The pressure was immense! Harith felt like the weight of the world was placed on his shoulder. He started sweating and found it a huge problem to move his eyes not to talk of moving any part of his body.

Cho cheong sighed what she was trying to avoid had happened.

"Why are you late?" A familiar voice spoke. Elder Jang appeared with his hands behind his back and he wore blue robe.

"I...I l..los...lost my way" Harith struggled to answer. Under this pressure there was no way he could think of lying.

"And you?" Elder Jang turned to Cho cheong.

"I overslept master" She responded albeit much more calmly than Harith. This wasn't a first time thing so she was already used to it in a way.

"Since it is your first time you will be spared. Elder Jang said to Harith. "As for you, this will not go unpunished. For now, go join the rest" He finished talking to Cho cheong and left.

As soon as Elder Jang left the pressure Harith felt disappeared entirely.With a sigh of relief he relaxed a bit and looked around him again.

"Are you ok?" Cho cheong walked up to him and asked.

"Yeah" Harith wiped the sweat from his face with his cloth.

"You'll experience it quite often so get ready. Let's join up" She said.

Harith had no response. He really wasn't look forward to experiencing something like this again but this girl just told him he would do exactly that. Way to bust his bubble.

The two joined in the line and Harith could see some familiar faces. Specifically the young master. "So he's here too" he muttered. He thought the young master would be receiving training directly from. his father or something but he was wrong.

Young master Baxia saw the two but he kept aloof and didn't regard them.

"Get into stance!" Elder jang's voice echoed and tens of feet stomped the ground hard. Dust arose as the practitioners all got into stance.

Harith saw this and immediately copied their movements. He bent his legs slightly with his right arm pushed outward and his left hand holding the forearm of his right hand.

"Tsk" Elder Jang walked through the lot as he inspected their stances. Reaching Harith he carried his cane and smacked the back of Harith's knee.

"ouch" Harith lost his balance and fell to the ground. "Exert more power on ur leg" Elder Jang said and walked to the front of the crowd.

"As you all know this is the chi stance. A stance that enables you to feel the energy in the world...feel it" Elder Jang spoke as he performed the same stance as the younger practitioners.

As soon as his left hand came into contact with his right forearm the winds started to blow. It was like a massive force was gathering with Elder jang's body as the center.

Some of the practitioners struggled to maintain their balance as the violent wind raged.

All of a sudden the wind stopped and an intense heat emerged. Elder jang's body bursted in flames and the ground below him started to turn black. He raised his head and looked directly at Harith.

Harith's eyes skipped a beat, he had a feeling that if this man wanted to turn him to ashes he would do just that and there was nothing anyone could do to prevent it.

Those thoughts become more intrusive as elder Jang started walking towards him with his whole being still on fire.

Elder Jang reached him and pulled out his cane and put it against his neck.

The pressure on Harith increased. The air became hotter and it was difficult to breathe.

"This is the gathering of chi" Elder hand said. The fire on his body instantly died down.

"oooohhh elder Jang is so strong" Somebody in the crowd spoke with admiration.

Harith was almost dying. What the fuck was this man's problem with him?! Why did he have to scare the living hell out of him?!

"Now do the same, try to feel the chi in the air" Elder Jang said as he looked at Harith. "All of you"

The other responded, as some were already in stance it didn't take time until fire gathered around one's body. A raging fire gathered around young master Baxia's body. One, two three....the number of burning bodies increased.

Seeing this Harith nodded immediately and tried to mimick the man's earlier movement. He got into stance and slowly held his forearm. His body was shaking a little with how hot it felt.

He breathed heavily and focused fully on the task. Sweat poured down his face as he stayed in that position for minutes trying to feel any form of energy but it was to no avail.

Frustration filled Harith face. The others could do it easily why then couldn't he do it?

'Strange, he is able to summon a fire shield when threatened but can't even gather energy' Elder Jang thought.

"Do not force it" It was like elder Jang could hear harith's thoughts. " They have practiced for years and you are far behind. Do not compare yourselves to them" He said and patted Harith.

"c'mon give me something" Harith scrunched his brows and tried as much as he could. He could see Cho cheong on fire next to him, practically everyone was on fire.

"That was just a warmup, now we would be getting to the main lesson for today. Combat practice" Elder Jang walked to the front and said. "Martial arts is as essential as your element when it comes to attack and defense"

Grunts and sighs came from the practitioners. Martial arts training was the most exhausting of the training they underwent in the youth practitioners house. No one liked the session.

"I know you all don't like like this training so I have prepared a little incentive for you" Master Jang said and raised up a necklace with a small green ball attached to it.

As young master baxia saw that object his interest peaked. That thing was a very essential thing to any practitioner!

"Woah the emerald eye!"

"Seriously? oouuu"

Naturally the crowd reaction was wild. The emerald orb Elder Jang held was a blessing for any young practitioner. The emerald eye's main function was to increase the rate at which one would progress. For example, if one could only summon fire that span just a few metres, after training with the orb for just a week or more, then the person would be able to cover tens of metres with his fire. That was how beneficial it was to training!

Harith gave up on what he was doing and focused with the rest. He was a bit confused as to why they were so excited when they saw that green ball, some were even salivating!

"Hey, what's that?" Harith asked Cho cheong next to him

"ah" She took her eyes off of the ball "you don't know?"

Harith scratched his head with a sheepish smile on his face.

"Hmm, it is called the Emerald Eye" Cho cheong answered"

"What's that?"

"The emerald eye. A very beneficial object for practitioners. They say it is capable of increasing one's progress by two times" Che cheong explained. She too wanted the emerald eye like any other sane practitioner.

"Woah" Harith's mind clicked. If this thing could increase one's training speed then he would need much of it. Like elder Jang said, he was behind the rest of his generation in ability and power, if he had any intentions of catching up or becoming the strongest ever known then he would have to get this.

"Since you all know what this is I'll cut the explanation. Today, I am feeling generous and I have decided to give out five of these" Elder Jang said with a rare smile.

"Five?!" Young master Baxia blurted. Even his dad wasn't that generous!

"Yes....but there's just one thing you have to do to earn it" Elder Jang answered

As the practitioners heard that their hopes dropped. Classic Elder Jang. They were sure the one thing would be an impossible task to complete.

"You see I have prepared a course for you, complete it and your prize would be at the end. Pretty simple" As Elder Jang was speaking the ground behind him collapsed and a very huge space was opened in the ground, albeit perfectly measured.

"Take a look for yourselves" Elder Jang pointed his hand at the wide space that had opened.

The students all went and looked into it. It truly was huge! They were like ants Infront of the hole.

It was no ordinary hole though, no. It looked more like a house that was under construction, that is...without a roof. The floor was made of a substance that looked very much like marble. The vast space was empty apart from a pedestal that stood at the end. And on that pedestal was none other than five emerald eyes.

"all you have to do is walk from the beginning to the pedestal and take the orb, very easy" Elder Jang smiled. His smile hiding a very cunning look.

A look the practitioners knew well and understood completely.

They all stared at each other pmdering until one that was determined enough stepped forward.

"Oh we have our first candidate, very nice" Elder Jang nodded.

Dang gu stepped forward. This thing looked so easy, he had no idea why the others even stopped to think of it before they volunteered. Atleast he had come out before anybody else, he would take it all for himself!

As Dang gu thought of the emerald eyes his smile peaked and he jumped into the hole.

*Bang* He landed with force and the marble floor under his surprisingly cracked. Dang gu smirked, even the floor had no choice but to succumb to his strength! He took a step forward and dashed towards the pedestals.

"Eh?" He looked at his feet, something was holding him back! A flaming hand emerged from the crack beneath Dang gu and grabbed his feet.

Dang gu immediately panicked, what the fuck was that shit! He forcefully broke free and dived.

More cracks started to appear and Dang gu could only watch in horror as flaming bodies emerged from the ground. They looked exactly like him in all features but the only difference was they were naked and burning. Their skins were like the walls of an active volcano.

"That sly bastard" Dang gu cursed under his breath as he caught Elder jang's cunning smile from the corner of his eyes.

The fiery bodies all launched at Dang gu with very clearly dangerous intentions. Dang gu reacted as fast as he could, his fist flamed as he punched the closest body next to him.

Surprising, his fist's went right through the body. As soon as that happened Dang gu knew he was fucked. *Bam* He received a heavy punch straight to his chest that sent him flying several feet in the air.

Dang gu twisted his body in mid air and managed to land on his two feet. Rage filled his face as he opened his mouth and out of it came a stream of fire just like the one Harith had done earlier.

The fire travelled in a wide area, consuming each and every body that stood.

As Dang gu did that Elder Jang smiled, the rest of the events would be interesting.

Dang gu's eyes widened as the fire from this mouth gradually got weaker. His heart started pounding intensely. Why? Well...The stupid fiery bodies weren't even affected by the fire! They just walked through it like they were taking a normal walk in the park.

"Oh and I forgot to add, your elemental powers won't work in this course. This is a combat training, you only have your limbs and your instinct to keep you going. Any attempt to use ur elemental powers on your enemies will fail!"