Scripture of Days Past

Chu Qiguang knew that Li Jian was only looking out for him, so he nodded in response. However, there was no way he was going to heed Li Jian's advice.

After all, he had already reached the fifth state, while the Dao Comprehension state remained a distant goal. For now the only way he could further enhance his combat prowess was by mastering more martial arts techniques.

Chu Qiguang planned to wait another month or two before making his "breakthrough" to the fourth state. After all, it had only been nine months since his breakthrough to the third state, and advancing again so soon would undoubtedly raise some eyebrows.

If his excessively rapid progress caught the attention of the emperor or some Dao Comprehension-state martial god and prompted them to investigate him, it could spell trouble.

At the moment, he was harboring many secrets, including the Sumeru King Scripture, Hidden Fiend Village, the Ring of Ignorance, and Qiao Zhi. None of them could be exposed to the imperial court.

Hence, Chu Qiguang would rather endure the head instructor's criticism than make a premature "breakthrough" to the fourth state.

As for the provocations from the likes of Jiang Longyu and Chi Shude, they were nothing more than child's play in his eyes. Their insults were nowhere near as vicious as the things Chu Qiguang had read and heard from keyboard warriors and in gaming lobbies in his past life.

***

That afternoon, Chu Qiguang was cultivating in the secluded courtyard when he was suddenly struck by an intense sense of discomfort.

His internal organs began to writhe and coil, and he pressed a hand against his aching stomach with a vexed expression.

Here it comes again...

Chu Qiguang knew that he had to deal with his condition as soon as possible, so he immediately headed back to the training ground.

On the way, the discomfort and agitation continued to intensify, and he soon began to hallucinate as well.

However, he walked straight through the gray, humanoid creatures that were dripping with slime and walking toward him. He knew they were only hallucinations, and he was in a hurry.

The humanoid creatures seemed rather taken aback that he had walked straight through them. After standing still for a moment, they slowly faded away.

Upon arriving at the training ground, Chu Qiguang immediately set his sights on Cheng Ming's clique. Over the past two months, he had sought them out whenever his condition flared up.

"Cheng Ming, come with me."

Cheng Ming's trio instinctively shuddered at the sound of Chu Qiguang's aggressive voice.

"Leave me alone, Chu Qiguang!" Cheng Ming yelled furiously.

Chu Qiguang paid no heed to Cheng Ming's protests and continued walking toward him, but Chi Shude suddenly stepped into his path.

His brows furrowed slightly at the sight of the blatant aggression on Chu Qiguang's face, and he said in an arrogant manner, "Leave Cheng Ming and his friends alone."

As he spoke, he flicked his finger through the air, unleashing a burst of force with his Star Plucking Finger that pierced through a falling leaf over ten meters away.

"If you continue picking on them, I'll have to give you a taste of your own medicine," Chi Shude concluded.

Chi Shude had resented Chu Qiguang for a very long time, but he had been forced to suppress his resentment because he had been no match for Chu Qiguang.

However, now that he was already at the fourth state, while Chu Qiguang remained at the third state, there was now an insurmountable gulf between them, which was why he had happily agreed when Cheng Ming came to him for help a few days earlier.

Sure enough, Chu Qiguang backed down and set his sights on Zhang Haizhu instead.

You can have all the talent in the world, but you still can't do anything against someone a state above you! Chi Shude sneered inwardly. You're just a non-believer with no future anyway!

Meanwhile, the other trainees had also witnessed the entire exchange. Most of them were followers of the Profound Origin Dao Lord, so seeing Chu Qiguang being forced to back down was very cathartic for them.

"Cultivation base is still king! Chu Qiguang has spent so much time cultivating the Primordial High Zenith Qigong, but what good has that done him? Now that Chi Shude is at the fourth state, he can crush him like an ant!"

"I heard he's still trying to learn movement techniques as well. I don't know if he's stupid or crazy!"

"Look at how uncomfortable he looks! I bet he's already close to demonification!"

After taking a quick beating from Chu Qiguang, Zhang Haizhu massaged his sore hand with a wry smile as he advised, "I know you're extremely talented, Brother Chu, but you really need to be careful not to bite off more than you can chew."

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing," Chu Qiguang reassured him as he helped Zhang Haizhu up from the ground. "From now on, you can be my sparring partner. In exchange, I'll give you all of my allotted batches of Hundred Refinement Ointment."

***

As time passed, Chu Qiguang continued to follow his daily routine, cultivating and accumulating more knowledge.

One day, he was reading in the archive building when he remarked, "This Thousand Buddhist Scripture is quite impressive. It's a Buddhist scripture that studies other Buddhist scriptures."

"What does that mean?" Lin Lan asked.

"The author is a cultivator from the Xia Dynasty, and he studied the different effects that Buddhist scriptures had on their readers. He even conducted experiments where he gathered large numbers of subjects and had them read Buddhist scriptures every day to observe the effects. He thinks that the main effect of reading Buddhist scriptures was the stimulation of the brain.

"The contents of different Buddhist scriptures stimulate different parts of the brain, so reading Buddhist scriptures is a form of brain exercise in itself. However, the bodies of ordinary people are too frail, so the effects are rather lackluster."

Through his reading, Chu Qiguang had noticed that many cultivators of the Xia Dynasty studied martial arts and Dao arts in a very scientific fashion.

"That's very interesting," Lin Lan said, but her attention was focused more on Chu Qiguang than on what he was saying.

Is reading Buddhist scriptures to stimulate the brain a prerequisite for cultivating the Sumeru King Scripture? Chu Qiguang wondered. Come to think of it, supplying qi and blood to the brain is what's required to reach the fifth state in martial arts. Is that also why only a fifth-state martial artist can truly cultivate the Sumeru King Scripture?

"I've never seen anyone who can read as many books as you, Brother Chu," Lin Lan said with an affectionate smile. "You're definitely going to become an amazing person. Oh, by the way, I almost forgot! I found the books you asked me to look for last time. The Heaven Book, the Earth Book, the Star Scripture, and the Moon Diagram."