As if touched by this sorrowful atmosphere, Mo Buzhi, a great Confucian scholar of the Confucian Sect standing nearby, sighed, as though recalling something as well.
"That day, I was engaging in a scholarly debate."
"As you know, I go by the name Mo Buzhi. While I cannot claim to know everything, I have read widely and deeply."
"The principles of human conduct, the laws of heaven and earth—I understood them all."
"Yet... he suddenly asked me how to prove that $d^2x/dt^2 = (-d^2t/dx^2) / (dt/dx)^3$."
"I... sigh, better not to speak of it! That aside, what I found most unacceptable was that he answered every single question I posed with absolute perfection. I thought I had encountered some reclusive great scholar, only to discover there is something called Baidu!"
"What a pity, what a pity."
Mo Buzhi sighed, put down the book in his hand, took out a phone from inside his robe, and started fiddling with it.
Lin Fan: "..."
This fellow was truly a tragic figure!
The old man Dao Wanqian seemed to have a bizarre hobby of exposing other people's shortcomings. He turned his head to look at Gongshu Ming, the descendant of the Mo Sect dressed in a black Zhongshan suit, who was still playing with a bird nearby.
"Don't look at him playing with birds so happily now."
"Heh, once upon a time, how glorious was the Mo Sect."
"Our founding master, Gongshu Ban, mastered the art of crafting flying birds. The wooden birds he carved could ride the wind and soar, drawing the awe of the entire world like immortals."
"There was even the art of the wooden horse, concealing mechanisms within so one could ride it a thousand miles a day."
"But now..." Dao Wanqian looked at Gongshu Ming. "I heard you raced an airplane last time. How did that turn out?"
The fingers Gongshu Ming used to tease the little bird trembled slightly.
After a long while, Gongshu Ming flushed red and squeezed out two words: "Not bad."
"Specifically, how did it go?" Dao Wanqian looked at Gongshu Ming with a smile.
"I hadn't even taken off yet when I was knocked over by the jet blast from that plane..." Gongshu Ming's face was flushed with embarrassment, but he still refused to admit defeat. "Still, you can't say my Mo Sect's flying bird is inferior to an airplane. It's just... it's just... it's just that that airplane was despicable, actually using a jet blast against me!"
"Give it a rest, the only thing you can do is feel the exhaust fumes of other people's planes right at the start," Dao Wanqian sneered. "Otherwise, you wouldn't even see the tail of the plane."
"Not necessarily, not necessarily..." Gongshu Ming shook his head, wanting to refute, but after uttering 'not necessarily' for a long time, he failed to spit out another word.
"Enough." Dao Wanqian waved his hand and swept his gaze across the crowd. "Actually, what state we're in right now, everyone knows very well in their hearts. There's no need to hide it."
"And you."
Dao Wanqian looked at Lin Fan with a complicated gaze. "Do you know what kind of situation we are in now?"
"If this were earlier times, perhaps we could have helped you with something."
"But now."
"The times have changed."
"Take my Daoist Sect for instance. We used to have the art of 'flying sound transmission.' In truth, that was an exaggeration; it was just certain specialized Daoists raising carrier pigeons to deliver messages for people. Even so, the speed of message delivery back then was still miraculous, regarded as divine."
"But now." Dao Wanqian carefully cradled a mobile phone from his pocket and said in a deep voice, "This magical artifact called a mobile phone only requires a few gentle presses to achieve true flying sound transmission, and it even has young women dancing inside it... cough, cough."
"In short."
"Right now, we are not great masters; we are merely people discarded by the times."
"Peerless martial prowess? Can you match artillery?"
"Superb swordsmanship? Can you fight a Gatling gun?"
"And what about Mo Sect stealth techniques, or the sword technique known as 'Starfall Flash'... isn't a sniper rifle simpler and more efficient?"
"The so-called Mr. Mo Buzhi—can he compete with Baidu for knowledge?"
"And the Demon-Subduing Iron Staff—wasn't it subdued and left docile by electricity?"
"So."
"Martial arts in this era are no longer killing techniques; at most, they can only be considered a craft for keeping fit."
"We truly cannot help you with anything."
"What's more, our opponents are gods. Even if we wanted to help you, it would merely be mortal manpower," Dao Wanqian sighed. "Instead of seeking our help, you'd be better off finding a few bulldozers and hydraulic presses. Those are forces far greater than us."
The others were also left speechless.
Xingye, who had previously worn a casual and indifferent expression, now lowered her head and clenched her fists.
How they wished they could contribute their strength to Daxia!
Yet.
The times had changed!
In this era of rapid technological advancement, what could martial arts families and sects like theirs still do for Daxia?
Airplanes, high-speed rail, tanks, artillery.
Hydraulic presses, bulldozers.
Weren't these faster, more lethal, and more powerful than them?
Human manpower had long since been crushed by modern technology.
How could they possibly fight gods?
Under such advanced conditions of modern technology, could their martial arts still be of any use?
Looking at the dejected and silent crowd, Lin Fan understood.
These fellows didn't lack the desire to contribute to Daxia; rather, they felt they completely lacked the ability to help!
Nor did they believe they could rely on human martial arts to fight gods!
At that moment.
Lin Fan suddenly understood why Xingye had cried out with her dying breath in the previous life: "If you gave me another five years, how could even gods dare to step a single inch into Daxia!"
Because.
At this moment, they hadn't yet realized just how formidable the power they would possess in the not-so-distant future truly was!
And by the time they realized it.
The gods had already descended!
While they remained completely unprepared!
That was why these guilt-ridden individuals would cherish time so dearly in the future, fighting for Daxia every single second.
For a moment.
"Hahaha."
"Interesting."
Seeing the gloomy atmosphere among the crowd, Lin Fan suddenly burst into laughter.
That laughter was exceptionally abrupt.
It felt entirely out of place with the atmosphere.
The laughter was like a handful of salt sprinkled straight onto the wounds of the depressed and dejected group.
"What," Wang Hu, the burly man with the fiercest temper, was the first to stand up, slamming his fist onto the table, "are you also mocking us—these simple-minded folks with well-developed limbs—for being discarded by the times?"
"Heh." Lin Fan looked at Wang Hu and smiled, "I'm not laughing at you for being discarded by the times."
"I am laughing at the fact that you have no idea how strong you will become, and just how powerful your martial arts truly are!"
"What do you mean?" Wang Hu frowned. "Could it be that you, a fellow who hasn't even cultivated, understand better than us..."
Lin Fan ignored Wang Hu and tapped his finger directly onto the sturdy, thick mahogany table in front of him!
"Crack!"
The next moment, Wang Hu's voice abruptly cut off as his eyes widened, staring fiercely at Lin Fan!
And at the mahogany table right in front of him!
Chapter 21: The Times Have Not Abandoned You
"Crack!"
A crisp sound rang out abruptly.
The very instant Lin Fan's index finger—which appeared to be devoid of any applied force—touched the surface of the table, that solid, smooth mahogany tabletop, a full five centimeters thick, instantly emitted an unbearable groan. As if struck by a heavy hammer weighing several tons, it shattered the moment his finger landed!
Cracks spread like a spiderweb!
The next moment.
Under the stunned gazes of everyone present:
"Swish, crash!"
"Boom!"
The mahogany office table that had been standing there just moments before collapsed with a roar, turning into a pile of shattered wood across the floor.
At that moment, the entire room fell dead silent.
Everyone stood frozen in place, staring blankly at the pile of broken wood and the young man standing quietly amidst the wreckage.
Xingye, the black-clad girl who had previously been yawning and looking listless, instantly straightened her spine, her eyes filled with shock.
Master Beimin, the compassionate master who had constantly twirled his prayer beads and chanted scriptures as if nothing concerned him, abruptly opened his eyes, his fingers freezing instantly upon the beads!
Everyone present practiced martial arts.
Everyone knew just how sturdy a solid mahogany table was.
This wasn't some thin board used for stage performances that shattered at a mere touch; this was a table made of solid mahogany.
Heavy!
Hard!
Its density was terrifyingly high, and this massive conference table weighed at least a ton!
The tabletop alone was five centimeters thick.
After industrial processing, if you threw it into water, far from floating, it would sink to the bottom in a matter of seconds.
Coupled with the unique toughness of the wood, even if Master Beimin were to strike it with his full force using his pure iron demon-subduing staff, he might be able to smash a huge dent into it, but he could never shatter it to pieces!
Yet the youth before them...
Without displaying any visible exertion, with just a light tap of his finger,
He had turned the thick, solid mahogany table into a pile of wood fragments in an instant!
This was even more shocking than piercing straight through the tabletop.
It was hard to imagine what kind of power was contained in that single finger to instantly pulverize an entire table!
You must know.
Their previous impression of Lin Fan was merely that of a handsome high school boy.
Even if this boy claimed to have returned from the future and was the Guardian God of Daxia in that future... right now, before even the gods had descended, having just returned, he ought to have merely possessed the body of an ordinary teenager!
Yet such a delicate youth,
With a single finger, shattered a table!
"This..." Wang Hu stared at Lin Fan in disbelief. "This is impossible! You... you must have sawed it beforehand... Right, these are just stage props from television!"
It was no wonder Wang Hu refused to believe it.
The scene was simply too shocking; surely only stage props on TV could behave like that!
Lin Fan looked at Wang Hu with a smile, offering no rebuttal.
"Wang Hu, that's enough." The old man Dao Wanqian slowly stood up, his complex gaze sweeping over the pile of broken wood: "Those cut surfaces weren't sawed."
"They were shattered by sheer force!"
As soon as those words were spoken,
Wang Hu stood frozen on the spot.
"Young friend," Old Master Dao Wanqian said, his gaze complicated, a glimmer of expectant light flickering in his eyes: "Was that martial arts just now? May I ask how many years young friend has practiced to reach such a realm?"
For a moment, everyone present looked straight at Lin Fan!
They all wanted the answer to this question!
Had they not witnessed it with their own eyes, it would have been hard to believe that the scene they just saw could ever be achieved by human manpower!
Could martial arts truly reach this step?
However.
"I haven't practiced long. Roughly... two days and two nights?" Lin Fan smiled.
"What?!"
"Two days and two nights?"
"How is that possible?"
"I've practiced Xingyi boxing for thirty years, mastering all twelve animal forms to integration, but even with the Tiger-Crane dual forms, I couldn't achieve this! You only used two days and two nights?"
"Impossible, impossible... You, you must have been practicing in secret for who knows how long..."
For a moment, absolute disbelief painted every face.
What Lin Fan said was simply too incredible.
Even Old Master Dao Wanqian, whose mental cultivation and composure were exceptionally high, shook his head slightly at this moment: "Impossible."
To shatter a mahogany table with a single finger—
Even if human strength could truly accomplish it, wouldn't it require an unknown number of years of cultivation?
Yet.
"Everyone." Lin Fan smiled: "I truly only practiced for two days and two nights."
Lin Fan was not lying.
Ever since he traveled back from the future, he had begun quietly cultivating the God-Slaying and Demon-Butchering Technique within his body, but at most, it had only been two days and two nights of practice.
At that moment,
Meeting Lin Fan's clear and sincere eyes, Dao Wanqian's heart sank.
This youth seemed truly not to be lying!
For a moment, everyone present was struck with a nameless shock.
This fellow had really only practiced for two days?
Yet,
Beyond the shock, a spark of hope ignited in everyone's eyes.
After all, in the present era, technology flourished while martial arts declined.
They possessed unique skills, but as Dao Wanqian had said, no matter how great your strength was, could you fight a bulldozer head-on?
No matter how many books you read, could you debate Baidu?
You might excel at assassination, but could you compare to a sniper rifle?
Although they usually kept quiet about it, deep down everyone knew that human limits had their bounds, and martial arts had lost the glory of ancient times.
But seeing Lin Fan shatter the table with a single finger,
A trace of anticipation and hope rose in everyone's hearts... Could this truly be the limit of what human strength could achieve?
Could martial arts really reach such a level?
Yet,
Right at that moment, Lin Fan suddenly spoke: "However."
"What I cultivate is not martial arts."
"It is a path of the demigod."
At these words, everyone was taken aback.
"A path of the demigod?" Dao Wanqian was slightly stunned. "You mean..."
"The path to becoming a demigod," Lin Fan said calmly. "This is a set of cultivation techniques developed in the future by Mr. Chen Yan for Daxia to deal with the gods."
"It is not martial arts."
"However, it can gather the scattered Divine Power from the air into the body for one's own use, tapping into the potential of the human body... and even transcending human limits."
"Ultimately, it reaches the demigod tier!"
"Though one cannot become a true god without Godhood, a demigod can still face gods head-on and even inflict certain injuries upon them."
For a moment,
The gazes of the crowd turned desolate once more.
It seemed,
This had nothing much to do with martial arts.
However,
At this point, Lin Fan suddenly smiled: "I can pass this cultivation technique on to you, and you can begin practicing immediately."
"Of course, during your first time practicing, it certainly won't go as smoothly as it did for me."
"It will probably take you about a week to initially grasp the use of Divine Power."
"To achieve demigod strength... although the meridians within your bodies are already unblocked, absorbing the Divine Power in the air and learning to master it will still take time—about two months."
"Believe me, in the future, you will fully unleash the power of martial arts. Not only have the times not abandoned you, they actually need you to save them!"
"Martial arts will continue to shine brilliantly in your hands. Those gods who scoff at guns and artillery will die at the hands of our Eastern martial arts! They will die by human martial arts!"
As these words fell,
Everyone stood frozen in place.
To study... the God-Slaying and Demon-Butchering Technique?
To master the use of Divine Power?
Even, with a mortal body and relying on martial arts, to fight the gods?
This... was simply too incredible!
And this was the true purpose Lin Fan had been building up to for so long.
He wanted these fellows to willingly study the God-Slaying and Demon-Butchering Technique and become the first batch of the God-Slaying Army! In the upcoming invasion of the Ocean God, they would unleash the true might of martial arts.
This time,
Let the gods witness human martial arts, and witness the power possessed by this tiny species called humanity!
Chapter 22: The First Batch of Members of the God-Slaying Army
Lin Fan's words carried the weight of iron and stone!
Having personally experienced the brutal wars of that future, Lin Fan knew clearly what martial arts meant to humanity!
The gods had divine arts and believers.
Whereas humanity could only rely on its own strength!
Martial arts would be the sharp blade wielded by humanity against the gods!
And the people before him were all descendants of major martial arts families or sects, having undergone bitter training since childhood, their martial arts already reaching the realm of perfection.
Decades of arduous cultivation meant that the meridians throughout their bodies were already unblocked, directly skipping the most difficult step of the God-Slaying and Demon-Butchering Technique.
You must know, it wasn't that ordinary people couldn't practice the God-Slaying and Demon-Butchering Technique; if it were possible, Lin Fan would have loved to broadcast the technique on television for everyone in Daxia to learn, granting every citizen the power to slay gods!
The problem, however, was this.
Human meridians were far too complex. For an ordinary person to open them one by one would take at least half a year, and the slightest misstep would bring about severe backlash.
Even someone like Lin Fan—the Supreme Commander of the Asian Alliance in his past life who had pushed the God-Slaying and Demon-Butchering Technique to its absolute peak—had spent a full night enduring excruciating pain just to clear all his meridians bit by bit.
While these ancient martial arts descendants had previously lived in a world devoid of Divine Power and could never break through human limits no matter how they trained,
Their meridians were already opened!
All they needed to do was absorb the Divine Power!
"Wait... Divine Power..." Dao Wanqian suddenly noticed something amiss. "You just said, absorbing the Divine Power between heaven and earth... meaning..."
"That's right." Lin Fan nodded. "Previously, Blue Star had no Divine Power."
"But right now, those two Ocean Gods are cracking the plane barrier of Blue Star, and have already torn open a fissure."
"In three months at most, they will descend upon Blue Star."
At this point, Lin Fan's tone grew slightly heavy, but his words immediately shifted as he continued.
"Yet precisely because of the crack they tore open, the breath of the God Realm has leaked into our world, adding a wisp of Divine Power to the air."
"This kind of Divine Power cannot be perceived by ordinary people, but to you... it should be what your Daoism calls the essence of the sun and moon, what Confucianism calls the righteous qi, and what Buddhism calls compassionate Buddha-qi."
"It's also what other sects call internal energy... Different names are used, but in truth, they all refer to Divine Power."
"And with this power, martial arts become true martial arts."
With Lin Fan's explanation, everyone present finally understood what Divine Power was.
Dao Wanqian nodded in realization: "So that's how it is. Divine Power is internal energy... No wonder no matter how I practiced before, I could never cultivate the internal energy described by our ancestors in the classics."
"Looked at this way, those ancestors weren't bragging after all."
"Traveling a thousand miles on a flying sword, summoning thunder and lightning, refining elixirs and subduing demons—all of these were once real... And the reason we couldn't achieve them wasn't because our predecessors were blowing smoke, but because we lacked internal energy!"
"As the Vajra Subduing Scripture states: 'Practice without internal cultivation is like duckweed on water, all show on the surface with no roots and hollow foundation.'" The white-robed monk nearby recalled the description in the scripture and couldn't help chanting softly, "Amitabha, so that is how it is. The Buddha had long since revealed this to me; had it not been for the benefactor's guidance, this poor monk would still have failed to see Mount Tai."
For a moment,
Everyone's hearts surged with excitement.
They had once thought that martial arts had declined.
They had once thought that they, the descendants of ancient martial arts, had been eliminated by the times.
They had also once thought that those predecessors had been hoodwinking them; otherwise, why else would they explain that despite practicing internal arts for many years by following the classics, not a shred of internal energy existed within their bodies?
But looking at it now—
They simply hadn't unleashed the true might of martial arts!
True martial arts were just as those predecessors recorded: upon achieving mastery, one could either vault over eaves and walk on walls, or fly on swords thousands of miles to slay enemies!
A body brimming with righteous qi, a single word commanding the laws of heaven and earth!
A boundless Buddha-light, the Vajra glaring in wrath!
A body like Mo Sect stealth, a sword like falling stars!
A mechanical dragon, a hundred-meter wooden puppet!
This was the true martial arts of Daxia!