Master of Strange Dao

A minor change might ultimately lead to a world-shaking transformation.

Yu Ziqing found a record, using the Earth Deity Origin to awaken the residual Dao resonance, silently bringing about change.

In the Langya Institute, the task of organizing the library and searching for the catalog of destroyed manuscripts is nearly complete.

The number of destroyed manuscripts is so large; however, comparing with the old catalog, most are recoverable as they are not unique copies or out-of-print books.

Even some True Intent Classics actually have substitutes.

This is because many cultivators who have studied at the Langya Institute, upon reaching a certain realm, like to inscribe their proficient Dharma Methods into True Intent Classics.

Being included in the Langya Institute's library is considered a high honor and a long-standing tradition.

Thus, for the same Dharma Method, there might be numerous True Intent Classics.

This is the favorable aspect.

The unfavorable aspect is that the Langya Institute demands new insights or distinctiveness for existing True Intent Classics.

Therefore, you would rarely see the same True Intent in a single Dharma Method.

It's somewhat similar to certain Divine Skills in Body Cultivation, like the "half-step", where there are multiple directional choices even for the same skill.

Besides the lost True Intent Classics, there are some pure knowledge classics, some of which are unique copies.

Some travelogue classics, if written by powerful authors with strong spirit, can fully immerse the reader even if they are merely travel notes.

Insight and heart method classics are truly the blood loss; such ambiance and insight, even for the original author, once disconnected from the former state, might never efficiently recreate an identical classic.

The loss is so great that upon obtaining the missing list, Cheng Jing couldn't discern exactly which classics were targeted for destruction.

This extensive investigation, consuming a substantial amount of time, hasn't been without rewards.

For instance, in the past couple of days, buried in piles of old paper, they found certain records hidden within an ordinary travelogue classic.

This is something a Qi Refinement cultivator recorded before ancient times.

He was naturally frail, with a withered Qi Sea and weak body, barely able to do Qi Refinement, but his Divine Soul was innately strong.

Assuming his life would thus end, he discovered the potential for Refining God.

Within the record, he expressed gratitude towards a powerful cultivator named Shi, who paved the Refining God Path.

After Shi's fall, he was overwhelmed with grief, composing a sacrificial text.

Even after a long time, anyone would be profoundly affected by the sorrow in the sacrificial text, unable to compose themselves for days, overwhelmed with tears.

The classic, using an unknown beast skin as its medium, fell into Cheng Jing's hands.

On careful study, it appeared to be an ordinary travelogue, merely describing the pre-ancient era's elements.

The text is also pre-ancient, preserved for its linguistic value.

In his youth, he had once cracked the text on this classic.

Now upon revisiting, it is markedly different.

Because the character 'Shi', initially had many interpretations and meanings.

Yet here, one glance clarifies that this character represents a person, a name.

This change was absent before.

Cheng Jing immediately deduced that this was an artificial intervention, someone used Great Divine Power to solidify it.

When this character signifies the one who pioneered the Refining God Dao, no one would misunderstand.

When the meaning of a crucial character changes, the entire record's ambiance changes.

The record, initially viewed as a travelogue, suddenly transformed into a sacrificial text, overwhelming Cheng Jing with an inexplicable sense of grief.

No, it's not accurate, rather, the grief naturally welled up within him, from inside out.

Just the first third of the sacrificial text moved him to tears, his concentration shattered, his resolve wavered, plunging him into irreversible sorrow.

He forcefully suppressed the urge to continue reading, closed the classic, and shut his eyes.

After a full two-hour period, his eyes swollen and red, his heart slowly calmed.

"Such intense intent, why was it imperceptible before?"

He realized the key was the fixed meaning of the character, anchored to the correct interpretation, causing this change.

This wasn't a human alteration, but the original state.

They had two hypotheses once.

Using such precious unknown beast skin as a medium, it could endure for years without damage.

Such a species, now extinct, was surely a treasured entity then as well.

To use it for recording an ordinary travelogue, the person must've been a fool with wealth.

Another guess was, in those times, this beast skin might not have been so precious, or the recorder might not have realized its value.

However, the same material, rare now, passed through time undiminished.

In any case, it was conjecture, baseless guesses.

Now it's confirmed, this material was indeed extraordinarily valuable, intended to endure through ages.

Yet now Cheng Jing observed another issue.

Such powerful intent, despite the passage of years, still rendered him uncontrollable, the entire Langya Institute had no one who could read it unaffected.

Everyone who finished reading it fell into such emotion for days, unable to extricate themselves.

Those lacking firm will could not even stop midway, compelled to read it in one go.