Chapter 111: Chapter 111

“I know a little.”

Shen Xiuhan answered truthfully.

“I once read a passage in a fragmentary text. The legends say that ‘celestial caverns and blessed lands’ were domains created by ancient mighty ones who split open heaven and earth within the Great Void, seizing the essence of sun, moon, and sky.”

“Only, as ages turned and seas became mulberry fields, such domains wrested from the very fabric of creation have grown exceedingly rare. An ordinary martial artist could search a lifetime without catching so much as a glimpse.”

“Correct…”

Ji Shuying’s phoenix eyes flashed with approval. She nodded, smiling faintly.

“That is the common telling. The storytellers in the teahouses embellish it further, weaving all manner of fantastical tales. But the details and the lineage of truth are not entirely right.”

“The reason… is that the ancient texts you’ve read are mostly works revised, censored, and recompiled on imperial order after the founding of Great Qi…”

Shen Xiuhan couldn’t help but pause at that.

Great Qi had stood for a thousand years since its founding.

Its national fortune blazed like the noonday sun — armies mighty, prestige shaking the four corners of the world.

With a single empire’s sovereign might, it had pressed the neighboring states of Wu and Yue until they could barely breathe. The two had been forced into alliance and intermarriage just to hold their own against Qi’s edge.

And the “ancient texts” that circulated today were largely versions reissued after the fall of the preceding dynasty, the Great Yang — censored, altered, and reprinted on Great Qi’s imperial edict.

How many primordial secrets had been deliberately erased, how many falsified — ordinary people had no way of knowing.

They could only grope like blind men touching an elephant, piecing together scraps and fragments to guess at a truth long buried by the ages.

Seeing him lost in thought, Ji Shuying rose slowly. The cloud-crane brocade robe trailed behind her.

She stood before the carved lattice window, hands clasped at her back, her gaze piercing the courtyard’s rockery and flowing water to reach the limitless sky beyond.

“The martial path is a boat sailing against the current. Stop rowing, and you drift backward. There is no end to cultivation.”

“Manifest Strength breaks three barriers. Hidden Strength opens nine apertures. Transforming Strength endures three refinements. Astral Strength forges nine seals!”

“When the nine seals of Astral Strength are perfected, one may condense the seed of a divine power and attain the station of the Innate.”

“Attaining the Innate earns a title of honor — one may be called a True Man!”

“Above the True Man, once all five divine powers are gathered and perfected, one may advance further still and attain the station of True Lord!”

“The ‘celestial caverns’ you spoke of — it is indeed true that they were opened by the ancient mighty ones.”

“In the primordial age, the Daoist orders flourished. True Lords arose in numbers, and ‘celestial caverns’ could only be carved out of the Great Void by those of True Lord strength, in accordance with the rank and station of their attainment!”

“As for ‘blessed lands,’ they are a step below.”

“Most were created by those at the God-Pill realm, or by Innate True Men of deep cultivation and formidable divine powers, who shaped them from the mountains and stone of the mortal world.”

“Though they cannot match the profundity of celestial caverns, they remain precious training grounds…”

Ji Shuying turned to face Shen Xiuhan, shifting the subject.

“As for the Longxiang Army’s Dragon Blood Essence Pool… it falls far short of either category.”

“In essence, it is merely a clever contrivance of later generations — a pocket dimension opened using spirit treasures and spirit artifacts as its foundation.”

“In both scale and qi-blood density, it is vastly inferior to a true celestial cavern or blessed land.”

“For that reason, such pocket dimensions are typically called ‘grottos,’ ‘halls,’ or ‘pools’ to distinguish them.”

“The Dragon Blood Essence Pool was opened by Zhendong General Wang Zhifan, using a spirit artifact called the Imperial Dragon-Binding Lock, which he obtained in his youth from a blessed land!”

“Rumor has it the treasure’s origin traces back to the primordial essence-blood of a true dragon. That, of course, is mostly teahouse gossip — those who’ve actually entered the Pool report no dragon visions, no draconic manifestations. It is, however, genuinely beneficial for martial artists.”

Shen Xiuhan listened, utterly spellbound. His spirit surged. It was a long moment before he composed himself enough to speak.

“Auntie Ji, there is something I don’t understand. May I ask?”

“Go ahead.”

Ji Shuying’s sleeve brushed the air as she returned to her seat. She lifted her teacup and took a light sip.

“I once saw a notation in a fragmentary cultivation method — the realm at which one condenses a divine power was called ‘God’s Advent’ by the ancients. Yet Auntie Ji refers to it as ‘the Innate.’ Is there a reason for the difference?”

“Ah, that.”

Ji Shuying laughed softly, set down the cup, and explained patiently.

“God’s Advent… is a very old, very ancient name. It can be traced all the way back to the primordial age of ignorance.”

“Today’s martial artists rely on the legacies left by their predecessors to know that breaking through to Transforming Strength extends one’s lifespan to a hundred and twenty years; that Astral Strength grants two sexagenary cycles — over two hundred years. And attaining divine power doubles the span again, to five hundred.”

“But in the primordial age, the martial path was still newborn. The pioneers could only grope forward one step at a time.”

“When the world’s first divine-power practitioner was born, his lifespan far exceeded that of Astral Strength fighters. He reversed his aging — white hair turned black, his body surged with the vigor of a dragon and the ferocity of a tiger — and for several hundred years, he showed no sign of decline.”

“At that time, all living beings under heaven believed this realm was the very end of the martial path — a true god descended to earth, lifespan equal to heaven’s, immortal and undying!”

“And so the multitudes worshipped him, burned incense and offered prayers, and named the realm ‘God’s Advent’!”

Ji Shuying’s tone grew solemn, a weight of ages settling in her gaze.

“However, when that mighty one — whose name is now lost to history — reached his five hundredth year, his Ascending Yang Palace dimmed. Four of his divine powers collapsed and scattered. His appearance aged rapidly — black hair turned to snow, skin withered like bark — and he passed away where he sat.”

“Only then did the world awake from its dream… The so-called God’s Advent was far from the martial path’s end!”

“Above it… lay realms higher still, and skies vaster beyond imagining!”

“But by then, the name ‘God’s Advent’ had already taken root in every heart, spread across the world. Folk histories, sect archives — all used the term. And so the misnomer was carried forward, persisting for thousands of years.”

Ji Shuying paused here before continuing.

“Until, at last, an ancient genius of staggering brilliance appeared. His Dao-title was True Lord Overturning-Sea!”

“True Lord Overturning-Sea held that a martial artist who cultivated divine power was merely returning to the root and restoring the body of primordial breath — the very first step of ‘Dao through martial arts.’ It did not deserve the lofty name of ‘God’s Advent.'”

“And so he renamed it ‘the Innate’!”

“The change was endorsed by the True Lords of the world… and thus the term ‘Innate’ has been used ever since.”

“I see…”

Shen Xiuhan murmured, unable to collect himself for a long time.

Secrets of this caliber — the origins and lineage of the ancient realms — were touched upon only in passing in the books available on the open market, and even most old scrolls were riddled with errors.

A martial artist of humble birth who wished to glimpse such truths had only two paths: serve as a retainer or subordinate to a great house or noble family, and glean a fragment of the truth…

Or be fortunate enough to meet a benefactor willing to impart the knowledge by word of mouth.

With that thought, Shen Xiuhan clasped both fists and bowed deeply — a formal, solemn salute.

“Xiuhan comes from nothing. Without Auntie Ji’s generous teaching, I would still be a frog at the bottom of a well. Thank you for clearing the fog — I will carry this in my heart!”

“Up, up — no need for such ceremony with me.”

Ji Shuying raised a jade hand, her phoenix eyes warm with amusement.

“Now then…”

“In a few days, the Longxiang envoy will bring the Imperial Dragon-Binding Lock back to the Wang estate in Changyun. Once the Longxiang Martial Feast concludes, the top finishers may enter the Pool for cultivation. Knowing all this — do you have the heart to compete for one of the top three spots?”