Chapter 333

Chapter 333: Blasphemer!

The essence of the Dao!

　　This was actually something Ye Tianming had always wanted to figure out, and when he saw the single character “Name” (name) left behind by that senior sister, he was suddenly enlightened.

　　Name!

　　Though it was just one character, he understood what the senior sister meant.

　　However, trying to explain it concisely was still quite difficult.

　　The Dao is both simple and complex.

　　Ye Tianming held his pen and fell into deep thought, trying to figure out how to simplify the senior sister’s true meaning so that ordinary people could understand it.

　　At that moment, the young woman suddenly walked over to Ye Tianming’s side. She glanced at him as he sat in thought, then looked at his notes. There were only four characters written on the page: Breaking Through Names to Enter the Way — break through names to enter the Dao.

　　Those were the words Ye Tianming had written.

　　The woman suddenly asked, “What does it mean to break through names to enter the Dao?”

　　Her voice abruptly broke Ye Tianming’s train of thought. He turned to look at her, and she was staring right at him.

　　Ye Tianming asked, “And you are?”

　　The woman said calmly, “Someone reading.”

　　Ye Tianming smiled and said, “To explain this idea of breaking through names to enter the Dao, we first need to understand what the senior sister meant by ‘name.'”

　　The woman looked at him. “What does ‘name’ mean?”

　　Ye Tianming said earnestly, “A name is something used to refer to a thing.”

　　The woman said, “Elaborate.”

　　Ye Tianming smiled and held up the book in his hand. “This is a book, but was it originally called a ‘book’? No. It’s only because people needed a way to refer to it that they forcibly gave it a name. This is what’s called ‘naming it by force.’ The name people gave it has no inherent connection to the thing itself……”

　　As he spoke, he looked down at the ancient text in his hand. “I call this a book, but the object itself has no name. When I say ‘book,’ what I’m expressing is not the physical object out there, but the name I hold in my mind.”

　　At this, Ye Tianming said with some excitement, “This senior sister is truly a once-in-a-generation genius. With a single character, she resolved a question that had troubled me for a long time. That’s remarkable — I genuinely admire her.”

　　Those words were spoken from the heart.

　　The Dao has many forms and countless interpretations, but when it comes to the essence of the Dao, there is no doubt that it is very difficult to articulate clearly.

　　Why?

　　Because all things in the world are named out of the need to refer to them.

　　The woman glanced at him. “Is there more?”

　　Ye Tianming continued, “People use names to refer to all things in the world, yet all things in the world have no names of their own. So the Dao itself has no name in its existence, and everything people speak of is just names. From this we can see that to truly know the Dao as it really is, one must break through names to understand it — only by not being obstructed by names can one truly know it. This is what is meant by ‘the name that can be named is not the eternal name.'”

　　The woman fell silent, and in that moment, her gaze took on a deeper, more meaningful quality.

　　Ye Tianming sighed softly. “Why is the Dao so hard to comprehend? So hard to understand? Because everything in the world is replaced by ‘names.’ We can use different names to refer to the same thing, which shows that the thing being referred to is not the name. Yet when the name changes, people’s understanding shifts as well. And so, people often cannot distinguish between name and reality — they even mistake the name for the reality itself.”

　　The woman looked at him and said nothing.

　　Ye Tianming looked down at the ancient text in his hand and said quietly, “This senior sister has clearly perceived the Dao. With a single character, she was able to articulate its very essence. The height of her realm is beyond imagination. If I could have a conversation with her, there would surely be much to gain. What a pity…….”

　　The woman instinctively asked, “A pity about what?”

　　Ye Tianming smiled and said, “This senior sister is clearly someone of extraordinary standing. It would be very hard to ever get the chance to speak with her — and besides, she might not even want to talk with me……”

　　As he spoke, he looked at the ancient texts and notes in his hands and smiled. “Still, it’s not so bad. I can learn something of this senior sister’s thoughts through these ancient texts.”

　　The woman suddenly asked, “Are you a newly arrived outer court student?”

　　Ye Tianming nodded. “Yes.”

　　The woman glanced at him, said nothing, and turned to leave.

　　Ye Tianming watched her go, smiled to himself, and went back to organizing the ancient texts and notes.

　　Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, half a month had gone by.

　　Over those two weeks, Ye Tianming had spent nearly every day in the archive tower. Because his annotations were quite good, he had also successfully obtained an advance of 300 study credits from the elder who guarded the archive tower.

　　Besides organizing the ancient texts left behind by the senior sister, he also made time to read on his own, and had gone through nearly every book in the entire library hall.

　　The one thing he found somewhat regrettable was that the archive tower contained very little recorded information about the Age of the Gods, and he was deeply interested in the history of that era.

　　A few more days passed, and now he had only two ancient books left to organize before the task would be fully complete.

　　But he did not continue with the annotations. Instead, he left the archive tower, because today was the public lecture held once every half month — he had to attend.

　　As a student of the Divine Academy, life was actually quite free. There was basically nothing mandatory to do, but the public lecture was required — just twice a month.

　　And attending one public lecture earned 10 study credits.

　　Over this period of time, he had come to understand the Divine Academy much better. The academy was divided into the outer court, the inner court, and the divine court.

　　The treatment received by the three courts was vastly different. Outer court students were basically left to their own devices — tasks were entirely up to the individual. But the inner court was different. Every month, the inner court received missions assigned by the academy, and failing to complete them meant having study credits deducted. Moreover, some missions were extremely dangerous, even life-threatening.

　　Of course, the inner court’s benefits were also exceptional. The Divine Academy provided housing, and the spiritual incense energy within those quarters was far superior to that of the outer court. Beyond that, inner court students could each have their own mentor to guide their cultivation. On the path of cultivation, the difference between having guidance and not having it was enormous.

　　As for the divine court, that was the core talent pool of the Divine Academy.

　　Anyone who could enter the divine court possessed talent that was, at the very least, at the level of a prodigy.

　　As for the benefits within the divine court, it was said there were exclusive blessed cave heavens.

　　Before long, Ye Tianming arrived at a large plaza, where several thousand people had already gathered.

　　All outer court students!

　　Ye Tianming found a meditation cushion and sat down. The outer court students around him all wore expressions of excitement.

　　”Brother Ye!”

　　A familiar voice came from nearby.

　　Ye Tianming turned to look — it was Qingyuan, whom he hadn’t seen in half a month.

　　Qingyuan ran over and sat down beside him, then pulled a bright red fruit from his robe and held it out to Ye Tianming. “Brother Ye, this is a Wuling Fruit. It’s full of incense spiritual energy — I got it as a bonus reward from a mission. Here, eat it!”

　　Ye Tianming didn’t refuse. He took the fruit, snapped it in half with both hands, and handed one half back to Qingyuan. Qingyuan didn’t refuse either — he took it and bit into it heartily. “Delicious!”

　　Ye Tianming took a bite as well and smiled. “It really is quite good.”

　　Qingyuan grinned. “Brother Ye, do you know who’s giving the lecture today?”

　　Ye Tianming shook his head.

　　Qingyuan said, “I heard it’s Senior Brother Zhoubai from the divine court.”

　　Ye Tianming looked puzzled. “Senior Brother Zhoubai?”

　　Qingyuan nodded. “Yes. Senior Brother Zhoubai is one of the supreme geniuses of our Divine Academy. His strength and talent are second only to that mysterious senior sister……”

　　Ye Tianming grew curious as well. “The mysterious senior sister?”

　　Qingyuan smiled and said, “The senior sister is a disciple of our Divine Academy’s headmaster. By seniority, she is the senior sister of every young person in the academy. And of course, it’s not just a matter of status — I’ve heard that half a year ago, she already stepped into the half-step pseudo-divine realm. Her power is absolutely extraordinary.”

　　At that, he took a fierce bite of the fruit and said with conviction, “My little sister will be just as outstanding one day.”

　　Ye Tianming smiled. “She definitely will.”

　　Qingyuan chuckled and continued, “This senior sister is incredibly mysterious. They say only some of the divine court students have ever seen her…… Do you know what the most extraordinary thing she’s ever done is?”

　　Ye Tianming shook his head.

　　Qingyuan said seriously, “She once killed a pseudo-god.”

　　A pseudo-god!

　　Ye Tianming was taken aback.

　　Qingyuan said, “Our academy actually has more than one traitor — there are two of them, and both reached the pseudo-divine realm…….”

　　As he spoke, he leaned closer to Ye Tianming and lowered his voice. “I’ve heard that both of those traitors were once supreme geniuses of our academy — extraordinarily, extraordinarily talented.”

　　Ye Tianming asked in confusion, “Why would they defect?”

　　Qingyuan shook his head. “That, nobody knows. And besides, the Divine Academy has already erased all records related to those two students. What people know now has been passed down through various rumors and gossip.”

　　Defection!

　　Ye Tianming fell into silent thought.

　　Qingyuan then asked, “Brother Ye, do you think the Divine Academy is good?”

　　Ye Tianming came back to his senses and smiled. “Why do you ask?”

　　Qingyuan smiled. “Just asking.”

　　Ye Tianming nodded. “My overall impression of it is very good.”

　　Qingyuan nodded. “I think it’s very good too. I’m sure I’ll be able to achieve my dream here.”

　　Ye Tianming smiled. “I’m sure you will.”

　　Qingyuan looked at Ye Tianming. “Brother Ye, do you have a dream?”

　　Ye Tianming thought for a moment, then said, “Great freedom! To bring great freedom to all living beings.”

　　Qingyuan looked puzzled. “Great freedom?”

　　Ye Tianming smiled. “Yes.”

　　Qingyuan shook his head. “I don’t quite get it.”

　　Ye Tianming smiled and explained, “It basically means freedom — true freedom.”

　　Qingyuan grinned. “Freedom? What’s so hard about that? You’re already pretty free right now!”

　　Ye Tianming smiled but said nothing, and simply took another bite of the fruit.

　　Qingyuan was about to say something more, but just then, a beam of divine light suddenly appeared in the sky. In the next instant, it shot straight down onto the massive stone platform in the distance.

　　The divine light faded, and a handsome young man appeared on the stone platform.

　　The outer court students in the plaza immediately erupted in cheers.

　　Zhoubai!

　　One of the supreme geniuses of the Divine Academy.

　　Zhoubai suddenly swept his gaze across the students gathered below, then said, “Among you, there is one who has blasphemed the gods!”

　　A blasphemer!

　　The moment those words fell, the entire crowd was stunned.

　　Ye Tianming’s expression darkened.