Unknown Visitor

"Xue'er, come to my place," Xu Ling's voice sounded in Wu Xue's mind when he was about to start another round of Soul Cultivation.

It had been eight months since he began this path, but he was still on the first layer of the Accumulation Realm. It wasn't because he was untalented, but because he was trying to purify his soul power to the limit before breaking through each layer.

That was the day he planned to advance to the second layer, but his master unexpectedly interrupted his plans.

"What is it?" he was rather curious since his master wasn't a person to interact with others without need, she was a rather silent person.

He left his cave abode and went to her courtyard, there he found two women drinking tea under the shade of a tree.

One of them was his master, but the other was unknown to him. It was a beautiful black-haired woman wearing a golden robe with a hand-held white fan, her face was a bit similar to his master's but her style was much different.

"Disciple greets master," he first bowed to Xu Ling and then to the unknown woman, "This junior greets senior."

"What do you think?" Xu Ling asked the woman after nodding to Wu Xue.

The woman closed her fan before saying, "He is strange."

Wu Xue twitched the corners of his mouth but stayed silent.

"Can you do it or not?" Xu Ling asked with a frown.

"Come here," the woman waved to Wu Xue, who walked towards her, "What do you think is superior, martial arts or literacy?"

Wu Xue was surprised by the sudden question but answered, "Literacy."

"Really?" the woman smiled and looked at Xu Ling as if provoking her.

Xu Ling's face remained unchanged.

"Why?" the woman asked him, "Why do you think so?"

"Well..." Wu Xue caressed his cheek and answered a bit embarrassed, "Because I find it more fun."

A question mark popped out in the woman's mind and she asked, "Just because it's fun?"

"Yes," Wu Xue nodded.

"Are you sure he has a talent for it?" the woman seemed a bit angry and looked at Xu Ling.

"Ask him why he thinks this way," Xu Ling said while calmly observing the situation.

"You heard?" the woman looked at Wu Xue.

"It's nothing special," Wu Xue tilted his head a bit confused, "I believe there's no distinction between being strong or weak, being a king or commoner, so for me... what really matters is whatever I'm having fun."

"Oh?" the woman lifted an eyebrow.

"If you want to know more, senior," Wu Xue continued, "If there's anything more to it, it would be the fact I'm persuaded by the reality that power is an object humans consider the answer when it is just proof of our futility when obtained.

"I would rather gracefully embrace reality than enter the depths of self-righteousness and hypocrisy.

"Is my answer more acceptable for you now, senior?"

"Who taught you those things?" she asked back.

"Many people, I don't remember the names of everyone..." Wu Xue shook his head, "Their writings are not my words, but I transformed their writings into my own words."

"You learned those things from books?" the woman was surprised, "Are you sure?"

"Yes," Wu Xue nodded, "My master only taught me the basics of writing and reading."

The woman was silent for a moment before saying to Xu Ling, "It's good, but not enough."

"Xue'er, how many of them you comprehended?" Xu Ling asked with a smile, "Why don't you write a poem to her about them?"

"Master, I lack the skills," Wu Xue was embarrassed, "I can at most include two or three at the same time."

"Do so," Xu Ling was satisfied.

"Oh, a poem?" the woman was visibly interested, "Do you need a paper and pen?"

"No," Wu Xue shook his head, "I want to show something I figured out recently."

"Do it," the woman was even more curious, "Are you going to write in the air or the ground?"

"I don't know about the others', but my poems," Wu Xue pointed his finger to his chest, "Are meant to reach the heart, rather than the eyes.

"My heart is my paper, my intention is my pen, and my passion is my ink," he said slowly, "But the heart is hidden, so it can't be read by the eyes.

"It can only be read by another heart, so I won't speak with mouth, but with my mind."

Wu Xue closed his eyes and a new world appeared in his mind, it was colorful and full of beautiful forms such as flowers, waterfalls, and snowy mountains. Each form represented a word, and the whole represented a flow.

He opened his eyes again and his soul stirred, he felt his soul power being rapidly depleted, it was him sharing his experience directly with whoever wanted to receive it, anyone close to him could enter the "poem."

The woman received what he wanted to portray, she received what he wanted to share, his passion and thoughts, his poem.

He stopped when he felt his soul weak and the woman applauded, "It was beautiful."

"Thank you," Wu Xue smiled bitterly, "But it wasn't what I really wanted to portray."

"Oh?"

"I lack the skills to share it, that was just a small part of it," he explained, "It's incomplete."

"Yes? I could feel the artistic conception of the Five Elements and the artistic conception of time," she said with surprise, "And it was incomplete?"

"The poem I want to portray is the same poem we live in," Wu Xue smiled naively, "With the same sorrows and joys, for a poem can be both sad and happy."

"Magnificent!" the woman applauded again with sparkling eyes, "You possess great ambition, just as I heard from your master."

"What do you think?" Xu Ling asked again.

"Impressive!" the woman nodded, "But still lacking."

Xu Ling sighed and said to Wu Xue, "Just say directly, how many have you comprehended?"

"About a hundred," Wu Xue said without batting an eyelid, "It became easier the more I repeated the process, and I could use what I learned to help."

"...A hundred?" Xu Ling was shocked and almost lost her composure, "Are you serious?"

"Yes," Wu Xue, "I borrowed some new books from a few relatives through my brother, they gave me great inspiration."

"From the highest status, how many?" Xu Ling asked after taking a deep breath.

"All."

"..."

"Master?"

"I will beat you up to death if you are lying."

"Okay, I'm not lying anyway."

Xu Ling took another deep breath and said to the woman, "Do you know what we are talking about?"

"What?"

"He just said he comprehended about a hundred artistic conceptions within the eight months and all the ones of the highest status."

"I don't believe it."

"Show it one by one, Wu Xue."

"I don't possess the energy, master."

"Don't worry about it, I will help you with my own."

Wu Xue then began to show all the artistic conceptions he learned in the past three months.

Space-Time, Myriad, Yin-Yang, and Life-Death, those four concepts were the ones with the highest status in the world of cultivation, any of them were extremely difficult to comprehend, but Wu Xue comprehended the five of them.

Each of them took him a whole month to comprehend, but after doing this he could easily use them to infer other artistic conceptions.

After showing all the artistic conceptions, he felt tired, he was still too weak. But the two women that observed were both shocked.

The unknow woman secretly cast a spell to see if Wu Xue was really a child.

Xu Ling coughed and said, "Tell us, how you comprehended all of them?"

"Well, almost all of them were comprehended after I read and wrote poems involving the element I focused on, but recently I have been able to comprehend by just reading, without the need of writing."

The unknown woman secretly cast a spell to see if he was lying, and after seeing he wasn't she said, "My name is Ru Meng.

"Do you want to accept me as your master?"

"???" Wu Xue was shocked and looked at his master for help.

"This is the reason I called her here," Xu Ling said after a sigh, "I can't allow your literary talent to be wasted, the literary path is not inferior to any other."

Ru Meng looked at him intently, as if seeing a very delicious dessert.

"I'm sorry, but no," Wh Xue refused.

Xu Ling found the scene very familiar.

"...Why?" Ru Meng asked with a forced smile.

"I just don't want to, I don't even know senior very well," Wu Xue said, "Do I need another reason?"

Ru Meng took a deep breath and said, "I'm not inferior to your master both in strength and reputation, is it not enough?"

Wu Xue looked at her with a meaningful look.

"Xue'er," Xu Ling ordered with a bitter look, "Accept her as your master, it's an order."

"Disciple Wu Xue. greet Master Ru Meng," Wu Xue immediately kotowed, without any satisfaction.

Ru Meng had a complicated expression and didn't know what to say.

"Don't be troubled," Xu Ling smiled bitterly, "He is just like this, he acts without a care for common sense, even if he knows about it."

"Just so you know, master," Wu Xue suddenly said to Ru Meng with a sincere expression and calm voice, "I'm not forcing myself, I'm truly accepting you as my master, so please take care of me from now on."

Ru Meng cast another spell to see if he was telling the truth, and he was.

Ru Meng sighed and waved her fan a few times, "It has been a while since my emotions fluctuated so much."

"...You better get used to it," Xu Ling shook her head helplessly.

Ru Meng then gave a book to Wu Xue, "This is a gift of first meeting and also a gift from a master to her disciple, it's an ancient tale about a far ancient age, you will certainly enjoy it."

"Thank you, master!" Wu Xue's eyes immediately sparkled.

"You are about to form your literary heart and you don't even know..." Ru Meng said slowly, "I will spend a few days teaching the basics of the literary path and how to form a better literary heart.

"This path doesn't possess things like cultivation and martial techniques, it depends exclusively on your comprehension and accumulation."

"Will you be living here from now on?" Wu Xue asked.

"I can't, I'm not like Xu Ling, I have many things to do outside," Ru Meng shook her head.

"Just leave an avatar, master," Wu Xue said pitifully, "I don't want to part ways so quickly."

"You..." Ru Meng didn't know if she should cry or laugh, "This isn't my territory, I can't do it without permission."

"I'm the second son of the master of this land, didn't you know that? Master," Wu Xue tilted his head, "I can give you this permission."

"You are... the second son?" Ru Meng was surprised and looked at Xu Ling, "Why didn't you tell me that?"

"I told you he was surnamed Wu and that he had a relationship with one of my previous disciples," Xu Ling looked at her strangely, "Wasn't it enough to infer the whole picture?"

"No!" Ru Meng was angry, "There are many people surname Wu here, all of them are relatives of your previous disciples, how could I have known?"

"Anyway, you do now," Xu Ling shrugged.

Ru Meng took a deep breath and looked at Wu Xue, "Okay, I will leave an avatar here so we can meet often, are you satisfied?"

Wu Xue smiled brightly and nodded.

Ru Meng patted his head gently and said, "Let's know more about each other from now on."

The next day, Wu Cang returned home with a small baby in his arms and a beautiful woman with a gentle-looking face.

That same day, Wu Ying also returned home.