Gradually being ignored by fellow students

Although this method sounded unreliable, neither of them had the courage to refute it.

Their talent for the Dao of the sword was simply abysmal; for Master Xu Yan to not just ignore them was already the height of benevolence.

During this time, many fellow disciples came to offer verbal encouragement, urging the two not to give up easily.

Yue Shiwei seemed to have a good impression of Li Tan, and her frequent inquiries about his well-being made Wang Longzhi quite envious.

"Brother Tan, if you ask me, that Yue Shiwei definitely has a crush on you!"

"I hadn't noticed it before, but now that I look closely... hey! She really is quite something!"

Li Tan rolled his eyes at Wang Longzhi, clearly not taking his words to heart.

"Give it a rest, stop gossiping behind people's backs. If someone hears you, you won't be able to escape a scolding."

"Besides, what could she possibly see in me? My empty left sleeve?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Longzhi immediately became unhappy: "Love's haze reflects a beautiful face, in the eyes of a lover, all are Heavenly Immortals."

"You kid can write poetry?"

"Just a coincidence, I just copied it from a book..."

...

Carving words with a sword sounded very simple and easy, but if one tried it carefully, one would realize that there was truly some trick to it.

Control of force, steadiness in holding the sword, and absolute focus of mind and body—none could be lacking!

This resulted in there being only a handful of characters that met Xu Yan's requirements out of every hundred carved.

The last rays of the setting sun quietly faded away, and night was about to fall.

"Mortals need to eat, and low-level Cultivators need to eat too."

Only great Cultivators who had achieved a Breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment Realm could reach the state of fasting.

After asking around a little, the two soon arrived at a nearby Spirit Cuisine Hall.

The enticing aroma of food spread out, carried by the wind.

They quickened their pace and walked into the courtyard, where a long queue came into view.

"So many people! Brother Tan, we'll be queuing until dawn at this rate!"

Li Tan also frowned slightly; clearly, he hadn't expected the Spirit Cuisine Hall to have so many Cultivators, to the point where they even had to line up and wait!

"It seems that in the future, we will need those two women in the courtyard to prepare our meals in advance."

Wang Longzhi had the same thought in his heart.

Time was so precious; if they wasted it here, that would be truly foolish.

Angry shouts erupted from the noisy crowd from time to time, and there were no shortage of Cultivators arguing as a result.

"Fellow Daoist, please do not cut the line! Everyone has been waiting for a long time."

Not far in front of Li Tan, a young Cultivator ignored everyone's objections and wantonly cut into the line.

His attitude was very rude, and he haughtily shouted at the Cultivator in front of him: "Who do you think you are! A lowly Utility Disciple, and you dare to block this Revered Master's path!"

Then, he pulled out a cyan token, pointed his nose to the sky while glaring at the person in front of him, his eyes filled with contempt and disdain.

"Know your place, and don't offend people you shouldn't offend!"

Li Tan looked around and found that such incidents seemed common in the Spirit Cuisine Hall; no one cared, and it didn't seem strange at all.

It seemed that here, whoever had the higher status and the bigger fist was the one who was right.

Since no one handled this, it meant that the Heaven Sword Immortal Sect tacitly approved of it; the higher-ups were willing to provide convenience to Geniuses while treating the other disciples as stepping stones.

Combined with the Cultivators on the flying ship earlier, everything seemed to make sense.

"Exploitation is truly everywhere..."

...

Soon, the two solved their food problem and chatted idly.

"A large Sect is just different; the Spirit Rice is incredibly sweet, and that Spirit Beast meat is countless times tastier than anything in Qingfeng City!"

Wang Longzhi grinned, looking as if he hadn't had enough.

"Mm, it is indeed delicious and rich in Spiritual Qi."

"The Spirit Cuisine Hall had a menu posted, the Spirit Beast meat we ate seems to be called Qi Cow."

Wang Longzhi smiled complacently and quickly answered first: "I know the Qi Cow! It's a Yao Beast that often appears in warm climates!"

"This Yao Beast has immense strength, is full of lean muscle, and can reach the eighth level of Qi Refining when fully grown!"

During their idle chat, the flying ship had quietly arrived beside them.

Like before, the interior of the flying ship was deathly silent, and the atmosphere was very oppressive.

Wang Longzhi was brazen and didn't care about others' opinions at all, dragging Li Tan along to keep chatting.

He wished he could recount every event that had happened since he was born.

The flying ship was very fast, and before long, they had returned to the small courtyard...

...

Just like that, Wang Longzhi and Li Tan went to Tuisu Mountain Peak every day, and their days were very peaceful.

As time passed day by day, the two learned to carve characters with their swords, and they were actually getting quite good at it.

At first, the concern of their fellow disciples was often heard, but slowly... their sense of presence seemed to get lower and lower.

Master Xu Yan also gradually stopped paying attention, letting them slack off as they pleased, and whenever he taught important sword techniques, he would leave Li Tan and Wang Longzhi aside.

Three months later.

"Brother Tan, how many characters are you going to carve today?"

Wang Longzhi was still the same as before, spending his days laughing and living carefree.

In his view, the cold treatment from their fellow disciples and the indifference of their Revered Master seemed to be just a trivial matter.

One day before this, Li Tan was struck by curiosity and asked Wang Longzhi, "Why are you so shamelessly following him? Aren't you afraid he's a bad person?"

Unexpectedly, Wang Longzhi scoffed, crossed his hands, and leaned back comfortably with his hands behind his head: "I, Wang Longzhi, have a cheap life. If I can live for one day, then that is one day."

"Even if you were a great Devil Head, I, Wang Longzhi, would have resigned myself to my fate in this life."

...

"Let's carve two hundred characters. During this time, I've discovered that carving characters actually has quite a few benefits."

Hearing Li Tan's words, Wang Longzhi quickly leaned his big face over, asking urgently: "Do you feel more proficient with your Knife Technique! Two days ago when I held my knife, it felt as light as nothing!"

"It felt effortless to swing, and I even faintly feel... that I am about to touch the threshold of a Knife Wielder."

Li Tan nodded gently; his realization was exactly the same as Wang Longzhi's, very much the same.

"Not bad, it's truly strange! Every day I settle my heart to practice sword, but I didn't expect that what I ended up improving was my Knife Technique!"

Wang Longzhi wrapped his large hand around Li Tan's shoulder and grinned: "One shouldn't be too greedy. This young Revered Master already has unparalleled talent for Knife Technique, so naturally, I won't go wishing for so-called sword techniques."

"Sword techniques are sissy; swinging them around looks like someone performing acrobatics on the street. Look at that Chu Yunfeng, does he even look like a man anymore?"

Before Wang Longzhi's words had even fallen, Li Tan hurriedly covered his chattering mouth, afraid he would blurt out any more wild and inappropriate words.

"How many times have I told you, this is the Heaven Sword Immortal Sect! Sword Cultivators are supreme here!"

"In the future, absolutely do not talk nonsense! Trouble comes from the mouth; if you end up bringing trouble upon yourself, you won't even have a place to cry."

Wang Longzhi was burly, and his personality had always been straightforward, not one to beat around the bush.

Such an unruly person was now actually bowing his head in shame.

Clearly, Li Tan's repeated lessons were still of some use...