Panel Ninety-Three: Sang Sang, Enough to Startle Anyone

We are not going to the Pen House,” the Heavenly Emperor cut her off. The woman shrank back, then looked at Sang Sang under the weight of that pressure.

“Aren’t there any other pen makers besides the Pen House?” Sang Sang said. “I want the best, not the largest.”

The woman thought it over and said, “The old master of the Prosperity family used to be the imperial pen-maker in the royal capital. But he injured his spiritual root, and now he can only teach a few children their first lessons. If anyone occasionally asks him for a pen, the old master merely gives a few instructions, and the person who wants the pen has to make it himself.”

Sang Sang’s eyes lit up. “Then let’s go to the Prosperity family.”

Just moments ago she had been thinking about using money or some other means to obtain a method for making pens, so she could study the secrets of pens by hand. Truly, when one was drowsy, a pillow would appear.

The Prosperity family residence lay in the east of town, far from the center, away from the noise and bustle, with a quietness that might also be called decline. The courtyard walls were mottled with age, overgrown with moss and dead vines that no one bothered to clear away, though traces of former nobility could still be vaguely seen.

“Is the old master here?” The woman stood outside the open gate and called in, craning her head.

“Stepmother Fu, come in and sit. Grandfather is in the back courtyard.” A young woman came out from the house. When she saw Snowball, she startled, then her smile widened. “This is...”

“Xiu-er, these two are guests. They’ve come to ask the old master to make a pen.” Stepmother Fu stood with her back to Sang Sang and discreetly made a gesture to indicate that the visitors were of exceptional rank and not to be offended. Clearly, the two knew each other very well.

Sang Sang lifted her brows slightly. She was not worried about being taken for a fool and overcharged. She had chosen this person herself. Among all the guides, the aura around this woman was the calmest and purest; people with such an aura usually had upright intentions.

The old master of the Prosperity family was already over a hundred years old and looked very aged. He was holding a piece of wood and carving the barrel of a pen, like an ordinary old artisan.

“Grandfather, guests have arrived.”

“Old master, someone has come asking for a pen.”

The old man looked up, revealing a face full of wrinkles, yet his eyes were unexpectedly clear, with none of the decay or despondency one might expect. He opened his toothless mouth and smiled kindly. “All pen-making here must be done by your own hand, and you must provide the materials yourself. What grade of pen you end up with depends on you.”

“I understand. Please teach me how to make one; this is my tuition.” After entering, Sang Sang got down from Snowball and took two steps forward to bow slightly to the old man. She took out a pouch and placed it into Xiu-er’s arms.

Xiu-er glanced at what was inside and was stunned, as if holding a scorching coal. “T-too much. Grandfather...”

The old man took the pouch and looked inside. He, too, was startled by the abundance of spiritual crystals within and hurriedly tied it closed and returned it. “If I were still the imperial pen-maker, I would dare accept this pouch. But not now. Take it back. As for the tuition...” The old man looked toward the demon tiger and said, “Let the meat from the pen-making beast be the payment instead.”

“What I obtained is the inheritance of an imperial pen-maker, not merely a single pen. So it is worth this price.” After speaking, Sang Sang casually took out another handful of spiritual crystals and handed them to Stepmother Fu. “Thank you for leading the way. I’m very satisfied.”

Stepmother Fu accepted the crystals with ecstasy, tucked them away, and left.

The old man was still troubled. “Aren’t you afraid I’m not as capable as I claim?”

“I have eyes,” Sang Sang said, pointing to her own eyes. “I trust my judgment. Anyone who can casually carve a perfect spirit-gathering formation must make this worth my while.”

The old man burst into laughter. “What a keen eye, little girl. Good, good, good. I’ll be sure to make it worth your while! Xiu-er, tidy up a room for your younger siblings to stay in, and lead the riding beast to the side courtyard.”

“Okay.” Xiu-er answered brightly and began busily and cheerfully at once.

The Heavenly Emperor dragged the tiger demon and threw it onto the ground. Before he could even boast to Sang Sang, Cain appeared. His imposing presence pressed Snowball to its knees, and the flowers and grasses in the courtyard bent low. He seized the Heavenly Emperor just as the Heavenly Emperor had dragged the tiger demon.

“Class time.”

“W-wait...” The Heavenly Emperor struggled. Cain thought he had something important to tell Sang Sang and slowed his departure slightly, but the Heavenly Emperor shouted to Xiu-er, “Don’t prepare a room for me. I’m sleeping in the same room as Sang Sang!”

Cain’s face darkened with fury, and he seized the Heavenly Emperor and vanished in an instant.

“Don’t listen to him.” Sang Sang’s expression was calm as water. She told the Prosperity grandfather and granddaughter that Cain was a protector arranged for her by her family, and also the Heavenly Emperor’s martial arts teacher. He usually hid in the shadows, so they could simply pretend he did not exist. Sang Sang asked Snowball to go with Xiu-er, and with a casual kick she knocked the awakening tiger demon unconscious again. “Teacher, shall we begin now?”

“Very well.” After the old man nodded, he was startled by the tiger demon, whose eyes had flickered open. “It’s still alive? Wait, I’ll go call people to deal with the beast.”

Sang Sang waved a hand and took out a dagger. “No need to call anyone. I’ll deal with it myself. Which bone should be used for making the pen?”

The old man’s expression had already become strange. “Bleeding it, skinning it, removing the bones and tendons... that’s very troublesome. Can you manage?”

Sang Sang said with certainty, “No problem. Where do I kill it?”

A pretty, delicate little girl of twelve or thirteen dragged the nearly thousand-pound tiger demon to the worktable. Holding a sharp dagger, she drove the white blade in and drew the red blade out; not a single drop of hot blood spilled onto the ground, but instead fell steadily into the bucket. Even as the awakened tiger demon struggled with all its might, it could not escape the control of those jade-white hands.

After the bloodletting came the skinning. She made a cut in the tiger demon’s abdomen, then set aside the knife and began striking the beast’s major pressure points with her hands before tearing into it with bare hands. Before the Prosperity old master’s tea, drunk to calm the nerves, had even cooled, a complete tiger skin had already been peeled away, unharmed even in the face and head.

Sang Sang waved for the old man to step back a little, flicked the blood from her fingers, and then cut it open, disemboweled it, pulled out the tendons, stripped the bones...

By the time a complete tiger skeleton was lying on the worktable and the entrails and tiger meat were piled in a large basin on the floor, the tea was still faintly warm.

The old man’s hands and feet had gone cold, yet a layer of sweat covered his back.

He had seen many people deal with beast corpses, and had even done so himself, but he had never seen someone so young, and one wearing such a refined dress that she could have attended a banquet, process a beast corpse. More importantly, the girl’s expression was calm and composed, her movements as fluid as flowing clouds and water. She did not look bloody at all; instead, she seemed beautiful.

How many beasts must one kill to forge such skill?

Sang Sang did not notice that she had frightened anyone. She put away the dagger, washed her hands, and asked, “What comes next?”

The old man froze for a moment, took a deep breath, steadied himself, and then said solemnly, “For the first pen, choose the simplest method. Take one rib bone and use spiritual power to grind it into the size and length that best suit your hand...”

Whatever the other party’s identity or secrets, since she had paid the tuition, he ought to teach her properly.

The old master of the Prosperity family taught with great enthusiasm, and Sang Sang learned with equal enthusiasm. With abundant spiritual power and her highly developed mind as a cheat, once Sang Sang entered scholar mode, she could achieve in a single day what an ordinary person might take a month or even a year to learn. It was no longer a matter of learning one thing and inferring three, but rather one and five, even one and ten. Basically, as long as someone told her what to do, she could complete it perfectly on the first attempt without any need to redo it, making people suspect whether she was truly a beginner.

As she kept being shocked, the old man gradually grew used to it. No matter how exaggerated Sang Sang’s performance was, he only nodded and said it was good, then proceeded to the next stage of instruction.

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