History's Number 1 Founder

Time continued to fly.

Lin Feng sat on top of the Black Heavenly Treasure Tree atop Mount Yujing, and he broke through the void and out of the Divine Lands and never appeared on the Grand Celestial World again.

There was only one exception, and that was when the Celestial Sect of Wonders’ second-generation sect leader, Xiao Yan, got married. Lin Feng came back to the Greater World to host the marriage for his disciple.

That event became one of the grandest occasions within the Divine Lands in recent years.

The Qing Ye Holy Woman, Xiao Zhen’er, was on the other side of the marriage. She came from the Gu Dynasty, while the Gu Dynasty had become the Divine Lands most powerful empire at this point. The Great Qin Empire, the Great Zhou Empire, and the Royal House of the Northern Tribes no longer had much to give against the Gu Dynasty.

Shi Xingyun anchored the Great Qin Empire, so their situation was comparatively better even though the two sovereignties were next to each other. The Great Zhou Empire’s pressure was much greater.

Fortunately, they had the Mount Shu Sword Sect as their hidden ally, and this impeded the Gu Dynasty’s forward movement and their progress to a certain extent.

During Xiao Yan’s marriage, the two giants of the Mount Shu Sword Sect – Xin Longsheng and the Tiangang Swordmaster – came forth and quickly arrived onto Mount Yujing.

Nobody announced anything, but the world knew that these two giants from the Mount Shu Sword Sect were here to compete with Lin Feng in swordsmanship once more.

The round hadn’t begun, but the outcome was already clear, and this would be a contest without any accidents or unexpected outcomes.

Xin Longsheng and the Tiangang Swordmaster knew this, but they still insisted on the adventure.

The Leader of the Celestial Sect of Wonders, Lin Feng, didn’t arrogantly deny their request and directly agreed without hesitation.

Some people didn’t expect this to happen. In the end, even if Lin Feng didn’t have the Heaven-Destroying Sword and he had to use his own mastery with swordplay, the only two people in the human world of cultivation that could truly challenge him was the Great Void Holy Man and the Buddha.

Even if the ancestor of swordplay, Ren Changmei, had been reincarnated, and even if he had the Saintly Celestial Sword, the Immortal Heaven Universal Sword Formation, and the power of Mount Shu, he was still far inferior to Lin Feng.

Xin Longsheng and the Tiangang Swordmaster ascended Mount Yujing after the grand marriage ceremony. Nobody knew the conclusion of this contest, and even the Celestial Sect of Wonders’ sword cultivator, the owner of the Qingwu Pavilion, Lin Feng’s direct disciple, the Sword Celestial Master, Luo Qingwu, wasn’t there to watch the battle.

What everyone saw was that not long after the contest, Xin Longsheng and the Tiangang Swordmaster came down from the mountain and said nothing at all before they returned to Mount Shu.

The Tiangang Swordmaster sat on the top of the mountain for seven days in a row, before he removed the Tiangang Ancient Sword that had been with him since the Middle Age and left in on the summit of Mount Shu. Afterwards, he shut himself in the void indefinitely for closed-door training.

Xin Longsheng left behind the Heaven-opening Sword, and he passed it on to the current leader of the Mount Shu Sword Sect, Ji Wenrui, who was already in the third-level immortal soul stage. Xin Longsheng roamed around the world once more afterwards, and nobody knew where he disappeared to.

Two powerful cultivators of the Mount Shu Sword Sect vanished once more, one was roaming the world, while the other was in closed-door cultivation, and Mount Shu’s return to power was once again interrupted.

However, the Gu Dynasty and other powerful sects in the Divine Lands wouldn’t underestimate the Mount Shu Sword Sect because of this.

Xin Longsheng and the Tiangang Swordmaster challenged Lin Feng even though they knew they were bound to lose the duel, and this was enough to awe the masses.

Mount Yujing became the sect’s ancestral ground, and never showed itself again. The peak that hovered above the Yun Peak Mirror Lake became the Celestial Sect of Wonders’ new residence.

The Inferno Emperor, Xiao Yan, was currently residing inside this peak. His First Disciple, Tang Jun, took over the Inferno Precipice that merged with the Inferno Emperor City inside the Barren Expanses.

The first generation of disciples from the Celestial Sect of Wonders resided in their own respective establishments, and they continued taking in disciples while the sect continued to flourish and spread around the entire world. The Celestial Sect of Wonders began to display a stable but prosperous expansion.

The only person that was different from the rest was Zhu Yi, and he roamed the world over the years to spread his knowledge and to advertise for the Knowledge Palace.

He used the Gu Dynasty, the Great Zhou Empire and the Great Qin Empire as his foundations to expand throughout the world.

Somewhere in the vast northern plains within the Royal House of the Northern Tribes’ territory, the northern tribesmen began to change their cultures and their habits. They began to erect cities, and one of the most perfect and striking structures within them were the academies.

The extreme north was beyond the Northern Tribes’ borders, and academies had even established in the arctic regions of the north. There were very few inhabitants in this area, and their conditions weren’t great, but they were beginning to expand outward with Zhu Yi’s academies as the core. The people that were gathered around this place worked to improve their living standards.

This wasn’t achieved by having a powerful cultivator forcefully changing things. Instead, this was achieved by educating the masses who didn’t have prior knowledge of systems and society, so that everyone could make a living for themselves.

Cultivators were there to help establish defense mechanisms and deterrence, to protect these people against disasters and whatnot that they normally wouldn’t be able to defend themselves against.

This was just the beginning. The students within these academies were scrutinizing and studying natural disasters continuously, so that they could find ways and solutions to mitigate and protect themselves against these calamities. This way, the world of mortals would eventually be able to protect themselves.s

Zhu Yi first created the Mirror Lake Knowledge Palace, and then he established the academies which were individually known as the Yi Mantra Academy. These academies weren’t just about studying literature and scripture, they encompassed interdisciplinary matters and was ultimately committed to refining different aspects of society and the human world.

The academies would run into difficult questions from time to time, and perhaps they weren’t able to resolve these issues for a while, to the point where some issues required generations of study. Everything would become years and centuries of accumulation and hard work.

However, the students of Zhu Yi’s knowledge palaces would always travel down along this path.

Academies were established on the North Polar Seas. That meant the great deserts to the west and the vast oceans to the east, along with the sprawling barren plains in the south were no exceptions.

The groups that joined the Yi Mantra Academies were not limited to citizens of a country. Everyone outside in the wild and all races and identities were allowed to join and learn.

Under Zhu Yi’s guidance and the aid of the disciples from the Heavenly Temple, these students could then easily cross the great deserts or the vast oceans, or they could return deep into the barrens and the mountains, so that they could bring their newfound knowledge back to these people living in the wild and far away from civilization.

They placed themselves amongst the people in the wild and rural areas to understand the problems that they faced, and to receive their feedback, so that they could specifically target and resolve urgent issues and matters.

Even though the Celestial Sect of Wonders and Zhu Yi himself were revered and widely respected, the knowledge palaces and the academies’ tenacious pragmatism and even dogmatism stirred up discussions and debates amongst the traditional scholars.

When the Mirror Lake Knowledge Palace was first established, the debates had already begun when everyone understood what was happening inside.

After the War of the Two Worlds, Zhu Yi pushed out his knowledge palace and this debate became more heated after the initial shock to the traditional scholars and literature bodies.

However, following the passage of time, the general direction of literature and knowledge were gradually starting to change.

In the end, Zhu Yi revolutionized the world, and he was touted as the leader that guided the human path of civilization and his reputation amongst the masses was like a saint. He was seen as someone with extreme foresight, a saintly figure that transcended the times.

Zhu Yi became a legend to the mortal world, and everybody treated him like a saint. Everybody knew about him from the elderly of the generation to the naïve and clueless children.

However, one man’s poison is another man’s treasure and someone was bound to lose something in the process.

There were some traditional scholars that were too stubborn to change their perspectives and some that were simply unwilling. However, the party that was struck the hardest were the Buddhists, who had recently come back to life.

Shakyamuni and the Cosmic Marble Buddha returned to the Greater World, and everybody who subscribed to Buddhism were revitalized and excited.

The Buddha didn’t have to show himself. The moment he returned to the Greater World, everybody who subscribed to Buddhism began to feel inspired and they could see a boundless future.

They were just rising up again, and the Shakyamuni didn’t return to the Great Thunderclap Temple’s old location, so the Vaidūryanirbhāsā World descended upon the great ocean to the north of the Divine Lands.

Zhu Yi’s academies were spreading far and wide, but they were soundlessly shaking and testing many beliefs and faiths that included Buddhism.

This also included the Northern Tribes’ faith in the Tengri.

However, the Buddhists had a much wider target and audience compared to the Royal House of the Northern Tribes. Shakyamuni had reached the Realm of Indestructability during the Antiquity Age, and he became one of the most powerful cultivators at the peak of the Grand Celestial World.

Lin Feng disappeared into the void, and people only knew about the Great Void Holy Man’s return but he had yet to show himself to the world, so the Buddha became the individual with the highest mastery within the Divine Lands.

Everybody was concerned about how the Buddha would react to the impact that Zhu Yi’s academies had on his own lineage and on Buddhism.

The Great Void Sect, who still had the Supreme Heavenly Mirror, was also monitoring the situation.

The greatest change within the Grand Celestial World before this was that, after Lin Feng departed from the world when the contest of the Spirit Sea was concluded, the Great Void Sect ventured into the Barren Expanses with the Supreme Heavenly Mirror.

Xuan Shang was still anchoring down the Black Sea, and the Hades Tribe were hidden within the Obsidian Realm and seeking them out was challenging. However, the Ancient Ape Demons within the Lingyuan Mountains were an obvious target.

The Great Void Sect was travelling towards the Lingyuan Mountains.

Lin Feng had sent the Emperor of Extremity back into the depths, while Xuan Shang was still locked inside the Black Sea. The Hades Tribe could only protect themselves, and this current backdrop meant the Supreme Heavenly Mirror could sweep the entire demon world of the Barren Expanses in its peak condition.

Even though the Great Void Sect sustained heavy losses in the contest of the Spirit Sea, and a host of mighty cultivators sustained heavy injuries, the Tai Yi Holy Man and the others still went on into the Barren Expanses.

The Origins Dragon King was dead, but the demons still had the Monkey and the Illusory Sun Hades. Both were formidable adversaries with the power of foresight, and what they lacked was only time.

For the Heavenly Grandmaster Grand Sage and the Crimson Gorilla Grand Sage within the Lingyuan Mountains, the arrival of the Supreme Heavenly Mirror undoubtedly spelled disaster and unimaginable calamity, and a force that simply couldn’t be resisted.

Perhaps people expected it to happen or perhaps they hadn’t, but the Shakyamuni came forward onto the Lingyuan Mountains and announced his return to the Greater World while fending off the Supreme Heavenly Mirror at the same time.

The Heavenly Grandmaster Grand Sage and the Crimson Gorilla Grand Sage were converted by the Buddha, and the Ancient Ape Demons all fell under the Buddha’s wing. The Great Void Holy Man was nowhere to be seen, so the Tai Yi Holy Man and the others could only watch on and shake their heads while heaving sighs of defeat…

The Yi Mantra Academies were advancing and progressing. Buddhism was flourishing, but it was clear that they had been affected and their faith was being pushed back. The human world of cultivation was watching the Buddhists and Shakyamuni to see how they would react, and even the demons of the Barren Expanses were also paying attention to this.

The Celestial Sect of wonders was powerful, but there were still conflicts incited between Buddhist cultivators and people from the Celestial Sect of Wonders. However, Shakyamuni didn’t have much reaction, if at all.

“It’s not that I’m afraid of our master or of Xuan Li, but from the Buddha’s perspective, second senior brother’s teachings enabled and empowered people and he has made them strong. Those who have received his teachings are discerning and they can identity their true selves and everyone still can turn to Buddhism. There is no actual conflict at all.”

In the Blizzard Valley beside the Arctic State, the Martial Celestial Master, Yue Hongyan stared at her disciple, the Tian Jing Holy Man, Zhao Huan. She smiled and said, “Buddhist cultivators who are vying with second senior brother’s students are at a disadvantage.”

“However, the Budda’s Three Lifetimes Karmic Curse is indeed powerful. Both second senior brother and third senior brother remarked that the Buddha has probably seen into some of their principles, and at this point, perhaps only our master himself can stop the Buddha.”

Zhao Huan nodded and Yue Hongyan continued, “Third senior brother’s mastery has improved yet another level. He has officially completed the Fengdu Necropolis, and he can even bestow upon vengeful spirits the gift of rebirth. Have they decided? Do your parents want to be reborn, or do they want to remain and continue accompanying you?”