World's No. 1 Swordsman-Chapter 525: A Lucky Encounter With A Great Daoist Text!

While walking along the rear mountain of the Xinghai Sect, all Wang Sheng could sense was the heavy, somber gloom that hung over the land.

He had thought that a stroll could let him encounter immortals discussing the Dao in quiet courtyards, disciples wandering in shaded paths, or even an elder who hid unfathomable depth. However, all he saw were mountains and forests, and all he heard were low, hushed voices. On the rare occasions that he glimpsed people, they always hurried past as if they wished to avoid any socializing.

The Xinghai Sect's atmosphere felt nearly identical to the unaffiliated practitioners' district in the small city he had once stayed in.

Wang Sheng did not bring his greatsword. He simply wandered around as if inspecting his own backyard.

Soon, he noticed that his freedom of movement had become limited. On another peak, where the Xinghai Sect's true core was, he sensed two formidable auras. One of them felt familiar; it belonged to the vice sect master. He could go there if he wished, but he would require a suitable pretext.

Feeling too lazy to make one up, Wang Sheng turned to the scripture repository of the Xinghai Sect, which interested him the most. It was on an isolated peak protected by several layers of arrays.

Wang Sheng stepped on a white cloud, drifted to the boundary, and then took out his Protector identity token. The formation opened a narrow passage, allowing him entry.

The repository was a six-story pagoda built along the mountain slope, towering beyond a hundred meters. Although people called it a repository, it more closely resembled a "scripture tower." Despite its height, though, it looked somewhat stout.

The Xinghai Sect was still considered relatively young among the celestial sects, but it had been around for more than twelve millennia. Stored in the building were the immortal arts, scriptures, poetry, music scores, and planetary charts that they had collected over those long years.

Each floor had its own arrays and restrictions. As a Protector, Wang Sheng was cleared for access up to the fourth floor. The top two remained closed to him, but he didn't mind.

He began his exploration patiently from the first floor.

Disciples and elders guarded the building. A True Immortal elder oversaw the fourth level, while the disciples assigned to the lower floors had decent cultivation.

They arranged scrolls and jade pendants and kept the area clean, although very few visitors came here in general. Most disciples simply sat at the entrance to cultivate.

Wang Sheng casually picked up a volume of immortal arts. After a brief look, he shook his head. Its creator clearly had a shallow understanding of the Great Dao, and the technique wasn't powerful enough to justify the amount of immortal power it consumed. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

He wandered further, skimming a few books and jade pendants. However, his interest faded quickly.

The second floor had a similar but far larger assortment of miscellaneous immortal arts. He didn't lack techniques, though. Having come only out of curiosity, he saw no reason to read them one by one.

The third floor stored a wide mix of written works. He even found an old, slightly worn but still readable map of the Eastern Sky Region, which the Heavenly Court had named after its overseer, the Eastern Heavenly Gate.

He opened the map with delight. Countless marked qi planets glimmered across the surface, each one rich in primal qi, allowed cultivation, and well known in its own local area. The map itself was crude. It only showed the approximate boundaries of the Eastern Sky Region and the rough positions of the qi planets, showing the vast distance between them.

Moreover, since the map had no unified measure of scale, it could only serve as a general reference. The Xinghai Sect treasured the compilation known as The Eastern Sky Region's Qi Planet and Primal Qi Passage Compendium far too much to leave it on the third floor.

Nevertheless, Wang Sheng still copied the map into his Heavenly Abode and placed it where his Primordial Spirit could view it at any time. He planned to update it once he found a more accurate version.

This already made his visit to the repository fruitful.

Wang Sheng ascended to the fourth floor with some anticipation. Upon reaching it, his eyes brightened. Unlike the previous floors, it wasn't as messy; its books and jade pendants had been arranged neatly. Wooden markers also guided visitors, saving him considerable time.

More importantly, only a few hundred works were stored here. Much of the space had been cleared and set with meditation cushions to accommodate those who wished to sit and cultivate while comprehending immortal arts. To top it all off, he had finally found a few people, all seated quietly in isolated corners.

The immortal arts here were roughly second-rate or nearly first-rate. Unfortunately, Wang Sheng had spent so long reading the Heavenly Court's works that the ones in front of him now couldn't catch his interest.

Instead, his attention was pulled toward the shelves marked as miscellaneous. As soon as he walked over to it, he felt as if his feet had sunk into the ground. He remained in that aisle for quite some time.

More than a dozen books and over a hundred jade slips were kept in this section.

Fascinating!

The first piece he picked up was a travel record that a Heavenly Immortal had written. The author enjoyed wandering through mountains and rivers. Using a jade slip, he recorded poetry about his journey through every place he visited, occasionally leaving a few profound insights into cultivation.

It was quite informative. Wang Sheng read the entire piece from beginning to end, even though it meant using a bit of immortal power. After all, these jade slips required the reader to infuse immortal power into the restrictions carved inside. Only by maintaining the flow could one finish it without interruption.

Many similar travel records were stored here. Most had been in circulation for ages, becoming antiques with great stories and charm.

Heavenly Immortals wrote the majority of them as well. After all, Golden Immortals lived extremely long and would rarely let the public see such private writings. Meanwhile, True Immortals lived far too short to roam, and they spent most of their effort on cultivation and resources. Their writings were rarely valued.

The journals spoke of wondrous and bizarre qi planets; renowned experts from every corner; and countless references to alchemical pills, cultivation techniques, and formations. Wang Sheng learned more from them than he had expected, widening his horizons immensely.

He spent three full days reading every jade slip in the section, gaining many strange bits of knowledge from those miscellaneous texts. However, within all these mixed writings, he found only a handful of fragmented mentions of the Heavenly Court.

The most he had found were phrases about an immortal emperor wishing to stand with the gods of the Great Dao or comments about how even the master of the Three Realms, who once flourished and commanded countless powerful beings, ultimately amounted to little.

Though this ancient battlefield was clearly the byproduct of the two battles between the Heavenly Court and the forces that opposed it, the unaffiliated practitioners who relied on it for survival hadn't preserved any complete or organized legends about the Heavenly Court. It was quite ironic.

Perhaps this was simply the natural order of things. The victors became rulers, and the defeated were cast aside.

After three to four days of reading idly, he finally thought it was time to resume cultivating. Once he comprehended the undying true spirit and became one with Yaoyun, he could end up becoming powerful enough to escape from the average Heavenly Immortal. Within these thirteen qi planets, he would finally count as an actual high-level combatant.

One had to be cautious when riding the tide. After all, such a plan was dangerous. The waves could end up crushing the weak.

Hence, he had to remind himself repeatedly that he had to cultivate with grueling effort and push himself nonstop. At that moment, though, something on a shelf caught his eye.

"Mm?"

The book was made of slender jade boards that were bound together, and it had a few small ancient characters in front of it. Though it looked nothing out of the ordinary, he still stared at the writing for some time. Finally, he realized that the script resembled those that he had seen in many Heavenly Court texts.

Annotated by the Old Man of Xinghai.

Wang Sheng lifted the book, finding it surprisingly heavy. He then loosened the golden thread wrapped around it and unfolded the strips with care. As soon as he did, his eyes widened, and his spirit stirred sharply.

Written on them were peculiar scriptures similar to those carved on the six celestial tablets; they were scriptures of the Great Dao itself!

What startled him even more was the title carved on the first jade slip on the right side.

Three Ancient Dao Scriptures.

Wang Sheng immediately sat down on the floor and opened the book to the first third, finding a short passage of Dao scriptures followed by commentary.

The only way to read Dao scriptures was to comprehend it.

Wang Sheng studied the text for a while. He eventually felt as if he had vaguely grasped it, yet his understanding of it remained unclear. Hence, he turned to the Old Man of Xinghai's annotations and finally gained clarity.

The Daoist text had only a little over fifty characters. The annotation explained its general meaning concisely, using barely more than three hundred characters.

It was so succinct and obscure that many phrases seemed to have omitted information. Wang Sheng had to struggle through it. However, after extensive efforts, he finally understood what the fifty characters described.

For a moment, he was rendered speechless.

The Daoist text described how a certain exalted being ate a meal.

The being in question was so revered that its name couldn't even be mentioned. It was also quite picky. Every food presented to it was either unacceptable or unsuitable. In the end, it found and ate something that pleased it, then happily fell asleep.

He turned the pages. Apart from annotations, the Old Man of Xinghai had also left his personal assessments. Wang Sheng mentally interpreted them.

According to extensive studies, Dao scriptures mostly originated from the Primal Era. Powerful primordial beings of the Immortal Saint Realm wrote them. Though this piece appears to describe a meal, it should actually record an ancient practice in the Primal Era, where others offered food to primordial beings. Whatever was consumed had to have been a spirit treasure.

He continued reading. The remaining two passages were also trivial matters from the Primal Era.

Wang Sheng could not help but recall the six celestial tablets back home, which were said to hold supreme immortal arts. A faint doubt stirred in his heart.

Are immortal arts really recorded on those tablets? If so, why didn't Emperor Ziwei pass those arts to the immortals of the Heavenly Court after he comprehended them?

Looking further back, people said that by grasping the six celestial tablets, the Immortal Emperor gained a supreme divine power that let him go beyond the Great Dao. If Yaoyun's father truly had such an ability, then why had he never taught it to his own followers?

Is it possible that the six celestial tablets don't hold immortal arts at all, but instead contain secrets from the Primal Era?

Wang Sheng shook his head and dismissed the absurd thought, yet his interest in Dao scriptures grew stronger. He stood up and checked the rest of the books. Unfortunately, he didn't find any other Dao scriptures.

Just as he prepared to leave in disappointment, he caught sight of a phrase he had just read.

Annotated by the Old Man of Xinghai.

He couldn't help but laugh at himself. That's right! I'm at the Xinghai Sect!

Even if beaten senseless, Wang Sheng would never believe that the Xinghai Sect had no connection to the Old Man of Xinghai.

Wang Sheng carried the jade slip and walked straight toward an old man sitting in a corner.

The elder was bent over his desk, trimming something with care. Though a True Immortal, a faint decay clung to him, evidencing that he was near the end of his life.

On a closer look, Wang Sheng realized that the old man was repairing a book. Though he could have used immortal art to immediately finish such a task, he still opted to use scissors and golden thread. He worked at a slow, steady pace with his wrinkled hands, as if savoring the act itself.

Instead of interrupting him, Wang Sheng simply waited with the book in his arms. Finally, after nearly two hours, the old man finally raised his head and glanced at him.

"What is it?"

"Elder, are you free now?"

"Who are you?"

Wang Sheng cupped his hands. "I am a new Dao protector, surname Pi, last name Kachew. I have something I'd like to ask you, Elder."

"Oh?" The old man set down his scissors and tapped lightly on the table. A wooden stool drifted over from the side. "Have a seat. It's rare for someone to come seeking me."