In the past six months Ma Sa had hungrily absorbed the teachings of Guan Yuang Fei. He had a very strong foundational knowledge base as he had read nearly every available book he could spawn in order to grasp the written language. What he was lacking was an understanding of the importance of the information. Guan Yuang Fei was the one who filled in the blanks here. For example, Dave had read a lot of poetry but wasn't really aware of what exactly made it poetry. It certainly wasn't based on rhymes and the meter was not apparent to him. It was apparent that Dave's mind simply moved in a different way as he primarily thought in English. As Guan Yuang Fei expounded on the underlying philosophy behind Qian poetry Ma Sa found himself slowly developing an appreciation for it.

Aside from poetry, Ma Sa also learned about things that he simply couldn't learn from books. Politics was one such thing. On Earth, Dave never had much interest in politics and was actually rather resentful of the fact that people thought that it was fine to force other people to do stuff that they may not want to do simply because they were in the majority. To him, it seemed like a thought process that would marry well with gang ****. After all, if nine out of ten people enjoy it it must be for the greater good, right?

The political landscape here was actually more aligned to Ma Sa's tastes. It was a feudal society on the surface but it was actually based on consensual exchange. The strong martial artists disdained to interfere with the affairs of mortals so for the most part they lived in a separate world. The only martial artists who remained in the ordinary world did so because they could not reach the required strength to enter the 'Jianghu.' The Prefectural Governor was one such martial artist. The noble families also remained relatively quiet as they all aimed for the Jianghu rather than political office. The political class existed mainly to protect order in their territory and arbitrate disputes.

When Dave had first arrived he had assumed that the slums were the result of greedy politicians and merchants gouging the people. It turned out that he was wrong. The people of the slums were actually rather hopeful as they had a relatively safe environment to live in whilst they worked towards a brighter future. Of course, not everyone would succeed but there were a surprising amount of success stories. Often former slum dwellers would return to the slums to offer help to others. Surprisingly, they were often refused. These people had pride and faith that their hard work would eventually pay off. Unfortunately, Ma Sa knew that they had misunderstood something. Hard work does not guarantee success unless it is directed towards the goal of increasing one's value.

There was only one rule issued by the leaders of the various empires, kingdoms, and prefectures of Qian. - Do Not Steal. Due to this being the only rule, people all had a very in depth knowledge of property which they divided into intrinsic and extrinsic categories.

When Dave first entered Tianzhu he experienced quite a few attempted robberies which was confusing to him when he learned of the law. He discovered that the reason that these people were willing to rob, regardless of the Law, was that the punishment for the theft of extrinsic property was only to have all of one's extrinsic property confiscated. To people with nothing this was hardly a punishment at all. He thought back to the attempted robberies and realized that none of them ever threatened his person. They would ask in a demanding tone for his money or they would try to pickpocket him. Additionally, the robbers were all orphaned children.

In this world the children were kept in 'trust' by their parents until they displayed the 'qualities of an adult' which were the ability to be self-reliant and the ability to demonstrate a good understanding of intrinsic and extrinsic property. Until they had done so and passed through the coming of age ceremony, the parents would bear responsibility for their actions. If there was no parent to bear the responsibility for them then they would only have to bear it themselves if they committed a theft of intrinsic property such as murder.

The punishment for the theft of intrinsic property was similar. 'Steal intrinsic property and forfeit your own.' Whilst it was the same rule as for extrinsic property in essence, it was far scarier when one realizes that it could only mean death or enslavement. Dave had really misunderstood the people of the Qian continent!

Dave had walked past raised platforms that were occupied by one elder who was usually seated cross legged in what was apparently a meditative state. They were positioned adjacent to the four main gates of Tianzhu and had ignited quite a bit of curiosity in him at the time. Anytime he had brought them up in conversation with the random people he would talk to they usually just identified the elder on the platform and looked at him like he was an idiot for asking what they were for. It turned out that they were arbitration platforms where people could voice their grievances, fight consensual life or death battles, or have significant wagers notarized.

There was very little violent crime inside of settlements. However, in the Jianghu which was any area outside of the official territories (villages, towns, and cities), violence was common. This was what kept mercenary companies in business. There were, in fact, some safe routes between major cities which were privately built, maintained, and protected toll roads which were primarily used by merchants. The use of the toll roads was an expense that few could afford but it was a small price to pay for safety.

As Ma Sa learned more about the world from Guan Yuang Fei he realized that his ignorance had led him to make some extremely inaccurate assumptions. Guan Yuang Fei had actually laughed in his face when Ma Sa expressed his previously held idea that he would be killed by a 'young master' if he offended them or ventured into the noble district. Young Masters from the noble clans were actually easily offended but would never take offense from a person of lower social status. For the most part, the nobles were used to being misunderstood. It was only when a peer disparaged their martial prowess or character that they took offense. On those rare occasions the matter was usually settled with a consensual duel and wager.

Ma Sa was rather pleasantly surprised that he would have to throw out a lot of what he thought he knew from reading xianxia novels as Dave. Apparently the earliest leaders on the Qian continent were of the philosophy that balance was of paramount importance. Rather than trying to force Order to emerge from Chaos they had decided that it was better to encourage Order to emerge spontaneously with a simple rule. It would then balance itself with Chaos allowing the people themselves to choose which environment they wished to immerse themselves in. The chaotic Jianghu was unpredictable and dangerous but it brought the most rewarding experiences and opportunities for growth. The stable order of the settlements provided respite from the chaos but also limited one's personal growth opportunities.

Ma Sa also desired to one day experience the blood pumping thrill of forging a path of his own through the Jianghu. Old Guan had grown increasingly fond of his prodigious young student in the past few months and was truly reluctant for Ma Sa to walk the martial path when he could clearly have a beyond comfortable life as a scholar. He had worked hard to cram as much knowledge as possible into the boy. He had even tried to push Ma Sa to the limits in order to apply a bit of pressure to the serious but seemingly nonchalant child. He didn't know that Ma Sa had once had to spend the equivalent of a week's time in his inventory to prepare a satisfactory answer to a single question. In Guan Yuang Fei's eyes the answer had come to Ma Sa instantly and it made him sullenly question his own intellect. Eventually Old Guan ran out of things to teach his student. The little monster even had a ridiculous grasp of human anatomy which left Old Guan wondering just how many books Ma Sa's father had had in his library. It was finally time for him to make good on his promise.

That day Old Guan wrote a letter to an old friend. He dropped it off to one of the elders on the arbitration platforms whilst he was out shopping for dinner. If all went well he would have a response by the next day.

******************

"Master, what are we learning today?" asked Ma Sa.

"Hmmm today will be a little different." Guan Yuang Fei had received an invitation to tea in response to the letter he had sent the day before yesterday. He handed Ma Sa some neatly folded clothes. "Go get changed into these clothes. We'll be meeting an old friend of mine."

A moment later, Ma Sa emerged from behind the screen wearing his new outfit. His eyes were twinkling with excitement as he had just read the name of the items in his inventory: "Novice Combat Robes"

"Come. Let's go!" said Guan Yuang Fei with a smile as he turned and walked out the door. Ma Sa hurried after him as he strode down the street. He had finally unlocked the path to learning martial arts!