Chapter 140: 157. The Technology of Another System
After returning from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, Huo Qiqiang invited Qian Renxue to the Body Sect for a talk.
Upon receiving Huo Qiqiang's invitation, Qian Renxue dared not delay. She ended her secluded cultivation and came to the Body Sect.
"I wonder, Your Excellency, what matter prompted your invitation?" Qian Renxue asked.
Huo Qiqiang said, "We both come from the future. Anything either of us takes from that future could be enough to change this era entirely. I arrived in this world tens of thousands of years earlier than you. If I wished, I could have already elevated the technological level of our current era to match—or even surpass—that of the Douluo Continent from our own time. Do you want to know why I have not done so for these tens of thousands of years?"
Qian Renxue thought for a moment. "Is it because of Tang San?"
Huo Qiqiang replied, "That's one of the reasons. Before Tang San sets foot in this world, I want this world to experience what it means to be left behind by the times."
"And the other reasons?"
"I once obtained the bloodline of the Golden Dragon King. If I wished, I could have pursued the position of Dragon God. But forty thousand years ago, I accidentally fused the divine powers of Life and Destruction with part of the abilities belonging to the Dragon God, which allowed me to comprehend the Law of Eternity. That understanding made me abandon the Dragon God's position, which was already within my reach. Rather than inheriting power, I prefer to create my own. In terms of strength, the Law of Eternity is not weaker than the Dragon God's divine seat, though even now I've yet to perfect it."
"At that time, I possessed a portion of the Golden Dragon King's bloodline and received the sacrifice of the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings of the Icefire Yin-Yang Well, creating a powerful physique capable of merging the laws of both the Creation God System and the Dragon God System. But that made me indebted to the soul beast race. I promised the Ice Dragon King I would help them create a new Dragon God. If I had allowed humans to master soul tools, battle armor, and the imperfect spirit soul system forty thousand years ago, then before the new Dragon God's emergence, the soul beasts would have long been annihilated."
Qian Renxue thought of how twenty thousand years later, the vast Star Dou Great Forest had been reduced to only the area around the Lake of Life and thus understood Huo Yuhao's choice.
"This is the second reason," said Huo Qiqiang. "But it's not the main one. The main reason is—I want to create a miracle."
"A miracle?" Qian Renxue asked curiously.
Huo Qiqiang took out a hidden weapon. "Do you recognize this?"
The weapon was shaped like a golden lotus, its center glimmering like a ruby. It wasn't large, but it carried a sense of deadly danger.
Qian Renxue's eyes sharpened. "I recognize it. That's Tang San's proudest creation—Buddha's Fury Tang Lotus. It killed seventy-six Soul Saints of my Spirit Hall during the Battle of Jialing Pass. What about it makes you call it a miracle?"
Huo Qiqiang closed his eyes and carefully dismantled the exquisite weapon into a pile of components. Then he opened his eyes and took something from its core.
"The reason for Buddha's Fury Tang Lotus' power lies here."
"This is…" Qian Renxue looked closely at the small object in Huo Qiqiang's hand.
"Gunpowder."
"This…" Qian Renxue was at a loss. Perhaps in this era, such a thing could be called a miracle. But from the perspective of someone who had seen soul tools from ten thousand years later and battle armor from twenty thousand years later, the Buddha's Fury Tang Lotus was already obsolete—far from any miracle.
"You may not understand. Its value is not in its destructive power," said Huo Qiqiang. "It's symbolic. It represents that another system could function in this world."
"Another system?"
"A system no weaker than the soul tool system. The difference is that soul tools cannot exist without soul masters, while this other system has far greater universality," Huo Qiqiang explained.
Though Qian Renxue had lived for over twenty millennia, her worldview remained rooted in this world. Huo Qiqiang, however, came from another one. The true significance lay not in the Buddha's Fury Tang Lotus itself, but in the technology that forged it.
The existence of gunpowder meant that the development of pyrochemical technology was possible on Douluo Continent. And its potential went far beyond just creating the Buddha's Fury Tang Lotus.
In our own era, the formula for gunpowder was established during the Tang Dynasty. A thousand years later, it had evolved into something terrifying.
On Douluo Continent, gunpowder appeared in Tang San's era through the Buddha's Fury Tang Lotus. Yet ten thousand years later, they were still trapped in a feudal society—until another continent's power used soul tools to break open their gates and lead them into the soul tool era.
Of course, Huo Yuhao wasn't trying to belittle soul tools or glorify gunpowder. The Sun-Moon Continent had its own advantages, just as Douluo Continent had developed gunpowder technology. But after four thousand years of progress, for it to still be a feudal society—utterly laughable.
Then again, the Tang Sect's secretiveness didn't help. Tang San's descendants inherited only watered-down versions of the original hidden weapon techniques.
Ten thousand years later, the Tang Sect still adhered to traditions centered on the Blue Silver Grass martial soul. How could such a stagnant sect ever innovate?
Huo Qiqiang recalled his earliest ambition upon crossing into this world. Breaking free from Tang San's control was one thing—but his true aim was to dismantle the continent's rigid caste system.
By the third generation, the protagonist Tang Wulin's noble bloodline was emphasized—descendant of gods. By the fourth generation, there was even that classic line: "A family of five god kings." That "family" refers to aristocracy. The Tang family became the greatest of noble houses.
But breaking the chains of this era's caste structure is no easy task. Huo Yuhao had his plans, his grand ambitions, yet everything was overturned by Tang San.
He had no choice but to endure, waiting beneath Tang San's shadow.
Still, over these many millennia, Huo Yuhao hadn't been idle. He promoted the development of soul tools, battle armor, the spirit soul system, and a series of technologies derived from gunpowder, including the fusion of soul tool and gunpowder tech.
Yet what came first was promoting these advancements. Although gunpowder allowed ordinary people to threaten soul masters, soul masters could likewise use gunpowder. Would "India's Three Brothers" abolish their millennia-old caste system just because of gunpowder? Of course not.
The foundation of caste lies in the monopoly over land and resources. In Douluo Continent, it's a monopoly over powerful martial souls.
The Clear Sky Hammer belonged to the Tang family ten thousand years ago, and it still does ten thousand years later. Did the Haotian women never marry out? Yet have you ever heard of the Haotian Li family or the Haotian Wang family? No.
(END CHAPTER)
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