Old Chen Returns

In late autumn, torrential rain battered the yellow leaves in the mountains down in great swathes, exposing the Great Black Mountain's naturally dusky slopes. Shrouded in rain and mist, it grew ever darker and more eerie.

Wang Xuan Did Not look back. He charged into the curtain of rain.

The six snipers were seasoned and ruthless. Afraid that Wang Xuan would come after them once he dealt with the man in black, they directly deployed an energy cannon, not even caring whether the man in black lived or died.

They were professional killers. For money and valuables, they could stain both hands with blood; to ensure their own survival, they could decisively abandon and kill even their employers.

After Wang Xuan dealt with them, he felt no regret. Yet killing someone for the first time left him deeply unsettled. He ran wildly through the rain, trying to ease that indescribable feeling as mud and water splashed beneath his feet.

He spent every ounce of strength, sprinting through the rain at top speed. He did not stop once over dozens of miles, sweat mingling with rainwater all over his body as he entered the small city.

He slowed his pace and adjusted his breathing. He bought new clothes to replace his torn coat and the like, then opened an umbrella and strolled beside the small lake in the city.

He considered where he should go from here. Since taking up the Old Arts, his peaceful life had vanished beyond recall. Looking at the misty lake veiled in rain, he thought of every possibility.

Since he could not choose again, then if he wanted to preserve a peaceful and tranquil life, he had only one path: become stronger, and walk the road of Old Arts to the legendary heights!

"Qing Mu, Old Qing, you... you actually blocked me?!" Wang Xuan contacted Qing Mu, but could not get through no matter how many times he called. He discovered that he had likely been blocked as early as two days ago.

He was speechless for a while. Then Little Wang's deepest curse emerged: "Qing Mu, you're next. No matter what, you won't escape!"

On New Star, within a certain estate, Old Chen wore a Bagua Daoist robe beneath a purple-gold kasaya. He held an alms bowl in one hand and a whisk in the other, his face painted with vivid vermilion script. He looked listless, with heavy dark circles under his eyes. He truly could not take it anymore. If he still failed to find that master, he would return to Old Earth in a couple of days.

When Black Tiger called Qing Mu and told him that Little Wang was looking for him, even the fingers holding his cigarette trembled. He rather did not want to deal with it.

But immediately afterward, Feng Zheng and Old Mu contacted him in turn, telling him that Little Wang needed him over a matter of life and death.

Qing Mu sighed. He had no choice but to contact Wang Xuan. He could not even hide away for a few days of peace and quiet. He always had a bad premonition.

Sure enough, the moment he got through to Wang Xuan, he heard a resentful voice from the other end. "Old Qing, you're finished. I have a feeling it'll be your turn very soon!"

Qing Mu could barely take it anymore. "Shut up. When you're alone, have you been muttering about me again?"

"No, don't think too much. Something happened on my end!" Wang Xuan briefly and quickly recounted the vicious ambush in Great Black Mountain.

"Old Qing, isn't our Exploration Organization working with the state, with a semi-official status? Yet in less than half a month, I've suffered three assassination attempts. The Exploration Organization has no face at all! Some people are lawless, treating Old Earth like what, their own backyard? Whether they're financial magnates or involved in other fields, shouldn't we pull such forces out by the roots instead of keeping them around for the New Year?!"

Though they were separated by the phone, Qing Mu could already feel Wang Xuan's fury.

Qing Mu said, "Enough, stop talking. I'll have someone deal with this immediately. For now, act as if nothing happened. Don't let it affect the normal lives of your family and friends."

And this was precisely what Wang Xuan wanted. After all, seven corpses had been left in Great Black Mountain. If they were discovered, or if he reported it himself, then in such a small city, the whole town would surely be thrown into an uproar. The peaceful lives of his family and friends would definitely be disrupted.

The Exploration Organization was semi-official in nature, so having Qing Mu find someone to step forward and handle it could not have been more appropriate.

After ending the call, Wang Xuan went straight home. After washing himself, he buried his head in sleep. He still felt deeply uncomfortable, so before falling asleep, he meditated for a while, sorting through his emotions and adjusting his state of mind until it returned to peace and tranquility.

In truth, his psychological resilience was strong. He had dared to visualize the Female Daoist practitioner with two streaks of blood on her face as the Celestial Maiden, filling his dreams with song and dance and an age of peace and prosperity. Naturally, he could quickly deal with his current problem as well.

By evening, Wang Xuan woke up full of vitality and high spirits, sweeping away the earlier gloom. He put the matter behind him.

From this day onward, he would face what came next with an entirely different mindset.

Outside, the sky was filled with crimson clouds, and the fiery clouds stretched far and wide, heralding fine weather tomorrow. Wang Xuan's mood gradually improved as well. He had dinner with his parents and ate with great appetite.

That night, Wang Xuan watched television and chatted with his parents. Only after nine did he return to his room. He lightly tapped his desk with his fingers, carefully reflecting on the day's experience. It had truly been dangerous.

The man in black had actually been that powerful. His attainments in the field of Old Arts were extraordinarily remarkable, leaving Wang Xuan exhausted in the end, lying on the ground unable to move and nearly shot to death.

"The Inner Scenery Realm... it came suddenly and went quickly. I can't grasp it on my own initiative." He sighed. In such desperate circumstances today, he had unexpectedly triggered Super-Sense. That stroke of chance had allowed him to escape disaster.

But he absolutely could not treat that special state as something to rely on. Who could guarantee he would have such luck next time?

He had every reason to believe that once he developed such psychological dependence, he would surely die next time. If he himself believed that he might trigger Super-Sense at a crucial moment, could that still count as a life-or-death danger? The subconscious of both body and mind would definitely decide it was not!

Once that happened, it would be a dead end. Even nine lives would not be enough to get him killed!

So Wang Xuan sighed. After experiencing something like this, triggering Super-Sense again would become increasingly difficult. The Pre-Qin Daoist practitioners should have possessed some regular method.

Unfortunately, whether bamboo slips or the ancient sects' scriptures, all of them were on New Star. Even if he wanted to look them up, he had no books to consult.

"Should I start with meditation? In theory, reaching the highest state of meditation is called the Bodhisattva Realm, where one can stand within the lucid void of time." Wang Xuan Pondered.

His current method, the so-called Super-Sense state, should belong to the Daoist school's category of Unity of Man and Heaven. The Buddhist school naturally had similar paths as well.

"Entering the highest state of meditation is rather difficult." Wang Xuan frowned. Even holy monks who cultivated their entire lives found it hard to enter that state. In the old era, people who had experienced it had already vanished without a trace.

Sunday morning indeed brought a sky washed clean as jade, with morning glow spilling across the small city. Wang Xuan brought gifts to visit his two childhood friends: one liked all kinds of new warship models, while the other liked figurines of beautiful women in every style.

Great Black Mountain was absolutely off-limits. After meeting his two friends, Wang Xuan told them there were black bears in those mountains and that, for safety's sake, they should not go there without reason.

"I love this deep-space warship model. I asked people to help buy it several times, but it was always out of stock. Today, my wish has finally come true!" Zhao Mo was delighted. Then he began looking down on Lin Xuan beside him again. "A boy who never grew up!"

Lin Xuan fiddled with a beautiful girl figurine and sneered back, "Men are boys until they die. They always have young hearts and always like beautiful things. You're only in your early twenties, and you already don't like beautiful women. That shows your mentality has grown old. Look at Wang Xuan and me—we'll always be young. We know how to appreciate beauty, and all year round, we have eyes that seek beautiful scenery."

Zhao Mo said, "I'll be getting married in a year or so. Go play with your figurines. As for Wang Xuan, heh heh, his aesthetic tastes have long surpassed figurines. What he likes are real people, all right?"

The two of them brought a cardboard box containing a little yellow puppy. It was sturdy, and they said it was a puppy of the purest mountain-guarding dog breed, asking Wang Xuan to take it back to the city and raise it.

Wang Xuan shook his head. "Forget it. I don't have the time to take care of it now. I won't raise it."

When he was eleven or twelve, he had once raised a little spotted dog. It died in less than half a year, and for two days straight, he could not eat. He was heartbroken. From then on, he never dared raise one again.

Cloud City was not large. After lunch, the three strolled around the city and talked for a long time. Wang Xuan knew this peaceful life would soon drift away, and he cherished everything before him.

He felt that the day he left for New Star was not far away.

That afternoon, Wang Xuan bid farewell to his parents and set out on his return journey, going back to An City, where he worked.

The following days were all peaceful. During the day, Wang Xuan studied the Daoist Canon; at night, he practiced the Root Method and physical techniques. He felt incomparably fulfilled.

Out of concern for an old colleague, he called Qing Mu during that time, asking him to send his regards to Old Chen and, incidentally, asking when Comrade Old Chen would return.

Qing Mu nearly threw away his phone. Just that day, someone he knew had returned from New Star with a message: Old Chen wanted him to make arrangements at the Thousand-Year Ancient Temple outside the city, where Old Chen intended to stay for a while. This meant... Old Chen was about to return!

Qing Mu was somewhat panicked. Clearly, even running off to New Star had not protected Old Chen. He had still been tormented miserably. Everything had turned out exactly as Wang Xuan said: in the end, he still had to "return to his native soil."

He naturally thought of Wang Xuan's words. He would be next. He had no confidence in his heart, afraid that he might truly be cursed by Little Wang's mouth, which seemed as though it had been consecrated.

Putting on a show of calm, he told Wang Xuan some news. "The man in black had no simple identity. He was once a favored guest of certain old men among the financial magnates who had entered their twilight years. His name was Sun Chengkun. He was a scholar and a professor, and his strength was once extremely formidable. But he suffered a severe blow at forty, and his body developed serious problems. His strength fell drastically. Otherwise, he would have been far more powerful than he is now."

Wang Xuan was startled. The man in black had actually been even stronger than he had imagined. As expected, he was someone who had walked far down the road of Old Arts and achieved extraordinary accomplishments.

"Since you know his identity, keep investigating further. Their three attacks were not only aimed at me; they were also a grave provocation against the Exploration Organization." Wang Xuan urged him on. This matter could not end here. There had to be a result.

According to the man in black's pessimistic implication, some people and forces were far beyond what Wang Xuan could reach or oppose. He only needed to endure it.

But being assassinated again and again, then having to endure it and pretend nothing had happened, was not Wang Xuan's character. He would investigate it to the end in secret.

The next day, Old Chen returned and took up residence in the Thousand-Year Ancient Temple outside the city.

Qing Mu felt uneasy. As luck would have it, he was away from An City, so he had Black Tiger run around making arrangements and settle Old Chen in properly.

That day, Old Chen spoke with Qing Mu on the phone and told him not to leak the news for now. Above all, don't tell Wang Xuan that he had returned. He did not want to see that kid right now.

In fact, Wang Xuan did not want to see him either. Who would jump into the same pit a second time for no reason, taking the initiative to see an "inauspicious old man"?

At this stage, improving his own strength was his foremost task. Thus, that weekend, he rose early, left the city, and headed for that Thousand-Year Ancient Temple. He wanted to take a look and see whether there was any peerless treasure there—the Ascension Stone.