Chapter 114 Unexpected Events

Chu Feng picked up the ancient divine fruit and swallowed it whole. As he chewed, his face lit up with ecstasy.

The Fifth Elder watched anxiously, feeling as if his heart were dripping with blood.

"How does it taste?" the Fifth Elder asked.

"It's refreshing!" Chu Feng sighed.

Upon hearing this, the Fifth Elder was truly restless, regretting that he hadn't tasted it himself back then.

Looking at the Fifth Elder's expression of wanting to cry but unable to, Chu Feng found it amusing. He comforted him: "Actually, it's not anything particularly delicious, just a bit sweet."

The Fifth Elder was speechless. So this little guy had been teasing him on purpose. But he felt much better inside.

Chu Feng swallowed the ancient spiritual fruit. The five elders stood quietly to the side, staring fixedly at Chu Feng, waiting for the unexpected to occur.

"How do you feel?" the Second Elder asked.

"It seems like there's nothing at all," Chu Feng said.

But before Chu Feng could finish speaking, he felt a jolt, as if a powerful energy had surged through his abdomen, causing his body to tremble uncontrollably.

Chu Feng seemed to understand why one must reach the second extreme realm to complete this step. If the body was not strong enough, that energy would likely shatter it.

At this moment, the five elders felt the strange fluctuations of energy inside Chu Feng. The Great Elder spoke up: "It seems the ancient spiritual fruit is taking effect. You need only calm your mind and endure."

Chu Feng nodded and immediately crossed his legs, beginning to meditate.

He sensed that the mighty energy quickly swept through his entire body.

It was a scorching power. Chu Feng felt as if his whole body were being burned by flames, and his skin turned bright red at once.

This sensation was somewhat similar to the process of breaking through the first extreme realm before, but without that life-or-death struggle.

Although it was painful, for Chu Feng it was nothing.

The five elders could not discern any clues in Chu Feng's changes, and Chu Feng himself did not feel anything special. He simply waited quietly for the ancient divine fruit to take effect.

The scorching sensation in his body continued, as if refining his physique. Unknowingly, Chu Feng felt drowsy, as if he wanted to fall asleep. No matter how hard he tried, he could not shake off this heavy state.

This state was new to him. Even during his last breakthrough to the extreme realm, which had been extremely painful, he had always remained clear-minded.

Chu Feng felt his consciousness especially heavy. It sank completely, without any sensation.

When Chu Feng regained consciousness, his body felt extraordinarily light, as if all shackles had been removed. What surprised him most was that a group of flickering flames surrounded his body.

The five elders stood not far away watching Chu Feng, their faces showing undisguised shock.

Quickly, the flames around Chu Feng dissipated mysteriously. Chu Feng stood up, about to inquire, when the Great Elder said, "Chu Feng, try if you can gather the spiritual energy of heaven and earth."

Chu Feng showed a strange expression, not understanding. He could not spiritize; without a spirit body, how could he sense the heavens and earth and gather spiritual energy?

However, since the Great Elder had spoken, Chu Feng had no choice but to comply. He sat down again, closed his eyes, and immediately sensed the existence of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. With a thought, the surrounding spiritual energy of heaven and earth gathered toward him.

Chu Feng was shocked and bewildered. He had felt a response with the heavens and earth, which was impossible, since he had no spirit body!

Chu Feng immediately opened his eyes and looked at the Great Elder in surprise, stammering, "How is this possible?"

The five elders naturally felt the changes in the surrounding spiritual energy of heaven and earth. They were both shocked and delighted. The Great Elder sighed repeatedly: "It seems this is indeed an unexpected event!"

"How did Yu Yang manage it? Is he trying to unravel the heavenly punishment?" the Second Elder muttered, his face showing excitement.

Chu Feng was puzzled and stood up, saying to the Great Elder, "Great Elder, what is this? What exactly is this unexpected event?"

At this point, the Great Elder smiled: "Did you see the flames just now? That is because you have already activated your attribute. Your attribute is fire."

Chu Feng's heart grew even more puzzled. He murmured, "Attribute? Fire? But I don't even have a spirit body!"

The Fifth Elder said, "Chu Feng, have you not reacted yet? The attribute has appeared, and you can gather spiritual energy by resonating with heaven and earth. That means, without summoning a spirit body, you can cultivate like everyone else. Isn't this already an unexpected event?"

"Ah!" Chu Feng was stunned. His heart trembled, and he cried out, "Without spiritization, I can cultivate? This isn't a demonic race thing?"

Chu Feng had long heard that only demonic creatures in the world could cultivate without spiritization. Looking at the five elders, he asked, "Am I a demon?"

"Wow!" Just as Chu Feng finished speaking, he felt his head knocked. It was the Fifth Elder's hand.

The Fifth Elder stood in front of Chu Feng, feeling a mix of crying and laughing. He scolded, "You little brat, who said you're a demon? Does not being able to cultivate without spiritization mean you must be a demon?"

Chu Feng's heart was in turmoil. He had never been so shocked. The situation before him overturned his cognition.

Hearing the Fifth Elder say he was not a demon, Chu Feng breathed a sigh of relief. He was silent for a moment, then said, "Is it because I took the ancient divine fruit?"

At this time, the Great Elder walked over and said, "The ancient divine fruit should have played a certain role, but there should be other reasons. Only Yu Yang himself truly knows all this."

Chu Feng nodded, agreeing with the Great Elder's view. Speaking of which, all this was indeed dominated by Yu Yang, which was unexpected for Chu Feng. From this, it seemed Yu Yang must have anticipated this outcome in advance.

The Great Elder said calmly, "Actually, you do not need to be too surprised. In ancient times, there was no concept of spiritization. That was for cultivation, and fundamentally, it did not require spiritization. The human dao was the term used in ancient times, while the spiritual dao was the term in later generations. This secret was only known to the elders of each generation in the human race of later generations. Actually, this is not a big secret. At least the several great elders of the demon race also knew about this secret."

Chu Feng truly could not express his current feelings in words. Could this not be a big secret? If it spread, it would cause a great earthquake throughout the entire human race.

Chu Feng was horrified. At this moment, he discovered that the ancient period and later generations were completely different.

In ancient times, humans and demons could coexist peacefully, but in later generations, they were at odds with life and death.

In ancient times, the human race was immensely powerful, with figures like the Emperor of Humans who were respected by all races. But in later generations, the human race had no Emperor of Humans and had been oppressed by the demon race for tens of thousands of years.

In ancient times, humans cultivated without spiritization, but in later generations, humans needed to rely on spirit bodies to cultivate.

This earth-shattering change was difficult for Chu Feng to understand. Was all this because of that blank historical period? What kind of earth-shattering secret was hidden there?

In ancient times there was the human dao, in later generations the spiritual dao. How did the spiritual dao come about? Why did the original human dao disappear, and how did the spiritual dao come into being?

Thinking of the spiritual dao, Chu Feng could not help but recall the legends about gods.

Legend has it that the human race once became food for the demon race and nearly went extinct. Fortunately, with the gods' intervention, they passed down spiritual laws, which is how the human race gained spirit warriors and became strong.

At this moment, all these questions were connected. Chu Feng's heart trembled. He seemed to understand something: "The spiritual laws should refer to the spiritual dao. The spiritual dao was produced under the guidance of the gods. The emergence of the spiritual dao was due to the decline of the human dao. The decline of the human dao caused the weakening of the human race, leading to slaughter by the demon race."

In later generations, the Emperor of Humans was forgotten. It could be determined that there must have been problems with the Emperor of Humans in ancient times. But even without the Emperor of Humans, the human race was very strong and should not have been slaughtered by the demon race. So, the reason the human race and human dao declined was that there was no successor.

Because people could no longer cultivate, as strong individuals kept dying, the human dao gradually declined. The overall strength of the human race naturally kept declining. This is why the spiritual dao emerged in later generations.

It seemed all this was related to that blank historical period!

Why could the human race not cultivate anymore?

Why did the Emperor of Humans, who was respected by all races, not leave a name in later generations?

What was the root cause of the war between humans and demons?

Chu Feng felt that there might be an extremely special connection here. As long as one could be unraveled, perhaps the truth of that blank historical period could be revealed.

Suddenly, Chu Feng was stunned. He suddenly remembered that the Second Elder had seemingly mentioned something about heavenly punishment. What was heavenly punishment? Was everything related to this?

At this point, Chu Feng curiously asked, "Great Elder, what is heavenly punishment? Is the decline of the human dao path due to punishment from the heavens? Did all this happen in that blank historical period?"

Chu Feng felt that probably only the five elders really knew about that blank historical period.

Hearing Chu Feng's question, the five elders' expressions were complex, with a trace of melancholy in their eyes, seeming to have secrets they could not speak of. "What exactly happened in that blank historical period, no one knows. The remaining legends have become secrets that cannot be announced. Knowing about it does not benefit you at all, only adding trouble." The Great Elder sighed and was unwilling to mention any information about that dark age. Turning around, he said, "At least now you have successfully escaped the heavenly punishment. It seems Yu Yang must have discerned something and is working hard to unravel the heavenly punishment. He has high hopes for you. You must work hard too. When you are powerful enough, you will naturally know everything."

Chu Feng nodded in agreement. Although he did not understand what happened in that blank historical period, he had some understanding of what Yu Yang had said. It seemed that the dark path was related to the so-called heavenly punishment.

"Stepping onto that path might be a dark one, and your footsteps will be difficult. But since it led me to meet you, perhaps this is your mission!" Chu Feng silently recalled Yu Yang's words, feeling lost, and murmured, "So that is my mission?"