Chapter 76: The Opportunity for Xu Wu to Reappear!

  "Xiao Auntie, Xiao Auntie, look! I can already chop down this tree with one palm!"

  A pleased expression was written all over his face as Xu Sanwang pointed to a small tree the size of a child's fist, excitedly saying to Zuo Xiaoyao.

  Zuo Xiao Yao nodded her head in approval, smiling. "Not bad, it seems that San Wang has been working hard. I suppose you'll be able to break through to the second layer of the Shen Shan Palm soon. Did you finish the homework I left for you last night?"

  A bright smile suddenly froze, and with a lowered head, the six or seven year-old Xu Sanwang said in a somewhat dejected low voice, "Shao Auntie, can't I not learn to write that character? It's not useful for martial arts anyway. Can't I just focus on practicing martial arts?"

  "No way, since it's Aunt Xiao who taught us, it must be useful for us. Old rule, you didn't finish your homework last night, so you'll have to do double the amount today!"

  Without waiting for Xue Xiao Yao's response, Xu Da Wei, who had just returned from practicing the Light Cloud Step in the mountain forest, spoke up with a serious face.

  Without looking at Xu Sanwang's fallen face, he continued to walk to Zuo Xiaoyao and bowed his head in respect before respectfully saying "Aunt Xiao! I have reached the requirement of 60 kilograms for consecutive flashes within a mile. Should I increase it further?"

  Since learning that the three members of the Xu family, except for the youngest son and daughter, knew about her abnormal appearance, Zuo Xiao Yao immediately decided to give up her previous plan to stay in this small mountain village for a while, waiting for her cultivation to recover before leaving. As a repayment, she voluntarily suggested teaching the three children of the Xu family how to cultivate and practice martial arts.

  More than half a year has passed, and apart from Xu Erni who has suffered the hardships of martial arts training, the two sons of the Xu family have worked hard and made good progress. Xu Sanwang is younger in age and limited in physical strength, and being at an age where he loves to play, he is far inferior to his elder brother Xu Dawei.

  The poor boy, Xu Dawei, who started working with his father at the age of 13 or 14, is already a half-grown laborer. Although he would be considered just an inexperienced middle school student in modern times, here he has become quite mature and cherishes the opportunity provided by Zuo Xiaoyao. Without neglecting his household chores, he studies diligently, whether it's literature or martial arts, with great dedication. Coupled with his innate talent and comprehension, his achievements are truly impressive.

  He knew that he could complete the task of carrying sixty kilograms of iron rocks in the mountains and forests, continuously avoiding obstacles within a mile range, and the effort and sweat he put out must be astonishing. Zuo Xiao Yao was very satisfied. The smile on his face became even more gentle "Not bad. For now, don't increase the weight, focus on cultivating the Dragon Heart Method for these few days, I'll go to the mountains to find some medicinal herbs to help you further enhance your physical quality, and then you can prepare to break through the third layer!"

  His face couldn't hide his joy, and he was also very excited in his heart, but he didn't know how to express his gratitude. The somewhat awkward Xu Dawei subconsciously wanted to kneel down and thank him, but was held back by a gentle hand. "I told you, don't do this in front of me. Just work hard and that's enough!"

  "Yes, I won't disappoint Grandma Xiao's expectations!"

  With eyes full of respect and admiration, Xu Dawei respectfully replied, being able to study literature and martial arts was something he had never dared to imagine. The strong are revered, this is the rule of every world, the reverence for power is also human nature. In this world, studying literature and martial arts is a privilege reserved for large family clans, with secret martial techniques all in their hands. Occasionally, some would circulate outside, but they were always inferior things, often sold at astonishing prices.

  Like ordinary civilians in such poor and remote areas, the opportunity to come into contact with martial arts is almost zero. Those who know a few moves can receive good treatment in this place. It can be imagined that Xu Dawei, who has slightly understood the world, is grateful for this opportunity given by Zuo Xiaoyao. After learning to read, through the books provided by Zuo Xiaoyao, he had a deeper understanding of this world and was even more aware of how lucky his two brothers were, while their family's fate might undergo a dramatic change from then on.

  All this was done quietly, and the matter of Xu brothers learning martial arts with Zuo Xiao Yao was not leaked out. However, the fact that they were also learning literature was revealed by Xu Er Ni when she boasted about it to her friends in the village. The villagers, led by Xu's second brother, asked Zuo Xiao Yao to teach their children as well, but were rejected. They started a new round of gossiping about Zuo Xiao Yao, who no longer wore men's clothing to go to town and gather information, but she completely ignored them, so they had to give up.

  Although Xu San and his wife were under great pressure, the two thought that their children had gained a lot of benefits, so they were even more determined to support Zuo Xiaoyao's decisions. Moreover, in their hearts, they still had some reservations about Zuo Xiaoyao's background.

  Five days later, on this small hill in Liugoukou Village, a sudden and intense vibration was felt around, and Zuo Xiaoyao's gaze condensed as she stared at Xu Dawei who was sitting cross-legged in the grass. Two days ago, Xu Dawei had already made one attempt to break through, but if not for her protection by his side, he would have been in great danger of losing control of the internal energy that was on the verge of going awry in his meridians, and thus failing to successfully break through.

  I hope he can make it this time, after more than half a year of practicing martial arts, he has the strength that ordinary people may not be able to achieve even if they work hard for decades. Among them, apart from Xu Dawei's own efforts, Zuo Xiaoyao is also 'contribution' that cannot be ignored, but because his strength grows too fast, it leads to instability in his foundation, which makes him almost go crazy when breaking through.

  At this point, she also considered it unthoughtful to think that giving him and Er Wang the medicinal dregs from the Zi Qing Chen Dan would be enough to help them as ordinary people wash their marrow and cut through their veins, and that it would be considered helping them lay a good foundation. However, after Xu Da Wei first broke through to the second layer of the You Long Xin Fa, she relied on the prescription she had previously obtained from the Zuo family to prepare medicine, which not only improved his physique but also increased his martial arts training speed. This became the reason why he was able to reach the peak of the second layer of the You Long Xin Fa so quickly. Unexpectedly, it still left him with unstable cultivation hidden dangers. Zuo Xiao Yao sighed secretly.

  Fortunately, Xu Dawei was lucky this time. When his internal energy burst out, Zuo Xiaoyao was by his side to protect him. Not only did she successfully help him tidy up the chaotic internal energy that had already appeared, but also widened his meridians and unintentionally left a more condensed and rich internal energy in his body. With the help of this strand of internal energy, for a short period of time, he would no longer have to worry about going crazy due to his internal energy getting out of control.

  After all, Zuo Xiao Yao was only forced to temporarily practice martial arts in a desperate situation, but her strength had long been far beyond what the Xu brothers could compare to. Even if she had only practiced for three more months than the Xu brothers, because of her body that had undergone spiritual power refinement, her meridians were extremely wide and her elasticity was very strong, making it easy for her to cultivate internal energy techniques. It was as simple as a flowing water channel, but she had suffered a lot in order to practice the Light Cloud Step and the Shocking Mountain Palm.

  But even so, in the past six months, during her solitary time, Zuo Xiao Yao had almost perfected her Lian Yun Bu and Zhen Shan Zhang, after all, compared to working hard and suffering, Xu Da Wei was far from being able to keep up with her who didn't mind repeatedly challenging the limits of human endurance. If it weren't for the sake of the two Xu brothers or rather, for the sake of repaying the kindness of the Xu family, Zuo Xiao Yao would have left long ago in search of opportunities to help her recover her cultivation, how could she be willing to still stay hidden in this remote mountain village?

  In the process of helping Xu Da-wei to improve his strength, Zuo Xiao-yao, who had been in and out of some larger mountains nearby, discovered that the varieties of medicinal materials and their growth habits in this world were very similar to those in her hometown. According to a book on medicinal materials she had bought at great expense, even the names were basically the same. However, there were many medicinal materials that had already become extinct or were extremely rare in modern times, but here, they were not only easily found but also readily available.

  Like the medicinal materials she needs to prepare medicine, in modern times, they are priced in grams and cost hundreds or thousands of yuan per gram. Calculated by weight, a catty would be shockingly expensive. However, here, Zuo Xiao Yao only needs to spend more time on the mountain. With her spiritual awareness, she can easily find them without exerting too much effort, which delights her greatly as someone who likes alchemy very much. Unfortunately, when she occasionally encounters one or two rare and useful herbs for her cultivation, she cannot transplant them into the Purple Boundary Empty Space, and since she doesn't have a jade box in her storage bag, all she can do is sigh with longing.

  After all, the spiritual medicine must be disposed of in a timely and proper manner after leaving the ground. Otherwise, it will wither or lose its efficacy within a short period of time, which would be a waste. This is also why Zuo Xiao Yao was eager to recover her cultivation as soon as possible and figure out the reason for the abnormal changes in her body.

  Not long after, when the surrounding aura began to fluctuate abnormally in a certain rhythm, Xu Dawei's face showed a hint of joy, and at the same time, his aura also became much stronger than before.

  A faint smile appeared at the corner of her mouth, and Zuo Xiao Yao felt a mix of relief and melancholy in her heart. Although she didn't have a formal master-disciple relationship with the two brothers from the Xu family, they had formed a bond that was just as strong. Over the past six months, she had watched them grow and mature through their own efforts and perseverance, and their demeanor and temperament were now vastly different from those of the other village children. Although others may have noticed this change, they couldn't quite put their finger on why it was so. Zuo Xiao Yao's heart was filled with emotion, for humans are emotional creatures after all. Yet, her departure had already been decided!

  In the following half month, under the guidance of Zuo Xiao Yao, Xu Da Wei's power in Li Yun Quan, Zhen Shan Zhang and You Long Xin Fa was brought to a certain level. Then, Zuo Xiao Yao suddenly announced her decision to leave, although Xu San Yi and his family were reluctant to part with her, they did not dare to ask her to stay, after all, what she had done for them was already more than enough, far exceeding their expectations.

  Giving a man a fish is not as good as teaching him how to fish. This was the main reason why Zuo XiaoYao decided to teach the Xu family children martial arts, after they brought her back and carefully settled her in without giving her any trouble. She also taught them to read and write, just so she could prepare for her future departure. The characters used in this world were the same as modern traditional Chinese characters. Under Grandma's intentional cultivation and education, although she mainly studied watercolor painting from a young age, she also practiced calligraphy and was very familiar with the characters of famous ancient families' (printed) works.

  Under the guidance of Zuo Xiaoyao, although the Xu brothers may not be able to recognize all the characters, and they may not know the meaning of each character, under her intentional emphasis, the two brothers can not only recognize the characters on the three secret recipes they are studying, but also understand the lines and routes represented by the characters in Zuo Xiaoyao's notes. Moreover, they can all memorize them by heart, which is the most important homework given to them by Zuo Xiaoyao!

  "The debt of gratitude, the things that can be done, I have all tried my best. The future of your family will be in your own hands, and the outcome later on will be written by yourselves. As for me, I am just a passerby who happened to meet you, so don't worry about it. Farewell, and may we never meet again. Take care!"

  These were the words that Zuo Yi Xiao spoke to Xu Da Wei, whose eyes were red from crying, and his two brothers, who had cried until their faces were covered in tears and snot, as they walked towards the mouth of the small river that was about to merge into the great river, which was said to be her birthplace.

  Having done everything she needed to, Zuo Xiao Yao left the small mountain village where she had lived for almost a year and walked away without looking back. She walked with no attachments or emotions, perhaps a bit ruthlessly, but she never forgot the path she was supposed to take and the things she was supposed to do. Nothing could hold her back!

  Sorry, the updates for the past two days have been a bit late. I've been busy during the day and after seeing everyone's reactions, I had some thoughts and my mind is a bit messy. I'll try to adjust and improve going forward, please continue to support me! Thank you!