Chapter 96: Chapter 88: On the Feasibility of Cultivating Multiple Paths

The end of the year was approaching.

The north wind howled, the mountains were draped in silver, and the rivers were frozen solid.

The Daqian Dynasty was about to welcome the thirty-third year of the Zun’an Era.

「Imperial City.」 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Inside the Zheng Family estate.

Everyone had heard about a certain young master.

He was the spitting image of Master Zheng.

He never came home at night.

He was very close with Upper Three Feng Bei.

But what did any of that prove?

For half a month, Zheng Xiu felt like a hamster in a drum generator, every second of his time squeezed out of him as he ran, walked, and grinded without a moment’s pause.

As the saying goes, having connections in prison makes life easier. The favor he had curried with Scarface Liu in the previous cycle was paying off. Zheng Xiu’s Main Body was living a life of comfort in Heaven-Gazing Prison, like he was on vacation, so happy he’d forgotten all about returning home.

Zheng Erniang had Scarface Liu deliver the Four Treasures of the Study to Master Zheng in prison. It was a one-of-a-kind, handcrafted set from a master in the city, practically a family heirloom.

After spending the entire night on a "date" with Feng Bei, Zheng Xiu would show up at the prison first thing in the morning with dark circles under his eyes. He would wash up, eat, spread out Xuan paper, grind the ink himself, and begin to paint.

Yes, painting.

Supporting his right elbow with his left hand, Zheng Xiu held the "Cyan Heaven White Jade Phoenix Patterned Chilong Brush." The tip of the brush descended, and with a smooth stroke, he drew an oval.

A second one.

A third.

He was following in the footsteps of the great painter Da Vinci, practicing the master’s first step... drawing eggs.

Zheng Xiu wasn’t doing this out of boredom, nor was it a newfound hobby. He was experimenting. As the Zheng Xiu who had used [Projection] on [Zheng Shan], he wanted to see if he could use Zheng Shan’s background as a "Painter" to glimpse a different Path.

Following the rules and hiding the Restrictions are fundamentals for a Miracle Master.

But to glimpse a Path, the key was years of focus and role-playing. Zheng Xiu just felt he wasn’t focused enough.

Every day, he would draw a thousand eggs, use up one hundred sheets of paper, and grind ink thirty-six times.

A thousand, one hundred, and thirty-six.

Not one more, not one less.

This was his "rule."

But after half a month, Zheng Xiu had gained nothing.

It was so easy for him to have epiphanies and learn Skills in the Ghostly Realm, yet in reality, he had wasted half a month of daylight for nothing.

’Where did I go wrong?’

As dusk approached, Zheng Xiu finally completed his "task" of a thousand eggs. He canceled [Projection], his looks and aura returning to normal, but his confusion remained.

Scarface Liu happened to come up and ask Master Zheng what he wanted for dinner.

Zheng Xiu was about to say he had no appetite, the truth being he wanted to go home and eat as the Evil Child. But as the thought crossed his mind, he quickly stopped Scarface Liu. "Sixth Brother, come take a look. What did I draw?"

Scarface Liu had long been puzzled by what Master Zheng was fiddling with, this so-called Art of Painting. But what he drew was utter nonsense. Even someone like Scarface Liu could tell the Master was just scribbling randomly. He didn’t dare say that, though. Staring wide-eyed at the strange symbols on the paper, Scarface Liu suddenly slapped his forehead. "They’re steamed buns! All these steamed buns, what fine drawings! Marvelous!"

Zheng Xiu’s face darkened.

Seeing Zheng Xiu’s expression sour, Scarface Liu thought he hadn’t laid the praise on thick enough and added, "These buns are so big and white."

’Right, back to practicing it is.’

’Even Scarface Liu can’t tell they’re eggs.’

’I haven’t delved deep enough into this Path.’

After completing his "Painter" task, night fell. Zheng Xiu hopped into a Wandering cart and rushed back to the Zheng Family estate without stopping.

His dungeon was nearing completion, but Zheng Xiu no longer had time to supervise its progress. He had handed it all over to Qing Shisan.

How could Zheng Xiu, the Richest Person, possibly act like a construction foreman? It was unbecoming.

Rich people should spend money to have others do their work. And for now, he could trust Qing Shisan.

Zizi, Pingping, and Lily came to joyfully welcome the young master home. Even the usually aloof Bobo stood in the distance, playing a long flute.

Amidst the festive melody, Zheng Xiu was escorted by the crowd to the study.

Sandalwood incense had already been lit in the study to refresh the mind, and oil lamps provided light. Pingping had won a game of finger-guessing, so she would be the one to personally serve as his reading companion for the day.

By now, the entire Zheng Family knew that the young master’s mother, Xia Yuhe, was dead. The heart-wrenching love story of "Zheng Xiu and Xia Yuhe, a romance deep as the misty rain" had long since spread throughout the estate. Everyone wanted to offer a bit of warm, motherly love to the lonely young master.

Zheng Xiu quickly sat down. Two books were laid out on the desk.

Pingping began to massage the young master’s back.

Zheng Xiu opened one and began to copy it.

The first book was *Li’s Southern Travel·Miscellaneous Records*. It was a book by a contemporary gourmand who had traveled south, recording the local delicacies of various regions.

The only sounds in the study were Pingping’s breathing, the thumping of her massage, and the scratching of the brush on paper.

[You have carefully studied *Li’s Southern Travel·Miscellaneous Records* and copied it. Your Scholarship has slightly increased.]

The second book.

’Ah, this... To hell with *Lanxin Ruomeng*!’

This "rule" of copying two books a day was something Zheng Xiu had asked Zheng Erniang to arrange. The selection was completely random, so how on earth did he end up with this one?

When he asked, Pingping explained that it was this year’s bestseller, the magnum opus of the Great Scholar "Ximen Bei." When it was first released last year, it was universally despised, but by the time the ending was written, public opinion had completely flipped. Many lonely, cloistered women were stunned by its genius. They were deeply moved, passed it amongst themselves, and before long, it had become a sensation across the northern lands.

Zheng Xiu had no choice but to bite the bullet and finish copying it.

Zheng Xiu had read it before and vaguely remembered the plot. Now, copying it by hand, he found the story even more outrageous.

’How did this book even get popular?’

Zheng Xiu couldn’t understand it.

[You have carefully studied *Lanxin Ruomeng*, had a profound realization, and were deeply moved. Your Scholarship has greatly increased.]

[Scholarship +1.]

After half a month of copying various books, Zheng Er’s Scholarship had already risen to "seventeen," more than double his previous "eight" points—a huge improvement.

’This fucking works too?’ Zheng Xiu thought it was absurd, but an increase in Scholarship was always nice. He secretly began to wonder if the Great Scholar Ximen Bei was a hidden master of a Path.

"Quick! Tomorrow, help me buy a copy of every single one of his books! Also, remember to send him money as a reward in the Zheng Family’s name. Scholars need money to have the motivation to write! Just tell him, ’Sir, your writing is a shower of heavenly flowers. The Zheng Clan is moved to tears of gratitude. We present a thousand gold for your wondrous brush. Please update quickly!’"

Pingping was completely bewildered. ’The young master actually likes this kind of stuff? Which character inside does he like?’

But Pingping still accepted the order, promising to take care of it right away.

Zheng Xiu also found it strange. Copying *Lanxin Ruomeng* had increased his [Scholarship] by quite a bit.

’Could it be that the more outrageous the story, the more Scholarship you gain?’

Zheng Xiu’s perspective broadened.

An hour later, Zheng Xiu had a quick meal, used the Heart Prison as a transit hub to teleport, and with one finger, poked open the Teleport Point to Feng Bei’s family home. The next second, he appeared in midair by a cliff.

Beating his wings, Zheng Xiu soared into the sky and then dove down. Feng Bei had been waiting for him on the mountaintop for a long time.

When he landed, Zheng Xiu patted Xiaofeng, who was shivering on the rooftop in the cold wind.

"Here, let me hear you cry out a couple of times! I almost forgot about you."

’So he really did forget!’

Such a dog of a master left Xiaofeng dumbfounded—or "meow-founded." But it still obediently cried out twice, "MEOWWW—"

No one knew how it had survived the past half a month.

For half a month, Zheng Xiu had inserted almost every Trait he could into [Purgatory], and had also tried all sorts of tricks on Feng Bei.

Zheng Xiu had tested the effects of almost every Trait combined with [Purgatory], and was met with one pleasant surprise after another.

So why "almost"?

Because he hadn’t had a chance to test [Medical Principles].

The effects of [Medical Principles] seemed to only activate when inserted into a person.

But Zheng Xiu and Feng Bei were only sparring, not fighting to the death. Zheng Xiu was too embarrassed to say, "Feng Bei, let me insert it into you," so he had to give up on the idea.

The two fought fiercely until midnight.

"Let’s take a break."

By custom, they usually fought until dawn, after which Zheng Xiu would hastily abandon the little she-cat and leave on his own. Tonight, however, Feng Bei called a halt at midnight. Zheng Xiu’s strike missed its mark. He watched as Feng Bei calmly relaxed her "Mountain Splitting" stance, the strange black patterns retracting into her right eye.

The two of them sat on opposite sides of a bonfire.

Feng Bei quietly watched the handsome young man, his face illuminated by the firelight. Thinking back on the past half-month, she couldn’t help but smile faintly.

She didn’t know when it started, but she had begun to faintly look forward to the boy’s promised arrival, for him to come to her mountain and practice with her.

"With your current strength, you can already stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Twenty-Eight Constellations."

This was the first time Feng Bei had seriously evaluated Zheng Xiu’s level in Path Mystic Skills.

"The Twenty-Eight Constellations?" Zheng Xiu smacked his lips. "Are you talking about a Constellation like Dou Xie, or a Constellation like Yue Yan?"

’You can’t just lump all Constellations together.’

Feng Bei pursed her lips for a moment, seemingly in thought, before answering truthfully, "The other twenty-seven Constellations, besides Dou Xie."

Zheng Xiu understood instantly.

"However," Feng Bei shook her head, "there are no vacancies in the ’North Seven Stars’ right now. If you want to become a Constellation, you can only wait."

Feng Bei explained that for a Night Guard to be promoted to a Constellation, it was a one-in, one-out situation. With no vacancies, there was no way to advance.

"Then... what about your level?"

Zheng Xiu pointed at Feng Bei.

The implication was clear: if there were no openings for a "Constellation," what about the "Twelfth Moon"? Could he be promoted to that?

Feng Bei tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and couldn’t help but laugh. "Well, in all these days, have you been using your full strength?"

Zheng Xiu first nodded, then shook his head.

His meaning was: he had, but also, not entirely.

Feng Bei seemed to understand. She smiled faintly. "According to Ye Weiyang’s evaluation standards, if you were to challenge a Military Array, you might be rated as ’Little Celestial Position’."

Zheng Xiu immediately asked what a Little Celestial Position was.

"The grades for Miracle Techniques are mostly determined by the Divine Martial Army’s Military Arrays."

"Being able to face a Divine Martial Elite Soldier head-on merits a Sixth Grade rating. First Grade is being able to single-handedly fight off an encirclement of ten of them."

"Above that are ’Star Position’ and ’Celestial Position’, each subdivided into ’Grand,’ ’Middle,’ and ’Little’ tiers. The highest Star Position requires breaking through a thousand-man Military Array."

"As for Celestial Position, one must face the Commanders of the Divine Martial Army. A single Commander from the Divine Martial Army might only qualify as a Star Position, but if you can safely break through a Military Array formed by a hundred Commanders working together, you can be rated as Grand Celestial Position."

"Above the Commanders are the four Divine Martial Generals of the Divine Martial Army."

At this point, Feng Bei glanced at Zheng Xiu. "A Grandmaster’s rating cannot be measured by any means. However, Ye Weiyang believes that anyone who can easily kill the four Generals is a Grandmaster. Also, back in the day, the Zheng Clan’s Zheng Haoran was one of the four Generals—the Northern General who guarded the north." She put special emphasis on the word "easily."

The stories about his old man matched his own memories. Seeing Feng Bei bring up Zheng Haoran, whether intentionally or not, Zheng Xiu pretended not to hear and lowered his head in thought.

’So, in other words...’

’The world-renowned Divine Martial Army, guardians of Daqian, are just a unit of measurement for combat power?’

’Your rank is determined by how many Divine Martial Army soldiers you can fight?’

Zheng Xiu quickly understood what Feng Bei meant. It all became clear.

Path Mystic Skills manifested in countless strange ways, making it difficult to measure a person’s strength with a single metric.

This wasn’t some fantasy novel where you could just touch an evaluation stone and have your level light up.

But being able to fight a certain number of combat units served as a rough calculation method.

And in the Daqian Dynasty, the important role of "combat power unit" was clearly filled by the "Divine Martial Army Elites."

Feng Bei later added that outside the normal Miracle Master ratings, Ye Weiyang classified Miracle Masters who weren’t skilled in combat as "Alien Star Position." An example was the [Spirit Binder] Bi Shui who, despite having no combat rating, was highly respected.

After all, anyone afflicted by a strange Miracle Technique had to seek out Sister Bi Shui for treatment. Her skill was a unique secret, a true money-maker.

Perhaps because she had been holding it in for half a month, Feng Bei was a bit talkative.

The two warmed themselves by the fire in the snow, chatting idly from time to time, and soon, dawn broke.

"MEOW~"

Xiaofeng watched Zheng Xiu pitifully from the side.

It had been stuck on the snowy mountain in the cold wind for half a month.

But Zheng Xiu just dusted off his pants and prepared to leave. His departing figure was the very picture of a scumbag who adopts a little female cat only to abandon it.

"Zheng Shan," Just as the young man was about to head down the mountain, Feng Bei’s gaze sharpened on his back. She said his father’s name and asked, "Is he really still alive?"

The moment Zheng Xiu heard this, a chill ran down his spine. He dove down the mountain as if in a hundred-meter dash and vanished from sight.