Becoming a Sage Starts From Condensing the Essence of Time

Chapter 98: Bamboo Painting to Seek the Dao, Primordial Spirit Forms on Its Own (2)

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

First Headmaster Zhu Huoxi shook his head imperceptibly and was speechless in his heart. This Wang Banshan’s chess skills… were still as bad as ever.

“Literary courage depends on fate. An Le dared to make such a majestic denunciation of the North Expedition. A mere literary courage is nothing to him. I wonder if he can draw out the righteous qi to strengthen himself.” “The Literary Department has been developing for ten thousand years. Now, there are really fewer and fewer righteous people in the department.” Wang Banshan said softly.

He narrowed his eyes and placed a piece down, but as soon as he placed it, he regretted it and wanted to pick it up.

Zhu Huoxi shook his head and quickly placed a white piece down.

“You’re the Third Headmaster of the Literary Department. You can’t cheat when playing chess.” First Headmaster Zhu Huoxi chuckled.

“Righteousness is rare to begin with. It’s the same in all dynasties. The more prosperous the royal court is, the more rotten it will be. It will wear down the will of scholars. Now that Great Zhao has moved south for 500 years and is extremely prosperous, Lin’an is too tempting.”

“How can a scholar uphold the righteousness in his heart and gather it?”

“To gather the righteousness, not only does one have to have quality, but they also have to have knowledge that matches them. Nowadays, scholars are obsessed with prosperity. If they don’t study, how can they be righteous?” Zhu Huoxi sighed softly. “The prosperity and decline of the temple began from here.”

Third Headmaster Wang Banshan did not mind. “When the Confucian scholars of the Literary Department are involved with the nobles of the temple, this is destined. This is their choice. We old bones express our thoughts. They can’t force us to listen or not. It’s enough to ensure that the Literary Department continues to be passed down.”

“You’re really carefree,” Zhu Huoxi said.

Wang Banshan shook his head. “It’s not that I’m carefree. When I see too much disappointment, I don’t hold any hope.”

“As for whether An Le can attract righteousness, it’s actually up to him. Let’s see if he attracts it or not. This young man was given Green Mountain by Zhao Huangting and is worthy of it. It’s naturally not a problem for him to attract righteousness.”

Whether he attracted righteousness or not depended on whether An Le was willing..

Wang Banshan’s words stunned Zhu Huoxi. Did he really think so highly of this young man.

An Le had long sensed Ink Pool Sword’s restlessness. He had always suppressed it with his mental power and there was no chaos.

However, as soon as he released his mental power, the Ink Pool Sword flashed out and entered the Secluded Bamboo Forest.

An Le was really helpless about this, like a horse that had escaped its leash.

He was really looking forward to the Heart Questioning Forest. It was a treasure land for Spirit Refinement. His current Spirit Refinement had stepped into Shedding Mortality and he had visualized the Sword Waterfall during the Spring Quarter Examination. His mental power was only a little away from the perfected-stage.

Perhaps the Heart Questioning Forest could help him reach the perfected-stage today?

His white clothes fluttered as he stepped into the bamboo forest. His figure hid in the secluded bamboo. When he looked back, he could not see any traces of his path behind him, as if it had been erased.

Looking around, there were only bamboo branches swaying gently. The jade-green aura was like the air that had been baptized after rain, making one feel relaxed and happy.

Vaguely, the sound of the Ink Pool Sword flying in the bamboo sea could be heard. The sword rubbed against the gently fluttering bamboo leaves and made a soft sand sound.

There was no path in front of him, only countless green bamboos growing horizontally.

Walking in the bamboo forest, he stepped on soft withered bamboo leaves.

It was as if the aura of time was rising and constantly surging through An Le. The withering of every bamboo leaf represented the passage of time.

The layers of bamboo leaves on the ground might have experienced a long time and turned into spring mud to protect new bamboo.

The spine of the Azure Dragon was cold, and the tip of the phoenix’s tail was on the leaf plate.

Listening to the sound of the bamboo sea, An Le walked slowly. The sword furnace in the Niwan Palace between his eyebrows appeared unprecedentedly quiet.

In this calmness, his mental power seemed to be forged with a light hammer. It slowly refined and became more and more condensed.

The ink bamboo left and returned, galloping through the bamboo forest.

An Le placed his hands behind his back and walked to a bamboo with Green Mountain on his waist. He admired this bamboo. In fact, there were countless bamboos like this in Heart Questioning Forest.

He had drawn ink bamboo before, so he was actually not unfamiliar with bamboo. He knew how to transport ink, draw leaves, and express the tenacious and unyielding temperament of bamboo.

But in fact, this was the first time he had seriously calmed down and observed the bamboo.

His ink bamboo was mostly based on the painting impression and brush technique of the ink bamboo masters in his previous life.

However, An Le had always felt that something was missing.

In the Heart Questioning Forest, An Le stared at a bamboo for a long time.

Outside, the Literary Music Ranking Confucian scholars who had used their mental power to observe the Heart Questioning Forest and formulated the route moved. All of them stepped into the Heart Questioning Forest and began to slowly advance.

The routes they had planned were all feasible paths after experiencing the treks and verification of their predecessors. Therefore, they firmly believed that as long as they continued along the path of their predecessors, they would definitely be able to walk out of the Heart Questioning Forest and step in front of the Literary Monument.

Although the path taken by the predecessors was covered by withered bamboo leaves, what they had to do was use their mental power to break through the bamboo leaves that covered the path and dig out the path.

This process was the process of baptizing and strengthening one’s mental power. It was the wonder of the Heart Questioning Forest.

One Confucian scholar after another from the Literary Music Ranking stepped into the Heart Questioning Forest.

The other candidates also stepped in. Even Han Shi calmed down and made a path plan outside the Heart Questioning Forest. Then, he stepped in and followed the predetermined path.

Second Headmaster Pang Ji watched quietly as the calm on his face gradually deepened.