Having studied for a hundred years, why do you call me the Martial Saint?

"What kind of firewood?"

Chen Wenyan didn't even look up, his expression completely indifferent.

"The firewood is being delivered today!"

The tall, thin disciple panicked and jumped out of the door:

"The stove is almost out of flame! My medicine is still decocting!"

This man was named Zhou Ji. He shared a room with Chen Wenyan and worked at the Danyao Hall.

The Pill Hall is responsible for alchemy, medicine making, and powder preparation, making it one of the most sought-after halls in the outer sect.

The outer sect competition is not only about fist fighting and weapons; crafts such as medicine making and forging also need to be showcased.

Zhou Ji really wanted to go to the competition and show off his skills.

After returning from the alchemy hall, he began to refine medicine and hone his skills incessantly.

Despite it being a cool autumn day, the house was unbearably hot, and Chen Wenyan had no choice but to come out to cool off.

"Old Chen, you son of a bitch, say something! Where's my firewood? Did you forget it and send it to another house?" Zhou Ji was so anxious he was jumping up and down.

"Your lousy medicine is useless; you'll only waste half the batch after making one batch. Burning it is just a waste of firewood."

Chen Wenyan slowly turned a page of his book and said unhurriedly.

"Bullshit! My success rate has increased significantly these past few days! I just successfully produced a batch of Exquisite Yellow Elixir yesterday!"

"Just pure luck."

"You son of a bitch, Old Chen, if you keep spouting those sarcastic remarks, I'll burn all your lousy books as firewood!"

"Damn it, you dare, you surnamed Zhou? Believe me or not, I'll skin you alive!"

"Heh, I'm doing this for your own good. You spend all day reading those tattered books, you might as well learn from me, work hard, and make a name for yourself in the outer sect competition!"

"Trying to show off? You'll only make a fool of yourself! With your skills, don't embarrass yourself in any more competitions. Go and learn from your mistakes for another three years!"

"You don't know anything!"

The two exchanged a few more insults, and finally, seeing that Chai hadn't come to check the fire, Zhou Ji went back into the house, still grumbling.

Chen Wenyan lay down again, intending to resume reading.

Just then, the sound of a carrying pole creaking came from outside the courtyard gate.

A young servant boy carrying firewood huffed and puffed as he strode in.

It was Gu Shuxian.

"Senior brother, may I ask..." Gu Shuxian was about to speak when he looked up and saw the people in the courtyard, and stopped speaking.

Chen Wenyan also saw the person in front of him clearly, and his eyes lit up.

"It's you!"

"Senior Brother Chen!"

Gu Shuxian was overjoyed.

It's been three days!

We finally met!

For the past few days, Zhao Kui has been harassing them in the forest, preventing them from gathering mountain produce and making it difficult for them to descend the mountain.

As for Huang Ziyi, he was too embarrassed to go because the rules for odd jobs had been destroyed.

He's been so miserable these past few days because he hasn't had any books to read!

He had to do everything he could to borrow books. If he couldn't get them from Chen Wenyan, he would have no choice but to go down the mountain against Qian Le's advice!

"Junior Brother Gu, you've come at the right time!" Chen Wenyan got up from the bamboo chair, closed the book in his hand, and beckoned him over.

"Our last chat wasn't very fruitful. Are you free today?"

"I have time... Oh, by the way, this firewood is for my senior brother's room..."

"It's fine, just leave it there." Chen Wenyan waved his hand dismissively.

He strode over, grabbed Gu Shuxian's sleeve, and led him to the stone bench in the courtyard, saying with great interest:

"After you came down the mountain last time, I read 'The Legend of the Swordsman' again, and I felt more and more that this book perfectly captured the helplessness and determination of people in the martial arts world!"

Gu Shuxian was also intrigued. He sat on the stone bench and sighed deeply.

"Senior brother, do you think so too? The Divine Halberd Hero, who roamed the world for half his life, found in the end that grudges and entanglements were a tangled mess, impossible to unravel..."

"Yes! Look at the part about the Three Heroes of the Northern Desert. Each of them was a hero, yet they happened to be enemies with the Divine Halberd Hero. That battle was truly tragic and heroic..."

The two hit it off as they talked, discussing everything from the characters in the book to the plot and martial arts to the code of honor in the martial arts world, just like old friends.

When they got to a few key points, they unanimously quoted famous lines from the book, and couldn't help but smile at each other.

As he laughed, Gu Shuxian suddenly sighed.

"It's a pity that this book ends here. The great river flows eastward, its waves washing away heroes, and right and wrong, success and failure, all turn to nothing... What a pity! By the way, I heard a while ago that there was a sequel to this book. Have you seen it, Senior Brother Chen?"

Chen Wenyan shook his head regretfully: "I have heard of a sequel, but unfortunately I haven't been able to find it. I'm afraid we'll have to look for it in the Wenshan Shuhai Pavilion. By the way, do you know the Wenshan Shuhai Pavilion? It's a traveling merchant guild..."

Chen Wenyan recounted the information he knew.

As Gu Shuxian listened, he sighed, "It's Wenshan Shuhai Pavilion again!"

It seems like everyone who reads books has heard of it.

I wonder how many books they have to have such a great reputation.

Gu Shuxian remained expressionless and brought up another matter:

"Does Senior Brother know where we can find our sect's disciple code of conduct?"

"Disciple's Code of Conduct?" Chen Wenyan was taken aback. "A version was issued a few years ago, but who reads that stuff? It's long since been lost somewhere."

"What do you need that thing for?"

Gu Shuxian naturally couldn't reveal the truth.

After all, it was against the rules for a servant disciple to borrow books from the library.

So he made up a reason.

"A few days ago, I had a roommate..."

Gu Shuxian briefly recounted the story of Wang Biao being driven down the mountain, without mentioning the details.

"Although the punishment didn't involve me, I'm still afraid of breaking a taboo, so I wanted to take a look just in case."

Chen Wenyan chuckled: "Alright, I'll ask around for you, but I doubt anyone would keep that thing. However, if you really want to see it, you can go down the mountain and look for it."

"Yamashita?"

Gu Shuxian was stunned, thinking he had misheard.

"Yes, Yamashita, when that book was published a few years ago, there was a rumor that 'those who thoroughly study the Disciple's Code can enter the Suishan Sword Sect,'" Chen Wenyan recalled.

"Some clever people collected the books from their fellow disciples and then sold them at high prices down the mountain. It was because of this that the sect stopped issuing disciple rules and such."

Gu Shuxian was utterly speechless.

How come there are so many scoundrels who engage in speculation and profiteering in this world!

He noted this down, then, shamelessly, asked:

"Senior brother, do you have any other books I can borrow? Any kind is fine..."

Gu Shuxian was a little nervous as he said those words, afraid that the other party would refuse.

Chen Wenyan's eyes lit up, and he slapped his thigh and stood up:

"Yes, of course! I have tons of good books in my room. Let me show you. Come on, follow me inside!"

Chen Wenyan was very enthusiastic.

"I'm so sorry!"

Gu Shuxian responded shyly while quickly getting up, eager to browse through Chen Wenyan's bookshelf.

Just then.

boom!

The door in front of them was pushed open roughly.

A disciple rushed out of the house with a dark face, reeking of strong herbs.

"Old Chen, you bastard!"

Upon stepping outside, Zhou Ji immediately saw the dry firewood on the ground and flew into a rage:

"Chai arrived early, why the hell didn't you say so? Now my whole batch of medicine is burnt!"

"If you can burn the medicine because you don't have firewood, isn't that your problem?" Chen Wenyan asked, looking completely bewildered.

"Bah! It was because we didn't have enough firewood that I thought of turning up the heat to hurry up and finish brewing the medicine! I didn't expect the heat to be too high, and it burned completely!"

"Your own lack of skill and unrealistic ideas are not enough to blame me?"

"It's not your fault? If you hadn't deliberately pulled the wood-delivering servant aside to talk, I wouldn't have gotten so worked up. I think you're just deliberately making things difficult for me!"