Chapter 43: Taking Disciples and Accepting Apprentices: A Man of the Fang Clan

"Clack-clack-clack."

A cleaver moved at lightning speed across the cutting board, and in the blink of an eye an entire slab of meat had been sliced into thin shreds.

"Xiaoxi, hurry up and bring the plate of meat over, I'm almost done cutting."

Zhao Wenjun shouted. At this moment he had found an apron and tied it around his waist.

Cleaver in hand, he had transformed from a fierce man who hacked down walking corpses into a chef.

As fluid and natural as drifting clouds and flowing water, without the slightest awkwardness.

Ever since receiving Fang Shi's order, Zhao Wenjun had taken his underlings and scurried upstairs in a flash.

He had directly taken over Xiaoxi and Zhai Yan's work, which left the two of them extremely surprised, thinking Zhao Wenjun had found his conscience.

But after a little inquiry, they learned Fang Shi had come back.

Their faces changed instantly, and they hurriedly threw themselves into the work line of their own accord.

Before, they had been naive, unaware of the apocalypse's cruelty.

They thought it was simply walking corpses, and that the Fire-Winged Birds only appeared at night, so it wouldn't amount to anything major.

Humanity would quickly restore its former glory.

Who could have known that after the first wave, the Fire-Winged Birds' numbers surged, and on top of that the spacing between plots of land widened.

Anyone with eyes could see the days ahead wouldn't be easy.

And now a fierce man had appeared who could solo a Fire-Winged Bird.

If you didn't hurry and latch onto his thigh, wouldn't that be plain stupid?

Even Xiaoxi, who had disliked Fang Shi from the start, had a change of heart.

There was no helping it—the creatures from another world were too terrifying, roaming in packs during the day; just looking out the window from inside the room, you could see a huge swarm of them.

These things, more horrifying than walking corpses—if they couldn't be dealt with, where would humanity's future lie? It would just be a slow death, that's all.

"Zhao-ge, there's no meat left, you guys chopped it all up."

Xiaoxi said, a little helpless.

There were only six Fire-Winged Birds in total; during the day Xiaoxi and his partner had already worked on them for half a day.

Then at night a whole crowd rushed over, so naturally they were gone in an instant.

Zhao Wenjun was stunned for a moment: "Then hurry up and boil a pot of meat soup."

"Master Bro came back so late, he definitely hasn't eaten well, we have to take good care of him."

Xiaoxi pursed his lips: "It's already cooking. Luo Bowen said he's a professional chef, so he volunteered to cook ages ago."

Zhao Wenjun was secretly startled—Luo Bowen was a chef? He'd worked out with him for all those years, how had he never known?

He only remembered Luo Bowen being henpecked, personally cooking every meal at home.

Could it be that—?

……

After finishing all the work, Fang Shi finally had time to think about how to handle Zhao Wenjun and the others.

Earlier, sending them to deal with the Fire-Winged Birds' meat was just a quick way to shoo them off, so as not to delay his own time to level up.

Now that he was free, he had to think about how to arrange things.

First, one thing was certain: Zhao Wenjun was a very capable man.

At the very start of the apocalypse he had dared to fight and struggle, and he knew how to unite a group of people.

Moreover, if he weren't strong, in the future he couldn't have become the leader of the gathering place around Ancheng.

But his future strength was also limited—he was just an ordinary legendary-tier powerhouse.

Otherwise, the Ancheng gathering place absolutely wouldn't have fallen so easily.

Fang Shi still remembered vividly how, when Zhao Wenjun died, the gathering place collapsed.

Monsters poured into the city like a tide, every person wishing they could grow two more legs.

In fact, Fang Shi wasn't sure whether the Zhao Wenjun of back then had been unwilling to retreat, or unable to.

He had built the gathering place, and he died in the gathering place.

Like a flame that lit up the night sky, and like a meteor that streaked down.

Fang Shi asked himself: if he faced such a situation, could he fight to the death without retreating?

The answer was: he didn't know.

Heroes rise from the ordinary; no matter how many hypotheticals, they don't compare to being on the spot.

To prevent the future tragedy from happening again,

Fang Shi had already decided: he would teach Zhao Wenjun the Fang Shi Breathing Method.

This was also the only person Fang Shi could currently teach.

Because the Fang Shi Breathing Method came precisely from the Ancheng gathering place.

And the Ancheng gathering place's leader, Zhao Wenjun, was not within the contract's restrictions.

As for what Zhao Wenjun did afterward, he wouldn't bother worrying about it.

He believed that, with Zhao Wenjun's abilities, having obtained the Breathing Method ahead of time,

he would grow even stronger in the future, and the Ancheng gathering place wouldn't collapse in the fifth wave like it had before his rebirth.

As for Fang Shi himself, he would leave the Ancheng area to see how big this world was.

He had one thought in his heart: to completely put an end to the apocalypse.

To free himself from wandering between life and death.

And the whole of Ancheng, how utterly insignificant it was to Blue Star.

But even so small, it had still produced a legendary-tier powerhouse.

But precisely because it's so small, supporting even one legendary powerhouse is already at its limit.

To grow stronger, you must leave Ancheng, or you won't even gather enough experience to level up.

Moreover, Fang Shi wanted to see those martial dao immortals and peerless sword immortals he'd only heard of in rumors.

What did they think of the apocalypse? What solutions did they have?

Fang Shi suspected the fifth impact was certainly not the end.

When the sixth, seventh, even the hundredth impact arrives…

Will humanity keep resisting forever?

Endlessly, without conclusion, we will eventually perish.

…

"Master, Master, you've come."

Zhao Wenjun saw Fang Shi appear and rushed forward eagerly to greet him.

He respectfully invited Fang Shi to sit and served up freshly cooked dishes.

Fang Shi sat down casually and glanced around.

In the candlelight, everyone—including Xiao Xi and Zhai Yan—stood respectfully to one side.

No one dared act improperly, no one dared show discontent.

As if all of this were perfectly natural.

The cruel apocalypse, in just four days, had smoothed away everyone's edges.

Fang Shi was already accustomed to the hierarchy of the apocalypse.

When an individual's strength surpasses the collective,

even the most kind-hearted superior inspires awe in the inferior.

For life and death rest in another's single thought.

"Zhao Wenjun, what else do you want?"

Fang Shi finished dinner quickly, and the others dispersed.

Only Zhao Wenjun and a middle-aged man remained.

Before Zhao Wenjun could speak, the middle-aged man dropped to his knees with a thud.

"Bang!"

The middle-aged man banged his head hard and choked out, "Please, Master, save my family."

"My father is bedridden; my mother is old."

"My wife is ill; my son is at school."

"Now I don't know if they're alive or dead—I want to save them, but I'm powerless."

As he spoke, the man broke into tears, voice trembling, face filled with grief.

Zhao Wenjun, watching this scene, felt the same pain.

Humans are not solitary beings; everyone in this world has their own bonds.

Zhao Wenjun was the same—he came to Ancheng to work, his parents far away in the county town.

He didn't want to rush to his parents' side, but it was utterly unrealistic.

Zhao Wenjun was more rational than ordinary people.

He understood that, given the apocalypse's conditions, his parents' chance of survival was slim.

With his current strength, rushing blindly to find them would be meaningless suicide.

After all, only by surviving can one have hope.

That's why Zhao Wenjun dared to be so audacious—even attempting to hunt Firewing Birds.

This was also why he gained the support of everyone in the team.

Without improving your strength, you'll eventually be trapped in one corner, unable to even search for your parents, wife, or children.

Then came a silence.

Fang Shi sat upright on the sofa, his gaze shifting toward the window, lost in thought.

He didn't answer the middle-aged man's words.

Seeing this, the middle-aged man felt even greater sorrow, yet continued banging his head.

Zhao Wenjun sensed something was wrong and quickly stopped the man's actions.

He bowed apologetically to Fang Shi: "Luo Bowen is immature, Master, please forgive him, forgive him—we're leaving now, right away."

Saying this, he forcefully lifted Luo Bowen's body, ready to drag him away.

"You're leaving like this?"

Fang Shi's voice was calm; moonlight spilled through the window, casting a deep silver glow over his training robe.

Zhao Wenjun's heart jolted—had his action offended this man?

Rumors said those with true ability were eccentric, hard to please.

Could Master be like that?

"Master, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

"Actually, I'm anxious about my parents—I made Luo Bowen test you."

"It's my fault, it's my fault."

As Zhao Wenjun spoke, he dropped to his knees with a thud.

Luo Bowen, who had just been in despair, saw Zhao Wenjun's action.

He was stunned, trying to pull Zhao Wenjun up—but he had nowhere near Zhao Wenjun's strength.

So they knelt down together.

Fang Shi said calmly, "Since you have knelt, why not kowtow three times with a loud thud?"

"Oh, right, Zhao Wenjun should do the kowtowing; Luo Bowen, you don't need to."

Zhao Wenjun didn't even think; hearing Fang Shi's words, he immediately kowtowed three times with loud thuds.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

So fast was the speed that Luo Bowen, standing right beside them, hadn't even reacted.

Once these three loud kowtows ended, Zhao Wenjun and the other, whose hearts were filled with unease, heard only a loud laugh.

"Good! Good! Good!"

"Whoosh!"

In an instant, Fang Shi rose from the sofa and came before Zhao Wenjun.

He reached out and stroked Zhao Wenjun's bald head, laughing, "The immortal strokes my head, and I bind my hair to receive immortality. Although you have no hair, you may grow it later."

Luo Bowen's face was utterly blank; what was going on?

Just now the atmosphere seemed ready to freeze, but now it seemed to have warmed up?

Zhao Wenjun, truly a man capable of ascending to legend, immediately realized and cried out, "Master, please accept this disciple's bow."

He immediately made as if to bow, but Fang Shi instantly stopped him, saying, "The ritual is complete; no need to continue. To give a man a fish is not as good as teaching him to fish."

"You have many difficulties, while I am always only one person."

"Therefore, I take you as my disciple and impart the Fang Shi Breathing Method to strengthen your power."

Then, Fang Shi turned his gaze toward Luo Bowen: "Where is your home?"

Luo Bowen, still completely bewildered, finally reacted and cried out in wild joy, "Brother Expert, my home is located at..."

"Very well. Tomorrow at dawn, I will head north to hunt the Fire-Winged Bird, but I am still lacking a decoy."

How could Luo Bowen not understand now? Yet his heart was willing: "I can serve as the decoy, I can serve as the decoy."

His tone grew extremely and violently urgent, as if fearing Fang Shi might change his mind.

"By the way, there is one more question. You always call me 'Brother Expert,' and I am not quite accustomed to it."

Fang Shi walked to the window, his back to the two, and said, "Fang is the Dao; I seek the art of sustaining life to cross through calamities."

"You may call me Fang Shi."