Quickly conquer the martial arts world, and let your fists dominate the heavens!

At this point, the way he addressed himself changed. He no longer referred to himself as "Dao Master" but as "Lu Mou," and his posture immediately became half a step lower.

Chen Zhan glanced at him twice, his contempt even greater than before.

"Master, these matters need not be rushed."

His tone was flat, as if he were rejecting a suggestion he wasn't particularly interested in.

"You just said that you've searched far and wide, both domestically and internationally, and haven't found a worthy opponent?"

Lu Shouyi's expression remained unchanged as he pursed his lips and said, "What I'm saying... is a bit of an exaggeration. Of course, I haven't defeated everyone in the world... Of the five great masters of the Republic of China, I've only fought against the Sword Immortal Li Jinglin."

"The results of it?"

"A draw."

"Heh, really?"

Under the moonlight, Lu Shouyi's eyes flickered. Decades of self-control kept his expression hidden. He swallowed hard. "Ahem, I'm slightly... half a point behind."

Chen Zhan smiled, exactly as he had predicted.

Since ancient times, there has been no room for faking one's skill in martial arts. Whether one's skill level is high or not can be known with a single touch. Over thousands of years, each school has its own methods and secret techniques. In addition to these secret methods, there are naturally people who study and exploit shortcuts.

Buddhism and Taoism have the most comprehensive approach.

Buddhism has a method for reproducing relics, using the two breaths of "hum" and "ha" and a secret medicine accumulated over hundreds of years, saving countless talents and hard work.

The same applies to Taoism; its internal and external alchemy methods, the "fishing for the toad" technique, and various methods of health preservation in the Taoist canon all point to the same goal.
Protect the Way, and attain immortality.

The four characters are connected, but their inner meanings are different.

Those who protect the Way primarily cultivate killing and combat. They practice internal martial arts until their breath is long and deep. Although they cannot achieve immortality, they can live for several decades longer. Master Zhang Sanfeng, Master Chen Tuan, and Master Ziyang all followed this path, as did Bodhidharma in Buddhism.

Another path avoids violence, focusing solely on cultivating inner energy and physical strength, aiming for longevity. On this path, though different from the one mentioned earlier, the ultimate goal is the same: one's skills are acquired along the way.
However, the words "killing and warfare" are still unfamiliar to him.

Lu Shouyi is the one who follows the path.

Chen Zhan understood the whole story after hearing him recount the secret Daoist texts he possessed.

With several grandmasters passing away one after another, Lu Shouyi, having survived to become the last remaining master, naively believed himself to be invincible.
Leaving aside others, Wang Ziping should still be alive, over sixty years old, possessing both inner and outer strength, and imbued with the power of a dragon and tiger. If he were to truly fight Lu Shouyi, it would only take half a quarter of an hour.
If you stay in the clouds and mist for too long, you'll start to mistake them for the sky.

Lu Shouyi was constantly observing people's expressions and demeanor.

Seeing that Chen Zhan remained calm and composed after hearing the words "slightly inferior," he felt relieved.

In his decades of experience judging people, those who are willing to listen to your explanations are the ones who are willing to spare your life.

The tear in his cotton robe was still letting in the wind, and the scabs on his hands had just begun to form. He raised his hand to straighten his clothes, regaining some of his Daoist demeanor.

"President, come back to Tiantai Mountain with me, and I'm sure you won't regret it," Lu Shouyi said with a fist and a fist salute.

Chen Zhan nodded, "Are all the things that the Yiguandao sect seized by trickery and force located on Tiantai Mountain? We should make a trip there."

"Alas, how can this be called plundering by trickery or force? Since ancient times, the world has been ruled by the capable, and this is especially true for secret manuals."

"That's true, the capable should be in charge."

The four words flowed so smoothly that Lu Shouyi felt a sense of relief, and the deal was done.

On the rocks a few meters away, Chen Zuyan's hand, holding a cigarette, froze in mid-air.

Lu Shouyi has been out of touch with worldly affairs for too long, and has even become a bit dull-witted.

He understood another meaning behind those four words. A long wisp of ash accumulated on the cuff of his military uniform. He knew Chen Zhan all too well.
Lu Shouyi raised his hand and gestured towards the sea, pointing into the distance: "I came by boat, let's return together, discussing the Dao along the way, how delightful!"

Chen Zhan stepped forward and stood in front of him.

The giant spirit's body had not dissipated. Its height of more than two meters made it two heads taller than Lu Shouyi. Its shoulders and back completely blocked the moonlight, casting a shadow over Lu Shouyi, who stood in the shadow as if he were standing at the bottom of a well.

"You're going too?"

"I don't think that's necessary. The capable should take the place. I will go myself. Daoist Master, please go down below to report for duty first."

"you!!!?"

Chen Zhan's swollen blood and qi had not yet subsided. At this distance, his large palm, seemingly clumsy, concealed speed. With a quick movement of his waist and hips, he had already unleashed his attack.

"Snapped--!"

The palm wind swirled, like a millstone, and slammed hard into his chest. Lu Shouyi uttered a single word, "You," before he was sent flying like a kite with a broken string, crashing onto the rocks with a series of thuds.

The water rippled, and figures fluttered about.

Lu Shouyi skipped several stones among the rocks on the water's surface, flying over a hundred meters. Before the splashing water had even settled, he swayed as he stood up, and like a drunkard, stumbled into the sea.

His foundation is so solid that it's unbreakable, ridiculously so.

How could Chen Zhan let him go?

With one step, the distance between them shrinks to an inch, and in the blink of an eye, they are in front of each other.

Lu Shouyi's instinct for survival preceded his thoughts. He turned around and struck with his claw, a flying dragon claw, the wind from his finger still sharp. This was something he had practiced for decades and ingrained in his bones, something he could not forget even in his dying moments.

Chen Zhan met the attack with a powerful punch.

The fist clashed head-on with the fingertips, the major tendons in the arm snapping instantly, the wrist, elbow, and shoulder bones shattering all the way up. The claw drooped limply.

The Beng Quan (Crushing Fist) continued, transforming into Pao Quan (Cannon Fist), striking upwards at the ribs. Another spray of blood mist erupted, and the man was sent flying again, crashing onto the shallows.

"Pfft... You, you really want to kill me? We have no grudge against each other... Pfft!"

His voice was stained with blood, and blood seeped from his seven orifices as he spoke, turning him into a blood-soaked figure. A large handprint was deeply sunken into his chest, his sternum was shattered, and the broken pieces tore through his flesh, exposing half of his internal organs.

He is still walking.

I got up and walked towards the sea. After a few steps, several things fell out of my chest; they were all internal organs.

He didn't look back; his vitality was so strong it was hard to describe. He used all the strength he had cultivated over decades on this escape route.

Muttering incoherently, his voice was slurred: "I don't want to die... I want to live forever. Spare me, I'll never oppose you again, I'll go into seclusion in the mountains, go into seclusion in the mountains..."

The Dao Lord's majesty was gone, his divine aura was gone, and under the moonlight, only an old man dragging his broken bones and rotten flesh forward remained, still chanting about immortality.

Chen Zhan followed behind, unmoved. "We agreed on ten moves. How many moves are left? Just bear with it a little longer, and you might not die."

As he spoke, the violent energy and blood around his body dissipated layer by layer, his bulging muscles shrank back inch by inch, his joints cracked and returned to their original positions, his energy and blood returned to his dantian, and only a few pieces of his long robe remained hanging on his shoulders. He casually tore them off and struck again with his palm. The palm struck his back, and the Great Dragon Bone, starting from his coccyx, pierced through his mingmen, jiaji, and dazhui points, segment by segment, into his palm. Lu Shouyi's figure floated forward dozens of meters and plunged into the sea, motionless.

Chen Zhan walked over, his toes barely touching the water, the half-person-deep seawater only reaching his ankles.

Looking down, Lu Shouyi was floating on his back, eyes wide open, pupils dilated, his blood and qi cut off, and his meridians silent. His feigned death by breathing like a turtle could not deceive his senses.

The person is completely dead.

He felt neither sorrow nor joy.

Lu Shouyi is a person who cannot be categorized as good or evil. He is completely detached from worldly grudges, fame, and fortune. From beginning to end, he only recognizes immortality, recognizing it purely and thoroughly.

It is precisely because of its purity that it nurtures a body that remains incorruptible even when facing the divine.

Unfortunately, those who stake their lives on immortality die just as quickly as anyone else.

He picked up the corpse, felt around on its body, pulled out a booklet, and carried it back to shore.

Chen Zuyan sat still, neither running nor making any movement. In a situation where there was no chance of survival, struggling would be futile.

The cigarette had long since burned to the end, and he hadn't thrown it away even after burning his fingers. Only now did he finally stub it out on the stone.

He watched Chen Zhan approach, looked at what he was carrying, and twitched the corner of his mouth.

The divine mandate he summoned couldn't even last ten moves.

“Brother Chen, remember you promised me that you wouldn’t let your wife and children suffer the consequences?” Chen Zuyan said.

"Okay, go ahead and rest assured."

"Okay." He closed his eyes, straightened his back, and sat as if he were in his own office, issuing orders.

Having spent half my life working on the edge, I still want to retain some dignity in this final moment.

Chen Zhan reached out and gently pressed his forehead. A surge of energy coursed through him, shattering his consciousness and causing him to instantly lose consciousness, his breathing and heartbeat ceasing.
The journey was painless.

No body search, no pocket check.

The two corpses were placed side by side on the rocks, and several dry planks were dragged from the ruins of the bunker and placed underneath them. A fire was lit.

Flames shot into the sky, illuminating half of the mudflats red. A sea breeze blew, and the flames licked the night sky at an angle.

Chen Zhanli stood by the fire for a moment, then turned and walked towards the dock. He untied the mooring rope of Lu Shouyi's small boat, pushed it off the shore with a bamboo pole, and the boat left the shore.

Behind me, the firelight shrank to a tiny dot in the darkness, slowly sinking below the horizon.

Three days later, in Nanjing.

The Military Intelligence Bureau headquarters received a secret report from the East China region. After careful consideration of the wording, it was still unpleasant: the operation had failed, Director Chen had died in the line of duty, the Qin brothers had died in the line of duty, the leader of the Yiguandao sect was missing, and of the thirty-seven people who participated in the operation, only five survived, all of whom swam back.

Five statements couldn't even form a single coherent sentence.

Some say the target was walking on the water, others insist that the bullet hit the figure, which then scattered like moonlight, and still others say that the half-meter-thick wall of the bunker was dismantled by a pair of hands, with five finger marks left on the broken surface.

The clerk stopped writing halfway through, looked up, and asked, "Do I have to record all of this too?"

“Record it exactly as it is.”

The confessions, along with topographical maps and lists of casualties, were placed in a manila paper bag, sealed with sealing wax, and classified as top secret. Only four words were written on the cover.

"This must not be disclosed to outsiders."

As for holding people accountable, nobody mentioned it.

Chen Zuyan's phone call before her death made it clear: everyone who could be transferred had been transferred, everyone who could be invited had been invited, and the people invited had stayed on the island. If we report it up the chain of command, we have to answer one question: who else can we send?

Should we report the mobilization of a large army?

No one could answer the question, so the case file was buried.

The highest level of compensation was paid. The funeral hall was set up for three days. A military uniform was placed in the coffin. His wife, along with their two children, escorted the coffin back to their hometown. They were looked after at each station along the way and were undisturbed the entire journey.
No one bothered them after that.

Tiantai Mountain.

The messenger waited outside the mountain gate for seven days, but the Lord did not return.

Several close disciples on the mountain opened a stone house. The cultivation methods, elixir formulas, land deeds, and registers and accounts of altars from various places were locked in the cabinet as they were. There was not a layer of dust on them, and no one dared to touch them. No one had returned.

According to the rules of Yiguandao, it is common for the leader to go into seclusion and travel, sometimes for eight or ten years without any news. Meanwhile, the altars in various places continue to operate as usual, collecting donations, and the transmission masters continue to preach about the three periods of the final tribulation.

But the lights on Tiantai Mountain remained lit every night from then on, and no one ever came again.

Shanghai Bund.

No matter how tightly things are covered up on the island, those who escaped back can't keep their mouths shut.

The story first circulated within the Military Intelligence Bureau, then spread to the Green Robe Society, then to the martial arts world, and finally to teahouses. By then, the story had changed: On an island at the mouth of the Yangtze River, a Military Intelligence Bureau section chief, a senior colonel, and two Grandmasters of the Daoist arts were killed overnight. Only one person was responsible for the attack.

That person's surname was Chen.

The Green Gang's various branches closed one after another, hanging up signs indicating closure. Prominent figures packed up their belongings and went south or overseas, with many dispersing overnight.

With old debts accumulating in Hong Kong and new debts in Shanghai's Buddhist temples, no one wanted to start the next one.

In the old teahouse next to the City God Temple, the storyteller slammed down his gavel and began telling the same old story from over a decade ago: "Fighting the Cherry Blossoms Alone."

An old man put down his teacup and after a long pause said, "So, that person has returned?"

No one in the room responded; everyone drank their own tea, which cooled down quickly.

Soviet Area.

Early in the morning, Ye Ningzhen practiced standing meditation in the courtyard, the Three-Body Stance, for an hour at a time. After finishing the meditation, she glanced south.
This happens every single day.

On the evening of the fifth day, there was a knock on the courtyard gate, three long knocks and two short knocks.

She hurried out and opened the door. Standing outside was a young man in a gray cloth shirt, with an old bundle on his shoulder. The spines of several thread-bound books peeked out from the corner of the bundle, and the salty smell of the sea breeze had not yet dissipated.

"The sixth day," Chen Zhan said, "I didn't break my promise."

Ye Ningzhen stepped aside to let him in, closed the door, bolted it, and as she turned away, she couldn't suppress the smile playing on her lips. (End of Chapter)