A stone statue, clad in armor, its face unseen, revealed only a pair of eyes. In its hand, it held a long sword, emanating an aura of heart-palpitating, utterly terrifying power, as if it could shatter heaven and earth.
"Just a stone statue..." Chen Jiuyang's bones creaked within him. For anyone else, this oppressive aura would have already crushed them, shattering every bone.
But Chen Jiuyang possessed a profound foundation and could barely withstand it. He then shifted his gaze away from the stone statue.
"Hoo!!!"
Chen Jiuyang gasped for air. The terrifying aura that had nearly overwhelmed him vanished without a trace. Panting, he murmured to himself, "Is this the divine ability left behind by an ancient Martial Dao Emperor Realm expert? Truly formidable."
This stone statue had stood here for who knew how many years. Even after millennia of erosion by time, its divine ability's aura remained so potent. No wonder Kong Shengren's disciple had sealed this place.
It had truly broadened Chen Jiuyang's horizons. Martial Dao divine abilities could persist for thousands of years without fading; it was astonishing. If word of this spread, no one would dare believe it.
The owner of this stone statue must have been no ordinary figure in ancient times.
However, Chen Jiuyang then considered that his ancestor, the Pure Yang Medical Immortal, was also extraordinary. The inheritance left within the jade pendant could be activated through blood even after thousands of years.
Just thinking about it made him feel that it was an incredibly brilliant era, where the path of immortals and martial arts had not been severed or sealed. Unlike now, where the fourth realm of Martial Dao, the Heavenly Realm, was the ceiling for a nation's overt combat strength.
No, there was something amiss... Was this a Martial Dao divine ability, or a divine might like a prison?
According to records, Guan Wusheng of the Three Kingdoms period was the first Martial Dao expert to master an invincible divine ability. The Martial Dao divine ability on this stone statue was clearly from before the Three Kingdoms era, and it was sealed by a disciple of Kong Shengren.
This implied that in ancient times, or even earlier, the Dao was divided into Immortals and Martial Arts?
Immediately, Chen Jiuyang recalled memories from the divine doctor's inheritance, which contained records of Martial Dao divine abilities.
Chen Jiuyang frowned slightly. It seemed the illusion array set up by Kong Shengren's disciple had lingering side effects, causing his memory to become somewhat muddled.
These historical figures were indeed not simple individuals.
Chen Jiuyang glanced at the Yan Sheng Saber in his hand. With his current strength, by expending the power within his body, the nascent form of his divine ability could only remain in this world for a maximum of three to five minutes before dissipating.
Seeing this stone statue, Chen Jiuyang understood even more clearly the difference between divine might like a prison and invincible divine abilities. The paths were different, and the ways of using power were also different.
But this filled Chen Jiuyang with excitement. A Martial Dao divine ability that could remain in the world for thousands of years and still harm others—a true man should be like this!
A surge of heroic excitement welled up within Chen Jiuyang!
For some inexplicable reason, Chen Jiuyang's fighting spirit flared fiercely, and the vast qi and blood within him boiled, compelling him to walk towards the stone statue.
The Yan Sheng Saber in his hand also gleamed with cold light. Chen Jiuyang was its master now; if the master is disgraced, the servant dies. It was a spiritual saber. The stronger Chen Jiuyang's fighting spirit, the sharper the Yan Sheng Saber's edge became.
Unconsciously, Chen Jiuyang arrived before the stone statue.
At this moment, the voice of the Yan Sheng Saber echoed in Chen Jiuyang's mind: "Saber master, if you don't restrain the agitation of the qi and blood within you, it will damage your foundation."
To gather but not disperse, to condense but not release—this was the path of breaking through martial techniques into the divine. Chen Jiuyang's stance was one of inaction, like a car in neutral with the accelerator floored; it appeared fierce but was harmful to oneself.
Awakened by the Yan Sheng Saber's voice, Chen Jiuyang finally came to his senses. He controlled his intense fighting spirit and looked intently at the stone statue before him. On it was an ancient character that Chen Jiuyang couldn't recognize. In the Medical Immortal inheritance, there were similar fonts, but this seemed to be an even older and more ancient script than the era of the Pure Yang Medical Immortal.
"This is..." The Yan Sheng Saber vibrated: "The script from the era of the first saber master!"
Chen Jiuyang's heart trembled: "Yan Sheng Saber, you recognize this character?"
Yan Sheng Saber: "This character is 'Fa' (伐). Saber master, see if there are any other characters on this stone statue."
Chen Jiuyang walked around the stone statue and soon discovered another character on it.
Yan Sheng Saber exclaimed: "This character is 'Xian' (仙)! Saber master, you've truly struck gold this time."
"Fa Xian?" Chen Jiuyang's expression sharpened: "What immense ambition."
"Yan Sheng Saber, it seems you know this Martial Dao divine ability?"
"Of course I know *￥#%." The Yan Sheng Saber uttered obscure words that Chen Jiuyang couldn't understand.
"What I just said was the pronunciation of these two characters in that era. Saber master, if you wish to obtain this Martial Dao divine ability, you must activate it with the ancient language."
Chen Jiuyang asked: "Is this Martial Dao divine ability very powerful?"
If possible, Chen Jiuyang wanted to create his own Martial Dao divine ability.
Yan Sheng Saber said: "This move is imprinted in the long river of Martial Dao. Only peerless experts who pioneered the path of Martial Dao are qualified to imprint their Martial Dao divine abilities in the long river of Martial Dao."
"The first saber master back then sought the method for forging the Yan Sheng Saber from the owner of this Martial Dao divine ability."
"Such experts are rare, appearing once in ten thousand years."
"!!!"
Chen Jiuyang fell silent for a moment and said: "Teach me how to pronounce these two characters."
An hour later, Chen Jiuyang had mastered the pronunciation of these two characters.
As he uttered the first obscure syllable, the qi and blood within Chen Jiuyang inexplicably boiled, and his aura surged with each passing moment.
By the time both characters' syllables were uttered.
"Rumble!"
The world before Chen Jiuyang turned upside down. The stone statue before him seemed to come alive, vibrating incessantly. Its stone skin cracked and fell away, revealing white light within, which then gradually seeped into Chen Jiuyang's brow.
"Buzz!"
Blood rain appeared before Chen Jiuyang's eyes, and his heart was overwhelmed by a sense of grief. Corpses littered the ground, as if he had traversed a thousand miles without seeing a single living soul. Such a scene made Chen Jiuyang's body tremble.
Then, a surge of indignant emotion welled up in his heart, and the roar of the Martial Dao Emperor Realm expert echoed in his ears:
"Immortals and demons colluded, harming my human race, merely to sacrifice to the heavens, to preserve themselves, to prolong their meager existence. They must be slain!"
As the voice fell, the sky changed. Countless celestial beings and great demons descended from the heavens.
Before those celestial beings and great demons, his own figure was so minuscule.
Facing the myriad of celestial beings and great demons, this Martial Dao Emperor Realm expert raised the sword in his hand, his brilliant sword intent unstoppable by immortals and demons!
"We martial artists must strike down immortals and slay demons!"
Chen Jiuyang's soul felt as if it were being torn apart. He didn't know how long it took before he came back to his senses, his eyes filled with unconcealed astonishment:
"Well said, 'Fa Xian'."
Using the pronunciation of the current era for "Fa Xian" was fine, but speaking these two words in the ancient language would activate this divine ability.
With Chen Jiuyang's current strength, he could only activate half a syllable of "Fa" at most.
"The divine ability has found its master. Above and below, this divine ability can only be used by you."