"Gods in the Nine Heavens!" Zhong Litong's tone shifted, "while those below the Nine Heavens are nothing but ants!"
"What exactly is the Ninefold Shackles? Is it really that magical?" Jiang Yuan found the name familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had heard of the Ninefold Shackles before.
"Nine layers of shackles seal away all the potential of the physical body. The entire nine layers can be divided into three levels: the lower three levels of flesh and bones, the middle three levels of essence, energy and spirit, and the upper three levels of heaven, earth and man."
Zhong Litong continued, "Ancient martial artists must consume rare and precious herbs from a young age. Those with higher requirements must undergo a long process of tempering their bodies. This is only to unlock the shackles of blood. Only by unlocking the shackles of blood can one truly step into the path of ancient martial artists."
"Blood flows into flesh, then seeps into bone; these are the lower three layers of the nine shackles!"
"Then there are the three shackles of essence, qi, and spirit."
"Finally, there are the shackles of man, the shackles of the earth, and the shackles of heaven."
“When all nine shackles are broken, humans are no different from gods!” Zhong Litong looked at Jiang Yuan.
"Are there any ancient martial artists who have broken free of the nine shackles?" Jiang Yuan asked solemnly, as he was slowly beginning to delve into the most core secrets of this world.
"Ninefold!" Zhong Litong scoffed, mocking herself, "The human race is no good now. The era when the Human Emperor opened the Ninefold and fought against the gods is gone forever."
"No? Why not!"
"Because we experienced thousands of years of a civilization vacuum, the extinction of spiritual energy in heaven and earth has made ancient martial artists weaker and weaker. The blood shackles that used to automatically open when humans reached adulthood have now become the lifelong goal of many ancient martial artists," Zhong Litong said, shaking her head.
"Is it that weak?" Jiang Yuan was extremely surprised.
“I was fortunate enough to meet a senior who had broken free of the three lower shackles. His strength was a hundred times that of an ordinary person. Ordinary guns and cannons could not harm him in the slightest. Is that weak?” Zhong Litong did not agree with Jiang Yuan’s statement that he was weak.
Strength and weakness are relative. In ancient times, this was indeed extremely weak, but in the Dharma-ending Age before the cataclysm, opening the lower three levels was already a remarkable achievement.
"Brother Zhongli, how many shackles have you broken?" Jiang Yuan asked.
The Heavenly Eye can detect attribute points, but it cannot detect the nine layers of shackles on the physical body.
However, it's not impossible to detect it all the time. After all, the Heavenly Eye is a three-system skill brought by the Golden Gate, while ancient martial arts are a native product of Earth. To detect the power of ancient martial arts, the Ninefold Shackles must be entered into the Heavenly Eye's system.
Zhong Litong glanced at Jiang Yuan, seemingly displeased with her form of address, but still gave her answer: "I opened the Blood Shackles when I was young, and I haven't stepped out of this level all these years."
"Winning at the starting line, huh!" Jiang Yuan joked. "Then how do you break free of the nine shackles on your physical body?"
Zhong Litong glanced at Ning Yanlan, who nodded almost imperceptibly. Zhong Litong then said, "Breaking the Ninefold Shackles requires not only perseverance and talent, but also a massive amount of resources. When your physique strengthens to a certain level, your understanding of the Ninefold Shackles will become intuitive, and you will naturally break through!"
"Is it that simple?" Jiang Yuan thought that breaking the nine shackles would require more complicated methods.
"The lower three levels are that simple! As for the middle and upper three levels, you may have asked the wrong person, because I don't know either!" Zhong Litong shook her head to indicate that she did not know.
"I wonder how far I am from this blood shackle!" Jiang Yuan muttered to himself.
"Give me your hand, let me take a look!" Zhong Litong showed a hint of interest.
Jiang Yuan reached out his hand, expecting Zhong Litong to take his pulse or something, but a flash of silver light suddenly shot out from Zhong Litong's sleeve, and Jiang Yuan instinctively withdrew his hand.
Ning Yanlan quickly replied, "It's nothing, it's just a matter of taking a few drops of your blood!"
After listening, Jiang Yuan realized that Zhong Litong meant no harm. A silver light quickly landed on Jiang Yuan's finger. It was an extremely sharp silver needle. A few drops of blood were absorbed by the needle when it pierced his skin, and Zhong Litong withdrew her hand.
While the others were eating, Zhong Litong finally looked away from the silver needles after a while. She frowned and said to Jiang Yuan in a strange voice, "Let me see your other hand!"
"What's wrong?" Jiang Yuan had the illusion that he had been diagnosed with a terminal illness in the hospital.
"There was a slight mishap, just extend your hand!" Zhong Litong didn't want to explain yet and needed to confirm again.
Jiang Yuan had no choice but to extend his other hand and use the same technique, but this time Zhong Litong drew several times more blood than before, staining the entire silver needle red.
"You guys eat first, I'll be right back!" Zhong Litong didn't make a decision immediately, but whispered in Ning Yanlan's ear, "Where's your room? Take me there!"
Jiang Yuan was completely confused about what had happened. Why was he suddenly back in his room?
Ning Yanlan's eyes also held some doubt, but seeing Zhong Litong's serious expression, she still said, "It's upstairs, I'll take you there!"
The two women went upstairs, leaving behind several people who didn't know what had happened.
"Hurry up and eat your food, it won't taste good if it gets cold!" Li Xiang said to ease the tension.
Leng Yue remained silent, sitting in the corner and eating slowly. Xiao Xin, however, became interested in the sniper rifle wrapped in black cloth that Leng Yue was carrying on her back. She timidly asked, "Sister Leng Yue, what are you carrying on your back? Is it a musical instrument?"
"A gun!" Leng Yue stopped eating meat. "Want to play?"
For a moment, Li Xiang's expression became unnatural. She knew that the two were Ning Yanlan's friends, but she didn't know that this quiet girl was carrying a gun.
Jiang Yuan immediately said, "Xiao Xin is a soul energy type, this gun has too much recoil, it's not suitable for her!"
"Only a soul energy system can fully unleash the power of a firearm!" Leng Yue said dismissively.
“But firearms are ultimately external forces, and they will definitely be phased out at a certain level!” Jiang Yuan retorted.
"No, that's because you haven't seen one thing!" Leng Yue took out a crystal plate from her inner pocket. "After you see it, you will understand that technology has not been eliminated, but has just existed in a different form."
"Hmm?" Jiang Yuan took the crystal plate with some skepticism, but after scanning it with his Heavenly Eye, he exclaimed in surprise, "This is!"
"Tier 5 firearm blueprint, grade: good, the weapon will be charged with spiritual energy."
"It's a core drop!" Leng Yue said. "You can get cores by killing monsters with this kind of gun!"
"Really?" Jiang Yuan was skeptical. If such a weapon existed, wouldn't that mean we'd be back in the pre-apocalyptic era?
“I’ve seen a Tier 1 magical artifact. You can use it to kill monsters and get their cores. However, making this kind of magical artifact requires a lot of rare materials. Currently, no large-scale mineral veins of this kind have been discovered, so we can only produce it in small batches!” Leng Yue explained.
"I see!" Jiang Yuan nodded. "Looks like we'll have to pay more attention to this next time!"
"Sister Lengyue, guns are for boys, I like playing with dolls!"
After saying that, Xiao Xin handed over the stunt doll she was holding, "Sister Leng Yue, would you like to play with the doll with Xiao Xin?"
"Thank you!" Leng Yue rarely showed a smile. "But you're an adult now, you should play with this uncle instead!"
"Brother Jiang Yuan?" Xiao Xin asked. "But he's an adult too!"
"Dolls are what real men should play with!" Leng Yue said seriously.
Jiang Yuan: "..."
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