Longevity Martial Arts: Starting from Inner Core Skill

Chapter 432: Chapter 15 Zhong Perishes

After encountering the eyes parasitizing the vortex in the Spirit World last time, Wang Sheng had already roughly guessed some things, all the more so after he had driven away an origin-unknown Heavenly Demon True Monarch. Hence, when Zhong spoke, he said this.

From Zhong’s words, it could be judged that Zhong must have long known about this matter.

“Do you want to resist those outsiders?”

Now he finally understood why Zhong initially wanted to recruit him, he was looking for allies.

Zhong didn’t deny it.

“In that case, why did you want to annihilate the Human Race? Shouldn’t it be better to have more living creatures?”

Even in a world where personal power reigned supreme, to oppose external enemies, having more living creatures was definitely advantageous since it increased the chances of stronger beings emerging.

Hearing this, Zhong was shaken and said, “That’s because you don’t know how strong those people are, they are absolutely not something we can confront now, their strong ones could easily defeat us!”

“Have you seen them?”

“…” Silence for a while, Zhong nodded, “I have!”

If he hadn’t seen them, how could he possibly be so afraid?

Perhaps recalling something, Zhong said, “Around six thousand years ago, the Human Race, whose strength was comparable to the Spirit Clan, suddenly produced someone who surpassed the most powerful Master of Destiny at that time. The Master of Destiny’s power was beyond imagination and easily suppressed the Spirit Clan.

Competition among the Ten Thousand Spirits was nothing unusual, but in less than a century, I discovered a serious problem. Since you know my identity, you must also know what the problem was, right?”

“The matter of the Spirit Clan transforming into the Human Race and Demon Clan, or the issue of power limitations?” Wang Sheng replied.

“You seem to possess a lot of information. Yes, that’s right, these issues arose about a hundred years after the birth of the Master of Destiny. But what’s different from the current rumors among the Spirit Clan is, at that time, I only found problems with the Spirit Clan and thought it targeted only us, so I resisted, and the result – you know… However, there’s more to this matter…”

Wang Sheng nodded. According to the Spirit Clan Elders, Zhong died after failing to resist the Heavenly Father, but now he was alive and well, which obviously meant something had happened.

“That time, I thought I was surely going to die, so I left many contingencies. After fleeing from that failure, surprisingly, I succeeded and ended up in an unknown place. There, I obtained something that has allowed me to live from six thousand years ago until now, the ‘immortal essence’.”

“Immortal essence?” Wang Sheng was hearing this concept for the first time; clearly, it was a rare treasure.

Even Qi, who established the first dynasty, lived only for two thousand years, yet Zhong had lived for at least six thousand years.

“Immortal essence was the name I gave it; when I obtained this thing, I thought I had fallen into the Immortal Realm.”

“At first, I couldn’t find a way to leave, so I could only explore and live there until I encountered a strange gas.”

“The gas seemed to have properties close to that of living beings. The moment I approached it, it entered my body. In that instant, I understood that my lifespan had been significantly extended, at least ten thousand years if nothing unforeseen occurred. At the same time, I discovered that my cultivation could no longer increase my lifespan.”

“However, at that time, the strongest beings lived only a few hundred years—ten thousand years was already an immense fortune.”

“After that, I cultivated there, wanting to see if I could Breakthrough the limitations in the Immortal Realm. Unfortunately, it was still not possible. At that time, I vaguely realized that the place I was in might still be the original world; indeed, it was so. After about a dozen years, that place dissipated, and I returned to this world. My lifespan was long, but my power was not sufficient, so I could only proceed slowly. That waiting was over a thousand years.”

“Over a thousand years…” Even though Wang Sheng hadn’t experienced it, he knew what an incredibly long period that was, “In a thousand years, did you do nothing?”

“Of course not,” Zhong immediately refuted, “As I said, at first I thought those limitations were only against the Spirit Clan, but then I investigated and found that it was the same for the Human Race. The strongest power one could reach was only a Great Grandmaster…”

After a series of events, he realized how problematic the Qi Fortune Grandmaster System truly was.

“At the beginning, only members of the Jiang Family could reach the level of Master of Destiny. However, later I found that even Qi could only live for two thousand years, so I took action. Every time the dynasty changed, I did things in the shadows. Four thousand years ago, under the first dynasty, other royal dynasties and the Spirit Clan Elders’ inheritance appeared. I also covertly altered them, releasing more information…”

These words made Wang Sheng realize how much Zhong had done. The major events that happened during the dynastic changes of the first Emperor were actually Zhong’s clandestine actions.

“Then how did you discover the situation with the outsiders?”

Zhong recalled:

“About two thousand years ago, when I was planning to take action again, I encountered an offworld traveler. That person claimed to be a Traveler, saying his avatar had unintentionally come to our world, wanting to collect treasures. The immortal essence on me was one such immense treasure…”

“Perhaps because of the avatar, I ultimately won the victory, and due to my special talents, I retained a bit of his memory and I gained a portion of the Traveler’s memory. Accompanied by the memory was a trans-temporal attack… I can never forget the horror of that attack, but that attack was inadvertently blocked by the first dynasty at a great cost…”

Zhong, still feeling chills when he recalled that attack, had realized his insignificance at that moment.

“Not long after, I digested that portion of memory and came to know some things.”

“The world of the Traveler is going to invade our world?” This was not difficult to guess.

“Yes,” Zhong nodded in acknowledgment, “the Traveler is not really a traveler; he simply wanted to bypass people of the same level in that world and come to our world early to gain benefits due to his uniqueness…”

“From that memory, I learned that their world is much stronger than ours, after all, just the Traveler’s attacks through space caused the Emperor of the First Dynasty to pay a great price to intercept.”

“No, if it costs a great deal to intercept attacks through space from the Traveler, our world should have no ability to resist.” Wang Sheng found something amiss about this.

Zhong continued, “Because it also cost the Traveler a huge price to attack through space, he did this because his lifespan was running out, and he wanted to obtain the longevity qi that I hadn’t fully digested by all means. Unfortunately, he failed, and now, if nothing unexpected happened, he should be dead…”

At this point, Zhong seemed somewhat relieved.

“If the Traveler had not died and obtained the longevity qi, with his spatial expertise, our world would probably have been invaded by now. But even without him, it would only be a matter of time. According to the Traveler’s memories, they have long been planning in their world, and there are other more reliable methods. Later on, based on my verification, that was indeed the case.”

“In fact, if we had kept developing over the past thousands of years, we wouldn’t necessarily fear them, but we encountered a problem. Your Human Race’s Qi Fortune Grandmaster System has limited the strength advancement of all beings. Others have continuously progressed over thousands of years, while we have been fighting tooth and nail just to resist an attack from one powerful being from another world for the same span of time!

Just think about it, resisting one powerful person was difficult more than two thousand years ago, what about after another two thousand years? Others improve, while we stagnate, and the gap will only widen! Human Race, it’s all the trouble caused by your people!”

Zhong’s emotions were stirred up once more, but this time he calmed down quickly.

“Since then, I’ve realized this problem and even considered persuading the Emperor of the First Dynasty, but alas…”

Zhong did not go on, but obviously, the result must have been unfavorable.

“So I made a different choice.”

“Roughly eighteen hundred years ago, I discovered some connections between the Human Race and the Demon Clan; the Demon Clan could devour humans to advance, but in the end, they could only reach the level of the Great Grandmasters at best. However, I later discovered that the Demon Clan could also establish dynasties, and the dynasties and empires they established were stronger than those of the Human Race at the same level. Thus, I began a thousand-year plan…”

Wang Sheng didn’t need Zhong to explain further; he understood. It probably involved circumventing the First Dynasty to experiment in secret, establishing a Demon Clan empire, and Zhong eventually succeeded, defeating Jiang Yun, but then he encountered Wang Sheng.

“If that’s the case, the Human Race’s qi fortune should be very important to you, so why exterminate the Human Race? Is it out of hatred?”

“…After breaking through the limit with the empire method, the Demon Clan could devour humans to enhance their strength again. I have said that their world is very strong, and even defeating the First Dynasty may not be safe. As soon as I can devour all of the Human Race, my strength will certainly improve even further, which gives me more confidence, but unfortunately…”

Unfortunately, Wang Sheng appeared and easily suppressed him.

Of course, after being defeated by Jiang Yun, he also understood that even without Wang Sheng, he would have failed.

“We have been under their surveillance, never giving us a glimmer of hope…” Zhong’s tone calmed down, then suddenly became agitated again, but this time it was not madness and resentment but a choke full of unwillingness.

“If it hadn’t been for your Human Race’s creation of the Qi Fortune Grandmaster System, it wouldn’t have come to this. If we had developed normally, we wouldn’t be weaker than them. Do you know? In the war of world invasion, not only the Human Race will die, but all beings will die… Since it’s a sin committed by the Human Race, then it should be the Human Race that atones for it!”

Zhong’s emotions were uncontrollable, perhaps expressing his frustrations had granted his heart some release, he even cried out loud.

Wang Sheng’s expression became complex; his Divine Thought was always running, and he knew Zhong had not lied in a single word.

Six thousand years ago, he made sacrifices for the Spirit Clan and was lucky to survive; eighteen hundred years ago, he took the very path he had once resisted, for the sake of the world.

For the first time, Wang Sheng hesitated.

However, as he was hesitating, Zhong gradually calmed down.

“Can you let me go? With your means, you should not be afraid of my breaking free.”

Wang Sheng released him; he indeed was not afraid.

After being released, Zhong made no other moves, seemingly resting, and after a long while, he opened his serpent-like eyes, as resolute as ever.

But at that moment, he had already lost the breath of life, only leaving behind a message with a special method.

“I transformed into a member of the Demon Clan, devoured tens of thousands of the Human Race, an irreconcilable contradiction. But the Spirit Clan has always been steadfast, and I hope you won’t trouble them. There are many treasures hidden in this world, and if the Spirit Clan’s talents are restored, perhaps they can help you.

Moreover, whether it’s the Qi Fortune Grandmaster System or the Demon Clan, they are aberrations that should not exist. As such, perish with me, for with your strength, the remaining Demon Clan are not an issue.

Thousands of years of persistence are nothing but an easily solvable nuisance in the eyes of those beings. What was it all for, after all…”

(One and a half hours ago, there’s one more chapter, if you can’t hold up, go to sleep early… Also, it’s the end of the month, I ask for some monthly votes!)