question to novel readers

 LittleRam:

In the letter from Ye Qing Mei to Fan Xian in S1 E28 41:30, it mentions that "Zenqi is not real, it is only a remnant of the previous era."

What did that mean? I have been trying to find answers but couldn't.

Ye Qingmei escaped from the divine temple at the age of 4 (not 15-16 like the drama). Wu Zhu is a cyborg without qi or zenqi. Fan Xian is the offspring of Ye Qingmei and the emperor and was reincarnated with memories from a deceased individual. Fan Xian is considered a glitch due to the differing eras of his parents. During the time of the emperor, there is a qi present, which represents the current time.

Qi is the result of nuclear after effects left by humans after destroying Earth multiple times. After several 100,000 years, the earth changed. Nature integrated the nuclear residues  and humans got those residues assimilated and transformed their body which resulted to the qi physical powers.  Not all humans had the same level of Qi in their bodies, and this created the levels, most noticeable from 8, 9, and Grandmaster. And each with 3 levels Such Level 8 beginner, level 8 master,  level 8 advanced (close to 9) . Same for level 9. Grandmaster being a superman god alike.

The divine temple acts as a guardian of humanity, having witnessed the destruction of Earth several times due to human actions, including nuclear power and ice glaciation processes. It has therefore determined that humans should not possess advanced weapons. Over the course of hundreds of thousands of years, the temple observed that nuclear effects led to some humans being born with "qi." Through research, it was discovered that "qi" has different levels of power, each corresponding to different abilities such as swordsmanship, archery, and combat. Those below level 7 are not noteworthy, level 8 individuals serve mostly as guards or in the army, level 9 individuals are considered geniuses, and there are grandmasters (level 10 is never mentioned, mostly compared as god alike)

Wu Zhu possesses physical strength equivalent to a grandmaster but lacks the ability to manipulate nature like a grandmaster. Wizhu is 99.99% as strong as a grandmaster but does not have "qi."

In the first life of Ye Qingmei, Qi did not exist in the present days. The divine temple became sentient after existing for several hundred thousand years. It was designed to preserve human knowledge and was originally just a computer with a mission to preserve humans and their knowledge. Ye Qingmei awoke from stasis by mistake. The novel doesn't explain how she became such a genius, but it's possible that she retained her genius memories from her previous life. It's important to note that there is no time travel or transmigration involved in Ye Qingmei and Fan Xian's circumstances; Fan Xian was simply born with this unique situation. Ye Qingmei's story was never explained in the novel. She was 4, escaped the temple with few weapons, and taught 4 people to become grandmasters. This is why the divine temple wanted her dead and colluded with the emperor. From the divine temple's standpoint, Ye Qingmei destroyed the harmony and brought dangerous weapons and knowledge that would lead to another earth destruction. Ye Qingmei wanted to improve humanity's life by all her past creations, such as glass and soap, but she also brought the powder for guns. For the divine temple, it was unacceptable. For the emperor, she had too much power, and he was jealous (also, she was his only woman he loved. He sacrificed her for his ambitions and selfishness).

The letters in the box spell out "drama invented." There are no secrets hidden under the pond, no passages or cities under the ice. Humanity has been destroyed at least four times over the past several hundred thousand years. Each time, life restarted from scratch, with the difference being that the temple evolved into a sentient being.

Ye Qingmei never left a message or letter for Fan Xian. Fan Xian will find and meet the divine temple located in north pole along with DuoDuo Qi  (who became his mistress/wife but they never lived long together because she became the ruler of the Hu empire) and thirteen Dongyi disciples, who were the top three 9-level martial art geniuses. In the end, the divine temple was killed or destroyed. It was dying anyway due to a lack of repairs, which was unclear in the novel but said to be lacking solar auto-sufficiency. Also, Wuzhu survived, by the way.

The author of the novel often provided unclear explanations and introduced stories and characters that were never fully developed. For instance, there was unclear information about how Ye Qingmei escaped from the divine temple at the age of 4, her background, and her birth. 

The explanation in the letter is only inspired by the novel. In the story, all the buildings, animals, nature, and humans turned to ashes because of repeated wars involving mass destruction nuclear weapons. After each rebirth of the earth, nuclear residues remained, resulting in the creation of Qi.

Keep in mind that the drama is subject to heavy censorship and the storyline of the drama differs completely from that of the novel. (mostly season 2).  I would not be surprised the secret under the pond (not in the novel)  may or may not be used in season 3. The scriptwriter drew inspiration from the characters but rewrote the story and events, and even altered the personalities of some characters, such as the crown prince, second prince, emperor, Chen Ping-Pong, the black knight general, Qi emperor, his wife, and more. The essence of the original story is retained, but the actions are completely different.

Conclusion: Qi exists during the era in which Fan Xian was reborn due to the nuclear aftereffects left behind by previous generations. Both Ye Qingmei and Fan Xian have the ability to use qi. They are not from the future but are reincarnated from the past and nuclear residues are part of the new humanity. This is not a gift but part of everyone genetic. This reborn  aligns with Buddhist beliefs and is therefore acceptable.

In the drama, censorship made sure to state that "qi" doesn't exist. They did a very poor job explaining why and when qi came from. Many things were lightly mentioned but not explained. For those who did not read the novel, I think they must have been very confused.

Hope this clarifies