Chapter 271 - 249: The First Class
Class 2B.
The stepped classroom was full of people.
The school bulletin board had an announcement posted, a new Escape Technique class was started by Tang Zhenren from overseas.
Martial Arts University originally did not offer this course; ancient cultivators only had the skills, laws, the four arts, and six courses. However, Zhou Yi revealed his Foundation Establishment realm at the peak level and immediately agreed to add this course.
Ding ding!
The class bell rang, and the chatter in the classroom stopped abruptly.
Students took out their tablet computers, specially developed teaching equipment, ready to record the screen for review and search all Buddhist and Taoist scriptures for answers to their questions.
Zhou Yi appeared out of thin air on the podium, his gaze sweeping over everyone, pointing to the center seat in the first row.
"What is your name?"
"Gu Chen."
"From now on, you are the class monitor, responsible for striking the chime at the beginning and end of class."
Zhou Yi waved his hand to silence the bell at the door, and a Jade Chime appeared in front of Gu Chen. With another wave of his hand, all the desks, chairs, and stools disappeared, turning into rows of meditation cushions.
Caught off guard, some students let out a buzz of surprise.
Zhou Yi’s gaze turned to Gu Chen, who immediately understood and picked up the Stone Hammer to strike the Jade Chime.
Ding!
The profound and mysterious sound resounded in the classroom, and everyone felt their souls calm like still water, vaguely gaining enlightenment on the previous Buddhist and Taoist scriptures.
This Jade Chime had quite an extraordinary origin. According to Zhou Yi’s research in the Taoist archives, it was a legacy Magic Artifact from Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple.
When monks listened to the scriptures, it was driven by the magical powers of a Golden Elixir True Monarch, helping to purify the soul and aid in the comprehension of techniques.
Zhou Yi had acquired it at a bargain price years ago. Without specifically nurturing it with mana, it had already recovered to the level of a top-tier Magic Artifact due to the influence of the Spiritual Energy from his abode.
"Today, this poor Taoist will discuss the light-body Cultivation Technique..."
Teaching was already second nature to him. In just a short hour, he had covered Qinggong to the Escape Techniques of the Qi Refinement Realm.
Zhou Yi had reviewed the students’ files while preparing for class. In the ancient cultivator class of Martial Arts University, even the least gifted students had dual Spirit Roots.
Gifted with extraordinary talents and with access to limitless legacies and scriptures for enlightenment, they were comparable to the disciples of the Dan Ding Sect of old. The only pity was that their numbers were too few.
The students were captivated by his teaching and had never felt learning to be such a delightful endeavor, feeling as if the lecture had ended in an instant.
Ding!
The Jade Chime rang, bringing everyone back from their trance.
Zhou Yi said, "Are there any doubts about what was taught today?"
Teaching the Dharma, including imparting knowledge and resolving doubts, became of utmost importance in the current age where the celestial heritage was widely available, and mortals could access various Cultivation Techniques online; thus, resolving doubts was more crucial than imparting knowledge.
A moment of silence filled the classroom before many hands shot up.
Modern cultivators had a very different attitude towards their predecessors in the celestial way compared to the disciples from ancient sects. In the Earth Fire Palace of the Dan Ding Sect, very few dared to voice their queries when Zhou Yi taught.
Most disciples were extremely cautious and fearful, lest they displease their master with a word. They would rather return to their abodes to contemplate on their own.
"Starting with you, one by one," Zhou Yi said, pointing to a student in the leftmost seat of the front row, proceeding to answer each student’s doubts, which were not limited to today’s lecture. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
The classmates soon discovered, no matter the question, Zhou Yi could explain it in a simple yet profound manner and even expand upon it to reveal broader realms of existence, as if he were an encyclopedia of the Taoist path.
Having a clear path ahead was a great blessing for cultivators!
An hour passed quickly, and with half of the students still having queries, it was already time for lunch.
Martial Arts University was the future of humanity. The higher-ups of the alliance might endure hunger, but they made sure to save the scarce food to satisfy all the students’ cultivation needs.
Ancient cultivators subsisted on refining Spiritual Energy, seemingly without the need for food, yet what they consumed were rare Spiritual Objects!
No wonder the alliance preferred the new techniques, for a martial artist’s meal of ten cows paled in comparison to the cost of a single Spirit Pill of an ancient cultivator.
Lunch was extremely important to the students, as what they received was rare Spiritual Medicine.
"The last question, let the heavens decide," Zhou Yi said as he took out a Compass, casting a divination technique, and pointed to a student in the back row. "What is your doubt?"
"The student’s name is Meng Jun."
Meng Jun stood up, bowed respectfully, and asked, "Teacher, since you’ve established an Escape Technique class, you must be unparalleled in Escape Skills, so why do you still resolve matters using divination techniques?"
"In my view, the art of divination can be included under Escape Techniques," Zhou Yi said with a smile. "The ultimate realm of Escape Techniques is to become one with the escaping entity. With the Great Expansion as fifty, its use is forty-nine; without understanding divination, without knowing the celestial numbers, how would you know where to escape to?"
Meng Jun listened, finding the explanation reasonable yet peculiar, and instinctively asked, "If divination is part of Escape Techniques, then do Pill Refinement, Artifact Refining, and Fu Arrays all belong to Escape Techniques?"
"The youth shows promise!" Zhou Yi praised, then continued, "Consuming pills can prolong the energy used in Escape Skills, refining artifacts and Fu inscriptions can accelerate Escape Techniques, and Array Dao can conceal the direction of an Escape Skill. Therefore, my class on Escape Techniques includes everything."
"On the day when Escape Techniques reach perfection, to become one with the escaping entity, that is the state of transcending all things and the cycle of eternal life!"
"I thank the teacher for his guidance," Meng Jun said as he bowed his respects, pondering for a moment before asking his original question. "Teacher, what lies beyond the Eastern Sea? Are there ferocious beasts rampant there?"
"The Eastern Sea stretches boundlessly. According to records, even hundreds of miles out, it is still the sea..." Zhou Yi spoke of the Eastern Sea’s natural beauty and continued, "There used to be a human population in the Eastern Sea, but most of them perished due to ferocious beasts. Whether any remnants exist, I am not sure."
"As for the distant ocean, there are no ferocious beasts because there the Spiritual Energy is so thin it’s nearly non-existent; no beasts could, nor would dare go there!"
Deeper into the Eastern Sea, there were no traces of humanity. All the island inhabitants of that lineage were taken away by cultivators. One could say the extent of a cultivator’s influence marked the limits of human activity.
"Spiritual Energy, Spiritual Energy..." Meng Jun murmured to himself, while silence filled the classroom and the expressions of all students seemed unusual.
They harbored both love and hatred for Spiritual Energy. It was the foundation of transcendence, but also the source of catastrophe.