Inheritance

As if sensing Li Qi's confusion, Young Master Zhu explained as he performed the inheritance:

"Divine Will Inheritance was originally meant to directly instill understanding into disciples and followers. It carried an extremely strong subjective intent, and could even directly twist a disciple's path, turning them into a copy of oneself and cutting off their future road."

"Later, the sages of the Confucian Way proposed that the true meaning of the Dao was something universally applicable and unchanging through a hundred generations. Why force one's own understanding upon one's disciples? Thus, this technique was later improved. It now passes on only the original texts, without adding too much subjective interpretation."

"So the inheritance will not rapidly improve your understanding, nor will it let you memorize everything outright. But it can spare you the trouble of carrying a stack of books everywhere every day. Convenient, isn't it? The books are directly installed in your head, ready for you to consult at any time." Young Master Zhu smiled.

Yet Li Qi wore an oddly complicated expression, as though he did not know what to say...

What could he say?

There seemed to be nothing to say. The people of this world... really were not stupid at all. There were simply no loopholes for him to reform. Trying to propose improvements based on his own knowledge was astonishingly difficult...

Still, that was more normal. He might have some novel ideas or different experiences, but thinking he could surpass the wisdom of this world would be far too arrogant.

The inheritance was almost entirely painless. There was merely an additional cultivation method for Zhu practitioners in his mind, with an exceedingly simple name: "Zhu."

However, when he immersed himself in it, he suddenly felt... grandeur.

It truly was grand. What lay in his mind did not seem to be a cultivation method at all, but an encyclopedia!

The things it recorded were unbelievably intricate and numerous. From the nine provinces beneath heaven, astronomy, calendars, and celestial phenomena, down to ditches and roads, grasses and trees, insects and fish—everything was within it.

There were also rites, music, warfare, punishments, farming, commerce, medicine, and divination. All of it had been imprinted in his mind!

The cultivation portion occupied only a small fraction.

The profession of "Zhu" itself referred to the person who presided over Sacrificial Rituals.

This book, "Zhu," was more like a database established for all the knowledge a Zhu practitioner needed to understand and know!

All kinds of Sacrificial Rituals; all kinds of implements, animals, plants, and ceremonies useful in sacrifices; even the forms of mountains, rivers, and earth veins, and methods for distinguishing every kind of Heaven and Earth Qi—so long as it was related to sacrifice, it ought to all be here!

The countless pieces of knowledge had not been stuffed into his mind, but stored within it. He still needed to read and recite them himself before he could truly remember them. It was simply that now, with a single thought, he could search through them as if using a database. There was some delay, but after a while, the relevant information would indeed appear.

For example, Li Qi already clearly understood the sacrificial significance of Beginning of Spring.

"On the day of Beginning of Spring, the officials welcome Gou Mang and the clay ox. Gou Mang is called the Spring-Calling Boy. If he wears a hat, spring will be warm; otherwise, spring will be cold. If the clay ox is red, there will be drought; if black, there will be floods. People race to scatter red beans and five-colored rice upon it, to dispel the year's illnesses and rashes. The clay from the clay ox is smeared upon the stove, to fatten the six domestic animals."

There were also methods of sacrifice: Blood Sacrifice was used for the Altar of Earth and Grain, the Five Sacrifices, and the Five Sacred Mountains; buried and sunken offerings were used for mountains, forests, rivers, and marshes; dismembered sacrifices were used for the four directions and the myriad things. Ominous rites mourned a state's troubles; funeral rites mourned the dead; famine rites mourned calamities and plagues; condolence rites mourned disasters; expiatory rites mourned sieges and defeats; relief rites mourned banditry and chaos.

For another example, when one needed to sacrifice to weapons, one had to make offerings to weapons at mountains and rivers, and use sacrificial livestock at the Altar of Earth and Grain and ancestral temples.

There were also many different methods of sacrifice. Broadly speaking, they included command sacrifices, extended sacrifices, encompassing sacrifices, cyclical sacrifices, shaking sacrifices, stirring sacrifices, severing sacrifices, encircling sacrifices, offering sacrifices, and so on.

It could also distinguish all manner of gods and Baleful Intent—tribulation balefulness, disaster balefulness, great balefulness, and countless others.

It even taught techniques for observing the heavens and divining from the stars. For instance, one could foretell fortune and misfortune from the five colors of clouds surrounding the sun, observe the movements of Heaven and Earth Qi through the winds of the twelve months, and reveal the demonic calamities or auspicious signs Heaven and Earth wished to foretell.

In short, countless bodies of knowledge—including distant sacrifices, distant extensions, bestowing titles, and so forth—had all been recorded one by one.

Everything a Zhu practitioner ought to do had been marked with absolute clarity.

It was just that Li Qi could not understand many of those things at all. Though they were recorded there, he had no idea what they meant. It was like an elementary school student reading advanced mathematics—he could stare at it for half a day and still be utterly lost.

Compared to that vast and indescribably complicated body of knowledge, the cultivation method was introduced in merely a short passage.

It was very simple. The cultivation methods of Zhu practitioners were divided into three branches: Heavenly Gods, Earthly Deities, and Human-Ghosts. The one Li Qi had received belonged to the Earthly Deity branch.

One merely had to make timely sacrifices to mountains, rivers, and water veins; remain respectful toward the spirits of nature; and act according to fixed ceremonies. Then one could draw out the power of the myriad Earthly Deities, gather it into oneself, and conceal it within one's body.

There was no dantian, nor was there any need for an energy-gathering point or anything of the sort. There was not even any need to compress energy from gas into liquid. All the theories he had seen before were useless.

Because according to the book, the human body was itself a small heaven and earth, capable of containing an immense number of things. Symbolic things such as "Qi" were difficult to use to truly fill this small heaven and earth of the human body.

Cultivating in this manner, one accumulated power bit by bit. Then one could gradually come into contact with stronger and more numerous Earthly Deities, gain more powerful strength, and use more formidable techniques.

Everything proceeded slowly and naturally. It was neither intense nor burdened by any bottlenecks.

It was an exceedingly peaceful cultivation method, so peaceful that Li Qi could scarcely believe that there was a method of cultivation that could proceed smoothly all the way without fighting, killing, or competing for resources...

All those novels he had read before had been for nothing.

This was the path of the Shaman Path.

However, despite its peacefulness, there were still distinctions of rank.

According to the book, there were countless methods in the world, each with different levels. A low-grade one such as Wave-Pushing Strength had an upper limit of only the first level; once cultivated to completion, it could bring one to the level of an adult in this world. A high-grade one such as this book, "Zhu," had an unknown upper limit.

Every method had its own realms and its own hierarchy. Even different Dao Lineages used different systems. The Confucian Way had its own grades, the Shaman Path had its own classifications, and the Daoist schools had concepts such as Primordial Spirit and Golden Core. The ranks of all these different cultivation methods were extremely chaotic and difficult to distinguish from one another.

Thus, sages established a rule: regardless of one's Dao Lineage, all would be measured by a single standard, from ninth rank to first rank.

Li Qi was still browsing the books in his mind, but Young Master Zhu could wait no longer. He said again, "Everything that needs to be said, learned, and comprehended is within the Divine Will Inheritance. As for memorization, there is not much more to say. Let me introduce you to someone else—oh... a demon." With that, he gave a light pull behind him.