Chapter 1829 — Five Paragons of the Dao Academy
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 5
Since Zhu Santong was a rare and exceptionally clever child, he lavished every effort on nurturing him, spending money to send him to the finest primary school and buying a house in the Lower Capital so that he could study there.
Zhu Santong did not disappoint his expectations; his accomplishments rose higher and higher, until, at the great examination of the Grand Academy, he passed with ease and was admitted.
The Grand Venerable of Black Mountain was so moved that tears flowed freely, and he laid out a grand celebration at Black Mountain, feasting yao deities from every direction for three days and three nights. After Zhu Santong entered the Grand Academy, he displayed extraordinary aptitude, and before he had even graduated, he was recommended by the Grand Libationer, Pei Wujiu, for advanced study at the Academy of Dao. The Academy of Dao was no small matter — it was the most sacred and solemn holy ground in all the heavens and the myriad worlds, and throughout all those heavens and worlds, any divine ability practitioner or deity of surpassing talent would regard admission to the Academy of Dao as the highest of honors.
When the Grand Venerable of Black Mountain heard this news, he could only think that green smoke was curling up from his ancestral graves — such a pity that his family had no ancestral graves at all. Yet the Academy of Dao was full of brilliant talents.
After Zhu Santong entered it, he still counted as an outstanding figure, but no small number of talents could run neck and neck with him.
Su Muzhe, the dean of the Academy of Dao, and its various high-ranking members initially took no notice of him.
It was only later, when Zhu Santong came into contact with the way of reincarnation preserved within the Academy, and his aptitude and insight unexpectedly began to rise again by degrees, producing any number of ingenious fancies and thought-provoking observations, that Su Muzhe, Si Youyou, and the others took notice. Si Youyou summoned this young yao and questioned him.
Zhu Santong said, "I myself do not know how I became so clever. Ever since I began cultivating the way of reincarnation and studying its mysteries, strange ideas and images keep surfacing in my mind from time to time.
" Si Youyou exchanged a glance with Su Muzhe, then sent him away, saying, "These are the signs that the memories of a former life are on the verge of awakening through the cultivation of the way of reincarnation.
This person does have a former life. And with insights as exquisite and original as his, that former life must have been no ordinary one.
Could he be the reincarnation of some remnant of the Heavenly Court? Yet that does not seem right. Even the Ten Heavenly Venerables might not possess his breadth of vision and knowledge.
" Su Muzhe said, "We must bring in Tu Bo to look into his background. " Shen Fengqing descended, heard the two of them speaking of Zhu Santong, and so told them of Zhu Santong's origins. Si Youyou and Su Muzhe's eyes flew wide, and they cried out, "Can such a thing really be?
Why did you not say so sooner? What if he awakens his former life and his savage nature breaks loose — what then? " "How could he awaken so easily? " Shen Fengqing was unconcerned.
"The way of reincarnation is the most difficult path to cultivate.
For him to awaken, he would have to cultivate to the twenty-eighth heaven of the Dao realm.
And as for the twenty-eighth heaven of the Dao realm through the way of reincarnation, even Her Majesty the Empress barely managed to reach such a level while she was alive. Give Zhu Santong three thousand years, and perhaps he might then refine his way to the twenty-eighth heaven.
" The two breathed sighs of relief, and then Si Youyou remembered something and said hurriedly, "But what of the other four?