The Hall of Scriptures, the Madmen Descend!

The young man did not react at all.

He remained crouched on the ground, his eyes fixed unblinkingly on the earth.

Li Qingshan followed his gaze. A troop of ants formed a thin black line on the ground, winding around a small pebble toward the roots of the great tree.

"One flower holds a world; one grain of sand holds a universe."

The young man suddenly spoke.

His voice was soft and unhurried, his words clear, yet his concentration was so absolute that he seemed immersed in his own world, oblivious to everyone else.

"Ants have their Dao, pebbles have theirs, and this tree has its own. Chaos gives birth to all living things, and all living things follow their own Dao. Each Dao differs, yet all spring from the same source..."

He extended a slender finger and gently placed it in the ants' path.

The ants skirted his finger, formed a line again, and continued onward.

"Look at these ants. Do they know they exist within chaos?"

Li Qingshan paused. He did not know whether his second senior brother was asking him or talking to himself.

The words sounded like mad ramblings, but upon reflection, they seemed to conceal some profound insight into the laws.

After considering it, he ventured an answer. "The ants do not know chaos, but chaos has never left the ants."

The young man's finger paused.

He slowly raised his head, revealing a pair of clear yet vacant eyes.

Those eyes looked at Li Qingshan, yet also seemed to look through him toward somewhere impossibly distant.

Then he smiled, his smile pure and unclouded.

"You're more interesting than eldest senior brother."

With that, he lowered his head again and continued watching the ants, murmuring something under his breath.

Li Qingshan vaguely caught a few phrases,