Chapter 26: Immortal Arts, Strange Techniques, Martial Arts, Innate Abilities

The Central Kingdom lies far to the east, ten thousand li from Western Shu; your father has never been there and knows little of its conditions.

As for the western nations, you may encounter many Daoist temples, but they are not Daoist palaces.

Daoist temples hold only Daoists; Daoist palaces hold immortals—true immortals—who are inscribed in the heavenly registers and may enter and exit the Lingxiao Palace high above the nine heavens, with the chance to pay homage to the Jade Emperor.

Huchen gently stroked his long chest beard, his stern, square face filled with envy and longing.

Of course, immortals are not the only standard distinguishing Daoist palaces from mortal Daoist temples; Daoist palaces are generally built in blessed heavens and cavernous earths.

Blessed heavens and cavernous earths lie within the Three Realms, yet are neither of the mortal world, nor of heaven, nor of the netherworld.

Thus, some call the Three Realms “Upper Realm, Middle Realm, Lower Realm”—the Upper Realm being the Heavenly Court, the Lower Realm the mortal world.

The Middle Realm is where immortals come and go—the blessed heavens and cavernous earths.

The most famous blessed heavens and cavernous earths are Kunlun and Penglai, said to be inhabited entirely by immortals.

Besides immortals and blessed heavens and cavernous earths, Daoist palaces also possess clear lineages tracing back to the Dao Ancestors.

That is, their masters or ancestral founders unmistakably descended from the Three Pure Ones.

It is not enough to have merely overheard a few Daoist teachings outside the door of the Three Pure Ones and claim to be among their disciples.

To receive true transmission, the Dao Ancestors must personally acknowledge you as a disciple and recognize your sect as their legitimate lineage.

Mortal Daoist temples have Daoists who likewise chant the Huangting Daojing, dress and observe customs nearly identical to those of Daoist palace Daoists, yet their circumstances are utterly different.

At this, Huchen sighed deeply, “Hearing this, you must now understand how rare an immortal affinity truly is.

Others’ Daoist palaces are built directly in the Middle Realm, existing in a world entirely separate from mortals.

Daoist palace disciples who walk the Lower Realm, like the young Daoist Qingsong, are merely the most ordinary acolytes within the palace.

These acolytes are sent out on official missions—how could they teach the Dao or guide others to immortality?

They lack the ability, and even more so, the qualification.

To encounter even a single young Daoist like Qingsong in the myriad worlds is exceedingly difficult; most people never lay eyes on one in their lifetime, let alone other high masters.

Xiao Yu sighed deeply as well.

She had assumed the sands of the desert were barren, making immortal affinity hard to find.

She never imagined the entire world was like this.

In xianxia novels, sects directly open their gates, recruit disciples en masse, and require only a spiritual root—no other conditions... such things seem entirely nonexistent in this world.

“Immortal Dao is hard, and immortal affinity is rare—what of extraordinary people and strange arts?” Xiao Yu asked.

“Extraordinary people and strange arts can be found among mortals—even at village heads or street markets.”

Huchen thought a moment, then gave an example: “Long ago, the state of Lu was rocked by a scandal that shook the western nations—the ‘Beast-Making Heresy Case’—in which a strange man named ‘Butcher Li Qing’ used strange arts to transform living humans into cattle and sheep, selling them to demon kings in deep mountains and vast marshes.

Butcher Zhang Qing belongs to the category of extraordinary people; the dark art he used is a low-grade strange art.

Such strange arts are also called ‘demon arts.’

Demonic arts are easily broken; immortal arts are hard to oppose.”

After speaking, Huchen glanced at Xiao Yu, who listened with rapt attention, and said: “Do you know what became of Butcher Li Qing?”

“Since it was exposed and became a major scandal in the west, Zhang Qing must have been slain by some high master,” Xiao Yu said.

Huchen’s expression was unreadable. “Lu once had ten mortal immortals who terrified the west; one of them, ‘Flag Hunter Immortal Kong Zan,’ excelled in the Flag Gate Illusion Technique.

After locating Li Qing’s approximate whereabouts, Kong Zan planted large flags at several key passageways. Li Qing, unaware, walked right in—and his head was severed the moment he entered.

The Flag Gate Illusion is also a strange art, yet vastly superior to the Beast-Making Art.

Strange arts are merely unorthodox; they are not necessarily weaker than immortal arts or Daoist techniques.”

“But strange arts are heretical paths, incapable of granting immortality, correct?” Xiao Yu asked.

Huchen was deeply astonished. Was this innate wisdom?

Before age thirty, he had never distinguished between immortal arts and strange arts, mistaking folk tales of fantastical beings for immortal games among mortals, and treating the ‘immortals’’ strange arts as immortal techniques.

Even when his own great-grandfather, the Lord of Fucheng, personally recounted the truths and legends of the true cultivation world, he listened in a daze—until Old Master Guan struck him with a thunderclap: Immortal arts lead to immortality; strange arts hinder longevity.

Only then did he gradually grasp the essential difference between strange arts and immortal arts.

“Strange arts are indeed heretical paths, but practicing them does not necessarily prevent longevity.

Extraordinary people may cultivate strange arts; immortals may as well.

Later, I will explain in detail the immortal martial arts and transmit to you the Tiger Soul Seven Killings—you may then grasp the connection and distinction between strange arts and immortal arts by analogy.”

Huchen paused, then added: “I’ve said enough about strange arts; just grasp the general idea.

Now, let us speak of immortal martial arts.

Immortal affinity is rare; the immortal Dao is even more arduous.

Simply being led into a Daoist palace and given a complete cultivation scripture does not guarantee you will become an immortal.

In truth, most ordinary people lack spiritual roots and immortal bones; even if given an immortal scripture, they cannot even enter the door.

Just as with the same scriptures, some can read a thousand lines at a glance and remember them forever, passing the Top Graduate exam; others, studying alongside the Top Graduate with identical texts and teachers, struggle even to read and write.”

“Top Graduate?” Xiao Yu was startled. Wasn’t China still in the Qin Dynasty? Already had Top Graduates?

Huchen offered no explanation, only said: “Once we cross the pass and return to Luoyang or Yingxiang Prefecture, I will arrange for you a great scholar of China... if no Chinese scholar can be found, we shall hire a great Confucian from the Black Teeth Kingdom.

In any case, a master will teach you Central Plains culture and basic etiquette and knowledge.”

Xiao Yu grew increasingly uneasy. What was Huchen up to?

He not only appeared ready to bestow the Huan family’s divine martial arts secret manual, but also planned to hire a great Confucian to teach her scholarship.

Even ordinary Confucians were beneath his notice—he wanted a great scholar from the Central Kingdom; if none could be found, he would hire a Black Teeth... what was the Black Teeth Kingdom? Why could a Black Teeth Confucian rival a Central Kingdom scholar?

He invested so heavily—what great return did he expect from her? Where did this “greatness” come from?

Huchen had none of her complex thoughts; he sighed: “People have wisdom and folly; positions have nobility and lowliness.

Rarer than immortal affinity is the talent and wisdom for cultivation.

More important than talent and wisdom is fate.

Even if one possesses immortal bones and innate wisdom, if one’s fate is poor and one cannot survive the countless calamities, one still cannot become an immortal.

Those who have become immortals are inscribed in the heavenly registers—what of those who have not?

In this world, failures vastly outnumber successes.

If an immortal wishes to save and guide mortals, they may take disciples and transmit their methods.

Those who fail to become immortals are still human; they too need to pass on their lineage—marrying and having children to continue their family line, taking in disciples to carry on their sect.

What is passed down becomes the original immortal martial arts.

Those who failed to become immortals became the founding masters of immortal martial sects; since they never experienced the true immortal realm or its subtleties, the immortal martial arts they created were inevitably inferior to the orthodox immortal arts passed down by true immortals or even the Dao Ancestors.

And because immortal arts cannot be cultivated by those without great fortune, they were gradually edited, trimmed, and revised—thus arose the immortal martial arts manuals.

Even immortal martial arts manuals require extraordinary talent.

After all, those who failed on the immortal path are still ‘immortals’ in the mortal world—they are merely failures among immortals.

The immortal martial arts left by these ‘halfway immortals’ were further trimmed and revised by later generations lacking sufficient talent, or only partially cultivated, turning supreme immortal martial arts manuals into sub-supreme divine arts.

Thus, generation after generation, they degraded—until now, even the son of a servant like Zhang Lai can cultivate martial arts manuals.”

Xiao Yu understood, slowly.

In modern society, the material world, the first productive force is technology; the second and third are institutions and culture.

In this world, with immortals and Buddhas, the first productive force is cultivation; technology may not even rank among the top five productive forces.

In any world, for civilization to advance, it concentrates resources and prioritizes the first productive force.

In the modern world, students study science and culture.

In the world of immortals and Buddhas, students study “immortal power.”

In the modern world, middle school students are streamed, and college entrance exams determine rankings.

Top middle school students enter high school; weaker ones go to vocational schools.

From high school to university, further subdivisions occur: those with ability study the foundational sciences—the roots of the first productive force.

Those with slightly less ability consider how to enhance productivity—translating the latest scientific theories into technology to raise “technological levels.”

Those with even less ability study how to practically implement the first productive force—high-skilled technicians.

Those weaker still tinker with secondary productive forces—such as institutions and culture.

The weakest study how to make those who research the first, second, and third productive forces comfortable—service and management.

Operating under this model, technology and society inevitably advance steadily in a linear fashion.

Of course, one may violate these rules—favoritism, connections, disrupting the merit-based selection system.

Let fools conduct research... well, they can’t even enter the door—but let fools lead research teams, and even greater fools become institutional designers and enforcers.

In the end, it all leads to one outcome: dynastic reboot.

If one day, the wheel of reincarnation breaks a tooth and cannot turn further, it is merely a new race rebuilding civilization—the world will not be destroyed; even if all humans perish, Earth still turns.

In the primordial world with immortals and Buddhas, the same principle applies: prioritize the first productive force, and the developmental model is nearly identical—only the first productive force has changed.

Society still revolves around the first productive force.

The most gifted cultivate immortality; those slightly less gifted study strange arts and immortal martial arts; the least gifted serve as part of the “spirit of all things,” becoming a drop of pigment in the colorful tapestry of mortal civilization... that is, they remain ordinary mortals.

Immortals are shrewder—they should not fall into cycles of reboot and reincarnation... right?

Xiao Yu thought this, yet faintly sensed the world of gods and Buddhas would not be so simple.

Had humanity been the protagonist of the primordial heavens since the beginning of creation?

Before humanity, had other races collapsed, broken the wheel of reincarnation, and failed to continue, replaced by new protagonists to build new civilizations?

After humanity, will other races rise to become the new protagonists of heaven and earth?

“Finally, innate spiritual abilities.”

Huchen let her ponder for a moment, allowing her to digest the previous content, then spoke again: “The Dao arises from emptiness and gives birth to one qi; qi is the source of all energy.”

He picked up his brush and wrote “ Qi ” and “ Qi ” on the paper.

“I know my phrasing isn’t correct, but for us mortals, we can simplify the world by understanding everything as composed of qi—every tangible thing and intangible rule is ‘qi,’ and all possess ‘qi.’”

The term ‘Qi Refiner’ plainly reveals the essence of cultivation.

Cultivators refine ‘immortal qi,’ which exists in sacred mountains, great rivers, blessed heavens, and hidden grottoes; it can be absorbed by cultivators and sometimes merges into the human body.

Cultivators refine immortal qi to become immortals, capable of wielding it to perform great divine arts.

If a certain immortal qi does not require postnatal absorption but fuses directly into one’s bloodline from birth, even without cultivation, merely awakening that ‘qi’ within the bloodline allows one to perform great divine arts like a god.

This is the origin of innate divine abilities.

The Primordial Qi divides into countless forms of qi; each ‘qi’ carries a different ‘spiritual mechanism,’ and the divine abilities awakened by different spiritual mechanisms vary.”

Hearing him say this, Xiao Yu instinctively gazed into Hu Chen’s pitch-black eyes, sparkling like stars.

Hu Chen nodded lightly. “Correct. My Immortal Eye is a divine art of the pupil.”

Xiao Yu asked in confusion, “If the Immortal Eye’s origin is the ‘Heavenly Eye Spiritual Mechanism,’ a kind of qi, then shouldn’t all immortals be able to absorb immortal qi and cultivate this ability?”

Hu Chen laughed proudly. “If that were true, divine abilities wouldn’t be rare. In truth, not only can most immortals not cultivate abilities like the Immortal Eye—those requiring innate endowment—even many great divine arts that can be cultivated postnatally remain beyond the reach of most immortals.”

When Pangu cleaved heaven and earth, the clear qi rose to form heaven, and the turbid qi sank to become earth.

All things on earth evolved from turbid qi, yet earth holds abundant soil and scarce gold; spiritual ores for forging divine weapons and treasures are exceedingly rare.

The Primordial Qi transformed into countless forms of qi—of course, not every qi exists in equal quantity.

Some qi are as common as soil; others are as rare as gems.

‘Divine Ability Spiritual Mechanism’ is an extremely rare form of ‘immortal qi,’ hence it is called ‘spiritual mechanism.’”