Chapter Forty-One: The Hidden Hand Behind History

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There were countless sacred grounds of the demon clans, and Tushan possessed half of a map to one such holy site. The other half was in the hands of a human immortal imprisoned within the Immortal-Sealing Tower.

Thus, Tushan orchestrated a daring rescue from the Immortal-Sealing Tower, and with a few deft maneuvers, obtained the map from the human immortal. Then, accompanied by Ji Feichen and another companion, he led the way to the sacred ground.

This holy site lay in the southwestern reaches of Xuanzheng Continent, at Jiuheshan. Southward from this mountain stretched the Southern Frontier, domain of the Southern Demon Sect and the Black Saint Sect. The Yinming Sect, to which Ji Feichen belonged, was no more than a thousand miles from here. Westward, across the desert, lay the territory of the Western Demon Sect.

Following the map, the three arrived at a cliff. The jagged precipice soared to dizzying heights, and a dark stream wound its way through nine bends below. The cliffs were perilous and sheer; without cultivation, it would have been impossible for any of them to reach this place.

Ji Feichen casually tossed a stone over the edge. It vanished into the shadowy water far below, the echo of its fall drowned out by the sharp rush of the current.

Staring at the scene, the drought demoness suddenly asked, “Do you know which branch of the demon race this sacred ground belongs to?”

The term “demon” was both broad and narrow. In the broadest sense, all cultivators referred to any non-human beings who cultivated as “demons”—whether feathered, scaled, plant, or stone, all fell under the term. But if that were so, then humanity would stand opposed to all other races. Wouldn’t even the divine dragons of the rivers and the phoenixes of the skies be considered demons? However strong the cultivators might be, could they really contend against all other beings combined?

So, the cultivators subdivided “demon” further: plants and stones became “spirits.” These spirits rarely committed evil and, unable to move their bodies, posed less of a threat. Thus arose the saying “demons, devils, ghosts, monsters”—demons were animals transformed, devils were those who cultivated demonic arts, ghosts were wandering spirits, and monsters were spirits of trees or mountains.

In truth, the real adversaries of the cultivators were the demons born from birds and beasts who attained the Dao. Yet even then, dragons and phoenixes were too formidable to be confronted directly, so these auspicious creatures were elevated as divine beasts, on par with the gods. The term “demon” was further restricted to refer to birds and beasts who cultivated after birth.

But the demon race was vast, with myriad differences in feather, scale, diet, and more. Accordingly, many sacred grounds existed, each upholding its own legacy. The birds who sought to become phoenixes belonged to one, while those who practiced the way of the dragon belonged to another.

“I’m not sure; I don’t know which sacred ground this is either,” Tushan admitted, consulting the map and scratching his head. Then, following the instructions, he summoned a floating jade platform from beneath the cliff.

Ji Feichen exchanged a glance with the drought demoness. “Be wary of Tushan!”

“Eh?” The demoness, though she had done evil in the past, was not one for cunning plots. She had spent years cultivating in the northern regions, and upon emerging, was caught in an emotional calamity and imprisoned in the Demon-Suppressing Tower—her heart remained pure. After a moment’s thought, she understood: “You came along because you feared he might try to harm me?”

A sacred ground of the demon race! The ancestral court of myriad demons. In ancient times, blood sacrifices were common—it was not unthinkable that a trap might use the blood of an earth immortal to restore the sacred ground.

Ji Feichen nodded silently, and the two stood cautiously behind the white-robed youth. Though one was a drought demon and the other from a demonic sect, both were ultimately of human descent.

After a while, the jade platform materialized beneath their feet. Light from the jade connected all around, and beneath the platform were turtle-shell patterns and ancient demon script. At the center was the formation of the Four Divine Beasts—Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Black Tortoise, and Vermilion Bird.

The three leapt onto the platform. The drought demoness examined it carefully: “This is the Four Divine Platform, a portal to a demon sacred ground. Judging by the presence of the White Tiger, this must be a site from the late ancient era. After all, the White Tiger replaced the Qilin—this was a major turning point for the demon race.”

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Originally, there were four great demon sacred grounds, each worshipping one of the four auspicious beasts: dragon, phoenix, tortoise, and qilin. Yet the qilin, being a creature of benevolence, disliked killing, while many of the beasts under its patronage were carnivorous. Thus, the sacred ground split—White Tiger led the fierce beasts to establish a new sanctuary, while Qilin gathered gentle creatures like the Azure Ox, Jade Sheep, and White Deer to continue maintaining the Celestial Auspice Sanctuary. This event marked the beginning of the Second Era of Sacred Ground Division. From the original four, the sacred grounds continued to split, begetting many more—as with the three thousand sects of the Dao, ever dividing and establishing new lineages.

To Ji Feichen, this conflict between herbivores and carnivores was not unlike the distinction between clarity and turbidity in the two Daoist paths—rather than mutual enmity, better to part ways.

As the three entered the jade platform, four-colored spirit light enveloped them. Ji Feichen felt his vision blur, and in the next instant, he found himself in another world.

Above this realm, luminous pearls replaced the sun and moon, casting a radiant glow over the heavens. The sky rolled with multicolored auspicious clouds. At the entrance to the sacred ground, two suanni beasts stood guard; on the beams above, four demon characters spelled “Martial Tyrant of the Western Emperor,” alongside a blood-stained tiger's claw print.

At this, Tushan relaxed visibly. “At last, we’re at the right place.”

“Martial Tyrant of the Western Emperor?” The drought demoness also recognized the origin of this sanctuary. This was the fifth great demon sacred ground, led by tigers—mostly carnivorous demons, worshippers of the White Tiger spirit. In the distance, the mountain ridges coiled like a colossal tiger poised to devour the sky and earth. Even standing at the threshold, one could sense a murderous aura drifting from afar.

They entered the sacred ground to find devastation everywhere—ruined walls and shattered remnants of countless great demons and cultivators, their white bones scattered and turning to sand, fragments of magical treasures and demon artifacts strewn about.

Ji Feichen said gravely, “Was this the battlefield of the late ancient era?”

A river of blood, hundreds of miles wide, ran in the distance, filled with countless demon corpses. All these demons were sealed by the blood river, their true forms revealed in the crimson water—seven-tailed spirit foxes, long-armed apes, three-headed flame lions, eight-tailed demon tigers…

These demon beasts had all been above human immortals in life, some nearly reaching the level of earth immortals.

“The Blood River Path of the Boundless Blood Sea?” Ji Feichen’s heart trembled. This was the great divine art inherited by the Blood Sea, the leader of the demon way.

The drought demoness’s expression shifted as well. She stood at the edge of a thunder marsh, where a horned green ox had been struck down by lightning—a true earth immortal demon king.

“The Divine Lightning of Taixiao Palace,” she said solemnly, touching the residual power. Even now, the lightning could still destroy a human immortal.

She had cultivated after the end of the ancient era, and knew a little of that great war. The story went that the demon race had committed a great transgression, bringing down the united wrath of the other sacred grounds.

Here, not only could one see the Blood Sea and Taixiao Palace, but even the yin-yang energy of the Taishang Palace wound about a great peak, shattering the ancestral veins of the Tiger King’s court and grinding distant spirit mountains to dust.

“The Yin-Yang Taiji Diagram of Taishang Palace?”

In the sky, a palace of jade suppressed a towering Jade Rabbit demon king.

“The Suppression Mantra of Taiyuan Palace?”

Elsewhere, the six-armed idol of the Black Saint Sect, the Golden Crow demonic fire of the Radiant Sun Demon Sect, the Jade Toad gazing at the moon of the Northern Toad Palace, the Supreme Mystical Light of the Supreme Purity Sect—even the long-destroyed Fifth Sacred Ground left behind a vast, righteous might suppressing demonkind. In short, the divine arts and methods of both immortals and demons in the present day all found their roots here.

Tushan, expression impassive, said to the other two, “Let’s split up for now and seek our fortunes in the mountains. We’ll meet back here in a day.”

Ji Feichen wished to seek a yin-yang spiritual nexus and was happy to part ways with Tushan. He and the drought demoness headed to the right.

As they passed the scenes of carnage, the drought demoness suddenly spoke, “Ji, are you truly planning to change your cultivation path to that of the Qi Refiners?”

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“I am. If I do not, the struggle between immortals and demons will inevitably drag me down, and I will never achieve true transcendence.”

“The other day, when I accompanied you to the Moon Sun Court to retrieve that wisp of pure spirit energy, I saw you were well prepared. I considered lending you a hand. But now, seeing the aftermath of the demon sacred ground, I’ve come to a realization—I cannot support your decision to switch to the Qi Refiner’s path.”

“Why?” Ji Feichen stopped in his tracks, turning to face her.

With a wave of her hand, the beauty tossed several prisoners—those they had brought from the Immortal-Sealing Tower—out of her jade coffin.

“Look at this man,” she pointed to an unconscious fellow. “He’s from the Golden Qian Sect, cultivated in the pure energy of Qian. Now look over there.” She gestured to a slain lightning leopard, its body suffused with golden light, the same as the Golden Qian Sect’s methods.

“Is this the legacy of Golden Qian Sect ancestors?” Ji Feichen stepped closer to examine.

“Look carefully.”

Puzzled, Ji Feichen scrutinized the scene, and his expression changed. Looking at the identities of the prisoners, he sought out the traces left by their forebears in the remnants of battle.

After a while, Ji Feichen returned. “In ancient times, were they all Qi Refiners?”

The prisoners on the ground all cultivated the pure energies of immortals, yet their ancestors had practiced the unified vital energy of the Qi Refiners.

“I lived through the first immortal-demon slaughter. That was when the two branches of Xuanyuan clashed over differing philosophies, debating thrice atop the Yuhua Radiant Summit, and establishing the divide between immortals and demons. But even then, many followed the path of the Qi Refiners. Myself included—my way then was not the same as today’s immortal and demon paths.” A hint of fear crossed her face. “Tell me, why did the way of the Qi Refiners gradually decline, supplanted by today’s immortal and demon sects?”

“And why did those ancient Qi Refiner sects all transform into cultivators of pure immortal energy? The Cloudsky Pavilion, the school in which you study the ‘Supreme Jade Transformation and Dragon Subtlety’—in ancient times, that was a true lineage of Qi Refiners. But now, is there any trace of their legacy?”

It was possible to cultivate pure immortal energy, but the Qi Refiner’s path had been ruthlessly suppressed. Who could believe there wasn’t something sinister behind this?

“And when I brought about the drought demon catastrophe, many sects perished. Yet in truth, I only destroyed two. But from what you’ve told me these past days, more than a dozen sects were wiped out at that time, all following the ancient ways of the Qi Refiners. What does that suggest? You’re a clever man—you can’t fail to understand.”

Ji Feichen fell silent. Someone had orchestrated the decline of the Qi Refiner’s path, deliberately creating the current opposition of the pure and the turbid. And if you considered who benefited most from such a division, it could only be the great sacred grounds.

“In my era, the Taishang Palace was already the illustrious head of the Qi Refiners. But Taixiao and Taiyuan Palaces were nowhere near as eminent as they are today. Look at the traces left on this battlefield—Taixiao and Taiyuan were never a match for Taishang Palace.”

She had been imprisoned for three thousand years, blamed for countless fabricated crimes. With difficulty, Ji Feichen said, “Senior, are you saying the Qi Refiner’s path was deliberately destroyed by the Three Sacred Daoist Grounds?”

“Not just the Daoist sanctuaries—the demon sects, too, secured the supreme status of the Blood Sea because of this. To turn back to the path of the Qi Refiners is to go against the will of the great sacred grounds. You would do well to think thrice before proceeding.”

The drought demoness had a vague premonition that the story of the Qi Refiner’s decline was far from over. Having escaped her calamity, she now feared she had become entwined in this thousand-year cycle of cause and effect.