When Eunuch Hai led Zhao Douan through the courtyard and houses into the second central courtyard,
he realized that this architectural complex was not just a single entrance, but many houses connected one after another.
"I have a rudimentary understanding of cultivation," Zhao Douan followed closely and said,
"Maybe you could start by explaining the legacy of the Royal Family."
Eunuch Hai smiled,
"The lad is straightforward, but to clarify that, I need to first explain the similarities and differences between the two most common paths of cultivation in the mortal world—Magicians and Martial Artists. What do you know about this?"
Zhao Douan said with embarrassment,
"I have barely stepped into the 'Mortal' Martial Artist Realm, knowing that Mortal is the entry realm for Martial Artists, divided into lower, middle, and upper third-ranks. As for the Magician, I am completely unfamiliar."
"…" Eunuch Hai said emotionally,
"You said you have a superficial understanding, and you were not being modest."
Zhao Douan gave an awkward laugh.
"Hehe, it's not your fault; indeed, it's difficult for ordinary people to understand these things," Eunuch Hai said,
"The Mortal Realm is indeed the beginning of the Martial Arts Realm; as for the Magician power system, it is divided into five realms, the same as the Martial Artist Realm."
Two systems, sharing the same classification standard?
Zhao Douan curiously asked,
"So, both Martial Artists and Magicians have five realms? What are they?"
Eunuch Hai replied,
"Mortal, Divine Chapter, Worldly, Heavenly Human, Human Immortal...
As for the Martial Artists below Mortal, they are only somewhat proficient in martial arts and are not ranked; whereas with Magicians, they start directly at Mortal, with no question of ranking."
"Martial Artist inheritance emphasizes the exhaling and inhaling of a breath of Yang energy, cultivating it in the dantian, refining it into 'Qi', then polishing the body, aided by medicinal baths and pills, condensing Qi, and breaking through bottlenecks, advancing step by step...
It advocates simplistic and unadorned, repetitive effort, hence, it's the mainstream among cultivators."
A universal cultivation method, but leveling up requires money, terribly expensive... Zhao Douan silently concluded.
Eunuch Hai laughed,
"Magicians, on the other hand, are much rarer. They emphasize the use of visualization techniques to harness the power of deities."
"Harnessing the power of deities?" Zhao Douan was taken aback.
Eunuch Hai nodded and explained,
"Between heaven and earth, there are many gods. Gods are formed by the collective thoughts of people and are not living beings, nor do they possess intelligence, nearly akin to 'concepts.' Mortals cannot perceive them; they wander between heaven and earth, possessing a thousand magical skills...
Magicians are people with extremely strong intuition, who communicate with the gods using secret techniques to acquire magical skills. As their skill deepens, they can command the gods they serve to perform extraordinary feats."
Zhao Douan listened in a daze and said,
"I saw a shattered deity statue a few days ago in the Earth God Temple in the South Suburb…"
Eunuch Hai nodded,
"Exactly, that is a typical Magician's method, using secret techniques to summon the 'Earth God' from the statue, commanding it to act… Heh, as you said, saving lives across great distances… It must have been a 'Worldly' realm Magician who could do that."
Zhao Douan curiously asked,
"So, do the Earth Gods worshipped by common folk really exist?"
Eunuch Hai nodded,
"Of course, but there are no such things as the so-called Heavenly Court and Earthly Realm concocted by mortals. You can think of Earth Gods as a special type of 'ghost' roaming the human world—Magicians are essentially exorcists."
If you had mentioned that earlier, I would have understood... Zhao Douan curiously asked,
"How many deities like the Earth God, which can be commanded, are there?"
Eunuch Hai smiled,
"There are many indeed, let me count… Earth, Rain, Fire, Wind, Thunder—the Five Cardinal Deities, Great Mother God, Medicine Buddha, Reincarnation Buddha, Zodiac God, Four Seasons Gods... Agriculture, Performance, Happiness, Wealth, Heavenly Dao, World Honored One... Rampant, Plague, Death, Great Winter… If we add various strange little gods, there are easily hundreds."
Zhao Douan was astonished, "That many?"
Eunuch Hai nodded,
"Like in the Southern Border, Western Regions, Eastern Sea Thousand Islands, Mubei Forest Sea… In these remote areas outside the territories of Great Yu, there are even more gods, but those are too far away for you to need to know.
You just need to know, our Great Yu Dynasty unifies the world under heaven; the Heavenly Master Mansion and the Divine Dragon Temple also contain countless gods that can be commanded.
These two great powers also possess the most methods for commanding gods."
"Official gods?" Zhao Douan keenly noticed a point,
"So, are there also good and evil gods?"
Eunuch Hai praised,
"That's natural. Most gods are harmless, and Magicians communicate with them just to borrow their power. However, a few gods are special; after long contact with a Magician, their personality may be influenced, becoming violent, lascivious, cruel, or insane.
Such entities are the Evil Gods that our Great Yu Dynasty suppresses, and their followers are the Evil Mages."
After a pause, Eunuch Hai reminded,
"If you ever encounter an Evil Mage in the future, be sure to be cautious, and do not treat them as ordinary humans, for their wicked actions are numerous, and they are condemned by everyone."
Zhao Douan earnestly replied, "I will remember this."
Seeing his seriousness, Eunuch Hai couldn't help but smile:
"There's no need to worry, as the Evil Mages are elusive and few in number, and it's not easy to encounter them."
Zhao Douan breathed a sigh of relief, "Please, continue."
Eunuch Hai said:
"Magicians inherit their powers, some summoning multiple gods, others cultivating only one, their realm and strength depend on the power of the gods and the depth of their communication...
"Currently, there are two known magicians with the greatest strength, both in the Capital. You must know of them, they are Zhang Yan Yi from this generation's Heavenly Master Mansion, and Master Xuan Yin, the chief abbot of the Divine Dragon Temple."
It was them... Zhao Douan was familiar with these two names, as the Empress had mentioned them before.
He asked, curiously, "What realm are these two in? Human Immortals?"
Eunuch Hai shook his head:
"Among the Five Realms, Human Immortals exist only in legends, and throughout history, those who have ascended to that realm are few and their existence doubtful. The strongest cultivators today are only in the 'Heavenly Human Realm,' a total of four people, also known as the 'Four Heavenly People.'"
Four Heavenly People... two magicians... Zhao Douan curiously asked,
"And the other two? Are they Martial Artists?"
Eunuch Hai nodded then shook his head,
"One of them is a Martial Artist of the Heavenly Human Realm, residing in Martial Emperor City by the East Sea, reportedly striving to reach Human Immortal, and has not shown himself for many years... As for the last one, can you guess?"
Zhao Douan gasped, suddenly surmising:
"Could it be..."
Eunuch Hai laughed:
"Exactly, the fourth Heavenly Person is none other than our Empress, also the youngest Martial Artist ever to reach the Heavenly Human Realm."
It was her! Xu Zhenguan!
Although Zhao Douan had suspected, he was still shocked.
He knew the Empress had a high cultivation realm, but he hadn't realized she was one of the four strongest people in the world.
No wonder she could single-handedly oppose a thousand troops, suppress the Xuan Sect's coup.
And it's no surprise that despite being an Empress, her aura always seemed ethereal, not like a mortal.
"However," Eunuch Hai added:
"The Empress's Heavenly Human Realm is not perfect yet, as it was achieved by leveraging the Dragon Qi of the throne. However, with her talent, she is expected to reach a state of perfection soon."
An imperfect Heavenly Human Realm... What's missing?
If it lacks harmony between Yin and Yang, I could lend a modest helping hand... Zhao Douan used sarcasm to lighten his mood.
He quickly grasped the key point,
"You said the Empress is the youngest Heavenly Person, is it because she utilized the Royal Family's inheritance?"
The old eunuch in the bright red robe nodded and smiled:
"So, you should now understand the great fortune you've received, right?
The Great Yu Dynasty's royal secrets are from the Grand Ancestor Emperor who gathered the strengths of various factions with his talent that could align the heavens and measure the earth, integrating the systems of magicians and Martial Artists into one lineage.
This lineage is also the fastest and highest-reaching among the orthodox cultivation methods known today."
With that, the old eunuch stopped walking.
Zhao Douan came back to his senses, realizing that while they had been talking, they had passed through several doors and arrived deep within the Martial Arts Hall.
The place was still a courtyard, but in its center stood a tower-like pavilion.
With five stories, the building was filled with signs of age, its red-painted wooden columns mottled and dim.
Between the floor tiles around the building, wild grass grew as if seldom cleaned.
Zhao Douan looked upstanding below the five-story pavilion, and felt an inexplicable sense of calm wash over him, smoothing away all his restless thoughts.
"Come, you can enter the first floor and observe the murals left by the Grand Ancestor Emperor."
The robed old eunuch walked ahead, entering the first level.
"Murals?" Zhao Douan withdrew his gaze from the spire and followed.
"The lineage created by the Grand Ancestor is called 'Martial God'... ha, although there are hundreds of gods in this world, there is no 'Martial God' per se, so the meaning of this lineage is for the Martial Artist to capture the mighty forces of heaven and earth within their body, every action reflecting immense presence, turning their physical form into an earthly immortal," Eunuch Hai explained.
Such grand ambition... to refine oneself into a deity... Zhao Douan was astonished.
Eunuch Hai added:
"Unfortunately, the Grand Ancestor's lineage is special and couldn't be recorded on paper, thus he personally carved five murals, each containing a realm. Since you are a Martial Artist in the Mortal Realm, it's fitting for you to comprehend this first painting, the starting point of the royal inheritance, the first painting— 'Martial God Map'!"
...
ps: Here's an introduction to the Power System, writing these chapters is especially taxing, they can't be omitted, but they can be quite dull to read... what a headache.