Chapter 834: Saint Ascension Circle
Translator: StarveCleric Editor: Millman97
Knowing what Zhang Xuan was thinking about, Luo Ruoxin replied with a smile, “Of course not. It’s true that Kong shi ascended to Sainthood here, but it’s not certain exactly where in this huge area he did so.”
“This…” Zhang Xuan blinked his eyes blankly.
The flat peak of the mountain in itself extended for several ten thousand mu. On the other hand, Kong shi would only take up, at most, a square meter by himself during his cultivation. To find a single square meter from an area of several ten thousand mu… That was indeed difficult.
“But is there a purpose to finding the exact location where Kong shi ascended to Sainthood?” Zhang Xuan asked doubtfully.
The entire mountain was permeated with the grand aura that Kong shi had left behind from his ascension to Sainthood. Since that was the case, it shouldn’t matter whether they found the precise location where Kong shi had made his breakthrough at.
Besides, even if they were to find it, considering that several dozen millennia had passed, and the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe had wreaked havoc here multiple times, what could possibly remain there?
“I just wish to verify a deduction I have… Furthermore, Kong shi’s will still remains here. It will be beneficial to you too if you can find it!” Luo Ruoxin said.
“I will give it a try then…” Hearing the other party’s words, Zhang Xuan eventually nodded.
Activating his Eye of Insight, he began observing the cliff face intently, analyzing every single inch of it.
As expected, those words were just an imitation of Kong shi’s original words. Through the Eye of Insight, he could see a clear difference in the disposition of the words as compared to those written by Kong shi.
A moment later, he shook his head.
“None of Kong shi’s original words remain… I can’t find anything at all.”
“You can’t find anything?” Luo Ruoxin frowned before sighing deeply.
She had already expected such an outcome. After the many assaults on the Saint Ascension Platform by the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe, all traces of Kong shi had been pretty much wiped clean. Even the possessor of the Eye of Insight would be unable to trace Kong shi’s trail anymore.
The Eye of Insight might be formidable, but tracking down the remains from several dozen millenniums ago was clearly still beyond it.
“What about the surroundings?”
“It’s the same too… Furthermore, there are too many people here, so I can’t clearly discern anything,” Zhang Xuan replied.
There were countless people who scaled the Saint Ascension Platform each day to cultivate, and there were all kinds of formations and tools activated in the area to facilitate their cultivation. To search for Kong shi’s trail—which would be incredibly faint, if it had not completely dissipated, after such a long period of time—amid this chaos was nigh impossible.
After a moment of contemplation, Luo Ruoxin said, “I see… Since that’s the case, try looking at the content of the words inscribed on the cliff face. Perhaps, you might be able to find a clue in it.”
Since it was impossible to find Kong shi’s trail, they could only work from the inscribed words then.
Even though the current words inscribed on the cliff face had not been inscribed by Kong shi personally, the words did come from Kong shi. Perhaps, there might be some clue contained within them.
“Alright.” Zhang Xuan nodded before turning his gaze over to the cliff face.
Flaws!
Zhang Xuan willed, and in the next instant, a book appeared in the Library of Heaven’s Path.
He picked up the book, and a moment later, a bizarre expression surfaced on his face.
Noticing the anomaly in Zhang Xuan, Luo Ruoxin asked, “What’s wrong?”
“It’s not much, but… it seems like the insight which Kong shi left behind… isn’t that accurate…” Zhang Xuan replied with a frown.
Through the analysis of the Library of Heaven’s Path, it was revealed that there were nine flaws contained regarding the insight Kong shi had left behind.
If it had been anyone else, even if the other party was a 9-star master teacher, Zhang Xuan wouldn’t have been so surprised. But Kong shi… this was a little hard to believe.
Even though these flaws were very minor and inconspicuous ones, making it hard for anyone to notice them, they were still mistakes; this was an undeniable fact.
To think that even the World’s Teacher would make such errors… Was this for real?
Taken aback, Luo Ruoxin asked, “Isn’t that accurate? Do you mean to say that… there are problems with the insights Kong shi left behind?”
“That’s right. There is a total of 3,324 words contained within Kong shi’s insight, and there is a total of nine mistakes in it. Even though these were extremely minor mistakes that wouldn’t affect the overall picture, still…” Zhang Xuan said hesitantly.
On his journey up the Saint Ascension Platform, he had taken in the insights of the predecessors and successfully compiled the Heaven’s Path Divine Art regarding the breakthrough to Half-Saint, Nascent Saint, and Saint realm. Comparing the compiled Heaven’s Path Divine Art with the insight Kong shi had left behind, the errors in the latter were apparent.
Even though what Kong shi had left behind was only an insight and not a cultivation technique, most of the cultivators used it for reference for their cultivation. If it wasn’t altered, even if one could successfully achieve a breakthrough by referencing the insight, the effects wouldn’t be ideal.
“You are able to see the mistakes Kong shi left behind?” Luo Ruoxin exclaimed softly in astonishment as she gazed at him intently.
Who was Kong shi?
The World’s Teacher, the founder of the Master Teacher Pavilion, as well as the man who brought about the eviction of the Otherworldly Demons from the Master Teacher Continent, ushering an era of prosperity for humanity… His contribution to the world was truly immeasurable!
Part of the reason Kong shi had been able to achieve all of those feats was due to his unparalleled talent and unimaginable capabilities. Countless master teachers viewed him as their goal and aspired to be like him, and yet, this fellow had actually said that there were nine flaws in the insight Kong shi had left behind!
If the master teachers in the surroundings were to hear his words, they would surely fly into a frenzy and pummel him into the ground!
Luo Ruoxin’s exclamation abruptly brought Zhang Xuan back to reality. He suddenly realized that he might have revealed far too much, so he hurriedly patched things up with an awkward smile. “Ahhh… Actually, I am not too sure either. There might be a mistake in my comprehension too…”
Zhang Xuan harbored no doubt regarding the Library of Heaven’s Path’s capability. However, he was currently only a Perfect Harmonization realm cultivator, so it was inevitable that others might doubt his credibility when he mentioned that there was a mistake in Empyrean Kong shi’s words.
“There is no mistake in your comprehension. There are indeed nine flaws in the insight Kong shi left behind!” Paying no heed to Zhang Xuan’s response, Luo Ruoxin nodded affirmatively.
The next moment, however, a deep frown surfaced on her forehead as she continued, “There are only two possibilities to such a happening. First, this insight was left behind by Kong shi right after he achieved a breakthrough to Saint realm, long before he became the World’s Teacher whom everyone respects. If that’s the case, it wouldn’t be too surprising that he made mistakes.”
Zhang Xuan heaved a sigh of relief upon seeing that Luo Ruoxin didn’t pursue the matter, and after hearing the words of the latter, he couldn’t help but nod in agreement.
It would be unfair to judge Kong shi based on the Library of Heaven’s Path. Even with Kong shi’s unparalleled talent, it wasn’t too surprising that he might have a few minor mistakes in his comprehension of Saint realm, especially since he had barely reached Saint realm himself.
On the contrary, it was an extremely impressive feat for a person to have nine flaws in his comprehension despite only just having reached Saint realm.
“What about the second possibility?” Zhang Xuan asked.
“The second possibility is that Kong shi left those flaws within the insight deliberately. After all, there was no guarantee that there wouldn’t be men with malicious intent or even those of the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe would attempt to study his insight as well. If so, they would benefit from his teachings as well, and that is no different from delivering a weapon into the hands of the enemies. On top of that, this might be his way of teaching the later generations of master teachers that it is foolish to blindly trust the teachings of others. Even he, the World’s Teacher, could make mistakes, so they must have a mind of their own and discern what is right and wrong for themselves!” Luo Ruoxin said.
“This…” Zhang Xuan was stunned.
Truthfully, he hadn’t thought deeply into Kong shi’s intentions at all.
However, what Luo Ruoxin had said was logical and could very possibly be true.
It was out of a trust in a teacher’s capability that a student would acknowledge the other party as their teacher, but this shouldn’t form the basis of blind trust. Only through doubting and questioning established teachings could one surpass one’s predecessors and reach greater heights!
Could Kong shi have really intentionally left these nine minor mistakes in order to challenge the mindset of master teachers?
If one could doubt even Kong shi himself, one might just be able to achieve what no one else ever had.
On the other hand, if one were to blindly trust Kong shi’s teachings, even if one were to achieve a breakthrough to Saint realm, one would soon find one’s own accomplishments swiftly being capped by a bottleneck.
After a moment of contemplation, Zhang Xuan said, “If it is the first possibility, Kong shi should have returned to alter the flaws he left after he established the Master Teacher Pavilion… The fact that he didn’t do so means that it is highly likely that it was the second possibility!”
“Indeed.” Luo Ruoxin nodded in approval.
If it was a mistake out of ignorance, as the World’s Teacher, Kong shi would have surely been ashamed of his failure, thus compelling him to return and correct it. But since he hadn’t done so, the odds seemed to lean more toward the second possibility then.
But whether there were flaws in the insight or not had little to do with the exact location of where Kong shi had ascended to Sainthood, so there wasn’t much point in analyzing the matter any further.
I should first study the content of the insight first. If this fails, I will just have to look around slowly…
With such thoughts in mind, Zhang Xuan immersed his consciousness into comprehending the writing Kong shi had left behind.
The insight described the process of how Kong shi achieved his breakthrough to Saint realm. Even though it wasn’t explicitly written as a cultivation technique, it was so comprehensive that if one were to jot down the details, it could form a complete cultivation technique.
But of course, this cultivation technique was specific only to Kong shi’s constitution. If others were to attempt a breakthrough via that cultivation technique, what would await them was only their own cultivation going berserk.
This was somewhat similar to what the Heaven’s Path Divine Art was to Zhang Xuan. If others attempted to cultivate the Heaven’s Path Divine Art, they would first find themselves bleeding profusely from their seven apertures 1 before they could accomplish anything.
After studying for some time, Zhang Xuan was unable to find anything reminiscent of a hint from the writing, so he could only give up on it. Standing up, he activated his Eye of Insight and began combing the area.
The peak was extremely spacious. Other than the area before the cliff face, which was completely packed with cultivators, there was still plenty of room to move about.
It didn’t take too long for Zhang Xuan to circle around the area, but he was still unable to find anything. Disappointed, he shook his head helplessly.
He hadn’t expected it to be so difficult.
But thinking about it, if it was that easy, the Otherworldly Demons would have long found the location and obtained the will that Kong shi had left behind.
With his efforts futile, Zhang Xuan was just about to regroup with Luo Ruoxin when a commotion suddenly broke out in front of the cliff face, breaking the tranquility at the peak. There was a large group of people discussing with one another, seemingly sharing their own insights and comprehensions.
Zhang Xuan couldn’t help but grab a middle-aged man not too far away and ask, “Excuse me, may I ask what is going on?”
The middle-aged man glanced at Zhang Xuan and replied, “You must be new here! Every day, the Saint Ascension Circle conducts lectures to decipher the essence of Kong shi’s teachings. This is an opportunity for everyone to learn and have their doubts answered.”
“Saint Ascension Circle?” Zhang Xuan had never heard of such an organization before.
Noticing Zhang Xuan’s surprise, the middle-aged man shook his head and said, “The Saint Ascension Circle is a group that specializes in studying and deciphering the writing Kong shi left behind here. It consists of thirteen 7-star master teachers and several hundred 6-star master teachers. They aim to uncover the underlying intentions that Kong shi had when he inscribed his insight onto this cliff face through their research.
“Over the years, they have already gained a deep understanding of the subject. Outsiders like us might find it hard to comprehend the thoughts of Kong shi even if we were to stare at the cliff face for an entire month straight, but through their lectures, we can understand the thoughts that the latter had in mind when he was making his breakthrough to Saint realm.”
“To think that there would be such an organization here…” Zhang Xuan was speechless.
As complicated as it may sound, the circle was actually rather similar to those organizations involved in the study of Redology 2 , Goldenology 3 , and the other classics in his previous life—a bunch of fellows who had nothing better to do with their lives!
If it wasn’t out of boredom, why would they bother scrutinizing every single word written, losing themselves in needless profundities?
Similarly, Kong shi had just left his insight on the cliff face in his moment of delight after successfully reaching Saint realm. What more was there to uncover from that?
To think that so many master teachers would devote so many years of their lives to researching something as insignificant as this…
Just the thought of it rendered him speechless.
The next moment, the middle-aged man exclaimed, “Look, they are here…”
Following which, three elders could be seen walking to the front of the crowd.
