Upon hearing this, Chen Nan showed a look of shock.
The old monster continued, "The Western human realm's church has been secretly collecting the remains of the God of Light for a long time. In some unknown era, they discovered the God of Light's left hand, but it was stolen as soon as it was delivered to the church. Legend has it that a great thief took it to the East, and after changing hands several times, it fell into the hands of an ancient immortal who descended to the mortal realm. He refined it into a divine artifact of unparalleled power, but this artifact only appeared briefly before disappearing forever..."
"You mean... the jade hand is the left hand of the God of Light? And it was sealed in an ancient cave by an ancient immortal?"
That should be the case.
"Such a thing actually happened! Which generation of God of Light could it be? To be able to resurrect someone after collecting all the corpses, that's an astonishing ability!" Chen Nan muttered to himself.
The old monster smiled and said, "If I'm not mistaken, it must be the true God of Light, not the main god who was later granted the title of God of Light."
"I think... only that supreme being who once shook the Three Realms could possess such heaven-defying divine power. But it also indirectly shows how terrifying the person he and the Heavenly Demon of that time were who they fought against!" Chen Nan sighed, "What exactly happened in that distant era that made the Heavenly Demon of the East and the God of Light of the West unite against each other? What kind of being was that?"
Two beams of light shot out from his twin yang stalks. If he truly was the God of Light, then it was certain that he perished at least ten thousand years ago. Chen Nan's mind raced. Angels seemed to be bound by some rule, rarely appearing in the mortal realm under normal circumstances. Did this mean the Western Church had begun collecting his remains around that time? They must possess some detailed information; perhaps their ancient texts held clues to the secret of the gods' disappearance ten thousand years ago!
Thinking of this, Chen Nan was incredibly excited. He seemed to have stumbled upon a crucial clue; it seemed he needed to make a trip to the Western Continent. He blamed himself, thinking: "I should have thought of that sooner! Eastern ancient texts are difficult to search and find, why not try the West? The Western Church has been passed down from ancient times to the present, an unchanging orthodox religion, equivalent to a nation that has stood for millennia. Their preserved ancient documents must be more complete..."
Chen Nan was incredibly excited. The mystery that had been troubling him was finally about to be revealed. However, he remembered something else: the golden and black orbs of light within him had already escaped, and the jade ruyi had followed them. Now that the threat was gone, was it still necessary to continue exploring the secrets of ten thousand years ago?
He was eager to know what had happened ten thousand years ago, but without any potential threats, was it still necessary for him to take the risk? The earth-shattering secret of ten thousand years ago was absolutely forbidden territory for cultivators. If he were to delve deeper, there was no guarantee he wouldn't attract the attention of a mysterious mastermind with astonishing power, and there was no guarantee he wouldn't encounter immense danger.
Chen Nan shook his head, inwardly mocking himself: I can't back down from this; I must find out the truth about what happened ten thousand years ago. Sigh. I really am a restless person.
The old monster looked at Chen Nan, whose expression was shifting between light and shadow, and asked, "What are you thinking about?"
"Oh, it's nothing." Chen Nan was startled by the faint smile on the old monster's face. Sensing that this unfathomable old fellow had noticed something, he quickly changed the subject, saying, "Senior, who were those people who came that night? Their cultivation levels were truly astonishing; I couldn't imagine there being so many invincible experts. Compared to them, those fifth-tier peerless masters were like children, and my cultivation level was even more incomparable. It truly makes me ashamed."
The old monster nodded. He said, "Fifth-tier experts are merely peerless masters in the eyes of ordinary people. To put it bluntly, only when one's cultivation reaches the fifth tier can one be considered to have truly entered the realm of cultivation. Cultivation is an evolutionary process of changing one's physique and achieving self-sublimation. Those below the fifth tier are not considered beginners; they only possess fighting techniques and are far from understanding the essential meaning of cultivation. As for the person who appeared that night, you don't need to know now. If you are destined, you will eventually enter that realm yourself, and then you will naturally know."
Chen Nan knew. The old monster was right; those masters of that level belonged to a different world than him. He laughed and said, "Peerless...peerless...hehe, peerless in the eyes of ordinary people..."
The old monster sighed and said, "I have a premonition that a great storm is about to sweep through the cultivation world, which has been peaceful for many years. The appearance of many old monsters is nothing special. But the young people of your generation are truly astonishing, far surpassing their peers from over a hundred years ago. Any one of the top ten young masters in the Eastern Continent today would have been among the top three in the entire continent a hundred years ago. As the saying goes, what goes up must come down, and what goes down must come up. In the near future, the cultivation world will likely experience a great upheaval."
"Senior, aren't you overthinking this?"
"I'm not just being pessimistic, I have a feeling that a similar situation from over a thousand years ago seems to be repeating itself."
"Oh?" Chen Nan's interest was piqued, and he asked, "What was the situation like a thousand years ago?"
The old monster took a sip of tea and said, "A thousand years ago, the cultivation world reached an unimaginable peak. Not only did various lost divine skills and strange magic reappear in the world, but many geniuses also created many famous and unique manuals. Some of the unique skills in the current cultivation manuals were created during that period."
Chen Nan was filled with longing. It wasn't hard to imagine that in that era of intellectual ferment, there must have been many extraordinary people and countless outstanding individuals.
The old monster continued, "Back then, there were truly countless masters, but even under such circumstances, a great upheaval occurred in the cultivation world. As for the reason, it is long unknown. It is said that angels from the West and immortals from the East descended to the mortal realm to participate in several peak battles. Incredibly, many immortals and angels perished in those battles. Later, it was rumored that some angels and immortals perished because they encountered formidable opponents. Some so-called prodigies in the mortal realm were reincarnated gods or high-ranking angels..."
"I see…" Chen Nan was a little stunned, as if he had thought of something.
The old monster looked at him and said, "I have no doubt that there are reincarnated gods or angels in your generation. I just feel that there are undercurrents and it seems that a great upheaval is about to happen."
Chen Nan nodded, but what he was thinking about was Tantai Xuan. A thousand years ago, Fairy Tantai appeared in the mortal world, and there is still a statue of her in Tantai City. It is likely that the reason for her descent was related to that great upheaval. But who exactly was she or what was it that made her descend to the mortal world?
After leaving the secret chamber, Chen Nan kept thinking about this question. Since his resurrection from the Tomb of the Gods, he had concerns, regrets, and a grudge against what Tantai Xuan had done to him back then.
After understanding the truth, he was unable to let go of the matter, but how difficult it was to get an explanation! Not to mention pointing the knife at Tantai Xuan, even if it were to fight her successor Meng Ke'er, it would be hard to say who would win.
The old monster's words brought up the matter of Tantai Xuan, and Chen Nan pondered for a long time. It was really too difficult to cause trouble for Tantai Xuan! Tantai Xuan had already broken through the void and entered the Immortal God Realm for nearly ten thousand years. Only the genius would know what level of cultivation she had reached now!
Ten thousand years ago, the vast majority of gods, demons, immortals, and spirits had vanished. Those who ascended to the Immortal Realm immediately after that great calamity are likely now powerful immortal lords. Given Tantai Xuan's extraordinary talent and potential, it would have been absolutely impossible for her not to become a supreme being in the Immortal Realm after ten thousand years!
Thinking back to the peerless beauty of Tantai Xuan ten thousand years ago, Chen Nan sighed in his heart. He couldn't understand why that proud woman who streaked across the sky like a comet and illuminated the entire Immortal Fantasy Continent would attack him.
"Tantai, oh Tantai, what is it all for?"
Thinking that Tantai Xuan had already become a supreme being in the Immortal Realm, Chen Nan couldn't help but feel disheartened. He was still fighting against her successor, Meng Ke'er. How could he possibly defeat her? Was he hoping for a caterpillar to transform into a butterfly? Or for a carp to leap into a dragon? These were all unrealistic. Cultivation skills couldn't be achieved overnight.
Compared to Tantai Xuan, he was like a tiny snail, slowly climbing towards the realm of immortals and gods.
"How can we shorten the distance between us? We need extraordinary methods to deal with Tantai Xuan!"
Just as Chen Nan was lost in thought, a flash of light suddenly appeared in his room, and two fist-sized orbs of light, one gold and one black, appeared in front of him. Chen Nan was shocked to see that the two orbs of light, which had left him, had returned, although they now appeared much dimmer.
"...Didn't it disappear? How come it's back?" Chen Nan cursed inwardly as he unleashed streaks of sword energy, shooting them towards the two-colored orbs of light. Although he knew it wouldn't be of much use, he still wanted to try and stop it.
To his surprise, the two colored orbs hovered a meter away from him and did not move forward. Of course, the sword energy had no effect on them.
Chen Nan was greatly surprised, then shouted, "What kind of beings are you? Don't come any closer!"
The two-colored orbs seemed to understand his words, and they actually trembled, making a whimpering sound, like a wronged baby crying.
The two little ones seemed to have gained some understanding, and they seemed very afraid of him, and also seemed very aggrieved. Chen Nan was very puzzled and didn't know what was going on.
"Waaah..."
"Eee-yah-yah…"