Vol 2 Chapter 25 (1/2)

Book 2, Growing Up, Chapter 25 – Six Years

The floater continued to swirl as Linley sat cross legged next to it In his hands, he held a straight chisel and a rock the size of his palm

“Begin with the basics I’ll start with this little rock as I begin …”

Linley sat there alone in the e of Doehring Cowart, he began to study the art of stonesculpting As he began to understand an to understand why in the later stages, the Straight Chisel School could assist in i one’s spiritual essence

When others carved, they needed to use a large pile of tools

They had to spend a huge a what tools to use where Naturally, this would be exhausting Every single work of art represented their blood and painstaking effort

But the Straight Chisel School was different

The only tool used was a straight chisel, so there was no need to consider what tool should be used for what Naturally, the difficulty level was greatly heightened due to the use of just one tool For exaht chisel to carve out the parts normally reserved for the jade bowl knife required an extrerasp of the basic form of a stone

In addition, great strength was needed

If one tried to use just a straight chisel on soer pieces which norh, one would need sufficient strength

One could use an earth-style us’ unique connection to the earth to understand a stone’s essence But wrist strength had to be trained As a th was not bad, but it was only enough to carve soe, his wrist strength would not be enough

However…

Right now, Linley was just working on the basics

When the school year came to an end, Linley returned to Wushan townshi+p

After the New Year, little Wharton and his older brother, Linley, had only a few days to spent in each other’s company And then, under the auspices of Housekeeper Hiri, Wharton headed towards the O’Brien Empire Linley had no choice but to wistfully watch little Wharton depart Crying nonstop, six year old Wharton parted from ten year old Linley and headed off

Time passed

Linley continued to be a solitary figure at the Ernst Institute The vastat the back mountains

Entering a young adult’s growth period, Linley’s appetite increased enorrow taller as well Naturally, his physical strength and musculature also i Cowart’s guidance and his own hard work, Linley continued to ress

Spring went, autumn came Flowers blossomed, floithered In the blink of an eye, three years passed

At a waterfall in the mountains behind the Ernst Institute

“Roar, roar” Like a solid sheet of water, the waterfall poured down in torrents, s into the deep pool of water

Linley was right next to the waterfall, wielding a thirty-centiht chisel in his hand as he constantly chipped away at a ht chisel in his hands danced in an alht chisel passed saw scraps of stone detach and fall down An e to take shape from the stone

He continued frorow clearer and clearer

Linley’s gaze was totally fixed upon the stone At thiswas focused on the stone and permeated it, as his heart had beco caused Linley not to even notice the passage of ti totally one with nature actually caused Linley’s spiritual energy to begin to regenerate, and even grow organically

But Linley hiht chisel and unceasingly work on the statue

Pieces of excess stone continued to fall down, causing each detail of the statue to grow ht chisel in Linley’s hands finally came to a halt

“Whew!”

Linley let out a soft breath and brushed away so The entire statue had taken shape A half- ht mistake it for a real in squeaking wildly

Froo!

“What an a” Only now did Linley realize that his spiritual essence had improved dramatically

A white-robed Doehring Cowart s today, you can just barely be considered to haveyet? But your work can only be considered to be a superficial pseudo-artwork It’s only worthy of being placed in the standard hall at the Proulx Institute If you show it off there, I would be humiliated Destroy it”

“Yes, Grandpa Doehring”

The straight chisel in Linley’s hand flashed many times, and the statue suddenly became divided into more than ten pieces This year, Linley finally had !

And this year, Linley was thirteen years old!

Day after day, year after year

After , Linley’s spiritual essence began to improve at a much more rapid pace Specifically, when Linley was nine and a half, he had becous of the second rank, and when he was eleven, he had becous of the third rank And when he was thirteen, he had becous of the fourth rank!