I picked up skill fragments in the demon world

#124 - Humiliation

Chapter 124: Humiliation

Private school?

There are no private schools!

Those who know how to read are all noble lords. You want a noble lord to teach you? No amount of money will do!

Zhang Chen's face was filled with disappointment upon hearing this. Did this mean he wouldn't have the opportunity to learn to read?

Zhang Qingyan looked at Zhang Chen's disappointed expression, and a beautiful curve appeared on the corner of her lips: "But consider yourself lucky that you met me today! I can point you to a clear path."

"Since you know I'm a commoner, why do you want to help me?" Zhang Chen didn't accept rashly but asked.

"Because I'm also an ordinary person." Zhang Qingyan sighed softly: "I also don't know why I would help you. I just hope that if I disappear from this world silently one day, someone will remember me and come to my grave to offer a sacrifice."

Zhang Chen was stunned upon hearing this. He knew Zhang Qingyan's identity as the Little Prince Zhang Xiaohua's replacement. She had been living in the Pingbian Prince's mansion all these years, knowing countless secrets of the Pingbian Prince's mansion. The Pingbian Prince's mansion would never let her walk out alive.

Either she would stay in the Pingbian Prince's mansion for the rest of her life, or she would disappear from the world.

"There is an old Confucian scholar in the county town named Chen Sanliang. This person once advised the Great Zhao Emperor, 'The kindness of a gentleman will end in five generations,' and also submitted a memorial accusing the 'Ten Great Crimes of the Pingbian Prince.' To quell the Pingbian Prince's anger, the Emperor exiled Chen Sanliang to the Northern Lands, wanting to use this to appease the Pingbian Prince's mansion. To show his magnanimity, the Pingbian Prince didn't kill him but kept him confined in the Northern Lands. Later, he didn't know the immensity of heaven and earth and created the theory of 'Flow State' after ten years of seclusion, criticizing the Confucian sages' doctrines as 'useless knowledge,' immediately enraging the scholars of the world. Now, not only can the nobles of the world not tolerate him, but even the scholars can't tolerate him." After Zhang Qingyan finished speaking, she turned and left.

Zhang Chen stood in place, looking at Zhang Qingyan's departing back, and sighed softly: "It's difficult indeed!"

"I say, since you Confucian scholar are unwilling to impart your knowledge of writing to me, then return my gift money." Zhang Chen stepped forward and shouted at the thatched cottage.

"What are you shouting for! Is this a place where you can run wild?" The door opened, and the man in the rice ear robe held Zhang Chen's gift box in his hand and threw it out directly: "Take your things and get out quickly, lest you defile this place."

The gift box was smashed open, and it was empty inside, with only the box but no treasure.

"Where are my silver and jewelry?" Zhang Chen's face darkened.

"Boy, you better be sensible. This is the gentleman's place of secluded cultivation. Where are your treasures? If you're not sensible, we'll just send you to the yamen and teach you to be sensible, how about that?" The man in the yellow Daoist robe was full of coldness and mockery in his voice.

Zhang Chen looked at the man in front of him with a cold glint in his eyes. He didn't expect that even though he, Zhang Chen, had become a god, someone would still dare to embezzle his things.

"Okay! I remembered wrongly. Where are the treasures? I clearly came with an empty box." After Zhang Chen finished speaking, he turned and left without saying a word. He knew that the man in front of him was a martial arts expert. The previous three punches and two kicks had already caused the blood vessels in his body to burst, leaving hidden injuries, but his skin and flesh were not damaged at all. This was clearly the refinement of hidden strength.

He didn't want to fight in close combat!

Seeing Zhang Chen's dejected back, the person wearing the yellow Li Guan Dao robe smiled coldly, but he didn't pay too much attention. Just a mere rich merchant. He was a noble!

Wanting to crush the other party was just a matter of moving a finger.

Zhang Chen walked in the mountains, with a cold look in his eyes. No one in this world can embezzle his things, Zhang Chen!

"I'm going to empty all the treasures in his thatched cottage!" After Zhang Chen walked to the foot of the mountain, he opened his Dharma eyes and looked into the mountain, but he saw that the aura in the mountain was ordinary and not mysterious. Obviously, everyone in the mountain was an ordinary person.

"So all the knowledge in the world is in the hands of the nobles. No wonder even in Huangli Guan, literacy is not widespread." Zhang Chen thought thoughtfully.

At this time, an idea was circulating in Zhang Chen's mind:

"The higher-ups of Huangli Guan must be literate. Could it be that the higher-ups of Huangli Guan are actually nobles?"

"It must be nobles! Otherwise, even if the other party digs up some treasures in the Great Tomb of the Primordial Gods and Demons, ordinary people simply don't know the characters, so how can there be a way to decipher them?" Zhang Chen's eyes showed a strange look at this time: "This is an era controlled by aristocratic families. Knowledge is in the hands of the aristocratic families, and the aristocratic families trample the people of the world under their feet."

He thought of later generations. If it weren't for Huang Chao, I'm afraid that the era he was in would also have the same problem.

"They should be exterminated from their nine clans, it's best to kill them all." Zhang Chen muttered to himself, and then summoned the fox spirit.

The fox spirit looked at Zhang Chen's empty box, and a look of joy appeared in his eyes: "Did you succeed in becoming a teacher?"

Zhang Chen stared straight at the fox spirit, making the fox spirit feel hairy: "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"Are you deliberately hiding it from me and not telling me that only nobles can become teachers?" Zhang Chen looked at the fox spirit.

The fox spirit's voice was full of grievance: "Brother, I am a monster, how would I know your human rules."

While the fox spirit was speaking, he quietly observed Zhang Chen's face, knowing that Zhang Chen had most likely failed to become a teacher.

"I'm going to empty all the valuable items in that thatched cottage!" Zhang Chen's voice was full of coldness.

"Okay! This matter is simple, let's take a trip tonight, just leave it to me." The fox spirit patted his chest and guaranteed: "I guarantee that I will move his house so that even if the mice come, they will have to leave with tears in their eyes."

"I'm going to find someone in the county town, a man named Chen Sanliang. You go and find out about him for me, and report back to me when you find Chen Sanliang's whereabouts." Zhang Chen said to the fox spirit.

"What does this person do?" The fox spirit asked.

Zhang Chen explained what Zhang Qingyan said, and then the fox spirit patted his chest to guarantee to Zhang Chen: "Just watch, I'll have news later."

The fox spirit went away, and Zhang Chen stood alone in the jungle, looking at the thatched cottage in the distance, slowly thinking about what happened today. Since experiencing Zhang Xiaolan, Zhang Chen would never dare to underestimate any woman.

"Zhang Qingyan must know my identity, but why does she still want to help me? Instead of informing Zhang Xiaohua of my whereabouts, going to Zhang Xiaohua to receive a reward and please Zhang Xiaohua?" Zhang Chen thought in his heart.

When I came to seek a teacher for the first time, I didn't hide my identity. Zhang Xiaohua lived on the mountain next to me. As Zhang Xiaohua's substitute, she must also be secretly paying attention to my every move. She must also know the conflict between me and Zhang Xiaohua.

"The King of Pingbian is truly calculating. On one hand, he's using Zhang Qingyan as a substitute, and on the other hand, he's having both of you study under Master Wu Liu. Then, he's cultivating feelings between you two, and he can also conveniently have you exchange information. In the future, after Zhang Xiaohua returns home, she can smoothly take over everything from Zhang Qingyan."

The fog in Zhang Chen's mind gradually dissipated, and a clear thread gradually formed in his mind: "The conflict between me and Zhang Xiaohua is so great, and I haven't concealed my identity from Zhang Shicheng. Therefore, after Zhang Shicheng's Yang Spirit went out, he must have told her about me. If Zhang Qingyan knows my methods and is now secretly helping me, creating opportunities for me to grow stronger, she would definitely be happy to see me have the chance to kill Zhang Xiaohua, or cause some trouble for the Pingbian Royal Mansion."

No one wants to obediently be a puppet, becoming someone else's shadow.

"As expected, the more beautiful a woman is, the more she can deceive people. This Zhang Qingyan has a captivating appearance, looking ethereal like a celestial sister, but who knew her mind would be so deep. Women are not to be trifled with!"

Zhang Chen muttered to himself, then went back into the cave to take out the slingshot frame, took out the dragon tendon to tie it up, and a slingshot appeared in Zhang Chen's hand.

This is the tendon of a real dragon, not the pseudo-dragon of Zhang Shicheng.

Zhang Chen waited in the cave for half a day. Seeing that the sky was getting dark, the fox spirit excitedly returned: "I found it."

"So fast?" Zhang Chen was a little surprised.

"After all, Chen Sanliang is also a celebrity in the Northern Lands," the fox spirit said triumphantly.

"There's no time to visit today. Let's go back first, lest Little Bean Sprout notice anything unusual. We'll work again tonight." Zhang Chen looked at the sky. The moon had already emerged from the sky. The next moment, Zhang Chen flapped his wings and directly transformed into a vampire bat, disappearing into the mountains.

The vampire bat that Zhang Chen transformed into was inconspicuous among the mountains, and bats have very few natural enemies, especially aerial enemies, which are almost non-existent.

Besides eagles, no other animals hunt bats for food in the sky.

The moonlight洒洒落而下, fell on the wings of the thirty-six bats that Zhang Chen transformed into, actually like encountering a water-absorbing sponge, directly absorbing the moonlight and flowing into the crystal nucleus inside the bat's body.

Not only did Zhang Chen transform into thirty-six bats, but even the crystal nucleus split into thirty-six, each inside the body of one of the thirty-six bats.

With the nourishment of the moonlight, Zhang Chen seemed to feel no fatigue. Finally, when the sky was completely dark, he returned to the Taoist temple.

There were too many disciples in the Taoist temple. Except for everyone practicing martial arts on weekdays, there was almost no other interaction. No one noticed that Zhang Chen had been gone for most of the day, except for Little Bean Sprout.

Zhang Chen showed his tracks in front of the statue, opened his Dharma Eye to examine the statue, and could not see anything unusual. There was no mysterious airflow flowing, this was just an ordinary clay sculpture.

In the hall that Zhang Chen cleaned, there was only a female statue. The face of the female statue was hazy, and only her slender and beautiful figure could be seen.

Zhang Chen glanced at the statue, then closed his Dharma Eye and walked out of the hall towards his room.

From afar, he saw a candlelight flickering in the courtyard. Little Bean Sprout was carrying a lantern, pacing back and forth anxiously in the courtyard.

Seeing Zhang Chen's figure, Little Bean Sprout immediately walked forward unhappily, her voice carrying a hint of anxiety: "Good for you, Zhang Chen, disappearing all afternoon, not even waking me up, delaying my practice, making me oversleep. You're really a bastard."

"Say, what did you do this afternoon? Why are you coming back so late?" Little Bean Sprout scrutinized Zhang Chen, a hint of worry showing in her eyes.

Hearing this, Zhang Chen did not answer Little Bean Sprout's words, but instead reached out and touched Little Bean Sprout's head: "Is Senior Sister worried about me? I'm in the Taoist temple, what could happen?"

"I'm afraid you'll have a momentary lapse of reason and run away, and then lose your life." Little Bean Sprout rolled her eyes unhappily, repeatedly urging: "Zhang Chen, if you don't want to stay here, don't think about running away in private. You know the secret of the Taoist temple, and the Taoist temple will never let you leave the mountain alive. Wait until I'm in power in the future, then I'll let you go down the mountain. That's the safest plan."

Little Bean Sprout's voice was full of worry. She was afraid that Zhang Chen was a fool who would secretly run out in a moment of impulse.

"I'm not an idiot. There's food and drink in the Taoist temple, who would run away?" Zhang Chen touched Little Bean Sprout's head, directly picked up Little Bean Sprout, and walked into the room: "You go to sleep quickly, maybe there will be meat to eat after you wake up."

"Really?" Little Bean Sprout's eyes lit up when she heard this, but she said with worry: "Zhang Chen, you've stolen meat twice in a row. The people in the kitchen must be on high alert. They will never give you another chance to act. Don't take any risks. If you get caught, your bones will be broken. We'd rather not eat meat. It's no big deal to go hungry for a meal."

"I know what I'm doing." Zhang Chen touched Little Bean Sprout's head.

After finally coaxing Little Bean Sprout upstairs, Zhang Chen once again mobilized the fox spirit: "This time, be a little gentler, don't beat people up too badly."

Zhang Chen knew that this fox spirit didn't know how to control her strength.

Hearing this, the fox spirit said unhappily: "Isn't this for your sake? If I don't knock him unconscious and sleep until dawn, what if they break in and search while you're eating? How will you explain it?"

What the fox spirit said made a lot of sense, and Zhang Chen had no reason to refute it. Seeing this, he could only let the fox spirit go.

Before long, the fox spirit excitedly ran back. This time, she actually brought back a braised pig's head, and the rich aroma spread in the air.

"I went just in time. The Taoist priest in the kitchen was secretly cooking a small stove. I happened to run into him, so I directly knocked them unconscious with a stick each. That's enough for them to sleep until dawn. This pig's head is enough for you to eat for a few days." The fox spirit's eyes were burning.

Hearing this, Zhang Chen took the pig's head meat, then took away the fox spirit, took a stick and poked it at the roof upstairs. The next moment, he heard a series of footsteps, and then he saw Cheng Yu running down barefoot, and immediately saw the steaming pig's head meat.

"Zhang Chen! How did you do it?" After seeing the pig's head meat, Cheng Yu immediately closed the door, then ran in excitedly and started tearing off the pig's face and stuffing it into her mouth.

This girl has no table manners at all.

"Just eat!" Zhang Chen retorted unhappily, then tore off the pig's ear and gnawed on it without any manners.

The two ate with relish, and this time they finished the battle in an hour, leaving half a pig's head.

"Hide it, we'll eat it at noon tomorrow." Zhang Chen again dispatched the fox spirit to move the pig's head and hide it outside the Taoist temple.