Over one hundred barbarian leaders sat cross-legged in the main hall. Their bodies were blinking with bright gleams of various colors, as each of them was fully covered with numerous restrictive talismans. Their cultivation base was completely sealed off, making sure that they could not circulate even a tiny bit of energy. However, their beast souls were extremely active. They manifested one after another, creeping and struggling crazily but soundlessly. They threw their heads back and roared into the sky while emanating an immense soul ripple that made Wu Qi feel a heavy pressure in his mind.
Wu Qi had seen the unique technique of beast warrior used by Great Yan's Scouting Officers. By borrowing a beast soul's power, an ordinary Houtian warrior could be given the power of a lower-grade Xiantian cultivator. However, the cultivation of beast warrior was extremely difficult. For example, in order to promote his beast soul, the Dark Nether Python, to the realm of Nascent Soul, Qin Qingshui had used up numerous spirit pills and herbs, and many rare and precious natural treasures. And shockingly, these barbarian leaders' beast souls actually had the cultivation base of early-stage Nascent Divinity realm. Only goodness knew how many years had they spent in laborious cultivation, and how many rare and precious treasures were used in the process.
Although the life force contained in the fleshly bodies of these barbarian leaders strangely seemed nearly exhausted, as if the flame of their life could die off at any time, their souls were extremely vigorous. They had fused completely with their beast souls, and were many times stronger than ordinary cultivators at the same realm with them. Their souls were full of vigor, exuding immense and mighty soul ripples to the surroundings ceaselessly. No ordinary cultivators could stand firmly before them.
Wu Qi looked at these barbarian leaders in surprise, pondering over the uniqueness of their beast soul technique.
Beyond all question, Scouting Office's beast warrior cultivation technique was robbed from the barbarians, just like all the other cultivation techniques they owned, which were all robbed from somewhere. But, Wu Qi felt that this cultivation technique of beast souls hid a very profound and unusual element, as if it contained a secret meaning that was far from what his eyes could see now.
All Heaven Immortals had a very powerful divine will and incredible abilities. Although Wu Qi was standing behind Patriarch Jiang Yun's back, he could still see the surprise and pondering expression on Wu Qi's face. Without moving his lips, Patriarch Jiang Yun transmitted his voice into Wu Qi's mind, "This is the orthodox cultivation technique used by the human race during the age when the ancient Human Emperors were in reign. I am surprised that part of the technique can still be found in this place."
In just the time of a breath, Patriarch Jiang Yun explained what exactly was the beast warrior cultivation technique to Wu Qi.
During the reign of ancient Human Emperors, the cultivation technique of beast warriors was the orthodox and most basic technique for the entire human race. The human race was born from the essence of Heaven and Earth, innately possessing great fortune, and destined to be the Master of the Heaven and Earth, the lord to all living beings. However, the freshly born human race was weak and powerless, and they did not have a better way to defend themselves from various dangers found in the natural environment. As a result, some great heroes from the human race used their formidable strength to subdue various mighty beasts, and fused these beasts' souls with their human souls.
The human race was born with three spiritual and seven physical souls, of which corresponded to the universal truth of the Heaven and Earth. And thus, they were given the ability to gain enlightenment through the Heaven and Earth by nature, along with a witty mind. On the contrary, all beasts were born with one spiritual and one physical soul, one spiritual and two physical souls, or two spiritual and two physical souls. In any case, they did not have a complete set of souls. Except for some rare divine beasts born together with the creation of the universe, such as the Ancestral Qilin, Ancestral Phoenix, and some other similar existences, all the other beasts had incomplete souls.
With incomplete souls, they were ignorant and senseless. Even if they were fortunate enough to be bestowed with immortal fate and learn how to cultivate the Dao, they would be faced with many challenges and obstacles, which made it nearly impossible for them to transcend. However, if these beasts gave up their fleshly bodies, fusing their extremely powerful souls with the soul of the human race, they could then slowly absorb the essence from the human race's three spiritual and seven physical souls, completing their souls and obtaining countless benefits.
As the human race solely occupied the fortune of Heaven and Earth, those beasts who had their souls fused with human warriors' souls lent their formidable innate abilities to human warriors and protected the human race from the dangers of the natural environment, would be given a tremendous merit. Carrying this merit with them, when the human warrior came to the end of his life, the beast soul would then enter the transmigration. Then, protected by the merit, it could shake off its beast form and reincarnate into a human being in the next life, or become a higher-ranking immortal or divine beast. And because of the merit, they could retain part of their memories, and it would be easier for them to cultivate in their next life.
And thus, this was a deed that brought mutual benefits. In the ancient age, basically all human warriors would fuse with beast souls, and were able to possess mighty power that allowed them to fight with ancient Heavengods. As a matter of fact, the strongest human warriors in the ancient time could even fuse with the descendants of the legendary four Holy Beasts, and could unleash an incredible power capable to bring down the sky and sink the land. Compared to the ancestors of the human race, Yan Bugui and the other humans in the current age were extremely weak, as they could only fuse with Wind-breaking Wolves of the demon beast grade, and could only possess the power of Xiantian realm.
These barbarians were not barbarians, but the most orthodox descendants of the human race. The various cultivation techniques mastered by them were, in fact, the strange abilities passed down by the forefathers of the human race.
Wu Qi gave the old barbarian leaders a deep look, who were too old to be described with any words. He shook his head.
After explaining the origin of the beast souls to Wu Qi, Patriarch Jiang Yun finally said, "Listen to me you people, we came with no evil intention. We are here to seek the true background of this planet."
None of the barbarian leaders spoke. At last, after the time it took for an incense stick to burn, the oldest among them slowly rose. His skin was densely covered with countless tattoos, and he was leaning against a pitch-dark bone staff. Coldly, he seized up the six Heaven Immortals sitting aloft in the hall, then issued a cold laugh and said, "No evil intention? But why are your people intruding our clans and killing many of our people, then abducting us here? If you did come with evil intentions, could it be that all our people would have been killed by now?"
In a flat tone, Patriarch Jiang Yun said, "That is just a misunderstanding. It was your people who attacked my disciples first."
The old barbarian became quiet. After a brief moment, he nodded his head slowly and said, "My children were always invaded and harassed by these outsiders, and thus, they would attack with full force whenever they saw any of them. You can't blame them for that." Looking around, the old man continued coldly, "Yes, you, all of you. Lay your hands on your hearts and ask yourself, all these years, how many teenage girls of the barbarian clan had you abducted from the forests and mountains?"
The emperor of six dynasties looked at each other, but no one said a word, as only goodness knew the exact number. Great Yan had declared an order to murder any barbarians found in their territory, and every year, countless barbarians were killed by Great Yan's warriors. Apart from Great Chu, the rest of the dynasties had a similar policy. The young and strong barbarian adults were always the target of slaughtering, while beautiful and wild barbarian girls were the collectibles highly sought after by the influential and wealthy clans of various dynasties. And thus, no one could come out with an exact figure as to how many barbarian girls were abducted from the forests and mountains.
Yan Qijun had also taken a Holy Lady of the barbarians as a gift, and with her, gave birth to Princess Zhang Le. Even their Holy Lady was abducted, so how would one expect a better fate for the rest of ordinary barbarians?
The old barbarian snorted coldly, stared at Patriarch Jiang Yun, and said in a deep voice, "Look at them, you mighty Immortals! You can't blame us for that!"
Patriarch Jiang Yun remained unmoved by the old barbarian's words and said coolly, "And you can't blame my disciples. Since you are the one who struck first, you were seeking doom yourself. Now, quickly answer my question, or I'll annihilate your entire clan!" Without reservation, the immense immortal pressure was released completely. Immediately, the frightful immortal pressure from Patriarch Jiang Yun's cultivation base close to Thirty-Fifth Tier Heaven Immortal made these barbarian leaders drop to their knees and be unable to move even a bit.
The old barbarian lied face down on all fours on the ground, sweating profusely. Suddenly, chunks of muscles swelled from his skinny body, turning him into a burly old man. Upon seeing that, Patriarch Jiang Yun laughed coldly, "Still trying to resist stubbornly? Do you really want your entire clan to be annihilated? Answer my question, and you will be freed. No man from these dynasties will harass you in the future, but with the condition that you will not harass those outside your mountains!"
Hearing Patriarch Jiang Yun's words, the old barbarian's body quickly withered. He pondered for a brief moment, and finally nodded and said, "We don't have a long life, in fact, much shorter than of those legendary clan leaders in the ancient time. At most, we can live up to three hundred years, and that is considering a great fortune given to us by the Heaven. Because of that, many records passed down orally from our forefathers have become incomplete."
Standing aside, Lao Ai suddenly sneered and asked, "Why didn't you make books for these records and keep them safe?"
Patriarch Jiang Yun gave Lao Ai a look and nodded slowly, as he too agreed with Lao Ai's question.
The old barbarian rolled his eyes, laughed coldly, and said, "How could we make books for these precious records of ancient, while you keep wantonly plundering all the books of records passed down by our forefathers in many of our clans? In fact, the most important records, including the origin of our clans, are all recorded in our memory! When the time for us to regress with our forefathers come, these will serve as the proof of our origin. If they are robbed by you, what are we going to do then?"
His speech rendered Lao Ai speechless. Twitching his lips, he shut his mouth.
And so, the old barbarian's voice began to slowly echo in the hall. Many, many years ago, this planet did have a name. It was roughly at the time before the last two Great Apocalypses, this planet was called the 'Myriad Immortals Planet', the most famous planet in Minor Heavenly Circle Realm, where numerous cultivators would gather.
When the time of Apocalypse arrived, all races raised and warred with each other, and the world was plunged into a great chaos. It began with the war between the mighty armies of the human race and cultivators, and were followed by the invasion of fiendish demons that came from the outer realm. The war between cultivators, the human race, and fiendish demons went on for several thousand years, with numerous formidable and mighty existences falling during the period. In the end, the leaders of the human race were either killed or severely wounded, and their armies were dispersed into the mountains, who later developed into various clans and an alliance. On the other side, cultivators had almost all their young adults wiped out in the war, and only a very few numbers of cultivator clans managed to survive. As for the fiendish demons, apart from some weakest demons who were fortunate enough to stay alive, all of the strongest fiendish demons vanished without a trace.
The battle of three armies made the Heaven shatter and Earth collapse. It was still a mystery as to who was the culprit, but one of them became so angry from embarrassment that he simply resorted to a forbidden spell. Using it, they shattered millions upon millions of stars and planets in the vicinity of Myriad Immortals Planet, turning this region into a dead zone which no one could leave.
Patriarch Jiang Yun nodded his head and said, "So this is the origin of Flaming Nether Ocean, and it actually traces back to the time before the last two Great Apocalypses!"
While Patriarch Jiang Yun was talking, the rest of the Heaven Immortals could no longer hold down their excitement. Even Bai Xia, who had the most reserved manner, was seen smiling with a bright gleam glinting in her eyes. So, this was a priceless planet preserved since the time before the last two Great Apocalypses. No wonder they could find the people of Long Bo Kingdom and Featherman Kingdom here, although both of them had long become extinct in the Minor Heavenly Circle Realm.
As an Apocalypse was a great calamity for the Heaven and Earth, it would usually turn the natural energies in the surface of the planet into a chaotic state. As a result, for a very long period of time in the future, this planet would not produce any powerful cultivators. Patriarch Jiang Yun counted with his fingers and said, "It explains the matter. This Myriad Immortals Planet has just barely recovered about one hundred thousand years ago, and thus, giving the possibility to the birth of Nascent Divinity cultivators. Before that time, the strongest cultivators could only attain the cultivation base of Nascent Soul realm. Yet, because of the limited years of Nascent Soul cultivators' life, hehe, they don't even have the chance to transcend!"
Wu Qi stepped out hastily and said, "But according to Wanying Dragon King of Longyuan River, two of his ancestors did transcend."
Patriarch Jiang Yun shook his head, smiled lightly, and said, "That must have happened during the last one hundred thousand of years. Perhaps only those two flood dragons knew the name of the planet and what happened during those years. However, perhaps even the current Immortal Monarch in Minor Heavenly Circle Realm has no idea of the exact location of Myriad Immortals Planet. This priceless planet is now truly owned by us, the White Cloud Immortal Sect and Tranquil Vimalā Sect!"
The old Daoist Qing Xin also laughed delightfully and said, "This is a priceless planet preserved since the time before the last two Great Apocalypses. I heard that during the last Great Apocalypse, the Immortal Monarch's clan too had all his descendants wiped out by someone, and all their books of record were completely destroyed. Now, nobody except us knows the exact location of this planet. Therefore, this priceless planet is truly owned by us!"
All six Heaven Immortals could no longer restrain their excitement and broke out into a loud laughter. After they found out the background of this planet, now they could freely develop this planet and use the resources here to greatly strengthen their sects.
Patriarch Jiang Yun sprung up excitedly and said, "Excellent! This is something worth celebrating! Everyone, follow me, as it is time to fully unlock the Cang Ao Immortal Abode!"
Then, some cultivators from two immortal sects came forth and kept their promise by setting the barbarian leaders free, as they were useless at this point in time.
Under the lead of six Heaven Immortals, everyone in the hall rose, while Wu Qi too followed them and walked out from the hall.
And so, the host stepped onto the clouds and flew straight towards the silver light spot right in the center of the lake.