Sun Fuling smiled and said, “Only the gods sit aloof in the highest heaven and have no inherent conflict with mankind. Only they could have made such a thing possible. Look, ever since states arose among men and began using origin energy, monster immortals and human immortals waned, and wild monsters could no longer match mankind, Daoist cultivators have had to bow to emperors, seeking marquisates and ministerships.”0

He Lingchuan said curiously, “If that’s so, why do some still claim origin energy was taught by immortals?”0

“Historical records say that in the Middle Era, monsters ravaged the land and tormented the people. Floods and monsters were listed as the Two Great Calamities, and human immortals or cultivators were the monsters’ mortal enemies.” Sun Fuling elaborated, “As spirit qi dwindled in the world, cultivators wanted to seize it from monsters, and monsters from them. Some old scholars believe that origin energy came from the immortals because for a long period, the sects allied with human states to fight monsters together. Faced with a common enemy, the sects deliberately courted goodwill from...0