Chapter 2: Chapter 2

Many students’ eyes were beaming. They could not help but be excited. On the path of cultivation, Inner Energy was the source of everything. The best time to build their foundation was before they had matured. The better the foundation, the better it was for their future.

This was especially true before they were divided into different streams prior to their senior year. They would only have the opportunity to get into the martial arts stream if they reached Tier-7 Physical Stage. Cultivating martial skills would take up time that they could use to cultivate Inner Energy. This would reduce their chances of getting into the martial arts stream.

Thus, many parents spoke out in earlier years, requesting the school remove classes that taught martial skills. This was to prevent their children from being distracted and wasting time.

Moreover, these students would live in base cities before they became adults. There were practically no dangers there, so it was quite useless for them to learn martial skills.

However, it was different now. In a month’s time, they would have the year-end exam. One’s fate could be considered set by then. Those who were eligible for the martial arts stream would be placed there and there was nothing that those who failed could do by then.

Inner Energy was just half of Martial Dao cultivation. The remaining half would be the cultivation of martial skills. Even with a lower cultivation base, a martial artist who mastered martial skills could defeat one who had not.

Therefore, the cultivation of martial skills was important as well. Nobody would neglect that!

Naturally, not everyone neglected martial skill cultivation, so it was not an obligation. Those who were gifted might have already begun to cultivate martial skills.

Chu Yunfan’s eyes scanned his numerous classmates. As expected, many seemed unaffected. They must have cultivated martial skills before. Not only that, those students pretty much consisted of the most gifted ones in their class.

They were the ones who could get into the martial arts stream, so even the weakest one was at Tier-7 Physical Stage.

In any case, Chu Yunfan was still excited. He had not studied martial skills since young. He knew it was easy for one to learn martial skills and low-level ones were taught online if one was willing to pay.

Nonetheless, he suppressed his impulse. One of the reasons for this was that he knew he was not gifted. He did not even have enough time to meditate and practice martial arts. If he spent time cultivating martial skills, he would have no hope of getting into the martial arts stream.

The other reason was that he did not want to waste money since the school would cover it sooner or later.

Qin Wu left right after dismissing the class. He did not want to delay and was unwilling to waste his time there.

The entire class instantly started chatting. Many were discussing what kind of martial skill Qin Wu would teach the next day. After all, most had never learned one before, so it made sense that they were eager.

After talking for a little bit, everyone got up and began to pack their bags. The class had finished for the day, so they were going home.

Chu Yunfan got up and started packing his bag in the corner. With another day done, he was ready to go home.

Tap, tap, tap!

There was a series of footsteps coming from a plump young man who was the same age as Chu Yunfan. The normally loose martial arts uniform was so tight on him that it seemed like it would rip.

Although he appeared chubby, in reality, his footfall was light. He was running quickly, but he was not flushed nor was his heart pounding. He had definitely cultivated.

This was one of Chu Yunfan’s few good friends, Gao Hongzhi. He was tall, rich, and portly.

He knew his friend very well. He trained and was much stronger than Chu Yunfan, having reached Tier-9 Physical Stage. Although he was one of the outstanding students who would certainly get into the martial arts stream, he usually behaved exactly as people would expect. He would sit if he was not required to stand and would move as little as he could.

His weight was due to genetics, but everyone could not help thinking that it was because he was lazy.

Both of them were very different when it came to their families and talents. Typically, the duo would have had parallel lives and not talked to each other. Instead, their shared interests led to them become good friends during their two years in high school.

“A portion of the Ancient Zenith relics traveling exhibition from the Academy of Sciences is being exhibited at our school. Aren’t you interested in the Ancient Zenith civilization? Why don’t we give it a look?” Gao Hongzhi asked.

“Relics from the Ancient Zenith civilization? Sure, let’s check it out!” Gao Hongzhi’s words had piqued Chu Yunfan’s interest.

It was crowded when both of them arrived at the space the school had vacated for the exhibition. Although Calm Ocean City’s No. 13 High School was an ordinary school among the dozens of high schools in the city, the teachers and students numbered up to 10,000. It was like a small town, so one could imagine how congested it was with everyone going to the exhibition.

Since the disaster, excavation and recovery of the Ancient Zenith civilization’s research had become the main function of their entire society. The government would continuously exhibit the less important relics of the Ancient Zenith civilization everywhere.

The Ancient Zenith civilization relics that were exhibited in the traveling exhibition at No. 13 High School were just a small portion of the whole collection.

Chu Yunfan and Gao Hongzhi slowly moved with the crowd. Chu Yunfan stared at the items locked within the tempered glass. There were stone inscriptions from the Ancient Zenith civilization, broken weapons, and so on. Although they were historical relics, in reality, they were not of great value.

There were descriptions written in a strange and complicated script in front. That text was from the Ancient Zenith civilization, but it was not difficult for the students to read.

This was because learning the language became mandatory after the Ancient Zenith civilization was discovered when humanity entered the Kunlun Era. It was like Chinese students learning English in the Common Era.

The language appeared very similar to the seal script that was common in China’s past. There were pictographs as well. It was much simpler compared to the system of the English language.

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Since the scripts were similar, historiographers had always assumed there was a relationship between ancient China and the Ancient Zenith civilization of the Kunlun Realm. They just had yet to verify it.

Over the centuries, thousands of frequently used ancient seal characters had been translated. Although there were still many unusual characters that had yet to be translated, one could easily read and understand the regular characters now.

Chu Yunfan stared as if he was window shopping. Although these were historical relics, he had seen them many times on the internet. The pictures of relics printed in their textbooks were similar to these, so they were nothing new to him. It was just that he was looking at the real thing.

Suddenly, he saw a massive picture scroll hovering above an ancient sword on one of the exhibition platforms.

The scroll had a landscape painting with a mountain and a river. The splashes of ink were bold and majestic. Although it was a painting, it made Chu Yunfan feel as if Heaven and Earth had been printed on it.

It seemed rather unbelievable, as it was merely an ink painting!

“Old Gao, is that painting part of the exhibition as well?” Chu Yunfan pointed at the landscape painting on the exhibition platform.

The Ancient Zenith civilization was at least tens of thousands of years in the past. Such a lengthy period of time would have been enough to wipe out everything. Despite that, the landscape painting looked like it had just been completed.

Although Chu Yunfan had a weak cultivation base, he knew that such a thing was commonly found when excavating the ancient civilization. It was like a unique energy barrier made these artifacts appear as good as new even after tens of millennia.

These things could basically be categorized as magic tools. Even magic tools that were restored with modern technology would cost at least a million or even tens of millions, let alone extremely ancient magic tools that had been preserved since the Ancient Zenith civilization. Their value was astronomical.

How could such a thing be exhibited so casually at a school? The total value of all of the exhibition items was nothing compared to that painting.

“What painting?” Gao Hongzhi’s reaction shocked Chu Yunfan. What kind of joke was that? How could he not see such a huge work of art?

“I don’t see it. You shouldn’t stop taking your meds!” Gao Hongzhi patted Chu Yunfan’s shoulder tellingly. He spoke as if he had rehearsed the words, “We men must take care of our bodies. Look at you. You’re hallucinating!”

“Get lost! Shoo!” Chu Yunfan really had the urge to step on Gao Hongzhi’s chubby face.

When he looked again, the painting was still hovering above the ancient sword.

Oddly, when he glanced around, nobody seemed to notice. Apparently, he was the only one that could see it.

“Am I really hallucinating?” Even Chu Yunfan was a little unsure of himself at that point. Furthermore, he could not confirm anything when there was a crowd between him and the painting.

Suddenly, the painting turned into a ray of light and beamed at him. It penetrated his mind instantly.

Bang!

It was like something had exploded in Chu Yunfan’s head, leaving him no time to react.

He felt like countless lights were glowing inside him. His entire body was in intense pain, as if every single cell was erupting and being torn apart.

Meanwhile, many images rushed into his head.

It was like he was dreaming, but it was very real. In the dream, he was another person.

It was a dazzling world with many Emperors. Its civilization was magnificent beyond imagination. It had conquered epoch after epoch, sweeping through numerous dimensions and subduing countless nations.

Meanwhile, he was a genius alchemist. He had started refining medicinal pills when he was five and was familiar with medicine by the time he was ten. He was already well-known as the Alchemy Master when he was 15.

At age 20, he began traveling the world, and he became the Alchemy King, fawned over by all, when he was 25. When he turned 30, he had become the Alchemy Emperor, a title that none would ever attain again.

Not only had he mastered the inherited knowledge of alchemy from the people of the past, but he also went on to create new treatments, making alchemy one of the world’s most prominent fields.

Even Emperors wanted the medicinal pills he refined. Countless people would fight for any pills that he released to the public.

At that point, one could say that his life had reached its peak, and he was a proud young man because of that. Everything changed when a picture scroll descended from the sky during that war. It caused many Emperors of that era to fight over it.

The reason for the conflict was that there was a Godhead in the picture scroll. It was something that could make anyone a god, as well as grant immortality and the ability to travel to the other realm.

Therefore, the Alchemy Emperor participated in the war too. It was a terrifying battle, a clash of gods and devils. There were countless figures fighting intensely in the sky. All of them were unbelievably powerful, like demons. They could do anything—catch the stars and the moon, turn rivers and seas over.

Though the figures on the battlefield were so incredibly formidable, they were blurry and their faces could not be seen clearly. One of them was magnificent, capable of fighting up to a hundred demons on his own. His face was obscured as well. One could only see his pair of golden eyes, as deep as if there was a universe hidden inside them. The force as they opened and closed was earth-shattering.

As the battle intensified, most of the monstrously powerful figures were dead. It was finally the time for the grand figure with the golden eyes to shine.

The world was collapsing everywhere. Although the Alchemy Emperor had put away the Godhead in the landscape painting that came into his possession by accident, he had been attacked by many Emperors. Not being proficient in Martial Dao, he was soon killed. At that point, the replayed images abruptly stopped.

Chu Yunfan suddenly woke up from the boundless dream.