Scripture of Days Past

After delivering his address, Zhong Shan’e promptly departed. It seemed like he was a very practical man who preferred actions over words and formalities.

To think that even someone as powerful as him perished during the attack on Jade Face Mountain... Just how formidable are the enemies? Chu Qiguang wondered to himself.

Following his departure, the trainees were approached by a fist technique instructor by the name of Yang Ling.

He provided the trainees with some words of encouragement, telling them that even if they were ultimately deemed unworthy of practicing the four orthodox arts, they would still be given official posts in the Demon Vanquishing Department.

Of course, the official posts differed depending on their performance, and those consistently ranked near the bottom of the monthly examinations could be eliminated.

Afterward, Yang Ling sent everyone to the book pavilion, where they would receive brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones.

Clearly, martial arts is just a part of the Demon Vanquishing Department’s training, and there’s a lot of other stuff that we need to learn, Chu Qiguang thought to himself. I wonder why no one has laid out the criteria for someone to be deemed worthy of receiving one of the four orthodox arts.

Are they doing this on purpose? Perhaps they don’t want us to force it and intentionally behave in a way that fits the criteria. Maybe they want to see for themselves if we’re truly worthy or not.

In order to secure the Lightning Screech, Chu Qiguang was already trying to figure out the Demon Vanquishing Department’s selection criteria.

After receiving their stationery, the trainees were all taken to a lecture hall, where they each sat down at a desk.

Shortly thereafter, a lecturer arrived to deliver a lesson on loyalty and serving one’s nation.

This is to be expected, Chu Qiguang thought to himself. The Demon Vanquishing Department answers directly to the emperor, so there must be a heavy emphasis on loyalty.

This must be one of the criteria to receive the four orthodox arts. Otherwise, I presume you’re not going to be selected, no matter how talented you are.

On the stage, the lecturer was telling riveting stories of mighty heroes who had made unthinkable sacrifices for their nations.

Some of the trainees, such as Li He, Li Chu, and Chu Qiguang, were all listening with keen interest, or at least feigning interest, while others, such as Jiang Longyu and Zhang Haizhu, looked completely bored.

The lecturer nodded slightly in approval as his gaze passed over Li He and Li Chu, and he was even more impressed with Chu Qiguang, who was not just listening intently but was also taking notes.

However, he frowned slightly in dismay at the sight of Chu Qiguang’s terrible handwriting.

After the first lecture, there was a break of around fifteen minutes before the second lecturer named Yu Wenbin entered the room.

The second lecture was about the classification of fiends and demons. They were split up into several major categories, namely beast fiends, spirit fiends, ghosts, evil deities, and demons.

Chu Qiguang was educated on this topic by Qiao Zhi in the past, but he never had a chance to receive a systematic education on the subject, so he was eager to learn as much as he could.

All of the other trainees, including Jiang Longyu and Zhang Haizhu, took this lesson seriously.

After describing the five main categories, Yu Wenbin spoke about beast fiends in detail.

”In the beast fiend category, there are six subcategories: birds, beasts, armoreds, scaleds, insects, and specters. Phoenixes stand at the very pinnacle of the bird subcategory, and below them are the Three-legged Bird, the Luan Bird, the Bifang, the Xuan Bird, the Chongming Bird, and the Guhuo Bird...

”For today, I’m going to start off with the Nine Phoenix that you saw yesterday. The Nine Phoenix is also called the Nine-headed Bird, and it looks like an amalgamation of humans and birds.

”Its nine faces appear no different from human faces, and each face can be different from the others in age and gender. The largest adult Nine-headed Bird that we have on record stood at twelve feet tall and had a wingspan of twenty-five feet.”

So the biggest Nine-headed Bird is almost as big as Chitter and Chatter, Chu Qiguang thought to himself.

”These beast fiends mostly reside in the highlands, and they like to construct their nests on tall mountains that are inaccessible to the average person. They prey on animals like antelopes and yaks, and they are extremely territorial creatures.

”Over the past decade or so, the expansion of the Chu Province has begun to encroach on the territory of Nine-headed Birds, so they’ve been frequently attacking the locals in retaliation.

”If you ever find yourself in battle against a Nine-headed Bird, you must be extra careful of their swooping attack. An all-out swoop attack from an adult Nine-headed Bird will tear even a fifth-state martial artist to shreds.

”On top of that, they have the ability to control fire, and they can even melt iron armor.”

The morning quickly passed by, and at noon, servants arrived to deliver the trainees their lunch. After a quick meal, another lecturer entered the room.

The afternoon lecturer’s name was Yi Shuang, and he was once a Daoist priest of the Heavenly Master Religion. He talked about all of the religions under the heavens.

”Those of us in the Demon Vanquishing Department need to learn about cults, but only for the purpose of fighting them. Hence, you only need to learn their signature traits and characteristics, but you don’t need to look too deeply into their doctrines.

”Aside from the Heavenly Master Religion, the scriptures of all other religions in the world contain evil knowledge that will warp your mind and body in subtle ways, taking you closer and closer to demonification.

”The first cult I’m going to speak about is the Immortal Dao. The Immortal Dao has been very active and prevalent in the north for a long time, and they use the allure of the Elixir of Undying to draw in ignorant and greedy people.

”For some unknown reasons, they are intent on spreading the Elixir of Undying to create living corpses...”

This lesson was also quite intriguing to Chu Qiguang. Qiao Zhi’s knowledge on the cults and religions of this world was far from comprehensive, so Chu Qiguang had always been eager to find someone who could educate him on this subject.

As a fifth-state Dao artist, Chu Qiguang’s memory and learning abilities were all unmatched among his fellow trainees, and he was eagerly lapping up all of the information presented by the lecturer.

Even though he had an eidetic memory, he still made sure to take notes. This was all very precious knowledge, and it was worth making records of such information.

Among the other students, some really struggled to keep up, such as Jiang Longyu, Zhang Haizhu, and Li Chu. They were struggling to focus, much less remember anything.

Some trainees could barely keep up, and some even looked tense and anxious, worried that taking in so much knowledge related to cults would drive them to demonification.

Only a few managed to remember everything taught by the lecturer, and they were Chu Qiguang, Li He, and a young man in his late teens called Chi Shude.

Lecturer Yi Shuang saw that, and he took the time to ask Chu Qiguang, Li He, and Chi Shude a few questions. Both Chu Qiguang and Chi Shude were able to answer the questions with aplomb, and Yi Shuang was very pleased with them.

At the conclusion of the lesson, he didn’t immediately leave. Instead, he called up Chu Qiguang, Chi Shude, and Li He, then asked, ”All three of you must’ve practiced some Dao arts, right?”

”I did some meditation when I was eighteen, and I managed to become a first-state Dao artist,” Li He replied.

”I grew up in a Daoist temple and have always been meditating with the masters in the temple,” Chi Shude explained. ”They say that I’m a second-state Dao artist.”

Both Yi Shuang and Li He were rather taken aback to hear that. Such a young second-state Dao artist was certainly not a common sight.

After some consideration, Chu Qiguang decided that it was time to display some of his talents, so he said, ”I was a really sickly child, but thankfully, a traveling Daoist priest passing through my hometown back when I was ten years old taught me how to meditate.

”I’ve been meditating ever since then, and I’ve reached the third state in Dao arts.”

”The third state? That’s impossible!” Li He exclaimed.

”Is it supposed to be difficult to accomplish?” Chu Qiguang asked, looking innocent.

Yi Shuang was also rather skeptical. However, he knew that third-state Dao artists had eidetic memories, so he asked Chu Qiguang some more questions about the contents of his lesson.