Daoist Scriptures

Biodata

Power Progression

The following milestones document Wang Quan’s scripture mastery and the benefits it unlocks.

Role in Cultivation

Admission and Safe Practice

• Drowning Dao entry requirement: Ordinary applicants must master 3,000 volumes by age sixteen. Those who fail must compete for Lower Court places through the Land of Seeking Immortality 1.
• Orthodox sect qualification: Wang Quan’s mastery of 9,000 volumes should have earned him an Immortal-Seeking Token from one of the 108 Orthodox Mystic Sects 1.
• Minimum foundation: The Lower Court’s fundamental methods require at least 3,000 volumes of scripture knowledge to handle safely 1.
• Dangerous mismatches: Cultivating a method version beyond one’s understanding of the scriptures can be fatal. A client who cultivated without mastering any scriptures was considered liable to become an anomaly after death 1 17.
• Secrecy: Newcomers are explicitly warned never to disclose how many volumes they have learned 1.

Method Versions and Efficiency

• Stronger interpretation: The more scriptures a cultivator masters, the more powerful the fundamental methods and spells they can decipher become 1.
• First cultivation matters: Beginning with a higher-version fundamental method provides greater benefits. Mastering 10,000 volumes before beginning is described as the theoretically ideal approach 1 2.
• Later upgrades are possible: Cultivators can begin with lower-version methods and replace them as their scripture knowledge improves 1.
• Improved refinement: Qian Xiuyue directly identifies greater scripture mastery with more efficient dharmic-power refinement 4.
• Practical demonstration: Wang Quan’s moonlight-gathering technique covered a thousand-meter range, prompting his former classmates to recognize the advantage of his continued study 31.

Wang Quan’s interpretation of his fundamental methods changed substantially after obtaining the First-Rank Dao Seal: methods previously deciphered into 12,000 words became 3,000-word versions with better qi gathering and dharmic-power refinement 4.

Old Method and New Method

Zhao Hongyi’s group worked to break down Lower Court spells and fundamental methods into smaller components so that New Method cultivators without scripture knowledge could practice them 17.

Study and Assessment

Scripture Repository

• Volume selection: A reader writes a volume number on a blank scripture book, causing that volume’s contents to appear 1.
• Examinations: An assessment appears after the volume’s final page. Passing confirms thorough mastery and permits study of the next volume 1.
• Comprehension required: Wang Quan memorizes and carefully considers each volume before attempting its examination 1.
• Purchasable copies: Qian Xiuyue bought a scripture volume from the Lower Court at a steep price 17.
• Second-Layer study: After the outpost expanded, Qian Xiuyue reported that cultivators could study in its reflected Scripture Repository and master scriptures more quickly 41.

Difficulty and Persistence

• Beyond 9,000 volumes: Difficulty increases severalfold; Wang Quan initially manages only three or four volumes daily 1.
• Approaching 10,000: The final volumes are especially difficult, slowing his progress sharply before he completes the threshold 2 3.
• After the threshold: Volume 10,001 takes six to eight hours, and his study efficiency later improves enough to master a new volume in barely four hours 6 7.
• Medicinal assistance: Qian Xiuyue reports that Zhao Hongyi used spiritual medicines to temporarily improve intelligence and comprehension, allowing further study after beginning cultivation 2.
• Distraction: Qian Xiuyue struggles to resume reading because thoughts of building a manor and enjoying its luxuries prevent her from quieting her mind 17.

Dao Seals and Restricted Techniques

First-Rank Dao Seal

• Unlock condition: Mastering the Ten Thousand Scrolls Dao Canon while possessing no magical power produces a First-Rank Dao Seal 3.
• Trait selection: The seal initially offers 365 traits, including improvements to qi gathering, earth veins, spell power, and recovery. Traits consume Heavenly Opportunity 3.
• Spell comprehension: With both the canon and the seal, Wang Quan can memorize a spell, briefly contemplate it through his Yin Spirit, and cast it perfectly 18.
• Timing cannot be recovered through study alone: Cultivators who master the canon later lack the same perfect comprehension and still need practice 18.
• Next rank: Wang Quan’s seal displays a 20,000-volume advancement requirement, but he has not reached it by Chapter 50 23 50.

People-Crossing Scripture

• Hidden interpretation: Wang Quan deciphers the People-Crossing Scripture from a newcomers’ booklet, realizing that its readable contents vary with scripture mastery 26.
• Rare comprehension: Mastering the Ten Thousand Scrolls Dao Canon gives a chance to understand it, not a guarantee. Another cultivator has mastered 20,000 scrolls without comprehending it 27 38.
• Dao Seal connection: Wang Quan attributes his success to the First-Rank Dao Seal 26 33 38.
• Effect: Permanently purges evil creatures, weakening the Great Tomb and expanding the cultivators’ protected hall 27.
• Limit: Its heavy magical-power consumption initially restricts how much evil Wang Quan can purge 27 32.

Three Heads and Six Arms

• Full technique: Requires a Third-Rank Dao Seal and the combination of numerous prerequisite Life Cultivation and Nature Cultivation spells 40.
• Component techniques: Divides into three Second-Rank Dao Seal spells and three First-Rank spells 40.
• First-Rank components: Flying Head Art, Multiple Arms Art, and Yang Qi Furnace; all belong to Life Cultivation 40.

Practical Applications

Spells and Artifact Refinement

• Refining implements: Wang Quan combines scripture passages with spell passages in different sequences to produce different effects while refining the Plain Moon Paper-Cutting Box 8.
• Dao-language casting: Thirty-six Dao characters guide magical power into moonlight to complete Moonlight Escape 8.
• Simplified ritual refinement: His extensive scripture knowledge allows him to refine a First-Turn Outer Elixir with only a few strands of magical power and lines of scripture, much faster than other owners 36.
• Combat analysis: Scripture mastery affects both spell strength and the ability to recognize and counter an opponent’s techniques 16.

Suppression Inscriptions

• Great Tomb refuge: Glowing scriptures carved across the hall’s walls and floor suppress the tomb. Yin Spirits reinforce them with magical power 25.
• Expanding protection: As the hall grows, cultivators inscribe scriptures in the newly exposed spaces 27 37.
• Cafeteria containment: Cultivators carve scriptures into doors and pillars after Wang Quan begins cleansing the exterior 44.
• Power requirement: A carved volume begins emitting pure light after receiving more than 10,000 strands of Dharma Power. The light covers only a small area, and surrounding darkness continually erodes it 44.

Recorded Knowledge

• Spirit-world cosmology: The scriptures describe thirty-three layers visible to roaming Yin Spirits, though Wang Quan’s first 10,000 volumes contain only scattered references 6.
• Underworld knowledge: They connect Yin Virtue with Underworld residences and the possibility of becoming a ghost deity after death 27.
• Comprehension aids: Wang Quan considers using a scripture-recorded technique with Ying Jiaren to improve their wisdom if she also obtains a First-Rank Dao Seal 19.

Notable Quote

“The Daoist Scriptures are a cultivator’s foundation. How could I give them up?” — Wang Quan 50