26: Chapter 26 Learning to Write

Over the next few days, Lu Hu monitored Lu Qing. During these three days, the old man chopped down two trees, whittled them into small wooden tablets, and then used a knife to carve on them.

It seemed he was carving characters.

Their previous communication had been without issues.

Lu Hu relaxed. By the third day, Lu Qing brought a full box of characters and presented them before him.

"Great King, I have not failed your mission. This junior has finished carving all the kun script. Please, take a look."

After Lu Qing finished speaking, he waited carefully to the side.

Lu Hu looked at the box of wooden tablets with a face full of question marks. What was the meaning of this?

The characters are written, but you should at least teach me what they mean and how to pronounce them. This Great King doesn't even know how to read them.

No... these characters...

Lu Hu suddenly froze. He carefully examined the wooden tablet in his palm. As he looked at the characters carved on it, they gradually began to twist in his eyes. At that moment, it was as if Lu Hu saw water flowing.

These characters contained a special artistic conception.

Lu Hu was greatly amazed. He observed it repeatedly and finally determined that the character in his palm should be the character for 'Water'.

Lu Hu picked up another new character. It was bright and warm, illuminating the darkness. Presumably, this was the character for 'Light'.

This one is the character for 'Ice', and this one is...

As he looked, Lu Hu frowned. He felt that many of these characters were incomplete, as if they had been castrated. The artistic conception lacked charm, missing an important part.

Could it be that this old man was trying to fool him?

Lu Hu looked coldly at Lu Qing to the side, but quickly withdrew his gaze. That shouldn't be it. As his cultivation level increased, his perception had also grown.

In the past few days, he had seen the old man diligently carving the characters, which didn't look fake.

If the old man wasn't faking it, then it was possible that the script the old man learned was just this castrated version.

He would just have to make do with it.

Lu Hu continued to look at the characters. In this world with thin spiritual energy, the old man's strength was not low; he must have a certain status in the human world.

If the script he learned was still this castrated version, it meant that most humans learned this castrated version. This was the mainstream.

The reason he learned the script was mainly for communication, so of course, he should learn the mainstream version.

After looking at the characters for a while longer, Lu Hu felt a headache coming on. The artistic conception contained in the castrated characters was too unrealistic, making it very easy to misinterpret their meaning.

If he relied on his own comprehension, he might end up misinterpreting half of the characters.

Lu Hu called over General Hei, who had a certain rapport with him, to study the characters one-on-one.

Their progress in mastering the characters was fast, but Lu Hu always felt something was a bit strange. However, seeing General Hei's confident appearance, Lu Hu dispelled the doubts in his heart.

After understanding the meaning of the characters, Lu Hu called Lu Qing over to practice.

"Awooo~" (Come here)

Lu Hu summoned Lu Qing, waved his tiger claw, and activated Earth Control. A line of characters appeared on the ground:

'Tell me the artistic semen of the characters!'

"Great King."

Lu Qing first bowed, lowered his head, and scanned the text, automatically translating the characters Lu Hu had written:

'Tell me the artistic conception of the characters.'

As expected of the Great King, just after coming into contact with the kun script, he had already comprehended the artistic conception within it.

Lu Qing sighed inwardly. One had to know that he had studied the kun script since childhood, and it was only after becoming a Grandmaster that he could see the artistic conception contained within the kun script. It took him decades of contemplation to grasp its meaning.

The Great King's natural talent is far ahead of everyone else in the world!

"Great King, please wait a moment. I will explain the kun script to you right now."

Lu Qing stepped forward, looked around, and then picked up a wooden tablet, pointing toward the flowing water source in the sinkhole.

"Great King, please look. The artistic conception of this character is of a babbling brook, flowing endlessly, so it is read as 'Stream'."

It really was 'Water'. Lu Hu looked at the water Lu Qing pointed to and nodded inwardly; he had understood it correctly.

Lu Qing then picked up a new character and pointed toward the sun in the sky.

"This character is bright and warm, illuminating the darkness, and also resembles a raging fire burning, so it is read as 'Fire'."

Lu Hu squinted at the sunlight shining down. That's right, it was 'Light'.

"Just by glancing at this character, one feels chilled to the bone, so it is 'Cold'."

...

...

There were too few sceneries in the sinkhole for Lu Qing to demonstrate with, so Lu Qing climbed up the sinkhole, stood on the mountaintop, and pointed at all things to explain the meaning of the characters to Lu Hu.

With someone teaching him, plus the fact that these characters carried a special artistic conception, Lu Hu learned very quickly. After learning the characters, Lu Hu also asked about the names of General Hei and the old man.

Upon learning that the Great King wanted to ask for their names, Lu Qing was excited. It seemed that his performance over these past few days had caught the Great King's eye. Lu Qing pointed to the land at the foot of the mountain and then pointed to a patch of green on the mountainside.

"This junior is Lu Qing. The 'Lu' is from land, and the 'Qing' is from green grass."

Lu Hu's eyesight was better than Lu Qing's. He could easily see the deer running on the ground at the foot of the mountain and the bird eggs in the green grass on the mountainside.

Deer Egg?

What a strange name.

Did he misunderstand?

That shouldn't be it. Lu Hu thought of the ancient history he had heard about. In ancient times, medical standards were not that good, and the survival rate of children was not high. Even royal offspring could die from a common cold.

To ensure children grew up smoothly, even wealthy families and high-ranking officials would give their children humble names like Erdan, Goudan, or Erya, implying they would be easy to raise.

Perhaps this world also followed the principle that humble names were easier to raise.

Lu Dan, perhaps that was the reason.

It's not very elegant. From now on, I'll just call him Lu Dan.

What about General Hei?

"Meow~"

Mo Yun took out a wooden board and carved the characters: 'Mo Yun'.

Lu Qing took a peek; fortunately, the divine beast Mo Yun hadn't written his own name wrong.

"Awoo~" (Mo Tian)

Just hearing it, it didn't sound like a good thing. To be able to come up with such a name, the owner of the wooden house also seemed to be a demon lord. No wonder he was living in seclusion in the deep mountains and forests; he must have been hunted to the point where he dared not show his face, which is why he hid here!

Mo Tian, it also quite matched the aura of his General Hei.

"Awoo~" (I have remembered it. This is a reward from this Great King to you.)

Having learned a script, Lu Hu felt refreshed. Considering the hard work Lu Dan had put in over these past few days, Lu Hu gave him a reward.

It was that set of cultivation techniques from the box containing animal skins and bamboo slips.

Lu Hu had long noticed the look in Lu Dan's eyes when he saw that set of cultivation techniques—it was as hot and excited as a dog seeing poop.

Catering to his interests, Lu Hu gave the cultivation technique to Lu Dan as a reward, and then went into the valley to pull out a few old Ginseng as a reward.

These ordinary Ginseng without spiritual energy were really no different from radishes in front of him now.

Although they were like radishes in his eyes, for Lu Dan, they still had some use.

"Thank you, Great King~"

Holding the Ginseng, Lu Qing grinned from ear to ear, looking like a fool.

Breaking through to Grandmaster was a rare opportunity in his life.

But now, when the Great King was happy, he could bestow spirit ginseng that could force a breakthrough.

He was on the right track.

"Awooo~" (Stop laughing, damn it, it's really ugly. Hurry up and get to work; this Great King hasn't had his poisonous tea for today yet.)

Lu Hu said with disdain.

This Lu Dan was a talent; not only did he know how to plant green lotus, but he was also good at making poison, which was potent and tasted good.

These days, he had to drink a few sips of the poisonous tea made by Lu Dan every day; it was becoming a habit.

"Alright, Great King. The Lychee Fragrant Hundred Poison Eye King Snake Tea will be served to you immediately."

Lu Qing understood Lu Hu's meaning in a second. He sealed his mouth and nose and began to brew the poisonous tea for Lu Hu.

A while later, Lu Hu lay on a high spot, watching the Wild Boar King plow the land. He took the hot tea handed over by Lu Qing, took a small sip, and narrowed his eyes in contentment.

Life was a bit too comfortable; Lu Hu felt he was about to degenerate again.

...