Chapter 833: Ancient Secrets

While the two were chatting, the Heavenly Beast flew to the foot of the mountain and landed. Zhang Xuan let it leave first, then followed Luo Ruoxin behind the crowd, walking up the mountain path.

Wearing the master teacher badge, no one stopped them.

"This mountain path has many traces left by predecessors, recording their understanding and insights into cultivation, which is of great help to those climbing up!"

After a few steps, Luo Ruoxin pointed to one side.

Looking in that direction, he saw the rock face densely carved with various characters.

Those who came here, first to pay homage, and second to use the aura of the Sealing Sage Platform to break through. Some failed, and naturally some succeeded.

Those who succeeded, overjoyed, would leave their breakthrough insights for future generations to reference.

Although these insights were merely personal opinions, with many comments, they held high reference value.

His gaze swept over the rock face. Most of it recorded methods for breaking through to Half-Saint and Saint, and even feelings of breaking through to the Saint Domain. Many people stopped and stared, utterly absorbed.

"With so much content, it would take at least a month to read through..."

Since Master Teacher Kong's sanctification, tens of thousands of years had passed. Countless experts had come here, and even more had left inscriptions. One side of the mountain was almost completely covered. Even with his photographic memory, reading them all one by one would take at least over a month to reach the summit.

"People's physiques, cultivation techniques, and temperaments differ, and breakthroughs vary greatly. Therefore, the content here is uneven. Reading too much without distinguishing truth from falsehood can lead to interference, making it impossible to find the correct method and falling into confusion!"

Looking at the many cultivators standing by the wall, Luo Ruoxin shook her head.

Although these things had reference value, the drawbacks were also obvious.

Reading too much could easily lead to confusion, making it hard to find the true direction of cultivation.

There are myriad paths, but they all lead to the same destination.

Moreover, the Master Teacher Continent not only did not restrict innovation but greatly encouraged it. In the tens of thousands of years since the establishment of the Master Teacher Academy, various techniques and secrets were numerous beyond count. Every powerful cultivator had their own methods, some even completely different or contradictory, yet all could be self-consistent.

Because of this, every year, countless people fell into demonic possession due to reading too much and too varied content.

Therefore, when the Master Teacher Academy taught students, it managed cultivation techniques uniformly. Only with the teacher's permission could one copy them; otherwise, the variety and complexity, without the ability to distinguish right from wrong, could easily lead to chaos.

On the path, there were no less than millions of records of breakthrough methods, each with its own theory. Reading one or two, one could still hold to one's original mind; reading too many, one might become mentally confused, eventually falling into a dead end from which one could not escape.

Because of this, unless one truly could not break through, few people were willing to come to this Sealing Sage Platform.

"Others can't distinguish right from wrong, but I'm different..."

Understanding this, Zhang Xuan was about to withdraw his gaze when his mind suddenly stirred.

Others, after reading so many cultivation methods and breakthrough secrets, could not distinguish them. Even Master Teacher Kong might fall into confusion. But he was different... The Library of Heaven's Path automatically discerned; as long as it was collected, he would not be troubled by such matters.

"But... these are not books; they are all characters carved on the wall. I wonder if they can be collected..."

The Library of Heaven's Path collected knowledge in units of books, but these were characters carved on the wall. He didn't know if it would work.

"Let me try. Defects!"

With a mental command, he softly called out "defects" and focused his gaze on the wall.

Rustle!

The library in his mind shook, and countless books descended from the sky, landing on the shelves.

He took one out and opened it; it was exactly the place his gaze had swept over.

"It works..."

His eyes lit up.

It seemed that this upgrade of the Library of Heaven's Path allowed not only scanning books with his gaze but also recording characters on walls, as long as he was willing, and archiving them completely.

"I don't need these breakthrough methods now, but when my cultivation reaches that level, I can use them..."

Smiling lightly, he followed Luo Ruoxin up the mountain, walking briskly while sweeping his gaze over the wall, recording the characters.

Previously, reading all this would have taken a month; now, he could record as fast as he could walk, and it would automatically generate correct manuals, so he didn't have to worry about falling into confusion from reading too much.

The two proceeded onward. The higher they went, the fewer people lingered by the stone wall, and the stronger the experts became.

At the foot of the mountain, there were many experts at the Silkworm Sealing Realm; now, almost all had reached the Saint Realm. Someone like him, only at the Unity Realm, was an anomaly.

The Sealing Sage Platform was a sacred ground for master teachers. No one dared to cause trouble here, and there was no need to worry about others finding fault. They walked upward all night before finally reaching the summit, where the altar-like platform stood.

On the flat peak stood a huge rock face, and in front of it, a flat area like a square was densely packed with seated cultivators.

There were master teachers and cultivators, all looking at the characters left on the rock face, either contemplating, meditating, experimenting, or cultivating.

The surroundings were quiet, as if everyone was unwilling to disturb the peace of the sacred ground.

"This is the insights and experiences left by Master Teacher Kong when he became a saint!"

Luo Ruoxin transmitted her voice.

"Left by Master Teacher Kong?"

Zhang Xuan looked at the rock face ahead.

It was densely covered with insights on breaking through from Saint to Saint Domain. The characters were vigorous and flowing, each large character carrying a strong pressure.

With his understanding of the Calligrapher profession, a glance told him that these characters had reached the realm of simplifying complexity. If not suppressed by special power, each one could generate spirituality and fly into the air, becoming special life forms.

A Calligrapher who cultivated to the highest realm could pick up a brush and paint a real world, trapping people in it beyond their ability to escape.

Legend had it that a nine-star Calligrapher once drew a cage on the ground, trapping an army of a million people to death, and even Saint Domain experts could not escape.

Although the characters left on the wall before him had not reached that level, they still gave a sense of life, as if they might jump out at any moment and quietly escape.

"No... these characters don't seem like Master Teacher Kong's!"

After watching for a while, Zhang Xuan frowned.

Although these characters had great momentum, they lacked the magnanimity to embrace the world.

Since they were left by Master Teacher Kong, they should embody a spirit of benefiting the world. But these characters seemed intent on escaping alone, incompatible with such a spirit.

"Have you seen Master Teacher Kong's calligraphy?" Luo Ruoxin looked at him.

"Yes, one of my students once had a handbook by Master Teacher Kong, with his handwriting. It's different from these characters..." Zhang Xuan said.

The handbook by Master Teacher Kong in his possession, though with few characters, gave a spiritual shock at a glance. Even he had undergone the tempering of the teacher's characters, greatly enhancing his state of mind.

These characters clearly did not.

"You're right. These are no longer the characters left by Master Teacher Kong..."

Luo Ruoxin shook her head. "Although this is a sacred ground for master teachers and well guarded by humans, it has also suffered several attacks from the Heterodox race... The original things left by Master Teacher Kong were long destroyed. What we see now are repairs and copies made by the Calligrapher Association!"

"Destroyed by the Heterodox race? Isn't the Heterodox race... almost wiped out, lost in the river of history?" Zhang Xuan was startled.

Since his journey began, he had only seen one living Heterodox, and he had talked it to death.

The ruthless man and the puppet were half-dead, not truly alive.

He couldn't even see a Heterodox... How could they destroy such a powerful sacred ground?

After all, on their way here, they had seen no less than tens of thousands of Half-Saints and Saints. To destroy what Master Teacher Kong left here would be as difficult as charging into the Master Teacher Academy and killing Dean Lu Feng.

In other words... it was nearly impossible.

"Wiped out? If they were truly wiped out, why would the Master Teacher Academy be established everywhere? Why build the Master Teacher Academy? Why be so strict in assessments?"

Luo Ruoxin shook her head. "To tell you the truth, the Hongyuan Empire may seem peaceful, but it's not..."

"Does... the Hongyuan Empire have Heterodox?" Zhang Xuan's expression changed.

"Yes. You must have heard of the old dean of the Master Teacher Academy. If I'm not mistaken, he was framed by the Heterodox..." Luo Ruoxin said.

"Framed by the Heterodox?" Zhang Xuan's expression turned grave.

No wonder Ziyang Beast reacted so strongly when it saw him release the Heterodox puppet, wanting to devour it. It seemed that the old dean's death might indeed be related to this race.

"Hu Yaoyao also said something similar..."

Suddenly recalling that Hu Yaoyao had said similar things, Zhang Xuan clenched his fist.

With the Master Teacher Academy in place, he had always thought Hongyuan City was very peaceful. Now it seemed otherwise.

"The Heterodox came from outside the domain. To invade the continent back then, they established many inter-domain passages, and... Hongyuan City is the location of one such passage. Otherwise, do you think the Hongyuan Empire, which is only mid-tier among first-class empires, would have the qualifications to establish a Master Teacher Academy?"

Luo Ruoxin explained.

"This..." Zhang Xuan was stunned, finally understanding.

No wonder when they chatted before, it was said that the Hongyuan Empire was not among the top first-class empires, yet it had established a Master Teacher Academy that many powerful first-class empires could not. He had found it strange at the time. So that was the reason!

The purpose of the Master Teacher Academy was to suppress this so-called inter-domain passage and prevent the Heterodox from invading.

"The characters on this rock face have been destroyed many times. What remains are copies made by calligraphers imitating Master Teacher Kong's writing. The shape of the characters is the same, but the artistic conception is far inferior... You have the Eye of Insight. I want you to use this ability to find the aura left by Master Teacher Kong and locate the exact spot where he became a saint!"

Luo Ruoxin said.

"Exact spot? Isn't it... here?" Zhang Xuan was startled.

Since this was the Sealing Sage Platform, it should be where Master Teacher Kong became a saint. Asking him to find it... Could it be that it wasn't here?

Was the so-called Sealing Sage Platform also fake?