Half a month later, four in the afternoon.
During this period, Ren and Zuko could basically be said to have eaten and lived together.
Their relationship quickly went from strangers to familiar companions.
Overall, Zuko was the kind of person who was truly cold on the outside and warm on the inside, with a bit of tsundere mixed in.
For example, during one of their late-night chats in bed, Ren casually mentioned that Master Piandao’s meals were a bit too bland.
That very night, Zuko snuck out, slaughtered an old hen raised by a nearby household, and brought it back to improve Ren’s meals.
How to put it?
Zuko was definitely acting out of kindness.
His method was just a little extreme.
There was no helping it.
Ren did not want to dampen Zuko’s enthusiasm, so he could only stew the chicken first, then sneak back out and leave money for the household, treating it as if they had bought it.
Zuko didn’t quite understand his reasoning.
He felt that as the prince, the commoners should be overjoyed and deeply grateful that he was eating their chicken.
Ren couldn’t help but wonder what kind of eccentric mentor had educated Zuko to have such twisted values, given the boy’s inherently kind nature.
He didn’t give Zuko a speech about how everyone was born equal, because this world simply wasn’t equal.
The Avatar was the center of the world, and benders were inherently more powerful than non-benders.
Instead, Ren simply told him the story of Avatar Szeto, who had relieved starving refugees.
After Szeto passed away, the people voluntarily erected statues in his honor.
The Fire Nation, which had been on the brink of division at the time, saw many warlords willingly lay down their weapons and hatred to unite under one banner out of sheer respect for Avatar Szeto.
Those people respected Szeto not merely because of his status as the Avatar, but because of the man he was.
As one of the few Avatars in history who did not use force to solve problems, he might not have been the strongest, but the influence he left behind was perhaps the most far-reaching.
Zuko was not stupid.
After realizing his mistake, he took the initiative the next day to admit his wrongdoing to Piandao.
Ren also requested that the two of them go together to apologize to the family whose chicken had been stolen.
In any case, after that incident, their relationship did not grow distant.
Instead, it became even better.
After half a month of practicing fundamentals, Zuko finally started to grow impatient.
He sat down beside Ren, who was cooling off in the bamboo grove, and complained, “When is Master Piandao going to teach us his finest techniques?
Practicing basics every day is making my bones rust!” Ren thought for a moment, stroked his chin, and said, “He’s a master, after all.
He must have his own considerations.
There’s an old saying from my hometown: more haste, less speed.” Zuko curled his lip, then stood and continued bitterly practicing his dao balde techniques.
Ren caught a bamboo leaf as it spun down from the air, placed it over his eyes, and began pretending to nap.
Although his eyes were closed as if he were dozing, Ren’s mind had already begun simulating the sword techniques Piandao practiced during his morning training.
Thoughts churned.
Blurry fragments of memory were rapidly spliced together, organized, refreshed, and the images became incomparably vivid, as though they were scenes on a videotape.
This was something Ren had only discovered recently.
It seemed he had a cheat ability similar to photographic memory.
No, that was not quite right.
Compared with photographic memory, Ren felt this cheat of his was more like having a reading module stuffed into his brain.
For example, an ordinary person might forget something for a long time, only for past memories to suddenly resurface when they saw certain things.
Ren, however, could call up past memories at any time and watch and study them frame by frame, sentence by sentence.
When he first discovered he had this ability, Ren had even called up the memory of the day before he transmigrated.
At the time, he had been playing a game.
He could still smell the thrillingly sour blend of instant noodles and the stinking socks under his bed.
He had ignored those details while playing the game back then, but through recollection, they were so clear he could practically smell them.
With this, I’m practically a human card-counter.
Wouldn’t I be invincible at the poker table?
Ahem.
Just kidding.
Ren still knew what mattered more and what mattered less.
In any case, with this ability, his control over the details of his own body while practicing swordsmanship became much more precise.
Simply put, if a target were placed in front of Ren, he could strike the bull’s-eye with his sword hundreds of times in a row, and each strike’s distance, force, and even movement could be completely identical.
However, the price was that Ren now needed more rest to fully recover his energy.
Every time he activated recollection, he would feel mentally tired afterward.
The level of consumption depended on how precise he wanted the operation to be.
And so, the original duo working hard to grow stronger had now turned into poor Zuko working hard alone.
All of this was seen by Piandao as he practiced calligraphy.
… Early the next morning, Piandao personally came to inspect the results of their training.
Zuko’s progress was extremely fast.
His foundation had been lacking before, but through this period of hard work, he was no longer in the same state as before, unable to last even one move against Master Piandao.
Piandao corrected several mistakes in Zuko’s posture and nodded in satisfaction.
Then he looked toward Ren and saw that the boy appeared listless.
Piandao’s brows furrowed tightly, and he deeply began to doubt his own eye for people.
Zuko, whom he had not originally thought highly of, had improved quickly, worked actively, and even controlled his emotions much better.
Ren, whom he had originally favored, always looked careless, frivolous, and lacking in spirit.
“Ren.” Piandao called out in a low voice, waking the unenergetic Ren.
“Yes.” Ren came back to himself, cupped his hands, and answered respectfully.
“The sun rises and sets according to the laws of nature.
A person’s spirit, energy, and vitality are the same.
“Morning should be the time when one is full of vigor.
Yet you are listless.
What is the reason?” Ren felt a little embarrassed.
He could not exactly say that he had studied the master himself all night, leaving him short on energy in the morning.
So he could only give an awkward smile and say, “Master, I pondered swordsmanship too late into the night, so I’m a little tired this morning.
Please forgive me.” “Is that so?” Piandao looked toward Zuko for confirmation.
Zuko lowered his gaze, his eyes watching his nose and his nose watching his heart.
After hesitating for a moment, he still chose to help his good friend conceal the truth and nodded.
Piandao snorted coldly.
“In that case, it seems you have studied swordsmanship quite deeply.” “Fa, bring two sheets of paper.” Fa was the name of the steward, and also Piandao’s first disciple.
After hearing Piandao’s words, he immediately brought over two sheets of paper.
Piandao raised the papers with one hand, looked at Ren, and said, “Now, use the sword in your hand to stab at this paper.
I want your force to pass through the first sheet and leave a sword mark on the second, but you must not pierce the first sheet.
“If you cannot do it, then leave.
A person with perseverance will not stop walking simply because the path ahead is difficult.
“A person without perseverance will treat even a small pit in the road as an uncrossable chasm!” Zuko had not expected the matter to become so serious.
What did he mean by making the force pass through the first sheet without piercing it?
Forget a sharp sword—even if one used a finger to poke it, that level of force would be extremely difficult to control.
Clearly, the master was deliberately making things difficult for Ren.
Zuko stepped between the two of them, just about to say something to explain the misunderstanding.
But at that moment, Ren took a deep breath and pulled Zuko to his side.
Looking into Piandao’s eyes, he said seriously in a low voice, “Master, I understand.
But if I really do it, may I ask whether you will teach Zuko and me your true supreme techniques?” Piandao had not expected Ren to dare bargain with him.
If he could truly do it, that would mean his fundamentals had already been trained to the limit.
In that case, why would Piandao need to hoard his skills?
And if Ren could not do it, then it would serve as a lesson for him.
Piandao nodded lightly, indicating his agreement.