The primordial energy of heaven and earth is actually extremely complex. In a single breath a person takes, countless components are contained within, and the primordial energy of heaven and earth is composed of these countless types of qi. The true primordial energies from the very beginning of the world either condensed into tangible forms and were refined into magical treasures, or were directly refined into the divine powers of certain beings—all of these have already disappeared. By the time of the Age of Divine Powers, the primordial energies that could be found could no longer condense into tangible forms. In the eyes of the great divine power wielders of the Age of Deification, these things were utterly worthless, or beneath their notice. However, in the Age of Divine Powers, no one cared about such things, nor did they possess the abilities of those great divine power wielders from the Age of Deification or before. They made do by refining these primordial energies, merging them into their own vital energy, and crafting divine powers. During this five-thousand-year period, all sorts of divine powers emerged in endless variety, and it was called the Age of Divine Powers. Of course, the divine powers of this era could not compare to those of the Age of Deification, because the primordial energies used to craft divine powers back then were the most fundamental ones left over from the creation of heaven and earth. For example, that fellow Peter King's innate five-colored divine light was made from the five elemental primordial energies preserved from the dawn of creation. But the quantity of such primordial energies was limited. By the Age of Divine Powers, there was no longer any five-elemental primordial energy; even the refined five-elemental qi had become precious, so only divine arts like the Heavy Earth Seal, Divine Fireball, or Withered Wood Revives Spring could be crafted. Yet, you shouldn't look down on these divine powers—after five thousand years of the Age of Divine Powers, even these divine arts were no longer practiced.

The Age of Divine Powers lasted five thousand years, and then encountered the same problem as the Age of Deification: the next tier of spiritual materials from heaven and earth that could be used to cultivate divine powers had also been exhausted. You must know, the more powerful the divine power, the rarer and more irreplaceable the spiritual materials required. Thus, gradually, the cultivation of various divine powers stagnated, and the Age of Divine Powers came to an end.

In the following ten thousand years, cultivators could only rely on qigong. However, they soon discovered that the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was becoming increasingly thin, barely enough to sustain the physiological needs of living beings, but not enough for further cultivation. The qigong passed down from the Age of Deification became less and less suitable, because the older the qigong, the more it required vast amounts of rare primordial energy, and the thin primordial energy of heaven and earth simply could not support these practices. Thus, a transformation began, though it did not proceed smoothly at first, until Benjamin Franklin incarnated in the mortal world as Benjamin Franklin, founded Daoism, and taught cultivators the method of refining ordinary primordial energy of heaven and earth, thus opening the door to the Age of Qi Refinement.

The Age of Qi Refinement was the third era. So-called qi refinement was actually just qigong, but Benjamin Franklin fundamentally improved the ancient qigong. As the saying goes, you do what you can with what you have—if you only have enough money for a bicycle, don’t dream of buying a BMW; the wisest choice is to make the most of the bicycle. Benjamin Franklin passed down the method of refining qi using the basic yin-yang and five-elemental primordial energies, which became the prototype and ancestor of modern qigong. Because yin-yang and five-elemental primordial energies are the most basic energies of the mortal world, all living things need them. If even these primordial energies disappeared, then all living beings in the mortal world would vanish as well. Moreover, yin-yang and five-elemental primordial energies are balanced and endlessly regenerative, so the concerns of the Age of Deification and the Age of Divine Powers no longer existed. After five thousand years of the Age of Qi Refinement, qigong evolved and mutated, and once again a scene of prosperity appeared. However, just having qigong was not enough—without divine powers and magical treasures, cultivators could only rely on their own bodies and ordinary weapons to contend with others. Thus, various mental cultivation methods and martial arts developed rapidly, and all sorts of secret martial techniques emerged in endless variety. While refining qi, people paid more and more attention to martial arts skills.

Times change, and the focus of cultivation changes, but one thing remains eternal: the cultivators’ pursuit of power.

Moreover, these changes all occurred in the mortal world; the underworld and the heavenly court did not change.

The final result was that the mortal world grew increasingly weak, while the heavenly court and the underworld became less and less interested in the mortal world, and their control loosened more and more. Thus, the mortal world became increasingly chaotic.

Although the Age of Deification and the Age of Divine Powers have both passed, and now is the Age of Qi Refinement, this does not mean that the magical treasures of the Age of Deification and the divine powers of the Age of Great Divine Powers are no longer popular here.

On the contrary, every item that remains is a devastating weapon.

Because people of the Age of Qi Refinement have almost zero means of resisting magical treasures and divine powers.

The development of martial arts and mental cultivation methods was actually a last resort. If you had divine powers and magical treasures, who would care about these?

Your swordsmanship is impressive, right? All that sword intent and ultimate moves—someone else just drops a Heaven-Flipping Seal on you and crushes you into a pulp. Why bother with all that effort?

Your qigong is profound, right? The Nine Heavens Fiery Sun Technique, absorbing the essence of the sun’s fire, melting metal and stone, nothing can withstand it—Blazing Fire Sweeps the Plains, Fire Robe Boils the Sea, Karmic Fire Burns the Heavens, impressive, right? But the other guy’s true form is a three-legged crow; a single fart from him could burn you to death.

This is the difference between eras. The world changes, and so does heaven and earth.

Chapter 7: Martial Artists and Qi Refinement