Chapter Ninety-Four: The Nine-Rank Martial Path

A thousand years ago, before the meteor from beyond the heavens had fallen upon the lands of the Nine Provinces, the martial path in this world was the one you once knew: Qi Gathering, Acquired, and Innate.

Even if one cultivated all the way to the Innate realm, achievements were still limited. If measured by today’s standards, an ordinary first-rank martial artist would already be enough to contend with an Innate master. But after the meteor’s descent and the resurgence of spiritual energy, a first-rank martial artist was merely the starting point of the martial path.

A thousand years ago, after spiritual energy returned to the world, our forebears drew from the place where the meteor had descended a wholly new method of cultivation. That was the nine-rank martial path: first rank as the beginning, ninth rank as the end.

Cultivation in the nine-rank martial path was entirely unlike the old ways. By circulating a superior internal method and drawing in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, one could condense true essence within the body. The nine-rank martial path is the cultivation of true essence, and only true essence can grant a person power that surpasses that of mortals.

First rank tempers the bones, second rank condenses the blood, third rank opens the meridians. The first three ranks are the body-forging realm; they bring about a tremendous transformation of the flesh and strengthen true essence. By then, one is already completely unlike an ordinary person.

Cultivation through these first three ranks is also the foundation of the nine-rank path. If one can break through from the third rank and reach the fourth-rank realm of Unity, where true essence and vital blood merge perfectly together, then one will have the qualifications to found a sect and establish a legacy. Even so, such a sect would still be nothing remarkable within the Nine Provinces.

The fifth rank, the Qi Sea realm, already counts as a high-level martial artist in today’s Nine Provinces. With a lifespan of several hundred years, such a person is beyond the imagination of ordinary folk. I myself am presently at this realm, still exploring its mysteries.

As for the realms above it, the sixth-rank Divine Palace realm and the seventh-rank Grandmaster realm, even I do not know them well.

Ning Teng slowly explained all of this to Yang Ze.

“Elder, if the seventh rank is the Grandmaster realm, then what comes after that? Isn’t the martial path divided into nine ranks? Has no one ever cultivated all the way to the ninth rank?” After hearing Ning Teng’s explanation, Yang Ze immediately asked.

“Ninth rank? Since the meteor fell, only a thousand years have passed, and nearly half of that time was consumed by the darkest age of the Nine Provinces, when slaughter never ceased. In truth, there have only been a few hundred years in which people could truly devote themselves to studying the martial path.

“At present, within the entire Nine Provinces, there is only one person in the seventh-rank Grandmaster realm. You should be able to guess who that is: the Martial Emperor of the Heavenly Martial Dynasty. He is a supreme being of the seventh rank, and also the strongest person in the Nine Provinces today. Only a Martial Emperor invincible beneath the heavens could suppress the world and establish the Heavenly Martial Dynasty.”

When Ning Teng spoke of the seventh-rank Grandmaster realm, reverence appeared in his eyes. Though Misty Martial Academy was a force of the martial world, before such an unmatched expert it was still no better than anyone else.

“The seventh-rank Grandmaster realm... Since the Martial Emperor is so powerful, why does he still permit our martial-world powers to exist?”

Yang Ze voiced what he had been thinking. Throughout history, those who used martial skill to defy the law have always existed. If the martial-world powers grew too strong, they would surely threaten the court. If the court truly had the means to wipe out the martial world, it would never have allowed them to grow to this extent.

“Not bad. At least you are not foolish. The Martial Emperor is indeed formidable, but our Four Academies and Five Sects are not without foundations of our own. Though we may not match the court, if we unite, even a figure as powerful as the Martial Emperor would not dare move rashly.

“And within the martial world, there are also the Eight Great Clans. Beneath them lie countless other factions. If the court truly dares to wage a large-scale campaign, the Nine Provinces will surely descend into chaos once again.

“Even as a seventh-rank Grandmaster, the Martial Emperor still harbors caution toward the martial world and absolutely would not act recklessly. Thus, when he established his rule over the Nine Provinces, he also conferred titles upon our Four Academies and Five Sects, granting us the status of province-suppressing powers. In name, we are subject to the court.”

With that explanation, Yang Ze understood. The existence of the Four Academies and Five Sects appeared to place them beneath the court, yet in truth each province possessed great autonomy. Their influence wholly overshadowed that of the imperial authorities. Seen in this light, the entire Nine Provinces was surging with unseen currents.

“Then, Elder, what sort of organization is the Severing God Cult? Are they very powerful?” Yang Ze thought of the two men in black robes he had encountered in the Qin family ridge and on the Canyu River. Their methods had been eerily strange, utterly unlike those of ordinary martial artists.

“The Severing God Cult is a force that is neither righteous nor demonic, neither part of the martial world nor the court. Remember this: they are enemies of the entire Nine Provinces, heretics upon this land. Once you encounter them, you must annihilate them. Never leave a single survivor.

“As for whether they are powerful? That is beyond question. Even after being hunted jointly by the entire martial world and the court, the Severing God Cult still has not been wiped out. Tell me—how could they not be formidable?

“Their origins are highly mysterious. In the entire martial world, probably very few people know where the Severing God Cult came from. I have never even heard of anyone reaching their mountain gate. They are like rats in the martial world—no matter how many you kill, you can never exterminate them all.”

When Ning Teng spoke of the Severing God Cult, his expression rarely turned solemn.

Although Yang Ze had already heard something of the cult from Wu Yong, Wu Yong knew little himself and spoke in vague terms. Only now, hearing it from Ning Teng, a fifth-rank martial artist, did Yang Ze truly grasp the cult’s terror.

For such a force to exist in the Nine Provinces would mean that no sect or clan could hope to oppose it.

“Elder, on the road back, the two fourth-rank martial artists from Bright Sun Martial Academy encountered two members of the Severing God Cult. One of them was at the third rank and the other at the fourth. The third-rank one was killed, while the fourth-rank one escaped.

“However, during their battle, I heard the cultists repeatedly mention two things: legacy shards and exotic beast crystals. What exactly are those?”

“You actually heard them mention legacy shards?”

Ning Teng looked somewhat surprised, but he did not ask further. Instead, he said, “The legacy shards spoken of by those cultists are in fact fragments of a key that can open the inheritance left by the meteor from beyond the heavens. It is said that within that meteor lies a legacy, and whoever obtains it can ascend in a single step and become a ninth-rank martial artist.

“But inheritance is not something just anyone can obtain. Only one who possesses the key can open a door and claim it. However, a thousand years ago, when the meteor descended, that key shattered and turned into countless fragments scattered across the Nine Provinces.

“This legend has already circulated across the continent for several hundred years. In the Nine Provinces, not only the Severing God Cult, but also our Four Academies and Five Sects, the Eight Great Clans, and the court are all searching for the whereabouts of the legacy shards.

“But what exactly these shards are, and whether they truly possess such miraculous power, no one has yet been able to verify. Still, the dean has said that if genuine legacy shards ever appear, they will certainly cause an omen.

“The reason I came to Quanyang Prefecture in Yang Province this time was partly because the dean ordered me to investigate the rumors of legacy shards and determine whether such a thing truly appeared here in Quanyang Prefecture.

“But now it seems I can leave. This so-called legacy shard is most likely a fake. Otherwise, how could so much time have passed without any omen appearing?”

When mentioning the dean, Ning Teng’s expression became very solemn. The dean of Misty Martial Academy was a sixth-rank Divine Palace realm martial artist, and even he would not dare show disrespect.

After learning what the legacy shard was all about, Yang Ze was indeed astonished. No matter how he tried to imagine it, he had never thought that such a hidden secret lay behind a mere shard of inheritance.

One step to the heavens, a ninth-rank martial artist—no wonder even a sixth-rank expert like the dean of Misty Martial Academy had been alarmed. If someone truly obtained the inheritance, the entire situation in the Nine Provinces might well be altered because of it.

“As for the exotic beast crystal, the resurgence of spiritual energy brought our human race a new method of cultivation, but it also brought other changes to the lands of the Nine Provinces. Wild beasts became fiercer than before, and some even cultivated to perfection and turned into demon beasts.

“Among demon beasts, there is also a nine-tier classification. But within them, there is another distinction: sentient demon beasts and ordinary demon beasts. In general, an ordinary demon beast must cultivate at least to the fifth rank before it can awaken intelligence and speak human language. Sentient demon beasts, however, are different. Many of them are not particularly strong, but they possess great spirituality, can speak at low tiers, and cultivate faster than other demon beasts.

“The Canyu Black Serpent that I killed was a sentient demon beast, and by the look of it, it was close to breaking through to the fifth tier. With the advantage of the terrain on the Canyu River, its combat power was even further enhanced. Those two fourth-rank martial artists from Bright Sun Martial Academy must have had some hidden card up their sleeves, otherwise they would never have been able to repel that serpent.

“Sentient demon beasts are already quite rare among demon beasts, but there is yet another kind even rarer than that: exotic beasts.

“When an exotic beast appears in the world, there will certainly be corresponding omens. In their youth, exotic beasts possess low intelligence and their strength is not much different from that of ordinary demon beasts, but their rate of growth is astonishing.

“In the Beast Sea, there is a beast king at the peak of the sixth tier. It is an exotic beast, and in only a hundred years it rose from being beyond the tier system to the peak of the sixth tier. Among all demon beasts today, it is also the one most likely to break through to the seventh tier.

“The reason exotic beasts possess such abilities is that their bloodlines are entirely different from those of ordinary demon beasts. Their bloodlines are the noblest within the beast race, and the exotic beast crystal is the crystallization of an exotic beast’s bloodline.

“If an ordinary demon beast obtains an exotic beast crystal and refines it, there is a chance its own bloodline will be awakened into that of an exotic beast. From that moment on, it would leap over the dragon gate. The Canyu Black Serpent sought exactly this chance to awaken its bloodline, which is why it tried to seize the exotic beast crystal.”

At Ning Teng’s explanation, Yang Ze immediately remembered the long drought in the territory of Yuyang City. Could such an omen have been brought about by a legacy shard or an exotic beast? Since the appearance of either would bring strange phenomena, he could not easily determine it.

“Elder, perhaps that legacy shard may not necessarily be fake. When this disciple was in Yuyang City, he saw an omen with his own eyes!”

As soon as Yang Ze finished speaking, Ning Teng’s eyes suddenly lit up.