The Shaman Zhu Era, Those Who Consume Qi Are Divine and Long-Lived!

0367.

The system of Shaman Invocation cultivation flourished mightily.

Under the leadership of the Stone Light Emperor Zhizheng, it entered a full-blown era of explosion.

Countless heroes emerged one after another, springing up like bamboo shoots after rain, each founding new disciplines and opening research academies.

The Stone Light Emperor Zhizheng governed the realm with harsh laws and severe punishments. Anyone who stole, pilfered, robbed, or looted was executed without exception. For a time, the world was at peace, ushering in a golden age of prosperity.

The criminals recorded under these harsh laws were continuously dissected, paving the way for humanity to open a path to a transcendent civilization.

Some ministers came to advise, "Your Majesty, this law is too cruel. Theft does not warrant death! Robbery and looting should not be punished by execution!"

The Stone Light Emperor Zhizheng was cold and stern, his eyes cruel and merciless. "Look across the world—is there any medicine that does not draw blood? Is there any path of cultivation unstained by blood? Those thugs and slaves should contribute to the human race! Someone must pave the way in this world. This law benefits the present and profits a thousand generations. What does it matter if future generations call me a tyrant?"

For a time, the realm was peaceful and the people content.

Over a decade passed, and every household left its doors unlocked at night. The custom of theft all but vanished.

When criminals had nearly disappeared from the land, the Stone Light Emperor Zhizheng issued another decree:

"All deceased persons shall have their remains transported by the county and prefectural household registries for the use of Shaman Invocation research!"

This command stirred up a storm of outrage.

Elders who died at home, youths who succumbed to illness, infants who perished—none were allowed to rest in peace. Amid the weeping and wailing of their families, officials forcibly took away the corpses.

"Tyranny!"

"Tyranny!!"

Wails of grief rose from the people.

0371.

The methods of Shaman Invocation cultivation were profound and vast, touching upon the most mysterious realms: the strengthening of the soul, the coordination of the body, the root of consciousness—ultimate secrets that modern science could scarcely grasp.

Yet, within the four-dimensional world, where one could sense the "spirit and soul," a breakthrough finally occurred in the Soul Domain—something beyond anything achieved in twenty-first-century human society!

After three hundred years of world civilization, driven forward with relentless fervor, humanity in the four-dimensional world finally established a systematic foundational cultivation method. They compiled it into a book, the All Living Beings Scripture, divided into four volumes: Shaman Invocation, Cultivation Arts, Artifact Forging, and Illuminating the Heart. It contained thirty-one thousand eight hundred and thirty-one words, embodying the pinnacle of the age.

The Emperor decreed:

"All wise men and officials from across the realm may come to the Royal City to hear the Dao."

In an instant, heroes from all over gathered in the Royal Capital to study this method.

At the very beginning, the preface of the All Living Beings Scripture opened with the words of a sage, striking straight to the heart:

"Those who consume Qi—if you wish to know what it means to consume Qi, you must first understand what 'consume' means. All things under heaven are distinguished by what they consume."

"Those who consume water are good at swimming and endure cold."

"Those who consume earth are heartless yet wise; those who consume wood are strong yet rebellious."

"Those who consume grass are swift but foolish; those who consume leaves spin silk and become moths."

"Those who eat meat are brave and fierce; those who eat grains are wise and skillful."

"Those who consume Qi are divine and long-lived; those who consume years absorb malice and become demons."

As these words of the sage were spoken, heaven and earth seemed to tremble.

Every word and pause of this preface struck like thunder on a clear day, exploding in the hearts of the listeners, leaving them unable to contain themselves.

Many scholars, upon hearing it, felt an impulse to prostrate themselves in worship!

They understood instantly that these were the words of a sage. This must be a vast and magnificent Daoist Canon, every word a pearl of wisdom, destined to flow through history forever. It was not merely a method for humanity—it encompassed the principles of all things in heaven and earth, its scope so grand it covered the entire world.

It was like a celestial melody, containing the logic of all existence.

Transcending time, transcending the entire age, it would never fall behind, no matter the era.

In that single moment of the opening passage, the Shaman Invocators seemed to see crashing waves, thunderbolts, raging storms, mountains and rivers—the myriad things of the world, the great tapestry of the Dao unfolding before them.

One scholar could not help but marvel inwardly, "The first few lines hint at the mysterious relationships between all things. Living beings are distinguished by what they consume, with Qi-consumption as the highest. This is profoundly subtle—one of the true essences of Qi."

"'Those who consume Qi are divine and long-lived; those who consume years absorb malice and become demons.' The first part is understandable. But 'consuming years' is far more arcane—does it mean devouring the lifespans and souls of others? Does such a person exist in this world? Does such a path exist? I cannot grasp its meaning!"

He continued to listen, feeling only the grandeur of it all. This was the Eternal Emperor establishing the "intent" for the path of cultivation, laying down the most fundamental framework.

As the opening preface passed, it entered the first volume, Shaman Invocation, which said:

"Qi is not in the breath, but in the spirit."

"A single breath of Qi can nourish all things. When things perish, where does the Qi go?"

"A myriad thoughts of the mind can illuminate ten thousand paths. When the mind perishes, where does the Dao reside?"

"Thus, life and death are merely the gathering and dispersing of a single breath."

"Man lives in the world, and his lifespan is divided by Qi. Some are born and die in a day; some live ten years and die; some live a hundred years and die. Those who have not yet died, though they move and think with clarity, are merely called 'living,' not 'dead.' In truth, Qi is the measure."

At this moment, everyone knew with overwhelming certainty that a second sage had appeared in human history after the Sage Zhang of old.

The Sage Chong Dao!

He was both Emperor and a great sage of the mortal world! He was the one who established the Dao, established the heart, and established the conduct—the progenitor of Shaman Invocation!

He mobilized the nation's strength, ordering tens of thousands of scholars to study, spending his entire life's effort, willing to bear the infamy, all to establish the foundational laws of cultivation for the common people of the world.

From then on, the world finally had orthodox cultivation techniques.

Year 0376.

Several years had passed since the completion of the All Living Beings Scripture. The Stone Light Emperor Zhizheng, as if a demon in his heart had been laid to rest, could no longer hold up his aged body. He grew weaker by the day, decrepit and doddering.

Every day, countless local miracle doctors entered the palace, only to shake their heads with sighs and slip away quietly.

Everyone vaguely guessed that this great emperor, in his twilight years, had finished his life's masterpiece before his death. He could no longer hold on; his breath of life had failed, and he could no longer lift it.

A person lives by a breath; a tree lives by its bark.

If a person's spirit scatters, even the gods cannot save them!

"A new era begins, and a great king falls." All the young talents and prodigies felt an indescribable complexity in their hearts.

At this moment.

Chong Dao sat on the throne, watching the miracle doctors leave one by one, his expression unchanged.

He seemed to have long accepted this fate, knowing his body was beyond cure.

Perhaps back when he first noticed that Immortal Herb on the Tea Shed's roof, and then glimpsed the hidden path of the Year Consumption Demonic Codex from the Slave Dynasty's emperor, he had already seen his future mission.

"This is destiny."

"Prepare the carriage. I will go to the temple."

This aged, decaying emperor said softly, "To see an old acquaintance."

This overflowing, majestic aura was like dozens of Immortal Herbs dispersing, like the morning clouds of heaven and earth, colorful and brilliant, drifting through the sky.

"His qi is scattering."

"The man is about to die."

On the vast coastline, at the edge of the harbor, a massive shadow rose and fell beneath the sea.

The seawater churned as she stretched her elegant, moist body. "Even someone as strong as you cannot withstand the decay of time. Humans, after all, are such weak and pitiful short-lived species."

Containing one's qi is the instinct of a strong person.

Only when one can no longer hide their qi, when it completely collapses, does it spill out like a deflating balloon, rapidly dispersing into the world.

"The Year Consumer absorbs sha and becomes a demon."

"So that's it! So that's it!" She suddenly laughed again. "You were never one to follow the rules either. You're a madman too! No wonder you had such terrifying power in such a short time, no wonder your Lifespan was so short!"

"No wonder! No wonder!!"

She burst into loud laughter, as if a long-held doubt had been resolved.

"Human King, you seem sacred, but in truth, you are the greatest demon of this era. Yet you are still a man worthy of respect. My entire race will see you off and sing dirges for you."

Suddenly, from the beach beyond the great stone wall, mournful songs rose, melodious, empty, and sorrowful.

It was the sobbing of dolphins.

It was the lament of whales.

The entire ocean bid its final farewell to the Stone Light Emperor Zhizheng.

"But with you dead, I no longer need to lie low. I too will build my kingdom." She spoke softly.

In a harbor.

"When a sage dies, heaven and earth show strange signs."

An old man under a large banyan tree sat in a rocking chair, playing chess with another old man. He looked up slowly, a hint of complexity in his expression. "A stubborn man."

"How beautiful."

Zhang Zhi gazed at the sunset glow and suddenly remembered a similar evening glow he had once seen.

It was in a mountain village of the prehistoric old civilization, on the day his friend Zhang Xia died of old age. There had been such a magnificent and otherworldly sign of the deceased—a sunset at dusk that scattered like a colorful sunrise, so beautiful it seemed not of this world.

All the subjects of the Slave Dynasty stared blankly at the colors in the sky.

Countless people, as if by unspoken agreement, came before the "City of a Hundred Stones," stopping before this stretch of desert, staring blankly at this great royal city of the ages and the old inscription at the city gate.

[--I have always believed that the despair of ordinary people mostly comes from their own incompetence, but the despair of the strong is mostly limited by the powerlessness of their era. Therefore, I will change the powerlessness of the era.]

Many people wept.

They cried for this great heroic emperor.

Without a doubt, he was a king of great controversy—extremely merciful and yet extremely cruel.

He personally overthrew the Slave Dynasty, abolished slavery, and advocated for equal human rights, yet years later, he reestablished the slave system, conscripting countless slave laborers to build the "Wall of Ten Thousand Stones" at the front lines, exhausting countless slaves and subjects to death, his atrocities far surpassing those of the two previous slave emperors.

He clearly championed human rights and justice, established strict laws to create a peaceful era, and collected a large number of criminals, yet years later, he overturned human rights, forcibly requisitioned corpses, showing no humanity or compassion, to continue his experiments.

Going back on one's word is a great taboo for a ruler, yet this very king possessed an extremely powerful charisma that made many people sincerely believe in him, unable to muster much disgust.

Inside the temple.

The Stone Light Emperor Zhizheng stepped across the "Cloud and Mist Qi Sea" one step at a time, heading toward the temple at the end.

He looked toward the divine statue within this lavish palace.

The statue—the man with the tear mole—stood with his hands behind his back, gazing into the sky.

"Back then, when we parted at the Tea Shed beneath the city gate, you said you hoped to learn my name not from my own lips, but from the mouths of all under heaven."

"I have done it."

"In this world, among the countless living, there is no one who does not know My name."

"Today, my allotted years are spent. I beg the gods above for one more meeting." The old man's body was wreathed in dissipating Rosy Cloud Qi, his form radiant with brilliant light. His expression was calm and resolute as he leaned on his staff and looked up at the statue.