The words of the Sin Judge Jia Yuan brought a tremendous shock to Chen Shi.
Is this land of the West Bull New Continent truly abnormal?
In fact, he had sensed this long ago.
He had discovered early on that the sun and moon of the West Bull New Continent were somewhat eerie, seemingly vastly different from those in the small temple.
In the small temple, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, the moon waxes and wanes, and they are not perpetually hanging in the sky, nor is there a huge face behind them.
More critically, the heaven and earth righteous qi emanating from the sun and moon did not contain the madness-inducing demonic nature and cosmic evil, nor did it possess the mysterious force that turns people into evil spirits.
On the contrary, the heaven and earth righteous qi emitted by the sun, moon, and stars could refine and purify demonic nature!
But the cultivators of the West Bull New Continent, if they absorbed too much moonlight, would likely go insane, or even become evil spirits!
Even his grandfather Chen Yin, such an existence, would become fiercely demonic under the moonlight, forcing him to hide in the underworld.
Moreover, more bizarrely, the cultivation techniques recorded in the True King’s Tomb have a cultivation system significantly different from today’s practice in the West Bull New Continent!
The cultivation system recorded in the True King’s Tomb consists of Qi Refinement, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Incarnation, Unification, Three Corpse, Refining God, Returning Void, Mahayana, Tribulation Crossing, Ascension.
The current cultivation system is Qi Refinement, Foundation Establishment, Divine Shrine, Divine Embryo, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Divinity Transformation, Divine Descent, Refining Void, Unification, Three Corpse, Refining God, Returning Void, Mahayana.
The True King’s Tomb system lacks the realms of Divine Shrine, Divine Embryo, Divine Descent, and Refining Void, while the current system lacks Tribulation Crossing and Ascension.
Although Chen Shi possesses a Divine Shrine, he lacks a Divine Embryo, which means he is missing the Divine Embryo realm, and now that he is at the Divinity Transformation Realm, if he manages to form a Primordial Spirit of ten feet and advance to the next realm, he would fall short of achieving the Divine Descent Realm and Refining Void Realm.
In other words, he would be missing these three realms!
Yet, he currently feels his path of cultivation is very normal, progressing smoothly without any hindrance!
He even thinks that he could normally breakthrough to the Unification Realm without the need for the Divine Descent and Refining Void realms!
But this in itself is very abnormal!
Chen Shi pondered for a moment and said, "Judge Jia, are you saying that upon cultivating to the Mahayana Realm and ascending, one would turn into an evil spirit? Immortals turn into evil spirits?"
Jia Yuan hesitated for a moment and said, "During the True King Era, I was only the magistrate of Gongtian Prefecture, a third-grade official, not the most powerful being of that era. The information I could access was not too extensive, nor had I cultivated to the Ascension Realm..."
Wang Fu was the Junior Minister of the Ministry of Justice in the True King Era, and Zhu Shun was the governor of Xinxiang, both were fourth-grade.
After their deaths due to their own merit, they entered the underworld and became Judges. But in the mortal world, they were not the top experts under the True King. At that time, the top experts were concentrated within the court, the Thirteen Families, and the Buddhist and Taoist Holy Lands.
There were things that Jia Yuan and others were unable to contact.
Chen Shi inquired, "Then, what do you all know?"
Jia Yuan said, "During the True King Era, many prehistoric strange immortals were unearthed from prehistoric relics. According to the experts in the court at that time, these prehistoric cultivators had reached the Harmonization level, but for unknown reasons, once unearthed and re-exposed to daylight, they would either age rapidly and die or undergo drastic changes."
Zhu Shun said, "The True King gathered the world’s cultivators to forge and refine nine palatial towers, named the True King Nine Halls, aimed at suppressing the drastic changes of the strange immortals. In the millennia since my birth, these changes occurred over a dozen times, not many in number. After my death, I am unaware of further happenings."
Wang Fu said, "The True King Nine Halls could suppress the drastic changes of the strange immortals in the early stages, but by the mid and late stages, they could no longer be suppressed. At that point, the strange immortals completely transformed into powerful evil spirits. Therefore, time was of the essence to eradicate them."
Jia Yuan said, "Thus, we speculate that the True King Era was quite possibly destroyed by a drastic change of the strange immortals. However, during my lifetime, there was also a rumor: if someone crosses the tribulation and ascends, at the moment of ascension, they too would undergo drastic changes, becoming evil! This rumor caused panic, and as the magistrate of Gongtian Prefecture, I was even ordered to investigate the source of the rumor to identify any demon spreading these unsettling tales."
Zhu Shun exclaimed in surprise, "I have also heard this rumor in Xinxiang! Brother Jia, did you uncover the source of the rumor?"
Jia Yuan said, "Yes, it was spread by some Heaven Listeners."
Chen Shi couldn’t help but say, "Were there Heaven Listeners during the True King Era too?"
"Indeed." The three Judges replied matter-of-factly.
Chen Shi pursued, "How did Heaven Listeners come to be?"
Jia Yuan said, "From Despair Slope."
Chen Shi inquired, "How did Despair Slope come to be? What’s in Despair Slope?"
All three shook their heads.
In their lifetime, they hadn’t come into contact with matters at this level, and after death, they were even less aware.
"Get back to work," Chen Shi said absent-mindedly, waving his hand.
Wang Fu clasped his small round hat, apologetically smiling, "Now, about the wages, do you think we could get paid daily... Oops, I thought I was working for another ghost family there! We cannot accept the benefactor’s money!"
Chen Shi’s gaze followed their movements, seeing the three little ghosts diligently cleaning and tidying everywhere, even throwing discarded paper girls and old women out of the courtyard. — Some paper figures, not completely burned, missing limbs, would be discarded.
Those discarded paper girls and old women wept bitterly, unwilling to leave, but the three little ghosts were not kind-hearted. Once thrown out, they hit the ground and turned into drifting ashes, no longer existing.
They existed by relying on Yuan Chen Palace, but once they left Yuan Chen Palace, they revealed their original form, which was nothing but a handful of ashes.