I changed the world.

On this day, Zhang Jing finally finished organizing the Buddhist scriptures in the Sutra Repository. He counted them and found that a total of 31 scriptures remained intact, fewer than he had imagined. Many scriptures appeared to be fine on the surface, but were no longer readable. Zhang Jing guessed that they had probably become invalid due to the passage of time.

Through these past few days of sorting, Zhang Jing has also made some new discoveries. He has found that when the Sutra Repository previously stored the Dharma treasures, they were stored on different floors according to different levels of Dharma treasures.

In other words, the best-preserved first floor contains the most basic information and books, while the higher the floor, the more profound the information and books become.

Therefore, this has created a situation that is hard to say whether it is good or bad: of the 31 Dharma collections that Zhang Jing has compiled so far, most of them are suitable for first- and second-tier extraordinary beings to read, while less than one-third of them are suitable for higher-tier extraordinary beings to read.

Because the upper floors of the Sutra Repository had completely collapsed, the high-level Buddhist scriptures suffered devastating losses.

Furthermore, Zhang Jing discovered that certain high-level Dharma treasures also have limitations on the reader's cultivation level. Lower-level extraordinary individuals would find their divine sense unable to penetrate these treasures. At Zhang Jing's current cultivation level, a considerable portion of these Dharma treasures were beyond his ability to read.

However, for the time being, he is not in a position to be troubled by these issues.

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On a platform-like circular building about two hundred meters from the Sutra Repository, Zhang Jing was carefully drawing some intricate patterns on it. This was a magic array he had found in a magic treasury in the Sutra Repository yesterday. According to the magic treasury, it could be used to summon new servants for the grotto-heaven.

According to the description in the Dharma Treasury titled "Servants of the Grotto-Heavens," a Grotto-Heavens, as a super-creation, possesses a kind of pan-consciousness core that regulates its various functions. The Servants of the Grotto-Heavens are creations born from this pan-consciousness core, possessing certain permissions granted by the Grotto-Heavens and capable of assisting extraordinary beings in maintaining its operation. Furthermore, in the event of an attack on the Grotto-Heavens, the Servants can even assist in the operation of the Grotto-Heavens' defense system.

Chapter Thirty: Summoning the Servant of the Grotto Heaven

After entering the cave, Zhang Jing did not find any cave servants. He guessed that they had probably been destroyed. According to Fazang, as long as the core of the cave's general consciousness remained normal, he should be able to summon new cave servants after a period of self-repair.

The location where Zhang Jing is currently drawing the magic circle is the cave-heaven structure—the Servant Altar, whose function is to summon cave-heaven servants. After Zhang Jing's inspection, it was not damaged, only somewhat worn, so Zhang Jing decided to try using it directly.

His right hand held a small brush made of pig bristles, while his left hand held a bowl of pale yellow, viscous liquid. This liquid was a mixture of honey, vegetable oil, and bone meal, and was a material specifically used to draw this kind of magic circle.

Zhang Jing drew the array very slowly and carefully. This was his first time drawing a magic array, and he didn't want to mess it up. He was quite lucky, because in addition to the "Servant of the Cave Heaven," he also found a book specifically describing magic arrays called "Illustrated Explanation of Magic Arrays," which greatly helped him.

Magic arrays are generally circular, as the circle represents circulation and prevents energy loss. An effective magic array must contain modules such as an inner magic ring, guiding patterns, momentum, prayer texts, an outer magic ring, and outer ring magic patterns.

The inner ring contains basic runes that describe the properties of the magic circle; the guiding runes and the energy runes are the starlight, cloud patterns, and textures of the sun, moon, and stars outside the inner ring, which together constitute the energy circuit of the magic circle; the prayer runes are used to borrow energy from the void or some other entity; the outer ring is inscribed with auxiliary runes used to amplify, shrink, stabilize, or exert certain specific effects on the magic circle; the outer ring magic runes mainly protect the magic circle and shield it from the detection of certain entities by the energy it generates.

Zhang Jing spent about half an hour completing the drawing of the array. Then, he took a candle and placed it on the inner ring at the center of the array. He then placed around it some objects such as metal blocks, cups filled with water, some clean sand, and freshly cut branches. These objects were mentioned in the Dharma Treasury and each had its own mystical meaning.

After arranging everything, Zhang Jing checked the formation again and again to make sure there were no problems. Then he placed his hand on the formation and, according to the instructions in the Dharma Treasury, channeled the "Qi" in his body into it.

As if entering a river, Zhang Jing's Qi was rapidly injected into the magic array. The prayer section of the array lit up first, emitting a bright blue light, and then the rest of the array also lit up. Afterward, Zhang Jing felt himself coming into contact with an ocean of energy through the magic array. This ocean was not unfamiliar to him; in fact, he could feel it every day during his cultivation. He knew that this was what was known as the void.

After the connection was established, a continuous stream of power poured in from the void. Zhang Jing hurriedly tried his best to gather this power and guide it into the magic array...

The prayer that Zhang Jing had previously inscribed in the magic array was recommended in the Dharma Treasury and was said to be the most widely used method, directly using one's own power to guide the power of the void to activate the magic array. This method seemed to consume some of one's own power, and when guiding high-level magic arrays, if one's personal self-control was insufficient, energy outbursts could occur, destroying the magic array. However, its advantage lay in its high safety.

Perhaps out of concern for the younger generation, the book "Diagram of Formations" repeatedly emphasized that all formations require energy to activate. This energy can be obtained not only by communicating with the void, but also by communicating with certain powerful beings or unknown entities. If you do not have sufficient understanding of these powerful beings and unknown entities that provide energy, it will have very bad consequences.

Therefore, without sufficient reason, one should not casually communicate with the unknown or borrow their power.

"Imperial decree!"

The Supreme Being has decreed that this message be proclaimed to all directions.

The true spirit of the grotto, the servants obeyed the command.

By some divine intervention, my guards are here.

"Immediately obey the command! Hurry!"

The candle flames on the magic circle suddenly surged as Zhang Jing spoke, as if they had been doused with gasoline.

Seeing this, Zhang Jing withdrew his hand, took a few steps back and looked at the magic array. At the same time, he took out his own cave jade tablet and held it in his hand.

The light from the magic circle grew brighter and brighter. Then, the various patterns on the magic circle seemed to detach from the ground and began to slowly rotate.

Suddenly, the light faded, and Zhang Jing saw a large amount of thick smoke boiling up from the ground within the magic array before him. This smoke, like a gushing spring, continuously spewed out and condensed above the altar, rolling as if it were alive, gathering without dispersing. The smoke gathered together and eventually coalesced into a human-shaped form, with even the facial features of the smoke-formed face still discernible.

It seemed the summoning had been successful. After observing it, Zhang Jing confirmed that it resembled the characteristics described in the Dharma Treasury. So, he raised the Jade Tablet of the Cave Heaven in his hand.

The celestial servant, seemingly formed of mist, floated before Zhang Jing, examined the jade token in Zhang Jing's hand, and then bowed slightly to him.

Zhang Jing then received a conscious greeting, roughly meaning: I will obey your command.

"What's your name?" Zhang Jing asked. The servants of the cave heaven, like humans, also had their own names, which they had from the moment they were born.

"Li Heng." Zhang Jing received a clear message.

“Okay, Li Heng, the sect’s buildings are severely damaged. Our first task is to clear these ruins and repair the buildings that can be repaired…” At this moment, Zhang Jing was no longer as wary as when they first met and began to assign tasks to the servants of the cave.

After cleaning the Sutra Repository, he planned to clean the other buildings in the cave to see if he could find anything. Some of the less damaged buildings could even be repaired directly. At the same time, the corpses scattered everywhere needed to be buried. After all, although they were separated by a long period of time, in a sense, these people had a connection with him and deserved to be laid to rest.

After listening to Zhang Jing's description, Li Heng nodded, then floated to a patch of scattered stones. He reached out and gently lifted several heavy stones into the air. Li Heng then carried the floating stones to an open area and placed them there.

Clearing such a vast area with only one Celestial Servant seemed inefficient. Just as Li Heng began his work, Zhang Jing repeated the steps above, then summoned two more Celestial Servants. These two Servants were named "Li He" and "Li Mo."

He assigned tasks to the three celestial servants, watched them work for a while, and then began to cultivate on his own.

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P.S.: Some people in the comments asked why the Great Zhao Dynasty lasted for over 600 years. Is that a bit long?

Let me explain this. Some readers may have already noticed from the details in the text that the Great Zhao Dynasty, nominally, had a reign of over 600 years. However, in the middle of the dynasty, similar to the Han and Song dynasties, there was a national upheaval that affected the fate of the country.

Ultimately, Emperor Zhaohuan, not a direct descendant of the imperial family but a member of the royal clan, rose to power in the southeast. After ascending the throne, he displayed great talent and ambition, launching two successful northern expeditions that led to the nation's resurgence. However, in essence, this newly established state could not be considered an exaggeration. Therefore, from a historical perspective, much like the Han dynasties, it was essentially two Zhao dynasties.

This period of history will be mentioned again later.

Chapter Thirty-One: Who Plays the Flute Beyond the Autumn Wind?

In the evening, Zhang Jing returned home from the grotto. As he took dumplings out of the refrigerator and started cooking them for dinner, he checked his phone for missed messages.

Zhang Jing doesn't have many friends, and usually the phone calls he receives are related to advertisements. However, this time he found a message from Miao Yuzhu on Qianluo:

"Hi everyone, this is Yuzhu who loves you all! Not long ago, I received news that the Xingfa Printing and Dyeing Factory in the suburbs of Linzhou City had been secretly discharging sewage into the groundwater since the beginning of the year, which directly led to a large-scale crop failure in the farmland of Tianchang Village, which is located nearby."

Meanwhile, many villagers have recently contracted a strange illness, experiencing itchy and ulcerated skin, suspected to be related to water pollution. My friends and I are currently providing assistance. With the villagers' help, we have collected substantial evidence of illegal discharge and will soon initiate a lawsuit against the "Xingfa" dyeing and printing factory for compensation. We also hope you can help share this message to amplify its social impact.

After that, there were several photos taken at the scene, showing farmland with no harvest and villagers with festering skin. Zhang Jing looked at them and found them truly shocking, so he casually forwarded them to his WeChat Moments.

This was probably a mass message, but after forwarding it, Zhang Jing still replied to her in the comments with "Forwarded" and a smiley face.

A moment later, a smiley face and a thumbs-up emoji were returned.

With a slight smile, Zhang Jing put down his phone, turned on the television, and tuned to the Imperial Broadcasting Company's news channel, which was broadcasting news about members of the Imperial Royal Family inspecting the Northern Heavy Industry Mining Base of the Martian Colony.

Speaking eloquently in front of the camera at this moment is the eldest prince, Prince Kang, Chen Xuduan. He is a man with a gentle smile and a dignified demeanor, around thirty years old, born to the current empress. He is expressing to reporters the royal family's consistent support for the development of space technology.

Turning the news volume up, Zhang Jing returned to the kitchen to continue preparing dinner.

After dinner, Zhang Jing, carrying his flute, slowly walked up to the Shuoren Pavilion on the back hill. It was already November, and darkness fell early. The bright moon hung high in the sky, and a cool breeze made it very pleasant. Next to the pavilion was a courtyard lamp in the shape of a classical stone niche, emitting a soft glow.

Zhang Jing really liked this little pavilion with a view of the distant tea mountains. He sat in the pavilion for a while, then brought the flute to his lips, and soon a melodious tune floated out...

The flute's melody was melodious and plaintive, and for a moment, even the birds fell silent.

The piece Zhang Jing played was an adaptation of a song he greatly loved in his previous life, titled "Big Fish," which is the theme song of the animated film "Big Fish & Begonia." It's also a piece he's been playing frequently these past few days.

The waves silently submerged the night deeply

Overflowing the corner of the sky

Big fish swim through the gaps in dreams

Staring at your sleeping silhouette

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Watching you fly far away, watching you leave me

It turns out that you were born to belong to the sky

Every tear is flowing towards you.