Chapter 120

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Chapter 120: Human Path Sutra"

After the initial happiness, Hai Wuya became aware of another issue, and his eyebrows furrowed.

"Maybe it’s not appropriate," Hai Wuya said.

"I studied diligently in the heavenly prison for thirty years and created a unique martial art. It is actually different from ancient martial arts and the present martial arts."

"This path is not yet perfect. Currently, I am the only one practicing it, so there may still be shortcomings. It may not be suitable for others to practice."

"If martial arts cultivation goes astray, it can be deadly."

"Although Qiao Zhong is a death row inmate with a life-threatening situation, it is not yet appropriate to promote this incomplete martial art."

Hai Wuya’s martial arts focus on humanity, but this proposition is too big for him.

Human effort is sometimes limited. Even after studying in the heavenly prison for thirty years, the martial art he discovered is still just a beginning.

"Mr. Hai is indeed kind and just. Despite being overwhelmed, you still has the capacity to concern himself with other people’s lives." Wei En’s lips slightly curled, and his usual cold expression softened a bit at this moment.

Hai Wuya is advanced in age, but now it seems that his exploration of martial arts has yielded results.

The most urgent matter for him is probably spreading the teachings, but he can’t hold back at this moment.

"However, Mr. Hai doesn’t need to make a hasty decision. You can personally ask Qiao Zhong if he is willing to take the risk of becoming obsessed or even dying, in order to practice your techniques."

"Whether to pass on the teachings or not is the suggestion of Wuji Association, but ultimately it depends on your own decision."

"To practice or not, it ultimately depends on Qiao Zhong’s own thoughts."

Hai Wuya pondered.

………..

When Wei En and Hai Wuya returned from the interrogation room, they discovered that Dao Zhen from the Great Dao Sect was no longer there.

He seemed to be aware that he was not welcome in this heavenly prison, so he decided to leave first… temporarily, of course.

His duty was to monitor Qiao Mu. Although Qiao Mu couldn’t leave the heavenly prison, it was still necessary to go through the motions.

Wei En dismissed the guards around him and found a reason to send them away, then he left himself.

In the corner of this heavenly prison, only Qiao Mu and Hai Wuya are left for now.

It was silent around, and for a moment, they could only hear the sound of mice scurrying in the corner.

Hai Wuya first tidied up the messy prison cell, arranging the books on the floor neatly and creating a small empty space.

This small empty space was his "desk," with sunlight shining through the window, casting a glow on his shoulder and dust floating in the light.

He turned his head to look at Qiao Mu and suddenly asked,

"Qiao Zhong, someone asked me to pass on all my lifelong knowledge to you… but before that, I have a question."

"You are already in your sixties, not young anymore, and have achieved the 4th rank in martial arts, practicing for many years. It is likely that you already have your own martial arts philosophy…"

"Let me ask you, why do you practice martial arts?"

Qiao Mu squinted his eyes.

From Hai Wuya’s Martial Saint Spiritual Technique intuition and this sentence, he should be the person sent by the Wuji Association to pass on his top-level techniques.

So, he entered this heavenly prison and happened to be arranged in the neighboring cell to Hai Wuya’s. It doesn’t seem like a coincidence.

So, he started thinking seriously about Hai Wuya’s question.

Based on his extensive experience of doing dangerous things, he keenly realized that this was a great opportunity to show off his skills and impress others.

If he were to talk extensively in front of Hai Wuya about helping people and defeating immortals using martial arts, considering Hai Wuya’s hostile stance towards inhuman beings, he would certainly earn high marks this time.

But after listening to Hai Wuya’s understanding of martial arts, he suddenly didn’t want to answer like that anymore.

"Training in martial arts is naturally for becoming stronger." This is what Qiao Mu truly thinks, rather than some lofty and righteous ideology.

"My goal is to make my fists bigger and stronger."

Hai Wuya remained silent, showing no expression on his face.

He spent thirty years in the heavenly prison, but he was not oblivious to the outside world.

He heard about the death of the Martial Saint and the several disturbances caused by his cellmate.

However, he didn’t show any disappointment on his face when he heard Qiao Mu’s simple intention.

Qiao Mu continued, "Only with a big fist can one stand up and fight against injustice and unfairness."

"If the fist is not big enough and the abilities are insufficient, standing up rashly may not only invite danger, but also fail to save people, or even harm family members."

"What I seek is nothing more than a clear understanding and adherence to human morality."

It is said that Qiao’s family is righteous and courageous, willing to take the lead for the world, but Qiao Mu naturally knew that he was not a moral saint, nor did he ever think of becoming one.

Qiao Mu was not afraid of danger to his own life, he even wanted it.

But if he couldn’t save people, or if the trouble extended to those around him, that was not what he wanted.

When Qiao Mu first came to this place, he acted foolishly. But later, when he saw that things could become serious and might affect the people around him, he started to act more carefully.

Of course, he still acts rashly sometimes, but not as impulsively as before.

"Being considerate of oneself and seeking righteousness. It is indeed something desirable," Hai Wuya nodded, showing his approval.

"Hmm? Old Hai, don’t you have something else to say? My pursuit in martial arts doesn’t have the grand idea of martial arts being equivalent to righteousness, like yours," Qiao Mu was slightly surprised.

"Hehe, that is just an idea," Hai Wuya chuckled.

"There are no saints in this world. In my younger years, I simply wanted to become an official and gain fame. It was only after failing the imperial examinations several times that things took a different turn."

"When I entered Shaolin Temple to practice martial arts, I saw it as a shortcut to becoming an official."

"Before I angered the emperor with an inhuman act and was imprisoned in the heavenly prison, I was just a regular second-rank civil servant who happened to know some martial arts. In the court, there were officials higher in rank and stronger in martial arts than me."

Hai Wuya, the martial monk of Shaolin in his prime, didn’t initially hold the belief that martial arts were equivalent to righteousness. This belief slowly formed after being imprisoned in the heavenly prison.

"The Confucianists talk about self-cultivation, family harmony, governing the country, and bringing peace to the world. They don’t set ‘bringing peace to the world’ as their goal from the beginning," said Hai Wuya.

Hai Wuya stood up and searched through the surrounding piles of books for a while before finally finding a manuscript.

"There is another question."

Hai Wuya held the manuscript in his hand, and the ray of sunlight shining through the heavenly prison window fell on his shoulder. His gray-white hair seemed to shimmer in the sunlight at that moment.

"My cultivation method is not some extraordinary divine technique."

"In my plan, this will be a martial arts technique that anyone can practice. Even people with dull aptitude can cultivate it as long as they have enough perseverance, though their progress might be slower."

"This technique was created for everyone in the world, not just for the top-notch martial artists with exceptional talents. It’s not dazzling or miraculous."

"Most importantly, this technique was created by me and is not perfect. Learning it might lead to the wrong path and even lead to demonic possession and death! Even so, are you still willing to learn?" Hai Wuya asked.

"Hahaha…" Laughter echoed from within the heavenly prison, Qiao Mu’s laughter.

"What could be unwilling? Only death. I, Qiao Zhong, long for it!"

Hai Wuya’s face slightly changed, handing over the manuscript.

With the strong eyesight of a martial artist, Qiao Mu could clearly read the title of the first page of the manuscript.

《Human Path Sutra》

However, what surprised him was that the three words "Human Path Sutra" had a horizontal line crossing through them, indicating that they were crossed out.

And beside this "Human Path Sutra", there was a smaller subheading:

《Xumi Mountain King Sutra》

"Why does this technique have two names?" Qiao Mu asked.

"At first, I named this technique ‘Xumi Mountain King Sutra’," Hai Wuya said calmly.

"But Mount Xumi is too small to hold my beliefs about humanity, so it was renamed as ‘Human Path Sutra’."

"But the name ‘Human Path Sutra’ is too grand."

"This martial art is not yet perfect, it has not reached the level where it combines martial skills and humanitarian principles, allowing anyone to practice it. In the future, if this ‘Xumi Mountain King Sutra’ is thoroughly developed, it can then be renamed as ‘Human Path Sutra’ and truly live up to its name."

Hai Wuya used to be a young martial monk, that’s why his name sounds like a Buddhist scripture.

However, deep down, he is still a Confucian scholar, that’s why he would say something like "Mount Xumi is too small."

"Qiao Zhong, do you know why the path of martial arts is inferior to the path of immortality? Can you pinpoint the exact reasons?" Hai Wuya asked.

After pondering for a moment, Qiao Mu replied:

"Aside from the fact that the path of immortality has explored further than martial arts, in my opinion, the fundamental difference between a martial artist and a cultivator lies in two points."

"The decline of vitality in old age and the limitation of lifespan."

"As people grow older, their energy and blood decline, and they cannot reach their peak anymore."

"Some martial artists who have suffered many hidden injuries when they were young, even start to experience a decline in their energy and blood after the age of thirty."

"At the same time, the lifespan of martial artists is not much longer than that of ordinary people. Compared to immortals, they naturally have less accumulation."

Speaking of this, Qiao Mu suddenly remembered the Heyang City’s Qiao Family’s Long Life Fist that he had been thinking about all the time.

"By the way, the leader of the Heyang City’s Qiao Family in the past is said to have maintained strong energy and blood even at the age of eighty."

"The grandmaster of the Heyang City’s Qiao Family a hundred years ago could even maintain strong energy and blood at the age of one hundred."

"Long Life Fist?" When Hai Wuya heard this name, he couldn’t help but smile:

"By the way, isn’t your surname also Qiao? Maybe you and they were all from the same family five hundred years ago."

"Do you know where the Long Life Fist originated from and why only this martial art has the special feature of maintaining strong energy and blood in old age?"

"I’ve heard about the origin of Long Life Fist," Qiao Mu recalled what Qiao Canxue had said.

"This Long Life Fist is said to be an internal martial art of the Taoist sect. It was passed down by a master to the ancestors of Qiao Family in Heyang City. There is even a saying that it was taught by immortals…"

At this point, Qiao Mu suddenly stopped.

He had already dealt with cultivators before, so he knew very well what kind of people these so-called immortals were.

"Never aging?" He remembered those cultivators he had dealt with.

Immortal cultivation emphasizes the cultivation of the soul, but many of these cultivators look like young people in appearance, like the Xuantian Sect disciple Ming Yue from before, and the Great Dao Sect’s disciple, Dao Zhen.

Hai Wuya said calmly:

"In fact, among these Nine Immortal Gates, there is one Immortal Gate called the Long Life Gate."

Long Life Gate, Long Life Fist, never getting old… These things are not unrelated.

Hai Wuya said, "Each of the Nine Immortal Gates is different. The Great Dao Sect in Zhong Province, which dominates, is full of cultivators like Dao Zhen, who follow their instincts and only seek enlightenment."

"As for the cultivators of the Long Life Gate… they became interested in martial artists many years ago."

"Even the saying ‘The immortal path focuses on the spirit, while the martial path focuses on the physical body; there is no superiority, only a difference in sequence’ was first proposed by the cultivators of the Long Life Gate."

"Many years ago, the cultivators of the Long Life Gate began to study the martial path… and their accomplishment is actually the ‘Long Life Fist Sutra’."

Qiao Mu was first surprised, then doubtful.

"But as far as I know, the Qiao Family in Heyang City has no connection to the Immortal Gate. They have no background in the Immortal Gate and are purely a martial arts family, right?"

Qiao Canxue, who was once blind, didn’t even know that "inhuman" referred to cultivators.

"The Qiao Family in Heyang City is indeed just a martial arts family, unrelated to the immortal path," said Hai Wuya.

"The cultivators of Long Life Gate attempted to study martial arts and created the Long Life Fist Sutra. However, they didn’t fully succeed in this path and ultimately abandoned it."

"Otherwise, the Long Life Fist Sutra would not have been an everlasting technique, but rather a remarkable skill that combines both martial arts and Taoism!"

In the ancient martial arts world, the Long Life Fist naturally ranked among the best martial arts.

However, if we were to compare it with the new techniques of the Martial Saint, it still lacked a bit of confidence.

Qiao Mu remained silent for a moment.

Is the Long Life Fist really an unfinished path? And it was abandoned by cultivators who have long lifespans?

Judging from Hai Wuya’s words, perhaps there are shortcomings in this Long Life Fist, otherwise why would the cultivators of Long Life Gate abandon it?

"Don’t dwell on the Long Life Fist, come and practice my Human Path Sutra instead," concluded Hai Wuya.

"From what you’re saying, old Hai, does your Human Path Sutra also enable martial artists to stay forever youthful?" Qiao Mu’s eyes lit up.

He remembered that this Hai Wuya was in the heavenly prison, entering the 7th rank as a person of seventy or eighty years old.

Qiao family’s Long Life Fist is not good enough!

The top-notch martial arts created by Martial Saint are not suitable!

Because Hai Wuya has a better "Human Path Sutra"?

He looked forward to flipping through the manuscript in his hands, but then he heard Hai Wuya’s words:

"Old but not declining? That is definitely impossible," Hai Wuya said calmly.

"Life, old age, sickness, and death, aging and weakening are the normal state of the world, and why should it be resolved?"

"I heard that you, Qiao Zhong, have already met Martial Saint, right?"

"Martial Saint is already eighty-five years old this year, do you see his declining vitality?"

"Moreover, ordinary martial artists in this world experience a decline in their vitality and energy after their thirties or forties."

"Compared to a regular martial artist who is thirty years old, which one has more vigorous energy, the eighty-five-year-old Martial Saint or the thirty-year-old martial artist?"

Qiao Mu shrugged his shoulders. "These two things can’t be compared," he said.

"That’s right," said Hai Wuya.

"It is common for the elderly to become weak, but as long as their energy continues to grow stronger and they continue to break through, what does it matter if they grow old?"