Chapter 36: Learning by Trial and Error

Shi Lao glanced at her and replied coldly, “This is not something you should be looking at.”

Su Xing was stunned for a moment.

This was the first time Shi Lao had spoken to her in this tone since they’d gotten familiar with each other.

Was there something wrong with this book?

“…..You can’t cut corners in learning art.”

Shi Lao paused for a second, then added.

Su Qing immediately understood that there must be some shortcut to stone carving written in that book.

Judging by Shi Lao’s reaction, it probably contained something that would let her complete the task quickly.

After saying that, Shi Lao gave Su Xing a deep look, then took the book and walked back to his room.

“Today’s task is over. Starting tomorrow, you’ll go outside to sculpt.”

As she lay in bed, Su Xing kept thinking about that book.

If it really could help her master stone carving quickly, she was honestly a bit tempted.

This actually couldn’t be blamed on Su Xing.

She’d been stuck here for several days already and had no idea how her companions were progressing.

The Linggan Yuanbi said the time limit was one month, but never said she had to finish the task and answer within exactly one month.

If Apollo was making fast progress, she’d be in trouble.

She couldn’t rely on others; she had to control her own pace in the competition.

The faster she finished the task, the better.

If that book could really help her, Su Xing wouldn’t mind stealing it.

For the sake of survival, she’d once lived by stealing things in her early years. Even though she hadn’t done it in a long time, her skills were still there.

Forget it, better not act rashly for now.

She still didn’t know exactly what was in that book. If she acted without thinking and ruined her task, it wouldn’t be worth the loss.

***

The next morning, Shi Lao took Su Xing out of the small house and brought her to the stone yard in the middle of the valley.

Here, many Juxi were placed, standing tall and unmoving even in the fierce wind.

Shi Zhe introduced, “These Juxi are the materials you’ll use for your training from now on. Right now, you have only one task: carve a qualified stone sculpture.”

Su Xing looked at those two or three meter tall Juxi, her expression frozen.

Shi Lao’s requirements for the sculpture were strict—she couldn’t waste most of the stone.

In other words, whatever she sculpted had to be a huge piece, two or three meters tall.

The problem was, Su Xing herself was only about 1.6 meters tall—she couldn’t even reach the top of the stone.

These stones were too heavy; even Feng Jun probably couldn’t knock them over.

How was she supposed to carve something she couldn’t even reach?

Feng Jun wasn’t a cat—there was no way he could jump up there!

Besides, even if she could jump up, carving such a massive Juxi exactly as she wanted was nearly impossible for a beginner like her!

Su Xing’s worries were justified, because for the next three days, she made no progress at all.

The little fox couldn’t climb up, and carving from the ground up was incredibly difficult due to the sheer size of the stone.

Shi Qi only gave suggestions on the shape, but didn’t care at all about how she should actually carve.

This made Su Xing even more anxious and slowed her efficiency even further.

Shi Lao must have foreseen this.

After Su Xing accidentally broke her carving knife, he impatiently waved his hand and said mercifully, “Go take a walk outside the valley. Come back when you’ve calmed down. Art isn’t something you can do when your heart is restless and anxious.”

“Eh?”

Su Xing asked in surprise, “I’m allowed to go out?”

Shi Qi nodded.

“Of course, no one’s ever restricted you. But don’t forget, don’t let your companions help you. Linggan Yuanbi-sama already told you this, right?”

Linggan Yuanbi had indeed said so, and Su Xing had no intention of breaking this rule.

She was in someone else’s space, after all—whatever she did, Linggan Yuanbi would definitely be able to see.

Even if she wanted to cheat, she wouldn’t do it in such an obviously suicidal way.

Walking out of the valley, Su Xing glanced around.

The area was shrouded in mist; if she wandered out too far, she’d probably get lost.

However, Shi Kao had given her a direction stone, which would always help her find the way back to the valley.

So she could wander about without any worries.

Feng Jun squatted on her shoulder, looked left and right, then flicked Su Xing’s right hand with his tail and pointed firmly to the right.

Su Xing gave him a helpless look and walked in that direction.

Soon, she saw a small house.

Outside, a brown-haired boy with curly hair was grimacing at a stone stool.

That person was Kaka.

As soon as Su Xing saw him, she ran over joyfully, “Kaka! I came to find you!”

Kaka heard Su Xing’s voice, his eyebrows shot up and a look of delight appeared on his face.

As soon as he spotted Su Xing, he ran over too.

“Why are you here?”

Su Xing smiled.

“I was too anxious, so the examiner kicked me out to calm down.”

Upon hearing this, Kaka immediately put on a bitter face.

“I’m anxious too! Why won’t Yi let me off?”

Hearing this, Su Xing grew curious.

“Yi is your examiner? What’s your test?”

Kaka gritted his teeth.

“Yeah, the test is to beat Yi using Heizi.”

“Weiqi? Have you ever learned it before?”

Kaka clearly expected Su Xing to react this way.

He answered numbly, like all hope was lost, “I hadn’t learned before. These past few days, Yi’s been cramming Weiqi rules into me.”

Su Xing frowned.

“I haven’t learned Weiqi either, but I know it’s really hard. There’s no way you can beat a Weiqi master with just a few days’ practice. So…”

She suddenly realized something, stopped herself, then raised her voice, “This doesn’t count as helping, right!”

Linggan Yuanbi appeared before the two of them.

“It does. Even if what you said probably wouldn’t help, it’s still a key point—he has to figure it out on his own.”

So that’s how it is?

Su Xing understood the rule now.

After thanking Linggan Yuanbi, she apologized to Kaka, “I already know the way to clear your test, but I can’t tell you right now.”

Kaka immediately put on a mask of pain—not because Su Xing wouldn’t tell him, but because—“You figured it out after just one sentence? How dumb am I, that I haven’t figured it out after so long!”

Kaka wasn’t the type to blame others.

Besides, this wasn’t Su Xing’s problem to begin with—how could he blame her?

It was just that he’d been stuck at this stage for so long, with no progress at all.

And Su Xing had figured it out the moment she arrived.

It was hard not to feel a little down.

But actually, it wasn’t as Kaka thought—Su Xing hadn’t even met Yi, so how could she possibly know how to beat him?

It was just that, according to Kaka, that Yi only taught him the rules of Weiqi and nothing else.

If the test really was to beat a Weiqi master, then there was no way Kaka could possibly succeed.

So this couldn’t be viewed purely from the perspective of Weiqi.

Su Xing thought, there must be a big flaw in Yi’s playstyle, or some kind of trick—Kaka just had to find it.

But right now, Kaka hadn’t even thought of the first layer—he was still fixated on how to outplay the opponent, which was definitely the wrong approach.

Su Xing originally wanted to remind him of this, but Linggan Yuanbi obviously knew her intention and stopped her.

This was a test only Kaka could clear.

Even though she understood this now, hearing Kaka sound so dejected, Su Xing still couldn’t help but comfort him, “It’s not what you think. You’re just missing a trigger.”

Su Xing only dared say this much; any more and she was afraid of breaking the rules.

Seeing that Kaka was still downcast, Su Xing suggested, “Why don’t you come out and wander with me? Maybe we’ll run into the others.”

Kaka’s eyes lit up.

“Sure! I’ll go tell Yi!”

He didn’t even wait for Su Xing to respond before dashing back into the little house.

Soon, he came running out with a similar stone in hand, excitedly saying, “Yi agreed! Let’s go!”

Su Xing nodded, tilting her head to look at the little fox.

“Which way?”

The little fox flicked its tail and pointed east.

On the way, Kaka asked Su Xing about her situation.

After Su Xing briefly explained, Kaka immediately said angrily, “If only we could swap! My Xiao Lan could easily carve those stones, and it can fly too!”

Su Xing agreed, “True, but this is a test—there’s no way they’d let us pass that easily.”

At this point, Su Xing deliberately emphasized her words to hint at Kaka, “Since Linggan Yuanbi said we’ll all make progress through the trial, our tests must be targeting what we each lack…”

She’d just said this when a loud coughing sound rang in her ears—it was Linggan Yuanbi.

Su Xing immediately realized she’d said too much, gave an awkward laugh, and said no more.

Actually, her hint wouldn’t help much anyway, because it’s hard for people to realize their own shortcomings.

In Su Xing’s eyes, her biggest problem was greed, but stone carving clearly had nothing to do with that.

That’s why, even though she’d already guessed the purpose of the test, she’d still been stuck for so long.

Su Xing had no idea what exactly she was being tested on this time.

Looking at the troubled Kaka, Su Xing suddenly paused.

Was she, like Kaka, unable to see the forest for the trees?

Following the direction Feng Jun pointed, Su Xing and the others soon arrived at the foot of a mountain.

On the mountain, a waterfall cascaded straight down into the Quan Shui below, looking beautiful and magnificent.

Su Xing looked around, but didn’t see any house. Just as she was wondering, a blond man walked out from under the waterfall, water streaming down.

It was Apollo!

Kaka immediately became wary, stepped in front of Su Xing, and pulled her back.

Su Xing shook her head at him, “It’s fine, we’re in Linggan Yuanbi’s space. He can’t hurt us.”

Kaka thought about it and realized that was true.

He immediately perked up, “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go see what problem Apollo’s facing!”

Saying that, he dragged Su Xing forward.

Apollo had already noticed them approaching, but didn’t say anything.

He just picked up a stone from the ground and threw it into the water.

“Plop!”

The water splashed up in a big arc.

“Apollo! What’s your task?”

Kaka asked cheerfully, as if they were already friends.

Apollo actually answered, “Playing Shui Piao. Do you know how?”