Muyou and Yiqi stared at the old man in disbelief.

Although they had already ascertained that the old man was stronger than them, but to deflect all of their attacks with such ease was simply mind-boggling.

"Grand... Grand... Grandmaster... This old man is a grandmaster!" Muyou and Yiqi glanced at each other before backing further up.

Meanwhile, the old man simply sat there browsing all of the tomes in the bag.

"Hmmm... Basic Sword Stance I, worthless book... Dragon Fist I, more like Worm Fist, another useless book... Thunder Drill-Kicks I, worth a read but still useless..." The old man continued rummaging through the bag without paying any attention to Muyou and Yiqi.

"ahem." Yiqi cleared his throat and clasped his fist. "Yiqi pays respect to grandmaster. May I know how do we address you?"

"Muyou pays respect to grandmaster too."

Muyou following Yiqi's lead, stood up and clasped his fist too. He understood that the disrespect that he had displayed earlier, could easily warrant both of them being killed by that old man.

The old man looked up and glanced at them. Muyou shuddered when he saw the sharp gaze of the old man, he felt like he was a prey being inspected by a predator.

"Not bad not bad... These two lads are quite promising, although their fundamentals are rubbish, but their fighting prowess were not that bad."

The old man nodded as he stroked his beard. Initially, he thought he was stealing some bandits' food, never did he expect this cave to be two boys' hideout.

"Since you called me grandmaster, you can address me as Grandmaster Hong. Who is your master and why are you hiding in this cave?"

"We are Sect-less and do not have any master. We are orphans and this cave is our home. We learnt martial arts by reading these tomes." Yiqi replied respectfully, while also glancing at the tomes worriedly. If those tomes were stolen by Grandmaster Hong, all of their efforts would have gone to waste.

"Why not just join a Sect? With your current standard, most of the Sects out there would gladly accept you."

Grandmaster Hong's eyes glowed with curiousity. By now, he was interested in Muyou and Yiqi.

"Bah! Those Sects are worthless. We joined the Wudang Sect, but all they did was make us do chores and listen to the boring lectures. We were not even allowed to spar or hold a sword, we were simply free labour! Furthermore, the seniors even beat us up to extort our meals. Wudang is simply a group of losers!"

Muyou sneered. His face had an ugly expression and was turning red from the anger. "We would never become strong in Wudang, thus we escaped! But, we will certainly return the favour next time!"

"HAHAHA!!! You really remind me of my younger self! You two have pretty good talent considering you reached this stage without any guidance. You two will definitely become strong martial artists in the future!"

Grandmaster Hong roared in laughter. He had taken a liking to them, especially Muyou.

"Since our meeting here can be considered as fate. Grandmaster Hong, will you please accept us as your disciples! Muyou and I will definitely not disappoint you!" Yiqi and Muyou knelt down and clasped their hands. They had seen how powerful Grandmaster Hong was, and they knew that what they lacked most was a master.

Grandmaster Hong paused for awhile. "Considering how far they have advanced without any guidance, they have some talent... It will be quite a waste to see them continue advancing aimlessly..."

"Hmmm... I have never accepted any disciples in my life. I have lived life freely, like a cloud in the sky, never tied down by anyone. I do not plan to change my lifestyle." Grandmaster Hong said as he walked towards Muyou and Yiqi.

"However, seeing as how you called me Grandmaster, I don't mind giving you two some pointers. Also treat this as a payment for the dinner I stole from you guys."

Upon hearing this, Muyou and Yiqi's eyes lit up as they started kowtowing to Grandmaster Hong.

"Why are you two kowtowing to me? I am not your master, I am merely giving you some guidance as a payment for the fishes that I ate, keep that in your mind, I Grandmaster Hong has no disciples." Grandmaster Hong smiled. "However, if I were to hear a single word of complaint from you two about the training, I will leave straightaway."

"Don't worry, nothing is too hard for us! We will feed you with a sumptious meal everyday! You can repay us by teaching us everyday!" Muyou chirped happily.

Grandmaster Hong was quite glad to have met Muyou and Yiqi. It seems like he can use them to relieve his boredom for the next few days. Although he had taken a liking to them, but he planned to leave after a few days, he never wanted to become too attached to anybody. A few pointers from Grandmaster Hong would be extremely beneficial to them, even more beneficial than a few months of training in Wudang.

In the cave, laughters could be heard through the night as Grandmaster Hong, Muyou and Yiqi stayed up the whole night talking and joking with each other. They were like best friends who have just met up after 10 years.

Little did Muyou and Yiqi knew that this encounter with Grandmaster Hong would drastically change their path in life.