The First Lackey Under The Empress

After Eunuch Hai led Zhao Du'an through the courtyard and houses, entering the second atrium,

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he realized that this complex was not just one courtyard deep, but consisted of many residences connected one after another.

"I only have a superficial understanding of cultivation," Zhao Du'an said, following closely behind.

"Why don't you give me a general overview of the Imperial Family's inheritance first?"

Eunuch Hai smiled and said:

"Young fellow, you're quite direct. But to explain that clearly, I must first explain the similarities and differences between the two most common paths of cultivation in the human world: the sorcerers and the martial artists. What do you know about them?"

Zhao Du'an said with some embarrassment:

"I've barely stepped into the 'Mortal Body' realm of martial arts. I know that Mortal Body is the entry-level realm for martial arts inheritance, divided into lower, middle, and upper grades. As for sorcerers, I'm completely unfamiliar with them."

"..." Eunuch Hai said with emotion:

"When you say you only have a superficial understanding, you're not really being humble."

Zhao Du'an gave an awkward smile.

"Hehe, it's not your fault. It's indeed difficult for ordinary people to know these things," Eunuch Hai said.

"The Mortal Body realm is indeed the starting point of the martial arts realm. As for the sorcerer system, it shares the same realm divisions as the martial artists, with a total of five realms."

Two systems sharing the same set of division standards?

Zhao Du'an asked curiously:

"Then do martial artists and sorcerers both have five realms? What are they respectively?"

Eunuch Hai said:

"Mortal Body, Divine Chapter, Mortal World, Celestial Being, Human Immortal…

As for martial artists below the Mortal Body realm, they can only be said to have a rudimentary understanding of martial arts and are not considered to be in the ranks. But for sorcerers, the starting point is the Mortal Body realm, with no distinction of being in or out of the ranks."

"Martial arts inheritance emphasizes exhaling and inhaling yang energy, nurturing it in the dantian, refining it into 'qi energy', and then tempering the body, supplemented by medicinal baths and elixirs, condensing the qi energy, breaking through bottlenecks, and advancing layer by layer…

It emphasizes simplicity and steady progress. Therefore, it is also the mainstream among cultivators."

A universal method, but upgrading requires spending money, very expensive… Zhao Du'an summarized silently.

Eunuch Hai smiled and said:

"Sorcerers, on the other hand, are much fewer in number. They emphasize using the method of visualization to command the gods."

"Command the gods?" Zhao Du'an was taken aback.

Eunuch Hai nodded and said:

"There are many gods in the world. Gods are formed by the collective thoughts of the people. They are not living beings, nor do they have intelligence. They are almost like 'concepts'. Mortals cannot see them. They wander between heaven and earth, possessing thousands of spells…

The so-called sorcerers are a type of person with extremely strong inspiration. They use secret techniques to communicate with the gods, obtain spells, and when they cultivate to a high level, they can command the gods they serve to perform extraordinary deeds."

Zhao Du'an listened in a daze and said:

"A few days ago, I saw a broken statue in the Earth God Temple in the southern suburbs…"

Eunuch Hai nodded:

"That's right, that is a typical sorcerer's method, using secret techniques to summon the 'Earth God' to descend from the statue and command it to act… Heh, as you said, saving someone from a thousand miles away… it must be a sorcerer in the 'Mortal World' realm who could do that."

Zhao Du'an asked curiously:

"So, the Earth God worshipped by the common people really exists?"

Eunuch Hai nodded:

"Of course, but there is no such thing as the fabricated heavenly court or underworld in the mortal world. Well, you can understand the Earth God as a special kind of 'ghost' wandering in the human world. Sorcerers are like Taoist priests who exorcise ghosts…"

If you had said that earlier, I would have understood… Zhao Du'an asked curiously:

"How many gods like the Earth God can be commanded?"

Eunuch Hai smiled and said:

"There are many. Let this old servant count… the Five Righteous Gods of Earth, Rain, Fire, Wind, and Thunder, the Great Mother Goddess, the Medicine Buddha, the Reincarnation Buddha, the Zodiac Gods, the Four Seasons Gods… Agriculture, Travel, Joy, Wealth, the Heavenly Dao, the World Honored One… the Eight Great Gods of Pestilence, Death, and Sacrifice… If you add all kinds of strange little gods, there are hundreds of them."

Zhao Du'an clicked his tongue in amazement: "So many?"

Eunuch Hai nodded:

"Like in the Southern Border, the Western Regions, the Thousand Islands of the Eastern Sea, the Pastoral Northern Forest… outside of the Great Yu Dynasty's territory, in those remote places, there are even more gods, but that's too far from you, you don't need to know.

You just need to know that my Great Yu Dynasty has unified the world. The Heavenly Master's Office has countless Righteous Gods that can be commanded, and the Divine Dragon Temple is not far behind.

These two major forces are also the places that have mastered the most methods of commanding gods."

"Righteous Gods?" Zhao Du'an keenly noticed the key point:

"So gods are also divided into righteous and evil?"

Eunuch Hai praised:

"That's natural. Most gods are harmless, and sorcerers only borrow their power when communicating with them. But there are also a few special gods. Sorcerers who have long-term contact with them will have their personalities affected, becoming either violent, lewd, cruel, or insane.

These are the Evil Gods that my Great Yu Dynasty suppresses, and their supporters are the heretical sorcerers."

After a pause, Eunuch Hai reminded:

"If you encounter heretical sorcerers in the future, be sure to be careful and don't treat them as human beings. These people have committed countless evil deeds and everyone has the right to punish them."

Zhao Du'an said solemnly: "This junior will remember."

Eunuch Hai saw that he was serious and couldn't help but smile:

"Don't be nervous, heretical sorcerers are hidden and few in number, so it's not that easy to encounter them."

Zhao Du'an breathed a sigh of relief: "Please continue."

Eunuch Hai said:

"Sorcerer inheritance, either commanding multiple gods, or only cultivating one, there is no fixed rule. Their realm strength depends on the strength of the gods, as well as the depth of communication…

In today's world, the two most powerful known sorcerers are both in the capital. You must know them. They are the current Old Heavenly Master Zhang Yanyi of the Heavenly Master's Office, and the Chief Abbot of the Divine Dragon Temple, Master Xuan Yin."

It's them… Zhao Du'an was no stranger to these two names. The Empress had mentioned them before.

He asked curiously: "What realm are these two in? Human Immortal?"

Eunuch Hai shook his head:

"Among the five great realms, the Human Immortal realm only exists in legends. Throughout history, those who have reached the Human Immortal realm are very few, and all are doubtful. The strongest cultivators today are only in the 'Celestial Being' realm, with a total of four people, also known as the 'Four Celestial Beings'."

Four Celestial Being realms… two sorcerers… Zhao Du'an asked curiously:

"What about the other two? Are they martial artists?"

Eunuch Hai nodded and shook his head, saying:

"One of them is a Celestial Being realm martial artist, located in Martial Emperor City on the Eastern Sea coast. It is said that he is trying to break through to the Human Immortal realm and has not left seclusion for many years… As for the last one, can you guess?"

Zhao Du'an was stunned, and a guess suddenly surged in his heart:

"Could it be…"

Eunuch Hai smiled and said:

"That's right, the fourth Celestial Being is our Empress, and also the youngest Celestial Being realm martial artist since ancient times."

It's her! Xu Zhenguan!

Although Zhao Du'an had some guesses, he still couldn't hide his surprise.

He knew that the Empress's cultivation realm was very high, but he didn't expect that she was one of the four strongest people in the world.

No wonder she could fight against thousands of troops alone and suppress the Xuanmen coup.

It's no wonder that although she is an Empress, her temperament is always somewhat otherworldly, unlike ordinary people.

"However," Eunuch Hai added:

"Her Majesty's Celestial Being realm is not perfect, it is barely achieved by borrowing the Dragon Qi of the throne.

Of course, with Her Majesty's talent, she should be able to reach the realm of perfection soon."

Uh, an imperfect Celestial Being realm… What's missing?

If it lacks yin and yang harmony, I can do my part… Zhao Du'an used吐槽 to ease his emotions.

He then realized the key point:

"You said that Her Majesty is the youngest Celestial Being realm, could it be that she relied on the Imperial Family's inheritance?"

The old eunuch with white hair and a bright red python robe nodded and smiled:

"So, you should know how much good fortune you've obtained now?

The Imperial Family's secret inheritance of our Great Yu Dynasty was created by the founding Emperor Taizu, drawing on the strengths of hundreds of schools, using his world-class talent, merging the sorcerer and martial artist systems into one.

It is also the top inheritance in the world today among orthodox cultivation methods, with the fastest advancement and the highest upper limit."

At this point, the old eunuch stopped.

Zhao Du'an then came back to his senses and realized that while they were talking, they had already passed through several doors and arrived at the depths of the Martial Arts Hall.

This was still a courtyard, but in the courtyard stood a pavilion that resembled an ancient pagoda.

It had a total of five floors, and the building was filled with traces of time. The red lacquered wooden pillars were mottled and dim.

Between the surrounding floor tiles, there were even growing weeds, as if few people cleaned it.

Zhao Du'an looked up and stood under the five-story pavilion, inexplicably feeling calm and peaceful, all distracting thoughts were smoothed out.

"Come, you can enter the first floor and observe the murals left by Emperor Taizu."

The python-robed old eunuch walked forward with his hands behind his back and entered the first floor.

"Murals?" Zhao Du'an withdrew his gaze from the spire and followed.

"The inheritance created by Taizu is called 'Martial God'… Heh, although there are hundreds of gods in this world, there is no 'Martial God'. Therefore, the meaning of this inheritance is to have martial artists attribute the power of heaven and earth to themselves. Every move, every action, is a myriad of phenomena, transforming the physical body into a land-based immortal god," Eunuch Hai said.

What great ambition… To have martial artists refine themselves into gods… Zhao Du'an was surprised.

Eunuch Hai said:

"Unfortunately, Taizu's inheritance is special and cannot be recorded on paper. Therefore, he personally carved five murals, containing five realms. Since you are a Mortal Body realm martial artist, it is suitable for you to comprehend the first painting, which is also the beginning of the Imperial Family's inheritance, the first painting—'Martial God Diagram'!"

…

ps: Introducing the power system, this type of chapter is particularly tiring to write, can't be omitted, but it's easy to be boring to read. . Headache