Wang Xuan put down the yellowed body technique secret book and picked up a gold bamboo slip from the pre-Qin period.

It was only eight centimeters long, very heavy, and not like bamboo. It was warm and smooth like jade, and was given to him by Qing Mu when he joined the exploration organization.

According to Zhao Qinghan, there were only four complete gold bamboo slips excavated from Old Planet in the past hundreds of years, and two of them were already scattered due to disputes.

Wang Xuan estimated that a complete gold bamboo slip should have dozens of pieces, and it would be extremely difficult to collect them all.

He looked at the carved image on it, a creature with a human head and a snake body, but the meaning was unclear due to the limited samples.

He put the bamboo slip aside, and he needed to accumulate slowly on the path of the Old Techniques. There was no need to focus on the pre-Qin strange objects from the beginning.

In the morning, Wang Xuan went to practice the root method of the alchemist. He cherished the peaceful life he had now, as he would start working in two days.

When he came back sweating, he couldn't help but walk over to the golden body secret book on the desk.

After careful observation and identification, he was sure that the yellowed scripture was an antique, not a fake, but the records in the book were too unreliable.

In the end, he couldn't help it and after washing up, he changed to a special phone card and contacted Qing Mu, a member of the exploration organization, for advice.

After hearing his general description, Qing Mu burst into laughter and said, "Ancient people have a problem of exaggeration. Hundreds or thousands of years are all nonsense, just to show the extraordinary of this body technique. Just listen to it. Wait a minute, I remember, this body technique seems to be very famous. It first appeared in the Northern Song Dynasty, but I don't remember the details."

Wang Xuan was a little admiring after hearing this. Qing Mu even knew something about the origin of this scripture. People who had succeeded in practicing the Old Techniques were indeed extraordinary.

"You can practice this body technique, but remember not to be superstitious about it. Not to mention the later stages, just practicing the first seven or eight layers requires hundreds of years. Who would believe that? Imagine if the author really did as the scripture described, where did he go? He was a person from the Northern Song Dynasty. If he had practiced to the thirteenth layer, wouldn't he still be alive now? But someone in later generations seems to have found his tomb."

...

After hanging up the phone, Wang Xuan's mood was complicated.

Originally, he had some unrealistic ideas. If the golden body technique was somewhat credible, the end of the Old Techniques might not be the end of the world!

But Qing Mu's words directly made him understand how unreliable ancient people were.

"The author of the golden body technique, I remember you, and also Zhou Mingxuan, I remember you too!"

Soon, Wang Xuan went out to visit his professor on New Planet. Tomorrow, he and his classmates would cross the starry sky, and Professor Lin would also return on the same spaceship as them.

At the farewell, he naturally went to see Professor Lin again, and bid him farewell in advance, as he would not be able to approach the spaceship tomorrow.

Professor Lin had white hair, was slightly chubby, but still looked good, with a red glow on his face and full of energy in his laughter."Don't complain, sometimes ancient people like to exaggerate, but the Golden Body technique is indeed not simple. It is said that after mastering it, one can be impervious to knives and spears. The creator's name is Zhou Yunkong, a legendary figure who had skin tougher than the best armor, lived for over 150 years, and died of old age in Shushan. During the Ming Dynasty, tomb robbers raided his tomb, which led to the discovery of the secret book of the Golden Body technique. This person was really powerful, and there are records of him in unofficial history books."

Wang Xuan was speechless. How could a person who lived for over 150 years develop a physical technique that took thousands or tens of thousands of years to master?

He sighed, realizing that there were many great deceivers in ancient times.

However, it was indeed unfortunate that Zhou Yunkong's tomb was raided by tomb robbers.

Wang Xuan admired Professor Lin's vast knowledge. He had dug out the roots of the Golden Body technique's original creator, surpassing what Qing Mu knew.

"Don't underestimate the Golden Body technique. Its ability to let Zhou Yunkong live for over 150 years speaks for itself. Also, when the tomb robbers dug him up, his body had not completely decayed yet, and was as hard as iron and stone. Even iron swords could not cut him, and that was after he had been dead for two or three hundred years."

Wang Xuan's heart was stirred, and he was looking forward to mastering the Golden Body technique.

In this era, a single firearm could kill a master of the old arts. If he could master the Golden Body technique, his life would become much harder to take.

"Zhou Yunkong and Zhou Mingxuan share the same surname. Could they be related?"

But soon Wang Xuan shook his head. It was unlikely that Zhou Mingxuan would have given away a family heirloom.

"This secret book is only about 200 years old, so it was probably copied by later generations. After studying it, I think it is authentic."

Since he could no longer fight, Professor Lin had switched to theoretical research and studying various old arts and techniques. His vision was sharp, and his judgments were accurate.

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"Today, this secret book has given me a lot of inspiration. If the Golden Body technique is so exaggerated, are there other old texts that are also like this?"

This was the fundamental reason why Wang Xuan consulted Professor Zhou. The secret book that Zhou Mingxuan had given him had disturbed his mind.

Could the legends about the old arts be trusted? For example, the methods left behind by the ancient Taoist masters, had they also been exaggerated?

Professor Lin shook his head and said, "It's not as serious as you think. Exaggerations like the Golden Body technique are rare, and mainly related to the historical context of that time. For example, even official battle reports at that time exaggerated the number of enemy casualties. The reality was much less, but folk stories and rumors were even more exaggerated."

Wang Xuan listened in silence. He felt that mastering the old arts required a lot of knowledge. Apart from studying the Daoist canon, he might also need to read more history.

Professor Lin added, "The strength of the ancient Taoist masters has been verified by some life research institutions on New Planet. A few bodies of Taoist masters from the pre-Qin period were dug up on Old Planet by conglomerates and research institutions. They were analyzed and the conclusions were reliable."

"So, don't doubt the brilliance of the old arts back then. If you want to walk this path, confidence is important."Wang Xuan immediately became serious and said, "I understand now. I fell behind. Originally, I joined the Old Art Experimental Class out of interest, but later I wanted to continuously explore it."

In the field of Old Arts, he had never been superstitious. At first, he wanted to follow in the footsteps of his predecessors, but ultimately he had to verify this path with his own self.

Professor Lin was a bit emotional and said, "Nowadays, the technological civilization is brilliant. For those who practice Old Arts, they can always feel boundless pressure."

Wang Xuan nodded, but his belief in his heart became even more firm. If Old Arts had no way forward at the end of the road, then he hoped to make some contributions himself!

...

In the evening, Wang Xuan studied body techniques and meditated on root methods in his residence. Finally, he went downstairs and started to gather Qi and cultivate internally outside the woods in the residential area, facing the moonlight.

He emptied himself and felt extremely clear in his heart. The soft and pure moonlight filled his soul. At this moment, he had a strong perception of both internal and external.

Suddenly, Wang Xuan felt his forehead tighten and bulge, as if it was about to be pierced by a sharp weapon. He was horrified and instinctively moved his body to the side at high speed.

Chirp!

With a light sound, he felt the heat in his temple, and a terrible airflow flew past his ear. Some of his hair broke off and emitted a burnt smell.

Swish!

The next moment, Wang Xuan, like an agile cheetah, plunged into the dense forest of the residential area.

This was an old residential area, and the trees planted in the past had grown into towering trees after decades of growth. They were particularly lush and covered Wang Xuan's figure in an instant.

At this moment, Wang Xuan's eyes were sharp as two swords, coldly staring in a certain direction in the forest. At the same time, his heart was beating violently.

Just now, he was shot!

Death was only a finger's length away from him. If he hadn't moved his body to the side in advance, his head would have been pierced, and he would have died without a doubt!

At that moment, he felt the terrible airflow caused by the bullet passing by, and there was a strong wind blowing past his ear. It broke off a lot of his hair.

Who was it? How dare they shoot in the residential area? This was simply reckless and beyond the imagination of ordinary people!

Old Planet had always had strict gun control. Ordinary citizens never had to worry about being inexplicably shot. The public security had always been good.

But now, Wang Xuan had personally experienced a life-threatening crisis and encountered such an extremely serious malignant event. Someone wanted to kill him without any scruples and started to act in the residential area, which was really outrageous!

The opponent's gun was equipped with a silencer and did not alarm anyone nearby. Wang Xuan searched for the enemy in silence.

He didn't rush out because he didn't know how many people were hiding in the dark and how many guns there were. He suddenly took off his coat and threw it outside the woods.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

In an instant, he heard three slight sounds, and the falling coat instantly appeared three bullet holes. The sniper's strength was amazing, and his response speed was super fast. His marksmanship was frighteningly accurate.

Wang Xuan's face was very cold. There were at least three powerful gunmen waiting for an opportunity to shoot him outside the fence of the residential area.

He even judged the positions of the three gunmen.

But he didn't go out, instead he hid behind the trees deep in the forest.

Because he didn't know if there were still people who hadn't acted in secret, he didn't want to be someone else's target on this moonlit night.

At this moment, the first thing that came to his mind was... the Golden Body Technique.If he practiced this body technique, he would not care if there were others lurking in the shadows and would directly counterattack, hunting down enemies under the stars and moon.

Wang Xuan remained calm and did not act rashly.

He switched to a special phone card and contacted Qing Mu, explaining the situation briefly and quickly.

"You did the right thing. Without firearms, find cover and hide. Professionals will come to deal with it soon, and I'll come over and bring you some equipment."

After Qing Mu hung up the phone, his face became extremely cold. Even he felt that those people were reckless. This was a large city on Old Planet, and such a malicious shooting incident had actually occurred.

If it were an encounter between some large organizations or conglomerates during outdoor exploration, they might fight each other for treasure, but they had to follow one rule: they could not open fire in the city and involve ordinary citizens.

Otherwise, the whole society would be in chaos.

This was an unspoken agreement, a customary rule that all organizations and institutions followed, and few dared to cause trouble.

Otherwise, the country would educate those organizations and institutions on how to behave. Although Old Planet had declined, certain bottom lines had always been maintained.

Wang Xuan climbed up a big tree and pondered quietly. Who wanted to kill him?

He had just left the campus and encountered this kind of thing.

He thought about some recent people and events and went through all the people and forces related to him. His eyes flickered with a cold light.

First, he joined the exploration organization and went to Qingcheng Mountain yesterday. He didn't know if he left any clues, which attracted someone's killing intent.

The forces involved included the Zhou family, the Ling family, and the Wu family, and the individuals involved included Jin Chuan from the exploration organization.

Wang Xuan also included Wu Yin, whom he met for the first time last night, in the list of individuals.

In addition to these people and forces, he traced back further in time. Zhou Yun had personal grievances with him.

Moreover, Zhou Mingxuan, Zhou Yun's father, was quite powerful.

Furthermore, thinking even further back, Wang Xuan remembered that someone tried to keep him on Old Planet and prevent him from going to New Planet, although it was not related to this incident. He still went through it.

Wang Xuan was full of killing intent as he guessed and deduced which person or force had the audacity to shoot and kill in the residential area of the city.

Who was it that was so ruthless and reckless, wanting to kill him?!

If he died, would someone quietly erase the traces without alarming the outside world or causing any waves? The person or force that made the move seemed very confident!

————

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