黄淮 was sitting on the bed, holding a book in his hands. Anyone who saw it would recognize the words "Biography of High God Qinghu of Dongyang" on the cover. It was one of the books Huang Huai had brought back from the other world.
"...High God Qinghu of Dongyang was High God Qinghu of the Dongyang Sect in Taian Prefecture. Her original name was Meng Qiuran, the legitimate daughter of the Meng Clan of Taian Prefecture. Born with uncommon gifts and an early, keen intelligence, she joined the Dongyang Sect and became a disciple of its sect master. She mastered the sect's secret Great Divine Court Scripture and revered the Howling Moon God Qinghu as her patron deity. At ten, she opened a Divine Court in her Sea of Consciousness, entered the First Realm, and invited the Howling Moon God Qinghu statue to reside in her First Divine Court. She left the mortal world behind and gained a lifespan of three hundred years. At eighteen, the Howling Moon God Qinghu statue was successfully deified. She then slew a Second Realm evil god on Dongyang Mountain. The following year, she opened her Second Divine Court and gained a lifespan of five hundred years, becoming a Second Realm High God... At thirty, she opened her Third Divine Court and gained a lifespan of eight hundred years. Because she alone revered the Howling Moon God Qinghu statue, people of the time honored her with the title High God Qinghu..."
The book was not very thick. It contained little more than an account of High God Qinghu's life. Though most of it detailed where High God Qinghu had slain various Gods, Demons, and Malevolent Spirits, or described her progress in cultivation, and seemed dull and tedious, Huang Huai found it held quite a bit of useful information.
"...In the 1,243rd year of the Great Yan Calendar, High God Qinghu was ordered by her sect to investigate the massacre of 9,845 people in Fubao Town, Great You Mountain. She was ambushed and besieged by three Third Realm demonic cultivators. Unable to break through, she killed one and wounded two before her life and cultivation came to an end. She was forty-eight years old..."
"...High God Qinghu was a genius, but ill fortune cut her life short. What a tragedy, what a waste! This account is written to preserve her story for the world."
Huang Huai lifted his eyes from the final character and looked at the thin booklet in his hands. It might have been slim, but it chronicled the brief life of a cultivator. Suddenly, the book seemed to grow heavier in his hands.
He let out a breath and steadied himself, then picked up another book. The title read "Biography of High God Niu Mo." He opened it, and the words came into view:
"Bull Demon High God Qin Zhuang was from Niu Mo Village in Heyang Prefecture. His life was full of misfortune from the start: his mother died when he was three, and his father when he was five. Yet he was blessed with extraordinary talent and born with divine strength. Orphaned, he was fortunate to have the villagers care for him, growing up on meals and clothes given by a hundred households. At twelve, he chanced upon a cultivation method called the 'Hundred Refinements Divine Palace Method,' and thus embarked on the path of cultivation. He revered the Niu Mo Statue as his patron deity, tempering his bones and refining his blood and qi for years. At sixteen, he opened his First Divine Palace in his dantian qi sea and invited the Niu Mo Statue to reside there. From then on, he stayed in Niu Mo Village, protecting its people. At thirty-eight, he opened his Second Divine Palace and gained a lifespan of five hundred years. At one hundred and nine, he opened his Third Divine Palace and gained a lifespan of eight hundred years."
"In the 1,082nd year of the Great Yan Calendar, a calamity of Demons struck Taian Prefecture, the likes of which came only once in a thousand years. Tens of thousands of Gods, Demons, and Malevolent Spirits swept across the prefecture, leaving its people in misery. Countless living beings became Blood Food for Gods, Demons, and Malevolent Spirits. Niu Mo Village, too, was caught in the disaster. Bull Demon High God Qin Zhuang, who had lived in seclusion there for over a century and was all but forgotten, rose to the challenge. After several days of bitter fighting, he protected all several hundred villagers from harm and slew more than a hundred Gods, Demons, and Malevolent Spirits. But the enemy was too powerful. Even when Bull Demon High God Qin Zhuang broke through to the Fourth Realm in the midst of his desperate struggle, he was devoured by the Great Evil God Thousand-Faced Demon Crow. At that moment, Lu Zhengdao, a Fifth Realm High God from Heyang Prefecture, sensed the Great Evil God Thousand-Faced Demon Crow's presence and unleashed a heaven-shattering sword strike from a hundred li away. He grievously wounded the Great Evil God Thousand-Faced Demon Crow, forcing it to retreat in alarm. Niu Mo Village was spared, but Bull Demon High God Qin Zhuang, who had protected it for a century, had already perished, leaving not even a trace of his remains..."
Huang Huai slowly set down the book he had finished and looked at the other books he had brought back. Could it be that every High God featured in these biographies had already met his end?
With that suspicion in mind, Huang Huai read through the remaining books. His heart grew heavy as he set them down. His guess had been right: every person mentioned in the others had died while fighting a calamity of Gods, Demons, and Malevolent Spirits, or while exterminating them.
After steadying himself from the emotions stirred by the biographies, Huang Huai put the books away, turned off the light, and lay down.
It was nearly ten at night. According to Huang Huai's usual routine, this was when sleepiness would be pressing down on him; he might already have been fast asleep.
But now, Huang Huai found it impossible to sleep. His strange, almost fantastical experiences in that other world during the day felt like a dream.
Huang Huai came from a fairly wealthy family. Dad Huang was capable and had worked hard for half his life. Their assets did not quite reach a hundred million, but they still amounted to tens of millions. Unless something unexpected happened, Huang Huai could inherit the family fortune without lifting a finger and live comfortably.
Growing up in such a family, and spending nearly a third of his time at Xunzhen Temple, Huang Huai had been shaped by his surroundings. To be honest, he did not have especially high material needs.
If fortune had simply fallen into his lap and the world beyond that mysterious portal had been an ordinary ancient world, Huang Huai, who had no grand ambitions, probably would not have given it much thought.
After all, modern society was so advanced. If your family was wealthy and you had no worries about making ends meet, how many people would willingly live in an ancient society where their quality of life would plummet?
But that world was no ordinary ancient world. The moment Huang Huai had witnessed the Seventh Elder of the Great River Sect in action—especially when a jade statue had manifested flesh and blood right before his eyes and become real—he had been deeply shaken.
What was more, he had personally experienced the strength and wonders of that world's mysterious power. He had been born weak and frail, and years of careful recuperation had only brought his body up to an ordinary person's level. Yet a single blessing from a High God, a single manifestation of a divine statue, had filled him with vitality and made him strong and healthy, as if he had been reborn.
And that had been nothing more than a simple blessing from a High God. Someone else's power had benefited him, but what if he could wield power himself, like the Seventh Elder who commanded divine beings? What would that be like?
There was no need to say more. Just think of the many wondrous and mighty feats of the cultivators described in those biographies of people from that world. Even the prospect of a long lifespan alone was something few could resist.
Who in all history had not feared death? Even emperors such as Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Wu of Han had sought immortality in vain. Yet the biographies stated plainly that in that world, cultivators who entered the First Realm gained a lifespan of three hundred years, those in the Second Realm five hundred, and those in the Third Realm as many as eight hundred. The higher one's cultivation, the longer one lived. Never mind whether eternal life was possible; a lifespan close to a thousand years was already beyond anything modern people could hope to attain.
If he had never encountered such a wondrous world, that would have been one thing. Twenty years of education had taught him that supernatural powers existed only in fantasy.
But when one day fantasy suddenly became reality, it would have been a lie to say he was not tempted.
All kinds of thoughts flashed through Huang Huai's mind. He turned onto his side and tossed and turned, wide awake. His eyes gleamed as he stared at the bundle by his bedside and began recalling the useful information revealed in the biographies he had just read.
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