Chapter 664: 291. Target, Dragon Tiger Mountain Altar of Wanfa Sect! (Chapter Combined)_3

"Sacrificial Official Fang of the Scholarly Mansion is personally heading to Jianye," Yuan Mobai said after reading the report, handing it to Lei Jun beside him.

Lei Jun quickly skimmed through it.

The current Academy Libationer of the Scholarly Mansion was Fang Yue. He obviously placed great importance on the establishment of Jianye Academy, so he personally traveled to the south.

"Sacrificial Official Fang has requested Our Sect to send a promising disciple to Jianye." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Previously, for the establishment of both Luoyang Academic Palace and Chang’an Academic Palace, the Celestial Master Mansion had sent people to deliver lectures. This clearly demonstrated their support for the Scholarly Mansions and also served as another way to recruit talent.

As Lei Jun and the others were discussing these matters, Shangguan Ning’s expression suddenly changed.

She took out a Thousand-Mile Sound Transmission Talisman.

Generally, this Spirit Talisman signified an extremely urgent report.

The message also came from the Tang Imperial Court.

Off the coast of Mingzhou, someone had entered the Great Tang Realm through that Void Gateway.

Furthermore, they had clashed with Great Tang cultivators.

The atmosphere there instantly grew tense, the situation on a knife’s edge.

"They are indeed Confucian Cultivators, but their learning is significantly different from the Confucian Studies currently prevalent in our dynasty," Shangguan Ning said gravely. "It’s quite similar to the declining Wenhua Qi encountered in the different void realms accessed through Great Black Mountain and Changjie Island, yet there are also differences."

Yuan Mobai said, "According to Disciple Niece Yuan Zhen, the mountains and rivers of those two worlds were shattered, and the Wenhua Qi had also withered away."

Shangguan Ning continued, "The specific circumstances are still unknown. The Imperial Court has already sent reinforcements, and Qingzhou and Suzhou have also dispatched representatives."

Although both originated from the Confucian Sect, the classics that the Great Tang’s noble families passed down for generations differed greatly from those of the visitors. Even if they were completely identical, the familial teachings in places like Qingzhou and Suzhou, integrated with local customs, had established these families as regional powers. They would not tolerate the erosion of their interests by Buddhism or Taoism, nor would they tolerate it from others. At least for now, they would not see these newcomers as allies with a common cause. Of course, they would not foolishly sacrifice their lives as pawns for the Tang Imperial Court either.

To observe and understand the situation—that seemed to be their true intention at the moment.

"Those overseas visitors claim they come from ’Heavenly Principle’," Shangguan Ning finally said.

Lei Jun became contemplative upon hearing this.

"It seems the Imperial Court will soon have more detailed reports," Yuan Mobai remarked.

The other three all nodded.

Lei Jun tried to contact his senior sister, Xu Yuanzhen.

The connection was not smooth.

As Lei Jun’s own cultivation had broken through to the Eighth Heavenly Layer, the effectiveness of his Heaven-piercing Earth-penetrating Taliscript, Heaven’s Sight Earth’s Hearing Talisman, Thousand-Mile Sound Transmission Talisman, and other similar talismans had correspondingly increased.

This likely meant Xu Yuanzhen was already attempting to enter ’Heavenly Principle.’

As expected, after finally establishing contact with Xu Yuanzhen, her voice came through intermittently:

"Interesting... but also displeasing... I’ll go in and take a look."

Lei Jun remained calm; he was not surprised. His senior sister was so spontaneous she could be called willful. She had a sense of responsibility, but not quite enough. Perhaps just a smidgen.

「Later, more detailed reports indeed arrived from the Tang Imperial Court.」

There were four main points.

Firstly, within that so-called ’Heavenly Principle,’ there were cultivators of various paths, with Confucian Cultivators being the majority. Although their studies were vastly different from the mainstream Confucian Studies of the Great Tang, they contained many profound insights, and there were numerous experts among them.

The most apparent trait was that Confucian Cultivators from ’Heavenly Principle’ acted with a striking uniformity when making their moves—orderly, formal, and strict, with a clear hierarchy. High-realm Great Scholars held extremely clear suppressive power over low-realm Confucian Scholars. In combat, their writings would first form a system of rites. If a Great Tang cultivator did not immediately resist and destroy this system, instead choosing to temporarily evade, it would become increasingly difficult to counter later, and they would gradually fall to a disadvantage. Especially when Great Scholars of the ’Upper Three Heavens’ used their writings to establish righteousness and the system of rites took form, any opponent who violated these rites would suffer penalties and be weakened. This revealed an artistic conception that somewhat disregarded reality, where ritual was placed above law.

Secondly, those from the so-called ’Heavenly Principle’ were highly likely from what was once Guicang within the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, which had been renamed. However, the origins of its current inhabitants remained somewhat mysterious and vague. What actually happened in Guicang, now ’Heavenly Principle,’ in earlier years, was still unknown.

Thirdly, it was confirmed that their Confucian heritage, though more similar to the Wenhua artistic conception previously encountered by Xu Yuanzhen, Lin Che, and others, was also distinctly different in some respects. This was because they were not as easily restrained by the tyrannical and crude Martial Tao True Meaning that had trampled and shattered those worlds and their Wenhua. To some extent, they performed even better than the Confucian Studies of the Great Tang. Of course, this referred to the initial encounter with the ’Barbarian Spearhead’ by the North and South Lin Clans. Although the Jinzhou Ye Clan also saw its ancestral land broken, it was not directly trampled by the ’Barbarian Spearhead.’ On the contrary, Ye Moquan had already found some strategies to deal with this at that time, which could largely avoid being targeted by the ’Barbarian Spearhead.’ Ye Moquan, Ye Yan, Chu Xiuyuan, and Fang Jingsheng were all renowned masters of Great Tang Confucian Studies. Caught off guard when directly facing the ’Barbarian Spearhead,’ they might suffer a significant loss. However, after a period of research and preparation, even if they could not fully counteract the ’Barbarian Spearhead,’ they would at least no longer be so easily restrained by it.

According to reports from Imperial Court personnel on the front lines, the situation with those from ’Heavenly Principle’ was similar, perhaps even better in some respects. Connecting this to the two shattered worlds accessed via Great Black Mountain and Changjie Island, it was hard to say if the people from ’Heavenly Principle’ were more resistant, or even capable of counterattacking, because they had suffered losses before and thus had more time to study and reflect.

Lastly, the fourth point in the detailed report mentioned that while Great Tang cultivators were engaged in a major battle with the opposing side near Mingzhou, other experts were, conversely, planning to infiltrate ’Heavenly Principle.’