Exploration

Bamboo slips had been in use since the Pre-Qin period. They varied in length, ranging from a dozen centimeters to over half a meter, with characters carved onto them using knives.

The one in Wang Xuan's hand was golden, carrying a warm, lustrous sheen beneath the lamplight.

It was eight centimeters long, three centimeters wide, and two centimeters thick—rather short in length.

It was weighty and pressed heavily against his hand; one could imagine it sinking the instant it touched water.

What had been carved onto the Golden Bamboo Slip were not words, but several images: a creature with a human head and a serpent's body, displayed in different postures.

Its long hair hung loose, making it impossible to tell whether it was male or female. One image showed its serpent body coiled up; another depicted it rolling across the ground; in yet another, its snake tail touched the earth as it stood upright toward the heavens like a sharp sword.

There were no words on the bamboo slip, only several engraved images. No connection to Old Arts could be seen, and at the very least, Wang Xuan had not discovered its value.

"I couldn't fathom it or gain enlightenment from it. It has been in my hands for many years, and I've always treated it like a piece of jade to play with," said the Middle-aged Man wearing a green mask.

He had a head of short, exceptionally thick hair and sat there quietly.

"I obtained too little. A whole pile of Golden Bamboo Slips fell into the hands of New Star's financial magnates. Back then, I only seized two pieces," he said evenly.

Wang Xuan was certain that this was an expert, someone whose accomplishments in Old Arts were most likely astonishing.

He had dared to snatch food from a tiger's jaws, competing with the forces dispatched by the financial magnates and making off with two pieces. That was no easy feat.

Even on New Star, these bamboo slips were regarded as rare curiosities. Once the major organizations acquired them, they kept them hidden from public view and studied them in secret. Outsiders found it difficult to catch another glimpse.

"Did anyone on New Star ever decipher anything from them?" Wang Xuan asked.

"Don't know." The short-haired Middle-aged Man was brief and unwilling to continue the subject.

For a time, the room fell silent.

Wang Xuan had met him two years ago. It was also then that he first learned and saw that this peaceful city had its shadowy corners.

On the ninth basement level of a certain landmark building, Old Arts combat matches were held every Friday night. The contestants fought for real inside iron cages, in scenes of extreme bloodshed. The losers usually ended up with broken hands and legs.

The stands outside the iron cages were packed with people of unknown identities, all wearing masks—men and women alike. As they watched the brutal matches, they roared and screamed along, excitement and chaos mingling together.

Wang Xuan had rejected the Middle-aged Man on the spot, plainly telling him that he would never walk the gray path. He enjoyed researching Old Arts, but he would not put on a "bloody performance" for others.

The short-haired Middle-aged Man had laughed at the time and told him that he had merely brought him here to see the city's other face. The real world was far from what he usually saw.

Besides, the bloody fights in the iron cages had little to do with them. They only came occasionally to select promising candidates.

As for them, they were a group of explorers.

What they had to go through was far more perilous, thrilling, mysterious, and even terrifying than such iron-cage matches, because they had already entered the starry sky and were no longer confined to Old Earth.

The Middle-aged Man told him that, whether in terms of prospects or strength, explorers were dazzling beyond compare—far beyond those people and organizations prowling the gray areas.

They spoke several times during that period, but Wang Xuan still refused him.

The short-haired Middle-aged Man left him a golden business card, telling him that if he changed his mind after graduation, he could come find him here.

And as early as then, two years ago, the short-haired Middle-aged Man had predicted that the Old Arts Experimental Class would inevitably be dissolved and that this investment project would be shelved.

"Why did you seek me out?" Wang Xuan had asked him seriously back then.

The short-haired Middle-aged Man told him that the Old Arts Experimental Class investment project had first caught his eye. Then he observed everyone in the class and ultimately chose only two people.

The others in the class lacked sufficient resolve and doubted Old Arts. Even if they continued down the old road, their achievements would be limited.

In Fact, after Wang Xuan set foot on the Old Arts path, he had truly surged forward like an unleashed torrent. In merely a few years, he had succeeded in Qi Gathering and Self-Nourishment.

The short-haired Middle-aged Man believed Wang Xuan had great potential and would most likely achieve extraordinary things on the Old Arts path.

This organization was relatively free and loosely structured, but its strength was beyond doubt. At the same time, it was extremely mysterious. Its reach had long since extended into the starry sky and could rival New Star.

"Let me formally introduce myself. You can call me Qing Mu," said the short-haired Middle-aged Man in the green mask, breaking the silence.

"Does this mean I've joined?" Wang Xuan asked.

Qing Mu said, "Not yet. You are one of the promising candidates I have selected over these past few years, but you are not the only one."

"Do I have to undergo some kind of test?"

"Yes. Those are the established rules. Though I think highly of you, I cannot change them."

Qing Mu, the short-haired Middle-aged Man, told him that there would be an exploration operation within two days. It could serve as his assessment, and he asked whether Wang Xuan would take part.

"I'll participate!" Wang Xuan nodded.

"After joining us, you already roughly know some of what you will have to face. But I still need to stress what exploration means: naturally, there will be danger, perhaps even threats to your life. You should think it over carefully."

Wang Xuan said, "No Problem. I've thought it through."

Qing Mu became very serious. "You will stay here. We must ensure that no information leaks before then, because this operation is extremely important!"

Wang Xuan expressed his understanding. Staying here was no problem.

Holding the Golden Bamboo Slip, he looked at Qing Mu behind the rosewood desk and said, "May I ask you a few questions?"

Qing Mu said, "That depends on the questions. If it involves certain astonishing secrets and the like, then even if you successfully join us, you will need to make an equivalent exchange."

Wang Xuan asked, "I want to know whether the end of the Old Arts path is the foremost experts among Daoist Masters. Is there truly no road beyond that?"

Qing Mu sighed. "I understand how you feel, because I also began by practicing Old Arts. This road is too difficult. You can pour in countless efforts, blood, sweat, and decades of time, yet still find it hard to achieve anything. The highest peak in theory is the Daoist Master; the endpoint has already been determined."

Sure enough, it was the same answer, identical to the conclusion reached by New Star's Life Science Research Institute.

"In Fact, what is most discouraging is that Even Though you Already Knows where the end of the road lies, few can reach that height. After the Pre-Qin era vanished, fewer and fewer people were able to attain the level of Daoist Master. Since recent antiquity, there have been none at all."

Old Arts had declined further and further. Daoist Masters had long become legend, impossible to glimpse.

"Is the position occupied by Daoist Masters truly the end of the road? Has no one attempted to continue exploring?" Wang Xuan asked.

"How could that be easy? Throughout the ages, even genuine Daoist Masters have failed to appear again. How would later generations dare to dream of such things?" Qing Mu shook his head bitterly. "There were some formidable ancient experts with great ambition who wanted to continue deducing the path forward, but regrettably, no one ever succeeded."

"Why were those Daoist Masters able to push Old Arts to its ultimate limit? Can later generations never surpass them?" Wang Xuan asked.

"Do you think it was the result of a few Daoist Masters painstakingly deducing it? No. It was the result of generation after generation of powerful Daoist Masters continuously refining Old Arts. By the end, there was simply no road left to walk. The foremost experts among Daoist Masters may well have been the strongest individuals among ancient humanity."

That night, Qing Mu had people prepare all kinds of equipment Wang Xuan would need for the expedition, including alloy blades, daggers, protective suits, Realistic Human Skin Masks, and more.

There were also firearms!

Early the next morning, they set out. They first went outside the city, boarded a small spacecraft at a secret manor, and headed for Qingcheng Mountain.

The small spacecraft was highly advanced; Old Earth's satellites could not detect it.

It was Wang Xuan's first time sitting inside such a spacecraft. Everything felt novel to him, but he merely observed calmly and did not ask questions at random.

He felt that he had much to learn.

Qing Mu personally took part in the operation, showing just how seriously he regarded it.

Besides Wang Xuan, there were four Others traveling with them. They all wore Realistic Human Skin Masks, and no one knew what their real expressions looked like.

Qing Mu said, "Our target is Qingcheng Mountain. This time, financial magnates from New Star have dispatched people to conduct secret excavations in the mountains. That is our target as well!"

"What was discovered in Qingcheng Mountain that drew New Star's financial magnates here?" someone asked.

Before the operation, everything had been kept confidential. Even they had not known the destination beforehand.

Qing Mu was very serious. "Someone seems to have found some extraordinary records in bamboo slips left behind by a Pre-Qin Daoist practitioner. The clues point directly to Qingcheng Mountain."

"They are still interested in the inheritance of Daoist Masters?" someone questioned. New Star already had Super Arts, and Old Arts had been formally abandoned.

Qing Mu said with great solemnity, "The deciphered bamboo slip recorded certain secret matters. Qingcheng Mountain seems to contain something that could make even Daoist Masters excited and stirred, which is why the financial magnates have come in secret again."

The group was greatly invigorated. Even Wang Xuan's heart skipped a beat. A new discovery in Qingcheng Mountain? Something that even Daoist Masters coveted—could it be connected to... the Transcendent Immortals?!

The foremost experts among Daoist Masters were believed to be Transcendent Immortals.

But some did not accept that, believing them to be even more mysterious and powerful than Daoist Masters.

"The Zhou Family and the Ling Family have excavated an Underground Palace. They have indeed found the target!" Qing Mu murmured. He had just received the latest secret intelligence.

Wang Xuan's heart jumped. It was actually those two families?!

It did not take long before they neared their destination.

Qingcheng Mountain was known as one of Daoism's four great sacred mountains and one of the five immortal mountains.

It was also considered one of Daoism's birthplaces. Zhang Daoling had built a thatched hut on Qingcheng Mountain and taught the Dao there. One account said that he had ultimately ascended as an immortal in these very mountains.