by Mao Ni
He really did not like the smell of mold. After putting his luggage away, he immediately left the house and walked over to the library that was separated from him by only a wall.
According to his instructions from yesterday, the library did not need to be cleaned—the key was in his hands, so other people couldn't enter to clean. At this time, the laborers from the Hall of Heavenly Virtue were all busying themselves in the main hall and its attached buildings. It was quiet and noiseless around the library, as its surroundings were devoid of people.
He ascended the stone steps and stopped in front of the door. He took out the key he had obtained from the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education and inserted it in the old lock. With the insertion of the key, the green rust on the surface of the old lock curled up like wood shavings and then dropped to the floor with a clunk, sounding like a rock falling down. It just so happened to fall into a little hole filled with fine sand, so the sound was rather comforting.
The key gently turned, smoothly and without noise. Chen Changsheng could clearly sense that some springs within the lock had been activated and returned to their original positions. At the same time, he also felt that Qi was slowly fading away into the deepest parts of the lock. This entire course of events was very mystical.
He pushed open the door and entered and was immediately confronted by row after row of books. The shelves extended deep into the shadow of the library with no end in sight, giving him an extremely intense visual stimulation. The bookshelves were brimming with books, a sight which brought him great joy. Upon realizing that there was not as much dust as he had seen yesterday, he grew even happier.
The Orthodox Academy had lain in waste for so many years that the desks and chairs within the other buildings had all been stolen and sold off. Not even the bedframes in the small houses of the dormitory had been left behind, requiring Priest Xin to make the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education speed up the restoration and replenishment process last night. Only this library was left mostly intact because it had been locked.
Chen Changsheng took up some cleaning tools and performed a simple cleaning of his nearby surroundings. After cleaning, he realized that the floor was so shiny that it could reflect his face. It was actually made of the famous and expensive oiled sandalwood. He couldn't help but shake his head, thinking, Back then in this academy's most flourishing period, it really was splendid and majestic to the extreme. Who would have thought that it would fall into dust for so many years?
What should he do next?
He should cultivate.
* * *
Chen Changsheng found the register of books in a drawer of the library's side room, then walked into the long and quiet bookshelves. It didn't take too long for him to find the first book that he wanted to find.
This book was called On Purification.
This book's name was very simple. At a glance, one could tell that it contained knowledge related to Purification. It was precisely because it was so simple that it was so commonly seen.
In order to combat the incomparably powerful demons who possessed monstrous strength and were innately blessed with fighting talent, the human world forbade foundational techniques, such as the initial steps for entering Purification, from being kept secret. Of course, the various great sects all had their own more powerful methods. The foundational techniques for cultivation were like the Mausoleum of Books, appearing on their own before all.
This book, On Purification, was a cultivation technique that could be bought in every big city and small village.
But Chen Changsheng really had not seen it before, because in his past fourteen years, his master had always told him that there was no need to learn it, and for him to begin learning it when he should learn it would not be too late. When asked at what time he should begin learning it, his master never replied. Only before he departed from Xining and told his master that he was descending the mountain and going to the capital to see the Mausoleum of Books and Lingyan Pavilion…
On that day, his master finally said to him, "Then, you can begin to cultivate."
He took this On Purification book and walked back to the door. He sat himself down on the clean floor and opened the first page under the sunlight coming through the open door.
Based on principle, he at least should have felt excited or nervous at this moment.
But he was not.
The entire time, his expression did not change. It was very calm, as if he had gone through this process many times before.
If someone else were to see this scene, they would definitely not have imagined that this was his first time reading a book on cultivation.
In the Divine General of the East's estate and the Heavenly Dao Academy, he had said the same thing: "It's not that I don't know how to cultivate, I just haven't started."
He had countless opportunities to begin cultivating, but the timing was not right.
He had waited a very long time, but when the day finally arrived, perhaps because he had waited too long, he actually had no sense of excitement. Only calm remained.
He opened the first page of the book.
On this page, he saw only eight words.
"Read one hundred times, naturally grasp the meaning.[13]"
Chapter 21 – Reading Method
The first page was the title page, empty and white as snow, with only these eight words written in dark ink. They were abnormally vivid, such that anyone who opened this book would not be able to miss them.
If a normal person were to open this book, they would assuredly begin to carefully consider what sort of meaning was hidden in these words. Then, with an understanding of these eight words, they would continue to read. But Chen Changsheng was different from the rest. He did not turn to the next page, instead standing up and walking to the bookshelves, seeking out several other books on Purification. After quickly flipping through them, he realized that the title pages of all these books also contained these eight words. After this, he sat back down and placed all of his mind on the pages of the book, forgetting everything else.
The words of On Purification were very simple. As he attentively read it, it didn't take long before he had finished reading the first chapter. This chapter was concerned with how one should nurture their spiritual sense. He did not stop here to think or to try. Instead, he continued to read. The following chapters were also gradually noted down in his mind. The primary topics of these chapters were how to nurture the spiritual sense, search for one's Fated Star, and how to draw starlight into the body.
He needed only one hour to finish reading it. He then closed the books, closed his eyes, and began to think.
After a dozen or so breaths, he opened his eyes, opened the book once more, and began to read.
He needed even less time to finish than the first time. In the time needed for several incense sticks to burn, he had finished reading.
He then once more closed his eyes to contemplate the contents of the books.
After a few breaths of time, he opened his eyes and began to read once more.
As he repeated this procedure, the sunlight spilling in from the window was as fierce as ever.
He closed On Purification for the last time and opened it no more.
He took out a brush and ink and, without opening the book, began to record from memory his thoughts from his readings.
It didn't take long before the paper was densely covered in words.
The instant he placed the brush on the inkstone, all the contents of On Purification were remembered in his mind like they had been carved in stone.
Crucially, this was not rote memorization, but true understanding.
This was Chen Changsheng's reading method.
This method was very special, the precious treasure he and Senior Yu Ren had obtained after ten-odd bitter years of reading books. Although the old temple of Xining Village did not seem very remarkable, the books contained within were as boundless as the sea. If one wanted to memorize so many bo
oks in the shortest time possible, one naturally required a very special ability.
With this reading method, one did not need to read a book until it was on the verge of falling apart—in reality, the vast majority of the books in Xining Village's old temple were like new, but the contents of these books had all been completely memorized by the two.
The most important phase of this method was the final step of notetaking. Whether these notes were taken down on paper or remembered in the mind, these notes were the final sorting and confirmation for the entire session of reading, and it was only after completing this step that the reader could say that they had taken all the contents of a book and made it into their own knowledge.
To finish reading On Purification and close the book was naturally not an end. Learning and constant review could be done in the mind and in notebooks, but what was the goal of reading and study? It was practice, and his goal in reading On Purification was so that he could succeed in Purification and begin to cultivate.
The first step of Purification was to condense one's spiritual sense. Spiritual sense was a human's mental strength. To explain it in more everyday terms, it was 'thought.' As long as the idea one thought was intense enough, thoughts could transform into a sort of strength if one concentrated enough.
It did not sound difficult, as if one only needed to do the utmost to crease their brows into mountain valleys and then be able to freely travel across the magnificent mountains and rivers of their imagination, but the fact was that it wasn't easy at all. This was because whether or not one could form a spiritual sense was completely dependent on the strength of one's soul. The strength of one's soul was purely a matter of innate talent and had nothing to do with effort. No matter how much an ordinary person worked, could his soul be stronger than the reincarnation of the Heavenly Phoenix?
Chen Changsheng had prepared for cultivation for many years. To be more precise, from the moment that peculiarity with his body appeared at the age of ten, he had been silently waiting for this day to come. He knew that there was a problem with his meridians, the illness his master said he had: His nine meridians were severed and could not connect, so his soul could not circulate through his body and could only be forced out with his sweat. Although after the age of ten, his master had used medicines to suppress his illness and prevent the continued loss of his soul's essence, it was still a problem. Otherwise, why would that black Sensory Stone in the Heavenly Dao Academy's assessment have failed to detect the slightest spiritual sense in his body?
If the soul was not strong enough, how could one condense their spiritual sense?
Without spiritual sense, how could there be dispersion?
This first step of Purification, how should he take it?
He did not feel disappointment like those other people who found out that they had no hope of cultivating, let alone feel despair.
He firmly believed that countless years ago, there must have been countless incredibly intelligent people that had resolved this problem because there were many people like him. In the books of the Daoist Canon, he had read accounts of how these disappointed people would find some ingenious method and thus become peerless experts. For example, Wang Zhice!
However, he was not prepared to work in this way because he had never found a case in the Daoist Canon similar to the problem with his meridians. Even his master had said that it could not be treated, that it was just fate. He did not have the surplus time to struggle with fate nor did he believe that he could think of a new and brilliant method in such a short amount of time. He enjoyed moving with the current, and he believed that if he followed existing methods, he would also be able to condense his spiritual sense. No one believed more than him in the knowledge of his forebears.
"Read one hundred times, naturally grasp the meaning."
All books related to Purification had these eight striking words. It was very obvious that these eight words were the most important part of Purification and also the part that his predecessors wished to communicate to those that followed, but which book should he read?
Chen Changsheng looked at the dense directory on the back cover of On Purification, gazing at those sometimes fair and honest, sometimes unconventional book titles. He shook his head, somewhat surprised that after coming to the capital, he would still have to continue the life he had lived in Xining Village.
If this were a place like the Heavenly Dao Academy or Star Seizer Academy, and students needed to break through the bottleneck of Purification, a teacher would naturally tell them that the most crucial part of Purification was reading a large amount of related books, thus strengthening the soul and reaching the goal of condensing the spiritual sense in one stroke.
On Purification merely provided the general principles. What one truly needed to study were the forty-nine books listed on the back cover.
Of course, this did not at all mean that all students needed to read every one of these forty-nine books one hundred times before their soul reached a level at which they could condense their spiritual sense. In the vast majority of cases, in the process of reading, the reader's spiritual sense would condense and they could stop this process.
This process was not one in which the earlier one finished, the better it was. If one needed to only read one book ten times and was able to successfully condense spiritual sense, that person would presumably be the cultivator with the weakest spiritual sense in history. On the contrary, the more books one read and the more times one read them, the stronger the soul would become, yet it would still be unable to break through that thin layer of paper. When the spiritual sense was finally condensed, only that sort of spiritual sense could truly be called powerful.
If someone could read all forty-nine books on the back cover of On Purification one hundred times before finally condensing their spiritual sense, then when they drew starlight into their bodies to undergo Purification, they had a chance of reaching the level of perfection. But this sort of situation was incredibly rare. Other than those lucky enough to be born with incredible innate talent, it was basically impossible.
This was a very stimulating process. As time passed and the number of books and the number of times one read them gradually increased, one could anticipate becoming a genius with a powerful spiritual sense, but there was also a high chance that one could ultimately fail at condensing their spiritual sense and be left to the life of an ordinary person.
Hope and disappointment would continuously increase through this process, ultimately becoming a gamble of epic proportions. No one knew the result of this gamble ahead of time. Only after reading those books, one hundred times each, would the result appear on its own.
Read one hundred times, naturally grasp the meaning.
This was the meaning.
* * *
After reading On Purification once, Chen Changsheng did not feel any change in his body and did not sense his soul, so he naturally could not sense his spiritual sense, either. He did not begin to immediately read the books listed on the back cover, but instead began to calculate.
He believed that his reading efficiency was higher than an ordinary person's, so perhaps he might not really need to read each book one hundred times, perhaps twenty to thirty times might be enough. There were forty-nine books in total on the back cover, so calculating with his average reading efficiency, for the very first round, he could only finish reading seven books, taking seven days to finish reading all of them once. Even if he gradually got faster with time, to completely read all these books would at least take half a year. Did he have half a year? No, so what should he do? This was the first time he felt rather vexed ever since coming to the capital.
If other people were to learn that he was feeling vexed, they would definitely be feeling something different because in his calculations, it was very obvious that he only intended to condense his spiritual sense after reading all forty-nine books—if he could condense his spiritual sense, that is. In other words, from beginning to end,
even if only subconsciously, he was truthfully placing himself on the same level as geniuses, or even higher.
It was no wonder Tang Thirty-Six thought him very arrogant on their first meeting. He looked reticent, cautious and courteous, but in reality and many aspects, he was inexplicably confident, making people feel that he was extremely arrogant.
As he was thinking, he was suddenly caressed by a breeze and a shadow fell, covering the words on the back cover.
Chen Changsheng raised his head and saw a pretty girl sneering at him.
At the moment, he was sitting on the floor, so this girl was naturally somewhat looking down on him from up high.
This girl was precisely Shuang'er of the Divine General of the East's estate. She looked at the books concerning Purification next to Chen Changsheng and knew what he planned to do. She jeered, "To begin Purification at the age of fourteen, you don't think you're somewhat late?"