Gu Zhan furrowed his brows and said, "Is it really like this?"
Gai Qingcheng slowly said, "If you look through historical texts, even if you completely wear them out, there are many things for which no trace can be found. As of now, the historical record with specific documentation can be traced back ten thousand years.
Martial Arts only began to appear three thousand years ago, and in the seven thousand years between ten thousand and three thousand years ago, there are no records of cultivation. However, there are some traces, and it is these traces that later became the Grotto Heaven Technique. It was after these traces were discovered that the Grotto Heaven Realm’s Land Immortals were achieved."
Gu Zhan slowly asked, "Is that how the Gu Family came to be?"
"No," Gai Qingcheng replied, "Although the Gu Family has a legacy spanning over a thousand years, it was only eight hundred years ago that a Land Immortal appeared. However, the first Land Immortal appeared over two thousand years ago.
At that time, martial arts had already developed from the initial creation of the Martial Saint into a prosperous period. Back then, there were all sorts of systems of martial arts across the world; there was no unification, and martial arts peak experts emerged. The first Land Immortal came from the first great unified dynasty."
Rong Yichu said in a deep voice, "Yu Dynasty, Emperor Yu Yang?"
Gai Qingcheng nodded slightly, "Indeed. In history, very few records exist about the Yu Dynasty, and Yu Taizu is mostly criticized and insulted, being known as one of the most infamous foolish rulers in history. The records mostly document his various foolish and destructive acts after he proclaimed himself emperor, and traces of his youth are essentially unsearchable.
This is deliberately obscured by later generations. In truth, Emperor Yu Yang was a ruler with great talent and strategy in his youth. At that time, the world was in chaos with sixteen nations, and the strength of the Yu Kingdom was not considered strong, ranking in the lower tier among the sixteen. After ascending the throne, Emperor Yu Yang governed diligently and prudently, enhancing the Yu Kingdom’s strength within a very short time, although it could only be considered middle-level.
But no one expected that Emperor Yu Yang at that time would initiate war against the then-dominant nation, and he engaged in a battle that shocked the world. On Huiji Mountain, he single-handedly slaughtered the martial arts peak experts of that hegemon nation, then led troops to capture the capital, propelling the Yu Kingdom to become the foremost power.
In that battle, Emperor Yu Yang showcased methods of the Land Immortal, and from then on, he was invincible in battle, eventually unifying the world and establishing the first great unified dynasty in history.
However, after unifying the world, Emperor Yu Yang began to act foolishly, leaving the populace in misery. More than twenty years into his reign, during a southern tour, the army mutinied, and he was ambushed and ultimately encircled and killed. His defeat was due to the limitations of the Grotto Heaven, as he ran out of spiritual qi and was coerced under torture to reveal the Secret of the Grotto Heaven.
As it turned out, his breakthrough to the Grotto Heaven Realm, achieving Land Immortal, was not something he created, but a legacy he accidentally acquired, which recorded a cultivation method completely different from martial arts.
At first, Emperor Yu Yang did not believe it, but when his cultivation reached a dead-end at the Martial Arts Peak, he sought ways to break through. After futile exploration, he followed the method recorded in the ancient text, surprisingly setting up a Spirit Gathering Array and refining spiritual qi.
After he successfully broke through to the Grotto Heaven Cultivation, he kept that secret closely guarded, and every time he made a personal move, he would make many preparations to prevent anyone from discovering his vulnerabilities, though ultimately, he was betrayed by someone close to him, captured, and ran out of spiritual qi.
During his reign, he enacted a policy of unifying the script and burning ancient texts to destroy any ancient books that might conceal traces of the Grotto Heaven Technique. Because of this, few traces of the Grotto Heaven Technique were discovered, although he did manage to gather some Grotto Heaven Techniques.
After Emperor Yu Yang was defeated and killed, the Secret of the Grotto Heaven was acquired by the Seven Rebel Kings of the time, leading the world to once again split into seven kingdoms. The first thing these seven kings did after achieving independence, just like Emperor Yu Yang, was to burn ancient books to sever the possibility of the Grotto Heaven Technique reemerging.
After two major destructions, the remaining Grotto Heaven Techniques were exceedingly rare, yet the second book-burning caught the attention of others. By following clues, Grotto Heaven Cultivators began to appear sporadically in the world."
Rong Yichu chuckled lightly, "I can roughly guess what happened next. After the initial chaos, the Grotto Heaven Cultivators gradually formed a monopolistic tacit understanding among themselves, and the already extremely rare Grotto Heaven Technique slowly vanished from the Martial World."
Gai Qingcheng nodded slightly and said, "Mr. Rong is right. That monopolistic understanding has been maintained to this day. However, even though the Land Immortals are powerful, they eventually face exhaustion. Due to the significant limitations on entering the Grotto Heaven, many Grotto Heaven forces have disappeared over the two thousand-year history, yet others have acquired a legacy and newly emerged as top-tier forces at the Grotto Heaven Level.
Take for example the Gu Family, which began over fifteen hundred years ago, gradually developing through ups and downs. By eight hundred years ago, it became a great noble family within Qingzhou. By seizing the Grotto Heaven Technique from a declining Grotto Heaven force, the Gu Family poured decades of effort into cultivating their first Grotto Heaven Land Immortal, propelling them to become the foremost noble family in the world, and the tacit understanding to hide the Secret of the Grotto Heaven also emerged within the Gu Family."
Rong Yichu furrowed his brow and said, "Miss Gu Qi, I have a question. Although the various major Grotto Heaven forces tightly monopolize the Secret of the Grotto Heaven, wouldn’t some information have inevitably leaked from the historical transformations of two thousand years, given the decline of many Grotto Heaven Level forces?"