Chapter 553: Chapter 544: Sea of Books
This time it was Azhu’s turn to blush.
Ding Ling’s charisma was unprecedentedly high.
He was the most charming man Azhu had ever seen in her life.
Moreover, Ding Ling had too many auras surrounding him!
He was the current emperor of the Great Ming Kingdom!
Simply an unapproachable, absolutely top-notch high branch!
Then think about the life-saving grace just now.
Ding Ling departed gracefully without expecting any reward, a carefree attitude in stark contrast to Ding Chunqiu.
Ding Ling appeared exceedingly magnificent, tall, sacred, and bright!
Having suffered too much humiliation and hardship under Ding Chunqiu, suddenly encountering someone like Ding Ling.
She moved from the most desperate and dark realm to the brightest realm.
The intense emotions in her heart were imaginable.
Azhu was just like this. After experiencing such a disaster, the two sisters were rescued by such a great man as Ding Ling. Naturally, they secretly developed a fondness for Ding Ling. At this moment, her feelings were exposed by Azi, and she shyly said:
"I don’t deserve him!"
"Who deserves him then?"
Azi retorted:
"What role are Zhong Ling and Mu Wanqing? You know perfectly well. Do they deserve Your Majesty? Yet they became empresses and consorts. If they can, why can’t I?"
"Oh dear."
Azhu stamped her foot and said:
"I’m not talking to you anymore. A girl should be more reserved. Talking about such things is truly indecorous."
"Tch."
Azi scoffed:
"I don’t care about propriety or anything. If His Majesty is willing to accept me, I’m willing to go back to the palace with him now."
"..."
Azhu was helpless against Azi and could only say:
"Let’s go back to Dali."
"I’m not going to see that Duan Zhengchun!"
"You have to call him father!"
"Humph. I don’t have such a father!"
"You!"
"What about you? If you want to call him, then call him. Don’t drag me into it."
Azi retorted against Azhu, then turned around and left.
"Where are you going?"
"None of your business!"
...
...
Ding Ling swept through Tubo, and on his way back, dealt with Ding Chunqiu, thus the return journey was smooth.
Back in Luoyang.
Ding Ling began handing various major affairs over to some famous ministers to handle.
And to attract more talents.
Ding Ling once again organized the imperial examination.
People from Tubo, Western Xia, Great Song, and Great Liao could participate, as long as they got through the final palace examination and became the champion scholar, their future would be limitless.
Upon hearing this, talented individuals from the Four Kingdoms were excited and overjoyed.
Ding Ling’s martial arts, knowledge, versatility, and character had already been recognized by many of noble purity.
Because Ding Ling was not very keen on wealth and power, except for needing some secret manuals and great medicine, he knew how to delegate power, allowing his subordinates to work freely without imposing too many constraints, enabling them to fully utilize their abilities.
He was generous with wealth and resources.
It was precisely because of such actions based solely on talent that Ding Ling was loved by some upright individuals, who voluntarily spread his fame, one person telling ten, ten telling a hundred.
In some high-level or academic circles, Ding Ling’s reputation was naturally quite commendable.
In this regard.
Ding Ling remained oblivious.
He wasn’t planning to stay in this world for long.
His unification of Jiuzhou was merely for collecting secret manuals and great medicine.
As he issued his commands.
Secret manuals from all over Jiuzhou, within the Four Kingdoms, were continuously being transported to Luoyang.
Upon returning to Luoyang, after handling some national affairs, Ding Ling entered the Imperial Study to read.
Here, secret manuals were delivered daily.
Secret manuals read by Ding Ling were transported to the Royal Library afterward.
And to facilitate his reading.
The Imperial Study was filled with bookshelves!
After renovation, the Imperial Study had become extremely large! Now, filled with bookshelves, it was densely packed with books at first glance.
Ding Ling couldn’t help but be delighted, thinking:
’At this rate, the progress of the Martial Arts Melting Furnace will surely advance quickly.’
He began to read.
These secret manuals originated from all directions, copied manuals from major sects, aristocratic families, royal families, and so on.
Ding Ling stated he only required copies and would even allow the contributing families and sects to enter the Royal Library for reading.
The higher the level of contributed secret manuals.
The higher the level of secret manuals accessible in the Royal Library.
And to encourage more people to contribute secret manuals.
Ding Ling even placed the Nine Yin Scripture and Flying Bear Breathing Technique inside.
In his opinion.
Many people knew the Nine Yin Scripture, so placing it inside was fine. He was about to ascend to a higher world, and a mere Nine Yin Scripture was nothing to him.
One must give to receive.
With one Nine Yin Scripture plus some other first-class top secret manuals, exchanging for more top secret manuals was naturally worth it.
Ding Ling’s goal was to manifest the Martial Arts Melting Furnace.
As long as the Martial Arts Melting Furnace could forge a secret tome that distilled the essence of all major secret manuals, then it could be imagined that secret manuals like the Nine Yin Scripture would be easily surpassed by it.
It was precisely because of this far-reaching vision that Ding Ling decisively adopted this method.
When this method was first announced, sects, families, and others didn’t believe it.
But when the scouts they sent really obtained the opportunity to view equivalent secret manuals from the Royal Library, they were thrilled.
Having the chance to witness Ding Ling’s Martial Arts Secret Manual.
How many people dreamed of this?
Moreover, aside from gaining the chance to view the Royal Library, Ding Ling also promised that for each manual contributed, they could copy the same number of equivalent grade secret manuals from the Royal Library, and not only that, but they would also receive wealth, official ranks, land, and other rewards.
Ding Ling was striving to quickly collect secret manuals.
He gave his all.
Of course.
To ensure the orderly collection and fulfillment of these secret manuals, he also dispatched some highly intelligent literati to help ’fill in gaps.’
With those famed individuals assisting, some oversights were corrected, so Ding Ling didn’t worry too much.
He only needed to read in the Imperial Study every day.
Rustle!
Batch after batch of secret manuals reached full level.
Astronomy, geography, music, chess, calligraphy, painting, medical dao, array dao, Mo Family, Confucian School, Daoist Family, Buddhist study, and so on were all included.
Ding Ling was deeply absorbed in reading.
He read for days and nights.
Only after finishing all the secret manuals in the Imperial Study did he exhale deeply.
[Wisdom +0.8]
Finished reading the classics of Daoist Family, Confucian School, Mo Family, Logician School, Strategist School, and others, the growth in wisdom was quite substantial.
Ding Ling could feel the enhancement in memory, analytical abilities, and more.
Much of his buried past memories surged up once more at this moment.
[Buddha Qi +2 paths]
After finishing Buddhist study.
The Buddha Qi in his mind increased by two paths.
Ding Ling merely activated the Buddha Qi slightly, and the evil qi within his body dissipated immediately, with the additional two paths expelling it even faster.
His whole body felt comfortable beyond words.
[Martial Arts Melting Furnace Body progress: 18%]
From 15% it increased to 18%.
Most of these secret manuals were ordinary, with few containing martial arts secrets, and the first-class ones extremely rare.
Thus, it ultimately only raised by 3 percentage points.
