Master of Strange Dao

Yu Ziqing finished scanning the Directory of the Earth Pavilion, feeling bewildered, as if he had no clue how to make a choice.

In fact, he couldn't understand how the list given by Yang connected these completely non-compliant books together.

After reading the Earth Pavilion, Yu Ziqing calmly moved on to the Directory of the Heaven Pavilion.

The Stone Puppet remained silent, as Yu Ziqing took out the invitation card and pointed to the blanks that needed filling.

"I think I finally understand what I need to fill in, two words. If I get it right, I should be able to see the Heaven Pavilion, right?"

"If you fill it in, you can see a part. And if you join the Langya Institute, then you can freely view any classics without any restrictions!"

The Stone Puppet answered precisely, neither happy nor angry, with no emotional fluctuations.

Yu Ziqing thought that the Langya Institute was truly clever, using Stone Puppets for reception as they wouldn't take offense at any wrong words spoken.

If you had a real person for reception, someone might find it hard to stifle the feeling that you are being pretentious, even if not stated outright, their tone and emotions will show, potentially offending someone.

"I'll take a preliminary look at the directory first, it'll make choosing easier later."

Yu Ziqing shamelessly swept through the Heaven Pavilion once more.

He noted down where the books he wanted to read were located and their names.

By chance, he found several books from Yang's list, all odd items.

Some were damaged long ago, and others only had partial volumes left.

The classics of the Heaven Pavilion, many were partial volumes.

The Great Divine Power partial volumes numbered in the hundreds; these were of no cultivation value anymore.

Their greatest value was as reference material for top powerhouses, using the flaws of others to sharpen one's own skills.

Yu Ziqing spent seven or eight days scanning the whole directory, feeling dizzy and bewildered; by the end, he couldn't even remember what he'd looked through.

Only the most crucial parts were firmly etched in his memory.

Just scanning the directory had left him like this; he couldn't fathom how Yang had once read through all the books and managed to construct a repository in his mind.

Afterward, Yu Ziqing looked at the directory he'd recorded; these were the parts he needed to read.

He didn't rush, instead resting for three days before formally heading to the Earth Pavilion to read.

The first book, author Anon, was an ancient text titled "Soul Record."

The author believed that many powerful living beings would pass information through their bloodline, like the Dragon Clan, who are born knowing many things.

There are a few living beings with feeble bodies but naturally strong Divine Souls, who rely on their Divine Souls to pass down information.

Human Body Cultivators awaken Divine Skills, believed to be inherently present in the bloodline, merely excavated and therefore called awakening.

Is the mysterious Divine Soul capable of passing down information as well?

The introduction wasn't detailed but mentioned that it contained an auxiliary Dharma Method for Refining God.

Yu Ziqing was interested in this Dharma Method.

He carefully studied it, and the author of the "Soul Record" held that, akin to bloodlines, a person's Divine Soul can not only be strengthened but also deeply excavated.

Excavating deeply enough naturally unfolds the ancient information hidden within the Divine Soul.

The author created a Refining God Secret Technique, proving his concept by excavating from the first level typical Refining God Cultivators reach to the second level.

The result was his Divine Soul's complete collapse and death.

Before dying, he left one final warning.

To avoid the path of merely strengthening the Divine Soul and choose only to excavate deeply is a path to failure.

To excavate deeply, one must first strengthen the Divine Soul, toughening its resilience, to withstand the excavation.

One needs to at least be at the Yang God Realm to start trying it; the Primordial Spirit Realm is best to begin.

Then, there were other people's annotations following the classics.

"Utter nonsense."

"Don't listen to him, nearly died at the Primordial Spirit Realm, took three hundred years to recover."

Concise and straightforward.

Yu Ziqing almost burst into laughter, truly, there were big shots who attempted it.

Reading these annotations was more interesting than the main text.

The clash of ideas actually makes it easier for later readers to learn to think for themselves.

No wonder such a high and mighty Dharma Method was placed in the Earth Pavilion; although usable, no one had succeeded yet.

Yu Ziqing recorded the entire original text, and all insights as well.

He continued on to the next book.

Called "Zhou Yi arithmetic," reading this was mostly due to the title.

Actually, it's a Mathematics Classic, unrelated to Yu Ziqing's understanding of Zhou Yi; Zhou Yi is an ancient person's name.

The content was solid, suitable for learning to assist in cultivating the Dayan Preface.

Yu Ziqing definitely needed to learn the Dayan Preface, no matter how difficult.

According to Yu Ziqing's understanding, it particularly suited his abilities.

If he managed to make something of it, he wouldn't need to be as well-informed as Yang to discern many things at a glance.

Three days passed in a flash.

On the other side, Cheng Jing held a sheet of paper, examining Yu Ziqing's reading directory.

Listening to the Stone Puppet repeat what Yu Ziqing had said, he pondered for a moment before sighing.

"It seems he doesn't want to join the Langya Institute."

At that time, he noticed this slightly unsightly fellow.

Using his own experience for judgment, he was sure this person had seen the inscription.

And in the first round, surely saw something others couldn't, felt what others couldn't, hence the second round.

Merely having spare energy for the second round already reveals many things.