Chapter 16: Peeking into the Past, Probing the Present

Wandering through the sea of books, the endless long night actually passed in a flash.

Ye Qin didn't have time to worry about that, hurriedly crawling past through the window crack, and before leaving he didn't forget to hook the window's handle with his tail, restoring it.

But those books on the ground could not be returned to their original places.

After all, speaking frankly, as a snake, dragging these books onto the ground is not difficult, but wanting to send these books back far away while keeping them intact is indeed quite a tall order.

The manager opened the door, began tidying and cleaning up; most people are still conscientious, leaving no trash in the hall, so he only needs to sweep away the dust, and then it's just organizing and categorizing some books.

Walking to the end of the bookshelf, seeing a pile of books on the ground, the manager stared wide-eyed, "What's going on?"

He clearly remembered these books had been put away properly, and no one had borrowed them, how could they suddenly collapse onto the ground?

"Could it be that they were knocked over by the wind?"

The manager looked around at the windows, all closed, so it's impossible for wind to blow in.

"Really strange."

The manager scratched his head, unable to figure it out, after putting the books back he just assumed someone had accidentally knocked them over, and didn't think much of it.

As night fell and the library locked up, Ye Qin again slipped in, familiar with the way.

During the day he stayed in the shade beside the library, found a spot to rest with eyes closed, and came back here at night.

After the first time, he quickly found a spot the second time onward, like a large sponge, madly absorbing the surrounding knowledge.

Ye Qin is the only cultivator; these ancient texts have no clear cultivation method, only offering a line of thought and rough idea, so he relies entirely on his own comprehension and continual exploration.

This means he must draw on many sources; only by constantly enriching himself, having sufficient knowledge and insight, can he forge a cultivation path best suited to himself.

Of course not all ancient texts are useful to him; after all, many ancient sages' ideas are nonsense, since they weren't true practitioners; some ideas are reasonable, stemming from their insights, but some ideas, to the now 'initiated' Ye Qin, are pure guesswork.

Therefore he still needs to select from them, discarding the dross and extracting the essence.

Ye Qin seized every second, able to read ten lines at a glance; his gaze paused slightly, and he was quickly drawn to an ancient volume.

Thus, heavenly-born divine things, sages emulate them; heaven and earth change, sages follow them; heaven displays omens of fortune and misfortune, sages take symbols from them; the River brings forth the Chart, the Luo brings forth the Book, sages emulate them.

"This is—the River Chart and Luo Book!"

Ye Qin immediately became interested, using his tail to flip pages and check.

"The River Chart overlaps, the Luo Book separates; square and round conceal each other, yin and yang embrace each other, mutually used."

Legend has it that in ancient times, Fu Xi, a dragon horse emerged from the Yellow River within Mengjin County in the northeast of Luoyang, bearing the River Chart, which he presented to Fu Xi. Fu Xi then developed the Eight Trigrams from it, this being the origin of the Book of Changes.

During Da Yu's time, a divine turtle emerged from the Luo River in Xiluoning County of Luoyang, bearing the Luo Book, which he presented to Da Yu. Da Yu relied on it to successfully control the waters, thereby dividing the realm into nine provinces.

The dragon horse bears it on its body, the divine turtle places it on its back; thus the River Chart and Luo Book came to be.

Regarding their emergence and records, they are full of mythic color, also giving them an indescribable mystery; to this day people still argue about them.

Some say they originate from Daoist alchemical and health-preserving arts, others say they come from observing celestial phenomena; it's truly a case of many opinions, each with its own version.

The River Chart and Luo Book appeared very early, completely mismatching the developmental patterns of the time; some even believe this book is an extraterrestrial object, a product of another spatial dimension.

Later generations also discovered that the Luo Book uses the North Star as its reference star, with the brightest star in each of the nine directions pointed to by the dipper's handle as its marker; its numbers and directions completely match the Luo Book.

Undeniably, its origin is a mystery; to this day there is still no definitive explanation, unlike those earlier classics such as the Dao De Classic and the Muscle/Tendon Change Classic, which have traceable origins.

The book's contents appear chaotic and disordered, yet they seem to contain endless changes; the source of Chinese culture, of Yin-Yang Five Phases, is entirely encompassed within.

Unlike other ancient books, besides textual recording, the River Chart and Luo Book also bear many patterns, embodying the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth, the Eight Trigrams and the Book of Changes; Ye Qin finds reading it more laborious.

Because he also needs to comprehend the meaning contained in those patterns, both are indispensable; frankly it makes one dizzy and blurred.

Fortunately Ye Qin has patience, and an entire night's time, to carefully ponder its contents.

In modern times the River Chart and Luo Book is hailed as the universe's Rubik's Cube; it is said that if one can unlock the mysteries it contains, one will understand the ultimate secret of the universe.

This certainly contains exaggerated claims, but it is not entirely baseless.

Because ancient wisdom is exceptionally special; they might not understand modern physics, but take for example the astronomical masterpiece Gan-Shi Star Classic from the Spring and Autumn period, which directly and perfectly marked the arrangement of star fields beyond light-years; thus even the star fields detected by modern astronomers' telescopes fall short of the standard and detail of the Gan-Shi Star Classic's statistics, and one must even refer to the ancient Gan-Shi Star Classic to study and look up.

What kind of wisdom is this?

Therefore, Ye Qin never dares to look down on the ancients, and he gains greatly from them.

"No wonder they say this is a marvelous book; it's truly not false speech, the Book of Changes originates from the River Chart and Luo Book, which is not unreasonable, and moreover it has close connections with the Twenty-Eight Mansions and the Twelve Zodiac Signs."

"The cultivation path is also closely related to the Supreme Ultimate, Eight Trigrams, Book of Changes, Six Jia, Nine Stars, Wind and Water, and all of this can be traced back to its source in the River Chart and Luo Book."

Unbeknownst to him, another night passed; Ye Qin left with many feelings.

Those books were knocked down from the shelf by him using his head, but he couldn't put them back, so they could only remain as they were, piled on the ground.

Ye Qin could only silently apologize in his heart.

But that morning, after the library manager went to work, upon seeing another pile of books on the ground, he was utterly confused.

The manager gaped, "What on earth is going on?!"

This time the scattered books, though somewhat different, were roughly in the same place, as if especially fond of this spot.

If someone really had bumped into them by accident, how could they repeatedly make the same mistake; moreover, after yesterday's incident he had paid special attention, and in fact no one came here at all.

Then what could be the reason these books are spread out here?!

The first time could be called a coincidence, but the second time already defies explanation,

Could it be that there's a thief?

The manager checked the numbers; besides the books lent out, all books are registered in the ledger, none are missing.

Moreover, he roughly glanced; the books scattered on the ground yesterday and today are all those classical Chinese texts, obscure and hard to understand; even if one wanted to steal, it would be impossible to steal these books.

What's more, these are later reproductions, not originals; though they look antique, they've undergone artificial aging, basically worth little money.

Surely it's not the case that a perfectly fine library has suddenly become haunted.

(End of Chapter)