"Now, as time has passed and the world has changed, the spiritual energy between heaven and earth has become extremely thin, and cultivators must rely on spirit stones mined from spiritual mines to cultivate."
"But spirit stones are different from spiritual energy."
"Spiritual energy is a gift from heaven and earth to all things, while spirit stones become personal possessions of cultivators."
"Spiritual energy roams in the sky, fills the earth, and treats all living beings without distinction."
"But spirit stones, once considered ’wealth’, only gather from below upwards, ultimately concentrated in the hands of a few."
"And the mining of spirit stones itself is like consuming the resources of a mountain without replenishing, making it unsustainable in the long run."
"Therefore, more than ten thousand years ago, an ancestor of the Taoist Court established a rule: after death, cultivators of great power, especially Feathered Immortal Cultivators, must undergo corpse disintegration."
Mo Hua’s pupils trembled, "Corpse disintegration?"
Images of bodies torn apart and dying horribly flashed in Mo Hua’s mind.
"Spiritual power disintegration?"
"Indeed," Master Gu said, "Through a certain formation, the immense spiritual power these great cultivators gathered in life is decomposed and transformed back into pure spiritual energy to be released into heaven and earth."
Master Gu spoke with a solemn voice.
"In life, one gathers spiritual energy unto oneself; in death, through corpse disintegration, one returns the spiritual power to heaven and earth..." Mo Hua murmured, feeling a sense of shock.
It seemed that this ancestor of the Taoist Court who stipulated that cultivators above Feather Transformation should undergo "corpse disintegration" after death had not only immense cultivation and influence but also extraordinary vision and magnanimity.
However...
Mo Hua frowned, "Wouldn’t the family clans disagree?"
"Naturally," Master Gu nodded, "Cultivators rely on their cultivation. This cultivation, painstakingly acquired in life, how could one be willing to disperse it to heaven and earth even in death?"
"It is said that back then, when the Taoist Court implemented ’corpse disintegration’, it incited widespread anger, and family clans were thrown into chaos." RÂＮȎ𝖇Ę𝒮
"But the Taoist Court persisted resolutely, even deploying the Dragon Soaring Forbidden Army, to subdue the noble families across the Nine State, enforcing the ’Corpse Disintegration Skill’ with an irreversible determination."
"During that time, the fires of war were widespread, and disputes were ceaseless. Some Fifth-Rank Great Families, refusing to comply with corpse disintegration, had their ancestors executed by the Taoist Court and were thus removed from nobility and obliterated."
"This upheaval lasted nearly a millennium before gradually subsiding."
"The family clans acquiesced to this rule, and corpse disintegration became customary."
Mo Hua found it rather astonishing.
This Chapter of cultivation world history, succinct though it may sound, encompassed the rules of the Heavenly Dao, the power struggles of great forces, the laws of the Taoist Court, and the chaos of family clans. It unknowingly involved countless open battles and power shifts, with casualties among cultivators, truly a grand and turbulent era...
"But... does corpse disintegration really work?" Mo Hua asked, "Aren’t the spiritual energies of heaven and earth still thin?"
Master Gu smiled bitterly, "This involves the power struggles above Feather Transformation, something a mere Golden Core like myself doesn’t understand. But it should make some difference... Now it’s only thin, but without great cultivators undergoing corpse disintegration to return spiritual power to heaven and earth after death, even this ’thin’ spiritual energy might be lost."
Master Gu sighed and said melancholically: "If that day comes when there is no spiritual energy in heaven and earth, having only spirit stones would be useless."
"Without spiritual energy, some naturally occurring spiritual objects in heaven and earth would become extinct."
"The so-called blessed paradises, spirit mountains of immortal families, would lose their spirituality and become mere dirt and stone."
"Spiritual mines will shrink, and spirit stones will become increasingly scarce."
"For ordinary cultivators, it will become increasingly difficult to cultivate and survive."
"At that time, who knows what will happen..."
Master Gu appeared worried.
Mo Hua also frowned, lost in thought.
After a while, he glanced at Master Gu, admiringly saying: "Master Gu, you know so much."
Master Gu froze, then self-deprecatingly said, "You’re overpraising me, young master. These aren’t my words."
"Not yours?"
"Back then, when I was studying abroad, I met an old storyteller who told me these things during a casual chat."
"An old storyteller? Was his cultivation high?" Mo Hua asked curiously.
Master Gu shook his head, "At that time, I was only at Foundation Establishment and couldn’t tell... But even if that old master didn’t have high cultivation, his insight alone was enough to command respect."
"Indeed." Mo Hua nodded.
Family clan tombs, feathered corpse disintegration, spiritual energy revival...
These are not secrets an ordinary cultivator can delve into.
"The old storyteller..."
Mo Hua pondered for a moment and then recalled something, asking:
"Master Gu, if high-rank cultivators don’t ’disintegrate’ and don’t dissipate spirit but are directly buried in tombs, what would happen?"
Master Gu frowned tightly, "This... to be honest, young master, I’ve only heard a little about this, it may not be true."
"I understand, please go on." Mo Hua said.
Master Gu said in a low voice, "It’s said that if high-rank cultivators do not undergo corpse disintegration and retain their spiritual power when buried, a mutation could occur."
"Mutation?" Mo Hua raised an eyebrow.
"Yes," Master Gu said, "either a corpse transformation or ghost transformation..."
"If plagued by malevolent energy, they become copper corpses or flying corpses. If a mouthful of resentment remains, it might transform into a ’Fierce Ghost’ in red."
"Moreover, a tomb is an abode of yin, stained with death qi, and the corpse transformations and ghost transformations inside differ greatly from the ordinary corpse cultivators and ghost cultivators of the Demon Path, much more vicious and terrifying..."
Mo Hua felt a chill in his heart.
"Of course, these are things I’ve just heard of, young master needn’t take them too seriously." Master Gu emphasized once again.
"Indeed." Mo Hua noted everything in his heart and nodded.
Master Gu’s words contained many secrets that he hadn’t known before, so he needed to remember them well and digest them carefully.