God, Celestial God, God King, Conferred God King, God Monarch… Zhang Xuan jotted down the various realms in his head.
I wonder what realm is Ruoxin at…
She was able to ascend from the Azure to the Firmament without going through the Hall of Gods, tearing the dimension barrier apart to pass through it without sustaining wounds that were too severe.
Without a doubt, that was a feat that no Gods or Celestial Gods would be able to pull off.
Given so, was it possible that she was a God King?
As for whether she was a God Monarch or not, well, he honestly dared not push his thoughts in that direction. After all, there were only nine of them in the world. Every single one of them stood at the peak of the universe, so it was unthinkable for one of them to fall in love with someone from a lower world like him
Even if he had the Library of Heaven’s Path, the gap between him and a God Monarch was still likely to be unbelievably huge.
Even though those were the thoughts that Zhang Xuan had in mind, he still could not resist asking, “Mo Yuan laoshi, may I ask if you know of the names of the Nine God Monarchs?”
A hint of doubt appeared in Mo Yuan’s eyes when he heard that question, but he still nodded and replied accordingly. “The Nine God Monarchs are highly esteemed individuals whose names ordinary people like us aren’t qualified to speak. I only know some of their aliases.
“The God Monarch of our Sky of Drifting Specter is the great Demon Monarch Qiankun, otherwise known as the God Monarch Qiankun. He’s responsible for guarding the southeast of the Firmament, and he governs the Six Paths of Reincarnation.
“His direct nemesis is the Sky of Blazing Sun’s Monarch Zhuoyang. He governs the day and the growth of all beings. The southwest Sky of Linglong is headed by Fairy Linglong, who is known to possess unparalleled beauty.
“I fear that this is the extent of my knowledge. I don’t really know anything more than this.”
Zhang Xuan nodded in response.
The Nine God Monarchs of the Nine Skies were probably comparable to the emperors in his previous life. They were existences that ordinary citizens dared not speak lightly about. Considering how Mo Yuan was a teacher in a minor region, it was understandable how he only knew of three of them.
“Brother Zhang, you should ask your teacher if you wish to learn more about the matter. Considering the strength of your teacher, I believe that he should have a far deeper understanding of the Nine Skies Ten Monarchs than me,” Mo Yuan added.
While ordinary people dared not speak carelessly of the Nine Skies Ten Monarchs, they still knew some of the general details about them. It was unthinkable for a cultivator to know nothing about the monarch ruling over the lands they lived in. As such, Mo Yuan could not help but harbor some doubts toward Zhang Xuan after hearing that question.
Seeing through Mo Yuan’s thoughts, Zhang Xuan said with a bitter smile, “To be honest with you, we are all ordinary people. Our teacher took pity on us and took us in so that we can survive in this world, but that being so, he’s an extremely busy person. We rarely get a chance to meet him, so there wasn’t any opportunity for us to learn such stuff from him. If that wasn’t the case, we wouldn’t have to trouble Mo Yuan laoshi to bring us out of the mountain range either.”
“Ah…”
The doubt in Mo Yuan’s heart dissipated upon hearing those words.
There were indeed teachers in the Firmament who were extremely strict on their students. They kept piling missions upon their students in order to train their skills and temper their character, choosing not to waste time on words.
If Yang Xuan was such a teacher, it would be understandable for his students to know nothing about the Nine Skies Ten Monarchs.
“Not only so, we have yet to reach the God realm. Our teacher refused to tell us how we can make a breakthrough, only telling us that the time isn’t right yet and that we should just focus our efforts on our training. He often tells us that only with a sturdy foundation can one draw forth greater strength. But the spiritual energy here is simply too scarce! I can’t imagine how it’s possible for anyone to cultivate here…” Zhang Xuan shook his head and sighed.
“Elder Yang Xuan is a strict but good teacher. I reckon he would be worthy of being a master teacher,” Mo Yuan remarked.
“A master teacher?” Zhang Xuan repeated as his heart skipped a beat.
Master teacher was the occupation created by Kong shi back when he was still on the Master Teacher Continent. Those two words had never been spoken during Zhang Xuan’s time on the Azure, so he did not expect to hear them on the Firmament.
“Ah, you must not have heard of it. Over the past few decades, there has been a group of people who call themselves master teachers. They established the Master Teacher Pavilion, and they view it as their mission to impart knowledge to others and clarify doubts. They have a unique interpretation of the relationship between a teacher and a student, and they have worked hard to create a formal tier system to assess one’s abilities. It has proven to be extremely effective so far, but a huge downside is that students studying from a master teacher tend to have to go through more hardship than ordinary cultivators,” Mo Yuan explained.
Zhang Xuan widened his eyes in bewilderment.
Without a doubt, the existence of master teachers and the Master Teacher Pavilion must be related to Kong shi.
This proved that the one that he had suppressed back in the Azure was indeed the clone. The main body had already advanced to the Firmament many years ago.
It had been tens of thousands of years since Kong shi left the Master Teacher Continent, which translated to roughly a few thousand years on the Azure.
Given the limitations of his cultivation, he could not accurately perceive the flow of time in the Firmament. Nevertheless, assuming that the rate at which time flowed on the Firmament was 1:100 against the Azure, it meant that Kong shi had arrived here several decades ago.
That tallied with the timeline when the master teachers first started appearing.
So, Zhang Xuan beat around the bush and remarked, “Wouldn’t the creation of the Master Teacher Pavilion pose a threat to the rule of the Nine God Monarchs? Furthermore, other academies will be affected by their presence, right? Is there no opposition to the master teachers at all?”
One of the main reasons master teachers were so highly esteemed on the Master Teacher Continent was due to the lasting effect of Kong shi’s fame. Kong shi had become a figure so respected that anything associated with him would be viewed highly. Kingdoms and empires viewed the presence of master teachers in their territories as a huge honor, and it had even become a symbol of power.
On the other hand, in the Firmament, the Nine Skies Nine Monarchs were viewed as the core of the world. Having ruled at the top for a very long time, their presence was so great that it could not be ignored by anyone. In terms of influence, they were definitely far above that of the Six Sects in the Azure.
The Master Teacher Pavilion sought to impart knowledge to others, but at the same time, such actions would inevitably shake up the established order on the Firmament. It was hard to think that the Nine God Monarchs would allow something like that to happen beneath their noses.
Furthermore, would the other pre-existing academies tolerate what the master teachers were trying to do? Creating a system that was completely different from what the academies had implemented was equivalent to challenging the established status quo, and inevitably, there would be significant competition between the different systems.
“What is unique about master teachers is that they promote education without discrimination. Most of the students they choose to take in are those who have failed to get into the other academies due to a lack of talent…”
At this point, Mo Yuan suddenly realized that he had misspoken, so he quickly added with an awkward smile, “Brother Zhang, I have no intention of looking down on you all. Please overlook my words.”
A moment prior, he had said that Yang Xuan was strikingly similar to a master teacher before mentioning that master teachers took in cultivators that were untalented. That could easily be misconstrued as a masked insult toward them.
“It’s fine,” Zhang Xuan replied with a smile. “It’s true that we aren’t too talented, or else we wouldn’t have been stuck at our current realms for so long!”
Knowing that it would be unwise to linger on this depressing topic, Mo Yuan continued speaking. “Anyway, the Aura of Divinity on the Celestial Mountain is limited, so the academies usually get the priority when recruiting disciples. Master teachers usually just take in the leftovers after all of the talented individuals have been chosen, so the presence of the master teachers doesn’t really affect us too much. It’s just that…”
At this point, Mo Yuan paused for a moment to gather his words before continuing. “I must say that the master teachers are truly incredible people. Often, those whom we deem to be hopeless are able to rise to heights unthinkable to us under their guidance. In fact, some of their students are able to grow faster than our students! Without a doubt, the presence of the master teachers does cause some stress to the pre-existing academies, which is also why we see a need to start pushing our students as well so that we don’t lag behind. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have brought this bunch of young rascals here for a mission…”
If not for the presence of other competitors, they would have been more than content to conduct lessons in the safe environment of a classroom. To take a bunch of youths who had never experienced the outside world into the wilderness for a mission…
To be honest, Mo Yuan did not agree with such a course of action, but he knew that it had to be done in order to maintain the prestige of the academy.
Furthermore, the students were also more motivated than ever so as to not be outdone by their counterparts. It was a powerful driving force, and it would be a pity not to tap into it to push their students to high grounds.
“As for the Nine Skies Nine Monarchs, naturally, they forbade the presence of master teachers in their territories. It’s for that reason that the Heaven Subjugation Monarch challenged the other God Monarchs to a battle. Around a decade ago, he had a closed duel with the Demon Monarch Qiankun. We don’t really know the results of the battle, but ever since then, the Sky of Drifting Specters decided to overlook the existence of the Master Teacher Pavilion, allowing it to operate freely,” Mo Yuan explained.
Even though the results had not been officially announced, it was clear from the subsequent actions that the Demon Monarch Qiankun had lost the battle.
Otherwise, there was no way that the Demon Monarch Qiankun would have allowed the Master Teacher Pavilion to do as it pleased in his territory.
“Wait a moment, you mentioned that the Heaven Subjugation Monarch challenged the other God Monarchs over the issue concerning the master teachers? He’s the newly ascended God Monarch, right?” Zhang Xuan asked.
“That’s him.”
“No wonder…” Zhang Xuan widened his eyes in realization.
He had heard that the Nine Skies Nine Monarchs were existences that had existed since time immemorial. It was hard to imagine that someone with the strength to challenge them would suddenly appear in the world. However, from the current looks of it, it was extremely likely that the Heaven Subjugation Monarch was none other than Kong shi!
Tens of thousands of years on the Master Teacher Continent, thousands of years in the Azure, and decades in the Firmament… The timeline fitted.
More importantly, Kong shi had often been addressed as the Sage of Heaven Subjugation during his time on the Master Teacher Continent. The aliases were a match.
To think that in the short span of several decades, Kong shi would rise to the top of the continent, create the Master Teacher Pavilion once more, challenge eight of the God Monarchs, and force them to acknowledge the existence of the Master Teacher Pavilion…
As expected of Kong shi!
Even in the Firmament that was filled with countless experts, his strength was still so overpowered that it was almost despair-inducing.
Of course, whether the Heaven Subjugation Monarch was truly Kong shi or not, Zhang Xuan’s desire to pay the other party a visit had already waned tremendously.
After going through whatever had happened with Kong shi’s clone, he knew that it would be foolish for him to find Kong shi before he possessed the strength to protect himself. If the real Kong shi, by any chance, wanted to take away his Library if Heaven’s Path as well, he would have sought his own doom.
It was not to say that he did not believe in Kong shi’s character, but the Library of Heaven’s Path was simply too powerful. Until he acquired the strength to stand on the same level as Kong shi, it would be best for him to avoid him.
It was true that Kong shi already possessed a fragment of the heavens as well, but if he could acquire another fragment, there was no doubt that he would grow far stronger than before. He might even reach a level that no one had thought to be possible.
Such temptation might be something that even Kong shi was unable to resist.
Making sure to conceal his astonishment, Zhang Xuan continued his questioning. “Mo Yuan laoshi, you mentioned earlier that the Aura of Divinity on the Celestial Mountain is limited… May I know what that means?”
This was the other thing that Mo Yuan had mentioned that had left him a little perplexed.
“It seems like Yang shi really hasn’t explained anything to you… But again, considering that you haven’t tempered yourselves to the limits yet, it’s understandable that he kept it a secret from you!” Mo Yuan nodded slightly.
Then, he pondered for a moment before asking a question, “Brother Zhang, in your view, what do you think of the concentration of spiritual energy on this Grand Spirit Mountain?”
“Grand Spirit Mountain?” Zhang Xuan jotted down the name of the mountain that had caused him such trouble for the past half a month in his head.
At the same time, he shook his head and replied, “This mountain has barely any spiritual energy at all. It’s impossible for anyone to properly cultivate here.”
He had noticed this ever as soon as he arrived in the Firmament. The ferocious winds were one thing, but the lack of spiritual energy in the area was really a huge pain to deal with. He could not gather any spiritual energy from the surroundings to fuel himself, which was why he had eventually been forced to resort to eating wild grass for survival.
It was fortunate that the wild grass at least had some spiritual energy within it, or else he might have ended up starving to death on this mountain!
“Indeed. This isn’t just isolated to the Grand Spirit Mountain. In the Firmament, all places with no cities in the area are suffering from a major receding of spiritual energy. In fact, many places have turned barren as a result of that!” Mo Yuan said with a shake of his head.
“Receding of spiritual energy?” Zhang Xuan could hardly believe what he was hearing.
The Firmament should have been the very pinnacle of the universe, and yet, it was suffering from a receding in spiritual energy? It was really difficult to imagine something like that to be true!
