Teacher's Brush

In the crowd, Ji Li stood on tiptoe, trying hard to make sure Lu Xun could spot her.

When their eyes met, Lu Xun noticed that Ji Li seemed to have lost a little weight. The baby fat on her face was still there, but there was less of it than before.

Perhaps she was getting older, or perhaps she had endured quite a few hardships on the path of cultivation.

Of course, some places had not slimmed down at all. On the contrary, she was only sixteen, and her body still seemed capable of developing further. Who knew whether she might reach another level someday?

It seemed some men were especially obsessed with that, to the point of "despising the poor and loving F." Lu Xun was fairly indifferent, though.

A lot of men saw a loli and thought they had a loli fetish, then saw a mature beauty and thought they had a mature-woman fetish. Stop overthinking it. You were simply horny.

After not seeing her for many days, Lu Xun did want to chat with Ji Li for a while.

Given the bond they had formed along the way, he had even come up with several excuses to explain why he had not visited her, lest she think he had gone back on his word.

But Ji Li was standing amid the crowd. If he walked over, the disciples around her would definitely make way for him. With an ancestor-level figure mixed into the Outer Sect Disciples, no one would feel at ease.

So he waved at Ji Li. "Come here."

With a whoosh, Ji Li's round little face instantly turned red.

The Outer Sect Disciples all knew that the Little Martial Grand-Aunt and Ji Li had arrived at the Demon Sect together, and they probably knew each other already, so they made a path for her.

Gritting her teeth, she hurried to Lu Xun's side with shameless determination.

Quite a few female disciples secretly envied her. Strangely enough, even a few male disciples looked at her with envy.

Lu Xun was perfectly at ease. Looking at her, he teased, "You wanted to catch me and make me your Cauldron before. Now you know how to be embarrassed?"

Seeing that Ji Li said nothing, he continued teasing her. "Do you still have that idea now?"

Ji Li looked up at him. Her mouth said, "This disciple would not dare," but her gaze desperately darted away.

Lu Xun's mouth twitched. You little brat, you're still thinking about that? You still haven't given up!

I treat you like a junior, but you're lusting after my body...

This Little Martial Grand-Aunt is furious!

Once everyone had arrived, Elder Qiu Shui led them toward the Trial Grounds.

She was the head of the Outer Sect Elders, only one generation below Lu Xun in seniority. She stepped forward and asked, "Little Martial Uncle, would you like to go first, or watch for a while?"

Lu Xun's status was extraordinary, so naturally, he could do whatever he wanted.

Lu Xun smiled faintly, his expression warm and gentle. In a voice neither too loud nor too soft, yet one that ensured everyone could hear, he said, "I'll go first. I'll set an example for everyone, and it'll keep you from getting nervous with me watching from the side."

After all, his status was different. On top of that, he had just condensed a Sword Heart. The Outer Sect Disciples revered him beyond measure. Most of those two thousand-plus Reputation Points came from these Outer Sect Disciples, who had not seen much of the world.

"The Little Martial Grand-Aunt is so approachable!"

"Yeah, the Little Martial Grand-Aunt is so considerate. He thinks of us in everything."

Whispers rose among the disciples. No one had expected that in a perfectly proper cultivation world, someone would be shameless enough to forcibly build himself a persona just to gain Reputation Points, intending to take the route of a male idol surrounded by brainless fans.

"Starting today, I'll be the Demon Sect's idol!" Lu Xun thought. "I'll keep my feet on the ground and strive to become a popular young star as soon as possible!"

In his eyes, Tool People were recyclable. Reputation Points could be harvested wave after wave.

After walking for around twenty minutes, they soon arrived at an open space.

At the center of the clearing stood a table. On it lay only a brush that looked simple and ordinary.

Meanwhile, an enormous white Talisman Paper floated in midair.

Lu Xun first looked at the Talisman Paper, and some basic information appeared before his eyes:

An extra-large low-grade Talisman Paper.

Aside from being relatively large, this Talisman Paper was nothing special. It was the cheap Talisman Paper most commonly used by cultivators.

The key to this trial was that brush—the seemingly unremarkable brush Teacher had once used.

Standing beside the table, Elder Qiu Shui announced loudly, "This brush was bought by Teacher in a small town, for writing and drawing."

"Today's trial is simple. Pick up this brush and write or draw on this large Talisman Paper. Write whatever you wish, draw whatever you wish. Whoever uses the brush for the longest will receive an Emerald Pill!"

To Outer Sect Disciples, pills were valuable things. A single pill could equal several days, or even dozens of days, of cultivation.

An Emerald Pill was considered a fairly good pill even in the inner sect. To Outer Sect Disciples, it was absolutely a treasure.

That flash of green was simply too tempting.

"Do your best later," Lu Xun said to Ji Li.

He could tell that Ji Li had already reached the third layer of the Qi Devouring Art, one layer higher than him.

As expected of someone with eight ripples. She cultivated incredibly fast!

If her aptitude were converted into game terms, it would be equivalent to 8 Comprehension! Lu Xun could circulate one Great Cycle a day and gain at most 20 Experience Points, while Ji Li could gain 160...

In ten days, that would be 1,600 Experience Points, just enough to rise from Level 0 to Level 3.

Though she was a native of Tian Chen Continent, so it should not be calculated that way. But she could also receive a pill supplied by the Demon Sect every seven days, so that cultivation speed was understandable.

Fortunately, he could gain Experience Points by completing quests and killing monsters...

After receiving Lu Xun's encouragement, Ji Li nodded vigorously.

Only then did the silly girl realize that because she was standing beside Lu Xun, she had naturally become the second person to step forward and hold the brush—the first among the Outer Sect Disciples to take the stage.

That made her a little nervous, though not so much that she lost her nerve. After all, she was someone bold enough to harbor improper thoughts about the Little Martial Grand-Aunt.

Seeing that everyone was ready, Elder Qiu Shui said, "Little Martial Uncle, then... shall we begin?"

Lu Xun nodded, then leisurely walked toward the table ahead. His back looked casual and dashing.

The brush on the table looked very ordinary. Elder Qiu Shui had said earlier that Teacher had bought it in some small town.

Looking more closely, one could see that the brush was not merely ordinary, but cheap. It was probably the cheapest kind of brush available.

Lu Xun did not act immediately. Instead, he tried to obtain the brush's basic information.

His level was still low, so the basic information he could obtain was limited. But perhaps because this brush was a quest item, the information that appeared was relatively comprehensive.

After reading all the basic information, Lu Xun could not help drawing a deep breath.

He was currently only a Level 2 newbie, yet even a brush once used by Teacher was Level 20!

During the new-book period, I reliably update twice a day. Why do so many people feel like I only update once a day? Clearly, my word count is no less than anyone else's... I pondered it all night and reached a conclusion: it must be because I write too well. So I'm asking for recommendation votes with complete confidence.