Generally speaking, cultivation masters who reached the Nascent Soul Realm had lifespans of at least eight hundred years. Had his cultivation not been destroyed, the old man would never have aged so quickly.
Liu Xing's origins, however, had no direct connection to the old man. Several years after becoming stranded on Connors Star, the old man had happened to find him in the wilderness one day and bring him home.
At the time, Liu Xing had been only a newborn infant, riding in a small Escape Pod that struck the ground like a meteor falling from space. Though its arrival caused quite a commotion, it at least landed safely.
Liu Xing had clearly been lucky. If the old man had not taken him home, even a safe landing would have left him to die young with no one to care for him.
The old man guessed that Liu Xing had suffered some accident while traveling through space with his family. With no other choice, his parents must have placed him in the Escape Pod, saving his little life.
Nothing on Liu Xing offered any clue to his identity. Since he had fallen to the ground in an Escape Pod like a shooting star, the old man named him Liu Xing-a name that was easy to remember and rolled off the tongue.
Living alone, the old man naturally felt terribly lonely. He adored Liu Xing, who had fallen from the sky, and cared for him as attentively as his own child, watching him slowly grow.
Unfortunately, the old man discovered that although Liu Xing had an exceptional physique, he had no spiritual root and was not cut out for cultivation. Naturally, he could not inherit the old man's earth-shaking arts. Yet even if Liu Xing had possessed the legendary heavenly spiritual root, said to grant the finest aptitude, the scarcity of spiritual energy on Connors Star would have made it difficult to achieve much.
The old man understood his own condition better than anyone. At most, he could hold on for another few years before becoming weaker than even an ordinary elderly man. By then, Liu Xing would still be a child only a few years old. How were the two of them to survive?
The old man possessed vast learning and knowledge of countless subjects; in the Cultivation World, he scarcely considered anyone his equal in that regard. He understood that before his allotted time ran out, he had to find a way to improve Liu Xing's abilities as quickly as possible, allowing him to survive alone on Connors Star. Otherwise, even in death, the old man would find no peace.
After careful consideration, the old man decided to teach Liu Xing the Nine Great Wilderness Forms. Only a secret ancient martial arts technique capable of unleashing the limits of the human body was suited to Liu Xing, allowing him to push his outstanding physique to its utmost.
In fact, out of human society's reverence for cultivation, some people who lacked spiritual roots but still yearned to cultivate had compiled humanity's ancient texts, bringing many ancient martial arts training methods back into the light of day.
Indeed, as far back as ancient Earth, ancient martial arts had first spread because cultivators taught them to ordinary humans. After all, those unable to cultivate could still improve their abilities through ancient martial arts training.
For humans without spiritual roots, practicing ancient martial arts could be considered a consolation prize.
After attaining mastery in cultivation, the old man had developed a peculiar hobby: collecting all manner of training methods. His collection included not only secret cultivation manuals, but also various ancient martial arts methods.
The Nine Great Wilderness Forms could be counted among the very finest ancient martial arts training methods. Although exceptionally difficult to practice, they possessed tremendous power once mastered and were by no means suited to just anyone.
Yet just as the old man had predicted, Liu Xing progressed through the Nine Great Wilderness Forms at a terrifying pace, truly pushing his superb physique to its utmost.
Through practicing the Nine Great Wilderness Forms, Liu Xing had become inhumanly strong from childhood. Whether in speed, strength, reflexes, or ability to withstand blows, he surpassed ordinary people tenfold, or even dozens of times over.
In other words, compared to an ordinary person, Liu Xing could quite rightly be called superhuman.
Even so, mastering the Nine Great Wilderness Forms to their pinnacle would still leave Liu Xing far behind cultivators. After all, cultivators wrested their destinies from Heaven and changed their fates, delved into the mysteries of nature's creation, and sought the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth. Such things were far beyond the power of mortal strength to rival.
Besides teaching Liu Xing the Nine Great Wilderness Forms, the old man poured out every secret training method he had recorded, like emptying the contents of a bamboo tube. That was also why Liu Xing always had an endless supply of Jade Slips to memorize.
The old man did not expect Liu Xing to understand these secret arts. It was enough for him to swallow them whole, like gulping down dates without chewing, and learn them by heart. It was a pity Liu Xing could not cultivate; otherwise, these wondrous techniques alone would have been like holding countless mountains of treasure in his hands!
Having his cultivation destroyed and finding Liu Xing unable to inherit his mantle were undoubtedly the greatest regrets of the old man's life. Yet Liu Xing's memorization of every training method gave him a glimmer of hope. Perhaps, through some fortunate twist of fate, Liu Xing might leave Connors Star and find successors for these arts?
Though the possibility was exceedingly remote, this was the only comfort the old man could give himself. Still, on Connors Star, a place so desolate that not even rabbits came to shit, who knew in what year of the monkey and month of the horse a miracle might finally appear?
As he trained tirelessly in the Nine Great Wilderness Forms, Liu Xing also displayed his innate perseverance to the fullest. Even the worldly and knowledgeable old man could not help clicking his tongue in astonishment.
The Nine Great Wilderness Forms were like chicken ribs in the old man's eyes-little meat to savor, yet a shame to discard-but Liu Xing, despite his tender age, actually persisted in practicing them with unwavering focus and complete devotion. Such indomitable tenacity was an exceptionally rare and precious quality even among cultivators.
The old man even had the feeling that these chicken-rib Nine Great Wilderness Forms might yield tremendous results in Liu Xing's hands.
In fact, it was precisely Liu Xing's success in practicing the Nine Great Wilderness Forms that allowed him and the old man to survive in Connors Star's harsh environment.
Otherwise, once the old man's body grew frail, what would the pair of them, one old and one young, have eaten?
Connors Star's sparse spiritual energy was actually a blessing for Liu Xing and the old man as they were now. Such an environment could not produce powerful Immortal Beasts or Demon Beasts, only, at most, some ferocious, carnivorous primitive creatures.
Nature selected the fittest. On Connors Star, if you could not bare blood-drenched fangs, the fate awaiting you was either to be devoured or to starve to death.
PS: Once again, I'm asking all you brothers and sisters for strong support with your recommendation votes! This week's goal is simple: keep this book on the category's new-book rankings and work hard to climb forward, one step at a time!
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