Chapter 64: The Future Self

Leaning lightly against the bench, Fang Can dismissed those around him and regarded Yuan Dang before him.

“Explain: are you a reincarnator, a transmigrator, or a soul reborn?”

“I’m a reincarnator from two years in the future,” Yuan Dang said after a pause.

“Liar.” Fang Can narrowed his eyes:

“My intuition tells me you’re lying. It seems your recent experience didn’t sober you up. Should I call in a few more people to help you cool down?”

Yuan Dang’s body stiffened, then he fully surrendered: “Fine, I’m a reincarnator from seven years in the future. Before I died, I was a Martial Artist at the Third Turn of the Ascending Path.”

“As for you, I can only judge your power back then based on others’ accounts—it should’ve been the Sixth Level of the Ascending Path.”

“You… seventh year later, Third Turn of the Ascending Path?”

Fang Can, though sensing no lie, was speechless: “Are you really that gifted?”

“It’s the cultivation art you created three years from now—‘Everyone Can Practice Martial Arts’—a method that lets average Martial Artists cross the Xuanguan and ascend to the Ascending Path in just one year.”

Fang Can nodded in understanding and waved for him to continue.

“In my past life, you didn’t stay at Lieyang Martial Arts Hall—you left immediately, and then the entire martial world hunted you down…”

Yuan Dang summarized Fang Can’s past-life experiences briefly, making Fang Can’s expression grow increasingly strange.

‘Where’s my turn for fortune after misfortune? Why did I end up so miserable in Yuan Dang’s memory?’

With confusion, Fang Can looked at Yuan Dang: “The Fang Tian Di you mentioned—was that really me? And why did I collect every beautiful woman in the world, just for pleasure?”

“According to rumors,” Yuan Dang hesitated,

“On the tenth day after your identity was exposed, due to your unparalleled Furnace Talent, you were forcibly abducted by the Abbess of Su Xin Zhai.”

“Su Xin Zhai? What’s that place?” Fang Can asked curiously.

“A sect composed entirely of women, like Jie Jian Shan—but with the opposite reputation. Su Xin Zhai’s ‘Great Joy Bodhisattva Sutra’ is a top-tier cultivation art for absorbing essence.”

‘Got it. A Hehuan Sect.’

Fang Can felt a chill at the back of his skull—he already foresaw his fate in this man’s tale.

“According to folk accounts, you spent only seven days absorbing the current Abbess of Su Xin Zhai until she fainted.”

“Hmm? Did you get that backwards?” Fang Can interrupted.

“No. No one knows how you did it. All we know is that when you walked out of the Hehuan Sect, you had entered the Ascending Path—but your form was no longer human.” Yuan Dang grinned, revealing sharp white teeth.

“What do you mean?”

“If you consider a fleshy mass, lacking limbs, covered in dozens of one-meter-long black tentacles, constantly shifting shape, to be human—then yes, you were human.”

‘I became a tentacle monster in the future?’ Fang Can’s lip twitched.

“According to the Yongle Encyclopedia, your legacy is called the ‘Sorrowful Wind Demon Body,’ which grows stronger through essence absorption.”

“The first sect you absorbed was Su Xin Zhai—every disciple within became fuel for your cultivation, swallowed whole and eternally trapped inside you.”

Listening to Yuan Dang’s tale, even Fang Can found it absurd—his future self was too monstrous.

“That doesn’t make sense,” Fang Can suddenly frowned. “If my future self had already fallen to darkness and intended to ravish the entire world, why would I create ‘Everyone Can Practice Martial Arts’ and add unnecessary trouble?”

“Because absorbing Ascending Path Martial Artists yields far greater progress than absorbing ordinary people,” Yuan Dang explained.

Yet, unconsciously, he recalled a rumor from his past life.

It said Fang Tian Di was actually a clean freak with little interest in women for physical needs.

Most Ascending Path Martial Artists had bodies purified of impurities—even sweat gleamed like crystal.

So to absorb clean women, Fang Can created ‘Everyone Can Practice Martial Arts.’

Though widely rumored, Yuan Dang wouldn’t believe it—this reason was too absurd to be credible.

In the dark basement, Fang Can listened silently to Yuan Dang’s tale until half an hour passed, then stepped out.

Yuan Dang inside was not dead; sensing his continued value, Fang Can ordered guards to keep watch over him.

Fang Can’s mind conjured the cultivation art ‘Everyone Can Practice Martial Arts’ as described by Yuan Dang.

With just a single thought, his mental interface already displayed the manifestation timer for this art.

Art Manifestation: [Everyone Can Practice Martial Arts]

Manifestation: 1% → 2% → 3%…

—Estimated time: two minutes—

According to Yuan Dang, to rapidly help low-talent Martial Artists sense Qi and shed their mortal shells,

‘Everyone Can Practice Martial Arts’ had been stripped of all power, difficulty, and effect to the extreme.

One could attempt the final leap into the Ascending Path upon reaching Xuanguan Fifth Level—making it the weakest in its rank.

Yet theoretically, even the weakest Ascending Path Martial Artist could crush the strongest Tui Fan Body cultivator, so over 90% of those with no hope chose this art.

‘This quick-path art is useless to me, but perfect for training subordinates—after all, ordinary Martial Artists can reach the Ascending Path in just one year?’ Fang Can mused internally.

‘But my past life really was miserable—even though I was invincible, my mental state seemed off.’

‘But since history has changed, I’ll never become that monstrous perversion he described.’ Fang Can felt utterly confident now.

As he pondered, the door burst open with a crash.

A giant man, two meters and twenty centimeters tall, gripped a massive blade and roared: “Who’s Fang Can? Come out and die!”

The thunderous voice echoed through the entire Hu Lie Martial Arts Hall, followed by a crushing mental pressure.

Fang Can’s already uneasy mood was shattered—he immediately frowned and pushed back the mental assault with his own will.

“Didn’t you see the stone tablet at the gate?”

Fang Can walked slowly closer: “Don’t destroy the premises. Don’t come knocking during rest hours…”

The man looked down at the one-meter-eighty teenager and sneered:

“I saw your damn tablet, but I’m illiterate—your rules don’t apply to me.”

Looking at the smug illiterate before him, Fang Can grew annoyed and his tone turned cold:

“Then prepare to die.”

In an instant, Fang Can’s eyes turned blood-red; his right fist shot forward like a meteor.

“Boom!”

With a thunderous crash, Fang Can’s fist sank deep into the man’s cheek.

His punch was too fast for the man to block.

Under the terrifying force, the man’s steel-like face caved in inch by inch until Fang Can’s entire fist vanished into his skull.

“Crack!”

In an instant, the force shattered the man’s face, reducing his head to pulp like a bursting watermelon.

White, red, and pink splattered outward in a fan shape, drenching the door.

(End of Chapter)