Confucian and Taoist Cultivation Starting from the Equipment Slot

"Sure, but I won't participate in your human archaeology. However, if any of my ancestors' seals are left behind, they belong to my people and will be returned."

"According to the regulations of the Academy of Arts, rubbings of ancient book seals must be made for filing and the source must be confirmed before they can be returned to you. This is my bottom line."

The phantom of Elvis seemed to nod slightly at the chin, as if in acquiescence.

She turned her head, her tone regaining its composed smile.

"Then we'll do as you say. After the demon race's secret technique is broken, my people will be waiting for you outside the entrance. As for the inside of the ruins, you can go in on your own."

The atmosphere among the three of them eased somewhat at this moment.

Once the general direction of things was decided, the rest was much easier.

Just as this delicate balance was set, a very deep sound suddenly came from the mountain.

The voice was deep and slow, long and drawn out, as if something that had been dormant for thousands of years had suddenly turned over.

The bluish-gray light network on the mountainside began to pulsate slowly at a frequency visible to the naked eye.

Each pulse pushes a faint ring of light outward from the depths of the mountain.

The darkness that enveloped the long night receded rapidly in the face of these patterns of light.

Wherever the light patterns passed, the black mist that had been spreading for years seemed to be wiped away by an invisible force, dissipating layer by layer and revealing the long-lost gray-white rock layers and the dried-up ancient riverbed.

Then a beam of cyan-gold light quietly rose from the center of the fracture zone directly below the main peak.

The beam of light pierced through the thick rock layers and compacted mineral veins, shooting straight into the sky.

It wasn't dazzling; instead, its edges glowed with a warm, pale gold, as if someone had slowly lit a lamp deep underground.

After the beam of light touched the clouds, it slowly dispersed, casting a huge circular spot of light across the night sky for dozens of miles around.

The faint outline of the text can be seen in the center of the light spot, which floats quietly between heaven and earth.

The stone fortress fell silent immediately, and no one spoke again.

Song Zhiyuan stood at the doorway, looking up at the pillar of light.

The mountain wind made the hem of his robe flutter, but he remained motionless, his face revealing something more complex, almost sorrowful.

The thing a person had been searching for for eleven years suddenly appeared before him.

Before he could even utter its name, he already knew that this moment would forever change his peaceful life with this landscape.

Zhou Wenyuan was the first to speak; his voice was low, but his speech was a few decibels faster than usual.

"This commotion can no longer be concealed. The long night within a radius of fifty miles has been cleared, and pillars of light have been pierced into the sky. The cultural heritage monitoring system of Shengtianfu Academy will detect the anomaly within half an hour."

"At the earliest tomorrow, and at the latest the day after, Shengtian Prefecture will send someone over."

The phantom of Elvis hovered silently in the air for a moment, then chuckled softly and disappeared.

"It seems we can't share these things together. Until we meet again."

……

Within two hours after the beam of light shot into the sky, the long night fog that had enveloped dozens of miles around Qingshan County began to dissipate at a visible speed.

The long night was dispelled by some kind of power contained in that cyan-gold beam of light.

The long night ended a day or two earlier than expected.

The remaining wandering spirit-level demons were exposed within the perception range of the cultural vein after the black mist dissipated, and were wiped out one by one by the Green Mountain Army, which had been deployed outside the city.

Demons of beast level and above merged into the night and retreated as the long night dispersed.

They always come with the long night and leave with the long night.

Inside Song Zhiyuan's study.

After Elvis disappeared, he immediately brought the team back and locked himself in his study.

He had just informed his master, Mr. Wenxiang, using a special message.

Not long after, the communication array lit up.

It was a reply from my master.

The cyan literary energy condensed into an extremely thin sheet of paper within the formation.

Song Zhiyuan looked at it and saw only a few lines of text, the handwriting slender yet powerful, clearly Mr. Wenxiang's own handwriting:

"Your letter has been received. For now, observe the situation regarding the ruins. Do not open the seal without authorization, and do not engage in any further private negotiations with the demon race."

The Shengtianfu Academy of Literature is currently retrieving all relevant archives of the Book of Heaven and Earth, and expects to send specialists to Qingshan County for on-site investigation within ten days.

During this period, the Academy of Literature and the County Government jointly took charge of guarding the area around the ruins to ensure that the ruins themselves and the surrounding mineral veins were not disturbed.

All teachers and students of the Qingshan County Academy of Literature are to suspend all outings unrelated to the ruins, effective immediately, and fully cooperate with the upcoming survey work.

Also: Things may have changed eleven years ago.

Song Zhiyuan read the page three times.

He stared at that last word the longest.

After turning the paper over and over several times, he carefully folded it and placed it inside the crumpled pages of the Qingshan County Gazetteer on his desk.

He silently recited those words in his mind, then leaned back in his chair.

The beams of light outside the window shimmered with a pale blue hue in the morning light, just like any other morning.

But he knew that some things had changed.

Over the next few days, the atmosphere in Qingshan County underwent a subtle change.

As the first rays of sunlight shone on the makeshift shacks outside the city after the long night ended, the refugees began to dismantle the shacks and return to their hometowns.

The debris that had piled up on both sides of the street for more than a month was cleared away, and the Chunfeng Tower in the outer city became desolate as people left.

But occasionally a few people dressed in official robes were measuring something in the outer city.

But after the long night, the outer city becomes desolate, a fact generally acknowledged in Qingshan County.

Nobody took it seriously.

The daily routine within the Faculty of Arts quickly returned to normal.

The morning class resumed, and Qian Wenbi continued to lecture on his theory of literary classification.

He only mentioned one thing when talking about the landscape school: "The breakthroughs in the practical application of the landscape philosophy often stem from the practitioner's understanding of the power of mountains and rivers."

She merely glanced at Chen Zhuo, then didn't elaborate further.

Chen Zhuo sat in the audience, flipping through the seventh lecture of "Ten Lectures on Literature and Taoism," but his mind was not on the pages.

He still carried the scorching hot crystal core in his arms; it had never completely cooled down since the light of the ruins shot into the sky.

It would warm up slightly every now and then, as if responding to some signal from a very distant place.

After the morning class, Gu Qing'e handed him a new stack of talismans, saying it was to make up for the ones she had given him before.

"Junior brother, you've used up almost all of your talismans, and you're too embarrassed to ask me for more, so I'll take the initiative."

Her tone was relaxed, but her eyes were still dark, indicating that she had stayed up all night to draw these talismans.

"Thank you, senior sister!"

Chen Zhuo accepted the document without refusing.

Gu Qing'e waved her hand and turned to find her senior sister to check the list of the new batch of demon materials.

Senior Sister Zhao Xuelang and Second Senior Brother Li Zhao were assigned to assist with security deployment at the Qingshan Army Command during this period, leaving early and returning late every day.

When Li Zhao returned, he would occasionally bring some scattered news from the outer city.

Which old miner was invited for a talk by the Academy of Arts today? Which aristocratic family sent someone to scout the outskirts of the ruins tomorrow, only to be stopped and turned back by the Green Mountain Army?

He spoke these words in a very indifferent tone, as if he were talking about something unrelated to him.