Chapter 4: Immortal Craft Levels Up, Bad News Arrives

The timber was scrap material he brought back from the wood carving shop, a small piece, and no one paid attention when he brought it back.

The carving knife was what he had prepared when he once wanted to strive to learn wood carving on his own; he had the artisans at the West City Iron Shop specially make it, a set that wasn't cheap, and now it finally came in handy.

【Immortal Craft】 Dao fruit leapt and jumped, a feeling as if aided by a deity surged into his heart.

Because it was just a trial run, Li Che did not choose to outline with ink lines but directly picked up the knife, and with the help of the Dao fruit, he felt the carving form of the Six-Eyed Bodhisattva statue completely etched in his mind.

Just like Master Chen, carving the Six-Eyed Bodhisattva wood carving hundreds or thousands of times, practice makes perfect.

For each position of the wood, the depth and angle of the cut, the grasp of the spatial form from outside to inside, and the amount of force applied when the blade falls, he had his own control over.

However, after all, being hands-on still left some awkwardness, but this awkwardness in the connection between his fingers, the carving knife, and the wood gradually smoothed out as the carving progressed and his proficiency improved.

His knife technique gradually became graceful, even producing a unique flavor, which is the manifestation of skill reaching maturity.

Mature knife technique requires continual accumulation of experience.

But Li Che seemed, through the Immortal Craft Dao fruit, touching the Six-Eyed Bodhisattva, like a sponge, gradually absorbing Master Chen's years of carving knife experience.

The sharp carving knife rasped against the wood with a shushing sound.

The oil lamp crackled and jumped, wood shavings and scraps fell pattering, and in Li Che's palm, a palm-sized miniature, with prominent angles, the Six-Eyed Bodhisattva statue gradually took shape.

Although unpolished, with rough edges, that form had already leapt out like supernatural craftsmanship!

Beside him, Zhang Ya put Xixi to sleep, then seeing Li Che carve the statue's rough form in just a moment, her heart was filled with astonishment.

Watching Li Che immersed in carving, Zhang Ya dared not speak to disturb him, only able to suppress her curiosity.

She didn't sleep either, sitting on the bed edge, just quietly watching Li Che focus intently on carving under the oil lamp.

Watching and watching, her eyes grew slightly hazy, she pursed her lips, and a smile full of joy blossomed.

She thought her husband might have long given up wood carving, but she never expected……

Her husband had never given up, always studying hard, and now…… he secretly gave her a surprise!

"I don't know if my husband can become a wood carver at the wood carving shop, even as an apprentice…… then he wouldn't have to daily laboriously haul heavy timber and wood carvings."

Zhang Ya's wish was very simple and modest, only hoping her husband could easily earn money to support the family.

Li Che, immersed in carving, soon came to his senses, because the Six-Eyed Bodhisattva statue had taken shape, no further carving needed; although unpolished, it was not yet a finished product.

But Li Che's heart was filled with joy.

Suddenly, he seemed to sense something, his mind stirred.

【Dao Fruit: Immortal Craft (lv1, 10%)】

Huh?!

Li Che's eyes lit up, he noticed that the experience-like prompt in the suffix of the Dao Fruit 【Immortal Craft】 had increased a bit.

"If I carve a piece of wood carving, can I increase experience? Is it similar to proficiency?"

"Or perhaps, because I touched the Six-Eyed Bodhisattva wood carving, learned the Six-Eyed Bodhisattva statue technique, and successfully carved it, I gained a 10% increase?"

Looking at it this way, this Dao fruit…… can actually be understood as a fruit that has just formed but is not yet mature.

Only through his gradual nurturing can the true ability of obtaining the Dao fruit be unlocked.

Li Che couldn't help but speculate.

Unfortunately, he didn't bring wood back, so he couldn't try right away.

He could only suppress his curiosity, stand up and stretch, then saw his wife Zhang Ya leaning against the bedhead, eyes closed, resting.

Li Che knew his wife was waiting for him to sleep together, his heart warmed involuntarily.

It was freezing cold, so he hurriedly blew out the oil lamp, pulled up his startled wife, and they slipped into the blankets.

Outside the house, heavy snow fell.

It landed on the roof piled thick with snow, making a soft sound.

Accompanied by, it was extremely conducive to sleep.

……

……

The next day, Li Che went to work at Xu Ji Mu diao Pu as usual, just like before.

"Master Chen, can I take this scrap material back to practice?"

During a break, Li Che approached Master Chen, gazing at the "Flower Curve Willow" scraps fallen from carving, and couldn't help but speak.

Master Chen's beard was specked with wood shavings; he glanced at Li Che and said: "Planning to learn wood carving? You're quite meticulous, this is a piece of material, though you're a bit old, but having this heart is good; take any of the scrap I carve as you like."

Li Che had helped Master Chen for several years, so Master Chen's attitude toward him was naturally lenient.

Delighted, Li Che quickly thanked him, then began selecting scrap material usable for practice.

Master Chen glanced at it, gave a wry smile, shook his head, and continued to focus on carving "Nine Children Embracing Lotus".

Li Che gathered the selected scraps, wrapped them in cloth, placed them at his workstation, then ran to the yard under the pretense of adjusting the transported wood carvings, and touched them with his hands.

【Immortal Craft】 Dao fruit trembled slightly; this time he touched a wood carving work titled "Spring Fills Heaven and Earth", requiring extremely fine carving and patience, carving out lifelike leaves, depicting the ambience of spring.

After Li Che touched it, a familiar feeling surged into his heart.

It was as if he saw a female wood carver, holding a carving knife, sealing the myriad worlds, her hands between heaven and earth, spring bursting forth from the wood.

A flood of information about the technique and skill of the "Spring Fills Heaven and Earth" wood carving statue surged into his mind.

Li Che felt delighted, just as when touching the Six-Eyed Bodhisattva statue, he had learned another wood carving technique.

However, when he touched other wood carvings, the Dao fruit gave no response, apparently there is a daily limit to learning.

Over the next few days, Li Che studied the Immortal Craft Dao fruit.

Myriad Phenomena Immortal Craft, divine hand, unparalleled skill!

Touching a statue allows one to learn wood carving techniques; for each statue, carving it once increases experience by 10%, but only provides experience once, meaning Li Che needs to learn and carve ten kinds of wood carvings to raise the Immortal Craft Dao fruit to lv2……

Having figured out the Dao fruit's purpose, Li Che only felt the future full of hope!

……

……

The days passed day by day.

Soon, a month passed.

Xixi was now one month old; her lively eyes blinked, in her swaddling clothes she waved her chubby little hands, curiously observing the world.

Li Che held a rattle he had made himself, teasing Xixi, making the little girl giggle nonstop.

Xixi loved to laugh, and when she did she had dimples, just like her mother.

Meanwhile, Zhang Ya was mending old clothes, watching the father-daughter interaction, her eyes shimmering with tenderness and contentment.

"Husband, how did the matter you brought up to the third manager of the woodcarving shop about wanting to become a woodcarving master turn out?"

Zhang Ya asked curiously.

Over the past month, Li Che carved wood every night, all kinds of woodwork, leaving Zhang Ya dazzled and aware of how superb her husband's craftsmanship was.

Under her blind admiration, she even felt her husband was far stronger than the shop's apprentices, and even not inferior to the woodcarving masters.

"The third manager said... we must follow the rules, letting me take the woodcarving skill assessment together with those students who pay to learn woodcarving; only after passing can I settle in the shop and become a woodcarving master."

Li Che, while teasing Xixi, causing her to reach out her little hand to grab the rattle, also answered Zhang Ya's question.

Zhang Ya nodded, pursed her lips firmly, and said: "My husband will surely succeed!"

Li Che smiled, his spirits high, confidence flashing in his eyes.

His mind stirred.

【Dao Fruit: Immortal Craft (lv2, 8%)】

After a month of incessant touching of various woodcarvings and late-night carving, he finally elevated his Dao Fruit to lv2.

The lv2 Immortal Craft Dao Fruit enhanced Li Che through his willpower; the woodcarvings he sculpted could infuse his strong will into them.

Moreover, Li Che's hand skills became extremely formidable, his five fingers highly dexterous; not only woodworking, he was confident he could easily set up even difficult mechanisms and craftsmanship.

After playing with Xixi for a while, Li Che went out to prepare for work.

The wind and snow had lessened considerably, the deep winter drawing to a close.

But the air remained icy, piercingly cold.

Just as he stepped out of the earthen hut, a familiar figure appeared in the distance, holding a pipe, brows furrowed, wearing a patched scholar's robe over a coarse coat, hurrying over.

"Uncle."

Li Che called out.

After learning that Xixi had no son, the uncle, influenced by preferential thinking for sons over daughters, had not come to see Xixi all month; instead, the aunt visited once during that period, bringing some eggs for Zhang Ya to nourish herself.

"Che'er, getting ready to go to work? Perfect." The old scholar uncle's brows stayed furrowed.

Li Che nodded, then saw the old scholar with his dry tobacco, hesitating before speaking: "Che'er, have you heard?"

"The midwife Lei A Po who helped deliver Xiao Ya..."

"She's killed several babies..."

"Rumor has it... all the babies she killed were ones she herself delivered!"

(End of chapter)