Chapter 52: Disciple of Zeru
"A new bellator had been awarded to you." Yun snapped her fingers and Jin's phone started to vibrate again.
He sheathed Bam and placed it on the floor along with Boo. He opened the Bellator app and immediately noticed the greyed out box had a silhouette. The new bellator had long blonde hair tied into a ponytail. However, the facial features and expression were of a male. He wore a dull red yukata with a black hakama pants, coupled with a grey obi. His face even had a Z-shaped scar on his right cheek which looked very familiar to Jin.
Then it dawned upon him.
"IS THIS SAMURAI Z? The legendary Sword Saint in the history books and classical movies? He is my bellator??" Jin's heart and eyes nearly popped out when he saw his favourite historical figure and old time movie character as a bellator. He initially found those old videos of Samurai Z in the cupboard of his mom's old room when Ming was still around. He would quietly sneak into her room to feast on her collection of old movies.
The Bellator's pseudonym was Zeru but Jin knew his real name since he was a historical figure in China, Zhe Rou. He was Japanese Caucasian mixed born in China but no one ever called him by that name ever since a movie tribute of him, Samurai Z, broke the box office records that were worth billions of yuan.
History dictated that he was trained and mastered at least 50 different complete sets of sword arts from different styles. He found the flaws of almost every style that he eventually managed to create a style of his own that was supposedly flawless. Unfortunately, no one has ever seen his original style or either lived to tell the tale. Some historians argued it was just hearsay since there was no actual evidence to it.
The movie recounted his experience of the thousand men showdown he had in Nanjing, China where he had defended his master, a famous but likeable politician, Tou Ma. They were ambushed by rebels during the chinese communist revolution and Zeru fought off every one of them while using a bokuto, a wooden sword as his sword was under repair.
He and his master survived the encounter and lived to tell the tale. Because of that, Tou Ma became extremely influential in the game of politics and crashed his opponents while remaining politically relevant and popular to his countrymen.
Eventually, Zeru found out the sword maintenance was also part of the rebel's plan to disarm the guards of the politician for the attack. He decided to find the culprits, only to find his mythical grade 16 sword smashed to dust through the use of a forbidden cauldron technique.
As the tribute movie made headline news in the papers, people from every continent wished to be his disciple, in hopes to gain fame or glory. However, Zeru did not care about royalties or fame but he did not refuse a retirement sum from his master in order to live in seclusion and anonymously from the press. There were no news of him afterwards of whether he had passed on.
"So this is my new master?" A low voice was heard from the house and they saw Zeru strolled in, taking in the sights of the modern era. Ironically, he still held on the bokuto that crushed the ambush of Nanjing.
"I would not dare!" Jin immediately kneeled down in front of the sword saint.
"Hahahaha! I guess, at this age, to have someone know a thing or two about me. I am really humbled and honoured." Zeru smiled genuinely.
"However, whether you dare or not is not of a choice of yours. You are his master according to the system." As Yun was talking to Jin and he found out Yun also had her head down, kneeling in front of him. It was obvious that deep down Yun admired him too.
"That is true, Yun." Zeru eventually kowtow once towards Jin before he stood back up. "Unfortunately, I can not have a master weaker than me. It is embarrassing to say the least."
"Which is why, I will make an exception to you and only you when many others more capable than you had died trying to be it." Zeru sat on a stone stool in the backyard facing the duo.
"Be my disciple." Those three words carried such weight that if it was measurable, it could even be heavier than the world itself.
Jin eyes went wide as he looked up towards Zeru and realised he was not joking. He could not believed what he heard. The most famous sword saint in the 20th century who took down a thousand of highly ranked cultivators all by himself while protecting his master, was actually telling Jin to be his disciple.
"Ahh, be warned though. Your training will be extremely tough. I will introduce you to appropriate companions that will teach you how to use each and every function of Bam and Boo properly. Well, not every function but you get my drift." His words subsequently had a jovial tone to it but he gave Jin a stare which was so deadly that Jin could feel a grim reaper had already taken his entire soul away from him and left his body alone.
"He is serious business." Jin thought to himself as he swallowed his saliva, unable to respond for a moment. As compared to Grandma Yuan empty threats, Zeru's were more dangerous.
"Oh and you are unable to back out after you become my disciple. That will be equally embarrassing too." Zeru closed his eyes and smiled widely.
"Yes, I understand! Shi Fu Zeru, I am humbled to be your disciple!" Jin respectfully kowtowed three times in front of him. After which, he continued to kneel until his Shi Fu decided to respond.
Zeru stood up and picked Boo up that was right beside Jin. He unsheathed it and at the middle of Z's scar, he drew a line between it, creating a Ƶ on his face. It started bleeding but Zeru was not bothered by it. With the blood on Boo, Zeru lifted Jin's right shirt sleeve and in a blink of an eye, he carved a X on his right shoulder.
It was extremely painful as Jin felt his shoulder burning from the carving but surprisingly, no blood was spilt. "My blood have entered your bloodstream and you are officially my direct disciple." Zeru swung Boo a little and later sheathed it back into the scabbard.
He signalled Jin to receive Boo which Jin did so with two hands and stood up before Zeru disappeared into thin air.
"Now I understand why Yun said it's complicated. My master is my subject but I am a disciple of my subject." Jin held on tightly to Boo as he knew the difficult part to become the number one dungeon supplier had yet to begin.