harleyscars Chapter 12 Time Flies, Five Years Reveal the Truth
Chapter 12 Time Flies, Five Years Reveal the Truth
Beneath the dome, rows of yellow wooden bookshelves stood, and the soul-guided chandelier emitted a soft glow illuminating the circular desk beneath them.
A young man dressed in a gray-blue robe sat in a corner, writing furiously. Several antique books were placed on the elevated escalator next to him for taking books.
The door was suddenly pushed open, and a middle-aged man with a square face and a bulbous nose walked in. Seeing that the light was still on, he could roughly guess who it was.
He walked to the counter by the door, put down his breakfast, put on a nameplate that read "Librarian" around his neck, and then walked with practiced ease to the corner hidden by the bookshelves.
Looking at the person sitting there, the middle-aged man put his hands on his hips with an "I knew it" expression and shook his head helplessly.
"You didn't go home to sleep again last night?"
"That kind of thing isn't important," the boy said, without looking up, continuing to write words that the middle-aged man couldn't understand.
"Alright, alright, I won't bother you anymore, our precious genius."
The middle-aged man was already used to this, so he familiarly picked up the ancient books that the man had put aside, glanced at the titles, and found that they were mostly historical records from before the Douluo Era.
He put it back on the bookshelf, and out of curiosity, he tilted his head to see what he was writing.
Unfortunately, he couldn't understand the characters that looked like square patterns, so he had to turn around and leave dejectedly, picking up a humorous magazine on the way.
He sat behind the counter, eating and reading, occasionally chuckling.
After finishing, he closed the book and asked loudly, "Would you like me to bring you some food, Zhang Xun?"
"Thank you, Angkor. As usual, please don't add citronella all the time. I don't like it."
"That tastes pretty good. You're such a picky eater, you don't know how to enjoy life."
Lin Wu glanced at the clock and then left.
Most Soul Masters have little interest in reading books; the ones they browse most often, aside from the Soul Beast Encyclopedia, are biographies of famous figures.
Only a few people come throughout the year, so he is naturally happy to have some free time.
A moment later, Zhang Xun put down his pen, closed the notebook, looked up at the door, and said softly, "Won't you come in and sit for a while? Always sneaking peeks isn't a good habit."
A few breaths later, a series of hurried footsteps suddenly sounded, then quickly returned to silence.
It seems they've left.
Just then, Guan Linwu entered the room, carrying food and asking questions.
"Zhang Susu seems to have a thing for you. I heard you're from the same hometown. Aren't you even a little interested?"
It seems he encountered someone who had left.
Taking the food, Zhang Xun calmly said, "We're too familiar, I'm not interested. Besides, by seniority she's my cousin. What, do city people like this kind of thing?"
The relationship is indeed true; she is the daughter of his mother Zhang Wan's cousin, which isn't very distant.
"No, not at all." He waved his hand with a smile.
Although Douluo is precocious and open-minded in matters of the heart, most people don't have any particular thoughts about such things, and Lin Wu is no exception.
He sat backwards in the chair, his arms resting on the backrest, looking curiously at the thick book on the table.
"I see you come here often, can you tell me what you're writing?"
Upon opening the lunchbox, Zhang Xun's face darkened as he saw it covered with a thick layer of green plant roots and stems. He then spoke.
"A plot to rebel..."
As soon as he finished speaking, cold sweat broke out on Lin Wu's face. He instinctively leaned back, forgetting that he was sitting backwards and almost fell.
After settling back into his seat, he wiped his forehead.
"No, don't joke like that." His voice trembled slightly, clearly indicating that he was taking it seriously.
"Ha~" Seeing the other person's reaction, Zhang Xun also laughed out loud.
"You actually believed that? I was curious about the history of martial spirits, so I looked it up."
"If you don't want to talk about it, then forget it."
The two had a good relationship, so they wouldn't really get angry over a few words.
Gazing at the fine snow falling outside the window, enjoying the beautiful scenery, and chewing on the slightly sweet and sour dish, Zhang Xun didn't like the aftertaste, but he wouldn't waste the food because of it.
"If some of my ideas come to fruition, then I might really have to write a plan of rebellion, no, it should be called..."
"The Anti-Heaven Plan."
•The winds of change•
Nearly five years have passed, and it is now the end of December in the Douluo Calendar 2630, which is also the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month of the Gengxu year according to Zhang Xun's calculation.
Generally speaking, an eleven-year-old child who is 1.5 meters tall is considered tall.
However, it was as if he had taken hormones; his height grew to 1.82 meters at an absurdly rapid pace.
This is neither scientific nor biological, but it's very Douluo Continent.
Over the years, Zhang Xun spent his time either cultivating or studying in the library of the teaching building.
Soul power is the source of rapid growth.
Before the awakening of the martial soul, it's fine, but after that, the body's growth will enter an extremely absurd speed.
The higher a person's innate soul power, the faster they can move.
Therefore, people with body types that are not appropriate for their age also mature much earlier in terms of cognitive concepts due to their abnormal growth rate, which is why early romance is common in Douluo Continent.
In a sense, the Douluo people have already matured from the moment their Martial Souls awaken.
Zhang Xun is one of the best among them.
However, having been shaped by modern values, he felt it was too early, so he found it very distasteful and never considered it.
In addition, the research covers modern and ancient history, social structure, martial spirits, spirit rings, spirit beasts, spirit guides, and so on.
Some things have been understood, but others are like looking at a leopard through a tube or the sky from a well; there is too little information to find the truth, and we can only speculate based on what we know.
Zhang Xun's biggest point of contention is that history may have been emasculated!
The Douluo Calendar currently in use is based on the establishment of the two great empires, while in the past it was recorded in the form of city-states.
There is no record of where these city-states came from, not even any claim that they were built on the ruins of a previous civilization.
In terms of cultivation, in the past, one would fight, meditate, and hunt souls in the city-states, and it is still the same now. The only change is that the battle arenas are now larger, more numerous, and more magnificent.
However, there is no internal cultivation method.
A system capable of upgrading and becoming stronger has yet to produce any cultivation techniques over thousands of years.
What Chen Xin gave was just his cultivation experience, which made cultivation faster, but neither he, nor anyone else, had ever studied the cultivation system.
This is not right, it shouldn't be like this.
The same applies to soul tools; people only know that they are relics from the ancient times before the Douluo Era.
Aside from those who know it can be driven by soul power, no one knows why this thing was lost to time, nor is there any record of its origin or manufacture in history.
Even those that survived were mostly life-related soul tools.
But this is technology in the true sense. For civilization, both "progress" and "technology" are indispensable, yet throughout history, nothing related to these two words has been left behind.
It's as if these two words shouldn't exist.
Make bold assumptions, and then verify them.
Zhang Xun refers to that "non-existent prosperous history," or the ancient period, as "pre-civilization."
Assuming that civilizations truly exist, assuming they have complete systems, assuming they possess a complete technology tree, assuming they are so prosperous that even destroying the entire civilization or emasculating the entire race would not completely erase the traces of their existence.
So what entity erased them? And why were they erased?
Made by a soul beast? Impossible. Although soul beasts are numerous, based on the information currently available, they do not possess the power to shatter a rift and destroy an entire civilization to this extent.
Then, only Heaven knows.
Only they can silently erase a civilization, or make all living beings forget a civilization.
Why do this? A threat? Can technology kill gods? Can martial arts kill gods?
Zhang Xun couldn't say for sure how powerful the gods in this world were, but there were references available.
In his previous life, Zhang Xun had the good fortune to meet the Goddess of the Luo River while following his master. She could easily whip up the entire Luo River, which stretched for thousands of miles, and use it as a whip.
If it's at this level, it's hard to say about the technology and techniques involved.
But the final enemy in my memory seems to have become a god. Although he was a god who had not ascended to the divine realm and fully mastered the rules, the protagonist, who had not yet become a god, was able to pierce his heart with a so-called "hidden weapon" that ignored defense.
Use this as the standard.
The answer is: It can kill gods, and it's very easy.
Therefore, it is possible that "gods" could modify cognition through rules, emasculate history, and even lock the underlying logic of organisms in order to prevent mortals from gaining these powers.
This also proves why things are the way they are today, and why there has been no "progress" for thousands of years.
The theoretical assumptions are plausible; all that's left is to verify them.
This is also why Zhang Xun recorded all his research in a language other than Douluo Continent.
"Outrageous" is an understatement to describe him, isn't it?
The records preserved here, and the things Chen Xin borrowed from his old friend in the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, are insufficient to provide further verification results. It's time to leave this place and go to a place with more complete history and information.
•In the library•
Zhang Xun picked up the red notebook filled with writing, got up and walked towards the door.
"Why do you always wear that yellow cloth wrapped around your arm?"
Upon hearing the sound, Zhang Xun paused, involuntarily recalling scenes left by the years. He turned around, leaving a clean smile, and softly uttered two words.
"commemorate."
His steps were swift and firm as he trod on the stone slabs covered with a thin layer of snow. The road was a little slippery.
Initially, Zhang Xun didn't have any grand ambitions; his only goal was to fulfill the simple dream that his master hadn't been able to achieve before his death.
[When I have free time, I go down the mountain to treat the sick and save lives, save money to open a Taoist temple, and take on a few apprentices to pass on my medical skills and Taoist practices.]
But now, Zhang Xun feels...
Perhaps this world needs the Way of Peace to do something.