Martial Cultivator

Yu Xiyi muttered to himself, "Human history only goes back about a thousand years. If these so-called deities merely exterminated the cultivators, then history shouldn't have been severed. But there aren't even records of these sects left. Could it be that everyone in the entire world was killed?"

Thinking of this, Yu Xiyi was so shocked that he could not speak. He even felt a lingering fear.

Perhaps such a thing had already happened countless times throughout history. Then what if one day, the same thing happened to them?

"For now, let's call these people deities. Based on what we've seen so far, there are only two possibilities. One is that they exterminated all living beings in this world, then used some method to cultivate a new batch of cultivators or some other people. In short, if that's the case, whether it's the human race or the demon race, there's a good chance they're simply creatures raised by these so-called deities."

Chen Chao looked at Yu Xiyi and Zhu Xia. If that were true, then the entire world would be an enormous cage. Everything they did, in the eyes of those deities, would be nothing more than lowly creatures tearing at one another.

Yu Xiyi cursed, "You're telling me I'm fucking something raised by somebody else?"

Chen Chao shook his head and corrected him, "A person raised by gods."

Yu Xiyi glared at Chen Chao. "Damn it, Surname Chen, can you stop making this kind of terrifying joke with a straight face right now?!"

Chen Chao smiled faintly. "The second possibility is much more likely in my opinion. That is, there absolutely are no deities in this world. Those so-called deities were probably cultivators at even higher realms. Since they were human, and since they were human, they naturally had no ability to create humans. Therefore, they could not have exterminated all living beings in the world. Once the powerful sects had been destroyed and the cultivators had been killed, their objective would have been achieved. Afterward, they would only need to alter the memories of ordinary people and destroy everything used to record history. Naturally, that would become a brand-new beginning."

"As for why I believe this possibility, it's because of Zhu Xia. And besides her, there were other survivors as well."

Back then, the girl in white discovered in the coffin within the Rongshan Sect, and the Divine Daughter encountered later on the Divine Mountain, had both told Chen Chao something. Perhaps when those so-called deities wanted to do something, no one could stop them. But there would always be some lucky survivors.

"As for why cultivation began again, it was probably because some daoist techniques that were not particularly remarkable were discovered by ordinary people who possessed talent for cultivation. Then, through their own study and exploration, they opened up the path of cultivation once more. But because they did not possess a more complete cultivation path, the things cultivated in each era were probably different from those of the previous era."

If that were the case, then it could explain why martial artists in this era could no longer cultivate magic spells.

In fact, whether it was Daoism or any other cultivation lineage, perhaps none of them represented the most correct path.

But if the human race had already passed through countless eras, then on the great path of cultivation there had probably already been countless cycles of mistakes and corrections, followed by mistakes once more.

Chen Chao softly said, "The cultivators of the previous era were far more outstanding than us. They rediscovered their cultivation path, and it was probably far more profound than our daoist techniques. That's why there were more Fuyun experts in that era."

Having said that, Chen Chao shook his head again. Actually, that was not necessarily true.

Perhaps their era was only the beginning. Perhaps the task of perfecting the path of cultivation rested upon the shoulders of cultivators like them.

They had to carve out a great path once more for those who came after them.

"But no matter what, we still don't know why those so-called deities did what they did."

Chen Chao glanced at Zhu Xia and softly said, "We don't know why they did it, nor do we know when they will come, so merely thinking about it is already a very difficult thing."

At this point, Chen Chao finally understood why the white-clothed girl before, and the Divine Daughter of the Divine Mountain as well, had remained silent about these matters all along.

Indeed, when you are not strong enough, knowing these things has no meaning, because you cannot change anything. It only brings pain.

If one's dao heart is not firm enough, then upon learning these things, that dao heart might even shatter.

"But they are not undefeatable. Although the Sect Master of the Rongshan Sect did not succeed, perhaps others have succeeded before. It's just that they... perhaps had no helpers."

If those so-called deities were merely cultivators of higher realms, then perhaps within those sects there had also been a few cultivators of comparable strength, but their numbers had not been sufficient.

A single hand could not clap alone; they had been unable to change anything.

"If those deities were merely cultivators, then why did they do this?"

Chen Chao lowered his head, continuously pondering this question.

Yu Xiyi suddenly said, "Little Chen, could it be that our initial deduction was wrong? Perhaps those so-called deities were merely enemies of the Rongshan Sect. They didn't exterminate all the cultivators in the world, but only destroyed the Rongshan Sect. And the discontinuation of the era had some other cause."

Chen Chao looked at him, thought for a moment, and said, "It's possible."

"Then let's not reach any conclusions yet. Come with me to a place. Perhaps we'll find the answer there."

Chen Chao had originally intended to go to that place anyway, because only there was it possible to heal his injuries. Now, the two matters happened to coincide.

......

......

Over in the desolate north, beacon smoke had already risen.

The Demon Lord Redsleeve spent a very short amount of time integrating the demon army together. Afterward, this female demon lord of royal clan displayed her decisive and efficient style. During these days, she continuously dispatched scouts to thoroughly investigate every part of the desolate northern plains before her.

She intended to create an entirely new map of the desolate north.

But since she had such an idea, the Northern Frontier Army would naturally want to stop her.

Thus, the scouts of both sides had been engaged in nonstop fighting throughout the desolate north these past days.

Whenever a great war began, the scouts were always the first to die. It had almost become a convention.

However, compared to the deaths of these scouts, what the Northern Frontier General's Office was concerned about was merely the demons' next southward invasion.

But concern was useless, because it was destined to happen.

An unprecedented great war between the human race and the demon race was about to begin.

And just as the entire desolate north was filled with an atmosphere of killing intent, a woman crossed the desolate north and passed through the Northern Frontier Great Wall.

She arrived within the territory of Xinliu Prefecture of Great Liang.

That woman walked slowly through the mountains and forests, seemingly in no hurry. After an entire day, she had only advanced a hundred or so miles.

In the end, she arrived before a small yellow-mud temple within the forest and stood there for a long time.

After pondering for a while, she removed the hairpin from her hair. The hairpin slowly transformed into a flying sword.

Holding this flying sword, the woman's eyes turned snow-white.