Fu Leisheng’s impression and mory of Black Pot oscillated between clarity and haziness.
Black Pot stared at him a few more tis, and unconsciously, he blurred his impression of the dog, even forgetting the dog’s functions, which resolved his misunderstanding about Black Pot and made everything seem normal.
Whenever he looked at Black Pot again, no matter what the dog did, he felt it was natural.
—Having a dog at ho always subtly influences things. Thus, he felt it was normal to be influenced by the dog.
"Our countryside is different from the cities; we often have evil spirits stirring trouble," Chen Shi said after paying respects to his godmother and offering incense to Zhu Xiucai after finishing his morning lessons. He introduced the local customs to Fu Leisheng, "During the dayti, when only a crescent moon appears, it’s usually the weaker evil spirits that erge. At night, it’s best not to go out since the spirits are more formidable. Before going out, one must prepare by hanging Peach Talismans in all directions and ideally carry a lantern covered with Five Yang Thunder Illumination Talismans. It’s best to add a drawing of Grandma Tai Mountain on the lantern too. Rember to cover it completely, leaving no part undrawn. Also, beware of spirits that blow out lights; so little ghosts erge from the ground and blow towards your lantern. If they blow it out, they will swarm and devour you."
Fu Leisheng attentively noted these key points; he might have to live in the countryside for a long ti, possibly never returning to the county town.
The countryside is safer—if you commit a cri, just hide in Qianyang Mountain. Governnt officials rarely search the countryside and usually just look around briefly.
He heard from Chen Shi that the town’s private school teacher had died, and there had been no replacent; he then planned to return to his old profession and open a private school in Bridge Bay Town.
"... cucumbers by the roadside can be picked and eaten, but wash them first. You can grab one of the ducks chased by the village girls and wring a few eggs from it by holding the duck’s neck. The lons in those fields are also up for grabs, as long as you can run faster than Old Lady Wu Zhu; generally, it’s no problem."
Chen Shi introduced this thodically when suddenly, Wu Zhu erged from the lon field, smilingly asked, "Little Ten, did you pass the exam for scholar?"
"I did," Chen Shi replied.
Wu Zhu then turned around, picked several waterlons and musklons, and stuffed them into his arms, laughing, "Little Ten is becoming successful. If your grandfather were alive, he would probably host several banquet tables to celebrate noisily. Don’t mind the few gifts; feel free to eat these for now. If you want more, just pick them from the field."
It was the first ti Chen Shi felt the authority of being a Scholar.
"In the countryside, becoming a Scholar is a significant event; traditionally, it requires a banquet."
"However, it’s just in my family, so no need for that," Chen Shi told Fu Leisheng.
Fu Leisheng shook his head, "Being a Scholar is not very useful. It’s still sowhat respected in the county since there aren’t many, but in the provincial city, the streets are teeming with Scholars; a brick could kill two. By the ti you get to places like the Western Capital, Scholars are even more frighteningly common."
"We country folk don’t realize that. We think becoming a Scholar ans we’ve made it, that we’re practically senior officials."
The two shifted from talking about evil spirits to rural customs, eventually discussing the small temple behind Chen Shi’s head.
Originally, Fu Leisheng thought replacing the shrine with a small temple was heretical, but Chen Shi explained that the function of the small temple was the sa as the shrine, being a place to nurture the Divine Embryo, and moreover, shrines are also located within temples, so having an extra small temple was no different.
"Moreover, with the Divine Embryo in the shrine and the shrine inside the temple, protected from wind and rain and able to receive incense, isn’t that even more respectful and reverential?"
Fu Leisheng thought it over and found it very reasonable.
Black Pot greatly admired his little master.
He had managed to prevent Mr. Fu from noticing anything unusual without using any skills, which was much more impressive than himself.
In the end, their conversation circled back to skills.
Fu Leisheng, after all, was a private school teacher with a solid foundation; he noticed many subtle flaws in Chen Shi’s practice of the ridian Evil Slayer Sword and helped him correct the posture, enabling him to exert force more accurately.
With the corrections, the power of the six sword moves increased.
Fu Leisheng was startled.
The ridian Evil Slayer Sword had limits in its power and range, beyond which it couldn’t be improved. Yet, Chen Shi continued to enhance it!
With his guidance, Chen Shi’s Sword Qi beca even more formidable than during the county examination; his Stabbing Sword Style could previously reach slightly more than 80 feet, but now he could achieve 100 feet!
Fu Leisheng composed himself and said, "Chen Shi, your ridian Evil Slayer Sword reaches far, but the farther it goes, the less accurate it becos. Beyond 100 feet, the target becos hard to see with the naked eye, so you need to practice constantly."
He used his Sword Qi to chop several wooden stakes and placed them 100 feet away, with pebbles on top of each, instructing, "You should practice targeting skills until you can hit your mark every ti, then try to keep hitting while running. Once you can still hit every target, practice hitting moving objects. If you still succeed, then you will be adept at killing enemies in combat."
Chen Shi’s ridian Evil Slayer Sword, though powerful, lacked basic training, so he started to practice imdiately.
"Black Pot, when your young master hits a pebble, you go over and place a new one on the stake," Fu Leisheng instructed.
Before long, he saw the dog busily running back and forth.
Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be the pebbles on the stakes 100 feet away being precisely shattered by Chen Shi’s Sword Qi, hitting one after another!
The busy dog was replacing the pebbles.
Updat𝓮d from freew𝒆bnovel(.)com
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