Chapter 33: 32 Plucking Feathers from a Passing Goose

32 Plucking Feathers from a Passing Goose

Tang Zhao was caught off guard; he had never seen so many characters before, and even when he had annotated the "Paulownia Draws the Phoenix Art" in the past, so many had not appeared all at once.

Upon closer inspection, his heart skipped a beat:

That feeling of looking at a heavenly book, just like when he read the Paulownia Draws the Phoenix Art that night, had returned.

This time, it was not just the text that was profound; it was also mixed with a true heavenly book.

Those lines of characters were dismantled one by one into seven symbols, each symbol incomparably complex.

In the annotations, each symbol was divided into a section, explained separately, and analyzed for its strokes, form, usage, and so on, in extreme detail. At the end, there were also long passages of annotation and discussion regarding the combination of Rune Formulas.

Compared to the Paulownia Draws the Phoenix Art, which he couldn't understand a single sentence of at first glance, this annotation was in plain language, and every sentence seemed understandable; yet, when examined closely, it was headless and tailless, without root or cause, as if it lacked a hundred times more foundational knowledge than the annotated text itself.

The corners of Tang Zhao's mouth twitched; if he used Chen Zong's analogy, it was like letting a primary school student read a medical monograph.

He was turning the Art Tool over and over in his hands, and Si Liyu had already noticed, though he remained calm and composed.

This young military officer was not surprised; seeing Tang Zhao's appearance, he knew he had already discovered the Rune Formula inside the Art Tool.

Since he had the aptitude, it was normal to be able to see the Rune Formula, and it was also normal to be interested the first time he saw it; it was just wishful thinking to want to see any mysteries, as that was entirely something from another gate.

Even Si Liyu and Xing Ji did not understand it; the Talisman Sword Master was a system independent of the Sword Guest.

Now that Tang Zhao was getting his first glimpse into the world of swords, he was allowed to be curious, but once the time came, he would have to focus his mind and practice martial arts.

Meanwhile, Tang Zhao scrolled through all the annotations and, sure enough, saw the symbol for a water well at the end.

Hmm, this could also be used to throw water into to get gold sticks or silver sticks.

It was just that this wasn't worth it either; with only one chance left, Tang Zhao still intended to save it for something more precious, preferably a cultivation technique. If that wasn't possible, then it had to be some other valuable treasure.

For example, the sword that Xing Ji had asked him to take the first time.

Unfortunately, that didn't belong to him, so he probably couldn't throw it into the water.

Eh?

Tang Zhao discovered with surprise that there was another symbol next to the water well symbol, in the shape of a water droplet.

He was seeing this symbol for the first time; what was it for?

As Tang Zhao thought this, he involuntarily focused his attention...

A force started from the fingers gripping the Art Tool, flowed up along his arm, traveled all the way up to his head, and finally leaked out from beside his ear...

Wait... wait a minute!

Tang Zhao was startled and hurriedly took off his Glasses; the leaking force stopped.

Although it had only been a few seconds, Tang Zhao was actually frightened into a cold sweat—it was one thing for the Glasses to see something strange, but experiencing it personally was another matter entirely—what had just happened?

He looked down at the Glasses and suddenly widened his eyes.

That crack running across the lens had actually... become a little shorter?

He hurriedly held them up to the moonlight to look; sure enough, it wasn't an illusion, the crack had really repaired itself by a sliver!

So that means...

He went to look at that Rune Formula again and found that one of the characters had actually become a bit blurred.

Sure enough!

These Glasses were actually absorbing the power of the Art Tool to replenish themselves!

Even though he had always hoped to repair the Glasses, he was more shocked than pleasantly surprised at the moment.

This wasn't his item; it was given to him by Lord Xing to use, and besides—

It was ten thousand taels!

If he absorbed it until something went wrong, what would he use to compensate for it!

In an instant, he felt anxious in his heart; he kept weighing the Art Tool in his hand, feeling that the power coming from it hadn't weakened, and from the outside, there were no flaws.

He put the Glasses back on, not looking at the Rune Formula, and sure enough, the suction did not appear. He looked at the annotations of the Art Tool itself:

"Original Power: One Yuan (99.7%). Art: None. Base Material: Ten-Year Peach Wood Core."

Sure enough... he had just consumed thirty taels of silver.

Tang Zhao began to feel guilty, his cheeks gradually turning red. He was just a student who knew only how to study and had never done anything to benefit himself at the expense of others; that act of taking without asking just now, wasn't that stealing?

What was to be done about this?

He struggled in his heart; this involved his biggest secret, so naturally, he couldn't speak of it, and he wasn't that brave either. He secretly thought: When I have the chance, I will just compensate Lord Xing thirty taels of silver.

"Lord Si..."

Si Liyu raised one eyelid, and Tang Zhao asked tentatively: "Since this Charm Tool contains such power, isn't it a pity that it only exists in a wooden stick? If it could be absorbed and used by people, wouldn't one advance a thousand miles in a day?"

Si Liyu rarely smiled slightly and said: "You are not the only one who thinks this way. Unfortunately, it cannot be done; Heaven and Man do not communicate. Even a Sword Guest can only communicate with their own sword. The power of an Art Tool belongs only to the object and can absolutely never be channeled out; it will only slowly dissipate as the Rune Formula decays."

Tang Zhao's heart stirred, and he said: "Will the power of an Art Tool dissipate?"

Si Liyu said: "It is just an Art Tool; could it be eternal? Original Art Tools are the hardest to preserve and dissipate in a few days. As for such crude Talisman Art Tools, their power will also decay day by day; even if not consumed at all, it will be exhausted in two or three months. If used for combat to break evil, the consumption will be even faster; perhaps one or two would be ruined in a single battle."

Tang Zhao breathed a sigh of relief and comforted himself, even more amazed at the power of the Glasses—it could actually absorb power that absolutely could not be channeled out!

Moreover, others couldn't see the Glasses either, which was truly mysterious and unfathomable. He had to be even more cautious; if discovered, it would be a great disaster of "harboring a jade ring and inviting a crime"!

He must never do something like fiddling with the Glasses in front of Si Liyu again!

He heard Si Liyu say: "If power were so easy to obtain, every wealthy person in the world would be powerful; would there still be opportunities for people of humble origins like you and me to rise? Now that you have the opportunity to work hard, just work hard. Get up and practice the sword!"

When the training ended, it was already the second watch.

Tang Zhao got up to train before the fifth watch every day and went back so late at night; if this continued for a long time, he definitely wouldn't be able to hold up.

Si Liyu taught him a method of quiet rest, which allowed him to better enter sleep and nourish his Spirit. It was a type of quiet cultivation, similar to inner cultivation but distinct from it; it did not have the effect of gathering Qi and nourishing breath, but was mainly for calming the heart and regulating the body and mind, serving as a supplement to outer training. Tang Zhao learned the quiet cultivation extremely quickly, especially when performed in parallel with the state he entered before visualization, which yielded twice the result with half the effort.

Thus, Tang Zhao modified his plan. At night, he would first visualize the Bathing Fire Art, and when his Heart Power was exhausted, he would switch to practicing quiet cultivation to enter deep sleep, and his Spirit would be restored to its peak the next morning.

This was a perfect cycle; of course, the plan would certainly not be truly perfect, but it wouldn't be difficult for it to go without problems for a month.

Getting up the next day, Tang Zhao only felt refreshed and full of energy, the fatigue from yesterday's training swept away. He figured that besides the quiet cultivation, the tonic he ate and the medicinal bath he took yesterday were also extremely effective.

Even considering the plan for one month from now, Tang Zhao's training can be considered "extravagant"; if one counts the Sword Law of Observation, even disciples of ordinary prestigious families and noble scions would find it hard to compare.

The morning's lesson was still stretching, followed by pushing stones.

Tang Zhao felt much more relaxed; although the stone remained unmoved, he could feel that the strength in his hands was greater than yesterday. He didn't think too much about it—training is supposed to have progress, otherwise, why train?

Guan Lei also noticed Tang Zhao's progress and couldn't help but marvel, though knowing Tang Zhao had someone teaching him at night, it wasn't particularly strange. He thought to himself: What kind of miraculous elixir did the Land Inspection Division feed him? No, the medicinal diet list I prescribed has been calculated precisely; his body can only accept this level of progress, any more would be too much to bear, causing harm rather than benefit.

Could it be that my judgment was poor, and Tang Zhao's aptitude is better than I thought, allowing him to absorb the medicinal effects extremely well and improve rapidly?

If that is the case... it wouldn't hurt to increase the intensity of the training.

Thus, that evening, Tang Zhao trained until he was exhausted and only recovered after soaking in a medicinal bath for a long time.

Si Liyu came again at night, continuing to have him practice swordplay; in addition to yesterday's vertical chop, he added the practice of the thrusting motion.

Over the course of several days, Tang Zhao trained hard every day, focusing on pushing and jumping over stones during the day, and practicing basic movements with a sword at night—nothing more than chopping, thrusting, hacking, slicing, hanging, lifting, blocking, crashing, and so on, all practiced in coordination with basic footwork and body techniques. With the support of the Charm Tool, he easily completed a large amount of practice, and with Si Liyu's constant guidance, his progress was truly not slow.

While practicing swordplay this evening, Tang Zhao suddenly noticed a decline in the power of the Charm Tool in his hand. He confirmed it with his Glasses and found that the Yuan power had self-decayed to "95%." He thought: As expected, Charm Tools all have natural consumption; a 5% decay is noticeable. 10% would likely be even more obvious. I can record this to keep a good grasp on it.

A grasp on what?

No need to elaborate; it was naturally the little scheme he was secretly turning over in his mind:

Since the power will eventually dissipate for nothing, why don't I fleece a little bit too?

This shouldn't be called stealing, right?

It's called picking up.

Taking advantage of a break, he began to absorb the power of the Art Tool again.

Absorbing slowly, observing while absorbing.

As he absorbed, he roughly formed a concept in his mind.

The efficiency of the Glasses' absorption cannot be adjusted; it is roughly one-thousandth per second, meaning one thousand seconds—or half a quarter-hour (by the traditional timekeeping system)—is enough to drain an Art Tool dry.

But one Art Tool cannot satisfy the need to repair the Glasses; roughly estimating, it would be good if one Art Tool could repair one-tenth.

To repair this lens, at least one hundred thousand taels of silver are needed.

The problem is, let alone ten, even one cannot be completely exhausted. According to natural consumption, this one can last three months, consuming only one-third in a month. Tang Zhao has to consume some himself, and he still has to leave half for others to avoid suspicion. That means at most one-twentieth can be repaired. In any case, it won't catch up to the deadline.

Thus, Tang Zhao felt there was nothing worth stealing... picking up; it had no great significance to him, and it would also weigh on his conscience.

Thinking this way, Tang Zhao took off the Glasses. That heat naturally cut off.

Suddenly, Tang Zhao gave a start. That power came from the Art Tool and went into the Glasses, using his body as a conduit. And the moment he took off the Glasses, while no more heat came from the Art Tool, the power already in the conduit had lost its destination, but it didn't shrink back into the Art Tool; instead, it was directly locked into his body.

Then, before he could investigate, it naturally dissipated into his limbs and bones.

This process was only for an instant, and the locked-in heat was also very weak; Tang Zhao could barely catch it before he could no longer perceive it at all. Feeling his body again, there was no obvious change.

Was there really no change?

Tang Zhao suddenly remembered that after the first day of training, his strength had increased significantly the next day, but there hadn't been such obvious progress afterward. At the time, he only thought it was because the first time starting from zero felt more obvious; now that he thought about it, it was due to absorbing external force.

The power absorbed from the Art Tool was a drop in the bucket for repairing the Glasses, but it had a huge effect on him—even a single hair plucked from a wild goose was almost thicker than his thigh.

This was obviously because, compared to the mysterious and unfathomable Glasses, Tang Zhao himself was not of a high grade.

In other words, should the wool actually be fleeced?

"Teacher Si—" As they grew more familiar, Tang Zhao switched to a more intimate form of address, "I am currently practicing only external martial arts, right? Can I learn internal martial arts to sense Qi and circulate it through the meridians?"

Si Liyu kept a straight face and said, "You can learn, but you shouldn't. Internal martial arts progress slowly, and the first step of sensing is extremely difficult. You only have one month. Going through all that trouble to enter the gate is useless in the forbidden area, far less useful than you chopping a few hundred more times with the sword."

Tang Zhao sighed. He didn't have any objections to learning external martial arts; he just felt that the heat was very similar to Internal Energy and guessed that using internal martial arts might allow him to receive this energy more effectively. It was a waste to just let it dissipate, so he wanted to learn. But Si Liyu was firm, and it seemed he wouldn't teach it. Although Guan Lei was easier to talk to, he had clearly stated in the Thunder Sound Martial Arts Discussion that he was not good at internal martial arts and followed the path of external training. His Internal Energy was cultivated from the outside in; when the Ant Strength is cultivated to a deep level, the water overflows, and Internal Energy is naturally produced, but that is not the work of a year or two.

Should he borrow some methods of circulating Qi from the Mysterious Technique?

After thinking about it, Tang Zhao still felt he shouldn't court death.

He hadn't even crossed the threshold of learning martial arts yet; messing with cultivation methods was courting death, even with the help of the Glasses.

"From today on, you will carry the Art Tool."

Tang Zhao was somewhat surprised: "Is it safe to keep such a valuable item with me?"

"It's not about safety, it's a necessity," Si Liyu said sternly. "You know yourself that you are two different people when holding a sword and when not. I have taught you to hold a sword for long periods, but if there is an emergency, such as an accident requiring you to immediately draw your sword and act, can you adapt to the sudden change in state? From today on, I will attack you at any time, and you must immediately take out your sword from your side to counterattack me."

Tang Zhao said: "At any time? Even when eating or sleeping..."

Si Liyu said: "Of course. Do you think the enemy will spare you just because you are sleeping? They will only think it is a good opportunity." He also cautioned, "You cannot keep the Charm Tool in your hand at all times, because you cannot do that forever. What you are practicing is state switching. Mastering this item will benefit you for a lifetime."

Tang Zhao agreed solemnly and glanced at the Art Tool in his hand, feeling an itch—throwing a mouse into a rice jar, how could one test a scholar like this?

Sure enough, Si Liyu kept his word; in the following days, he was elusive, appearing from every corner to launch sneak attacks.

Regardless of whether Tang Zhao was eating, sleeping, practicing meditation, or even going to the latrine, he was liable to be attacked.

Originally, Tang Zhao thought that no matter what, the time spent pushing stones during the day would be safe, right? After all, that was Guan Lei's territory. Who knew that after he had been pushing for a while and was about to rest, Si Liyu would appear from behind a stone and give him a hit.

Seeing this scene, Guan Lei let out a "Huo" and watched from the side with his arms crossed.

Tang Zhao naturally couldn't hold the Art Tool while pushing stones; luckily, he was cautious enough to place the Art Tool not far away, scrambling to pick up the wooden stick, but Si Liyu had long since walked away.

Si Liyu struck extremely hard; although it didn't break his bones, it caused him great suffering. Moreover, sometimes he would strike and flee, and other times he would chase him, also intending to test his Sword Technique.

Through this back and forth, Tang Zhao certainly made great progress, his vigilance increased significantly, and his coordination became better and better, but he also had many more scars on his body, all treated by the medicinal baths at night.

Although he knew this was the teacher's good intention, he was also annoyed and secretly pondered how to counterattack.

After thinking for a day, Tang Zhao really came up with a move, thinking: My most acute time is when I am doing meditation at night; at that time, my five senses are far sharper than usual. I will definitely be able to detect any movement. It just so happens that night is also the peak time for his sneak attacks. I will pretend to be asleep while maintaining a clear state of mind; the moment he shows the slightest trace, I will rush out. I don't seek to win, just poking him with the stick will count as a victory.

That night, he simply didn't do any visualization, unlocked the window, and lay down quietly in his clothes.

Near the third watch, there was indeed a very light sound outside the window, lighter than a cat walking.

In normal times, Tang Zhao wouldn't have heard it at all, but at this moment, his spirit and will were at their peak, and he was well-prepared. He gripped the Charm Tool tightly, kicked off the edge of the bed with his feet, and his body, like a sharp arrow, shot out through the window!

There was indeed someone outside the window!

Borrowing the power of the Art Tool first, and the power of his feet second, Tang Zhao charged straight into the center, his speed not slow at all. However, at the critical moment, he suddenly discovered that the figure was unusual, and it was already too late to pull back.

In the rush, he shouted loudly: "Dodge—"

Being in the air, it was difficult to control himself; he struggled to tilt a few degrees, leveled the sword, and brushed past the person's shoulder.

"Ah—"

In the dark night, someone let out a pained cry, clutched their shoulder, and collapsed.

Tang Zhao had overshot, slowed down desperately, and stumbled a few steps on the ground before barely managing to stop.

Turning his head back, he saw a woman with a pale face, blood already seeping between the fingers pressing against her shoulder.

It was Yuan Qing.