One Look Was All It Took to Confirm: a Complete Illiterate

Outside the alley, bathed in the sunlight, Fang Can spoke with confidence and composure:

"I've dabbled in all kinds of learning—poetry and songs, the investigation of things and pursuit of knowledge, celestial changes, arithmetic and geometry, gunpowder development, international affairs, music, chess, calligraphy, painting... I know a little about all of it."

Fang Can spoke confidently, concealing nothing in order to raise his standing within the other party's faction.

Just like job seekers filling their résumés to the brim, if this were not another world, where even the nations and mountains differed from his original world, he would have also said that he knew some foreign languages and geography.

After all, he really did know all those things—just a little bit of each.

As for his identity?

Naturally, he was a high school senior at the absolute peak of his mental capacity, energy, physical strength, and memory!

That was right!

Those impressive-sounding subjects above were, in plain terms, Chinese, physics, geography (the astronomy section), mathematics, chemistry, politics, and extracurricular hobbies.

Afterward, all he needed was to swallow the Gaokao Magic Potion and spend two months digesting it, and he could successfully devolve into a frail college student who only knew how to eat.

Upon hearing Fang Can's introduction, Li Fengtian's brain crashed for a moment. Then he instinctively questioned him, "Aren't you afraid of throwing your back out from bragging, kid? Who do you think you are, knowing everything?"

What kind of family could teach someone so much? Were you a prince or an heir apparent?

After all, in this era where everyone was practically illiterate, most people acquired knowledge through prenatal education or word of mouth and personal instruction. Having even one skill to make a living with was already extremely rare.

The high school education Fang Can had pursued could practically qualify him as a prophet here.

These are merely the standard basic skills of an ordinary high school senior preparing for the Gaokao, Fang Can explained to himself.

Faced with Fang Can's résumé that utterly crushed those of his contemporaries, Li Fengtian could not immediately tell whether the kid was bragging. A sense of respect for scholars rose in his heart.

With the intention of giving him a small test, Li Fengtian asked an incredibly simple question: "Fine, then. Can you write your own name?"

Fang Can: ...

That short sentence struck a blow to his defenses comparable to cursing Sun Wukong as Stablemaster.

He had only just arrived in this world and had not even had the chance to study. Forget writing—he could not even read.

It was only because these people spoke something similar to a dialect from his previous life that Fang Can had not become mute.

Looking at the unfamiliar square characters printed on Li Fengtian's clothes, Fang Can had never expected that a dignified high school student like himself would one day become illiterate.

One look was all it took to confirm: a complete illiterate!

If the test had been practical, whether balancing gunpowder equations or extracting methamphetamine, he could still have given it a try with the shallow knowledge he had learned in high school. But writing his own name...

After hesitating for a moment, Fang Can still said rather shamefully, "N-No, I can't."

"Heh, I knew you were bragging, kid." Li Fengtian sneered, and the respect he had just felt for scholars instantly vanished.

At the same time, a sense of superiority rose in his heart. At least he could write his own name. With that thought, he successfully brushed aside Fang Can's presumptuous "bragging."

Without waiting for Fang Can to prove himself, he clasped his hands behind his back and strode away, leaving the thoroughly crushed Fang Can behind.

With a bellyful of words he could not say, Fang Can could only follow gloomily, feeling that his foremost problem now was learning to read the writing of this other world.

After all, an illiterate person would be useless even with a martial arts manual in hand. Not everyone was Shi Potian.

As they walked, he also focused his attention on the transparent panel he had not had time to examine earlier, preparing to study it carefully.

Name: Fang Can

Body: 1.2

Spirit: 1.2

Qi: 1.0

Talent Trait 1 [Extreme Misfortune Brings Prosperity]: The worse the environment, the higher the hidden attributes. Turn danger into safety! Turn misfortune into fortune!

Talent Trait 2 [Unwavering Resolve]: The lower your Health Points, the faster you recover. Only by approaching death without limit can one comprehend the true meaning of life!

Description Bar: None

Before his eyes floated a pale panel, seemingly made of e-cigarette vapor, displaying something like the character stats from a game.

Fang Can guessed that these were his three-dimensional attributes.

Talent Trait 1 was the superpower he had been born with, but when had he gained Trait 2?

Suppressing the doubts in his heart, Fang Can spared some attention for Li Fengtian's explanation.

Seeing that Fang Can was a complete novice who knew nothing about the division of forces in the martial world, Li Fengtian explained some basic knowledge to him as they made their way back to the sect.

Of course, the main content consisted of boasting about how incredibly awesome the Tiger Fiend Sect was—that within a hundred li of Yanggu County, there was no second force capable of rivaling it; that it absolutely called the shots; that Fang Can had struck gold by joining it; that this was an immense blessing, and so on.

As they walked and talked, Li Fengtian in his finely woven clothes and Fang Can with his short hair naturally drew the attention of passersby.

But upon seeing the blood-red Tiger Devour emblem on Li Fengtian's chest, they all instinctively shrank aside, not daring to offend him. This also let Fang Can see from another angle that the Tiger Fiend Sect's standing—and reputation—were probably not very good.

Does this count as joining the Demon Sect? Fang Can instinctively wondered.

In less than the time it took to drink a cup of tea, the two stopped before a gate adorned with cast lion statues.

As Fang Can looked it over, the stone steps before the gate were broad, and three sect members in black garments patterned with red stood on each side.

A huge plaque hung above the gate, bearing the sect's name in vigorous, powerful characters: [***].

What fine Heaven Rewards Diligence! Fang Can praised the three unreadable square characters on the gate in his heart.

When the guards saw Li Fengtian approach, they all respectfully clasped their hands. "Welcome, Hall Master Li."

Li Fengtian lightly raised his chin and pointed at Fang Can behind him. "This is a new disciple I've brought into the sect. Arrange the formalities for him. Tomorrow, take him to the Martial Arts Hall to train."

"We obey Hall Master's command." One of the gatekeepers clasped his hands in acknowledgment.

Li Fengtian turned to Fang Can. "Just follow him from here. Train for a month first, and we'll see what your aptitude is like. Then we'll assign you a position."

"Please wait, Hall Master." Fang Can hurriedly called out as he watched the other man prepare to leave after handing him over to the sect members.

"What is it, kid?"

"Does... does our Tiger Fiend Sect have a Library?" Fang Can could not help asking.

Li Fengtian could not help laughing. "Don't tell me an illiterate like you wants to read?"

But then he saw the youth before him nod with utter seriousness, and the corners of his mouth involuntarily curled upward.

"Kid, don't say I didn't warn you. Reading too much does no good for martial arts. In the Sect Master's words, it's called 'Obstacle of Knowledge.'"

"But if you want to look, then go ahead. Just ask him directly when the time comes." Li Fengtian pointed at the sect member beside them.

Watching helplessly as Li Fengtian took several strides and vanished from sight, Fang Can could not help complaining inwardly:

It's Obstacle of Knowledge, you illiterate.