Chapter 324: History of Great Jin's Development

Whether the opportunity to become an emperor is possessed only by the native beings of the Four Directions Continent, or whether the beings of the Central Continent also have it, Yan Zhenzhen and Jing Liao couldn't answer.

It wasn't that they didn't want to answer, but that they didn't know.

Hua Changxi had only asked casually. Seeing that the two didn't respond directly, she smiled and put the question out of her mind.

Soon, the three of them arrived outside the camp of Dihui Temple.

"Master."

Master Guiyi was reading a Buddhist sutra. Seeing Jing Liao leading Hua Changxi and Yan Zhenzhen into the tent, he asked with a smile, "Has the demonic qi of those people been purified?"

After Jing Liao had Hua Changxi and Yan Zhenzhen pay their respects, he shook his head and said, "It has only been temporarily suppressed."

Master Guiyi looked surprised: "Did some accident happen?"

Although those people were all Nascent Soul cultivators, the monks sent by Xiangguo Temple and Dihui Temple were not inferior in cultivation and were all well-versed in Buddhist teachings.

In theory, they should have been able to purify the demonic qi that those people had inhaled into their bodies.

Jing Liao's expression turned grave: "The yin flames have been ignited inside those people's bodies."

After hearing this, Master Guiyi sighed and then asked no further.

Hua Changxi looked at the two and asked, "Is there a big difference between having the yin flames ignited and not having them ignited?"

Hearing Hua Changxi's question, Master Guiyi couldn't help looking at her. Jing Liao also looked over: "Master, this visit from Benefactor Changxi is specifically to consult you about her inability to ignite the yang flames."

Master Guiyi smiled: "It seems that little friend Hua doesn't know much about the Divine Lamp and the yin-yang flames."

There was no need to hide this; Hua Changxi nodded in acknowledgment: "Yes, many things I know about the Divine Lamp and the black-and-white flames are just bits and pieces I've picked up here and there. A lot of it is still hazy to me."

Master Guiyi then looked at Yan Zhenzhen: "Does little friend Yan understand the matter of the Divine Lamp?"

Yan Zhenzhen: "I did read an account of the Divine Lamp's fall in the library of the Array Saint Sect."

Hua Changxi: "..."

If it weren't for her possession of the Divine Farmer Cauldron and inheriting the Divine Farmer's alchemy teachings, she probably wouldn't even have had the chance to meet people like Jing Liao and Yan Zhenzhen.

Setting others aside, she was far behind them just in terms of the information she possessed.

And the information gap is, to a large extent, the key to accomplishing things.

Master Guiyi nodded and looked at Jing Liao: "Jing Liao, you explain the matter of the Divine Lamp to little friend Hua."

Jing Liao nodded and looked at Hua Changxi: "Speaking of the Divine Lamp, one must mention the founding of the Great Jin Dynasty."

"Over a thousand years ago, at the end of the previous dynasty, Shenzhou, which is the Central Continent, experienced an unprecedented massive earthquake. That earthquake was caused by the fall of the Divine Lamp from beyond the heavens."

"At that time, the imperial house of the previous dynasty had reached its end. The princes were in chaos, and various forces rose up in rebellion. One of those forces was the Chu Family Army led by Patriarch Chu."

"Among the many contending powers, the Chu Family Army was actually not very prominent. However, Patriarch Chu was lucky—he picked up a Divine Lamp, two feet tall, burning with black and white flames."

"Possessing the Divine Lamp, Patriarch Chu seemed to receive divine aid, drawing forces from all sides to flock and follow him. Within a few years, he pacified the chaos and founded the Great Jin Dynasty, which lasted nearly a thousand years."

At this point, Jing Liao paused: "The matter of Patriarch Chu picking up the Divine Lamp was not kept well secret. After the founding of Great Jin, many legends about the Divine Lamp began to circulate."

"Among the regional powers, it was said that whoever obtained the Divine Lamp would win the world."

"In the martial arts world, it was said that whoever obtained the Divine Lamp could cultivate peerless martial arts and dominate the pugilistic world."

"If it were only some vague rumors, they would have vanished over time. But unfortunately..."

Jing Liao sighed, and Yan Zhenzhen took over: "Unfortunately, the Divine Lamp truly possessed the divine power that mortals dream of."

"Because they regularly worshipped the Divine Lamp, Patriarch Chu and the Chu Family Army that had followed him in conquering the world all experienced a surge in martial power."

"Previously, martial artists were at most a bit stronger, using some clever force, and were only slightly better than ordinary people. The strongest among them had merely perfected their fist and foot techniques, able to take down ten people at most—that was considered the peak."

"But with the Divine Lamp, the Chu Family Army could fly over rooftops, leap on walls, shatter steles and break rocks with ease. Most importantly, they cultivated true qi and internal energy, and could even release true qi externally to control objects and protect themselves."

"At the beginning of the Great Jin Dynasty, the borders were still unstable. In a battle against the northern Xiongnu, the commanding general, in order to rescue a prince who was overseeing the campaign, punched and shattered a stone mountain while fleeing from the Xiongnu pursuers."

"After that, the various rumors about the Divine Lamp could no longer be contained. The covetousness of various parties toward the Divine Lamp also accumulated in the shadows."

Hua Changxi listened with great interest. According to her understanding, after obtaining the Divine Lamp and under the catalysis of its divine power, Great Jin had advanced from a low-martial stage to a high-martial stage.

Jing Liao continued: "Seeing that the matter of the Divine Lamp's divine power could no longer be hidden, Patriarch Chu, having gone this far, simply designated the Divine Lamp as Great Jin's national treasure, enshrining it in the Wuliang Hall within the palace."

"The Divine Lamp was in the hands of the imperial family. Even if outsiders wanted it, they had no power to seize it from the imperial family and could only spy on it in secret."

"For the first five hundred years of Great Jin, the Divine Lamp was enshrined in the imperial palace, until..."

"In the fifth hundred year since Great Jin's founding, a group of priests calling themselves the Divine Lamp Guardians appeared outside the imperial palace."

"The reigning emperor received them and even allowed them to reside within the palace."

Yan Zhenzhen interrupted: "Someone left notes saying that group of priests were cultivators from the outside world, and the emperor kept them to inquire about immortality cultivation."

Jing Liao nodded: "At first, the imperial family and those priests got along fairly well. But within less than a year, a cataclysmic battle broke out between them over the ownership of the Divine Lamp."

"It was during that battle that the Divine Lamp was destroyed. Its seventy-two lotus petals shattered and scattered everywhere."

Hua Changxi said in confusion: "Since those priests were cultivators, how could the imperial family possibly be a match for them?"

Yan Zhenzhen: "Because of the interface restrictions, cultivators from the outside world who entered the Four Spirits Realm could not channel spiritual power at that time."

"Thanks to the Divine Lamp, the imperial family had trained a large number of grandmasters. When those grandmasters faced cultivators who couldn't use spiritual power, they not only had a fighting chance but could even suppress them."

"It is said that only a few of that group managed to escape alive."

"Although the Divine Lamp was destroyed, the imperial family obtained cultivation manuals from those priests and began their path of cultivation. At the same time, the imperial family issued a secret arrest warrant to hunt down those who escaped."

"That group was never completely wiped out. They even founded a sect—the famous Asura Sect."

"After the Asura Sect was established, it specifically opposed the imperial family, assassinating many imperial clan members."

Jing Liao waited for Yan Zhenzhen to finish before continuing: "The Divine Lamp fragments scattered everywhere—some were picked up by people, some fell among the mountains and forests. From then on, they completely transformed the entire Great Jin."

"For mortal beings, a single lotus petal of the Divine Lamp possessed supreme divine power!"

"When someone at court obtained a petal, they could control others; when a martial artist in the jianghu obtained one, their martial arts skyrocketed and they became invincible; when a wild beast in the mountains obtained one, its strength surged, its body swelled, and it evolved into a ferocious beast."

"After that, Great Jin entered an unprecedented era of martial glory and a turbulent age of ferocious beast rampages."

Yan Zhenzhen interrupted again: "The elders of the Holy Land once speculated that the scattered Divine Lamp fragments had a profound impact, loosening the interface seal to some extent and accelerating the recovery of spiritual energy."

Hua Changxi nodded in understanding. The Divine Lamp was destroyed, its fragments scattered everywhere, directly pushing this interface from a high-martial stage into the cultivation stage, hastening the recovery of spiritual energy in the realm.