Shen Yu and the others looked up at the Divine Lady, their faces unconsciously filled with the pride of being praised.
The Divine Lady's recognition was the ultimate honor for them. How could it not be thrilling?
What was more, the Divine Lady was about to bestow a blessing upon them.
This made everyone unable to suppress their inner excitement.
Last time, the Divine Lady said she would bestow a blessing upon them, and the wheat outside Xindu City ripened in an instant, ensuring that no more citizens of Xindu City starved to death.
What would it be this time?
Everyone was filled with anticipation.
On the upturned eaves of the drum tower, the Divine Lady raised her hand. An extraordinarily beautiful nine-petaled golden lotus emerged from her palm, its center cradling a glowing, wordless heavenly book.
“This is the Scroll of Heavenly Secrets,” the Divine Lady's voice rang out, carrying clearly into the ears of everyone in the city. “Within it lie the ultimate truths of heaven and earth, the Great Dao of the mortal realm. What you comprehend from it depends entirely on your own fate and perception.”
As soon as her voice fell, the golden lotus bloomed, and the heavenly book dissolved into countless drifting points of light. Like a golden snowfall, they fluttered down and merged into the foreheads of everyone in the city.
A loud rumble echoed in everyone's minds, as if something was being forcefully stuffed into their brains.
Shen Yu's eyes widened, a golden light swirling in his pupils.
Countless images flashed by like a revolving lantern.
Someone was carving characters onto polished stones, someone was mixing ink, someone was arranging and fixing the carved stones, brushing ink, and covering them with paper. With a gentle sweep of a coir brush, a page of clear handwriting appeared before them when the paper was peeled away...
Immediately after.
He saw it again.
The process of paper forming on a paper-making mold...
Those images were too clear, too detailed, as if someone had engraved the complete craftsmanship directly into his brain.
Once he snapped out of it.
Shen Yu said in ecstatic joy, “Carving each character into an individual mold, typesetting, and printing... thousands of copies of a book can be printed in moments! There will be no need to copy books by hand one by one in the future!”
Originally, he was still troubled by how time-consuming and labor-intensive copying classical books was, which was why he had only mentioned the construction of a school to Cui He and had not brought it up during discussions.
Now that they had printing and paper-making techniques, the construction of the school could naturally be put on the agenda!
Cui He seemed to have a sudden realization, murmuring to herself, “Recruiting refugees to dig canals and pave roads, providing work-relief... the people get food, and the city gains long-term benefits!”
“Master, I know how to solve the refugee problem you were discussing earlier!” She looked at Shen Yu beside her with excitement. “Master, let us try work-relief. It is better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish!”
Cheng Ji fell to his knees, his body trembling violently.
He saw farmers being allocated land based on the household population. From then on, the people had land to till, and the imperial court had grain to collect.
“The Equal-Field... the Equal-Field System!” Tears streamed down his old face. “Let those who till have land, and let there be no more displaced refugees in the world!”
Lu Sui was shocked.
He saw laws one after another, and he also saw that the common people could argue with officials using these legal codes.
Lin Xun watched in dumbfounded silence as a patient's abdomen was cut open to remove a diseased organ, yet the person actually survived.
Ye Qingqing saw a courtyard housing infants abandoned by their parents, with wet nurses to feed them, doctors to treat them, warm bedding, and clean clothes.
“An orphanage...”
She burst into tears. “Adopting abandoned infants, so that every child has someone to love them from the moment they are born...”
Feng Chunya knelt in the crowd, clenching her fists tightly.
She saw raging fire and molten iron, and she saw ore melting in a furnace, the molten iron pouring out like a river.
Then, it turned into something harder than iron.
In the next second.
All of these images turned into tiny characters. She did not recognize a single word and could only stare blankly in frustration.
Meng Laosan, who made a living building bridges and paving roads in the city, trembled all over. A dusty gray powder appeared before his eyes. When mixed with water and sand, it became as hard as stone once dry.
He desperately wanted to know how that divine object was made, but the words on the recipe left him utterly stunned.
A peasant woman watched in shock as a curved plow, lighter and more labor-saving than the ones currently in use, could be used for both deep and shallow plowing, pulled effortlessly by a single ox...
More and more citizens witnessed these miraculous things.
This bestowment of blessings seemed to be left to chance.
In reality, Yun Shu and the System had evaluated everyone before targetedly implanting knowledge into their brains.
Once her goal was achieved.
Yun Shu waved her sleeve, and the light began to recede, the floating points of light in the air dimming one by one.
Everyone raised their heads, their eyes filled with reluctance.
Some reached out to grab the vanishing points of light, but they only grasped thin air.
Cheng Ji knelt down and pleaded, “Divine Lady, many citizens have comprehended the heavenly secrets but suffer from being illiterate and unable to memorize them. I beg the Divine Lady to grant them a little more time!”
“We beg the Divine Lady to grant them a little more time!”
Shen Yu and the others also knelt with red eyes. The things they had just comprehended from the Scroll of Heavenly Secrets were all highly beneficial to the country and the people.
It was easy to imagine.
What others had comprehended would certainly be no less extraordinary.
What a shame it would be to miss such an opportunity!
The Divine Lady's gaze swept over the kneeling figures throughout the city.
She remained silent for a moment.
“Opportunity knocks but once; once lost, it never returns,” her voice was calm and compassionate, as if she had long anticipated this.
“All things in the world have their own destiny.”
The golden light suddenly flared and then instantly vanished.
The Divine Lady was gone.
【Cheng Ji Shock Value +100】
【Ye Qingqing Shock Value +100】
【Lu Sui Shock Value +100】
【...】
【Current Shock Value: 1,009,500】
Yun Shu glanced at the Shock Value and switched the system panel to the surveillance screen of Yecheng.
“Sister Ar He, my brain is so stupid! I can't understand what is written there at all!”
Feng Chunya was so anxious she was on the verge of tears. “That thing called steel cuts through iron like butter! It is practically a divine weapon!”
Cui He held a pen and paper, comforting her, “Sister Chunya, don't worry. Draw it on the ground, and I will write it down.”
Similar scenes were playing out in every corner of Yecheng.
“Yes, building bridges, paving roads, laying city walls!” Meng Laosan's face was flushed with excitement as his fingers gestured wildly. “Once the cement dries, it becomes harder than stone, a hundred times stronger than lime mixed with glutinous rice slurry! We won't have to worry about bridges being washed away by water or roads being ruined by carriages!”
Shen Yu asked urgently, “Tell me in detail, how is this cement made?”
Meng Laosan scratched his head awkwardly. “Young Master Shen, I'm just a laborer who builds bridges and paves roads. I can't read.”
“I couldn't understand that cement recipe.”
Shen Yu: “...”
On the other side, Cheng Ji was questioning the peasant woman who had comprehended the curved-shaft plow. He was just as silent as Shen Yu.
This was because the peasant woman could also only describe what the curved-shaft plow looked like and what it was used for, but knew absolutely nothing else.
In the end, having no other choice, they could only have the literate people in the city listen to the descriptions of the citizens one by one.
Recording as much as they could.
No one wanted to watch this obtained blessing slip away.
Paper was in short supply.
Some tore off their lapels to use as paper.
Pens were in short supply.
Some bit their fingers to write in blood.
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