"What is this?"
Xing, March 7th, and Yanqing all curiously gathered around, looking at the soul-like object in Fu Zhu's hand that glowed with a faint purple light.
"A Proud Soul Fragment. A special kind of material."
Fu Zhu gave them a simple introduction, then pulled another Proud Soul Fragment from his pocket and handed one to Xing and one to Yanqing.
He had just broken a [Kugutsu] himself, so he had two fragments for the three of them to look at.
After handing over the two Proud Soul Fragments for them to admire, Fu Zhu took out another new [Kugutsu] and continued to hack away at the training dummies.
What he didn't notice was that after Xing and Yanqing took the Proud Soul Fragments, their eyes immediately became vacant, and they stood motionless to the side.
At first, March 7th thought the two of them were just mesmerized by the Proud Soul Fragments. But after a minute passed and they remained in the same, tiring posture of holding the fragments with both hands, she realized something was wrong.
March 7th hurriedly rushed to Fu Zhu's side, tugging at the sleeve of his shirt as he furiously swung his [Kugutsu].
"Fu Zhu, something seems wrong with Xing and Yanqing!"
"What's wrong?"
Fu Zhu paused his actions in confusion, turning to look at the two of them. Seeing them standing there like statues, he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows in surprise.
"Yanqing? Xing?"
Fu Zhu called out to them softly, but got no reply. He couldn't help but frown and open his minimap. Only after confirming that their markers were still present on the map did he feel a sense of relief.
At least their lives weren't in danger. If they were, their markers on the minimap would have disappeared directly.
It seemed more like they were experiencing some sort of mental problem.
"March, hold this milk for me."
Fu Zhu took out two buckets of milk, handed one to March 7th, and then carried the other one over to the two of them. If things looked bad, he was planning to use the milk buckets to try and remove any negative status effects they might have.
Fu Zhu didn't rush to pour the milk buckets into their mouths. Instead, he first went over, patted their shoulders, and shouted loudly.
"Sis? Yanqing? Time to wake up!"
With that shout, Xing and Yanqing both shuddered and snapped back to their senses, but their faces were still filled with a dazed confusion as they looked at Fu Zhu.
"Old bro?" "Teacher Fu Zhu?"
Seeing them snap out of it, Fu Zhu also breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed it wasn't a mental attack after all.
"What happened to you two just now? How did you both zone out at the same time? Can you do that in multiplayer?"
"It's not that, old bro!"
Xing, having regained her senses, quickly pointed to the Proud Soul Fragment in her hand. "It's this Proud Soul Fragment you gave us that's playing tricks!"
"The Proud Soul Fragment?"
Fu Zhu was a bit confused. He took the Proud Soul Fragment from Xing's hand and carefully examined it with the JEI Item Management Mod. He didn't find anything unusual. It was just an ordinary Proud Soul Fragment, only usable for crafting SlashBlade-related items.
And according to his memory, Proud Soul Fragments shouldn't have any kind of mental attack effect on people.
After confirming that there was no problem with the item, Fu Zhu could only ask the two what had happened to them.
"So what happened to you two when you were holding the Proud Soul Fragments?"
Yanqing spoke up first. "Let me explain, Teacher Fu Zhu."
"After we took the Proud Soul Fragments from your hand, Miss Xing and I probably had the same idea: to focus our minds and carefully observe the fragment. But in the next second, I was pulled into a place like an illusion. In there, I became you, Teacher Fu Zhu, but I could only watch from your perspective as I swung the sword in my hand, one strike after another, until I was suddenly woken up by you."
Fu Zhu glanced at the Proud Soul Fragment in his hand in surprise. Since when did Proud Soul Fragments have this kind of recording function? But it was a good thing it only recorded his sword-swinging motions.
Then again, thinking about it, it kind of made sense that the Proud Soul Fragment would record his swings.
After all, the Proud Soul Fragment is a material that appears after a player consumes the durability of a SlashBlade. It could be considered a part of that very SlashBlade whose durability was consumed.
"Teacher Fu Zhu! Can I borrow this Proud Soul Fragment for a little longer?"
While Fu Zhu was still marveling at the strange reaction of the Proud Soul Fragment in the real world, Yanqing suddenly shouted at him with an excited expression.
Fu Zhu glanced at him in confusion. "Why?"
Shouldn't the Proud Soul Fragment be "hard controlling" people into an illusion for a long time? Why was Yanqing so excited?
Yanqing excitedly explained, "Teacher Fu Zhu, I just discovered that after experiencing your sword swings in that illusion, my swordsmanship has improved slightly! It's as if those sword-swinging motions have been carved into my muscle memory!"
You should know that swordsmanship isn't something that can be improved overnight. But Yanqing discovered that Fu Zhu's Proud Soul Fragment could significantly improve his swordsmanship in a short period of time, and the time consumed was several times less than if he were to practice Fu Zhu's motions himself!
Yanqing's explanation made Fu Zhu gasp. He stared at the Proud Soul Fragment in his hand with a look of astonishment.
He never thought that in the real world, the Proud Soul Fragment would have an effect similar to the rare treasures in cultivation novels that could improve one's martial arts proficiency!
Fu Zhu stared at the Proud Soul Fragment in his hand for a moment, then decisively put it in his mouth and tried to take a bite, but unfortunately, he couldn't bite through it.
He couldn't eat it, nor could he enter that so-called illusion by concentrating like Yanqing and Xing.
This made Fu Zhu feel a wave of sadness. He never thought he'd be at a disadvantage because of his Steve-like characteristics one day!
However, he wasn't too disappointed. After all, Steve's attack methods were very simple. Even with the various moves in the SlashBlade MOD, he had already committed them to memory in his previous life. He didn't need to train his swordsmanship this way.
After all, he was already at the pinnacle of SlashBlade swordsmanship from the very beginning, with no room for further improvement.
"Of course. If you want it, you can have it. It's not like I'm short on these things anyway."
Fu Zhu very generously gave the Proud Soul Fragment directly to Yanqing. He had a good impression of Yanqing and believed the boy wouldn't just give it away to anyone.
Besides, for Steve, Proud Soul Fragments were extremely cheap. He could farm a whole stack in a short while.
"Really?!"
Yanqing looked at Fu Zhu in disbelief. His original intention was just to borrow the Proud Soul Fragment for a few hours; he wouldn't dare ask for more.
He never expected Teacher Fu Zhu to be so generous as to give it to him!
At this thought, Yanqing's expression suddenly changed. With a look of utmost seriousness, he clasped his hands in a fist and bowed deeply to Fu Zhu.
"A debt for teaching is one I, Yanqing, will never forget for the rest of my life. Please allow me to address you as Master from now on!"
Fu Zhu was a bit surprised by Yanqing's reaction and quickly reached out to help him up.
"That's not necessary."
To him, although Proud Soul Fragments were precious, it was only because he was just starting to farm materials. After a day or two, Proud Soul Fragments would be on the same level as iron ingots.
Useful, but not precious.
"No!"
Yanqing flatly rejected Fu Zhu's words.
"This may not be precious to you, Master Fu Zhu, but to me, it is, in a sense, you passing down your techniques and martial arts to me. I was already being shameless by asking to borrow the Proud Soul Fragment for a few hours, which in itself could be considered 'stealing techniques.' But you were still so magnanimous as to directly pass it on to me. You deserve this bow!"
"This…"
Fu Zhu didn't hesitate for too long. Since taking a disciple wasn't a bad thing, he simply nodded in agreement. However, as a master, he still had a few words of warning for his young disciple.
"Since you've entered my tutelage, then you must remember one thing!"
"Speak, Master Fu Zhu!"
"If you get into trouble in the future, don't you dare sell out your master."
"Huh?"
Yanqing blinked, bewildered. He had thought Fu Zhu would say something about sect rules or grand principles, but he never expected it to be this.
"Do you remember?"
"I remember."
"Good, then go play over there."
Fu Zhu waved his hand, gesturing for him to move aside. After Yanqing moved, Fu Zhu took out another [Kugutsu] and started farming Proud Soul Fragments again.
Although this master-disciple ceremony left Yanqing a bit confused, he obediently stayed to the side and continued to study the Proud Soul Fragment without disturbing Fu Zhu.
Xing, on the other hand, cheerfully stood in front of Yanqing with her hands on her hips.
"Yanqing, since you call my brother Master, what should you call me?"
Yanqing respectfully clasped his hands in a fist. "Shigu." (Master's wife/female master)
"Ayy~ That's right. And what about March 7th?"
Xing, holding back a laugh, pulled March 7th in front of Yanqing. March 7th shot an annoyed glare at Xing.
"What's it got to do with you? Why are you pulling me into this?"
"Aren't you going to introduce my brother's disciple?" Xing replied casually, then looked at Yanqing expectantly.
Yanqing stared at March 7th for a good while before hesitantly speaking, "Shigu?"
Xing, however, shook her head. "Wrong."
"Shijie?" (Senior martial sister)
"Wrong again! It should be Shiniang!" (Master's wife/consort)
March 7th immediately slapped Xing in annoyance, then gently explained to Yanqing, "Don't listen to Xing's nonsense."
Yanqing initially wanted to agree, but then he saw Xing secretly giving him a look. He hesitated for a moment, then politely bowed to March 7th.
"Third Month Shiniang."
Hearing this "Shiniang," Xing couldn't help but grin, secretly giving Yanqing a thumbs-up.
As for March 7th, being called "Shiniang" made her so flustered that she flailed her arms, wanting to explain, but for a long while, no words came out. In the end, she could only turn her head in frustration and slap the gleeful Xing again.
"You're still laughing! If he calls me that, then won't you have to call me sister-in-law in the future?"
"That's not impossible. You can call me bestie, and I'll call you sister-in-law. We'll each have our own terms!"
"…"