Martial Saint through Reading

Chapter 44: Chapter 44: Course Selection?

Yunqi Courtyard, West Room.

The room isn’t large, the smallest of the three, about the same size as where he lived in Liuu Town, and the furnishings are simple: a bed, a wooden table, a desk, that’s all.

The room is very clean, there’s not a speck of dust on the desk or the cabinet, seems like it’s just been tidied up, new bedding is already spread on the bed, saving him a lot of trouble.

There’s even a pot of tea on the table. Chu Ming is a little thirsty, but doesn’t drink...

He puts ’Poetry, Politics, and Military’ on the desk, opens his bundle, takes out his spare clothes and puts them into the cabinet.

These chores would normally be handled by Little Shan, but now he could only do them himself.

Still, it was simple enough. In his previous life he always took care of such things himself, so it was done in no time.

Having sorted out his luggage, he finally sits down at his desk to rest, and opens ’Poetry, Politics, and Military’ to read.

This thick book, almost as tall as himself, he’s already read nearly half; he figures in another seven or eight days, he’ll finish all of it.

If he didn’t spend time inferring cultivation technique or practicing Body Refining Technique, and focused only on reading, the time could be cut down further.

As he read, Chu Ming also thought about the current environment.

”Ning Hao dresses with care and acts steady, while Liang Yuan looks a bit sloppy, but seems to have pretty deep skill in calligraphy and painting.”

He could hear the conversation between the two in the courtyard.

”Calligraphy and painting...” He muttered: ”Maybe I can grind that out, imitate some masterpieces, and sell them for money.”

Chu Ming has over ten silver taels on him, enough to eat, but martial training needs medicinal decoctions, and he’s still thinking of giving some silver to Fang Xiao, the steward, and Little Shan, that girl.

Later on, for sure, there will be plenty more places needing silver.

So, he’s been mulling over what kind of way he could find to earn some silver.

And the chat between Ning Hao and Liang Yuan gave him an idea.

”Once I get familiar with the academy environment, I’ll look for related books to check out.”

Trying to grind skills onto the panel isn’t easy—it needs a certain level of proficiency or insight.

[Reading] only popped up after he’d gone over many travelogues; [Slapping Wind Palm] came after plenty of continuous practice—no need to mention the others.

Actually, there’s a faster way to get silver: make use of martial artist’s strength.

So-called ’murder and arson put gold in your belt...’

The seven strands of Qi Blood refined in his body, he can use twice as much Qi Blood as an ordinary martial artist—just relying on Qi Blood, in the Blood Circulation Realm, he’s hard to match.

But that sort of thing is risky; the Criminal Defense Bureau isn’t here for nothing.

”Silver is only a side issue. How to finish reading all the academy’s books, that’s really my top priority now.”

The more books he’s read, the more he’ll be able to make use of ’Integration’ and ’Inference,’ those two special powers.

”Lastly...” His gaze sharpened, ”there’s the Chu Family matter.”

Thinking about all that, time passed, and as dusk fell, the courtyard door suddenly knocked.

Ning Hao and Liang Yuan had gone out about half an hour ago. Chu Ming could only put down his book, leave the room, and open the door.

”Brother Chu, you done settling in? I’ll take you to eat.”

The person at the door was Luu Xian, the one who’d brought him to Yunqi Courtyard earlier today.

Since they’d both come up from Liuu Town, Luu Xian worried that Chu Ming might not know where to eat. He specifically came at this time.

”Alright, Brother Luu, wait a moment.”

Chu Ming turned back to the room, grabbed three silver taels, and followed Luu Xian along the small roads, went through the Middle Courtyard gate, and arrived at the Lower Academy.

”Brother Chu, Baiyuan Academy has a dining hall, right in the Lower Academy. It’s cheaper than eating outside; that’s where we usually eat.”

”Of course, you could also go to a restaurant outside the academy, but not only does that cost more silver—it wastes time. Unless there’s something special, we generally settle meals right in the academy dining hall.”

As they walked, Luu Xian introduced various aspects of the academy: food, lodging, travel, classes, the lecturers, well-known senior students, and more...

Chu Ming listened, feeling a little like he was back at the boarding school from his previous life.

After about fifteen minutes, Confucian scholars started appearing on the path, clearly all heading to dinner.

”Brother Chu, we’re almost there.” Luu Xian pointed ahead at a three-story pavilion. ”That’s the academy dining hall.”

The two quickened their pace, walked up to the dining hall, and from a distance saw someone waving at them.

”Brother Chu! Brother Luu!” That person jogged over, face all smiles.

”Brother Guan, did you book a spot?” Luu Xian asked.

”Booked, don’t worry Brother Luu. Brother Chu surely won’t go hungry here.”

The newcomer was Guan Chong, third in the Liuu Town Academy exam, wearing a scholar’s cap.

”Come on, Brother Chu, tonight’s on me—let’s give you a proper welcome.”

The three walked into the dining hall shoulder-to-shoulder, the smell of food wafting over them.

The dining hall was big, with rows of tables and chairs neatly arranged—about the same as the school cafeterias from his previous life.

Guan Chong led them along the edge pathway to a set of tables and chairs near a corner.

”This is your booked spot?” Luu Xian seemed a little dissatisfied with the location.

It was dusk, not much light anyway; the dining hall was lit by oil lamps, but the corner barely had any illumination.

Guan Chong’s face turned slightly red, a bit embarrassed: ”With everyone eating now, there’s too many people. This was all I could grab...”

”Couldn’t you have come earlier?”

”...Even if I did, it wouldn’t work. I have to order dishes and save a spot—can’t do both at once...”

”First meal for the Liuu Town top three...” Luu Xian was about to say more, but Chu Ming cut him off, ”As long as there’s food, who cares? The place doesn’t matter.”

On the trip up from Liuu Town, after a day of bumping along, he only had some food at noon—now he was hungry again.

”Brother Chu, lots of classes these days, let’s just make do for now. In a while, we’ll go out to a proper restaurant for a good meal.”

Guan Chong defers to Luu Xian, while Luu Xian quietly puts Chu Ming at the top.

Chu Ming glanced at the two, then at the dishes already served—a spread of seven or eight dishes, both meat and vegetarian, plus a big bucket of steaming white rice.

With [Sword Gourd Spirit], he could see they were all fresh from the pot; nothing wrong here.

”Alright.”

Luu Xian and Guan Chong had really only met him once before, yet both were warm and active, a bit obvious in their flattering intent...

After a bit of thought, he understood why.

It’s probably because of that Senior Eighth-Grade Official, Lord Feng Yuan, who spent time with him alone.

The three sat down, exchanged a few polite words, then finally started eating.

The food was not only plentiful, it tasted great. The academy dining hall was way more decent than the school cafeterias of his past life.

Halfway through, Luu Xian poured Chu Ming a cup of tea, smiling, ”Brother Chu probably doesn’t know how classes work at the academy, huh?”

”Mm, I don’t.” Chu Ming ate unhurriedly—he really hadn’t checked out how classes were run.

”’Poetry, Politics, and Military’—Brother Chu has probably read it? It has five sections: poetry, politics, history, ritual, and military skill. The academy rules say we need to pick three to study, with poetry as a required one, the other two, we choose ourselves.”

”Which ones are you planning to pick?” Luu Xian asked.

Chu Ming paused—this was just like splitting majors in high school...

”I haven’t decided yet; could you give me an introduction, Luu Xian?”

”Sure, let me explain in detail.”

”First is the compulsory poetry, which covers poetry and prose, representing knowledge and talent.”