Chapter 132: Competition.

Chapter 132: Competition."You can’t copy the techniques!" The moment Lee sat at the table in the library, and took out the writing utensils, the junior elder said.

"It’s the only way I can memorize. I have something like a visual memory." Lee explained, "I’ll only draw and afterwards leave the drawings with you."

He had no clue what two thirds of the symbols written on the scrolls meant. In addition, there were quite a bit pictures of a person wielding a weapon in peculiar positions. Given how illiterate Lee was, he couldn’t remember everything in one afternoon if he didn’t draw it. But if he did, he could replicate the drawing back in his room in secret.

Of course, he didn’t intend to sell or spread it afterwards. He only wanted to learn.

"Alright!" The junior elder said after giving it a bit of thought, "But I’ll be here the whole time, so don’t try anything funny!"

It was already suspicious that the kid could pull out a pile of contribution points that any other would consider a small fortune, and it only made sense he would try to do something illegal. But despite how carefully she observed him, Lee only continued to draw for the rest of the day.

To Xiao Lian Lee’s talent came as a surprise, to not speak about the junior elder. But while the former was urged to memorize the combat techniques, the latter watched Lee in amazement.

Even though he recognized few words, Lee approached the task as if it was only to copy the scrolls. At first he went slow, as if warming up, but then his hand began to move faster and faster on its own. He even felt a strange thrill, noticing he was back to his old self.

Neither the texts, nor the drawings were complicated, and even a person without an artistic talent could copy them. Obviously, that was the way it had been done here for thousands of years.

The papers and parchments could last for at most fifty, maybe seventy years if preserved in special conditions. But in the library most of them were groped by disciples on a daily basis, especially the most popular techniques, and had to be rewritten once every few years.

When the sun set. Lee was confident he had properly memorized both combat techniques and the cultivation technique as well. Of course, for now he had no clue what they were about, but Xiao Lian would explain it to him later.



The latter also did his best to learn, and was even all pumped up, intending to rush to arena to practice.

"What’s your name?" The junior elder asked when they said goodbyes.

"Lee. And this is Xiao Lian." Lee said, "We’re disciples of the Hall of Ascension."

"Hall of Ascension, huh? Alright! Take care." She said, "And don’t do anything stupid!"

Lee knew why she repeated the warning. It was silly to expect that someone of her status would be an idiot and not guess his intentions. The good part about it was, even if she knew what he was about to do, she didn’t stop him. That only meant he had to destroy any drawing he made later to not get in trouble.

"Brother Lee, you’re amazing! Where did you learn to draw like that?" Xiao Lian asked the moment they stepped out of the library building, "You definitely have the talent to become an artificer. All you need to do is to ignite a fire spark!"

"So the easy part left, I guess." Lee joked in return.

"Ye ..." Xiao Lian scratched the back of his head, realizing the implications of what he just said, "I hope you have the fire affinity as well."

"So you’re certain you’ll have a fire spark one day?" Lee asked.

"Mhm. Father said I have really strong fire affinity. That’s why he wanted me to become the next head of the clan." Xiao Lian said, "But forget about that! You better tell me – where did you get the bravery to speak to the junior elder like that? I could barely look her in the eye!"

Lee glanced at the boy, thought for a bit, and said, "I can’t give you advice regarding the relationship with your elders, but this one is easy. Look!"

Then he pointed at the large central square that was less busy now when the sun was setting, but there were still dozens of disciples rushing about.



"Could you go up to any of the females here and ask for a direction without feeling shy?" Lee asked.

"You’re kidding ..." Even a harmless thought made Xiao Lian blush.

"Alright. Which one of them do you want to take as your wife?" Lee said, and smiled, not expecting the answer, "Many are pretty, but, in fact, you don’t even think about it, right? There is only one person in the world which is worthy for you to blush for. And when you meet her, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Until that day, don’t fuss about it. Treat any woman like you would treat a man, except with more respect, of course. You never know when they might lash out on you ..."

And then Lee’s vision turned black. An inner disciple walked by and heard his last two sentences. She smacked him with the book she had in her hand, right on the back of his head, involuntarily proving Lee’s point.

***

When he woke up the next morning, Lee more or less guessed what happened, but didn’t care much. He rushed to grab his bag and pulled out paper and ink, and began to draw the three techniques he copied yesterday.

To his relief, he had done it enough times and almost purely on muscle memory alone copied them again. Then he repeated the process another time, burned the papers and went over to Xiao Lian’s place.

Lee considered himself to be an early bird, at least it became his lifestyle after he was brought to the Nethermoon sect. Usually there were very few people around when he woke up, but today it felt as if no one went to their beds in the first place.

When he arrived to Xiao Lian’s place, his friend rushed over from who knows where, completely out of breath. Not being able to clearly speak, he pulled Lee away, towards the direction most crowds were going to.

Lee never expected the competition to be that popular. In his eyes, it was merely a contest between cultivators from the Hall of Ascension. But to these guys, it was one of the most important events of the year. Depending on their results they might be selected for the sect’s Grand Competition during the Midsummer Festival, and it was great honor to represent their hall.

They didn’t go to the arenas Lee had been fighting at during the past months. The event was held in the inner sect, on training grounds belonging to the Hall of Ascension. It was one of the rare occasions when all outer sect’s disciples were allowed in, of course, only those belonging to the Hall of Ascension.

The inner disciples, though, were all invited. Most of them didn’t come for the first part anyway, since the ones competing were outer disciples who hadn’t ignited a spark yet. In the eyes of the inner disciples those fights were akin to children playing, and Lee had to agree, in this case it was.

He could only shake his head remembering his own performance. And if he had to compare himself to the two guys who saved him, he was not much stronger than an ant.



"Lee!" A cheery voice made Lee turn his head, and he saw the two people he just thought about.

Apparently they had finished their sentence and were about to take part in the competition. Of course, by now Lee knew that to spend time in the Ascension tower wasn’t even close to being a punishment. In fact, in Ashland elder Wang used his seniority to fake-punish the disciples of his own hall.

The same was with him – since Lee was saved by them, it was clear he would become the responsibility of the Hall of Ascension. The best way to deal with him was to utilize the time the two were away and allow him to heal up and practice in one of their cultivation rooms.

"Senior Brother Chi, Senior Brother Li!" Lee politely greeted them both, cupping his fist.

"How’s your leg?" Chi Yanzhen didn’t seem to care about formalities, "Was my meditation room good?"

"He obviously used my meditation room!" Li Hanchen said with a snort, "He probably doesn’t even know where your house is!"

"It’s fucking right next to yours!" Chi Yanzhen cursed, but then realized he was too loud, and said, "Pray you go down in one of the first rounds! Thanks to my hard work during the past three months I’m almost at the threshold of stepping to the late stage!"

"Hmph!" Li Hanchen snorted, "Since you’re still a puny middle stage elemental master, it’s probably better if you gave up."

"You’re also at the middle stage!" Chi Yanzhen said, doing his best to hold back to not literally burst in flames.

"How many inner disciples will take part in the competition?" Lee asked.

"You can see over there!" Chi Yanzhen pointed at two tall stone slates, covered in symbols most of which Lee didn’t recognize.

He tactfully wished both friends good luck and sat on free spots not far away. The spectator seats were filling up fast, and if they continued to listen to the endless bickering, they might end up standing the whole day.