Chapter 851: Ancient Secrets

While the two of them were talking, the Heavenly Striders Beast flew to the foot of the mountain and landed. After allowing it to leave first, Zhang Xuan and Luo Ruoxi followed the crowd, walking up the mountain path. With Master Teacher emblems on them, no one tried to stop them.

“This mountain path contains many traces left by our predecessors, documenting their understanding and insights into cultivation. These are very helpful for those ascending the mountain!” Luo Ruoxi said.

After a few steps, Luo Ruoxi pointed to one side. Following her gaze, Zhang Xuan saw various characters densely carved on the rock wall. People came here for two main reasons: pilgrimage, and to use the aura of the Sealed Saint Platform to achieve breakthroughs. While some failed, others naturally succeeded. Those who succeeded, full of joy, would leave behind their breakthrough experiences for future generations to reference. Though these experiences were often individual insights, the sheer number of contributions made them highly valuable as references.

Zhang Xuan’s gaze swept across the rock wall. Most of the inscriptions described methods for breaking through to Half-Saint and Conferred Saint, and even shared experiences of achieving the Saint realm. Many people stopped to read them, completely engrossed.

“With so much content, it would probably take at least a month to read through it all…”

Tens of thousands of years had passed since Master Teacher Kong attained sainthood. Countless powerful experts had visited this place, and even more had left their inscriptions. The side of the mountain path was almost entirely covered with writing. Even with his photographic memory, going through each one would likely take him over a month to reach the summit.

“People’s physiques, cultivation techniques, and temperaments all vary, leading to significant differences in how they achieve breakthroughs. Consequently, the information inscribed here is inconsistent. Reading too much of it can make it difficult to discern truth from falsehood, leading to interference, hindering one from finding the correct method, and ultimately causing confusion!”

Luo Ruoxi shook her head as she observed the numerous cultivators standing by the wall. While these insights had reference value, their drawbacks were also evident. Reading too much could easily lead people into confusion, making it difficult to find their true cultivation path.

There are countless paths to the Great Dao, but they all lead to the same destination. Moreover, on the Master Teacher Continent, innovation is not only unrestricted but actively encouraged. In the tens of thousands of years since the Master Teacher Pavilion was established, countless cultivation techniques and secret manuals have accumulated. Every powerful cultivator possesses their own unique methods, some of which are entirely different or even contradictory, yet all can be logically justified. Consequently, countless individuals go astray or suffer qi deviation each year due to reading too much or too widely. This is why the Master Teacher Pavilion uniformly manages cultivation techniques when instructing students. Students are only allowed to copy them with a teacher’s permission; otherwise, with an overwhelming amount of information and lacking the ability to discern right from wrong, chaos can easily ensue.

Along the path, millions of people have documented their breakthrough methods, each with their own theories. While reading one or two might allow someone to maintain their core beliefs, reading too many can easily lead to confused thinking, eventually trapping them in a dead end from which they cannot escape. Precisely because of this, very few people are willing to come to the Sealed Saint Platform unless they are truly desperate for a breakthrough.

“Others might not be able to discern right from wrong, but I’m different…”

Understanding this, Zhang Xuan was about to withdraw his gaze when an idea suddenly struck him. Other people, even Master Teacher Kong himself, might become confused after reading so many cultivation methods and breakthrough secrets, unable to distinguish them. But he was different… his ability allowed him to automatically discern, and as long as he recorded them, he wouldn't be troubled by such issues.

“However… these aren’t books; they’re all characters carved into the walls. I wonder if they can be recorded…” His knowledge recording ability usually worked with books, but these were characters carved directly into stone. He wondered if it would still work.

“Let’s try it – Flaw!”

With a mental command, he softly uttered the word “Flaw,” focusing his gaze on the wall. Whirring! The library within his mind shuddered, and countless books seemed to materialize from thin air, settling onto the bookshelves. He took out one book and opened it; it contained precisely the information from the section he had just scanned.

“It works…” His eyes instantly lit up. It appeared that with this recent advancement, his gaze could not only scan books but also record and completely archive any characters on walls, as long as he willed it.

“I don’t need these breakthrough methods right now, but I can use them once my cultivation reaches that level…”

With a faint smile, he followed Luo Ruoxi, striding up the mountain. As he walked, his gaze continuously swept over the walls, recording the inscribed characters. Before, it would have taken a month to read all this, but now, he could record information as quickly as he walked. Furthermore, his ability could automatically generate correct secret manuals, eliminating any concern about becoming confused from reading too much.

The two continued their ascent. The higher they climbed, the fewer people lingered before the stone walls, and the more powerful experts they encountered. Earlier, at the foot of the mountain, there were more experts in the Chrysalis Realm. Now, however, almost everyone had reached the Conferred Saint realm. A minor figure like him, only in the Primordial Spirit Realm, had become quite an anomaly.

The Sealed Saint Platform was a sacred ground for Master Teachers, so no one dared to cause trouble there, nor did they need to worry about others provoking them. They ascended the mountain for an entire night, finally reaching the summit, a location that resembled an altar. On the flattened mountain peak, a colossal rock wall stood tall. In front of it, a flat expanse, resembling a plaza, was densely packed with seated cultivators. There were Master Teachers and other cultivators, all gazing at the inscriptions on the rock wall, either deep in thought, meditating, experimenting, or cultivating. The surroundings were utterly silent, as if everyone was unwilling to disturb the tranquility of the sacred ground.

“These are the insights and experiences Master Teacher Kong left behind when he achieved sainthood!” Luo Ruoxi transmitted.

“Left by Master Teacher Kong?” Zhang Xuan looked toward the rock wall ahead. It was densely covered with insights on breaking through from Conferred Saint to the Saint realm, written in a bold, flowing hand. Each large character carried an immense sense of pressure. Being knowledgeable about the art of calligraphy and painting, he could tell at a glance that these characters had reached the realm of simplifying complexity. If not for a special power suppressing them, each character could likely generate its own sentience, fly into the air, and become a unique life form.

When calligraphers and painters cultivate to the highest realm, they can conjure real worlds with their brushstrokes, trapping people within them, unable to escape. Legend has it that a Nine-Star Calligrapher once drew a cage on the ground, effectively trapping an army of a million, leaving them to perish where they stood. Even Saint realm experts found it difficult to escape. Although the characters inscribed on the wall before him hadn’t reached that level, they still gave a sense of being alive, as if they could leap out and subtly escape at any moment.

“Wait… these characters don’t quite look like Master Teacher Kong’s!” After observing for a moment, Zhang Xuan’s brows furrowed. While these characters exuded immense power, they lacked the all-encompassing magnanimity typical of Master Teacher Kong’s style. Since they were supposedly left by Master Teacher Kong, they ought to possess the broad vision of benefiting all under heaven. Yet, these characters seemed focused on escaping independently, which was inconsistent with such a grand spirit.

“You’ve seen Master Teacher Kong’s writing?” Luo Ruoxi asked, looking at him.

“Yes, one of my students once had a notebook of Master Teacher Kong’s, which contained his calligraphy. It’s quite different from these characters…” Zhang Xuan replied. The Master Teacher Kong’s notebook he possessed, though it contained few characters, delivered a spiritual shock with a mere glance. He himself had even undergone a spiritual refinement from the character ‘teacher,’ greatly enhancing his mental state. The inscriptions before him clearly lacked this quality.

“You are correct; these are no longer the original characters left by Master Teacher Kong…” Luo Ruoxi shook her head. “Although this is a Master Teacher sacred ground, well-protected by humans, it has also been attacked by the Spirit Tribe multiple times. The original inscriptions left by Master Teacher Kong were destroyed long ago. What you see now are all repairs and copies made by people dispatched by the Calligrapher and Painter Guild!”

“Destroyed by the Spirit Tribe? But haven’t the Spirit Tribe… almost been annihilated, disappearing into the annals of history?” Zhang Xuan was stunned. Throughout his journey, he had only ever encountered one living Spirit Tribe member, and he had even managed to talk it to death. The Ruthless Faction members and puppets he encountered were all half-dead, not truly alive. Spirit Tribe members are nowhere to be seen… so how could they have destroyed such a formidable sacred ground?

Considering that they had encountered tens of thousands of Half-Saints and Conferred Saints on their journey, the difficulty of destroying Master Teacher Kong’s legacies here would be no less than breaking into the Master Teacher Academy and assassinating Dean Lu Feng. It was, simply put, almost impossible.

“Disappeared? If they had truly vanished, why would the Master Teacher Pavilion be established throughout the land? Why would Master Teacher Academies be built? Why would their assessments be so rigorous?” Luo Ruoxi shook her head. “To be frank, the Hongyuan Empire, though it appears peaceful, is actually… not!”

“Could it be… that there are Spirit Tribe members in the Hongyuan Empire?” Zhang Xuan’s expression changed.

“Indeed. You must have heard of the Master Teacher Academy’s former dean, correct? If my guess is right, he was framed by the Spirit Tribe…” Luo Ruoxi replied.

“Framed by the Spirit Tribe?” Zhang Xuan’s expression grew solemn. No wonder the Violet Sun Beast reacted so strongly when he released the Spirit Tribe puppet, as if it wanted to devour it. So, the former dean’s death truly might be connected to this race.

“Hu Yaoyao also said something similar…” Suddenly recalling Hu Yaoyao’s similar words, Zhang Xuan’s fists clenched. With the Master Teacher Academy situated there, he had always assumed Hongyuan City was quite peaceful. Now, it seemed that was not the case.

“The Spirit Tribe originate from beyond this realm. In the past, to invade the continent, they established numerous extra-territorial passages. And… Hongyuan City happens to be the location of one such passage. Otherwise, why do you think the Hongyuan Empire, which ranks only in the middle among first-tier empires, possesses the virtue and capability to establish a Master Teacher Academy?” Luo Ruoxi explained.

“This…” Zhang Xuan was momentarily stunned, only then understanding. No wonder he had found it strange during their previous conversation when it was mentioned that the Hongyuan Empire, though not among the top first-tier empires, had managed to establish a Master Teacher Academy, something many more powerful first-tier empires had failed to do. So that was the reason! The Master Teacher Academy’s purpose was to suppress this so-called extra-territorial passage, preventing the Spirit Tribe from invading.

“These inscriptions on the rock wall have been destroyed many times. What remains are all copies made by calligraphers and painters imitating Master Teacher Kong. The characters may look similar, but the artistic conception is vastly inferior. You possess the Eye of Discernment; I want you to use this ability to locate the aura left by Master Teacher Kong and find… the exact spot where Master Teacher Kong attained sainthood!”

“Exact location? You mean… it’s not here?” Zhang Xuan was taken aback. Since this was the Sealed Saint Platform, it should naturally be the place where Master Teacher Kong achieved sainthood. For her to ask him to search… could it be that the true spot wasn't here? Was the so-called Sealed Saint Platform also a fake?