Chapter 111: Chapter 90: Juren Disciples
Translator: 549690339
It took Lu Yuan less than half a day to clarify some confusion in the technique for Zhou Qing, and to guide his disciple through the first round of Inner Strength practice.
His disciple’s comprehension was quite good.
For many questions, Lu Yuan only needed to give a slight hint, and his disciple would quickly understand it. The following cultivation would be a tedious process of grinding time.
How long a person could cultivate Inner Qi depended on their talent and comprehension, and outsiders could not help much.
So, Lu Yuan realized that waiting would be useless. He instructed his disciple to continue cultivating and to find him after achieving Inner Qi. With that, he clapped his hands and gracefully left.
Lu Yuan himself had many things to be busy with.
He had mastered the Cloud Palm Mental Technique, but he had only learned about thirty moves of the related Palm skill. He still had more than forty moves to practice and master at a slow pace,
A martial arts expert’s strength is not solely based on their high Inner Strength realm.
Matching that would require corresponding techniques and moves.
At present, Lu Yuan’s mental technique was at the second-rate realm, but his actual combat strength remained at the third-rate realm.
At most, he could be considered as a half second-rate now.
Only after mastering the eighty-one moves of the Cloud Palm would he be considered a complete second-rate expert.
So, to make up for this shortcoming, Lu Yuan had been practicing the Palm skill diligently in recent days.
Fortunately, as his mastery of the Taoist Classics deepened, his various mental realms also improved, thus his comprehension of the Cloud Palm accelerated as well, allowing him to practice much faster than before.
Now, it took him about ten days to half a month to master each Cloud Palm move. With more than forty moves left, he would need just over a year to complete them.
Besides the Palm skill, Lu Yuan’s speed in cultivating the mental technique also slightly increased with his study of the Taoist Classics.
Originally, he had estimated it would take a year to complete the transition of his Inner Strength. However, it now seemed possible to finish it in just eight or nine months.
The above two goals, practicing the Cloud Palm and cultivating the mental technique, were Lu Yuan’s primary focus for the coming days.
In addition to these main targets, he continued to study the Taoist Classics in his leisure time during practice.
At the beginning of studying the Taoist Classics, Lu Yuan found it quite difficult and painful.
The illusory and obscure content was too dull to read, while the various scriptures and spells seemed more like mystification.
As for the flying immortals’ stories of real beings, they seemed like mere imaginings and boasting.
Suffice to say, he initially did not appreciate the Taoist Classics.
If it was not for the cultivation practice’s requirement, he would never read such an incredibly boring book.
However, as he read more and understood deeper, he gradually grasped some principles behind the Classics and came to accept them more.
Most importantly, with these new insights, his martial arts cultivation benefited qreatlv, allowinz him to learn techniques quickly.
With these advantages, Lu Yuan began to genuinely shift from reluctance to acceptance, and finally to the passionate study of the Classics.
So it is.
All motivation and love are driven by interests.
Who could spend a considerable amount of time researching a subject they do not like without reaping any benefits?
Lu Yuan had gained benefits and progress from studying the Taoist Classics, which fueled his keen interest, evolving into the present state where he could not go a day without reading a volume and finding every meal tasteless without it.
This could be considered going from one extreme to another.
While Lu Yuan and his disciple were immersed in their daily martial arts practice, Sun Siwen had finally gotten some respite from the county magistrate’s annoyance after half a month.
That was not because the county magistrate had a change of heart.
Mainly, more than half a month had passed since the Imperial Examination, and the results had come out. The patrol and capture officer dispatched by the county magistrate to protect the candidates had rushed back to report as soon as the results were released.
Somewhat unexpectedly, out of the twenty-one candidates, someone really won the juren title.
The county magistrate’s gamble and Sun Siwen’s crash course had actually worked.
There was no need to say more. Upon hearing the news, the county magistrate immediately burst into laughter. With this juren title, his position was secured.
With the worry of the past few days resolved, how could he not be happy?
He held a banquet that night, inviting officials from the county to celebrate the good news together.
It was said that many of those invited not only congratulated the county magistrate but also toasted Sun Siwen out of respect.
Although Sun Siwen’s position as the county official was not high, his success in teaching a juren could not be ignored.
A juren was considered an official.
Teaching an official was a remarkable accomplishment.
Just for that reason, he had garnered everyone’s respect.
Many even thought of sending their children to the County Academy to be taught by Sun Siwen, hoping they might win the juren title in next year’s Imperial Examination.
They, as officials, feared their descendants would lack ambition. If their generation could pass the examination and secure an official position, but their next generation failed to pass even the juren title, the family’s legacy would be at risk of decline.
A perfect example was Sun Siwen himself.
His family’s decline started with just one generation of not having an official. By the time it reached Sun Siwen, the third generation, they had become a poor family.
With so many examples before them, it was natural to be concerned. Moreover, apart from being admired, Sun Siwen had another hidden advantage.
The students who took the exam had all gone through his crash course.
As a result, the newly crowned juren would have to address Sun Siwen as
“Master Sun” and maintain the student-disciple relationship from now on.
In other words, Sun Siwen had taken the first step in his career of having students and former officials all over the world and had celebrated an auspicious start.
In the future, if more of his disciples could win the juren and jinshi titles, it would be of great assistance to Sun Siwen’s prospects.
Although Sun Siwen was happy about this, upon returning home after the banquet, he told his close friend in a realistic tone: “This time, it’s Lu Yan who won the juren title.
He is an experienced scholar, and being over forty years old, he has accumulated enough knowledge and skills for the past twenty years.
Outsiders always think that Lu Yan’s low profile enabled him to win the juren title because of my teaching.
But I know that’s not the case.
Otherwise, why didn’t Song Yun, Li Qian, and Guo Yun, who I valued more, win the juren title despite being more intelligent and prominent in reputation?
So, while I may have contributed to Lu Yan’s success, it is secondary. The real reason is that he himself had the ability..”