Chapter 457: Chapter 422: The Eight Immortals Cross the Sea, Martial Arts Destiny, and Unusual Resonance!
Meng Chuan took out Pei Shan’s crystal ball and asked:
"Principal, I obtained this from the demon path leader in Fucheng. It doesn’t seem like a demonic magical artifact to me. Can you take a look?"
Yang Huan casually received it, glanced at it, and returned it to Meng Chuan:
"This is a crystal ball used for testing magical power from the Western side. It’s rare in Great Chu.
The Demon Summoning Hall has many branch locations across the sea, so having this is reasonable."
Meng Chuan asked again:
"Magical power... is it what we refer to as the ’spirit’?"
"Correct. The Martial Arts inheritance in Great Chu has thousands of years. Whether in the Ancient Martial Era or today’s Qi Blood Martial Arts Era, it emphasizes the unity of essence, qi, and spirit, coordinating all three, practicing all three flowers.
Countries like Meilijian and Yingguo, these Western martial powerhouses, how long have they developed? They lack the martial arts foundation of practicing all three flowers.
They only hitched a ride during the Qi Blood Martial Arts Era. To take shortcuts, they specifically categorized three so-called ’martial arts professions’ based on essence, qi, and spirit.
There are fighters who enhance physical strength, specializing in ’essence,’ and qigong masters who temper the internal life of ’qi.’
Finally, influenced by scientific trends, merging Western alchemy theory, the mage group believes ’magic is yet-to-be-understood science.’
This profession is rarest in the West, requiring magical power, also known as spiritual power testing. To see if one is qualified to ’transfer profession’ in this path, the crystal ball you captured is used for this.
As for other functions you saw the demon path use, they’re just messing around. It’s not worth mentioning."
Meng Chuan instantly understood. Isn’t this the thing the West uses to test ’spiritual roots’...
He suddenly recalled earlier, when he extended his perception into it, the crystal ball flashed. He asked Principal Yang what it meant.
Yang Huan couldn’t hold back his laughter and said:
"Hahaha, this indicates that you have a weak foundation, and in this lifetime, you have no fate with being a ’mage.’
"..."
"Alright, our country is about to develop an instrument unique to Great Chu based on this thing, which digitally displays the three flowers.
Just like a Qi Blood detector, it can intuitively show the respective strength values of the three flowers and the level of foundation thickness.
I have experienced the test, and just for testing ’spirit,’ it’s much better than this crystal ball.
You should sell this to the school. Our main campus has a cooperative lab with the country for the three-flower digital display.
It’s of no use to you. When the better ones are developed, you can use those instead."
Meng Chuan nodded and then directly gave the crystal ball to Principal Yang.
This thing, apart from being able to humiliate him, seems to have no other use...
Yang Huan took it, flipped his hand, and stored it in his internal universe, saying:
"The academic office will issue you the credits tomorrow. I don’t know how much this is worth, but more than a thousand should not be a big problem."
Meng Chuan nodded. Over a thousand credits are an unexpected gain; selling it to the school is fine.
Seeing it was late, Yang Huan finally mentioned the main point:
"By the way, Xiaomeng, where the incense of the Eight Immortals, including Lüzu, was originally worshipped, you know, right?"
Meng Chuan nodded. The Eight Immortals Nunnery in Yong’an City, he had visited as a child.
"The martial temple’s reform has been completed. Now, the Eight Immortals Nunnery has been renamed to ’Ding Xian Temple.’ Its Daoist head wants to meet you to thank you in person for the Fucheng matter.
Visit before you depart. Sun Yang Daojun is well-known for being approachable and caring for juniors. You might get rewarded when you go."
"Understood, I’ll go tomorrow."
...
After Yang Huan left, the courtyard returned to peace.
Time slowly passed, and by ten at night, the starry sky was full of stars.
Meng Chuan introspected within himself, letting the demonic internal breath circulate slowly.
With the Heart Technique, it promoted new qi blood, making up for yesterday’s cultivation.
Todays’ Pile Skill will be put off for now; his meridian cultivation will not regress.
Occasional delays due to events are okay.
Another major circulation ended, and while Meng Chuan cultivated with the Qi Observation Skill, he recalled Yang Huan’s earlier words.
Meng Chuan thought to himself:
Back then, when he was particularly young, the ’National Righteousness Fist’ hadn’t reached Perfection yet...
At that time, Meng Yiyi was taking the middle school entrance exam, and his aunt went to the Eight Immortals Nunnery to draw lots for fortune. He went along for a tour.
Meng Chuan didn’t have a lasting impression of the nunnery back then.
He only remembered that outside the gate, there were many fraud fortune tellers holding onto him and refusing to let go.
There were also many worshippers shaking lots in the nunnery, with numerous bronze furnaces in the main hall, incense smoke curling.
"In my memory, the incense of the Eight Immortals was quite flourishing. Didn’t expect even so, it couldn’t escape the demonic taint..."
Logically speaking, the Eight Immortals are quite well-known divine figures in Great Chu.
The most famous story "The Eight Immortals Cross the Sea, Each Shows Divine Powers" originated from here as well.
Now, falling victim to demonic hands, what went wrong?
At the same time, Meng Chuan had a guess in his mind.
That is the ’martial arts fortune.’
Just like the Great Brahma in the Western Regions, also a widely known great deity.
Even revered by the Esoteric Sect as one of the twelve protective Celestial Kings, yet couldn’t escape the demonic taint.
Meng Chuan found commonality between the two, which is the lack of sufficient martial arts fortune protection.
What is martial arts fortune? Meng Chuan learned from sages like Xun the Great Saint and other predecessors.
It is the comprehensive reflection of a martial artist’s talent, strength, will, chance, and interaction with heaven and earth.
It is closely related to the cultivation and destiny of the martial arts family.
Those with great fortune encounter opportunities continually, learn top-tier cultivation techniques from famous masters, and can survive even in dire straits;
For those with poor fortune, cultivation is difficult, often encountering setbacks and breaking through bottlenecks is as hard as ascending to the heavens.
Chu Yanlong often says that he is someone with great fortune, with an astonishingly dense Martial Arts fortune.
However, Meng Chuan does not see it that way; he considers himself just an ordinary person who works hard...
He has already formed a hypothesis in his mind:
Since Great Chu entered the Qi Blood Martial Arts Era, things like fortune-telling and fate consulting have been labeled as superstition.
In addition, the Eight Immortals Abbey stuck to the traditional incense method and failed to transition in time to the Qi Blood Martial Arts system.
The disciples of the abbey are engrossed in old practices like divination and fortune reading, lacking top-tier guidance in martial cultivation and insufficient resources, resulting in a continuous loss of Martial Arts fortune.
Reflecting on the Eight Immortals demon contamination, Meng Chuan suspects it is because the abbey couldn’t keep up with the times, and its martial fortune is too poor!
Falling behind results in being beaten, this is an absolute truth.
Back then, Meng Chuan, even without achieving perpetual testimony.
He never considered Yong’an’s second-tier Martial Arts University, the Eight Immortals Martial Arts Academy...
Figures like Daojun Wuyang, the Eight Immortals Abbey only had one such person in a thousand years, could only be described as "a small temple that produces a flood dragon."
Just like he emerged from Ping’an Middle School, it’s a rare exception.
Upon thinking of this, Meng Chuan increasingly felt:
The maintenance of deity and incense faith seems to be more detrimental than beneficial with the emergence of the Celestial Demon.
While it’s a cultural bond that can gather group identity, and the ethics and doctrines it carries can regulate people’s behavior.
But in today’s situation, as Meng Chuan would say:
"With the current times, who the hell still believes!"
He had witnessed the power of incense faith in Fucheng.
At that time, he exhausted all means, if not for realizing the form of [Intention].
To save Chen Xuan, he would have had to reveal a secret identity and use the epic move [Star Annihilation] with Tao Heart Demon Seed.
Even then, Meng Chuan wasn’t absolutely sure if [Star Annihilation] could harm these intangible forces.
The ancient demons hidden in the ultimate darkness, the Divine Power of incense they gained far exceeded that imp on Chen Xuan that day by thousands of times.
"Only discovering the temple after the fact to remedy the situation felt like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted..."
At this point, Meng Chuan decided not to dwell further on this matter.
He’s just an insignificant person, what he says doesn’t count.
Moreover, if he can think of it, could the Great Chu authorities not?
Perhaps there is... something hidden.
Also, with True Martial Emperor worshipped by Wudang, and Sakyamuni revered by Shaolin.
If Great Chu were to take coercive measures against these two martial sanctuaries.
Meng Chuan was concerned that they would take the lead in rebelling...
Returning his focus, he continued to practice mental cultivation techniques, quietly gathering strength.
He, like most people at the Four-sided Alliance University, thought.
Everything else is false, only the martial strength cultivated bit by bit is genuine.
With a firm mind, Meng Chuan practiced with extraordinary ease, feeling increasingly comforted.
The reason he didn’t believe in incense and deities, apart from past life wisdom and this life’s growth experiences.
Most importantly, Meng Chuan always felt worshipping deities.
Like implanting an ancestor into one’s heart, finding something elusive to press oneself down.
This behavior contradicted his lofty aspirations, or [Martial Arts Will].
Sometimes when he practiced hard skills, he would bow to the two Buddhist figures on the wall.
It was only for a bit of mental comfort, jokingly.
Even when he was determined to save Mahabrahma, he never offered a single incense stick to It!
This kind of behavior hinders one’s Martial Arts Will, which Meng Chuan would never do.
After ten minutes of calming his breath, his mind also received a notification:
[Qi Observation Skill: Proficient (14%) → (15%)]
Meng Chuan inhaled and exhaled, white mist appearing under the night.
Feeling the various spiritual sensations in the air, he marveled:
"No wonder it’s the wisdom of ancient Qi Refiners, this method not only helps me to comprehend nature but also aids in differentiating the origins of Qi in battle, benefiting a better response."
Earlier at the martial arts hall, his perception hadn’t realized.
But he "smelled" the Qi of demonic and dragon-tiger momentum in the air, which prompted him to rush over quickly.
If not for that, Chen Xuan might not have held on until his arrival, and would have been destroyed along with Zheng Chengcheng’s Celestial King backhand...
Once again activating Qi Observation Skill, Meng Chuan prepared to practice for ten more minutes before sleeping, as he had to set out officially the next morning.
Moving his gaze to the courtyard’s flowers and plants, he smelled the thriving aura among them;
Upon moving to the Star Soup, he detected the integration of sulfur minerals and geothermal breath, smelling profound vitality;
then transferring to...
No, wait!
While operating Qi Observation Skill, Meng Chuan suddenly sensed abnormal fluctuations in the magnetic field around him.
Raising his head sharply to look at the sky, he "smelled" an "unusual" aura in the air.
This Qi from an unknown direction above, Meng Chuan couldn’t articulate.
It seemed discordant with this era, carrying some ancient charm.
His Qi Observation Skill seemed to inadvertently resonate with something unknown in the void...
