Stronger by Killing

Chapter 578: Chapter 320: The Immortal Sect Descends, Chaos Envelops the World (Part 4)

Gu Zhan slightly squinted his eyes and said, "If this legend is true, then Sword King Mountain was likely a minor Grotto Heaven Barrier once. However, lacking foundation, before the Grotto Heaven became apparent, everyone there perished, and those Divine Weapons lost their little spirituality overnight due to erosion by Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi."

Sword One pondered for a while and said, "I once challenged Sword Fool Qin Hongyi at the Liangzhou Dao Pavilion and saw her Divine Sword. It is said that when she was born, the Divine Sword flew dozens of miles by itself to recognize her as its master. This is probably a Spirit Sword that fell from a minor Grotto Heaven."

Gu Zhan chuckled lightly and said, "For now, this indeed counts as good news; the Cultivation Realm can’t immediately become fully apparent."

Kou Baimen said, "Though Spiritual Qi is beginning to revive, for those cultivators, it’s still too little, and Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi remains thick, which is toxic. Some mightily powerful sects could emerge, but they would be unwilling to surface prematurely; those with a high cultivation could barely resist the erosion of Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi, but the young disciples can’t, and their inheritances would gradually lose spirituality, which is not worth the price for them!"

Gu Zhan nodded slightly and asked, "By the way, what are the Three Major Ancestral Veins you mentioned earlier?"

Kou Baimen quickly said, "They are the three most powerful Cultivation Dao traditions in the human realm. The Celestial Star Cave ancestors recorded it quite thoroughly just to remind their descendants not to provoke these powers if they ever step out of the Barrier.

In that manuscript, many things are documented: the world is divided into four wild lands of East, South, West, and North; the Northern Wilderness is the human realm, the Southern Wilderness is the Demon Realm, and these two have been enemies for generations. It’s said the Western Wilderness is the Land of Barbarians, with numerous races, and their cultivation systems are entirely different. As for the Eastern Wilderness, there’s only a name and no other records, and the Celestial Star Cave ancestors only knew that name.

The Three Major Ancestral Veins refer to the three legacies of cultivation in the human realm of the Northern Wilderness. Any sect originates from these three ancestral veins: the first is the Buddhist Sect, the second is the Dao Court, and the third is the Confucian Sect.

Even the Celestial Star Cave couldn’t contact these three veins to ascertain their strength, so no detailed records exist. It merely notes that the human realm is controlled by the Three Major Ancestral Veins and the Four Major Side Sects and advises never to provoke them."

Gu Zhan asked, "And what are the Four Major Side Sects?"

"They are said to be four powerful sects: the Shushan Sword Sect, the Taiyin Talisman Sect, the Pill Tower, and the Jingshen Valley," Kou Baimen said, "These Four Major Side Sects are the forces just below the Three Major Ancestral Veins, and whether in mastering the human realm or resisting the Demon Race, reliance is placed on them alongside the Three Major Ancestral Veins!"

Gu Zhan slightly squinted his eyes,

It turned out to be an underestimation of the Buddhist Sect,

It’s not just an underestimation; he hadn’t even guessed the Buddhist Sect was so powerful.

Gu Zhan pondered for a while and asked, "What about the cultivation system?"

Kou Baimen said, "The Nine Great Realms, the Initial Fourth Realm, are Refining Essence, Qi Cultivation, Refining God, and Grotto Heaven. Above these four realms lies the Middle Three Realms, and these three realms are slightly different across the Three Major Ancestral Veins. However, within the Cultivation Realm, the widely accepted ones are Golden Core, Nascent Soul, and Kouxian Sect. Beyond those are the lost Wenxian Dao Two Realms, with no related records in the Celestial Star Cave."

After saying this, Kou Baimen pondered for a while and said, "This is the current understanding regarding some aspects of the Cultivation Realm. As for other manuscripts, there are insights into cultivation and an understanding of experiences within the Cultivation Realm, along with the classification of items, such as the Spatial Rings of Huang Longzi and others’ Flying Swords, all termed Spiritual Artifacts. There’s no specific level division, but they vary in strength and effects, encompassing Spirit Medicine and Spirit Stones. Spirit Stones are the common currency of the Cultivation Realm."

Gu Zhan nodded slightly, reached out to gather a batch of organized manuscripts, and began to peruse them.

Meanwhile, as Gu Zhan and the others explored the Cultivation Realm through the manuscripts from the Celestial Star Cave,

the nations of the world had already descended into chaos!

...

Spiritual Qi revived, Immortal Sects descended.

Within a short span, numerous forces claiming to be Immortal Sects emerged, adopting a superior posture to crush local Martial World influences. Some openly slaughtered and oppressed Martial World forces into submission, while others manipulated hearts through preaching.

In an instant, the world was thrown into turmoil,

Various Martial World forces and Government Offices plunged into paralysis.

Many Martial World forces resisting were slaughtered terribly,

Among them, within a few days, Xia Kingdom witnessed numerous world-shaking events, the most notable being the eradication incident of the Yijian Sect.

Qingzhou Yijian Sect, one of the Eight Sects of Xia Kingdom’s Martial World, housed two Land Immortal-level superforces, and during the chaos in Qingzhou, they rallied the Martial World to jointly resist those Immortal Sect forces, even the Qingzhou Government Office sent armies in support.

Yet, during the Martial Arts Conference,

a group of cultivators claiming to be from the Tai Zhen Sect Immortal Sect, numbering only a dozen, trampled over tens of thousands of troops and martial artists on Flying Swords, and before everyone’s eyes, slew the two Land Immortals of the Yijian Sect with a single sword then proceeded to annihilate the Yijian Sect entirely.

Xia Kingdom was thrown into an uproar.

Before the Court could formulate a response, many more Immortal Sects emerged in succession. Though the commotion wasn’t as massive as in Qingzhou, the entire nation was thrown into complete disarray, with numerous Martial World forces defecting to those Immortal Sects, some eager to seize opportunities, some forced against their will, leading to Government Offices effectively losing control over many regions.

However, amid this chaos,

Xia Kingdom had some areas that remained relatively stable.

One was Xuzhou, another Jizhou, and another Yunzhou.

According to rumors, Immortal Sects also appeared in Xuzhou, with three emerging at once, one preaching to the world, while the other two directly massacred and suppressed Martial World and Government Office forces.

With no alternative, Xuzhou Government Office and Martial World sought aid from the Ming Family of Bright Moon Island, one of Xia Kingdom’s Eight Sects, which is the kingdom’s most mysterious force, with a heritage tracing back over two thousand years to the Yu Dynasty. However, this Ming Family has always remained detached from worldly affairs, residing on Bright Moon Island without interfering with Court or Martial World, but its renowned prestige always lingered, though not as the greatest.

During this Immortal Sect chaos,

Xuzhou Government Office and Martial World helplessly sought assistance from the Ming Family, shocking everyone when the Ming Family actually agreed.

It’s said that one day, a young woman from the Ming Family emerged, with a ghost-face mask on her face, walking across water for a hundred miles from Bright Moon Island to the mainland. Upon landing, two Immortal Sects and dozens of cultivators wielded swords to confront her.

In her hands appeared a zither, playing a tune, and when the tune ended, all the cultivators were dead. Then she returned, and the crisis in Xuzhou involving Bright Moon Island was resolved, although Bright Moon Island did not appear in the world.

As the Ming Family of Xuzhou emerged and astonished the world,

Jizhou also witnessed the advent of Immortal Sects, with the largest number within the Nine Provinces of Xia Kingdom, presenting six Immortal Sects simultaneously. However, during the shadow cast over Jizhou Government Office and Martial World, those six Immortal Sects remarkably did not pursue slaughter or preaching like others across the provinces but collectively visited the Qu Zhao Kong Family.

Qu Zhao Kong Family, one of the world’s four great Noble Families, tracing its origins to over fifteen hundred years ago, founded by Wen Sheng, traversing four dynasties to become leaders in the literary world, with a strange relationship with the Jixia Academy Palace, one of the Eight Sects founded by Wen Sheng, also the leader of the Noble Clan in Xia Kingdom.

The visit of six Immortal Sects to Kong Family triggered considerable panic,

But during this time, a young man emerged from Kong Family, with an ancient book tied to his waist, wearing a simple Confucian robe, elegant and unperturbed as he faced hundreds of cultivators from the six Immortal Sects, announcing a few rules, requesting that the six forces not disturb the populace and refrain from any acts of slaughter.

Surprisingly,

the usually high-and-mighty Immortal Sect cultivators displayed utmost respect toward this young man, unanimously agreeing to his stipulations and then departing, broadly opening their sects in Jizhou.

This incident was so unbelievable to the Martial World,

until one day, someone realized in shock,

that the young man who emerged from Kong Family on that day was identical to Wen Sheng, who founded Kong Family fifteen hundred years ago!

In an instant, the message of Wen Sheng’s survival for a millennium spread abroad.

And as these matters stirred the airwaves,

people discovered with amazement that amidst the turbulent events occurring across the world,

Yunzhou, which had been prone to discord for years, unexpectedly remained calm and peaceful.