Chapter 246: Null Era (I)
While Di Tian instantly took notice of the Qi of Calamity around Bai Han despite the seal of the True Monarchs, another person also noticed something odd: Wang Wei.
Inside the booth of the Dao Opening Sect, when he first saw Bai Han, he had a feeling that something was wrong, but he did not know what it was; he seemed to see something around the headmaster, but he could not truly see it after concentrating.
So, he activated his True Eye ability and saw a red hue floating around Bai Han’s head, then he frowned while pondering what this thing was as it was not here before.
"Noticed it?" asked Wu Hong who was sitting next to him.
"Yes," nodded Wang Wei. "What is it? Or is this another secret that I should not know?"
"Not really," replied Wu Hong. "That thing is called [Qi of Calamity], although a rare thing, but knowledge of it is very common among powerful beings."
"So, what exactly is it?"
Wu Hong paused for a moment to gather her thoughts. "To put it simply, Qi of Calamity is the most powerful weapon that Heavenly Dao used when manipulating others. Its main purpose is to affect a person’s mind and make them act irrational, stupid, or out of character.
"A perfect example when Qi of Calamity is often used is when dealing with Childs of Destiny. Every time they meet an opponent, Heavenly Dao would often use the Qi of Calamity to influence their enemy; that way, they will act stupidly. Their enemies--instead of using all their strength to eradicate these Childs of Destiny--they will send a person only one stage or realm higher than the Child of Destiny, basically giving them the chance to survive and break through in cultivating realm while fighting. Then their enemy will send a slightly more powerful person than the first, and the process will repeat itself until the Child of Destiny reaches the strength to completely eradicate their enemy.
"Of course this kind of treatment is only for the Children of Destiny of powerful worlds on the level of Heaven Will World. Additionally, this kind of Qi of Calamity is actually very easy to guard against."
Wang Wei nodded, then he asked: "Are you saying that Qi of Calamity has different ranks or levels?"
"Yes. And at the highest level, even you will not be spared," replied Wu Hong while looking deeply into Wang Wei’s eyes. He immediately understood what she was trying to say: the highest level of Qi of Calamity can even affect Paragons, hence even he could be affected by it one day of he is not careful,
Immediately he took this information more seriously. "I understand. Is there anything else?"
"Yes," replied Wu Hong. "Actually, the main purpose of Qi of Calamity is to induce the [Great Calamity of Heaven and Earth] or the [Great Purge] as it is often referred to by many other worlds."
Wang Wei frowned as he remembered that he read about such a thing in the Sect’s Library.
"Isn’t the [Great Calamity of Heaven and Earth] the process by which a world decided to kill the majority of its inhabitants due to the issue of overpopulation?"
"That is correct. When the amount of cultivators in a world is too large, the level of spiritual qi between Heaven and Earth will decrease dramatically with so many people using it. At that time, the world will be on the verge of being demoted. For example, a Great Thousand World will turn into a Middle Thousand World.
"After reaching that point, Heavenly Dao will intervene to keep the balance of the world. By enveloping the entire world with Qi of Calamity and influencing the mind of all the cultivators, conflict will erupt throughout the entire world, leading to all cultivators killing one another. Then, Heavenly Dao will decompose the bodies of these cultivators and replenish the spiritual qi of Heaven and Earth. By then, both the population and spiritual qi problem will be solved."
Wang Wei sighed as he muttered to himself: "Cultivators absorb spiritual qi in order to one day become immortal and escape the shackles of death. If they fail, then their bodies will decompose and return to the embrace of mother nature, replenishing Heaven and Earth.
"What a horrifying and beautiful Cycle!"
"True," responded Wu Hong as she also sighed. How many people can become immortal? In each generation, there are probably a handful. Meanwhile, the number of cultivators are in the trillions. The terrible thing about this situation is that even if a person knows about this, there is nothing they can do besides fighting to be the few that actually become immortal.
"I was wondering, has there been a time that the Myriad Emperor World suffered a [Great Purge]?" asked Wang Wei curiously.
"Hmmm, it actually happened twice."
"Twice?"
"Yes. Once during the Null Era, and the second time during the Middle Emperor Era."
Wang Wei was slightly surprised; he could understand how such a thing happened in the Void Era, but he could not understand what this has to do with the Middle Emperor Era. If such a thing occurred, he would have known that this Era was very recent compared to the others.
Wu Hong noticed his surprise, so she explained: "I will talk about the Middle Emperor Era later. First, I will explain the general situation of the Primordial Era so that you can understand the entire situation."
Then, she proceeded to tell him about the situation of the Primordial Gods and Innate Demons, and the birth of the human race. Finally, she reached the point where the leader of these powerful races discovered the future destruction of their entire races and the rise of humanity.
"So, what happened after that?" asked Wang Wei.
"What do you think?"
After pondering a while, he replied: "Given the fact that the first Heaven Will appeared in the Emperor Beginning Era and the first person to crown itself Great Emperor is a human, I’m guessing that Heavenly Dao intervened again and sided with humans. That thing seemed to be everywhere."
A contemptuous sneer could be seen on his face.
"You are correct," replied Wu Hong. "Heavenly Dao did not want the Primordial Gods or Innate Demons as the main races of this world. Despite how powerful they were, these races were very rigid and slow in their development, not to mention their horrible reproductive ability.
"Meanwhile, humans--as the first acquired race--had unlimited potential despite their weakness at birth. With their rapid reproductive ability and an unnatural talent for comprehending the Laws of Heaven and Earth, humans were the perfect race to lead the Myriad Emperor World--who was called Innate Demon God World back then.
"So, Heavenly Dao secretly helped the race from facing extinction at the hands of the powerful Primordial Gods and Innate Demons. It created a Child of Destiny that would lead the human race from their demise."
"Are you talking about the first Great Emperor of this world, the one who created the Beginning Emperor Era, the Heaven Opening Emperor?" asked Wang Wei.
"That’s right. The Heaven Opening Emperor was the chosen one. During his time, the human race was constantly being hunted down, and the only reason that some tribes were saved was because they were protected by other more peaceful Primordial Gods and Innate Demons--who did not agree with their leader’s decisions.
"As for the Heaven Opening Emperor, he was truly a lucky person; it turns out that the Primordial God that protected the human tribe he was born in actually fell in love with him. So, they begin a relationship.
"However, the Heaven Opening Emperor was not only a cunning individual, but also a very ambitious one. During his relationship with her, he secretly studied her body composition. Given the fact that Primordial Gods were essentially gigantic human beings, the First Emperor believed that by studying their body composition, he could create a cultivation method perfectly suited for humans, and he succeeded."
Wang Wei was suddenly interested: "A cultivation system that existed before the Origin Path System? Can you tell me about it."
"Well, that system was actually very similar to your [Ancient Desolate Body Refining Scripture]--except not as much detail. Due to the vast amount of spiritual qi that existed at that time, cultivation was easier and the talent of humans was much better.
"The system invited by the First Emperor allowed humans to create a powerful body like Primordial Gods through breathing spiritual qi between Heaven and Earth. Unfortunately, only a few talented people could actually reach the level of Primordial Gods.
Wu Hon paused for a moment before saying: "If you are interested, I can give you a copy of the cultivation system that existed back then. However, If I were you, I would wait until you cultivate the [Ancient Desolate Scripture} to the highest level, then use these techniques as reference to further perfect it and even make it more powerful."
Wang Wei nodded as he accepted her advice, then he asked: "What happened after the First Emperor created this new cultivation system?"