So what?

Chen Xu leaned on his cane, his back bent, listening to the Ugly Monkey's incessant chatter in the small bamboo forest.

As expected, he hadn't found any suitable stone fragments. In fact, even unusable broken stones were scarce on the ground.

The Ugly Monkey clapped its hands and laughed again, "Enough, enough! Young man, do you realize now that the world is difficult and cannot be overcome by mere youthful passion?"

It let out a cackling, ear-piercing screech that grated on Chen Xu's nerves.

Chen Xu felt a surge in his chest, a rush of Vitality straight to his head, making him want to smash all the bamboo pieces and punch the Ugly Monkey.

He clenched his fists, the blisters on his left hand stinging him.

Chen Xu instantly sobered up. The pain spread from his palm. He took a deep breath, ignoring the Ugly Monkey's noise. He turned to a tall, slender green bamboo by his side and suddenly thrust his right hand out, striking a bamboo joint fiercely.

Crack!

Though his palm acted as a blade, Chen Xu's strength was highly concentrated. Vitality surged within him, focusing into his palm with explosive power in a mere inch.

Chopping bamboo was like chopping wood, attacking its weak points, striking its vital spots.

Instantly, the green bamboo snapped with a loud crack and fell to the side.

Chen Xu used his right hand to quickly strip away the small branches from the bamboo pole.

His movements were nimble. He chose a suitable joint, formed a triangle with the bamboo pole, and then snapped the pole again at another joint.

Finally, he obtained a bamboo tube about half a foot long.

Chen Xu still had a round, blunt little stone from when he was grinding stone fragments. He held the stone in his palm and tapped the bamboo tube along its grain.

Crack, crack. The bamboo tube instantly shattered into four pieces along the grain.

Chen Xu picked out one piece. Holding the round, blunt little stone, he trimmed the edges of the bamboo piece and beveled the cut. The bamboo piece was sharpened into an edge in his palm.

Upon closer inspection, it was no longer just a bamboo piece. It had become a bamboo knife!

The Ugly Monkey was stunned. Its chattering had stopped at some point. It followed Chen Xu closely, watching him skillfully use the bamboo knife to carve inscriptions on the bamboo pieces.

Chen Xu's Vitality was abundant, his mind sharp, and his technique proficient when channeling his strength. The bamboo knife was much easier to use than the stone fragments had been.

In just a short while, he had carved inscriptions on the twenty-second, twenty-third... twenty-fifth bamboo pieces.

Just then, the Ugly Monkey suddenly said, "Scholar, among those people, the fastest one has already finished thirty questions. He has left the bamboo forest and entered the second level of the Star Array."

Crack!

The tip of the bamboo knife in Chen Xu's hand snapped.

Chen Xu didn't mind. He picked up the round stone from the ground and ground the broken tip again. The bamboo knife was reshaped.

"Monkey," Chen Xu continued carving and said, "Do you know the biggest difference between humans and animals?"

The Ugly Monkey's large ears flapped. Its bulging eyes widened, and it asked in a muffled voice, "What is it?"

"It's because humans create tools," Chen Xu smiled. "Humans create tools and change their environment under any circumstances.

The ancient ancestors had nothing. In a dangerous primitive environment, their strength wasn't the greatest, nor were their claws and teeth the sharpest. But they were able to use everything around them to create stone knives, stone axes, bone sickles, bone swords...

Using tools to replace claws and teeth, they hunted beasts and protected themselves.

They ate raw meat, so they learned to drill wood for fire and cook their food.

Their skin was fragile, so they learned to tan hides and make clothes.

They couldn't resist the harsh cold and heat, the biting wind and frost, with their physical bodies alone, so they learned to build houses.

No, they didn't just learn. They created miracle after miracle in their natural evolution.

From weapons to fire, from language to writing, from barbarism to civilization!"

Chen Xu's tone was slow and leisurely, as if he were merely chatting about ancient times.

But the Ugly Monkey, squatting beside him, somehow felt its fur stand on end. Beneath its sparse fur, its monkey skin erupted in countless tiny goosebumps.

The Ugly Monkey's mouth hung open, its eyes wide, the veins on its neck throbbing and trembling.

Chen Xu continued carving and answering questions. He reached the twenty-ninth bamboo piece, the thirtieth bamboo piece... Then, he picked up a thirty-first blank bamboo piece.

"The biggest difference between humans and animals is that humans can create civilization and history in adversity, forging wisdom and the flame of progress.

So what if you have nothing?

The world is treacherous, and people's hearts are no longer ancient?

Does a single doorway determine life and death? Are there ranks, high and low, noble and base?

No, that's because you don't know that humans, besides being good at creating, are also adept at destruction."

Chen Xu laughed. He turned his head, and the Ugly Monkey suddenly let out a strange cry, its slender monkey legs kicking backward.

Thump!

Just like that, the Ugly Monkey fell on its backside in front of Chen Xu.

The Ugly Monkey yelped and sprang up, scrambling into the bamboo forest mist in a flash, disappearing without a trace.

At the same time, in Chen Xu's sea of consciousness, the Cauldron Scripture suddenly displayed a new message:

[You have captured Heart Monkey Dust Flame (Three Taels). This item possesses unique spirituality and has been stored in the Embers Kitchen. It can unlock the God of Cookery Recipes, Three Taels of Red Dust Crisp.]

What a surprise!

Chen Xu paused for a moment, then chuckled again.

He sat in the misty bamboo forest, one leg crippled, carving bamboo slips with a bamboo knife, and at this moment, he leisurely recited: "The world's affections are thin, human feelings are wicked, rain sends off the dusk, flowers fall easily..."

"So what?"

Chen Xu laughed heartily. He finished carving the fortieth bamboo slip and began carving the forty-first.

Unbeknownst to him, the ugly monkey that had originally retreated into the mist had, at some point, returned.

However, this ugly monkey no longer showed itself. Instead, it clung to a bamboo pole, hidden in the mist, and quietly peered at Chen Xu.

From time to time, its belly would puff out, making a sound that others could hardly hear: "This angers this monkey master! This young man has no martial ethics. He seems gentle and harmless, without a trace of ferocity, yet he's actually a mad scholar!

If Senior Brother accepts this child, it will be a disaster. How will we maintain our good reputation outside? It will be ruined by such a madman."

The ugly monkey ranted furiously for a while, and after a long pause, a gentle and refined voice said, "A Sun, you're not angry because he's mad, but because you yourself can't be as mad as him?"

The ugly monkey let out a howl and became even more enraged.

Bamboo leaves rustled in the mist, and the ugly monkey darted away again in an instant.

It swore that this time, it would never come to see this wicked scholar again.

A quarter of an hour later, a monkey figure with large ears and bulging eyes once again quietly approached Chen Xu along the mist.

At this moment, Chen Xu had finished carving fifty bamboo slips.