Chapter 768: You Must Believe in Science

PS: Although I didn't say it, book friends still cast quite a lot of monthly tickets; thank you all here as well.

Main text:

The next day, this auction, which included half of China's rich second-generation heirs, made it to the trending searches.

It wasn't just because so many heirs attended; the main reason was that the transaction prices at this auction were truly too shocking, with six or seven items breaking the one hundred million mark.

Especially the nameless ancient sword and the longevity peach, which together totaled a massive two billion.

This could already be mentioned in the same breath as those large international auctions.

If the items auctioned were all famous paintings or rare treasures, it would be one thing, but the quality of most of these treasures was quite average.

Although they were old, they didn't have much cultural value, and the material and workmanship were just so-so; except for the ancient sword, which could indeed be called a top-tier antique, the others weren't very good.

This also made netizens very confused, wondering why these "chicken rib" antiques could sell for prices far exceeding the market value.

Some said it might be for hype, others said it was simply "more money than brains."

But in any case, this was the money of rich second-generation heirs; how they squandered it was their business, and besides cursing them as vampires or evil capitalists, there was nothing else to say.

Of course, those being cursed didn't include Luo Quan; she wasn't a vampire, nor was she an evil capitalist. She deserved every cent she earned, and just based on the donations she made every year, she deserved to get rich.

As for her spending eight hundred million to buy a longevity peach this time, netizens also speculated whether it contained another national treasure.

After all, she had the "Old Koi" constitution, and even now, many fans wanted her to visit China's famous mountains and rivers, saying that perhaps while wandering, she might just wander into the Nine Tripod Cauldrons.

Facts proved that the eyes of the masses were sharp.

The longevity peach did indeed contain a good treasure—a Golden Core refined by an enlightened master; in ancient times, even an emperor might not have been able to enjoy such an immortal product.

And now, it could be bought for just eight hundred million; it was truly a great bargain.

Although it sounded like she didn't treat money as money, at her level, money was indeed just a string of numbers.

Of all the billionaires in the world, they would definitely all be more willing to trade money for life, let alone for such a Golden Core.

Of course, this matter definitely couldn't be told to others; only by keeping quiet could one make a fortune.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but many of these auction items are related to Buddhism and Daoism."

"It seems that's really the case; they are either offerings from Daoist temples or have been blessed in Buddhist temples."

"Could it be that they are cooperating with Buddhism and Daoism to create hype?"

"It's probably just a coincidence; what is there to hype about Buddhism and Daoism now?"

"There's still some heat in traditional martial arts."

Many great detectives on the internet had discovered the blind spot, but because the sample size was too small, not many dared to draw conclusions.

And many Buddhist temples and Daoist shrines in China saw business opportunities in this trending search.

Regarding the recovery of spiritual energy, these people were definitely the first batch to notice it, and they had likely long since realized what effects antiques—especially those long baptized by the power of incense and vows—could have.

It was just that most monastics hadn't thought of using auctions to extract benefits, let alone that they could earn so much.

Just a few slightly awakened antiques could sell for tens of millions; if they were proper magical artifacts, wouldn't they all be heading toward one billion?

Wealth has always moved people's hearts; even for monastics, under the temptation of such huge benefits, it was hard to avoid generating some greedy thoughts.

Although monastic practice emphasizes purity of the six senses, those who truly achieve this are few and far between.

Even the abbot of the Shaolin Temple would accept hundreds of millions in donations from those billionaires to purchase property and renovate the temple.

There were rumors before that the abbot would eat vegetarian food and chant sutras on the mountain, but once down the mountain, he would drive sports cars, eat meat, and even keep internet celebrities and have illegitimate daughters.

Although there was no solid proof, the fact that there were so many hearsay rumors was enough to explain the problem.

So in this society, "monastic" is not a particularly good descriptor.

And in many places, being a monk or a Daoist priest has even become a profession—a profession with good benefits, high pay, and leisure.

One can only say that a few bad apples have spoiled the whole pot of porridge.

And now, this spoiled porridge is thinking about how to maximize its own interests in this transformation brought by the arrival of the new era.

Why not find an excuse one day and auction off a few magical artifacts from the temple?

Compared to the second-hand antiques at the auction, these in the temples are much more powerful!

Thinking of this, the minds of many abbots and Daoist masters became active.

And Luo Quan, at this moment, happened to be watching a Daoist master's livestream.

Today was the weekend, and Luo Quan gave her employees, who had been busy for a week, a half-day off.

After filming in the morning, they were dismissed in the afternoon.

After editing the footage she had filmed over the past few days, she also stayed in her room, playing on her phone to relax.

The System said that because her Daoist cultivation wasn't enough, she couldn't fully absorb the Golden Core's power.

So she specifically found a Daoist master's livestream room, wanting to learn how to practice the Dao and how to improve her cultivation realm.

And the one she found was Daoist Master Cheng Shixing, who had been very popular on the internet recently.

This Daoist master came from Mount Wudang and was a disciple of Daoist Master Yunlong; he had gained some fame in his early years for promoting traditional martial arts.

Unlike those scammers, this Daoist master had real skills; his punches and kicks were fast and fierce, and ordinary people couldn't get close to him, but his most powerful skill was the Wudang sword technique, which was quite exquisite.

His recent resurgence in popularity was mainly because monastics now were starting to try the internet, wanting to use this platform that connects to the whole world to increase the fame of their own sects.

Not just Mount Wudang, but Mount Longhu, Mount Mao, Mount Shaoshi, and Mount Zhongnan—as long as they were famous mountains and sects that could be named, they all had such livestreams.

But not all of them could become popular, because not every Daoist master or high monk could be as "entertaining" as Daoist Master Cheng, and they were all "hardcore" skills.

A while ago, the Daoist master said he would show everyone the "lightness skill" (qinggong) from traditional martial arts; after saying that, he took a running start and stepped eight times on a straight wall, finally climbing directly onto a wall several meters high.

According to the Daoist master, this was "Eight Steps to Chase the Cicada," but he hadn't practiced it to perfection yet, otherwise he could have flown directly over the wall.

However, even just climbing the edge of the wall was already very powerful.

Even for an Olympic high jump champion, doing what Daoist Master Cheng did would be quite difficult.

And Daoist Master Cheng had never undergone any scientific professional training; he had just practiced Wudang martial arts since he was a child for nearly forty years.

After the livestream, the video went viral; Douyin and Constable were full of shouts of "China has divine martial arts," and Daoist Master Cheng's early martial arts videos were also dug up, showing that his martial arts were indeed quite sharp.

The only pity was that Daoist Master Cheng livestreamed too infrequently; the last time was ten days ago.

After becoming popular, fans all over the internet were asking them to livestream lightness skills or other martial arts again.

Unable to resist the enthusiastic invitations of the fans, Daoist Master Cheng started livestreaming again ten days later.

The premiere was on Douyin; because there was no contract, it could also be rebroadcast on Bilibili, but gifts couldn't be given.

However, even with the rebroadcast, Daoist Master Cheng's livestream room on Bilibili had over four million in popularity, and the barrage was dense, all there to see what kind of "hardcore" skill the Daoist master would show today.

Luo Quan had originally wanted to come to learn Daoist practice, but hearing these fans talk about how powerful this Daoist master was, she also became curious and wanted to see what level his lightness skill was at.

She had seen the "Eight Steps to Chase the Cicada" before, and she could do it too, even without eight steps.

But the Daoist master's skill of making a dull sound just by throwing a punch was indeed very sharp.

Being able to reach this level meant he could stir up leaves with the wind of his punch at a short distance.

And now that spiritual energy was recovering, it was probably not just as simple as stirring up leaves.

Just as she was pondering, Daoist Master Cheng walked into the frame.

The Daoist master wasn't tall, only about 1.7 meters, and his build was relatively thin.

But having seen his bare upper body while practicing, everyone knew that the Daoist master was actually full of sinewy muscle, just not as exaggerated as those specialized fitness "gym bros," belonging to the lean type.

In the UFC, many of those lightweight fighters had this kind of build.

Looking thin and small, but one punch could truly kill a person.

Today, the Daoist master was the same as before, still wearing a soap-blue Daoist robe, cloth shoes, and his legs wrapped in white cloth—a look of an ancient person.

"These past few days, fans have been urging me to show my lightness skill again."

"As a martial artist, one shouldn't use one's own skills as capital to show off and gain attention, but since everyone is so interested, today I will show everyone the lightness skill of Mount Wudang again."

While speaking, Daoist Master Cheng took the camera to a patch of wild grass: "However, the lightness skill I'm going to perform today is extremely dangerous, so I'll say this to all fans in advance: no matter what, do not imitate it."

After speaking, the camera tilted up, pointing to the hillside in the distance.

Between the hillside and the wild grass where Daoist Master Cheng stood, there were two platforms; besides rocks and grass, there were some shrubs that weren't particularly high.

"In a moment, I will jump from that hillside to where I am standing in three stages. I measured it yesterday; the straight vertical distance from the hillside to the grass is about twenty-eight meters, and because I'm jumping down diagonally, the distance will only be further."

After Daoist Master Cheng finished speaking, he let his assistant hold the camera and walked toward the hillside alone.

Hearing Daoist Master Cheng say this, the audience in the livestream room was stunned.

A three-stage jump of thirty meters, without any protective measures—throughout history, only Jackie Chan would dare to risk his life like this.

However, every time Jackie Chan did this, he basically ended up with serious injuries, and several times he almost lost his life.

Therefore, the audience in the livestream room immediately started to advise him:

"There's no need, Daoist Master Cheng; there are many ways to show lightness skills, no need to use such a dangerous method."

"If Daoist Master Cheng jumps like this, I'm afraid he'll be heading straight to the ICU!"

"I'm afraid he won't even make it to the ICU."

"Indeed, maybe he'll go straight to see Patriarch Sanfeng."

"Daoist Master, you must believe in science; a flesh-and-blood body can't withstand it—this is equivalent to nine stories high!"

However, no matter how the fans advised him, Daoist Master Cheng couldn't see it now.

Luo Quan looked at the hillside, also thinking about whether she could do a three-stage jump without any damage before eating the Golden Core.

After thinking for a while, she felt she could jump down, but her feet would probably be uncomfortable for a while; it was impossible to have no effect at all.

Just in this short while, Daoist Master Cheng had climbed the hillside and stood at the highest point of the camera.

Behind him was the courtyard wall of the Daoist temple, and above that was a blue sky and white clouds.

"I'm a bit afraid to watch."

"I suggest calling 120 immediately."

"Don't go, Daoist Master Cheng!"

"If you don't succeed today, you will become a martyr!"

Only to see Daoist Master Cheng raise his hands to channel his Qi, take a few deep breaths, and then leap.

His posture was like an eagle, arms spread, knees raised toward his chest, with no intention of rolling to dissipate the force like a parkour expert.

Clearly, this Daoist master was very confident in his knees and ankles.

With a soft "bang," the Daoist master landed steadily, his body just slightly squatting, without much swaying, as if he had jumped down from a half-meter step.

An even more shocking scene occurred: after landing, Daoist Master Cheng didn't stop at all, immediately leaping forward again, continuing to perform parabolic motion in the air.

The distance of the middle platform was the furthest, falling for over a second!

And after Daoist Master Cheng landed, he was still as steady as Mount Tai, and leaped forward again!

A practitioner of the Dao keeps their word.

Daoist Master Cheng said he would jump from the hillside to the grass, and he really jumped in front of the fans.

A three-stage jump of over twenty meters, without any adjustment of breath in between, and without any dissipation of force.

After jumping, Daoist Master Cheng even posed for everyone on the spot, finally raising his hands to channel his Qi for a small cycle, and let out a long sigh of relief.

"See, this is lightness skill."

"If action actors in the future have my skill, they won't even need wires for jumping off lower floors," Daoist Master Cheng joked with the fans with a smile.

"However, everyone must still believe in science; not everyone's lightness skill can be like mine. If you rashly imitate me, you will easily get hurt. Only by having a strong physique can you have a chance to become a master."

"You showed me this, and then told me to believe in science?"

"What you've shown now is already very unscientific."

"Coach, I want to learn this!"

"Coach: I don't know how to do it either!"

"By the way, Daoist Master, can you go up the way you came down?"

"Haha, that's a bit outrageous; how could I jump up over twenty meters? Pole vaulting would be more like it."

"Already very powerful, worthy of being a master from Mount Wudang; this physical fitness is probably enough that we couldn't move him even if we all pushed together."

"So China's traditional martial arts are still very powerful; it's just that we haven't met real skills like Daoist Master Cheng's before."

"Isn't Luo Quan also a traditional martial arts master? Her freakish strength is no joke either."

"By the way, Daoist Master, who is more powerful, you or Luo Quan?"

Just then, in the Douyin livestream room, a tycoon tipped ten thousand and asked an incredibly eye-catching question. ===== CHAPTER 769 =====