Chapter 1033: Minglun

As they spoke, they entered the bookshelf area. A rich scent of ink wafted towards them. Just as Zhuge Yuan was wondering where they were, Li Jinshu's hand yanked him sharply to the side. There was light ahead.

This time, Li Jinshu remained silent, merely gesturing to Zhuge Yuan not to make a sound, and slowly followed him forward, step by step.

Faint light filtered through the gaps in the bookshelves. As they drew closer to the light source, indistinct sounds of reading drifted from within the room, indicating the presence of others.

However, with the bookshelves obstructing his view, Zhuge Yuan couldn't pinpoint where the people were. But observing Li Jinshu's composed expression, he deduced the current situation was not dangerous.

As the light grew stronger, Zhuge Yuan noticed carvings on the surrounding stone pillars. The colossal pillar ahead was no longer visible, but the nearest one depicted someone creating characters.

It looked human, yet not entirely. The figure carving characters into the stone surprisingly had four eyes, six ears, and eight arms. It appeared as if several people were superimposed upon one another, making it extremely bizarre.

Next was the content of the following pillar. This time, the scene was similar to the last, except characters had begun to appear on the stone, and the figure had one less arm.

As he continued to look, Zhuge Yuan noticed that the characters created by the strange figure on the pillar seemed to possess a divine power. As more characters were written, the superfluous parts of its body gradually diminished.

By the time it finished writing, the character-creator, except for its double-pupiled eyes, was otherwise identical to a normal human.

Following this, new changes appeared on the colossal pillar. Various scenes appeared around the figure, suggesting it was creating characters outdoors.

But strangely, except for the sun in the sky, the surrounding mountains and water were all overlapping.

Other people also appeared around. However, their bodies, like the character-creator's before, had many hands and feet. Moreover, these people were naked and prostrate on the ground, no different from wild beasts.

The figure continued to write. As it wrote more, the surrounding people gradually transformed into normal human appearances, and their bodies began to be clothed.

These people began to follow the four-eyed figure, continuing to create characters and write books. As more people wrote, the overlapping mountains and water in the surroundings gradually separated from their superimposed state, eventually forming a beautiful landscape painting.

Immediately after this painting was the story of two white snakes. However, the pillars further back were unlit, so Zhuge Yuan couldn't see them.

Zhuge Yuan pondered the content on the pillars. Using the faint light, he approached the bookshelves and quickly glanced at them, discovering that the shelves were filled with history books.

"Could it be that these pillars depict events from the past? But what does this signify?" Many thoughts swirled in Zhuge Yuan's mind at once.

But before he could ponder further, blurred human figures appeared in the gaps of a nearby bookshelf. Li Jinshu, who was beside him, quickly pressed Zhuge Yuan's head down.

Behind the layers of bookshelves, in a circular clearing surrounded by more bookshelves, eight people sat upright on the ground.

They wore long, trailing black straight-hemmed robes. On their heads, they wore large, white coronet-like head coverings that not only covered their entire heads but also tightly obscured their eyes.

Although their attire resembled that of scholars, their appearance was anything but scholarly. These individuals held books tightly pressed against their faces with both hands. A hand extended from their abdomen, rapidly recording something on bamboo slips spread across the ground.

Even more bizarrely, occasionally, extra limbs and even heads would flicker in and out from beneath their black robes, just like the figure carving characters on the colossal pillar.

Witnessing such a scene in the dim environment immediately made Zhuge Yuan's scalp tingle.

If it were merely extra limbs or heads, Zhuge Yuan wouldn't have been afraid. However, they clearly weren't naturally grown limbs; they twitched strangely, appearing and disappearing intermittently.

Zhuge Yuan averted his gaze and looked at Li Jinshu beside him, surprised to find no trace of panic on his face.

Li Jinshu extended two fingers and 'walked' them across the back of his own hand, signaling Zhuge Yuan to quickly get away.

Casting a glance at the strange people with books covering their faces, Zhuge Yuan, with a complex expression, slowly moved forward.

As they left, the layers of bookshelves gradually obscured the black-robed figures, then the candlelight, and finally, the chanting sounds gradually faded.

Finally, with a soft click, a side door opened. Outside, the vibrant green scenery and the chirping of insects completely separated them from everything inside.

"Haha, we made it through!" Li Jinshu playfully punched Zhuge Yuan's shoulder, a joyful expression on his face. "Now that we've passed the Jiezi Study, the rest will be simple. Let's go."

Li Jinshu had only taken two steps when he was surprised to find no movement behind him. He turned to see the young man named Zhuge standing by the door with a solemn expression, unmoving.

"Come on, little brother Zhuge, what are you waiting for?"

Hearing Li Jinshu's words, Zhuge Yuan pursed his lips and asked, "Senior Li, could you answer a few questions for me?" As he spoke, he cast a doubtful glance at the wooden door behind him.

"No problem at all, go ahead and ask."

"What were they doing just now? Why were they so strange? If I don't get a clear answer, I truly don't know if I should enter the Minglun Hall."

While it's true that the Master was supposed to come here, he has been unaware of many things, nor did he expect his friend to have been dead for over a century.

In such a long time, who knows how many changes have occurred in the Minglun Hall.

In response to Zhuge Yuan's questions, Li Jinshu smiled and said, "It's not that I don't want to tell you, but some things can only be disclosed once you've entered the Minglun Hall. It's the rule of the Minglun Hall."

Zhuge Yuan clearly didn't quite agree with this. "Senior Li, you can't say that. Have we followed the Minglun Hall's rules by secretly coming here?"

Li Jinshu froze for a moment, then burst into laughter. "Hahaha, you sly kid. But you do have a point. Since we're already here, there's no need to strictly follow the Minglun Hall's rules. Besides, you're about to enter the Minglun Hall anyway, so knowing now or knowing later makes no difference."

Hearing the change in his tone, Zhuge Yuan quickly stepped forward. "Senior Li, what exactly were those people doing just now? And what about the limbs on their bodies?"

"Actually, it's nothing significant. The people in the Jiezi Study are merely consulting and recording historical texts. As for the limbs and heads on their bodies, they aren't theirs; they belong to the 'Inverse Immortals and Compliant Mortals.'"

"Huh?" These words left Zhuge Yuan even more confused.

"Don't rush, let me explain it to you slowly."

"Little brother Zhuge, do you know about the Five Directions of Buddhism?"

"I know a little," Zhuge Yuan replied. "I've read in miscellaneous storybooks that Buddhists believe the world has five directions, and that the Buddha controls these five directional worlds."

"That was in the past. Now, the Five Directions of the world are no longer under the Buddha's control."

At these words, Zhuge Yuan's pupils contracted. "So, what the storybooks say is true?"

"Of course it's true. Otherwise, where do you think the 'Inverse Immortals and Compliant Mortals' come from? To put it plainly, they are just us from the other Five Directions of the world."

"So there are five worlds? And other versions of us exist within these five worlds?" Zhuge Yuan instantly felt his mind reel. His past understanding and this new knowledge were clashing violently.

Meanwhile, Li Jinshu continued, "Actually, the world in the past wasn't structured into five directions; it was utterly chaotic. The human realm and beasts were all mixed together. There were no rules, nothing was constant, and no events had any sequence."

"Originally, our ancestors lived in a state of muddle-headed confusion. But then someone began to feel that this was wrong. Is it truly right just because it has always been this way? And that person was the Ancestral Master of Ten Thousand Generations."

Upon hearing this, the content on the stone pillars in the Jiezi Study flashed quickly through Zhuge Yuan's mind. In an instant, some things clicked into place.

"The Ancestral Master of Ten Thousand Generations made the first stroke, entering the Dao through characters, breaking the chaos and establishing rules. He divided this Mustard Seed World into five." As Li Jinshu spoke, he extended his hand and drew a circle in the air, then lightly touched five points within the circle: east, south, west, north, and center. "Five points connected to a circle—that is the Minglun."

"As for the Buddhist teachings, just listen casually. Their concepts of karma are all wrong. In their view, it's not that some Buddha performed certain deeds, but rather that after someone accomplished something, they became their Buddha."