Nine Star Hegemon Body Art (WN)

The elder smiled and said, “The High Firmament Academy might not be the strongest academy within the nine heavens and ten lands, but when it comes to ancient tomes, it definitely has the most complete collection. You will be able to find whatever you wish to investigate, but the precondition is that you have enough time to research.”

“Senior, can you give me some directions? I wish to learn the history of Lord Brahma and Fallen Daynight,” said Long Chen. If he learned their history, perhaps he could learn more about the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art and the Pill Sovereign’s memories.

“Lord Brahma and Fallen Daynight. The former claims to be the ancestor of the Pill Flame, and the latter claims to be the ancestor of pill tools. In truth, whether you look at their information or not is the same. That so-called history is nothing more than stories left behind by the victors to embellish themselves and belittle their enemies. Anything that could be recorded has gone through a filter. What could not be told to others has been erased, so it would be better for you to look through the fragments and scraps of history and unofficial history, piecing them together to look at things from more angles. Then you might be able to find a trustworthy history. Well, most importantly, any history relating to them is not found on the lower three floors here. You are still unqualified to research information on them,” said the elder.

“Senior’s words are deeply moving. Junior will remember then.” Long Chen bowed. This elder had already made it clear. The so-called history here was nothing more than the victors singing their own praises.

“Young man, if you have the time, you should read more. In the academy, you will see vast heaven and earth. Although every writer wrote using their own eyes to judge this world, every book you read is another viewpoint. You will slowly find that this world is filled with wonders and colors. Although you have deliberately suppressed the darkness in your heart, you should know, the heart can be suppressed for a while, but the longer it is blocked, the greater the eruption. If it does explode, there is no taking it back,” said the elder as he finished cleaning this area and walked away.

Long Chen was stuck in his original location, his heart pounding. The elder’s final words thundered through his mind.

Was he not referring to the Purgatory Eyes? The Purgatory Eyes had been sealed by the dragon expert, but even that expert had told Long Chen that this was just a temporary seal. If it was sealed for too long, the danger would grow and grow, until eventually, once it erupted, it would devour his mind.

“Senior…!”

Long Chen suddenly realized that this mysterious elder might have more pointers, and he rushed over to where he went. But when Long Chen passed the shelf, he found that the elder had vanished.

He looked through all the surrounding bookshelves, but the elder was gone. Suddenly, a book fell from one of the shelves. Long Chen caught it and looked at the title: Nine Heavens Ten Lands Yearly Report.

These books were not to be slowly flipped through. They had a fingernail-sized crystal embedded into them. When Long Chen’s Spiritual Strength entered the crystal, the information poured into his mind.

This book could be considered an introduction to the immortal world’s history. There was the current era, the ancient era, the archaic era, the immemorial era, the desolate era, and the great primal chaos era.

The current era referred to the past million years. The ancient era was one million to ten million years ago, while the archaic era referred to ten million to a hundred million years ago.

However, things became murky when it came to the immemorial era and the desolate era. These periods couldn’t be calculated by years. According to historical records, the immemorial era referred to the birth of the world of cultivation. Thus, the immemorial era was termed the great beginning.

Cultivation only began to exist in the immemorial era. It was said that the cultivation techniques of that time were the most primitive. They were all simple and crude. So much time had passed that everything was muddled.

Before that was the desolate era. It was a time lacking any sense of order. At that period, humanity was still at the bottom level of the food chain, and there was no written language recorded. There were only some ancient murals that managed to survive, and those records showed that life back then was very difficult.

In the desolate era, it was the various wild beasts and other lifeforms that were the masters. Humanity barely survived between the cracks.

It could be said that humanity’s memories could only stretch back to the desolate era. Although there were no words left behind, there were at least some carvings.

The great primal chaos era was the true mess of unknowns. It was the era before humanity’s history, so it was an era of unknowns to humanity.

However, just because humanity didn’t know didn’t mean that there was no history. Other races might be aware of some things from that time. After all, humanity was just one race amongst millions and millions of races.

The immortal world had countless races with their own history and inheritances. The High Firmament Academy only had a collection of humanity’s history.

Yet, just that portion was as vast as a sea. This one introductory book that Long Chen was reading already made him feel miniscule.

The Martial Heaven Continent’s history stretched back over a hundred thousand years, but it was incredibly incomplete. However, the immortal world’s history was practically terrifying. There were clear records all the way back to tens of millions of years.

So many things had happened during these tens of millions of years. Research produced new findings, and various domains gave rise to countless shocking geniuses. There were people innovating things every day. Because of it, learning was constantly being accumulated into an intimidating mountain of knowledge.

Looking at the endless bookshelves around him, Long Chen felt a wave of powerlessness. Suddenly, he had a thought and ran to a different region. This was the history of the various regions within the immortal world. After flipping through the shelves rapidly, his eyes fell upon a certain book: Historical Chronicle of the Ying Prefecture.

Long Chen instantly became excited. His mother, Luo Ningshuang, was from the Ying Prefecture’s Luo family. After ascending, he finally found a clue to his mother’s whereabouts.

…

The light sound of sweeping continued over and over. An elderly man was sweeping the ground with his head down. At this moment, another elder walked over to him.

This elder was precisely the one that Long Chen had just encountered in the Divine Scripture Pavilion. The elder then respectfully bowed to the sweeping old man.

The sweeper didn’t look up from his sweeping. He only asked, “Did you see him?”

“Disciple saw him. His darkness is shocking. Even amongst nine star heirs, I’ve never seen or heard of such a thing. His potential is terrifying, so he is most likely the legendary destined heir. Disciple is still hesitating over what to do and wishes to ask master for advice,” said the elder.

While still sweeping, the sweeper shook his head. “You are the dean of the High Firmament Academy. Why are you pushing the problem to me? I am currently nothing more than an ordinary sweeping worker.”

If Long Chen learned that this elder was actually the dean with the greatest authority within the entire High Firmament Academy, he would definitely lurch. The dean said, “But this matter has giant implications. It will sooner or later bring Lord Brahma, Fallen Daynight, and the others…”

“Is the High Firmament Academy afraid of them?” asked the sweeper indifferently.

“Not afraid exactly, but…” The dean shook his head.

“If you’re not afraid, what is there for you to worry about?”

“I’m worried that Long Chen is a double-sided sword. His Purgatory Eyes have been sealed. Moreover, when I looked at his other side, I saw something that made my hair stand on end,” said the dean.

“Don’t look at what you shouldn’t look at. Don’t listen to what you shouldn’t listen to. Everything will come as it will. Just treat Long Chen like an ordinary disciple,” said the sweeper.

“Yes. Disciple understands.” The dean then bowed and left.

As for the sweeper, he was still patiently sweeping the ground. A gust of wind then blew by, sending the leaves he had piled up flying. The elder once more began sweeping them calmly, neither fast nor slow.

After that, another gust of wind blew by. The elder smiled slightly and started sweeping from the start once more…