Shennong Dao Master

[Mirror General Knowledge]

There is a Divine Object in the Academic City called the General Knowledge Mirror, one of whose abilities is to disguise a person’s cultivation system.

If Zhao Xing didn’t look at the panel, Emperor Fu Zhi would appear to be nothing more than an ordinary Sword Dao Emperor. The role he played was merely to protect Feng Chen, this Six Realms Scholar.

Because Wisdom Heart died and Bo Wei became the Great Elder, the new generation of scholars in the Academic City no longer had any new Seven Realms Scholars; Feng Chen was the one most likely to step across that threshold. Some people even said he would become another Eight Realms Scholar after Bo Wei.

"Surely they’re not really going to let him pull this off." Zhao Xing’s heart was filled with shock and doubt.

Bo Wei had already opened the Transmission Building in the Second Epoch of the Desolate Domain, which was a far better starting point than opening the Transmission Building in the Third Epoch. For when the Third Epoch arrived, the desolation deepened further; many Void Rivers in the Xuanling Star Domain froze over, and the Third Epoch was also called the beginning of the Ice River Era. The cultivation environment grew even harsher, and internal strife and external threats both became more severe.

Whether in terms of cultivation environment, manpower, resources, or power, Bo Wei was far stronger than in Zhao Xing’s previous life.

On this journey to the Transmission Building, Bo Wei might have lost quite a bit of World Spirit Value, but he also gained experience in clashing with the God Realm.

"If he really pulls it off, who knows what kind of disaster it will cause... I’d better stay far away from this man." Zhao Xing couldn’t help but shiver inwardly.

Bo Wei opened the Transmission Building, drew strength from it, then brought the Starry Historians under his command and declared that henceforth there would only be historians; the name on the panel changed accordingly.

There was no doubt that Bo Wei was a bona fide version protagonist, and Zhao Xing still had to harbor a sense of awe.

If Bo Wei truly succeeded, what kind of impact would it have?

With his mind weighed down, Zhao Xing didn’t even realize when they had already entered the interior of the cave residence.

Only when there was a low "woo" and the environment underwent a clear change did he realize that the four of them had passed through the safe passage created by Mo Shu Emperor and arrived in another world.

"Hooo—woo~~"

The sky was leaden and overcast; the wind howled, as if playing a dirge, and Zhao Xing’s mood involuntarily sank.

A snowflake drifted down before his eyes; there was a sudden flash of light upon it, as though a figure were dancing, but it vanished in an instant.

Zhao Xing looked up at the sky and saw a moon veiled by dark clouds, faintly visible.

He, Feng Chen, Emperor Qian Yin, and Emperor Fu Zhi had landed on a high mountain, surrounded by a desolate world.

"Minister of Agriculture Zhao, are you all right?" Feng Chen asked with concern. Zhao Xing had already achieved the feat of writing books on the Dao Tree, so Feng Chen felt closer to him.

"Thank you for your concern, Mr. Feng. I’m fine, it’s just that for some reason my mood feels a bit low." Zhao Xing exhaled. "I keep feeling that the sound of this wind is rather mournful, like a funeral lament."

"The Feather Sound of heaven and earth—its tone deep and subtle—symbolizes all things returning to concealment." Emperor Qian Yin closed her eyes, feeling it. "So what you say isn’t wrong; this heaven and earth is indeed playing a lament, and it’s been going on for a very long time."

Feng Chen followed on, "My judgment is the same as Emperor Qian Yin’s. What we’re hearing is the Feather Sound Scale among the Five Divine Sounds, the one that lasts the longest."

"As the saying goes, ’the lingering feather (yu) sound coils on, echoing unbroken through three epochs’—this refers to the Feather Sound in the Five Divine Sound Scale."

"That’s good news." Emperor Qian Yin was delighted. "At the very least, it hasn’t departed from the scope of what we understand."

"Indeed." Feng Chen also nodded.

Zhao Xing could understand what the two of them were saying; since he dared come explore the Music Bureau, he had naturally done some homework.

The Five Divine Sounds that Feng Chen and Emperor Qian Yin mentioned were gong, shang, jue, zhi, yu—also the five fundamental scales for musicians. When people speak of "incomplete five tones," they mean these Five Sounds.

The reason they were called the Five Divine Sound Scale was that, in history, the five Divine Emperors—Emperor Rui, Emperor Yu, Emperor Luo, Ancestor Emperor, and Li Emperor—had trod across the three Void Layers of the universe, widely gathering the sounds within the Cosmic Dao and melding them together to form great Dao syllables.

The Dao itself is abstract; once it is made concrete as sound, it can be understood by billions of subjects, and some among them thereby set foot upon the path of cultivation.

The Five Sounds then gave rise to the Twelve Lü; all musical pieces are derived from the Five Sounds and Twelve Lü, used not only for cultivation but also for sacrifice.

Accompanying them were five great Dao Divine Artifacts: the Rui Divine Bell, first among the Five Sounds; the Feather Divine Zither; the Ancestor Divine Xun; the Luo Divine Drum; and the Li Divine Konghou, as well as twelve musical Divine Artifacts.

The reason Feng Chen and Emperor Qian Yin were so pleased was that, although the master of this cave residence was of unknown origin, the music playing here still followed the Five-Sound Great Dao, and in a very orthodox way at that; thus it remained within the bounds of their knowledge.

If they ran into some bizarre and unknown thing, it would in fact be much harder to explore.

"The scale intensifies from south to north; if there is a cave residence, we should head north. Does Emperor Qian Yin agree?" Feng Chen asked.

"I agree." Emperor Qian Yin nodded.

Zhao Xing had no objections either, since the investigative report from the Heavenly Master Mansion said the same.

The four of them kept Feng Chen protected within their formation and flew slowly northward.

The wind and snow grew stronger by degrees, the clouds thicker, but the moon remained faintly visible, seemingly fixed and unchanging.

Zhao Xing did not attempt to alter the celestial phenomena, for according to Feng Chen and Emperor Qian Yin, unless the source of the Five Sounds was cut off, even if they temporarily dispersed the dark clouds and snowstorm, it would quickly return to its original state.

To avoid encountering uncontrollable variables, it was better not to tamper with it at all, especially since none of them feared this environment.

After flying at low altitude for about half a day, the snowfall reached its peak, turning the world completely into a realm of silver and white.

At this point, the sheer harshness of the low-temperature environment alone was enough to freeze many Lord-level beings to death.