The Last Guardians : The Blood Of The Archibald

Chapter 12 : The Temple of Rì chū

Qun descends into the opposite valley and falls on a large farm that extends for several kilometers.

Going up, he finally arrives near an inn. Around, there are farmers and young people in large numbers. He arrives at the counter and asks for the temple of Sensei Chiun.

He is shown the main road behind the inn. He asks for a drink and drinks, exhausted by his journey and then takes the road to the temple.

Following the onlookers, he goes up a large street for several hundred meters the memories of Queen Thalya for this place are old, because his descriptions referred to a small temple of barely twenty people. Yet here it is a village built around a temple of martial arts.

Many young apprentices converge on a complex consisting of several training grounds and here are given public martial art classes for volunteers from across the country.

The place was difficult to access, perched in the heart of the most important mountain range of the country, a valley lost between two immense Roc. No wonder this place was known only specialists.

This open martial arts school is totally free for all apprentices in exchange for a helping hand in the fields by the students. They therefore receive meals in the hostel and can also have a place to sleep warm, but still to several.

This village was founded around the Martial Arts School of the ancient clan chief Nzang Ndong and its prosperity is due to the success of the great Master Shiun who was the first to win 4 intergalactic martial arts championships, He obtained subsidies for his school, which he reinvested with the help of the villagers to establish a prosperous and profitable system for the entire community.

Indeed, he invested in the purchase of the vast adjoining lands in order to organize agriculture and livestock, able to finance the village, he entrusted its management to the inhabitants of the city who became the notables transferring the charge with the agreement of the master manager.

Then he invests in a complete temple comprising:

-/ General public areas, open to all comers, including 5 fields used for public training each day, as well as relaxation areas including the fauna and flora of the country.

-/ A private area for students selected by the school for advanced training. This area includes the houses of the ten masters of the school including a private training center, an inner courtyard, a meditation temple, and the accommodation outbuildings for him his family and relatives.

-/ The main Temple of the Grand Master and its suite including temple, outbuildings, inner courtyard, a central courtyard for official fights, apartments, but also the public face of the Temple of the Sun which serves for the various official ceremonies, New Year's Eve party, as well as for other worship practices such as weddings, funerals of high dignitaries, etc.

To facilitate the implementation of this model, it was therefore necessary to take advantage of the attractiveness of the school so that the whole economy could turn, because the only residents of the town are less than 1000 inhabitants.

Thanks to the contribution of more than 500 volunteers per day, the system is not in deficit, and manages to feed everyone. In addition, some families bring prestigious endowments to associate their name with the school which is a plus for local and regional politics.

It is in this context that Qun presents himself for this first public training.

Arriving and making his way among the crowd, he sees crowds of people tirelessly repeating various physical postures, some of which Qun recognizes for having practiced them in the community of the Moon, there in Goya.

An official student of a school teaches the postures to the volunteers for 2 hours before the session passes to the practice of the exercise with mini-combat allowing the assimilation of the techniques. The volunteers then find themselves two by two and apply themselves to reproduce attack techniques and defense techniques.

These sessions can last until sunset. The classes are given every day by different students from morning to night allowing all those who work to have their sessions according to their schedules.

So, as he tries to reproduce the techniques given in public, he will take the time to settle in this place which will represent a fundamental aspect of his life.

Over the weeks and months, he meets Yuri, Wora, Arun, Talo is his friends of strangers like him came for the love of art.

Being the largest among his troops and even more so in this place where the populations are generally rather small and ragged, he is a visible figure of all who does not fail to attract attention.

One day he walks in the forest around as usual, he discovers a secluded waterfall and rather large also decides to swim there recalling his many baths in the crater lake of his twin island.

So he undressed and plunged his head first, he spent several hours there in the late afternoon and in the evening, coming out of the water, he realized that his clothes had been stolen.

He had to return at night, all sheepish, at a late hour, in order to meet as few people as possible in the plantations, he was nevertheless found by Arun, who had gone in search of him, not seeing him return.