Scripture of Days Past

The reaction from the Ring of Ignorance immediately told Chu Qiguang that he had made the right move.

”I will be sure to read these Daoist scriptures diligently so I can glean the boundless wisdom of the Profound Origin Dao Lord,” Chu Qiguang declared at once.

Zhao Lingxiao gave a pleased nod.

Seeing that Zhao Lingxiao seemed gullible, Chu Qiguang immediately put on a grateful expression and continued, ”I’ve been dying to learn more about the Profound Origin Dao Lord! This is an opportunity that I’ve been waiting for my entire life!”

”I’m glad you feel that way,” Zhao Lingxiao said with a pleased expression, convinced that Chu Qiguang could still be guided onto the right path.

”I have to go back and instruct the other trainees on how to use the Demon Vanquishing Talismans and Heavenly Master Talismans. Right now, your faith is lacking, so you won’t be able to activate the talismans. Even if you return with me, you won’t be able to keep up with the others. Instead, I’ll pick out a few scriptures for you to read, and I’ll come back to test you once the lesson is over.”

After some thought, Zhao Lingxiao selected three Daoist scriptures from the bookshelves and placed them in front of Chu Qiguang.

Chu Qiguang eagerly agreed to this arrangement. As soon as Zhao Lingxiao left, he picked up the three Daoist scriptures.

None of these three scriptures are triggering a reaction from the Ring of Ignorance...

Chu Qiguang set them back down and began searching on his own, guided by the Ring of Ignorance. Before long, he found a scripture called the ”Cultivation Karma Scripture”.

It was a scripture that detailed notable feats of the Profound Origin Dao Lord before he became a deity. The introduction proclaimed the Profound Origin Dao Lord had always spread his teachings verbally and had never left behind any written records. To prevent his teachings from being lost over time, his followers had compiled records of his words, actions, and feats, and the Cultivation Karma Scripture was one such record.

According to the scripture, the Profound Origin Dao Lord had been a general in a small human nation back when he was still a mortal.

At the time, fiends reigned supreme throughout the world. The most powerful fiend races had claimed all of the finest plots of land under the heavens, while humans could only survive in the inhospitable areas between the territories of the fiend races.

The scripture described how the Profound Origin Dao Lord naturally learned Dao arts through slaying fiends and demons, then went on to enlighten other mortals with his teachings.

The founding emperor of the Early Han Dynasty was a man named Ji. He was the first human emperor to unite the entire world, and he had once met the Profound Origin Dao Lord in his youth. Ji was unconvinced by the Profound Origin Dao Lord’s teachings, so he attacked him, only to be subdued and accepted as a disciple.

After that, the Profound Origin Dao Lord went on to slay a whole host of fiend kings, and only then was Ji able to conquer the world and establish the Early Han Dynasty. However, even after becoming the ruler of the world, Ji still wanted more. His greed knew no bounds, and he became a ruthless tyrantin his pursuit of immortality.

He implored the Profound Origin Dao Lord to teach him how to attain immortality, and after being refused, he hatched a nefarious plot. He planned to ambush the Profound Origin Dao Lord and force him to reveal the path to immortality.

The Profound Origin Dao Lord emerged from the ambush unharmed, and he was thoroughly disappointed in Ji. At the same time, his divination told him that the fortune of the Early Han Dynasty had already run out. Unable to bear the thought of the masses suffering, he took on another disciple, who later overthrew the Early Han Dynasty and established a new empire in its place.

As Chu Qiguang continued to read through the scripture, he noticed that after the fall of the Early Han Dynasty, the Profound Origin Dao Lord’s appearances became rarer and rarer. In fact, there had been no reliable sightings of him at all for the past few centuries.

After reading the Cultivation Karma Scripture, Chu Qiguang felt a sense of joy emanate from the Ring of Ignorance.

What’s the boon going to be this time?

Chu Qiguang eagerly waited for some time, but this time, he received nothing.

Nothing?! Could it be that not all knowledge is guaranteed to elicit a boon? Do I need to accumulate more and more knowledge with each passing boon? Or is it because the knowledge in the Cultivation Karma Scripture isn’t valuable enough?

There wasn’t much time left, so Chu Qiguang could only read the Cultivation Karma Scripture and commit it to memory. After that, he began reading the three Daoist scriptures that Zhao Lingxiao had picked out for him.

He had only managed to get halfway through the three scriptures when Zhao Lingxiao returned to the study after the lesson. Zhao Lingxiao asked Chu Qiguang how far he had read before testing him on the contents of the scriptures.

”Not bad. I can tell you’ve been reading earnestly,” Zhao Lingxiao praised. ”From now on, come here every morning before your lessons to read. If you have any questions, I’ll answer them for you.”

Chu Qiguang immediately nodded, eager to read more scriptures. He then asked Zhao Lingxiao if he could borrow some scriptures to take with him, but Zhao Lingxiao refused. It was clear that he cherished these scriptures very dearly.

After leaving the Daoist temple, Chu Qiguang made his way to the cafeteria for lunch. As soon as he arrived, a concerned Huang Xiangyu approached him.

”Brother Chu, how can you not believe in the Profound Origin Dao Lord?”

”I suppose I just wasn’t raised in the right environment,” Chu Qiguang replied with a sullen expression.

”You have to be careful from now on,” Huang Xiangyu sighed. ”The others are probably going to pick on you for this.”

Perhaps the other trainees were envious of Chu Qiguang’s exceptional aptitude, but they wouldn’t do anything about it. However, clashes in faith often led to conflicts, and that had been true throughout history.

Most of the prodigies chosen for these selection trials were devout believers, and Huang Xiangyu knew there would definitely be some among them who wouldn’t be happy with Chu Qiguang.

After giving him that warning, Huang Xiangyu hurried away, as if he were afraid of associating too closely with Chu Qiguang.

A trainee named Cheng Ming spotted Chu Qiguang from afar and scoffed to one of his companions, ”I can’t believe he still has the nerve to show his face here! Does he have no shame? If I were him, I would’ve already left the mountain before I succumbed to demonification and ended up hurting others!”

The other trainees all agreed with him. They had all grown up in households that worshiped the Profound Origin Dao Lord, so they deeply resented non-believers like Chu Qiguang.

”Get out of here, Chu Qiguang!” Cheng Ming snapped. ”You can eat outside!”

”Why?” Chu Qiguang asked, raising an eyebrow.

”We don’t want to eat with a non-believer like you,” Cheng Ming scoffed in disdain. ”What if your blasphemy rubs off on us?”

Li He watched the scene with a passive expression.

A disgruntled look appeared on Zhang Haizhu’s face, and he wanted to stand up for Chu Qiguang, but someone stopped him.

As for Jiang Longyu, he was eating in a private booth, so he had no idea what was happening in the cafeteria.

Chu Qiguang was going to ignore Cheng Ming, but he suddenly felt a familiar sense of impulsive aggression and discomfort.

There goes my condition again...