Scripture of Days Past

Chu Qiguang was staring at his own reflection in a copper mirror with a bewildered look on his face.

As he stroked his chest, it felt like completely normal skin, but he could see that a palm-sized black hole had appeared there, as if someone had carved a hole straight through his chest.

The black hole was bordered by a ring of purple light that resembled a faint purple flame, and Chu Qiguang felt like he was able to make out some runes in the purple flames, the closer he looked, the less clear they became.

”Does that not hurt?” Qiao Zhi exclaimed with a stunned expression. ”And why is it not bleeding?”

”It’s not a physical hole, so what flows out of it naturally isn’t blood,” Chu Qiguang replied.

”What is this thing?” Qiao Zhi asked. ”I’ve never seen anything like it!”

”It’s a Ring of Ignorance, a symbol planted on cursed Dao pursuers,” Chu Qiguang replied. ”It can ward off the effects of demonic tainting, but it will leak the knowledge in its bearer’s mind.”

”How do you know that?” Qiao Zhi asked.

”I don’t know, but I do,” Chu Qiguang replied. ”For those who bear the Ring of Ignorance, even if they undergo demonification, they’ll return to normal, but their pursuit of knowledge will set them on the path of demonification once again, and eventually, they’ll be reduced to mindless, ignorant individuals who don’t know anything. What’s most damning of all is that the knowledge that flows out of them will create new demonic tainting. That’s perhaps why they’re all banished.”

”Are you alright?” Qiao Zhi asked with a concerned expression.

”I’m fine,” Chu Qiguang replied. ”Something must’ve placed this Ring of Ignorance onto me and also imparted this information upon me as well. What I’m confused about is why it’s known as a curse. It can ward off demonification, and the creation of demonic tainting through knowledge outflow can be used in battle as a secret weapon, so it seems like the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.”

The knowledge outflow that Chu Qiguang was referring to was an active ability. Once activated, he would be able to choose certain pieces of knowledge to cast out of his mind, and those pieces of knowledge would become completely forgotten to him.

The resulting demonic tainting would encompass an area with a radius of several dozen meters, and everyone within that area would be driven to demonification, as if a huge amount of knowledge were injected into their minds at once.

Different levels of knowledge outflow would result in demonic tainting of different degrees of severity.

”But the effects of this type of demonic tainting must vary from person to person, right?” Qiao Zhi asked. ”Someone like you, who possesses the makings of a heavenly immortal, most likely won’t undergo demonification no matter how severe the demonic tainting is, whereas for the average person, just a little bit of knowledge outflow would likely be enough to drive them to demonification.”

”Of course,” Chu Qiguang confirmed with a nod. ”Everyone has different levels of resistance to demonification.”

After sifting through all of the pieces of knowledge in his mind, Chu Qiguang was able to determine that the pieces of knowledge that would create the most severe demonic tainting were the incantations and medicinal recipes from the Elixir of Undying.

After examining the Ring of Ignorance for a while longer, Chu Qiguang was able to make it disappear at will, and his chest appeared completely normal again.

The circumstances surrounding the emergence of this Ring of Ignorance were very strange, but Chu Qiguang had no choice but to accept it for now.

Perhaps once he entered the Demon Vanquishing Department, he would be able to find out more information about this Ring of Ignorance.

***

On the fifth day after the press conference in the textile workshop, Hao Yongtai was having some tea in the main hall of the Hao Manor while taking frequent glances out the door, looking rather uneasy and on-edge.

Some time later, the steward rushed into the room, and Hao Yongtai immediately stood up and asked, ”How did it go? What’s the price now? Were you able to purchase any shares?”

”The price has already risen to twenty taels of silver per share, Young Master!” the steward reported. ”No one is willing to sell for eighteen taels of silver per share!”

A pained look appeared on Hao Yongtai’s face at this terrible news.

On the day of the press conference, many of the wealthy individuals present were still unfamiliar with the concept of shares, so they quickly sold their shares for small profits, thinking that they had made a good decision.

In contrast, some of the more bold and shrewd businessmen among them had identified this as a money-making opportunity, and the very next day, they began buying up shares for eleven taels of silver per share.

The day after that, the price rose to twelve taels of silver per share, then thirteen, then fourteen...

As the price continued to climb, those who had sold their shares early were left kicking themselves, and Hao Yongtai was one of them.

After the press conference, he had purchased 1,500 shares for 15,000 taels of silver on behalf of the Hao Clan. He had made the purchase mostly out of trust in the Wu Clan, the Daoist temple, and Chu Qiguang, and he had also been captivated by the vision presented by Chu Qiguang.

However, after the share price rose to fifteen taels of silver, he was unable to suppress the urge to sell off five hundred shares for a profit of 2,500 taels of silver. That night, he was so ecstatic that he could barely sleep.

However, the share price only continued to rise, and now that it had risen to twenty taels of silver per share, Hao Yongtai felt like he had lost out on 2,500 taels of silver instead of making 2,500 taels of silver in profits.

”At this point, the share price has already doubled, so it should surely already have already reached its peak,” Hao Yongtai mused. ”Maybe I should sell the rest of my shares, then buy them back once the price falls again.”

”You can’t do that, Young Master!” the steward hurriedly said. ”The share price will be sure to continue to rise! You can’t sell them now!”

Meanwhile, news of the water-power spinning machine and loom were spreading like wildfire throughout all of the other counties of the Northern Mountain Manor.

The Wu Clan had sent out people en masse to spread the news under Chu Qiguang’s advice, and as more and more people learned about these new miracle machines, cotton merchants from other counties began to arrive in Azure Sun County to find out more information for themselves.

Ten days after the press conference, Chu Qiguang held another demonstration at the northern docks, putting the water-powered machines on display to an audience of thousands.

Following the demonstration, his mental state was further elevated, taking him eighty percent of the way to the fifth state, and at the same time, he could sense that he was approaching a bottleneck.

According to Qiao Zhi, the barrier to the fifth state was enough to stump the average Dao artist for a decade or even two.