James Thompson wielded a long saber and suddenly slashed out. The biting sharpness and astonishing murderous aura rushed forth in an instant, causing many disciples to pale.

“Now, visualize me unleashing this saber strike with full force. Each of you, come up one by one.”

The disciples of the martial arts school took their turns, but James Thompson only shook his head slightly each time, somewhat dissatisfied.

The disciples who could remain in the school now had all opened more than fifty acupoints and one meridian, and could already be considered early-stage postnatal martial artists.

Though they had some presence, they lacked real combat experience and simply couldn’t grasp that kind of aura.

When it was Adam Harper’s turn, he gripped his Yanling saber, his blood surging, and suddenly powered up from his waist and hips!

The saber light flashed in an instant, swift and fierce, and even carried a hint of murderous intent.

James Thompson let out a soft “hmm,” fixing his gaze on Adam Harper.

Although Adam Harper’s strike didn’t display the full force of his aura, at the very least, it was a blow that could truly be used in a life-and-death fight.

“Have you fought with other martial artists before?”

Adam Harper shook his head. “No, but I imagined that the person in front of me wanted to kill me. It’s either you die or I die, so naturally my saber carries a murderous aura.”

“Not bad, that’s a good method.

Remember, the path of martial arts is never unchanging.

Your enemy won’t fight you according to the routines you’ve learned.

Adam Harper did very well. The rest of you should learn more from him.

With the level of his saber technique right now, he’d be more than qualified to go out and work as a bodyguard for those big merchants or wealthy families.”

Hearing James Thompson praise Adam Harper like this, the other disciples looked at Adam Harper with eyes full of envy and jealousy—mostly jealousy.

Adam Harper didn’t mind; he had done it on purpose.

Sometimes it’s fine to hide your abilities, but never your intelligence.

Be low-key in life, but high-profile in action.

With nearly fifty disciples in the school, if he didn’t show his extraordinary talent in front of James Thompson, how could he gain more martial knowledge?

In fact, Adam Harper had deliberately held back, not revealing too much of his killing intent.

He hadn’t just fought with people—he had truly killed before.

Sure enough, after Adam Harper displayed his talent with that saber strike, James Thompson paid him even more attention.

Last time, James Thompson had already taken note of Adam Harper.

He had opened his acupoints very quickly, second only to those wealthy disciples who soaked in medicinal baths.

And his mastery of the Vajra Fist was also quite good—one could even say he was extremely gifted.

With today’s saber strike, James Thompson could confirm that Adam Harper was definitely a promising seedling.

In fact, he was one of the most outstanding among this batch of disciples.

Such a promising student was absolutely worth extra attention.

In the future, if Adam Harper made a name for himself after leaving the school, it would also bring honor to James Thompson.

Today was a major class. After the lunch break, they would continue saber practice in the afternoon.

Samuel Thompson bit into a rye bun, squatting beside Adam Harper with a face full of worry.

“Did I make the wrong choice by picking the saber? I haven’t felt a thing all morning, and the master scolded me several times.”

Adam Harper had already finished eating. While sipping his vegetable soup, he said, “It’s only the first day—what are you so anxious about?

When you practice saber in the afternoon, just imagine the person in front of you is George Mason, bullying you and trying to steal your money. Wouldn’t you feel like you want to hack him to pieces?”

“I’d eat his heart if I could!”

Samuel Thompson took a vicious bite of his rye bun.

“Exactly, just practice with that mindset.”

Samuel Thompson patted Adam Harper on the shoulder, saying enviously, “Brother, you really stole the spotlight today. With the master’s praise, even if you left the school now, you wouldn’t have to worry about food and drink. The big families in Blackstone County would all be fighting to hire you as a bodyguard.”

“Oh? The master’s words carry that much weight?”

“Of course! Why do you think our Zhenwei Martial Arts School is so famous? Why do we charge three hundred taels of silver for tuition? It’s because the strength of our graduates is guaranteed.

Three hundred taels sounds like a lot, but as long as you stay in the school for a year and successfully graduate, you can earn it back in just a few years.

Of course, people like George Mason and those who were eliminated before don’t count as successful graduates, and they can’t use the school’s name when they’re out in the world.”

“So what do our school’s graduates usually do out there?”

Adam Harper was quite curious about this.

In wuxia novels, those heroes never seemed to worry about money.

But in reality, scholars are poor and martial artists are rich—practicing martial arts is the most expensive pursuit, and without some family background, you really can’t keep it up.

Samuel Thompson counted on his fingers, “There are lots of options, but most become bodyguard martial artists for wealthy families, or work as escorts for security agencies.

Times are chaotic now, so any family with a bit of money will hire bodyguards.

Ordinary bodyguards are just thugs with some strength, but only those of us who have truly trained in internal energy techniques are considered bodyguard martial artists.

In Blackstone County, the going rate is about ten taels of silver a month. I’ve heard it’s a bit higher in the prefecture—fifteen to twenty taels.”

Adam Harper was a bit surprised; that was really quite a high wage.

His father worked as a clerk in the county office and only made three taels a month.

“Bodyguard martial artists have a pretty easy and safe job, since those wealthy families value their lives and don’t go out recklessly.