Chapter 40: A Path For The Old Arts

Chapter 40: A Path For The Old Arts

The rain continued to fall. In the dark forest, the black Hou laid on the ground, still trembling but no longer a threat. Despite stubbornly clinging on to life, the beast was out of the fight for good. The man in black stood opposite of Wang Xuan, swiftly setting his broken bones back in place. He did not hide his astonishment.

"The Golden Body Technique is indeed powerful, but few people practice it. This technique requires a long time to master. Results are often slow to show. Besides, any slight mistake can lead to serious problems that will harm the practitioner," he said.

He stared at Wang Xuan, whose Golden Body Technique had clearly reached the late stage of the fourth layer. That would usually require at least thirty years of practice, yet Wang Xuan was only in his early twenties.

"How did you manage to reach such a level?" His eyes were burning with an intense desire to know.

"Who sent you to kill me?" Wang Xuan asked calmly. He did not know the man in black, who was in his fifties, and there had never been any interaction between them. He suspected that someone else was behind this assassination attempt, and this man was merely acting on someone else's behalf.

The man in black responded with a calm expression, "If you win today, don't investigate this matter any further. Let it end here. The one who contracted the Ashen Blood Organization to kill you was me, and the one who's taking matters into his own hands now is also me. You can consider me the true mastermind behind all this. It was I who sought for your death."

A faint glint of gold flashed in the depths of Wang Xuan's eyes, a sign of his mastery in the Golden Body Technique. This served only to intensify the mysterious man's desire to understand how he had achieved it.

Of course, the man in black was not interested in practicing the Golden Body Technique himself. But he wanted to know if there were secrets or shortcuts. This was a discovery that might breathe new life into the study of the Old Arts in this era. He had practiced the arts for decades and had reached an esteemed level. But he understood that he had reached a bottleneck in his path.

.

Wang Xuan responded coldly, "Why would I tell you anything when you’ve come to kill me and refuse to reveal who sent you?"

The man in black stretched, loosening his joints and muscles. "As a practitioner of the Old Arts, I respect the fact that you've reached this level at such a young age. Consider this a word of advice: if you're the one who walks away alive today, let it end here. Live the rest of your life in peace and don't pry any further. No one will come after you again."

The flames of fury ignited in Wang Xuan’s heart. Although he kept a low profile and generally avoided trouble, being attacked repeatedly and then being told to endure and not investigate further just to stay alive was unacceptable.

The man in black sighed lightly, "Those of us who tread the path of the Old Arts have it hard, especially in this era where our ways are becoming obsolete. It is about to be completely replaced by the New Arts. I'm not willing to give up. I've been obsessed, perhaps to the point of madness, with finding a new path for the Old Arts."

It was clear that he was not feigning his sentiment. His deep attachment to the old ways was genuine. The man in black continued without rushing to attack, "Ever since I learned that a legendary text from our field had surfaced but was locked away as a mere collector's item, I've been restless. I wanted to get closer to it, in hopes of glimpsing its true teachings and uncovering the secrets to transcend into immortality."

Wang Xuan listened quietly without interrupting.

"So, I purposely got closer to that family, knowing that they had some grievances against you. They want you dead, you know that? I subtly implied that as a scholar and a professor, I could 'educate' you, while also hinting that I wanted to take a look at their ancient text."

Upon hearing this, Wang Xuan frowned. As he pondered over the people he knew, he still was not able to figure out who would want him dead. He had never caused trouble for anyone.

Up to now, he still had no idea who he had offended to the point where they wanted him dead. At the same time, he was also somewhat surprised that the man in black turned out to be a scholar and a professor. This made his identity rather complicated.

The man in black seemed to sense what he was thinking and said, "There was a time when the Old Arts was not in decline yet. As a researcher in the field, I even taught some students at a university in the New World. Sometimes I was even invited to give lectures on wellness to some very important figures. You could say I had some fame back then."

Wang Xuan had been flung through the air multiple times, each impact causing him to cough up more blood. He was on the verge of being severely wounded. Seeing the state the man in black was in, Wang Xuan instantly thought of a particular physical technique he had once practiced—the Five Golden Pages left by Zhang Daoling. He had practiced the first diagram in the Inner Courtyard but had never thought it could be so powerful.

Now, as he watched the man’s formidable abilities, Wang Xuan suddenly felt that he had tapped into a similar force, one that also relied on stimulating the vitality of one's internal organs.

Boom!

Wang Xuan was fighting for his life. Summoning every last bit of his willpower, he gritted his teeth as blood flowed from his mouth. He fully activated the bodily technique described in the diagram, causing a violent resonance within his internal organs. At this critical moment between life and death, he sensed something extraordinary: as his body reached its limits and his internal organs vibrated as if about to rupture, a novel force surged within him, rapidly spreading through his flesh and blood.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

His heartbeat felt incredibly strong, and his blood flowed like a long river, emitting a faint golden glow. He successfully blocked the black-clothed man's ferocious attacks. His arms and finger bones were miraculously intact; they hadn't shattered.

In the end, the man in black could no longer hold on. After the resonance of his internal organs, he coughed up a mouthful of blood. With a loud thump, Wang Xuan sent him flying over ten meters away. The man's chest collapsed inward, and a horrifying hole appeared, through which even light could be seen from his back.

Moreover, the secret energy he had produced through the resonance of his internal organs was too potent. It was now threatening to collapse his internal structure. Fracture lines appeared in his organs; he was completely incapacitated, and it seemed like his time was running out.

"Heh, it seems that you've also practiced similar techniques," the man in black wheezed as blood spilled from his nose and mouth. "You're so young; perhaps there's a sliver of hope that you might pave a new path for the Old Arts..." Such were the man’s last words for Wang Xuan. His mouth was filled with bloody foam and his breathing became labored, and his strength rapidly waning.

Wang Xuan did not fare much better. Even after he quickly deactivated the bodily technique described in the golden book, he still felt severe pain in his internal organs. He was utterly drained and did not even have the energy to move.

However, the imminent danger from nearby snipers remained.

Just as he thought, in an instant, he felt as if he had entered a life-or-death situation. A sharp pain radiated at the center of his forehead, as if an acute weapon was pointed right at him, about to pierce through.

Am I being targeted? Am I about to be shot?

Wang Xuan had a feeling that he had never been so close with the touch of death before. Ignoring the pain, he turned his body around with what remaining strength he had. A bullet landed where his head was a mere fraction of a second after.

At that moment, pain spiked on multiple parts of his body. It felt as if someone had locked on to him. But in his extremely disadvantageous state, Wang Xuan knew that he would never be able to react in time.

Is this it? Is this how I’m going to die? He lamented. This did not mean that he had resigned himself to such a fate. Activating his core technique, Wang Xuan attempted to force his body to turn again.

Boom!

This time, it felt as if time itself had slowed down. His body was shrouded by the shadow cast upon him by death itself. He could barely breathe. And in this condition, he entered a state of hyper perception.

But is this enough? Can I survive this?

His chances of walking out of this alive were extremely slim.