The corner gives the wooden martial arts master, whose martial arts are equivalent to a harem.

Foreword: The short stories about Chu Ci's childhood are written for readers who came from "Reincarnated, and then became a Succubus Martial Saint". They can also be considered as laying a foundation for readers who have not read Succubus Martial Saint to have an impression of Chu Ci.

The following is a short story from the Chu Ci (Songs of Chu).

-

It was as if a child who was not naturally fond of smiling had folded a paper boat, and his expressionless face showed no sign of satisfaction or dissatisfaction.

He simply and calmly placed the little white boat into the water tank.

Listen to the gentle breeze rustling the leaves of the pear tree by the courtyard wall, and the paper boats drift aimlessly on the surface of the water in the vat.

Children possess an extraordinary intuition that allows them to control the instinct within their bodies called "breathing" with exceptional skill.

That kind of control technique is attributed to the breathing method passed down from the Xiahou family. It is named after the Five Sacred Mountains and combines the characteristics of the Five Sacred Mountains with the brushstrokes of calligraphy, including running script, cursive script, clerical script, seal script, and regular script, and also endows them with the properties of gold, silver, copper, iron, and steel.

"Xiao Ci, Mount Hua is majestic and perilous, therefore the square shape and straight strokes of regular script should be used to balance its 'perilousness'."

Mount Hua, as the Western Sacred Mountain, is located in the west and corresponds to "metal" in the Five Elements theory. The lungs belong to metal; therefore, the Mount Hua Steel-Style Breathing Method is a fundamental and crucial method among the Five Sacred Mountains breathing techniques.

The middle-aged man standing to the side had a buzz cut and wore loose clothing. There were two bamboo chairs next to him and a tea table in the middle. The Maojian tea in the water was quietly releasing its polyphenols, but the bitterness was masked by some tea snacks, revealing a leisurely and interesting atmosphere.

The child, still in his infancy and not yet an adult, listened to his first mentor impart his secrets without reservation. His face remained expressionless, but he exhaled a long breath of warm white light, like a sword of energy that could pierce through Mount Hua.

The sword energy was cold and sharp, as if a real sword had been thrust out. However, when it landed on the paper boat, it only made the paper boat move faster on the surface of the water in the jar, rather than immediately piercing through the paper boat and sinking it.

"Is it fun, Xiao Ci?" Master Xiahou asked kindly, then said, "Practicing martial arts is actually quite tedious, but if you find enjoyment in it, the tedium can be greatly reduced."

The child neither found it boring nor fun, offering only a perfunctory, objective assessment: "Still wandering around."

Xiahou Wu's face remained amiable, but he was inwardly troubled.

When he first met this child named "Chu Ci", he was amazed by his extraordinary talent. Just by watching him and his friend compete in breathing exercises, he had already learned the Huashan Gangkai Breathing Method. Although he was not yet proficient, his incredible observation and learning abilities truly amazed him.

The rest of the story unfolded naturally. After winning over Chu Ci's parents and grandparents with sincerity, he made Chu Ci his true disciple.

However... Mr. Xiahou, who is not yet a parent, really doesn't know how to take care of a child, so he can only rack his brains and do his best.

What troubled Xiahou Wu even more was that Chu Ci was different from other children.

Xiahou Wu's adult intuition, honed through years of experience in society, allowed him to see that within the hearts of children who had entered the world of martial arts, something that was already thriving was growing at an alarming rate.

It seemed that he had seen through the dilemma in his teacher's mind.

Chu Ci looked at his master and spoke in a childish voice that was still developing, words that were both appropriate and inappropriate for someone his age.

"Master, don't worry that I'll find it boring, because I can tell that I'm actually enjoying it. Moreover, it gives me a real sense of becoming stronger. As long as I become stronger, I won't die from any accidents."

"Huh?" Xiahou Wu was taken aback, both amused and exasperated. "Isn't it a bit precocious of you to be thinking about accidental death at your age?"

But the Chu Ci (Songs of Chu) is taken very seriously.

"Natural disasters such as earthquakes, typhoons, and tsunamis can leave ordinary people with no choice but to rely on luck to escape; human disasters such as murder, poisoning, and kidnapping also require ordinary people to rely on luck to escape."

Car accidents, escaped carnivorous animals in zoos, and accidental falls into uncovered sewers are all similar incidents.

But if I become strong enough, then I won't have to rely on some mysterious luck to avoid it.

Xiahou Wu was indeed in a dilemma, and Chu Ci continued speaking.

"What I find even more enjoyable... is that when I'm strong enough, I can fight against these 'powerful' forces. That's truly a source of endless joy."

Is it aggression or violence? No, this nature is a deeper, more fundamental thing than mere aggression or violence. The essence of aggression or violence is to escalate conflict into bloody incidents like fighting.

But this nature is more in line with a martial arts fanatic, or perhaps—a martial arts demon?

"Therefore, martial arts, which can make me stronger, will never feel boring, no matter what. So, Master, there's no need to use these things to keep me from feeling bored." The child spoke with great conviction.

Xiahou Wu looked at the child in surprise, took a sip of tea, seemingly to cover up his embarrassment, and in doing so, he organized his words.

After swallowing the tea, Master Xiahou spoke.

"But there is more than one path in this world than martial arts. Martial arts is meaningful, but life is also magnificent. You can't ignore other things just because you're 'fighting the strong'."

A look of confusion appeared on the child's face.

"But I don't seem to have much interest in other things."

Xiahou Wu gazed at his true disciple before him, and for no apparent reason, his heart softened. He half-squatted down and stroked the child's forehead.

"Xiao Ci, you were born in the wrong era." He said this with a mixture of regret and relief.

It's a pity that, literally speaking, a child like him, if born in a time of great strife, would not have been seen as an outcast, because such a time would have been his best stage, and would have allowed him to leave his mark on history.

Fortunately, it is also the literal meaning, because living in this era allows him to avoid dying young like the pitiful children in a time of great strife.

But more than anything, there is sympathy, because this child's nature is difficult for ordinary people to understand, so he is very likely to be lonely.

Yes, this child is different. Chu Ci's nature destined him to be different from others, and also destined him to stir up a storm of bloodshed. If we want to prevent that storm of bloodshed, we can only use education to make him understand what humanity is.

But—will this bloodshed really not come?

Xiahou Wu looked slightly worried, then patted Chu Ci on the shoulder.

"Your breathing technique is already very good, and your foundation is very solid. Let's stop here for today's practice. How about we go out and buy something with your master later?" Xiahou Wu deliberately used the phrase "stop here."

Although it wasn't the first time he'd said it, he hoped that the principle of "stopping when it's too late" would subtly influence the child, so that Chu Ci wouldn't accidentally kill someone in the future.

"What should I buy?" Chu Ci obediently ended her practice.

"Don't you think the yard looks empty? Let's buy a puppy. Pick one you like, and we, master and apprentice, can raise it together." As long as the purpose, attitude, and method of raising a pet are on the right track, it can also cultivate a child's reverence and kindness for life.

"Hesitant." Chu Ci neither agreed nor disagreed, but perhaps there was a hint of annoyance at the inconvenience.

Otherwise, it wouldn't have dragged out the sound.

···

The dog named Zhuangyuandou by the Chu Ci (Songs of Chu) is a Chinese rural dog. It's not that smart, but it's not stupid either.

The only thing worth mentioning is that Zhuangyuandou's dog tail hair naturally looks like it's had a perm, which is quite fashionable.

Puppies are chubby and adorable when they're young; but they're not cute at all when they grow up. However, even though they're no longer cute, they've at least become tame.

The dog doesn't bark much and won't bite, but it's annoying that it poops and poops everywhere, and you can easily step in it if you're not careful; also, it will sneak out through the dog hole to play with dogs it knows.

Now, however, Zhuangyuandou no longer needs to poop anywhere, nor can it play with the dogs it knows.

Because it is about to die.

It was greedy and ate the poisoned bait specifically designed to kill stray dogs.

Even the less clever puppy knew to run home and seek help.

In the early 1990s, the pet economy was not as developed, so the concept of animal clinics did not become popular, let alone evolve into the later pet hospitals.

Although Xiahou Wudang decisively fed the puppy water and induced vomiting, this only prolonged its suffering.

Chu Ci looked at the whimpering dog, squatted down in front of it, and wiped away the puppy's tears with her fingers.

Xiahou Wu waited anxiously for his familiar traditional Chinese medicine doctor. Was he just desperate and willing to try anything? Probably.

Martial artists are also human. They can warm up a stone by holding it in their hands, let alone a dog that they have raised for a year, from a puppy to an adult.

The only person who wasn't anxious was Chu Ci (the Songs of Chu).

Chu Ci turned to look at her master, then at the distressed dog in front of her.

"Scholar Bean, you must be suffering. I'll give you relief," the child murmured.

Before Xiahou Wu could react, Chu Ci, without any hesitation, snapped the dog's neck.

The whimpering stopped with a short howl, and the dog, tongue lolling out, tilted its head as if asleep.

The child remained expressionless, as if he had no part in the adoption of the dog.

But the feel of the dog fur on my hands was no different from when I used to pet it.

I stroked the dog's body, its body heat draining from my palm.

The Chu Ci (Songs of Chu) uttered words that were inhumane, or rather, cruel.

"A dead dog is just a piece of meat, so what's the difference between a dead person and a dead dog?" Xiahou Wu overheard his mutterings.

"They're all just pieces of meat, the only difference is their size."

Master Xiahou's lips moved slightly.

"Is this child truly beyond redemption? What a cold-hearted person he is! No, he shouldn't even be considered cold-hearted. He... doesn't possess much humanity."

"Yes, he certainly doesn't have much humanity."

With a trembling heart, Xiahou Wu looked at his hands, then at Chu Ci's small figure.

"Will he grow up to be someone who doesn't care about human life at all?" "If that happens, wouldn't I have raised a martial demon who harms humanity?"

["Should we kill him?"] ["How can we kill him? He's just not fully reformed yet..."] ["But if we don't kill him, what if that kind of situation really happens later?"]

Still pounding with emotion, he looked at Chu Ci carrying the dog's carcass and asked in a trembling voice.

"What are you going to do?" A hoarse voice, tinged with coldness, shot out from the man's throat.

"Bury it." Chu Ci answered calmly. He walked directly to the pear tree and dug the soil under the tree with his bare hands without using any tools.

"We'll never see it again. I want it to be closer to us, since this is also Zhuangyuandou's home, and it prefers to play with us."

His calm words revealed a warmth of humanity. Perhaps not much, but not little either.

Xiahou Wu stared blankly at the child, and the turmoil in his heart began to soften.

He walked over to the child, squatted down, and petted the dog.

The dog used to comfortably squint its eyes and curl up in a ball to enjoy itself.

The dog remains in the same position as when it died and can no longer move.

The child digging in the dirt didn't care how dirty the dirt on his hands was; he just calmly and indifferently said...

"Grandpa said that fallen leaves return to their roots, so the 'Top Scholar Bean' should be buried here. When it was little, it loved to play under the tree and sleep when it got tired. Now it can sleep here forever, and it's very close to us."

The child spoke slowly and deliberately, digging the soil at a leisurely pace.

He would occasionally measure the area he had dug and compare it to the dog's carcass.

He continued, "And we can buy some flower seeds and plant them under the tree, thus creating the cycle of the 'Scholar Bean'."

"Is this reincarnation?" Xiahou Wu helped Chu Ci dig in the soil.

He didn't use any tools; he just squatted down next to Chu Ci and dug in the soil.

"Grandpa told me that soil decomposes, and my parents and grandma also told me to pee in the soil so that the plants we grow at home will grow better."

I've read in books that meat decomposes in the soil. But my grandfather told me that bones are very difficult to decompose.

If you simply bury the peas here, their remains will simply decompose into nutrients in the soil. While this might nourish the pear trees, the pear trees would already be here.

So I want to buy flower seeds and plant them, so that the peas can participate in the process of becoming flowers.

The flower we see is the body of the sleeping pea.

Its bones are beneath the flower, supporting its body.

Xiahou Wu listened to the words of Chu Ci.

I've thought of a lot.

"I'm so arrogant," Xiahou Wu thought to himself, mocking himself.

He thought he was cultivating the humanity in Chu Ci, but in reality, the humanity in Chu Ci had already been cultivated by others.

The other two of the four did not understand the true nature of Chu Ci. They only knew that the child was a person, so they had to raise the child as a person and nurture him as a tree.

The people who nurtured Chu Ci, the tree that cultivated Chu Ci, and the people who developed his humanity were his parents and elders, who nourished him with the love of family.

Having dug the hole, Chu Ci dragged the dog's leg, intending to throw it in.

Xiahou Wu pressed down on Chu Ci's arm.

"What's wrong, Master?" Chu Ci asked, puzzled.

"We should have reverence for life." Xiahou Wu picked up the dog's carcass and gently buried it. "Even if it's dead and no longer alive, we should still treat its corpse with kindness."

He demonstrated by example, gently fiddling with the soil he had dug out.

Chu Ci watched as the dog's corpse was gradually buried, and gently brushed away the soil that had been dug out.

Until the pit was leveled.

"Go buy some flower seeds. What kind of seeds do you want?" Xiahou Wu clapped his hands and asked his disciple, who still needed further instruction.

"I want to buy..."

-

As Xiang Bofu recounted the little stories he had heard from Xiahou Wu, his fellow disciples nearby felt it was all a bit unreal.

"He's quite human-like." The three women had complex expressions, which made Fei Xing and Li Lingdang say something similar.

Zhuge Jing felt some sympathy, and then...

She thought of the flowers and plants under the pear tree in Xiahou Wu's courtyard.

Those are red smartweed, also known as foxtail grass.

Adorning the side are foxtail grasses.

The flowers and plants gathered under the tree outlined an image that resembled a sleeping puppy.