Chapter 62: Quanxing Divine Art

The only thing worth trying was right within reach: the martial arts treasures of the Murong Family and the Wang Family of Gusu — Langhuan Jade Cave and Huanfushuge.

Both were from Gusu, but the Murong clan were figures from a hundred years ago; the last head of the family, Murong Fu, had gone mad, and no one knew if he had any heir. Wu Chengyu had specifically asked Wu Zhenghui about it, and as a local of Gusu, Wu Zhenghui had never heard of any Murong family with a compound surname in Gusu.

This proved one thing: once three autumns passed, the martial world quickly forgot you.

Wu Chengyu still asked Wu Zhenghui to help gather news about the Murong clan, such as whether any of the islands in Taihu had ever been inhabited, but there had been no word in a short time.

Without a master or secret manuals of internal energy heart techniques, Wu Chengyu could only figure things out on his own.

The only thing useful to him right now was the Daocang of the Quanxing Dao Sect that he had retrieved from Hangzhou according to the map left by Mo Laodao.

It was called a Daocang, but it had only just filled that wooden box; there was not a single piece of wealth inside. Presumably, if there had been silver taels, Mo Laodao would have spent them long ago. Wu Chengyu had not rushed to open it after returning to Wu Family Slope, only thinking of it now.

There were few things inside: first, several bamboo slips, which should be Daoist scriptures exclusive to Quanxing, though he did not know if they were personally passed down by Yang Zhuzi.

The reason he said "should" was that everything on them was in Great Seal script from the Spring and Autumn Period; Wu Chengyu could not understand a single character, nor could he guess. Such a Daocang could be burned without him feeling a pang, and he did not know why the Quanxing people had risked their lives to leave it behind.

Then there were four animal skins, which were translation versions of the bamboo slips left by later generations. Three of them expounded the three great concepts of the Quanxing Dao Sect: valuing life, valuing the self, and Quanxing.

Wu Chengyu could at least read this version — he recognized the characters — but reading it was tortuous and awkward, simply incoherent. He only figured out the general meaning by guessing and inferring.

Valuing life, also called preserving life, says "nothing under heaven is as precious as the body," and also "preserving life is supreme, harming life is next, death is next, forcing life is lowest," and "all six desires are properly satisfied." Specifically regarding cultivation, it had a touch of emphasizing health preservation.

Valuing the self further expounded on the preciousness of life: everything takes preserving oneself as precious, and one must not let life be harmed. It also held that sensory life is an important meaning of human life, disagreeing with asceticism. Whether it was the desire for sound, color, and taste, or lust, as long as one knew moderation, it was fine.

Finally, there was Quanxing itself, which was also a summary of the previous two: following the natural nature, since life exists, it should be fully preserved. Quanxing means preserving truth, not letting things burden one's conduct.

Wu Chengyu read it over and over many times before summarizing this much meaning. In short, it was to value life above all, value the self above all, both follow nature and not be burdened by external things.

With Wu Chengyu's shallow understanding, he also felt that Quanxing carried a whiff of selfishness. No wonder both Confucianism and other Taoist schools attacked and suppressed Quanxing.

As for Wu Chengyu himself, he had no intention of championing Quanxing, let alone becoming its inheritor. Although he agreed with some of its concepts — that one should enjoy life while living, and asceticism was not for him — apart from that, he felt nothing for Quanxing at all.

Only the last animal skin caught Wu Chengyu's attention: it was actually a cultivation art, a completely Taoist internal energy heart technique, and there was also a pair of diagrams of human meridians and inner force circulation. Some of the circulation paths inside were ones Wu Chengyu had never seen before.

In addition, there were some meridians that never appeared in ordinary human meridian diagrams. According to Wu Chengyu's understanding, these should be hidden meridians.

This discovery greatly excited Wu Chengyu. The characteristics and power of different schools' internal energy heart techniques varied greatly, largely depending on whether they had hidden meridians and how they utilized them.

Especially those internal arts with special functions or special properties — they were all because they had unique hidden meridians.

For example, the Northern Dark Divine Art or Xingxingdafa that could absorb others' inner force; the Flame Blade or Xuanming Divine Palm with extreme attributes; the Divine Illumination Sutra that could effectively heal internal injuries; the Bahuangliuhewoweiduzun Art that could preserve eternal youth; and the Minor Formless Art that could convert various inner forces into one's own.

The later the era, the more, as those divine arts were lost, much knowledge of hidden meridians was also lost. Even Huang Yaoshi, one of the Five Absolutes, knew only six hidden meridians.

Wu Chengyu's Biling Wave Heart Technique inherited three hidden meridians from the Biling Wave Heart Technique, but these three hidden meridians were more for laying foundations and did not fundamentally change the nature of inner force.

On the premise that Wu Chengyu swore never to take a master again in this life, unless a divine art secret manual fell from the sky, he had almost no way to obtain more information about hidden meridians.

Then, did this divine art secret manual really fall from the sky?

Wu Chengyu communicated with the "Regret" bamboo slips in his consciousness, and the slips timely gave an evaluation of this art.

Quanxing Nameless Art, belonging to the Quanxing Fundamental Great Art of the Spring and Autumn Period, a top-tier divine art, founded by Yang Zhuzi, upholding the three great concepts of Quanxing: valuing life, valuing the self, and Quanxing.

Valuing Life: a supreme health-preserving art that continuously develops bodily potential, improves bone and aptitude, expands meridians, increases lifespan, preserves eternal youth. With accomplishment in cultivation, one can gain a lifespan of sixty years and possesses five hidden meridians.

Valuing the Self: the art of protecting the Way, valuing the preservation of self, resolving external force and expelling it from the body. All things find it hard to touch one. After accomplishment in cultivation, a repulsion field forms within three feet outside the body; within three feet, I am invincible. Possesses five hidden meridians.

Quanxing: the method of cultivating the five senses — sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch. With accomplishment in cultivating the five senses, one opens the Xuanqianyiqiao, then turns to a method of cultivating the spirit, tempering the primordial spirit. Possesses five hidden meridians.

Just these three alone had already made Wu Chengyu excited beyond measure. This was a true divine art secret manual. What Nine Yin and Nine Yang — at this moment he did not take them to heart at all. With this divine art, he would surely be invincible in the present age. Then, returning to Peach Blossom Island, avenging the broken leg would be no problem.

Not to mention anything else, just these fifteen hidden meridians in total could already be called a great treasure.

But the evaluation from the bamboo slips next poured a bucket of cold water on Wu Chengyu.

Drawback: the physiques of ancient people differed from those of modern people, and the spiritual energy of the ancient world differed from that of the present world. This art had almost no possibility of being successfully cultivated.

Finished. Wu Chengyu was devastated — this was worse than entering the bridal chamber and finding the bride was a man. It was simply entering the bridal chamber and finding the bride was not even human.

Actually, he understood. Times change, and people evolve — or rather, degenerate — along with environmental changes. The Spring and Autumn Period differed from now by over two thousand years; changes in species were inevitable. The arts of that era belonged only to those ancient sages.

As for the notion of spiritual energy, although illusory and vague, taking Jin Daxia's novels as context, with the passage of time, martial arts truly declined generation after generation. The martial arts of the Tianlong period were so wonderful, while by the period of The Legend of the Condor Heroes and The Return of the Condor Heroes, they were already relatively backward.

What about after that? In the period of The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, the Zi Xia Divine Art of Mount Hua came from Haodatong. Although Haodatong was one of the Seven Sons of Quanquan, calling him a first-rate expert in the Condor Heroes period was already a stretch — he could even lose to Xiaolongnu, who had just debuted, and was once injured by Hedu.

Such a person founded Mount Hua after the Quanquan split, produced a Zi Xia Divine Art, and it actually became a top-tier divine art of the Smiling, Proud Wanderer period, second only to the Muscle Change Classic.

After that, there was no need to say more. The martial arts masters of the Deer and the Cauldron period relied more on exquisite moves — truly, each generation was worse than the last.

So this time he had entered the treasure mountain and returned empty-handed. Wu Chengyu looked at the animal skin before him and fell into deep thought.

I don't intend to let the protagonist take a master in this book; he relies entirely on himself and his golden finger. The golden finger isn't as exaggerated as in other novels — it only serves an auxiliary role. Now that the Quanxing divine art cannot be cultivated, surely someone will say I'm deliberately suppressing him. This world is medium martial arts, even low martial arts. If one isn't careful, the power system will collapse. The Quanxing divine art cannot be practiced, but that doesn't mean it's useless.

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(Chapter End)