Longzang

Chapter 863 What I Am
Wei Yuan sat in his study, reading a history book by the bright sunlight streaming in through the window. It was an unofficial history, with many annotations from previous scholars pointing out errors and omissions.

However, the fact that this book was included in the Taichu Palace collection means it still has some merit. It records many details of the author's living area at the time, as well as some minor events related to the author but of no significance to the overall situation.

At the time, this was considered a mediocre work with inverted priorities, chaotic logic, and full of the author's personal likes and dislikes.

But now, the many details recorded on it have become the only written memory of that era, allowing people today to understand the era 300,000 years ago.

Reading history is like piecing together a jigsaw puzzle. Each book reveals fragments of the past, but as you read more, you gradually piece together a relatively complete picture.

Wei Yuan had turned to the last page of the book in his hand. He closed it and walked to the bookshelf not far away. The bookshelf was filled with books, categorized into different sections, all of them historical records from various eras.

Wei Yuan walked towards them in a hurry. Wei Yuan slightly turned his body and brushed past him.

Wei Yuan took the book, found a well-lit spot, and started reading standing up. Each Wei Yuan had different habits; some preferred to sit, others preferred to stand.

Wei Yuan arrived at a bookshelf. The book he wanted to read was on this shelf. He could put the book in his hand anywhere and it would automatically appear in the right place.

There were three Wei Yuans standing in front of the bookshelf, all choosing books.

Wei Yuan patiently waited for them to finish choosing before pulling out a book he wanted to read and returning to his original seat. But there was already a Wei Yuan sitting there, so he shrugged, casually moved to another spot, and continued reading.

He stood by the window, and before opening his book, he glanced out the window seemingly unintentionally. The sun was shining brightly, and the sky was a clear, pure blue, like an inverted lake, without a single blemish.

From his perspective, he couldn't see the sun, but he could see the sunlight. And with the sunlight, didn't he have the sun?

A tiny thought suddenly surfaced in Wei Yuan's mind: the sky was so blue, an unchanging blue. Could the world truly be so pure and clean? If there is sunlight, does it necessarily mean there is a sun?
This is not the real heaven and earth, this is the human world.

Each of Wei Yuan's readers is completely unrelated to the others, like a familiar stranger, and they never communicate. They are all part of Wei Yuan, yet they are not Wei Yuan at all.

In Wei Yuan's eyes, above the pure blue sky, there is a will that overlooks everything; it is the source of all Wei Yuans and the origin of this world.

In this place, some Wei Yuan have disappeared, and new Wei Yuan have joined. The new Wei Yuan is unaware of the changes in this hall, but he knows them.

He has been here from the very beginning, watching this place slowly transform from a few books in the wilderness into the grand hall it is today, with more than 80,000 books in the history section alone.

Perhaps one day, I will also disappear from here... But why?
Wei Yuan turned the pages of the book, pulled himself out of his thoughts, and began to concentrate on reading.

One day, when that terrifying gaze from beyond the heavens disappears, or moves elsewhere, perhaps that will be the time to do something.

……

Wei Yuan divided his consciousness into more than 700 parts to handle military affairs related to the war, organizing the battle situation in an orderly manner. The scale of the war was growing larger and larger, and it was also becoming more and more energy-consuming. At the beginning, he only needed to divide his consciousness into more than 200 parts, but now it was three times that amount, yet he was still somewhat exhausted from handling it.

Wei Yuan's awareness of reading has now dwindled to less than two hundred percent.

He tried his best to maintain the amount of reading he did. Now, there were more and more books in the world, and ordinary people even found ways to interpret the true meaning of Taoist books.

A single verse contains a vast amount of information, which ordinary people meticulously record, analyze, and transform into Taoist texts that are understandable to all. This has resulted in a rapid increase in the number of Taoist books circulating among the common people.

The "Taiyin Yuehua Wanxiang Pian" that Wei Yuan himself cultivated has now become more than 800 Daoist books. Even so, it is only less than 20% of the true meaning that Wei Yuan has comprehended. And the true meaning that Wei Yuan can comprehend is less than 20% of the original Daoist books.

The true meaning of the Immortal Chapter in the "Myriad Manifestations" was completely beyond Wei Yuan's reach and comprehension. And that true meaning was more than all the other true meanings combined.

The Taiyin Moon Essence Myriad Manifestations Manual alone contains such profound meaning, and the other Daoist books Wei Yuan has seen also contain a great deal of true wisdom. Among the remaining most important parts is the inheritance of the three sword essences of the Eternal Sword.

These three sword techniques have been transformed into over 1,600 Daoist books, and 10% of them have been permanently copied into the mortal world. Even if a truly destined person appears in the future and takes the true essence of these three sword techniques from Wei Yuan, he will not be able to take away these copied Daoist books.

This was a change that even the immortals who laid out their plans back then couldn't have foreseen. He treated Wei Yuan as just another stop on the path of inheritance, thinking he would merely be passing through and leave some scraps as payment. But he never expected that Wei Yuan would actually find a way to exploit him, pulling out the feathers one by one.

There is another important source of Taoist scriptures in the mundane world, which Wei Yuan did not initially expect: the mirage demon.

The Mirage Demons were once a true race of this world, but they were suppressed and refined by immortals with great supernatural powers, transforming them into a race of grotto-heavens. They have lived through countless ages, and even the immortals have passed down their lineage for several generations, long forgetting their past experiences.

However, the Mirage Demon clan always has multiple Yu Jing (Master of the Realm) members, among whom there must be one who has reached the Yu Jing Perfection stage, thus preserving many of their true meanings. The true meanings they inherit are compatible with their own world and can be analyzed and comprehended by mortals.

When Wei Yuan saw these true meanings, he realized the true potential and foundation of the Mirage Demon race. Although these three Mirage Demons were not strong enough, had ordinary talent, and had not comprehended many true meanings, Wei Yuan still saw the shadow of the path to heaven within them.

Such a race is beyond the ability of the Left Wise King to refine; he can only inherit it from his predecessors, the immortals.

Based on this calculation, the immortal who refined the mirage demon in ancient times must have been terrifyingly powerful, capable of refining another race with the same path to heaven into a race of celestial realms.

After the war with the Witch Clan ends, Wei Yuan plans to send out several hundred consciousnesses to talk with the Mirage Demons, to learn more about the history and heritage of the Mirage Demon Clan, and perhaps discover some secrets among the immortals.

However, Wei Yuan's current focus on Daoist texts is still on the "Taiyin Yuehua Wanxiang Pian". He carefully reads every book that mortals have interpreted as containing profound meaning.

The true meaning he comprehended was left behind by the immortal predecessors or the great supernatural beings who had reached the pinnacle of the Daoist realm. These deciphered Daoist texts were comprehended by ordinary people, which is equivalent to re-examining the Daoist path from the perspective of ordinary people.

Reading these Taoist texts allowed Wei Yuan to make rapid progress in his understanding of the "Myriad Manifestations of the Moonlit Flower" chapter, gaining new insights every day. The bottlenecks and mysteries of the future were gradually dispelled, although his physical cultivation was still somewhat lagging behind.

Wei Yuan separated another consciousness to take a look at the overall situation, and then took a break from his busy schedule to rest quietly.

He is now able to handle 1,024 tasks reliably, and can even sneak in some other things to do.

When Wei Yuan felt tired and bitter, he would think of Xiao Yu.

When they feel smug and are about to become arrogant, they will think of Feng Tingyu again.

Just as he was lost in thought, Wei Yuan's mind stirred, and he withdrew from the mundane world. A cultivator outside the door reported that a high-ranking cultivator from the Taichu Palace had arrived and was waiting to see Wei Yuan.

Another fellow disciple has arrived?

Wei Yuan wasn't surprised. Qingming had grown in scale and was on the front line of the battle against the Wu Clan, so many disciples of Taichu Palace had chosen to come to Qingming for training, and some had even made it their main training ground.

Immortal Lord Yanshi has already inspected the battlefield with the Wu Clan and is considering whether to develop a base in Qingming for newly recruited disciples to complete their studies, train hard, and earn merits, just like Wei Yuan did when he trained on the border of Northern Liao.

The arrival of ordinary disciples was nothing unusual, as they would be received by their subordinates. However, the arrival of a Dharma Master from the palace was a major event. Wei Yuan straightened his clothes and went to the guest hall to personally greet him.

As soon as Wei Yuan approached the guest hall, before even entering, he felt a heat surge in his head. The guest hall seemed to contain an extremely hot fireball, burning fiercely with terrifying vitality; even Wei Yuan's divine sense was scalded.

Wei Yuan knew that the person inside was no ordinary person, and he was also curious. How come he had never heard of such a powerful figure in the Taichu Palace?
He entered the reception room and saw a mountain of flesh made of gold and iron sitting on the seat!

This man was extremely tall, a head taller than Wei Yuan. His entire body was square-shaped, even his muscle lines were angular. His muscles were terrifying; not only were his body and neck covered in muscles, but even around his eyes there was a prominent ring of muscles!
He was like a mountain of muscles. When he saw Wei Yuan enter, his small eyes, almost completely submerged in muscles, filled with laughter. He said, "Greetings, Junior Brother Wei! I am Wang Hu from the Mingwang Palace. I've come to ask for your help. Our patriarch said you're stronger than any of us!"

"Senior Brother Wang..." Wei Yuan was utterly shocked as he looked at Wang Hu's muscular physique, which was all connected as one. After a moment, he sighed and exclaimed, "Senior Brother is truly intelligent!"

Wang Hu was immediately taken aback: "Huh? How did you know that?! The other disciples all think we're stupid, and there aren't many who really know I'm smart. But those disciples are all too stupid; they wouldn't understand even if I explained it to them, so I eventually gave up trying to explain."

Wei Yuan thought to himself, "Does he even need to look? Look at that huge mass of muscle; a few pieces could easily handle Task 1024. I don't know if I can match his upper arm, but I certainly can't match his thigh."

Fortunately, Wang Hu is a man, and his body shape is different from that of a girl, so his buttocks don't have much potential.

The one who came was the senior disciple of the Mingwang Hall, so Wei Yuan asked, "Senior brother, if there is anything you need from me, please feel free to tell me."

"I've come here this time to..." Wang Hu stopped mid-sentence.

He looked around, a puzzled expression on his face, and said, "Junior brother, something's not right here!"

　I was thinking of moving the last sentence to the next chapter, but cutting it like this seems like I'd get punched.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)