Chapter 8 Woodcarving Genius, Inner Strength Divinity

The third shopkeeper, Xu You, narrowed his eyes, and a hint of surprise flashed in his gentle eyes.

He looked at the rough draft of the "Four-Armed Bodhisattva Holding a Child" that was being outlined. Although it was just a rough draft with rough lines, the overall look already revealed a different kind of beauty.

That is... the taste of meaning!

The expression, posture, temperament... are already overwhelming!

It was as if there really was a kind-looking four-armed Bodhisattva, holding a child in one arm, with drooping eyelids, pinching the reincarnation formula with his hands, holding a pure jade bottle, and holding a jade ruyi...

This was actually carved by a porter? Xu You nodded slightly. As the third shopkeeper of the wood carving shop, he had taken over too many wood carvings and had a high level of appreciation for the wood carving styles and carving techniques of many old masters.

The carving techniques contained in Li Che's four-armed Bodhisattva have many of the styles and flavors of the four-knife woodcarver Chen Dabao!

Talent...amazing!

Li Che did not spend any money to learn wood carving in the wood carving shop, and Chen Dabao obviously would not be kind enough to teach him.

In other words... Li Che taught himself all this! He had to move wood and finished statues in the woodcarving shop during the day, and only had time to go back to carve at night. In other words, he could reach this level just by studying at night! "There are still some flaws in the line carving and processing, but what is valuable is... the meaning! The four-armed Bodhisattva carved by Xiao Li has extremely rich meaning, as if it came alive... This is a natural talent!"

Chen Dabao smacked his lips, and when he sensed the arrival of the third shopkeeper Xu You, he came to his senses and was surprised.

"Indeed, the most important thing about wood carving is spirit. Without spirit, no matter how good the craftsmanship or how wonderful the technique, it is just a piece of broken wood." Xu You nodded approvingly in response.

"He's a good talent, and Li Che's skills aren't bad either, just a little less experienced than the masters, but much better than the apprentices..."

"It seems that our Xuji is really going to produce a genius."

Xu You raised the corners of his lips, and couldn't help but smile brightly.

"The reason why our Xuji Woodcarving Shop is ranked among the best in Feilei City, in addition to the Xu family, is that the woodcarvings produced by Xuji are full of charm and can be used by the young men in the city to refine and extract divinity..."

"For people like this who are extremely talented in grasping the charm of wood carving, I, Xu Ji, will definitely grasp and cultivate them well!"

Xu You put his hands behind his back and quietly looked at Li Che's carving for a while.

From the way the carving knife was used to carving, to the fact that the meaning and charm of the wood carving deepened as the carving progressed, after ensuring that it was indeed from Li Che's hand, Xu You already had the answer in his mind.

Li Che naturally noticed Xu You's arrival and his evaluation of himself.

He was shocked. His carving skills had become much more restrained, but he still seemed to be much better than the apprentices in the shop. He stood out from the crowd...

It’s my first time to get the hang of it…I still have no experience.

However, judging from the reaction of the third shopkeeper, his chance of becoming a woodcarver should be a sure thing!

Four hours passed quietly with the rustling sound of the carving knife tearing the wood.

Ding——

With a blast like a gong breaking, the second shopkeeper Xu Beihu, who was sitting on a chair drinking tea, suddenly stood up with his burly body, and his blood and energy surged violently.

"The time has come! Everyone, stop!"

"The assessment is over!"

"If I see anyone using surgery again, my place will be cancelled! Your results will be void!"

The overbearing voice was rough and intimidating.

All the woodcarving apprentices hurriedly stopped what they were doing, and looked at Xu Beihu with some fear and trepidation as his tiger-like eyes scanned the entire place, and they were silent as a mouse.

Li Che also put down the grinding rod and stopped polishing the "Four-Armed Bodhisattva Holding a Child Statue". He let out a long breath, feeling a little regretful.

As long as he is given a little more time, he will be able to finish polishing it and the statue will be a finished product.

The third and second shopkeepers, along with several old masters from the shop, began to evaluate the wood carvings of many apprentices.

The evaluation is not too harsh and is fair.

Unless they come across something really rubbish, a wood sculpture that took four hours to carve out a rough draft and hasn't even taken shape, will they start yelling and cursing.

Chen Dabao followed the team with his eyes narrowed. When he came to Li Che's workstation, he looked at the four-armed Bodhisattva standing upright from the wood chips on the table, which had been polished to take the shape of a finished wooden sculpture.

Many old masters were amazed.

"It's a rare thing, a porter can actually have such knife skills and standards!"

"The apprentices I taught have really learned from dogs!"

"What a good talent! It's a pity that you haven't learned wood carving orthodoxly in these years. You started a little late. But the meaning of this wood carving... I would believe it if you said it was carved by Master Sandao!"

…

There has been no shortage of voices of praise.

Xu You looked at Li Che gently, with a strange look in his eyes, and nodded slightly: "Not bad."

Li Che clasped his fists and bowed with a calm expression, not losing himself in the praise.

The group continued to appreciate the works, and after a while, they completed the evaluation of all the works.

"Li Che, Zhao Xuan, Wang Zhengpin, the three of you have outstanding woodcarving skills in this assessment. You will be awarded the title of First-class Woodcarver, with a monthly salary of five taels, and 60% of the profits will be shared."

After Xu You read out three names, there was an uproar in the shop.

When the final result was settled, many apprentices were sad, some were at a loss, and some shed tears...

After so many years of hard study, I still failed to pass the assessment and was even surpassed and crushed by a porter. My mentality was a little unbalanced.

Inside this small shop, all kinds of human life are displayed.

"You three follow me."

There is no wrong version in the 1619 book forum!

Xu You and Xu Beihu put on fox cloaks and glanced at the three people who had passed the test.

Li Che and the other two apprentices hurriedly followed, crashing into the snow and wind, and walked deeper into the yard.

After passing through the corridor, we came to a spacious courtyard, which looked like a flattened training ground, filled with snow-covered stone pillars, training stakes and other martial arts equipment.

"This is the martial arts training area of ​​the Xuji Woodcarving Shop in the outer city. If you can become a woodcarver in the shop, you are considered one of our own. From now on, you can use the 'Jade Talisman Knife' that represents your identity as a woodcarver to enter this area, practice martial arts and cultivate your strength, and prepare to become a higher-level woodcarver."

Everyone stood in the yard in the flying snow.

After Xu You distributed three jade knives to the three people, he stood quietly with his hands behind his back, and the second shopkeeper Xu Beihu began to speak.

"I will be in charge of the martial arts training. Every month, I will take two days off to come to the outer city. If you have any questions about martial arts, you can come and ask me."

Xu Beihu's voice was like a loud bell, his energy and blood were strong, and he stood in a heavy snowstorm without getting a single snowflake on him.

Li Che and the other two quickly responded.

"Now, let me start to tell you about martial arts..."

"There are three types of martial arts training: physical training, internal strength training, and...divine training."

"You can't access divine methods, nor are you qualified to access them. Everyone can practice body-refining methods, but internal energy methods depend more on talent and require time to accumulate."

"I will teach you the body training method now. As for the internal energy method, I will teach it to you after you have reached the level of skin grinding and let you try it."

Xu Beihu said lightly.

He immediately began to explain the method of body refining to the three people. In fact... it was just some hard work, using external tools to hone the body. Many instruments in the training field were all for body refining.

"The method of body refining, grinding the skin and opening the tendons, hardening the bones and exchanging blood, if one can move the blood in the body and make the blood like mercury, then he is considered a master! As for opening the meridians above exchanging blood, there are very few people in the city who can do it."

"Starting from the skin grinding, you can receive a bowl of 'Fuel Skin Powder' every half a month. If you think it's not enough, you can buy it yourself. One bowl costs one tael of silver. It can speed up your body refining speed."

…

Xu Beihu taught very seriously and Li Che listened very seriously.

This was his first time coming into contact with martial arts in this world, so naturally he did not dare to be negligent. The threat posed by the Spirit Infant Master was like a knife hanging over his head, so he did not dare to let his guard down.

Practicing martial arts can enhance one's ability to fight against the Spirit Infant Master, so one cannot afford to slack off even a little.

When it was completely dark.

Xu Beihu finally finished today's teaching.

He will stay in the outer city for another day tomorrow to teach everyone martial arts.

"Go ahead and digest the martial arts knowledge I taught you. We will officially start practicing skin polishing tomorrow."

Xu Beihu said in a deep voice, waved his hand, and turned to leave.

However, Li Che did not leave. He found the third shopkeeper and asked about the move.

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(End of this chapter)