Dao Of The Salted Fish (Salted Fish Cultivator)

7. Eh, I can't be bothered fighting. You win, ba.

Thinking back to the original Wen Zhihao’s memories, all outer sect disciples had weapons practice at the rise of dawn, every day.

The first thing was for all the disciples to practice the dozens of basic forms. Wen Zhihao followed his body’s muscle memory and jumped to the form that all the disciples around him were doing.

The sword of the original owner was a basic single-edged blade, without any adornments. Its name was simply Silver Blade, and no, it wasn’t one of those swords that people underestimated, it truly was plain.

Without money, a disciple could not personally acquire a new weapon, and the original owner was poor. Without skills, the Sect would not assign higher grade weapons, and the skills of the original owner were extremely mediocre. The original owner put in the hard work, but absolutely no talent. And in a world with hundreds of cultivators...hard work was simply not enough.

At first, Wen Zhihao tricked himself into being amused with swinging a sword around while moving his qi at the same time. Swish! Fwoosh! Imaginary stab! But as the training progressed, the sword felt heavier and heavier, and it wasn’t fun at all.

Why didn’t the original owner choose a lighter weapon, like a fan? Why did the original owner insist on training with the sword which he clearly had no talent for?

Wen Zhihao’s moves turned sloppy by the end of the basic training, completely unlike the clean and sharp movements of the other disciples. When Zhang Wu announced the next training phase, Wen Zhihao sheathed his sword in relief.
In the next phase, disciples could either pair up to spar with a partner or continue solo practice. Across the square, disciples moved about, some calling out requests for duels.

“—Wen Zhihao! Fellow Daoist Wen Zhihao!”

Wen Zhihao: ...What now?

He turned towards the sound, standing at ease as Wang Li Wei and his group strode up to him.

Now that Wang Li Wei had exchanged his dull yellow robes for golden robes, he really stood out from his gang. There was one other person in his group who also had golden robes, but Wang Li Wei had more opulent decorative and magical items and a flashier looking sword. Technically, now that Wang Li Wei was now an inner sect disciple, he didn't need to be here during this practice session. He must have other motivations.

“Wen Zhihao,” Wang Li Wei repeated, posing with a hand on his sword hilt. “Tch, tch, the first time you arrived late. Did your defeat rattle you that much? You’re going to become one of the oldest outer sect disciples…”

That would be true. As outer sect disciples got older, if they were unable to advance into the inner sect, many of them would decide to leave for smaller sects, or the branch sects, instead of continuing to live under the outer-sect allowance and minimal privileges.

But in Wen Zhihao’s point of view, the outer sect disciples lived comfortably given the Ancient China-like setting. He didn’t mind being an old outer sect disciple.

“...Look at him, in a daze,” Wang Li Wei said to his cronies friends, smirking. “Come on, let’s fight. We’ll see whether or not today is your lucky day. How many defeats has he had already?”

“Over twenty!”

“Over a hundred!”
“Over three hundred!”
With a shhhing, Wang Li Wei drew his sword. “Let’s duel.”
Wen Zhihao yawned. “I don’t care about your pissing contest.”
Around him, disciples’ jaws dropped.
“He...swore!”
“Has he reached his limit? Is he going to turn into a demonic cultivator now?”

Wang Li Wei’s mouth twitched into a sneer. “Are you scared?”

Wen Zhihao blinked slowly at the teenager. “You’re stronger than me, happy? You’re a very good boy,” he said in a placating tone. Hm, I’m hungry...oh, I promised the Aunty Chef that I would help her… Wen Zhihao gave the group a polite nod. “Work hard, okay? Goodbye.”

With that, Wen Zhihao left the training field.

Wang Li Wei was speechless as he watched Wen Zhihao’s disappearing back. His face went red. What did he just say??!!!! Did he just ignore me?? How dare he! “That...that Wen Zhihao!”

Wang Li Wei’s friends quickly agreed. “How dare he speak like that?!!”

“How rude!!”
But Wen Zhihao didn’t look back.
More than one person noticed Wen Zhihao’s exit. Zhang Wu’s forehead twitching in anger at Wen Zhihao’s laziness.
And on the other side of the field, Sun Fuyu wanted to follow Wen Zhihao out. He wanted to know what Wen-shixiong was planning to do. But he couldn’t leave, not while Wu Qingqing swung her sharp sword at him!