Stop it, Taoist, Your Fight almost Ruins the DAO!
Chapter 978 - 529: The Secret of Martial Scripture, The Path of Failure, The Ancient Secret

Yi Chen didn't know what kind of story had transpired between the Master of Soldiers and the Human Emperor, but seeing the Master of Soldiers' current state, he could tell with his toes that it must be a sad story.

With this in mind, he tactfully refrained from asking further and shifted the focus of his question to another aspect.

"So the decline in spiritual nature is insufficient to support so many people cultivating together, is this the fundamental reason why the world does not allow cultivators beyond the Dao Mastery Realm after you, Master of Soldiers, achieved breakthrough and ascended to the Immortal Platform?"

At this moment, Yi Chen couldn't help recalling the little story about the courtyard owner mentioned by the Heavenly Master and Ying Si, and he promptly asked.

In this world, many things are unclear, and often it's not due to a lack of wisdom, but because there is a significant disparity in information among different people.

Especially when the upper echelons severely blockade the information.

As he grasped more and more information, Yi Chen had a deeper understanding of the courtyard owner's story originally told by the Heavenly Master and Ying Si.

For instance, the result of the story might be correct, but the cause was mistaken.

"Indeed, this ending was already set by the Human Emperor countless eons ago."

"After the efforts of the Master of Soldiers, Heavenly Buddha, and Demon Lord spanning three generations of cultivators, the spiritual nature in the Lingxia Realm that could sustain cultivation was already insufficient."

"And regarding all this, the Human Emperor had long had a contingency plan."

—

"Let me guess, this contingency plan is nothing but throttling the flow and salvaging whatever source is available; expanding the source is nearly impossible, so it must be throttling, using the saved spirit nature to supply the world's loss of spiritual nature.

At the same time, by limiting it to the Dao Mastery, could it be selecting the most outstanding cultivators, allowing fierce competition, and then providing these limited resources to those cultivators who come out on top?"

Yi Chen narrowed his eyes slightly and gently set down the wine glass, then spoke articulately.

Thus, everything was connected.

When resources were abundant, everyone was relatively optimistic, so before the era of the Master of Soldiers, Lingxia Realm could engage in 'extensive agriculture', but who knew that neither the wisdom of the ancestors nor the descendants was effective, and the problem remained unresolved.

Now that spiritual nature is scarce, the era after the Master of Soldiers could only cultivate Gu, and if Yi Chen guessed right, after Gu Raising, it would be precise drip irrigation!

Resources have always clustered towards the strong, especially in this era when mighty power reverts to oneself.

"Now, I am even more curious about the previous identity of Yi Taoist," the Master of Soldiers gazed deeply and then sighed,

"Taoist Priest's predictions aren't off by a hair, long ago, we secretly released news of celestial changes, but everyone misunderstood."

"They thought the heavenly changes meant that heaven and earth would no longer allow cultivators above the Dao Mastery Realm, but actually, this reasoning is putting the cart before the horse."

"In reality, the problem appeared long ago but only erupted in the era after mine; the root cause, however, is the decline in the spiritual nature throughout all realms."

"But their misunderstanding doesn't matter; the true prodigies will certainly stand out amidst this cruel competition."

"Those who died were not the ones the Master of Soldiers and the Human Emperor were waiting for."

"Spiritual nature wasn't sufficient to support so many cultivators, and before the Emperor's Heavenly Soul completely merged with the Heavenly Will, he imprinted this rule in the heaven and earth. It's cruel, but we had no other choice."

The Master of Soldiers stated indifferently, his tone flat yet filled with the blood and tears of countless cultivators.

At this moment, even Yi Chen couldn't help but sigh deeply; he didn't know if this was akin to a high-stakes exam sorting mechanism of another world,

And by now, Yi Chen also understood why after the era of the Master of Soldiers, why fate turned, and Demonkin began to rise.

The Heavenly Will of the Lingxia Realm had been dominated by the Dao Fruit Realm's Emperor's Heavenly Soul for so many years; it's astonishing how much it still favored the Human Race, which required an extreme level of submission. Even the simplest organisms have stress responses, let alone the Heavenly Will.

It's likely that the Demonkin were slightly less restrained in the later periods, probably because the Heavenly Will was subtly eroding the rules imprinted by the Human Emperor, given that the 'foreign object' riding on its head was gone, but the 'foreign object' left within it remained.

However, since the Emperor's Heavenly Soul had played this move before dissipating, there must be a follow-up plan; Yi Chen stared motionlessly into the eyes of the Master of Soldiers, awaiting the final answer.

There must be a Divine Object similar to a whitelist; he wanted to know what that thing was.

If he hadn't guessed wrong, those old members of the Illumination Organization must have obtained similar information by some means, which is why they have barely managed to survive until today.

"With the wisdom of Yi Taoist, you've probably almost guessed the final answer; I might as well speak directly, now with external and internal troubles worsening far beyond our expectations, it's also about time to make the final move."

"If one wants to cultivate without restrictions, with an ample supply of spiritual nature and not targeted by rules, solving this matter is not too complicated; I also secretly released this news a long time ago."

"That thing is—before the dissolution of the Human Emperor's Heavenly Soul, hiddenly directed by me, some of the intercepted spiritual nature was refined into nine Heaven and Earth Spirit Mechanisms!"

"Only in this great era, a maximum of nine exceptionally talented individuals are eligible to compete for a Heaven and Earth Spirit Mechanism; of course, rest assured Taoist Priest, one of them will certainly belong to you."

The Master of Soldiers displayed a friendly smile, chuckling softly at Yi Chen.