The Earth Is My Dantian - Chapter 34
Chapter 34: The Night of Divine Enlightenment
The story of how Ye Sheng had managed to observe and meditate on Laozi’s painting in ten minutes, proceeded to do the same for the sun and the moon, and had reached the Psyche Nourishing Level First Stage quickly and quietly spread throughout the school.
Within one hour after the class on Daoism had ended, every student in this new batch at Jixia Academy had heard about this.
What Priest Qingxu had said about how Ye Sheng would become the leading student of the batch had brought Ye Sheng a lot of attention.
Those who didn’t know anything about Daoism grumbled. How could Ye Sheng possibly be the best among them?
Those who knew about Daoism all gasped to themselves. Being able to observe and meditate on Laozi’s painting in ten minutes was indeed an incredible feat.
The rumors and gossip spread nonstop in the school.
Meanwhile, Ye Sheng had returned to his own room by himself.
Zhou Meiren had also returned. He looked at Ye Sheng with amusement, and his lips curled into a beautiful smile as he said, “Hello, Mister Number One.”
Ye Sheng blinked a few times and asked, “What are you talking about, Mister Number One?”
“You’re supposed to be the leading student of this batch, that’s what Priest Qingxu said. Are you feeling very gleeful about it?” asked Zhou Meiren with a raised eyebrow. This pose made him look particularly energetic and was very compatible with the tree leaves behind him. He looked like a painting.
Ye Sheng rolled his eyes and lowered his head as he muttered, “Some people are just too bored.”
“Bored?” Zhou Meiren folded his arms and said, “You won’t be bored for long. With a reputation of being Mister Number One, you’re going to end up offending so many people. All those descendants from aristocratic families and the royal family and those disciples from major sects who all think they’re the best in both martial arts and philosophy are going to be annoyed. I think you’re going to have an interesting time very soon.”
Ye Sheng’s gaze turned cold when he heard these words, and a tinge of frustration flashed in his eyes. He had come to Jixia Academy to have a good time learning and improving himself. He wasn’t interested in fighting with others to be the top student.
He still had a big foe in Ye Manor, and he had to make full use of his few years in Jixia Academy to groom and grow the cultivation of the Earthlings.
“Do you know where the library of Jixia Academy is?” asked Ye Sheng after he had been thinking over the situation.
“Why do you want to go to the library?” asked Zhou Meiren.
“I want to read up on various martial arts and glean lessons from other martial artists,” said Ye Sheng.
“It’s on the mountain at the back of the house. There’s a library there. Do you know the way? Ah, forget it. Since you’ve let me have half the house, I’ll take you there,” said Zhou Meiren after thinking about it. He got up and started walking out.
“You can just tell me how to get there, there’s no need to take me there.” Ye Sheng didn’t want to walk with such a beautiful man.
Zhou Meiren completely ignored Ye Sheng’s words and walked out of the house.
Ye Sheng had no choice but to follow him toward the mountain at the back of the house.
Zhou Meiren was simply too attractive. Even though he avoided crowded areas, he was still noticed by everyone he went past.
The first reaction was, wow, what a beauty, I’m in love.
The second reaction was to look at his chest, and then the person looking’s heart would skip a beat. Was this person male or female?
The third reaction was to disregard his gender. As long as he was pretty, nothing else mattered.
That was also why Zhou Meiren refused to stay anywhere that was too crowded.
As quick as a wink, Zhou Meiren took Ye Sheng to the mountain behind their house. At least ten people noticed them along the way.
They went up the mountain and reached a properly built staircase that even had banisters. Nearby, there was a long row of human-shaped puppets working hard.
Ye Sheng took note of all these puppet workers. They had probably been developed as a result of the Mohists’ Puppetry Technique.
The library was easy to find. After they had reached the highest point of the mountain, they saw a nine-stories-high tall building that was in an octagonal shape. There was a lantern at every point of the eight sides, and they started to light up as the sky darkened. The glow of the lanterns lit up the entire building. It was quite a pretty sight.
“This is the library. You’re a new student, so you are only allowed to enter the first story.” Zhou Meiren finally spoke again to Ye Sheng as he pointed at the lit building.
Ye Sheng clasped his hands together politely to thank Zhou Meiren for leading the way.
Zhou Meiren waved his hands and said, “I’ve been wanting to come myself.”
He walked into the lit building first, and Ye Sheng immediately followed behind him. The first thing he saw was a row of large words.
“One must work hard to walk through the journey of books, one must be a brave little boat in the vast sea of learning.”
These words were written in a charismatic fashion, and, at the same time as he read them, a great surge of knowledge hit Ye Sheng in the face. He wasn’t sure how to describe this feeling either, but he just felt that these words were excellent.
Zhou Meiren suddenly spun around and said, “These words were written by the dean of Jixia Academy.”
“Oh? Who is the dean of Jixia Academy?” asked Ye Sheng.
Elder Hanshan was Number Ten of the Twelve Great Immortals, and he was only able to be the vice dean of the school. So how much more powerful was the actual dean?
“No idea. After Jixia Academy was rebuilt and reopened, the dean has never appeared, and the vice dean, Elder Hanshan, handles everything. Some people think that perhaps he doesn’t exist, but Elder Hanshan has emphasized many times that Jixia Academy does have a dean and that he himself can’t compare to the dean. Also, the current emperor has said that Jixia Academy really does have a dean,” said Zhou Meiren as he shook his head.
Ye Sheng said sadly because he really wished he could know the dean, “Since he can write in such a manner, I’m sure the dean is very well versed in literature.”
He didn’t know much about calligraphy, and his own writing wasn’t great, but he did have some ability to tell good writing from bad writing.
“All right now, once we get past these words, there is an enormous collection of books.” Zhou Meiren walked in first.
Ye Sheng followed him and walked past the calligraphy on entering. A puppet was standing at the entrance, and it only had one eye that took up about two- thirds of its entire face. The eye flashed a red beam as it scanned Ye Sheng.
“Ye Sheng, a student that has been guaranteed admission into Jixia Academy this year. You may access the first level,” said the puppet in a creepy voice as it allowed Ye Sheng to enter.
“Why didn’t it say anything to you just now?” asked Ye Sheng, puzzled.
“That’s because I have the library’s Jade Plaque. Besides discussing matters with my teacher privately, I also do a lot of reading in the library as part of my self-learning process, so of course I need a Jade Plaque.” Zhou Meiren’s slim fingers were holding a transparent Jade Plaque.
“What’s so good about having one of these?” asked Ye Sheng.
“It’s great. For example, it’s already evening, and actually the library is already closed. If you had come by yourself, you would have been stuck outside the door. But because I have this Jade Plaque, it lets me in on off-hours and I can even bring you with me,” replied Zhou Meiren.
“I should get one too.” Ye Sheng’s eyes lit up.
“All right then, all the first level books are here. We’ll go separate ways from here. And, remember, we have to leave by midnight,” said Zhou Meiren.
Ye Sheng excitedly went looking for all sorts of martial arts books.
The library was gigantic, two or three times larger than the one in Ye Manor. Also, the books here included martial arts manuals, martial arts theories, Daoist philosophical writings, records of the Occult, and many more categories.
Jixia Academy didn’t divide up the books, because they weren’t afraid that the students would learn randomly. The worst thing one could do at the start of the cultivation journey was to waste time and energy on being distracted. Staying focused on learning and working hard on one thing was their way to perfecting their studies.
That ended up benefiting Ye Sheng.
He picked up a manual and discovered that it was about a saber technique. Ye Sheng immediately used his photographic memory to memorize it.
After he had memorized everything, he shut his eyes and sent everything to Earth.
With a few swooshes, a few thousand rocks came raining down on Earth.
This was just the beginning. Ye Sheng soon began his plan to cover the entire planet with martial arts techniques.
For a good part of the night, Ye Sheng read through at least 100 manuals. There were Daoist techniques, sword techniques, saber techniques, boxing techniques, etc.…
This night was an unbelievable night for the Earthlings. Their high and mighty god was passing down so many martial arts techniques to aid the Earth in its growth. All the Earthlings who hadn’t been suitable to train in the earlier techniques Ye Sheng had given them now saw a ray of hope.
This night was later known as the Night of Divine Enlightenment.