Chapter 38

But when he carefully looked back on their conversation just now, Wen Xu suddenly felt the weight in his heart lift. He let out a breath of stale air, and the respect in his heart for his master could not help increasing by thirty percent. Well, aside from the fact that his master's enemies were scattered across the world, his master... all right, subtract ten percent of that respect.

After collecting his thoughts, he finally had the leisure to check the communication talismans by the door. Most were from Bian Chunchou. After reading every one of them carefully, he headed down the mountain to Six Lectures Peak to meet up with his friend. He had not expected his timing to be so perfect—he had arrived just as Lin Congcong was making trouble for Chunchou.

Perhaps his master's words had just given him immense confidence. Wen Xu had rarely been so sharp-tongued, but on second thought, there was nothing wrong with being sharp once in a while.

At the very least, offending Lin Congcong would not have much of an impact on him now.

Wen Xu was used to treating others kindly, not because he himself was especially kind or polite. He merely... habitually avoided disaster and refrained from making enemies.

But just now, he had realized that he was no longer that solitary scholar, all alone beneath the heavens. He was now in the cultivation world, a Qi Refining Stage cultivator who had just stepped onto the path of cultivation.

With that thought, he directly answered Chen Zui's invitation to fight. "Master said my body hasn't kept up with my cultivation, so he told me to go to the Scripture Repository Tower first and find a couple of sword arts to practice."

Chen Zui began to frown. "Why sword arts? Saber techniques... all right, you really don't look like someone who practices the saber." Just like Bian Chunchou, there was not a trace of saber-practitioner's aura on him from head to toe.

"Swordsmanship is way cooler. Wen Xuxu, ignore him. I know where all the sword arts in the Scripture Repository Tower are. I'll take you."

Chen Zui had no interest at all in sword arts, nor did he need to visit the Scripture Repository Tower to seek any cultivation methods or saber techniques. So he did not go with them. Judging by the way he left with his saber in hand, he was probably going back to practice it again.

"Actually, Chen Zuizui is also at the Seventh Layer of Qi Refining. But when he saw that you were at the seventh layer today, he must've been holding in a lot of frustration," Bian Chunchou whispered.

Grind kings. They were all grind kings. Bian Chunchou had originally planned to cultivate at a leisurely pace, but the grind kings around him cultivated like madmen without regard for their lives, and it had still affected his state of mind.

No matter how optimistic he was, he could not stand being the only one left standing still and falling behind.

Wen Xu fell silent for a moment. "Chunchou, is there anything I can help you with?"

Bian Chunchou was about to say no, but then he reconsidered. Why was he pretending to be tough in front of his old ironclad brother? "There's... way too much. Wen Xuxu, how's your literary foundation?"

Wen Xu seemed to understand. "Chunchou, do you want me to teach you how to read?"

"Can you?" OvO.

"I should be able to. To be honest, I studied for several years when I was in the Mortal Realm."

Bian Chunchou let out an oh. "But your eyes..."

"I wasn't born blind."

"Huh?"

"Master said it was related to my Destiny Pattern." Wen Xu brought out this all-purpose excuse again.

Bian Chunchou made a couple of incoherent sounds, then immediately let it go. "Several years of study?"

Wen Xu lightly pressed his lips together. "Mm, more than ten years."

Good heavens, an ancient scholar! Wasn't that basically a master of Chinese language analysis? Wuwuwu, Bian Chunchou immediately pounced on him. "Help! I can't understand my cultivation method!"

Wen Xu: ...No wonder Chunchou's cultivation had not advanced at all.

The Scripture Repository Tower prohibited loud noises. Wen Xu was not in a hurry to look for sword arts there, so he simply followed Bian Chunchou to Meditation Peak next door and found a cave abode to start a private one-on-one class.

"Um, would you mind teaching one more student?" Bian Chunchou furtively raised one finger.

Wen Xu was puzzled. "Chen Zui?"

Bian Chunchou snapped his fingers. "Here's the thing—we're brothers in misery."

Wen Xu: ...

Not long after, Chen Zui arrived carrying his saber. The three sat facing one another. Wen Xu drew a deep breath, then spoke. "First, I need to know exactly why the two of you can't understand your cultivation methods. Is it because you can't read the characters, or...?"

"I can read them, I can. And after these past few days of cram-school training at Six Lectures Peak, I can more or less guess the literal meaning of the cultivation method. But I don't understand what direct connection it has with... cultivating Spiritual Roots?"

Chen Zui's situation was somewhat different from Bian Chunchou's. "My cultivation method is a little too complicated. I can't learn it."

The number of times Wen Xu had been left speechless today was practically greater than the total from the first half of his life.

He organized his words in his mind before speaking. "First, this is only a bit of personal insight from my own cultivation. It might not be correct, but you can listen to it for now."

Bian Chunchou nodded like a chick pecking at rice. "Go on, go on."

Chen Zui also nodded seriously.

"Cultivation is an extremely personal matter, much like studying. Everyone reads the Four Books and Five Classics, but how much they learn and how much they comprehend requires personal effort and a teacher's guidance. It cannot be achieved simply by reading over and over again, and everyone understands the Four Books and Five Classics differently."

"But cultivators' cultivation is also somewhat different. It seems... and when I say 'seems,' it isn't because I'm uncertain. Rather... it should be a state that cannot be spoken or written down."

Bian Chunchou could not have agreed more. "Yes, yes, yes! I feel that way too! The cultivation methods in the Scripture Repository Tower are all twisted and tongue-twisting, mysterious upon mysterious. There isn't a single one that speaks like a human being."

"Exactly. The cultivation method my master gave me was the same." Wen Xu hesitated for a moment, but still said, "From the time the cultivation method came into my hands until I broke through to the Seventh Layer of Qi Refining, Master never once asked about my understanding of it."

The two suddenly held their breaths. Something flashed through Bian Chunchou's mind, but it was too fast for him to catch.

"So I think—my guess is that cultivation methods assist cultivation. They are more like tools that help Spiritual Roots absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. But because everyone's circumstances are different, then—"

"Individual differences!" Bian Chunchou could not help blurting out.

He had been wrong! He had been wrong! All this time, he had put the cart before the horse, treating cultivation methods and himself in reverse order. It was all those television dramas that had misled him! What male protagonist stumbled upon an unrivaled cultivation method and then rose out of nowhere, invincible beneath the heavens? What everyone in the world fought over a martial cultivation method, and whoever obtained XX obtained the world? So he had always placed the importance of cultivation methods first.