In the main world, whether civil or military officials, everyone cultivates martial arts. However, military officials cultivate the Divine Martial Path, which focuses on the physical body, while civil officials cultivate the Immortal Martial Path, which focuses on the primordial spirit.
Whether it's Divine Martial Arts or Immortal Martial Arts, they all fall under the category of martial arts, just like two flowers blooming on the same tree!
Judging from Zheng Xuan's tone just now, it's clear that what Nan Hua Lao Xian cultivates is not martial arts!
Wang Xuan had also thought of this, but it wasn't convenient for him to ask further. Now that Miss Cai Yan had brought it up, he quickly turned to look at Zheng Xuan, looking like a curious child.
“What the Old Immortal of Nanhua cultivates is indeed not martial arts, but the immortal path created by the Supreme Daoist Master!” Zheng Xuan said calmly. “Martial arts is the orthodox path of our world, while the immortal path is not tolerated by the Heavenly Dao and is suppressed.”
"That's why the Old Immortal of Nanhua taught the three Zhang brothers to shout the slogan 'The Azure Heaven is dead, the Yellow Heaven shall rise,' in order to abolish the Martial Dao Azure Heaven and establish the Immortal Dao Xuan Heaven!"
When had Miss Cai Yan ever heard of such a shocking secret? Her cherry-like mouth gaped open in astonishment.
On the contrary, Wang Xuan was already mentally prepared. The Taiping Dao in the Water Margin world had already done something like establishing a separate Heavenly Dao.
Wang Xuan even created a Xuan Tian Will, using it to control the entire Sui and Tang world, and began invading the Water Margin world again.
But the fact that the Supreme Daoist Master had actually created the Immortal Path was what truly astonished Wang Xuan.
In this world where martial arts reign supreme, the Supreme Dao Ancestor's talent is beyond description; it can only be described as unparalleled throughout history!
Wang Xuan even had a vague premonition that the Supreme Daoist of the main world was probably his lifelong enemy.
If he wants to enter the main world as the Dao Ancestor, he must fight the Supreme Dao Venerable and defeat him before he is qualified to call himself the Dao Ancestor in the main world!
Zheng Xuan was naturally unaware that Wang Xuan was planning to compete with the Supreme Daoist Master. He only briefly mentioned the secret from more than ten thousand years ago and turned to look at Wang Xuan and Cai Yan.
"Although there is no threat from the Old Immortal of Nanhua, you can still stay here and listen to the lecture."
"The classes at the front of the Jixia Academy are always open to you. If you want to come to the back of the academy to listen to my lectures, then you will be considered my disciples. You must do two things."
"First, my disciples must be exceptionally intelligent; I will not teach those who are too stupid."
"Secondly, if you are sincerely seeking knowledge, I will naturally be happy to accept you. But if you have come with ulterior motives and your desire to learn is not sincere, then you should return the way you came."
Wang Xuan and Cai Yan exchanged a glance, and both of them couldn't help but smile.
Neither of them were fools; on the contrary, they both possessed exceptional comprehension, thus meeting Zheng Xuan's first requirement.
Cai Yan was a woman who had no ambition for personal gain and a strong desire to learn.
Even Wang Xuan was simply there to learn. After all, he had figured out his cultivation path on his own, and the lack of a good teacher to guide him undoubtedly slowed down his progress.
When his cultivation level was low, Wang Yun could still guide him. But now his cultivation level is about the same as Wang Yun's, and with the Eternal Tower of Heaven and Earth and the Will of Xuan Tian helping him comprehend the Dao, his Dao heart and Dao comprehension are actually superior to Wang Yun's.
"Have you thought this through?" Zheng Xuan's tone was calm, yet it made everyone feel uneasy.
Wang Xuan was involuntarily captivated, and the Eternal Tower of Heaven and Earth in his mind trembled slightly, which brought him back to his senses.
He was horrified, knowing that Zheng Xuan must be testing them with magic.
"Enter my Jixia Academy and dedicate yourself to learning. Can you do that?" Zheng Xuan asked.
Miss Cai Yan replied absentmindedly, "I've come all this way to listen to your lecture, so of course I can do it."
Zheng Xuan nodded and looked at Wang Xuan.
Wang Xuan quickly pretended to be confused and said, "Teacher Zheng, learning makes me happy. I, Wang Xuan, want to learn and listen to your lectures. I have a sincere heart!"
"I didn't expect that this seemingly cunning young man from the Wang family is actually so eager to learn." Zheng Xuan smiled with satisfaction.
The spell he just used is called "Heart-Searching Technique," which can directly examine a person's heart. With his cultivation at the Perfect Celestial Realm, even ordinary Celestial Realm experts would not be able to lie to him.
"Since you two are so eager to learn, and you are also Cai Bojie's daughter and son-in-law, I will accept you as my students."
"What?! Son-in-law?!" Miss Cai Yan's eyes widened in disbelief. She knew perfectly well that her father had said something he shouldn't have in the letter. She wished she could run back to Luoyang immediately and pluck all of Cai Yong's beard.
Chapter 103 Return to Xuan Tian
After testing Wang Xuan and Cai Yan, Zheng Xuan took out two jade slips and tossed them to them.
This is no ordinary jade slip, but a magical artifact, a treasure used by cultivators to store information!
Wang Xuan and Cai Yan each picked up a jade slip, held it firmly against their foreheads, and used their spiritual power to probe into it.
Soon, they obtained a technique called "Righteous Qi Technique," which was a top-level cultivation method left behind by the Confucian school and could be cultivated to the level of supernatural powers!
Of course, what they have received now is not the complete Righteous Qi Manual. It only records the method for cultivating to the point of perfect enlightenment. As for the techniques beyond that, they will have to wait for Zheng Xuan to teach them later.
"The 'Righteous Qi Technique' was created by Confucius more than 10,000 years ago. It is the fundamental method of Confucianism, directly pointing to the realm of supernatural powers, and it is also one of the unique skills of our Jixia Academy." Zheng Xuan directly taught them the 'Righteous Qi Technique,' which was definitely because of Cai Yong and Wang Yun's influence. Ordinary students would not have received this treatment at all.
Wang Xuan carefully read the Righteous Qi Technique in his sea of consciousness, and the more he read, the more amazed he became. This technique was indeed a level above their Wang family's "Purple Sun True Explanation".
Although the "Ziyang Zhenjie" is inherited from the Zhou Dynasty and originated from the Yellow Emperor, the Yellow Emperor's main practice was the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic, which he created himself, while the emperors of the Zhou Dynasty practiced the "Book of Changes" created by King Wen of Zhou!
Ultimately, the "Ziyang True Explanation" was merely a cultivation method practiced by ordinary members of the royal family during the Zhou Dynasty, and it was naturally inferior to the "Haoran Righteous Qi Secret" created by Confucius.
"More importantly, our Wang family's 'Purple Sun True Explanation' is a cultivation method that focuses on physical cultivation, following the path of divine martial arts!" Wang Xuan's eyes gleamed with a sharp light: "While the 'Righteous Qi Technique' uses righteous qi to nourish the primordial spirit, it is a celestial martial arts technique!"
Cultivating both divine and immortal martial arts sounds very tempting; at least within the same realm, it's practically invincible.
Zheng Xuan seemed to have guessed Wang Xuan's thoughts and warned, "If you want to cultivate both the Righteous Qi Technique and the Purple Sun True Explanation at the same time, I advise you to give up this plan as soon as possible."
"The path of cultivation is difficult in the early stages, even more difficult in the middle stages, and in the later stages it is as difficult as ascending to heaven!"
"Even if you specialize in one discipline, it takes thousands of years for a master of the Divine Demon realm to emerge in the entire world. If you cultivate both Divine Martial Arts and Immortal Martial Arts simultaneously, you are destined to never reach the pinnacle of martial arts in this lifetime!"
Wang Xuan outwardly seemed to agree with Zheng Xuan's warning, but in reality, he didn't care at all.
He's someone who's got cheat codes; how could an ordinary person compare to him?
Putting everything else aside, as long as he refines a few worlds of higher level and uses the world's origin as his resources, even if he cultivates both divine and immortal martial arts, he can still become a god and an ancestor!
For the next period of time, Wang Xuan studied under Zheng Xuan, cultivated the Righteous Qi Technique, and even had time to develop a relationship with Miss Cai Yan. He lived a very comfortable life.
The scriptures that Zheng Xuan taught, such as the Six Classics of Confucianism and the Tao Te Ching of Taoism, seemed to have no effect, but in fact they constantly tempered Wang Xuan's Taoist heart, polishing his originally somewhat impure Taoist heart into a clear and exquisite one.
Twenty days passed like this until one day, Wang Xuan suddenly trembled all over, and a feeling entered his mind, making him extremely excited.
It has been more than forty days since Wang Xuan returned to the main world, which is equivalent to more than ten years in the Water Margin world!
Over the course of more than a decade, the will of Xuan Tian had been eroding the world's will in the Water Margin world, and finally, at this moment, it had refined the entire Water Margin world!
The Water Margin world was already at the peak of the low-level martial arts world, and it was about to break through to the mid-level martial arts world. It was only because of the arrival of the otherworldly zombie king that it was greatly weakened and its advancement was affected.
Now that the entire Water Margin world has been refined, the Xuan Tian world has finally achieved a leap in level, breaking through to the level of the Middle Martial World!
Wang Xuan couldn't wait to ask Zheng Xuan for a day off, saying he needed to go out and buy some daily necessities. After leaving the Jixia Academy, he directly used his mind to activate the Eternity of Heaven and Earth, and his entire body disappeared from the main world, teleporting to the Xuan Tian World.
From the outside, the Xuan Tian World at this moment looks like two eggs, one large and one small, squeezed together. The larger egg is the original Sui and Tang Dynasty world, while the smaller egg is naturally the Water Margin world.
Upon entering the Xuan Tian World, Wang Xuan immediately began to resonate with the Xuan Tian Will and analyze the changes in this world.
Before the world advanced, the upper limit of martial power in the Xuan Tian World was the Innate Perfection Realm. To raise one's cultivation to the Martial Dao Realm above the Innate Perfection Realm, one needed the favor of Heaven and the descent of the world's origin.
Now, the upper limit of martial power in the Xuan Tian world has already been raised to the perfect realm of entering the Dao, which can accommodate more experts.
Wang Xuan reached out and touched the spatial ring, and the Azure Nether Sword instantly flew out from it, hovering in front of him.
He leaped onto the blade of the Azure Nether Sword, and then flew on the sword, soaring through the Xuan Tian World.
Wherever it went, everything was full of vitality, and the concentration of spiritual energy in those famous mountains and rivers more than doubled!
"The Xuan Tian World is the foundation for my path to enlightenment, and I must manage it well." In a moment of impulsiveness, Wang Xuan decided to first stage a great war of deification in this world and confer titles upon the gods.
Of course, the deities that Wang Xuan was to bestow titles upon were merely gods of faith, whose strength was immeasurably weaker than that of true masters of the divine and demonic realms.
"I am the Xuan Tian Dao Ancestor! You shall all come to the Golden Summit of Zhongnan Mountain to meet me!" After circling the Xuan Tian World once, Wang Xuan finally stopped at the summit of Zhongnan Mountain. He moved his mouth slightly, directly transmitting his words to the ears of several people through the Xuan Tian Will.
Since the cataclysmic event more than a decade ago, most of the world's top experts have perished, and the world's格局 (geju, a term referring to the overall situation or structure) has become completely solidified.
Today, there are two countries in China: the Tang Dynasty with its capital in Chang'an and the Sui Dynasty with its capital in Luoyang!
In Chang'an, a thousand miles away, Li Shimin sat high in the Golden Palace, listening to his ministers report on state affairs.
In the more than ten years since Wang Xuan left, Li Shimin, just like in the original story, killed his brothers and forced his father to abdicate. Although his hands were stained with blood, he eventually ascended the throne!
As the saying goes, one's environment shapes one's temperament, and having been emperor for so many years, he naturally possessed an aura of majesty that made people dare not look him in the eye!
After listening to his ministers' reports, Li Shimin was about to make a decision when suddenly an irrefutable command echoed in his mind: "I am the Supreme Ancestor of the Tai Xuan Dao! You shall all come to the Golden Summit of Zhongnan Mountain to meet me!"
"What?! The Supreme Dao Ancestor has returned to the mortal realm!!" Li Shimin was horrified. The majesty he had cultivated over the years collapsed in an instant, and he was filled with a sense of panic.
There was no way around it; Wang Xuan had left such a deep impression on him!
You must know that the emperor calls himself the Son of Heaven, while the Tai Xuan Dao Ancestor holds the will of Heaven and can decide the fate of the Tang Dynasty with a single thought!
Li Shimin dared not delay and immediately stood up and shouted, "Men, prepare a fast horse for me immediately! I need to go to Zhongnan Mountain right now!"
Chapter 104 Changes
Li Shimin, accompanied by several hundred martial arts experts as his personal guards, arrived at the foot of Zhongnan Mountain about three days later.
Suddenly his gaze sharpened as he looked into the distance, where another group of people was heading towards Zhongnan Mountain.
Li Shimin estimated in his mind that the enemy numbered around several hundred people, and he immediately felt relieved.
He was certain that the guards he had brought were no less capable than others and could guarantee his safety. These hundreds of guards were all martial arts masters who had reached the Acquired Realm, and they were trained according to the Xuanjia Elite Cavalry left behind by Wang Xuan!
It is worth mentioning that the elite cavalry brought by Li Shimin was also named "Xuanjia Elite Cavalry".
After Wang Xuan left, Qin Qiong and the remaining dozens of Xuanjia elite cavalry were incorporated into Li Shimin's army, and based on this, they trained the Xuanjia elite cavalry into what it is today.
Li Shimin paused here for a moment, and the opposing force had already approached. He could see a large banner in the enemy's formation with a large "Sui" character written on it in a flamboyant style!
"As expected, it must be Emperor Yang Guang of Sui who has arrived!" Li Shimin's face was gloomy. At present, the Sui and Tang dynasties coexisted in the world, and their wars never stopped. Li Shimin and Yang Guang could be called mortal enemies.
More importantly, the Xuan Tian Dao Ancestor summoned not only Li Shimin, but also Yang Guang, which made him feel a sense of crisis.
After all, Wang Xuan had lived in the Luoyang Imperial Palace, and his relationship with Yang Guang was clearly closer than Yang Guang's.
"Hahaha, Li Shimin, I didn't expect you to come too!" Yang Guang laughed loudly from afar, his voice strong and powerful.
More than a decade has passed, yet he shows no signs of aging whatsoever; on the contrary, he appears even younger.
If any expert at the Innate Realm were present, they could immediately discern Yang Guang's true strength or weakness. Over the years, Yang Guang had diligently cultivated the Purple Yang True Explanation passed down by Wang Xuan, and spared no expense in collecting century-old medicinal herbs to nourish himself. Furthermore, with the world's upgrade, the concentration of spiritual energy in heaven and earth had increased several times over, allowing him to break through to the Innate Realm not long ago!
Martial artists at the Innate Realm have a lifespan of 150 years. Yang Guang is only in his fifties or sixties, in the prime of his life!
"Yang Guang, I never expected that you, a foolish ruler, would actually break through to the Innate Realm!" Li Shimin was indignant, and his aura emanated outwards, forcing the surrounding guards to take a step back.