Volume 1: Spring in Wulong Town Chapter 24: Reading for the Rise of Tangjiabao
I am from Tangjiabao, Xingyao Continent.
Tang Zheng first taught these eight characters to a few young children. He recited them over and over again, and then taught them how to write them stroke by stroke.
After teaching, he asked a few children to practice writing these words.
"I." Tang Zheng first dealt with the youngest group of children before pointing to the first word and speaking, "What is I? I am myself. A complete 'I' is composed of self-esteem, self-reliance, freedom, self-control and many other aspects..."
Because older children don't need to practice writing these eight words, Tang Zheng can explain it a little more specifically for them.
Extending from the word "I", Tang Zheng first talked about idioms.
I am the only one who is supreme, I am outnumbered, and there must be one person who can teach me when there are three of us…
Idioms were constantly being written on the hanging white paper, making a rustling sound.
Soon, after he finished talking about the idioms, he turned to " The Spring and Autumn History of the Purple Gold Empire" and told the history to the biggest ones.
As he talked about them one by one, Tang Zheng found that teaching from a kindergarten class to doctoral students was not that difficult.
After spending about half an hour talking about "I", Tang Zheng began to talk about Tangjiabao.
Tang Zheng picked up the pen and circled the three words "I", "Tangjiabao" and "Xingyao Continent" with emphasis.
After putting down the pen, Tang Zheng continued speaking.
"I went out last night. I used the wound on my neck to understand the rules of survival in Wulong Town."
He changed the subject and lifted his collar.
There was a sudden cry of surprise from below the podium.
"Wow wow, this is so scary..."
"Ah! Master, what's wrong with you?"
"Who did it? I'm going to kill him."
Tang Zheng pressed his hand, signaling them to calm down: "I know that many of you feel that in a place like Wulong Town, whoever has the bigger fist is the law, so there is no need to read or write. You even come to me to remind me not to delay the class, huh?"
Tang Zheng knocked the inkstone with his pen.
The young boys and girls who had looked for him in the martial arts training ground all lowered their heads again.
"I wrote these three words to let everyone know that we are not just a small rat. We want to change the entire Tangjiabao, get out of Wulong Town, conquer the Grand Line... Ugh, we want to conquer the rats of Xingyao Continent!"
"I also know that some people are not willing to learn to read and write, thinking that it is useless. So, when you studied before, you were holding your nose and reading for your elders unwillingly..."
"Well, today I will tell you that in this thick history of the Purple Gold Empire, the illiteracy rate of the 108 most dazzling nine-star masters is... zero! Not a single one! So, can you understand the military strategies, geographical maps, and sand table calculations they left behind?"
"From today on, what I hope you remember is ..." Tang Zheng turned around again and wrote a complete sentence on the white paper that was filled with words.
Study for the rise of Tangjiabao!
The entire lecture hall was filled with silence.
"Starting today..." Tang Zheng raised the pen and pointed to the words behind him.
"Study for the rise of Tangjiabao!" All the children of Tangjiabao who knew these words shouted out loudly.
Tang Zheng didn't say anything else.
He wanted to leave some space for the children of Tangjiabao to think it through.
That way he will have a better class in the future and no one will disrupt it.
But at this moment, a little boy who was only about four years old raised his hand and said timidly: "Teacher, what you mean is that from today on, we are the rat shit?"
"Well, this... isn't entirely the way to understand it." Tang Zheng almost broke the pen in his hand.
"No... isn't it?" The little boy had a frightened look on his face.
Tang Zheng swallowed hard and corrected himself, "We...we are the great rat shit that can change the future of Tangjiabao and even the future of the entire Xingyao Continent!"
The two or three youngest little boys and girls thought about it for a moment, and seemed to understand. They jumped up happily: "We are all rat shit, yeah yeah yo, we are all rat shit, yeah yeah yo!"
"You little bastards!" Tang Zheng flipped the table.
In the lecture hall, the solemn atmosphere of studying for the rise of Tangjiabao disappeared completely in an instant.
…
After two hours of hard work, Tang Zheng's first class finally passed without any danger.
Having accomplished the great feat of collective teaching from kindergarten to graduate students, he finally took a big step towards the path of destroying people.
After hurriedly finishing his lunch, Tang Zheng did not go to the martial arts training ground, but hurried back to his own courtyard.
"Astrology, astrology... my astrology... please don't let it be instant noodles. Even if it is instant noodles, don't let it be leftovers. It has to be a whole piece of instant noodles. Even if it must be leftover noodles, it'd better be leftovers not long ago, not moldy noodles..." Tang Zheng lowered his requirements as he walked along. Finally, "Forget it, people can't be so greedy! As long as I have astrology, who cares what it is? Even instant noodles that have been left in the sewer for three years are fine! Uh, are my tastes getting heavier..."
Tang Zheng returned to the courtyard and took out the "sky-high" ink worth one or two taels of purple gold.
A piece of white paper was already spread out on his small table.
"Big brother, what are you doing?" Just as he was about to grind ink, a clear child's voice came from behind him.
"Huh?" Tang Zheng was walking in a hurry and did not notice the little tail following him - Meng Fengling.
Tang Zheng was puzzled.
His hearing is absolutely top-notch.
However, the little bell followed him all the way, but he didn’t even hear the bell on her neck ringing?
"Big brother..." Little Lingling climbed onto the table and happily sat on the white paper. Her chubby little hands poked left and right on the paper, "Big brother, do you want to write something? Fengling will add fragrance to your red sleeves..."
"..." Tang Zheng quickly carried her down, "Who taught you to use the four words 'red sleeves add fragrance' like this?"
"Because I'm not wearing red today?"
"..." Tang Zheng was speechless.
After patting Xiao Lingling's head and asking her to stay aside, Tang Zheng spread out his sleeves and started grinding ink.
The light purple ink in the inkstone, which faintly exuded the fragrance of a young girl's body, was finely ground, and as the ink entered the water, all the star power in his body seemed to leap up with joy.
The light purple patterns of light changed into various vague shapes, just like the reflection under the water floating on the surface, illuminating the entire inkstone very brightly.
"Hey, is this tattoo ink?" said Xiao Lingdang.
"Well, it's tattoo ink. Have you used it?"
"No." Xiao Lingling shook her head.
"When you grow up, I will send you..."
"I was born with one star... I don't need it."
“……”Tang Zheng really wanted to kick her out.
According to the first book of "Star Attracting Style" - "Seeing the Star Patterns", one only needs to spread the ink on the palm of his hand, and then use the star power to print it on white paper, and then he will be able to see the stars rising behind him in the near future.
"Come on!" Tang Zheng concentrated.
He didn't look at Xiao Lingling again, but took a half step back. With a "huh" sound, he gathered all his star power in his palm and slapped it towards the piece of white paper.
Whoosh...there was only a sound of wind.
"Huh?" Tang Zheng only felt that his entire perception seemed to have escaped into a void.
The things in front of me, the white paper, the inkstone, the little bell, are becoming increasingly blurry...
The only thing that was clearest was the layers of lavender smoke spreading from his palms.
Like ripples...
Layers of purple smoke quickly rose and swirled in his perception, even enveloping his entire body and flowing through each of his star veins.
The impact force of the star tide and the star power gathered in his palms produced repeated collisions!
The burning sensation coming from his palm almost made Tang Zheng think that what his palm was touching was not a piece of white paper, but an electric blanket...
Afterwards, the star power in the palm of his hand suddenly loosened, as if it was hit by some force and all was shattered.
At this time, Tang Zheng's perception gradually recovered.
The small table, inkstone, and small bell all slowly became clear again in my sight, and the layers of purple smoke slowly dissipated...
Tang Zheng moved his hand away from the white paper and looked at the paper holding his breath.
"It's strange, what kind of constellation is this?" Little Lingling was small and easily crawled from in front of Tang Zheng and onto the table.
"What the hell?" Tang Zheng stared at the image on the paper for a full minute. "Could it be that the ink sold to me by Jubao Pavilion is expired?"
