On the other hand, as for that hair-like chain, Eric Bennett could sense that if it were refined, it would definitely become a weapon of extraordinary power, no less formidable than Owen Grant's Bloodlight Chain.

He hung the hair-like chain around his neck and went out.

……

As for the copy of the Daoist Canon on the back of the Ru Prison’s main gate, no one knew who had carved it. The brushstrokes were vigorous and lively, exuding boundless energy. Looking closely, it seemed as if every character was alive, struggling to break free from the gate and roam the world.

When Eric Bennett arrived, he happened to catch Wolf Carter leading seven or eight young servant boys, also studying this Daoist Canon. In the past, Eric Bennett would have definitely taken a detour to avoid these people, pretending he’d never been here, just to avoid being bullied.

But now, Eric Bennett’s expression was calm. He walked over, found a spot, and sat down by himself to study in silence.

Wolf Carter let out a cold laugh, glancing over with disdain: “You’re really putting on an act, aren’t you? How many times have you tried? You can’t even get past the most basic stage of sensing qi, so what are you doing here?”

The young servant boys around him wouldn’t miss such a good chance to curry favor. They all started mocking Eric Bennett at once.

“Exactly, you idiot, you still want to cultivate? I bet you can’t even understand what those words up there mean, hahaha…”

“Do you really think just because you got lucky once and climbed up from the bottom of the Abyss of the Departed, you’re different now? You’re still the same fool, you’ll always be a fool, a fool who can never turn his life around!”

Wolf Carter thoroughly enjoyed listening to the servants mock Eric Bennett. Why did these people go out of their way to belittle Eric Bennett? Wasn’t it just to please him? Though he was still young, he loved this feeling of being the center of attention.

“All right, I might break through to the Treasure Mountain realm today and enter the ‘Nine Palaces’ stage. This is a critical moment, so I won’t stoop to the level of this little idiot. If he wants to waste his time here, let him.”

Everyone quickly agreed, naturally showering Wolf Carter with flattery for his impending breakthrough. Eric Bennett remained silent from beginning to end, as if these people didn’t exist at all.

His mind and body were already fully immersed in this Daoist Canon.

In his previous life, Eric Bennett had also collected orthodox scriptures to study and draw analogies, helping himself to improve his cultivation. He had read the Daoist Canon several times; once he reached the level of the Southern Wasteland Emperor, his soul was so powerful that he could remember anything at a glance.

But reading the Daoist Canon again this time, he felt that this copy was slightly different from the one he’d read in his previous life.

Eric Bennett was a bit puzzled, because the copy he’d read in his previous life was one he’d stolen from Zhongnan Mountain, one of the Nine Great Heavenly Gates. There shouldn’t have been any mistakes. Could it be that the Daoist Canon here in Ru Prison was flawed?

Eric Bennett looked over it carefully again, and finally figured out what felt different: the characters were the same, the sentences were the same, but a few inconspicuous characters had been replaced with variant forms.

They were the same characters, with the same meanings, just written differently. But these subtle changes made this Daoist Canon feel completely different.

He silently recited it a few more times in his mind. With each repetition, he could sense a more profound and mysterious feeling. After three or five times, Eric Bennett no longer saw the words, nor the great gate of Ru Prison, nor even Ru Prison itself or the whole world.

Before his eyes was a void of chaos, within which the philosophy of the “Dao” was hidden—something that could only be comprehended, not explained. Immersed in this profound, primordial philosophy, Eric Bennett lost track of time, completely unaware of how long had passed.

That void of chaos finally began to dissipate, and before his eyes, the gate was still the gate, the words were still the words.

Eric Bennett’s body trembled lightly as he came back to himself. Looking at the others, they were all still frowning in concentration, trying to extract some hidden meaning from the Daoist Canon.

Eric Bennett was a bit surprised. Even though he had been the Southern Wasteland Emperor in his previous life, with knowledge far beyond these people, how could they have studied the Daoist Canon for so long and discovered nothing?

He couldn’t help but glance again at the vigorous Daoist Canon on the gate, and was shocked to find that the key variant characters had all reverted, making it identical to the Daoist Canon he’d seen in his previous life!

A wave of doubt rose in his heart: was this the Daoist Canon that everyone else saw? Then why had he just seen something different? He couldn’t figure it out, but secretly rejoiced, realizing this was his own stroke of fortune.

Eric Bennett’s gaze sweeping over the crowd fell into the eyes of Wolf Carter, making him even more impatient: “Hmph, what are you looking at with those shifty eyes? I’m warning you, if you can’t do it yourself, don’t disturb others’ comprehension, or don’t blame me for kicking you out!”

Eric Bennett said nothing, sitting cross-legged again, using his whole body to sense the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

Wolf Carter was even more disdainful: “Still not giving up, huh? I wonder how many times you have to be crushed before you understand that idiots like you exist only to set off geniuses like me and show how extraordinary I am…”