Three hours was neither long nor short.
By the time Zheng Qing finished writing an entire set of runes, it was nearly noon. He set down the Talisman Brush, stretched, then stood up, cracking his fingers and rolling his neck and shoulders. After moving through a round of Unfettered Fist forms, he finally relaxed and let out a long breath.
It had been a long time since he had spent so much energy writing a complete set of talismans. Perhaps it was an illusion, but after finishing, Zheng Qing did not feel particularly tired. Instead, he felt refreshed from head to toe, as though a weight had lifted from his mind.
Once he had stretched out, he placed a hand on the neither thick nor thin Rune Copybook, feeling the slightly slick texture of the Yellow Skin Paper beneath his palm. Satisfaction welled up within him.
"You're incredible!" he quietly praised himself, then immediately looked cautiously to either side, afraid someone might have witnessed that embarrassing display.
Fortunately, he had chosen a seat at the angle between several bookshelves. Other than the occasional students passing by outside the nearby window, there was not a soul in sight in any other direction. Naturally, no one would jump out and loudly mock the young scholarship student for his narcissism.
As he wandered about, Zheng Qing casually reached into his Gray Cloth Bag and felt out the silver-white Pocket Watch.
It was a habit he had developed recently.
Whenever he reviewed his lessons these past few days, he would take out the Pocket Watch from time to time and jab randomly at its face with his finger, hoping that one day, his finger could poke through the glass cover like Mr. Wu's had, allowing him to turn the watch's hour or minute hand