Chapter 22 Origin and Development of Cultivation Techniques

In the military camp of Chu Prefecture City.

"Did Chen Yuan's nephew commit a crime?" a dignified man with a square face asked.

"Yes, General Lin Jian," General Yang Cang at his side replied, "Magistrate Hu Qian sent his subordinate, Constable Zhang Jing, specifically to inform us."

"Chen Yuan's nephew, Chen Qiang, provoked a Cultivator of the State Religion named Yun Bai. Chen Qiang arranged for people to cripple him while Yun Bai was in the Black Prison. In the end, he failed," General Yang Cang explained concisely.

"How did a Cultivator of the State Religion end up in the Black Prison?" General Lin Jian, the city guardian of Chu Prefecture, frowned.

"Chen Qiang took someone with him and tried to seize Yun Bai's property and younger sister while Yun Bai was away. Yun Bai was furious and nearly killed Chen Qiang and his companion. At that time, Yun Bai had just passed the State Religion examination, but the review had not yet been submitted. Therefore, Magistrate Hu Qian had him arrested and detained in the Black Prison," General Yang Cang said helplessly.

"Tell the Chen family to handle this matter themselves. Remember, these are special times; no one is to act recklessly."

"Yes." General Yang Cang hesitated for a moment before adding, "General Lin Jian, after receiving the news, I sent people to carefully inquire about what happened in the Black Prison. This Yun Bai is a promising talent."

"Hmm? What do you mean?" General Lin Jian turned his head to look at General Yang Cang. Usually, General Yang Cang would not add that last part. Since he said it, there must be something more.

"Based on the traces of the fight in the Black Prison, the extent of the damage to the furniture, and the prisoners Yun Bai killed or injured, this Yun Bai is definitely not at the First Realm Early Stage of cultivation, but has already reached the First Realm Mid-stage. However, when I went to ask the Enforcement Elder of the State Religion yesterday, Yun Bai's cultivation was clearly only at the Early Stage when he took the examination."

"This means that within the few days in the Black Prison, Yun Bai broke through to the First Realm Mid-stage," General Yang Cang slowly stated his deduction.

Those in the Initial Realm are called Martial Artists, and only those who break through to the First Realm are called Cultivators.

After breaking through from the Initial Realm to the First Realm, the first time one uses the method of breathing in Spiritual Qi to Cultivate, the improvement to one's cultivation is immense.

According to Daoist teachings, after a fetus is born from the mother's womb, it contains a breath of Innate True Qi.

From then on, it inevitably becomes tainted by the filth of the Mortal World, and even if one continuously tempers their body and bones, it is all merely Acquired.

However, after breaking through to the First Realm, coming into contact with the infusion of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi for the first time will result in a significant improvement.

It is like a person covered in mud; the effect is most obvious when they wash themselves with clean water for the first time.

In the terminology of the Daoist sects, this is called Foundation Establishment.

Even so, it is still very rare to break through to the First Realm Mid-stage like Yun Bai.

But it is also extremely dangerous!

General Lin Jian naturally knew the reason behind this, and he immediately asked, "Do the people of the State Religion know about this?"

"They probably didn't know yesterday, but I just received news that Yun Bai has gone to the National Temple," General Yang Cang said quickly.

"Let's go! Grab him!" General Lin Jian made an immediate decision.

If the State Religion hasn't found any problems with Yun Bai, then he is a talent worth cultivating.

...

At this moment, Yun Bai was immersed in the vastness of the Scripture Pavilion.

He first checked the books in the [Cultivation Technique] category. He urgently needed to figure out what the shadow he encountered last night was all about.

He found a book titled [General Outline of Cultivation Techniques].

The descriptions within it shocked him.

The first section of the General Outline of Cultivation Techniques did not discuss Cultivation Techniques, but instead spoke about history.

Hundreds of years ago, the Demon Eye descended upon the world.

The "Samyukta Agama" states that there are six demonic hooks. The six senses—eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind—are the demonic hooks. Among the six heavens of the Desire Realm, the Paranirmita-vasavartin heaven is the Demon Heaven. It does not like sentient beings to escape the Three Realms, so it creates all kinds of disturbances for those who Cultivate the Dao.

Anyone controlled by demons will invariably harm the world. Among Mortals, the demon is the demon within the heart; only by constantly tempering oneself in the Mortal World and maintaining one's original heart can one avoid being harmed by demons. As the saying goes, "The heart is like a bright mirror stand, nowhere to be stained by dust."

The so-called demons have no physical form; they need to perform Possession on the bodies of living beings.

For Mortals, the term "Entering the Demon" describes those bad people who either violate the law or harm others everywhere.

But in this world, there are also so-called "Cultivators."

Under the guidance of the Heavenly Palace, the Human Race gradually explored a path of cultivation that belonged to them. The Daoist religion first sought the gate to immortality, followed by Buddhism.

However, as cultivation increased, more terrifying demons were born.

When a person masters powerful strength, can they still find their true self? When a person has transcended the common Mortal, will they still empathize with the common people of the world? Cultivators use martial arts to violate prohibitions; desires are like bubbles in boiling water, constantly expanding until they eventually burst!

The Heavenly Demons in the Sixth Heaven finally found an opportunity. A pitch-black hole appeared in the sky, just like the great hole that opened in the sky after Gonggong crashed into Mount Buzhou in the past.

However, there was Goddess Nüwa to mend the sky back then, but what about now?

Heavenly Demons descended, taking the opportunity to perform Possession when Cultivators were Cultivating; Cultivators with weak wills turned into Devil Heads.

The Human Realm turned into a battlefield.

The world was in chaos; regardless of who rose or fell, the common people suffered.

A large number of Cultivators, unable to resist the invasion of the Heavenly Demons, eventually became part of the demons. They still retained human-like characteristics, but they were bloodthirsty, tyrannical, and cruel!

People called them: Demon Race.

This war between humans and demons burned for nearly a hundred years.

Every Cultivator who attempted to break through their cultivation would inevitably be subjected to the Heavenly Demon entering their body for Possession. If the Cultivator could not hold on, they could only commit suicide. Otherwise, their body would soon be controlled by the Heavenly Demon. After the Demon Race occupied large swathes of land, they also began to encourage reproduction and conscript soldiers on a large scale. The Demon Race cultivated without any scruples, and their combat power increased rapidly.

As a result, how could the number of top-tier combatants of the Human Race compare to the Demon Race composed of Cultivators who had entered the demonic path? They had to rely on schemes, on human waves, and on bloodshed.

It wasn't until three hundred years ago that a woman changed all of this. With her own strength, she promoted the unification of the three teachings—Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism—into one, calling it the "State Religion," gathering the talents of the world, and revising the method of cultivation.

The State Religion was established as the number one cultivation force in the world.

From then on, all cultivation methods had to include the Guiding Technique and the Heart-Clearing Mantra.

The Guiding Technique and the Heart-Clearing Mantra could effectively resist the Heavenly Demon from entering the body!

Cultivators who had reached the First Realm and above had to combine their Cultivation Technique with the Guiding Technique and the Heart-Clearing Mantra to absorb Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, preventing the Heavenly Demon from taking advantage of the situation to enter!

The Heavenly Demons could no longer wantonly perform Possession on Cultivators who were Cultivating, so they turned to cultivating the gradually growing power of the Demon Race, repeatedly launching wars between the races.

...

The Northwest Region was chaotic and turbulent; it was already very difficult for him and his younger sister just to survive, which led to him not having a deep understanding of this history.

The more Yun Bai read, the more shocked he became. Because this book, "General Outline of Cultivation Techniques," focused on tracing the origins of Cultivation Techniques and analyzing their essence, it did not describe the history of that time in detail. It only explained the origin of the Guiding Technique and the Heart-Clearing Mantra.

The Guiding Technique is the method for absorbing Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi; the Heart-Clearing Mantra is the method for resisting the Heavenly Demon from entering the body.

So, the Spiritual Qi that Cultivators now absorb using the Guiding Technique is not the so-called "Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi" at all. It is Spiritual Qi under the control of the Human Race, a kind of "owned" Spiritual Qi!

What does "owned" mean? It means that this Spiritual Qi is actually "resources" uniformly allocated and distributed according to need by the State Religion.

Cultivators use the Guiding Technique to send an "application," and the "Heavenly Dao" created by the State Religion will "distribute" a certain share of "resources" based on the Cultivator's condition.

Under the precise control of the "State Religion," large-scale incidents of Cultivators entering the demonic path have rarely occurred within the territory of the Human Race.

"Is that really how it is?" Alone in the quiet Scripture Pavilion, Yun Bai could clearly hear his own thumping heartbeat.

He clearly remembered that the basic Cultivation Technique he was Cultivating was a technique without the Guiding Technique and without the Heart-Clearing Mantra!