0367.
The Shaman Invocation cultivation system developed by leaps and bounds.
Under the leadership of Stone Light Emperor Zhizheng, it fully entered an era of explosive growth.
Countless heroes emerged one after another, like bamboo shoots after the spring rain. They blossomed in various fields and established all kinds of research academies.
Stone Light Emperor Zhizheng governed through harsh laws and severe punishments. Anyone who stole, robbed, or plundered was sentenced to death. For a time, the realm enjoyed peace and prosperity, ushering in a golden age.
Meanwhile, the criminals recorded under these harsh laws began to be dissected continuously, paving the way for humanity to establish a transcendent civilization.
Some ministers came to court. "Your Majesty, this law is too cruel. Theft does not warrant death! Robbery should not warrant execution!"
Stone Light Emperor Zhizheng remained cold and stern, cruelty and mercilessness in his eyes. "Looking across the world, is there any medicine that does not involve bloodshed? Is there any path of cultivation unstained by blood? Those violent criminals and slaves should contribute to the human race! Someone must pave the way in this world. This law benefits the present and future generations. So what if later generations call me a tyrant?"
For a time, the realm enjoyed peace and prosperity.
After more than a decade, households no longer closed their doors at night, and theft had almost disappeared as a custom.
But criminals throughout the realm had nearly vanished, so Stone Light Emperor Zhizheng issued another order:
"Whenever anyone dies, the commanderies and counties shall send their administrative officials to transport the corpses for Shaman Invocation research!"
This order caused even greater upheaval.
Elderly people who died at home, young people who succumbed to illness, and infants who died prematurely could not even be buried in peace. Their corpses were forcibly taken away by officials amid the people's cries.
"Tyranny!"
"Tyranny indeed!!"
The people wailed endlessly.
0371.
The methods of Shaman Invocation cultivation were broad and profound. They involved the strengthening of the soul, the coordination of the body, the roots of consciousness, and countless other mysterious domains of life—the ultimate mysteries that even modern science could hardly approach.
However, in the four-dimensional world, where "soul and spirit" could be sensed, a breakthrough had finally appeared in the Soul Domain, surpassing anything that had existed in human society during the modern twenty-first century!
After three hundred years of worldly civilization and relentless advancement, the humans of the four-dimensional world finally established their systematic foundational cultivation method and compiled it into a book: the All Living Beings Scripture. It was divided into four volumes—Shaman Invocation, Cultivation Arts, Artifact Forging, and Illuminating the Heart—and contained a total of 31,831 characters, embodying the culmination of the era.
The King issued an order:
"All worthies and officials throughout the realm may come to the Royal City to hear the Dao."
For a time, the Royal Capital gathered heroes from across the realm to study this method.
At the very beginning of the general introduction to the All Living Beings Scripture were the words of a sage, pointing directly to its core:
"Qi Consumers—if one wishes to know what it means to consume Qi, one must first understand what it means to consume. All things under Heaven reveal their natures through what they consume."
"Those who consume water are good swimmers and can withstand the cold."
"Those who consume earth are thoughtless yet wise; those who consume wood possess great strength and can ward off evil."
"Those who consume grass are good runners yet foolish; those who consume leaves produce 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; Year Consumers absorb evil and become demons."
When these words of the sage appeared, it was as though Heaven and Earth had been shaken.
Every word of the general introduction struck like thunder on a clear day, exploding in everyone's hearts and leaving them unable to control themselves.
Many scholars were so moved that they felt an urge to bow down in worship!
They instantly understood that these were the words of a sage. This was surely a vast and magnificent Daoist Canon, every word a pearl destined to circulate through history forever. It did not merely establish a cultivation method for humanity; it also encompassed the principles of all things under Heaven. Its intent was so grand that it covered the entire world.
It was like vast, transcendent music, containing the principles of all things.
It transcended the years and the entire era. No matter when it was read, it would never fall behind.
In that brief opening moment, the Shamans seemed to see raging waves, thunderbolts, violent winds and torrential rain, mountains and rivers—everything in the world. A grand scroll of the world's Dao slowly unfurled before them.
A scholar could not help exclaiming inwardly, "The first few lines vaguely describe the unseen relationships among all things. All living beings reveal their natures through what they consume, with consuming Qi as the highest. How profound. This is one of the essences of Qi."
"'Those who consume Qi are divine and long-lived; Year Consumers absorb evil and become demons.' The first half is still understandable. As for consuming years, it is even more mysterious. Does it mean devouring other people's lifespans and souls? Could such a person exist in this world? Could such a path exist? I cannot grasp its meaning!"
He continued listening, sensing only its grandeur. This was the Eternal Emperor establishing the intent of the cultivation path and laying down its most fundamental general principles.
After the opening general principles, it entered the first volume, Shaman Invocation, which continued:
"Qi does not lie in breathing; it lies in the spirit."
"A breath of Qi can nourish all things. When things perish, where can Qi remain?"
"A heart of ten thousand thoughts can illuminate ten thousand Dao. When the heart perishes, where can the Dao remain?"
"Life and death are merely the gathering and dispersing of a single breath of Qi."
"People live in the world, and their lifespans are determined by Qi. Some live for a day before dying, some live for ten years, and some live for a hundred years. Those who have not died, though they may move and possess clear intelligence, are merely called living, not dead. In truth, Qi is the measure."
At this moment, everyone clearly understood amid incomparable shock that the second sage after Zhang the Sage in the ancient history of humanity had appeared.
The sage, Chong Dao!
He was an emperor, a great sage among humankind, and even the ancestor of Shaman Invocation who established the Dao, the heart, and the practice!
With the strength of the entire nation, he ordered tens of thousands of scholars to conduct research and exhausted his entire life. He would rather bear infamy than establish the foundational cultivation method for all living beings.
From then on, the realm finally possessed a legitimate cultivation art.
0376.
Several years had passed since the All Living Beings Scripture was completed. It was as if a demon in Stone Light Emperor Zhizheng's heart had finally fallen. His aged body could no longer endure, and he grew older by the day, becoming frail and decrepit.
Every day, countless divine physicians from various regions entered the palace. They would shake their heads and sigh before quietly leaving.
Everyone vaguely guessed that this great emperor, now nearing the end of his life, had completed the masterpiece of his lifetime but could no longer hold on. His breath had withered, and he could no longer draw it back up.
A person lived by a breath, just as a tree lived by its bark.
When a person's spirit dispersed, even the gods could not save him!
"A new era is beginning, and a great king is falling." All the young heroes and prodigies felt an indescribably complicated mixture of emotions.
At this moment.
Chong Dao sat upon the throne and watched the divine physicians leave one after another without any change in expression.
It was as though he had already accepted this fate. He knew that his body was beyond saving.
Perhaps when he had noticed the Immortal Herbs on the Tea Shed all those years ago, then seen the rudimentary path of the hidden Year Consumption Demonic Codex of the emperor of the Slave Dynasty, he had already glimpsed his mission.
"This is fate."
"Prepare the carriage. I am going to the Divine Temple."
The aged and decrepit emperor quietly said, "I am going to meet an old friend."
The vast Qi dispersing from him was actually like the radiance of dozens of Immortal Herbs. It resembled the rosy clouds of dawn beneath Heaven, dazzling in five colors as it drifted through the world.
"The Qi has dispersed."
"The person is going to die as well."
Along the vast coastline, at the edge of the harbor, a huge shadow floated beneath the sea.
The seawater churned as she stretched her elegant, glistening body. "Even someone as powerful as you cannot resist the decline brought by time. Humans, in the end, are such weak, pitiful, short-lived creatures."
Concealing one's Qi was instinctive for a powerful being.
Only when it could no longer be concealed and had completely collapsed would it rapidly disperse through the world like air escaping from a balloon.
"Year Consumers absorb evil and become demons."
"So that's how it is! So that's how it is!" She suddenly laughed again. "You were never a stickler for rules either. You were a madman too! No wonder you possessed such terrifying strength in such a short time. No wonder your lifespan was so short!"
"No wonder! No wonder!!"
She suddenly burst into laughter, as though years of doubts had finally been cleared away.
"King of Men, you appear sacred, but in truth, you are the greatest demon of this era. Yet you are still someone worthy of respect. My entire race will see you off and sing mourning songs for you."
All of a sudden, mournful songs rose from the beach outside the enormous stone wall. They were melodious, empty, and sorrowful.
They were the sobs of dolphins.
They were the lamentations of whales.
The entire ocean offered its final farewell to Stone Light Emperor Zhizheng.
"However, now that you are dead, I no longer need to lie low. I will establish my own kingdom as well," she said softly.
At a harbor.
"When a sage dies, Heaven and Earth display strange phenomena."
An old man sat in a rocking chair beneath a great banyan tree, playing chess with another old man. He slowly raised his head and glanced over, revealing a hint of complicated emotion. "He was a stubborn man."
"How beautiful."
Zhang Zhi watched the rosy radiance and suddenly remembered that he had once seen a similar sunset.
It had been in a mountain village of the prehistoric old civilization, on the day his friend Zhang Xia had died of old age. There had been the same magnificent and extraordinary phenomenon surrounding the departed—the sun had set at dusk, yet it resembled a sunrise, scattering five-colored rosy clouds. It was beautiful beyond anything found in the mortal world.
All the people of the Slave Dynasty stared blankly at the colorful sky.
A great number of people arrived at the City of a Hundred Stones of their own accord. They stopped before this stretch of desert and stared blankly at the great Royal City that had stood through the years, as well as the old inscription beside its gates.
[--I have always believed that the despair of mortals mostly comes from their own incompetence, while the despair of the strong is mostly caused by the helplessness of the era. Therefore, I will change the helplessness of the era.]
Many people began to weep bitterly.
They wept for this great hero and emperor.
Without a doubt, this was a king who inspired immense controversy. He had been both extraordinarily benevolent and extraordinarily brutal.
He had personally overthrown the Slave Dynasty, abolished slavery, and advocated equal human rights, yet countless years later, he rebuilt the slave system, recruited countless slave laborers to construct the Wall of Ten Thousand Stones at the front lines, and worked countless slaves and commoners to death. His atrocities far surpassed those of the previous two slave emperors.
He had clearly advocated human rights and justice, establishing harsh laws that created an age of peace and prosperity and collecting countless criminals. Yet countless years later, he overturned human rights, forcibly collected corpses without the slightest humanity or compassion, and continued his experiments.
Going back on one's word was a great taboo for a monarch. Yet this king possessed an extraordinarily powerful charisma, causing many people to submit to him from the depths of their hearts without developing much hatred.
Within the Divine Temple.
Stone Light Emperor Zhizheng crossed the Cloud and Mist Qi Sea step by step and walked toward the Divine Temple at the end.
He looked at the divine statue within the luxurious palace.
The man with the Tear Mole on the statue stood with his hands behind his back, gazing into the sky.
"Back when we parted at the Tea Shed outside the city gates, you said that you hoped people would learn my name not from my own lips, but from the people of the realm."
"I did it."
"In this world, throughout the realm, there is no one who does not know me."
"Today, as my lifespan ends, I beg the divine being in Heaven to meet me once more." Rosy Cloud Qi dispersed from the old man's body. Brilliant light surrounded him, while his expression remained calm and resolute. Leaning on his cane, he looked toward the statue.
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