The Path of the Martial Arts BOSS
Chapter 505 - 1: Heaven, Earth, Man

Chapter 505: Chapter 1: Heaven, Earth, Man

The meeting place with the Shadow King was still outside that forest cottage.

To be honest, Qing Yu really didn’t want to go out randomly now. He had just secured the kingdom of Northern Zhou, and before he could enjoy its conveniences, he had to leave, which was genuinely frustrating.

If Qing Yu had a choice, he actually hoped to remain in seclusion until the end of time, or at least until he reached the peak of the True Pill.

Unfortunately, one must repay the debts one owes. The Shadow King had invested so much, and it wouldn’t be fair to let him lose it all.

"It’s good that I thought of the Heavenly Giant Statue method."

Qing Yu shook his head slightly and entered the cottage.

This time, meeting the Shadow King—a ruler often indistinguishable in joy and anger—was unusually characterized by a strong sense of happiness, and he said with a joyous expression, "The usurping of the Northern Zhou Dragon Vein represents the feasibility of the Returning Dragon Changing Cauldron Technique. Qing Yu, you have truly done me a great favor."

"But, the situation with the Northern Zhou Dragon Vein is unique, the coincidence of Feng Jiwu is hard to replicate."

Qing Yu couldn’t help but throw cold water on the situation.

Feng Jiwu’s ability to usurp the Dragon Vein was primarily because the Dragon Vein was severely damaged by the Heavenly Cluster Cloud Sword, weakening its resistance significantly, thus making it less resistant against the Returning Dragon Technique used by Feng Jiwu.

What about trying with Daqian’s Dragon Vein?

Even for the Shadow King, the chances of seizing Daqian’s Dragon Vein were slim to none.

After all, Daqian was still in its prime. Although none of the seven provinces of Daqian’s current territory could compare in size to the vast Northern Land, combined, they spanned at least two to three times the area of Northern Zhou.

In such a scenario, how strong the Dragon Vein must be.

If the Shadow King wanted to make a move now, Qing Yu felt the chance of success was truly not great. Besides, the Dragon Vein was ultimately an ancillary product; it could provide an advantage to the Shadow King but wasn’t guaranteed to lead to his ultimate victory.

In this world where martial prowess was revered, true victory was determined by people, by warriors. Just like in Northern Zhou, if Meng Shanhe truly disregarded everything to stop Feng Jiwu, then the chance of success would be almost one hundred percent.

Meng Shanhe was ranked eighth on the Heavenly List, and the rest of those on the Heavenly List were almost all within Daqian’s territory. Although these supreme warriors were headstrong and self-centered, it was almost impossible for them to serve Daqian.

But not serving doesn’t mean they couldn’t form good relationships— who knows how many of the Heavenly List’s strongest have connections with Daqian behind the scenes?

The Shadow King also saw Qing Yu’s concerns and said with a chuckle, "Be at peace, I have waited many years already, and I am not in a hurry.

Besides, as a Martial Arts Divine, I have a lifespan of at least five hundred years, so waiting another few decades is not a problem. The time is not yet ripe, I will not act hastily."

"Time?"

Qing Yu keenly caught on to this term, "What timing?"

"Short as two or three years, long as six or seven, the world will certainly fall into chaos."

The Shadow King stood up and walked to the window, hands behind his back, looking out at the tranquil forest, and said, "About three hundred fifty years ago, a Heavenly Mechanism Great Grandmaster predicted that about fifteen hundred years later, an unprecedented calamity would occur in the world.

However, a calamity is also a great opportunity, and in this unprecedented catastrophe, there will be a chance for one to achieve immortality and eternal youth."

"Immortality, eternal youth?" A great longing first arose in Qing Yu’s heart, followed by a helpless shake of his head.

"In fifteen hundred years, if Qing Yu were to live that long, the so-called immortality should have been achieved by then. If not, this supposed great opportunity would only be a flower in the mirror, a moon in the water."

"This news, to those who aspire to eternal life, is truly torture!" Qing Yu bitterly said.

"Who in the world doesn’t want immortality? It is torture for everyone, just to varying degrees. The more profound one’s strength, the greater the agony," the Shadow King also said with a bitter smile.

The stronger the strength, the longer one could obtain life, but even so, it couldn’t extend to fifteen hundred years. A practitioner in the Divinity Realm could live just over five hundred years, and those who cultivated using secret techniques and treasure medicines could at most reach six or seven hundred years.

Six or seven hundred, how far it seemed from fifteen hundred.

"Still, I think some people won’t give up, right?" Qing Yu said.

"You really do see people clearly," the Shadow King smiled and responded, "It should be said that those who know of this news, almost none would be willing to give up. Because this information is extremely secretive, those who are informed are all in the Divinity Realm; they have the strength and the capability to compete for this Immortal Mechanism, but unfortunately, they were born at the wrong time."

"At that time, countless methods to prolong life were researched, like sealing oneself in fake death, body seizing for rebirth, and even studying reincarnation, all for the sake of living until fifteen hundred years later."

"However, all these methods were abandoned like old shoes after a certain hypothesis was put forth."

"What was the hypothesis?" Qing Yu urgently asked.

If this hypothesis were feasible, Qing Yu felt that he himself could also compete for it.

"Do you know the origins of the Demon Path, the original Demon Path?" the Shadow King suddenly changed the topic.

Uh...

Qing Yu sensed the malice from the broken context.

But, when dealing with the Shadow King who had a stronger fist, he could only go along with his words.

"If I remember correctly," replied Qing Yu resignedly, "it should be the Heavenly Demon Palace, the Blood Demon Sect, and the Southern Border Witch Sect."

"These three are respectively known as the Heavenly, Earthly, and Human Demon Paths. The origin of Demon Path should be from the Blood Demon Sect."

The Shadow King slowly explained, "In ancient times, human warriors fought life and death battles against fierce exotic beasts to claim a spot for humanity. At that time, the human Martial Arts involved taking the essence blood of fierce exotic beasts, consuming their blood and flesh, and strengthening themselves. However, as humans grew in number and the Qi Cultivation Technique developed, along with the gradual extinction of these fierce exotic beasts, this original Martial Arts naturally fell into disuse.

Since the fierce beasts were almost extinct, who could they find to draw essence blood from when practicing this type of Martial Arts?

However, the world is never short of creative people. When fierce beasts could no longer be found, humans, who had now spread across the world, were everywhere. So, the original Blood Path began to form.

Since this path required drawing the Evil Qi of bloodshed, slaughtering living beings, it thus was called the Blood Demon Path and also the Human Demon Path."

"The other two major Demon Paths start from the Heavenly Demon Path. Every one to two thousand years, the heavens display strange phenomena, and a deadly and evil Heavenly Evil roams through the starry skies. This Evil Qi also affects the mortal world, causing the Evil Qi to ascend in time.

When the Qi Cultivation Technique was initially founded, some people attempted to absorb the Evil Qi for their own use. Although the Evil Qi was greatly harmful to the body, there were still those who survived under its corrosion and managed to utilize the Evil Qi to overcome enemies.

Among these people, there were those who fancifully tried to draw upon the Evil Qi roving through the stars for their own use..."

"I guess this person must have succeeded, otherwise there wouldn’t be the present Heavenly Demon Path," Qing Yu said.

"Correct, he did succeed, becoming the first person in history to absorb the deadliest Heavenly Evil, later known as the First Generation Sky Demon. The Heavenly Demon Palace equates him with the Daoism’s Yuanshi Tianzun, calling him the Primordial Sky Demon."