this, Lu Ze was overjoyed and clasped his hands in thanks, saying, "Thank you, Senior Brother!"