Chapter 286 : Nine Heavens Divine Thunder
Chapter 286: Nine Heavens Divine Thunder
"Seventh Lang, now that things have come to this, we're all in the same boat. If we die, we die together. If we live, we live together."
Xia Shaowen’s voice was solemn. “This was entirely my own idea. It has nothing to do with my wife or Yan’er. If you must blame someone, blame me alone.”
Chen Ming quickly said, “How could I blame you, Uncle? This matter must be resolved sooner or later. Now it all depends on how His Majesty decides to deal with us.”
He directly addressed him as “Uncle.”
Just as Xia Shaowen had said, their fates were already tied together. At a time like this, there was no need to remain overly formal.
Xia Shaowen transmitted his voice, “Rest assured. If anything truly calamitous happens, I will stake this old life of mine to ensure you escape from this place.”
With a Divine Repository Realm expert making such a promise, Chen Ming felt much more confident.
The long night dragged on, with no end in sight.
Taking the opportunity, Chen Ming asked Xia Shaowen about the secrets of the “Divine Repository Realm,” “Uncle, this nephew has always had a question. Why is it that only in secret realms can one find the heavenly treasures needed to open the Divine Repository? Could it be that our world lacks such things?”
Xia Shaowen saw that even in a moment like this, he still had the presence of mind to ask about martial cultivation. He couldn’t help but look at him in a new light. This child’s heart for the Dao was so steadfast—it was no wonder he had achieved so much at such a young age.
“Since ancient times, cultivators have always outnumbered martial artists. Those ancient mighty figures mostly walked the path of cultivation. Cultivators don’t need to rely on external objects to achieve the Yang Spirit, then forge a Life Palace and form a Primordial Embryo.
“But martial arts were different. For a very long time, martial artists could only reach First Grade. Beyond that, there was no path.
“That was until ten thousand years ago, when the True Martial Emperor rose to prominence and pioneered a path where strange items could be used to open the body’s Divine Repository. He then forged the Life Palace and formed the Primordial Embryo, just like the great cultivation masters. Only then did martial arts begin to flourish.
“In these ten thousand years, martial arts have become increasingly prosperous. Meanwhile, cultivation has gradually declined, due to the extreme requirements on talent and temperament.
“As to why such wondrous treasures cannot be nurtured in the human world, the sages of all eras have also pondered this. But there has never been a convincing answer. Perhaps, this was the Creator’s intentional design.”
Chen Ming had heard of the True Martial Emperor. He was the first to establish a hereditary empire. From him onward, this world came to have imperial dynasties.
Before that, the leaders of the human race were chosen based on who held the highest cultivation and reputation.
After all, it was rare for the descendants of cultivators to reach the same heights as their predecessors.
But for martial artists, as long as one was willing to invest enough resources, reaching the Divine Repository Realm was not difficult. That meant certain families could mass-produce Divine Repository Realm experts—equivalent to the Yang Spirit of cultivators.
With a large enough base, one would eventually give rise to someone who achieved the Life Palace Realm. Combined with a military force, that would be enough to suppress the world.
The dynasty founded by the True Martial Emperor lasted a thousand years. Later, a series of foolish emperors ruined it.
After that came the Eternal Life Emperor, who swept across the world and founded an Eternal Life Immortal Dynasty—unprecedented and unmatched. Its influence continues to this day.
Just the nine false tombs left behind by that emperor were enough to throw the world into chaos and eventually give rise to the Eternal Life Cult.
…
Chen Ming then asked, “How many secret realms are there in this world?”
Xia Shaowen said, “No one knows exactly how many secret realms exist. In fact, there may still be some that have yet to be discovered.”
He asked again, “Do the strange items produced by different secret realms have varying effects when used to open the Divine Repository?”
Xia Shaowen answered the key point, “Naturally. Secret realms also have different grades. Generally speaking, each secret realm only produces one type of strange item. And each time it opens, only one item is produced.
“Many years ago, the First Pavilion of the World established a grading standard for secret realms: lower grade, middle grade, upper grade, and supreme grade. Beyond that is the Heavenly Residence.
“Lower-grade secret realms produce lower-grade strange items, and so on. The higher the item’s grade, the better the effect when opening the Divine Repository. If one wishes to go further on the martial path and forge a Life Palace, at the very least, one must use an upper-grade item to open the Divine Repository.”
Chen Ming listened intently. This kind of knowledge was usually a family secret—not something just anyone would teach. Gu Haochuan had only mentioned a bit before and had refused to say more.
He then asked, “Where exactly in the body is the Divine Repository?”
Xia Shaowen said, “The human body has five Divine Repositories: the Repository of Blood, Repository of Strength, Repository of Yuan Sea, Repository of Heart, and the Purple Mansion Repository. Each corresponds to a different attribute of strange item.
“This means that to open all five Divine Repositories of the human body, one must obtain quotas from at least five different secret realms. Therefore, clans and sects often trade among themselves to exchange the quotas they possess.”
At this, he paused and sighed, “The secret realm I obtained happens to be an upper-grade one. The rule is that at least five First Grade martial artists must be gathered to enter. Which means five people compete for one strange item.
“You can imagine how difficult it is to open all five Divine Repositories of the body.”
Chen Ming said, “With a secret realm in hand, Uncle can trade with others and eventually gather five strange items to open all Divine Repositories.”
Xia Shaowen shook his head, “It’s not that easy.”
Chen Ming suddenly thought of the secret realm token he had acquired at Huanshou Mountain and wondered what grade it was.
He asked, “What about the Heavenly Residence? How is it different from an ordinary secret realm?”
Xia Shaowen said, “The reason it’s called the Heavenly Residence is naturally because it contains immortals. However, I’ve never entered one myself. It’s just hearsay.”
At that moment, Madam Xia added, “The biggest difference between the Heavenly Residence and secret realms is that the immortals inside the Heavenly Residence have fully developed intelligence, no different from ours. Moreover, if a certain price is paid, they can even leave the Heavenly Residence and enter the mortal world.”
Chen Ming thought to himself, That I know—the Empress Dowager and Empress of the Great Jin Dynasty both came from the Heavenly Residence.
That secret had been revealed to him by the Nine Nether Demon Venerable.
He caught onto a key point, “So Aunt means that beings within ordinary secret realms don’t have high intelligence?”
But Xia Shaowen shook his head, “It’s not that their intelligence is low. Rather, they’re bound by the special laws of the secret realm and cannot leave that world, nor can they comprehend the affairs of the human world.”
Chen Ming began to feel suspicious. The more he listened, the more those so-called beings of the secret realms seemed like NPCs.
So far, the only time he had encountered living beings in a secret realm was in the Ink Secret Realm, where the painted figures had felt just like NPCs.
Next time he entered a secret realm, he could test this theory.
Xia Shaowen specifically warned, “Seventh Lang, if possible, you must use a supreme-grade strange item to open your Divine Repository. It’s said that doing so can grant one extraordinary abilities. The top experts of the world have all used supreme-grade strange items to open their Divine Repositories.”
Chen Ming nodded, “Thank you for the reminder, Uncle.”
Xia Shaowen said, “Since you took first place in the Trial, you naturally received a quota for a supreme-grade secret realm. Do not, under any circumstances, give this quota to others in the Gu Family. Know that supreme-grade secret realm quotas are extremely rare. Don’t ruin your martial path for a moment of compassion.”
Even after reminding him, he still felt uneasy. “Fine then. If the Gu Family pushes too hard, just say I forcibly took the quota from you as part of the bride price for your marriage to Yan’er. That way, they won’t trouble you.”
Chen Ming felt warmth in his heart, knowing he meant well.
Such a situation would almost certainly occur. Gu Haochuan was already at the peak of First Grade—how could he not covet a supreme-grade secret realm quota?
This quota was likely the object of desire for many in the Gu Family.
But right now, they still didn’t know how the emperor would deal with them, so it was too soon to speak of this.
…
Before he knew it, the night had passed.
Chen Ming had spent the entire night consulting Xia Shaowen on martial cultivation and the many secrets of the Divine Repository Realm. It wasn’t until dawn that they finally fell silent. He sat cross-legged on the spot and began to regulate his breath.
It wasn’t that he had no more questions—but something unexpected had happened.
Just a moment ago, he suddenly remembered the purple jade volume left behind after the Celestial Master’s death. When he reached out to touch it, he found it had vanished—this startled him greatly.
So, he sat down and began trying to recall when it had gone missing.
After going over everything carefully, he realized something was off.
“When I left the Tower of Merits, the booklet was already gone. Could it have been left there?”
Chen Ming was about to call upon the Nine Nether Demon Venerable when he suddenly had a thought and plunged his consciousness into his sea of awareness.
There, he saw the purple booklet lying quietly.
“So it really is here?”
He was shocked. When had it entered his sea of awareness?
He hadn’t noticed at all. It seemed to have happened naturally.
He thought of the sea of awareness because this purple booklet had been left behind after destroying the Celestial Master’s Yang Spirit. Where could he have stored it back then?
Only in the sea of awareness.
“Can I take it out?”
He thought about it and tried to “touch” the booklet with his mind.
As soon as his consciousness touched it, his mind was flooded with countless words—the contents of the 《Purple Mansion Secret Volume》.
A long while later, he finally recovered.
Within the 《Purple Mansion Secret Volume》 was a complete cultivation method, from beginner level all the way to the formation of the Primordial Embryo.
However, he had already been cultivating the 《Five Elements True Art》 and had spent so many experience points to push it to Second Grade, nearly First Grade. Naturally, he couldn’t switch to a different cultivation method now.
Still, several of the secret arts within made him salivate—especially the 《Nine Heavens Divine Thunder》. It was one of the world’s most powerful lightning techniques, capable of devastating destruction. It was the signature technique of the Celestial Master Residence, a legacy art of the sect.