129 Genius in the Academy (1/2)
Chapter 129: Genius in the Academy
Translator: TransnEditor: Transn
At the critical moment of life and death, he could rely on what Sangsang had, but not Sangsang herself.
Ning Que held his jaw sitting by the window, and gawked at the little girl thinking if he should try on the calligraphy stationery so that Natal Items could be finalized. However, the pen he usually used was a brush rather than a magistrate pen; the ink was pine ink rather than graphite; the inkstone was made of mud; the paper was the budpaper.How could they be used as weapons? Furthermore, they were all things that a scholar used. It always seemed improper to let calligraphy stationery fly in the air and be involved in the war with cultivators.
He fiddled with something in his hands while pondering on these difficult questions - now the Old Brush Pen Shop had plenty of silver taels, and Sangsang had even done things like covering the entire bed with silver taels. At present, silver taels had been changed into notes that did not have so much the same hand feel as silver taels. He kept a new tael of snowflake silver, and played with it every day - Snowflake silver was cool and smooth with a really good grip. For a poor lad who struck it rich, it was infinitely more comfortable than things like walnuts and stone balls.
For the rest of the time, Ning Que continued maintaining a clear, bright and kind heart, continuously trying to keep his breath in harmony with his Psyche Power and aura. Meanwhile, he succeeded in making the candle sway and extinguished it and made a corner of the piece of paper that was affixed to the wardrobe fly, but he still failed to find a suitable object. This situation lasted till late into the night.
The chirping of cicadas and the hot summer remained. The dim bean-shaped candlelight on the table released constant endless heat, and the master and servant in unlined robes sat at the table, staring at each other in silence for a long time.
Sangsang crouched at the edge of the table resting her head on her arm. She opened her willowy eyes to watch the restless silver ingot slowly moving and reflecting the candlelight on the table. She said in an undeniable tone, ”Young master, although this piece of silver does respond violently to your Psyche Power, I still strongly object. If you throw it all away in a fight, what shall we do? An ingot of silver is equivalent to twenty-two taels. All our property will be gone in a few years of fighting.”
...
...
The next day, Ning Que went to the Academy, and stayed in the old bookstore till midnight before he left. Chen Pipi wriggled out when the bookshelf slightly moved, and Ning Que bounced up to tell him what he had experienced at Lin 47th Street, and then asked a question that seemed important to him, ”Why can't I still not remember the contents of these books ?”
”Didn't Sister Yu tell you? In the old library, all the books and texts on cultivation were written by the grand cultivators of the past. Every ink in the book is the accumulated Psyche Power power of those Divine Talisman Masters. Only when you enter into the state of Seethrough, can you see through its hidden meaning, you are still far away from that state.”
Ning Que remembered the female professor's warning to himself and Xie Chengyun. He scratched his head and sighed. Suddenly he thought of something and looked at Chen Pipi and said, ”Does this mean... you are at the upper state of Seethrough?”
”No,” Chen Pipi answered indifferently without a trace of shame on his face.
Ning Que, now understood very well the character of this fellow. It was the calm expression that helped him guess his real state which might have been above the superior grade of Seethrough. He was greatly shocked considering that Lyu Qingchen did not manage to step into the Seethrough State with one foot until he was old and frail. The fat lad in front of him had already surpassed the Seethrough state and entered the Knowing Destiny State!
”You're so young... You... are a unique genius.” He looked at Chen Pipi's big round face and said with admiration. ”You don't look like a genius nor a grand cultivator in the Knowing Destiny State, but you really are.”
Chen Pipi was speechless and didn't know how to respond, but thought to himself, ”Are you worshiping or ridiculing me?”
Ning Que was in awe of him after knowing that this guy was actually a Grand Cultivator. He felt that he was talking with an old man who exhibited celestial behaviors with a white beard, and he said respectfully, ”I mean... Genius, surely you can solve my dyslexia as you're so talented. Please give me some pointers.”
It seemed that Chen Pippi really liked the mild and sweet voice and the overt flattery. He smiled before replying, ”A word needs to be read as a whole, because a word is a world with its own soul. You can avoid being injured by the calligraphy style by deconstructing words with the Eight Strokes Calligraphy of Yong, but you can only see some fragments of this world, and that naturally can't be registered in the spiritual world. An ordinary person who hasn't reached the superior grade state of the Seethrough wouldn't be able to read these books. In the opinion of a genius like myself, you can probably find some tricks that rely on the Eight Strokes Calligraphy of Yong.
Ning Que moved a bit closer and listened attentively.
”You're good at calligraphy, so you can deconstruct these words into strokes by using the Eight Strokes Calligraphy of Yong. For example, you can try to unintentionally remember the order and number of strokes, and then reconstruct them in the mind with the method of calligraphy after leaving the old library. Consequently, the word's still that word, but it no longer has the structural psyche given by Divine Talisman Masters who copied these books that year.
Ning Que was deep in thought.
Chen Pipi warned, ”I just put forward a possibility. Whether you succeed or not, it will require you to conduct numerous experiments. The final result may work, or may not work.”
”It's better to try than do nothing at all.” Ning Que suddenly remembered the attempt he made last night in accordance with the guidance of Chen Pipi. He then excitedly stood up and took out the prepared flint to light up a candle. After putting the candle on the table at the west window, he returned to his original place, and said, ”Please see if my practice in cultivation has succeeded.”
As his voice dropped, his middle and index finger on his right hand merged into a sword, which stabbed the candlelight in the distance once he waved his arms. The Psyche Power exuding from his body controlled the Qi of Heaven and Earth, and finally disappeared along with his fingertips.
There was no sound of thunder, no great movement of the heavens and the earth.The dim candle on the table shook gently for a few moments and quickly regained its composure. It was as if a few wisps of summer wind had blown in through the west window crevices.
Chen Pipi frowned and after a moment of silence, he uttered shaking his head, ”Weak.”
He spent a difficult night cultivating his ability to interact with objects in the Academy and finally learnt this ability, but could only receive the word [ weak ] from his peer. Although he knew the guy was a genius in cultivation, and that his current state was as dim and disdainful as the candlelight on the table in the eyes of the genius, Ning Que felt a bit unhappy. He took the silver ingot, and heavily slammed it on the floor in front of them, and said with extreme annoyance, ”Please look at this before you make a comment.”
A moment later, Chen Pipi stared at the silver ingot that was slowly turning and moving on the floor. He then said incredulously, ”Your response is not bad... Aren't you the greedy type? Are you that fond of taels of silver?”
Ning Que suppressed the pride in his heart and rubbed the spot between his eyes that was starting to hurt due to the excessive output of Psyche Power. He thoughtlessly whispered as mildly as possible, ”I'm not greedy, and the silver ingot knows I always care for them.”
”In other words, these silver taels are aware that you're too mean to spend them, so they'll give joyful responses to your perception? You're not only weak, but extremely weak.”