Chapter 140

Three-year-old Ning Zhuo moved out a small stove and refined a new material for Sun Lingtong on the spot.

Sun Lingtong sneered: "I don't even need an alchemy furnace; just watch carefully."

He extended his palm, and a ball of fire ignited from the center of his palm.

He threw the medicinal herbs into the fire one after another and soon obtained brand-new medicinal materials.

"How is it?"

After Ning Zhuo checked, he clapped his hands repeatedly: "Little Brother Sun, you are so amazing! You don't need an alchemy furnace and can do it with your bare hands. And you did it faster and better than me!"

Sun Lingtong shook his head: "This is nothing at all; you must be humble."

Ning Zhuo said "hmm" and nodded heavily.

Four-year-old Ning Zhuo held a talisman brush and drew talisman patterns on the talisman paper.

It was done in one go, and he succeeded the first time.

Sun Lingtong was slightly surprised, knowing that he must be faster than Ning Zhuo and the talisman patterns he made must be better.

He looked relaxed on the surface, deliberately yawned, his eyelids drooping, and he held the brush tube casually, but in reality, he was fully focused and completed it in one go!

After comparing, Ning Zhuo gave a thumbs up and praised sincerely: "Little Brother Sun, you are awesome!"

"Compared to you, I am indeed not good enough. You are really too amazing."

Sun Lingtong sighed: "There are countless geniuses; compared to them, I am as ordinary as an ant. Little Zhuo, you must be humble."

Ning Zhuo nodded repeatedly: "I know, I will keep it in mind!"

Five-year-old Ning Zhuo took a deep breath and began to set up an array on a blank array plate.

Three hours later, he wiped the sweat from his head and said with some shame: "Little Brother Sun, I failed."

Sun Lingtong witnessed the whole process and was shocked; Ning Zhuo went all out, and although he failed, the array-setting ability he displayed was completely beyond the level of this age!

Sun Lingtong was relaxed on the surface: "It's not bad, just watch mine."

He set up the array quickly, completing the array plate in just one hour.

Ning Zhuo checked the array plate and was convinced.

Sun Lingtong wiped the sweat from his forehead, thinking: "Array formation is not what I am good at; fortunately, I tampered with the array plate last night."

He said to Ning Zhuo: "These are nothing; there is still a lot of room for improvement."

Ning Zhuo expressed strong approval and quickly pointed out many shortcomings in the array plate.

Finally, he took the initiative to tell Sun Lingtong: "Little Brother Sun, I will continue to work hard; don't worry, I am not complacent or proud at all!"

"That's good, that's good." Sun Lingtong nodded, full of relief.

Secretly, he felt guilty: "He is only five years old; what should I do next year?"

After this time, he decided to set aside time in private to study the hundred arts of cultivation to cope with the increasingly strong Ning Zhuo.

The content of the six-year-old competition was animal taming.

Ning Zhuo was high-spirited and full of confidence: "Little Brother Sun, my Fierce Fire Mighty General is very strong. At the beginning of school this year, I hatched it myself and have been cultivating it since I was small. This time, for the school exam, I sealed more than half of its strength in advance, and it still easily squeezed into the top five."

Sun Lingtong nodded, expressionless: "It seems your fighting chicken is indeed powerful. Mine is not good; I only got it a little over a month ago."

He laughed secretly.

In fact, more than a year ago, he realized that he couldn't suppress Ning Zhuo, so he specifically inquired about the exam questions of previous years. He also inquired in advance to confirm the exam content this year.

Therefore, he cultivated the fighting chicken in secret, and the time spent was far longer than Ning Zhuo's.

Ning Zhuo released his Fierce Fire Mighty General, and Sun Lingtong released his Little Black.

The General took the lead in attacking, its wings spread like blades, rushing towards the opponent with a whistling wind.

Little Black dodged flexibly and quickly counterattacked, using its sharp beak and claws to strike directly at the opponent's chest.

The two chickens fought, the battle becoming more intense, feathers flying, blood splashing.

Ning Zhuo went all out, occasionally casting spells to protect the Fierce Fire Mighty General.

But in the end, the General's full-force strike was dodged by Little Black. The latter soared into the air, scratched the General's cockscomb, and secured the victory.

The General fell to the ground, unable to rise, dying.

Little Black also swayed, having fought to the limit.

Ning Zhuo panted, his little face flushed, his face full of disappointment, his eyes appearing dull.

His body trembled, and he hurriedly ran to the field, placed his hands on the General, and activated a healing spell to treat it with all his might.

The General's condition soon stabilized, its breathing became steady, and it fell into a deep sleep.

After a while, Ning Zhuo looked up and said in a low voice: "Little Brother Sun, I lost again."

He couldn't hide his frustration.

Sun Lingtong's nervous mood gradually calmed down.

He had originally thought that he had a huge advantage, but he didn't expect this chicken fight to be so evenly matched, and only until the very end was the winner decided.

He knew he won unfairly, having secretly invested a lot in Little Black, far exceeding Ning Zhuo.

Sun Lingtong felt guilty and praised sincerely: "You performed very well. If you had really gone all out, your General would definitely be the school's number one."

Ning Zhuo shook his head: "What is the school's number one? Compared to the whole Fire Persimmon City, I am nothing. In the entire Nandou Kingdom, I can't even rank. Not to mention, there are other cultivation countries. All along, I haven't been able to beat Little Brother Sun, I always lose..."

Sun Lingtong gritted his teeth, trying to remedy the situation: "I almost failed just now."

"Really."

"That last move of yours, it seemed to be using mechanism art, right?"

Ning Zhuo nodded: "Hmm, I usually use thread-pulling to train the General. Later, I referred to some technique formulas and designed some commands. As long as I say them, I can make the General fly down and kill the enemy. At the same time, it will trigger the talismans deep in the General's feathers, making the General's attack increase sharply."

Sun Lingtong was stunned and praised sincerely: "Amazing! You have already started using various methods to cultivate your fighting chicken."

"You are not limited to the scope taught by the school elder."

"You are already innovating, and most importantly, the actual combat effect is great!"

Ning Zhuo was still low: "Little Brother Sun, thank you for your praise, don't comfort me, I understand!"

"I still need to work harder; this actual combat exposed many of my shortcomings."

"I am really nothing; compared to you, I am too far behind."

"I only need to work harder to make up for the gap in talent!"

Sun Lingtong fell into silence, thinking secretly: Have I gone too far these years?

The seven-year-old competition, however, made Sun Lingtong furious!

"Little Zhuo, what's going on with you? Over the past year, although you have made progress in the hundred arts of cultivation, it is not much."

"What are you doing?"

"Did you study seriously?"

Ning Zhuo lowered his head, took the initiative to admit his mistake, and told Sun Lingtong that he and his classmates had been addicted to the marble game.

Sun Lingtong inquired carefully about what the marble game was and found that the game content was boring and tasteless, and he was heartbroken: "You are actually addicted to this; it is simply playing with things and losing your ambition!"

He severely lectured Ning Zhuo, which lasted for a full stick of incense.

Ning Zhuo's eyes were full of tears: "Little Brother Sun, I will never do this again. I will definitely study hard!"

"I know I am very poor and have too many shortcomings."

Sun Lingtong heard this and was stunned, thinking: Have I suppressed Ning Zhuo's achievements too much, distorted his cognition, made him lack a sense of achievement and confidence, and thus lost the motivation for self-improvement.

"Actually..." Sun Lingtong weighed his tone, "Little Zhuo, actually you have been very outstanding before. Don't belittle yourself too much."

Ning Zhuo said: "I know, Little Brother Sun. You don't have to comfort me! I understand everything."

Sun Lingtong: "..."

In the Ciyou Garden, Li Leifeng was holding a puppet show.

Sun Lingtong infiltrated it to steal the personal belongings of the cultivators to use as resources for his daily practice.

After Li Leifeng's performance ended, he came to the private room to thank the Zhou family elder for his generous donation to this show.

The Zhou family elder also wanted to make friends with Li Leifeng and asked about Li Leifeng's way of teaching children during the conversation.

"Under your guidance, Li Lao, the orphans in Ciyou Garden are all well-disciplined, obedient, and positive and hardworking."

"Sigh, my son Zhou Zeshen is naughty, hates school, and has no interest in learning at all. It's really giving me a headache!"

Li Leifeng asked a few questions, learned the truth, and smiled: "My advice is to let him play."

The Zhou family elder was confused.

Li Leifeng said: "From what you just described, I understand that your son is actually under strict supervision; besides attending classes at school, he has many extra lessons when he returns home, and has very little time of his own to play."

"It is precisely because he plays too little that a blade of grass, a pen, or even a cloud in the sky can make him have a lot of fun and let his imagination run wild in his mind."

"You must know: no matter how smart a child is, they all have a childlike heart; playing is their nature and an indispensable part of their growth."

"Only by constantly playing will they get fun and happiness. When they play enough, a blade of grass or a pen will no longer have any temptation for them."

"This is exactly the growth they need."

Sun Lingtong, who was hiding on the side, listened intently.

From then on, he never stole money from Ciyou Garden again.

Sun Lingtong found Ning Zhuo excitedly.

"You kid met me, you really had good luck." His abrupt sentence only made Ning Zhuo feel inexplicable.

"Go, I'll take you out to play!"

Seven-year-old Ning Zhuo couldn't believe it, his eyes full of surprised light: "Re, really?"

"Of course!" Sun Lingtong raised his head, held Ning Zhuo's arm, and left through the air.

In the dark alley.

Sun Lingtong "encouraged" Ning Zhuo: "See that person who is an eyesore, and steal something to play with according to the technique I just taught you!"

Ning Zhuo hesitated: "Stealing people's things, isn't that not very good?"

"What are you afraid of? Listen to your Brother Sun; can I harm you?" Sun Lingtong patted his chest and kept urging, "It's very exciting, especially the first time you steal, it will make you feel very excited!"

Under his guidance, Ning Zhuo chose a hooligan and stole his money bag.

The hooligan searched frantically, almost stripping himself naked.

Ning Zhuo hid in the dark and laughed loudly.

Before leaving, he seemed to throw the money bag to the hooligan's feet.

Sun Lingtong patted Ning Zhuo's shoulder: "How is it? It feels very exciting, right?"

"Hmm! It's quite fun." Ning Zhuo said.

Sun Lingtong sighed: "Sometimes, when I'm in a bad mood, I wander around the street for a few laps, and whoever I don't like, I steal their things."

"Hahaha, every time I finish stealing, my mood gets much better!"

Ning Zhuo hesitated: "Little Brother Sun, it's better not to do this. The school teaches us to walk the right path and do the right things. Stealing is not a good behavior."

Sun Lingtong rolled his eyes and then smiled cunningly: "What the school elder said makes sense. It's actually the same thing as what I want to teach you."

Ning Zhuo stared, expressing confusion.

Sun Lingtong said: "Don't you understand the principle of punishing evil and promoting good? Punishing these villains is an act of accumulating virtue and a righteous act!"

"The hooligan you just taught a lesson to usually bullies the honest and poor people. You just made him panic, without any actual loss; it was really cheap for him!"

Ning Zhuo narrowed his eyes: "Then I'll go back and steal from him again."

Sun Lingtong nodded: "Okay, I'll go with you."

"This time I will teach you a new way to steal; you try it, the feeling is different from before."