CHAPTER 277: CHAPTER 263 PASSING ON KNOWLEDGE

More than three hundred people moved forward quickly.

Zhou Leng looked at these people; most were from the Dragon Country, with a few from other countries.

When they were still dozens of meters from the entrance gate of the Ancient River Sect, Zhou Leng stepped out and said to the staff, "I am waiting for my teacher, Zhao Nandi."

He then turned to the others and said, "You all go ahead. Don’t delay."

"Let’s wait together," Zhang Xinglie also stepped out.

A dozen or so others glanced at the gate, stepped out of the queue, and stood with Zhou Leng.

The people behind quickly caught up.

A group of people came over, and Zhou Leng turned to look at one person.

He didn’t know this person before, but the person seemed to glance at him intentionally or unintentionally.

After that person entered the gate, Zhou Leng looked at Rao Mingxian, and Rao Mingxian nodded.

After all the trial takers entered, Zhao Nandi still hadn’t arrived.

Someone in the group showed an anxious look but remained silent as no one else spoke up.

Zhou Leng said, "If you’re in a hurry, you can go in first."

"No rush, no rush..." a few people quickly laughed.

Song Juesi said, "A little more time won’t hurt; even the Divine Text experts haven’t gone in, why rush?"

A group of people entered the gate, walking quickly.

The leader was Blood of Tyranny, whose mixed-race appearance was particularly striking.

Zhou Leng and the others bowed their heads to greet Blood of Tyranny, as they had once shared the same sect.

Blood of Tyranny nodded in return and walked into the gate.

A team of Divine Text experts followed him.

Zhao Nandi was among a group of elderly white-haired experts.

She waved at Zhou Leng, and he walked over.

Taking advantage of Zhou Leng’s body blocking the view of others, Zhao Nandi took out an old jade pendant with a red string, tiptoed to hang it around Zhou Leng’s neck.

She placed the jade pendant inside Zhou Leng’s clothing, tidied his collar, and gently patted the pendant through the clothes.

"All done," Zhao Nandi said, looking at Zhou Leng with gentle eyes, like a big sister.

"Let’s go in together."

Zhou Leng and Zhao Nandi walked towards them, with the other people following behind the expert team, entering one by one.

The two were the last to enter.

Passing through the water film-like light gate, a wide plaza appeared before them, with dark blue stone slabs neatly arranged, pristine and free from dust.

Mountains surrounded the area, shrouded in mist.

This place was on a mountain top, flat on all sides without walls.

At the far end of the plaza stood a black oriental-style great hall.

In front of the hall, a bronze furnace stood erect.

The bronze furnace resembled the broken bronze furnace previously excavated, identical in appearance.

No one moved; everyone stood still, looking at the Divine Text experts.

Only Blood of Tyranny glanced around and walked straight to a side door.

Zhao Nandi took Zhou Leng to where the experts were.

The experts exchanged a few words, then one elder looked towards the trial takers.

"We don’t know much about this trial, but we will do our best to assist everyone."

"Of course, if you wish to venture on your own, we won’t stop you."

Someone asked, "I want to ask, why is Blood of Tyranny here? Should we follow him?"

"Regarding Blood of Tyranny, I cannot disclose anything. However, rest assured, he will not harm anyone. If anything, he is on a different path from us; do not follow him."

"Alright, whoever wishes to go on their own may leave. Those who want to stay can follow us."

The crowd remained silent, and the experts turned to walk forward.

Many people followed.

The remaining ones looked at each other and all followed suit.

The experts first approached the bronze furnace.

They circled the furnace, observing and discussing.

Zhou Leng circled the bronze furnace, pondering the inscriptions on it and roughly deciphered them.

The inscriptions were a sacrificial text; useful yet seemingly trivial, but as divine treasures, they held great value.

Zhou Leng took out the Demonized Watch, circled the bronze furnace, and recorded all the inscriptions.

Zhao Nandi, after discussing with the experts for a while, approached Zhou Leng, leaned to his ear, and whispered, "You should ask Elder Song’s opinion, pretend you don’t know his identity, just discuss the Divine Text normally."

"Alright..."

Zhou Leng walked over to Elder Song and used the Demonized Watch to chat with him via text.

"Elder Song, I need your help again, pretend to send me a message so that Zhao Nandi thinks you are guiding me, and I can announce the Divine Text content through me."

Elder Song nodded and pretended to transmit information to Zhou Leng.

Zhao Nandi watched Elder Song typing quickly and became even more convinced.

Zhou Leng pretended to look at it for a while, then walked over to Zhao Nandi.

"How is it? What did Elder Song say?"

"Elder Song said you all should be able to guess these Divine Texts are typical sacrificial inscriptions. They’re difficult to translate accurately, and if they are useful, we can translate them later, as it would take a long time now."

"Indeed... what about the first eight Divine Texts? We all think they are the most important."

"Elder Song did mention that those eight Divine Texts respectively praise eight exceptionally powerful Starry Sky Divine Spirits, akin to our mythological top-tier levels such as the Three Pristine Ones, Four Imperial Lords, and Five Elders. For instance..."

Zhou Leng explained the part he could comprehend, though most of it was beyond him.

This type of sacrificial inscription is even more complex than ordinary Divine Texts.

"So that’s what it means..." Zhao Nandi suddenly understood and began to analyze carefully.

Zhou Leng whispered, "Elder Song’s meaning is still to keep his identity hidden. If anything needs to be revealed, just say it’s your own insight."

"This... doesn’t seem right..."

"It’s fine. Elder Song doesn’t care about this fame."

Zhao Nandi thought for a moment and said, "I’ll mark these contents later and allocate all the contribution points to the Mysterious Master. Let’s settle it like this."

As Zhao Nandi spoke, she moved to the center of the experts and expressed her eight guesses about the divine texts.

The experts studied carefully; some remained silent, others loudly praised, and some nodded repeatedly.

"A master yields outstanding students; I’m convinced."

"Indeed. We had some guesses before, but were uncertain. Your explanation really makes sense."

Zhao Nandi’s expression remained calm, but her heart was pounding.

Experts surrounded the bronze furnace, studying, while some martial artists grew impatient and wandered to the main hall, strolling around the plaza.

Zhou Leng initially wanted to wander too but was captivated by the inscriptions of the bronze furnace, continuing his research.

The first eight characters, the deeper he researched, the more engrossed he became.

These eight divine texts seemingly contained a special power, indescribable yet enchanting.

While the inscriptions beyond these did not evoke such a feeling.

At this moment, someone softly said, "Quickly cultivate, the spiritual qi here is quite peculiar."

Everyone tried and then kept silent, sitting down to cultivate.

In a short time, Zhang Xinglie stood up and approached Zhou Leng to remind him.

"The spiritual qi here is very strong, perhaps a hundred times that of the outside world, and has unique properties. Stop researching the divine texts and cultivate soon."

"Okay, I’ll look a bit more before starting."

Zhang Xinglie saw Zhou Leng had his own plan, moved to an empty space, and sat down to cultivate.

Yet Zhou Leng faintly felt that comprehending these eight divine texts was far more significant than the spiritual qi.

In the past, Zhou Leng remembered divine texts one by one.

But as his divine text level improved, he could now remember many at once.

The downside of this memory method was that fully recalling them took very long.

The benefit was that memorizing multiple divine texts together yielded a more complete grammatical and semantic understanding, feeling different.

Zhou Leng decisively memorized all eight characters in one go.

The eight characters engraved on the bronze furnace appeared as non-three-dimensional divine texts to the naked eye.

Initially, the mind echoed with the same non-three-dimensional eight characters.

Unsure of how much time passed, the eight divine texts slowly transformed into complete three-dimensional ones, slowly rotating.

Once the three-dimensional divine texts rotate, the grammar and meanings become more precise.

Zhou Leng clearly knew these eight characters contained special power, not greedy for meaning, beginning with basic memory alone.

Time gradually elapsed; experts gathered around the bronze furnace, researching for several hours.

Some martial artists cultivated for a period, their true qi full, unable to continue cultivating, began to wander.

Suddenly, a cry of alarm came from ahead.

"F*ck..."

Everyone quickly turned to look, only to see wisps of light crossing the front of the main hall, leaving a person with only a half body.

The remaining half body, like wind blowing on sand grains, quickly disintegrated, vanishing without a trace.

Several Western martial artists stood in front of the main hall, observing their companion’s death, swiftly retreating, their faces paling slightly.

Some divine text experts scoffed, continuing their study of divine texts.

All other martial artists wisely returned, quietly awaiting the results from the divine text experts.

Three hours later, Zhao Nandi clapped her hands and cleared her throat.

Everyone turned their gaze toward her.

Zhao Nandi said, "You all witnessed the incident of someone’s death earlier. Based on our initial judgment, opening the trial requires several steps. Specifically, this might relate to this bronze furnace."

"However, researching the bronze furnace will take time, so I hope everyone remains patient and less anxious."

"After all, this is the exalted Starfield Sect, overseeing multiple planets, its strength far surpassing the Ten Realms."

"Hence, we must adhere to basic etiquette."

"Remember, we are guests, not robbers."

"The experts are right." Many agreed.

The martial artists who intended to barge into the main hall earlier blushed from shame.

After speaking, Zhao Nandi walked over to Zhou Leng, squatting gently with a faint aroma wafting.

"Did Elder Song say anything?"

Zhou Leng pointed at the bronze furnace, saying, "The first eight characters have great significance, and the last eight are also crucial. If nothing goes wrong, we need to perform a simple ritual before entering the main hall. Did you notice the words on the main hall plaque?"

"I saw them but didn’t study them."

"The words on the main hall mean ’Transmission Hall,’ specifically the Outer Sect Transmission Hall. Here should be where the Ancient River Sect imparts cultivation techniques."

"I see."

"Do you have any other questions?"

Zhao Nandi asked several, and Zhou Leng answered some.

Zhao Nandi grew up studying divine texts, and her love for them had become part of her life.

Filled with joy upon acquiring new divine text knowledge, she rose with a serene expression, her steps light.

She returned to discuss with the divine text experts.

The experts listened to a few sentences from her and sensed something was amiss.

Even without mentioning Zhao Nandi, her academic teacher couldn’t have deciphered so much in such a short time.

Experts repeatedly questioned, Zhao Nandi only said there were reasons, unable to explain.

Consequently, these wise experts recalled ticket distribution, glanced around, noticing Zhao Nandi conversed with Zhou Leng each time, and Zhou Leng, though merely her disciple, often sought Song Juesi.

That meant... experts eventually looked toward Song Juesi, the eldest among the trial takers.

Suddenly enlightened.