Chapter 2: The Wise and Poor Kid

“Even if she is your servant, but didn’t you risk your life digging her

out of dead body piles? Didn’t people say you guys live and support

each other? Even if she is your maid, don’t you think she is a little

too young for the extreme physical labor? How did a man of young

age like you have such a lazy habit and not do anything yourself?”

Perhaps triggered by haunted child memory, the personal maid had

a bad impression of Ning Que using the maid to do physical labor.

The personal maid of the noble pushed open the fence’s entrance

and walk straight in. Landing her eyes on the old book Ning Que was

reading and scoffed, “I thought you are reading some ancient

philosophical work, making you lose sense of all your surroundings,

but it is just a regular meditation book that is overflowing throughout

the market. A lowlife like you wish to Xiu Xing?*”

Ning Que sat up from the chair and straighten his back, curiously

looking at the lady in fancy clothing and peeked at the embarrassed

general, stopped and explains, “Unfortunately only this book was

available on the market so I bought it out of curiosity, I have no

extravagant wishes to Xiu Xing..”

Clearly the maid did not expect the young man to answer so freely,

and couldn’t find a reply to his explanation. She turned and looked

toward the young girl who is dumping out the furnace ash, and spoke

unhappily, “How does the powerful Tang empire breed a man like

you.”

Ning Que wrinkled his eyebrows confusingly, and saw the maid’s

eyes were on Sang Sang, who is holding the rag cleaning the

windows. He realized the reason for the maid’s piercing speech and

smiled. “From the look of it, you are older than me. Well… you can treat me as a little boy instead of a man.“

Perhaps the maid hadn’t seen anyone who is as shameless as the

youngster in front of her. Her fists started to clinch together and her

anger was about to burst out, but when her eyes land on the writings

on the muddy earth next to the bamboo chair, she lost all of her

thoughts and forgot what she was about to say.

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

In the best military camp of Wei city, the elder in the dirty rope is

resting with his eyes closed. The general is bowing while he was

talking to the noble guest in the camp. His humble attitudes contain

an expression of deep surprise.

“You are not satisfied with the guide I chose?” he asked confusingly,

“For what reason?”

The noble guest rebuked strongly, “I asked for a guide with

experience and ability, not a lazy youngster whose head is full of

wishful dreams Xiu Xing and has no strength to even catch a

chicken.”

Ma Shi Xiang coughed lightly and explained quietly, “To my

acknowledgement, although Ning Que is young as he is, he did

obtain some barbarians heads in the last few years, it should not be

a problem…….to catch a few chicken.

Tang Empire used strength and warfare to conquer and rose in

power. They treated military honor and achievements above all else.

Although the nobel guest in the camp is from an extremely high

background, she has shamed the honor of the military so Ma Shi

Xiang defended Ning Que by refuting the guest’s rebuke.

The cold voice behind the camp was silent for a moment, and spoke

again unhappily, “The ability to kill makes a good guide?”

Ma Shi Xiang’s replied even more humbly, “Out of three hundred

soldiers in Wei city, Ning Que is definitely not the one who killed the

harsh and extreme the situation or battle, the last person

standing….. Will be Ning Que.

Then Ma Shi Xiang rose his head, smiling, “Due to his contribution,

he was awarded a recommendation letter from the military. He

works hard himself, passed the first exam half a year ago. This trip

to the capital, he will be reporting to the Academy.“

After hearing the word ‘Academy’, the noble guest in the camp was

in a complete silence and never spoke again.

After Ma Shi Xiang left the camp, the elder in the old robe slowly

opened his eyes. The old and calm pupils shined with interest, he

looked at the camp and smiled warmly, “A soldier in a small and

isolated town like this got into the Academy? That’s quite surprising.

If so, then letting him be the guide is not a bad idea since his

characteristics and ability is probably the best of the best.”

“Even if I left the empire for a year, I would have never expected that

the Academy are accepting such brutes.”

Although her tone still showed distaste towards Ning Que, but her

actual attitude had changed. At least the noble guest didn’t reject

him to be the guide of the group anymore. Only needing a mention of

name to change the idea of a noble person, this simple placed

named Academy is for sure not simple at all.

The elder brought up another topic he was confused about, “Earlier I

went to see the words Ning Que wrote on the ground, he was

copying the third chapter of Extreme Sense. His penmanship was

simple yet lively, although he only used a tree branch, the words on

the muddy floor contains a sense of sharpness, piercing almost like

a blade. Clearly he mastered the Military Calligraphy…… I do

wonder how he practices, and who his teacher is.”

“That little soldier only had a small insight. It may seem unique at

first, but now thinking it through he was only writing in some weird

way. Mastered? at best he can only become a ghostwriter.” The

noble replied indifferently.

The elder shook his head, “The highlight is exactly what you said,

‘unique’. I’m not an expert at calligraphy, but looking at his strokes of

writing I can sense an element of metal and stone. This element

rarely exists among calligraphists, perhaps a charmist***.”

“Are you implying a Talisman of God?” The noble was stunned for a

second, but scoffed at her own idea, “There are billions of people in

the world, but only a few charmists living. Those expert are either

hiding in the palace or training in temples. They spend their own life

meditating to absorb the qi of nature, yet that youngster has no

wave of qi around his body – for sure he is just a regular person.

Even if he reads another fifty year of Extreme Sense he cannot enter

the primary stage, speaking less of comparing him to those experts.”

The elder smiled a bit, but did not speak another word. Although he

had the noble’s respect because he is a xiuxingist, their social status

differs greatly. The so-called respect was only due to his old age

and ability, so it is best not to argue with the noble any more.

However, the elder did not agree with the noble in the camp. He has

his own evaluation of the young man. In this world most people are

unable to Xiu Xing. It is common to see none out of ten thousand

people who entered the primary stage through meditating and

absorbing the qi of nature. But if Ning Que is able to enter the

Academy and study there, furthermore, if he was lucky enough to

step up and enter the second floor, the uniquely weird calligraphy of

his will help him for sure.

Even if that boy couldn’t Xiu Xing, just by using his calligraphy he can

shock and surprise the teachers in the Academy and temples, or at

least he can teach the famous calligraphists a thing or two.

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Ning Que put down the book, shook his head and walked out with

disappointment and unwillingness on his face.

The book called Extreme Sense, bought during his childhood on his

way to a fair in Kai Ping with the military supply group. As the noble’s maid said it was a common thing that anyone can get at

anywhere. He clearly understood that, but he still didn’t forget to

recite and study it daily, treating it like the legendary Seven Scrolls of

the Way that is being consecrated in one of the forbidden lands, the

Great Sky Way.

The book’s corner was already curled due to long time uses, if Sang

Sang didn’t use cotton thread to sew the back of the book, it would

fall aparts immediately. Unfortunately, after many years, the book’s

pages were badly thumbed, and its words and sentences were

printed in Ning’s memory, yet Ning Que still could not find the entry to

the Xiu Xing. Now, he could not even achieve Sensation, the simplest

part mentioned in the book.

At some point in the past he did feel disappointed and even

despaired until he knew that most people in the world could not

sense the Qi of nature. He felt much calmer knowing that he has this

talent — yes, those experts are not regular people, they are the

special ones, because only the extremely rare experts could sense

the Qi of nature, otherwise anyone could fly around Chang An, since

there are so many Extreme Sense’s** in the world.

Nonetheless Ning Que was really normal, or common. However, if

you suddenly discovered a mountain of treasures, but you can only

return with bare hands and if you suddenly discovered that Qi fully

filled the world around you yet you cannot not even use it, how would

you feel?

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

“The Wei City is such a poor place. The barbarians on the Great

Plain were already scared of the Tang Emperor. They haven’t dared

to fight us for years so I could not earn military exploits that fast. It

would be perfect if I get to go to the Capital, why would I feel

unwilling?”

Inside the dark military camp, Ning Que gave a salute to show

respect to the general, then explained gratefully and honestly, “Yet

now it’s still far away from the registration date to the Academy, I think it’s not necessary for me to leave so early. In these years, even

though I did not evolve into a much better person under the

leadership of general, but I still learned a lot, otherwise now I would

not have the chance to enter the Academy. I sincerely want to stay

in Wei City and stay at your side for a few more days so I hear your

lectures. Even if it is only for a few more days, I would like to spend

my time with you.”

Ma Shi Xiang looked at the youngster, with beard slightly flowing, not

sure if it’s because of the wind or the result of his irritation, said,

“Ning Que, since when did you become such a shameless person?”

Ning Que replied seriously, “If the situation requires me to discard

my honor and reputation, I am willing to throw it away without

hesitation.”

“Speak the truth, ” Ma Shi Xiang’s facial expression became cold

and asked seriously, “why don’t you want to serve as their guide?”

Ning Que remained silently for a long time, then whispered,

“General, that noble probably doesn’t like me.”

“The noble doesn’t like you?” Ma Shi Xiang scolded loudly, “You

seemed to forget your status. Keep in mind that you are still not a

student of the Academy yet. As a soldier of the Empire, you have to

obey higher rank officials’ commands, obey my command! It’s none

of your business whether the noble likes you or not! You only need to

accept the command and then complete it!”

Ning Que did not reply, bowed slightly, looking down at a piece of

grass growing out from the soil between his shoes. Remaining silent

meant disagree.

Ma Shi Xiang did not know what to do with this kid. “What do you

want to do? Why don’t you follow their way to the Capital?”

Ning Que looked up to the general, spoke gratefully and seriously, “I

have seen their carriage. They must had encountered an assault on

the Great Plain. Recently there was a spring famine and the chief of

the Zuo Jing Tribe died last year. The skin of that noble’s maid is somewhat dark, so… I dare not to go with them.”

The carriage’s encounter of an assault, the famine of the Great

Plain, the death of the Chief, and the dark skin of the maid. These

details may seem unrelated, but as he linked them together, they

formed up his reason of not leaving the Wei City with the noble.

Ma Shi Xiang looked at him, sighed and asked, “You realized who

they are already?”

“Among the entire Wei City, who still didn’t realize who they are? ”

Ning Que could not help but shrugged his shoulders and looked

towards the dark side of the military camp, “Only the ignorant

princess highness herself, who grew up in the royal temple in Chang

An and married to the Chief in the Great Plain, would not know that

her husband had already died. Her identity is not that big of a

secret.”

* \= Xiu Xing – Like in Stellar Transformation the people is practice

to become immortals this is like the term for meditation to become

stronger by understanding the universe and the natural laws or

gather qi from nature*

** \= Low level books to teach and allow people to xiu xing to

become stronger and improve their abilities. (there are many

different paths )

*** \= Charmist- Fighters who specialize in the process of making

talismans and using them in combat.

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