Red Heart Patrols the Sky

35: 31 Chapter Contentment with the Ordinary_1 35: 31 Chapter Contentment with the Ordinary_1 Two brothers, blood of the same line—one is the pride of the Daoist academy, while the other lives in solitude in a corner of the family.

The disparity between heaven and earth was enough to drive one mad, yet Wang Changji’s face showed no trace of resentment.

From beginning to end, he calmly continued to eat his meal.

As if eating was the most important thing in this world.

His pace of eating was even, and he took his time with every bite.

After finishing his pork trotter and green vegetables and swallowing the last bit of rice, he finally looked at his younger brother with a gentle voice, “Changxiang, is there something on your mind?”

“Nothing major, just carried out a mission and thought to come over and chat with you.”

“Good boy, eat your vegetables.

You can’t just eat meat.” Wang Changji caressed the orange cat gnawing on a pork trotter, coaxing softly, then turned to Wang Changxiang, “Go on, you seem weighed down with thoughts.”

“We went to investigate the disappearance of contact with Xiaolin Town, and only after arriving did we discover that the entire place was shrouded by thick fog, not even a gust or tornado could clear it.

The whole Xiaolin Town was overrun with wandering souls, laid out in a Nine Palaces Wandering Souls Formation…

Little Orange!” At this point, Wang Changxiang suddenly shouted in anger.

It turned out the plump orange cat was fed up with Wang Changji incessantly teasing it with vegetables and retaliated with a swipe of its paw, scratching three bloody marks on the back of Wang Changji’s hand.

“You’re quite fierce, aren’t you?” Wang Changji sighed helplessly and gave up the effort to get Little Orange to eat some vegetables, he gently covered the wounds on his right hand with his left hand, then said to Wang Changxiang, “You’re talking to me about Dao Techniques and formations and such, but I don’t understand them.”

Wang Changxiang bowed his head, his voice lowered, “But for some reason, I just want to talk to you about it.”

Wang Changji rubbed his forehead with his fingers, “Speak, then, speak.”

“Do you know, brother?

Someone used the souls of the entire Xiaolin Town to gather wandering souls from the Maple Forest City Region over the years, and before the City Lord arrived, they managed to conjure the Netherworld Pass apparition and escape!” At this moment, Wang Changxiang sounded like a child seeking praise for his achievement.

“Netherworld Pass apparition?

Is that very powerful?”

“Such a great sacrifice was not made in vain!

With the Netherworld Pass apparition in hand, one can communicate with the Underworld anytime, anywhere.

The power of the Ghostly Taoist Technique could increase by at least half!

For driving out ghosts and such Dao Techniques, it’s completely possible to transcend classes.” As he said this, Wang Changxiang’s brows furrowed again, “Who knows what calamities that demon harbors ambitions to bring about.”

“Leave the matter to the Procuratorate to deal with it.

If Wei Quchibi isn’t up for it, there’s always the Prefectural Governor; if the city’s Daoist academy can’t handle it, there’s the Prefectural Daoist academy, and behind that is the National Daoist academy.

Don’t worry about it.” Wang Changji consoled.

By this time, Little Orange had cleanly finished the pork trotter, didn’t even glance at the dish of vegetables, licked its paws, and strutted off with its tail raised high.

Wang Changji then got up to tidy away the bowls and chopsticks.

“I won’t keep you any longer,” he said before entering the house.

Wang Changxiang quietly watched his brother’s figure disappear into the house, then turned to walk away, yet as he passed the lounge chair where Little Orange lay, his little finger flicked suddenly.

An imperceptible Wind Blade swiftly sliced through the air.

Little Orange jumped up startled, staring around in confusion; half of its long whiskers floated away with the breeze.

“Dare to scratch my brother again…

hmph,” Wang Changxiang left with a smile playing on his lips.

Yet he remembered the time when they were young, how his brother used to look forward to Dao Techniques and loved the Supernatural World.

But now, no matter the topic, that passion was nowhere to be seen in his brother’s eyes.

He seemed, after all, content with such a life.

Wang Changxiang’s steps eventually did not lighten.

…

Today the master taught the Intermediate Ding-ranked Dao Technique, Flame Blade, which is an advancement from the Lower Ding-ranked Dao Technique, Attach Flame, and is also one of the foundations of the fire-related Dao Techniques.

It gathered fire into a blade, directly using the scorching heat of fire elemental power to injure the opponent, and it also had a substantial effect against vile beings like Yin ghosts.

In fact, when Dao Techniques reached this point, they were already stronger than ordinary weapons forged from mundane iron.

Jiang Wang had memorized all the seal techniques and precautions for such Dao Techniques, but at that moment, he suddenly thought of Wei Yan’s long saber.

That blade was extraordinarily sharp, far from an ordinary weapon since for someone of Wei Yan’s strength, mundane iron would be nothing but a burden.

He also thought of the sword that Li Jianqiu wore at his waist year-round, speculating that it had to be extraordinary.

He couldn’t help feeling envious.

His own sword had been nearly ruined after hacking through a Grudge Ghost last time, and after returning, he had paid to replace it with another ordinary wrought-iron sword.

He couldn’t afford a truly formidable sword, nor did he have the connections to acquire one.

He wondered just how powerful were the weapons wielded by those Great Martial Artists who had entered the path of martial arts through their prowess?

He was so engrossed in thought that he didn’t notice the atmosphere of the class until Ling He quietly nudged him, snapping him back to reality.

The instructor giving the lecture was an old man nearing sixty, quite stern and old-fashioned, with a surname Xiao.

The students privately called him Xiao Tiemian.

At this moment, after Xiao Tiemian had finished lecturing on techniques, he had randomly selected a few students for practice.

When it came to Fang Helling, he somehow managed to stumble through the Dao Technique.

Although the flame of the fire blade flickered, he had managed to conjure it nonetheless.

Even Xiao Tiemian seemed somewhat satisfied, but then Fang Helling suddenly said, “Disciple Jiang Wang broke through his meridians before me.

Why doesn’t he also try this Dao Technique?

If there’s anything he struggles with, he could directly seek advice from our teacher.”

Thereupon, Xiao Tiemian’s gaze fell upon the distracted Jiang Wang.

This is bad, Jiang Wang thought.

He stood up from his meditation cushion and honestly said, “I haven’t established my foundation yet.”

Fang Helling, who had entered the inner door at the same time, was already able to perform Dao Techniques, while he hadn’t yet succeeded in establishing his foundation; the looks from the other students turned a bit peculiar.

“So you don’t have to pay attention to the lecture just because you haven’t established your foundation yet?” Xiao Tiemian glared as he spoke.

The thing he hated the most was lazy students.

Clearly on the path to the supernatural, yet they failed to appreciate it, treating it only as a means to show off in front of ordinary people.

“I acknowledge my error,” Jiang Wang readily admitted his mistake, hanging his head.

Xiao Tiemian coldly said, “Go back and copy the ‘Purple Void Scripture’ a hundred times.

Until you’ve finished, you don’t need to attend my lectures.”

“Yes,” Jiang Wang replied, his head still lowered, internally letting out a sigh of grievance.

The full name of the Purple Void Scripture was “The Sublime and Mysterious Great Supremacy Scripture,” which was a fundamental Daoist scripture of the Jade Capital Mountain lineage.

Every disciple of the Jade Capital Mountain lineage could recite it backwards and forwards.

There truly was no need to copy it anymore; Xiao Tiemian was clearly punishing him.

What mattered most was that the scripture had close to thirty thousand characters…

How long would he have to copy?

But he knew that he could not refuse; otherwise, given Xiao Tiemian’s temperament, it was entirely possible that he would roll up his sleeves and give him a beating.

For the remainder of the class, Jiang Wang forced himself to focus, not daring to be negligent, until Xiao Tiemian left with his hands behind his back.

Fang Helling came over again, chattering away.

“Ah, Disciple Jiang, I truly feel sorry.

I had no idea you hadn’t established your foundation!” In the pursuit of Dao, age is irrelevant, status is determined by cultivation level; thus Fang Helling very naturally shifted from addressing Jiang Wang as a senior to a junior, his tone full of regret: “After breaking through my meridians, it took me fifty-three days to establish my foundation successfully, and I felt that I was already too slow, ashamed in my heart.

Considering the prowess Disciple Jiang displayed in the past, I thought you would’ve established your foundation long ago…

Oh dear, look at the mess this has caused.”

The foundational formation chart ‘Return to Origin Formation’ used in Zhuang Country’s Daoist institution had a total of eighty-one points, and considering the harvest of two elemental powers per two Meridian Rush Practices a day, fifty-three days for foundation establishment could not be considered slow.

This was because there were also many cases where errors in moving the formation points resulted in progress stalling.

The current record for the fastest foundation establishment within the city’s Daoist institution was held by Zhu Weiwo, who succeeded in merely nine days, surpassing all previous records.

Judging from this unbelievably fast speed, it was clear that his Dao vessel’s True Spirit must be of a much higher level than something like Jiang Wang’s Earth Caterpillar Spirit; however, the exact level of the True Spirit was a matter of personal privacy and could not be investigated.

That said, for the general situation of the disciples in Maple Forest City’s Daoist institution, sixty to ninety days was considered normal.

So it was no wonder that Fang Helling was somewhat pleased with himself.

He made no attempt to hide the challenge in his gaze, and he was eager to see this proud man before him become frustrate and enraged.

He had even already visualized in his mind how to brilliantly resolve the subsequent fight with his excellent Dao Techniques against this bumpkin who could only rely on swordsmanship.

But Jiang Wang merely smiled and turned to leave.

Utterly unruffled and nonchalant.