Immortality Begins With Internal Breathing

"Thank you for clearing up my doubts, Alliance Leader. Speaking of the divine repositories, I once received guidance from Senior Xia Ping and did manage to glimpse some of the secrets hidden within them. Unfortunately, my strength was insufficient, so I was unable to unlock the immense latent potential contained within the divine repositories.

"Even so, I believe they must conceal tremendous secrets. However, the Shamanic Clan, which once stood at the height of its power, also cultivated the path of the physical body. Did they never open their divine repositories? Did they never investigate the secrets hidden within them?" Lin Zheyu asked.

He had inherited Qiong Yun's Shamanic Clan legacy and read through a vast number of Shamanic Dao cultivation texts left behind by Qiong Yun, yet he had not found a single record related to the divine repositories, which he found rather strange. Both paths focused on cultivating the physical body, yet the divine repositories seemed to be something only martial cultivators possessed.

"No. Do you know what kind of technique the Shamanic Clan cultivated during the ancient times? And do you know why the Shamanic Clan, which led humanity to rise and stand at the pinnacle of the myriad races, eventually vanished into the long river of history?" Qin Hu smiled faintly instead of answering directly. Inwardly, he breathed a small sigh of relief. At last, Lin Zheyu had asked a simple question.

"Please enlighten me, Alliance Leader," Lin Zheyu replied, playing along. After receiving Qiong Yun's inheritance, he had already formed a vague guess of his own.

"That is because the Shamanic Dao is the path of the chaos gods and demons. When this world first came into being, its laws were still incomplete, and its order remained loose. Vast amounts of chaotic energy still lingered between heaven and earth. At the time, the world's environment closely resembled primordial chaos, allowing shamanic arts to be cultivated and the Shamanic Clan to rise.

"However, as time passed, this world grew increasingly complete, its laws and order became ever more firmly established, and the remaining chaotic energy was gradually exhausted. The environment between heaven and earth eventually became utterly different from primordial chaos. The disappearance of the Shamanic Clan and the replacement of the Shamanic Dao by the Immortal Dao were fates already destined from the moment shamanic arts first came into existence," Qin Hu explained slowly as a trace of wistfulness appeared on his face.

The Shamanic Clan had once led humanity to the pinnacle of the myriad races, yet it had ultimately vanished into the long river of history. No matter how one looked at it, such an ending was deeply lamentable. If those peak Shamanic Clan experts were still alive, the demon realm would never have been able to invade this world, and the great calamity would never have occurred. Lin Zheyu watched as Qin Hu became lost in thought. He quietly took a sip of tea and waited in silence. Before long, Qin Hu returned to his senses.

"Haha, my thoughts wandered for a moment. Once you understand the true nature of the Shamanic Dao, the answer to your question becomes clear." Qin Hu smiled and said, "Among shamanic cultivators, there is no such concept as the divine repositories, nor do they have any need to open the divine repositories within their bodies."

"Even if they wanted to open them, they would be unable to do so. The Shamanic Dao is a path through which one cultivates oneself into a chaos god or demon. At its core lies the nature of the chaos gods and demons. Shamanic cultivators can no longer be considered purely human. Martial cultivation, on the other hand, is fundamentally rooted in humanity. It is a path created by humans and belongs exclusively to the human race.

"The divine repository is a treasure of the physical body that only humans can open. Humans who cultivate shamanic arts can no longer be considered purely human, so they are fundamentally incapable of opening the divine repositories. Naturally, there would be no records concerning it," Qin Hu explained.

Only humans who practiced martial cultivation could open the divine repositories within their physical bodies. Other races, whether ancient yao, barbarians, or the sea clans, could not open the divine repository even if they embarked upon the path of martial cultivation. This was what made humanity truly unique. The divine repository was a treasure of the physical body that belonged exclusively to the human race.

This was precisely why Xia Ping had chosen the divine repository as his point of breakthrough and forged an unprecedented path of martial cultivation. It was also why he looked down upon the ancient martial families of esteem for abandoning their human bloodlines in an attempt to cultivate themselves into Desolate Beasts.

In his view, humanity was the most exceptional of all races, possessing an immensely powerful treasure within their bodies unlike anything seen before. Martial cultivation was the key that unlocked that treasure.

"The divine repository is actually unique to the human race?" Lin Zheyu asked in surprise. He had read through nearly the entire Library Pavilion of the Martial Alliance, yet he had never encountered any record of this.

"Haha, this is merely a theory shared by Xia Ping, myself, and several fellow cultivators. It has yet to be fully verified, which is why it was never recorded in the Library Pavilion," Qin Hu explained with a smile when he saw Lin Zheyu's surprised expression.

Everything recorded in the Library Pavilion consisted of verified knowledge of martial cultivation considered accurate based on current understanding. Unproven theories, recent insights, and similar ideas were not included.

Lin Zheyu nodded in realization. "I see."

However, a wisp of concern soon arose in his heart. He had already received the Shamanic Dao inheritance, obtained the Blessing of the Ancestral Shaman, and condensed his natal shamanic pattern. Could his physical body have been altered as well, leaving him no longer purely human? If that were the case, would that not mean the tremendous secrets hidden within the divine repository were now beyond his reach?

That can't be, can it? Lin Zheyu muttered inwardly.

If so, he could not help wondering whether obtaining the Shamanic Clan inheritance had been a mistake. It was still impossible to say which was more valuable, the mysterious treasures hidden within the divine repositories or the shamanic arts that could no longer be cultivated.

"Since you and the others believe that the divine repository is unique to humanity and can only be opened by humans, how can one determine whether one's human bloodline is still pure?" Lin Zheyu could not help asking.

Seeing Qin Hu regard him with a somewhat puzzled look, Lin Zheyu hurriedly added to explain, "Uh, Alliance Leader, there is no need to look at me so suspiciously. I am certainly human, and I have unquestionably opened the three great divine repositories. However, some time ago, I entered a Shamanic Clan secret realm and obtained part of an incomplete inheritance. I was wondering whether that inheritance might affect the purity of my human bloodline."

Many people knew that he had entered a Shamanic Clan secret realm. The Tu Family knew, and so did the Woo Family, so there was no need to conceal it from Qin Hu.

"Haha, there is no need for you to worry about that. In Shamanic Clan cultivation, one is only considered to have truly entered the path after receiving the Blessing of the Ancestral Shaman and condensing a natal shamanic pattern. The incomplete inheritances you obtained cannot even be considered an initiation," Qin Hu said with a hearty laugh.

Back when Qin Hu was seeking a breakthrough in martial cultivation and trying to forge a path beyond the Shackles realm, he spent time frantically searching for Shamanic Clan inheritance secret realms. He had entered one secret realm after another in search of inheritances and had gained an exceptionally thorough understanding of them.

Within the martial cultivation world, Qin Hu could be considered the foremost authority on such secret realms, aside from the martial artists of the three ancient, esteemed martial families.

When receiving a Shamanic Clan inheritance, the stronger one's physique and the purer one's bloodline, the greater the opportunity one would obtain from the Blessing of the Ancestral Shaman. Powerful members of the Shamanic Clan, like Qiong Yun, looked down upon the mixed bloodlines of the ancient, esteemed martial families. Even if a martial artist from one of those families passed a Shamanic Clan trial, their evaluation would be greatly reduced.

Qin Hu had also entered the Shamanic Clan secret realm in Great Wei, where he received the highest evaluation awarded in several thousand years. Yet even though he had passed the Shamanic Clan inheritance trial in that powerful secret realm controlled by Great Wei, he had received only a negligible portion of the Ancestral Shaman's Blessing. Other martial artists naturally fared even worse.

In Qin Hu's view, no matter how extraordinary Xiao Yu's natural talent was, obtaining even the faintest trace of the Ancestral Shaman's Blessing would already be an astonishing achievement. Such a small blessing would not be nearly enough to condense a natal shamanic pattern.

That can't be, can it? Lin Zheyu's heart tightened slightly when he heard Qin Hu mention the Blessing of the Ancestral Shaman.

Not only had he received the Blessing of the Ancestral Shaman, but he had also condensed his natal shamanic pattern. If there had not been a problem with the environment of this world, he might even have reached the first stage of the Eight Desolations World-Suppressing Art by now. However, after hearing what Qin Hu said next, Lin Zheyu finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Besides, receiving the Blessing of the Ancestral Shaman and condensing a natal shamanic pattern merely grants one the qualifications to cultivate into a chaos god or demon. The true transformation into a chaos god or demon, when one begins to leave the boundaries of humanity behind, only starts at the middle stage of the Profound Communion realm. The current environment of this world can no longer produce a shamanic cultivator of that level," Qin Hu said with a regretful shake of his head.

He, too, had obtained a Shamanic Clan inheritance and received the Blessing of the Ancestral Shaman. He had once believed that he could switch to cultivating the Shamanic Dao and embark upon a promising new future. Who could have expected that, in the end, his hopes would come to nothing?

"I see! Thank you for clearing up my doubts, Senior. I have no other questions for the time being." Lin Zheyu cupped his hands and expressed his sincere gratitude.