Looking at the contents of the book page, Zhou Bai suddenly felt a rush of heat through his body, countless images flashing through his brain, and his Primordial Spirit involuntarily started to operate.
He hurriedly pressed the book page onto the desk with one hand, only then did he feel the Primordial Spirit restored and calm down again.
Zhou Bai widened his eyes and looked at Qian Wangsun, "What is this thing?"
Qian Wangsun chuckled, "Not sure, but it’s definitely not an ordinary thing. When I read this sentence, I felt my body heat up and my Primordial Spirit tremble. But writing this sentence elsewhere doesn’t work. Although it’s not as terrifying as the Daozang, which can trigger supernatural phenomena wherever written, it’s still quite impressive.
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And I found this thing in a particular place. I suspect it might be something left by the Quiet Scattered Man."
"The Quiet Scattered Man?" Zhou Bai looked expressionless on the surface, but a storm surged within his heart.
If someone asked him to recite the Tao Te Ching from memory, he might not be able to remember more than a few sentences. But when he saw these few sentences, he immediately recognized—weren’t they from the Tao Te Ching?
Especially the opening line, "The highest good is like water. Water benefits all things without contending." This was too famous.
Qian Wangsun continued, "Over a hundred years ago, the Quiet Scattered Man from the Eastern Dao School proposed the Three Great Rules for Dao Practice and then participated in editing the Daozang at that time.
Although the Quiet Scattered Man was not the highest in cultivation or the strongest in combat, he had the most thorough research on Daoist theories. So, he led the editing of the Daozang back then."
Zhou Bai’s eyes flashed, "Editing the Daozang?" Zhou Bai had read the Daozang, and just reading it and improving his Daoification Degree, he felt all kinds of difficulties. Editing the Daozang from scratch, he could imagine the difficulty just thinking about it.
Qian Wangsun looked at Zhou Bai and said, "Of course, a hundred years ago, the Four Great Taoist Schools were established, and many people died while cultivating under the twisted Heavenly Dao. To reduce this situation, arrays to purify spiritual energy, Primordial Spirit adjustments, and talisman vaccines were all created one after another.
But the most important was the Daozang."
"From Daozang 00 to Daozang 99, it took the Heavenly Court’s numerous immortals and top cultivators a total of 40 years, and over ten thousand cultivators and many immortals died in the process before it was completed." Saying this, Qian Wangsun sighed lightly, "Unfortunately, after the Daozang was edited for 40 years, the Quiet Scattered Man disappeared, and Daozang 100 still hasn’t been completed."
This point Zhou Bai had learned through some Daoist historical books while studying the basics recently.
The Daoification Degree from 0% to 99% is the process of repeatedly increasing the synchronization rate with the Heavenly Dao, and it is said that when the Daoification Degree reaches 100%, life undergoes the most fundamental transformation, from human to Ascension, stepping into the Heavenly Court and becoming an immortal.
But Daozang 99 can only increase the Daoification Degree to 99.9%.
Since the Daozang began its compilation, the final Daozang 100 has yet to succeed. Moreover, raising one’s Daoification Degree becomes increasingly dangerous the higher it is, resulting in no cultivator successfully reaching 100% Daoification Degree to ascend and become an immortal or god in the hundred years after the Heavenly Dao twisted.
This made the situation for humanity more difficult in the face of the undying Heavenly Demons.
Qian Wangsun whispered to Zhou Bai, "The Quiet Scattered Man’s disappearance has many rumors, some say the Heavenly Demons assassinated him to prevent the birth of Daozang 100.
Others say his research failed, and he mutated into a monster during the compilation of the Daozang.
Some even say Daozang 100 was completed but taken away by the Quiet Scattered Man."
"Those kinds of rumors are certainly unreliable." Zhou Bai looked at Qian Wangsun with displeasure, "Stop being mysterious. What exactly are you trying to say?"
Qian Wangsun chuckled, "The Quiet Scattered Man was an unparalleled master who led the compilation of Daozang 00 to Daozang 99. Anything he left behind, even a single word or phrase, would surely be extraordinary and might contain some insights into cultivation. Even if we can’t use it, handing it over to the school should earn us some points."
Zhou Bai looked at the page he had pressed down on the desk and casually said, "If it could be found, it would have been found long ago. How could it be our turn?"
Qian Wangsun, "That’s not necessarily true. The Quiet Scattered Man left many notes and insights about the Heavenly Dao throughout his life. There might be things that haven’t been found yet, like this..."
Seeing Qian Wangsun picking up the book page, Zhou Bai’s mind was in a bit of a mess.
This was clearly content from the Tao Te Ching. How could people in this world know about it? Could it be that someone had traveled through to the past?
If the Tao Te Ching already existed, why would he get first place by writing the Tao Te Ching in an exam?
Various questions kept rising in his mind.
Zhou Bai looked at Qian Wangsun and asked, "What do you plan to do?"
Qian Wangsun, "This page is obviously just a page from a notebook. If we can find the Quiet Scattered Man’s entire notebook, we’d strike it rich. Turning it over to the school should earn us at least a few thousand points."
Hearing the mention of a few thousand points, Zhou Bai’s eyes lit up instantly. But the next moment, the cautious habits he had developed during this period surged again. He looked at Qian Wangsun and said, "Why are you asking me? Wouldn’t it be better if you went alone?"
Qian Wangsun laughed, "I’ve already asked the teacher. If I turn in this page, I can get ten points. Although it’s somewhat mystical, its use is not obvious. So, I plan to look for a few more pages. But..."
Qian Wangsun sighed, "I’m not afraid to tell you. I found this in the abandoned dormitory building to the north. Now that I’ve mentioned it to the teacher, they will probably send staff to conduct a thorough search tomorrow, and it won’t be our turn then.
Unfortunately, that place is too big, and with only one night, I can’t search it all by myself. So, I thought of my good classmate."
He thought to himself: ’Damn, if Du Bing, Xia Li, and Jing Xiu weren’t so uninterested and just focused on their cultivation, I wouldn’t have come to you. Since it’s just looking for things, it doesn’t matter about strength or cultivation. Zhou Bai should be fine.’
Qian Wangsun smiled at Zhou Bai, "So, want to give it a try?"
’Picking up scraps shouldn’t be too dangerous. And this Tao Te Ching...’ Zhou Bai’s doubts grew stronger. The Tao Te Ching was rather important to him, as it was closely related to many of his definitions and ideas about this world.
So, after thinking for a moment, Zhou Bai said, "Alright, when should we go? I need to go back to the dormitory first."
Zhou Bai was planning to bring Christina along.
Although the abandoned dormitory theoretically shouldn’t be dangerous, having Christina with him—man and cat together—would naturally increase the safety factor.
So half an hour later, in the already dimly lit campus, Christina was rolling around unwillingly in Zhou Bai’s consciousness, meowing loudly, "I don’t want to go out. I just want to cultivate. I feel like I’m about to complete the training of the fourth star point!"
Zhou Bai said, "Being a cat, you can’t just stay at home and cultivate all day. The most important thing is to take walks every day like I do, to combine work and rest. That’s how you’ll cultivate faster."
Christina replied, both jealous and disdainful, "Cheater."
"What are you talking about? Who said I’m cheating? I’m not cheating!" Zhou Bai retorted, "Can an auxiliary cultivation system be called cheating?"
In two weeks, not only had Zhou Bai made progress, but Christina had also completed the training of the second star point, ’Tai Bai,’ and the third star point, ’Liu Guang.’ The speed, sharpness, and lethality of Sword Qi had greatly improved.
Now she had started training the fourth star point of the sword diagram, ’Nourishing Sword,’ which enhances the flexibility and recovery speed of Sword Qi.
Qian Wangsun turned back to Zhou Bai, "Hey, come on up. We’ve arrived."