It was said that hard work could whittle an iron bar to a needle, but not so for those in the Jianghu.

A disciple of Wuyi Sect, Chen had entered the Sect when he was fourteen.

The Sect took boys and girls from the surrounding villages when they were young; kept them for three years, during which they were taught the rules of the Sect, and taught the Sect’s arts.

Besides a simple set of martial arts, which strengthened the body and enabled one to defend themselves in a fistfight, disciples were also taught how to control their Qi, the internal energy that pulsed through bloodstreams.

Wuyi Sect was not an especially famous Sect, like Wudang or Shaolin. It had once produced a famous Xiake, the wandering monk Shi Lang, who had cultivated a skin as tough as the solid gold of a Palace bell. After that, no one of especial note had come out of the Sect in the last few decades.

But it was still not easy to stay on after three years, and become a proper disciple of the Sect. One had to harness Qi, through breathing and mental exercises, and at least progress to the second level of the Wuyi Heart Sutra.

It was then that they would get the second letter of their name. Chen would still be Chen, until he had a breakthrough.

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Chen had not managed to progress past the first level.

It was the outcome Chen had tried his best to avoid; no one wanted to be left behind, and Jongdae simply was the one who was. Even the batch five years younger than him had surpassed him, now.

Chen had never thought that he had disrespected those seniors living in the green-tiled houses, those who lived just at the foot of the mountain and came back each year to try their luck, but he had never wanted to be like them.

It was the hardest experience he had had in his young life - years of anxiety, of practising till the middle of the night – days of paralysis, spending time alone in his room, staying still and quiet so no one remembered he existed.

It was the hardest time and he had always believed that one day he would be someone – not a leader of a Sect, but at least someone respected. A Wuyi Sect member, a wandering swordsman who could protect his family.

His mother had sold the golden bangle her mother left her, so that the family could afford to travel across the country and send Chen into Wuyi Sect.

Next month, he would have to admit defeat and go home to his family. Nothing would change, and that was the hardest part of it all. He’d worked hard, hard, the hardest he could, but the universe didn’t owe him anything, and sometimes hard work ran up against the barrier that was natural flair.