To Raphael's surprise, the True Lord's Jade Bodies were not entirely under the control of the major powers.
First, each True Lord's Jade Body could infuse only a limited number of people with magical power. For instance, the Mortal Realm Jade Body before Raphael could infuse 3,000 people, while a Deification Realm Jade Body could generally infuse 100.
Once all the slots were used, new ones would only become available when cultivators who had received an infusion died.
True Lord's Jade Bodies came from two sources. One was the Secret Realms of the great sects. Chen Qingzhi could not explain exactly what those Secret Realms were; he only knew that they were the foundations of the great sects.
He had heard that sometime before the Spring and Autumn period, three or four thousand years ago, these Secret Realms had emerged one after another, and eight great sects had been founded in succession.
Through the Spring and Autumn period, the sects had gradually obtained a batch of True Lord's Jade Bodies from these Secret Realms, entering a period of growing power.
For some unknown reason, however, the number of True Lord's Jade Bodies appearing in the Secret Realms had suddenly dwindled toward the end of the Spring and Autumn period.
The other source depended on chance. It was said that, since ancient times, a number of True Lord's Jade Bodies had appeared in the world at intervals.
The first cultivators of this world had used these Jade Bodies to comprehend the Great Dao, discover the seven great Secret Realms, and establish their foundations.
There were only seven great Secret Realms because the Five Lakes Sword Sect, the last sect to be founded, had yet to discover where its own Secret Realm lay. During the Spring and Autumn period, however, it had suddenly acquired a large number of True Lord's Jade Bodies. Only after weathering the Warring States era had it gradually become one of the Three Great Orthodox Sects.
Toward the end of the Spring and Autumn period, the situation had abruptly changed. Aside from the True Lord's Jade Bodies produced within the Secret Realms, some Jade Bodies would appear at random somewhere in the Twelve Provinces. Whoever found them could claim them.
This had been one of the major causes of the widespread conflict during the Warring States era. After all, whoever seized a Jade Body could use it to train a group of cultivators and strengthen their sect, regardless of whether it was connected to their own Secret Realm.
Even if a faction seized only another sect's Deification Realm Jade Body, which was useless without a Mortal Realm Jade Body, it would certainly refuse to return it. After all, it represented the future backbone of another sect's strength. Of course they would not give it back.
Thus, whenever a True Lord's Jade Body appeared, it would trigger a conflict lasting years, sometimes even more than a decade.
To make matters worse, after three or four hundred years of use, the number of cultivators a True Lord's Jade Body could infuse would begin to decline. After five or six hundred years, it would shatter on its own. If a sect was lucky, a new Jade Body would then emerge in its Secret Realm. If not, a new one would appear somewhere in the Twelve Provinces.
To maintain their strength, the great sects had no choice but to take part in this sprawling conflict.
The small and medium-sized factions had emerged precisely because some people had stumbled upon True Lord's Jade Bodies and quietly built up forces of their own.
During the Warring States era, the fighting over small and medium-sized factions had also been fierce. Someone might, for example, acquire a True Lord's Jade Body connected to the Dark Hut's Secret Realm and secretly establish a faction.
The Dark Hut would naturally want to destroy this small organization and reclaim the True Lord's Jade Body. The problem was that other powers, such as the Celestial Master Monastery and the Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple, certainly did not want the Dark Hut to obtain it, so they would do everything they could to protect the small organization.
Caught between the major powers, small and medium-sized factions had instead found room to survive.
Chen Qingzhi had also heard that the total number of True Lord's Jade Bodies was fixed. Once that number reached its maximum, no new Jade Bodies would appear until existing ones shattered or were destroyed.
It was said that the eight great sects had begun negotiations toward the end of the Warring States era precisely because they had all realized this. After several decades of fighting while negotiating, they had finally reached a basic agreement.
If any of the eight great sects obtained another sect's True Lord's Jade Body, it had to return it to the sect to which it belonged.
As for factions that acquired True Lord's Jade Bodies by chance, they would be assigned to spheres of influence according to their lineages or locations.
The agreement had many detailed provisions. Chen Qingzhi casually mentioned a few without explaining them at length.
Ordinary True Lord's Jade Bodies were like the one Raphael had seen: Jade Bodies capable of infusing many people.
Chen Qingzhi also knew of a kind of "Little Jade Body" that could infuse only a dozen or so people, or even just a handful. These Jade Bodies could generally provide only Mortal Realm magical power infusions, but in very rare cases, one would appear that could provide infusions at both the Mortal Realm and the Deification Realm.
People who obtained such Little Jade Bodies would generally establish cultivator families that prospered for several hundred years.
These Little Jade Bodies were reportedly quite numerous, and their users were collectively known as loose cultivators.
One of Chen Qingzhi's duties as branch leader was to secretly search for and seize Little Jade Bodies connected to the Dark Hut.
There was also another special case: many people had gained the favor of higher-level beings from the depths of the universe and could receive magical power infusions without a True Lord's Jade Body. Such cases were uncommon, however, and followed no discernible pattern.
After listening to Chen Qingzhi's account, Raphael pondered for a while, feeling that some enormous secret seemed to lie behind it all.
But he had too few relevant clues at present to guess what that secret might be.
Their dealings then came to a temporary halt.
Since Raphael now possessed Sequence 7-level power in this world, he could remain here for extended periods. Chen Qingzhi could hardly keep making the Demon Lord stay in the dungeon, so he arranged a secluded chamber for him and assigned men to keep a close watch.
The two then went about their own business. Chen Qingzhi hurried off to try the medicinal formula supplied by the Otherworldly Demon Lord, while Raphael studied techniques such as the Demon Source Scripture and the Wolf Fang Art.
Backlund, Loen, Northern Continent.
Raphael woke in bed and once again marveled at his strange current state. He could clearly sense his other self studying cultivation techniques in the secluded chamber in another world.
Yet this did not interfere in the slightest with his getting up and heading to the Mafia's headquarters.
As he washed up, Raphael looked at himself in the mirror and chuckled. "Heh heh, I don't need to act like a lunatic anymore, but we've gone even crazier."
Raphael made his way to the Mafia's headquarters at a leisurely pace, then enjoyed breakfast while absorbing his other self's insights into the cultivation techniques.
After breakfast, Raphael told his subordinate Carter, "Find me an abandoned factory building. I'll need it this afternoon."
Carter acknowledged the order and headed out with some men.
One of the panes of glass reflected a man with a deathly pale face and a faint hint of madness in his eyes. It was Maric.
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