LEGEND REBORN : THE SAMURAI WORLD

A MASTER IN THE SOUL PATH

A news had quickly travelled through the entire grounds, it spread like wildfire and everyone were startled by what they heard, the news was too unreal to be true. A stranger from the little small villages had defeated a lower disciple and wrestled an higher disciple to a draw! A draw! That meant this stranger had no match within the entire rank of lower disciples. The most shocking aspect,was that the boy even had inferior cultivation rank. Like that was not enough, be became the core disciple for Grand master Kerepa, a man who had not taken a core disciple in the past two hundred years. The boy was already this dangerous, what devil will be birthed when the grand master grooms him, he will be a monstrous prodigy.

Since He was now a disciple, Matero's parents were given quarters in the institution. Matero also received his personal house in the Kerepa's quarters. It was far off the main administrative buildings and also had a lot of houses. Not a lot of people dwelled there, just Kerepa, his wife and various attendants and now Matero.

According to the pattern of things, outer disciples rarely receive pointers from masters. They only met with various coaches and they did so in mass, they also had tutors in the higher disciples. The higher disciples had organised classes with masters and they received more attention and resources than the lower disciples.

To become an higher disciple, one had to reach the second realm. This must be done before one reaches a certain age, anything after that, the disciple will be expelled. Higher disciples continue to receive tutorship until the age of thirty five and once this is attained, they are given duties and post according to the level of their cultivation rank and their exploits while they were still disciples.

A core disciple was different, they had no classes or training with anyone apart from their personal masters. They had no organised classes with any other disciple, not even other core disciples. They are groomed by masters as heirs and a master can only have two core disciples. They are heavily invested upon with secrets, treasures and even materials. The strongest student at any point in time would always be core disciple, they were masters to their colleagues and in most cases, the stronger the master is, the stronger the core disciple.

Matero was delighted at his lot, he wasn't just any disciple, he became a core disciple and not just to any master. He became a student of the grand master of the imperial cultivation grounds, he became a core disciple to the man who is probably the strongest in the entire black nation. Now his desires would be met, he would subdue this cultivation grounds.

His first training with Kerepa came earlier than he expected, Kerepa was always busy running a lot of affairs according to people and so he believed Kerepa wouldn't be readily available. That was not the case as he would later find out, Kerepa was always in isolation and didn't even interfere with the institution's affairs. He only came out for special occasions. Kerepa requested for him before dawn and instructed him to report every dawn. The drill was that Matero could be summoned by Kerepa anyy time of the day and finally another master known as Elder Koi who was Kerepa's assistant would also meet Matero occasionally.

"Have your seat young one." The calm voice of the grand master reverberated across the hall. Matero was to meet him in this underground chamber that had been isolated from the entire institution by various mechanisms. The walls of the hall naturally lit themselves up, no source of light but then it was all bright.

Two mats lay at the center and Kerepa already sat on one, Matero sat on the other and took his meditation pose.

"Koi would train you in various techniques and skills, all I'm going to do is to hand you secrets. Secrets in all aspects of the cultivation path." Kerepa started gently and Matero was very attentive.

Matero was certain he knew most of what Kerepa would teach him, but unlike him, Kerepa would be able to apply it to his body effectively and quickly too. Back then he had reached an height where he could just instill power in anyone, but now he needed to grow.

"I specialize in the path of souls. I have no idea what you have learnt about this." As soon as Kerepa completed the statement, a thick black smoke began to rise from Kerepa, his aura began to leak out.

Matero lost the ability to breathe, the temperature in the hall dropped drastically and tiny flakes of ice began to drop and ice quickly began to coat Matero's face. Deep inside he felt like he was been dragged into a frozen abyss, not in the stomach, in his mind. His consciousness was freezing. His reaction rate became extremely slow, he was like a turtle.

"Wh-what." Matero screamed in his mind. He knew of the path of soul, he was of the path of lightning and flames himself and he had faced several masters of the soul path. The feeling was unbearable and Kerepa's method was also strange.

Kerepa laughed, the smoke suddenly dissipated and the temperature rose once again. Matero could finally breathe and he fell on his back catching his breath.

"I can never release my aura, it will kill even when I don't intend it to. This is due to my level in the cultivation of the soul path. I can direct its effects though, but that would be in battle." Kerepa rose to his feet, his staff was suspended in air by nothing and he cracked his knuckles.

"Rise up youngster, we wanna explore a realm of endless possibilities." Kerepa was full of life as he spoke, he was full of a youthful energy. Matero might have been greater in his previous life, far greater, but he had a lot to learn.

NB : To clear a possible confusion, Elder with the capital "E" referred to a group of masters who held various posts in the institution, not everone of them is necessarily old. Like the purple clothed young Elder of the previous episode. While elder, with small "e" meant an old person, not necessarily a master too.