Chapter 4: Literacy in the Teaching Temple
Chapter 4 – Literacy in the Hall of Instruction
“Many thanks for informing Uncle.” Xu Chuniang gave a grateful smile.
The fat old man waved his hand, “Since you’ve entered this Easy Sect, you shouldn’t call me uncle, I entered the Dao before you and joined a bit older, my surname is Zhao, you can just call me senior brother Zhao. These news are not worth anything, those who have stayed in the outer sect for a few years know.”
Although Steward Zhao said that these were not worth mentioning, Xu Chuniang still remembered this favor, she was new to the world and didn’t know anything, it was rare that someone was willing to mention her.
After taking a grain-absorbing dan, Xu Chuniang put away the token and the white jade bottle, and asked with some curiosity, “Elder brother Zhao, does this Meal Hall have those food items from the secular world?”
Steward Zhao shook his head, “The grains and cereals of the mundane world, eating too much of them will instead hinder our cultivation, so we don’t have them here.
But when your cultivation goes up in the future and you hunt a demonic beast, you can bring it over to our side to deal with it, that one is something that cultivators can also eat, and eating too much of it will also enhance your cultivation.”
Learning that there was no mundane food, Xu Chuniang was a bit regretful and felt it was expected.
It was true that immortals ate differently, this was the world of immortals, and she had to adapt to this place. As for the demonic beasts that Steward Zhao had mentioned, she felt that these were still too far away from her.
After thanking Steward Zhao once again, Xu Chuniang left the Meal Hall and headed in the direction of the Lecture Hall.
The Lecture Hall wasn’t far from the Meal Hall, and Xu Chunniang arrived after walking for a quarter of an hour.
However, she saw a group of half-adult children bustling around the entrance of the Teaching Hall.
Fixed eyes to see, inside a lot of people are familiar, and Xu Chuniang and the same flying boat to those people.
There were also a lot of new faces, all wearing the uniform Outer Sect of the Free Sect clothing.
Seeing this, Xu Chuniang hurriedly stepped forward and blended into the crowd.
A man with a thin body stepped out of the hall and said in a deep voice, “Silence!”
Obviously, his voice was not loud, but it traveled through everyone’s ears, and the crowd of disciples quieted down.
The thin man nodded with satisfaction, “Those who are literate can go directly to the second floor to listen to the lessons of the Foundation Building Master’s uncle. New disciples can listen to the lessons for free for the first three years. If they still want to listen to the lessons after three years, they will have to pay spirit stones, paying one spirit stone will allow them to listen to the lessons for a month.
When the Foundation Building Master lectures, you can all be honest, if you offend the inner sect’s master, I can’t save you.”
Seeing the crowd nodding their heads obediently, he continued unhurriedly, “I’m the outer door steward of the Lecture Hall, any of your questions related to the Lecture Hall can be asked of me. My surname is Cui, you guys can just address me as Senior Brother Cui.”
“Senior Brother Cui, what should we do if we can’t read?” Someone immediately asked.
Senior Brother Cui glanced at that person, “If you can’t read, you can study calligraphy on the first floor. In addition, the first floor also has some open courses in the general knowledge category of the cultivation world, so you’ll understand if you go to the class a few more times.
The first floor of the Teaching Hall is permanently free and open to outside disciples, but if you guys have to learn even the things on the first floor for years, I advise you to pack up and get out earlier, so as not to waste the sect’s resources for nothing!”
The crowd’s expressions were all flabbergasted, it was hard to come to the world of immortals, they didn’t want to be kicked out!
Hearing that the first floor could be used to learn characters for classes, Xu Chuniang also secretly made a note of it.
Senior Brother Cui pointed to a black boulder at the entrance, ”When you normally come to class, you only need to place your token on this stone to register. This place will automatically display your name and the remaining time available for learning.”
Saying that, Senior Brother Cui placed his token on it, only to see that within a short time, two lines of words were revealed on the black boulder.
There was that literate one who softly read out, “Cui Li, remaining learning time …… three years!”
Senior Brother Cui nodded, “During the three years that I have served as a Steward in the Hall of Instruction, I am allowed to listen to lectures here free of charge, and this is one of the benefits of being a Steward.
Alright, all of you, don’t gather around here, come on in. It’s just that I advise you all, even if you are literate yourselves, it’s best to finish the first floor’s cultivation general knowledge class before going to the second floor, lest you commit the taboo of cultivation by babbling nonsense.
The east side is the literacy lecture room, and the west side is the lecture room for general knowledge classes. If you’re from a cultivation family, you don’t need to learn these general knowledge things anymore.” After saying that, Cui Li put away his token and happily went up to the second floor.
One by one, the new disciples complied, scrambling to take out their own tokens, placing them on the boulder to register and then entering the lecture hall.
Most people stayed on the first floor, following Senior Brother Cui’s guidance to their corresponding lecture rooms, with only a few people from Immortal Cultivation Families proudly walking towards the second floor.
Xu Chuniang realized that the one named Qi Haozhi had gone directly to the second floor.
She was secretly amazed that he was from that Immortal Cultivation Family, so I’m afraid that the identity of the little girl he was following was even more uncomplicated.
Xu Chuniang was at the end of the line, waiting for everyone to go in, she carefully took out her black token and placed it on the boulder like a model, and soon, two lines appeared on the boulder, showing that the registration was successful.
After putting away the token, her heart was filled with an indescribable feeling, from today onwards, it was time to start becoming literate!
In Xu Jia Village, the only person who could read was Rizheng, but it was the most basic in the Immortal World.
Xu Chuniang walked to the East Courtyard, and saw people walking into the teaching rooms one after another, each teaching room was separate, and could only accommodate one disciple to study.
When a disciple entered a lecture room, the light outside the room would turn on, indicating that someone was already inside.
After Xu Chuniang understood, she found an unoccupied lecture room, pulled open the door and walked in.
Inside the lecture room, a table and chairs were placed in the small room, paper and pen were placed on the table, and there was a metal orb-shaped object on the table. As the door of the lecture room was closed, the metal orb even emitted a red light and slowly rose into the air!
Even though she had already seen a lot of Immortal techniques in the past few days, Xu Chuniang was still startled and took several steps back.
A voice without emotional ups and downs emanated from the metal orb.
“I am a puppet specialized in teaching new disciples, the following is the beginning of the initiation teaching, you can adjust the learning progress by rotating the button.”
As its words fell, something even more magical happened, a simple rune appeared above the metal orb, and to the right of the Chinese character was an azure sky.
At the same time, the metal orb’s voice sounded again.
“Tian, means sky, it can also be used to record time, the sun rises and the moon sets as one day, and there are twelve hours in a day.”
As the metal orb narrated, the image on it began to change.
A golden sun rose and set in the originally blue sky, then the sky darkened and the moon slowly rose and set.
Xu Chuniang’s eyes brightened up, and it turned out that the simpler rune was the character for “sky”!
With the metal orb’s explanations and drawings, those complicated runes were not difficult to understand at all.
Xu Chuniang calmed her nerves, sat down on a chair, and under the metal orb’s instructions, she picked up a pen and began to learn. ……
The same scene was playing out in almost every lecture room, with this metal orb’s explanations and fun and interesting pictures, the new disciples only felt that literacy wasn’t difficult at all, and they all hungrily learned.
Soon, these disciples mastered the rules.
This metal orb called “puppet” when lecturing, once generally speak for an hour, and then will stop for half an hour, on the one hand, it is convenient for these new disciples to remember the newly learned words, on the other hand, if they are tired of learning, they can also rest and adjust.
If you want to start or end earlier, you can also pass the button on the rotating puppet to choose to start temporarily or adjust the progress.
In Xu Chuniang’s lecture room, the metal orb had just finished an hour’s lesson, but she saw her finger gently twisting towards the button, and the little puppet that had just started to rest, was forced to open for business again ……
(End of Chapter)