Chapter 469: Return

The Sword Casting Ancient Scroll lists in detail the forging methods for hundreds of types of flying swords. However, the flying swords forged by these methods are mostly of mediocre quality, all belonging to standard-issue items. Because flying swords belong to different attributes, the forging methods vary accordingly. For instance, flying swords of the Thunder Department require refining with the power of stars; those of the Fire Department must be imbued with strange flames from between heaven and earth; and those of the Thunder Department must be meticulously inscribed with thunder patterns...

Xu Jia examined the ancient scroll carefully, a look of satisfaction appearing on his face, while he pondered inwardly: It seems the Heavenly Court sending the Divine Path to descend to save this End of Dharma Era is actually harboring ulterior motives; it is nothing more than wanting more output, like continuously bleeding this world dry.

Yet, throughout the ages, which dynasty or generation has not accepted offerings or collected taxes? Since the Heavenly Court's Divine Path has the grace of saving the world, even if they make this world sign those so-called unequal treaties, allowing it to continue repaying this "loan" over thousands or tens of thousands of years, it seems not to be an unfeasible matter.

Xu Jia felt not the slightest sympathy for the fact that the Great Heng Dynasty, supported by the Heavenly Court's Divine Path, was destroyed by the Immortal Path. That Great Heng Dynasty had existed for many years, its channels for upward mobility were already blocked, and its march toward destruction was an inevitable outcome.

It was just that he could not help but feel deeply emotional; even the high and mighty Heavenly Court cannot escape the cyclical laws of history, can it? Thinking of how after the Yellow Heaven God abdicated, the Yellow Heaven Sect that believed in him was instantly branded an Evil Sect. Now, he did not know which Heavenly Emperor had ascended to the throne, or what brand-new governing philosophy they upheld, such that they completely overturned many of the previous Heavenly Emperor's actions...

When Xu Jia thought of the grand ambition he had set for himself, a trace of pessimism could not help but well up in his heart. Fortunately, this kind of negative emotion did not last long; otherwise, once inner demons were born, his Yang Spirit No-Flaw realm might regress, and it could even trigger a Demon God to descend to subject him to a severe test, causing his realm to be knocked down.

"The value of this Sword Casting Ancient Scroll cannot be underestimated," Xu Jia said to Gongye Xingyun. "That your family could offer it up shows your sincere heart."

Gongye Xingyun replied, "It is just that many materials recorded on this ancient scroll are now hard to find, and some forging techniques are extremely difficult to replicate. The Sword Casting Villa's sword-casting methods have also undergone several changes over these thousand years. Viewed this way, if one were to truly discuss the value of this Sword Casting Ancient Scroll, it is nothing more than the so-called 'usefulness of the useless'."

Even so, the Sword Casting Villa after all possesses its unique value; at least the research results of the past thousand-plus years are still firmly grasped in their hands.

"Gongye Xingyun, you shall cultivate here at Huashan with peace of mind for a period of time. Once I have completed your cultivation techniques, you may return to the Sword Casting Villa with them. During this period, I will personally provide you with careful guidance. Furthermore, you may also concurrently study the few sets of cultivation techniques and Sword Formulas of my Huashan sect."

"Many thanks, Ancestor!" Gongye Xingyun hurriedly bowed in gratitude.

"Huo Can'er, go instruct the Huashan Two Elders to preside over all matters regarding the Sword Casting Villa being incorporated into our Huashan sect. Both of them are Earth Immortals, so their actions will not be too eye-catching. Just do not make it public for now; let those Sword Casting Villa disciples who have already joined other sects leave first, so as to avoid being implicated."

Upon hearing these words, Gongye Xingyun felt a surge of emotion, feeling that the Ancestor's way of doing things was extremely thorough.

Xu Jia then continued: "As for the offerings to various sects, stop them starting from today. Now that you have defected to me, you must no longer be that wavering fence-sitter, especially toward Shushan; you must be even more so."

Xu Jia paused slightly, his expression becoming more serious: "Of course, from the moment you brought the Sword Casting Ancient Scroll to find me, you already had no other choice."

"Ascension... Ascension..." Gongye Xingyun's eyes were somewhat dim as he muttered to himself, "If Shushan were willing to give us a hand, how would we have ended up like this?"

In this world, ascending and leaving has already become the consensus of most practitioners. It is only because this world is about to enter the great End of Dharma Era, which is the Dharma Extinction Kalpa, where the Spirit Machine is becoming increasingly sluggish, and all kinds of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures are gradually disappearing.

On the contrary, those Dongfu left over from ancient times that have restrictions are frequently appearing because the lack of Spirit Machine has caused the restrictions to fail. At first glance, it looks like another prosperous age of cultivation has arrived, but in reality, it is nothing more than a flash in the pan. Xu Jia did not tell Gongye Xingyun and the others this cruel truth, only sighing silently in his heart at the various divisions and helplessness of this world.

At this time, the mortal world was already in the mid-to-late Yuan Dynasty. Not to mention the Zoroastrianism in the Western Regions, the Ming Sect in the Central Plains had already raised troops to rebel many times, the most famous of which was the campaign against Fang La by the heroes of Liangshan. And now, under Xu Jia's interference, the Ming Sect might be about to set off a great war in the Central Plains again, following the trend of history and laying the foundation for the emergence of the Ming Dynasty.

Historically, after Zhu Yuanzhang became Emperor, he enfeoffed City Gods throughout the world. Before Zhu Yuanzhang, although there were City God deities, they were not so widespread, nor was their status acknowledged.

How is this not an "Investiture of the Gods of the Ming Dynasty"?

The City God deity system is a Divine Path system highly dependent on humanity; it belongs to the acquired deity system, different from the innate deity system, and the system belongs to the Netherworld Demon God, leaning toward the world after human death.

At the same time, the Ming Dynasty also built the Heaven Altar and Earth Altar, used to sacrifice to the Heavenly God and stabilize the National Fortune.

This is naturally nothing to talk about in reality, but placed in the setting of the Immortal Hero Divine Path, it undoubtedly re-established a new governing philosophy: the joint rule of humans and gods.

Humans rule the Yang, gods rule the Yin.

The key to this realm lies in the Ming Dynasty. If it can succeed during the Ming Dynasty, it can delay the arrival of the great catastrophe of the end of the world; if it cannot, then Heavenly Disasters and man-made calamities will appear together, leading even to the severance of the Spirit Machine in the Central Plains, with demons and ghosts wreaking havoc on the human world.

This is what "Demon Qing" rule is; it corresponds to the Dharma Extinction Kalpa. Demon Qing is similar to Shang Zhou Wang and Daji, bringing about the end of an era and ushering in the darkest, most Dharma-extinguishing, and most degenerate era, until the universe is reshaped, or civilization is completely destroyed.

Xu Jia deduced the heavenly secrets and felt it was infinitely magical, but his own abilities were limited after all. It was impossible for him to manage this mess when neither the America world nor his original world had ascended. He could only lay out plans in advance; to truly achieve something, he would have to wait thirty years later, when the Ming Dynasty was established.

Therefore, Xu Jia did not continue to pay attention to other matters, such as Deng Yin going to the West Kunlun Great Snow Cave, such as the Iron City Mountain Old Demon, or such as the Shushan matter.

He only announced his seclusion to study cultivation techniques for Gongye Xingyun's Sword Casting Villa, then abandoned his techniques and, through the Weiji Immortal Sword and the Southern Bright Li Fire Immortal Sword, opened the passage to the Chaos Pearl, sending his Primordial Spirit back to his original physical body, returning to the Daoist temple on the summit of Sanqing Mountain.

At the same time, he brought back many martial arts cultivation techniques from the Sword Hero World, the Sword Casting Ancient Scroll, and other crystallizations of knowledge and civilization.

(End of chapter)