CHAPTER 1199: CHAPTER 46: THE GRAND BANQUET BEGINS

The passage of time.

The current Nature Master, An Jing, appearing at the Heaven Sea Dragon Court to attend the Zhaolin Ye Zhen Banquet, became a sensational piece of news spread across the Ten Continents. Everyone who could be aware of this event, from the Heavenly Ancestor down to sects established by the Divine Repository, paid great attention to it.

After all, every Nature Master brings great changes to the Embracing the Void: all kinds of Heavenly Mechanism Creations from the Heavenly Mechanism Sect, flying ships, wings, and even bicycles and new farming implements have greatly altered people’s way of life.

The various new elixirs and talismans created by the Heavenly Mother Palace have also greatly changed the logic of Martial Artist cultivation and competition. The advancement of medical skills can even be felt by ordinary people, who, as long as they save enough silver taels, can heal damage to their organs and bones.

However, this time, everyone is more interested in An Jing’s power.

Since he reappeared at the Heaven Sea Dragon Court over a year after using the power of the Taibai Battle Armor to defeat a Great Formation set up by True Persons of the Taiming Sect, he astonishingly displayed the strength to defeat and instantly kill a high-ranking Dragon Guard of the Divine Repository with just the pure physical power.

This unimaginable speed of progress is attributed by many to the skill of the Feather Transformation Dao. Some believe that An Jing has fully integrated the Taibai Battle Armor into his body, naturally granting him the power to move mountains.

Others think it is due to An Jing’s extreme skill mastery, which allows him to overpower a Dragon Guard with a mere fraction of his strength.

In any case, regardless of the method used, An Jing’s power is undeniable, and his participation verifies the previous speculations of various forces: this Zhaolin Banquet at the Ancestral Dragon Hall is by no means ordinary; it represents significant changes and opportunities.

As such, Heaven’s Chosen from different places have gathered, far surpassing past lineups, converging from the Nine Seas and Ten Continents.

During this process, the Nature Master, An Jing, unlike when he first arrived and always sparked big news, seemed less newsworthy.

In fact, in this half-year period, he had been living peacefully around the estate of the East Sea General Jin Yanhua, educating marine creatures, leading a serene, undisturbed life, focusing on his cultivation.

Although occasionally visitors would come bearing gifts, intending to seek the Nature Master’s guidance, most were politely refused. Only a few sincere in their quests, rather than having ulterior motives, were allowed to enter, to enjoy tea and discuss the Dao on Cloud Island, and perhaps seek some advice.

However, such people were indeed rare, and most of those who received guidance from the Nature Master concealed their identities—perhaps to avoid bringing trouble to An Jing, or perhaps to keep their gains secret. Therefore, knowing what kind of person An Jing ’truly is’ becomes a real question.

But, as the True Disciple of the Ten Directions Heavenly Traveling Marvelous Dharma Divine Sect from Dong Tian Yuzhou, an invitee to the Dragon Palace Grand Banquet, and one of the 28 Patrol Envoys of the Ten Directions Dao List, the world traveler Hui Tianyu always found ways to interview acquaintances willing to speak.

Just like now.

Atop the Cloud Vortex at Heaven Sea Dragon Court.

As a senior of allied sects, Hui Tianyu interviewed a Martial Artist from the Ten Directions Miao Dao Tianji Upper Sect, who had the chance to receive guidance from the Nature Master.

"It really astonished me."

An eyewitness to An Jing’s guidance to the marine creatures, Mu Ya (29 years old), with a reminiscent expression, commented, "Although everyone wishes to visit and learn from the Nature Master, our Heavenly Mechanism Sect’s founding ancestor was also a Nature Master. This time visiting was out of curiosity as to what kind of person could be on par with our ancestor, mixed with a bit of pride."

"But truly, after meeting him, I couldn’t help but think... Is there really such a person? Such a Nature Master?"

"He doesn’t set up classes or directly teach anything; instead, he constantly asks questions to those he teaches, which are the marine creatures, grabbing onto details of their responses to pose more questions... A lot of strange questions, like, ’Does breathing satisfy your life’s sustaining needs?’ ’What truly is eating?’ ’If you were to discard a part of your body, which one would it be and why?’ A barrage of questions tossed out even left me somewhat dizzy."

"At the same time, he introduces a great amount of basic knowledge for those marine creatures to learn—no idea how he got them to learn language, but he keeps pushing them to analyze and comprehend knowledge themselves and integrate everything together..."

"It’s too excessive!"

At this point, Mu Ya (29 years old) heavily pounded his palm, feeling somewhat indignant, "Forget about being a teacher, even becoming an instructor at a rural martial arts school might seem crude and simple!"

"Although immensely powerful, naturally under normal circumstances, only true geniuses could learn anything from him!"

"Without a doubt, An Jing has comprehended another path from heaven and earth, but perhaps he has only grasped the ’nature’ part of Nature Master, still exploring the ’master’ aspect—after all, it seems An Jing isn’t even twenty yet, so it’s understandable."

"That’s roughly the feeling I’d say."

With those words, Mu Ya (29 years old) fell silent.

He lowered his head, gazing at his interlocked hands.

When he raised it again, he spoke earnestly, "This undoubtedly was my mistake."

"Because An Jing indeed found a method that can turn ordinary people into ’geniuses’!"

"First, through special cultivation methods, inscribe an Array Plate in the Soul Spirit to enhance calculation speed and memory, which forms the basis of An Jing’s teaching—if one cannot readily recall every book they’ve read, they can’t keep up with An Jing’s line of thinking."

"In other words, the abilities we usually need to train, such as memory and calculation, reaction speed and the ability to search for key information, are all streamlined. What people need, in fact, is to develop their ’inspiration’ and ’intuition’."

"After a period, as long as one can keep up, everyone naturally gains a bit of ’genius’ traits!"

"Do you find it unbelievable?"

"It isn’t, actually."

"Just as in ancient times, memory relied on knotting cords, and learning language and script required totems carved."

"Subsequently, there were books, paintings, carvings, poems, and other ’tools’."

"Nowadays, don’t we have Jade Slips and Jade Books, which only need Divine Sense to quickly browse and remember some knowledge? Not to mention Divine Intention inheritance."

"In my view, the ’Heart Wisdom Skill’ developed by An Jing is such a tool."

"Every invention of a tool is a major innovation. The previous generation viewed it as heretical, thinking it would affect establishing a strong foundation, such as some antiques in the sects today still believe that learning through Jade Slips leads to poor understanding, just hastily skimming through knowledge."

"Perhaps this is the case, but it’s the evolution of the era. We should perfect it, not reject it!"

"Even if some cannot even start with the ’Heart Wisdom Skill,’ they are not abandoned because there are other ’tools’ to compensate."

"Hmm... You ask me about my feelings toward An Jing?"

"He is a very approachable and gentle guy."

"Huh?"

"You ask, during exchanges, whether I asked any questions that angered him? Whether I feared being eliminated?"

"Are you talking about An Jing?"

Silence.

A sigh.

Puzzlement.

Mu Ya raised his hand, wagged a finger, and said, "Senior brother, you still don’t understand An Jing."

"He engages when provoked. I only went to learn and ask questions, and even if I posed foolish questions, he would patiently guide me, pointing out flaws in my words, letting me realize my mistakes on my own."

"I respect... no, I revere him!"

"Heavenly Mandate, Nature Master, An Jing... is an incredible Martial Artist!"

After the interview ended.

Mu Ya, grasping the contemplative Hui Tianyu, who intended to return to organize the interview content, mysteriously said, "Hey, senior brother, are you interested in playing some investments?"