Li Shun's expression shifted slightly when he heard this.
"Master Han, do you mean that everything we think in the Imperial Academy is recorded?"
Han Qi gave a wry smile and shook his head. "Nothing so mysterious. If that were true, wouldn't it mean every thought we had could be seen clearly, with no secrets left? I'd be the first to quit."
After a brief pause, Han Qi explained, "When the Imperial Academy was built, the leaders of the Hundred Schools took part and left their imprints. Over the years, successive teaching scholars have continued to strengthen the Hundred Schools Imprint."
"It has no particular reaction to other thoughts. But any thought concerning the ideas of the Hundred Schools resonates with those imprints, so long as it arises within the Imperial Academy."
"That brings many benefits. Disciples of the Hundred Schools find it easier to seek enlightenment and cultivate within the academy. Moreover, with the Hundred Schools Brand as its foundation and the thoughts arising from countless disciples as its support, ceaseless refinement day and night can turn intangible ideas into something pure and substantial."
"That is the Hundred Schools Essentials."
At the mention of it, even Han Qi's eyes stirred with emotion.
"If you can consume and absorb it, it's as though you've sat down to discuss the Dao with every disciple and scholar the Imperial Academy has ever had. The breadth of what you stand to gain is unimaginable!"
Li Shun began to understand.
The Hundred Schools Essentials was like another version of the Square Inch Puppet.
Cultivating with the Square Inch Puppet, however, meant drawing from only one person.
The Hundred Schools Essentials gathered the insights of countless disciples into oneself, like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea.
But Li Shun soon saw the problem and