"Honored Attendant, the Holy Temple holds over a billion martial arts techniques. I wonder which one this young man is practicing—its power is immense, almost like a whale devouring the world's spiritual energy. We've never seen anything like it," said a beautiful woman, pointing toward the raging vortex as she arrived with another attendant beside Feng Yunwuji.
The attendant on the left opened his eyes, a misty green light flickering in his all-white pupils. After a moment, he sighed and said,"The martial art he's practicing is something you may not have witnessed before, but surely you've heard of it—The Nine Revolutions of Life and Death. This technique is recorded in the martial arts archives of Sacred Land No. 12564. Some among you must have seen its secret records."
"So that's it... I never thought this boy would choose such a perilous path," said a robed man who seemed well-versed in ancient knowledge. "It's said that the last person to practice this technique lived ten million years ago. He reached the sixth revolution, and at that time, few in all the Primeval Age could rival him. Sadly, when attempting the seventh revolution, he perished from an internal explosion. That martial genius, once hailed as having the potential of a Celestial God, still met a tragic end practicing this art."
"If any of you wish to study the Nine Revolutions of Life and Death, you can find its core scripture at the 1,800th step of the stone stairway in Sacred Land No. 12564," added the attendant. "I know a little about it. The very first step to mastering the Nine Revolutions... is to dispel your existing cultivation."
"Dispel our cultivation?!" gasped someone in disbelief. "After all the years and effort we've invested? It's unthinkable just for the sake of learning a mere manual. Honored Attendant, is this person a newly ascended one?"
Both attendants nodded, and the crowd immediately showed an expression of understanding before quietly dispersing.
Meanwhile, Feng Yunwuji, sensing that his internal energy had thickened to the width of a little finger, ceased his practice. According to the manual of the first revolution, he had now successfully completed the initial stage. Opening his eyes, he found the two temple attendants standing before him.
"Feng Yunwuji," said one, "you're cultivating the Nine Revolutions of Life and Death, correct?"
"Yes," Feng Yunwuji nodded.
"It's unfortunate," the attendant continued, "but due to the domineering nature of your cultivation, it is nearly impossible for others to absorb spiritual energy from the world while you practice. Thus, according to the temple's rules, despite not yet completing three years here, we must ask you to leave the Sacred Mountain. However, considering your time has not yet fully elapsed, you are permitted to choose a location nearby for solitary cultivation. Until your three-year period concludes, the temple will continue to guarantee your safety."
Feng Yunwuji listened silently, then turned and leapt down the mountain without a word.In truth, he had long felt that cultivating atop the Sacred Mountain was constraining—there seemed to be some hidden force suppressing the full potential of the Nine Revolutions. Thus, he had already resolved to leave once he completed the first revolution. Hearing the attendants' announcement only confirmed his decision.
The two attendants watched him depart with some surprise. They had expected bargaining or protest—but Feng Yunwuji's straightforwardness caught them off guard.
"Left Attendant," the right one said after a moment, a hint of concern in his voice, "do you think he has the potential to master the complete Nine Revolutions? If so, he could be a vital force to help our people out of the current crisis."
The Left Attendant looked up to the sky and sighed."Survival of the fittest—that is nature's law," he said. "Ever since Lord Yinghuo mysteriously vanished, our tribe's fortunes have been steadily declining. I too hope for a warrior who could rival the divine and demonic beings. But the Nine Revolutions of Life and Death is the most arduous and demanding martial art of all—and as the name implies, it is a path of death before rebirth. Success... will be extremely rare."
He paused, then added, "If, before the next Divine-Demon War, no one among us achieves the Realm of Divinity, the pacts we made with the demon clans might have to be rewritten."
Their faces heavy with worry, the two attendants stood quietly in the vast plaza. After a while, they sighed once more, flicked their sleeves, and returned to the temple gates, sitting cross-legged once again.
At the edge of the Sacred Mountain, Feng Yunwuji encountered an unexpected challenge.The entire perimeter was sheer cliffs plunging thousands of meters downward.Unlike the ancient warriors of the Primeval Age, Feng Yunwuji had not yet gained the ability to soar freely through the skies. It seemed that the Sacred Mountain had been built under the assumption that anyone who reached it could fly.
He hesitated—should he turn back and ask the attendants for help? His pride wouldn't allow it. After pondering, he decided there was only one solution: the Third Level Sword Control Technique from the first layer of Mind-Sword Unity.
Fortunately, the Sword Control Technique was purely a physical art, unrelated to internal cultivation, so it would not disrupt others.Thus, Feng Yunwuji sat down cross-legged at the cliff's edge, placed his hands on his knees, and began practicing.
Compared to simple sword riding, Sword Control was a far deeper and more complex skill. It was a technique primarily focused on incredible speed and maneuverability. Of course, it could also be used for combat, and its offensive capabilities were vastly superior to ordinary sword riding.
The key difference between "riding" and "controlling" was clear even from the words themselves."Riding" a sword required constant attention and effort; "controlling" it was effortless, as easy as moving one's own limbs.A true master of Sword Control could treat the sword as an extension of their body—where the mind went, the sword followed. Man and sword became one.
Because of its complexity, it took Feng Yunwuji three full months of meditation and practice to even master half of the technique—specifically, the art of Sword Flight.
Yet now, he faced another problem: he had no sword.Before his ascension, he had already reached the realm of abandoning the sword—where anything could serve as a blade.With a thought, he plucked a blade of grass, his fingers vibrating slightly. The limp grass instantly stiffened into a razor-sharp sword, harder than steel and keen as a honed blade.
With a step onto the grass-sword, Feng Yunwuji shot into the sky, leaving behind a streak of silver light as he descended the Sacred Mountain.
Beneath him stretched a desolate, primeval wilderness.The grass grew taller than a man, the trees soared hundreds of feet into the air, and ferocious beasts roamed the land freely. Mountains pierced the clouds; monstrous creatures moved without restraint.
As he surveyed the scene, Feng Yunwuji gradually understood the plight of humankind.During his time at the temple, he had begun to glimpse the truth:Beasts, demons, and monsters were born innately stronger than humans. The longer they lived, the more powerful they became.From the dawn of the universe across trillions of years, countless terrifying beings had emerged.
Human survival among them was no easy feat.Somehow, ancient humans had managed to produce beings so powerful that even the monstrous races feared them.Thus, agreements were forged: humans could retain certain dimensions to thrive and evolve. In return, primeval humans could not interfere, nor could they teach the mortals advanced martial arts. Similarly, the demons were forbidden from freely entering these dimensions.
However, the deal had its price—while the demons could not annihilate entire dimensions, they were permitted to occasionally harvest humans for sustenance.
The world Feng Yunwuji came from was exactly such a dimension—a human farm, so to speak.
Any human who ascended from such a world would be recognized as a true member of the Primeval Race.Newly ascended humans were protected for three years by the temple; during this time, no demon could attack them.
But after those three years ended, the protection was lifted.From then on, the law of survival of the fittest prevailed—demons could hunt humans, and humans could also hunt demons.
Though it seemed fair, in truth it was anything but.The demon races numbered in the hundreds of billions, while Primeval humans numbered less than a hundred million.Worse still, demons were born strong, needing no cultivation, while humans had to painstakingly train for years just to begin competing.