Chapter 567

The entire ancient divine armory was sucked into the Yin-Yang Two Qi Vessel; the Yin-Yang Daoist hovered in midair, looking down at the vast cavern controlled by the three great families of the Cangyan Realm, and fell silent for a moment.

In his mind, a massive database rolled rapidly; soon more than a dozen suitable cultivation methods, dozens of novel forging techniques, even the planting methods of some strange spiritual herbs, and the refinement techniques of commonly used spiritual pills were all sorted out by the Yin-Yang Daoist.

With his right hand he made a grasping motion in the void, and strands of heaven-earth primordial energy gathered, quickly condensing into crystal-like strips two feet four inches long, about one inch wide, and three tenths of an inch thick—'jade slips'. Fine transparent threads linked these jade slips together, forming scrolls that recorded precious knowledge.

He employed a small trick, infusing them with a divine prohibition that was popular among the mighty in ancient times; the scrolls instantly became surrounded by rosy clouds and purple vapor, with faint purple spiritual light flickering, appearing as heavenly treasures and supreme riches.

Having sorted out too many legacies of cultivation techniques, the Yin-Yang Daoist pointed at the ground; the innate Yin and Yang qi turned, driving the acquired Five Elements to revolve, and a patch of earth about three zhang square rose slowly, then with a 'pop' it transformed from ordinary soil into a flawless piece of mutton-fat white jade.

Hundreds of scrolls drifted down and settled neatly on the white jade platform.

The Yin-Yang Daoist pondered a while, then made another grasping motion in the void; vast amounts of heaven-earth primordial energy surged and condensed in his hand into even more scrolls.

There were the 'Explanation of Characters', the 'Three Character Classic', the 'Hundred Family Surnames', the 'Tang Poetry', the 'Song Lyrics', the 'Music Bureau', the 'Yuan Drama'… from shallow to profound, this was a complete set of civilizational inheritance.

These were not cultivation methods, but the Yin-Yang Daoist felt that this civilizational inheritance was more important than any cultivation technique.

If one forgot one's roots and origins, no matter how strong one's cultivation, one would be nothing more than a clueless beast—just like the civil and military officials of the Great Jin Divine State, who were powerful, controlled vast resources, and held the lives and deaths of countless subjects.

But what were the great figures of the Great Jin living for?

Was it for drinking and merrymaking? For playing with beauties? For wanton abuse of power? For becoming stronger in cultivation? For a longer life? And were strength and longevity merely for greater pleasure and personal enjoyment?

The Yin-Yang Daoist saw in them no 'life ideal', no sense of duty toward the future of their people; they seemed to live merely for the sake of living.

Although they lived under sunshine and rain, bathed in the blessings of sun and moon, enjoying the magnificent vastness of nature… in Wu Tie's heart, Linghu Qingqing, Gongyang Sanlü, and even Sima Wuyou and others were no different from the indigenous folk of the underworld—they lived in a muddled haze, utterly unaware of why they existed.

'May I receive a little kindness today, that I may reap good fruit tomorrow.' The Yin-Yang Daoist placed the classics onto the white jade platform, adding the Hundred Schools of Thought and their origins, especially the historical records related to them.

These people are our ancestors.

Not only their knowledge, their thoughts, their virtues, their every word and deed… the era they lived in is likewise a root, a foundation, and must not be forgotten.

Even if the humans now living underground have had their spirituality worn away by thick rock layers, and their wisdom drowned in the dark world, following the law of the jungle like beasts in this dim realm, the Yin-Yang Daoist believes that as long as the human bloodline endures, the light of wisdom will forever exist.

Give them sufficient nourishment, and wisdom will surely blossom in this dark underground world, emitting boundless light that illuminates eternity, past and future.

With his right hand he made a grasping motion downward and pulled gently.

A stone stele a hundred zhang high rose with a 'boom—rumble—rumble'; where Wu Tie's finger touched, the stele turned directly into pure gold. The hard pure gold flowed like water, swiftly tracing countless splendid patterns of wind, cloud, thunder, and lightning, and the images of dozens of divine beasts and birds appeared.

On the stele, a line of large characters was carved upright and proper.

'Heaven and Earth are not benevolent, treating all things as straw dogs; our clan must strengthen itself'!

The Yin-Yang Daoist projected a strand of his spiritual fluctuation into this golden stele; a mighty, unyielding spirit burst forth—unyielding, preferring the straight over the crooked—like a tsunami, washing repeatedly over the souls of the hundreds of thousands of beings present.

This is the righteous aura.

This righteous aura was what Wu Tie had comprehended in this cavern years ago, when he risked his life to save the poor dwarven and dwarf slave children, fighting desperately against a flood dragon and accidentally grasping this righteous aura.

The righteous aura originates here; today the Yin-Yang Daoist also leaves a portion of its spirit in this place.

Now the Yin-Yang Daoist's magical powers are profound and unfathomable; the spiritual fluctuation he left on this stele can gradually influence the members of the three great families of the Cangyan Realm, turning them into open-hearted, selfless 'upright persons'.

These techniques and classics will cause no turmoil, nor trigger bloody internal strife among the three great families, nor bring chaos to the world, as long as they remain in the hands of such upright persons.

When the three great families rely on these techniques and classics to accumulate sufficient strength, what tremendous changes they will bring to this underground world, Wu Tie awaits with eager anticipation.

'Cangyan Realm, Shi Family, Yan Family, Lu Family—you three houses must cooperate wholeheartedly, help one another; the times are perilous, so you, proceed with caution. The vast seas surge; you are but a tiny leaf‑boat; only with care, prudence, broad love, and integrity will you achieve results.'

The Yin-Yang Daoist glanced at the three small cities, at those solemn, startled masters of the three houses who had risen again into the air, nodded to them without revealing his identity, and instantly transformed into a streak of light that pierced the waterfall and left the cavern in a blink.

The masters of the three houses looked at each other, then returned to the ground, step by step enduring the strong impact of the righteous aura from the golden stele, with difficulty drawing near the white jade platform.

Just now they had personally witnessed the Yin-Yang Daoist's inconceivable magical power—turning stone into jade, stone into gold. Such means were merely legend, only legend, yet they truly appeared before their eyes.

A few elders of the three great families trembled slightly, step by step approaching the base of the jade platform; after performing a reverent bow with trepidation, they tremblingly raised both hands and carefully lifted a scroll that the Yin-Yang Daoist had condensed from thin air.

They gently unfurled the scroll, glanced at the characters, and the several elders immediately broke into foolish, delighted smiles.

What they had taken was not a cultivation method, not a forging technique, not the secret of planting spiritual herbs, nor a pill formula; it was the civilizational classic left by the Yin-Yang Daoist.

Moreover, it was the most elementary primer, said from ancient times to explain the meanings of characters to children just beginning their studies.

Just that alone, the elders of the three great families became so intoxicated they forgot themselves and everything around them.

Heavens, it is pitiful; even if the entire Cangyan Realm were carefully searched by the three great families, they could only find a few fragmented remnants of books, whose characters added up to roughly a thousand different glyphs.

Now, however, an ocean of learning lies before them.

'Ancestors… you have manifested…' an elder of the Yan Family sighed long and low; in his mind a clotted mass of stagnant blood suddenly shattered, and his thoughts cleared instantly.

Amidst the sound of 'whoosh—whoosh', threads of azure‑blue flame rose from the pores of this Yan Family elder, turning him into a man of fire.

A great Dao pattern like a light dragon descended from heaven, swaying its head and tail, resembling a hundred‑zhang long living dragon that plunged from the elder's crown into his body; his aura swiftly changed, becoming stronger, steadier, hotter, and more penetrating and lucid.

A single 'Explanation of Characters' enabled this Yan Family elder, who had painstakingly cultivated for hundreds of years, to attain sudden enlightenment—from barely stepping into the Life Pond realm, he leapt directly to condense a divine fetus.

The Flame Dao merged into the divine fetus, pushing the fusion ratio straight up to thirty percent.

'Ancestors… I return…' the Yan Family elder, his whole body ablaze with fire yet his robes unscathed, fell to his knees in awe and performed a solemn bow before the white jade platform.

Beside him, the other elders of the three houses, the clanspeople present, even their warriors, servants, and slaves, all fell to their knees in awe.

Many low‑rank slaves still did not know what had happened today.

They also did not know how tremendous an upheaval today's events would bring to them and to the whole Cangyan Realm.

They only knew that the aura emanating from that gleaming golden stele was strong, rich, sunny, and upright; bathed in this spiritual fluctuation, their hearts, which had been dark, gloomy to the extreme, and twisted almost beyond recognition, suddenly brightened and grew calm.

From body to mind, they were filled with a brand‑new power.

Perhaps this power could be called 'hope'.

One month later, the heads of the three great families together with all the elders issued the 'Civilization Edict'—the three great families, and all affiliated clans in their territories, all intelligent beings may study in the academies established by the three great families.

Those who achieve anything will be selected for employment; from then on they will change their identities, join the three great families, and completely transform their destinies.

Not only aimed at outsiders, within the three great families a craze for 'risk‑everything study' and 'give‑your‑all study' arose; brute strength and high magic were no longer the sole criteria for appointing clanspeople.

The Yin-Yang Daoist—or Wu Tie—dropped a spark of fire in the Cangyan Realm.

The people of the three great families willingly turned themselves into dry kindling, placing this fire seed upon themselves, striving to let it burst forth with the brightest light to illuminate the world buried under thick rock layers, a dark, sunless realm.

When the Yan Family elder achieved his breakthrough, the Yin-Yang Daoist's escape light was astonishing; he had already left this region and arrived outside the Wu Domain gate.

The patrolling clanspeople of the Wu Domain could not detect the Yin-Yang Daoist's movements; he slipped into the Wu Domain with ease, and relying on his great magical power he quickly locked onto several familiar auras.

He employed the Yin-Yang Escape Technique, directly turning invisible and standing on the tip of a tall fern, the Yin-Yang Daoist wore a smile as he looked down at a courtyard below.

Three rows of stone houses at the front and back were built quite tall and sturdy, kept spotless and immaculate.

Behind the stone houses there was a huge pen, where several dozen rock dwarves panted as they hauled cartloads of dark-green thick moss in small four-wheeled carts, continually loading fodder into the trough.

Over a hundred beasts resembling fat pigs but with a hard keratinous shell like armor lay lazily in the pen; when they saw the rock dwarves approach, the nearby ones slowly rose, their fatty flesh trembling with each step as they walked to the trough and began gulping down the succulent moss.

From a row of stone houses came the wailing of an infant.

Several healthy, rosy-complexioned, beautiful women smiled broadly, carrying infants still in swaddling clothes out of the stone houses, holding them as they walked around the courtyard.

At the feet of these women trailed seven or eight toddlers crawling and running about, looking to be over one or two years old.

These children were naked, each as sturdy as a little bear cub; the two youngest still stumbled when they walked, but a small hand could shove a boulder the size of a water jar, sending it rolling wildly across the ground—a terrifying sight.

In the spacious central courtyard, Wu Tie saw Wu Zhan.

Wu Zhan stood bare-chested in the courtyard, drenched in sweat, gripping an iron bar in both hands and roaring loudly.

Several children, about five to eight years old, each held a heavy iron sword nearly as tall as they were, glaring at Wu Zhan like tiny tigers; they moved in practiced combat steps, signaling to one another and smoothly circling Wu Zhan in coordinated patrol.

Suddenly, a child gripped his sword with both hands, let out a loud shout, charged straight at Wu Zhan, and slashed his blade toward Wu Zhan's chest.

As this child attacked, the other seven children attacked at the same time.

Some leapt high, some sprinted across the ground, some rolled low, their iron swords whistling with a dull burst as they turned into streaks of black light that shot forth.

The Yin-Yang Daoist grinned widely.

The strength of these youngsters… when Wu Jin was in his twenties, his power, speed, and swordsmanship were far inferior to these brats.

Even these brats' physical cultivation… the Yin-Yang Daoist's spiritual power quietly enveloped these youngsters, and though they were young, they each possessed over a hundred thousand catties of mighty strength!

Good grief, a hole—unbelievable, truly unbelievable.

The Yin-Yang Daoist sensed a familiar bloodline aura from these youngsters.

They are not outsiders; they are blood relatives extremely close to Wu Tie.

They might be Wu Zhan's? Or perhaps they are the children of Wu Jin and his…?

The Yin-Yang Daoist smiled, somewhat lost in thought, and those few sturdy, comely women… could they be Wu Jin's daughters‑in‑law?