I never imagined there was such a story behind it.
Su Che looked at Beimang Ghost Ancestor beside him. So he, too, had once been a disciple under the Black Emperor, though he had attained the Longevity Realm in another world.
Perhaps before the Ancient Heavenly Court fell, great powers like the Black Emperor had sensed what was coming and prepared many contingencies.
Sending Ghost Ancestor to attain the Longevity Realm in another world might have been only one of them.
Su Che's cultivation was still shallow, but he had some understanding of the Nine Heavenly Human Arts.
When cultivators wielded their power, they still needed something to rely on: the laws of heaven and earth. If magical power was force itself, then those laws were the fulcrum through which it acted.
For someone prying up a heavy object, his magical power was the lever, while the laws were the point on which it rested.
While the Ancient Demon Gods lived, their Saint-Annihilating Path polluted—or rather, altered—that fulcrum. The deepest laws lay beyond their influence, but the other, outward expressions of those laws did not necessarily do so.
As a result, every cultivator's practice was "polluted" by the Ancient Demon Gods. To use divine abilities, they had to contend with the Demon Gods who governed the relevant laws.
In that sense, the struggle between Demon Gods and cultivators was a contest over the Great Dao. If a law fell into a Demon God's hands, others could invoke it only with his permission. Even if they could use it without permission, his pollution would keep them from seeing its true form.
Neither side could rest until the other was destroyed. Cultivators fought for a way forward; the Demon Gods sought to bring them back under their command. The Saint-Annihilating Path devoured