Chapter 256: A World of Illusion Belonging to One Person

“Contribution?”

Hearing this, Cheng Yu shook his head and laughed. “To master what you learn and resist the Outer Gods. That is the greatest contribution a student of the Taixue Academy can make. Beyond that, the Taixue Academy asks for nothing.”

He pointed at the jade tablet in Li Shun’s hand. “The tablet contains the detailed regulations. Study them yourself.”

With that, a faint shimmer of Principle Qi surrounded Cheng Yu’s body. He transformed into a streak of flowing light and drifted away.

Li Shun, meanwhile, began carefully examining the jade tablet in his hand.

The jade tablet not only contained an enormous amount of information and allowed communication with the Taixue Academy’s central system, it could also freely control the protective formations surrounding the courtyard.

But there was another remarkable function that Li Shun had never expected.

Within this unassuming jade tablet was actually a storage space measuring three chi on each side!

This was the first time Li Shun had seen a genuine storage treasure in the present-day Great Qian. And judging from the workmanship, it was apparently standard equipment issued to every student of the Taixue Academy.

“The space is a little small, but throughout the entirety of Great Qian, this is still an extraordinary treasure.”

“No wonder that whenever the Taixue Academy is mentioned, even the leaders of the Hundred Schools of Thought reveal a trace of solemnity.”

“Its foundation truly is extraordinary.”

Li Shun then settled his mind and began studying the Taixue Academy’s cultivation arrangements in greater detail.

Under normal circumstances, the Taixue Academy’s complete course of study lasted roughly ten years.

Four years of bitter cultivation, three years of tempering, and three years of proving the Dao.

The so-called bitter cultivation meant listening to the teachings of the Scholars of the Hundred Schools of Thought, resolving every doubt concerning the Great Dao. As for tempering, students would be dispatched to worlds beyond the edge, where they would test everything they had learned over four years amid life-and-death trials.

And finally, the most mysterious stage of all, proving the Dao...

Was [Visiting Ancient Past and Seeking the Dao].

Students would travel to the ancient Great Qian and meet the Sages within an illusionary realm.

This illusionary realm was somewhat different from the primordial illusionary realm Li Shun had experienced before.

The primordial illusionary realm had been a contest in which the elites of the Hundred Schools of Thought competed on the same stage. The illusionary realm of Visiting Ancient Past, however, was an exclusive world personally derived for each individual.

Within the ancient Great Qian of this illusion, the student themselves was the sole “variable.” Aside from that, the mountains, rivers, scenery, and historical course were all exactly identical to the authentic history of Great Qian.

“Even if you fail to prove the Dao the first time, it doesn't matter. Each person has up to three chances to start over...”

When he read this, Li Shun’s eyes flickered slightly.

Because he possessed the Threefold Self-Reflection divine ability, he was particularly sensitive to the number “three.”

“Moreover, this mechanism of continuously erasing one's progress and starting over from the beginning is remarkably similar to the laws of Threefold Self-Reflection.”

Li Shun’s heartbeat quickened slightly.

“Could there truly be some indescribable connection between the two?”

He still did not dare to be certain. For now, he could only bury this suspicion deep within his heart.

The graduation requirements recorded on the jade tablet were equally bizarre.

The farther the history within the illusionary realm of Visiting Ancient Past deviated from authentic history, the more unstable the underlying laws of the illusion would become.

The students merely needed to influence the course of history as much as possible until they successfully shattered the entire illusionary world. At that point, they would officially graduate.

Li Shun’s expression became rather strange.

What was the normal course of Great Qian’s history?

The Qian Emperor trampling across the world and unifying the Seven Nations.

Yet the Taixue Academy’s final graduation examination actually required its students to forcibly shatter and overturn this established historical trajectory!

There was practically an air of treasonous rebellion permeating the entire affair.

“If I did not know that the Taixue Academy was personally overseen and constructed by the Qian Emperor himself, and that the head of the academy was none other than the Qian Emperor himself, I would almost think I had fallen into a den of rebels plotting to usurp the throne.”

Li Shun secretly shook his head and laughed.

Meanwhile, in the general introduction to the Taixue Academy recorded within the jade tablet, Li Shun also confirmed his earlier conjecture.

The Taixue Academy beneath his feet had indeed been built upon a massive ruin left behind by the ancient Heavenly Court.

Originally, this ruin had been suspended alone in the deepest reaches of the Nine Heavens. There had been only a few vague rumors about it, impossible to distinguish from truth.

Even during the height of the era before Great Qian was established, when numerous Sages had existed simultaneously, no mighty cultivator had ever managed to locate its exact position.

It was only after Great Qian was founded, when the Qian Emperor used his supreme will to encompass the Nine Heavens and Four Seas, placing all things in heaven and earth under his absolute control, that he discovered this relic hidden at the very summit of the heavens.

Thus, the Taixue Academy came into existence.

“The ancient Heavenly Court was said to be the dwelling place of the gods. Ever since the Severing of Heaven and Earth, it has been completely cut off from the mortal world.”

“Yet the Qian Emperor not only managed to uncover the ruins of the Heavenly Court, he was even capable of creating a stable passage connecting it to the present world... Just what an inconceivable level of cultivation had he reached back then?”

Li Shun could not help but feel deeply shaken.

Although he knew that the Four Sages would later storm the capital and that the Qian Emperor would suffer severe injuries...

There was no doubt that, at that time, the Qian Emperor had been the undisputed number one person beneath heaven.

He had perhaps even touched that indescribable ‘Divine Realm.’

...

The first day of rest and adjustment soon passed quietly.

The following morning, Li Shun officially attended his first class at the Taixue Academy.

Following the divine-sense guidance within the jade tablet, he passed through layers of austere and imposing white-jade buildings before finally arriving outside a secluded Confucian Dao sanctuary.

There were no other fellow students inside the arena.

Through the half-closed, intricately carved wooden door, he could faintly hear the steady, long sound of snoring.

Li Shun stood beneath the steps and pondered for a moment.

Then his gaze turned solemn.

Without the slightest hesitation, he reached out and pushed open the door.

Following the sound of the snoring, Li Shun arrived before the Confucian Scholar responsible for teaching the class.

Unexpectedly, this Confucian Scholar appeared to be no more than a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old youth.

At this moment, he was sprawled unceremoniously behind a broad writing desk, snoring loudly and sleeping soundly.

“Disciple Li Shun pays his respects to the Scholar!”

Li Shun deliberately raised his voice until it rang like a great bell, while simultaneously bowing with utmost solemnity.

The young Doctor suddenly opened his eyes.

There was not the slightest trace of drowsiness in them. Instead, a sharp gleam flashed within his gaze.

At some unknown point, a purple-black ruler had already appeared in his hand.

“Smack!”

The ruler slammed heavily against the tabletop.

The young Scholar narrowed his eyes slightly, and his voice carried a chilling sternness.

“So you're the new student?”

“Why are you so utterly lacking in manners? Can't you see that this scholar was resting?”

“Your elder was resting. It would have been one thing if you had failed to stand respectfully by and wait.”

“But you actually dared to force your way through the door and shout, disturbing my peaceful sleep!”

He was plainly assuming the posture of someone demanding an explanation for an offense.

Faced with his accusations, Li Shun showed no fear whatsoever.

Meeting the other party’s gaze neither humbly nor arrogantly, he replied loudly, “In ancient times, Zai Yu slept during the day, and the Sage rebuked him as rotten wood that could not be carved.”

“Now the sun hangs high in the sky. This is precisely the time for the Taixue Academy to impart the Dao and teach its students.”

“Yet the Scholar is sleeping soundly in broad daylight, abandoning his duty to impart the Dao and resolve doubts first.”

“As for this disciple pushing open the door, it is because my eagerness to seek the Dao knows no bounds.”

“And as for speaking aloud, it is to uphold the rules of this Taixue Academy!”

Li Shun stepped forward, his words striking the ground with resounding force.

“The Sage said: ‘When righteousness is at stake, do not yield even to your teacher.’ If this disciple were to concern himself only with the empty etiquette of standing respectfully by while allowing the Scholar to neglect the fundamental purpose of this Taixue Academy, resisting the Outer Gods and saving the world and its people, then that would be true ignorance of etiquette and the height of disrespect!”