Chapter 262: Scholar

"You use this one," Li Huowang said to Chun Xiaoman, who was holding his sword. "This is the sword Senior Brother Changming used back then. It's excellent, cuts through iron like mud, but I haven't had a chance to use it."

Chun Xiaoman looked at the longsword in her hand with great surprise. Although it was a bit heavy for her, it was still much better than her previous weapon.

"Thank you, Senior Brother Li!"

"Practice your sword skills often. Even though I gave you that bell, don't rely on Master You for everything. After all, inviting him once costs three months of your lifespan. How many three-month periods does one have in a lifetime?"

Chun Xiaoman nodded. As she turned, she came face to face with Yang Xiaohai, who had just entered.

Excited, she unbuckled her own sword from her waist and tucked it into his arms. "This sword is yours from now on! Come on, let's go practice swords outside!"

The following days were a rare period of peace. There was no need to rush on the road through wind and rain. Besides eating and drinking, they spent their time watching plays. Everyone, except for the members of the Lu family troupe, looked much healthier, their haggard complexions having improved.

However, after four days, they had to continue their journey. Li Huowang had wanted to stay a few more days, but the Qingqiu sheep were not eating enough and had started to lose weight. If they lost any more, they would be completely gone.

The sleeping quilts and iron pots were reloaded onto the ox cart. They began their journey towards the bustling county town that the itinerant laborers had mentioned.

"What happened to your face?" Li Huowang asked Lu Zhuangyuan, whose right eye was bruised.

"Nothing... nothing at all. I accidentally fell when I went to the outhouse last night," Lu Zhuangyuan said, a sheepish smile on his face.

"Heh, that's not from falling. He secretly snuck into someone else's backstage area to try and learn their techniques, but he was caught by the troupe leader and got beaten up."

Gouwa's words embarrassed Master Lu, but he still tried to argue. "I... I... I wasn't trying to steal techniques; I was just looking."

Clearly, he didn't even believe his own words.

To change the subject, Lu Zhuangyuan immediately "sold out" his son.

"Young Daoist Master, I'm aware of what that brat Xiucai did. I've already given him a good scolding. Please be magnanimous and don't hold it against him."

"What matter?" After a moment of confusion, Li Huowang immediately understood what the other person was referring to. "Oh, you mean the apprenticeship thing? It's fine, I'd already forgotten about it."

"I truly can't teach my abilities to others. If I could, wouldn't I have already taught my other fellow disciples? Then I'd have a few more helpers by my side."

"That's good, that's good," Lu Zhuangyuan said, hunching his back and nodding repeatedly with a smile beside Li Huowang.

"Master Lu, did those itinerant laborers mention how long it takes to get from this village to the county town?"

"Roughly a four-day journey."

Li Huowang nodded, quickening his pace slightly. He thought to himself, "I hope this county town is big enough to buy a map that marks Oxheart Mountain."

Li Huowang wished they could arrive immediately, but the journey had to be taken one step at a time, especially since they were traveling by ox cart. While ox carts had strong carrying capacity, they were slow; they couldn't even compare to donkey carts, let alone horse carriages.

As the sun set, the ox carts and the flock of sheep formed a wall, and everyone else gathered inside to eat dinner.

Tonight, they had knife-cut noodles made from corn flour. Yang Xiaohai, who had grown a bit taller, skillfully kneaded the dough, holding the knife in his left hand and the dough in his right.

With flashes of cold light, strips of knife-cut noodles were expertly shaved into the boiling pot. During this time, he hadn't made much progress in sword fighting, but his knife skills had become increasingly proficient.

When some tender bamboo shoots, picked from the bamboo grove, were sliced and added, a bowl of bamboo shoot and mutton fat knife-cut noodles was ready.

"Junior Brother Yang, your cooking skills are really improving! One day, you could become a chef." After Gouwa spoke, he and Hong'er, who was beside him, each scooped a bowl of noodles and walked towards the ox cart.

Before they even reached their spot, they were already happily feeding each other.

With a large bump on his head, inflicted by his father's pipe, Lu Xiucai carried his bowl to the pot and indignantly scooped out knife-cut noodles. "What's the big deal? When my father buys a theater..."

"Brother Xiucai, what are you talking about?"

Lu Xiucai looked up at Yang Xiaohai, who had spoken, and the round-faced woman standing behind him. He then coldly turned and walked back with his bowl.

After dinner, there were no activities, and everyone went to bed early. For the first half of the night, Lu Xiucai and his elder brother were on watch.

Li Huowang slept soundly during the first half of the night. However, just as it was nearing the third watch (around midnight), he was startled awake by a murderous aura.

He threw off his quilt, gently pushed Bai Lingmiao, who was in his arms, further inside, and then rolled over to reach for the weapons on the ox cart.

However, he only found one of the two swords; the Purple Tassel Sword given to him by the nun was missing!

"You brat!! What are you doing! Put that sword down!" Lu Zhuangyuan's shout woke everyone up.

Li Huowang immediately turned and rushed towards the bonfire. Surrounded by the Lu family troupe, he finally saw his weapon.

At that moment, the Purple Tassel Sword was clutched in Lu Xiucai's hand. He clearly couldn't withstand the murderous aura emanating from the sword; his body involuntarily leaned backward, and he was gasping for air with a distorted expression.

Lu Zhuangyuan, utterly flustered, hurried to Li Huowang's side and anxiously asked, "Young Daoist Master, what's wrong? Why has that brat become like this?"

"Hahahaha! I have divine powers! I can kill whoever I want!" Lu Xiucai began to cackle wildly.

Seeing Li Huowang walking towards him, Lu Xiucai instinctively pointed the tip of the sword at him.

Li Huowang grabbed the blade with one hand, then lifted his right foot and kicked the young man directly in his soft stomach.

"Ugh!" Lu Xiucai knelt on the ground, clutching his stomach, and vomited up all the bamboo shoot knife-cut noodles he had eaten that evening.

Re-sheathing the sword, Li Huowang looked at his lacerated palm. After casually shaking off the blood, he said to Lu Xiucai, "I'll say this again: I have no divine powers, and I can't teach you. This is the first and last time. If it happens again, you all will have to leave."

"Why won't you teach me! Why can Gouwa do it, but I can't! I want to be a master too! I don't want to be an ordinary person!"

"When you truly possess it, you won't think that way. If I could choose, I'd want to be a normal person just like you."

"Stop standing around and watching. Go back to sleep. We still have to travel tomorrow."

After dealing with this trivial incident, Li Huowang, holding the Purple Tassel Sword, turned and walked away.

Seeing that everything had ended, Lu Zhuangyuan and his elder brother, both dressed in their clothes, quickly rushed to Lu Xiucai's side.

"Look at the idiotic thing you've done! Why are you still lying on the ground! Get up!"

Just as he reached out to pull Lu Xiucai, attempting to drag him off the ground, Lu Xiucai backhanded Lu Zhuangyuan, leaving him stunned.

"Old man, get lost! My business is none of yours!"

The events of that night were not over. When Li Huowang woke up the next day, he saw Lu Xiucai hanging upside down from a tree, being whipped by Lu Zhuangyuan with a rattan stick.

But even with raised, bloody welts all over his face from the whipping, Lu Xiucai still refused to yield, cursing vehemently at his father and elder brother.

"Argh! Just you wait! You dare hit me! If you have the guts, kill me, otherwise I'll kill all of you! Argh!"