The feud between Li Tianran and Zhu Qianlong, along with Ichiro and his friends, should be the subject of a movie, the story of good triumphing over evil.
The original "Hidden Man" features bodyguards with dense dialogue and a wealth of subtle, nuanced information. It's filled with political and self-referential metaphors. While seemingly an action film, it's essentially an art film at its core.
Zhu Qianlong and Li Tianran were fellow disciples. Zhu Qianlong, in order to collaborate with the Japanese in opium cultivation, murdered his master's entire family and set fire to Li Tianran's house. Li Tianran survived the fire but was rescued by Mr. Lan. He was then sent to the United States, where he received medical and special operations training.
After returning to China, Li Tianran naturally wanted to kill Zhu Qianlong. However, Mr. Lan forbade it, as he wanted to use Zhu Qianlong to eliminate Genji. Ultimately, the plan failed, and Li Tianran nearly lost his own life.
In fact, looking at the whole movie, Mr. Lan, played by Jiang Wen, is very terrifying. Not in terms of his strength, but in terms of his cold-bloodedness.
Without hesitation, he threw his longtime friend off the city wall. He used Li Tianran as a tool. He faked a dead man's last words to control Li Tianran. He manipulated this skilled assassin at will. Moreover, his plan, seemingly meticulous, was actually full of loopholes. But he remained oblivious to this. In the end, his desperate gamble failed to achieve anything significant.
Fortunately, in his final moments, he finally let go of some things. He said those words to Li Tianran: "From today onwards, I am no longer your father. You must go find your own son." On a deeper level, this can be seen as a kind of revolutionary legacy passed down through generations.
However, in Lu Xuan's view, this was merely a slight revelation of his humanity, and in the end, he gave Li Tianran his freedom.
Lu Xuan had no interest in his messy schemes. His only concern was protecting the capital.
This city is not only the capital, but also home to numerous universities and colleges. Countless future legends are still studying here. Prior to this, Lu Xuan had already sponsored various universities in Beijing through the name of the American Eternal Group, effectively providing those students with a protective umbrella.
However, this is only a temporary solution. To maintain stability in the capital, it is necessary to weaken the Japanese as much as possible. By using Xiaohua's illusion magic, various conflicts can be created among the Japanese, the remnants of the Qing Dynasty, and the pro-Japanese faction, letting them fight amongst themselves.
As for Lu Xuan himself, he entered a state of seclusion. He was preparing to break through the great circulation within his body. This would be his first true step onto the path of cultivation.
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Chapter 127 This is what real cultivation is all about
Li Tianran found it all quite amazing. He had also trained in martial arts in his early years. He had always thought that his master was the most powerful person in the world. But only today did he discover that such chivalrous heroes as described in stories actually existed in this world.
These people are incredibly agile, even more so than those in martial arts novels. However, the things they do are completely different from those ancient knights-errant.
Li Tianran noticed that they were more engrossed in various research, cultivation, and... business. After dealing with Zhu Qianlong and Genben, these people didn't restrict his freedom. He secretly investigated and was shocked.
The owner of the courtyard house, named Lu Xuan, is actually a major shareholder of the emerging American behemoth conglomerate, Eternal Group. He is also a shareholder in Chen's Pharmaceutical and Luo's Mining in China. His net worth is incalculable. Just considering this Wangfu Street in Beijing, it's already beyond the reach of ordinary people in their lifetime.
In addition to this, the other party must have also been involved in a large-scale arms smuggling business. He made money while simultaneously supporting the domestic resistance against Japan. He was truly an unimaginably formidable figure.
"Mr. Lu, if you have such abilities, why don't you contribute more to the cause of the War of Resistance against Japan?"
"How can we do our best to kill the Japanese commander-in-chief in North China? It's not that it's impossible, it's that it's not feasible. If you understand, you understand; if you don't, don't ask anymore."
"...Sir, would you mind taking me as your apprentice?"
"Too old."
"...Li Tianran did not seek immortality, but only to learn a move or two."
“Partridge Whistle, this man is yours. Consider him my second-generation disciple. You'll be in charge of training him. He's been trained in the United States and his overall abilities are quite good. For now, let him be in charge of transporting supplies back to China.”
"Yes, Master. Come with me. Let's hand over our work."
Li Tianran felt like he'd been tricked. He had a feeling these people were waiting for him to ask to join them, then dump all the work on him and go off to cultivate immortality. However, being in charge of handling millions of anti-Japanese war supplies every month still excited him greatly. Clearly, this job was far more meaningful than his father, Mr. Lan's, constant scheming and plotting.
Dracula was in charge of Europe, Adam was in charge of the Americas, and the plans for Asia naturally fell to Lu Xuan. Over the years, he had also searched for some possible members of the Xuanmen sect, but their numbers were far fewer than he had imagined.
He found Sun Guofu, but unfortunately, Sun Guofu had only obtained half a scroll of the "Sixteen-Character Yin-Yang Feng Shui Secret Technique." This infuriated Lu Xuan. These ancient Chinese feng shui and fortune tellers loved to spout these kinds of unreliable nonsense. They always had to hold back... They said things like "extreme prosperity inevitably leads to decline," which, simply put, meant the Sixteen-Character Yin-Yang Feng Shui Secret Technique was too powerful and needed to be weakened...
Sun Guofu wanted to avoid Lu Xuan the moment he saw him. His physiognomy skills were extremely high; he immediately saw that Lu Xuan's appearance was strange, far beyond that of an ordinary person. Dealing with such a person meant trouble. However, Lu Xuan was not someone he could simply avoid. Ultimately, after several twists and turns, he ended up joining Lu Xuan's plan.
In truth, he also harbored considerable expectations. That was, if Lu Xuan's plan succeeded, the status of them, the members of the Xuanmen sect, would naturally rise accordingly.
Sun Guofu used divination to help Lu Xuan find many truly skilled members of the Xuanmen (Taoist sect). However, these people were only so-so. Not a single one was a true Qi cultivator. Most of them knew some Feng Shui or some exorcism techniques.
On the contrary, many of the Gu masters deep in the Miao region and the sorcerers in Southeast Asia possess genuine skills. However, their methods are mostly unorthodox. Fortunately, Lu Xuan wasn't in a hurry; he had plenty of time.
He simply gathered those people together and instructed them to focus on their cultivation, waiting for the right opportunity. Lu Xuan himself, however, was completely immersed in cultivation, unable to extricate himself.
At first, Lu Xuan needed to eat various foods and drink water every day. However, as time went on, Lu Xuan needed less and less food and water.
This state lasted for a full year. In the last month, Lu Xuan barely ate or drank, immersing all his energy in cultivation.
Although Beijing is not a paradise on earth, it is the capital, a place where imperial aura gathers. After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the imperial aura of Beijing naturally declined. However, the remnants of various imperial descendants, coupled with the support of the Japanese army, have ensured that a considerable degree of imperial aura still lingers here.
Since ancient times, Taoist practitioners have favored cultivating alongside emperors, drawing upon their imperial aura. Lu Xuan shared this ambition, even though he lacked a suitable cultivation method. Since there was no competition, he decided to forcibly extract the last vestige of the Qing Dynasty's dragon energy to power himself.
He could feel the internal energy circulation within his body rapidly expanding. It had gone from being confined to his dantian to covering his entire body. That vast and pure energy filled every acupoint. After all, it was energy condensed from the royal aura of the previous dynasty, so its purity was naturally top-notch.
Lu Xuan felt that he could now easily smash through the stone wall in front of him with a casual strike. But this was just the beginning. He began to try to gather this vital energy and reconstruct a new cycle according to the flow of the body's meridians.
This was what he did in his last month. He himself didn't know how much time had passed. He was completely immersed in that flow of vital energy.
When he regained consciousness, his body had reached its limit.
He was misled by the feeling of being full of vital energy, completely unaware of his body's lack of nutrition. His current level was far from the true Daoist practice of fasting. Therefore, when he regained consciousness, he was almost unable to stand, relying solely on his vital energy to sustain his body.
His disciples rushed in in a panic and used modern medical methods, directly administering various glucose and nutrient solutions. After much effort, they finally managed to stabilize Lu Xuan.
After a year of seclusion, draining the remaining royal aura of the Qing court, Lu Xuan finally succeeded in establishing a major internal circulation. However, due to severe nutritional deficiencies, he ultimately had to stay in bed for two months before finally venturing out of his room to test the results of his second stage of Qi cultivation.
His vast inner energy surged wildly. Lu Xuan gathered his strength in both hands and attempted to cast a simple lightning and fire technique.
In an instant, lightning flashed between his palms.
Lightning magic has always been a high-level technique in Taoism. At least that's how it was for Lu Xuan. He could use it before, but he could only emit some weak sparks, not even enough to kill a rabbit.
But now, the finger-thick currents crackling in his palm made the bronze-armored zombie beside him instinctively dodge away. Lu Xuan had no doubt that this lightning bolt could half-kill a zombie of the bronze-armored zombie's level.