Scripture of Days Past

Inside the archive building, Chu Qiguang nodded with a pleased expression at the sight of the books Lin Lan had prepared for him.

"Thanks for your hard work, Lin Lan."

"Why're you suddenly so interested in the Vajra Monastery, Brother Chu?" Lin Lan asked.

"I'm just curious about its history," Chu Qiguang replied with a smile.

The two of them had grown much closer following the ordeal they had endured together during the attack on Jade Face Mountain. At that moment, the gatekeeper was watching them closely from the darkness, worried that Chu Qiguang would make a move on Lin Lan.

"You're the most studious and hard-working person I've ever met, Brother Chu," Lin Lan praised with a warm smile.

"I just enjoy reading in my free time," Chu Qiguang replied modestly.

As Lin Lan scooted her chair closer and closer to Chu Qiguang, the gatekeeper cleared his throat from the darkness to express his displeasure.

Lin Lan cast a disgruntled glance in the gatekeeper's direction, while Chu Qiguang remained focused on what he was reading.

Through his recent research, Chu Qiguang discovered that there were two primary methods adopted by the Demon Vanquishing Department to increase one's chances of reaching the Dao Comprehension state through cultivating the Sumeru Strength Scripture.

The first was by enhancing the cultivator's physical constitution, while the second was by taking special pills.

Through his own trial and error, he had discovered a third method, which was reading Buddhist scriptures.

I have the physical cultivation aspect covered. I've mastered the Primordial High Zenith Demonic Arts, and I've instructed Yang Ling to find the remaining Vajra Laws and Steel Tendon Iron Bone Arts for me. Given my aptitude, I should be able to master those two cultivation arts as well in no time. However, it won't be easy to get my hands on those pills unless I'm willing to fork out a lot of money.

According to Li Jian, if I want to secretly purchase the pills in batches from Shu Province, it'll cost me at least a hundred thousand taels of silver. I don't have that much money right now, so I'll have to secure an injection of funds from somewhere. As for the Buddhist scriptures, that won't be a problem, either.

Once I've read all of the Buddhist scriptures in the archive building, that should be enough to support my cultivation of the Sumeru King Scripture.

However, Chu Qiguang couldn't help but feel like there was still a missing element, particularly because his hallucinations from cultivating the Sumeru King Scripture had been growing increasingly severe.

Aside from those three methods, there should be something else related to demonic tainting. From what I've learned about the Vajra Monastery so far, it seems that they had been constantly searching for better ways to cultivate the Sumeru King Scripture ever since the first large-scale demonic tainting incident over two hundred years ago.

Through all the journals, letters, and other records he had read, Chu Qiguang felt that he could see the struggles the Vajra Monastery had been forced to endure under the effects of the demonic tainting.

Before the incident, cultivating the Sumeru King Scripture had never been particularly dangerous because there had never been such a potent demonic tainting event. However, for some reason, the demonic tainting suddenly intensified around two hundred years ago, and the Sumeru King Scripture was negatively affected as a result. From the on, the longer one cultivated the Sumeru King Scripture, the more likely they were to undergo demonification, and the less likely they were to reach the Dao Comprehension state.

To combat this problem, the Vajra Monastery began researching ways to increase one's chances of reaching the Dao Comprehension state through the cultivation of the Sumeru King Scripture. Over the past two hundred years, they had continuously recruited disciples from across the central plains to further their research into the Sumeru King Scripture, even drawing upon the power of the Mahayana branch of Buddhism.

In the end, they must've succeeded. After all, when the Vajra Monastery was eradicated by the imperial court, there were still Dao Comprehension-state martial gods among their ranks.

At that moment, another burst of sharp screeching and a flash of golden radiance snapped Chu Qiguang out of his thoughts.

These hallucinations are definitely getting worse. It's like the special effects have been upgraded from a 1050 Ti to a 3080! I'm really curious about how the people of the Vajra Monastery managed to overcome this problem.

These hallucinations further vindicated Chu Qiguang's decision to cast the contents of the ascensionist notes out of his mind.

The ascensionist notes were the most dangerous texts on the second floor of the archive building. The knowledge they contained produced hallucinations so potent that they could even spread from person to person.

To avoid passing the hallucinations on to others, he had used his Ring of Ignorance to forget the contents of the ascensionist notes.

However, he had recorded everything in his notebook, so he could revisit the notes whenever he pleased.

As Chu Qiguang settled back into his normal routine, he continued visiting the archive building every day, researching the history of the Vajra Monastery in an attempt to uncover the secrets of the Sumeru King Scripture.

***

Sixteenth year of the Yong'an Era, early September.

The heightened security on Jade Face Mountain finally began to ease, allowing Chu Qiguang to leave the mountain on a procurement assignment and meet up with Chen Gang.

Three days later, the two met at the agreed-upon time and returned to Hidden Fiend Village on the back of a Chongming Bird.

A new batch of wheat had already been planted in the village, and Chu Qiguang said to himself, "It's already been a year since the village was founded. How time flies..."

This time, Chu Qiguang didn't ask Chen Gang to notify Qiao Zhi and the others in advance. Instead, he had the Chongming Bird land on a secluded plot of vacant land before making his way toward the village with Chen Gang on-foot.

From a distance, he could already see the giant planters working in the fields. The wheat had been planted in neat, orderly rows, all uniform in height, as if they had been meticulously measured using a ruler.

"How have things been going in Azure Sun County lately?" Chu Qiguang asked.

A disgruntled look immediately appeared on Chen Gang's face at the mention of Azure Sun County, and he grumbled, "Wu Wei and Chen Zhu have been going further and further off the deep end ever since trade relations were established with the northern fiends! Right now, they're trying to make all of the farmers in Northern Mountain Manor grow cotton instead of wheat!

"At this rate, hundreds of thousands of people are going to starve to death! Wang Cailiang went to visit them last time to try to dissuade them on your behalf, but they refused to even meet with him."

"I've heard that Grand Secretary Wu has really established himself in the imperial court, so it's no surprise that Wu Wei is becoming increasingly brazen," Chu Qiguang replied with a smile, seemingly unbothered.

"Wu Wei and Chen Zhu also seized the Wang Clan's shares in the graveyard," Chen Gang added.

The smile on Chu Qiguang's face instantly vanished.

"They dare to take my money? Their depravity truly knows no bounds! It looks like I'll have to teach Grand Secretary Wu's foolish son a lesson in his stead!"

Chen Gang instinctively took a step back in fear when he saw the cold gleam in Chu Qiguang's eyes.

He knew that the Wang Clan was essentially Chu Qiguang's wallet. By seizing the Wang Clan's shares, Wu Wei had taken money directly from Chu Qiguang's coffers.

Even though Chen Gang was deeply disgruntled by everything Wu Wei had done over the past few months, he couldn't help feeling a little sorry for him at the thought of the retribution that surely awaited him.

A wooden shack had been constructed at the entrance of Hidden Fiend Village. Chu Qiguang could hear people reciting aloud inside, but he couldn't tell whether it was a literacy class or a labor reform class.

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