A Year Later, a Village Outside the City

PS: Thanks to Bisen * Falling Leaves Flower for the helmsman reward, and thanks to Qing Yi Jie for the reward, becoming the first elder. I checked and realized I owed ten chapters… It scared me so much I didn’t even dare ask for rewards.

Besides teaching Tang Xuejian at Tang Mansion, Su Yu also taught her various other things. In short, he taught her whatever she wanted to learn. Meng Qi was much simpler—he only learned two things: playing the qin and reading. The rest of the time, he cultivated nearby.

Su Yu had already cleansed Meng Qi’s marrow while he was at it. After all, Meng Qi was his disciple, so his innate foundation had to be the best. Coupled with his constant exposure to Su Yu’s "Origin Nurturing Heart Calming Melody," Meng Qi’s strength grew stronger and stronger.

In the blink of an eye, a year had passed. Meng Qi was already stronger than most Shu Mountain Disciples. Over that year, Su Yu had only taught Meng Qi the Zither Control Technique and the Qin Blade Technique. Learning all the guqin pieces would certainly take time, but Meng Qi needed some means of self-defense. So Su Yu came up with a spell that could release Qin Blades and taught it to Meng Qi.

After learning those two spells, Meng Qi spent every day studying them. It was his first time learning spells, and his enthusiasm burned fiercely.

With Su Yu’s guidance, Meng Qi quickly mastered the Zither Control Technique and the Qin Blade Technique. However, Su Yu did not allow him to use them carelessly. At the very least, he was to avoid using them in front of ordinary people whenever possible.

What Su Yu taught Tang Xuejian were qin pieces without special effects. With Su Yu as such an excellent teacher, Tang Xuejian quickly reached a modest level of skill. She had already begun learning other pieces, while Meng Qi continued practicing the Origin Nurturing Heart Calming Melody.

Tang Xuejian had once questioned this. "Why does Little Qi have to keep practicing that one piece?"

"You don’t need to worry about that. As my disciple, he can only learn other pieces after practicing the Origin Nurturing Heart Calming Melody, that beginner piece, to my level," Su Yu explained.

Tang Xuejian’s mouth fell open in shock. Practice to Su Yu’s level? How could that possibly happen without ten or eight years? She immediately felt a little sorry for Meng Qi.

Meng Qi’s Home

Su Yu went to Tang Mansion every other day. Today, he did not need to go. After teaching Tang Xuejian for a year, Tang Kun had already paid Su Yu several thousand taels of silver. Su Yu had not wanted to accept so much, but Tang Kun said a Qin Dao master was worth that price, so Su Yu accepted it. Still, every so often, he secretly slipped some of the money into Old Man Meng’s hiding place…

After so much time had passed, Old Man Meng naturally noticed that his money had increased instead of decreased. He did not think Su Yu was responsible, since he was the only one who knew where the money was hidden. After racking his brains without finding an answer, he could only assume it was a gift from heaven.

After all, ghosts and gods were not merely legends in this era, so Old Man Meng felt that guess was possible.

In the courtyard, Old Man Meng had gone out early to sell charcoal. Though the family no longer lacked food or drink, he felt that the money was not truly his, so he still had to sell charcoal.

Meng Qi stood in the courtyard, with a guqin floating before him. Su Yu stood beside him and said, "Little Qi, show me the technique I taught you two days ago."

Meng Qi nodded slightly, then gently placed both hands on the guqin. His fingers swept outward. As the sound of the guqin rang out, a visible white Sound Blade shot forward. Meng Qi immediately released several more Sound Blades.

Soon, three Sound Blades intertwined and merged into one large Sound Blade that struck the courtyard wall. The wall had been set up as Meng Qi’s target, and Su Yu had tampered with it a little. No matter how Meng Qi attacked, he would not be able to damage it.

By rapidly releasing the next Sound Blade while the previous one was still flying, he could stack them together, making their power increasingly greater. As long as his hands were fast enough, there was no upper limit to the number of Sound Blades he could stack.

Su Yu watched and nodded slightly. "Not bad. I only taught you two days ago, and you can already combine three Sound Blades."

Meng Qi smiled. "I’m still far behind Master."

When Su Yu had taught Meng Qi this technique two days ago, he had demonstrated it before a waterfall outside the city. Meng Qi had been utterly stunned. That day, Su Yu placed one hand on the guqin, and Meng Qi saw him slowly sweep his fingers forward just once.

Yet in the next instant, the guqin erupted with a hundred Sound Blades that merged into a single yellow Sound Blade, directly cutting the waterfall apart for several seconds.

If Su Yu had not been afraid of shaving the mountain bare, he could have casually unleashed a golden Sound Blade formed from a million combined Sound Blades.

Su Yu smiled and said, "Little Qi, keep cultivating in your sleep every day as usual. As for your other free time, spend half of it continuing to practice your pieces, and use the other half to go out and play."

"Huh? Play?" Meng Qi froze.

Su Yu smiled. "What else? You’re only seven years old. Isn’t playing perfectly normal?"

Meng Qi recalled the past year. He had spent it striving to cultivate and practice the qin. The idea of playing had gradually faded from his mind.

Meng Qi said, "Master, there’s no need. I want to use the other half of my time to practice combining Sound Blades."

Su Yu shook his head. "No need. You don’t have to practice combining Sound Blades. As your strength increases, the number of Sound Blades you can combine will naturally grow. Listen to me. Go play. You’re still young, and playing is important too."

Meng Qi remembered the days when he had dug out bird eggs, caught fish, caught eels, and secretly watched Widow Wang next door bathe… Ahem. A trace of nostalgia suddenly rose in his heart, and he nodded.

Su Yu smiled. If Meng Qi kept cultivating every day like this, Su Yu felt that he might turn into one of those aloof, irritating people from television dramas.

Su Yu quickly sent Meng Qi out, then left the courtyard himself. Whenever he had nothing to do, he liked taking walks outside the city. After all, the scenery in ancient times was truly incomparable—lush mountains and clear waters—and Su Yu had always liked things with an ancient style.

At Ancient Style Village outside the city, there were many villages beyond the city walls. Seeing that it was nearly lunchtime, Su Yu entered Ancient Style Village, intending to find an inn for lunch.

Su Yu quickly found an inn. After entering, he ordered a few small dishes. Few people in the village came to inns to eat, so Su Yu’s food was prepared very quickly.

Su Yu had only taken two bites when a man with his shirt hanging open suddenly walked in. The man had a large scar across his face and sword wounds across his chest. He wore an exceedingly vicious expression.

The diners in the inn seemed to know him. The moment they saw him, they fled. The innkeeper smiled bitterly and said, "Wolf Lord, why have you come again? Didn’t I have someone deliver the food to you?"

Wolf Lord curled his lip. "What, do I need your permission to go wherever I want?"

"No, no. Sigh, it’s just that you scared all my customers away again. I’ve worked for nothing today," the innkeeper sighed.

Tomorrow, I’ll create the second group. Anyone in the top ten of tomorrow’s daily activity ranking who joins will be made an admin directly. Don’t worry that nobody will join. Even if nobody joins, the fan group for my next book will still be this Fan Group, so don’t worry about having nobody to manage.

o(*≧▽≦)ツ~┴┴