Single-Handedly Holding Back the Most Glorious Era of Martial Arts

"What are you taking my Chan'er away for?!"

Before the pavilion, Xiang Yun tried to rush after Yang Chan, who was leaving with Yuan Tianzong, but his Second Uncle held him down tightly.

"He said Yang Chan would return. Don't worry."

"Don't worry? How could I possibly feel at ease letting Chan'er leave with a strange man?!"

The young Xiang Yun had no idea what the name "Yuan Tianzong" represented, and he was beside himself with agitation.

Throughout China, every old monster from a faction with any real foundation had witnessed that radiant figure, brilliant as the sun, at that Dragon Tiger Meet.

"Xiang Yun! Calm down! If he says Yang Chan will be fine, then she will definitely be fine!" Old Master Xiang approached with others along the stone path.

Hearing even his own grandfather say this, Xiang Yun became even more confused.

"Grandpa, why are you saying that too?! What kind of magic does Yuan Tianzong possess that makes you trust him so much?"

Old Master Xiang watched the two figures gradually vanish into the mountain mist and said softly, "Why? Because if he wanted to take Yang Chan away, not a single person in China's Martial Arts World could stop him."

Xiang Yun stood there, dumbfounded.

"Grandpa, are you joking? He's so young. How could he leave the entire Martial Arts World in China helpless?"

"I've never even heard the name Yuan Tianzong. If he were truly that powerful, how could I not have heard of him?"

Power had to leave traces.

For a supreme expert who appeared out of nowhere, who could have known how powerful he was before he emerged?

"He appeared before, sixty years ago."

Second Uncle sighed softly.

"Xiang Yun, you've probably often heard us old men lament something—we were supposed to be the beginning of the most glorious era of martial arts, yet one man held us all back with a single hand."

An absurd thought arose in Xiang Yun's heart. "Him? Yuan Tianzong?"

"That's right."

"How could that be? He doesn't look like someone from sixty years ago at all. He should be even younger than me."

"That is the most terrifying part. His appearance has not aged."

Old Master Xiang murmured, "Ancient records state that a Martial Arts Grandmaster gains greatly increased longevity and possesses a flawless physical body. Perhaps they can remain youthful for a hundred years."

Xiang Yun staggered backward and fell onto the ground. "Grandpa, you mean... he has entered the legendary Grandmaster realm? Wasn't that level already lost, impossible to reach?"

"Yes, but that is the only explanation."

When there was only one answer, no matter how absurd it seemed, one had no choice but to believe it.

"Grandmaster, Grandmaster..." Xiang Yun looked up and muttered, "A Grandmaster should keep his word."

"Ah, if not for him, that Dragon Tiger Meet should have been the millennium of martial arts. One dazzling genius after another would surely have led China's Martial Arts World into the first year of a golden age."

"His appearance stole all their glory."

"With one hand, he shattered the martial hearts of every genius. Those prodigies who should have enjoyed flourishing martial fortune ultimately could not take another step forward because of his existence..."

"His appearance was both the most glorious moment in China's Martial Arts World and the beginning of its darkest era. Ah."

"We thought he had died long ago."

"Who would have thought..."

Old Master Xiang and all the senior martial artists present looked despondent.

"He is still so young, while we already have one foot in the grave, yet we cannot even see his back..."

"This feeling is terrible..."

"He truly should not have appeared in this era."

Xiang Yun did not think that far ahead. He merely asked the elders present, "So why exactly did he take Yang Chan away?"

"Yes, why did he take Yang Chan away?"

"Mr. Yuan, may I ask you a question?"

In the driver's seat, Yuan Tianzong held the steering wheel with one hand, driving steadily as the car sped down the highway.

In the passenger seat, Yang Chan, her belly swollen with pregnancy, finally could not help speaking after a long silence.

She felt that this young man, who had left both the Xiang and Yang families without the courage to make a move, was not a bad person.

Being clever, she also understood that if he wanted to kill her, he would not have gone through so much trouble to deal with the assassins, openly appear before her family, and say he wanted to take her away.

"Miss Yang wants to ask why I insisted on taking you away?"

"Yes."

Yuan Tianzong glanced at her belly. "Miss Yang is the youngest researcher at the Longhua Research Institute. Your future is limitless."

Yang Chan suddenly understood. "You're here because of the project I participated in researching... Longevity?"

Yuan Tianzong did not deny it. "That is one reason."

"Mr. Yuan, if you are here for Longevity Research, then I'm sorry. Although we have researched this subject for a long time... no, it would be more accurate to say that organizations all over the world are researching it."

"But neither we nor they have any clue how to crack it."

"I can't help you."

Qin Shi Huang sent the alchemist Xu Fu eastward on great ships to search for the lands of immortals and obtain an elixir of eternal life.

Besides this emperor of the ages, many rulers throughout history had pursued the art of immortality.

Emperor Wu of Han Liu Che became obsessed with immortality in his later years. He repeatedly sent alchemists overseas to seek immortal mountains and obtain divine medicine.

He even trusted the words of alchemists and built temples to worship immortals, seeking only a method to prolong his life.

Furthermore, the most famous emperor who cultivated immortality, Jiajing, was likewise obsessed with this path. He neglected court affairs for long periods and devoted himself to refining elixirs.

For this, he had palace maids collect morning dew and provide the menstrual blood of virgins, among other things. His methods were truly bizarre.

Emperors, tycoons, elders...

Over the Years, who knew how many people had longed for immortality?

Even today, people around the world continued to chase those two words.

Yet for Yang Chan personally, the more she researched this subject, the more fantastical the words "immortality" felt.

It completely violated the laws of nature. It could not possibly exist.

Yuan Tianzong did not respond to Yang Chan's words.

"Mr. Yuan, are you listening to me?"

"I think that if you need my help for immortality, then that's rather troubling. I've followed my mentor in researching this subject for years, and I've become increasingly convinced that it cannot exist."

"You should not entertain such fantasies..."

After a long silence, Yuan Tianzong finally spoke. "Does immortality truly not exist? I don't think so. There are many secrets in this world that you do not know."

"For example, this."

Yuan Tianzong turned and glanced at the Tui Bei Tu on the back seat.

Yang Chan followed his gaze and looked back.

"A book without words? What secret could it hold?"

"It is called the Tui Bei Tu."

Yang Chan was well-informed, so she had naturally heard of this greatest mysterious book of all time.

"Mr. Yuan, surely you don't think it can truly predict the future?"

"There are many things like the Tui Bei Tu both in China and abroad. They are all nonsense. These prophecies almost all use metaphorical and symbolic descriptions, such as poems and hexagrams."

"You must understand that a single poem can be interpreted differently by a thousand people. It is inherently vague."

"Once people connect that vagueness to historical events that have already happened, it becomes a so-called prophecy."

"Simply put, it is drawing the target after shooting the arrow. There is nothing mysterious about it."

Yuan Tianzong chuckled, glanced at the rearview mirror, swiftly changed lanes, then accelerated past one large vehicle after another.

"If I told you that the Tui Bei Tu was never a book, but a recorder, what would you think?"

Yang Chan frowned. "A recorder? What do you mean?"