Scripture of Days Past

As Jiang Longyu left the room, Zhang Haizhu spat onto the ground in disdain. ”Out of all of the trainees, he’s the only one who locks his cabinet! What a stingy bastard!”

He then turned to Li He, who was meditating on the bed, and asked, ”Can you lend us your notes, Brother Li?”

”Take it,” Li He replied in an indifferent voice.

Chu Qiguang returned to his shared room to see Li He meditating on his bed, while Zhang Haizhu and Li Chu were diligently copying his notes.

Shortly thereafter, Jiang Longyu returned to the room as well, and he began bickering with Zhang Haizhu once again.

”I’m snuffing out the lamp!” Li He snapped.

Before the lamp was snuffed out, Chu Qiguang took a moment to examine everyone’s shadows, but he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

Still feeling perplexed about the so-called boon that he had received, Chu Qiguang stood up to leave the room.

”Where’re you going, Chu Qiguang?” Jiang Longyu asked. ”The instructors are going to punish you if they catch you outside after the night curfew.”

”As a third-state Dao artist, I can substitute sleep with a couple of hours of meditation,” Chu Qiguang explained. ”I’ve already done my daily meditation, so I don’t need to sleep. I’ve informed the instructors of this, and they’ve allowed me to read and cultivate outside as long as I remain within the courtyard.”

Jiang Longyu didn’t say anything, but there was a clear look of envy in his gaze. Li He and Zhang Haizhu reacted the same.

The thought of Chu Qiguang still working so hard despite already being so exceptional immediately lit a fire under the trio, and they felt like each second that they spent in bed was a second wasted.

Zhang Haizhu put on his clothes, then got out of bed, and said, ”I’m gonna do a bit more reading.”

Li He didn’t say anything, but he also got up and returned to his seated meditation.

Jiang Longyu was about to get up as well, but he didn’t want to seem like a tryhard, so he remained in bed and inwardly scoffed, Those two idiots are going to regret it tomorrow when their sleep deprivation catches up to them!

Chu Qiguang was naturally oblivious to what was happening in the room. He made his way to the center of the small courtyard outside, and as he began circulating his qi and blood, waves of heat surged out of him, melting the snow nearby.

Even though he was already a fifth-state martial artist, his qi and blood were still far from reaching the pinnacle of the fifth state, so there was still much room for improvement.

He continued to circulate his qi and blood while going through the contents of the Primordial High Zenith Qigong and the Heavenly Demon Vanquishing Palms in his mind.

It’s going to be a month before I’ll have an opportunity to leave the mountain; I wonder if everything is going smoothly on Qiao Zhi’s end.

Chu Qiguang could only leave Jade Face Mountain after the first monthly examination, and thanks to Chitter and Chatter, it wouldn’t take him long at all to travel back to Azure Sun County.

He would have to think of an excuse that would secure him permission to leave the mountain every once in a while. That way, he would be able to complete his training on Jade Face Mountain while simultaneously keeping an eye on things back home.

I wonder how Chen Gang is doing. Chu Qiguang had left Chen Gang with some money at a relay station close to ten kilometers away from Jade Face Mountain.

At the moment, Chen Gang was wrapped tightly in his thin blanket, but he was still struggling to find sleep amidst the freezing conditions. When is Brother Chu going to leave the mountain? If he doesn’t come here, I’ll have to stay here indefinitely...

***

After breakfast the next morning, the first lesson was once again a history lesson, with an emphasis on loyal heroes and wise emperors of the past. This was going to be a permanent daily subject over the coming year.

After the history lesson, a new lecturer by the name of Song Ming entered the room. He was a rather strange-looking man. His hair was so long and unkempt that it had to have been obstructing his vision.

His clothes were also tattered and riddled with holes.

What was most astonishing to Chu Qiguang was that there were five dark green tentacles extending out of the shadow beneath Song Ming’s feet, looking as if they were about to drag him into the darkness.

Song Ming’s lesson was on ghosts, and true to his lessons, his cold and hoarse voice sounded like it wouldn’t be out of place for a ghost.

”Ghosts are the most varied and diverse wicked beings in this world, but they’re not actually very common. In fact, most people go their entire lives without encountering even a single ghost. In order to deal with ghosts, you can use the power of your qi and blood, or you can also use Dao swords and talismans from the Daoist temples.

”However, those things will only allow you to ward off ghosts, not kill them. The only way to kill ghosts is to send them to the afterlife. Drowned ghosts, hanged ghosts, starved ghosts, and the most vicious grave ghosts... a ghost can only be sent to the afterlife in a specific way, which varies depending on the type of ghost you’re dealing with.

”That is the only way to permanently deal with ghosts, so they can be extremely difficult and dangerous to handle...”

Song Ming spent the lesson talking about different ghosts and the specific ways to send them to the afterlife. It seemed that he couldn’t care less whether the trainees were even learning anything from his lesson. He also left as soon as the lesson was over.

Naturally, the trainees were dismayed. Song Ming had gone through his lecture so quickly that they didn’t even have time to properly take notes. Everyone turned to Chu Qiguang for help, knowing that they could rely on his eidetic memory to review the contents of the lesson.

After lunch, the first afternoon lesson was on pills.

The trainees were taken to a cold and damp underground prison.

The lecturer for this lesson was a middle-aged man by the name of Li Jian. He had a rather easygoing appearance, and Chu Qiguang could see only a single tentacle extending out of his shadow.

”The focus of the Demon Vanquishing Department’s pill lessons isn’t on pill refinement,” Li Jian said. ”At the most, I’m only going to teach you how to refine some very basic medicines for use in emergencies. If you want to receive a more in-depth education on pill refinement, I suggest you look into the subject in the future.

”For now, my lessons are primarily geared toward getting all of you accustomed to the commonly used pills of the Demon Vanquishing Department. I will be teaching you how to build up tolerance to these pills and how to ward off the effects of pill poisoning. Hence, I will be feeding you pills at each lesson.”

Chu Qiguang’s eyes instantly lit up.

”I know that some traditionalists will tell you that qi and blood gained through pill consumption is inferior to what you can attain through cultivation, but that’s a load of nonsense,” Li Jian added. ”There is no difference in the quality of the qi and blood that you’ll gain, whether it be through cultivation or pill consumption.

”However, excessive pill consumption will result in an accumulation of pill poison, and if you go beyond a certain threshold, you will die. Furthermore, some pills come with side effects that can be extremely painful or undesirable in other ways.

”If you’re unwilling to accept these risks, then I suggest you give up on joining the Demon Vanquishing Department. For today, you will be taking Bloodbath Pills. Who would like to come up first?”

”Me!”

”Me!”

Two voices rang out in unison. Li Jian turned to discover that both Chu Qiguang and Jiang Longyu had raised their arm up high.