"Stop right there!"
Cao Feng barged in through the courtyard gate, his face dark.
The words had barely left his mouth when half a roasted pheasant, trailing the aroma of hot oil, ca flying straight at Zhao Tianxing’s face!
WHOOSH!
Chu Fan, with his quick reflexes, snatched the roasted pheasant out of the air just before it could smash into Zhao Tianxing’s face.
But the hot oil from the pheasant still splattered all over Zhao Tianxing’s face.
"Aah! It’s hot! It’s hot!"
Zhao Tianxing threw the Bengyue Bow onto the table and frantically wiped his face with both hands.
"You little brat!"
Cao Feng stord in, pointing at Zhao Tianxing and scolding, "You shot my bird last ti, and now you’re at it again?!"
"Master Cao, this... this is your bird?"
Zhao Tianxing, his face glistening with oil, asked in a daze, "I was wondering where this strange bird ca from!"
In the courtyard...
"GAK GAK GAK!"
"GAK GAK GAK!"
The squawking sounded rather foul.
Unfortunately, Chu Fan and Zhao Tianxing couldn’t understand the language of birds.
A head suddenly poked out from the doorway. It was the short, stout teenager.
He said pitifully, "There is no greater suffering in this world than being shot by an arrow and completely ignored."
Cao Feng and the two disciples looked at each other, speechless.
Cao Feng, who was just about to sit down, got up again and walked to the door.
He checked the teenager’s injury, placed a hand on his shoulder, and said, "Brace yourself. I’ll pull the arrow out on the count of three."
"One!"
PLUCK!
The teenager cried out, "Instructor, didn’t you say you’d count to three? What happened to two and three?"
"Alright, stop yelling!" Cao Feng frowned. "The wound isn’t deep. A little dicine and it’ll be fine."
As he spoke, he took a small white bottle from his robes, tore open the cloth around the wound, and sprinkled powder on it.
"Ngh!"
The teenager’s tears, which had just stopped, started flowing again. He sobbed, "It hurts!"
Cao Feng turned his head, saw Chu Fan holding the bow, and raised an eyebrow. "What, seeing Tianxing’s success with his archery, you want to learn it too?"
"Arrows offer long-range attacks and are very powerful..." Chu Fan said honestly. "I was thinking that with an expert archer like Tianxing to guide , I might be able to learn as well."
"I’m afraid it’s not that easy," Cao Feng sighed. "Tianxing has a natural talent for archery, and more importantly, he’s been practicing it for over ten years."
"There are many disciples in the Moon Arrow Martial Arts Hall, and so have been practicing for seven or eight years, but very few can truly match Tianxing."
"Your greatest talent is in Sword Cultivation. You should focus more on practicing your sword."
"Yes, Master. I understand," Chu Fan nodded.
’Master Cao isn’t optimistic about learning archery right now.’
’But he didn’t forbid from learning it, either.’
At that mont, Cao Feng saw the roasted pheasant in Chu Fan’s hand and chuckled. "The Moon Arrow Martial Arts Hall sent word, so I learned of Tianxing’s great success in archery today. I specially brought this ’Great dicine’ for him."
"If it weren’t for your quick reflexes, you two would’ve had to eat this pheasant covered in dirt."
"Great dicine?" Chu Fan was taken aback.
He had heard of "Treasure Fish" and "Treasure Plant," but this was the first ti he’d heard of "Great dicine."
Cao Feng explained, "Anything that has absorbed the Heaven and Earth Spiritual chanism is called a ’Great dicine’."
"You’ve been a fisherman for several years, you should have heard of ’Treasure Fish’. That’s also a Great dicine, and it can be used as a dicinal ingredient."
"It’s the sa for Treasure Plants... We also call these things ’Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures’."
"An old friend of mine spent seven days and nights camped out on the mountain to catch this pheasant. It was a huge effort."
"If I hadn’t saved his life back in the day, he wouldn’t even have given the chicken’s butt."
"It’s that precious!" Zhao Tianxing’s eyes widened. He stuck the fingers he had just used to wipe his face into his mouth and slurped them a couple of tis.
Seeing this, Cao Feng felt his chest tighten, and he nearly passed out from sheer exasperation.
He had co to congratulate Tianxing on achieving great success with his "Moon Eclipse Arrow," but at this mont, he just wanted to slap the boy.
"What’s wrong, Master Cao?"
Seeing Cao Feng glaring at him, Zhao Tianxing quickly said, "This is a Great dicine. We can’t let it go to waste."
He was right. Cao Feng was speechless and could only tilt his head back slightly, gazing at the sky at a forty-five-degree angle.
In the sky, his bird was still screeching curses...
"GAK GAK GAK!"
"GAK GAK GAK!"
Cao Feng took a deep breath and said, "You two split this half of the pheasant. It will help with your Blood Refining."
"Yes, sir!" Chu Fan tore off a drumstick and handed it to Zhao Tianxing.
Zhao Tianxing took it and started gnawing, asking indistinctly, "Master Cao, why only half?"
"How much more do you want?" Cao Feng said angrily. "You can’t absorb it all even if you eat more! I’m saving the other half for Cao Yan and Qingxue."
"That’s only right! Of course!" Zhao Tianxing said with a hasty, placating smile.
Chu Fan tore off a chicken wing and was just about to take a bite when he caught a glimpse of the Fatty out of the corner of his eye.
The Fatty was looking at him pitifully, the snot and tears on his face not yet wiped clean.
Rembering he was the one who’d accidentally shot him, Chu Fan offered him the chicken wing.
"Thanks, Fan!"
The Fatty was overjoyed and reached out to take it.
But Chu Fan pulled his hand back. "I was just being polite. You actually took seriously."
The Fatty was so angry he stomped his feet. "You shot with an arrow, and now you humiliate like this..."
"Here, take it, take it!" Seeing he was about to cry again, Chu Fan quickly thrust the chicken wing at him and asked, "By the way, what did you run over here for?"
Gnawing on the chicken wing, the Fatty said, "Oh, I just ca to tell you that I and two other brothers helped you chop your firewood."
"You son of a bitch!" Chu Fan was furious. "Give back the chicken wing!"
"Why?" The Fatty took two steps back, a look of confusion on his face.
Chu Fan roared, "Who told you to chop my firewood? Go tell those other two that if they do it again, I’ll skin them alive!"
"Oh!" The Fatty ran off, gnawing on his chicken wing.
’If I don’t go now, Chu Fan might actually snatch it back.’
’But I really couldn’t understand. I was just trying to suck up to him, so how did it go so wrong?’
Cao Feng said thoughtfully, "You’ve already learned the ’Ninefold Thunder Shock Saber’ and are about to register for the ’Blood Nourishing Realm’. Why do you still want to practice your sword by chopping firewood?"
"Well..." Chu Fan said, "Lately, I’ve been channeling the Sword Force of the ’Ninefold Thunder Shock Saber’ to chop firewood, hoping to temper my Sword Techniques through thousands of repetitions."
"I feel like it’s been sowhat effective."
"Effective, is it?" Cao Feng was silent for a mont, then said slowly, "In the Martial Dao of this world, there is no single, fixed thod."
"So people practice their sword by cutting tofu every day. So comprehend techniques by splitting water under a waterfall. And so woodcutters have grasped the essence of Sword Technique through chopping wood."
"Since you’ve found your own Sword Dao, there’s no harm in continuing to chop firewood."
"In a few days, you’ll be registering for the ’Blood Nourishing Realm’, so you won’t have to do the firewood-chopping chore anymore. How about this—"
"From now on, I’ll have soone deliver firewood here every day. If you want to chop, you can do it right here in this courtyard."
"Thank you, Master Cao!" Chu Fan cupped his fists in thanks.
"You can be this happy just from being allowed to chop firewood." Cao Feng smiled faintly. "Finish the pheasant first. I’m free today, so it’s a good ti to teach you two so sword practice."
He strode into the main hall.
In the main hall, Mrs. Zhang had already brewed and brought over a pot of tea.
Cao Feng picked up a teacup and took a sip, feeling quite content—
’Taking in these two geniuses during my lowest point has given so hope for the future.’
’Although I’m the top master in the Seven Stars Gang, I’m not necessarily that much stronger than the second best.’
’But these two disciples of mine... their future achievents will certainly far surpass my own. They will leave Cyan Yang Ancient City, venture beyond Qing Province, and forge their own legends in the Great Yan Dynasty!’
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