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Ability users had the hardest time in the hidden world.

Cultivators could be divided into two categories. The first was self-reliant, relying on only oneself to grow stronger step by step. China’s immortal cultivators and Japan’s onmyōjis fell under this category. The second was assisted, relying on external things to grow stronger. Japan’s mikos and shinkans and the west’s saints, holy maidens, and priests fell under this category. They relied on the blessings of deities to cultivate. All of these people were broadly classified as cultivators.

[TL Note: Onmyōji translates as Yin-and-Yang master. Onmyōjis are masters of divination based on yinyang and five elements, similar to Daoism. Mikos are shrine maidens, and shinkans are shrine officials. Mikos and shinkans could be considered clergy. Here are the various Wikipedia entries on these terms: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onmy%C5%8Dji, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miko, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinkan_(official).]

Under normal circumstances, self-reliant cultivators were weaker than assisted cultivators. However, self-reliant cultivators had greater potential than assisted cultivators. Self-reliant cultivators usually looked down on assisted cultivators.

Ability users were at the bottom of the pecking order. Both categories of cultivators looked down on pure ability users—not including ability users who both cultivated and used abilities, of course. As for the reasons, firstly, ability users had no stable way of improving their abilities; spiritual energy had a limited effect on improving abilities. Furthermore, the world’s spiritual energy was relatively thinner now. Ability users could only rely on endlessly training themselves or slowly grow stronger over time. Moreover, there were limits. Take Chen Heng, for example. His ability could no longer grow stronger. He could only train himself to use his ability better.

That was not the greatest reason why cultivators looked down on ability users. The main reason was envy. Yes, envy. Cultivators required talent to cultivate. Cultivators with ordinary talent naturally envied these ability users, who were born with their abilities. Furthermore, those with good talent also felt envious. Who said ability users could not cultivate? Ability users who cultivated were slightly stronger than pure cultivators at the same cultivation level. As for how much, it would depend on the strength of the ability.

This was the chain of disdain in the hidden world: Cultivators with abilities looked down on pure cultivators and pure ability users, as they were not as strong. Cultivators looked down on ability users, as they could continuously grow stronger and live longer. And finally, there were the ability users.

Furthermore, there was one more reason. Ability users frequently got kidnapped for research. This was the truth. When Chen Heng worked for the Special Affairs Bureau in the future, he rescued some ability users kidnapped by criminal organizations to be guinea pigs. The one who left the deepest impression on him was a young girl who could control time. She was about the same age as Sirin. Although her ability was not very strong, it was an overpowered ability.

This young girl had been extensively researched, put in the most miserable situations possible. When Chen Heng rescued her, her eyes were lightless, devoid of hope. As he had saved her, the Special Affairs Bureau decided to assign him to give her psychological counseling and guidance. He was also to persuade her to join the Special Affairs Bureau. Initially, they did not give him that assignment. Furthermore, he was not a professional in psychology. Unfortunately, that young girl was willing to speak with only Chen Heng. Even so, she just said a few words occasionally. After Chen Heng brought her home, the guidance and counseling lasted three months.

With Chen Heng’s careful plans and guidance, he successfully turned the apathetic young girl into a detached young girl. However, she could at least speak normally with others, albeit coldly. Eventually, the young girl stayed with Chen Heng permanently and joined the Special Affairs Bureau. She even attained a higher grade at the Special Affairs Bureau than Chen Heng before he died. However, she kept staring at Chen Heng, no matter where she was.

This young girl was different from Sirin. Although they both came from experimental labs, Sirin had her memories sealed. Right now, she was no different from an ordinary young girl. However, that detached young girl was truly detached. She would follow wherever Chen Heng went, but she would ignore him when he spoke. He could not use that experience to care for Sirin. Rather than caring, that seemed more like raising livestock.

Speaking of which, the Chen Clan was a cultivation noble clan. However, there would only be one male child every generation for some reason. As a result, it could not develop into a proper clan.

Chen Heng’s father, Chen Xuan, had been a powerful cultivator. There were ten cultivation realms: Energy Refinement, Foundation Building, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Soul Separation, Mind Dividing, Body Merger, Void Hollow, Great Manipulator, and Tribulation Candidate. Chen Xuan had been at the Body Merger Realm. While there were three more realms above, those powerhouses would only think of becoming immortals and would head to the Heavenly Court. They rarely bothered with mundane affairs. Chen Xuan had reached the Body Merger Realm at around 30 years old, a super genius. Otherwise, he could not have snagged the Ji Clan’s most beloved youngest daughter, Ji Yi, to be his wife. However, the Ji Clan threatened to disown Ji Yi because of that. Although the Ji Clan did not do so in the end, it did not maintain any overt connection.

By Chen Heng’s generation, the Chen Clan’s ancestral cultivation technique had no more inheritors. That was not because Chen Heng had a poor cultivation talent or other nonsensical reasons but because the Chen Clan’s ancestral crystal had been stolen when he was 14 years old.

In China, starting to cultivate at a younger age was not necessarily better. One had to wait until one’s meridians matured before one could start cultivation. As everyone’s meridians developed at a different rate, the age for starting cultivation differed. Some of the large cultivation noble clans even did not want their descendants to start cultivation too early. When the children were three or four years old, they would use spiritual energy to nurture spirituality and improve the children’s talents. The earlier this was done, the better. However, every clan had different ways of nurturing spirituality. The stronger noble clans tended to nurture their children’s spirituality at a younger age.

The Chen Clan was an ancient cultivation noble clan. Their method of nurturing spirituality had already been perfected. Furthermore, there was Ji Yi, the young mistress of the Ji Clan. When Chen Heng was one month old, they had started nurturing his spirituality, using spiritual energy. With two Body Merger Realm powerhouses helping a child nurture spirituality and his innate talent being good, Chen Heng’s cultivation talent would more or less rival Chen Xuan’s.

Here lay the difference between the Chen Clan’s and other clans’ cultivation techniques. Even after a child’s meridians matured, the Chen Clan would not let the child start cultivation. Instead, the child had to practice a sword technique, changing their physique to one even more suitable for the Chen Clan’s cultivation technique. This sword technique was not a technique for cultivating immortality, just a martial art. The many generations of the Chen Clan entered cultivation by means of the sword, becoming sword immortals. As a result, they would be significantly stronger than experts in the same cultivation realm.

Chen Xuan had pushed his sword technique to its peak at 15 years old before using the ancestral crystal to cultivate the Chen Clan’s immortal cultivation technique. His vast accumulations propelled him rapidly, allowing him to reach the Body Merger Realm at 30. Chen Heng was even more excellent. He had already reached consummation in his sword technique soon after reaching 14. This made his parents very happy.

However, just as Chen Heng was about ready to start cultivating, his parents were assassinated, and the crystal was stolen. This dealt him a tremendous mental blow.

The Chen Clan’s cultivation was unique, requiring the ancestral crystal to initiate cultivation. As a result, Chen Heng could not become a cultivator or even abandon his martial art. He could only remain a strong martial artist. However, cultivators and ability users saw martial artists as cowards, people who would never amount to much, so Chen Heng was never considered to have joined the hidden world.

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