This is not an MMO game copy

...just happened to be some abstract thing that said, "I have practiced to be like a crane, holding two boxes of scriptures under a thousand pine trees. I came to ask Wu Yu, and he said, 'Clouds are in the blue sky, and water is in the bottle.'" As the reign of the longest-serving emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

In short, it's not that good.

After all, the Renyin Palace Rebellion had not been over for long at this time, and the future Qi Shaobao was only seventeen years old and had just inherited the hereditary position of commander of Dengzhou Guard, managing a total of twenty-five guard posts in Dengzhou, Wendeng and Jimo camps to defend against attacks by Japanese pirates along the Shandong coast.

Although it was not the worst time for the Ming Dynasty.

But the dynasty had already shown signs of decline.

You know, Jiajing Jiajing, every family is clean, is not just a simple saying. It can be said that the beginning of the demise of the entire Ming Dynasty began with the abstraction of this Emperor Wanshou.

Heading west from the central region of the island country, crossing the Whale Sea (the ancient Chinese name, now called the Sea of ​​Japan), Xia Yan arrived in Gangwon Province and Gangneung Protectorate on the Korean Peninsula.

The journey was smooth, at least when he crossed the Whale Sea, he did not encounter any monsters living in the sea.

At first, Xia Yan didn't think it was strange, because the 16th century was also the Age of Exploration. The discovery of the New World and the success of the circumnavigation of the world brought the entire Age of Exploration to its peak.

If there were many monsters and demons living in the ocean, especially in the offshore areas, the Age of Exploration would not have been able to continue. Even though all kinds of strange legends and black witchcraft were prevalent during the Age of Exploration, they would certainly not be exaggerated.

Relying on the map navigation improved by [No Return Error], he flew across the entire Joseon Dynasty from Gangneung Protectorate to Seoul Prefecture, and then flew from Seoul Prefecture across the Yellow Sea and landed in Dengzhou Prefecture in Shandong. In a county town under the jurisdiction of Dengzhou Prefecture, he confirmed that the current dynasty's reign was Jiajing.

Xia Yan suddenly felt that something was wrong.

But I couldn't explain it for the time being.

It was not until he flew into the sky on his sword that he caught a glimpse of the Penglai Pavilion complex on Dany Mountain out of the corner of his eye.

He seemed to have just remembered something.

He turned around and flew towards Penglai Pavilion on his sword. Under the cover of illusion, he landed outside the Sanqing Temple on Danyashi Mountain with the human-machine monkey.

Then, he stood in front of the Sanqing Hall of Penglai Pavilion, where Ge Hong was said to have made elixirs, and watched the pilgrims and Taoists here without saying a word.

After a long time.

No one noticed anything was wrong.

It would be fine for outsiders who come here to burn incense, but although the Penglai Pavilion on Danyshan Mountain cannot be considered the ancestral home of Taoism, it is also an important place of worship for Taoism and Confucianism in Shandong. In addition to the Three Pure Ones, the entire Penglai Pavilion also enshrines the Dragon King of the East China Sea, the Queen Mother of Heaven (Mazu), the Pure Yang Emperor Lu Dongbin and the other Eight Immortals.

If it were in the real world where supernatural beings had disappeared, this kind of offering would have no meaning. However, in this "copy" world, supernatural powers truly existed, and all kinds of demons and monsters roamed around.

There are many big monsters on the island country who can destroy armies and cities on their own, but they still cannot shake the human era. To a large extent, this is due to the fact that humans such as witches and wizards who also possess extraordinary powers can check and balance those monsters.

A very small number of shrine maidens of Kikyo's level have the ability to fight against, destroy, or seal big monsters. Even Kamikyuya, the ceiling-level monster in the Inuyasha plot setting, can be sealed by humans.

Logically speaking, the island country is in a complete mess. Even when it has collapsed to the stage where demons are rampant and hundreds of ghosts are roaming at night, there are still a large number of human extraordinary people such as shrine maidens and wizards to stabilize the situation.

Then, the same should be true for the Central Plains. Even in Xia Yan's opinion, there are far more and stronger extraordinary people on the Shenzhou continent than on the island countries.

Not everyone is like a dragon, but there must be quite a few extraordinary people. In the movie, the monster army headed by the moth monster can cross the sea to the island country to grab territory, instead of staying in the vast Central Plains to occupy the land and rule a certain area. No matter how you think about it, they cannot be weak.

It is possible that the common people are all martial arts masters and heroes, and the court is full of various heavenly masters, and the emperor pardons and conferred gods...

Even if it was said that some elements of The Legend of Swordsman of Mount Shu were mixed in, with righteous swordsmen and evil monsters fighting each other with swords and magic, Xia Yan would rather believe it.

However, in Penglai Pavilion, an important Taoist sacrificial shrine in Shandong, after standing there for a long time while performing magic, he did not see any senior masters or Taoist priests with profound Taoism skills, and discovered that he and the human-machine monkey were two uninvited guests.

Moreover, among the Taoist priests in charge of the Sanqing Temple, Xia Yan did not see a single one with cultivation and magical powers.

Yes, they are all ordinary people.

Then, Xia Yan turned around and left the Sanqing Temple and explored the entire Penglai Pavilion. After visiting the Dragon King Palace, Tianhou Palace, Lu Zu Temple and other pavilions, he finally confirmed that as one of the Taoist holy places in Shandong, the Taoists in Penglai Pavilion were not the sects he had imagined, and almost none of them had any cultivation.

The few who have cultivated magical powers are all very old Taoist priests, and their magical powers are quite meager. Not to mention prolonging their lifespan or reversing aging, they probably can't even use a few spells.

Xia Yan even suspected that these old Taoists might not be able to use their magic power to control swords and objects, which means that they have not even reached the fourth level of the Jade Purity Realm of Tai Chi Xuanqing Dao.

"That's not right..."

In terms of the level of extraordinary power, the Central Plains of this "copy" world is actually far behind the island country where demons are rampant. This is illogical and unrealistic.

Thinking of this, Xia Yan summoned the [Great Holy Grail] and asked Irena to come out from the internal space of the [Great Holy Grail] to help him answer this question.

Is it true that the island nation's level of supernatural power is far higher than that of the Central Plains?

Or is it for some other reason?

Soon, the spirit of the weapon gave the first answer.

"Master, it's strange. The ether concentration in the atmosphere has dropped significantly... If the ether concentration in the island nation to the far east was equivalent to the period before the Age of Gods completely faded and faded away, the ether concentration in this land is now only at the level of the modern mage era."

"Just as the records of the Einzbern family show, after the afterglow of the Age of Gods faded from the continent, the remaining mysteries could only gather on the British Isles and linger there."

"You mean to say that the extraordinary power in the Central Plains has seriously declined, and instead the island nations, like Britain, have become a gathering place for the remaining essence of the era?"

Xia Yan frowned.

"That shouldn't be the case! If the level of supernatural power in the Central Plains has declined significantly, why haven't the demons and monsters from the island nation crossed the sea to come over? On the contrary, hundreds of years ago during the Yuan Dynasty, the moth demon brought a bunch of people across the sea to seize territory from the island nation?"

"Perhaps the ether concentration in the environment has dropped significantly, making it unsuitable for survival?"

The weapon spirit, Justissa, guessed:

"The power of those great monsters is definitely no less than that of first-class servants, and these top-level fantasy species are inevitably affected by environmental factors."

"No, if that's the case, then the time and space that Kagome came from in 1996 wouldn't be so extraordinary that all the demons and monsters would disappear."

Xia Yan shook his head.

"Furthermore, Inuyasha also traveled back to 1996 through the Bone-Eating Well. If he was severely affected by environmental factors, it would be unreasonable for a half-demon like him to stay in the modern era of the late 20th century."

"Well, I have an idea."

Irena, holding Merlin's staff, looked up at the sky above Penglai Pavilion and said thoughtfully:

"Could it be that the ether or spiritual energy of this land... In short, the magic of nature has been drained away by something?"

"Take it away?"

"Well, take it away."

Irena said:

"A witch like me, if determined, can indeed set up and maintain a massive barrier, continuously extracting the magic power within... For example, in my memory, there's a place called the Land of Prayer, covered by a massive barrier that drains all the magic power within, transforming it into a special power called 'prayer' that can grant wishes..."

"So, as long as they are in the Kingdom of Prayer, all magicians will gradually lose their magical power. Even witches are not immune..."

Xia Yan's eyelids twitched.

He knew about the Land of Prayer, which was the sister work of "Witch's Journey", sharing the same world view and the timeline of "Liliel in the Land of Prayer" when the Witch of Trash obtained the title of witch and officially began to travel.

The scumbag witch who accidentally entered the Kingdom of Prayer lost her own magic power due to the magic barrier that covered the entire country. She was trapped for a year before she was able to leave.

In the Kingdom of Prayer, all magical power will be drawn away to maintain and operate a huge magical ritual and barrier.

The magic ritual and barrier can use the extracted magic power to fulfill the wishes of all those who stay in the country of prayer.

"Irena, are you saying that in the Central Plains of this 'copy' world, there are also some kind of magical rituals similar to those in the Land of Prayer?"

"It's just possible that the feeling this land gives me does seem very similar to the Land of Prayer in my memory..."

Seeing Xia Yan's expression change slightly, Yirena couldn't help but ask curiously:

"...Well, did you think of something?"

"Liu Bowen cuts the dragon vein."

Xia Yan said in a deep voice:

"A folk tale tells of Liu Bowen, one of the founding heroes of the Ming Dynasty. He was a star sent down from heaven to help Zhu Yuanzhang establish his kingdom. He was told not to use his divine power to sever the dragon veins, as the land where the dragon veins were located was a place designated by heaven and could not be violated by human power."

"But after Liu Bowen descended to the mortal world as a human, he was no longer in control of his own will. Furthermore, as a mortal, he possessed worldly desires, as well as a utilitarian mindset. Therefore, while observing the stars one night, he said to Zhu Yuanzhang, who later became the Hongwu Emperor, 'The North Star, Purple Star, shines brightly, a sign of the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty. However, the Eastern Star, Taibai, sometimes shines brighter than Purple Star. There's a risk that a different emperor will emerge in the Ming Dynasty.'... Afterwards, Liu Bowen, following imperial orders, set out to sever the world's dragon veins. He searched the entire Central Plains, severed ninety-nine dragon veins, and ended the destiny of ninety-nine true dragons..."

"Not counting the Changbai Mountain dragon vein outside the Great Wall, Liu Bowen fell seriously ill and was bedridden shortly after returning to report after severing the dragon vein in Gansu. He soon passed away..."

"...If in this 'copy' world, Liu Bowen's dragon-slaying wasn't just some folk legend, but a real event."

"You mean that when Liu Bowen slew the dragon, he not only severed the dragon vein and the fate of the future emperor, but also cut off the magical power of this land and used it for other purposes?"

Irena said:

"For example: Like the Land of Prayer, a massive barrier of unimaginable scale and scope was created, covering the entire Central Plains, suppressing and severing the extraordinary power of this land... But what was the purpose of this?"

"Why do you do such a meaningless thing?"

"No point? That's not necessarily true."

Xia Yan glanced at Irena.

"It's meaningless for those who possess extraordinary powers. But for the vast majority of people who can't, suppressing and severing the extraordinary power of this land and reducing the ether concentration in the external environment can prevent the breeding of demons and monsters to the greatest extent possible."

"If this speculation is true, after Liu Bowen severed the dragon vein and did something, the level of supernatural power in the entire Central Plains would certainly decline severely, but it wouldn't be like the island nation where hundreds of demons paraded at night at random."

"Even so-called great monsters, if they set foot on this land, will continuously lose their own strength. Over time, they will probably not even be able to maintain their human form. They may even become blinded and their bloodline will directly degenerate into a mere beast."

"The sky is the limit, and there is no degradation—perhaps this is a completely true fact that happened in this 'copy' world..."

Xia Yan's voice paused.

"...Wait, if that's true, the level of supernatural power in this land should have declined to the extreme. However, the things left over from when supernatural power was at a relatively high level should not have disappeared into history yet."

"In other words, the extraordinary inheritances of various sects still exist, but it's no longer possible to cultivate to a high level. However, I will not be affected by environmental factors. Even in the real world where extraordinary things have disappeared, I can still recover my mana and practice—!!!!!!"

(PS: Hell orz......)

The third copy: 92. The First Transformation of Gods (4k+)

Good idea.

But the reality is very bleak.

As a person who is slightly superior to Zhuge Liang in the description of the proverb "Zhuge Liang divided the world into three parts, and Liu Bowen unified the country", Xia Yan could not miss the "immortal" in this "copy" world who is suspected to be really as the folk legends say, and who almost cut off all the dragon veins in the world to protect the destiny of the Ming Dynasty.

When Xia Yan felt that he had found another opportunity to exploit a bug, he had to pull Irena to use mental suggestion spells on the old Taoist priests with some meager cultivation in Penglai Pavilion and ask them about their inheritance.

"No more!"

Xia Yan stared in amazement at the few old Taoist priests who had low cultivation bases, at most at the second or third level of the Jade Purity Realm of the Tai Chi Xuanqing Dao, and said in disbelief:

"You just let Zhu Di take it away?"

Several old Taoist priests from Penglai Pavilion, who were forcibly controlled by Irena using mental suggestion spells and the amplitude of the female Merlin's staff, nodded in a daze.

The good news is that his guess was right.

According to the responses of several Taoist priests from Penglai under Irena's mental suggestion and strong control, the level of supernatural power in the entire Central Plains was weakened, and it was indeed Liu Bowen who did it.

Just as Xia Yan and Irena had speculated before, the spiritual energy (ether/magic) of the entire Central Plains was drained away by a huge ritual and formation. Liu Bowen's severing of the dragon vein in this "copy" world was not a folk legend, but a real event in the cultivation world of the Shenzhou continent, but was deliberately erased from the records by the Ming Dynasty government.

More than two hundred years ago, at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, although the level of supernatural power in the Central Plains showed an overall downward and stagnant trend, it had not yet become as destitute as it is today.

At least during the ninety years or so since the Yuan Dynasty destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty and established a unified dynasty, and inherited the Mandate of Heaven, there was actually no shortage of powerful monks and great monsters on the Shenzhou continent.

In fact, during the period from the Song Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty, the Shenzhou Continent did not actually have a true unification. Not only was the territory of the Great Song not under complete control, but also because the legitimacy of the Liao Kingdom was recognized in the Treaty of Chanyuan, and the Jin Kingdom was vassalized in the Shaoxing Peace Agreement, not only was the legitimacy of the secular regime not considered unified, but it also failed to gain the common recognition of the cultivation community of the Shenzhou Continent.

However, the lack of a truly unified dynasty in the secular world indirectly led to the long-term division of the cultivation world of the entire Shenzhou continent. Especially during the more than 100 years of the Southern Song Dynasty, Taoism declined due to the decline of a certain Taoist emperor, and the entire northern and southern Xuanmen monks were divided against each other, and the fights turned out to be a mess behind the scenes.

Buddhism was not in a better situation. The competition between the Huayan Sect and the Zen Sect in the Northern Song Dynasty, as well as the disputes among the Five Schools and Seven Sects within the Zen Sect in the Southern Song Dynasty, made the Buddhist monks live in harmony on the surface but secretly curse each other as heretics.

Thus, during the more than 150 years of the Southern Song Dynasty and the more than 90 years of the unified Yuan Dynasty, a total of more than 200 years, this East Asian monster house not only caused chaos in the secular world, but also the spiritual world was in chaos.

During this period, the various sects of Taoism and Buddhism were constantly fighting among themselves, and a large number of monks died in conflicts of all sizes. Various demons and monsters took the opportunity to rise up, and with the help of the Mongols' destiny to rule the Central Plains and get their hands on the sacred artifacts, the situation became even worse.

Until a Taoist priest named Zhang was born in the late Song Dynasty and early Yuan Dynasty.

As for what the Taoist priest surnamed Zhang did.

According to the records of the disciples in Penglai Pavilion, Zhang Quanyi (also known as his secular name) began to travel with his two children after he resigned from his official position in the Yuan Dynasty (1265) and lived in seclusion for several years. He traveled to famous mountains and ancient temples in various places for almost thirty years.

During this period, the monks of various sects in the Central Plains cultivation world did not have a good time, and those demons and monsters who relied on the Mongols to settle in the Central Plains and stir up trouble were "punished by heaven" in the first few years.

To the extent that, during the Yuan Dynasty's expedition to Japan, many monsters mixed in with the Yuan soldiers and escaped from the Central Plains.

Later, this Taoist Master Zhang Quanyi obtained the inner alchemy Dharma robe and inheritance from a disciple of Laozu Chen Tuan in Zhongnan Mountain, and his passion became unstoppable.

The chaos and division in the Central Plains cultivation world gradually came to an end.

But this is just the beginning.

With the passing of the Mandate of Heaven of the Yuan Dynasty, the Central Plains fell into a stage of struggle between grass pythons and dragons. Since Taoist Master Zhang had no intention of stepping down and there was no need for him to step down to support the Dragon Court, all the sects and schools in the Central Plains' cultivation world placed their bets upon seeing this.

However, a rare genius named Liu Bowen unexpectedly became the ultimate winner of Fulongting this time.

This was nothing at first, until one day Liu Bowen suddenly paid a visit to Master Zhang, who had dominated the cultivation world in the Central Plains for nearly a hundred years.

No one knew why Liu Bowen, the winner of Fulongting, sought out Zhang Daoye, who was considered a land immortal in the Central Plains cultivation world at that time. All they knew was that after that, Liu Bowen returned to Emperor Hongwu, and soon began to "cut the dragon veins according to the emperor's order", cutting off the spiritual energy of the entire Shenzhou.