Chapter 13: Bookworm Chen Changsheng, 280,000 Books
After reciting it ten times, Yuanshen Shangren said proudly,
“Only a Disciple of my Yuanshen Shangren could write such a couplet imbued with Dao.”
“Look at these characters—strong and elegant, with extraordinary bearing. How could an ordinary person write such characters?!”
“That bald donkey Huihai and that bastard Zhao Dezhu are always flaunting their power, relying on having taken in a good Disciple.”
“Once Changsheng reaches Foundation Establishment, we must deflate their arrogance.”
With that, Yuanshen Shangren walked away with his hands behind his back, looking very pleased.
After a while, a blurred figure suddenly appeared at the entrance of the originally empty hall.
“Cultivating for a thousand years, yet still not as perceptive as a grand-Disciple. Interesting.”
Before the words even faded, the blurred figure vanished again.
...
Several streaks of light flashed across the sky.
The Mortals on the ground looked on with immense longing, for the streaks of light just now represented the omnipotent Immortals of this world.
However, what they didn't know was that among those streaks of light, there was a rather “unambitious” Immortal.
“Senior Brother, make your spiritual energy a bit thicker.”
“The wind is too strong, I can’t concentrate on reading.”
A virtualized Flying Sword was rapidly flying through the air, with Qingfeng, the Head Disciple of Shangqing Temple, standing with his hands behind his back at its tip.
However, behind him sat a Young Man cross-legged, the strong wind from the flight frequently forcing him to press down the book pages.
Facing his Little Junior Brother’s “lax” attitude, Qingfeng waved his right hand, and his protective spiritual energy thickened by a few points.
This caused the fluttering pages to settle down.
“Changsheng, you hold a book all day, what exactly are you reading?”
Hearing this, Chen Changsheng smiled faintly and said, “I like to read any book.”
“Not only do I like to read books, but I also like to observe every single thing in this world.”
“But the world is too vast; even if I spent thousands or tens of thousands of years, I might not be able to see everything.”
“So I choose to read books first, then observe this world.”
“Because books are written by people, and the reason people write books is that they want to transform what they have seen, heard, felt, and understood into words and leave them behind.”
“Reading a book is equivalent to understanding a person’s life.”
“Although one cannot see the whole picture, one can still glimpse a bit.”
Hearing Chen Changsheng’s explanation, Qingfeng also became interested.
“Then, with all the books you’ve read, have they been helpful to you?”
“Of course, if I didn’t read books, how could I have deciphered Master’s core Formation?”
As soon as these words came out, not only Chen Changsheng’s Senior Brothers became interested, but even the Nascent Soul Stage Yuanshen Shangren, who was leading the way, pricked up his ears.
Yuanshen Shangren was indeed a bit heartbroken that Chen Changsheng used lightning-struck wood for his coffin, but what puzzled Yuanshen Shangren even more was how a Formation laid down by him, a Nascent Soul Realm Cultivator, could be broken by a Disciple at the ninth level of Qi Condensation.
“You mean, there’s a Formation laid by Master in the Scripture Pavilion?”
“Senior Brother is joking. Master is not skilled in the Dao of Formations, so how could the Scripture Pavilion contain Master’s Formation?”
Yuanshen Shangren: “...”
Those words are a bit hurtful!
I am your Master, a Nascent Soul Realm mighty figure. What right do you, a ninth-level Qi Condensation Cultivator, have to comment on me?
“Since there’s no Formation laid by Master in the Scripture Pavilion, then how did you break the Formation?”
“Even if Master isn’t skilled in Formations, a Formation laid by a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator isn’t something you, a ninth-level Qi Condensation Cultivator, can comprehend!”
“Senior Brother is right. Normally, I naturally wouldn’t be able to comprehend Master’s Formation.”
“But Senior Brother overlooked one principle, which is that everything in the world leaves a trace.”
“Master is the Temple Master of Shangqing Temple, and his cultivation foundation naturally inherits from Shangqing Temple.”
“In the Shangqing Temple Scripture Pavilion, I have read eight or nine tenths of the books on Formations.”
“And what Master dabbled in was the Five Elements Formation lineage.”
“While reading books on the Five Elements Formation lineage, I also discovered Master’s notes and insights from back then.”
“Therefore, I gained some understanding of Master’s Formation-laying habits.”
Hearing this, Qingfeng immediately turned to look at his Second Senior Brother and asked, “Mingyue, you manage the Scripture Pavilion. Does our Shangqing Temple have a Five Elements Formation lineage?”
Hearing this, Second Senior Brother Mingyue pondered for a moment and asked doubtfully,
“Although I’m not as widely read as Little Junior Brother, I do know a bit about the general classifications in the Scripture Pavilion.”
“I’ve never heard of a Five Elements Formation lineage!”
Seeing this, Chen Changsheng smiled and said, “Of course Second Senior Brother wouldn’t know.”
“Second Senior Brother has been guarding the Scripture Pavilion for thirty years, but the Five Elements Formation was removed from the Scripture Pavilion fifty years ago.”
“The Five Elements Formation approach was popular in the Cultivation World a hundred years ago, but it was gradually replaced by other Formation approaches later on.”
Hearing this, Mingyue immediately looked at Chen Changsheng with a speechless expression.
“Little Junior Brother, don’t tell me you went to the Book Tomb.”
“Hahahahaha!”
“Second Senior Brother indeed has a Wisdom Eye. I did go to the Book Tomb.”
Hearing this, Mingyue, who was nearby, immediately felt his head swell.
Nothing in the world is ever constant, and the Cultivation Techniques and various knowledge in the Cultivation World are no exception.
From major Cultivation Techniques for Golden Core and Nascent Soul to minor introductory Formations and basic cultivation knowledge.
Everything is changing, and the Cultivation World always has Geniuses who introduce new ideas.
Therefore, the Scripture Pavilion is cleaned out every fifty years, with the purpose of replacing outdated Cultivation Techniques and classics.
And those removed books are sent to a specific storage location, which the Disciples of Shangqing Temple call the “Book Tomb.”
Shangqing Temple has existed for thousands of years, and no one knows how many books are stored in the Book Tomb.
No one knows what kinds of books are in there either.
Mingyue had visited this place a few times when he first entered the sect, and he even found the Mortal folk novel “Jin Ping Mei” there.
After confirming that most of the books inside were useless, Mingyue never went there again.
Taking a deep breath to adjust his mood, Mingyue tentatively asked, “Little Junior Brother, you couldn’t have finished reading all the books in the Book Tomb, could you?”
“Senior Brother Mingyue, please don’t joke. I only entered the sect ten years ago; how could I have finished them all?”
“Whew~”
“However, I’ve already read three-tenths of them.”
Mingyue: ???
“Three-tenths!!!”
“Three-tenths of the books in the Book Tomb, that must be a colossal 400,000, right?”
“Not that many. There are a total of 983,521 books in the Book Tomb.”
“Over these years, I have read a total of 286,385 books, which is barely three-tenths.”
After hearing this, Mingyue fell silent, the other Disciples also fell silent, and even the Nascent Soul Stage Yuanshen Shangren was no exception.