"Wait!"
"Ancient times!?"
"Wasn't it primordial times!"
Yun Ze's heart trembled. This news was even more shocking than what he had learned from Dan Chenyu about Bu Bu possibly being from primordial times!
Primordial times were at most hundreds of thousands of years ago. While mysterious, there were still historical records.
But ancient times...
That was the era of the origin of cultivation. There were no records whatsoever. Dan Chenyu had only mentioned a few sentences about the ancient era in passing.
'The path of cultivation was passed down by the ancient sages. We have unearthed only a few relics, and we hope future generations will carry it forward!'
These words 'ancient times' referred to the ancient times of primordial times, which, from today's perspective, was ancient times!
If Bu Bu was from ancient times, then she would have been one of the...
Sages!
"What's wrong?"
Bu Bu asked back, a smile on her lips. "Didn't you already guess some things? Why are you still so shocked?"
"...It's a bit hard to accept," Yun Ze said after a few moments of silence.
"Accept what?"
Bu Bu continued to ask, "My origin?"
"Yes!"
Yun Ze didn't hide it. "I heard from Xiao Yu that you might be from primordial times. I thought that was shocking enough, but I didn't expect...
Wait! Didn't you perhaps confuse primordial times with ancient times?"
Bu Bu rolled her eyes. "What do you think?"
"Alright, the possibility is indeed slim."
Yun Ze became curious. "What was ancient times like? Why are there no historical records at all until now?"
Bu Bu didn't answer, but instead asked, "Do you want to know who I am, or what ancient times were like?"
"Both."
"I'll tell you one first."
As Bu Bu spoke, she walked behind Yun Ze and placed her hand on his head. "I'll need the rest of the time to heal."
Here it comes again?
Yun Ze gave a helpless bitter smile, knowing he had no choice. "Then let's go with the first one, take it slow."
"Okay."
Bu Bu's spiritual energy once again entered Yun Ze's body, and she began to speak. "My name is Kong Lingxian, the thirty-second generation descendant of the Kong clan."
As the spiritual energy entered his sea of qi, Yun Ze once again felt the three entities within his sea of qi tremble simultaneously.
He felt a trace of fear, but also a surge of curiosity, as he continued to listen to Bu Bu's voice in his ear.
"I began my path at three, my sea of qi was complete at six, I established my foundation at nine, forged my golden core at twelve, entered the Nascent Soul at eighteen, and ascended at twenty-four.
Before thirty, I entered the Soul Splitting stage and was chosen as the heir of the Kong clan. I entered the secret realm to comprehend the Yu Jue.
This comprehension lasted until eternal separation."
"Eternal separation?" Yun Ze asked subconsciously.
"Don't speak, it's about to begin."
As soon as Bu Bu finished speaking, that intense pain struck again!
Yun Ze gritted his teeth, daring not to speak. While counting silently in his heart, he also listened to Bu Bu continue.
"The Yu Jue was profound, and I became engrossed. After my primordial spirit ascended, I lost consciousness. When I regained my senses, I had already reincarnated into this current body.
However, this body was too weak to contain all of my primordial spirit, so only a portion of my innate abilities awakened.
If you hadn't unsealed the Miao Jue back then, I fear I wouldn't have been able to fully awaken my memories. After my memories returned, I only knew of the changes in the world, but I didn't realize such a drastic transformation had occurred.
It was only from Xiao Hanshi and Yu Xian that I learned that the Nine Heavens were no longer the Nine Heavens they once were, but I didn't know how much time had passed."
Ten breaths!
Ten more breaths until twenty breaths!
Blood trickled from Yun Ze's lips, but he continued to persevere!
"You know what happened next. The Yu Jue is now in the Xiu family's hands, so I entered the Xiu family using my spatial spiritual root, wanting to know what had happened in the world since I comprehended the Yu Jue.
In my reincarnated body, I scoured the historical records of the Xiu family and finally determined that tens of millions of years had passed since my original era..."
Twenty breaths!
"Pfft!"
Yun Ze spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed on the spot, losing consciousness.
"Tens of millions of years!"
Bu Bu repeated the words, slowly stood up, her eyes faintly glistening with tears. She stared at the unconscious Yun Ze. "The mountains and rivers are no more, and the heritage is less than one in ten thousand!
This has led to the ignorance of the world, blindly pursuing the immortal or demonic paths, unaware of how terrifying the true immortals and demons are!
With me alone, I cannot turn the tide.
Since the Xin Jue and Miao Jue chose you, it is the decision of the ancient sages. I will take a gamble!"
"If I win, I will help these Nine Heavens breathe again!"
"If I lose..."
Bu Bu didn't continue, a trace of crimson blood oozing from her lips. She gave a bitter smile. "Never mind, whether I win or lose, I might... not be able to see it anymore. At least I've preserved a part of the Kong clan's heritage."
...
Pain!
Yun Ze was jolted awake by the pain!
When he came to his senses, he found Bu Bu cultivating again.
What Bu Bu had said before she fainted still echoed in his mind, relentlessly striking his nerves.
Ancient times, the Kong family, a Soul Splitting stage cultivator from tens of millions of years ago!
These things, overlapping with the image of the girl next door in his mind, finally formed the Bu Bu before him.
"Awake?"
Bu Bu opened her eyes again, her expression unreadable. She spoke again, "What else do you want to know?"
"No rush, no rush. Let me take a moment to process before we talk."
Yun Ze waved his hands repeatedly. Although he was curious, he had to slowly accept these earth-shattering facts.
Especially since he still needed to repair his sea of qi!
He sat down cross-legged and submerged his consciousness into his sea of qi, feeling both surprise and joy.
Joy was because of the sword qi!
The sword qi he had collected from Xiao Shu had completely disappeared and merged into his own sword qi!
The power of his sword qi could now at least reach the early Foundation Establishment stage!
If he combined it with the Sword Concealment technique, he might even be able to kill a true Core Formation cultivator!
The surprise was because of his sea of qi!
His sea of qi had now reached 330 times its original capacity, expanding by another tenfold. However, the cracks from the previous expansion had not yet healed.
Now, with the sword qi gone, time was running out!
Yun Ze quickly opened his eyes and informed Bu Bu of the situation with his sea of qi.
She didn't seem rushed, as if this was all within her expectations. "It's not a big problem. You've rested for three days this time. After a little more recuperation, you should be able to proceed with the next one.
This time it's forty breaths."
"Forty breaths..."
Yun Ze's mouth twitched. As expected, it had doubled again.
He sat down cross-legged and began to draw upon his Destiny Blood to repair his sea of qi. With nothing else to do, he asked Bu Bu, "Ancient times... what was it like?"
"In ancient times, there were four great clans: Kong, Shi, Zhu, and Chu. These four clans each controlled four Immortal Jade shards."
"Only four? What about the remaining five?" Yun Ze couldn't help but ask.
He had originally thought that the nine Immortal Jade shards were controlled by nine different clans. But hearing Bu Bu say this, it seemed some Immortal Jade shards did not belong to certain clans.
"Won't you know if you let me finish?"
Bu Bu continued, "The Kong clan controlled the Yu Jue, the Shi clan controlled the Zhou Jue, the Zhu clan controlled the Mo Jue, and the Chu clan controlled the Xian Jue.
As for the remaining five elements Immortal Jade shards, they were sealed in five forbidden lands beneath the Nine Heavens, serving as suppressors, and no one was allowed to touch them."
"Suppressors?!"
Yun Ze quickly caught the keyword. "Suppressing what?"
Bu Bu took a deep breath and uttered two words.
"Immortals, demons."
"What?"
Yun Ze had actually heard clearly, but he couldn't quite believe it. He frowned slightly.
Although cultivators, based on the different great daos they cultivated, called themselves immortal cultivators or demonic cultivators, with their ultimate goals being to attain immortality or fall into demonhood,
Were these so-called immortals and demons not simply cultivators who had attained immortality or demonhood by cultivating the great dao?
What was there to suppress?
"The immortals and demons I'm referring to are not the immortals and demons that people cultivate, but the true immortals and demons."
Bu Bu's tone was very serious. She looked at Yun Ze. "Yun Ze, didn't you want to know what ancient times were like?
What I'm about to say next is the truth of this world. You must remember it all! Do you hear me!"
"...Okay!"
Yun Ze actually wanted to tease Bu Bu, to laugh at her for entrusting him with something.
But when he saw Bu Bu's expression, he swallowed the words and instead replied with a "good."
"First, you need to know one thing: our human race cannot truly cultivate to become immortals or demons."
Bu Bu's opening statement was like a thunderclap!
This statement, in essence, negated all the efforts of cultivators throughout the ages!
If they could not become immortals or demons, then they would always be humans!
They would never attain true longevity!
Yun Ze suppressed the shock in his heart and continued to listen...
"The so-called immortals are beings who reside in the Nine Heavens!
They are devoid of emotions and desires. From birth, they are high above, enjoying eternal life and wielding supreme power. At the same time, they view humans as ants, only seeking to contend with demons for control of heaven and earth.
The so-called demons dwell deep underground.
They are similar to immortals, yet also different. They also enjoy eternal life and wield great power, but they possess emotions and desires like humans.
"No, that's not right."
Bu Bu gave a bitter smile and corrected herself. "To be precise, the emotions and desires of the human race were actually bestowed by the demons."
"In the ancient era, those high-and-mighty immortals, in order to contend with the demons for supreme control of heaven and earth, created humans using themselves as a template, attempting to use the human race to erode the demon race and pollute their bloodline, causing them to lose their great power.
Not long after humans were created, the demon race discovered the immortal race's poisonous scheme. However, some demons fell for it, leading to the loss of the demon race's bloodline. Humans thus gained emotions and desires, as well as the key to unlocking the secrets of heaven and earth... the spiritual root!
Later, in revenge against the immortal race, the demon race passed down some secret immortal techniques to humans, allowing them to begin cultivating immortality and contend for the immortal race's control over the five elements.
Since humans were created by the immortal race using themselves as a template, once they possessed spiritual roots, they could naturally cultivate immortal secret techniques.
As time passed, the human race gradually grew stronger. Both the immortal and demon races realized that they seemed to have nurtured an enemy.
At that point, the immortal and demon races began to work together to eliminate the human race.
But the human race had already gained momentum.
The ancient sages sacrificed ninety percent of the human race's bloodline and created nine supreme treasures to seal the passages between the immortal and demon realms, thus creating a sliver of hope for humanity!
From then on, the Nine Heavens above were for immortals, and the Nine Underworlds below were for demons!
Our human race resides between heaven and earth, stealing the power of both immortal and demon paths, to achieve the great dao of humanity!"
Nine supreme treasures!
Could it be...
Yun Ze reached out and touched his chest.
He knew the Immortal Jade shards in his embrace were extraordinary, but he never imagined their origin was so terrifying!
"Humanity succeeded, and you know what those nine supreme treasures are."
Bu Bu continued to narrate. "Later, the remaining ten percent of the human bloodline sealed five of the supreme treasures, representing the five elements, in five forbidden lands to reinforce the seal. The remaining four supreme treasures were passed down to the four disciples of the ancient sages.
These were the later Kong, Shi, Zhu, and Chu clans.
This is the beginning of ancient times."
Yun Ze's mind raced, processing the information Bu Bu had provided. He soon realized something!
"Wait! You said the nine Immortal Jade shards were to seal the true immortals and demons?"
"Yes."
Yun Ze immediately took out the Xin Jue and Miao Jue from his embrace, his arm trembling. "Then these two Immortal Jade shards are now in my hands, so the seal is...?"
"It was broken long ago."