Zhou Bai and Qian Wangsun stood before Xing Jun, who was clad in a white robe, standing quietly enveloped by the force of the Primordial Spirit, which materialized around him like a tangible substance.
The power of the Primordial Spirit emitted a faint white glow, making him appear as if a god had descended from the heavens. This formed a stark contrast with the white shadow Xing Jun, who had previously emitted the same white light.
Seeing the astonishment in Zhou Bai and Qian Wangsun’s eyes, Xing Jun looked at them with a faint smile and said, "Don’t worry, everything is alright now, leave the rest to me."
After speaking, Xing Jun turned around and his gaze swept towards ’Jian Xing’ who stood not far away.
Then they saw ’Jian Xing,’ with a mouth on the back of his head, stretch his mouth corners as if he was about to say something.
But in the next moment, a flash of white light emanated from Xing Jun, and the terrifying power of the Primordial Spirit crushed everything in its path.
Walls began to crumble, and the ground shattered. The fearsome power of the Primordial Spirit was like the sky falling and the earth caving in, devastating everything it touched into rubble.
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This was the power of the Primordial Spirit that dominated among the nine paths of cultivation, and Xing Jun, who had reached the fifth realm of the Giant Spirit in the Human Diagram path, now demonstrated a crushing force.
Without giving the opponent any opportunity, ’Jian Xing’ with the mouth at the back of his head opened wide, screaming something, but the next moment he was thoroughly crushed, turning into dust that scattered in the air.
Where ’Jian Xing’ had stood, only a golden script hovered in the air.
With just a gesture from Xing Jun, the scripture was drawn into his hand from afar.
As his thoughts moved, the texts in his hand rapidly flipped through, as if countless pieces of information flickered in Xing Jun’s eyes.
On the other side, Qian Wangsun and Zhou Bai simultaneously let out a sigh of relief.
They had never anticipated that Xing Jun, whom they originally thought was the mastermind behind the scenes, would save them at the last moment.
At that moment, Zhou Bai’s brows slightly raised, and in his eyes, the golden light from the texts floated up, directly rushed into his sea of consciousness, and in front of Christina, then surged into the gemstone hanging around Christina’s neck.
"This is..." Zhou Bai looked at the gemstone around Christina’s neck within his sea of consciousness.
Previously, in the underground base, Zhou Bai was ’killed’ once by the Heavenly Demon, and it was this gemstone that had saved him.
However, since then, the gemstone had almost shattered and no longer exhibited any miraculous properties.
Until now, as the scripture in Xing Jun’s hands grew dimmer, the golden light enveloped the gemstone, eventually turning into a string of golden text that infused into the gemstone.
Zhou Bai focused all his attention on the string of golden text, vaguely making out: Qian, Yuan, Heng, Li, Zhen...
Whoosh! As the golden light completely disappeared into the gemstone, Zhou Bai felt that the gemstone had regained some lustre, and the cracked lines seemed to have healed slightly.
Zhou Bai, somewhat nervous, watched the phenomenon before him and looked at Xing Jun.
Sensing Zhou Bai’s gaze, Xing Jun turned his head and faintly smiled, saying, "What’s the matter? Don’t be nervous, the aberrant Primordial Spirit that had possessed Jian Xing has been annihilated by me; there’s nothing to worry about now."
Xing Jun sighed, "It seems Jian Xing didn’t survive. It’s likely that before Ying Zi could possess him, he had already been possessed by another aberrant Primordial Spirit... I never expected a double possession... The one who possessed him first must be the mysterious manipulator behind controlling Ying Zi... Alas."
After speaking, he glanced at the scripture in his hand that had lost its golden glow, frowned slightly, and tucked the text into his chest.
"This seems to be a note left by a senior at the school. I’ll hand it over to the principal later to take a look."
Suddenly, Zhou Bai realized: ’He...didn’t see it?’ He turned his head to glance at Qian Wangsun, who was extremely weak, and apparently, he had not noticed the golden light entering Zhou Bai’s mind either.
Zhou Bai pondered, "Could it be that only I saw that scene?"
Christina exclaimed, "I saw it! I saw it too! I told you my gemstone is super important!" She stretched out her paw, holding the gemstone happily, her tail wagging continuously.
But Zhou Bai paid no attention to this; since nobody else had seen it, it meant there was no issue. He quickly spoke to Xing Jun, "Teacher, Qian Wangsun he..."
Xing Jun saw Qian Wangsun, who had fainted from massive blood loss, nodded, pulled out a small bottle from his chest, administered a pill to Qian Wangsun, and then, with a thought, wrapped him in the power of the Primordial Spirit.
"Zhou Bai, you wait outside for the other teachers to arrive. Qian Wangsun is in critical condition; I will take him for treatment right away."
Watching Xing Jun carrying Qian Wangsun away, Zhou Bai left the abandoned building, found a place to sit down, his mind still a mess with countless thoughts flashing back and forth.
Too many things had happened this evening: the death of Jian Xing, the severe injury of Qian Wangsun, the discoveries in the old building, including the Tao Te Ching, arrays, various ominous information, and finally the golden characters that surged into the gemstone.
"If it was any other words, it wouldn’t matter. Yuan, Heng, Li, Zhen... these are the first hexagram of ’The Book of Changes,’ and I haven’t read so many novels for nothing," Zhou Bai revealed a wry smile, first the Tao Te Ching, and now ’The Book of Changes.’ Even if his response was slow, he knew something was amiss.
"This world, unlike the one I originally came from, is definitely not as simple as I thought before."
"And Xing Jun... I originally thought he was the manipulator behind the scenes, but in the end, he saved us. And is he really going to submit what he found? If he does, does that mean he might not be the manipulator after all?"
Zhou Bai continued to ponder over various matters until the arrival of teachers and staff from other schools, followed by the police.
With the professionals’ search, a trove of scriptures from the Sky Flipping Sect was discovered in the basement.
At the top floor of Building 7, an array used for blood sacrifice of ordinary people was found.
As various clues were uncovered, the situation gradually became clearer.
As an important eyewitness, Zhou Bai was subjected to extensive questioning.
Zhou Bai recounted everything he had witnessed and, regarding the last chapter of the Tao Te Ching, he merely claimed to have casually written a phrase himself, then emphasized his suspicions about Xing Jun.
What Zhou Bai finally learned from the police was that Jian Xing had been possessed by a criminal from the Sky Flipping Sect, who then secretly collected the scriptures written by a senior of the school, leading to the series of events that followed.
The reward points initially promised for finding the Taoist scripture were put on hold due to Xing Jun’s unilateral claims.
As for the Tao Te Ching obtained from the incident, it had already been handed over to the Dao School for research.
Sitting in the police station, Zhou Bai suddenly felt the entire building tremble slightly.
"What’s going on?"
In another conference room inside the building, Xing Jun looked angrily at the people before him, "That’s utter nonsense. I never received any report from Qian Wangsun, nor did I instruct Jian Xing to search for anything in the old building."
Li Xiuzhu sneered, "Then why were you conveniently near the old building today? And why did the array that Zhou Bai and the others encountered contain an array spirit modeled after you?"
"I take walks in that area every evening. What you should be investigating is why someone set up an array where I walk. There must be other traitors within the school."
A turbulent force of the Primordial Spirit emanated from Xing Jun as he coldly said, "As for the appearance of the array spirit, isn’t that an even more obvious smear? Besides, if I were really behind it, why would I report to the school? Why not just kill Zhou Bai and the rest to silence them?"
"That’s enough, Xing Jun," Vice Principal Zhao Shouyi said from the side. "I believe in your character, but we must follow procedures. Please cooperate with our work, and we will release you soon."
Xing Jun lowered his eyelids and sighed, "I have no problem cooperating, but I’m worried that the person framing me has other, unspeakable motives."
"This incident is not just about tonight. From Ying Zi to Jian Xing, to the array this evening, the Sky Flipping Sect could have used more convenient methods. Instead, they did many unnecessary things, guiding Zhou Bai and the others to act in a specific way," Xing Jun continued coldly. "I’m very worried this is some kind of secret ritual."
Half an hour later, in a secret chamber of the Dao School, Zhao Shouyi was examining the Tao Te Ching in his hand with a frown.
Since Xing Jun had handed over this copy of the Tao Te Ching, he had performed a cursory examination but hadn’t uncovered any clues.
The entire Tao Te Ching was blank, showing no content or mystical properties, as if it was just an ordinary book, devoid of any scriptures.
Zhao Shouyi thought for a moment and decided to send this item to Facility 12 for testing and research.
"This matter is not that simple. For a criminal of the Sky Flipping Sect to set up an array in the school, there must be an inside accomplice."
"Could it be Xing Jun? But he has already been taken away. If it really is him... he should be laying even lower."
"And they should have already received the Tao Te Ching, right? Didn’t anyone notice that the first line is what I wrote for the exam? Why hasn’t anyone come to talk to me about it..."
"And those clues in the old building, the graffiti, the echoes, what do they mean?"
"What exactly is going on with this whole incident?"
Zhou Bai always felt that the incident was not over, that the mastermind behind the scenes wouldn’t have set up such a big scheme to just let it end like this.
The following evening, Zhou Bai went to the edge of the school grounds.
Donghua City was a three-dimensional structure extending from 50 meters underground to 2000 meters in the sky.
Its massive capacity was formed through countless floating buildings and peninsulas in the air, accommodating a population of over three hundred million.
Standing at the boundary at an altitude of 1500 meters, Zhou Bai could see the rolling firmament winds nearby, clouds dispersing and reshaping.
He could also see the dark land 1500 meters below.
Zhou Bai came here today to observe the stars.
Since arriving in this world, Zhou Bai had not taken a close look at the night sky.
Usually, within the school area, what he saw overhead was an artificial starry sky.
Only by coming to this boundary could Zhou Bai see the true night sky.
His purpose in observing the stars was to confirm something.
Due to the appearance of the Tao Te Ching and the emergence of the 64 hexagrams from "The Book of Changes," there were some issues he urgently wanted to clarify through the stars.
His eyes intently fixed on the bright stars, his voice trembling slightly.
"Orion..."
"Sirius..."
"Alpha Tauri..."
Zhou Bai covered his face with his hands, murmuring in disbelief, "Is this still the solar system?... Is it even still Earth?"
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The new book has been updated with three installments for three days in a row, totaling 9,800 words today, nearly ten thousand.
To be honest, it’s quite rare for a new book to update this frequently.
As a mere unknown writer without the fame of a famous author or the appeal of a platinum hit, my only option is to put in more effort and release more chapters to seek support.
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