Summary

On Dongting Lake, inside a Black-awning Boat, a pair of eyes slowly opened. Time lay in chaos, the years steeped in vicissitudes.

Zhuang Zhou's Dream Butterfly—past events surged into his heart scene by scene, floating through his mind.

Xiao Huang Village, Hundred Broken Mountain: a mountain villager, a mere butcher, who sold himself into slavery before fiercely drawing his blade; who gathered men in the mountains before walking the world alone. Heavenly King Zhenwu, peerless grandmaster, founding ruler, sovereign of a flourishing age, Spread martial arts throughout the world, Continuing the Past and Forging the Future...

"One life!"

"One lifetime!"

"Three hundred years!"

Xu Yang sighed deeply, rose to his feet, and turned his gaze beyond the cabin. The dust of the mortal world had been washed away, the vast desolation of the years had faded, and he had become that utterly ordinary old man once more.

Three hundred years in a fleeting dream—who knew I was an immortal among martial artists?

A lifetime had ended!

There had been some haste, some regrets, but overall, it had been fairly complete.

Xu Yang

Lifespan: 46/195

Cultivation: Internal Energy Realm

Original Skills:

Diet (Eat an ox a day, Strengthen foundations, fortify the body, Prolong life and eternal youth)

Sleep (Nourishes spirit and soul, Strengthen foundations and cultivate origin, Prolong life and eternal youth)

Breathing (Vitality like a surging tide, Strengthen foundations and cultivate origin, Prolong life and eternal youth)

Culinary Arts (At the height of perfection, Dietary Therapy and Medicinal Supplementation)

Fishing (Great Harvest, Inspiration arrives)

Boating (Unperturbed by waves, Ride the wind and break the waves)

Aquaculture (Taming exotic beasts, Strong and robust body)

Disguise (Camouflage and voice modulation, Bone shrinking and breath concealment)

Sharpening Knife (Unstoppable sharpness, Cut steel and cleave iron)

Hidden Weapons (Flying stones and hidden feathers, Pear Blossom Storm)

Swimming (Muddy Dragon)

Dreaming (Zhuang Zhou's Dream Butterfly)

New Skills:

Butchery (Butchering the Ox)

Walking (Swift as Flying)

Archery (Every arrow hits its mark, Nine Stars Align)

Craftsman (Skilled craftsman, Divine weapons and sharp tools)

Reading (Eidetic Memory, Infer other things from one instance)

Teacher (Earnest teachings, Teaching and learning promote each other, Lead by example, Spread martial arts throughout the world, Everyone is like a dragon)

Martial Practice (Diligence Makes Up for Lack of Talent, Marrow Cleansing and Meridian Washing, Eternal Spring and Agelessness, Martial Path Reaches Divinity, Ancestor of Martial Scriptures)

Martial Art: Great Zhou Martial Scripture

As the saying went: knowledge was power, and information was wealth!

When Xu Yang had managed Hundred Broken Mountain in the Great Zhou World, its development had been so rapid for two reasons. First, he had the Golden Finger of the Attribute Panel and skill traits. Second, he had the horizons, experience, and information reserves of a transmigrator.

The horizons, experience, and information reserves of a transmigrator had helped him create countless low-cost goods that he monopolized exclusively. With them, he had opened markets, sent goods throughout the realm, and earned vast amounts of money. Only then could Hundred Broken Mountain be developed, gathering martial arts from across the world for him, forging iron armor and weapons, and laying the foundations of the King's Path.

This showed the importance of knowledge and information.

Xu Yang had long set his strategy: no matter which world Zhuang Zhou's Dream Butterfly took him to, he had to increase his information reserves as much as possible, absorb the knowledge of every world, and enrich his own foundations.

Thus, after the battle at Hundred Broken Mountain, although he had already proven himself at the peak of Martial Path and suppressed the world's experts by his strength alone, he had not ended Li Qingshan's life there. Instead, he had boldly raised an army, fought for the world, established the foundations of Great Zhou, and created an age of Martial Dao.

The power of a group was always greater than that of an individual. The efficiency of a state apparatus was far beyond anything the martial world's sects could match.

As Great Zhou's Founding Emperor, he could mobilize the strength of an entire nation's people and all under heaven's common folk for his own use. Countless prodigies, geniuses, grandmasters, and great scholars served him. With minds gathered together and strengths drawn from all quarters, the resulting efficiency and capability surpassed imagination.

Only thus had the Great Zhou Martial Scripture emerged from nowhere, gathering the essence of an entire world, the painstaking efforts of billions, and the blood and sweat of countless prodigies and geniuses.

This Great Zhou Martial Scripture was not merely a martial arts cultivation method. It was also an extraordinary book without equal, containing the crystallized wisdom of every field in the Great Zhou World: cultivation methods, Martial Skills, medicine, pharmacology, astronomy, star signs, Mystical Gates and Eight Trigrams, Plum Blossom Numerology, divination arts, formation methods, as well as the classics of Daoist, Buddhist, and Confucian teachings, Hundred Schools of Thought...

In short, it was All-encompassing—there was nothing it did not contain!

Before transmigrating to this world, Xu Yang had not been anyone remarkable, nor had he possessed attainments in any specialized field. He had merely been an ordinary, utterly unremarkable office worker. Without the Golden Finger of the Attribute Panel and skill traits, let alone rising to prominence, even survival would have been a problem.

But now, after accumulating the heritage of an entire world, his horizons, experience, and knowledge reserves had grown enormously. Even without the Attribute Panel and skill traits that could turn decay into the miraculous, he could still establish himself somewhere through this knowledge, perhaps even scheme for the world.

He was no longer an ordinary transmigrator. He was a Martial Dao master who had reached Peak Perfection and attained sublime mastery; a grandmaster of his generation, versed in ancient and modern learning and integrating Eastern and Western knowledge; a cultivator of Daoist, Buddhist, and Confucian teachings alike; an unparalleled genius who had achieved results across countless fields and reached the pinnacle of every extreme.

This was the accumulation and transformation that more than three hundred years in the Great Zhou World had brought him. It had made one who was impoverished truly wealthy.

This revealed the power of Zhuang Zhou's Dream Butterfly. It represented not only a different life, but also the knowledge, information, frameworks, structures, resources, and opportunities of world after world and system after system.

These were Xu Yang's gains from this journey through Zhuang Zhou's Dream Butterfly, from transmigrating through one world.

Everything had been so wonderful. There was only one flaw in the jade: he had failed to break through to the realm above True Gang and derive the subsequent Martial Dao system and path of cultivation.

The Great Zhou World truly was a low-martial world. The True Gang Realm was the end of Martial Dao. No higher power existed, and all those tales of gods and Buddhas filling the heavens were nothing but vague, illusory products of mortal imagination.

That was also why Xu Yang had suppressed the three teachings and even destroyed their lineages. Those people were nothing but charlatans. They served no purpose whatsoever, yet they obstructed his efforts to Spread martial arts throughout the world and advance the Martial Dao system. Naturally, they had to be struck down hard, exterminated, and swept away.

Besides suppressing the three teachings, he had continually restrained the great clans and established exceptionally harsh laws that pursued fairness to the utmost. By doing so, he centralized power to the greatest extent possible, shattered the thousand-year iron law that the Emperor and officials co-governing the world and Imperial power does not reach the countryside, successfully implemented every major national policy, liberated manpower, increased production, and strengthened industry, agriculture, and commerce...

Only then could Spread martial arts throughout the world be successfully carried out.

Unfortunately, though Spread martial arts throughout the world had succeeded and an age of Martial Dao prosperity had been established, opening and exploring the Martial Dao path remained difficult. With no reference to follow, they could only grope bitterly through the darkness without direction. The difficulty needed no further explanation.

Thus, after more than two hundred years of arduous exploration, even as Xu Yang's lifespan neared its end, the realm above True Gang had not truly been developed. Only several theories and hypotheses had been proposed, such as the method of True Gang Condensing Spirit and Forming the Core and Achieving the Way that Xu Yang had attempted in the East Sea near the end.

Among the many ideas, Xu Yang believed this was the advancement path with the greatest promise and potential.

Unfortunately, it had still failed in the end.

The reason for the failure was that his soul power had been insufficient. He could not effectively control the gang qi and compress it into a core.

Great Zhou was a low-martial world where Martial Dao cultivation was rooted in vitality and blood. The Daoist, Buddhist, and Confucian teachings were all bands of charlatans, and the martial arts they practiced were likewise rooted in vitality and blood. There were simply no methods for cultivating immortality.

Therefore, the Great Zhou World possessed almost no means of strengthening the soul. One could only rely on the most basic method of Nourishing the soul with the body: the stronger the body, the stronger the soul. Yet the effect of this method was quite limited.

Even though Xu Yang had achieved Mastery Through Comprehension over the martial arts of the world, created an extraordinary work such as the Great Zhou Martial Scripture, and, with many skill traits, forged an unprecedentedly powerful physique, the increase to his soul power had still been slight. It was far from enough to Transform Void into Substance and achieve True Gang Condensing Spirit as he had envisioned.

Therefore, he had failed.

In truth, he might have succeeded. Beyond martial arts, he still had the Attribute Panel and skill traits, and the Nourishes spirit and soul trait of the Sleep skill happened to strengthen soul power.

But... in the few years before his final attempt at a breakthrough, he had just expended a great deal of soul power.

Why had he expended it?

Naturally, to transmit skill traits.

Zhuang Zhou's Dream Butterfly allowed Xu Yang's main body and Dream Butterfly avatar to exchange what one had for what one needed. At the cost of soul power, they could transmit skill traits and even tangible objects.

The importance of skill traits needed no explanation. They were Xu Yang's greatest reliance, so naturally he had to make good use of them. Thus, during the two hundred years he resided in Great Zhou, the soul power strengthened through the nurturing effects of Sleep had basically all been used to transmit skill traits.

As a result, his soul was damaged near the end. He could not achieve True Gang Condensing Spirit, and Forming the Core and Achieving the Way failed. He could only carry his regrets into death and return to his main body.

This was the first—no, the second—time he had experienced death!

The first time had been sudden death by accident. The second had been the end of his lifespan.

In the Great Zhou World, he had also conducted experiments, investigations, and data analysis. His conclusions were as follows.

For an ordinary person, provided they suffered no illness or disaster, the upper limit of their lifespan was roughly one hundred and twenty years.

If one cultivated the Great Zhou Martial Scripture and reached the True Gang Realm, then through the various Health Preservation methods integrated into the Great Zhou Martial Scripture—such as Solar Yin Yang, Primordial Qi, Eternal Spring and Agelessness, and Jade Lock Golden Gate—one could raise one's lifespan to at most one hundred and eighty years.

That was the limit!

Xu Yang had lived for more than three hundred years for two main reasons. First, his Martial Path Reaches Divinity, making the life-extending effects of the Great Zhou Martial Scripture stronger. Second, skills such as Diet, Sleep, Breathing, and Martial Practice all possessed Prolong life and eternal youth traits. Combined with Eternal Spring and Agelessness and Endless Vitality, these had raised his lifespan beyond three hundred years.

But that was the limit. No matter what skills he tried afterward or what traits he gained, he could no longer increase his lifespan. Otherwise, he truly would not have wished to end his life in the Great Zhou World like this.

Through this, he had also discovered something: the generation of skill traits seemed to have a certain relationship with a world's energy level.

As a low-martial world, the best skill traits Great Zhou could produce were Martial Path Reaches Divinity and Eternal Spring and Agelessness. Traits like Zhuang Zhou's Dream Butterfly, supernatural abilities so inconceivable they could be called creations of heaven, had never appeared.

Otherwise, if he had gained a skill trait called "Immortal and Undying," why would Xu Yang have lived only a little over three hundred years?

This also showed just how deep the waters of the real world were, and how powerful the supernatural forces that existed there could be.

He had wandered too far from the point. Returning to the matter at hand, if his lifespan had been sufficient and he had waited for his soul to recover, Xu Yang might truly have stepped into the Martial Path Fourth Realm of True Gang Condensing Spirit, perhaps even the fifth realm of Forming the Core and Achieving the Way. Having ended things in such haste, some regret was inevitable.

Of course, it was only a small regret. In truth, Xu Yang had long possessed the power of the Martial Path Fourth Realm, True Gang Condensing Spirit.

Why?

Because—Martial Path Reaches Divinity!

This was one of the traits of his Martial Practice skill. Its effect was exactly as its name suggested: Martial Dao could reach divinity.

This divinity was not the divinity of immortal gods. It was the divinity of Divine Intent and supernatural abilities. As long as one cultivated a martial art to a certain level, one could bestow "Divine Intent" and "essence" upon it, thereby turning decay into the miraculous and producing many profound, even Divine Anomaly effects.

Take the Dragon Subduing Palm. An ordinary Dragon Subduing Palm could at most strike out a palm force of gang qi. But a Dragon Subduing Palm empowered by Martial Path Reaches Divinity could unleash a lifelike Dragon Shadow. Its power, range, and area of effect increased severalfold, and it also carried the Dragon Might of Divine Intent, capable of intimidating opponents. It could almost be called a Martial Path Supernatural Ability.

According to Xu Yang's conjecture, after the Martial Path Fourth Realm of True Gang Condensing Spirit, every martial artist would possess such an ability. They would grant Divine Intent and essence to their martial arts, turning decay into the miraculous. This would be the art of Martial Path Supernatural Abilities.

With this trait, Xu Yang was already, in practice, a Martial Path Fourth Realm martial artist who had achieved True Gang Condensing Spirit. If not for the damage to his soul, he might truly have completed the final step of Forming the Core and Achieving the Way and entered the fifth realm.

At that point, his lifespan would certainly have increased again.

Though he had fallen short at the final step, it did not diminish the value of this trait.

Martial Path Reaches Divinity and its bestowal of Divine Intent did not merely allow him to grasp the power of True Gang Condensing Spirit ahead of time. It could also continue growing in the future, with limitless potential.

After all, supernatural abilities varied in height and strength. The Martial Path Supernatural Abilities of True Gang Condensing Spirit were at most Lesser Supernatural Abilities, perhaps not even worthy of that name. They could frighten the mortal martial artists of the Great Zhou World, but against immortals of a cultivation world, or the gods and Buddhas filling the skies of a world of Gods and Devils, they would be nothing at all.

Martial Path Reaches Divinity did not merely hold the potential to become lesser magic power and Lesser Supernatural Abilities. It also held the potential and hope of achieving Great Magic Power and Great Supernatural Ability. It was one of Xu Yang's most valuable gains in the Great Zhou World. To transmit it here, Xu Yang had consumed nearly a hundred years' worth of soul power, demonstrating just how high its grade was.

Besides Martial Path Reaches Divinity, Xu Yang had also transmitted four traits: Diligence Makes Up for Lack of Talent, Marrow Cleansing and Meridian Washing, Eternal Spring and Agelessness, and Ancestor of Martial Scriptures.

There was no need to say much about Diligence Makes Up for Lack of Talent and Marrow Cleansing and Meridian Washing. One increased cultivation efficiency, while the other improved one's aptitude for martial practice. Both were traits that aided Martial Dao cultivation. Eternal Spring and Agelessness preserved youth, resisted aging, and kept one forever at one's peak state, making it equally important.

As for Ancestor of Martial Scriptures, it was even more extraordinary. Besides increasing the cultivation speed and effectiveness of the Great Zhou Martial Scripture, it also contained the quality of Mastery Through Comprehension. It could absorb all kinds of martial arts, Remove the Trivial, Keep the Essential, and integrate them into the Martial Scripture system, continuously raising the power and foundations of the Great Zhou Martial Scripture.

Although the current Great Zhou Martial Scripture was only a mortal martial art manual, as long as Xu Yang continued using Zhuang Zhou's Dream Butterfly to transmigrate through myriad worlds and integrated the martial arts cultivation methods of each world into it, it would continue rising and transforming. In the end, it would transcend the ordinary and become Martial Arts of Gods and Demons, standing shoulder to shoulder with gods and devils!

At this thought, Xu Yang wished he could lie down and sleep again immediately, beginning a second dreamlike life and exploring a second wondrous world.

But after considering it for a while, he did not do so at once. The three hundred years of accumulation from the Great Zhou World that he had brought into reality needed some time to digest. There were also a few trivial matters in the real world that needed handling. Added to that were the changes in his psyche and spirit brought about by two lifetimes...

He decided to take a few days first, deal with the trivial matters of the real world, replenish some necessary supplies, adjust his mental and spiritual state, and then begin his second dreamlike life.