Chapter 57 So-called cultivation is nothing more than carrying water and chopping wood.
The rain in Qingyun City grew heavier, washing the bluestone slabs on the long street until they shone brightly.
Lin Yuan held a tattered oil-paper umbrella he had swiped from somewhere, strolling leisurely through the rain. Behind him, Xiao Yuer followed with a candied hawthorn stick, her steps uneven.
Lin Yuan's finger strike from earlier had not only reshaped her skeletal structure but also left a faint trace of Dragon Elephant vitality within her. Although Xiao Yuer still appeared frail, with every step she took, the bluestone slabs beneath her feet would faintly crack—a sign that she could not yet fully control her surging power.
"Revered Master, where are we going?" Xiao Yuer asked softly, her voice filled with the trepidation of a new disciple.
"To find a place to rest." Without looking back, Lin Yuan casually pointed to a dilapidated, abandoned courtyard by the roadside. "There will do."
It was a run-down tile-roofed house on the outskirts of the city. The courtyard was overgrown with weeds, containing only a dry well and a pile of scattered wood.
Lin Yuan folded his umbrella and slumped onto a rickety reclining chair in the courtyard with practiced ease, casually tossing the iron shard of the "Primal Number One Slaughtering Formation" diagram he had just bought into Xiao Yuer's arms.
"Go, chop the wood in the yard and fill the water vat." Lin Yuan yawned and gave the order offhandedly.
Xiao Yuer held the heavy, rust-covered iron shard, feeling a bit dazed. "Revered Master, use this... to chop wood?"
"What else? I’d find it too rough even to prop up a table leg." Lin Yuan closed his eyes, seemingly drifting into a half-asleep state.
Xiao Yuer didn't dare to ask more. In her eyes, her Revered Master was an immortal who could make villains kneel with a wave of his hand; an immortal's words must have profound meaning.
She walked over to the pile of hard Iron Birch Wood. This wood was incredibly sturdy; a normal axe would only leave a white mark on it. Xiao Yuer took a deep breath, mimicking the way her grandfather used to carve, gripped the rusty iron shard, aimed at the wood's grain, and tentatively struck downward.
"Crack."
A soft sound.
There was no expected recoil or sparks. The wood, hard as iron, actually split in half as smoothly as tofu under the rusty iron shard.
Xiao Yuer was stunned.
What she didn't know was that although this iron shard looked like junk, it was the Origin of the [Immortal Slaying Formation Map]. Even if Lin Yuan didn't activate any spiritual power, as long as it passed through the Void Realm, its inherent Laws of the Slaughtering Dao would automatically sever the molecular structure of all things.
More importantly, Lin Yuan's brief stroking of the iron shard just now had used Dragon Elephant strength to forcibly "smooth out" the slaughterous Concept within, making it extremely obedient.
Xiao Yuer became more and more proficient at chopping. She discovered that as long as she stared at the grain of the wood, strange lines would emerge in her mind.
At that moment, Lin Yuan, with his eyes closed, let a barely perceptible curve appear at the corner of his mouth.
[You observed a child wielding a remnant of a slaughtering Formation map, gaining insight into the descent of Laws and the principle of the Great Dao being simple.]
[You have comprehended a secret teaching method—"Teaching According to Aptitude: Mortal Transformation Chapter"!]
"Don't use brute force; look at the intersection points of those lines." Lin Yuan offered a sudden pointer with his eyes still closed.
Xiao Yuer's heart jolted, and her vision suddenly changed. The messy wood, the withered herbs, and even the raindrops drifting in the air all turned into dense lines of Formation patterns in her eyes.
She instinctively swung the iron shard.
"Swish!"
A piece of wood was sliced cleanly, the cut as smooth as a mirror.
Xiao Yuer had no idea that every strike she made was actually practicing the basic opening stance of the "Immortal Slaying Sword Formation," a technique that made the heavens tremble. If the Formation Great Grandmasters of the Middle Continent were to see this "transforming the profound into the mundane" teaching method, they would probably spit blood and die of rage on the spot.
To think there was someone in the world using the Immortal Slaying Formation Map to teach a disciple how to chop wood?!
Before she knew it, the afternoon had passed.
The firewood in the courtyard was stacked neatly, and the dry well had been filled with water by Xiao Yuer using a broken bucket. Although the young girl was sweating profusely from exhaustion, her eyes grew brighter, and her breathing became deep and powerful, with the faint sound of thunder echoing in her chest.
"Revered Master, I'm finished." Xiao Yuer wiped her sweat and stood respectfully beside Lin Yuan.
Lin Yuan opened his eyes, glanced at the wood sliced by "Sword Qi," and nodded slightly. "Hmm, your skill is still a bit lacking, but it'll do for now. Continue tomorrow. 'Pull' out the weeds in this courtyard one by one; do not break the roots."
Xiao Yuer looked at the stubborn weeds rooted deep in the ground and nodded earnestly.
Just then, a series of extremely hurried and urgent footsteps came from outside the courtyard.
"Jian Wuchen of the Heavenly Sword Sect, bringing a humble gift from the Sect, seeks an audience with Senior!"
His voice carried a hint of fawning and humility.
It was indeed Jian Wuchen, who had reached a Breakthrough into the Void Returning Stage at Zuixian Tower. Having heard that Lin Yuan had moved into this dilapidated courtyard with a little beggar, how could he stay still? This was a golden opportunity to curry favor with the Red Dust Immortal!
Lin Yuan frowned. "Another fly. Xiao Yuer, go open the door. If he's here to borrow money, tell him to get lost."
Xiao Yuer obediently ran to open the door.
The courtyard door swung open, and Jian Wuchen, a mighty expert of the Void Returning Stage, stood there with a beaming smile, holding an exquisite food container and a scroll of an ancient book radiating thick Sword Intent.
However, when Jian Wuchen saw Xiao Yuer opening the door, the smile on his face instantly froze.
As a Sword Cultivator of the Void Returning Stage, how keen his senses were.
He watched with his own eyes as this young girl, barely seven or eight years old, though devoid of any spiritual power fluctuations, emitted an aura of... peerless killing intent that made his entire body turn cold!
That kind of killing intent seemed as though she could completely shatter the Void Realm with a simple point of her finger.
Even more absurdly, the aura emanating from the tattered iron shard the girl was casually holding was ten thousand times more terrifying than the Ancestral Master's sword that their Heavenly Sword Sect had enshrined for three thousand years!
"This... this is..."
Jian Wuchen felt his tongue tying in knots, and his mind was buzzing.
"Grandpa, my Revered Master says if you're here to borrow money, please go back," Xiao Yuer said very politely.
Jian Wuchen's throat bobbed as he stared blankly past Xiao Yuer into the courtyard.
He saw the pile of firewood.
Every cut on the firewood contained a top-tier Sword Intent the likes of which he had never seen in his life! That wasn't just Sword Intent; it was... the Sword Dao Origin!
Using such Sword Dao Origin to chop wood?!
Jian Wuchen felt his vision go dark as an indescribable sense of defeat and shock surged to the top of his skull. He had cultivated bitterly for eight hundred years and considered himself a sword prodigy, yet in the end, he was actually inferior to a little girl chopping wood under the Red Dust Immortal?
"Senior... this old man is not here to borrow money."
Jian Wuchen fell to his knees with a "thud" right outside the threshold, holding up the food container with trembling hands, his voice almost pleading:
"This old man... this old man is here to deliver snacks and beg for forgiveness! I beg Senior to accept them!"
Lin Yuan lay on the chair, not even turning his head, as his lazy voice drifted out:
"Leave it. Xiao Yuer, in the future, there's no need to announce these delivery men. Just have them leave it at the door. Don't let them disturb my listening to the rain."
"Yes, Revered Master."
Xiao Yuer took the food container and naturally closed the door.
"Bang!"
A dull thud shut the mighty expert of the Void Returning Stage out.
Kneeling in the mud, Jian Wuchen didn't feel the slightest bit of anger. Instead, his face was full of fervor and relief, and he even kowtowed heavily three times toward the closed courtyard door.
"Thank you for granting a seat, Senior! Thank you for accepting the gift, Senior!"
He felt incredibly lucky. Of all the people in the entire Eastern Desolation, he was the only one whose "delivery" had been accepted by the Old Ancestor!
Inside the door, Xiao Yuer opened the food container, took out an exquisite Cloud Cake, and handed it to Lin Yuan. "Revered Master, have some snacks."
Lin Yuan took a bite and said nonchalantly, "The craftsmanship is alright, but there's too much scheming behind it. Remember to keep that iron shard on you when you chop wood tomorrow. Don't lose it; that's your textbook."
Xiao Yuer nodded heavily, looking at the iron shard her Revered Master called a "textbook," her eyes filled with hope for the future.