With minimal ties with the outside world, almost entirely surrounded by the chenobi mountain range there lies the remote village of Ilhua. With a live water stream flowing down the mountain and fertile soil it is self-sustainable.
Due to it being located in a remote area far away from Sichuan province, almost no trade occurred in the village. But today, many wagons and carriages were lining up in front of the village and a cheerful and lively atmosphere enveloped Ilhua.
"Chief, with your divine blessings bestowed upon us, we will definitely make great achievements in jianghu and bring glory to our village", the young martial artists said in unison who were about to leave the village to take part in the orthodox-demonic power struggle.
So, everyone above the age of eighteen and could fight were summoned.
The youth could neither be said exceptional nor talented, they have just learnt the basics of the Twelve leaf palm which couldn't even be considered a third-rate martial art from the village guardian.
It's just that the Eternal blossom sect, which can be said as the major power in the province have requested for manpower from all over its territory to aid its ongoing war with a minor subsect of the heavenly evil palace.
The youth without knowing the horrors of jianghu have all left the village.
"I wonder how your imaginary divine blessings will save them in front of absolute crisis?" said a young man sitting behind the village chief.
"In a world where only the strong survive, leaving one's life in fates hand is suicide. Don't you agree?" the boy continued.
"Aren't you leaving with them" asked the village chief.
"What good is a scholar in a war zone. Moreover, the thing I'm more interested in, is right here in front of me.
"The blessings and miracles that you show the villagers shouldn't be in the realm of existence, but somehow, they do. I if ignore and move on from something that I can't comprehend, how can I ever dream of becoming the first wise man." Said the young man.
The first wise man is the title which refers to the best scholar of the land. While there are many great minds out there, when it comes to the best only one name comes to everyone's mind 'Jegal Mugang' the current great scholar.
Agastya was not captivated by the flashy and fancy martial arts performed by the martial artists like everyone else his age. He was more interested in the way of the knowledge. Understanding and gaining more wisdom was his priority rather than fame, strength or fortune.
While everyone was mesmerized the three great saints of the orthodox factions. Agastya was more interested in the likes of great scholar Jegal Mugang, who with his unrivalled wit and wisdom stood on equal grounds with the three great orthodox saints without even learning martial arts. A true scholar revered all over jianghu.
"I see you still haven't let go of that book now… huh" the village chief said glancing at the book the young man is holding "I thought a smart person like you would make the better decision of putting that away after glancing through the rubbish".
"The first volume of the book states that a person must choose their own sins. In this damn world, a soul is not allowed to live without committing a sin. So, before the sins choose you, you must choose the sin yourself. Makes sense, doesn't it?" Says the boy with a grin look on his face.
"Maybe this is the first sin I choose."
It was the unholy worlds secrets, a book written by the evil saint himself. Usually, an evil sect's martial arts are shrouded in secrecy and exclusive to core members. This was the case even with the heavenly evil palace.
But the evil saint is an exception. He made his life's enlightment and martial arts available to everyone. But only to a certain degree. To be exact, only the first volume is made available to the outside world.
So, anyone who stumbles upon the brilliance enveloped in those beginning texts, would eagerly land themselves on the front door of the heavenly evil palace for more.
There are instances where core disciples from the leading justice faction have abandoned their faith after reading those texts. So, they were forbidden to read.
Jin-Jibang published a total of nine books in which eight of them were about martial arts and one is life theory. Collectively these were known as the nine divine horrors.
"Well, all I can do is try to guide you in the right path. However, the unholy worlds secrets is considered trash in jianghu. It conveys neither knowledge nor skills and it mostly consists of nonsense, so it isn't even made forbidden like the remaining of the nine horrors".
"Enough about that, it's almost time now" the young man said with a slight smile on his face.
"Time? For what?" exclaimed the village chief.
In the meantime, there was a huge explosion heard from one corner of the village.
"Well, all the capable youth of the village are gone, the so-called mystical powers of the village chief which I doubt ever existed would have been almost used up to the point of exhaustion and its almost the fall of the night" stated Agastya.
"Are you perhaps saying that ...!" stuttered the village chief.
"An invasion, yes. The military power of the village is low, and the remaining are the woman the children and the old. If this continues the whole village will be annihilated in few hours." Said Agastya with indifferent eyes, as though he is not related to this incident and is just a spectator.
Even before Agastya finished speaking, few rouges have already surrounded the chief and himself.
"Three people in the beginning of void stage" exclaimed the village chief with surprise. But the expression in Agastya's eyes did not change.
As the chief regained his composure his lips moved and suddenly the bandits began to feel restricted to move.
"Agastya, they won't stay like this for long, we must hurry and … aah" the village chief coughed blood.
"Go to the secret space beneath the alter" Agastya continued.
Although shocked the village chief remembered how quick witted the boy was and quickly accepted the reality of the situation.
"Help me get there Agastya. The resolution to this situation lies there" gasped the village chief gripping his heart while half collapsed on the ground.
"But before that, wouldn't it be better to at least do this" said Agastya with a grin smile on his face.
Two pieces of metal suddenly flew to pierce the heart of one and heavily injuring the head of other struggling void stage experts. The village chief and the other void stage expert very shocked and couldn't fantom what just happened.
Normal people wouldn't dare to even approach an expert. Let alone try to harm them. However, no such logics were applicable to Agastya.
The remaining expert quickly composed himself and made an escape to fetch reinforcements.
Agastya quickly carried the elder who was still in disbelief to the alter. He even managed to get past all the trap formations and customed locks all by himself which made the chief even more astonished.
"Just how long have I been ignoring this kid" the chief thought to himself.
"Finally, the final door" shouted Agastya with a joyful tone.
The door started moving so as the lips of the elder. Agastya didn't miss this, his eyes penetrated the chief as though to perceive the words, intention, cause, or even vibrations of his throat.
Inside there was a stack of old dry palm leaves with words engraved on them.
"Agastya, this is something people don't know that it exists, even after living for hundred years and reaching heaven. It may devoid you of ever living a normal life and change your fate itself, do you still want to know?" asked the village chief barely hanging on to his consciousness.
"Yes". Agastya replied without even blinking an eye.
"Listen carefully. I may not be able to repeat myself".
"The power that you have seen me exhibit has nothing to do with martial arts, internal energy or formations, it is called a chant."
"Throughout the ages people tend to repeat a set of words with a sole meaning in their hearts like the Buddhist 'Om mani padme hum' or Indians 'Om namah shivaya' may it be for prayer or resentment these hold a special power which originates outside our being, in the worlds flow itself"
"Though powerful, as they are common knowledge and used by many those mentioned above have very low power distribution output but there are few with tremendous power but unknown to any, lost in history."
"What you see here is one such chant, but without proper understanding the effect we are able to unleash has been miniscule for centuries."
As the chief was saying this the bandits have already surrounded the entrance of the tunnel. There were hundreds of them just waiting outside after dealing with the villagers. They trap formations were still in place and are quite mysterious, so they decided to wait it out.
"This ancestral treasure here is called 'Collapsation'. Please take it and make an escape from here. If it is you, I'm sure you'll comprehend it better than anyone and put it to good use. Don't let it fall under the wrong hands." Said the village chief just as he lost consciousness.
"Listen up, if you don't come out the villagers will all die. Give up the ancestral tablet" sighed the village chief "Just burn the alter down, they'll be forced to come out".
The tunnel below was quickly filled up with smoke and the air was running out.
Being in such tense situation Agastya tried to repeat the chain of words, but nothing was happened. Even after several tries it didn't work.
"Damn it, I can't make sense of it at all, its no use like this. Must I really give this up, after all these years of patience." Agastya clenched his hanging fists helplessly.