Questions and Answers

Chapter 50: Questions and Answers

Master Zhang rarely refrained from drawing an immediate conclusion. He pondered for a moment before saying, "Zhen Attribute... It does fit the style you displayed just now."

"Tsk, tsk, what an uncommon temperament." Wang Renzhi, who had previously been too lazy even to give his name, now seemed intrigued. "Hey, why don't you just change careers? Stop being a sorcery practitioner. I hear materials for Zhen Techniques are worth a fortune and nearly impossible to find. You can't possibly rely on nothing but a wooden sword to slay demons and drive out evil, can you? Being an escort or a martial instructor might suit you better."

"You're going too far! The Scholar Examination in Qingshan Town was only possible because of Xia Fan—" Halfway through, Luo You'er suddenly seemed to remember something and covered her mouth.

"Too far?" Wang Renzhi shrugged. "We're a team that will be acting together. Having someone who drags us down is a risk to everyone. As for that Scholar Examination you mentioned, I don't think it proves anything. Leaving aside the number of examination halls, hundreds of candidates took part together. Why should anyone assume it was one person's achievement? Without him, would the Qingshan Town Scholar Examination truly have failed to produce even a single qualified candidate?"

"Ugh..." Luo You'er was unable to refute him for the moment.

"But if You'er insists, it's not as though I absolutely have to kick him out of the team." Wang Renzhi sighed softly. "After all, I'm a man destined for great things. At most, I'll just have to work a little harder myself."

"Then work harder," Luo You'er replied almost without thinking.

This time, Wang Renzhi was the one left dumbfounded.

Xia Fan, the person in question, could not help feeling touched. He had thought the young girl had always disliked him. Who would have expected that one day she would speak up for him—and deny a handsome man his face, at that?

Nothing was more satisfying than watching someone better-looking than oneself suffer a setback.

At that moment, Luo You'er turned toward him and secretly made a clawing gesture.

What did that mean?

Xia Fan pondered it for quite a while, nearly spraying out a mouthful of saliva.

Could she be imitating a crab, reminding him to repay her with fried crab?

"Master," Yue Feng suddenly spoke up, "since you said temperament is acquired after birth, does that mean one's Trigram Attribute can also be changed by human means?"

"Hohoho... Good question." Master Zhang stroked his pointed goatee. "In fact, the Bureau of Military Affairs once conducted a detailed experiment to prove that temperament could be molded. Simply put, they took ten children with the same Trigram Attribute and raised them in two groups. One group wanted for neither food nor clothing, while the other was left to fend for themselves on the streets. In the end, three of them truly experienced changes in their Trigram Attributes. But the cost was anything but ordinary. The drastic changes in disposition meant they could never advance further in sorcery. In other words, Trigram Attributes can indeed be altered artificially, but their utterly different temperaments turned them into different people."

"According to the Bureau of Military Affairs' records, there have indeed been cases where someone's Trigram Attribute suddenly changed without affecting their cultivation. However, they all belonged to special circumstances and were difficult to replicate. For example, those who lost their memories after severe injuries, or people whose minds had fallen into chaos." He looked toward Xia Fan. "You needn't lose heart either. Though the Zhen Attribute is difficult to advance in, it isn't without sorcery practitioners who have carved out a path. You can first consider other sorcery arts, even martial arts techniques from the jianghu. Once you accumulate enough merit to rise above the sixth rank, you can apply directly to the Bureau of Military Affairs for materials."

They even had controlled-group experiments. The Bureau of Military Affairs' accumulation over more than a century truly could not be underestimated.

"Thank you for the guidance, Master Zhang," Xia Fan said, holding something back. He had actually been mentally prepared for this result. While wandering with his master, he had noticed that he could imitate some sorcery arts with ease, while others were far more difficult, often showing only the first faint signs after one or two months. But his master had always nagged that learning sorcery was a long process, and that taking three or four years to master something was normal, so he had not asked further.

Only the Zhen Technique, which even his master did not know, was different. Merely following the other man's verbal account and sketching out an imitation from a gourd, he could already feel the qi within him stirring restlessly. It was faster than any technique he had learned before. That was precisely why he had devoted most of his energy to experimenting with and improving the Zhen Technique.

Now, Xia Fan had finally received a systematic answer.

As for classifying people by temperament, he found it entirely understandable—just as some people in his previous life excelled in science and engineering while others excelled in art. Thoughts shaped one's character, while character in turn reinforced one's thoughts.

"You mentioned merit just now," Luo You'er asked curiously. "May I ask how promotion works in the Bureau of Military Affairs? And how many ranks are there in total?"

"Little girl, you're already thinking about promotion?" Master Zhang said approvingly. "Not bad! These things should be planned early. The Bureau of Military Affairs differs from the Six Ministries. Rank is rank, and office is office; the two cannot be mentioned in the same breath. Starting from the entry level, sorcery practitioners have eight ranks: Chukai, Shouxin, Seeking the Dao, Shifeng, Myriad-Edge, Sentinel, Azure Blade, and Feathered Garment. When you eliminate Evil Spirits for the Bureau of Military Affairs, create sorcery arts, improve materials and Talismans, or establish other brilliant achievements, you may earn promotion. As for offices... take my position as an instructor, for example. No matter how long I hold it, it is merely my proper duty and cannot earn merit."

"But you have dealt with Evil Spirits before."

"Indeed, which is why I am a sixth-rank seeker of the Dao. But only a sixth-rank seeker of the Dao." There was a faint trace of regret in his tone. "As for offices, some exist to make forms of address more convenient, while others are for liaising with the court's Six Ministries. Those fools incapable of sensing qi will never understand that what determines one's standing is not the square chair beneath one's backside, but the strength one possesses."

"Enough about ranks for now. Since you have all completed your temperament assessments, you may visit the Library of the Record Department yourselves afterward. With your sorcery practitioner seals, you may borrow whichever sorcery arts you wish to learn about." Master Zhang gave his final summary.

"May I ask... can we borrow any type of sorcery art?" Wei Wushuang asked in surprise. "There's no additional charge?"

"If paying money let you learn one more sorcery art, the Bureau of Military Affairs would probably be begging you to study and paying you for it." Master Zhang looked at him as though looking at a fool. "The stronger sorcery practitioners become, the stronger the Bureau of Military Affairs becomes. What reason would those above have to place obstacles in the way of strengthening you? Aside from not being permitted to take books out and being forbidden to teach non-practitioners anything learned within the Bureau, the Record Department has no further restrictions."

"Heh, fatty, do you think you can learn any sorcery art just because you want to?" Wang Renzhi seemed to have recovered his spirits and once again turned his ridicule toward Wei Wushuang. "Sorcery arts may be free, but medicinal ingredients and Drafting Paper aren't. Try learning too many at once, and be careful you don't go broke."

"Uh... if the materials aren't too expensive, I should be able to afford them," Wei Wushuang retorted quietly.

"Oh? Then I underestimated you. But money can only solve the most basic problems. How much you can learn still depends on this." He pointed at his own head. "I awakened less than three years ago, yet I still placed in the top ten of the Scholar Examination."

"Top ten... Brother Wang, why didn't you go to Shangyuan City?"

"You all envy Shangyuan, but I don't. You can go there whenever you have money, but when it comes to freedom, how could it compare to Jinxia City? Sigh, only country bumpkins blindly yearn for big cities."

Xia Fan could see it now. This fellow surnamed Wang was definitely either rich or noble, perhaps both. His family background was likely among the most prominent in Jinxia City, or he could not possibly speak so recklessly—especially within the Bureau of Military Affairs. At the very least, when he boasted about himself, Master Zhang had merely watched without the slightest intention of intervening.

It did not seem as though Wang Renzhi deliberately targeted anyone. He was simply used to speaking this way.

"I would also like to ask a question." Shangguan Cai rose to her feet. "I have witnessed battles between sorcery practitioners before, and honestly... they were atrocious. Against an experienced jianghu fighter or martial artist, they would have had no ability to fight back at all. Especially this habit of shouting out their own sorcery arts... Are high-rank sorcery practitioners the same?"

That angle of questioning immediately drew everyone's attention.

Even Xia Fan greatly wanted to know the answer.

"This year's first batch of new sorcery practitioners is truly not bad. They're far sharper than those batches from three years ago." Master Zhang nodded in satisfaction. "Of course not! Sorcery arises from the heart and arrives with a turn of thought, so why would it need to be spoken aloud? Yet even Sentinels, even Azure Blades, will still loudly recite their sorcery arts in certain circumstances. Can you guess why?"

"To strengthen their own awareness?" Yue Feng ventured.

"Correct. Speaking one's thoughts aloud can be considered the unity of mind and body. When skill levels are nearly equal, reciting it will certainly produce a stronger effect than not reciting it. If it does not affect your situation in the slightest, what harm is there in saying it aloud? Furthermore, if your awareness is clear enough, language can sometimes become a means of attack—for instance, when the technique you recite is completely different from the technique you intend."

"So that's how it is..." Shangguan Cai revealed a thoughtful expression.

"Then if the opponent is an Evil Spirit, it's always better to shout it out?" Luo You'er clapped her hands in sudden realization. "They can't understand human speech anyway!"

"Precisely so." Master Zhang burst into laughter.

After the laughter gradually subsided, Xia Fan raised his hand again.

"May I ask a question unrelated to sorcery arts?"

"Oh? Go ahead."

"When I was in Fenghua County, I encountered an old granny." He recounted in detail what had happened three days earlier. "The Bureau of Military Affairs is a court institution that handles Evil Spirit incidents. Why is its price so high that an ordinary household cannot afford it? Shouldn't sorcery practitioners protect one region and keep others from suffering harm at the hands of Evil Spirits?"

This time, Master Zhang did not answer as Xia Fan had expected. Instead, he stared at him for a moment before asking, "You—who told you that?"