Era of Mist

Chapter 50: Chapter 50: Parallel World Lines, Era of Mist (Middle)

According to later research, the mist, which remains incomprehensible to this day, never penetrated the solar system—at least, not within any observable frequency. Through a mechanism humanity at the time could not understand, this enigmatic mist of unknown origin and nature completely enveloped the region just outside the solar system.

It did not encroach upon the orbit of Neptune, yet it sealed the solar system off completely.

From that day forward, the stars vanished, and the world was forever changed. Looking up, humanity could no longer see the vast cosmos. All the stars were obscured. In the sky, only the sun continued to shine, and only the faint reflections of the major planets remained barely visible.

Humanity’s connection to the deep space beyond the solar system was completely severed by the mist. It was as if the entire solar system had been thrown into a cosmic solitary confinement, unable to glimpse the world outside.

Of course, if that were all, it wouldn’t have mattered much. For the vast majority of humanity, not being able to see the stars was no great loss. After all, with the advance of industry, people on Earth were already finding it increasingly difficult to see them anyway.

Even in this world, if the air hadn’t been clean and the sky clear last night, and if the ground-level light pollution hadn’t diminished late in the evening, Shi Tiexin wouldn’t have been able to see the stars either. He certainly wouldn’t have considered their absence strange.

But the changes that followed went far beyond anything humanity could have predicted.

On January 22, 1919, the Origin Saint appeared. On the very same day the solar system entered the Foggy Zone, the Origin Saint enlightened humanity, preaching for twelve days. He passed down the great path of martial cultivation and ignited the legendary fire of evolution. From that day on, martial arts experienced a renaissance, emerging from the dusty pages of history and into a new age.

Moreover, compared to the martial arts of old and the Ancient Martial Arts, the new martial arts passed down by the Origin Saint were incredibly powerful, had an extremely low barrier to entry, and were far less demanding. If one truly wished to learn, almost anyone could do it.

From then on, the balance of power between nations was completely overturned. Martial arts shattered the monopoly on power that science had held unshakably since the Industrial Revolution, becoming a brand-new path to power for the people of Earth.

After enlightening the world, the Origin Saint gracefully retreated, vanishing among the stars. In the generations that followed, other Saints appeared. Shi Tiexin couldn’t say for sure who all the Saints of humanity were, as his General Knowledge was only at the first rank, ’Good.’ But he knew of at least one: the Scientific Saint, a teacher for the ages.

This Scientific Saint established a great path of science to parallel the great path of martial arts. This Saint tightly integrated the Mind Energy Cultivation Method passed down by the Origin Saint with the study and research of scientific knowledge, pioneering a new, comprehensive, and powerful path for mind energy cultivation.

The Six Basic Heart Techniques that Shi Tiexin currently cultivated could be traced back to the Scientific Saint, who had systemized and established them.

From that point on, learning and cultivation became one and the same. Excel in your studies and research, and your cultivation realm would naturally soar with unstoppable momentum. Scientists and martial artists became inextricably linked. The stereotype of the mindless brute, skilled only in fighting and not in creation, was completely overturned.

Countless individuals of supreme talent devoted themselves to both cultivation and learning. Amidst this visible strengthening and tangible evolution, the public’s passion for scientific research soared to unprecedented heights. Generation after generation of prodigies pushed forward, expanding the limits of cultivation and the frontiers of science in unison. As a result, humanity’s technological prowess grew immensely.

Besides the Scientific Saint, several other Saints had appeared, each one profoundly and thoroughly changing the state of human existence. It could even be said they completely reshaped humanity’s worldview. Shi Tiexin vaguely recalled that the last Saint to appear was the Saint of Space-Time, and that the appearance of ’Mystic Realms’ was directly linked to them.

In addition to the extremely few Saints, there were also many Sub-Saints who took the place of the Celestial Stars, illuminating the entire Celestial Universe. These Sub-Saints couldn’t change all of humanity as the Saints had, but they could each reshape rules and transform the world within their own smaller domains.

Individual power soared, and technology advanced by leaps and bounds. Theoretical breakthroughs emerged one after another, and their practical application was faster than anyone could have imagined. Humanity’s horizons and capabilities were expanding at a rate far exceeding any previous era.

When the time was ripe, humanity broke free from Earth and began to explore the solar system on a massive scale.

From Venus, the closest planet to the sun, to Uranus, the most distant, human footprints could be found everywhere. Alien Colonies were expanded one by one, and artificial celestial bodies were constructed. Aside from the Foggy Zone beyond the orbit of Uranus, humanity had turned the entire solar system into a thriving domain.

Amidst these great opportunities for development and this new social landscape, all the old systems and rules could no longer keep pace with human progress. In 1941, influenced by various internal and external factors, the nations of humanity set aside their differences and old grievances to establish the Human Federation, entering an era of great development together.

And so, humanity quickly entered its golden age.

Heart and Power Techniques advanced in tandem; science and miraculous arts coexisted. Where the sun shone was the domain of humanity. Beyond the sun’s light lay the territory of the mist.

This great tidal wave of change far surpassed any Renaissance, Industrial Revolution, or Technological Revolution in history. No one knew if the Origin Saint’s enlightenment was connected to the sudden appearance of the mist, but the old calendar system was completely discarded.

January 22, 1919: the historical turning point, engraved in the esoteric manuals of General Knowledge.

On this day, the Common Era ended, and the New Era began.

Humanity bid farewell to the old days and walked into... the Era of Mist.

However, this world showed no signs of having entered the Era of Mist. The Celestial Stars were still visible, nations still squabbled, and wars still raged. There was no Origin Saint, no Heart and Power Techniques, no technological explosion.

’What on earth is going on?’

’Where in the world have I ended up?’

Furthermore, when Shi Tiexin had asked Zhou Nan about the calendar system last night, he’d discovered something else—something that was simultaneously unsurprising and intriguing.

The year here was not the same as the year in his own world.

In his world, the old calendar had been abolished in 1919, replaced by the New Era calendar. Shi Tiexin remembered it vividly. Just a few days ago, Tumu Castle had held a grand ’Mist Centennial’ celebration. The event was said to have been spectacular, with massive carnivals and activities stretching from the Central Star—that is, Earth—all the way to the most remote regions of Uranus.

He was absolutely sure. In his world, it was exactly the Mist Centennial. Converted to the old Common Era calendar, that would be the year 2019. But Zhou Nan had said it was 2020 here. In other words, the time here was about one year ahead of his own.

Shi Tiexin himself had vaguely sensed that the body he now inhabited was about a year older than his own. This fact was both expected and unexpected. After all, if something like transmigration could happen, what was truly impossible?

Still, it was a strange discrepancy, and it left Shi Tiexin with a peculiar feeling.