Cultivation: When you take things to the extreme

Chapter 403: Chapter 260: The Great Calamity_Part 2

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When he finally left, Great Zhou had already completed modern industrialization, even launching space satellites into orbit, and the production of fighter jets and aircraft carriers was hardly worth mentioning; otherwise, achieving unification and peace throughout the Four Seas would have been difficult.

With such a technological foundation, after over ten thousand years of development, even if a super-civilization could not have emerged, it shouldn’t have regressed, right?

But now…

The group of people from before, including Su Shaoqing, were all dressed in ancient attire, and the weapons they used were cold weapons like knives, spears, swords, and halberds. No one pulled out a machine gun to rattle off shots, nor did anyone carry rocket launchers to bombard around, not a hint of modern technology in sight.

What’s going on?

How did this bunch manage to ruin the technological system he had established?

Could there be some irreconcilable conflict between practicing martial arts and advancing technology?

Or did they have even more advanced technological capabilities?

In Xu Yang’s heart, doubts piled upon doubts, filled with incomprehension and curiosity.

After he had left, what on earth had these people been up to?

“Unfilial descendants!”

Regarding this, Su Shaoqing also had a complex expression on her face as she spoke solemnly of the changes over these ten thousand years.

“When Ancestral Emperor entered the Temple of War God and did not emerge for a long time, a hundred years later, the Temple of War God shifted across the Broken Void and appeared in various places in the human world. Although the imperial court monitored it closely, it was inevitable that some, by chance, would enter and see the bodies of both you and Guang Chengzi.”

“Afterward, when news of your passing spread, as you entered nirvana in the Temple of War God, it caused unrest among the people and signs of rebellion began to emerge.”

“Although the laws and systems were upheld, with many of our ancestors working hard to maintain order, the restless populace proved difficult to manage. The imperial court had no choice but to make compromises, repeatedly amending the state policies you had established, yielding to the powerful clans and families and dividing governance over the land…”

“But as the saying goes, ‘A person’s greed is like a snake that wishes to swallow an elephant.’ Those people were even more like hungry wolves and ravenous tigers, with insatiable greed. Not contented with a share of the nation’s wealth, they sought to expand their power, dominate the localities, and massively usurp the foundations of the state.”

“The powerful clans and families, self-important in their territories, were causing a mess in the imperial court, with factions pitted against each other, forming cliques and targeting outsiders. The families were divided, even resorting to attacking each other. Add to that the martial artists’ strength and their propensity for violence when armed with lethal weapons, local chaos ensued non-stop, leading to a declining nation amid growing strife and turmoil…”

“Eventually, eight hundred years after your departure, Ancestral Emperor, the structure of Great Zhou Country fell apart. Nine rebel kings breached the capital city; thirty-six alchemists who had reached the Subduing Dragon and Tiger realm joined forces in attacking the Heaven Martial Peak. With them, the last Martial Emperor perished…”

“Thus, Great Zhou collapsed, leaving only remnants like us to struggle on miserably.”

Having spoken thus with a pained voice, Su Shaoqing looked at Xu Yang, but appeared calm.

“And then what?”

“…”

Her calm question plunged Su Shaoqing into silence.

The fall of Great Zhou might have had countless external causes, but in essence, the root lay in internal problems.

If these descendant offspring had not been so undutiful, each harbouring their own agendas, causing internal strife and engaging in factional disputes, how could the foundations laid down by Heaven Martial during the era of Great Zhou have dissipated in smoke in just eight hundred years?

Perhaps the Ancestral Emperor had foreseen this outcome as well?

That’s why he was so calm now, because everything had been expected.

“What’s past is past, each person has their own destiny, and cannot be forced. Let’s look to the present.”

Seeing her like this, Xu Yang also offered a word of comfort.

Su Shaoqing came back to her senses, meeting his calm gaze, she nodded emphatically, “Shaoqing understands.”

“If you understand, that’s good.”

Xu Yang smiled, “What about the events that followed?”

“Afterwards?”

“`

Su Shaoqing organized his thoughts before continuing the narrative.

“After the fall of the Great Zhou, those of us with remaining connections to the lineage went into hiding, changing our names and identities. The world went through cycles of rising and falling dynasties. Because martial artists were strong and unruly, there was constant turmoil; subsequent dynasties lacked the power to unite the Four Seas. The lands were divided, with each claiming kingship over their territory…”

“Three thousand years passed in this way, and the Martial World became the main arena once again. The Temple of War God repeatedly revealed itself, allowing martial artists to enter and meditate on the Forty-Nine War God Charts, thus deriving all sorts of earth-shattering Divine Skills. They gradually surpassed the stagnant Martial Arts Scriptures and even developed realms beyond the Essence-Convergence stage.”

“After five thousand years, nine grandmasters entered the Temple of War God together. It is unknown what they realized, but they fought among themselves and each stole a War God Chart.”

“War God’s Atlas?”

Xu Yang raised an eyebrow, “They took the War God’s Atlas out of the Temple of War God?”

“Exactly!”

Su Shaoqing nodded, “Each of the nine grandmasters took one War God Chart, and from it, they comprehended the True Martial God of War. They advanced the Martial Path to the divine realm of Divine Martial, where martial artists wielded power comparable to gods and demons. The world entered a new era, historically known as the Divine Martial Era!”

“Divine Martial Era?”

Xu Yang murmured softly, his eyes lighting up, “And what happened after that?”

Continuing, Su Shaoqing said, “With the beginning of the Divine Martial Era, following the nine grandmasters, numerous powerful martial artists entered the Temple of War God, each bringing out a War God Chart, thereby creating a large number of powerful individuals in the Divine Bridge Realm and Divine Martial Realm. The Divine Martial Era reached its pinnacle.”

“Divine Bridge Realm?”

“Divine Martial Realm?”

Xu Yang mulled over the terms to himself, savoring their implications.

Su Shaoqing went on, “Then, six thousand years after the fall of the Great Zhou, a hundred Divine Martial Experts entered the Divine Martial Hall, all vying for the final and most powerful War God Chart—the Broken Void.”

“The battle of the hundred strongest shook the heavens and the earth. In the end, it’s unknown what was triggered, but all one hundred Divine Martial Experts perished within the Temple of War God. The world changed dramatically, with various massive natural disasters occurring: tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, droughts, and terrifying beasts and Heavenly Demons slaughtering the Human Clan and drenching the world in blood.”

“The world was thus plunged into chaos, even teetering on the brink of annihilation!”

“…”

“Natural disasters?”

“Beasts?”

“Heavenly Demons?”

“Cataclysm?”

Xu Yang’s brow furrowed deeply as he listened to Su Shaoqing’s account, yet he did not interrupt, choosing instead to continue listening closely.

“When the Human Clan was on the verge of extinction, the various forces further penetrated the mysteries of the War God’s Atlas, giving rise to a new wave of Divine Martial Experts. They contended with the Heavenly Demons, subdued the terrifying beasts, and barely managed to preserve the Human Clan’s inheritance.”

“But this great upheaval lasted a full thousand years, nearly destroying human civilization. The major forces suffered immense losses, and many Divine Martial Experts fell. It wasn’t until the world changed again, and the inexplicable retreat of the Heavenly Demons, leaving only beasts driven by their animal instincts, that the Human Clan could finally catch its breath.”

“This period is historically called the Millennium Catastrophe!”

“The Millennium Catastrophe resulted in a break in civilization, and much scientific achievement was lost. Although some data and records were preserved, peculiar changes in the world made Yuan Qi more abundant, rendering it difficult to reconstruct previous scientific achievements.”

“Moreover, with the emergence of various natural treasures and inheritances from the War God Heritage, and the unparalleled power of the Martial Path, people abandoned attempts to restore technology, fully committing to the study of the War God’s Martial Arts.”

“To this day, aside from those powerful forces and secret inheritances that persisted through the Divine Martial Era and the Millennium Catastrophe, all have lost the technological methods of old Great Zhou. Instead, they’ve developed numerous Martial Arts techniques from the Temple of War God, such as the Mysterious Iron Divine Weapons of Iron Heart Fortress, the Subduing Dragon and Tiger Pill of the Beggar’s Guild, the Secret Techniques of Heavenly Demon of the Demon Sect…”

With a deep sigh, Su Shaoqing looked towards Xu Yang, “Our hidden branch of Great Zhou suffered tragic losses in the Millennium Catastrophe. Afterward, without the War God Heritage and facing the world’s hostility, we were constantly targeted and suppressed, leading to our declining state and increasingly difficult existence.”

“Fortunately, one wise ancestor preserved Your Majesty’s body by bringing it back from the Temple of War God and secretly built an underground palace, using the Mysterious Ice Coffin to keep your body intact. By utilizing the Holy King’s Relic, he transferred generations of the royal family’s martial power into essence and injected it into your body, in the hope of resurrecting you.”

“When the catastrophe was imminent, my ancestor knew the underground palace was no longer safe, so he secretly stole the Mysterious Ice Coffin and disappeared with Your Majesty’s body, waiting until today…”

Su Shaoqing’s eyes reddened as he said through clenched teeth, “Someone found out our identity and spread the word, causing people from the Martial World and various forces to descend upon us, slaughtering everyone in the Su Family. If not for the secret passage my father constructed, my two cousins and I would not have been able to escape with Your Majesty’s body.”