Am I the only one who didn't ascend?

Chapter 554 The true story

Zhao Yan's smile contained a hint of obvious relief.

It was like the comfort of a person who has mastered cooking skills meeting a gourmet. Changshengjun's question was exactly what he wanted.

"Good question...and a very difficult question to answer."

Zhao Yan said, slowly raising his head. This was the first time the old man had turned his attention away from the materials since the meeting officially began. This slightly abnormal behavior also made his next words more eye-catching.

"Strictly speaking, the Five Questions of the Heavenly Lord were not entirely original to our team... When I received the commission from several country leaders, I was actually confused about the dilemma in the illusion. After that, I invited several industry authorities to discuss it together, but I was unable to come up with a sufficiently effective conclusion. In the end, it was thanks to Professor Yi from Yueyang who mentioned the wisdom of the predecessors that I suddenly understood."

As he spoke, Zhao Yan sighed, causing the entire audience to feel a little uncomfortable.

When did the Taixu Hall Master, who has always advocated simplicity, efficiency and pragmatism, start to like telling stories?
But then, people became doubly curious: what kind of stories would be told by someone who never tells stories?
"What inspired me was the Taixu Travel Notes from the Honorable Lord Lu Zhiyao."

As soon as these words were spoken, many people in the audience suddenly spoke up.

"Is it that fairy tale?"

The so-called Taixu Travel Notes is a short fairy tale completed in the early years of the new immortal calendar. It describes the experience of the lord Lu Zhiyao who accidentally entered a beautiful fantasy wonderland in a daytime lucid dream. At that time, people believed that the fairy tale actually described the lord's fantasy world a thousand years later. The travel notes are full of colorful and magnificent imaginations. It once topped the bestseller list at the time. Even a thousand years later, there are still many fairy tale lovers who highly praise it... But they only regard it as a fairy tale, because the fantasy described in the story is a world of difference compared to the fantasy that exists in reality today. In today's fantasy, there are many magical powers that far exceed people's imagination a thousand years ago. But at the same time, due to various restrictions, many beautiful visions of thousands of years ago have not been fully realized so far.

But obviously, Taixu Travels is far more than just a fairy tale about the fantasy future.

"In her travel notes, the master once described a door that could not be opened. It was the only superfluous thing in the perfect fairyland in her dream. No one knew what was behind the door, and no one cared what was behind the door. Because the fairyland already had everything, people did not need to open extra doors. But the master was stubborn and insisted on opening that door. After that, she tried to destroy it with brute force and tried to pick the lock with her hands, but naturally it did not work. So she traveled around the fairyland and consulted many ancient sages in the fairyland. Finally, she determined that it was a test left by the owner of the fairyland for future generations. Only those who proved themselves from multiple dimensions could open that door and walk into the unknown world..."

Zhao Yan was on the stage, recounting the story in Taixu Xingji in a low voice, and then said: "The obstacle that Tianzun has set up in Mingzhou is the door that cannot be opened. What we have to do is to follow the example of the master in Taixu Xingji and prove that we are qualified to explore the unknown in front of the door. According to our repeated deliberations and explorations, the effective proof can be roughly divided into five dimensions, which are Tianzun's five questions."

Someone in the audience suddenly realized: "It just corresponds to the 'Five Virtues of Peace' in the Travel Notes!?"

"As expected of you, my Lord. This foreshadowing can last for a thousand years..."

At this time, even Changsheng Jun relaxed his brows slightly, and his doubts were obviously relieved. Although Zhao Yan only told a story, any story would be more convincing if it involved Lu Zhiyao.

"But you haven't answered my question yet. How are we going to answer the Five Questions of the Heavenly Lord?"

Zhao Yan shook his head. "Inspired by the Lord's travel notes, we barely worked out the Five Questions of the Heavenly Lord, but that was all. When we wanted to further refine the Five Questions of the Heavenly Lord, we were stuck again. The Heavenly Lord has no heart and no words, and it is impossible to communicate with him using conventional words, let alone know his criteria for judging each question. The Five Questions of the Heavenly Lord are the most abstract and difficult problems in the world, and there is no 'standard answer' at all."

Having said this, the old man sighed softly and lowered his eyes. As expected, he saw a pair of puzzled and even questioning eyes.

For an old scholar like him who has devoted his life to exploring the great void, there are many unsolvable problems in the illusion. There are also many abstract puzzles that do not have standard solutions. After hundreds of years of research and exploration, Zhao Yan has long been accustomed to the fact that there is no correct answer. But obviously, the politicians from the hundreds of countries in the Immortal Alliance cannot accept this conclusion.

If the special group's analysis of the Five Questions of the Heavenly Lord could only reach this point, there would be no need to convene a meeting. Fortunately...

"Fortunately, the special team does not only have old antiques like me who are inflexible, but also young talents with active thinking and unconventional ideas. Next, I would like to invite the chief problem solver of the Five Questions of the Heavenly Lord to explain the following content."

After that, Zhao Yan bowed slightly to the audience and walked down the stage without any reluctance, giving up the prominent position. Then, a young man with a tall and strong figure and full of true energy stood up from the back row of seats, walked up quickly, nodded to Zhao Yan, and walked up to the stage with confidence.

"Hello everyone, I am Duan Ping from Ziwu Jinghai. I am honored to be invited to join the special team led by Professor Zhao and to be valued by the professor to become the person who solved the Five Questions of Tianzun."

With this hearty and clear opening speech, everyone in the venue felt the sunshine, waves, beach... and the smell of rainforest flowers and fruits. This is the most iconic and unique charm of the Jinghai Duan family. As one of the most wealthy families in Ziwu, the youngest son of the Duan family master has perfectly inherited the family's luxurious temperament that has been passed down for thousands of years.

But when did this family, known for its extravagance, have anything to do with the Taixu academic world? And when did this young man become one of the experts?

Under the gazes of countless curious and puzzled people, Duan Ping smiled sincerely and said, "You all guessed correctly. I am not a professional scholar. Although I am fortunate to study at the Taixu Hall of Ziwu Linlang Academy and have made some good achievements... but compared to scholars as talented as Professor Zhao, I can only be called a firefly. This time, I was invited to join the special group, thanks to my father's special sponsorship for the group, which gave me the opportunity to follow a group of wise men and gain some qualifications."

After a pause, Duan Ping continued, "Although I don't have the talent for academic research, my interest in the Grand Illusionary Realm has been cultivated since I can remember. From Meng Academy to Linlang Academy, I have been immersed in the Grand Illusionary Realm for more than half a day almost every day. So although I am young, I am also a senior Grand Illusionary practitioner. In the future, the career path I have planned for myself is to delve deeply into the Grand Illusionary industry, either running the Grand Illusionary Hall or establishing a scroll workshop..."

At this point, some people in the audience began to show their impatience. This young man should also be careful about the time and place when trying to gain popularity, right? In a meeting of this level, even your family head Duan Chunxian would never dare to waste time like this!

However, considering the previous example of Prime Minister Pingchuan, no matter how impatient everyone was, they had to suppress it before the person who was truly qualified to make the decision spoke.

Fortunately, Duan Ping’s story did not last too long. After briefly introducing his life, he got to the point.

"…When the special group was blocked by the Five Questions of the Heavenly Venerable, I was not qualified to speak freely, but at that time I seemed to have received a revelation. Suddenly, inspiration flashed, and I thought of an interesting question: The Five Questions of the Heavenly Venerable are difficult because there is no clear answer path, and the results of the answers cannot be quantified. But in the Taixu Illusion, there are actually corresponding technologies that are specifically used to solve such problems. Yes, it is the Taixu Painting Scroll. I wonder if everyone attending the meeting has personally experienced the Taixu Painting Scroll? In most of the painting scrolls, the problems people encounter can be judged by simple numerical values. When immortals fight, the victory or defeat depends on attack, defense and blood volume; the key to running a sect lies in the sect's funds and the number of disciples; even the love story of young men and women will have detailed numerical records of their affection for each other. It can be said that the Taixu Painting Scroll is the most particular technology in the world that quantifies everything."

After a pause, Duan Ping continued as the audience gradually realized, "In addition, in most scrolls, there is also a clear goal. In the scrolls where we play a certain role, we have to advance the plot, make friends, and defeat enemies; in the scrolls where we manage a sect, we have to make the sect become the top sect in the world and overwhelm all competitors; in the love story, we also have to make it clear that we will grow old together with a lover... Of course, there are indeed some scrolls that emphasize absolute freedom and openness and do not set any clear goals, but they are only a minority after all. So, back to the Five Questions of the Heavenly Venerable, I thought at the time, if the Five Questions of the Heavenly Venerable could be disassembled again with the technology of the Eternal Scroll, would we be able to get a clearer executable path? At first, even I was shocked by this absurd idea, but after thinking about it carefully, I felt that this idea was more feasible."

As he spoke, Duan Ping still maintained his confident attitude, and this attitude indeed suppressed the subconscious doubts of many people in the venue, such as: Taixu Painting Scroll? Are you kidding?

"I know that most people nowadays regard the scroll as a mere plaything, and the next word for plaything is "disheartening". It is a pity that the Taixu scroll was clearly a technology that the Lord personally promoted, but it is still regarded as a scourge by many people today. However, even if it is really a scourge, it means that the Taixu scroll has an undoubted "weight" in the illusion. According to the information released by the Taixu Mansion of the Immortal Alliance, in the entire Taixu illusion market, the scroll and related content contribute almost half of the actual revenue, as well as the real investment of the practitioners. So, perhaps we living people will discriminate against the scroll, but the Tianzun who lives in the Taixu will definitely not! Now that we are going to answer questions to the Tianzun, we must look at everything from the perspective of the Tianzun, and I think that the Taixu scroll is worthy of the task of dismantling the Tianzun's five questions."

Duan Ping's words were so powerful that for a moment no one in the meeting room could raise their hands to question him.

Duan Ping seemed to have expected this and continued, "Afterwards, I boldly shared my guess with several professors, and fortunately, the professors accepted my guess very actively. With the solidarity and cooperation of Professor Zhao, Professor Yi and other Taixu experts, we quickly made a preliminary model for verification, and the results of the verification... let Professor Zhao demonstrate it. After all, from here on, I can no longer make any contribution to the team."

After saying that, Duan Ping walked down from the podium with confidence and respectfully invited Zhao Yan, who had been waiting for a long time, back to the stage.

During this interval, there was a lot of discussion and emotion in the venue.

Duan Ping's storytelling just now certainly contained some self-boasting, but without the story as a prelude, the views he later put forward would have been quite bizarre.

Are you serious about using the Taixu scroll to answer the five questions of Tianzun?
And then, as Zhao Yan returned to the podium and turned to the last page of the information... people finally accepted the reality without any room for rebuttal.

Seriously, everyone.

"According to Duan Ping's conjecture, we first built a simple model based on the fifth question of Tianzun's five questions, which is the Dinghuang model. The basic content of the model is to reproduce a local battle in the Battle of Dinghuang, with Duan Ping and his companions playing the role of the Dinghuang Army, and then Tianzun is responsible for controlling the Desolate Demon. At the beginning of the birth of Taixu Fantasy and the painting scroll technology, the Immortal Alliance did not have a sufficiently perfect way to share the full computing power requirements of the painting scroll with a large number of professional practitioners, so many derivative calculations were actually handed over to Tianzun. And this model that directly faces Tianzun is indeed more in line with the original intention of Tianzun's five questions. We conducted a total of ten simulated battles through this small model, and the relevant detailed records are included in the archives, and the general conclusion is that the method of disassembling the painting scroll is effective. Duan Ping won a total of seven games in the ten simulated battles, and during this period, the invisible barrier of Taixu Fantasy at the border of Xinheng was probably eliminated by one ten billionth..."

Once this conclusion came out, the noisy discussions in the conference hall could no longer be suppressed.

If the previous story of Duan Ping was just empty talk, then the barrier dissolution phenomenon mentioned by Zhao Yan now is solid evidence.

Using the Taixu scroll to deconstruct the Five Questions of Tianzun actually works!

But unlike the surprised audience, Zhao Yan still maintained his calm appearance and continued: "However, we must also see that even if we reproduce the fierce battle in the Dinghuang War, we can only eliminate one billionth of the barrier. Based on this, if we want to truly satisfy Tianzun, we need to gather the power of the Immortal Alliance, build five super-large scrolls, and achieve a billion times more glorious victory... And this is also the core purpose of convening the meeting today."

(End of this chapter)