Staring at the piece of wood split in half on the ground, Wen Chaoshen's expression first showed a hint of confusion. The cedar wood in Lü Zhiming's woodshed was mostly raw logs, and he didn't know where these logs came from. Splitting them into firewood consumed a lot of his energy.
Yesterday, he only completed a third of today's workload and was nearly exhausted afterward. He managed to get a meal at Lü Zhiming's house and rested for a long time before finally pulling his cart back to the abandoned temple.
But just now, with a casual swing of his knife, he split the hard cedar wood into two pieces. The change was so significant that it left Wen Chaoshen astonished.
Looking at the cedar wood split into two, Wen Chaoshen, somewhat incredulous, picked up another piece of wood and, mimicking his earlier action, struck down hard!
Crack—
The bde of the hatchet cshed with the hard wood. This time, he couldn't easily split the tough wood again. Splinters flew, scattering messily around Wen Chaoshen.
The hatchet was crudely made, cking a wooden handle, so the vibration from the bde was intense, causing Wen Chaoshen's hand to tingle, nearly making him drop it.
He frowned, uttering a puzzled "huh."
Was the previous piece of wood more brittle?
No.
Wen Chaoshen realized a problem: the sensation of his swing this time was vastly different from the first.
He chopped several more times, trying to replicate the first cut he made in the woodshed today, but he never succeeded. Wen Chaoshen seemed somewhat addicted, wiping the sweat from his forehead, ignoring the soreness in his arm and hand, and continued trying.
In the courtyard outside the woodshed, Lü Zhiming tidied his clothes, picked up a kettle, and began watering the flowers and pnts in the yard. The flora here was indeed more lush than elsewhere, growing freely thanks to Lü Zhiming's regur watering and care. Even in the hottest summer or the coldest winter, they never had to worry about nutrients.
However, after watering the flowers and pnts in the courtyard, Lü Zhiming deliberately skipped the loquat tree in the center.
He didn't water the tree but instead sat on a stone bench nearby, brewed himself a pot of tea, and took a break.
Crack!
Crack!
The sound of Wen Chaoshen chopping wood continued from the woodshed. Lü Zhiming crossed his legs, staring at the loquat tree in front of him, seemingly lost in distant memories.
How long had this loquat tree been here?
Fifteen years, or twenty?
Tracing back further, he recalled the casual promise he made when he first left the Sword Pavilion, which had already taken thirty years of his life.
Indeed, a cultivator's lifespan is longer than that of ordinary people, but thirty years is a long time for both cultivators and ordinary people.
With time, it's easy to forget many things, but if not forgotten, they become a source of pain.
Like the young man next door who kept a Big Bck Dog. Lü Zhiming often pyed chess with him. The bck dog frequently visited, loving to lie under the loquat tree to cool off or enjoy the breeze. After a game of chess, the young man would take the bck dog back to his courtyard to make porridge for his elderly mother.
After the young man left, no one pyed chess with Lü Zhiming anymore. He felt much lonelier, and the bck dog's presence was no longer seen under the loquat tree.
Lost in his memories for an unknown length of time, Lü Zhiming was suddenly interrupted by a peculiar sound from the woodshed.
Crack!
After this sound, the noise of chopped wood rolling to the ground followed. In the courtyard, Lü Zhiming took a shallow sip of hot tea, murmuring to himself:
"The tea hasn't cooled yet..."
Wen Chaoshen emerged from the woodshed, drenched in sweat and panting heavily.
Lü Zhiming poured him a cup of tea, inviting him to sit and rest. Wen Chaoshen gulped down two cups of hot tea, listening to Lü Zhiming ask:
"Do you py chess?"
Wen Chaoshen hesitated for a moment:
"Expin the rules?"
Lü Zhiming patiently fetched a cloth-wrapped set of chess pieces from the house. Seeing the bck and white pieces, Wen Chaoshen immediately guessed it was reted to Go or Gomoku.
As Lü Zhiming expined the rules, Wen Chaoshen began to smile.
"Gold corners, silver sides, grass belly."
Isn't this Go?
He recalled being with Si Xiaohong, unable to py music, only humming tunes.
But Go, Chinese Chess, and Gomoku, he truly knew how to py.
"I can py. Let's have a game, and then I'll chop more wood."
Wen Chaoshen said.
Lü Zhiming said no more, letting Wen Chaoshen choose bck or white. The tter chose white without hesitation.
Lü Zhiming asked:
"You don't want to go first?"
Wen Chaoshen shook his head:
"I like white."
Lü Zhiming ughed at this, pcing a bck piece on the board. The two began their duel on the small chessboard, each taking turns.
Unlike Lü Zhiming, Wen Chaoshen pced his pieces quickly, almost without thinking. Although Lü Zhiming wasn't at a disadvantage halfway through, he pondered each move for a long time.
After 150 moves, as Lü Zhiming contempted, Wen Chaoshen grew bored and gazed at the loquat tree. The wind rustled the leaves, and the swaying branches seemed to reflect the glint of swords. Startled, Wen Chaoshen felt something incredibly sharp against his throat. Instinctively, he stood and stepped back, scattering the white pieces in his hand in a panic.
Ctter—
The white pieces rolled, scattering across the courtyard like a defeated army.
When he came to his senses, Wen Chaoshen was drenched in sweat. Still shaken, he touched his throat, confirming there was no wound, and then asked Lü Zhiming:
"Mr. Lü, what kind of tree is that?"
Lü Zhiming smiled:
"A loquat tree."
"There are loquat trees in the south too; you must have seen them."
Wen Chaoshen shook his head:
"No, that's not right."
"That's not a loquat tree."
Lü Zhiming took a sip of tea and asked:
"Then what do you think it is?"
Recalling everything, Wen Chaoshen stared at Lü Zhiming's face and slowly uttered two words:
"A sword."
kant202323
