Ding Ning suddenly thought of a possibility. The old nun Jingxin had once said that the stone man could only be activated by someone of Chiyou’s bloodline. Perhaps Xuan Ji could not break Chiyou’s bloodline seal and so she laid down this plan and waited thousands of years for him to activate the stone man?
As this occurred to him, his hair stood on end, his face paled, and a cold sweat broke out on his body. Involuntarily, his feet retreated backward and his eyes flitted around the room, looking for an escape.
But at this moment, he was a normal person with no cultivation. Even though Xuan Ji appeared to be on the brink of death, she was a goddess from the Ancient Past and the depth of her cultivation was unfathomable. A wave of her hand could destroy his soul.
“You don’t need to be afraid, I mean you no harm.”
Xuan Ji’s clear eyes seemed to see through his thoughts. She calmly said, “If I wanted to harm you, you would have no way to defend yourself.”
Ding Ning knew that she was telling the truth. Perhaps it was because she looked exactly like the demon but he could not make him feel any enmity toward her and subconsciously, he knew she would not harm him.
Since he could not escape, he might as well come clean and not be misunderstood. He coughed and said, “Xuan Ji senior, tell me, what are you waiting for me for?”
“I’m going to tell you a story, and you just need to listen.”
A complicated expression of guilt, self-blame, and self-mockery appeared on her face. “The Xuan Nv tribe is a descendant of the Goddess of Battle Jiutian Xuan Nv and we are also the tribe responsible for protecting the human world on behalf of God. Our duty is to destroy evil and prevent them from causing chaos. We never interfere in the battles of man or their wars for dominance.”
“Then why did you help the Yan Emperor and Yellow Emperor kill Chiyou?”
Ding Ning asked, not understanding.
“This is what I want to tell you, back then…”
Xuan Ji sank deep into her memory and told her story, telling Ding Ning the truth of Chiyou’s death.
As it turns out, after God left this world, the Xuan Nv tribe was responsible for protecting the human world on God’s behalf. Logically speaking, they should not interfere in the affairs of the human dynasties. The reason they agreed to the Yan Emperor’s request for alliance and to kill Chiyou was that they had been tricked by the Yan Emperor.
The tribe of Jiutian Xuan Nv, Shennong tribe, Nvwa Tribe, and Fuxi tribe were all general terms for the tribes and did not refer to a single person. Thus, as the chief of her tribe, Xuan Ji was also known as Jiutian Xuan Nv.
The Yan Emperor found Xuan Ji and said that Chiyou had inherited the stone man of a demon and had been bewitched by the demon to take over the world. The Yan and Yellow Emperors had allied together but could not defeat him and they asked that Jiutian Xuan Nv take a stand.
As the protector of the human world, naturally Xuan Ji could not allow demons to create chaos but she would also not so easily believe the words of the Yan Emperor. After all, such a thing as this had to be reported to the ethereal realm and so she went to the Jiuli tribe to investigate the truth of the matter.
Unfortunately, Chiyou had already changed himself into a strange creature. When Xuan Ji saw him, naturally, she thought he had gained the demon’s inheritance.
Although the Xuan Nv tribe were descendants of the Goddess of Battle, they loved peace and were unwilling to cause misery to the common people. Xuan Ji decided to give Chiyou a chance. As long as handed over the stone man and no longer practiced demonic techniques, she would spare his life.
Chiyou had always been arrogant and obstinate and loved battle. Additionally, he had just cultivated himself into the most powerful weapon and wanted to test his battle strength. So he challenged Xuan Ji, the best in the world.
Chiyou’s bronze-skinned and iron-boned body was invulnerable. He could also control the five elements, drive forward ghosts and spirits, and use the power of earth and heaven. Xuan Ji could not even stand up to one hit and lost.
As the protector of the human world, Xuan Ji was arrogant and proud. She was someone who valued her dignity. Having lost to Chiyou, she felt a great loss in dignity and left in a rage.
Because of her dignity and sense of disappointment in her defeat, she developed feelings of jealousy toward Chiyou. Thus, even though she had not sensed any demonic energy on Chiyou, she went against her heart and lied to God. She said that Chiyou had turned into a demon and given the time, he would bring misery upon the world. Even she was not a match for him.
The Xuan Nv tribe was always just. Naturally, God would not think that Xuan Ji was lying. He granted her demon chains to help her remove the evil.
Having said this much, Xuan Ji’s face was filled with regret, pain, and hatred. She admitted that she allied with the Yan Emperor out of anger and used the demon chains to seal away Chiyou’s spirit so that the Yellow Emperor could kill him with one strike.
But she had never expected that after they killed Chiyou, the Yan and Yellow Emperors would give her the stone man, as promised, and then turn around and report her to the ethereal world. They said that she coveted Chiyou’s cultivation technique and led the Xuan Nv tribe into a human conflict of her own accord to steal the technique of the Wu tribe.
God flew into a thunderous rage. He granted the mystical tool of flowing light to the Yellow Emperor and granted the fires of the underworld to the Yan Emperor and ordered them to kill Xuan Ji. He also punished the entire Xuan Nv tribe. Those who participated in the fight were killed. Those who were not were stripped of their ethereal citizenship and their cultivation would not improve.
In reality, the ethereal realm was not as peaceful as people imagined. There were still fights for power, trickery, and endless bickering.
As the Goddess of Battle, Jiutian Xuan Nv had accomplished great deeds in the battle against demons and thus had won the right for her tribe to protect the human world and enjoy their sacrifices. They had long aroused the jealousy and discontent of other gods.
Now that they had leverage, the gods gathered and attacked together. Having been punished, Jiutian Xuan Nv could not protect her tribe.
Unexpectedly, the Yan Emperor said one thing and did another. Clearly only Xuan Ji herself of the Xuan Nv tribe participated in the battle yet the Yan Emperor declared a killing spree against the entire tribe. He wanted to wipe them out and took control of the only channel of communication in the ethereal world—the Heavenly Altar.
The stone man had indeed been taken by Xuan Ji, so she could not deny that. Only now did she understand the Yan and Yellow Emperor’s wicked plan. They wanted to take control of the world but did not want such a protector as the Xuan Nv tribe above them. Thus they used one stone to kill two birds to get rid of Jiuli and Xuan Nv tribes. However, by the time she realized this, it was too late for regret.
Thus, the Xuan Nv tribe fell to a fate worse than that of Jiuli Tribe. Most of them were killed. Only a few who saw that the situation was bad managed to escape into the wild. The once-protectors were now mouse that everyone chased after on the street. Each day passed in desperate anxiousness.
With one misstep, Xuan Ji sank into everlasting sorrow. She watched as her tribe was killed and exiled because of her moment of anger. She became the main culprit of the extinction of her tribe and she wallowed in regret and self-blame.
But she was discontent in becoming a sacrificial item in a conspiracy and was unwilling to just give up like this. Her death meant nothing but she did not want to implicate her entire tribe, thus she had to recover the glory the Xuan Nv tribe once had to atone for her crime.
But this was easier said than done. The only path left to her was to become a god.
Those who were strong were respected. Regardless of whether it was in the ethereal world or in the human world, this was an iron-clad law. Only once she had enough power could she enter the ethereal world and explain the matter from beginning to end and cleanse the Xuan Nv tribe of its grievances.
Xuan Ji hid in the wild. She wanted to solve the mystery of the stone man which was her only hope in becoming a god. But she was not of Chiyou’s bloodline and was unable to break through the stone man’s seal. It was only now that she realized how powerful Chiyou had been. With time, he would certainly have become the first man in the Distant Past to become a god.
Xuan Ji hid in the wild and lived of raw animal flesh in a primal manner. She focused on studying the demon-sealing chains. After all, demon-sealing chains were of the god-tier of the sealing arts. They were similar to bloodline seals in that they accomplished the same thing although in different ways.
Hard work pays off. In the days that she spent hiding, Xuan Ji finally understood the god-tier of sealing arts. Unfortunately, Chiyou’s seal was strengthened by witchery. Even if she grasped the god-tier of sealing arts, she could only crack open one portion and steal a glimpse of a part of the stone man’s secret. It was impossible to become a god.
But she obtained some key information from the stone man. The core of Chiyou’s true inheritance was hidden in his palace “Wu Shen Palace” and the stone man was the key to opening the palace.
Thus, Xuan Ji could only think of a way to find “Wu Shen Palace” and try to obtain the core of the inheritance. From there, she could retaliate and wash clean the grievances of her people.
Unexpectedly, just as she found a clue to Wu Shen Palace, she was discovered by the Yan and Yellow Emperors who joined alliances to kill her. The three of them clashed in an astonishing battle.
Xuan Ji’s skill was incredible. Even two against one, she was not disadvantaged. Furthermore, she had the demon-sealing chain in hand. She thought that even if she could not defeat them, she could at least escape.
However, the Yan Emperor abruptly threw out the fire of the underworld. This fire was the demon-sealing chain’s kryptonite. Xuan Ji was caught off guard and was injured by the fire. Taking this opportunity, the Yellow Emperor used the flowing light to pierce through Xuan Ji’s chest.
The Xuan Nv tribe’s special skill was array. Heavily injured, Xuan Ji had no choice but to forcefully reveal her spirit in a forbidden technique and escaped into the wild then used a prepared transfer array to escape. However, her spirit was heavily damaged. It was no longer possible for her to become a god.
At this time, her admiration of Chiyou’s power had reached the apex. Thus she still held hope that the core inheritance within Wu Shen Palace could save her and thus she came to this secret place.
What destroyed her hopes was that even with the stone man as the key, she could not open Wu Shen Palace. She had to be of Chiyou’s bloodline and have the nine totems of the Jiuli Tribe to be able to open the ninth floor of Wu Shen Palace and obtain the final inheritance.
And so she threw the stone man in the great wilderness, waiting for it to recognize a descendant of Chiyou’s after they awaken so that the Wu tribe’s inheritance would not be broken. In any case, no one other than someone of Chiyou’s bloodline or a god could unlock Chiyou’s seal.
“What is the secret place?”
Ding Ning was very confused by the phrase “secret place”. He had heard of totems but he felt that it was very difficult to understand. It was too mystical.
Xuan Ji explained patiently. “The secret place is a cave paradise that both relies on and is independent of the world. It’s like… the space in a mustard seed.”
Ding Ning was stunned but he felt very excited. “Mustard space really exists?”
“Of course, have you not seen it?” Xuan Ji asked with a puzzled look. “Although space rings made from mustard space were very rare in my time, there were still some. There should be many now.”
“I’ve never even heard of it, much less seen it.”
Ding Ning was shocked. “Space rings only exist in novels; the technology of your time was already so developed? You could even create space rings.”
“Ah? Technology? What technology? Although space rings are rare, you must have at least heard of them, right? As long as your cultivation has reached the ninth realm, understand how to create tools, and with some space rock, it’s not difficult to create a space ring.”
Xuan Ji had been here four to five thousand years, what did she know about the outside world? She thought there were countless powerful martial artists out there, flying all over the place.
Ding Ning’s expression was helpless. “Space rock? Tool creation technique? Please, no one knows how to create tools anymore. Space rock is even less heard of. There isn’t even much spiritual aura left in the world.”
“What? All the spiritual aura is gone? How could it be?”
Xuan Ji was completely dumbfounded. She had thought that with the Yan and Yellow Emperor ruling the world and with God’s support, the outside world had long grown into a powerful martial arts world.
“I don’t know how this happened. Currently, the outside world is going the technology route. The air pollution is very severe. Never spiritual air, as long as there is no smog, everyone says a prayer. Oh right, the topic has strayed. What is the ninth realm?”
Ding Ning could not explain to her what technology was. He asked with a face full of desire to seek knowledge.
