Scripture of Days Past

The Immortal Ascension Hall in the Palace of Eternal Life was always very peaceful, as it served as the Yong’an Emperor’s place of daily cultivation.

Every eunuch and palace maid made sure to keep absolutely quiet whenever they were anywhere near the hall, afraid of disturbing the emperor’s cultivation.

Even though the Yong’an Emperor spent all of his time cultivating in the Palace of Eternal Life, all the officials in the imperial court knew that with his divination abilities and the information fed to him by the Heavenly Guard, he was aware of every noteworthy event taking place in the world without even setting foot outside the palace.

On this night, the Yong’an Emperor was discussing the art of pill refinement with Fu Nanzi, the abbot of the White Cloud Daoist Temple.

Not only was Fu Nanzi the abbot of the White Cloud Daoist Temple, but he was also the top pill refinement master of the Heavenly Master Religion. He had reached the Dao Comprehension state by cultivating the Prime Pill Scripture, one of the twenty-five orthodox arts.

His pill refinement skills were unmatched in the empire, and the Yong’an Emperor often invited him to the Palace of Eternal Life to refine pills.

The two of them had refined some pills in the afternoon, and as their conversation continued, the Yong’an Emperor seemed to be in increasingly high spirits.

All of a sudden, the Yong’an Emperor changed the subject and said, ”I heard that during the Xia Dynasty, a master on Dragon Serpent Mountain once refined a High Zenith Yellow Court Pill. Have you heard of it before?”

The High Zenith Yellow Court Pill was a legendary pill that could extend the consumer’s lifespan by sixty years.

”I’m afraid I haven’t heard of this pill you speak of, Your Majesty,” Fu Nanzi replied.

”Maybe I misremembered,” the Yong’an Emperor said with a smile.

Shortly afterwards, he dismissed Fu Nanzi.

Not long after Fu Nanzi left, Chen Zhong entered the room with a box of pills and declared, ”The pills are ready, Your Majesty.”

”Did anyone manage to learn Fu Nanzi’s pill refinement techniques?” the Yong’an Emperor asked.

Chen Zhong lowered his head and replied, ”The pill refinement masters I arranged to observe Fu Nanzi in secret are... struggling a little to replicate his techniques.”

”Do you see why I spend five hundred thousand taels of silver on the White Cloud Daoist Temple every year now?” the Yong’an Emperor sighed.

”Your wisdom and foresight are unmatched, Your Majesty,” Chen Zhong praised. ”I have one more thing to report. Zhong Guangqi sent some people to look into the Golden Millet Sprout Pills that you ordered the White Cloud Daoist Temple to refine, and—”

”Since when did you learn to start talking in circles like Wu Siqi?” the Yong’an Emperor snapped. ”Just tell me how much of my money they embezzled.”

Chen Zhong immediately fell to his knees and revealed, ”According to our investigation, the White Cloud Daoist Temple spent roughly seventy thousand taels of silver on medicinal ingredients this year. Two of their ships carried medicinal ingredients, but there were also ten other ships transporting cargo such as silk, tea leaves, and chinaware to be traded in the north.

”They’ve been proclaiming that they’re acting on your behalf in order to secure free passage through all the waterways for their ships. Because of that, no one dares to examine their cargo or charge them the usual checkpoint fees. At the very least, they’ve embezzled over four hundred thousand taels of silver, and they also made an additional one hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver from trading their goods in the north. Many powerful officials in the imperial court have received a cut of these embezzled funds.”

”How about Fu Nanzi? How much did he personally embezzle?” the Yong’an Emperor asked in a cold voice.

”A ship disguised as a merchant ship transported two hundred thousand taels of silver to Fu Nanzi’s hometown,” Chen Zhong replied.

”So the pills cost them seventy thousand taels of silver to refine, and they sold them to me for five hundred thousand,” the Yong’an Emperor sneered. ”They truly are some of my finest subordinates! On top of that, they’ve been using my name for illegal trade? One would almost think all the waterways in the entire empire were built specifically for them!”

The Yong’an Emperor was clearly furious, and the air around him began to ripple like water. Chen Zhong’s entire body instantly stiffened, as if he had been completely immobilized.

”They’ve embezzled my money and slandered my reputation. Is there anything they wouldn’t dare to do?”

A layer of scales began to surface over his skin as he ranted in rage. Chen Zhong felt as if he could hear a voice beyond human comprehension ringing out around him, instantly drawing him into a deep state of entrancement.

All of a sudden, a loud bang rang out, and Chen Zhong snapped back to his senses. The supernatural voice had faded away, as had the scales on the Yong’an Emperor’s body, and it seemed that he was no longer angry.

However, Chen Zhong knew that the emperor’s temper hadn’t actually subsided. Instead, he had merely bottled up his rage, just as he had always done over the past dozen or so years.

He hurriedly kowtowed to the ground. Desperate to lighten the atmosphere, he changed the subject and reported, ”There’s been a piece of news from Jade Face Mountain today...”

”Jade Face Mountain? Jiang Longyu is there right now, correct? Did he do something?”

Chu Qiguang informed the emperor of how Chu Qiguang had scratched a word into Cheng Ming’s chest, after which Jiang Longyu had scratched another word onto Cheng Ming’s back in an attempt to outdo him.

The Yong’an Emperor immediately burst into laughter, much to Chen Zhong’s immense relief.

Chen Zhong raised his head from the ground, then asked, ”Your Majesty, can you guess why the other trainees on Jade Face Mountain are targeting Chu Qiguang?”

Under the Yong’an Emperor’s inquisitive gaze, Chen Zhong explained, ”It’s because he wasn’t able to activate the Demon Vanquishing Talisman. He does not believe in the Profound Origin Dao Lord.”

”Oh? Is that true? Has it been verified?” the Yong’an Emperor asked.

”It has been verified,” Chen Zhong confirmed.

”I see...” the Yong’an Emperor mused.

***

Chu Qiguang was growing more and more accustomed to his monotonous yet peaceful life on Jade Face Mountain.

His knowledge and power were both increasing with each passing day, and before he knew it, close to a month had already passed.

The first monthly examination was fast approaching, and the atmosphere on the mountain was becoming rather tense.

Inside Chu Qiguang’s room, Li Chu was copying notes while struggling to keep his bloodshot eyes open.

Zhang Haizhu had a coat draped over his shoulder. He yawned and said, ”It’s already very late. You should go to bed, then come back tomorrow to copy the rest of the notes.”

”No,” Li Chu refused with a shake of his head. ”I still have to practice my fist techniques after this.”

”You’re still going to train at this hour?” Zhang Haizhu exclaimed.

”The monthly examination is coming up soon, and it’s going to decide whether we end up in the advanced school or the outer school!” Li Chu said, his voice filled with urgency. ”The trainees in the two schools receive drastically different treatment. Over the past few days, I haven’t even been able to fall asleep at night unless I practice my fist techniques for an hour first.”

Zhang Haizhu opened his mouth to say something, but in the end, he could only let out a resigned sigh. He glanced at Chu Qiguang’s spot on the bed and realized that Chu Qiguang hadn’t slept here for almost a month.

Inside the secluded courtyard, Chu Qiguang threw a punch at the granite boulder, and a series of fine cracks instantly spread across its surface.

Chu Qiguang examined his completely unscathed fist, then looked down at his own shadow and saw two tentacles extending from it, wrapping themselves around his legs.

Ever since he had been granted the Dao Pursuer Eyes, he had been constantly observing other people and their shadows. By this point, he was all but certain that these tentacles had a strong correlation with a person’s power.

The more powerful someone is, the more tentacles emerge from their shadow. It seems like the prerequisite to gaining one tentacle is becoming a fifth-state martial artist.

Up to this point, the highest number of tentacles Chu Qiguang had seen was five in the shadow of Song Ming, the lecturer who taught lessons on ghostly entities.

After him came Yi Shuang and Yang Ling, each of whom had four tentacles.