Chapter 31: Contentment with Ordinary Life

."As it is often said in story-tellers' tales, 'whether this way or that, it is still death,' therefore this sword is named 'Horizontal and Vertical.'"Life and death, in the storyteller's mouth, are a...Two brothers, blood related but worlds apart. One was the pride of the Dao Academy, a prodigy destined for greatness. The other lived in seclusion at the fringes of their family, an outcast shunned by society.

The gap between heaven and earth, the disparity between clouds and mud, could drive a person mad, but Wang Changji's face showed no trace of resentment. From beginning to end, he calmly ate his meal.

It seems like eating is the most important thing in the world.

He eats at a steady pace and with great care.

He had eaten his pig's trotters and greens clean, finishing the last mouthful of rice. He then looked at his younger brother, his voice gentle: "Changxiang, is something the matter"

"It's nothing major, just finished a mission and thought I'd come chat with my older brother."

"Come on, eat your greens. You can't just eat meat," Wang Changji said as he stroked the orange cat who was gnawing on a pig's hoof. He then turned to Wang Changxiang, "Tell me, you seem troubled."

“We went to investigate the missing person case in Xiaolin Town, but when we arrived, we found that it was shrouded in thick fog, so dense that even a gale couldn't disperse it. The entire Xiaolin Town was filled with restless spirits, arranged in a Nine Palace Spirit Formation based on the Nine Palaces… Little Orange!” Wang Changxiang suddenly roared at this point.

It turned out that the chubby orange cat was getting annoyed with Wang Changji constantly teasing it with vegetables. It swatted back, scratching three bloody lines on Wang Changji's hand.

“You’re quite fierce.” Wang Changji sighed helplessly, giving up on trying to get Xiaoju to eat some greens. He covered the wound on his right hand with his left hand and then said to Wang Changxiang, “I don’t understand these things about Taoist formations and spells you talk about.”

Wang Changxiang lowered his head, and his voice became softer. "But for some reason, I just wanted to tell my elder brother."

Wang Changji rubbed his forehead with his finger, "Go ahead, go on."

“You know, brother. Someone used the souls of every living person in Xiaolin Town and gathered the wandering spirits from Fenglin City over the years. Before Lord Wei arrived, they condensed a ghostly image of the Netherworld Gate and had it leave!” At this moment, Wang Changxiang looked like a child boasting about his accomplishments.

"A ghost gate illusory image Impressive"

"Such a huge price paid, of course not ordinary! With the phantom of the Netherworld Gate in hand, you can communicate with the underworld anytime, anywhere. The power of the Netherworld Dao techniques can at least be increased by half! For example, Dao techniques like exorcism can completely transcend ranks." At this point, Wang Changxiang lowered his eyebrows again: "I wonder what place that person behind it will use this for harm."

"This matter will be handled by the Criminal Investigation Department. If Wei Quji can't handle it, there's still the County Magistrate. If the County Academy can't hold up, there's still the County Patrol Academy. And behind the County Patrol Academy is the National Patrol Academy. So you don't have to worry." Wang Changji comforted him.

At this point, Xiao Ju had already gnawed the pig's trotters clean, not even glancing at the dish of greens. After licking her paws, she strutted away with her tail held high.

Wang Changji then got up and cleared the dishes.

"I'm not keeping you." He said this before entering.

Wang Changxiang watched silently as his older brother's figure disappeared into the room, then turned and walked out. However, as he passed the lounge chair where Xiaoguo was lying down, he suddenly flicked his little finger.

A nearly imperceptible wind blade slashed swiftly through the air.

>

Little Orange suddenly jumped up, looking around in surprise. Its long whiskers were now half blown by the wind.

“Dare to scratch my brother again…hmph.” Wang Changxiang left with a smirk on his lips.

All he could remember was how, when they were young, his older brother had longed for Taoism and the extraordinary world it promised. Now, no matter what was said to him, there was no ripple of excitement in his eyes.

He seemed to have, resigned himself to such a life.

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Wang Changxiang's steps, in the end, could never become lighthearted again.

Today, the master taught us about the Flame Blade Dao Technique of the Ding level middle grade. It's considered an advanced version of the Ding level lower grade flame-attached Dao Technique, and it's also one of the foundations of the Firewalking Dao Technique.

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It is the technique of condensing flames into blades, directly using heat and elemental energy to injure opponents. It's also effective against Yin spirits and other impurities.

>

Actually, by this point, Taoism techniques have surpassed those weapons forged from ordinary iron.

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As for the hand seal and precautions regarding this Dao technique, Jiang Wang had already memorized them. But at this moment, he suddenly remembered Wei Yan's long sword, which had a blade that was incredibly sharp, far beyond an ordinary weapon. Because considering Wei Yan's skill, any ordinary metal would be a burden to him.

Then he thought of Li Jianqiu's sword, which always hung at his waist, and thought that it must be extraordinary.

Thinking about it, his eyes welled up. His sword was half-broken after the last time he fought a vengeful spirit. He'd come back and bought a new one, still an ordinary iron blade. He couldn't afford, nor did he have the means to get, truly powerful weapons.

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I just wonder what kind of formidable weapons those warriors who entered the Dao through force possessed.

He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't notice the atmosphere in class. It wasn't until Ling He quietly pushed him that he came to his senses.

The instructor was a man in his late fifties, quite old-fashioned and strict, surnamed Xiao. Students privately called him Xiao Tie Mian.

At this point, Xiao Tie Mian had finished teaching the technique and randomly selected a few students to practice. When Fang He Ling's turn came, he stumbled and fumbled through the Dao art. Although the flames of the Flame Knife flickered erratically, he had nonetheless completed it.

Even Xiao Tiemian was somewhat satisfied, but this fellow suddenly said: "Senior Brother Jiang Wang is still practicing ahead of me. Why not also try this kind of magic If anything goes wrong, it's just right to ask our master for advice."

Thus, Xiao Tiemian's gaze fell upon Jiang Wang who was lost in thought.

"This is bad," Jiang Wang thought. He got up from the cushion and said honestly, "I haven't laid the foundation yet."

At the same time, Fang Hèlíng, who had entered the inner sect along with him, was already able to cast spells. However, he still hadn't laid a solid foundation, so the other disciples looked at him with strange eyes.

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"Why listen if the foundation hasn't even been laid" Xiao Tie Mian glared, his eyes narrowed. He hated nothing more than crafty and deceitful students. They had stepped onto the path of transcendence, yet they failed to cherish it, treating it merely as a tool to flaunt their superiority over ordinary people.

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"I was wrong." Jiang Wang lowered his head and admitted his mistake very honestly.

Xiao Tie Mian coldly said, “Go back and copy the Zi Xu Jing one hundred times. You don’t have to come to my class before you finish copying.”

"Yes," Jiang Wang replied, lowering his head and sighing inwardly. The full name of the Purple Void Scripture was the Supreme Classic of High Mystery in the Purple Void, which was the fundamental scripture of the Yujing Mountain lineage. Every Taoist priest from the Yujing Mountain lineage could be said to know it by heart. There was truly no need to copy it down. Xiao Tie Mian was purely punishing him.

Most importantly, this essay is almost thirty thousand words long... How long will it take to copy all that

But he knew he couldn't refuse, otherwise, with Xiao Tie Mian's temper, he could very well just roll up his sleeves and beat him up.

From then on, Jiang Wang made an effort to focus on her studies, not daring to slack off even a bit. Finally, after enduring Xiao Tie Mian's stern presence and watching him walk away with his hands behind his back, Fang He Ling swaggered over again.

"Oh, Junior Brother Jiang, I'm so sorry. I didn't know you hadn't established your foundation yet!" Cultivation transcends the passage of time, and Fang He Ling, just as naturally, changed "Senior Brother" to "Junior Brother". His tone was filled with regret: "After opening my meridians, it took me fifty-three days to successfully establish my foundation. I already felt that was too slow, and I was ashamed. Thinking about Junior Brother Jiang's past prowess, you should have established your foundation long ago... Ah, what a mess this is."

The commonly used foundation-laying array of the Zhuang Kingdom Dao Institute, the Yuan Array, has eighty-one array points. Based on twice daily meridian cultivation, yielding a total of two Dao yuan per day, fifty-three days for foundation laying is not slow at all. This is because there are many instances where shifting array points caused errors, leading to delays in progress.

The current record for the fastest foundation laying in the City of Daoist Temple is held by Zhu Wei, who successfully completed the foundation laying in just nine days, surpassing all previous records. Judging from this inconceivable speed, his Dao Vein True Spirit could absolutely not be merely a common earthworm True Spirit like Jiang Wang's. However, the specific level of his True Spirit involves personal privacy and remains unknown.

Speaking of which, for the average disciple of the Maple Forest City Dao Institute, sixty to ninety days is the normal timeframe.

>

So it's no wonder Fang He-ling was proud of himself.

He didn't disguise the provocation in his eyes, and he also wanted to see the proud man in front of him become angry and humiliated. He had even simulated in his mind how the next battle would be resolved with brilliant Taoism, defeating this rustic who could only rely on swordsmanship.

But Jiang Wang just smiled and turned to leave.

utterly indifferent, without a trace of anger.her text you'd like me to translate!Jiang Wang didn't know what to say.Fāng Hèlíng looked at him, smiling awkwardly.Let me know if you have any other text you'd like me to translate!Once in Fenglin Ci...