Zhou Leng continued, "As a result, I obtained an Ancient River Compass. Just now, during my ritual, I sensed some abnormal activity from the compass, and then these changes occurred."

"Indeed..."

"After all, you are a registered disciple of the Ancient River Sect..."

Everyone found it reasonable.

"With my level of understanding Divine Text, ordinarily I wouldn't comprehend what this Master Wu was saying..."

The crowd's eyes widened.

"It seems the Ancient River Compass or some other force helped me understand some words, and I miraculously memorized four Divine Texts."

The crowd's expressions were complex; understanding a portion was already impressive, but memorizing only four Divine Texts seemed of little use.

Zhou Leng said, "I'll roughly translate it. This old man was the Master Wu responsible for inheritance in the Ancient River Sect, and he passed on a cultivation technique called the 'Star Gazing Technique.' He recited the contents of the 'Star Gazing Technique,' including the general principles and the main text. Most importantly, he said he would assess our learning progress and issue rewards and punishments."

"Wait, do all of us have to learn it?"

"It seems so."

"Oh well..." A group of elderly men and women exchanged glances.

"We are also old like him, it shouldn't be to that extent," a Divine Text expert said.

Zhou Leng said, "As people age, their bodies gradually shrink and become shorter. This person's cane is two meters tall. Let's assume when he started using the cane, his height matched it. How many years do you think it takes for him to shrink from two meters to one meter?"

The experts quickly realized that the other party was a human of a High-Level Civilization, with a long lifespan.

"In this Master Wu's eyes, the age difference between the experts and me is not much different, maybe like comparing a first-grader to a fifth-grader."

"This is a bit troublesome, so what should we do?"

The crowd looked at Zhou Leng.

"We can only learn the 'Star Gazing Technique.'

"But we don't understand it, and you only memorized four Divine Texts, what's the use?"

Zhao Nandi said, "Four words are still words, so start with these four Divine Texts."

Zhou Leng said, "Although I've memorized four words, my understanding of Martial Arts is insufficient. In my view, Elder Song should be involved in the research. As for others, they must not randomly participate, or they will inevitably become demonized."

"Correct, even if you let them comprehend it, they dare not."

"Be careful and don't randomly comprehend," Zhao Nandi said.

"I know my limits."

The crowd brought Song Juesi over.

Zhou Leng opened the Demonized Watch, first using 3D drawing software to write out the four 3D characters of the 'Star Gazing Technique' general principles for experts to study Divine Text.

Secretly, he sent the preliminary translated content to Song Juesi.

Song Juesi, worthy of his Mastery in the Martial Arts Realm, soon had an epiphany after watching for a bit, sitting there statue-still.

Zhou Leng didn't look at the translation, but directly recalled and visualized the four Divine Texts.

Comprehending Divine Text was not as good as Song Juesi comprehending the translation.

But in the long term, directly comprehending Divine Texts is the most correct way to cultivate.

Moreover, even if I comprehend the translation, I cannot match Elder Song's level, and may even become demonized, so it's better to attend to one's duties.

The Divine Text experts and Zhao Nandi gathered together to decipher the four general principle characters.

Shortly after, Zhou Leng felt completely exhausted and stopped comprehending.

Someone in the small group of the Ancient River Sect asked what had happened.

Zhou Leng briefly explained the events, saying, "It's not that you aren't allowed to learn, but the cultivation technique is incomplete. Aside from Elder Song, anyone who learns it might encounter issues. I'm not even daring to learn it, only slowly studying the Divine Texts."

"Boldly go ahead and do it, don't worry about us," Zhang Xinglie responded.

The people in the small Ancient River group exchanged glances; although their eyes showed some urgency, there was more relief.

Someone whispered, "We have Zhao Nandi researching Divine Texts, Zhou Leng as the registered disciple, and Elder Song understanding Martial Arts, naturally different from others."

Zhang Xinglie nodded, "In time, the experts and Elder Song will release this information, but we will always be the first to benefit."

The crowd looked at the melancholic old man sitting and staring into the distance, not knowing what he was thinking.

The general principles of the 'Star Gazing Technique' were inherently profound. Zhou Leng only translated four sentences, incomplete, and Song Juesi's comprehension was slow.

A day swiftly passed, and Song Juesi got up to stretch his muscles and bones.

"Elder Song, how is it?" the crowd asked in unison.

Song Juesi shook his head, "I have insights, but I can't assure their accuracy, or rather, I instinctively feel there's a bias. I'm cautious about proceeding with cultivation."

"Then let's wait some more, having insights is better than none..."

"The Old Immortal is moving."

Everyone looked towards the old man.

The old man stood up, leaning on his cane, walked to the front of the hall steps, and glanced over the crowd.

He pointed at a martial artist and said, "You, recite the full text of the 'Star Gazing Technique.'"

"Ah?" The person looked confused, much like a first-grader being asked to prove the theory of general relativity in math class.

The old man looked at him, furrowed his brow, and shouted lightly, "Unlearned, not doing one's duty, even disrespecting elders. Punish!"

He lightly pointed, an invisible force pressed down, and the person was slammed to the ground like a big, flat frog.

A semi-transparent wooden stick descended from the sky, heading for the person's backside.

"Ah..."

With one strike, the skin broke and blood splattered.

Thud... Thud... Thud...

He was struck twenty times, the person painfully fainted.

His entire backside was beaten to a pulp.

Several people's faces turned a bit pale.

"You, recite the full text of the 'Star Gazing Technique.'"

Master Wu pointed to another person.

That person hurriedly waved his hands, "Old Immortal, I don't understand, I don't understand." As he spoke, he pointed at his ears and then at his mouth.

Master Wu furrowed his brow and asked, "You don't understand what I'm saying?"

That person continued to make excuses.

Zhou Leng used thoughts to communicate to explain, "Reporting to Master Wu, apart from me, these trial takers don't understand Divine Text. I can only comprehend half."

Master Wu scanned the crowd, his gaze vacant.

He looked up at the sky and sighed deeply, muttering to himself, "It's over, it's over... Ancient River Sect's fate is so miserable, having ended up with you lot... How did it fall to a primitive civilization... So many people, only one has attended kindergarten... How is one supposed to teach like this? The heavens are set to destroy Ancient River Sect, the heavens are set to destroy Ancient River Sect!"

Master Wu sighed for a long time, nearly moved to tears.

He turned his head to look at Zhou Leng and said, "You, recite the full text of the 'Star Gazing Technique'."

Zhou Leng couldn't recite it at all, so he forced himself to recite the first four characters of the preface: "Om... Woo... Ang... Ding..."

The strange sounds intermingled, making others feel uneasy.

"And then?" Master Wu asked with a darkened face.

"That's it," Zhou Leng replied.

Master Wu's eye twitched, and he gripped his cane so tightly that his knuckles nearly twisted.

Slowly, he loosened his right hand.

"Forget it... In the past, I'd have smashed you all with one blow of my cane, making it all over with. Any useless fish and shrimp dare to touch my Ancient River Sect... It's a pity, after billions of years, you're the first people. I wonder if our ancestors had eyes or not..."

"Have you formally studied divine text?"

"I took one class and got a small red flower."

"I..." Master Wu gripped the cane with his right hand again.

After a long time, Master Wu asked again, "Where does your divine text skill rank in your civilization?"

"First."

Suddenly, Master Wu felt no anger, realized it was unnecessary, and thought, let it all be destroyed. With trial-takers like this, what's the point of passing on the Ancient River Sect?

Master Wu sighed deeply, sat on the ground, and silently gazed into the distance.

The crowd waited for over an hour, yet Master Wu continued to look up into the sky and sigh silently, without saying a word.

"Zhou Leng, what did Master Wu say?"

"It feels like he's talking to you."

Zhou Leng said, "He seems a little disappointed with us."

"A little disappointed? It doesn't seem like it; more like... he wants to jump down."

"What should we do?"

"Nothing we can do, keep studying those four divine characters, and continue seeking insights from Elder Song. As for the others, let them do whatever they want, we can't manage it."

Divine text experts gave up on other matters and focused intently on studying the divine text.

After Song Juesi finished understanding, Zhou Leng approached him, trying to learn, but still couldn't grasp it.

Thus, Zhou Leng announced his translation in the name of Elder Song to the divine text experts.

The divine text experts were thrilled and began their study.

"So... Xiaozhou, how did you learn the pronunciation?"

"Perhaps it's related to me being a disciple of the Ancient River Sect," Zhou Leng said.

"It seems you really have a talent for divine text pronunciation; young minds do work well."

"Can you describe the process of how you learned the pronunciation?"

"I... Can any of you describe the process by which you learned Chinese pronunciation?" Zhou Leng truly couldn't explain it.

The divine text experts fell silent.

"Let's study slowly, and after we get out, give Zhou Leng a 'special expert' status to participate in the divine text research."

"What do we do next?"

"First, thoroughly understand these four characters. If we fully comprehend them, the Old Immortal might change his mind."

"It's all up to Elder Song..."

The divine text experts conveyed Master Wu's disappointment to everyone.

The crowd soon came around to the idea.

It didn't matter, they treated it as a cultivation land with a hundredfold spiritual Qi.

"Forget it, anyone who wants to cultivate should cultivate, anyone who wants to spar should spar."

"Right, let's not waste time sitting idle."

The crowd began to rise.

Zhang Xinglie also didn't stay idle, competing with Li Yuanhe and others.

Li Yuanhe, Zhang Feng, and some others were several years older, all graduates from the military academy, not as talented as Zhang Xinglie, but with rich combat experience.

Zhang Xinglie was astonishingly talented and insightful; both sides benefited from the sparring.

The crowd was loudly training and sparring, and Master Wu looked over once.

Weaklings pecking at each other, no matter how much they peck, they're still weaklings.

Master Wu gripped his cane again with his right hand.

"Forget it, forget it, in martial arts, the biggest taboo is to lose one's temper... Forgive others, forgive oneself..."

Master Wu muttered to himself.

For several days in a row, Master Wu was lost in his melancholy.

Occasionally glancing at the crowd, his face full of disdain.

Zhou Leng diligently learned the four-character overview, Elder Song quietly studied the translation, and everyone else just did whatever they needed to do, as it had nothing to do with them anyway.

While Zhou Leng was quietly memorizing, someone gently patted his shoulder.

Turning around, Song Juesi said, "You are learning the Overlapping Waves Palm, right?"

"Correct."

Song Juesi nodded and said, "Gather everyone, I will demonstrate the new insights into the Overlapping Waves Palm."

Zhou Leng jumped up and called everyone.

The crowd gathered, sitting or standing, all gazing toward Song Juesi in front of the bronze furnace.

Song Juesi, as a veteran martial artist, humbly cupped his hands towards the crowd.

"With the help of young friend Zhou Leng and the divine text experts, I reluctantly comprehend a little of the martial arts."

"Unfortunately, my skills are lacking, understood only in meaning, hard to express verbally."

"This kind of intent can only be displayed by practicing fists, and after mastering, it will be turned into text to share with you all."

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