Chapter 30: A Month of Slacking Off
All the disciples craned their necks, their eyes fixed on Elder Moro, eagerly awaiting his explanation.
Clearly, everyone was curious about how this “curse charm” achieved such an effect.
However absurd, Wen Ying found it quite amusing.
Being able to successfully capture the students’ attention and spark their interest in learning, Elder Moro was undoubtedly a good teacher.
This gave Wen Ying, a bad student, the thought of attending class again tomorrow.
After a brief pause, Elder Moro continued, “Disciples should know the story of ‘being surrounded on all sides (四面楚歌).’ “
The disciples nodded, with the quicker ones even answering, “I know! I know! It’s the legend of the King of Chu, who, upon hearing the enemy soldiers singing songs in his native dialect, was demoralized, fled during the night, and ultimately suffered defeat!”
“Yes, essentially so,” Elder Moro stroked his beard, nodding approvingly. “But the disciples may not know that the story of ‘being surrounded on all sides’ was circulated along with the high-level cultivator’s ‘foul-mouthed charm (口吐芬芳符).’ “
“Elder, do you mean… dialect?” Feng Sixuan pondered for a moment, offering a guess.
“Exactly! Young miss Feng Sixuan, worthy of the He Lan family’s recommendation, truly possesses a natural talent for cultivation.” Elder Moro laughed heartily. “Have you ever noticed that cursing easily reveals regional dialects? Once the ‘foul-mouthed charm’ is used, not only is one’s hometown background exposed, but even where one has been is clear as day!”
“Hiss—”
A collective gasp arose from the disciples.
What a powerful charm!
You see, cultivators feared most having their hometown backgrounds revealed. Wang, the old lady from the east of the village, might reveal their childhood mishaps, and Li, the old man from the west, might spill secrets about childhood experiences.
Even after living a hundred years, with old acquaintances gone, if a cultivator emerges from the village, their childhood stories could spread for five generations!
And adding all the places they’ve been…
Murder is not terrifying; the terrifying thing is to attack the heart!
Wen Ying: …So, does this really have anything to do with ‘being surrounded on all sides’?
However, cursing words are indeed the most regionally distinctive…
Wen Ying remembered when she first arrived in the new city, while still struggling to understand other dialects, she learned several curses, which she spoke very fluently and still remembers.
Although absurd, it actually sounded somewhat reasonable…
Wen Ying was excited, further solidifying her decision to attend class tomorrow to add spice to her life.
This seemed more interesting than reading that trashy novel.
Moreover… calculating the days, something big should happen tomorrow.
Perhaps, a new scene could be unlocked.
Next, Elder Moro taught everyone how to draw this “foul-mouthed charm.”
To achieve the maximum level in cultivation, Wen Ying had also studied charms. Besides charms, she dabbled in sword cultivation, body cultivation, alchemy, etc. – all maxed out, similar to the absurd “culinary cultivation.”
The general method of drawing charms was, of course, trivial to Wen Ying. However, she had never heard of this “foul-mouthed charm” in her previous reincarnations. Perhaps, like the newly unlocked term “culinary cultivation,” it was unknown because the current scene’s plot hadn’t been unlocked before.
When Elder Moro finished drawing and displayed the charm to everyone—
Wen Ying clearly saw that on the yellow paper, several bizarre characters were drawn in cinnabar.
That’s right, despite being drawn very wildly, as someone who received compulsory education, Wen Ying could absolutely distinguish that the yellow paper had connected letters.
—”KTFFF”.
Though letters, not a foreign language, they were the initial letters of Chinese pinyin.
Kou Tu Fen Fang (Mouth Spouts Fragrance), Si Mian Chu Ge (Surrounded on All Sides), KTFFF…
Was that high-level cultivator also a time traveler?
Wen Ying seemed to have finally unlocked something incredible.
Under Elder Moro’s guidance, everyone took out their prepared yellow paper and cinnabar and began drawing charms.
Wen Ying, who was about to become a guinea pig, was asked to stand at the front, awaiting the testing of the disciples’ charms.
Soon, the disciples finished drawing their charms.
They were eager, more excited than usual.
They were looking forward to Wen Ying’s humiliation.
Because they knew their own abilities. Although they didn’t deliberately draw the charms badly because the test subject was Wen Ying, they knew that their seriously drawn charms would definitely have a devastating effect.
Under Elder Moro’s command, everyone lined up to begin testing the charm’s effects.
The first person, with excitement and trembling hands, eagerly injected true energy into the charm and applied it to Wen Ying’s arm.
After waiting for a moment, nothing happened.
Wen Ying neither cursed nor showed any other unusual reaction.
Elder Moro sighed and shook his head, tearing off the charm from Wen Ying’s arm and gesturing for the next person to continue.
After that, Wen Ying tested about thirty or forty disciples’ “foul-mouthed charms.”
Almost without exception, Wen Ying had no reaction at all; at most, she yawned when the last person applied the charm—
This had little to do with the effect of the foul-mouthed charm; it was simply that she was bored by the repetitive actions.
Everyone came with high spirits and left disappointed.
It shouldn’t be like this. Even if the charm was drawn incorrectly, at least she should have hiccuped or twitched—something to show embarrassment.
Could it be… that this “foul-mouthed charm” has an unpleasant effect, and negative times negative equals positive, so its failure means no embarrassment?
If so…
Everyone turned their hopeful gaze toward Feng Sixuan, the last to step forward.
This morning, Feng Sixuan’s strength had already shocked and surprised them. Her strength was almost comparable to the recognized geniuses of the Xun Xian Sect, Fu Shuangxue, Wen Meng, and others.
Among the inner sect disciples present today, she was at the peak that others looked up to.
If they all failed to humiliate Wen Ying due to poor charm-drawing skills, then Feng Sixuan’s charm would surely work!
They knew how low Wen Ying’s cultivation was. If, as Elder Moro said, Feng Sixuan’s cultivation was so much higher than Wen Ying’s…
Wen Ying had been too arrogant before, and now that she’d lost Lin Yu Zunzhe’s backing, everyone wanted to see her humiliated and gloat!
Feng Sixuan didn’t have the same thoughts as the other disciples, nor did she know what they were planning.
She simply followed the elder’s instructions, cultivating earnestly and drawing charms diligently.
A model student, excelling in both character and studies.
Wen Ying thought so.
Guided by Elder Moro, Feng Sixuan infused true energy and applied the charm to Wen Ying’s arm—
Everyone even held their breath, avoiding affecting their hearing, waiting for the anticipated moment to arrive.
Author’s Note:
I’m rewatching the latest season of [Name Detective] haha. When I typed KTFFF, I thought of [Mangcheng’s Wind and Clouds]’s TXXYY (Special Effects Anti-inflammatory Drugs) haha, [Name Detective] is really good!! YYDS!!
As for the dialects, because I’ve traveled through many southern cities, I’ve forgotten some dialects, but I still remember how to curse haha, it’s true.