Confronted with Wei Yuan's question, Feng Chutang nodded. "Quite right. Even to this day, humanity remains a premier sacrificial offering for the Wuyu Clan when they sacrifice to Heaven, with at least a million people captured for their rites every year. In ancient times, the human cattle used for sacrifice were even more numerous. The Wuyu Clan would often capture whole tribe after whole tribe, sacrificing the entire populace—young and old alike—to Heaven, calling it the 'Great Consummation.' To stop the Wuyu Clan from seizing people for these sacrifices, the Liao fought countless battles, large and small, against them. When the full-scale war between the two races later erupted, humanity's allegiance was, in fact, one of the driving causes."
At this, the youths—Wei Yuan included—grew even more bewildered. Someone immediately asked, "Then why did humanity guide the Wuyu army across the border to flank the Liao's rear?"
Feng Chutang answered, "The historical records contain no explicit reason for this, and I cannot indulge in baseless speculation. I can only recount the eventual outcome, and if you are interested, you may consult the relevant histories yourselves."
Feng Chutang paused for a moment before speaking slowly. "After the Wuyu army crossed the border, the Liao Clan's eastern army suffered a crushing defeat. The Prince of Hanbei and the Prince of Yunshan both fell in battle, five hundred thousand cavalrymen were killed, and the wounded were beyond count. The Wuyu army advanced straight ahead for thirty thousand li, and only two months later were they finally halted by reinforcements mobilized from the Liao rear. That campaign turned the Wuyu Clan's slight disadvantage into a modest upper hand. When the great war finally concluded three years later, the Liao Clan's borders had retreated fifteen thousand li. And half a year before the war's end, a human True Monarch broke through the heavenly barrier and attained Unity, becoming the first Immortal Monarch in our race's history."
The children of the prominent clans were all familiar with both the Wuyu-Liao War and the first human Immortal Monarch, but none had known that the two events were connected. Hearing Feng Chutang present the two historical facts side by side, even Wei Yuan, who knew nothing of either, faintly sensed the implications.
The boys and girls exchanged glances, falling completely silent. Judging strictly by historical facts, humanity at the time could hardly escape being branded as aiding the enemy and returning favor with ingratitude. Yet the emergence of that first Immortal Monarch marked the very founding of the human state.
Wei Yuan could not help but suspect that the resources and support behind that first Immortal Monarch's breakthrough had likely been obtained from the Wuyu Clan.
With that, the class drew to a close.
Feng Chutang said, "If anyone is interested in this period of history, you may look into it on your own when you return. However, these historical facts are scattered across various books, each offering only a fragmentary glimpse. You will need to read quite a few before the full picture emerges. Very well, that concludes today's lecture. Next round, we will discuss the Wuyu Clan. Their entanglements with our race span over two hundred thousand years."
As the lesson ended, Wei Yuan felt as though a corner of the wider world had quietly unfolded before his eyes.
When the lecture concluded, a thick stack of jade paper appeared on each student's desk, easily containing over a dozen sheets. These jade papers were historical texts recording ancient history, each sheet comprising an entire volume. Feng Chutang had specially selected them for the students to read upon returning to their quarters.
Yet as Wei Yuan gathered the books and moved to leave, the duty Daoist called him over, took his jade identity plaque, and pressed it against a jade register. A line of small characters appeared on the surface: *Disciple Wei Yuan of Sky Azure Hall, owes sixty taels for books.*
Wei Yuan started in fright. A few books cost him half a year's monthly stipend? Even if it was recorded as debt for now, debt owed in immortal silver had to be repaid eventually! Wei Yuan was tempted to return all the books, but the other students merely tapped their plaques and walked away without hesitation, not even glancing at the register.
Once most of his peers had departed, Wei Yuan asked in a hushed voice, "Excuse me, Daoist, may I return these books?"
The Daoist remained expressionless. "Your waist plaque has already been registered. No returns are permitted! Besides, this is coursework assigned by your instructor; why wouldn't you read it? If you only came to idle away your days, why bother joining the Palace of Grand Beginning?"
Chastised by the Daoist, Wei Yuan could only clutch the books and leave sheepishly.
From his keen observation, he had already noticed that Zhang Sheng was extraordinarily generous in all other matters, yet always seemed to hesitate whenever immortal silver was involved. Wei Yuan thus surmised that his master's pockets might be somewhat empty, making him keen to save wherever possible.
Wei Yuan naturally understood the value of the historical texts distributed in class, but books were the sort of thing he remembered firmly after a single reading; there hardly seemed any need to buy them. Yet the Daoist had been so swift with his hands that he had already scanned the plaque before Wei Yuan could even react.
Returning to his courtyard, Wei Yuan picked up the small bottle of Qi-Ingesting Pills, poured them out, and counted them once more.
The single distributed bottle would only last a month, and any more would have to be purchased out of pocket. The significance of the Qi-Ingesting Pill lay in how it strengthened the mind and spirit; forgoing food was merely a secondary benefit. Wei Yuan picked up the Sect Entry Guidelines and read through them again, searching for ways to earn money. According to the handbook, the Hall of Mortal Affairs, which oversaw miscellaneous chores, issued tasks to lower-ranking disciples. Completing them yielded compensation, making it the primary source of income for impoverished disciples studying at the Palace of Grand Beginning.
However, all tasks from the Hall of Mortal Affairs required a certain level of cultivation, the bare minimum being the completion of the flesh and blood tempering stage of the Body Casting Realm. As Wei Yuan did not yet possess such strength, he could only set the thought aside.
In the afternoon, Wei Yuan spent some time reading the histories, and when night fell, he resumed cultivating the Jade Toad Gazing at the Moon Chart. His cultivation progressed smoothly that evening; the ground beneath the jade toad expanded outward by another ring, reaching a width of one zhang two feet.
At dawn, Wei Yuan brought his cultivation to a close. After sleeping in bed for two hours, he woke fully energized and headed off to the Hall of Inspiring Thought for class.
The second day's course was General Knowledge of the Immortal Path, covering the history of the cultivation world with a focus distinct from that of the General History of the Human Race. The instructor was a middle-aged Daoist bearing the Daoist name Dixia, possessing an otherworldly grace and extraordinary bearing.
Once class began, the Daoist swept his hand across the air, causing a long scroll to manifest before the students. The scroll's early section was filled with scenes of eating raw meat, drinking blood, and engaging in savage slaughter. The middle section was the longest, featuring the appearance of immortal peaks, Daoist realms, and a few immortals roaming beyond the heavens. The scroll's latter section was dominated by gatherings of immortals waging war against countless foreign clans and demon beasts.
The Daoist tapped with his finger, lighting up two distinct scenes: one depicting a man attaining immortality within a rudimentary cave, and the other showing a human king gathering a million troops to establish a new dynasty. On the banner behind the king stood a single character: *Li*.
The entire history of human cultivation used the appearance of the first Immortal Monarch as the dividing line between antiquity and middle antiquity, and the first unified dynasty, Li, as the divide between middle antiquity and recent antiquity. The boundary between ancient and modern times was defined by the founding of the Great Tang and the advent of the Unified Sect Examination.
This opening lesson naturally focused on antiquity. In those days, humanity lived scattered across various lands in the form of tribes. Later, an unknown person discovered a miraculous text, the *Scripture of Mending the Heavens*, which marked the beginning of cultivation. Generation after generation of cultivators practiced while refining their methods, steadily advancing their cultivation and bolstering their arts. With the rise of cultivators, humanity's standing in the eyes of other races also improved. If humanity had once been regarded as cattle and sheep, the emergence of cultivators transformed them into sheepdogs.
Yet listening to the lesson, Wei Yuan felt that whether cultivators existed or not, the overarching fate of humanity had seen no fundamental change. After all, when the cattle and sheep were eaten clean, the dogs and horses had to take their place on the chopping block.
Chapter 35