NOVPUBLu Xun was reading his book, listening to Lu Yu’s questions and, without even lifting his head, gave several answers. Lu Xun really treated Lu Yu like a little brat and didn’t take him seriously at all.
Soon, Lu Yu came over again, and Lu Xun maintained his original posture, without raising his head, provided a few more solutions, and then continued reading, completely unaware of the darkening expression on Lu Yu’s face.
Lu Yu had many questions, and in the beginning, Lu Xun could still read and answer simultaneously. But as time went on, Lu Yu’s questions required Lu Xun to ponder for a moment, though in Lu Xun’s view, they weren’t too difficult.
Finally, when Lu Yu presented a true and challenging case before Lu Xun, Lu Xun closed his book. This matter already seemed somewhat difficult, so Lu Xun looked up at Lu Yu and said, "You’ve come to test me on purpose, haven’t you? But if you’re sent by Zhuge Kongming to test me, don’t bother with these trivial matters. Give me a real test; this way, you can’t measure how much I’ve improved recently."
Lu Yu’s face turned completely red; the problem he had brought had not received a standard answer from Wang Lie, and now that he was cornered by Lu Xun, he had directly given this tough problem to Lu Xun!
Honestly, Lu Yu was now fully convinced, but what Lu Xun had just said was a significant blow to him. Even if his mind hadn’t caught up, he could hear that Zhuge Liang was far superior to the person before him. How could he play happily with this? The man before him was unnaturally strong, suggesting according to his previous words that Zhuge Liang was akin to a celestial being.
The one thing Lu Yu did better than Lu Xun was knowing when to advance or retreat. Once he was certain he was no match for Lu Xun, Lu Yu straightforwardly expressed his dissatisfaction with Lu Xun’s disregard for him, hoping to draw Lu Xun’s attention back.
"Do you want to know how much of a genius Zhuge Kongming is?" Lu Xun said with a smirk, and beside him, Lu Yu nodded incessantly like a pecking chick.
"Although I really don’t want to admit it, comparing myself to Zhuge Kongming now is like a firefly to the bright moon. The gap is too large, so vast that I can’t even feel the depth of Zhuge Liang," Lu Xun ruefully smiled repeatedly, but his face didn’t lack a trace of admiration, "That guy is a monster."
For Lu Xun, Zhuge Liang left an impression deeper than his own mentor, Chen Xi. Though it seemed as if returning the sword to its sheath, the sharpness was incomparable to any other, indescribable by mere shock and brilliance.
Lu Yu felt utterly disheartened. The level of genius in Lu Xun was chilling enough for him, so what kind of monster must Zhuge Liang be, to make Lu Xun admit to being massively inferior? No wonder Wang Lie said he was peerless and unparalleled in his generation; it turns out the man truly was against the natural order.
"You might not even believe it if I told you," Lu Xun said with a bitter smile, finding in Lu Yu a comrade who shared his misery. Even though the reason for their shared suffering was the heavy blow Lu Xun had dealt him, as a genius, he could understand another equally proud genius. n𝚘𝚟pub.𝚌o𝚖
"Let’s hear it," said Lu Yu, planning to adjust his attitude. He felt that he might have been a big fish in a small pond before, thinking he was significant. Now that he had come to the ocean, any fish could crush him, and perhaps Zhuge Liang belonged to the enormous Kun of the Northern Abyss...
"All the knowledge I possess was taught by him; my teacher thought I was too weak and had Zhuge Kongming take me under his wing. But looking at the current situation, let alone surpassing my teacher, it would not be easy even to surpass Zhuge Kongming," Lu Xun said, startling Lu Yu to such an extent that he was half dead with shock.
"I just went and provoked Zhuge Kongming," Lu Yu said with a twitching face, "I think I’m seeking death."
"Don’t worry, he’s not in the mood to bother you; Fa Xiaozhi is giving him enough trouble as it is." Lu Xun waved his hand and said, "Here, take this ’The Thick and Black Philosophy’ to read. I need to hit the books too. Though the chance is slim, I still want to give it a try, sigh~"
After finishing his words, Lu Xun buried himself in his books again. He planned to build a solid foundation before practicing. Without being fully prepared, he definitely wouldn’t go and trouble Zhuge Liang - not with the latter’s kind of invincible crushing dominance.
Seeing Lu Xun quickly losing himself in his studies, Lu Yu picked up the book that Lu Xun had handed to him and started reading. He couldn’t help being less talented than others, but if he didn’t work as hard as others, that would be his own fault.
After Lu Xun had carefully read through his book once more, he looked up at Lu Yu, who was deep in thought. "If you have any questions, Zijia, just ask. I’ll lend a hand wherever I can help."
"Who wrote this book?" Lu Yu felt an impulse to take the author as his mentor; the book spoke to his very soul.
"It’s written by Anonymous, part of Great Scholar Cai’s collection," Lu Xun said calmly. "Great Scholar Cai has many rare books. It’s said that Elder Cai had a collection of tens of thousands of volumes when he was alive."
"..." Lu Yu’s jaw dropped. "Wasn’t it thirty thousand volumes?"
"Who knows? The Book Pavilion of Mount Tai has over a hundred thousand volumes, and most of them were transcribed by Great Scholar Cai himself," Lu Xun said, glancing at Lu Yu. "You’ll definitely go to Mount Tai, so when you do, you can ask Zhuge Kongming to inquire for you."
"What a pity," Lu Yu said with resignation. The thoughts revealed in this book were so in tune with his own; he believed he would experience monumental growth if he could fully adopt this school of thought. But alas.
"If you can’t find out, you could ask Zhuge Kongming. There’s nothing that guy doesn’t understand. Even if you ask him how to make something, he can explain it thoroughly," Lu Xun said with a wry smile.
Then Lu Xun, worried that Lu Yu might seek his own downfall, pondered for a moment before saying, "Zijia, it’s better you don’t compete with Zhuge Kongming. He awakened his Spiritual Talent at our age, and according to my master, his Spiritual Talent is one of the most terrifying in the world!"
Lu Yu felt sweat trickling down his forehead. He knew what Spiritual Talent was and couldn’t help but mutter to himself, "Is that guy really human?"
"Who knows, just don’t go courting death on your own. But he’s a pretty nice person. Although some things he does may seem inhuman because of his own abnormal strength, setting those kind of superhuman standards, overall he doesn’t specifically target others," Lu Xun recounted how all his diligent efforts to master the basics seemed so trivial to Zhuge Liang.
Zhuge Liang, of course, was oblivious to being categorized by Lu Xun and Lu Yu as an abnormal person; after all, these things had no impact on him.
For the current Zhuge Liang, apart from completing his Spiritual Talent and marrying Huang Yueying, nothing else mattered much. He had sufficient knowledge; what he needed now was experience! (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation and monthly tickets, your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read at m.qidian.com.)
