Chapter Twenty-Five Test

  (I came back late after attending a wedding banquet today... Tonight there's still... If you like it, please give me more support, thank you to all my fans in the south!)

  "Your Highness, I sense that the righteous energy surrounding you is weakening..."

  At night, after dinner, Chen Jianchen began writing in his study again. This time, he silently wrote a poem: "A thousand hammers and ten thousand chisels come out of the deep mountains, fierce fire burns as if it were nothing; even if I am crushed to death, I will not be afraid, for I want to leave my integrity in this world!"

  This poem is also written with great feeling. Suddenly, a baby Ning poked her head out from behind the bookshelf and handed down a piece of paper, on which was written:

  Chen Jianchen was taken aback - he had originally asked Yin Ning to help him conduct an experiment, testing the effectiveness of the demon-expelling brush, but unexpectedly got such a result.

  The little white fox dares to stick its head out and dares to look directly at this character, which already explains the problem.

  So where is the problem?

  Is it because of something on her own body? Is it due to some kind of resistance... or perhaps, is Yining developing a resistance...

  Chen Jianchen sat upright and pondered, in order to figure out the problem, he wrote three more characters. Unexpectedly, things developed even more seriously, the positive energy contained in the ink actually worsened, and finally, even when Yining approached within three feet, she was not afraid at all.

  No good!

  Chen Jianchen muttered to himself, no longer continuing - at this time he had already roughly guessed the key to the problem, presumably through the evil-warding pen obtained positive energy is not inexhaustible, use it without exhaustion. If you liken the evil-warding pen to a container, the container has positive energy inside, but due to some reasons, these positive energy values are fixed and will gradually decrease with continuous consumption, if they can't be replenished for a long time, they will eventually be exhausted...

  That's a problem then.

  What's the difference between a gun without bullets and a piece of scrap iron?

  Chen Jianchen's fingers lightly tapped on the table, and he thought that every time he used the demon-expelling brush to write, those positive energies would be infused into the ink, only lacking the opportunity to trigger them. However, the loss was an undeniable fact. Helping people write couplets, plus practicing calligraphy in his free time, adding it all up, he must have written several hundred characters with the demon-expelling brush, if not over a thousand.

  So, by now, the positive energy possessed by the demon-expelling brush itself has been used up?

  The more he thought about it, the closer he got to the answer. He also remembered that only when the positive energy of the pen and ink was activated, producing a real effect, would the hairs on the pen tip undergo a transformation, becoming crystal clear and white...

  That's right, it can be understood and explained in a way that makes sense for some phenomena.

  Having realized this layer, Chen Jianchen couldn't help but feel a little regretful, regretting that he had previously used the Demon-Expelling Brush excessively and wastefully.

  "What's wrong with me? Why am I so anxious and worried?"

  Chen Jianchen was suddenly startled, feeling that since he discovered the secret of the evil-warding pen, his mood had undergone some subtle changes and was no longer as calm as before.

  This is really not a good phenomenon.

  Things arise from the mind. When the mind is confused, one becomes flustered and may make wrong decisions. The consequences of a wrong decision can be big or small, light or severe, but are often avoidable.

  He took a deep breath, but instead of speaking, he picked up another pen and wrote many words on the paper, each one identical -

  "Set!"

  After finishing writing those characters, all kinds of annoying emotions seemed to have poured onto the white paper along with the ink, and Chen Jianchen's mood suddenly stabilized.

  These words are quite natural, and there is no trace of the usual heroic spirit. Yinniang leaned over to take a look, but there was nothing unusual about them. She tilted her head, looking at the dozens of "ding" characters, thinking that perhaps the young master's mood had been fluctuating recently, which led to a significant weakening of his usual heroic spirit in his writing.

  "Master, no need to rush..."

  Ying Ning wrote something and pushed it in front of Chen Jianchen.

  Chen Jianchen smiled and said, "I have a measure of it."

  A night without words.

  In the following days, many people rushed to kill the wolf, but there was no news about the black wolf at all. The vicious wolf seemed to feel that things were not going well and quietly hid itself.

  What a cunning wolf!

  Some hunters who were confident in their abilities and unwilling to give up formed a team and started going into the mountains, deep into the maple forest. As it turned out, they did manage to hunt down two wolves. However, both of them had gray fur and were much smaller in size. But when they took the two wolf carcasses to Wang Da's house to collect their reward, they didn't get acknowledged.

  Everyone knows that it is a big black wolf that harms the countryside.

  These days, Yin Ning has been hiding in Chen Jianchen's study room to meditate and recover from his internal injuries. During this time, he only drank some water and did not feel hungry at all. It's not that he had really reached the state of Bigu, but rather that as he opened up to learning the Tao, his requirements for food and drink greatly decreased.

  After recovering from her injuries, Yinniang said she would first return to Qing Shan for a trip, preparing to go back and gather some information.

  Chen Jianchen did not object, and with the current situation of Yīn Níng, even if it's not a match for the wolf demon, self-defense should be no problem. So on that night, waiting until the deep of night when people were quiet, Yīn Níng bid farewell and quietly jumped out of the window.

  Its movements are quick and nimble, not walking on the ground, only picking up the roof to walk. Occasionally, it triggers some alertness from the dogs guarding the house, barking a few times, but soon loses the trail of the little white fox and lies back in the doghouse with a sigh.

  He saw Ning off into the distance, then Chen Jianchen slowly closed the window, leaving only a small gap.

  Tonight, there is no snow, and the faintly cold moonlight shines down, slipping through the gaps and shining on Chen Jianchen's upright body. He stood for a while before walking back to his desk, sitting down, and picking up the brush - but he sat for a long time without moving.

  Knock knock!

  The knock on the door sounded, and a moment later Ah Bao walked in with a steaming bowl of porridge - this was Chen Jianchen's midnight snack. Since Ah Bao had been living at the Chen house, she would almost every night cook a bowl of porridge for Chen Jianchen to eat.

  There is no doubt that after Chen Jianchen became a Xiucai, his family's situation was steadily improving and had become quite comfortable. Even their diet had improved.

  To know that Chen Jianchen's appetite is huge nowadays, he eats three big bowls of rice for each meal and has to add meals every day. If it were in the past, his eating habits would definitely bankrupt his family, no matter how hard Mo San Niang worked day and night weaving cloth. But if he didn't eat enough or well, Chen Jianchen's body would also be harmed.

  So, Chen Jianchen always wanted to find a way to make more money to help supplement the family's income and alleviate some of the pressure.

  A hundred no use is a bookworm, referring to the situation before not being admitted as a scholar-official. Shoulders cannot bear loads, hands cannot lift, all mouth and tongue, so-called belly full of classics and literature, farting doesn't make a sound.

  Chen Jianchen was not willing to be such a bookworm, his vision determined that his ambition was not here, and he had the intention to seek new and change - training his body was one aspect, and discovering the secrets of orthodox energy was another. Upon learning that the orthodox energy contained in the evil-repelling brush would gradually weaken with use until it completely disappeared, this gave him a sense of crisis - relying solely on external objects was not a sustainable path.

  In the end, one still has to rely on their own abilities.

  The greatest in the world is reason, but reason must be expressed through your own abilities; otherwise it's just a tree without roots, water without source, empty preaching that can't convince others.

  Watching Chen Jianchen drinking porridge in big gulps, Abao sat on one side looking very satisfied, and after he finished eating, immediately snatched the bowl and chopsticks to take out and wash.

  After eating porridge, Chen Jianchen became more spirited and began to practice calligraphy on a sheet of white paper. However, he didn't use the demon-expelling brush but instead used another ordinary brush.

  Good steel is used on a good blade, the evil-repelling brush is to be kept for dealing with wolf demons; especially in this situation, it cannot be easily wasted. I believe that when Yining returns, this matter will be settled.