Confucian and Taoist Cultivation Starting from the Equipment Slot

Chapter 155 Obtaining Book Pages

Song Zhiyuan stood beside him, gazing at the inscription. After a moment of silence, he solemnly said, "You are to keep the pages. You are the one who can circulate the cultivation technique, and you are also the one who can open the secret vault."

The pages of the book can only truly fulfill their purpose when they are in the hands of a successor of the circulating practice.

Chen Zhuo took the pages of the book off the stone platform, and the soft light lingered in his palm for a moment.

He then slowly closed the book, and the entire page lay quietly in his hand, like an autumn leaf that had just fallen from a tree.

Suning took several well-preserved artifact blanks as research materials for the Ruhua Society, carefully wrapped them in soft cloth and put them into a wooden box.

The old man asked for two fragments of ancient alloy, weighed them in his hand, and stuffed them into his backpack with satisfaction.

Gu Qing'e didn't take anything from the copper box, but stood in front of the pile of cultivation notes for a long time.

She flipped through the yellowed pages, which recorded the mental journeys of successive generations of practitioners of the Transcendental School as they broke through their bottlenecks, and which coincided with the cultivation methods of the Mind Source School.

A moment later, she looked up and said to Chen Zhuo, her tone calm yet resolute: "I will take these notes back to the Academy of Arts and Sciences to study them carefully. The discussion within them about the self-contained cycle of laws is very enlightening for the next breakthrough of the Heart Source School."

Chen Zhuo nodded, carefully wrapped the notes, and put them into his bag.

The air in the secret vault gradually returned to silence, and the glow of the luminous ore slowly dimmed. The five people exited the secret chamber one by one, preparing to return along the way they came and meet up with Pei Jing and the others at the mine entrance.

Chen Zhuo simultaneously embedded the stone inscription of the character "噬" (shi) and the fragment of the character "消" (xiao) into the groove.

The moment the stone was carved into the groove, the ancient characters on the stone wall lit up one by one.

A beam of light projected from inside the stone wall, unfolding a complete three-dimensional diagram of laws before everyone.

The five characters, 噬 (shì), 消 (xiāo), 融 (róng), 化 (huà), and 归 (guī), each occupy a side. Each pair of adjacent characters is connected by several extremely fine golden rays of light, which circulate among the five characters to form a closed energy loop.

At the edge of the light screen, an inscription personally written by the founder of the Flowing Transformation School slowly emerged.

Song Zhiyuan stood in front of the light screen, hands behind his back, deciphering the ancient characters line by line.

His gaze slowly moved across the inscription, each word he uttered echoing in the silent vestibule hall.

"The five-character inscription is not five separate fragments, but rather the result of the fragmentation of a single complete stele."

The monument cracked during the first war between humans and demons, and the Transcendent Faction was destroyed in an attempt to protect it.

The five characters are now scattered, some have been devoured but others remain, and their whereabouts after melting and returning to the earth are unknown.

If someone with the right karma comes to this place, they will know that the destruction of the Dharma stele was not a natural disaster, but a man-made one.

His voice wasn't loud, but it lowered slightly when he read the last sentence.

"Not a natural disaster, but a man-made one"—these six words fell like a pebble thrown into a deep pool, creating silent ripples in the silence of the vault's front hall. Everyone present fell silent.

Su Ning was the first to react, squatting down to carefully examine the broken edges of the two carved stones in the groove.

A moment later, she looked up, her tone filled with disbelief: "Stones capable of being carved with this level of law runes are extremely rare."

Such a large stele is itself a testament to the heritage of a sect.

After the monument shattered, the power of the laws scattered with the fragments. Although the remaining stone fragments could still retain some imprints of the laws, the complete five-character cycle could no longer operate.

"The Liuzhuan Sect was once a well-known and influential sect in Shengtian Prefecture."

Song Zhiyuan slowly began to speak, his gaze still fixed on the inscription on the screen. His tone was like that of someone explaining a long-lost historical document in class, but it carried a heavier weight than usual.

"Later, the first war between humans and demons broke out, and the area where the Transcendental Faction was located was one of the main battlefields."

After the war, the frivolous faction disappeared without a trace. The records of the Shengtianfu Academy of Literature only mention it briefly, without even a detailed account of the reasons for its demise.

Some say it was scattered in the war, while others say the problem lies in the inheritance itself.

In retrospect, it was destroyed in order to protect the monument.

They guarded the secret of this stele, preferring to bury their heritage along with themselves rather than let it fall into enemy hands. It wasn't a natural disaster, but a man-made one.

The patriarch used these two words to conceal both his own name and that of his enemy, leaving only a conclusion for those who came after him.

He paused slightly, then turned his gaze from the light screen to Chen Zhuo.

"The Devouring Character Stone you obtained before, and this Disappearing Character Fragment, are both part of this Dharma Stele. The lineage of the Flowing Sect has not been lost, but has been preserved to this day in this form."

It shattered, but it wasn't broken.

Gu Qing'e stood before the light screen, her fingertips lightly tracing the direction of the law patterns on the screen. Suddenly, she asked a highly professional question: "Su Ning, look at the direction of these law patterns, especially the golden connecting lines between the characters 'five.' Don't you think their underlying structure is similar to the Crimson Serpent Society altar runes you copied before?"

Su Ning moved closer to the light screen, took out the rubbing of the altar runes of the Crimson Serpent Society that he always carried with him, and carefully compared them. His eyes gradually brightened.

"That's right, the altar runes are derived from these connecting lines, but in the wrong direction."

The principle of the Circulation School is a positive cycle, but the Red Serpent uses it in reverse, forcibly extracting energy with external force, which is why blood sacrifice is needed. She looked up at Chen Zhuo, her tone tinged with excitement.

"This complete diagram of laws has deciphered the core operating principle of the Red Serpent Society's altar."

With this, the Observatory can easily deduce a targeted plan to lift the restrictions.

"This is what you've been looking for all this time."

Chen Zhuo nodded to Gu Qing'e and said, "The founder of the Flowing Transformation School's attainments in the Way of the Heart Source are in line with the Heart Source School's principle of self-reflection."

When you were in seclusion meditating, I thought there must be a connection between the two.

"The greatest truths are the simplest; all paths lead to the same goal."

Song Zhiyuan suppressed his emotions, turned to Chen Zhuo, and resumed his usual calm tone.

"You are in charge of keeping the pages of the book. You are the one who can circulate the cultivation technique, and you are also the one who can open the secret vault."

The pages of the book can only truly play their proper role when they are in the hands of a successor of the circulating practice.

As for how to proceed, we'll discuss that again when we return to the Faculty of Arts.

Chen Zhuo took the book pages off the stone platform. The soft light lingered in his palm for a moment before slowly receding.

The light screen did not completely dissipate after the pages were removed; the five-character cycle diagram still hung quietly above everyone's heads, with golden light still slowly flowing, like an ever-burning star ring.

He carefully put the pages away and nodded to everyone.

The stone gate of the secret vault closed behind them again, but the man-made disaster that had spanned hundreds of years remained.

Yet it is clearly etched in the hearts of everyone present.

The stone gate slowly opened as the five characters carved on it resonated, and an ancient aura, sealed for countless years, wafted out from the cracks in the gate.

It carried a dry smell, a mixture of paper, metal, and mineral powder.

The interior of the secret vault was not large, only about the size of an ordinary study, and the four walls were inlaid with luminous minerals.

The soft light illuminated the entire secret room as if it were daytime.

On the stone platform in the very center, a palm-sized ancient page floats in mid-air, its entire body shimmering with a soft, milky-white light.

The character "孤" (gu, meaning "lonely") is engraved on it in ancient seal script.

The light was not dazzling, but it made everyone present feel a faint yet undeniable sense of the oppressive power of the laws.

It wasn't oppressive, but rather a resonance closer to the origin of heaven and earth, as if someone had placed a still-beating heart in this secret room.

This is the genuine article of the character "孤" (lonely) from the Book of Heaven and Earth.

The page in the intelligence report from the Bureau of Astronomy that was being fought over by various factions.

It's just a fake from the sealed core of the Relics Central Hub; the real pages have always been here, in the secret vault of the Circulation Sect's mountain gate.

It has been quietly suspended for hundreds of years, waiting for someone who can circulate the power of cultivation techniques to take it away.

Suning took the lead and walked towards the dozen or so bronze boxes piled up below the stone platform.

She moved very gently, and before opening each box, she would first hover her palm over the lid to sense it for a moment to confirm that there were no residual forbidden or corrosive gases inside.

Old Tie stood beside her, holding up the glowing stone, using his body to block anything that might splash out of the box.

"The shape of this batch of bronze boxes is exactly the same as the one that Chen Zhuo found in the secret room of the Flowing Sect."

As Suning opened the box, he quickly took notes, his charcoal pencil scribbling rapidly in his notebook.

"The preservation condition is much better than that one; the vault is completely sealed and has not been exposed to moisture."

She opened each of the bronze boxes and categorized the items inside:

Part of it consists of the practice notes of successive generations of practitioners of the Transcendental School. Although the paper has yellowed and become brittle, the ink is still clearly legible. It records the insights gained by successive generations of practitioners on the Five-Character Cycle and detailed records of their breakthroughs in overcoming bottlenecks.

The other part consists of the blanks of ancient writing implements, mostly semi-finished products of swords and other weapons.

The blank is engraved with the unique patterns of the Liuzhuan School. Although it has not yet been sharpened, the material and craftsmanship far exceed the level that Suning usually encounters.

Suning carefully lifted out a small bronze box from the deepest part of the box.

This bronze box is smaller than the others, only the size of a palm, but the runes on its surface are more densely engraved than the others.

She placed the bronze box on the stone platform and gently pried open the lid with a short knife.

Inside are two fragments of carved stone, their surfaces covered with fine cracks, but the imprint of the laws has not completely dissipated.

A faint golden light still lingered deep within the fragments.

She retrieved the fragments and carefully compared them to the slowly rotating law diagrams on the light screen. After a moment, she looked up, her voice brimming with barely suppressed excitement: "These are fragments of the inscriptions for the characters 'Fusion' and 'Transformation'! Although broken, the law imprints are still there, so there's a possibility of repair."

Chen Zhuo stepped forward and took the two fragments from her hands.

The moment he obtained the fragment, the circulating cultivation technique within his body began to operate on its own, and the law imprints deep within the fragment resonated slightly with his literary energy.

Although it was just a remnant, the resonance was exactly the same as the feeling he had when he first touched the Devouring Stone in the Unknown Realm.

The fragment recognized him; it recognized the successor of the Circulating Technique.

Old Tie picked out two fragments of ancient alloy from the copper box next to him, weighed them in his hands, tapped them with his knuckles to listen to the sound, and stuffed them into his backpack with satisfaction.

Gu Qing'e did not take any items from the copper box, but lingered for a long time in front of the pile of cultivation notes that Su Ning had sorted out.

She sat cross-legged on the ground and turned the pages of the journal one by one.

The manuscripts record the mental journeys of successive generations of practitioners of the Liuzhuan School as they overcame their limitations. After a moment, she looked up and said to Chen Zhuo, "I will take these manuscripts back to the Academy of Arts and Sciences to study them carefully."

The discussion within it regarding the "self-contained cycle of laws" is very inspiring for the next breakthrough of the Mind Source School.

Chen Zhuo nodded, carefully wrapped the notes, and put them into his bag.

As everyone inventoried the bronze box, the light screen lit up again after the pages of the book were removed.

The last inscription left by the founder of the Transcendental School slowly appeared. Chen Zhuo stood in front of the light screen, looked up and recognized the ancient characters, and read them out word by word: "The solitary one is not lonely, but means independent of the world and not flowing with the myriad laws."

This page was not created by humans; it is one of the first fragments of laws that spontaneously condensed at the beginning of time.

The way of circulation, based on solitude and utilizing the five characters, can thus form a self-contained system, independent of literary tradition and external forces, walking alone in the world. This is the essence of circulation.

Song Zhiyuan stood beside him, gazing at the inscription.

His grey-white scholar's robe shimmered with a faint silver light under the glowing mineral, and his face appeared exceptionally serene against the backdrop of the light screen.

He remained silent for a long time, then turned to Chen Zhuo, his tone solemn and unquestionable: "You are in charge of keeping the pages. You are the one who can circulate the cultivation technique, and you are also the one who can open the secret vault."

The pages of the book can only truly fulfill their purpose when they are in the hands of a successor of the circulating practice.

Chen Zhuo did not refuse.

He removed the pages from the stone platform, and the soft light lingered in his palm for a moment before slowly receding.

The entire page lay quietly in his hand, like an autumn leaf that had just fallen from a tree.

He carefully put the pages away and nodded to Song Zhiyuan.

The copper boxes in the secret vault have been inventoried, and everyone has put away the items they were responsible for.

The glow of the luminous ore slowly dimmed as everyone left, and the vault returned to silence.

The five people stepped out of the stone gate one by one and turned back towards the mine entrance along the way they came.

Chen Zhuo walked at the back, turning back to glance at the slowly closing stone door.

The ancient characters on the door still glow faintly, and the stone fragments carved in the five-character grooves remain quietly in place, as if continuing to wait for the arrival of the next destined person.

The light screen lit up again the instant the book was removed, brighter than ever before.

The last inscription left by the founder of the Transcendental School slowly emerged from the depths of the light curtain.

The handwriting is no longer the archaic, engraved style of the past, but rather carries an almost gentle, warm feel.

It seems that when this patriarch wrote these words, his mood was much calmer than before.

"The word '孤' does not mean being alone, but rather standing independently in the world and not conforming to the ways of the world."

Chen Zhuo looked up and deciphered the ancient characters, reading them aloud one by one.

"This page was not created by man; it is one of the first fragments of laws that spontaneously condensed at the beginning of the universe."

The way of circulation, based on solitude and utilizing the five characters, can thus form a self-contained system, independent of literary tradition and external forces, walking alone in the world. This is the essence of circulation.

His voice echoed in the secret vault for a moment, then fell silent again.

Everyone present was silent.

Independent of cultural traditions and external forces, it walks alone between heaven and earth. This means that from the very beginning, the Flowing School was not an ordinary branch within the cultural system, but a completely independent path.

But before they could even finish walking down this road, it was cut off in half by human calamity.