Scripture of Days Past

Seventeenth year of the Yong’an Era, early January.

Zhong Shan’e was sitting in his room on Jade Face Mountain, staring at the official documents on his desk with a disgruntled expression.

That little runt always has a mind of his own! I arranged for him to go to the capital, but for some reason, he insists on going to Shu Province!

One of the official documents was a list of the Dao Comprehension Seeds in the Demon Vanquishing Department, and Chu Qiguang was ranked fifth in the Fiend Assassin Faction.

If he went to the capital, his prospects for career advancement would be far better than in Shu Province! Given his aptitude, he’ll definitely reach the fifth state within a year or two. Once he does, I could find a way to secure him a thousand-man commander position. In just two or three more years, I’d be able to arrange the medicinal baths and bodily refinement by lightning for him.

The more Zhong Shan’e thought about the path he had paved for Chu Qiguang, the more frustrated he became with the latter’s decision to go to Shu Province.

What’s a member of the Fiend Assassin Faction like him doing in the Hunter Hand Faction’s territory? There’s no way his political career will get off to a good start there! He’s still too young. I guess it can’t hurt for him to suffer some setbacks and learn some lessons at his age.

Just then, a knock on the door snapped Zhong Shan’e out of his thoughts.

”Come in,” he called out.

Li Jian opened the door and stepped into the room before saying, ”Chu Qiguang has heard that you’ll be traveling to Spirit Province soon to assume the position of Provincial Thousand-Man Commander. As he’s leaving today, he asked me to bid you farewell on his behalf.”

In the end, Zhong Shan’e had no choice but to comply with the imperial court’s orders and assume the position of Provincial Thousand-Man Commander of Spirit Province, potentially placing him in opposition to the nine border military bases.

The official order required him to travel to Spirit Province within a month, making it clear that the situation had become extremely urgent.

”Did he say anything else?” he asked.

”He said that he’s indebted to the Wang Clan of the Wang Clan Village in Azure Sun County of the Spirit Province’s Northern Mountain Manor. If Spirit Province really does descend into turmoil, he hopes you’ll look after the Wang Clan and ensure their safety,” Li Jian replied.

***

At the foot of Jade Face Mountain, Chu Qiguang was walking alongside Zhang Haizhu, Huang Xiangyu, and Li Chu, while Jiang Longyu rode alone in a lavish horse-drawn carriage.

After several months of tireless study and cultivation, Chu Qiguang now had a total of ten tentacles extending from his shadow.

Upon reaching this point, Chu Qiguang discovered that he could no longer advance his cultivation base, whether through cultivation or by using his Ring of Ignorance.

At the moment, the most effective path to progress for him was to cultivate the Sumeru King Scripture or pursue other methods that would aid in his cultivation of the Sumeru King Scripture.

Each stint of cultivation reduced the countdown by a certain amount, and Chu Qiguang could sense this body was slowly undergoing an inhuman transformation.

By this point, he had already read all five hundred-plus Buddhist scriptures in the archive building and reached the fourth level of the Blood Activation Arts. Meanwhile the countdown for the Sumeru King Scripture had fallen to 3,121 days 14 hours 49 minutes and 24 seconds.

Huang Xiangyu looked toward the foot of the mountain, where he and Chu Qiguang had first met, and a nostalgic expression appeared on his face as he watched the falling snow.

Even though only a year had passed since then, all of them had undergone drastic transformations.

Huang Xiangyu had always liked to complain about how difficult life was on the mountain. He had always felt that the instructors were too strict, the pills were too bitter, and the lessons were too difficult. Yet now that it was time to leave, he suddenly didn’t want to.

Even Jiang Longyu’s perpetually arrogant face didn’t feel so annoying to look at.

Sitting in his carriage, Jiang Longyu cast a disdainful glance at Huang Xiangyu and scoffed, ”What’re you looking at? I’m not letting you into my carriage even if you beg me. Besides we’re not going the same way anyway. I’m heading to the capital to become a hundred-man commander, while you’re off to Shu Province to become a platoon commander.”

Huang Xiangyu immediately took back what he had just thought about Jiang Longyu.

”Did you have shit for breakfast this morning, Jiang Longyu?” Zhang Haizhu snapped. ”Why does nothing good ever come out of your mouth?”

Jiang Longyu didn’t bother responding. He was eager to leave, not because of Zhang Haizhu, but because of Chu Qiguang.

During his final six months on the mountain, he had been completely outdone by Chu Qiguang in every conceivable field. He was no match for him in battle, he always performed worse than him in tests, and he couldn’t match him in the cultivation of the Blood Activation Arts. Even when it came to taking pills, he had pushed himself to the point of internal bleeding, yet Chu Qiguang always seemed capable of taking more than him.

Jiang Longyu was accustomed to deriving joy from crushing his rivals beneath his feet, yet Chu Qiguang had completely flipped the script on him, dealing him one heavy blow after another.

What infuriated him even more was Chu Qiguang’s constant air of indifference, as if he didn’t even regard Jiang Longyu as a rival.

He must be doing this on purpose! He must be just as competitive as I am, but he’s constantly pretending that he doesn’t care about anything! Disgusting bastard!

Even more frustrating was his deep-seated suspicion that Chu Qiguang had been the one to kill that wolf fiend.

The thought of Chu Qiguang crushing that wolf fiend while he was hiding in a water vat never failed to fill Jiang Longyu with chagrin and humiliation. At this point, it was no exaggeration to say that Chu Qiguang had become a source of trauma for him.

He didn’t want to admit it, but deep down, he desperately wanted to get as far away from Chu Qiguang as possible. Furthermore, there was something else he was looking forward to.

He had made a mental note of all the ways Chu Qiguang had shown off over the past year, and he intended to put them all to good use in the capital, far away from Chu Qiguang.

Hence, in the face of Zhang Haizhu’s provocation, Jiang Longyu merely gave a cold harrumph and instructed his servant, ”Let’s go. I have no interest in speaking to a mongrel like him.”

Following Jiang Longyu’s departure, the other trainees also began to part ways. Some of them departed alone, while others traveled in small groups for one reason or another.

Chi Shude and Cheng Ming had already left bright and early that morning. For the past six months, Chu Qiguang had constantly picked on them to serve as his ”sparring partners,” and they wanted nothing more than to be free of this godforsaken place.

Li Chu waved to the old servant who had come to pick him up, then turned to Chu Qiguang and the others. ”Looks like this is where we part ways.”

Although he and Huang Xiangyu had only been below average among the trainees, he had still improved drastically over the past year. Just last month, he had made a breakthrough to the fourth state.

”You’re going to East Sea Province, right? I’m going to the Quan Province, so let’s go together,” Huang Xiangyu said.

Li Chu turned to Chu Qiguang and asked, ”Are you going to Shu Province with Haizhu, Brother Chu?”

”You two go ahead,” Zhang Haizhu said with a parting wave. ”Brother Chu and I will leave together.”

Huang Xiangyu cupped his fist in a parting salute toward the two of them. ”It looks like this is where we part ways, then. I’m sure we’ll meet again someday, but in the meantime, take care of yourselves.”