Chapter 10: Sipping on Wine, Talking About Heroes
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Li Hanguang smiled in delight.
Now that he had muddled through the topic about his Cultivation Base, the bullsh*tting session could officially begin!
He took out some cups, rinsed them briefly, and poured a cup of rice wine for each of them.
Li Hanguang said with a smile, "This wine is brewed with rice that I grew myself.
"It isn't comparable to nectar, but it does have a unique taste by itself.
"Have a try!"
Chu Xiaolian picked up the cup and finished the rice wine in one gulp.
He opened his mouth and said, "Senior Brother, I've been in closed-door training for a month and my cultivation base…"
Li Hanguang replied with a smile, "You've made great improvements in your cultivation, I am very pleased. Here's a toast to you."
Chu Xiaolian: "???"
Makes sense.
Senior Brother had already ventured down the Path of Mortal Regression.
This little amount of breakthrough I have attained is like an ant becoming a bigger ant to someone like him.
It's not worth mentioning, not worth mentioning at all!
Chu Xiaolian laughed at himself. All of a sudden, he felt a slight urge to drink his sorrows away.
What he did not know was that Li Hanguang did not realize he had broken through to level 7 of the Spiritual Qi Refinement stage at all.
After all, Li Hanguang was only at level 3 of the Spiritual Qi Refinement stage. If Omniscient Observation did not display that piece of information, he would not have been able to see Chu Xiaolian's cultivation level at all.
If he could…
Yeah, Li Hanguang would be the one who would suffer!
Firelight rose into the air and the aroma of wine suffused into the atmosphere. Thoughts filled the minds of the three youngsters.
After quite some time, Li Hanguang said with a smile, "Junior Brother Chu, what is your dream?"
Dream?
Chu Xiaolian asked, "What is a dream?"
Li Hanguang explained, "A dream is something that you wish to accomplish in the future.
"Or in other words, your own path!
"To find your path, you must first understand your own desires."
"Why did you insist to walk the path of cultivation despite humiliation, loneliness, and agony?"
Why did I choose to become a cultivator?
An overbearing lady emerged in Chu Xiaolian's mind.
He gritted his teeth. "To become stronger and take revenge for the insults I've suffered. To one day ascend the Jade Lake and take down Mu Yuehua!"
Li Hanguang said with a smile, "Narrow. The breadth of your mind is too narrow.
"You may consider yourself a true man by seeking revenge. However, you will be no great hero."
"Have you ever thought about this? If you make defeating Mu Yuehua your path, what about after you've defeated Mu Yuehua?
"What will your path become then?
"The moment you make your path to defeat someone, you've subjected yourself to mediocrity.
"You are no person of noble character if your mind should be so narrow, and no real man should not know about how to let go.
"You may ascend the Jade Lake and kill Mu Yuehua. However, a mere lady is not worthy of all your persistence.
"She can only become your sharpening stone, but not your path."
...
She can only become your sharpening stone, but not your path.
Chu Xiaolian's eyes glistened as if a door had been opened in front of him.
The state of his mind that had been depressed and anxious cleared up in an instant.
That's right!
Mu Yuahua isn't worthy to become my path!
Chu Xiaolian abruptly stood up and bowed to Li Hanguang respectfully, "Senior Brother Li, I beseech you to point me to my path!"
Li Hanguang smiled and shook his head, "A path cannot be pointed to.
"Everyone has their own path. What you need is to listen to the voice within you."
Chu Xiaolian was puzzled. "The voice within me?"
Li Hanguang nodded. "Ask yourself, what kind of people do you admire? A swordsman who has saved the world, an overlord of a realm, or a deity who freely roams the world?"
What kind of people do I admire?
Chu Xiaolian contemplated for a moment and asked curiously, "Senior Brother, I wonder if you can disclose it, but...
"What kind of people do you admire?"
...
What kind of people do I admire?
The corners of Li Hanguang's mouth raised slightly. Finally, this question had come.
He downed a cup of warm wine. "There are only two and a half people in this world whom I admire."
Two and a half?"
Chu Xiaolian was taken aback for a moment. "Does that include the Vast Ocean Swordsmaster?"
Li Hanguang said with a smile, "He's unworthy."
Chu Xiaolian: "…"
Ye Chengying held her forehead helplessly. "…"
Li Hanguang said, "I respect him, but I don't admire him.
"Should I be given enough time, I can surpass him for sure."
Chu Xiaolian smiled and said, "If even the Vast Ocean Swordsmaster isn't worthy of your admiration, is the Holy Lord of Taicang the one you admire then?"
Before Li Hanguang could answer, a sneer echoed in Chu Xiaolian's mind.
"Hmph, that despicable Jiang Xuanyu. How can he be worthy of this kid's admiration?
"Ridiculous!"
The one who spoke was Elder Yan.
He did not seem interested in the Holy Lord of Taicang.
On the other side, however, Li Hanguang was nodding his head.
"Jiang Xuanyu, the Holy Lord of Taicang. For 700 years, he guarded the Southern Borders as a Mansion of the imperial court and rendered millions of monsters afraid to step beyond.
"He can barely be considered half a hero."
Jiang Xuanyu, a supreme existence of the Taicang Residence!
Such a bigshot could only be considered as half a person for his Senior Brother to admire?
Just how powerful did the remaining two have to be?!
Chu Xiaolian grew even more curious.
As for Elder Yan, he was babbling unceasingly at this moment, "This kid has no eyesight! How can he admire someone like Jiang Xuanyu? I guess he's blind!
"I'm guessing the remaining two that he admires will be no good as well."
...
Chu Xiaolian asked, "If the Holy Lord of Taicang is considered as half a person, I wonder how powerful is the remaining two?"
Li Hanguang drank another cup of rice wine and exclaimed, "This second person was the strongest Swordsmanship Cultivator at the Taicang Mansion 700 years ago.
"You might have not heard of his name, but I have seen it in the historical records.
"This man is Yan Chixiao, he was hailed as the Righteous Hero Sword Sage!"
Elder Yan: "???"
Chu Xiaolian asked curiously, "Righteous Hero Sword Sage? Is he a true sage?"
Li Hanguang nodded his head. "It is said that the Righteous Hero Sword Sage and the Holy Lord of Taicang were disciples of the same master.
"His talent, mind, cultivation base, and appearance were all above the Holy Lord of Taicang. He was the best contender for the position of the Holy Lord.
"However, he was not interested in the position of the Holy Lord. He doesn't care about fame or fortune at all in his life. He just wanted to be a swordsman and uphold righteousness.
"In his life, the Sword Sage vanquished countless demons and saved the lives of millions.
"Some offered him all their wealth in return but was rejected. He only took a pot of wine and departed while drinking it in glee.
"Therefore, some people jokingly call him the Sword Sage of Wine, or the Sword Deity of Wine."
As he spoke, Li Hanguang poured himself another cup of rice wine and drank it slowly.
"There's a poem that proves his deeds:
"He comes on a sword amidst the winds; to vanquish demons from the heavens within. With wine in his hands, shall he be in glee; but even without wine, he will still be merry.
"A sip he takes, a river he roams; With another one, he swallows the sun and moon. After a thousand cups, he isn't drunk; the Sword Deity of Wine is the name to be exalted.
"In my opinion, such a figure is worthy to be called a hero more than the Holy Lord of Taicang.
"If I have the chance, I would love to have a drink with him and let him have a taste of the rice wine I brewed."
...
Jiang Xuanyu, the Holy Lord of Taicang, could barely be considered half a person for Li Hanguang admired.
But Yan Chixiao, the Righteous Hero Sword Sage, was qualified to be considered a whole person!
Inside Chu Xiaolian's mind, Elder Yan who had been going on and on suddenly became quiet.
After quite some time, Elder Yan's voice sounded once again.
"He comes on a sword amidst the winds; to vanquish demons from heavens within. After a thousand cups, he isn't drunk; the Sword Deity of Wine is the name to be exalted!
"Excellent! Excellent poem! I'll take it for myself."
Could it be that!
Chu Xiaolian suddenly remembered something.
He said probingly, "Elder Yan, did…did you just refer to the Holy Lord of Taicang as despicable?"
Elder Yan said indignantly, "Yeah, what about that?"
Having seemingly affirmed something, Chu Xiaolian hurled out another probing statement, "Elder Yan, your surname is Yan, right?"
The corners of Elder Yan's mouth twitched. "What do you think?"
Chu Xiaolian probed for the third time, "Master, you said that the remaining two that Senior Brother Li admires will be no good…"
"Shut up," Elder Yan interrupted Chu Xiaolian, "Or I'll castrate you!"
Hmm, he's pretty pissed.
Deep within, Chu Xiaolian almost confirmed his conjecture.
He muttered to himself, "I think you must be on cloud nine right now!"
Elder Yan sneered, "Who do you think I am?
"Do you think the admiration of a little boy is enough to light me up with pleasure?
"Besides, Jiang Xuanyu is unqualified to even be mentioned in the same breath as I am!
"Considering him half a hero is totally elevating him!
"Hm-mph… heh…heheh~"
Chu Xiaolian: "…"
He felt that if his Senior Brother were to praise Elder Yan for a while longer, his master would show up and accept him as an apprentice.
However, he really did not expect his master to be that great of a figure!
He's actually a Sword Sage!
No wonder he's bold enough to say that I can defeat Swordsmaster Zhu Yan within 20 years!
Chu Xiaolian's curiosity intensified. "Senior Brother, who is the third person that you admire?"
What kind of person could be on par with a Sword Sage?
Li Hanguang sighed. "He doesn't belong to this ancient history."
Doesn't belong to this ancient history?
What does he mean?!
Chu Xiaolian's face revealed his curiosity. Even Elder Yan was fairly intrigued.
Li Hanguang walked to the edge of the field and picked up an ear of rice.
He placed it on the table and smiled. "Look at this ear of rice. What do you think makes it different from the rest?"
Ear...different?
Chu Xiaolian felt even more puzzled.
He carefully looked at the ear of rice.
This ear of rice was growing well, golden grains were bending the rice stalks.
Besides, the grains were plump. Compared to the shriveled grains planted by the majority of civilians, it looked so much better.
"Is this Spiritual Rice?"
"That can't be. Spiritual Energy is scarce at this place. It cannot fulfill the growing requirements of Spiritual Rice at all.
"Besides, there is not much spiritual energy in these rice paddies."
"But if this isn't Spiritual Rice, how can they be so plump?"
...
In the beginning, Chu Xiaolian had not paid much attention to the paddy field.
He thought that Li Hanguang's reason for plowing the field was just to regress to the Mortal State.
At this time, by Li Hanguang's reminder, he genuinely discovered the extraordinary features of these grains.
Grown amidst barren hills and turbulent rivers, yet it was still able to grow so well!
It had to be said that this kind of rice was very unique.
However, being unique was all it was.
Chu Xiaolian did not feel that that this kind of rice was particularly worthy of any attention.
After all, the Spiritual Energy they contained was too little.
For cultivators, feeding on such grains was not only useless towards their cultivation, but if they ate too much of it, they would even have to get rid of impurities.
It could be said that this rice was equivalent to garbage.
If the rice wine had not been brewed by his Senior Brother himself, Chu Xiaolian would not even want to drink it.
Therefore, Chu Xiaolian became even more puzzled!
Li Hanguang said with a smile, "The people or things that have the highest excellence are just like water. They benefit all things instead of just being content. They stay at the lowest place that all men dislike. So this kind of person and things are very close to the 'Tao'.
"The person I admire the most is the supreme existence in another piece of ancient history.
"In his entire lifetime, he did not compete for fame, profit, and was not fond of bravery or fighting.
"He spent all his time and energy in cultivating high-yield rice.
"And at last, he succeeded in cultivating these tall and massive ears of rice.
"This man was therefore honored as the Father of Rice Harvest!"
...
High-yield rice? Tall and massive ears?
Honored as the Father of Rice Harvest?
Chu Xiaolian was taken aback for a moment. "What's the use of cultivating high-yield rice?"
He could not understand his Senior Brother's logic, let alone that of the Father of Rice Harvest.
Since he was a supreme existence, should he not have lived a transcendent life and fed on Spiritual Energy instead?
He was obsessed with farming—and what's more, with the farming of mortal grains.
That was completely meaningless!
-- Gift
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