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    Edict of Peace 23

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    Chapter 23: Divine Weapon!

    The elder, seeing Li Guanyi’s agreement, smiled and nodded, then said:
    “Shuangtao should come too. Where’s Changqing?”

    Xue Changqing didn’t care, waving his arm, said: “I won’t go. Grandpa, your chats are always so boring. I’m going to continue archery here!” He was excited, like a child who had just received a favorite toy, holding his bow and arrow, inner energy surging.

    After the last shot, his palm was slightly trembling, but now it was already recovering, and he could draw his bow again.

    Li Guanyi raised an eyebrow and still advised: “Too much is as bad as too little, be careful not to hurt yourself.”

    The elder, noticing Li Guanyi’s gaze, casually said: “My Xue family’s secret inner strength cultivation method, the *Divine Bow Heart Scripture*, is unparalleled in the world regarding the five senses and arms. Changqing started cultivating Qi at five years old and has already achieved something. Sir, you don’t need to worry about him.”

    “This kid’s temper is mischievous, but since he enjoys cultivation, let him be. Young Master, please.”

    “I’m quite curious, I have many things I want to talk to you about.”

    The elder had already turned and walked out of the main gate.

    The White Tiger swept its tail, lazily following behind.

    Li Guanyi naturally moved with the White Tiger Law Physique, maintaining the optimal range for the Bronze Tripod to accumulate the Jade Liquid.

    He suspected that the Bronze Tripod’s accumulation ability and absorption range were related to his own strength.

    It was clearly stronger than the absorption capacity during the Mountain God Temple stage.

    Xue Shuangtao warned her younger brother, Xue Changqing, once more before hurrying to catch up, closing the door behind her. The sound of archery gradually disappeared, muffled outside the door. It seemed the elder had been quietly listening at the door just now.

    Xue Shuangtao rushed to grab her grandfather’s arm, curiously asking:
    “Grandpa, when did you get here?”

    The elder patted his granddaughter’s hair, and smiled gently: “Heh, I’ve been here for a while. I was afraid of affecting Changqing’s archery, so I didn’t go in. You guys didn’t even notice me.”

    “However, this kind of arithmetic, Young Master, is the first time I’ve seen. If everyone could do this, wouldn’t everyone be a sharpshooter? Able to hit every shot?”

    ?? Is he planning to have me teach all the Xue family disciples?

    Li Guanyi replied: “It’s impossible.”

    “Just now, it was successful only because it was a fixed target, and Changqing also has the Xue family’s cultivation method, and the place is the Xue family disciples’ martial arts training ground for archery. What if it rains? What if it’s windy? And the bows and arrows in the training ground are all adjusted.”

    “And the key point is, if you’re holding a bow and fighting someone, the opponent isn’t a target, it moves.”

    The elder said with interest: “Then why did the Young Master tell Changqing that arithmetic can assist martial arts?”

    Li Guanyi answered: “It’s teaching according to one’s aptitude.”

    “How so?”

    “Since he likes martial arts, guiding him to learn arithmetic from the martial arts perspective will naturally be twice the result with half the effort.”

    The elder was surprised and asked with a laugh: “Teaching according to one’s aptitude, this saying is quite new, I’ve never heard it before.”

    “Did the Young Master create it?”

    Li Guanyi said: “Before I came here, I happened to meet an older man surnamed Kong who said it.”

    The old man pondered this phrase, finally sighing in admiration: “These four words are far superior to those so-called private schools and private tutors. The world is indeed vast. There are such people, and I have never heard of them.”

    “Then, where did the Young Master learn your arithmetic from?”

    As he said this, the elder asked with a smile, the White Tiger Law Physique slightly looking at Li Guanyi, seemingly curious but not malicious. Li Guanyi’s heart stirred slightly, and he laughed freely: “Of course, it was also on my way escaping, I met an old man on the road, and that old man taught and instructed me.”

    Xue Shuangtao’s eyes widened, looking at the boy whose lies were as natural as breathing, she seemed to have met a new Li Guanyi.

    Your swordsmanship was taught by a man you met on the road, and your teaching approach was taught by an old man on the road.

    Even arithmetic?

    Even she could guess he was making excuses.

    Her grandfather was highly respected in the entire Xue family, and no one had ever spoken to him like this. She was worried that her grandfather would get angry, but she heard the old man burst into laughter, seeming quite pleased, saying: “Hahahahaha, it seems the Young Master has many teachers.”

    “One day, I must meet this arithmetic master!”

    Li Guanyi thought to himself, those teachers who taught him arithmetic were probably still in another world, getting angry because of midterm and final exams, and because of naughty students, holding a thermos cup of goji berries saying, “You are the worst batch of students I’ve ever taught.”

    Living a trivial and peaceful life, with computers and Coke, a daily life that he envied at this moment.

    How could you let him meet that ‘arithmetic master’?

    Unless an arithmetic expert falls from the sky and hits my head.

    The young man thought this in his heart, but only smiled and replied: “If I have the chance, certainly.”

    The elder laughed but didn’t take it seriously.

    Li Guanyi was originally unable to enter the inner courtyard, but today, with the elder leading the way, no one dared to stop him. He saw numerous courtyards of varying sizes along the way. Some courtyards had screen walls at the entrance, with finely decorated carriages engraved with dragons and tigers parked at the entrance, while others were simpler.

    He knew this was where the guest lecturers lived.

    Xue family guest lecturers had separate villas, something everyone in the Xue family envied.

    But after seeing it, it seemed there were also differences between guest lecturers.

    The inner courtyard had high walls, separating the Xue family’s inner and outer areas clearly. The walls had battlements like city walls, with household servants holding long sticks, weapons at their waists, walking on top, their steps steady. They must have martial arts skills.

    Li Guanyi thought quietly.

    Truly a powerful family.

    Truly, a time of chaos in the world.

    Xue family’s ancestor and Li Guanyi chatted along the way. The elder was quite humorous, and Li Guanyi, with his knowledge from his previous life, responded and chatted neither humbly nor arrogantly, occasionally with witty remarks. The elder’s smile deepened, and the guest lecturers and Xue family women who passed by were quite astonished.

    They wondered what the identity of the young man chatting with the Xue family ancestor was.

    Everyone who saw the Xue family ancestor would subconsciously lower their heads, feeling as if they were in the presence of a god, trembling and thinking carefully before speaking, fearing making a mistake. Few were as relaxed and cheerful as this young man.

    The elder pointed to a courtyard and said: “Young Master, what do you think of this courtyard?”

    The courtyard had three entrances and three exits, with pavilions and waterside pavilions inside, considered extremely outstanding here.

    Li Guanyi said: “Very good.”

    A slight smile appeared on the elder’s face as he walked forward: “That courtyard belongs to a guest lecturer. He’s been a martial artist for a long time and married a woman from a Xue family branch, so he was allowed to live with his family in our Xue family. If the Young Master likes it, he can do the same.”

    “The Xue family has thirteen branches, and there are many women around the Young Master’s age, and even more with outstanding beauty.”

    Li Guanyi said: “Old senior, you mean…”

    The elder walked forward unhurriedly, casually asking:
    “Sir, you should have guessed, I’m asking if you are willing to be a guest lecturer for my Xue family.”

    Xue Shuangtao was stunned, her eyes wide.

    Thirteen years old, a guest lecturer?

    Li Guanyi deliberately said: “But isn’t the rule that only those who have entered the realm can become guest lecturers?”

    The elder burst into laughter: “What a childish idea. My word is the rule of the Xue family.”

    “My Xue family has stayed away from the court and battlefield for three hundred years, and since then, we have been doing business generation after generation. Young Master, what do you think is the most important thing for a businessman?”

    “It’s vision and courage!”

    The elder looked at the young man, his white eyebrows raised, his eyes like a fierce tiger, grinning: “Just like the battlefield, seizing the opportunity to strike is the only way to survive and gain merit. Business is the same. If you’re only timid, you can only support your family.”

    “Since ancient times, great merchants and heroes are all great gamblers!”

    “Win, and you’ll have vast wealth and leave your name in history. Lose, and you’ll lose everything and be cursed for generations!”

    “I won a historical book with a bet at the age of six, and I read it until my eyes were swollen. In the past one hundred and twenty years, Chen Kingdom has risen and fallen, and my Xue family’s assets have tripled. These eyes haven’t lost once, this time, I see you favorably, and I intend to gamble again, betting on you.”

    Li Guanyi said: “What is the old senior betting on?”

    Walking unhurriedly, the elder had already led him and Xue Shuangtao to a lotus pond. The lotus flowers in the pond had not yet bloomed. The elder turned around and gestured towards Li Guanyi:

    “Thirteen years old, already proficient in arithmetic, repeatedly encountered experts, inner strength cultivated to a great extent, close to entering the realm, his conduct and style has its own order, the old man bets that your future will definitely become famous, and that within ten years, you will be a talent assisting the world!”

    “Helping in times of need is far better than adding flowers to a brocade.”

    “Understanding the bet, isn’t that better than secretly conspiring?”

    “Today, I am pleased with you, so I will lay it all out and ask you, what do you say!”

    The elder spoke frankly and with a majestic demeanor.

    Xue Shuangtao held her breath, unable to speak for a while.

    Li Guanyi said:
    “Of course, I would be honored. But senior has only seen me twice, aren’t you afraid of losing the bet?”

    The elder pointed to the house and asked instead: “My Xue family has a collection of thousands of books, encompassing everything – Confucian arts, major articles, poetry, scriptures, Buddhist and Taoist scriptures, as well as the history of mountains and rivers, geography, and geomancy. If you are allowed to borrow, what would you borrow?”

    Li Guanyi, seeing the White Tiger paying close attention to him, gave his answer.

    “The history of mountains and rivers, and geography and geomancy.”

    The elder asked: “Why?”

    “To open my eyes.”

    “Open your eyes to see what?”

    Li Guanyi looked at him and said: “To open my eyes and see the world.”

    Then the elder burst into laughter, like a tiger roaring in the mountains at night.

    He strode forward, casually pushing open the Tingfeng Pavilion, and said:
    “Guest Lecturer Li, please!”

    After entering the door, the inside was extremely simple.

    The elder strode forward and personally brewed tea. Li Guanyi’s Bronze Tripod inside his body had reached ninety-eight percent Jade Liquid. Just like the previous Azure Dragon, it was stuck here and refused to move. To break through to the end, it would probably require performing a Law Physique-level ultimate move like Yu Qianfeng.

    But how could he do that?

    He vaguely felt the hazy White Tiger forming on the Bronze Tripod.

    But it hadn’t solidified, hadn’t stabilized, let alone emerging like the Azure Dragon.

    He had just sat down when his gaze paused, drawn to an object.

    It was a bow.

    An ancient and simple warbow!

    Exuding a murderous aura, it was placed on the high platform in the center of Tingfeng Pavilion.

    Li Guanyi’s hazy White Tiger on his Bronze Tripod suddenly gathered, as if about to roar.

    A strong impulse of longing appeared in Li Guanyi’s heart—

    Grasp it!

    Grasp it!

    That was—

    The young man saw the inscription beside the bow, a sharp aura of weaponry.

    [Po Yun Zhen Tian Bow]! (Cloud-Breaking Heaven-Shaking Bow)

    (End of Chapter)

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