The Journey of Projection Upgrading
Chapter 186: Understanding

Indeed, it is troublesome!

Bai Qing can directly give up martial arts and switch to cultivating immortality, but what about Chen An?

He is a peerless genius in martial arts, not a peerless genius in cultivation.

It would be a huge waste to have such a martial arts genius switch to cultivation!

"What should we do?"

Bai Qing became nervous.

This kind of reaction made Empress Luo Shan somewhat speechless.

My goodness.

Just a moment ago, she was calm and composed, how did she suddenly become so nervous?

Where's your strong woman persona?

She secretly criticized in her heart, but still spoke up on the surface, "What can we do?"

"Well, there's nothing much we can do."

"But don't worry, aside from being unfavorable for martial arts, this suppression doesn't have much impact."

"That kid Chen An is lucky, he doesn't look like someone doomed to die young, so there's no need to worry too much."

She spoke softly, comforting Bai Qing.

Of course, this was just lip service, still maintaining her usual style of talking nonsense.

Yes, what luck and destiny, how could she discern these things?

Perhaps Liang Yao, a practitioner of fate, can see a bit, but Empress Luo Shan is better off not trying.

It's pointless to try.

She belongs to the pure cultivators, those overly professional matters have nothing to do with her.

Nothing can be done, one should focus on improving oneself rather than putting thoughts on others.

Empress Luo Shan continued, trying to shift Bai Qing's attention, "Although this world suppresses all systems except for cultivation, it also blesses cultivators. And you, are the top material for cultivation."

"With your talent and my guidance, in just a dozen years, you can become a powerful figure in this realm. By then, you will have the ability to take care of your loved ones."

"You have been wanting to surpass that kid for a long time, isn't this situation exactly what you desire?"

She spoke, hitting the nail on the head, voicing out Bai Qing's thoughts.

Bai Qing is, after all, a strong woman at heart.

Although her body is honest, facing an opponent she can't handle, she will subconsciously want to hide behind Chen An. But that doesn't mean she wants to be like that all the time.

In fact, she's been thinking, wanting to surpass Chen An.

Under normal circumstances, this is hard to achieve.

She is only at the Internal Energy realm, while Chen An is already a Master of the Innate Sect. The gap between the two is already immeasurable, and not comparable at all.

Comparing herself to Chen An, Chen An might not know how Bai Qing feels, but Bai Qing is certainly ashamed.

As for aptitude?

According to Empress Luo Shan, she has the top aptitude in cultivation.

But does Chen An's aptitude fall short?

He also has excellent talent in martial arts, even monstrous.

Under normal circumstances, Bai Qing thinks that she probably won't be able to surpass Chen An in her lifetime.

But now, this situation has given her a glimmer of hope.

Coming to this world suppressed by the imperial road method, Chen An's martial arts path is restricted, but Bai Qing's future is smooth. And because of the imperial road method, she has an advantage in cultivation.

It seems like the positions and futures of both sides are about to reverse.

If she could surpass Chen An in a short time, perhaps Bai Qing will have a calm face, but with bright eyes.

"There's another crucial aspect."

Empress Luo Shan smiled, somewhat alluringly, "That kid's wife, as well as your ancestral clan, are no longer here."

Bai Qing's eyes lit up.

Yes.

This is a whole new world.

Chen An's wife Bai Zhilan, and all the people from Bai's clan are no longer here.

Only she and Chen An arrived in this world.

And this means that all the worries she had about them are now gone.

Marvelous!

"Understood."

Seeing Bai Qing seemingly coming back to herself, Empress Luo Shan breathed a sigh of relief, "This world is your stage. As long as you are willing to work hard, everything will be in your hands in the future."

"You will eventually become stronger than that kid, and then you can once again surpass him just like in the past."

"Isn't that great?"

"Don't talk."

Bai Qing's cold voice rang out.

She seemed to have completely recovered, then looked at the desolate grassland in front of her, took a few steps and walked away.

Empress Luo Shan had a smile on her face.

It's good to have some vitality.

After finally escaping to this world, she still hopes that Bai Qing will work hard in cultivation and find a suitable soul here for her in the future.

This is her only hope now.

There's no way.

Bai Qing was originally her best choice, but now that Bai Qing has embarked on the path of cultivation and even has some spiritual power in her body, possessing her is no longer an appropriate thing to do.

It can only change the target.

And to change the target, it is inevitable to rely on Bai Qing in the process.

The relationship between the two has already shifted from the initial mutual distrust to leaning towards mutual cooperation.

On the desolate grassland, Bai Qing's figure slowly walked past and disappeared in that area.

On the other side, Chen An was still struggling.

Unlike where Bai Qing was teleported, he was now in a jungle.

There were many wild beasts around, and it seemed like there were few people, which made him furrow his brows.

Fortunately, although this world seemed to have some opinions on warriors, there was no major problem with the use of power.

As long as he adapted to it.

And then Chen An found out that although the spiritual energy in this world was abundant, his strength here was not weak at all.

Along the way, he dealt with many bandits.

In the beginning, he was very cautious, afraid of offending powerful figures or causing troubles that would affect him in the future, but later he found that he had overthought it.

It seemed that these bandits didn't have any martial artists among them.

This was very strange.

In the previous world, even among bandits, there were often martial artists present because of the strong martial arts atmosphere.

Of course, most of them were just some body-forging martial artists, but occasionally, there were also some Internal Energy martial artists among them.

But it was different in this world.

Chen An had encountered hundreds of people along the way, and he had encountered some strong bandits as well.

Although some of them were stronger than ordinary people and had the means and strength equivalent to body-forging martial artists, he hadn't seen a single Internal Energy martial artist among them.

What was even more surprising was that when Chen An captured some people and asked for information, all he got was a blank look.

It seemed that these people had no concept of Internal Energy.

Chen An had a bad feeling.

Sure enough, after some questioning, his suspicion was confirmed.

These bandits had no idea about Internal Energy.

It seemed that in this world, there was no such thing as Internal Energy martial artists.

He had practiced martial arts on their own, but Chen An had also seen that most of them were just practicing some superficial martial arts techniques, at most reaching the body-forging level.

There was nothing beyond that.

Yes, nothing beyond that.

This world seemed to have some kind of discontinuity, with no concept of Internal Energy.

This wasn't right.

Chen An couldn't help but ponder.

If these bandits had not practiced any body-forging techniques, perhaps their ignorance could be explained by their lack of knowledge.

But the problem was that these were all legitimate body-forging martial artists, some of them even reaching the pinnacle of body-forging, which was considered very strong, even in the previous world.

But even with such strength, they still had no knowledge of Internal Energy.

This was very unreasonable.

And their way of addressing Chen An was also very strange.

Facing Chen An, who easily captured them, they were nervous, but instead of calling him a Master, they respectfully called him an Immortal.

In their eyes, Chen An seemed not to be a martial artist but a figure like an immortal.

In other words, they might not even believe that a martial artist could possess such strength.

The information he gathered filtered through his mind and returned to him.

Combined with the previous situation where he couldn't use his Innate Qi and faced inexplicable resistance, Chen An suddenly felt more uneasy.

This world wasn't right.

To verify his suspicions, he decided to continue investigating.

Over the next few days, he kept a low profile, lurking all day like an ordinary person.

Following the directions given by the captives, he found the road leading to the nearby town.

According to these people, there would be so-called immortals in those towns, coming regularly to collect taxes.

Chen An walked.

He disguised himself as an ordinary body-forging martial artist, then seized an opportunity to save a merchant caravan that was under attack and thus joined the caravan.

Although this world seemed to lack martial artists above the body-forging level, Chen An's strength, displayed outwardly, was at the peak of body-forging.

However, this could be easily justified.

People are always different.

One's physique cannot be generalized.

Like Chen An, his current image is of someone with innate divine power, and his strength in martial arts is top-notch among body-forging martial artists.

And such a person, perhaps not much in front of cultivators, but in an ordinary merchant caravan, can be considered a big shot.

Naturally, Chen An received respect and eventually, he smoothly joined the caravan.

In this way, he had guides and people to exchange information.

Chen An was originally following the directions given by others, but he later found this to be inefficient.

The roads in this area were rugged and difficult to navigate, too primitive.

In this situation, even though Chen An didn't consider himself directionally challenged, he still found it difficult to find the right path in such conditions.

It was more reassuring to follow others.

The caravan went on various routes, although the destination was uncertain, it was always going to places where people were.

This was natural.

After all, what's the point of doing business if there are no people?

Following the caravan, Chen An didn't have to worry about getting lost, which was a benefit.

Another benefit was that it made it easier to exchange information.

Although the information provided by the captives was useful, they mostly operated in one area, so the information was limited.

It couldn't compare to the roaming merchants.

By following the caravan's journey, Chen An was able to gather a lot of information.

"I've heard that it's possible for martial artists to cultivate another level above body-forging, is that true or false?"

Taking the opportunity, Chen An pretended to be curious and asked.

He asked the owner of the caravan, a man named Lin Bo.

Lin Bo appeared to be in his fifties, his skin roughened by years of wind and sun, but his body still looked strong and robust, and he appeared very warm.

"Haha, you've asked the right person!"

Faced with Chen An's question, Lin Bo laughed heartily, showing an expression that said Chen An had asked the right person, "If it were someone else, they probably wouldn't know the situation here!"

"Dad, tell him quickly!"

Beside him, a girl with curiosity urged him.

The girl's name was Lin Yuer, she was Lin Bo's daughter.

Chen An also smiled, timely served a cup of wine, and made a very curious appearance.

"It is said that above body-forging, it is indeed possible to cultivate Internal Energy, but it's just very difficult."

After drinking a cup of wine that Chen An personally served, Lin Bo finally spoke, "It is said that thousands of years ago, there were martial artists on par with immortal figures, who could easily move mountains and reverse seas, but somehow, these people became fewer and fewer."

"The number of martial artists has decreased year by year, and eventually, even Internal Energy disappeared."

After drinking, he said, speaking for a while before adding, "Of course, this is something I happened to read in an ancient book. I'm not sure if it's true or false."

"If you're interested, Mr. Chen, you can ask others later."

"Perhaps those Immortals will know more."

"Alright."

Chen An nodded with a smile.

Lin Bo didn't care much.

In his opinion, as a pinnacle body-forging martial artist, Chen An would naturally want to break through further.

After all, Chen An looked very young, but he had already reached this level, he must be hoping to break through.

Asking such a question was normal.

But besides what he had mentioned, he didn't know much else.

Chen An was not disappointed either, just smiled complimentingly, then changed the topic, trying to get more information about the nearby area, shifting the conversation to other aspects as much as possible to gain more information.

That's where he excelled.

Chen An's knowledge was extensive, and through various interactions with people, although he usually preferred to be quiet, once he started talking, he was completely engaging, quickly hitting it off with the people around him, creating a harmonious and lively atmosphere.

Who started it, they began to challenge each other to drink, drinking heartily.

And then, they all fell down.

Except for Chen An.

(The end of this chapter)