Chapter 111: Deciphering the Stele
"When did you start learning the Divine Text?"
Zhou Leng vaguely understood the reason for the inquiry and said, "I have liked it since I was young, later I kept studying it by myself. It was only in the past few months that I had a breakthrough."
Zhao Nandi breathed a sigh of relief. This was somewhat better, but self-study was still quite impressive.
"You really don't want to develop at the Divine Text Bureau?"
"I don't want to at the moment."
"Then so be it. However, considering you are deeply engaged in both Martial Arts and the Divine Text, it is a good thing. Now, it seems that the Divine Text has some enhancement effects on Martial Arts. It is not clear what the reason is yet, but maybe your good results in Martial Arts have more or less to do with the Divine Text."
Zhou Leng followed up, "I also feel that my Martial Arts talent improved from ordinary to good due to studying the Divine Text, so I am determined to study the Divine Text in the future."
"Very good. In the future, for anything related to the Divine Text, you can contact me directly. You are still young now and may not understand the beauty of the Divine Text; perhaps in a few years, you will choose this path."
Zhou Leng thought that Teacher Zhao Nandi was still not giving up.
Zhao Nandi further said, "If you work hard, when you become a Senior Divine Text Researcher, I will take you to the ancient ruins to witness those awe-inspiring Divine Texts, and you will be amazed."
Zhou Leng replied, "I am fascinated by ancient ruins, so I will trouble Teacher Zhao when the time comes."
"Alright. Talk to you later. By the way, I have applied for a Divine Text research subsidy for you; it should be credited to your Martial Arts City account in a couple of days."
"Great, thank you, Teacher Zhao!" Zhou Leng was very grateful.
"You have good talent, make sure to check out the 'Divine Script Ruins' section in Martial Arts City when you have time to solve various Divine Text puzzles. Many puzzles are solved by imaginative young people, so don't worry about getting them wrong."
"Alright, I will try when I have time." Zhou Leng had visited the Divine Script Ruins section in Martial Arts City but had only studied and never solved a Divine Text puzzle.
Zhou Leng had just finished dinner and was resting in the Martial Arts Dojo.
After checking the time and realizing he could continue resting, he opened the Divine Script Ruins section.
The Divine Script Ruins section was only open to Divine Text Researchers.
Zhou Leng browsed generally and finally entered the "Divine Text Museum."
Inside, there were HD 3D images.
The images were related to ancient ruins involving Divine Texts.
However, most content displayed "Insufficient permission, cannot browse."
Because the Divine Texts contained exotic power, if one's level was not enough, randomly viewing them could easily cause mental chaos.
Many martial artists went into a frenzy from carelessly viewing Divine Texts.
Especially since many Divine Text artifacts themselves carried exotic powers, even photographs or images could influence people.
Zhou Leng flipped through the viewable Divine Text images; the content was either relatively simple or the traces were blurred with the power dissipated.
Some Divine Texts in the images were fully deciphered, but most still had unresolved parts.
Zhou Leng slowly flipped through, finding much content he truly couldn't understand.
There were some that, though he vaguely grasped, were beyond his capability to solve.
Before long, Zhou Leng noticed the Divine Text content on a stele seemed familiar.
It was somewhat similar to what he heard on the Celestial Ladder.
But, these planar Divine Texts were different from three-dimensional ones.
Planar Divine Texts often carved from multiple angles, requiring readers to piece them together, making reading them more difficult than three-dimensional texts.
Some Divine Texts were originally three-dimensional and dynamic but, over time, lost their power and froze at a moment in time, becoming planar and harder to interpret.
The Divine Text on this stele was relatively blurred, but was restored through technical means and had image references.
Beneath the image were the deciphered contents by predecessors and analysis from others.
After reading the stele and the decoding content along with others' analysis, Zhou Leng quickly formed a thought process.
Just as he was about to jot down the decoded content, he considered that recently he had attracted too much attention, so he decided to remain anonymous.
Once things calmed down, he would reveal it.
The rewards for solving would be credited to his account anyway.
Soon, Zhou Leng began the decoding and wrote an elaborate piece.
"This piece of Divine Text describes the trial rules..."
"The first line of Divine Text should be about selecting disciples, with that surface text, it isn't 'servant' or 'subordinate' as some conjectured, but rather means 'child' or 'disciple'..."
This part, Zhou Leng was very certain about because the words were content heard from the Celestial Ladder.
"The second line is crucial, involving the influencing conditions of the trial. Previously, someone suggested that the Mountain of Will had to reach the 'Rock Realm,' but this is incorrect."
"This line means, disciples allowed to form a shadow of the Mountain of Will are permitted entry, achieving 'Rock Realm' is better. At the same time, the level of proficiency needed is below innate. If too weak or too strong, the trial would exclude them."
"The third line's content, regarding trial rewards, someone got it half right. The reward is not some spirit medicine but a kind of..."
"The fourth line..."
Many people had tried to decipher this stone inscription; some were correct and some were not, but they all provided insights for Zhou Leng.
Combining his learning with others' content, Zhou Leng managed to solve over ninety percent of this relatively simple stone tablet.
There were indeed some profound areas involving specific jargon that even Zhou Leng did not recognize.
After completing the decoding, he glanced at the time, realizing two hours had flown by.
The classmates who trained at night had already left.
In an empty hall, Zhou Leng looked down at his right shoulder.
More than a week had passed, his right shoulder had healed, just in time for testing his strength.
So, Zhou Leng stepped onto the weightlifting platform.
First, he performed the no True Qi test, lifting weights with his bare body.
After completing the test, he stepped off the platform and looked at the display screen.
"987.5 kilograms."
Score: 110 points.
Zhou Leng reviewed his last test results from the October monthly exam.
"698.6 kilograms."
Increased by 288.9 kilograms.
This surpassed Zhang Xinglie's results before entering Yunhua Martial Arts Academy.
It was just a bit away from breaking the thousand-kilogram mark.
One thousand kilograms mark the normal milestone of the Body Refining Stage.
And now, my realm is only at the Middle Period of Blood Transport.
Moreover, it's Super Resolution.
Zhou Leng tried the True Qi Weightlifting again, this time, controlling the suspected Qi Marvelous Body power, ensuring it wasn't released.
After finishing True Qi Weightlifting, Zhou Leng looked at the display.
4915.9 kilograms.
Score: 112 points.
Last time in the October monthly exam, it was 3305.2 kilograms.
An increase of 1610.7 kilograms.
Just a little short of reaching 5000 kilograms.
The power of ten thousand jin is no longer a metaphor.
Zhou Leng looked at his fist.
Now when I channel all my True Qi into a punch, I can shatter an ordinary person into pieces all over the ground.
Then, he walked to the squat rack and directly loaded the squat barbell to 500 kilograms.
With 500 kilograms on his shoulders, he slowly squatted down and then slowly stood up.
After completing a set of 10, it felt manageable.
So, he increased it to 600 kilograms.
It was a bit strenuous, but he still completed the remaining three sets.
Daily load successfully reached 600 kilograms.
Twice as much as before.
Zhou Leng rotated his right arm, feeling no discomfort in his shoulder.
So, Zhou Leng completed his full-load training and then ran back to the Frost Giant Tree.
Xiong City.
Before sleeping, Zhao Nandi unusually applied a facial mask.
He then habitually browsed the Divine Script Ruins, checking recent research results and forum content.
After a while, he suddenly received a message from his senior sister.
"You should quickly go to the Divine Text Museum to see the 'Ancient River Stele', someone has deciphered most of it."
Zhao Nandi paused for a moment.
That Ancient River Stele was her research target this year; she even published a paper on it. Although it wasn't on a world-class core journal, it was on a national divine text core journal.
If someone deciphered it first, then all her efforts this year...
Zhao Nandi hurriedly entered the Divine Text Museum in Martial Arts City to carefully review that brand new decrypted content.
He read it thrice, silver teeth clenched, and let out a long sigh, his beautiful eyes showing a complex look.
Compared with this content, her paper was full of flaws, making her want to retract it immediately.
Then, she read through others' comments.
"This is content that can appear in top journals; how can it just be thrown here, making it hard for anyone to survive?"
"The system sent a message asking me to comment; how would I dare, it might just be my grandmaster's work."
"This was the direction of my graduation thesis; well, it just crushed me backhanded, and I can only change my research direction..."
"Which great academic anonymously descended, overpowering all ages? This paper has obliterated even the great roads..."
"Great, not only have the great roads been erased, but so has our West Sea Martial Arts Academy's Ancient River Stele Research Group's funding..."
"Members of Yunhua Divine Literature Academy, grouped to admire the anonymous ancestor's style..."
"Teachers and students of Jinjing Divine Literature Academy stand up together, welcoming the arrival of the divine text saint..."
A group of young intermediate divine text researchers played jokes here, and various expert groups were all in chaos.
Those who usually slept early for health, after reading it, couldn't close their eyelids, with throbbing veins on their foreheads, discussing in groups.
Zhao Nandi, looking at these experts' groups frantically refreshing, couldn't sleep either.
Soon, some experts began to summarize.
"This content corrected twelve divine text errors, but currently only three can be confirmed, and the other nine require multi-party review..."
"At the same time, fourteen new minor divine text knowledge points were added, unprecedented, and a large-scale seminar is estimated to be needed..."
"Additionally, it mentioned a new system, namely 'Consciousness Sequence', whether it is a new research result or a conjecture remains unknown..."
"This Consciousness Sequence, too mysterious, can't understand it at all."
"The author probably just speculated; literally, it means the divine text not only needs to be written but also requires constructing consciousness in a certain way to form a practical, communicative divine text consciousness language..."
"I don't understand, but I am greatly shocked..."
"Who is this great divine text expert? Go and ask around."
"The anonymous system permissions in Martial Arts City are extremely high, utterly traceable except with multi-national consent, and who knows when it will happen..."
Soon, the news spread worldwide.
Experts in the divine text domain worldwide, with red eyes, repeatedly read that anonymous article.
Rucheng Martial Arts Academy, Demonized Equipment Department.
The on-duty employee saw the system prompt and checked the background data.
"Hmm? Someone exceeded Super Resolution in weightlifting? Unfortunately, there's no permission to view the cameras, but it can be confirmed to be in Class 01. That Deng Zhijue is pretty good..."
The on-duty employee thought, sending a message to the main instructor of Class 01, Deng Zhijue.
"Congratulations, Instructor Deng, there's hope for an excellent instructor award this year."
"Hmm? What's happening?" Instructor Deng just walked out of the Teacher Martial Arts Hall.
"You don't know?"
"I don't know, what's up?"
"Someone in your class exceeded Super Resolution in weightlifting, nearly a thousand kilograms once, nearly five thousand kilograms once, should be the numbers for No True Qi Weightlifting and True Qi Weightlifting respectively."
"Got it, thank you."
Deng Zhijue felt puzzled, energized True Qi, and quickly rushed to the dojo of Class 01.
Opened the door, and saw no one there.