Scripture of Days Past

Zhang Haizhu sat cross-legged in his courtyard under the blazing summer sun, while even more heat radiated from his body.

His entire body was drenched in sweat. As his qi and blood surged and churned, he felt as though a resounding boom had rung out within his mind. A bottleneck was broken, elevating him to the fourth state.

"Finally," Zhang Haizhu sighed as he opened his eyes. "If I weren't in the Demon Vanquishing Department, I should be able to take the martial examination to become a wujuren now."

In his memory, wujuren were highly prestigious figures in a county, people whom he'd have never had the chance to meet in the past. Yet now, at least in terms of cultivation base, he stood on equal footing with them.

***

Only three days remained until the half-yearly examination, and all of the trainees were making one final push to improve themselves.

Over the past month, more and more trainees had made breakthroughs. By this point, the number of fourth-state martial artists among them had reached seven.

On this day, Chu Qiguang arrived at the shared room where Zhang Haizhu and the others were staying to borrow their notes. After becoming close with Yi Shuang, he had been given permission to skip all of his lessons. All he had to do each day was copy some notes from others.

As soon as Chu Qiguang entered the room, he was immediately met with a triumphant Zhang Haizhu, who gloated, "I've reached the fourth state, Brother Chu! Looks like you're going to have to find a new sparring partner!"

"That's very impressive," Chu Qiguang praised with a nod. "I can already see you becoming one of the future pillars of the Demon Vanquishing Department."

Zhang Haizhu was a little embarrassed by Chu Qiguang's high praise, and he hurriedly waved his hands and said, "If you keep flattering me like that, it's going to get to my head, Brother Chu!"

"Brother Chu, are you really not going to spend more time on trying to make a breakthrough in your cultivation base?" Li Chu asked with a concerned expression. "The head instructor has already reprimanded you several times, yet you haven't heeded his advice at all!"

Li Chu was terrified of Zhong Shan'e, and whenever he was criticized by him, he became so afraid that his entire body went limp, and he couldn't stand up for himself at all.

Thus, it was utterly unimaginable to him that Chu Qiguang was could completely ignore Zhong Shan'e's criticism.

"I've already decided to start attempting a breakthrough to the fourth state tomorrow," Chu Qiguang replied with a nod.

Huang Xiangyu rolled his eyes, clearly unconvinced. The four boys in the room had become close friends during their time on Jade Face Mountain, so Huang Xiangyu had no qualms about speaking his mind to Chu Qiguang.

"Give it a rest, Brother Chu," Huang Xiangyu scoffed. "You've been saying that for the entire past month!"

"You need to think about how to deal with Cheng Ming, Brother Chu," Zhang Haizhu cautioned. "That bastard has been barking like a dog ever since he reached the fourth state. He's been constantly complaining about you to the instructors and lecturers!"

Chu Qiguang nodded. Cheng Ming and Chi Shude were both going to be getting their comeuppance, but all in due time.

After returning to his private room, Chu Qiguang briefly read through the notes that he had borrowed before copying them word for word. Once he was done, he returned his notebook to his bookshelf.

At the moment, more than ten notebooks filled with notes lined the bookshelves, all from the past half-year he had spent on Jade Face Mountain.

They contained all kinds of knowledge on fiends, demons, ghosts, cults, pills, and more. They would be extremely valuable in the outside world.

After arranging his notes, Chu Qiguang pulled out a notebook with a black cover from the bookshelf, and a passage of text immediately drifted across his field of vision.

***

A notebook that harbors demonic tainting.

On the ancient Jade Face Mountain, the traitorous lecturer bestows dark knowledge upon the trainee who catches his eye.

Once the trainee is drawn into the abyss, he turns him into a medicinal catalyst that transcends reason.

Before they forgot, the deranged trainee recorded this dark knowledge in this notebook.

Listen closely, and you may hear faint voices shouting from within.

The notebook appears no different from a normal notebook, except that its cover has already been severely corroded by darkness.

***

For reasons unknown to the present Chu Qiguang, he had chosen to record the knowledge imparted to him by Yi Shuang before expelling it from his mind using the Ring of Ignorance.

To his surprise, the knowledge was so dark and tainted that it had caused the notebook to undergo a physical change over time.

Once the trainee is drawn into the abyss, he turns him into a medicinal catalyst that transcends reason... The descriptions provided by the Dao pursuer eyes are always so abstract.

Curious and intrigued, Chu Qiguang opened the notebook to see exactly what he had written down inside.

The first sentence in the notebook read, "Before reading the contents of this notebook, make sure Lin Lan isn't with you."

Chu Qiguang didn't know why he had been written that, but he trusted himself. Thus, he took a moment to inspect his surroundings and make sure that Lin Lan wasn't nearby before continuing to read.

"Before you begin reading, some preparations must be made. Close all doors and windows, and light a backup oil lamp to ensure that at least one oil lamp remains lit in the room at all times. Use lime powder and lead to draw a ghost-warding formation in the room, and make sure that there are no unfamiliar spirits in the room with you."

It was a bit of a hassle, but Chu Qiguang did as the notebook instructed, using lime powder and lead to draw a ghost-warding formation on the ground.

According to Instructor Song Ming, ghosts detested lime powder and lead, and special formations drawn using those two materials could confuse and disorient them.

Even non-cultivators could use this method to ward off ghosts, and it was standard knowledge that everyone in the Demon Vanquishing Department had to master.

After completing these preparations, Chu Qiguang finally turned to the second page of the notebook.

"The Myriad Ghost Journal describes all the types of ghosts under the heavens, as well as the ways to subdue them. Its ultimate objective is to turn the cultivator into a vessel to harness the power of ghosts. Ordinary ghosts are mindless and vicious creatures, making it almost impossible to use them to master the Myriad Ghost Journal. Thus, in order to increase the chances of successfully cultivating the Myriad Ghost Journal, the Demon Vanquishing Department developed a method for artificially creating ghosts."