A millennium of literary heritage, beginning with the Sages. It has changed its name several times and altered its location frequently; yet in transmitting the Dao and imparting knowledge, it has never changed its resolve. The lineage of letters remains unbroken, stretching endlessly into future generations. To understand the Great Way, one must first know history. Today, I record the deeds of the Ten Sages to supplement what is unrecorded in the annals of the Inkbound Order. The literary heart and the hot blood are all set down as words upon the paper.
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In the second year of Tianyou, the Baima Incident occurred. The Inkbound Order in Chang'an was slaughtered by the rebel Zhu, and the Ten Sages all perished. The affairs of our predecessors are truly beyond recovery, deemed an eternal regret.
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Elder Changle, whose former surname was Feng, a native of Yingzhou. His ancestors passed down the traditions of farming and studying... A single promise in Chang'an led him to seek the Nine Classics amidst a chaotic world, enduring half a lifetime of wandering without regret... Once the Nine Classics were obtained, they were carved into printing blocks and distributed throughout the realm, upon which later scholars relied... Therefore, he chose the fertile soil of Qingzhou to build the Order and house the books, opening pavilions to teach... The literary lineage of a thousand autumns was thus preserved, and the grand name of the literary sect was able to rise again... He served four dynasties and was a minister to six emperors. The people of his time called him "disloyal," yet during his twenty-odd years as a minister, he took it upon himself to maintain stability and soothe the populace. Never once did he disturb the regional lords with a single slip of a decree. He inherited the dying wishes of his predecessors, gathered scattered ancient tomes, transmitted the various classics to the world, and opened the source of enlightenment. How could the mundane world ever comprehend this?
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Master Daoji's former surname was Wei, and he was a native of Weizhou. Orphaned and impoverished in his youth, he bid farewell to his mother and paid respects in Luoyang... He entered the Inkbound Order, received the direct teachings of Elder Changle, was entrusted with the affairs of the literary sect, and became the Second Laureate... When the Khitan invaded the Central Plains, he followed the masses north... He established the Spring and Autumn Annex, taking in refugees fleeing south... He departed the Inkbound Order, gathered sixteen supreme talents of the realm, and forged a thirty-year covenant...
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[Text heavily obscured]... Original surname Chai, a native of Xingzhou. Striking and heroic in appearance, skilled in horseback archery, reticent yet steadfast... An old friend of Daoji, recommended to enter the Inkbound Order, becoming the Second Champion...
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Lin Xiansheng, a native of Jianyang, a son of a noble house of the Southern Tang. He possessed great eloquence in his youth; the people of his time all called him the Young Luminary... At that time, the territory was fractured, and the northern and southern literary circles clashed. The southern scholars were led by the Lin and Xiao clans of Jianyang... In the third year of Kaiyun, he traveled north with his family friend, Xiao Heyi, journeying to Zhongdu Bridge to repel foreign enemies... He entered the Inkbound Order, apprenticing under the Ten Sages... When Emperor Shizong marched south, he followed the army, persuading old friends among the noble houses. "Crossing the river on slips of paper," he merged the libraries and pavilions. Recommended by the Ten Sages, he became the Third Laureate... He held a hundred-day banquet, debating the scholars of the realm. Various great Confucian masters revered him as the head of the literary world. Thereafter, whenever anyone wrote a book or established a theory, they considered it an honor to hand-copy their work and send it to the Inkbound Order...
(Note: In this chapter, only the deeds of Master Daoji and Champion Chai have large sections obscured by ink. Especially regarding Champion Chai, his titles and appellations have been erased from the veritable records, for reasons unknown.)
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