Heart-Piercing Farewell
Wang Xuan really wanted to know what would happen three years from now, and what impact it would have on the world.
He sighed softly, powerless to change anything now, muttering to himself, "In the end, I'm not strong enough. At the very least, I should be able to protect myself." He felt weak compared to the legendary figures, and a sense of dejection washed over him. Looking at the Desolate Mountain wilderness, he finally said with a solemn expression, "When will I be able to get the Red-clothed Demon Immortal to perform her Demon Immortal Dance, and she won't dare utter a sound? Then my strength will be barely passable, right?"
As Qing Mu approached, I initially felt his disappointment and melancholy upon hearing his whispers, and even felt sympathy for him. Then, seeing his serious expression, I assumed he was about to declare his resolve and rise up in determination.
However, he never expected to hear such a thing next, and he immediately swallowed back all his words of sympathy.
"That's enough. It's not dark yet. You can keep dreaming about these things when you can beat Chen Randeng." Qing Mu said expressionlessly.
"Old Qing, everyone needs to have dreams. Two hundred years ago, humanity didn't even know where the New Star was. Now look at us, we've all ventured into deep space exploration." Finally, Wang Xuan added, "Since we might run into each other, it's better for her to play the pipa and dance a hot dance than for her to snap her fingers and kill me or destroy my warship, right?"
Qing Mu nodded and said, "Alright, I'll wait for the day you face the peerless Red-clothed Demon Immortal."
Wang Xuan didn't want to talk to him anymore. Old Qing always liked to talk about horror movies. Couldn't he talk about some beautiful futuristic dramas instead?
He began cautiously, carefully scraping the charred material from the Ascension Immortal Bone with his short sword. He was very measured and did not ask for more.
"I'm leaving." Wang Xuan stood up.
On the way back, he felt a little melancholy. He was about to go to New Star and hoped that when he returned, things would not have changed.
"Old Qing, have we deciphered the characters on the silver animal skin scroll we obtained from the underground palace in Qingcheng Mountain?" Wang Xuan thought of this.
In that underground area, he obtained five pages of Golden Book from Zhang Daoling, as well as a book made of animal hide, which he handed over to the Exploration Organization. They must have been equally extraordinary.
Qing Mu sighed and invited a bunch of ancient script researchers to decipher it, but they still had no clue and no one recognized it.
"After my master saw it, his expression became more solemn than ever before. He said that the symbols looked familiar and were probably related to Mysterious Contact."
Wang Xuan was deeply surprised to hear this. Was Qing Mu deliberately setting up Old Chen, or were there really serious problems with those words?
His current identity is about to be "frozen," and Wang Xuan will soon shed the dazzling aura of a grandmaster and start a normal life again.
However, there are many issues to address, such as the confidentiality of his identity, the privacy of his current mobile phone, and the need for his stand-in to continue following Old Chen.
"These are simple." Qing Mu nodded. These were not problems for him, such as the fact that the phone number was not registered under a real name and the address kept redirecting.
Then Qing Mu added, "By the way, Wang Xuan from Ancheng was in a car accident, but thankfully he only suffered minor injuries and there's nothing seriously wrong with him."
Wang Xuan was furious when he heard this. He was now using the alias Wang Xiao, and someone in Ancheng was wearing Realistic Human Skin Mask to impersonate him and had actually been "in a car accident".
Qing Mu said, "The problems left behind by that young man from the Song Family New Star have all been dealt with now. The last 'tail' has been cleaned up, and there won't be any more trouble in the future."
Wang Xuan was dumbfounded. That madman from the Song Family was truly a psychopath. He had tried to assassinate him several times, and Wang Xuan thought that being imprisoned would be the end of him. But in the end, another "tail" appeared, trying to cause him a car accident to send him on his way.
Qing Mu said, "This was arranged by him a long time ago. The people who collected the money only started it recently and had no idea that the employers had been locked up."
It now seems that the madman from the Song Family wants to kill all the men who have anything to do with Ling Wei. The young man from the Wu Family is the most unlucky; he was crippled after only meeting Ling Wei's parents.
The Song Family is too sadistic and has a strong desire to kill. If they are released in the future, they will probably still kill Wang Xuan, after all, he is Ling Wei's ex-boyfriend.
"Little Song, once I get to New Star, I'll definitely find a chance to kill you!" Wang Xuan muttered to himself.
They returned to their estate outside Ancheng.
As they were about to part ways, Old Chen gave Wang Xuan some instructions, telling him to always carry the short sword with him, as it could save his life in a critical moment. Especially when encountering certain inexplicable and unusual phenomena, the sword might prove surprisingly effective.
"If I go to New Star, can I take it on the spaceship?" Wang Xuan asked.
"Have Qing Mu arrange for you to get a certificate of authenticity for modern art. Get the sword-making master Old Zheng to help you, and say it's his latest masterpiece, a replica of the Fish Intestine Fish-Gut Sword. Hmm, such exquisite works by famous people won't be blocked, and you can have it shipped to New Star after purchase."
Wang Xuan exclaimed in surprise, "This short sword looks a lot like the legendary Fish-Gut Sword?"
Qing Mu nodded and said, "I've checked various documents and compared them with the engravings left on some rotten bamboo slips. They are quite similar."
In the living room, Guan Lin sat leisurely on the sofa and said, "If it really is the Fish-Gut Sword, I estimate that some old men from the New Star Zaibatsu would spare no expense to frantically buy it. After all, it is one of the ten most famous swords in ancient legends, but it would be too wasteful to sell it to them. They treat ancient books, rare Old Arts secret manuals, and even lost copies from various sects as cultural relics on their bookshelves. If it really is the Fish-Gut Sword, I guess they would treat it as a decoration, hanging it on the wall or standing it on their desk."
"Could it really be the Fish-Gut Sword?" Wang Xuan drew out the short sword, its blade barely longer than a palm, and examined it closely.
Old Chen shook his head and said, "No, the Fish Intestine Fish-Gut Sword forged by Ou Yezi was mainly made of copper and tin. But preliminary testing of your short sword shows that it has nothing to do with copper and tin; the material is indestructible. It's a fine piece; it looks like bronze, but it's an unparalleled weapon!"
Next, they discussed Wang Xuan's arrangements for going to New Star and his status.
"Don't attract attention." Wang Xuan wanted a peaceful life, just an ordinary job would be fine. He mentioned that New Moon's classmate, Qin Cheng, was trying to find a way to help him get there.
Old Chen nodded and said, "We can consider your college classmate's route, but we can also secretly arrange for you to have the identity of an inspector to facilitate your travels in various places."
This was no problem for him at all. The Exploration Organization was very powerful and had a very deep foundation. Sending someone to the New Star would not be difficult for them.
Only now did Wang Xuan learn the full name of this organization— the Secret Path Exploration Organization.
It was extremely famous in the Old Earth, and people knew who we were talking about without even mentioning its full name.
As can be seen from the name, this organization is clearly looking for several secret paths, such as the Inner Scenery Realm of the Old Arts and the celestial medicine!
Chen Life Soil told him that this organization was founded by his master. He felt a pang of sadness; that old man had disappeared thirty years ago!
Finally, Old Chen and Qing Mu discussed it and decided that it would take about five or six days to deal with those trivial matters and arrange the follow-up issues.
Chen Life Soil said, "Book your tickets for ten days from now. Use this time to get together with your family and friends."
Wang Xuan learned that a single ticket for a deep-space vessel costs two million New Star Coin, which is roughly equivalent to four million Old Earth Coin.
He was momentarily stunned. A single ship ticket would require him to work for decades without eating or drinking?!
Qing Mu patted him on the shoulder and said, "Be content. As the technology has become more advanced, the price has dropped significantly. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been willing to go there for vacation before."
Wang Xuan stared in disbelief and said, "Old Qing, you're so rich, why do you go on vacation to New Star all the time?"
Qing Mu was surprised and said, "What's the point of keeping money if you don't spend it? What if you die one day and find that you've spent your whole life dealing with daily necessities? That would be such a waste."
Wang Xuan swallowed hard and said, "The problem is I don't have any money. I can't spend it even if I wanted to."
"Didn't you earn five million last time?" Qing Mu looked at him in confusion.
"I gave them all to my parents, so that they will have some security if something happens to me."
When Guan Lin saw Wang Xuan like this, she immediately laughed. Although this young man was very strong, he also had such a simple and honest side.
Qing Mu nodded and said, "Alright, I'll buy you the boat ticket this time."
Then he said earnestly, "You can't do it this way. When you go to the New Moon or the New Star, take on more exploration missions when you have free time, otherwise you won't even be able to afford a return ticket."
These words were too hurtful, and Wang Xuan was speechless. He was indeed a poor young man now.
Once Qing Mu started talking, he went on to say a few more words, saying, "Although the material life is generally good New Star there, the gap between the rich and the poor is huge. If you don't work hard, as a newcomer, you'll probably only be able to rent a place to live for a long time."
Before Wang Xuan even went to deep space, he was given a lesson in material matters by Qing Mu. Although he was discouraged, it was indeed a real problem.
Chen Life Soil sighed, "So, there's a reason why Old Ling opposes your relationship with his daughter. Look, you're struggling to even buy a round-trip ticket, let alone anything else."
"You two, master and disciple, hurry up and leave. I don't want to see you again anytime soon!" Wang Xuan urged them to get on their way and not to linger in his sight.
"Here we go. Goodbye, young man. Take care of yourself at New Star!" Old Chen patted him on the shoulder, preparing to depart.
"You're going to cooperate with the Relevant Department. Take care of yourself and don't let anything happen to you," Wang Xuan said solemnly.
"Don't worry, I've been working with them for many years, and we have a good relationship. Now, my strength has undergone a qualitative change, which will create even greater opportunities for cooperation. Most importantly, they share the same goals as me." Old Chen sighed softly at the end, seemingly quite moved.
"A shared goal?" Wang Xuan looked at him.
"In many ways, I agree with them, but the most important thing is that my inner conflict and their inner turmoil are the same: 'Mysterious Contact'!"
Wang Xuan was dumbfounded. Old Chen was really good at circumventing things; he managed to perfectly wrap things up and eventually brought up the Mysterious Contact.
"Alright, go ahead and say it, I'm listening!" Wang Xuan sighed. Since he was going to New Star anyway, he might as well listen to what he had to say.
Old Chen handed him an envelope with four words written on it: Mysterious Contact!
On that day, Chen Life Soil officially went to the capital to "recover from his injuries," accompanied by Guan Lin, Qing Mu, and "Wang Xiao," while Wang Xuan was carefully arranged to officially restore his true form.