Chapter 408 - 242: Heavenly Craftsmanship

Chapter 408: Chapter 242: Heavenly Craftsmanship

More than a month passed in the blink of an eye.

The construction of Songjiang Prefecture’s Bailu Academy was proceeding at an unexpectedly fast pace. After just over a month, its basic form was already visible.

The price for such speed was that silver was being spent like flowing water.

If not for roping in the many great families of Songjiang Prefecture, the Wu Family alone might not have been able to sustain it.

The main reason was that Su Mu’s plans were simply too grand.

After the new Prefect of Songjiang Prefecture took office, he almost threw in the towel and fled overnight upon seeing the scale of the Songjiang Prefecture Bailu Academy.

However, once he understood everything, he became even more enthusiastic than Su Mu and Wu Yiqi, practically living on the construction site day and night to supervise the building of the Songjiang Prefecture Bailu Academy.

The reason for this was simply that he was Lu Mingyang.

That’s right. After Li Dangsen was thrown in jail, the new Prefect of Songjiang Prefecture was none other than Zhu Jiuyuan’s disciple, Lu Mingyang.

Lu Mingyang, once a member of the Da Xuan Envoy, was acquainted with Su Mu and was also a disciple of Bailu Academy’s Mountain Master, Zhu Jiuyuan. His appointment as the Prefect of Songjiang Prefecture was quite fitting.

The consequence of Lu Mingyang taking office was that Su Mu’s life became much easier than before.

He directly dumped the trivial matters of building the Songjiang Prefecture Bailu Academy onto Lu Mingyang.

After all, he had already solved the most difficult problem—funding. Lu Mingyang would be more dedicated to the remaining tasks than he would be.

Now, Su Mu’s daily life consisted of finding Huo Zhen Court to discuss the Weapon Casting Technique, and then offering guidance on Luo Anning’s and Xiang Xiaoyuan’s cultivation.

Other than that, nothing—

Songjiang Prefecture was just too peaceful. Never mind fiends, even demon lords were exceedingly rare.

"I’ve figured it out. When it comes to weapon casting, you really have no talent."

Huo Zhen Court took the lump of iron Su Mu handed him, gave it a casual glance, then tossed it aside in disgust.

"Even Er Mei is better than you."

Huo Zhen Court said, "Back when I first started learning the Weapon Casting Technique, it only took me half a month to successfully forge a Mortal Weapon.

"Honestly, you should just give up. Even the Outer Disciples of our Divine Weapon Pavilion are better than you."

Su Mu’s expression didn’t change as he replied coolly, "Is that so? I think it’s alright.

"It’s not that you’re teaching it wrong, is it?"

"I’m teaching it wrong?"

Huo Zhen Court jumped up like a cat with its fur on end. "What I’m teaching you is the most orthodox Artifact Refining Technique in the world!

"Aside from the secret techniques of the Divine Weapon Pavilion, everything I’m teaching you is exactly what I learned back then.

"Even if you found a Weapon Master from the Taiping Bureau to teach you, they definitely couldn’t teach you to my level!"

"Su Mu, you have to admit it. You’re not good at everything. When it comes to weapon casting, you just don’t have the talent."

Huo Zhen Court clapped him on the shoulder and said, "It’s just like Er Mei. When it comes to studying, he leaves me in the dust, but he has no talent for the Martial Dao. There’s nothing to be done about it."

"When it comes to the talent for gossiping, you’re definitely top-tier."

Just then, a voice suddenly sounded out, and Zhang Zhongmei was seen walking in from outside.

Caught talking about someone behind their back, Huo Zhen Court was a bit embarrassed.

He gave a sheepish laugh. "I was just praising you. You may not have any talent for the Martial Dao, but you’re great at studying."

Zhang Zhongmei rolled his eyes and said coldly, "My weapon casting talent is also better than yours.

"Even as an ordinary person, I can still forge a Profound Weapon!"

Huo Zhen Court: "..."

’I could forge a Profound Weapon in my early twenties. Did I ever get arrogant about it?’

"Er Mei, what are you doing here in Songjiang Prefecture instead of being a proper official back in the Capital City?"

Huo Zhen Court couldn’t be bothered to argue with him and asked the question.

"I’ve come to Songjiang Prefecture to serve as the Scholar Dao."

Zhang Zhongmei said.

The Scholar Dao was an official post in charge of a region’s education and culture.

Strictly speaking, the Songjiang Prefecture Bailu Academy fell directly under his jurisdiction.

Su Mu couldn’t help but chuckle to himself.

’This was probably a deliberate arrangement by Zhu Jiuyuan.’

’Lu Mingyang is his disciple, and Zhang Zhongmei also has close ties with him.’

’He sent them all to Songjiang Prefecture.’

However, Su Mu was happy to see it happen.

They were all old acquaintances, which made his job as the Taiping Bureau Governor much more comfortable.

"You don’t need to tell us about you scholars’ affairs. We wouldn’t understand anyway."

Huo Zhen Court said nonchalantly.

"You may be an uncultured brute, but Governor Su is a scholar renowned throughout the world."

Zhang Zhongmei said with disdain.

"Him? I’ve never even seen him read a book!"

Huo Zhen Court burst out laughing.

’Huo Zhen Court would be the first to admit that Su Mu was powerful, but the man probably barely knew how to read. What kind of scholar was that?’

"There’s no point explaining it to someone like you who can barely recognize a few words."

Zhang Zhongmei pursed his lips. "Sparse shadows slant across clear, shallow water; a subtle fragrance drifts in the moonlit dusk. Do you even understand what that means?"

"What the hell?"

Huo Zhen Court said.

Zhang Zhongmei shot him a disdainful look, then turned to Su Mu and said, "Governor Su, I have something to give you."

After speaking, he glanced at Huo Zhen Court again. "Certain people should make themselves scarce!"

"You ungrateful Er Mei! All those times I covered for you were for nothing!"

Huo Zhen Court cursed, but still walked outside.

He and Zhang Zhongmei were childhood friends; trading insults like this didn’t affect their relationship.

He knew that if Zhang Zhongmei was asking him to leave, the matter had to be extremely important.

After going out, Huo Zhen Court didn’t go far. Instead, he stood guard outside the door to prevent anyone from disturbing them.

Just then, he saw Shi Ziran passing by and grabbed him. "Lao Shi, can you read?"

"I studied for a couple of years when I was young."

Shi Ziran said, confused and curious.

"What does ’Sparse shadows slant across clear, shallow water; a subtle fragrance drifts in the moonlit dusk’ mean?"

Huo Zhen Court asked.

"Er..."

Shi Ziran gave Huo Zhen Court a strange look. "That’s a line of poetry. I don’t know the specifics either, but I’ve heard people say that poem is famous enough to be passed down for all time.