"Look inside yourself," Zhuquan De instructed.
"I have already tried."
"You were searching for the same Ink Manuscript ordinary Pages possess."
"What should I search for instead?"
"Something that belongs only to you."
The answer remained vague.
Yang Lujia wanted to complain, but another explosion prevented him from doing so.
He closed his eyes. The screams surrounding him remained audible, but he forced himself to focus upon the place where the Ink always disappeared.
At first, he found nothing.
There was only an empty space within his body.
Yang Lujia attempted again. This time, he stopped searching for an ordinary Ink Manuscript.
He thought about the Ink he had absorbed.
The strange pressure that had protected him since the attack began.
The Eternal Quill that had remained silent for fifteen years.
Something responded.
Yang Lujia's awareness entered a dark space. A manuscript floated at its center. Its cover contained no words or images.
It was blank.
However, the manuscript was far larger and thicker than the ones he had seen inside the Dragon Brush Sect. Yang Lujia could not determine how many Pages it possessed. Even after examining its edges, he could not see where the final Page ended.
A faint light surrounded it.
Several chains had been wrapped around the manuscript.
They passed across the front cover, the spine, and the sealed Pages. Characters Yang Lujia could not recognize had been written upon each chain.
Every time he attempted to move closer, the chains tightened.
'This is my Ink Manuscript?'
"Yes," Zhuquan De replied.
Yang Lujia looked around the darkness. "Can you see what I am seeing?"
"I can sense enough."
"What are these chains?"
"The reason most of your strength remains unavailable to you."
"Who placed them here?"
"That question can wait."
"It sounds important."
"It is important. It is simply less important than the children currently dying outside."
Yang Lujia looked at the sealed manuscript again. "How do I save them?"
"You do not need to save everyone at once."
"Then what do I do?"
"Open one Page."
Yang Lujia approached the manuscript.
The pressure increased.
He placed both hands against its cover and attempted to pull it open. The manuscript did not move. The chains trembled before releasing several lines of pale light.
Yang Lujia was pushed backward.
He moved toward it again.
The result remained the same.
"You said I was already strong," Yang Lujia said. "Why can I not open it?"
"Because strength is not the only thing required."
"What else does it need?"
"A reason."
Yang Lujia's expression darkened. "Grandpa, hurry."
"I am not trying to be vague this time."
"It sounds exactly like something you would say when trying to be vague."
Zhuquan De ignored the complaint. "Your Blank Imprint has never accepted a complete foundation. It continued gathering Ink, but it did not know what that Ink should become."
"A Blank Page should allow anything to be written upon it."
"Yes."
"Then why can I not write upon mine?"
"Because you have not decided what the first stroke should represent."
Yang Lujia looked at the chains.
"I want to become stronger."
"That is not enough."
"Why?"
"Almost every cultivator wants to become stronger. Some want strength to protect themselves. Others want it to control people, obtain revenge, gain wealth, or survive. The desire alone does not determine what will be written."
"Then what am I supposed to decide?"
"What you intend to do with it."
Boom!
The dark space shook.
The explosion had occurred outside, but even Yang Lujia's awareness felt it.
Zhuquan De spoke again.
"You cannot continue waiting for someone else to decide what your Blank Page should contain. Write something yourself."
Yang Lujia withdrew his awareness.
His eyes opened.
The Trial Ground remained in chaos. The first person he noticed was a young boy sitting near the remains of the examination platform.
A broken pillar had begun falling above him.
The boy was not injured.
He could still move.
However, he remained seated.
His body trembled while his eyes remained fixed upon the debris approaching him. He was too afraid to run.
For a moment, Yang Lujia remembered the classrooms from his previous lives.
He remembered students looking toward him whenever they did not know what to do. Some of them asked questions. Others waited in silence, hoping that someone would notice that they needed help.
Yang Lujia had once believed that teaching only involved giving knowledge.
He eventually learned that it also required recognizing when someone could no longer move forward alone.
The boy beneath the pillar did not know Yang Lujia.
He had never asked to become his student. He had not even called for help. However, if Yang Lujia remained where he was, the child would die.
He stopped calculating.
Yang Lujia stepped forward.
The world became still.
The explosions stopped.
The falling debris remained suspended above the Trial Ground.
The fire no longer moved, and the screams disappeared before they could completely leave the mouths of the people below.
Yang Lujia recognized the stillness.
It was the same as the one he experienced upon the War Battleground.
Flip.
A page turned.
Yang Lujia looked around.
Nothing else moved.
Then the familiar voice of the System entered his mind.
[The Eternal Quill stirs…]
Yang Lujia became silent.
Fifteen years had passed since he last heard it.
Another page turned.
Flip.
[An intention has been recognized.]
[The Host wishes to guide another existence.]
A translucent sheet of vellum appeared before him. Dark Ink formed across its surface.
[Dormant Authority detected.]
[Authority Classification: Foundational Authority.]
[Beginning verification…]
[Verification complete.]
[Disciple Acceptance Authority has awakened.]
The interface Yang Lujia remembered from the War Battleground appeared again.
[Main Interface]
[1. Eternal Records]
[2. Redacted]
[3. Redacted]
[4. Redacted]
[5. Redacted]
Another section formed beneath it.
[Disciple Acceptance Authority]
[This Authority permits the Host to recognize, evaluate, and accept disciples.]
[An accepted disciple will become connected to the Host's Eternal Record.]
[The growth of the disciple will affect the Host.]
[The actions of the disciple will affect the Host.]
[The death of the disciple will affect the Host.]
[Current Disciples: 0]
[Warning: The acceptance of a disciple establishes causal responsibility.]
Yang Lujia read the notifications again.
He had expected the System to give him access to the strength sealed inside his Ink Manuscript.
Instead, it gave him the authority to accept disciples.
The timing was not accidental.
Only a short while ago, Yang Lujia had admitted that he wanted to teach again. Then he saw the boy sitting beneath the falling debris and decided to move.
Perhaps the System had been waiting for that decision.
Another notification appeared.
[Would the Host like to activate the Disciple Acceptance Authority?]
[Yes.]
[No.]
"What happens after I activate it?"
The vellum changed.
[The Authority will search for suitable disciple candidates within the Host's current range.]
[Each candidate will be evaluated according to talent, physique, foundation, fate, potential, and compatibility.]
Yang Lujia looked toward the boy.
"Yes."
[Disciple Acceptance Authority activated.]
[Searching for suitable disciple candidates…]
[One candidate found.]
A new page appeared.
[Disciple Candidate Evaluation]
[Name: Lin Diyu]
[Current Page: Blank Page]
[Physique: Blood Calamity Body]
[Physical Condition: Uninjured]
[Immediate Survival Condition: Critical]
[Estimated Time Remaining: Forty Breaths]
[Narrative Potential: Unique]
[Compatibility: Excellent]
[Accept Lin Diyu as a disciple?]
[Yes.]
[No.]
Yang Lujia looked toward the boy again.
"Lin Diyu."
The child remained beneath the falling debris. Out of all the people inside the Trial Ground, the Authority had only selected him.
Yang Lujia did not know why.
The Blood Calamity Body sounded unusual, while the evaluation of his Narrative Potential did not provide any clear explanation.
More importantly, Lin Diyu would die within forty breaths.
Yang Lujia looked at the options.
"If I accept him, will the master-disciple bond form immediately?"
[Confirmed.]
"Does he need to agree?"
The interface remained unchanged for several moments.
Then another notification appeared.
[The candidate is unable to provide acknowledgment because of the immediate threat to his life.]
[Emergency disciple acceptance is available.]
[The bond may be completed without acknowledgment to preserve the candidate's existence.]
Yang Lujia frowned.
"So he will become my disciple without knowing what happened."
[Emergency acceptance prioritizes preservation.]
"That does not answer the question."
The System remained silent.
Yang Lujia looked at Lin Diyu.
He understood the reason for the emergency condition.
The boy was about to die. Asking him to properly consider a master-disciple relationship while a pillar remained above his head would also be unreasonable.
However, accepting him without giving him any choice was different.
Yang Lujia had spent a large portion of one of his previous lives working with agreements, obligations, and other relationships created through consent. A person standing before immediate death could not freely agree to anything.
Lin Diyu could not even hear the offer.
"I reject the automatic bond."
The vellum remained unchanged.
"Allow me to save him first. The master-disciple bond can be decided afterward."
[Emergency acceptance is the available preservation method.]
"Then change it."
No response appeared.
Yang Lujia continued.
"A disciple is not merely someone whose name is placed beneath mine. He will be expected to trust my guidance and follow what I teach him."
[Confirmed.]
"Then he should be allowed to decide whether he wants that relationship."
[The candidate will die if the Host does not proceed.]
"I am not refusing to save him."
[Preservation without acceptance is unavailable.]
"Make it available."
The stillness surrounding the Trial Ground became heavier.
Yang Lujia could feel something examining his words.
Perhaps the System had not expected him to question the offered method.
Perhaps it did not understand why consent mattered when the alternative was death.
Yang Lujia looked at the interface. "You awakened this Authority because I wanted to teach someone. Forcing that person to become my disciple before he can even understand what happened is not the kind of teaching relationship I want."
The words upon the vellum trembled.
[The candidate may refuse the completed bond after surviving.]
"That means the bond would already exist before he refused it."
[The Host will receive immediate benefits after acceptance.]
"That is not important."
[The candidate may leave after preservation.]
"He should be allowed to leave."
[The Host may lose a disciple candidate with Unique Narrative Potential.]
"That is his decision."
The System became silent.
Yang Lujia waited.
He did not know whether the forty breaths continued passing while the Trial Ground remained still.
The thought made him impatient, but he did not change his answer.
After several moments, the words upon the vellum dissolved.
New notifications appeared.
[The Host has rejected involuntary disciple acceptance.]
[Reason recorded.]
[A completed master-disciple relationship requires willing acknowledgment from both parties.]
[The Disciple Acceptance Authority is being revised.]
Yang Lujia continued reading.
[Emergency preservation function has been created.]
[A disciple candidate may receive temporary protection before acknowledgment.]
[Candidate Status will remain incomplete.]
[The candidate must acknowledge the Host after surviving.]
[If the candidate refuses acknowledgment, no master-disciple relationship will be established.]
[No punishment will be applied to the candidate.]
[No punishment will be applied for refusal.]
Yang Lujia's expression relaxed slightly. "That is acceptable."
Another line appeared.
[Foundational condition recorded.]
[All future disciple acceptance will require acknowledgment from both the Host and the candidate.]
[The Host's principle has altered the Disciple Acceptance Authority.]
[The Origin Manuscript[1] has recognized the condition.]
Inside Yang Lujia's existence, the chains surrounding the Blank Manuscript tightened.
One of them cracked.
...
[1] Origin Manuscript is said to be the original record from which existence learned how to be written.