No Becoming a Spirit

The two of them tacitly avoided bringing up exploration again, leaving themselves room to decide later whether they would cooperate.

They talked about Old Arts, with Wang Xuan doing most of the asking. He wanted to learn more, such as about the Pre-Qin Golden Bamboo Slips.

Zhao Qinghan made it clear that he should not think too much about such "wondrous objects." Only four had been unearthed over all these years, and two of them had been fought over by all parties and scattered as a result.

In the true sense, only two intact Pre-Qin Golden Bamboo Slips remained. They had been locked away in the most secure vaults of New Star's largest bank.

Wang Xuan felt regretful. Such things were visible but beyond reach.

Even though Old Arts had declined, those organizations and financial clans had no intention of letting go. At the very least, there was still no sign of hope.

Zhao Qinghan told him that not to mention Golden Bamboo Slips, any inheritance left behind by Pre-Qin Daoist practitioners was incomparably rare and precious, because too little had survived to the present day.

"That is to say, even ordinary Pre-Qin Bamboo Slips are worth a fortune?" Wang Xuan asked.

Zhao Qinghan glanced at him. "There is no such thing as ordinary when it comes to bamboo slips related to Pre-Qin Daoist practitioners."

Wang Xuan realized just how precious the translation of the Pre-Qin Bamboo Slips Professor Lin had given him was.

In fact, Professor Lin had nearly lost his life over those bamboo slips. He had escaped the Pre-Qin tomb after nine deaths and one life, surviving by sheer luck.

"I heard that a grandmaster once emerged on New Star, only to exhaust himself to death while practicing a certain body art. Just how powerful are people at that level?"

Zhao Qinghan was slightly surprised. His information channels were not so closed off after all; he even knew about such matters on New Star. She concluded that he must have other connections.

The moment Wang Xuan finished speaking, he knew she would surely have all sorts of thoughts.

But he did not care. The two of them would soon go their separate ways, and under normal circumstances, they would not have much contact. In any case, he had no intention of wading into the muddy waters of Zhao Qinghan's exploration plan for now.

Zhao Qinghan felt somewhat moved. The path of Old Arts was exceedingly rugged and difficult to travel; very few people ever achieved anything through it.

"That grandmaster practiced one of the secret scriptures of the Daoist Ancestral Court, the very one you were just thinking about. In the end, it cost him his life. His five organs rotted as though they had been cooked, and he died miserably."

Wang Xuan was awe-inspiringly solemn. It was actually that dangerous?

He became even more cautious and attentive toward the Golden Book in his possession. What Zhang Daoling had left behind was absolutely no weaker than the secret scriptures of the Daoist Ancestral Court.

Qin Cheng sighed. "Why go that far? He was already a grandmaster, yet in the end he turned his five organs into a great stew. People never know contentment."

"You make it sound easy. As he grew older day by day, once he learned that successfully practicing that body art could rejuvenate his aging five organs and extend his lifespan by decades, do you think he could withstand that temptation?"

"With benefits that huge, if it were me... I'd want to try too!" Qin Cheng nodded, his expression dreamy with longing.

"How far was the grandmaster level from Pre-Qin Daoist practitioners?" Wang Xuan asked.

"They were not on the same order of magnitude. The gap was far too great; there was no comparison." Zhao Qinghan spoke calmly.

Then she looked at Wang Xuan. "It seems you truly want to keep walking the path of Old Arts. Could it be that your goal is to become a Pre-Qin Daoist practitioner?"

"I'm someone who was abandoned. I can't access New Arts, so I can only keep walking the path of Old Arts."

Qin Cheng was deeply affected upon hearing that and felt sorry for his friend.

Zhao Qinghan felt that Wang Xuan was very gifted on the path of Old Arts. As for what the future held, no one could say for certain.

But Qin Cheng shook his head. "Old Wang was born at the wrong time. If he had lived in ancient times, he might have grown to the point where he could roam the world unhindered, becoming a legend, perhaps even a myth. But in this era, with technological civilization on the rise, what could he do even if he cultivated Old Arts to an extremely profound realm? He still could not withstand modern weapons. The stars shone brilliantly as ever, yet Emperor Qin and Emperor Wu of Han had both become yellow earth. The Daoist Masters ordered to seek immortality medicine for them had also died within the passage of time. The path of Old Arts is difficult; there is no hope in sight."

The topic was somewhat heavy. Living in this era, Old Arts had indeed grown dim, and it was hard to see any hope of it shining brightly again.

What did it matter how strong Old Arts were? An elite soldier carrying an advanced technological weapon was enough to directly take down an expert in the field of Old Arts.

Zhao Qinghan looked at Wang Xuan and found him very calm. Clearly, he was a man with a powerful heart and his own convictions. Did he believe Old Arts still had a way forward?

"So..." Qin Cheng spoke again, picking up from what he had said earlier. Looking at Zhao Qinghan, he said, "It would be such a pity if Old Wang were buried like this. Goddess Zhao, do you have any connections that could help Wang Xuan out? For example, methods for practicing New Arts, or perhaps you could bring Wang Xuan to New Star."

After saying so much, he had merely been laying the groundwork. He had not hesitated to swallow his pride and ask Zhao Qinghan to help Wang Xuan.

Wang Xuan waved a hand to stop him, then patted his shoulder. "I know my own path very clearly."

He and Qin Cheng did not need to say thanks. He understood his friend's intentions and did not want him begging others for help like this.

Zhao Qinghan told him that after returning to New Star, she would try to push the matter forward, though she could not guarantee anything.

Wang Xuan thanked her, but politely declined. He wanted to think further about his own path.

Zhao Qinghan nodded and smiled. Not long afterward, she rose to take her leave, saying they would meet again and gather then.

Wang Xuan and Qin Cheng stood up and watched her off.

Qin Cheng said, "Old Wang, you seem unwilling to get too deeply involved with her. Still, I feel it's a pity to reject her like that. If she is willing to help, she can probably bring you to New Star."

Wang Xuan shook his head. "The players on the other side of the starry sky have already begun exploring some mysterious region. We can't afford to provoke them right now, and I don't want to get involved."

Qin Cheng nodded. "That makes sense. What do you think that place is? And what did she mean when she said some people harbored wild ambitions and wanted to ignite divine fire?"

"There is too little information at present to determine exactly what is happening, but it sounds related to Western faith and deification."

"I go, no way?!" Qin Cheng was startled. "In this era, can someone really dream of becoming a god? They've gone mad!"

"Who knows what they discovered? Didn't she say that some people were also daydreaming about becoming Buddhas and patriarchs?"

Qin Cheng sighed. "It looks like something extraordinary really has happened in the Depths of Starry Sky. I can almost feel a great wind rising over there. The sea of stars, a new era, boundless horizons—it's got me all fired up. I can't wait to rush over there at once."

"After the founding of the nation, no becoming a spirit!"

Qin Cheng was rendered speechless when Wang Xuan suddenly came out with that line. He felt the joke was a little cold.

"What I mean is, with technology so advanced, it is one thing for certain financial clans on New Star to indulge in wild fantasies. But if they truly dare to cross the line, they will probably die miserably. Other organizations and major institutions will surely act, and the state will be even less likely to stand by and watch. Those who defy the tide of the age will be crushed into dust by all parties."

That evening, Wang Xuan returned to his residence and carefully studied the bamboo slips Professor Lin had given him, feeling with his heart for the power buried within the years.

Qin Cheng's words had stirred him somewhat. In this era, technological civilization shone so brilliantly that even the foremost experts of Old Arts could not withstand those weapons. There was no path forward in sight.

Star River Brilliant, Mortal World Millennium. The era had changed. Could Old Arts still be reborn?

Wang Xuan put down the bamboo-slip scripture, then went to look at the body arts recorded in the Golden Book. He practiced for a while according to the several engraved diagrams on the first page. When he felt a faint pain in his five organs, he stopped, not daring to force it.

He knew that what Zhang Daoling had left behind was surely an invaluable treasure, but he could not rush for quick success.

What gave him some peace of mind was that this pain differed from what Qing Mu had described. He seemed able to adapt to it gradually, and after resting a little, he could continue practicing.

Half an hour later, he felt he had reached his limit and decisively stopped, no longer practicing the body arts in the Golden Book.

"Take a look at the Old Arts scripture Zhou Mingxuan gave me."

Two days earlier, at the class reunion, he had received a secret Old Arts manual from Zhou Mingxuan. After bringing it back, he had yet to read it carefully.

He had not held much hope, not believing the other man would give him anything remarkable.

"Eh? It resembles the Golden Robe Body Arts I practice, or perhaps it is even their continuation?" Wang Xuan was astonished and began studying it carefully.

This was a body art called "Golden Body." It seemed to possess powerful effects. According to the records, once cultivated to the later stages, one could fear neither blades nor weapons in the mortal world.

Wang Xuan was speechless. Wasn't the description of this body art in the book somewhat exaggerated?

If it truly had such astonishing effects, how could Zhou Mingxuan possibly have given it to him?

When Wang Xuan read the later sections, his facial expression changed. He directly slammed the secret manual onto the table.

"Old Zhou, don't blame me for beating up your son. If I get the right chance later, I'll beat him every time I see him!"

He felt that Zhou Mingxuan had made a fool of him. What kind of garbage manual was this? The things it recorded were obviously false at a glance and completely unreliable. No wonder Old Zhou had given it to him.

According to the description, once the first level of this body art called Golden Body was mastered, one's resistance to blows would surge dramatically. It would take roughly a year.

Then the secret manual stated very clearly that every subsequent level would take twice as long as the last. What kind of person could practice such a body art?

Wang Xuan practically wanted to go beat up Zhou Yun at once. By that calculation, unless one lived for several hundred years, one could forget about cultivating this body art to a relatively profound realm!

He flipped farther through the pages. It went beyond nine levels? There were a full... thirteen levels! No, he looked carefully and found that there were even projected fourteenth and fifteenth levels!

"I go!" Wang Xuan stared blankly. Even several hundred years was putting it mildly. Was this a body art meant for humans to practice?

"Old Zhou, just keep messing around. We'll see about that!" Wang Xuan tossed the yellowed scripture, which looked like an ancient relic, aside.