Xian Ni Chapter 11 – Zhang Hu
MARCH 21, 2015 VOIDTRANSLATIONS16 COMMENTS
ObligatoryTLNote: Woohoo, I wasted a lot of time on this chapter, for some reason it kept finding ways of confounding me, so forgive me if my translation seems a bit inconsistent in some parts. Anyways, enjoy the chapter.
“Weasel?” Wang Lin was startled, his first impulse was to remember the mocking face of the yellow-clad youth, thought that he did seem to fit the name, but don’t know if the person concerned would admit it or not.
“Ah? Didn’t you see him? He’s the man responsible for arranging the work for Secret disciples, he is one himself, but has earned the right to practice immortal techniques, wearing a yellow robe, we call him many names in secret.” Zhang Hu taking a sip and gnashing his teeth in anger said.
Wang Lin eating a sweet potato, said: “I know who you mean, I saw him today, and was told to carry atleast ten full vats of water or there would be no food to eat.”
Zhang Hu stunned, stared at Wang Lin a while before opening his mouth to say: “Dude, are you sure you don’t have some old grudge with him?”
Wang Lin shook his head and asked: “Why, what’s the matter?”
Zhang Hu looked at Wang Lin with pitying eyes, and said: “Wang Lin, surely you are not thinking that the vats to be filled are the same that we use at our homes, this big. ” saying so, he gestured with his hands.
Wang Lin had an ominous feeling but nodded nevertheless.
Zhang Hu smiled and said: “You must have somehow offended that weasel, because the Vats he said are about as big as this room that we are in, enough to fill ten regular tanks full of water…. Wang Lin, take these sweet potatoes, I no longer want them, I think I am good for four to five days.” You are new to the mountains, there are some places where berries grow, only the Elderly can pick several, but I can still pick some wild berries for myself.” With that he put the sweet potatoes on the desk, sighed and laid once again on the bed to sleep.
Anger rises in Wang Lin, he grits his teeth, he took a bit out of the sweet potato, remembering his parent’s eyes full of expectations, suppressed his anger a bit and forced himself to fall asleep.
The Second day, it was still dark outside, Wang Lin climbed out of the bed, Zhang Hu was still snoring, Wang Lin quickly put on the grey robe, walk to the odd-jobs place quickly, soon arrives at it. The Sun appears from the East gradually, the Yellow-clath Youth opened the door, glanced at Wang Lin obliquely before saying: “Hmm, fairly punctual, get a bucket and go out of the East Gate, there is a mountain spring, bring water from there.”
Then, not caring about Wang Lin in the slightest, sat down cross-legged on the ground, facing the sunrise slowly breathing, a little white qi came out of his nostrils, rolling like two white dragons. [TLNote: Yea, that’s how it rolls, deal with it]
Wang Lin grew envious seeing that, walking into the room, he saw the ten large tanks, smiling bitterly, he picked up two buckets and set out towards the East gate.
After walking a long way, he arrived at the mouth of the spring, the scenery around there is quite beautiful, the sound of water rushing about, brimming with sounds of nature having a soothing effect on the soul.
Wang Lin didn’t have time to look at the scenery, filling the bucket quickly picked it up and went back.
Till dusk, he was able to fill a tank, if he hadn’t eaten a sweet potato at noon, then he wouldn’t have had the strength to carry on. Nevertheless, his arms and legs were still stinging, the pain was unbearable.
He pondered a little, carrying half a bucket of water to find an isolated no-man’s land, carefully observed his surroundings to ensure that nobody was around before taking out the stone bead, he put the bead into the bucket and let it stay a while before taking it out. After that, he drank the water from the bucket, a warm feeling immediately emerged and the stinging pain from his limbs slowly dissipitated.
Although less effective than dew, but Wang Lin was very excited, he touched the stone bead he had wrapped around his chest deciding once again to never let people know that he possessed such a treasure.
After drinking the remaining water from the bucket, his muscles are no longer sore, he felt refreshed and immediately set about to continue fetching water.
That day, he filled one and a half large tanks of water, and although he had drank half a bucket of stone bead soaked water, he assumed a look of weariness before going back to the house to prevent arousing suspicion.
Soon after, Zhang Hu came back, his face showing signs of overwork, and the two exchanged a few words, Zhang Hu hesitated a long time, but relented in the end to ask for two sweet potatoes, eating them he went to sleep soundly.
Time flew by, and soon, it had been one month since Wang Lin was accepted as a Heng Yue Sect secret disciple.
Wang Lin now knew, Zhang Hu’s job was to cut firewood, has to cut enough wood daily before dinner to receive food, he has been cutting wood ever since he had joined as a Heng Yue Sect secret disciple three years ago, at that time he had to go three-four days to get food, depending on water to fill his stomach but now he can eat a meal every two days. [TLNote: From what I understand work done in a day is carried over to the next day until complete]
According to him, a Secret disciple must do chores for ten years, and eat meal three time in a day without lagging behind, only after fulfilling these two requirements can one be taught some basic immortal foundation technique.
True Disciples unlike them have their own masters, do not need to do any chores, have their own separate rooms, with their main job being to practice
In addition, there are people who stand in between true disciples and secret disciples, named Helpers, such as Wang Hao, who are required to help out their masters, but they are more like servants to be honest.
These person do not need to do chores and can practice low level immortal techniques, they only need to do the work which their master assigns them to do, but among these kinds of person the natural talent is usually average and don’t have much prospects, relinquished to a lifetime as a servant.
The so-called natural talent, Wang Lin also learned from Zhang Hu the general idea about it, to put it simply, talent is the spirit, everyone has some in their body more or less. But the key thing is quantity of the spirit, if Spirit is in sufficient quantity then can start practicing immortal techniques in the same year, if however it is insufficient, then it may take a decade or even a hundred years.
A regular human being has limited life, often of mediocre quality without much scope for development, which is why the Xiuxian schools select disciples from people with large amount of spirit.
The whole month, Wang Lin continued drinking water from bucket after soaking the stone bead in it, continuing to get stronger, and when at the start it had taken him six days to fill up the ten large tanks, it now only took three days.
But in order to not be suspected, he gets up before even the sun rises, and holding a bucket starts his leisurely walk to the spring, as the matter stood, although others may be a bit surprised that he was able to complete his work in three days but most of them attributed it to him working from early morning to late night.