Building a sect from scratch.

Chapter 425 Wu Zhi
"So, people back then didn't have spiritual roots!?"

At the same time, in the Wisdom Palace of Quanxian Royal City, Wang Qiqing, who came as an "exchange student" representing the Taiyin Sect, stared wide-eyed at an ancient history book that recorded the history of the human race and the Quanxian race. He looked at the Quanxian race members who were "floating" low in the air and trying to keep a relatively equal height to him, and asked incredulously.

“That’s right, at least that’s what we recorded. And the Changwu tribe still exists today, in the northwest of Quanxian Royal City. Of course, the Changwu tribe is now called the ‘Changwu Clan,’ and the place where they live is called ‘Wu City,’ which was expanded on the site where the Changwu tribe lived tens of thousands of years ago.”

The one who answered Wang Qiqing was Yuan Tao, the one-on-one tutor specially assigned to him in Quanxian Wangcheng.

Wang Qiqing's brows furrowed like a pretzel, unable to understand no matter how hard he tried: "But weren't the ancient Changwu tribe a human tribe? How could they have lived in the sea and been incorporated into your Quanxian Kingdom?"

"Who told you that the Longsha tribe was a human tribe back then?"

Yuan Tao's expression remained unchanged, though his tone seemed somewhat dissatisfied: "Furthermore, the Changwu Clan and Wuzhi City are indeed settlements of the Quanxian Clan, but they have not been incorporated into the Quanxian Royal City. Moreover, our Quanxian Clan does not have a 'country,' that's a method only someone like Du Guang would use!"

Wang Qiqing keenly sensed Yuan Tao's dissatisfaction and quickly apologized, "Oh, I'm so sorry, I really don't know much about your Quanxian clan, and I was just a little curious. Please forgive me if I have offended you in any way!"

Yuan Tao, however, said instead, "It's alright. I was just taking my anger out on you. Please forgive me, fellow Daoist. It's quite a coincidence that I was born in the City of Witches."

"You're from the City of Witches!?"

Wang Qiqing couldn't help but lower his head and stare intently at Yuan Tao's tail—it was light blue, very beautiful, but it was indeed a tail.

He asked in confusion, "But, but the history books record that the ancient human race was divided into thirty-six tribes, and the Changwu tribe was one of them?"

"That's right, it was a division into thirty-six tribes, not a division into separate 'establishments'. None of these thirty-six tribes were entirely human. Or rather, at that time, all the tribes were a mix of different races."

Yuan Tao explained: "For example, the Changwu tribe, in addition to the human race, also had the Quanxian tribe... but at that time we were called the Di people, and there was also the dragon race, which was called the Youlong tribe."

"At that time, the meaning of '氏' was completely different from what it is now. More often than not, people were divided into clans by clan, and tribes... were just places to live."

"However, what's interesting is that we originally called the human race 'Da Yao Shi', but the human race itself disagreed, seemingly because 'Yao' has a bad connotation... Who knows! Anyway, I only remember that a history book recorded the attitude towards this name as 'considering Yao to be inauspicious and hating it'."

"However, at that time, the human race believed that they resembled the goddess Nuwa in appearance and wanted to call themselves 'Nuwa Clan'. But other races disagreed, after all, they only resembled the goddess Nuwa in their upper body. In fact, the lowly people at that time were more similar to the goddess Nuwa! Of course, in fact, you humans yourselves had your own ideas and opinions were not unified, so you did not use that name."

Wang Qiqing listened with great interest, adjusting his view while continuing to record the screen, and asked, "And then what happened?"

"Later, they started fighting amongst themselves and began choosing their own surnames. Some wanted this name, some wanted that name, and it's said they came up with several hundred surnames at the time. Oh right, although I don't remember the specific details, this book should have more information."

As Yuan Tao spoke, his fingers traced the spines of the many books on the bookshelf, and finally pulled out a book that was as thick as a brick.

After handing the book to Wang Qiqing, Yuan Tao continued, "But their various clan names are too difficult to remember. We other races are too lazy to remember them, so we simply call them 'humans'—of course, this is just my guess, because there is really no clear record of why we call you 'humans'. The historical books preserved in the Wisdom Palace only record some history and events of that time."

Wang Qiqing pressed on, "Does the Goddess Nuwa really not care at all? Wasn't she the one who created the human race?"

"Why should we care? Besides, strictly speaking, the human race is a 'soldier' ​​created by Nuwa from her own blood and flesh. They are tools used to send into the Five-Colored Array to wipe out the evil spirits from beyond the heavens. What they are called is not important."

Hearing this, Wang Qiqing's doubts deepened: "But in fact, the human race doesn't care about the Five-Colored Array at all; instead, you are still the ones guarding it..."

"That's because no one can bear to watch tens of thousands of humans die!"

Yuan Tao sighed, then gently shook his head, refusing to recount the past. He simply pointed to the book in Wang Qiqing's hand and added, "Why don't you finish reading this record first? The humans of that time were different from the humans of today. Back then... alas, it was truly tragic. This is why our Quanxian Clan and Dragon Clan have repeatedly tolerated the offenses of some humans."

Having said all that, Wang Qiqing had no choice but to obediently continue flipping through the book in his hands, taking screenshots of each page to save. This book was also chosen for him by Yuan Tao; it was said to be a very concise record of the origins of humankind.

The book was not thick and the content was indeed very brief. Wang Qiqing finished reading it in less than an hour, but when he closed the book, he felt a mix of emotions and couldn't say a word.

Humans are truly complex beings.

According to the book, the origin of the human race in the Guixu Realm is just as Yuan Tao said. After Nuwa set up the Five-Colored Array, she secluded herself for many days and came up with a "solution" - she took her own flesh and blood to create the first few thousand people.

These humans are weak and unable to sense spiritual energy, so it is impossible for them to participate in guarding the Five-Colored Array, let alone enter the Five-Colored Array to wipe out the extraterrestrial demons.

Nuwa then taught a few people how to "plant spiritual roots" within their own bodies, as well as some cultivation techniques suitable for humankind. After exchanging and learning with enthusiastic individuals from many tribes, these people came together and jointly established the Changwu tribe, which is the predecessor of the current Quanxian tribe's Changwu clan.

All humans who wish to cultivate must seek out the people of the Longsha Tribe. After several years of study, they must consume something called "Shaman's Water" to "plant" their spiritual roots before they can truly cultivate and learn magic.

Some people were unhappy that Nuwa only taught this method to a small number of people, but they later learned that those who could create the water of witchcraft could never cultivate themselves.

To show respect, people called those who dedicated themselves to making the water of the shaman "shamans." They spontaneously provided them with food and clothing and helped them solve all the problems in their lives as much as possible—although many problems that were insurmountable for mortals were no longer problems in the eyes of humans who had already embarked on the path of cultivation.

However, these people called themselves "Wuzai Clan". "Zai" means succession, which also means that Wuzai Clan must dedicate themselves generation after generation in order to provide opportunities for all humankind.

Meanwhile, in the conference room, several professors organizing the materials sent by Wang Qiqing also saw this part of the record. One of them, a professor specializing in literature, was extremely excited: "Wait! Here! It's recorded in the *Classic of Mountains and Seas*! 'The Wuzhai people have the surname Pan, eat grains, do not spin or weave, yet they wear them; they do not sow or reap, yet they eat them. They love singing and dancing birds; the luan bird sings by itself, the phoenix bird dances by itself…' It matches! It matches! Could it be that the *Classic of Mountains and Seas* doesn't describe Blue Star, but the Realm of Return to Nothingness!?"

Another professor frowned and shook his head, saying, "Although we can't rule out that possibility, I've actually checked it privately, and the geographical and mountain records don't quite match up."

An older professor chimed in, “Moreover, look, the original text says, ‘Emperor Shun begot Wuyin, descended to the place of Zai, and was called the people of Wuzai.’ This is different from the records in the Guixu Realm. The records in the Guixu Realm are based on knowledge imparted by Nuwa, which then gave rise to ‘Wuzai.’ Oh, right, this is also ‘Wuzai,’ not ‘people of Wuzai.’ We don’t even know if these two characters ‘Wuzai’ are the same ‘Wuzai’ recorded in our Classic of Mountains and Seas! The text we see was translated using the translation system from α, so who knows if there are any errors?”

One professor optimistically remarked, "Let's keep watching; there might be even more surprising records to come."

So, everyone continued to look through the screenshots of historical records provided by Wang Qiqing.

Originally, according to the Goddess Nuwa, every year a group of warriors from the human race would enter the Five-Colored Array to wipe out a large number of low-level extraterrestrial demons. As for the high-level demons and demon lords, the dragon race, the spring-fed race, and other races with natural advantages would handle them.

However, as the number of extraterrestrial demons in the various small worlds within the Five-Colored Array increased, the human race firmly believed that if they were not eliminated at the beginning, the longer it was delayed, the more trouble would arise. Therefore, they insisted on changing the frequency from once a year to once every six months, then to once a month, until human races entered the Five-Colored Array every few days.

Humans reproduce much faster than other races. They are like rabbits in the jungle, growing into a new generation every ten years or so. So even with such a large number of deaths, the human population continues to grow.

But the number of people dying is also increasing.

Nuwa could not bear this cycle any longer, so she left a message to find a way to completely solve the Five-Colored Array and departed from the Realm of Returning to the Void.

Unexpectedly, as soon as Nuwa left, internal strife broke out among the human race. One group of humans believed that they should elect several virtuous and respected people as leaders, while another group believed that the human race should not be separated from other races among the tribes.

The two sides argued more and more fiercely, and eventually war broke out.

A war that was the first of its kind that had nothing to do with extraterrestrial demons.

Additional chapters + apology word count