Chapter 69

“`

[Name: Liu Yuan (Lin Yuan)]

[Status: Holder of the Myriad Realms Gate]

[Bound Talent: Against-Heaven’s Understanding]

[Current State: Consciousness Descent]

[Remaining Residence Time: One hundred fifty-four years]

…

In the Eastern Palace, Lin Yuan glanced at the Myriad Realms Gate panel.

Without realizing it, he had already spent six years in this world.

During these six years, Lin Yuan could say his life was extremely comfortable, having whatever he desired.

Given Emperor Liu Shi’s indulgence towards him, even if Lin Yuan expressed a wish for the stars in the sky,

Emperor Liu Shi would probably consider it.

After some contemplation, Lin Yuan stepped out of the Eastern Palace.

He arrived in front of a wooden tower deep within the Imperial Palace.

This wooden tower looked extremely ordinary.

But there was a large number of Imperial Guards patrolling the vicinity.

Lin Yuan didn’t stop, walking straight towards the entrance of the tower.

“Pay our respects to the Crown Prince.”

“Pay our respects to His Highness the Crown Prince.”

The patrolling Imperial Guards immediately bowed in an extremely respectful manner upon seeing Lin Yuan.

There was no help for it; as the sole heir of the current Emperor,

Lin Yuan was enthroned as the Crown Prince at the age of five.

This was extremely rare throughout the history of the Greater Yan Dynasty.

Even for the eldest legitimate son,

it was only possible to be enthroned as the Crown Prince after reaching adulthood and undergoing the coronation ceremony.

And even after becoming the Crown Prince, he would still be subjected to the Emperor’s wariness.

The presence of a Crown Prince certainly stabilizes the court situation, but it also divides the Emperor’s power and influence to a certain extent.

It was not like Emperor Liu Shi indulging him. If Lin Yuan were not so young,

Emperor Liu Shi would probably let Lin Yuan supervise the state, getting accustomed to what it would be like to be Emperor.

Lin Yuan entered the wooden tower.

This place was a forbidden area of the Greater Yan Dynasty.

It housed the most powerful techniques and secret methods of the Greater Yan Dynasty.

Just taking out one of them would incite a bloody storm in the outside world.

Years ago, Lin Yuan asked Emperor Liu Shi if he could take a look inside the wooden tower.

Emperor Liu Shi agreed without a second thought.

Firstly, while the tower was indeed a forbidden area,

who was Lin Yuan? He was his son, the future Emperor of the Greater Yan Dynasty.

What was wrong with entering the wooden tower?

Secondly, Emperor Liu Shi felt that Lin Yuan was simply acting out of curiosity.

How old was Lin Yuan at that time? Could he understand the profound techniques and secret methods within the tower?

He probably expected that Lin Yuan would lose interest after playing around for a while.

Emperor Liu Shi could never have dreamed that in just less than two years,

Lin Yuan had fully grasped and even innovated upon the many techniques and secret methods that the Greater Yan Dynasty had compiled over thousands of years.

“The cultivation system of this world…”

Lin Yuan found a corner to sit down at random.

His expression fell into a brief contemplation.

In the Greater Yan Dynasty, or rather the entire Central Plains Thirty-Six Kingdoms,

the essence of the cultivation system was about the same.

Specifically, it was divided into seven stages—

Body Refinement, Tendon Refinement, Skin Refinement, Bone Refinement, Organ Refinement, Marrow Refinement, and finally Blood Refining.

The corresponding realms were: Martial Apprentice, Martial Apprentice, Martial Master, Innate Martial Master, Great Grandmaster, and Martial Saint.

In simple terms, ‘Body Refinement’ Martial Apprentice, ‘Tendon Refinement’ Martial Apprentice, ‘Skin Refinement’ Martial Master, ‘Bone Refinement’ Martial Master, ‘Organ Refinement’ Innate Martial Master, ‘Marrow Refinement’ Great Grandmaster, and ‘Blood Refining’ Martial Saint.

According to Lin Yuan’s judgment, the strongest ‘Blood Refining’ Martial Saint, whose blood and qi integrate into one, is equivalent to the Second Layer pinnacle level of the Main World.

However,

Lin Yuan noticed something amiss.

That is, the cultivation system of the Central Plains Thirty-Six Kingdoms, when traced back to its roots, is merely about tempering the body and strengthening the blood and qi.

As for the soul and spirit, there is not the slightest involvement.

Not to mention, even the first world that Lin Yuan traversed began developing ‘spiritual supernatural powers’ at the Grandmaster level.

It doesn’t make sense for the ‘Blood Refining’ Martial Saint, comparable to the Second Layer pinnacle, to not touch on it at all.

“Weapons Master…”

Lin Yuan muttered to himself softly.

The cultivation system from Martial Apprentice to Martial Saint,

is just the cultivation system accessible to the ordinary people.

And in this world, there is another set of cultivation systems.

That is to become a Weapons Master.

Weapons Masters can wield Divine Weapons.

And Divine Weapons are the most powerful ‘existence’ in this world.

“`

In the Central Plains Thirty-Six Kingdoms, each kingdom possesses a Nation-Protecting Divine Weapon.

The power of the Divine Weapons is beyond human resistance.

A wielder who drives a Divine Weapon, even a mere wisp of its aura,

Can easily crush ten, a hundred Blood Refinement Martial Saints.

This was also why Emperor Liu Shi had been far more excited upon learning that Lin Yuan possessed the potential to become a Sage Monarch,

Than when showing off his innate physical endowments at birth.

No matter how strong one’s physical endowments, in the future, one might only become a Blood Refinement Martial Saint.

And what counts a Blood Refinement Martial Saint in the face of a wielder?

So long as the Greater Yan Dynasty had a Divine Weapon standing guard, no number of Martial Saints could affect the overall situation.

However, not everyone could become a wielder.

To become one, one must gain the recognition of the Divine Weapon.

And each wielder does not live long.

Rarely does a wielder live to forty years.

This has led the Central Plains Thirty-Six Kingdoms to always have a supply of ‘wielder’ candidates in reserve.

Even so, occasionally there would be a break in the line of ‘wielders’.

The Greater Yan Dynasty is currently facing such a predicament.

But with a Divine Weapon standing guard, and the treaty signed among the Central Plains Thirty-Six Kingdoms,

No problems should arise in the short term.

“The strength of a wielder stems from the Divine Weapon.”

“Merely leaking a trace of its aura could crush ten, a hundred Martial Saints. The power of the Divine Weapon is at least Third Rank, perhaps even borderline Fourth Rank.”

Lin Yuan guessed in his heart.

With his insight, he naturally saw that these so-called ‘wielders’ were but puppets.

The truly powerful entity was naturally the Divine Weapon itself.

Lin Yuan stood up.

He walked to a bookshelf deep in the wooden tower.

He took down an old, tattered manuscript from there.

It contained bits of information on the ‘Divine Weapons’.

This was one of the few channels through which Lin Yuan understood ‘Divine Weapons’.

As for asking Emperor Liu Shi directly… other matters might be negotiable.

But once it came to the ‘Divine Weapons’, Emperor Liu Shi would become evasive and deeply guarded.

It seemed that he did not want his son to know about the ‘Divine Weapons’ so soon.

Lin Yuan slowly flipped through the manuscript.

Even though he had already committed its contents to memory.

It still stirred up ripples in his heart.

“All thirty-six kingdoms of the Central Plains have Divine Weapons standing guard.”

“It appears tranquil throughout the world, but the living sacrifices needed by each Divine Weapon are enormous.”

“If the requirements are not met, the thirty-six Divine Weapons will ‘awaken’ on their own and seek out sacrifices.”

“When that time comes, it will be a disaster for all living beings.”

“I wonder if these are really Divine Weapons, or…”

The content at the end of the book seemed to be erased.

But Lin Yuan, combining the context, easily deduced what had been removed.

“I wonder if these are really Divine Weapons, or Demonic Weapons.”

Lin Yuan closed the book and returned it to the shelf.

There were hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of volumes collected in the wooden tower.

And since this book was hidden in the deepest part, it was highly improbable that anyone coming in would see it.

Only Lin Yuan, with his Against-Heaven’s Understanding, and having mastered all the martial arts and secret techniques in the tower, would have had the time to find these miscellaneous records.

“Divine Weapons…”

Lin Yuan’s brow furrowed.

The origin of the Divine Weapons was not detailed in the tower’s collection.

It was only known to be related to The Ancient Times, over ten thousand years ago.

All of the Divine Weapons were born at that time.

As for how they came to be and how they created today’s situation, that remains unknown.

Ten thousand years are just too distant.

The Main World was fine since it had entered the space age, and everything could be passed down through data formation.

But in the world Lin Yuan currently inhabited, just a little war or human calamity could lead to a ‘disruption’.

“This world…”

A peculiar expression crossed Lin Yuan’s face.

The living sacrifices needed by the Divine Weapons were better with abundant blood and qi.

And the mainstream cultivation system of this world is purely about physical conditioning and increasing blood and qi.

Both aspects looked normal when viewed separately.

But when combined…

Lin Yuan immediately sensed another layer.

“The people of this world, it seems, are all raised like livestock by these so-called ‘Divine Weapons’.”

“The Central Plains Thirty-Six Kingdoms are like thirty-six farms, and all the people are the cattle, waiting to be consumed by the ‘Divine Weapons’…”

Lin Yuan thought to himself.

He was almost certain that the cultivation system from Martial Apprentice to Martial Saint must have been influenced by the ‘Divine Weapons,’ otherwise it wouldn’t be so ‘deformed’.