Don't farm, cultivate immortality!

Zhuang Xing felt a little awkward. Correcting mistakes is human nature. It's like finding a typo when reading a novel; it just doesn't feel right no matter how you look at it.

"Da Chun, your handwriting is a bit off," Zhuang Xing stepped forward.

"Isn't that right?" Da Chun scratched his head, his eyes very clear. "But that's how we were taught in class, wasn't it?"

"The vertical stroke should be sticking out here," Zhuang Xing couldn't help but step forward and adjust Da Chun's stroke. "And here, you're missing a horizontal stroke..."

Zhuang Xing tried to fix it a couple of times but found that the character was impossible to change, so he simply carved a new character next to it.

Da Chun took out another bamboo slip from his pocket. The same character was written on the bamboo slip with a brush. Da Chun stared wide-eyed, his eyes darting back and forth. After looking at it for a while, he finally nodded.

"Hmm, your handwriting is still more like the teacher's."

What do you mean by "something resembling"? Do you think this is a painting?

Zhuang Xing suspected that this guy didn't even understand the stroke order and was just memorizing by rote, copying characters like paintings.

It's like a foreigner trying to learn Chinese characters on their own, treating each character like a picture. It would be a miracle if they could remember them all.

Even so, Zhuang Xing was still taken aback when he saw the pile of bamboo strips next to Da Chun.

These past few afternoons, he's mostly been practicing swordsmanship with Senior Brother Lingyi. By the time he gets back to his room, it's already dark, so he hasn't had much time to talk to Dachun.

He had no idea that Da Chun had brought back so many bamboo strips. These seemed to be bamboo strips that Da Chun used for practice. Each bamboo strip was covered with characters. Some characters were completely unformed, but some characters had all the strokes correct.

"Dachun, how many words have you memorized?"

"I only managed to memorize twelve characters." Da Chun sighed. "Recognizing characters is so difficult, much harder than practicing martial arts."

Zhuang Xing picked up the bamboo strips and examined them, marveling at Da Chun's perseverance.

This guy needs to copy more than twenty bamboo slips to memorize a single character. And that's for the simple characters. If they were more difficult, he would need to copy fifty or sixty bamboo slips.

Moreover, the bamboo strips piled next to Da Chun seemed to be the ones he had used that day. He should have cleaned up the used bamboo strips every day. He had only memorized three words today, but he had already used almost a hundred bamboo strips.

No wonder this guy ran off as soon as his swordsmanship class ended; he probably went to the bamboo grove behind the canteen to chop up dry bamboo and shave bamboo strips.

"At your rate of memorization, by the time you've memorized all the characters, the bamboo grove in the backyard will be empty," Zhuang Xing joked.

"If we don't have enough bamboo strips, we can draw on mud." Da Chun slapped his thigh. "I'm not very smart, I should have put in more effort."

Zhuang Xing didn't know whether to call him stupid or smart. A smart person would definitely not learn to read like him, but if you say he's not smart, he knows his shortcomings and is very willing to put in several times more effort than the average person to make up for them.

The truly foolish people are those who consider themselves clever idiots, thinking they are a little smarter than others, only to realize in the end that the fool just took a little more time.

Da Chun sat down again and focused intently on carving. Zhuang Xing felt that Da Chun might have a surprising talent in this area. When he was focused on doing something, the outside world could not disturb him at all.

But...bro, didn't I just teach you this? How come you wrote it wrong again?

Zhuang Xing was speechless. He finally understood why the Taoist priest in the academy had made that kind of expression, and now he was making the same expression.

"Dachun, something's not right here!" Zhuang Xing stepped forward again to correct Dachun's mistake.

Since he had nothing to do and was bored, he decided to spend more time chatting with his roommate.

Zhuang Xing simply started teaching Da Chun from scratch, first letting him understand the horizontal, vertical, left-falling, right-falling, and dot strokes.

There were too many people in the classroom, and the Taoist priest couldn't attend to everyone. He quickly moved on from some parts. He felt that Da Chun might not have understood much, so he used his own method to review with Da Chun.

But after a while, Zhuang Xing realized that Da Chun, this child, was simply unable to think straight.

Da Chun seems to be able to think about only one thing at a time. If you tell him about horizontal lines one second, he says he remembers it; but if you tell him about vertical lines the next second, he forgets about horizontal lines.

Zhuang Xing felt a bit challenged. If he couldn't teach Da Chun how to do something this simple today, he wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.

So he worked late into the night, and after dark, he finally got Da Chun to complete a single stroke, horizontal, vertical, diagonal, and dot stroke on his own.

"Write that character again," Zhuang Xing said, taking out the calligraphy brush.

Da Chun nodded, looked at it carefully for a while, and then buried himself in carving words slowly on the bamboo strip.

Zhuang Xing was a little nervous and held his breath, afraid that his breathing would be too loud and distract Da Chun, which would ruin everything.

Finally, after a few seconds, Da Chun successfully replicated the character.

"You can do it, can't you!"

Zhuang Xing was happier than when he learned to read himself. He patted Da Chun on the shoulder with great joy.

But Da Chun shook his head and said, "I'm not very smart, I definitely can't do it alone, it's all thanks to you for teaching me."

Zhuang Xing was a little embarrassed by his serious demeanor, chuckled, and said, "We're roommates, we should help each other out."

“My father said that if someone helps you, you should help them back, otherwise even brothers will grow cold one day.” Da Chun stood up, rummaged through his box, and actually took out a string of copper coins, which he handed over. “Zhuang Xing, your swordsmanship is better than mine, and you are smarter than me. There’s nothing I can do to help you, so you can take this money.”

"There's really no need for that..."

Zhuang Xing declined, but Da Chun looked at him intently, as if he wouldn't give up until he took the money.

Zhuang Xing knew that Da Sha Chun was single-minded, and changing his mind would be no less difficult than teaching him to write horizontal, vertical, diagonal, and dot strokes.

But letting Zhuang Xing take the money feels like some kind of illegal transaction. The two are roommates and will spend a lot of time together in the future. It seems a bit too mercenary to measure everything with money.

"How about this?" Zhuang Xing suggested. "I don't spend much time in the house usually, so I can't take care of some chores. If you have time, you can help clean the room, hang up the clothes for me, and so on. That way, I'll help you, and you'll help me, right?"

Da Chun thought for a moment, put the money away, and nodded, saying, "Okay."

Zhuang Xing breathed a sigh of relief: "We have to have early class tomorrow, so let's go to sleep tonight."

"Go to sleep," Da Chun replied.

The two then washed up and went to bed. After all, they were from the same village, and Zhuang Xing originally wanted to chat with Da Chun about village affairs, but as soon as he lay down on the bed, he heard Da Chun snoring again.

Well, I really do fall asleep the moment my head hits the pillow.

Zhuang Xing finally understood. When Da Chun said he wanted to sleep, all he could think about was sleeping, which was why he could fall asleep so quickly. This was a rare talent.

Helpless, Zhuang Xing could only shrug, glance at the bright moon outside the window, and go to sleep fully clothed.

Chapter 67 is exempt from class

The next day, Zhuang Xing had just gotten up when he found Da Chun cleaning the house.

Two days ago, they received brooms and dustpans from the temple and had been piling them up in a corner. Today, they finally came in handy.

After Zhuang Xing got up, he went to wash up by himself, ignoring Da Sha Chun.

Since I've already assigned him the task of cleaning the room, he'll get upset if I try to take it from him.

After his usual washing up, Zhuang Xing went to the big birch tree.

He gazed at the distant clouds, bathed in sunlight, and slowly practiced the warm-up technique.

He loved watching the sunrise from this place. Most places in Xuanqing Temple offer beautiful views of the sunrise and sunset, which he felt was perhaps intentionally arranged by the founder.

The founder of Xuanqing Temple may not have had many reasons for choosing to build the temple on this mountain. Perhaps he simply thought the sunrise on this mountain was beautiful, so he carved out a platform with two sword strokes to enjoy the sunrise.

The dormitories of Shiraho's disciples were probably among the earliest buildings constructed. Although they were very old, they occupied the best viewpoints.

Zhuang Xing had heard from his senior brother Lingyi that once someone became a Qing Sui disciple, they had to move out of here. Only those who had just entered the sect could live here. Not only Bai Sui disciples, but also those who paid to enter and those who had no home lived here.

Over the years, the children who climbed Qingxuan Mountain, whether with trepidation or excitement, only needed to step out of their rooms every morning to witness the magnificent sunrise, watching the golden sun rise from the horizon and scatter its golden light upon the earth.

Everyone who has lived in Xuanqing Temple has seen the same scenery as Zhuang Xing is seeing now.

He thought, what a romantic thing this is.

Under the warm sunshine, his breathing became even more natural.

After performing a set of warm-up exercises, Zhuang Xing noticed Da Chun standing at the door watching him.

In the past, Da Chun would go to the canteen for breakfast after getting up, and the two of them had never gone together in the morning.

Zhuang Xing thought for a moment and asked, "Da Chun, would you like to warm up together?"

“Okay.” Da Chun answered directly, stood next to Zhuang Xing, and began to practice with him.

Zhuang Xing didn't hide anything and told Da Chun the breathing techniques for warming up, so that he could practice with him.

After playing for a while, the two decided it was time to go to the cafeteria for lunch.

Zhuang Xing saw Yun Ling waiting for him at the entrance of the canteen. Yun Ling was stunned for a moment, probably because it was the first time she had seen Zhuang Xing and Da Chun walking together, and she was a little surprised.

Zhuang Xing noticed that Yunling was a little uncomfortable. In the past, it was just the two of them eating alone. Now that a third person had entered the picture, and given her introverted and shy nature, she would definitely feel a bit awkward.

"Dachun, you go eat by yourself. I'm going to keep Yunling company," Zhuang Xing said.

"Okay." Da Chun agreed and strode across the threshold of the dining hall.

Seeing that Da Chun had disappeared into the crowd, Yun Ling asked softly, "Isn't this a bit inappropriate?"

“If it were someone else, it might not be so good, but that’s Da Chun, he won’t take it to heart,” Zhuang Xing said, patting his chest.

Rather, it's more accurate to say that with Da Chun's limited brain capacity, he simply can't think about so many convoluted things. When talking to Da Chun, you have to be direct and make things clear. This guy doesn't know how to read the atmosphere. If you make things roundabout and ask him if he wants to come over for dinner, he will really be oblivious and follow you.

He and Dachun lived in the same room and spent enough time together normally, so he still wanted to be alone with Yunling at times like this.

"Hmm." Seeing Zhuang Xing say this, Yunling nodded and didn't ask any more questions.

The two of them got a bowl of millet porridge. In addition, they also received a boiled egg and a bowl of goat milk. They could ask for more if they wanted. As disciples of Bai Sui, their meals were very nutritious.

Zhuang Xing had some doubts about this. He wondered if every meal eaten by the Bai Sui disciples would be recorded on a bill, and if they would have to go down the mountain to accept commissions from various places to exorcise demons after they became Qing Sui disciples, which would be like repaying a debt to the Taoist temple.

However, according to the information he obtained from his senior brother Lingyi, it seems that this is not the case.

The cost of food for the disciples is not a particularly large expense for Xuanqing Temple.

Because Xuanqing Temple has connections with the government, many of the exorcism requests actually come from the government.

Brother Lingyi said that ordinary people are not allowed to pass through many post stations and checkpoints without a travel permit, but the disciples of Xuanqing Temple can pass through freely. This is their privilege, as well as the reputation they have built up over the years.

Moreover, in recent years, Xuanqing Temple has had increasingly frequent interactions with the government, and in terms of secular wealth, Xuanqing Temple is experiencing a period of rapid development.

Senior Brother Lingyi said that the most expensive part of training disciples is actually the talismans and demon materials consumed after they have cultivated true qi, in order to learn Taoist methods and improve their swordsmanship.

Disciples in the Taoist temple only receive regular meat for free. Apart from the food consumed during teaching, other things like spiritual fruits and medicines that can improve cultivation, as well as the forging of their personal swords, must be earned by the disciples themselves.

Some rare materials simply cannot be bought with money; for cultivators, these are the most valuable things.

My senior brother said that there is a special trading market in the Taoist temple. Rare and extraordinary items will only circulate in that market. However, only Qing Sui disciples are qualified to enter the market.

Zhuang Xing then remembered that Daoist Qingxuzi had said that Yan Huai'an would occasionally come to the mountain to sell him some materials related to demons.

In the past few days, he also noticed some practitioners from outside the temple walking around inside. It seems that the trading market is open to the public. As long as one can get permission from Xuanqing Temple, one can go there to trade, buy or sell some extraordinary items.

While eating, Zhuang Xing casually told Yunling about the information he had found out.