An Unconventional Scholar and the Progress Bar

Outside the city gate, crowds were coming and going in a steady stream. Before Xu Bai even got close, he saw that people had already begun to gather at the city gate.

Places like city gates are supposed to facilitate traffic flow, but at this time they were congested.

The lively sounds from the onlookers occasionally reached Xu Bai's ears. After listening for a while, Xu Bai walked closer and peered through the gaps in the crowd to see what was happening inside.

An ordinary-looking scholar was lying on the ground, holding two tattered books in his hands, crying out incessantly. In front of the scholar was a wealthy middle-aged man dressed in silk.

As Xu Bai got closer, Xu Bai could hear the scholar's cries clearly.

"You're being so unreasonable. I worked as a day laborer at your house just so I could have something to eat while I was studying."

"I worked so hard for your family, but in the end I didn't even get paid. Look at this, everyone, Nanhua Dao is a holy land for scholars, is there no law here?"

"You have to give me an explanation today, or you're not leaving."

The impoverished and down-on-his-luck scholar cried and shouted, occasionally kicking the ground with his legs, giving off a sense of utter despair.

This scene was almost unprecedented in the scholarly atmosphere of Nanhua Dao, and thus attracted the attention of many people.

As the saying goes, the local environment shapes the people. The people of Nanhua Dao are all well-educated and polite, and most of them have read a lot of the classics. So even when they are watching a spectacle, they still pay attention to order.

Xu Bai also hid in the crowd, acting as a bystander.

Who in this world doesn't enjoy watching a spectacle?

The rather burly, wealthy merchant was clearly bothered by the crowd around him and felt it was a loss of face to stay there. So he waved his sleeve, ignoring the poor scholar, and turned to leave.

Before he could take two steps, the poor scholar shuddered, scrambled to his feet, and crawled to the rich merchant's side, grabbing his leg and continuing to shout.

"Everyone, be my witnesses! He actually tried to run away. Doesn't that make sense? He's not allowed to run away until he gets paid today."

As he shouted, the scholar's eyes kept scanning the surrounding crowd, a scene that Xu Bai happened to see.

Xu Bai frowned. He felt there was something wrong with this scholar. In fact, this kind of situation was not uncommon in other places.

However, the fact that the scholar was throwing a tantrum in the street and constantly glancing at the people around him proves that his intentions were not with the scholar but with the crowd around him.

Xu Bai continued watching.

Just then, the scholar's gaze suddenly stopped, and the place where he paused was actually in Xu Bai's direction. Xu Bai raised his eyebrows, the corners of his mouth slightly turned up, and he finally understood what was going on.

"Ah, so it was Xiang Zhuang's sword dance, his aim was Liu Bang," Xu Bai thought to himself.

When the scholar's gaze lingered in his direction, although it quickly shifted away, Xu Bai clearly sensed that the scholar's true intention was to see him.

Xu Bai decided to keep watching; at least for now, it was quite interesting.

The wealthy merchant, somewhat annoyed by the scholar's actions, finally pushed the scholar to the ground and threw down a large handful of silver coins.

"Here, is this enough?"

"You rascal, you work for me as a day laborer, but you're always slacking off. When you're slacking off, even if you're reading, you should at least do your job properly, right?"

"You've got your money today, but don't even think about doing this business again."

Being a businessman, the wealthy merchant didn't want to waste time here, nor did he spend much money. He quickly said a few harsh words and left.

The impoverished scholar sat on the ground, staring at the silver coins scattered on the ground, completely stunned.

He slightly raised his head and subtly glanced at Xu Bai, only to find that Xu Bai was looking at him with a gossipy expression and showed no intention of coming out.

The impoverished scholar gritted his teeth, realized what was happening, picked up all the money from the ground, and finally left.

With no more gossip to share, the surrounding crowd naturally dispersed, leaving only Xu Bai standing there, watching the direction the poor scholar had left in before disappearing from the spot in the next moment.

After leaving the city gate, the impoverished scholar walked through several winding alleys and finally arrived at a dilapidated house.

The house was indeed dilapidated. Compared to the surrounding houses, it looked like it had never been repaired. If it weren't for the relatively intact roof, it would probably leak.

The poor, pedantic scholar opened the door and walked inside.

Just as he was about to close the door, a hand suddenly shot out, grabbed his neck tightly, and shoved him against the wall.

The impoverished scholar immediately woke up and struggled to shout, but when he saw the owner of the hand, his eyes clearly went blank for a moment.

This dazed expression lasted only a moment before being concealed by the impoverished scholar, but it did not escape the other party's notice.

"Who are you? Why are you trespassing? Be careful, or I'll shout and the authorities will come."

His tone was full of panic, as if he were a vulnerable person who had been suddenly grabbed.

Xu Bai smiled and said, "Weren't you looking for me outside just now? Now that I'm here, why are you scared?"

"Who... who is looking for you?" The poor scholar shuddered.

Before he could finish speaking, he heard a melodious tune, which was very pleasant to the ear, but besides being pleasant, it also had a feeling of disturbing his thoughts.

He felt his mind becoming confused, and in the blink of an eye, he was in a state of chaos.

Xu Bai released his grip, letting the impoverished scholar stand before him, and slowly asked, "Who are you? Why are you looking for me? What is your purpose?"

The scholar, whose mind was under control, looked completely bewildered, but after hearing Xu Bai's question, he replied, "I am an ordinary scholar from Nanhua Dao. I'm here to get close to you and then kill you."

I deliberately set up this trap. I wanted to test whether you would be able to rescue you like those Jianghu people. If possible, I would make friends with you and finally assassinate you. "

Xu Bai pondered for a moment and said, "How would you assassinate me?"

It wasn't that Xu Bai was overconfident; the scholar in front of him, who was completely defenseless, was someone he could stand there and let the other man hit him without the man breaking through his defenses.

The impoverished scholar raised his hand, reached into his pocket, and pulled out a scroll.

The scroll was rolled up, and it looked like a painting.

Xu Bai stretched out his right hand and squeezed hard.

The sound of bones cracking echoed from the empty room.

The impoverished scholar let out a scream, dropped the scroll in his hand, and stared at Xu Bai with a face full of fear.

Xu Bai picked up the scroll from the ground and said indifferently, "Not bad, you were actually able to deal with my soul control. I don't know what method you used. First, you used a so-called inferior method to get close to me. In fact, you already knew that you couldn't get close to me, so you deliberately exposed a flaw to lure me over, and then pretended to be controlled by me. However, you are still a bit green to play the trick of revealing your true colors."

The impoverished scholar laughed bitterly, "As expected of King Xu, you truly live up to your name. Consider this my defeat today, but this is only the first time."

As soon as he finished speaking, the poor scholar's face suddenly turned deathly pale, then his head lolled to the side and he lost his breath.

"So they're really organized and disciplined, they just commit suicide when they have no chance?" Xu Bai shook his head and opened the scroll in his hand.

After the scroll was unfurled, a dagger was revealed at the very end. The dagger looked ordinary, but it was decorated with blood-red patterns that looked extremely sinister.

A thought suddenly occurred to Xu Bai —this dagger could hurt him! This was an intuition from the depths of his heart; his intuition told him that this dagger could harm him and make him feel danger.

"It should be related to the blood-red patterns on the dagger," Xu Bai thought to himself, while rolling the dagger back into the scroll and handing it to the first-grade puppet beside him.

After doing all this, he scanned his surroundings with his divine sense and, finding nothing else amiss, left the dilapidated house.

Azure Cloud Academy is the most famous Academy in Nanhua Dao. Here, Academy are almost everywhere.

Along the way, Xu Bai would encounter an Academy every thirty to fifty steps.

Whether grand and majestic or small and exquisite, this place is filled with the atmosphere of scholars.

Because Azure Cloud Academy was the most famous, Xu Bai only needed to make a few inquiries to find it.

Looking at the scholarly building in front of him, Xu Bai stood at the door and nodded repeatedly.

It must be said that the architecture alone perfectly matches the name of the Azure Cloud Academy, being elegant yet magnificent, simple yet dignified.

The gate was open. Since it was Academy, there were no servants here, and many scholars were walking back and forth.

Scholars would go in and out at different times, each carrying a thick book in their hands.

Some readers looked down at their books, some tucked them under their arms, and others walked while reading.

Xu Bai did not see Liu Xu, since he had not notified Liu Xu in advance of his visit, so no one was there to greet him.

However, it wasn't a big problem. Judging from the situation, Xu Bai figured he wouldn't be stopped. With that in mind, he lifted his foot and walked towards the door.

Upon entering, one is immediately struck by a powerful and righteous aura. After all, this is a sacred place for scholars, and even an ordinary person can clearly feel it here.

No one paid him any attention, and no one looked this way. Everyone was looking at their books, as if the books in their hands were more important than anything else.

But Xu Bai didn't know where Liu Xu was, so he had to ask. He found a scholar and grabbed him.

The scholar, who had been pulled back, frowned and shook his hand in dissatisfaction, trying to shake Xu Bai off, but Xu Bai's hand was like an iron clamp, and he couldn't shake it off at all.

"How can you be so rude? This is a sacred place. Why do you behave so disrespectfully?"

The scholar's hair was askew from swinging his arms, and he was very displeased with Xu Bai's actions, so he couldn't help but scold him.

"Excuse me, where is Liu Xu?" Xu Bai asked, though he didn't loosen his grip on her hand.

"Senior Sister Liu?" Upon hearing this, the scholar seemed to realize something, his face full of disdain. "Another lecherous rogue. Ever since Senior Sister returned from the Bureau of Surveillance, all of you have been tempted. I advise you to go back as soon as possible, or you'll make a fool of yourself and lose your life."

Xu Bai grinned and said, "Why would you lose your life? Is Liu Xu some kind of shrew?"

The scholar's expression changed, and he said coldly, "Senior Sister Liu is now the Bureau of Surveillance. She took leave to come back this time mainly to wait for someone. Do you know who she is waiting for?"

"Who?" Xu Bai asked, quite curious.

The scholar's face grew even colder. "Blood Slaughtering Saber Wielder, have you ever heard of him?"

In his eyes, the person in front of him was not only a lecher, but also a lecher without any knowledge. He didn't even know who Senior Sister Liu was waiting for, so what knowledge did he have? But for some reason, when he said the words "Blood Slaughtering Saber Wielder," he felt his hand suddenly tighten, as if the other person's strength had increased, and he could feel that the other person seemed to have developed a sense of disgust towards him.

"What do you want to do? Do you want to cause trouble here?" The scholar felt the pain in his hand and raised his voice.

"Ignorance is no excuse, I'll let it go this time." Xu Bai said in a sinister tone, "If you call me that again next time, I'll hook your tongue out. Remember to call me King Xu from now on, no, call me King Xu."

He hadn't forgotten what Eunuch Wei had told him: he had to refer to himself as "this king" in public, since Xu Bai was now a king of a different surname, and he couldn't lose face for the Great Chu Kingdom.

"King Xu? This prince?" The scholar looked puzzled, clearly not having realized what was going on. Only after he came to his senses did he finally understand the meaning of those words.

"You are Blood Butcher..."

He was stunned and wanted to repeat Xu Bai's address, but before he could finish speaking, a chill ran down his spine, causing him to swallow the last two words.

"Your Prince...

At this moment, the scholar was somewhat apprehensive. "I was unaware of Your Prince's identity, Prince forgive me."

"Hmm," Xu Bai said, "Tell me, where are the Liu Xu?"

Although everyone around was a student, Xu Bai and his group made quite a commotion, which naturally drew attention. After learning Xu Bai's identity, many people gasped in surprise.

The scholar quickly pointed in a direction, indicating that it was Liu Xu's room, and that Liu Xu was waiting for him there.

Xu Bai then let go of her hand and walked in that direction, but before he left, he turned back and said, "The so-called indomitable spirit cannot be subdued by force. I see that although you are studying, you have not learned the spirit of a scholar."

He just blurted that out in a moment of carelessness; after all, when it comes to insulting people, Xu Bai is second to none.

"Unyielding to power..." The scholar looked in the direction Xu Bai had left, lowered his head and pondered the words repeatedly, as if he had found a treasure.

The scholars watching from the surrounding area exchanged bewildered glances, all repeating the same phrase over and over.

Xu Bai, of course, knew nothing of this; he had already followed this direction and found Liu Xu's room.

As for why it can be found with such precision, the answer is simple: it all comes down to one word.

--fragrant.

Even from a great distance, the pleasant sandalwood scent could be clearly smelled. Xu Bai guessed that sandalwood incense had already been burned in Liu Xu's room, so he could smell it with just one sniff.

"Knock knock knock!"

He stepped forward and gently knocked on the door, the sound echoing in his ears.

A moment later, the sound of Liu Xu could be heard from inside the room.

"Xu Bai, wait a moment, let me disable the mechanism in the room."

As a third-rank expert, Liu Xu could easily tell who was standing outside the door.

Upon hearing these familiar words, Xu Bai instantly recalled the scene when he first met Liu Xu.

Back then, it was still Sheng County, and both of them were newbies. However, compared to him, Liu Xu was an experienced newbie.

Liu Xu's room was filled with various traps and mechanisms, all based on the tricks of the martial arts world, all for the purpose of defense.

Unexpectedly, Liu Xu remained unchanged at the Azure Cloud Academy.

Soon, the door to the room opened, and Xu Bai came back to his senses.

Liu Xu, her face veiled, bowed slightly and said, "Greetings, King Xu."

Her eyes held a playful tone, and although the veil covered her face, it was clear that the smile in her eyes remained undiminished.

Outside the room, several scholars dressed in white happened to pass by and were looking at him with curious eyes.

However, after sensing Xu Bai's gaze, they quickly dispersed.

Xu Bai deliberately put on a stern face and said, "If you keep teasing me like this, I'm going to turn around and leave."

How could he not realize that Liu Xu was teasing him?

Liu Xu turned to the side, tilting her head. "No, please come in, my King Xu."

Xu Bai was quite helpless, but he still stepped inside.

As soon as he entered the room, he smelled an even stronger sandalwood scent. Xu Bai saw a metal container on the table emitting blue smoke and couldn't help but shake his head.

"Aren't you afraid that this fragrance will make you smell like a pickle? Oh, no, you already smell like a pickle."

Liu Xu turned around and closed the door. Just as she was about to turn back, she saw Xu Bai Xu Bai walk up to the table and pick up the book on the table, slowly opening it.

Her expression changed instantly, and she prepared to step forward and snatch the book away, but Xu Bai's hand was faster.

"Oh, so this is your secret? Is it a diary? Who keeps a diary anyway?"

Xu Bai jokingly turned to one of the pages, but his face froze when he saw what it contained.

"Jump!"

"Ah!"

Liu Xu covered her head, her eyes filled with indignation. "What are you doing!"

Xu Bai withdrew his hand, his lips twitching as he said, "I already told you not to write these things, why did you still write them?"

On that day, when they were in Sheng County, Xu Bai and Wu Hua often discussed Buddhism all night long. In fact, it was just an excuse that Xu Bai made up to deliberately speed up the progress bar.

As a result, Liu Xu wrote about the two of them directly in the book, and she did so in a very vivid and detailed way.

As for the content... it cannot be described.

This book is actually a sequel to the previous one.

"Give it back to me!" Liu Xu snatched it away quickly while Xu Bai was tapping her head, hugged it to her chest, and then quickly backed away.

"This is also my way of reading."

"This counts?" Xu Bai asked in astonishment.

Liu Xu nodded seriously. "Of course, everyone has their own path. I'm almost at the second rank now."

Xu Bai was completely confused.

"Alright, alright." Liu Xu waved her hand, changing the subject, while hiding the book behind her back. "Let's not discuss this anymore. Xu Bai, you've come a long way this time, I'll go find the cook and ask him to make you a few dishes."

As she spoke, Liu Xu ran away as if fleeing.

Xu Bai watched Liu Xu's hasty escape and shook his head, but he did not stop her. Instead, he sat down in his chair, propped his head up with his hand on the table, and waited patiently.

To be honest, I was indeed a bit hungry. Although at their level, not eating for a long time wouldn't have much of an impact, there's always a craving for food.

It's like a person who doesn't eat, but can't resist delicious food; it's the same principle.

Before long, Liu Xu returned, and many dishes were laid out on the table.

Xu Bai glanced at it and said, "It's quite a feast."

There was also a pot of wine placed next to it.

Liu Xu poured herself a glass and then poured Xu Bai a glass.

Xu Bai didn't drink it; instead, he pointed to his face.

Although he didn't say anything, his meaning was already quite clear.

"You're still wearing a veil, how can you eat and drink?" Liu Xu smiled and said, "You're still so curious about my appearance."

"I wear a veil on weekdays simply because I don't want to cause unnecessary trouble because of my appearance."

"It's just you and me today, so what harm is there in picking them?"

As she spoke, Liu Xu raised her fair hand, reached to her ear, and removed the veil from her face.

A fair and clean face appeared before Xu Bai.

"Beautiful." Xu Bai's simple two words sounded very uncultured.

It's not that he lacks other adjectives; on the contrary, he does have them.

For example, her cheeks were flushed red, and her pearl earrings swayed gently.

Or perhaps her hair is adorned with ink-stained clouds, and a phoenix hairpin embellishes her hair as if it were flying.

Or perhaps her slender, jade-like fingers are like orchids, and her delicate, golden lotus feet resemble ingots.

Or perhaps her sleeves sway gently, beckoning butterflies to dance, her slender waist slowly twisting, her silken ribbons fluttering.

Those sentences are perfectly appropriate to describe the Liu Xu at this moment.

But it's nowhere near as wonderful as the word "beautiful".

As we all know, when a person has countless emotions, he can express them with some specific words, but when it comes to speaking, two words can still express them concisely.

—Holy crap! Why use other words when you can express it in just two?

Liu Xu's lips twitched slightly. She raised the wine glass in her hand, tilted her fair neck back, and drank it down in one gulp.

Xu Bai also drank the wine in his glass.

The two started chatting, and in the atmosphere of laughter and conversation, they became more and more engrossed in their conversation.

As they chatted, they drank several rounds of wine and ate several dishes.

Liu Xu's cheeks flushed red, a reaction to the alcohol.

Although it doesn't make you drunk, it has a unique charm.

In Xu Bai's view, a beautiful woman is like jade, and drinking wine is like covering the jade with a white veil, making her even more captivating.

"Oh right, I almost forgot to get down to business."

"I have something I'd like you to see."

One person said something, and they said it at the same time.

Xu Bai and Liu Xu were both taken aback.

"What do you have to show me?" Liu Xu asked.

Xu Bai didn't stand on ceremony and said things like, "You should say it first."

He beckoned to the first-rank puppet beside him, and the puppet immediately stepped forward and handed the scroll to him.

"On my way here, I encountered an assassination attempt." Xu Bai slowly recounted his experience on his way here.

He placed the scroll on the table and opened it, revealing a dagger inside.

The blood-red patterns on the dagger still looked eerie, like flowers stained with blood.

"This thing gives me a very dangerous feeling. My intuition tells me that it can hurt me," Xu Bai said.

Liu Xu was slightly surprised when she heard Xu Bai recount his experiences.

Although surprised, it wasn't much, since Liu Xu believed that Xu Bai's current strength posed no major challenge.

However, when she saw the dagger in front of her, she suddenly stood up, her eyes filled with astonishment.

This action instantly piqued Xu Bai's curiosity; it was obvious that he knew Liu Xu.

"Do you recognize this dagger, or rather, do you recognize the pattern on it?" Xu Bai asked.

Liu Xu finally came to her senses, nodded with a complicated expression, and then sat back down in her chair.

"This was carved by a scholar."

"Scholars?" Xu Bai stroked his chin and said, "Aren't scholars supposed to Righteous Qi? How come they would do such strange things?"

In his view, the patterns on the dagger were extremely strange and could not have been created by a scholar with Righteous Qi.

Liu Xu smiled bitterly and said, "This thing was carved by a scholar, and it contains the essence of his life. The person who carved this thing probably died from exhaustion."

Xu Bai frowned and said, "Tell me in detail, tell me everything from beginning to end."

He felt completely lost and confused, so he needed to understand it from beginning to end.

Liu Xu nodded slightly, stopped drinking, and explained the whole story.

Xu Bai listened quietly, and after he finished listening to Liu Xu's explanation, he gradually understood.

As we all know, scholars acquire abilities through reading, and these abilities are what we call Righteous Qi.

However, there is one characteristic of scholars, which is well known, except for Xu Bai.

After all, Xu Bai hasn't been in this industry for very long.

The Righteous Qi a person gains from reading good books is righteous, while the Righteous Qi a person gains from reading bad books is inevitably evil.

Reading can make people wise and reasonable. Good books and bad books are like fine wine and blended wine.

Reading good books was naturally approved by the Great Chu Kingdom, but after reading bad books, one's Righteous Qi would change and would naturally no longer be considered Righteous Qi.

Not only that, it can also affect one's mind, making one more sinister.

These were also scholars, but they were treated like rats in the street, hated and beaten by everyone.

At this moment, the dagger in Xu Bai's hand was engraved with patterns by such people.

"Wait a minute." Xu Bai raised his hand and said, "Liu Xu, there's something I'm not sure if I should say?"

Liu Xu was a smart person and of course knew what Xu Bai was going to say. She smiled and said, "You mean to say that my Righteous Qi is wrong?"

As it spoke, a unique, Righteous Qi emanated from the Liu Xu Righteous Qi, carrying a strange and unsettling feeling that left people feeling bewildered and confused.

"I'm also confused, but I'm sure it hasn't affected my mind," Liu Xu explained. "My teacher once said that a book is like a butcher's knife. If the butcher's heart is righteous, then no matter how many animals the knife kills, it will still be righteous."

"Although this analogy is a bit crude, I thought about it carefully and it is indeed true, so I don't think I have any problem with it."

Xu Bai touched his chin. He didn't know if there was a problem, but at least from the interaction, Liu Xu didn't give him any unusual feeling.

"So, do you have any clues?"

Since someone was targeting him, Xu Bai naturally wanted to follow the clues and find out where it was and launch a strong counterattack.

"No," Liu Xu said helplessly. "They are very well hidden, almost extinct in Nanhua Dao. I didn't expect to see them today."

This means there's no news and no clues.

Xu Bai didn't care about this.

He still held the same belief: nothing in this world is without flaws; it's just a matter of how many flaws there are.

The more opportunities the opponent has to make a move, the more openings they will have.

"Let's talk about your business. You've sent me all this way, is there anything you want to tell me?" Xu Bai changed the subject and asked.

Liu Xu shook her head. "Originally, the dean wanted to see you, but now the dean has gone out and probably won't be back for a while. Why don't you stay here for a while?"

"Dean?" Xu Bai was slightly surprised.

He hadn't expected that it was the dean who wanted to see him. Who was the dean? In Xu Bai's eyes, he was someone on par with Eunuch Wei.

The fact that I can see a progress bar in that book, especially since it was written by the dean when he was young, is absolutely proof of that.

"Hmm." Liu Xu nodded and said, "When the dean left, he didn't say anything. He just said that if you came, you should wait for him here. He would be back soon. By the way, the dean asked me to give you this. He said he learned from me that you like to read books on various fields, so he brought you a travelogue he wrote in his early years."

Travelogue?

Xu Bai was immediately interested when he heard the word "book," since it might be related to the progress bar. However, when he heard the word "travelogue," his interest waned.

What is a travelogue? Simply put, it's something you record while traveling.

"There shouldn't be a progress bar here," Xu Bai thought to himself.

The thought had barely crossed his mind when he immediately dismissed it, because he noticed a golden progress bar on the book Liu Xu had handed him.

Not only that, the progress bar is moving very slowly.

You know, his cheat system has been upgraded, so the progress bar should be moving very fast. But now the progress bar is moving slowly, which proves that this book is a good thing.

"I'm rich!" Xu Bai was absolutely certain.

He accepted it expressionlessly. "Please thank the dean for me."

Although his face remained expressionless, he was overjoyed inside; this was another huge profit.

Liu Xu was used to Xu Bai's carefree attitude, so she nodded without caring and started chatting with Xu Bai again, this time about everyday matters.

The two chatted and drank, until the wine was empty and they had almost finished eating.

Liu Xu stood up and, in Xu Bai's sight, put her veil back on, preparing to arrange a room for Xu Bai.

But before she could say anything, a loud bang suddenly occurred.

"Boom!"

The sound came from outside, and at the same time, the scroll in the hand of the first-rank puppet emitted a bright red light.

It was 38.5 degrees Celsius last night, but I still managed to write this chapter despite the heat.

Everyone, please take precautions. This thing hurts irrationally, really irrationally, and it's very uncomfortable.