The bookstore owner didn’t have every poetry collection, only some popular bestselling poetry and literary anthologies, but there were still close to a thousand books. Qin Wanwan took out all the spirit stones from selling Jian Xingzhi and bought all the books, storing them all in her storage pouch. One storage pouch couldn’t hold them all, so she took Nanfeng’s as well.
When she carried over a thousand books back to the City Lord’s Manor, Jian Xingzhi was researching the manor’s layout with Xie Gutang. Qin Wanwan happily ran in, shouting loudly: “Master! I’ve bought the books back!”
“Fine.”
Jian Xingzhi responded carelessly: “Just put them over there.”
“Master, you shouldn’t chat with Daoist Xie anymore,” Qin Wanwan called to him. “Right now, the most important thing is reading. I’m afraid we won’t have enough time.”
Hearing this, Jian Xingzhi frowned. “It’s just a few books…”
Before he could finish, he saw Qin Wanwan begin dumping books out.
Qin Wanwan dumped while Nanfeng quickly organized behind her. Several thousand books poured out in one go, instantly filling the entire room.
Jian Xingzhi and Xie Gutang stood at the doorway, staring dumbfounded at the mountain of books. Qin Wanwan walked to Jian Xingzhi’s side and spoke earnestly: “Master, based on Nanfeng’s and my understanding of your cultural level, if you want to become Hua Rong’s most beloved man, you need to memorize at least all these books. There are seven thousand books here, a thousand per day. I believe you can definitely do it.”
“A thousand per day…” Xie Gutang found it unbelievable. “Isn’t that a bit too demanding?”
“No, Daoist Xie,” Qin Wanwan explained. “You don’t know who my master is. My master is the number one under heaven. A mere seven thousand books—it’s not demanding for him at all!”
“What if I say…” Jian Xingzhi swallowed hard. “It is demanding?”
“Master,” Qin Wanwan turned to look at him. “Think about it—I was once such a weak and incompetent person, but under your guidance, I can now beat you until your bones break. What in this world can’t be achieved through effort? Master, you must lead by example. You can’t push me to improve when teaching me, then become lazy yourself. Besides, it’s just seven thousand books. With your spiritual consciousness strength, forget seven days—you could memorize them all in one day!”
Qin Wanwan piled one massive expectation after another on him. Jian Xingzhi couldn’t handle it and could only brace himself and nod. “One day is still a bit demanding. This master will do his best to try.”
“Master,” Qin Wanwan grasped his hand, her eyes full of worship. “There’s nothing in this world you can’t do. You definitely won’t disappoint me, right?”
“You think too highly of this master.”
Jian Xingzhi’s heart trembled. “Actually, I’m just a very ordinary sword cultivator.”
“Master, don’t belittle yourself,” Qin Wanwan raised her hand and covered Jian Xingzhi’s mouth. “In my heart, you’re the best. Whether we can find the Linglong Jade depends on you. You focus on reading first. Daoist Xie and I will go eat.”
With that, Qin Wanwan happily called to Xie Gutang: “Daoist Xie, let’s go eat roasted whole lamb!”
“Wait…”
Before Jian Xingzhi could stop them, he watched Qin Wanwan happily pull Nanfeng and Xie Gutang away.
He stood alone before the mountain and sea of books, murmuring: “I also want to eat roasted whole lamb…”
As soon as he spoke, the system made a “ding” sound:
【Female lead has intimate contact with male supporting character, points +5. Please host keep up the good work and add more bricks to the female lead’s romantic prospects!】
The moment he heard that sound, for some reason, he felt even more stifled.
Everyone else was falling in love, eating lamb, and only he still had to study.
But what could he do?
Qin Wanwan was right. He was the master. He couldn’t be strict when teaching her to practice but then slack off when studying himself.
Jian Xingzhi took a deep breath, turned around, walked into the room, and closed the door. He sat cross-legged, raised his hand to first store all the books in his storage pouch, leaving only the thousand books he needed to memorize today.
For immortal cultivators, memorizing books is different from mortals. He extended his spiritual consciousness into all thousand books simultaneously, constantly turning pages. Then he discovered that he recognized every single character in the books, but those characters wouldn’t enter his brain.
He concentrated intently, trying to capture those characters into his brain, but soon felt drowsy.
He had known for a long time that he had no talent for reading poetry, but he couldn’t give up.
He struggled to memorize all the poems over and over, but before long, his spiritual consciousness seemed to suffer some kind of severe damage—he couldn’t even concentrate, just felt sleepy.
He desperately pushed himself, memorizing in a half-asleep, half-awake state. While memorizing, he heard Qin Wanwan and Xie Gutang return happily.
The roasted whole lamb must be finished, right?
An inexplicable sourness welled up in his heart, and he suddenly felt somewhat sad.
That ungrateful disciple didn’t even remember her master while eating lamb.
While feeling sour, he listened to Qin Wanwan open the door.
After opening the door, Qin Wanwan sneakily glanced at him to check if he’d been slacking off.
Jian Xingzhi immediately turned away and snorted coldly.
If that ungrateful disciple doesn’t properly coax me, don’t expect me to acknowledge you!
Qin Wanwan confirmed he hadn’t been slacking off, relaxed, got on the bed, pulled up the blanket, and slept. Jian Xingzhi waited a moment. Seeing that Qin Wanwan wasn’t paying attention to him, he became even angrier. He turned back and asked her: “Did you bring me food?!”
“Master, focus on your books,” Qin Wanwan said with her back to him. “Don’t always think about eating.”
These words left him speechless. He turned back in embarrassed anger and continued memorizing.
In a daze, he memorized until midnight. For the first time in his life, he experienced what exhaustion felt like. Feeling he’d memorized everything, he sleepwalked to the bed, collapsed, and pulled up the blanket.
In that moment, he possessed immense happiness.
He closed his eyes and slept soundly. He didn’t know how much time had passed when he vaguely felt someone beside him. In his drowsy state, he opened his eyes to see Qin Wanwan lying next to him. They faced each other, breathing close together, so near that Jian Xingzhi’s entire body stiffened.
He instantly became alert, eyes wide as he stared at Qin Wanwan. He watched as Qin Wanwan slowly leaned closer to him, her face drawing nearer and nearer.
His mind was blank, his breathing nearly stopped, his heart felt stifled and panicked. His mind was full of:
What is she doing? What does she want to do?
He couldn’t process it. Just as Qin Wanwan was about to kiss him, he heard Qin Wanwan leisurely ask: “Master, are you awake now?”
Jian Xingzhi swallowed and nervously answered: “A… awake.”
“Then, tell me,” Qin Wanwan pulled out a book he’d just memorized and glanced at it. “What’s the next line after ‘Sunlight shines on incense burners producing purple mist’?”
Hearing this, Jian Xingzhi suddenly became fully awake. He instantly sat up, looking at Qin Wanwan in shock: “You climbed into my bed in the middle of the night just to make me recite poetry?!”
“Master, if I cared about beds and such,” Qin Wanwan calmly got up, completely composed. “How would I be worthy of being your disciple? I must use any means necessary to supervise you, train you, help you become a cultured master, so you don’t drag down our team, so you won’t be ridiculed by the world saying a generation’s Sword Immortal has no culture. Disciple’s painstaking efforts—can you feel them?”
“But I’ve already finished memorizing a thousand volumes today!”
Jian Xingzhi became anxious. Qin Wanwan heard this familiar protest and savored the pleasure brought by their reversed positions. She restrained her inner joy and spoke earnestly: “Master, you must have higher standards for yourself. Just like when I only needed to complete 2,334 points daily, you made me complete 3,000, and even taught me the Spring Life cultivation technique. It’s precisely because of a strict master like you that I am who I am today. Now your disciple returns the favor, not daring to let Master slacken. I couldn’t sleep at all in the middle of the night and worked overnight to create a reading device. I’d like to ask Master to try it.”
“Wh… what thing?”
Jian Xingzhi became frightened. Thinking about how Qin Wanwan even remembered the final digit 4 in her points, he knew the situation was dire.
Qin Wanwan jumped off the bed and pulled back the curtain. Jian Xingzhi saw a chair frame. The sitting part of this chair had been hollowed out, with a pile of sharp cones standing below and a rope hanging above, looking like some kind of torture device.
“Scholars in the mortal realm, to study diligently, hung their hair from beams and stabbed their thighs with awls. Using this as inspiration, I specially improved upon this technique. They manually stabbed their thighs; we automatically stab the buttocks. As long as it detects you losing focus, getting drowsy—basically anytime you’re not reading—it will activate.”
Qin Wanwan introduced the chair: “You’ll squat in a horse stance over it, and I’ll monitor in real-time whether you’re working hard. Once you lose focus, the rope above will pull your hair, and the sharp cones below will rise to stab your buttocks, guaranteeing you’ll instantly wake up with concentrated attention. I don’t have Master’s excellent sect or powerful techniques like Spring Life. I can only contribute my meager efforts through my own work. I hope Master will accept it!”
Jian Xingzhi said nothing. He quietly stared at that chair, feeling an inexplicable despair descend over him in that moment.
Qin Wanwan cheerfully beckoned him. Thinking about how he’d taught Qin Wanwan, he still took a deep breath, walked to that chair, and following Qin Wanwan’s instructions, squatted in a horse stance, letting Qin Wanwan tie up his hair. He picked up a book and shouted with full vigor: “Come on! Let’s read!”
Qin Wanwan tied up his hair and waved at him: “Then Master, I’m going to sleep. You’re the best master—keep it up!”
Jian Xingzhi seriously nodded at her: “You go. Remember to wake early to practice sword techniques. Don’t slack off!”
“Yes.”
Qin Wanwan responded, walked a few steps, then thought to turn back. She saw Jian Xingzhi half-squatting over those sharp cones, his hair pulled by the rope, fiercely releasing his spiritual consciousness at the books.
Qin Wanwan quietly watched him for a while, then turned away and got into bed herself.
After getting into bed, Qin Wanwan secretly watched Jian Xingzhi. Seeing his diligent, hardworking appearance, her heart inexplicably felt somewhat guilty. She slept with her back to him, tossing and turning until midnight, unable to sleep. She finally got up, sat cross-legged on the bed, propped her head up, and watched Jian Xingzhi: “Master.”
In that moment, she suddenly had a vague sense of familiarity.
Like in her high school dormitory, seeing the bed next door turn on a lamp behind the curtain, so she couldn’t help but get up herself, turn on her own little lamp, and open her workbook…
One memorized books while the other cultivated. Qin Wanwan’s meditation was fine—after all, it was also a way for cultivators to rest. Jian Xingzhi used his spiritual consciousness to memorize books. After a night passed, when Xie Gutang pushed open the door, he saw the dark circles under Jian Xingzhi’s eyes and the blades beneath his buttocks. He was completely shocked.
“Sen… senior…”
“So… so cruel!” Nanfeng covered his mouth and stepped back.
Jian Xingzhi opened his eyes, looked up at the two, and gave a wan smile.
“Morning.” With that, he turned his gaze to the books. “Don’t disturb me. You all go cultivate first. I’ll memorize a bit more.”
No one dared speak. Even Qin Wanwan felt somewhat frightened.
But fortunately, she still remembered her original purpose. She quickly pulled the other two away and ran out.
After the three went out, Nanfeng patted his chest, still shaken: “Master, Daoist Jian looks so scary like this. I feel like he’s gone into qi deviation.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Qin Wanwan waved her hand to comfort herself. “His mindset is very good. Don’t be afraid.”
“But I feel that senior’s state isn’t quite normal,” Xie Gutang frowned. “Should we forget the books and think of other methods?”
“We’ve already started reading,” Qin Wanwan said with difficulty. “The books cost fifty spirit stones. We can’t just leave them.”
Considering the fifty spirit stones, everyone fell silent and decided to let Jian Xingzhi work a bit harder.
But by the fourth night, Qin Wanwan couldn’t hold on anymore.
She squatted in front of Jian Xingzhi, looking at his bloodshot eyes completely focused on the books, the sharp cones beneath his buttocks bearing faint traces of blood, blood dripping from his buttocks. Qin Wanwan stared at him in shock, hesitating: “Master… are… are you alright?”
“This master is fine!”
Jian Xingzhi answered with full vigor: “Just one thousand more books, and I’ll be finished!”
“Master…” Qin Wanwan looked at his dripping blood. “Why don’t you rest? It’s just a thousand books—you don’t need to memorize them.”
“No,” Jian Xingzhi lectured Qin Wanwan. “When doing things, one can’t give up halfway. Don’t disturb me. I need to memorize.”
“Then rest before memorizing,” Qin Wanwan looked at Jian Xingzhi’s blood-stained clothes, feeling somewhat guilty. “At least stop the bleeding first?”
“It’s just a minor injury, no need to worry,” Jian Xingzhi said, disdaining Qin Wanwan. “You hurry up and cultivate. Stop being so noisy.”
Qin Wanwan didn’t dare persuade him further. She returned to the bed, hesitated, then still cast a spell to stop the bleeding from Jian Xingzhi’s buttocks.
Right now, all of Jian Xingzhi’s energy was on memorizing books. If no one looked after him, she feared he’d die from blood loss.
He memorized all the way until the sixth night when Cuilu sent someone to notify Jian Xingzhi and Xie Gutang to prepare for tomorrow’s monthly Gathering of Beauties banquet. Hua Rong would select a man he liked at the Gathering of Beauties using his own method.
Hearing this news, Xie Gutang quickly spoke: “Miss Qin, hurry and tell senior to stop memorizing!”
“Alright.”
Qin Wanwan nodded, turned, and ran to tell Jian Xingzhi.
“Master, you don’t need to memorize poetry anymore. Tomorrow is the Gathering of Beauties. Rest well—beauty is most important!”
Hearing this, Jian Xingzhi slowly raised his head from his position, smiling at Qin Wanwan: “A long drought meets timely rain, sailing west encounters an east wind (Note 1). I just finished memorizing all the poetry. The timing is perfect.”
Hearing Jian Xingzhi recite poetry, Qin Wanwan felt somewhat frightened. She raised her hand to help Jian Xingzhi, who had been squatting in a horse stance for seven days, to stand, urging him: “Master, now that you’ve finished memorizing the poems, don’t overthink it. Look on the bright side and be a normal person.”
“That’s incorrect,” Jian Xingzhi said as she helped him up, stiffly walking toward the bed on rigid legs. “If you don’t know Li and Du, how can you speak of deep grass and trees? Beicheng, you should also read more. Like this master, going from uncultured to memorizing six thousand books only takes seven days.”
Hearing this, Qin Wanwan’s heart skipped a beat. She quickly sent Jian Xingzhi to the bedside: “Master, don’t say anymore. Get some beauty sleep quickly. Tomorrow you need to be the most beautiful one!”
With that, Qin Wanwan placed Jian Xingzhi on the bed and covered him with the blanket.
Jian Xingzhi placed his hands in front of him, closed his eyes, and sighed softly: “No intention to bitterly compete with spring, letting all flowers be jealous. Fallen to mud, ground to dust, only the fragrance remains.”
Qin Wanwan suppressed her urge to hit someone, lowered the bed curtain, and walked outside. As soon as she exited, Xie Gutang and Nanfeng approached her.
“How is senior? Has the situation improved?”
Qin Wanwan shook her head, showing a grave expression: “I fear it’s terminal. There’s no saving him. Give up.”
With that, she sadly left, hands clasped behind her back, looking up at the moon.
Xie Gutang hesitated for a moment, then comforted Qin Wanwan: “Miss Qin needn’t worry too much. Senior is just temporarily obsessed. With good companionship, perhaps he’ll still improve.”
“Mm,” Qin Wanwan nodded. “I’ll borrow Daoist Xie’s auspicious words. You and Nanfeng should rest early. I’ll blow in the wind a while longer to calm down.”
Xie Gutang nodded and returned to his room with Nanfeng.
After they left, the corners of Qin Wanwan’s mouth rose wildly. She clenched her fists and hopped twice in place.
He finally experienced her feelings. Last time when he dug her out of the yellow sand, she was this exhausted.
She learned sword practice to do tasks, so he should learn to recite poetry for tasks too!
Qin Wanwan felt secretly pleased but also somewhat guilty, pondering whether it was excessive to scheme against someone unprepared.
But thinking about how she originally couldn’t live past three hundred, how her parents ran around everywhere to extend her life, how she worked hard for a bit of reputation to preserve her own life only to have it completely obliterated by his willful sword strike, how she now suffered here with no way back to the immortal realm and probably couldn’t keep Jishan either, how because of his tasks she’d been stabbed, beaten, and struck without even getting an apology, how now she was just venting a little, making him experience the pain of being forced while doing tasks—this should count as her being magnanimous.
Having figured this out, she patted her chest and finally returned to her room.
The next morning, Qin Wanwan got up early and together with Nanfeng began grooming Jian Xingzhi.
They had Jian Xingzhi change into a blue brocade long robe with his hair half-pinned with a white jade hairpin. They scented and pressed Jian Xingzhi’s clothes with incense, ensuring Jian Xingzhi was perfect from his hair to his fingertips.
After finishing all this, Jian Xingzhi looked at Qin Wanwan: “There’s no problem with me, right?”
“None,” Qin Wanwan encouraged him. “Master, you’ve memorized seven thousand books. Today, you’re Ghost City’s most dazzling star!”
With that, Qin Wanwan spread her fingers apart in the air, exaggeratedly praising: “Perfect.”
“I think so too.”
Jian Xingzhi nodded, quite confident: “This master can now be both civil and martial, daring to compete with heaven itself. At this Gathering of Beauties, I will surely take first place.”
“Master speaks truly!”
Qin Wanwan mindlessly flattered him. Then Nanfeng ran in from outside: “Master, Daoist Jian, Daoist Xie, let’s go.”
Hearing this, Jian Xingzhi called to Qin Wanwan: “Let’s go.”
After Jian Xingzhi spoke, he led the way out. Qin Wanwan, Xie Gutang, and Nanfeng followed behind him, watching the confident Jian Xingzhi ahead, inexplicably also feeling like they were walking with swagger.
Jian Xingzhi walked through the crowd. Under everyone’s surprised gazes, he confidently swept back the bangs he’d specially styled on top of his head.
Having memorized six thousand books, he possessed a pride he’d never had before.
Having memorized so much poetry, was there anything he couldn’t do?
The group walked to the garden designated for the Gathering of Beauties. Just reaching the entrance, they were stopped.
“The Gathering of Beauties only permits young masters to enter. Please, you two, stay here.”
The maid stopped Qin Wanwan and Nanfeng. Qin Wanwan expressed understanding and stepped back with Nanfeng.
Seeing them being sensible, the maid’s smile became more genuine. She turned to look at the proudly standing Jian Xingzhi with his hands behind his back and Xie Gutang, who had come to be background scenery, and gently spoke: “For this Gathering of Beauties, the City Lord has fallen ill and cannot meet with all the young masters directly. Therefore, the selection method has changed. Regarding the procedures and some taboos, please be informed in advance, young masters.”
Hearing this, everyone was stunned. The maid continued: “This time, according to the City Lord’s preferences, Lady Cuilu has specially set up three examinations. Each examination has a maximum score of one hundred. The person with the highest total score from the three examinations will be this month’s bed attendant.”
“It’s just examinations,” Jian Xingzhi smiled upon hearing this. “I’ve read many books. No problem.”
“You jest, young master,” the maid smiled. “The City Lord most detests those well-versed in poetry. After taking your seat, please be cautious about using poetry. If you can use plain language, use plain language.”
Hearing this, Jian Xingzhi turned back in shock to look at Qin Wanwan.
Qin Wanwan’s heart also skipped a beat. Hua Rong was raised by Mingjing Divine Lord, still kept Mingjing Divine Lord’s statue in the manor, and had been searching for people resembling Mingjing Divine Lord. The Mingjing Divine Lord’s statue held a book—how could he not like scholars?!
“What are the three examinations mainly testing?”
Xie Gutang, disregarding the unexpected change, first grasped the key point. The maid turned to look at Xie Gutang: “The City Lord likes practical people, so the three examinations are: appearance, arithmetic, and artifact refinement.”
Hearing this, Jian Xingzhi’s expression didn’t look good.
He turned around, grabbed Qin Wanwan, and went to the side. Xie Gutang and Nanfeng gathered around, also somewhat nervous.
“What do we do?” Nanfeng became anxious. “Our preparation is equivalent to no preparation, right?”
“No, it’s not no preparation,” Qin Wanwan raised her hand to stop Nanfeng’s words and spoke seriously. “It’s reverse preparation.”
“Then what now?” Jian Xingzhi gritted his teeth. “I’m not good at arithmetic.”
“Don’t panic. Let me analyze for you,” Qin Wanwan spoke seriously. “Your appearance score will definitely be very high. It doesn’t matter if your arithmetic score is low, but you can work hard on artifact refinement. Everyone in the City Lord’s Manor should be ordinary people. With your abilities, your artifact refinement score will definitely far surpass others. This rule is favorable to you. You don’t need to worry.”
Hearing this, everyone felt it made some sense.
Jian Xingzhi nodded: “True. I can’t possibly be worse at artifact refinement than these ordinary people.”
“Master, have confidence in yourself,” Qin Wanwan clenched her fist. “Keep it up.”
Receiving reassurance, Jian Xingzhi nodded. After exchanging glances with Xie Gutang, they decided to go in.
The two entered the examination hall together. Xie Gutang comforted Jian Xingzhi: “Senior needn’t worry. Miss Qin spoke correctly. Everyone here is ordinary people. If we add artifact refinement, we should have victory firmly in hand.”
As they spoke, the two turned down a small path and entered the garden. Looking inside, they saw several men each sitting behind their own small tables, heads lowered doing their own things.
Upon seeing these people, Jian Xingzhi completely froze.
Although everyone here had changed their appearance, because his spiritual consciousness strength far exceeded everyone present, just by examining their spiritual souls he could recognize them. Among those present, those he knew included:
Wenxin Sect Master Shen Zhiming
Lecheng Young Master Jun Shu
Among those he didn’t recognize, there was also a pink-robed youth at the Divine Transformation stage who raised his cup toward Jian Xingzhi and the others with a smile.
A white-robed Tribulation Transcendence stage cultivator who was coughing and drinking medicine with his head lowered.
Plus Jian Xingzhi and Xie Gutang from Heavenly Sword Sect.
In short, there wasn’t a single ordinary person here.
In that instant, Jian Xingzhi simply wanted to turn around and leave.
Was this a City Lord’s backyard harem struggle?
When did the entry threshold for male companions become Divine Transformation as the starting point with Tribulation Transcendence being even better?
When did the cultivation world become a place where Divine Transformation cultivators were everywhere and Nascent Soul cultivators were inferior to dogs?
Even if he was good-looking, with his arithmetic level, being placed here with such a group of Divine Transformation and Tribulation Transcendence cultivators to take exams in arithmetic and artifact refinement—he’d have to see a ghost to win!
—
**Author’s Note:** Note 1: Source from the internet, specific origin currently not found
Jian Xingzhi: “After finally learning to read, turns out I have to take an arithmetic exam. This tribulation is too difficult for me to transcend.”
**[Mini Theater]**
Qin Wanwan: “You placed my hand on my chest just to shatter my ribs? This is a chest! Such a big chest! Did you not feel anything?”
Jian Xingzhi: “If I thought about chests and such, I wouldn’t be worthy of being your master.”
Now
Jian Xingzhi: “You climbed into my bed in the middle of the night just to make me recite books? I’m this handsome, the bed is this soft, and you didn’t have any other thoughts?!”
Qin Wanwan: “If I thought about beds and such, I wouldn’t be worthy of being your disciple!”
Master, as you sow, so shall you reap. Your retribution is me.