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Chapter 172 - 171: Long Life at Forty-Five
Chapter 172 - 171: Long Life at Forty-Five
Chapter 172: Chapter 171: Long Life at Forty-Five
Translator: 549690339
For people in this world, Jiang Li’s question is undoubtedly strange and foolish, akin to asking if there’s anyone in Jiuzhou who knows of the Human Emperor.
Would you dare call yourself a Jiuzhou resident if you didn’t know the Human Emperor?
The man appraised Jiang Li with a strange look, wondering: to ask such a question, could he be from our world?
But only the thought remained in his mind and wouldn’t pass his lips. Who else would be in this world besides the Twelve Kings?
Such an absurd idea!
Were the Twelve Kings also saviors?
Jiang Li was puzzled. This contradicted what the system had described.
The system mentioned the Ring Universe encountering an unwelcome visit, threatening the destruction of the world. None of these words seemed to suggest the Twelve Kings were saviors.
“Who exactly are the Twelve Kings?”
“My apologies for the confusion. I’m from another world and not too familiar with yours. That’s why I’m asking this.” Jiang Li was honest.
The man looked at Jiang Li even more peculiarly.
From another world? He expects me to believe that? As if he could be one of the Twelve Kings.
He wanted to turn and walk away. Alas, he couldn’t break away from Jiang Li’s iron grip and had to accept his fate when he noticed Jiang Li’s amused eyes.
“My name is Meng. I’m a local school teacher. I’ve been preparing to teach my students some history. If you truly don’t know, let me elaborate a bit. Consider it a preview lesson.”
“Three hundred years ago, dynasties were at war, people suffered, corpses littered the fields, and blood filled the rivers. According to history, only a few people trained in martial arts at that time. Only the top elites had the privilege to train. Without money or power, you couldn’t even dream of it. Even if you could barely step into the door, you’d just wander in front of it all your life.
How different could you be from a commoner?”
“Moreover, martial artists back then were hot-blooded and had to kill to curb their uncontrollable bloodlust. As a result, those who pursued martial arts were deemed murderers, and anyone who achieved something in it would definitely have killed!”
“Martial artists wreaked havoc on battlefields. Even well-trained soldiers couldn’t withstand their single strike. A martial artist could traverse the battlefield overcoming all sorts of enemies.”
“Martial artists needed to kill, and dynasties needed territories. The two were naturally compatible, conspiring for power.”
“All the major dynasties did their utmost to recruit martial artists and send them to battlefields. Dynasties without enough martial artists had to send their ordinary soldiers to fight them. A single war would lead to countless innocent soldiers losing their lives to martial artists.”
Meng paused here, puffed out his chest, cleared his throat, and proudly stated,
“Then, observing the suffering of the people, the Upper Realm dispatched the Twelve Kings to save us.”
“The Twelve Kings were incredibly brave. Martial artists were no match for them and were easily killed.”
“The Kings believed it was a mistake that the martial artists of the past wouldn’t share their martial arts techniques. So, they decided to make the martial arts techniques public. Now, anyone could learn and become a martial artist. ”
“The martial arts techniques that the Kings publicized were also improved. By practicing these new techniques, people no longer had the impulse to kill.”
“From then on, martial artists weren’t held high. There was no more distinction between martial artists and civilians. Everyone was a martial artist. ”
“Does that mean, Teacher Meng, you’re also a martial artist? Where did you get your martial arts techniques?”
“Of course, they were from the Kings.” Meng said naturally. “The Kings have said you can’t just write martial arts techniques randomly, or you might go down the same path, becoming the kind of martial artist that enjoys killing.”
“I have one more question.
“Go ahead.” Meng started to feel like he was back in his classroom.
“If martial artists were the root of chaos, why didn’t they just destroy the martial arts techniques? Then we’d all be civilians and wouldn’t have any need to enforce martial laws. But instead, why did the Kings painstakingly improve and then publicize the techniques?”
“You’re unaware of this. The new martial arts techniques have other benefits. For example, the old techniques from three hundred years ago could only prolong someone’s life until they were in their twenties or thirties. Now, they can live until forty or even forty-five. The effect of life prolongation was incredibly evident!”
“Indeed, impressive. If one could live until forty-five, they’d surely be considered long-lived.” Jiang Li gave a pretentious compliment. In Jiuzhou, the average lifespan was a hundred twenty years. Hardly anyone lived until they were forty-five.
Jiang Li remembered hearing from Chang Cun Xian Weng that in the Ten Thousand Realms, the lifespan of the human race was fixed at one hundred forty years.
However, few could live until a hundred forty without cultivation. Like in the Ming Zhong World and Zombie World, theoretically, people could live to a hundred forty, but hardly anyone did.
This was because of acquired pollution. The human body could be seen as a vessel for Red Dust to cross the world, and also as a bucket holding filth.
A baby represents the purest moment of a person’s life. As they grow older and their bodies are invaded by acquired impurities, they gradually lose their purity. The impurities decrease lifespan. If one leads a healthy life, they can live to about a hundred. If they lead a loose life, there’s no saying how long they’ll live.
Cultivation, also known as truth-seeking, means seeking the true self. One of the meanings of the true self is to return to the purity of a baby.
Regardless of whether it’s Qi Cultivation or Foundation Establishment, both are processes involving using spiritual energy to wash the marrow, accompanied by the discharge of filth.
Thus, Qi Cultivation and Foundation Establishment stages can live until the human race’s lifespan limit, a hundred forty years. Only after reaching the Golden Core Stage will the lifespan increase with cultivation.
In other words, the people here should also have a lifespan of a hundred forty years.
He used his divine sense to observe the people around and found that Meng’s explanation was indeed true. The martial arts techniques seem to share similar principles, with only minor differences.
They were all techniques that consumed lifespan.
Jiang Li had never seen the previous martial arts techniques and so couldn’t say anything about them. However, if the situation was as Meng said, those old techniques significantly decreased lifespan compared to the new ones.
“Do you know where the Kings reside?” Jiang Li was curious. The world was also a continent, his divine sense couldn’t cover entire and although he noticed some emperor-like figures, none of them seemed like the Twelve Kings.
“The Kings have long returned to the heavenly world. If they think we’ve done something wrong, they’ll appear in the king’s dreams.”
“When will they appear in his dream?”
“How would we know that?” Meng chuckled.
Jiang Li sensed a presence in the Remote Communication Talisman and was astonished to find it was Lord Liu trying to contact him.
Jiang Li’s thoughts were in disarray. This was unprecedented. Could it be Lord Liu finally had arguments against his stay at the Imperial Palace and was asking him to return?
No, he needed to think of a good excuse.
Jiang Li went to a secluded place and answered the Remote Communication Talisman.
“Hall Master, there’s a child here…
“I have a stomachache…”
Both Liu and Jiang Li stayed silent, creating an awkward atmosphere.
Eventually, Liu suggested, “Why don’t you relieve yourself first? This matter isn’t that urgent.”
A Mahayana Realm cultivator claiming to have a stomachache, have you been poisoned by a mythical poison that even immortals would die from, Hall Master?
“Cough, go on..”