The No.1 Undercover in the Immortal World-Chapter 737 - 245: The Root of the Battle of the Four Kings
Under the seal of the Cheating Heaven Sword Technique, Tai Bai and Lin Yun started to discuss the art of dividing one’s spirit and took the opportunity to explain the hierarchy of Divine Spirits.
Just as mortals come in different ranks, so do gods of course.
In the age of the gods, social structure existed just as it does now, resulting in a natural need for a standard of measurement amongst the gods.
However, unlike how humans classify stages of cultivation, the ranking of Divine Spirits is determined by the strength of their Divine Power and their divine status, making it a bit more complicated than the ranking system of Human Cultivators.
Typically, the intensity of Divine Power and divine status are matched, meaning if a deity’s status is high, their Divine Power will also be strong.
It seems that using divine status alone to rate would be sufficient, however, because of the existence of followers’ faith, some gods with lesser status can surpass their limits in Divine Power if they manage to inspire devout faith.
As a result, it was ultimately Tai Bai who proposed a more comprehensive and stronger grading system.
Gods were divided into three tiers: Divine Emperor, Divine King, and Divine Being. A Divine Emperor signifies a Divine Spirit powerful enough to dominate an empire, a Divine King denotes control over a kingdom, and Divine Beings are the most common of Divine Spirits, and the most numerous.
Like Dongfang Yao, although he did not establish his own empire, he had the strength to do so, and was naturally regarded as a Divine Emperor. And there are some gods that, without the status and Divine Power of a Divine King, can still create a kingdom and thus can be designated as Divine Kings.
A Divine Emperor is the ultimate level a god can reach.
To transcend this realm, one needs to go beyond its status.
Status, once established, will not change, but Divine Power can continue to accumulate. When it builds up to a certain extent, it can only be compressed, and when it reaches the limit of what can be endured without breaking through, Divine Spirits have no choice but to divide themselves.
Unable to break through upwards, they can only split their own power.
Had it not been for the division of half their power, The Four Sacred Beasts would have been absolute powerhouses in the age of the gods.
"I am half of the White Tiger Holy Spirit; Canglan is half of the Azure Dragon Holy Spirit; Biluo is half of the Vermilion Bird Holy Spirit; and Canghai is half of the Xuanwu Holy Spirit."
"Ah, this..."
Lin Yun thought of Xiao Qing inside him and Canglan, always at his heart, realizing he truly had a destiny with the Azure Dragon!
Two Azure Dragons, one large and one small, reside within him.
However, Xiao Qing the Azure Dragon and Canglan the Azure Dragon are not the same.
Lin Yun was a bit puzzled, "Since you all are derived from Holy Spirits, why, apart from you, do the powers of the other gods and the Sacred Beasts not align?" 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦
The powers differ, and the names have no apparent connection. Lin Yun had not thought of this before.
Even for someone like him, who was great at filling in the blanks, it was unexpected, all due to the confusing names chosen by these individuals.
Only then did Tai Bai explain, "Not all divided spirits will, like me, obtain the same power as their original form. The power they receive may be just one aspect of it. After dividing, we have little connection with our original selves; we develop our own will and thoughts.
Despite that, in truth, we are still branches of the same root."
The relationship between The Four Sacred Beasts was very close. After splitting, the four newly born gods were also the closest dao companions to the original Four Spirits.
However, only they themselves were aware of this connection.
Even Divine Spirits of the Divine Emperor caliber might not know about the matter of dividing spirits.
Divine Beings are the weakest level of Divine Spirits, but even the weakest can effortlessly overpower Defiant Heavenly Realm Cultivators of mankind.
The Defiant Heavenly Realm sounds mighty, but in reality, it’s just the limit of humanity.
And the limit of humanity is still a chasm apart from even the weakest of Divine Spirits.
So if Tai Bai were to go to war, she would be an invincible presence under the heavens, unless faced with divine retribution or another power like Ancestor Bai emerged to punish her.
But with only a few Divine Emperors in existence, the Four Spirits all gone, Ancestor Bai no more, and Dongfang Yao and Su’e fallen, who would there be to punish Tai Bai?
"What kind of level would Qian Qian be considered amongst the gods?"
"A Divine King, I suppose, it can’t be any more than that."
Tai Bai casually made a judgment without elaborating.
This also made Lin Yun aware of the gap. Indeed, Qian Qian’s support wasn’t solid enough - better to cling tightly to Tai Bai’s leg!
Qian Qian, waiting in the Divine Temple, felt an inexplicable heaviness on top of her head.
After enlightening Lin Yun, Tai Bai continued to recount some little-known stories.
It was precisely because gods inevitably have to divide when reaching their limits, and once divided, cannot break through further, that The Four Spirits were very unwilling to accept this. As a result, they started to explore new methods.
Hence, there was Tai Bai, who loved to adventure in the Outer Realm.
Actually, Tai Bai rarely went out to the Outer Realm alone; she always traveled in groups.
The Four Spirits knew that the chance to explore higher principles of the Great Dao existed only in the Outer Realm.
In their initial adventures, the four split spirits of Tai Bai acted together; it’s just that no one knew about it.
It was during one such occasion that they found the Primordial Ruins in the Outer Realm.
There was a place there, and Tai Bai suspected it was a relic of the Ancient Heavenly Court.
There, Tai Bai discovered secret techniques, to Forge the Heavenly Court.
Forge the Heavenly Court, as the name implies, means to establish a dynasty and to gather the entire might of that dynasty within oneself.
The gods would become more powerful, thereby empowering the dynasty, and then they would mutually strive to break through their limits.
This theory is akin to a perpetual motion machine.
As long as the dynasty and Divine Emperor continue to grow, breaching the limits becomes inevitable.
So after the return of the Four Great Divine Emperors, The Four Great Divine Nations were established.
After that, it was only then that Tai Bai and the others made their names known across the world.
Other gods followed suit, actually achieving a group of Divine Kings.
Having tasted success once, Tai Bai became even more enthusiastic about the Outer Realm; however, Canglan and the others were more interested in building the Divine Country, so Tai Bai often went on expeditions by himself, leaving the Divine Country to others.
Additionally, the White Tiger ensured matters ran smoothly from the shadows, preventing major chaos.
As a result, Tai Bai’s Divine Country developed quite smoothly, followed by Canglan’s, but their development was still not as impressive as that of Tai Bai, who was more hands-off.
That was rather frustrating.
But back to the story, Tai Bai, having traversed the Outer Realm extensively, naturally encountered many things. And as the pieces of the puzzle fell into place, she gradually unveiled a corner of the dusty annals of history.
There existed an extremely powerful prehistoric civilization which, in the end, all perished.
Tai Bai speculated that in this primordial era, humans and gods did not coexist. Divine Beings dwelt in the Heavenly Court, while mortals lived in the dust of the Mortal Realm.
In the end, the gods’ Divine Country in the sky and the Mortal Empire on earth both crumbled.
Divine Spirits fell, and all living beings perished.
As for these archaeological parts, Tai Bai did not go into detail with Lin Yun, but rather said, "The destruction of ancient times has given me a deep sense of crisis. Perhaps by fate or destiny’s arrangement, I acquired a magical tome called the Heavenly Book."
Lin Yun: "..."
The world is quite small indeed.
The Heavenly Book you speak of, I have seen it too.
"The Heavenly Book tells me that the twilight of the gods is coming, and an era is about to end. I didn’t believe it and asked for a solution."
"The solution is the Qilin?"
Lin Yun was now quick to respond.
Tai Bai nodded and said, "Yes, it’s the Qilin. If it were only mentioned in the Heavenly Book, I wouldn’t have believed it, but before I encountered the Heavenly Book, I had already seen a stele that mentioned the Qilin."
Lin Yun hastily asked, "Do you remember the inscription?"
"Of course!"
As Tai Bai spoke, she used her Sword Qi to carve the following words on the pitch-black walls of the Cleansing Sword Pool: "In the Valley of Jade Mountain, ** dwells; at the Primordial Water Abyss, ** writes. Gold Crow as the medium, mystic spring as the dowry. The zither and lute play, joyful as bells and drums.
At a hundred years, a child is born, named Qilin; favored by the Yellow Heaven, virtues chanted by Hou Tu. This Qilin mingles with the Four Great Holy Beasts; to the left, the Azure Dragon, to the right the White Tiger, its back marked with the Vermilion Bird, its feet tread upon Xuanwu."
Lin Yun: "..."
I’ve come across it, those familiar yet invisible characters.
Considering that Su’e dared not to utter Qing Nu’s name aloud, and with Tai Bai knowing more, it wouldn’t make sense for her to not acknowledge the taboo.
Perhaps that’s why she chose not to recite it directly, but rather to inscribe it.
At first, Lin Yun thought she was just showing off.
"Do you, understand it?"
Tai Bai asked Lin Yun, who knew she was referring to the two blurred parts.
Even though they were right there, Lin Yun couldn’t see them clearly.
How infuriating!
But no matter, as everyone knows, names do not impede comprehension.
Those two blurred areas should be names, and moreover, those two people later became husband and wife and then bore a child named Qilin.
The Qilin must be extraordinary for the Four Great Holy Beasts could only serve as its followers.
That was more or less the gist of it, and Lin Yun nodded, indicating his understanding.
It felt like playing "Spot the Undercover"; though I am an undercover myself, I have already seen through the cards of others.
Little did Tai Bai know of Lin Yun’s intricate thoughts, and she harbored no suspicion.
Since Lin Yun was related to the Qilin, and certainly connected to those two taboo existences, possibly, Lin Yun was their reincarnated offspring.
There was another part of the stele that Tai Bai had not transcribed.
What she saw wasn’t the complete stele either, a section was missing in the middle, and the latter part stated that the Qilin had died, blood rain had poured for nine days, then calamity struck, ** destroyed the world.
Tai Bai felt that it was unnecessary to mention this part to Lin Yun; concerning taboos, it was best to speak less whenever possible.
Tai Bai went straight to discussing the original prophecy of the Heavenly Book: "When the Four Spirits congregate, the Qilin will revive, auspicious omens will reappear, and catastrophe will not arise. Initially, we thought it meant activating our powers, so that the Qilin would awaken within us.
For this reason, we tried many methods, all to resolve the impending disaster that was certain to occur, unfortunately, we failed.
It is only upon seeing you now that I realize, the Qilin was not among us after all..."
The Four Sacred Beasts and the Four Great Divine Emperors formerly believed that the Qilin would awaken within them, which led to an internal war.
Only the mightiest could gather the power of the four gods.
But to be safe, they decided to cautiously experiment, rather than be completely incompatible.
Hence, the war between The Four Great Divine Nations began.
Their wars were waged in search of a means to quell the calamity, but they did not expect that their attempt would trigger the Twilight of the Gods instead.
After the war started, when they wanted to stop, they couldn’t anymore...
