I changed the world.

However, since it was written by an ancient person more than a thousand years ago, and there are significant differences in writing style and language between ancient and modern times, coupled with the fact that the author did not consider the factor of third-person reading when writing, and some texts were written relatively hastily, Zhang Jing still had a lot of trouble reading it.

Since he couldn't directly pay scholars to translate such obscure material, he could only purchase reference books such as "Cihai", "Shuowen Jiezi", "Ancient Chinese Allusions Appreciation", "Qi Shu Tong Lan" and "Research on Folk Religion in the Qi Dynasty" online for reference, and then interpret it word by word.

After spending more than ten days, Zhang Jing had a general understanding of what was written in the manuscript, and today he was going to finish translating the last ten pages.

About half an hour later, Zhang Jing picked up his pen, looked at the annotations written beside it, and nodded in satisfaction. He had finally translated the hundreds of pages of the manuscript completely.

Turning to the first page of the manuscript, I rearranged the stack of manuscripts, and under the lamp, I saw what was written on it:

"The teachings of sages and worthies are: to broaden one's knowledge through learning and to restrain oneself with propriety. They also say: 'Recognize what you lack daily, and never forget what you have learned monthly.' This is why this record was compiled. From dawn to dusk, from youth to old age, keep it by your side, write it down to remember it. Literature and conduct complement each other, so new insights will emerge, and virtue will advance and learning will broaden..."

As mentioned above, this is a diary, the private diary of Celestial Master Song Shouxuan. Within this thick stack of pages, it recounts the major and minor events of Celestial Master Song Shouxuan's life. In addition, it offers glimpses into many aspects of the Taoist community and even the imperial court during that era, including their observations and secrets.

Zhang Jing reached out and gently stroked the pages, flattening them. Then, he took a lever clip and aligned the edges of the stack of papers, making it look like a book.

Even without mentioning Song Shouxuan himself, this material deepened his understanding of Taoism. It's likely that if it fell into the hands of scholars specializing in this field, it could unravel many historical mysteries.

Of course, what Zhang Jing cared about most was Song Shouxuan's life story, especially the origin of the extraordinary items in his tomb and the events behind them...

From the diary, Zhang Jing gradually learned that Song Shouxuan was born into a noble family. His father died when he was young, and he lived with his mother in the clan. He later studied in the clan school, but he was not interested in the imperial examination. Instead, he was very interested in the idea of ​​seeking immortals and visiting the Dao. By the age of ten, he had read through "The Record of Celestial Immortals" and had the ambition to live a long and healthy life.

At the age of 16, his mother passed away. After observing three years of mourning, he became a disciple of the Taoist priest Qian Yunyan, receiving instruction in talismans, scriptures, and incantations. He then traveled to famous mountains in search of elixirs and true scriptures...

The turning point came when he was twenty-one years old, during a trip he took...

As written in a certain passage in the diary:

On August 16th, we crossed the Sangnan River, also known as the Baigou River.

On the 17th, we traveled north from Sangnan to Xincheng County, a distance of thirty li. Xincheng belonged to Zhuojun, and the land was flat with no hills.

On the 18th, we traveled south from Xincheng County to Zhuojun, a distance of fifty li, where the land was flat. After fifteen li, we crossed Henghegou, and after twenty-five li, we crossed the Tuo River. South of Zhuojun city, there was a pavilion called Xiujing. That evening, we stayed at Yongning Temple, north of which was a pavilion called Wanghu.

On the 19th, I traveled sixty li north from Yongning Temple to Xianghu County. The road was slightly treacherous, with hills along it. I crossed the Zhuo River. I encountered bandits, narrowly escaping death, but suffered a knife wound to my right arm. I spent the night in a deserted temple, where I had a miraculous encounter and obtained a volume of the "Secret Book." I marveled at the extraordinary circumstances I had; was this not a case of a diligent person receiving divine favor?

..............................

According to Song Shouxuan, he encountered bandits during his travels in search of immortals and medicines. This kind of situation was actually quite common in ancient times. Due to the inconvenience of transportation and the fact that social governance was far less effective than it is today, it was common for various mountain bandits to occupy mountains and rob people on the road. Zhang Jing had seen this situation repeatedly when he read "Water Margin" in his previous life.

After being robbed, Song Shouxuan somehow managed to escape, though it must have been a difficult journey, as he was stabbed in the arm. He must have been in a very sorry state, spending the night in an abandoned Taoist temple.

The diary glossed over this point; Song Shouxuan didn't record what happened that night, only saying that he had a strange encounter and thus obtained a volume of "Secret Book." He then marveled at the strangeness of his circumstances and wondered if he had been blessed by heaven.

Zhang Jing understood that this manuscript was placed in a silver box and buried with Song Shouxuan after his death. In other words, he could not possibly be the only person to have seen this manuscript. Before him, it was highly likely that Song Shouxuan's disciples and followers had also read this manuscript.

Among the myths and legends that have been passed down in modern times, one of the most widely circulated is the story of Song Shouxuan, who, during his travels, encountered an immortal who gave him a scroll of "Heavenly Book." In the legend, the immortal is even described as "Lord of Nanshan."

After reading this passage in the diary, Zhang Jing roughly understood the origin of this legend. It must have been that the disciples, after perusing the diary, had imagined a scene of "an immortal bestowing a book" upon the so-called "miracle encounter." This added even more mystery to Song Shouxuan's life.

In Zhang Jing's view, although he didn't know why Song Shouxuan didn't mention the "strange encounter" he had at the time in his diary, he could guess that, based on the previous records, it was highly likely that Song Shouxuan's arm was injured at the time, and injuries inevitably bleed. By chance, when he stayed overnight at the deserted temple that night, perhaps while changing the bandages or medicine, he touched some "Dharma Treasury" with his blood, thus triggering the "blood-dipping" method, which allowed him to passively acquire the knowledge within the Dharma Treasury.

Zhang Jing could even guess which branch of the Dharma Treasury he had obtained; it must be the "Secret Book of the Green Scroll".

Therefore, Song Shouxuan wrote in his diary: "I had a strange encounter and obtained a volume of the 'Secret Book'."

Although, based on the information Zhang Jing currently possesses, the path of cultivation was severed in Song Shouxuan's era—theoretically, even if Song Shouxuan had obtained the "Secret Manual," he wouldn't have been able to cultivate—for some unknown reason, perhaps due to extraordinary talent—after all, there are always some people in this world with exceptionally special abilities. Just like the person in the haunted house incident Zhang Jing encountered, who, with the naked eye of an ordinary person, saw the anomalies of the haunted house.

In short, Song Shouxuan actually stepped into the threshold of cultivation.

Perhaps encouraged by this serendipitous encounter, Song Shouxuan became more interested in items that resembled Buddhist artifacts in the days that followed, which led him to mention his "serendipitous encounter" multiple times in his diary.

However, perhaps due to some hidden considerations, such as not wanting to reveal his true secrets, Song Shouxuan never clearly wrote down what his extraordinary encounter was in his diary.

Chapter 178 Artificial Humans

In fact, Zhang Jing could understand this mentality quite well, because he himself had the same mentality. In fact, if he were in that situation, he wouldn't even have left such an ambiguous diary.

However, Song Shouxuan's good fortune seemed to have come to an end. Even though he was truly a genius, due to some uncontrollable obstacle, he was unable to make any further progress after stepping into the realm of cultivation.

From his diary, Zhang Jing could discern the anxiety hidden between the lines. In response, Song Shouxuan traveled to various places, attempting to find an opportunity that could help him break through his limitations.

During this time, his reputation grew, after all, this was a world where the extraordinary were not prominent, and Song Shouxuan was perhaps the only "master" in that world at that time.

Until one day, Song Shouxuan discovered a special magical treasure. In his diary, he described it as "a dream summoned by an immortal" and "seeing an ancient battle between immortals and demons."

According to Zhang Jing's understanding, he must have obtained the Dharma treasure that recorded the thousand-year war from somewhere.

However, according to Zhang Jing's guess, he may not have been able to finish reading the Dharma collection, or he may have been injured as a result.

According to his later description, he "suddenly developed a fever" and was bedridden for a month afterward.

Zhang Jing couldn't help but recall the image of what appeared to be an evil god in the record. For someone who could only be considered to have one foot in the door of cultivation and the other foot outside, it was highly likely that they would be influenced by some kind of image.

This may have been an unfortunate beginning for Song Shouxuan, because Zhang Jing discovered that he repeatedly mentioned words like "going astray," "heavenly demon," and "temptation" in his later diary.

In his diary, he seems to be increasingly indulging in the interplay between reality and illusion in certain spiritual experiences.

After that, he developed an extraordinary interest in ancient legends.

The controversial book, "The Genealogy of the Ten Directions of Immortals," was completed after this, which divided the previously complex and diverse local cults of immortals into nine ranks, thus unifying them into a single system.

However, he ultimately failed to find a way to advance further. In fact, Zhang Jing could even imagine that without the gifts of the void, forcibly stepping into the transcendent realm would actually be a waste of his vital energy, especially for beginners who had not yet stabilized their cultivation.

This Celestial Master Song was actually exploring in a way that bordered on recklessness. His mental problems seemed to worsen afterward, and some of his obsessions and mental issues combined to cause him to experience hallucinations in his later years, making him believe that he would ascend to the Heavenly Palace and become an immortal after death.

This led to a greater and greater discussion of the term "corpse dissection" in the final part of the diary.

At this time, Song Shouxuan was becoming increasingly immersed in his own spiritual world. To outsiders, he appeared to be meditating in the temple all day long. However, his fame grew ever greater. In his final years, not only did people from various branches of the Xuanmen sect come to him for an audience and guidance, but the imperial court also issued several decrees bestowing upon him numerous titles. Even the emperor himself frequently sent secret envoys to consult him on important matters of state.

Recalling historical records, Zhang Jing understood that Song Shouxuan at this time had already been given the title of "Hidden Prime Minister" by some people.

However, judging from the entries in his diary, Zhang Jing felt that Song Shouxuan at this time clearly had some mental problems...

The diary finally ended on November 4th of the year Song Shouxuan turned 45, and there were no further entries after that.

....................................

After reading the manuscript, Zhang Jing's feelings were extremely complex. He had to admit that in Song Shouxuan's era, he had done almost everything he could. However, without the aid of a wishing book, he was destined to become a brilliant shooting star in an era where the extraordinary was not prominent, streaking across the sky. Even though he ultimately left a significant mark on history, Zhang Jing still felt sorry for him, as a form of respect for the seekers of the Dao who came before him.

His secrets were ultimately buried with him. Even in his diary, there were only veiled descriptions, which meant that even his disciples and followers could not find his true secrets in these descriptions.

It wasn't until these items finally fell into Zhang Jing's hands that, for the first time in a thousand years, someone truly understood him.

After putting down the manuscript, Zhang Jing remained silent for a long time before summoning the Wish Book again. He had a very important wish to fulfill.

“I once made a wish that in ancient times, during the thousand-year war against the evil gods, human cultivators developed artificial human technology. Now, I need to obtain an artificial human equivalent to a fifth-level human cultivator. He should be unused and can be programmed by me…”

After carefully organizing his thoughts, Zhang Jing made a wish. Then, he stared nervously at the wishing book, but unfortunately, the next words he saw were in red:

"This wish will cause a significant disturbance to the world's destiny line. You do not have enough wishing points, so your wish cannot be fulfilled."

Sighing, Zhang Jing felt slightly disappointed, but upon reflection, it was understandable. After all, based on the information he had, a fifth-tier cultivator was already the strongest cultivator rank below the Mythical Rank, a Saint-level existence. Even in ancient times, such cultivators were not commonplace.

Regardless of whether "artificial humans" can create beings of this level, even if they could, the changes to the original history would likely be significant. Of course, if Zhang Jing could truly possess a fifth-tier artificial human at this stage, it would undoubtedly be of great help to his future plans.

That's practically a bug in the system.

Since the fifth tier wasn't feasible at this stage, Zhang Jing had to settle for second best. After some consideration, he lowered his expectations:

“I once made a wish that in ancient times, during the thousand-year war against the evil gods, human cultivators developed artificial human technology. Now, I need to obtain an artificial human equivalent to a fourth-level human cultivator. He should be unused and can be programmed by me…”

After waiting a while, with a slightly uneasy feeling, Zhang Jing saw a series of black characters appear on the pages of the wishing book...

***

As one of the largest private pharmaceutical consortia in China, Yongjitang's largest publicly disclosed shareholder has always been the Dazhao Xuanmen General Association.

Unlike monotheistic religions like Christianity in the West, Xuanmen (the School of Taoism) originated from the evolution and fusion of various early folk beliefs in the Central Plains region, according to current folklore research. It is a religion with typical polytheistic beliefs. Therefore, from its earliest beginnings, Xuanmen did not spread in a unified form. Although there were various efforts to unify it, these efforts ultimately failed due to intentional or unintentional interference from various parties, especially at the level of government.

Therefore, the Xuanmen sect is still filled with numerous large and small sects and temples. According to the records in the "General Register of All True Sects" currently existing in the Celestial Master's Mansion on Danding Mountain, there are a total of 86 sects throughout the country. Of course, to this day, it is estimated that only about 60 of them are still being passed down in an orderly manner.

After all, in this era, Taoism has also been strongly impacted by various Western religions and modern atheism, and is therefore undergoing slow transformation.

The Great Zhao Xuanmen General Association was established under the advocacy of the 60th Celestial Master Zhang Yuanxu. Its purpose is to unite the various factions within the Xuanmen so that they can form a unified voice to the outside world. It has a history of more than 100 years and it can be said that it has been operating quite successfully so far.

..........................................

In the waiting area outside the ICU, several people dressed as Taoist priests sat there with solemn expressions. Just then, from the stairwell not far away, an elderly Taoist priest with a tall and upright figure walked out hurriedly. He had a long beard with a good demeanor, a square face and a wide mouth, but his brows were always tightly furrowed.

Upon seeing this person approach, the several Taoist priests sitting in the stairwell all stood up to greet him:

"Big brother."

"Greetings, Abbot."

"Prison Court."

After nodding hurriedly to the group, the old Taoist priest, without offering any further formalities, asked one of the middle-aged Taoist priests in an urgent tone, "Jingyuan, how is Master's condition?"

"The doctor said he's still not out of danger..." The middle-aged Taoist priest also looked anxious.

"How could such a thing happen!" The old Taoist priest exclaimed, forcefully waving his sleeve and stamping his foot. This man was none other than Li Jingxin, the abbot of Yunxiao Temple in Dinghai. He had been staying at Yunxiao Temple to handle temple affairs, but suddenly received news that the old abbot had fallen seriously ill and been hospitalized. He hurriedly put down his affairs and rushed to Linzhou. As soon as he arrived at the hospital, he came to find him without stopping.

"According to the doctor, it's because Master already had some varicose veins in his legs. Perhaps because he's been moving around a lot these past few days, some plaques broke off from the varicose veins and flowed into his brain with the blood, resulting in a cerebral infarction..." The middle-aged Taoist priest was Zhou Jingyuan, Xiao Daoguang's personal disciple. He was explaining to his senior brother with a face full of self-reproach. No matter what, he had served his master this time, and this happened. Even if there were uncontrollable factors, he still had his own responsibility. So he was worried and frustrated, and his mood was very complicated.

Li Jingxin remained silent upon hearing this, and after a long while, he sighed deeply. He hadn't lost his mind in despair; he knew that Jingyuan wasn't to blame for what had happened. In fact, he had opposed the old abbot's arrival in Linzhou. After all, the old abbot was nearly a hundred years old and had recently become somewhat unsteady due to varicose veins. Although he had still insisted on receiving some guests in recent years, his spirits were clearly not as good as before, which everyone in the temple had noticed.

Chapter 179 The Secret of the Mind

Therefore, Li Jingxin originally intended to personally handle or send a high-ranking priest of the Third Rank (三都) to handle the matter of Master Song's manifestation, which would have been sufficient in terms of appearance. However, he was frustrated by the abbot's insistence on going in person. After his disciples' attempts to dissuade him failed, he could only anxiously instruct the servants to take good care of the abbot. Unexpectedly, this still happened.

It should be noted that although the old abbot was nearly a hundred years old and had long since stopped dealing with worldly affairs, he was still a pillar of strength in everyone's hearts.