My Wife Is A Sword Immortal
Chapter 249 - 204: The Teacher is Looking for You

Chapter 249: Chapter 204: The Teacher is Looking for You

Yan Jidao’s gaze meticulously swept over the scroll.

After a moment, he couldn’t help but nod his head.

This style of writing, which he had never seen before, was indeed beautiful—bold and uniform, masculine and grand. Merely looking at it felt like a cleanse to the eyes, refreshing one’s vision.

However,

Yan Jidao scrutinized it again and still could not discern any profound mysteries about entering the Dao in the calligraphy.

The writing was beautiful, and he felt it might be the best he had seen in years. But to Yan Jidao, it seemed just like all other calligraphy—showy but insubstantial.

It seemed that this was the common dilemma contemporary calligraphy faced—unlike the poetry of ancient Confucian masters that could be appraised by the Heavenly Dao, how could one judge its value?

Zhu Weirui, how will you step out of this predicament?

Yan Jidao shook his head, looked at it for a while longer, but still saw no hint of the clues to entering the Dao that Zhu Weirui spoke of. He put down Zhao Rong’s scroll and called for a disciple waiting outside.

An Academy student stepped forward and bowed, "Teacher, what are your orders?"

"Go call your eldest martial brother."

The Academy student cleared his throat, "Teacher, the eldest brother is not here. He was invited to a gathering organized by the Tranquility Mansion students today, held in Nuanyi Bamboo Garden. Should I... go and call him back?"

Yan Jidao raised an eyebrow and gestured with his hand, "Wait, Jinsu went to a gathering? That’s rather unusual. No, there’s no need to call him. Go and summon your younger martial brother Zhao Ziyu for me."

The Academy student couldn’t help but cough again and with a hand cupped fist, said, "Junior brother Zhao Ziyu also went to the Nuanyi Gathering with the eldest brother this morning."

Yan Jidao thought for a while, "When Jinsu returns, have him come here immediately."

——————

The sun gradually set, and the evening sky was blood-red—it was dusk.

Within Fenglin Courtyard.

Yan Jidao stood with his hands clasped behind his back under a lush maple tree, while behind him, Li Jinsu reported something with his hands lowered.

Yan Jidao caressed his beard while examining the half-red maple leaves on the tree and listened to the words of his eldest disciple.

At a certain moment, his hand stroking his beard suddenly stopped. After listening for a few more sentences, Yan Jidao turned around and looked at Li Jinsu in surprise, "He really won a strand of East Coming Purple Energy from Tao Yuanran?"

He couldn’t help but ask again, "During the debate on Confucianism and Daoism, he won against a Daoist gentleman?"

Li Jinsu paused, observed his teacher’s rare look of surprise, recalled the situation carefully, and earnestly nodded.

"It should be so. The strand of East Coming Purple Energy that the junior brother presented to the junior sister cannot be fake. Fairy Li of Taiyi Mansion recognized it on the spot, having seen an identical one at Mr. Tao’s place, and Mr. Tao was present at the mansion, so the matter can easily be verified."

Yan Jidao slowly nodded his head, resuming stroking his beard, and turned to gaze at the maple tree.

His expression was calm, his brows furrowing as he reflected for a while, muttering to himself, "Verses in the State of No Self, winning a debate against a Daoist gentleman, Martial Brother, the young man you brought here is truly..."

As he was speaking, Yan Jidao suddenly reached out, plucked a half-red, not fully red maple leaf, held it by the stem, and looked at it closely. After a moment, he shook his head looking at the maple leaf in his hand with a hint of regret in his eyes.

Yan Jidao said softly, "Jinsu, tomorrow morning, summon your junior brother here."

After speaking, he withdrew his gaze from the maple leaf, waved his sleeve, and took out an ordinary Confucian Classic. With a gentle flip, he inserted this autumn’s maple leaf between its pages.

Behind Yan Jidao, Li Jinsu stood respectfully and silently, his expression slightly worried, "Teacher, the matter of the gathering is now being widely discussed within the Taiching Four Mansions. I’m afraid the junior brother..."

He trailed off, noticing that the teacher in front of him had already nodded slightly.

Cool breeze came at that moment.

The abundant branches and leaves of the lush maple tree swayed with rustling sounds.

Under the tree, the Classics in the hands of the elderly man were flipping in the wind, moving forward, revealing several maple leaf bookmarks wedged within, the leaves getting redder towards the front.

Compared to the first inserted maple leaf, the one he had just added was reddish as blood.

————

Zhao Rong, adorned with moonlight, returned to his small residence.

As he passed by Fan Yushu’s room, he noticed there were no lights on.

Zhao Rong remembered something, stopped, and knocked on the door. After waiting for a while, there was no response.

"Not back yet, huh."

He murmured to himself and turned back to his room.

Zhao Rong had originally agreed to visit Du You City with Fan Yushu today. With Fan Yushu, who knew the place well, it would have been convenient for Zhao Rong to familiarize himself with the city’s features.

However, Zhao Rong was later dragged away by the eldest disciple brother to the Nuanyi Gathering.

Fan Yushu said he had been cooped up in Taiching Prefecture for too long, so he decided to go to the city alone to have some fun.

In the morning when the two parted ways, Fan Yushu grabbed Zhao Rong’s hand and entrusted him with great affection to watch over Ye Lanzi at the gathering and lend her a hand if she encountered any trouble.

But in the afternoon at the gathering, Zhao Rong found there was no need for him to help; there was already a residence student helping on behalf of Brother Yushu, a young man whose looks fell only slightly short of Yushu’s own.

So, Zhao Rong thought he’d better report back to Brother Yushu to ease his mind; Miss Ye seemed to be doing very well, all smiles and laughter... It’s just that the room was empty now, and he didn’t know where Fan Yushu had gone off to. He would talk to him about it another day.

The next morning.

As the first ray of sunlight entered the room.

Zhao Rong, who had been meditating with closed eyes, slowly opened them and looked around the empty room, quieted for a while, and let out a gentle sigh.

Initially, Zhao Rong had broken through from the Clear Void Stage to the Zhenyi Stage, opening up the governor and conception vessels and completing the Circulation within his body.

Now, to go from the Zhenyi Stage to the Fu Yao Realm, he needed to open up all the other Eight Extraordinary Meridians except the governor and conception vessels, so that his body could complete the Grand Circulation. That was the true mark of entering the Fu Yao Realm.

These days, Zhao Rong had been guiding the "red snake" within his meridians, striking at the Eight Extraordinary Meridians.

However, his meridians were naturally blocked, and his Innate Primordial Qi was weak, making each attempt to strike through the meridians a struggle.

Actually, the Innate Primordial Qi of most cultivators at the Zhenyi Stage was not much different from Zhao Rong’s, as it is influenced by one’s constitution. Except for the few with congenital peculiarities, most people are the same.

But their meridians aren’t as obstructed as Zhao Rong’s, so the weak Innate Primordial Qi is sufficient for them.

Before, Zhao Rong had used Qi Nan agarwood to help him, and when he struck at the meridians, it ignited his internal energy, strengthening the "red snake" and aiding his cultivation, making great strides every day.

Now that the auxiliary materials were used up, he was back to the slow and arduous task of water wearing down a stone.

Zhao Rong sat quietly in the room, pondering for a while.

He planned to visit the market in Du You City on the next day off; according to Fan Yushu, it was the largest fairy market on Wangque Continent’s mountains, with businesses and fairy shops standing in great numbers.

Cultivation techniques, elixir pills, magical treasures, curiosities, ancient treasures... almost everything needed for cultivation was available, not to mention countless oddities and items whose uses were unknown.

As long as you have the money, you could buy them.

However, according to Fan Yushu, Du You City used a different currency system, whereas spirit stones, which had been used throughout ancient and modern times, served more like a gold standard in the previous world, rarely used for direct transactions...

As for where the money would come from?

Zhao Rong squinted at the sunlight breaking into the room. He didn’t have many spirit stones on him; not long ago, when they had briefly parted ways, he had insisted on giving her a large portion.

But...

Zhao Rong was mulling over some matters in his mind.

Time ticked away second by second.

At a certain moment, he came back to his senses and exhaled a breath of turbid air.

Suddenly, as if recalling someone, Zhao Rong’s lips curled up slightly and the heavy fog in his heart cleared away.

He hopped up, stretched languidly, and headed to wash up, looking forward to the day, and then returned to the desk to practice his calligraphy for a while.

Qing Jun had said she was busy in the Tranquility Mansion in the morning, and Zhao Rong had no classes that morning, with a class by Teacher Yan in the afternoon. Therefore, when they parted last night, they agreed to attend the class together in the afternoon.

Zhao Rong heard from the eldest disciple brother that they would return to Linlu Academy the day after tomorrow, and he decided to spend these days well with Qing Jun.

After returning to the academy, coming to the Taiching Four Mansions to find Qing Jun would not be as convenient as it is now.

What was truly key was that Zhao Rong constantly had one matter on his mind.

He still hadn’t found that piece of Mo Jade, let alone obtained it. Qing Jun had said the jade was on her person... tricky.

Zhao Rong felt an itch in his teeth.

He put down the writing brush and casually picked up a book before heading out the door.

The autumn morning sunlight was just right.

Having nothing to do in the morning, Zhao Rong decided to find a quiet place in the mansion to read.

It was just that, hardly a few steps out of his courtyard, he bumped into the eldest disciple brother.

"Little junior brother, teacher is looking for you," he said.

Zhao Rong’s hand twitched subconsciously, and the book nearly dropped to the ground.