Chapter 847 — Long Time No See

The Archive Pavilion had several hundred floors, and every floor held countless jade slips, each slip bearing an immense number of runes. To commit all those runes to memory was a formidable task indeed. "A workman must first sharpen his tools if he is to do his work well.

If I have to memorize them one by one, how long will it take? " Shen Mu sat on the stairs, eyes wide as he watched Lin Xuan, Xiao Chunfeng, and Yu Hongxiu busily trying to memorize the runes on the jade slips.

Yu Hongxiu had already awakened, but it had taken her half a day to recover her composure. She too understood the gravity of the situation. Having resolved to fake her death and escape once she left this jade tower, she joined the others in memorizing the runes. Memorizing the rune sequences of a single floor alone was an appallingly vast amount of information.

Those rune sequences could reconstruct the Great Dao structure of an Ancient Star God—one could well imagine how complex it was. Relying on memory alone made it nearly impossible.

Even for people of exceptional intelligence, memorizing a single floor would take ten days to half a month. The Ancient Star God rune Daos on the lower floors were still relatively simple. By the level of the Four Emperors, the amount to memorize was dozens or hundreds of times greater than the floors below. At the level of the Venerable Lord of Heaven, the Earth Mother, the Lord of the Soil, and the Heavenly Emperor, the amount to memorize would likely multiply several times over again.

Just to memorize everything completely without error would take hundreds, even thousands of years—and Shen Mu could not possibly stay here that long. More critically, the Archive Pavilion was an extremely important structure within the Heavenly Court.

The Heavenly Court could send someone at any moment. The Dao Ancestor could not possibly let them stay here so long.

The longer they delayed, the greater the danger. In other words, they had to memorize the runes on the jade slips within just a few days, and then leave.

Shen Mu propped his chin on his hand, staring blankly into space. Dao Master Lin Xuan, Xiao Chunfeng, and Yu Hongxiu were all working feverishly, rapidly scanning the jade slips and desperately memorizing.

From time to time the three of them glanced over and saw Shen Mu still sitting there, showing not the slightest sign of alarm. The three of them were puzzled. Before long, Xiao Chunfeng came to a realization: "It's impossible to memorize all the runes in the Archive Pavilion in such a short time.

I'm not that clever, and my memory isn't that strong.

So I need to choose the best—the Heavenly Emperor's rune Dao. Memorizing the Heavenly Emperor's rune Dao is the optimal solution!

" Once he realized this, he immediately left that floor and headed for the top.

Meanwhile, Dao Master Lin Xuan also came to a realization: "I can't possibly memorize so many floors. So I'll extract the fundamental runes from these Ancient Star Gods' runes and assign them numbers. The fundamental rune sequences can be divided into one, two, three, four, five.

.

. I only need to memorize a few hundred fundamental runes, and then recite these rune sequence numbers, and I can memorize an Ancient Star God's Great Dao rune system in far less time! " He was somewhat elated and immediately set about numbering them. Yu Hongxiu was dizzy from watching, and suddenly she too came to a realization: "I studied under the Southern Emperor, and I myself am a Vermilion Bird demigod. What use is memorizing other Ancient Star Gods' Great Dao runes?

Because our species differ, cultivating these other Ancient Star Gods' Great Dao runes would yield half the result with twice the effort.

My optimal solution should be to go to the Southern Emperor's floor and memorize those Great Dao runes—that would benefit my cultivation far more! " She immediately headed for the Southern Emperor's floor. The three of them went about their own business, while Shen Mu remained seated on the first-floor steps, staring blankly. The three had no time to talk him out of it and went about their own tasks. Before long, when they took a break and stole a glance, they saw that Shen Mu had risen at some point and taken out a great pile of calculation tools along with brush, ink, paper, and inkstone. He was writing and drawing, and also directing calculation elemental soldiers to work on some difficult problems. The three rested briefly, then each went back to memorizing the Great Dao runes.

When their brains could take no more and they rested again, they saw that Shen Mu had set up a blacksmith's forge on the first floor.

He had taken out a pile of divine metal and lit a furnace, into which he had thrust a Heavenfire Crystal, smelting the divine metal. The three were suspicious, but they had no time to spare for him. After resting a while, they went back to their own work. Clang, clang, clang. The sound of hammering rose from below, and the three grew even more suspicious. Peering down, they saw that Shen Mu had forged beside the furnace a statue of an eight-armed demon god.

He summoned a spirit into the statue, and it came to life, gripping eight great hammers and pounding away at a massive piece of divine metal.

Meanwhile, Shen Mu stood to the side, directing his Demon Fire divine ability, Divine Fire divine ability, and Sunflower Water divine ability to continuously temper that piece of divine metal.

The three said nothing and continued to memorize with all their focus. A long while passed, and Shen Mu was still forging. The hammering was so loud that the three could not concentrate. Yu Hongxiu could bear it no longer.

Steeling herself, she poked her head out and called upward: "Senior Brother Xiao, that Shen fellow has gone mad.

He won't study himself, and he won't let us study either. Let's go finish him off together! " Xiao Chunfeng was also annoyed by the noise. He hesitated, then shook his head: "No.

You're no match for Lin Xuan.

Though I'm not weaker than him, if he and Lin Xuan join forces, I'm done for.

" After another long while, Lin Xuan too was left dizzy by the noise. He poked his head out and called down: "Sect Master Shen, settle down! It's too loud! " Xiao Chunfeng poked his head down from above and called out: "Daoist Lin, we both came from the Daoist sect, so we're fellow disciples.

Why not join forces and finish off that madman Shen! Sharpening the axe won't delay the woodcutting—finish off madman Shen, and we'll memorize faster!

" Yu Hongxiu also poked her head out, nodding vigorously: "This fellow won't apply himself, and he won't let us memorize either.

He's simply awful!

Get rid of him first, and then we can study in peace! " Dao Master Lin Xuan shook his head: "Don't talk nonsense. Sect Master Shen always acts with deep purpose.

He must have his reasons for this. I only asked him to be quieter. " Shen Mu was still hammering away.

The eight-armed demon god statue had been battered beyond use, and he tossed it into his Taotie Pouch. This time he took the field himself, and his forging speed was not slow either.

Lin Xuan looked down and saw that what Shen Mu was forging was a mirror. He was hammering Creation runes into the mirror, making the space within it grow larger and larger. "What is he doing?

" Dao Master Lin Xuan watched but could not figure it out, so he went back to memorizing runes. Another day or two passed. They grew accustomed to the hammering from below.

Though the noise was clamorous, it could no longer affect them. Suddenly the hammering stopped. The three went frantic and all poked their heads out.

Yu Hongxiu's eyes were wide, and just as she was about to speak, Dao Master Lin Xuan in front of her roared: "Shen, you scum! Why did you stop hammering? If you don't bang away, we can't calm down!