Chapter 457
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Chapter 457: Reading Novels
“Are these… not all novels?” Cao Yuan frowned, “How can they be textbooks?”
“These are the textbooks,” Zhou Ping said calmly, “The training content for you this morning is to read.”
Lin Qiye and the others exchanged glances.
“But how can reading novels improve our strength?” Lin Qiye couldn’t help but ask.
“Why not?” Zhou Ping asked in confusion, “I learned my swordsmanship from novels.”
“…” Lin Qiye frowned slightly, “Are you joking?”
“I never joke,” Zhou Ping said seriously, “I really learned my swordsmanship from novels… didn’t you?”
Zhou Ping’s gaze was filled with doubt.
Looking into his eyes, Lin Qiye even began to feel that gaining strength from novels was a perfectly reasonable thing…
After holding back for a long time, Lin Qiye finally managed to say two words: “Not really.”
Zhou Ping pondered for a moment, “Perhaps you should give it a try.”
Lin Qiye and the others exchanged glances, and one of them helplessly picked up a novel, sitting on a small stool and seriously flipping through it.
Since this was the training content arranged by the Sword Saint, they just had to follow it. Regardless of whether the training itself was effective, if they refused to accept it, the Night Watchers wouldn’t let them leave.
Resisting? It was meaningless; the five of them together wouldn’t be enough for Zhou Ping to cut down with a single sword…
Except for Jialan.
Lin Qiye chose “The Moon Knife at the End of the World,” not only because he had read a few other books before, but also because this book involved sword techniques… If what Zhou Ping said was true, then the content in this book might really help him gain strength.
When this thought appeared in Lin Qiye’s mind, he even began to doubt whether he was going crazy.
In the quiet sound of flipping pages, the morning slowly passed.
By the time Lin Qiye finally closed the book and pulled his thoughts back from Fu Hongxue’s revenge story to reality, the air was already faintly filled with the aroma of food…
Hmm…
Burnt smell.
Lin Qiye quickly walked to the kitchen and saw Zhou Ping standing there, staring at the burning pot and the unknown object in the center of the pot that had been charred to carbon, as if he were seriously contemplating something.
“Senior Sword Saint… what are you doing here?” Lin Qiye’s mouth twitched slightly.
If he didn’t know who Zhou Ping was, he would probably think some enemy had come here to burn the kitchen.
“I was trying to cook, but it seems I failed,” Zhou Ping sighed gloomily, “As expected, besides swordsmanship and cleaning, I can’t do anything well…”
Lin Qiye quickly stepped forward, extinguished the flames, and said with a wry smile, “Senior Sword Saint, leave this to us; you should go rest.”
Zhou Ping nodded.
“By the way…” Lin Qiye seemed to remember something and pointed to a white plate nearby, “Senior Sword Saint, do you know where those patterned plates went? These don’t seem to be our plates.”
Zhou Ping tilted his head in confusion, “What patterned plates? Aren’t those the dirty plates?”
“…” Lin Qiye thought of a certain possibility and tentatively asked, “Um… Senior Sword Saint, did you wash the patterned… oh no, the dirty plates, and turn them white last night?”
“Yeah,” Zhou Ping nodded, “Those dirty things were quite hard to wash. If I hadn’t scraped them off little by little with my sword energy, they wouldn’t have gotten clean.”
Lin Qiye: …
“Is there a problem?”
“No, it’s nothing… Senior Sword Saint, you should go rest; I’ll take care of this,” Lin Qiye’s mouth twitched slightly.
Zhou Ping hummed in response and turned to leave the kitchen, casually closing the door behind him.
He stood outside the door, looking down at his toes.
One second,
Two seconds,
Three seconds.
He silently squatted down, hugged his knees, and curled up into a ball.
“So embarrassing… I really want to go home…”
…
Half an hour later.
Everyone was gathered around a small low table, silently eating.
Lin Qiye’s cooking was still quite good; after all, having been poor since childhood, he could only cook for himself when his aunt wasn’t home. He made seven dishes and a soup, which looked quite sumptuous.
Zhou Ping picked up a piece of tomato and egg, tasted it, and said, “It’s not as good as the tomato stir-fry my third uncle makes.”
Lin Qiye: …
“Did you gain anything from reading today?” Zhou Ping asked.
Lin Qiye and the others shook their heads.
“You read ‘The Moon Knife at the End of the World,’ right?” Zhou Ping looked at Lin Qiye, “Didn’t you learn Fu Hongxue’s sword technique?”
“…… No.” Lin Qiye finally asked the question that had been on his mind, “It’s just a story described with words; how could I learn sword techniques?”
“When you were reading, didn’t you let yourself become Fu Hongxue?”
“Become Fu Hongxue?”
Lin Qiye looked at Zhou Ping in confusion, “You mean, to immerse myself in the character?”
“Mm.”
“I did immerse myself, but it didn’t seem to have much effect…”
“Maybe you didn’t immerse yourself deeply enough,” Zhou Ping said slowly, “Try to truly feel the emotions of the characters in the book, experience their anger, sorrow, worry, and joy…
The ‘Nine Swords of Dugu’ by Dugu Qiubai, the ‘Thirteen Swords of Death’ by Yan Shisan, the ‘Divine Sword of the Xie Family’ by Xie Xiaofeng… I learned my sword techniques this way.”
Cao Yuan was silent for a moment before asking, “Senior Sword Saint, your ability to do all this must be due to your Forbidden Ruins, right? We don’t have that Forbidden Ruins, so of course we can’t gain strength from books.”
Not only Cao Yuan, but the others thought the same.
Zhou Ping could gain strength from books because of his Forbidden Ruins. If others could also gain strength just by reading, wouldn’t that mean there would be Sword Saints everywhere in the Great Xia?
“Forbidden Ruins…” Zhou Ping murmured.
“Senior Sword Saint, what is your Forbidden Ruins?” Bai Li Pangpang asked curiously.
“I’m not sure either,” Zhou Ping said, placing his hand over his heart and speaking softly, “Not just me, Ye Fan isn’t sure either. He said it might be a type of Forbidden Ruins that has never appeared before. They seemed to have discussed it for a long time and gave it a name, but I don’t know what it is, and I don’t want to know.
Forbidden Ruins shouldn’t be a standard to measure a person. Those heroes in the books also don’t have Forbidden Ruins, but they can rely on their own chivalry to become powerful and be recognized as great heroes in the martial world…
I just want to be like them and become a great hero.”
“Great hero…” Bai Li Pangpang repeated the words, “But, Senior Sword Saint, you’ve already become a Sword Saint.”
Zhou Ping shook his head, “But I always feel like something is still missing; being a Sword Saint isn’t enough…”
“Being a Sword Saint isn’t enough?” Bai Li Pangpang grinned, “Then what would be enough? A Sword Immortal?”
“A Sword Immortal?”
Upon hearing these two words, Zhou Ping’s eyes gradually lit up, “Sword Immortal… that title seems quite nice.”
