A Message from Thousands of Years Ago — The Truth Behind the Age of Dharma Decline?
by spirapiraSu Xing felt a flutter of anxiety in his chest as he read on. If he could successfully refine the Void-Refining Pill, he could start thinking about breaking through to the Void Return stage.
“If I can smoothly step into the Void Return stage, my spiritual sense and cultivation will undoubtedly skyrocket!”
“And then there’s that mysterious Void Realm…”
The thought filled him with anticipation.
“According to legend, the Void Realm is a mysterious domain that only cultivators above the Void Return stage can set foot in…”
“Void Return stage cultivators can not only explore the Void Realm, but also encounter fortuitous opportunities, strengthen their divine soul… and even learn spiritual sense attack techniques!”
Su Xing turned these rumors over in his mind. Ever since he had first heard of the Void Realm, he had gone to the Luotian Sect’s Scripture Pavilion to research it.
In Su Xing’s own words: the Void Realm was something like the “internet” — virtual yet real — except that only high-level “netizens” at or above the Void Return stage could enter.
Within the Void Realm, Void Return stage cultivators could meet others of their kind.
Whether that meant becoming fellow Dao companions… or hunting each other down as enemies.
Interestingly, if one’s consciousness was killed within the Void Realm, the cultivator would not truly die — but their divine soul would be gravely wounded and their spiritual sense damaged.
The Void Realm also contained a remarkable form of energy called “Primordial Void.”
Void Return stage cultivators could devour Primordial Void to strengthen their divine souls.
This was precisely why the Void Return stage was a phase of explosive spiritual sense growth.
Moreover, after devouring certain pockets of Primordial Void, cultivators could even acquire ancient techniques for training and weaponizing their spiritual sense.
Killing “minds” and plundering treasures within the Void Realm was therefore far from rare.
Su Xing murmured to himself: “The Void Realm… I really am looking forward to it.”
“I just wonder — under this age of depleted spiritual energy, this Age of Dharma Decline… does the Void Realm still exist? Are there other cultivators in it?”
He had a feeling.
Once he stepped into the Void Return stage, his understanding of this world would deepen without question.
His gaze drifted to the simulation panel.
【You attempt to refine the Void-Refining Pill again and again, and fail again and again.】
【Yet your Dao-heart is resolute and your will unyielding; you continue to try without pause…】
【In this one year, you refine a total of two hundred batches of Void-Refining Pills, leaving only 60 drops of Spring Dew Purified Water.】
【In the fourth year, on the Day of Awakening of Insects, you gather another thread of Spring Dew Purified Water, bringing your total to 70 drops.】
【But the quantity is still far too small. You can only cherish each and every attempt at refining the Void-Refining Pill all the more.】
【In this year, you refine thirty more batches of Void-Refining Pills, successfully producing six pills.】
【With the boost of your Great Wisdom talent, you have finally grasped the barest surface of the Void-Refining Pill’s craft — but the quality of the pills is poor, and the success rate is under three percent.】
【In the fifth year, after gathering the Spring Dew Purified Water on the Day of Awakening of Insects, you refine twenty batches of Void-Refining Pills, successfully producing seven pills.】
【Your mastery of the Void-Refining Pill’s refinement technique has finally barely crossed the threshold!】
【But to your frustration, you have only thirty-odd drops of Spring Dew Purified Water left in hand.】
Su Xing sighed as he read this.
“As I expected — the shortage of raw materials is the greatest obstacle to refining the Void-Refining Pill.”
“If I had unlimited resources, I could refine seven or eight batches a day. I’d probably reach a basic foundation within a year, Minor Mastery within three, and Major Mastery within five.”
“But even if I stockpile 240 drops of Spring Dew Purified Water and then gather another 240 during this simulation run — that’s 480 drops total at best, enough to refine exactly 480 batches of Void-Refining Pills…”
Su Xing felt a gnawing sense of frustration.
Refining four hundred and eighty batches of pills, even with the boost of his Great Wisdom talent, might not be enough to reach Mastery-level. After all, the Void-Refining Pill was nearly a top-grade pill.
“For now, all I can do is take it one step at a time. If I can trigger my Epiphany talent, that would naturally be ideal…”
“Even if I can’t trigger an epiphany, I have to push the Void-Refining Pill’s refinement technique to at least Minor Mastery.”
With that thought, Su Xing turned his gaze back to the simulation panel.
【In the sixth year, on the Day of Awakening of Insects, you collect another thread of Spring Dew Purified Water.】
【This time, however, you do not rush to begin refining. Instead, you head to the Age of Immortals and Martial Arts instance dungeon.】
【You spend half a month investigating three major sects: the Eternal Spring Gate, the Floating Life Gate, and the Mystic Yellow Gate.】
【Your goal is to find records left behind by ancient cultivators from ages past within these sects.】
【And indeed — you ultimately make a discovery in the Eternal Spring Gate, whose heritage runs especially deep. You find records from before the catastrophe of “spiritual energy depletion.”】
Su Xing’s heart gave a leap as he read that, and a pleased smile touched his lips.
“Oh, so I actually found something? Several thousand years have passed — I hope they left behind some useful information…”
Understanding what had transpired thousands of years ago would surely help him explore ruins and ancient tombs in the future.
So Su Xing silently said, “Activate the immersive simulation function — duration, three hours!”
【Ding. You have successfully activated the immersive simulation function, consuming 300,000 energy points. Remaining energy: 316,660,000 points.】
The chime faded, and the scene before Su Xing’s eyes shimmered and shifted. He found himself in an unfamiliar environment.
“This must be an inn in the Age of Immortals and Martial Arts dungeon…”
Su Xing gave a slight nod, then noticed two ancient volumes lying on the table in front of him. They recorded events that had taken place thousands of years ago.
His eyes brightened. He looked at the texts.
“During the golden age of immortal cultivation, three great sects stood supreme… the Myriad Wood Sect, the Flame-Commanding Sect, and the Five Elements Sect…”
“All three sects had been passed down for tens of thousands of years. It was said that in ancient times, true immortals had emerged from their ranks…”
“The Myriad Wood Sect excelled at pill refinement, the Flame-Commanding Sect at artifact forging, the Five Elements Sect at formation-laying…”
“…”
“In the early Age of Immortals and Martial Arts, heaven and earth were severed — spiritual energy began to wane. In nearly ten thousand years, not a single Mahayana True Lord had appeared… transcending tribulation and ascending was beyond all hope.”
“As spiritual energy depleted, the cultivators of heaven and earth adapted to grow stronger through their own means. They turned away from Qi Refinement and toward Body Tempering… the Body Tempering lineage required extremely little spiritual energy, and so a golden age of martial cultivation arrived.”
“Yet the path of Body Tempering was even more demanding, and both innate talent and spiritual medicines were indispensable… As spiritual energy continued to wane, rare and precious heavenly treasures became ever harder to find…”
“The cultivators of the world competed frantically to seize body-forging treasures, fighting to explore secret realms, rivers of blood flowing everywhere. For a time, the cultivation world descended into chaos!”
Su Xing gave a small nod as he read. It was true that Body Tempering required almost no spiritual energy to speak of. Back when he had possessed no spiritual energy whatsoever, it had been Body Tempering that allowed him to strengthen himself.
“Still, the body-forging treasures needed for Body Tempering remain precious in their own right… So thousands of years ago, there was a period of all-out warfare to seize them?”
Su Xing wasn’t particularly surprised. He continued reading.
“Yet in times of great upheaval, extraordinary talents always emerge!”
“Chang Fengchun, a personal disciple of the Myriad Wood Sect; Yan Yan, son of the Flame-Commanding Sect’s sect master; and Bai Zixian, junior sect master of the Five Elements Sect — all three were geniuses the likes of which appeared but once in a thousand years.”
“Within a mere thousand years, all three cultivated to the Great Perfection of the Void Return stage, dual-cultivating in both Qi and Body. Each in turn inherited the position of sect master.”
“Chang Fengchun was gentle by nature and kind to all — a modest and courteous gentleman, known throughout the world.”
“Yan Yan despised evil and had a fiery temperament.”
“Bai Zixian possessed unparalleled comprehension. He refined his sect’s secret techniques, realizing the 《Five Elements Cycle Art》 — the five elements giving birth to one another, endlessly cycling in perpetuity.”
“…”
“In the middle Age of Immortals and Martial Arts, there were no longer any Body Integration Perfected Ones anywhere under heaven…”
“Yet the cultivation world could not go without Perfected Ones to govern its ten thousand cultivators.”
“Thus Chang Fengchun took the title of Perfected One Myriad Wood… Yan Yan took the title of Perfected One Flame-Commander… Bai Zixian called himself Perfected One Five Elements… serving as paragons for all cultivators under heaven.”
Su Xing frowned slightly as he read.
“By that account, the Perfected One Myriad Wood I encountered in the ancient tomb ruins must be Chang Fengchun…”
“But a modest and courteous gentleman, gentle and kind in temperament…” He let out a quiet, cold laugh. “That doesn’t quite match what I saw, does it?”
Su Xing felt a chill of contempt inwardly. In the ancient tomb ruins, he had clearly seen Perfected One Myriad Wood plotting to gather all the spirit veins under heaven in pursuit of a breakthrough — even boasting of blood sacrifices of living souls to reshape his own divine soul.
No matter how you looked at it, that was a wicked cultivator.
It bore no resemblance whatsoever to a paragon of the cultivation world and a modest gentleman.
“Tch. Perfected One Myriad Wood — nothing but a hypocrite.”
Su Xing gave a slight shake of his head, his thoughts turning inward.
“In that case, the figure I saw within the Five Elements Sect must have been Perfected One Five Elements, Bai Zixian?”
“His strength truly matches Void Shattering and Void Return Grand Perfection… but why did he become a living corpse?”
“And then there’s Perfected One Flame-Commander, Yan Yan… Could there be yet another unknown ancient tomb ruin that I haven’t explored?”
Several thoughts flashed through Su Xing’s mind. He already had suspicions about the identities of the tomb masters of the two ancient ruins. But there was still one crucial question troubling him.
“The living corpse inside the Five Elements Sect ruins — his strength checks out. It truly is Void Return and Void Shattering Grand Perfection…”
“But inside the Myriad Wood Sect ruins, that sleeping cultivator… the pressure he released was absolutely not as simple as the Void Return stage!”
“So… did Perfected One Myriad Wood ultimately break through to the Body Integration stage?”
Su Xing was somewhat shocked. Could it be that he had gathered the world’s spirit veins, transformed them into a spirit dragon, and ultimately succeeded in breaking through to become a Body Integration Perfected One?
But Su Xing then shook his head and muttered to himself:
“Not necessarily… If he truly broke through to Body Integration, his lifespan would double again. Perfected One Myriad Wood might still be alive even now, wouldn’t he?”
“If that were the case, the landscape of the Age of Immortals and Martial Arts scenario wouldn’t look like it does today…”
After pondering carefully for a moment, Su Xing murmured:
“So the most likely possibility!”
“Before Perfected One Myriad Wood entered his slumber, he was probably still only at Void Return Grand Perfection…”
“But his scheme succeeded, the Spirit Vein Dragon took form… and with the aid of the formation, he pushed further, nearly becoming a Body Integration cultivator?”
“But something must have gone wrong in the process… which is why Perfected One Myriad Wood became that neither-human-nor-ghost existence… and his true strength is probably at something like the half-step Body Integration stage?”
Su Xing nodded slightly. If that were truly the case, it would explain why Perfected One Myriad Wood had been able to instantly kill Su Xing without the slightest surprise.
After all, for Su Xing at that time, half-step Body Integration and true Body Integration stage made no difference.
After all… Su Xing was the one getting instantly killed either way…
A torrent of thoughts flashed through Su Xing’s mind as he turned his gaze back to the two ancient texts before him.
After searching through them, Su Xing found several pieces of information that interested him in the final pages of the texts.
“In the later period of the Age of Immortals and Martial Arts, spiritual energy grew increasingly depleted… Cultivators throughout the world could barely even reach the Spirit Transformation realm…”
“Yet Perfected One Myriad Wood, as the world’s exemplar, proposed that all cultivators above the Spirit Transformation stage enter a deep slumber.”
“Perfected One Myriad Wood declared: the depletion of heaven and earth’s spiritual energy was truly the fault of cultivators — there were simply too many cultivators, and the spiritual energy could no longer bear the burden…”
“Therefore, if all powerful cultivators entered slumber, perhaps in a few thousand years, an age of abundant spiritual energy would return… and at that time, they could awaken from their sleep…”
“To this end, Perfected One Myriad Wood produced a precious pill called the ‘Yellow Springs Pill,’ which could help cultivators sleep for thousands of years without dying…”
“All Spirit Transformation cultivators in the world entered slumber…”
“…”
“However, after the great cultivators fell asleep, the rate at which heaven and earth’s spiritual energy depleted grew even faster…”
“In merely a few hundred years, not a single Nascent Soul cultivator was born in all the world…”
Su Xing read all the way to the last page before closing the ancient text, lost in thought.
“So… Perfected One Myriad Wood had all the great cultivators of the world enter slumber, but his true purpose was to carry out his own plan — to gather all the world’s spirit veins and seek his own breakthrough?”
“Heh, destroying an entire realm’s spiritual energy to benefit himself — this Perfected One Myriad Wood truly was vicious!”
Su Xing estimated that if Perfected One Myriad Wood hadn’t gathered all the spirit veins, this Age of Immortals and Martial Arts could have persisted for several thousand more years…
At the very least, it wouldn’t have ended up like the present, where not a trace of spiritual energy remained in all of heaven and earth…
“But why did both Perfected One Myriad Wood and Perfected One Five Elements have problems with their slumber, both becoming living corpses?”
Su Xing was puzzled and began searching for the commonality between the two.
“Before entering slumber, they both seem to have taken the Yellow Springs Pill. Could it be… that the problem lies with the Yellow Springs Pill itself?”
“But clearly, Old Dog Zong also took the Yellow Springs Pill… so why didn’t he become a living corpse?”
Su Xing furrowed his brow slightly, then suddenly recalled the contents of Old Dog Zong’s diary.
Old Dog Zong had only slumbered for just over a thousand years… and moreover, he had been forcibly awakened — his sleep interrupted by someone!
“Hss~ When you look at it that way, it seems the problem truly does lie with the Yellow Springs Pill!”
“If the slumber lasts too long… one can never wake up again? In other words, they become a living corpse?”
Su Xing suddenly recalled the description of the half Yellow Springs Pill he had once obtained.
“Hss~ So does this mean that even Perfected One Myriad Wood himself didn’t know about this side effect of the Yellow Springs Pill, which led to such severe consequences?”
In Su Xing’s mind, all those traces connected one by one. He finally had a general understanding of the connections between the Age of Immortals and Martial Arts scenario, the rapid depletion of spiritual energy… the Spirit Vein Dragon… and the ancient tomb ruins of today!
After the Immersive Simulation ended, Su Xing returned to the real world.
Rubbing his chin, Su Xing murmured:
“So, aside from the Five Elements Sect and Myriad Wood Sect ruins… there’s also a Flame-Commanding Sect ruin?”
“The Five Elements Sect excelled at formations… the Flame-Commanding Sect excelled at artifact refinement… In that case, texts on artifact refinement and formation-crafting should be obtainable!”
Su Xing nodded slightly.
However, the most important thing right now was to learn the Void-Refining Pill as soon as possible and break through to the Void Return stage!
His gaze turned to the simulation panel.
【After leaving the Age of Immortals and Martial Arts scenario, you continued collecting Spring Dew Purified Water each year on the day of Jingzhe, occasionally firing up the furnace to attempt refining Void-Refining Pills.】
【Just like that, three years passed quickly.】
【Year nine. After getting started with the Void-Refining Pill, you found that your progress in refining it actually grew faster and faster.】
【After carefully considering the reason, you realized it was because of your powerful divine sense!】
【Your Subtle Realm divine sense could meticulously observe the minute differences in every step of the pill refinement process.】
【As such, once you had the foundational skill of pill refinement, subsequent improvement actually became a matter of putting in time.】
【And with over a decade remaining before the giant beast invasion, you had ample time to hone your pill-refining skills.】
【Whenever inspiration struck each month, you would refine a few batches of pills. Although the success rate was not high each time, you gained considerable insight.】
【Just like that, another three years passed.】
【Year twelve. Your skill in refining the Void-Refining Pill grew increasingly proficient. You could feel that you were not far from reaching Minor Mastery of the Void-Refining Pill.】
【Meanwhile, over these dozen-plus years, you had not neglected your refinement of the Rebirth Pill either.】
【You could now successfully refine Demon King and Demon Emperor-grade Rebirth Pills with extremely low side effects.】
【With the help of your pills, Great Xia’s military gained many more powerful warriors.】
【Year thirteen. You began attempting to refine Legendary-grade Rebirth Pills.】
【Working together with Luo Shuying, you spent two years hunting two Legendary-grade demonic beasts at Demon-Sealing Pass.】
【Year fifteen. Because you had previously learned that Snow Bone Jade Ginseng was a crucial supplementary ingredient for neutralizing the side effects of Legendary demonic beast blood essence, you saved a great deal of time and effort.】
【You attempted to refine the Legendary Rebirth Pill daily. However, because your Separation Fire Technique was insufficient, the pills you refined had side effects that were too severe.】
【But through continuous refinement, you became thoroughly familiar with the entire process of refining the Legendary Rebirth Pill.】
【All that remained was to raise the level of your Separation Fire Technique.】
【Just like that, another two years passed.】
【Year seventeen. After years of continuous refinement, your skill with the Void-Refining Pill had approached the Minor Mastery level.】
【As for the Rebirth Pill, you were even more familiar with it, having approached the Perfection level.】
【Just like that, another three years passed.】
【Year twenty. One day, inspiration suddenly struck you, and as always, you fired up the furnace to refine a Void-Refining Pill.】
【As you refined the pill, you found this inspiration growing ever stronger, and you gradually sank into a profound state of mysterious insight.】
【You successfully triggered a Spontaneous Epiphany!】
【This epiphany lasted only two days.】
【But when you emerged from the epiphany state, you still felt that you had gained enormously.】
【Your comprehension of the Void-Refining Pill had finally broken through to the Minor Mastery level — and was even only a single step away from Major Mastery!】
Seeing this, Su Xing let out a long breath of relief.
“Two days of epiphany… successfully broken through to Minor Mastery, and only a single step away from Major Mastery!”
“At this rate, by the next simulation at most, my Void-Refining Pill technique will reach Major Mastery, and I’ll be able to successfully refine a supreme-grade Void-Refining Pill!”
Su Xing was fairly satisfied with this pace.
“Once I refine a supreme-grade Void-Refining Pill, I can immediately attempt to break through to the Void Return stage!”
With that thought, Su Xing’s gaze turned to the simulation panel.
【Year twenty-one. Your skill in refining the Rebirth Pill had also reached the Perfection level.】
【However, because the power of your Separation Fire Technique was insufficient, you still could not refine Legendary-grade Rebirth Pills.】
【Year twenty-three. Over these years, you made several more attempts at refining the Void-Refining Pill, and your refinement skill grew ever closer to Major Mastery.】
【Year twenty-five. On the day of Jingzhe, you successfully collected the final wisp of Spring Dew Purified Water.】
【That same year, Demon-Sealing Pass was breached, and the human race found itself in a perilous, life-or-death situation.】
(PS: Brothers, bonus mass release today! Begging for monthly tickets, wuwu~ It’s the end-of-month double event!)