Halfway through his sentence, Shen Qian suddenly realized something and exclaimed in shock, "You mean, they're not from Earth?"

Before sinking, he reacted extremely quickly, and in that instant, he had already connected many things to his mind.

"You can only say that they weren't from Earth at the time."

Shi Dingyan smiled and said, "Now that you know that this is not the first time that spiritual energy has revived on Earth, and that there were human warriors who paved the way in ancient times, where did those cultivators go?"

"In other words, the spiritual energy on Earth has been revived, all the 'gates' have appeared, and those who may have grown up on Earth in the past have returned and helped humanity overcome the crisis?"

He murmured before sinking down.

"It's both right and wrong," Shi Dingyan shook his head.

"What do you mean?" Shen Qian was taken aback.

"Those ancient martial artists... let's call them that for now. Their original purpose remains to be explored, or rather, not every ancient martial artist was there to help humanity, otherwise they wouldn't have been suppressed."

"suppress?"

Shen Qian narrowed his eyes. This word didn't sound very pleasant!

According to textbooks, pioneer warriors were all high-ranking figures, and most of that group perished in the early stages of the spiritual energy revival, which is equivalent to sacrificing themselves for the resurgence of humanity.

"It's about half and half. There might indeed be some who genuinely want to help the human race. The fact that King Jiangling, who came from humble beginnings, was able to rise to prominence in that era speaks volumes."

Shi Dingyan recalled, "That was truly an incredibly chaotic era. In addition to ancient martial artists, it is said that immortal martial artists also appeared even further back in time. Coupled with the rise of new martial arts, that's why there are so many martial arts schools."

"Is the Prince of Jiangling a modern human?" Shen Qian asked, finally voicing a question that had been lingering in his mind.

"Yes, he is the leader of the new martial artists, and it was under his control that the human order was reorganized. Nowadays, not many people know about the existence of ancient martial artists and immortal martial artists... Oh, it is said that some existing ancient martial arts families are the legacy left by ancient martial artists, but they can't amount to much."

After nodding, Shi Dingyan changed the subject again, "But it seems that few of the other eight kings are new martial artists."

"oh?"

Hearing this secret for the first time before sinking in, he became even more focused.

"I'm not sure about the others. The Dry Witch King is said to have lived for a very long time, but I don't know which era he was from. In addition, there's the King of Zhou Yi... Hey, do you know why his title is King of Zhou Yi?"

Shi Dingyan suddenly set up a barrier around them and lowered his voice.

He shook his head blankly.

"It is said that the establishment of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the third feudal dynasty in ancient China, was somewhat related to him..."

"The Zhou Dynasty?"

Shen Qian was startled.

The Zhou Dynasty was more than three thousand years ago.

So, the King of Zhou Yi is at least three thousand years old?

He was speechless with astonishment.

He was more surprised by the lifespan of top-ranking nobles.

There are currently no Mountain and Sea Warriors who have died of natural causes, but according to scientific analysis, their lifespan is likely only a few hundred years.

But if kings and nobles can live for so long, what's the difference between that and immortality?

"You're already surprised?" Shi Dingyan chuckled, took a sip of wine, and said, "There's something even more shocking. He once wrote a book that's hailed as an ancient wonder, and it's also related to his title. Guess which one it is?"

"...The Book of Changes?"

"You got it right."

Holy crap!

Before sinking, he had to take a sip of wine to calm his nerves.

Is there any truth to this history book?

But upon closer reflection, history books never mentioned who wrote the Book of Changes; they only speculated that it was a collection of ancient folk wisdom.

Even as he sank, he thought of more.

Those who are granted titles of kings and marquises are either those who have paved their own path or those who have made significant contributions to the development and survival of the human race.

So, is that book... actually one of them?

"Speaking of which, Third Senior Brother, I heard before that King Zhouyi seems to have a good relationship with Duke Yanshan?"

He coughed and asked.

"What's wrong? Weren't you all so arrogant when you beheaded Wang Shuo and humiliated Ji You? Now you're backing down?"

Shi Dingyan glanced at Shen Qian with a half-smile.

"Hey, I'm protected by my third senior brother, of course I'm not afraid. I'm just asking, just asking..." Shen Qian could only laugh awkwardly, but inwardly he was cursing.

nonsense!

Faced with a top-tier king who has lived for over a thousand years, a terrifying being whose shadow can even be found in the history of humankind, who wouldn't be afraid?

"They have a good relationship."

Shi Dingyan nodded, "But you don't need to worry. With Zhou Yiwang's status, how could he possibly personally target you? At most, he just doesn't have a good impression of you. Besides... there's your teacher here."

After thinking about it for a moment, he realized it made sense and stopped worrying about it.

If Zhou Yiwang really wanted to kill him, he wouldn't have waited until now.

"Besides King Zhouyi, King Zhenbei who still holds the position of honorary president of the Huaxia Martial Arts Association, and King Ganwu who is confirmed to have fallen, where did the other seven kings go?" Shen Qian asked, finally voicing a long-standing question.

"You're asking me? Who should I ask?" Shi Dingyan rolled his eyes and said, "It concerns the whereabouts of the Ninth Prince. It's a huge secret, and probably only someone at the level of my teacher would know something about it. But since my teacher has never mentioned it, it's pointless to ask."

"That's hard to say, what if you're just asking for nothing..." Shen Qian muttered to himself, but didn't say it aloud.

"Getting back to the main topic, regarding Xu Nian's question..."

Shi Dingyan seemed to realize that the topic had gone astray and took the initiative to bring it back.

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