Aiden nodded silently.
According to Ward Atrez's words, he should have become number one of the Phenomenon Ranking a thousand years ago by relying on this Corpse Mountain Blood Sea!
Although Chaos Ocean was the number one phenomenon throughout history, the ranking on the Phenomenon Ranking wasn't determined solely on one's phenomenon, but the strength of the martial artist as well.
Even for the same Martial Master phenomenon, the strength displayed by two martial artists releasing it would be worlds apart if they had different levels of comprehension towards it.
Phenomenon Ranking No. 3.
Reverend Jiu, Green Lantern Ancient Scripture.
The appearance of the ancient scripture accompanied by a green lantern booms loudly in the world across all directions, incinerating all living beings and suppressing all demons, ghosts, and beasts. Executed to its peak, it can be considered a top ten skill on the Phenomenon Ranking!
There were a bunch of other Martial Master phenomenons behind the Phenomenon Ranking and they were dizzying. Aiden was extremely curious as he hadn't heard of them before.
Eternal Kingdom, Meandering River Sunset, Crystal Divine Light, Underworld, Thousand Swords United, Amplifying Fog, Limitless Hell, Endless River Mountains, Eastern Purple energy, Seven Floor Pagoda, Holy Radiance, Incinerating Embers…
Every single Martial Master phenomenon had a detailed introduction.
Aiden continued browsing and could roughly deduce the sects or factions the phenomenons belonged to judging from their names and descriptions.
For example, Crystal Divine Light should be a Martial Master phenomenon of Crystal Palace Sect.
The description displayed high regards for Crystal Divine Light and if it was released at its peak, it could be considered as a top ten on the Phenomenon Ranking!
Underworld and Limitless Hell should be Martial Master phenomenons of the dark sects.
As for Seven Floor Pagoda and Holy Radiance, those should be phenomenons of the Buddhist monasteries.
Gradually, Aiden realized that the Phenomenon Ranking was mostly occupied by the super sects of the righteous and demonic sects as well as the various powerful factions of this world.
Of the top hundred or so spots on the Phenomenon Rankings, there were only around 60 Martial Master phenomenons.
Most of them were repeated, coming from different martial artists of the same sect.
After reading through the Phenomenon Ranking, Aiden did not discover any Martial Master phenomenon similar to his.
Frowning slightly, he felt somewhat dejected.
"Eh?"
Suddenly, his expression changed.
At the end of the Phenomenon Ranking was another page.
When Aiden flipped over, he saw that there were also some Martial Master phenomenons listed on the last page.
Those were phenomenons that had appeared once without reappearing or had gone extinct.
First row.
World Cleansing Green Lotus. Originally a phenomenon of South Wind Monastery, the eternal green lotus glowed brightly and had a terrifying strength that could cleanse all evil in the world. This was something that could be considered as a top ten on the Phenomenon Ranking!
However, 10,000 years ago, the Northern Region met with a catastrophe and one of the largest empires in history was destroyed along with South Wind Monastery, leading to the loss of the World Cleansing Green Lotus secret technique.
At that point, Aiden was enlightened.
"So, one of the monasteries that were destroyed in this catastrophe so many years ago was South Wind Monastery. They were also the only ones with this strange and seemingly incredible technique."
Aiden shook his head, a little stunned.
Now that thousands of years have passed, how many people could still remember that flourishing empire and monastery?
If that was the case for a destroyed super sect, a fallen paragon would probably be lost in the sands of time and be forgotten by everyone after a hundred years.
As Aiden continued reading, he could not help but shudder as his eyes lit up.
Primordial Divine Turtle. An amphibious divine being that is lost.
Primordial Soaring Serpent. A fire divine being that is lost.
Legend has it that in the primordial era, the thousands of races fought one another and all life was in turmoil. Blood was shed everywhere as corpses lined the ground.
That massive battle caused the skies to topple and the ground to collapse. Void currents surged everywhere; meteors crashed; the ground caved in while lava spurted everywhere, killing countless lives.
Aiden was in deep thought at this point.
The battle royale of the primordial era was something that he had also heard of briefly from the elderly old man that protected Tai-Liu of the Azure Myst Sect mentioned before. However, he did not know the reason for it, nor could he provide any meaningful detail.
Still, Aiden knew that this was something that could very well be connected to the tragic past of his own people… Despite of them being in different worlds, he could instinctively feel a connection between the two events.
What he knew was that the battle was the reason why only a hundred races were left with thousands of races going extinct. Because of that, his people and the Primals have been wiped out…
Aiden continued reading.
Finally, that battle alarmed two divine beasts of the primordial era, the turtle and serpent to descend at the same time!
The divine turtle managed to carry the heavens with its shell and suppress the void currents with its limbs.
The soaring serpent rose from beneath the ground. With a snake's head, anaconda's body, dragon scales, phoenix wings, no horns nor legs, and strength comparable to a True Dragon, it devoured all the lava and suppressed the volcanoes everywhere.
The appearance of the turtle and snake saved all lives!
Experts of the mortal races who witnessed that were moved and created the two phenomenons by comprehending them.
Throughout history, there would occasionally be martial artists who managed to comprehend the two Martial Master phenomenons of the primordial era. However, none of them could display the same might of the past.
There were rumors that when the Phenomenon Ranking was just created, the two Martial Master phenomenons were listed among the top ten.
Upon seeing this, Aiden suddenly had an epiphany.
He finally understood the meaning behind the two phenomenons.
When he was forming his core, his inner core contained the energies of fire and water which were starkly different. Both of them clashed repeatedly with neither side willing to relent.
As such, the two energies intensified continuously while contesting against one another!
Finally, with the risk of Aiden's body exploding, the two different energies finally stabilized and reached a balance.
At that moment, the energies of fire and water were already at their limits.
That was also the reason why Aiden managed to witness the two shocking scenes of the primordial era!
The divine turtle represented water while the soaring serpent represented fire.
The reason why the Primordial Divine Turtle and Primordial Soaring Serpent were not in the previous iteration of the Phenomenon Ranking wasn't because they weren't strong enough, but because both of them had gone extinct for many years.
Smiling gently, Aiden felt a sense of pride.
No matter the past of the two Martial Master phenomenons, now that the both of them were in his hands in this generation, he was certain that he would definitely be able to release them to an unparalleled degree!
Aiden sorted out the storage bags of Cain Khoren and the other four once more.
There weren't many noteworthy treasures, only some basic elixirs, some meager form of currency, and some artifact weapons – none of them interested Aiden.
Right now, what he wanted the most were secret skill manuals regarding the true secrets of the Inner Core.
The Martial Practitioner realm had the Martial Practitioner manual.
The Martial Knight realm had the Martial Knight manual.
There should be a martial technique for the Martial Master realm as well.
Martial techniques were extremely important to a martial artist's martial speed and rise in strength.
For example, as long as one were to train one of Azure Myst Sect's three secret skills diligently and comprehend it, they would be able to unlock even deeper parts of their Cores and grow even stronger as a result!
That was something rather impressive before reaching higher realms.
With a high end martial technique, a martial artist could halve his effort on his Martial Master realm martial.
However, Azure Myst Sect did not contain any top-tier martial techniques for the Dao of the core.
After the massive battle at Azure Myst Sect mentioned this to Aiden.
The circumstances of Aiden's core formation were rather special as well.
The two different energies of fire and water clashed within his inner core.
Although he managed to suppress fire and water while subduing the turtle and serpent thanks to his strong determination and terrifying physique, it was still a latent danger.
Without the help of a powerful martial technique for the Dao of the core, Aiden was worried that he would run into trouble in the future.
The fact that there weren't any secret martial techniques within the storage bags of the now late Cain Khoren and the others was something Aiden expected as well.
Storage bags mostly contained consumables such as elixirs and spirit stones or spirit weapons used for killing. Most people would not put their secret martial techniques in storage bags.
However, from Lian Hen's storage bag, apart from the Phenomenon Ranking, Aiden discovered a messaging crystal as well.
The content within stirred his interest.
It indicated that there was a dangerous ground known as the Great Forbidden Ruins.
10,000 years ago, the capital of that great empire was destroyed overnight and was reduced to ruins with countless living beings implicated in the tragedy.
Alongside the capital there were two great monasteries of the time, South Wind Monastery and Daring Monastery.
Many treasures were buried within the ruins.
Apart from miraculous elixirs and spirit weapons, there were also lost martial techniques.
It was said that the number one secret skill of the core, Mystic Golden Lotus Technique, was buried along with South Wind Monastery in the ruins. However, no one managed to find it.