He Heng was born into a military family in this life. His father was a big shot in the Military Commission, several uncles were at the level of commanders and generals, and several older brothers were rising stars in the army. He was the least useful one.
After coming to this world, He Heng only thought about practicing martial arts and didn't care about family matters. To outsiders, this looked like idling around with a spoiled rich kid attitude. Fortunately, he was the youngest in the family, born when his father was over 40. His brothers and uncles were quite good to him, and there was a retired grandfather who supported his martial arts practice. Plus, the family was already so powerful that one more or less didn't matter, so they just let him be.
He formally started practicing martial arts with his grandfather at the age of six, and subsequently visited many sects, such as Wudang, Maoshan, Longhu Mountain Celestial Masters, Zhongnan Mountain, and so on. The reason they were all Daoist sects, rather than Buddhist sects like Shaolin, was mainly because He Heng wanted to retain some foundation in Daoist martial arts.
It's worth noting that in the Great Celestial World, Daoism was unprecedentedly strong. The Three Teachings, Six Schools, and Twelve Ways suppressed Buddhism, Demonic Sects, and Confucianism to the point where they couldn't raise their heads. Even the Great Xia Dynasty ruling the world had to bow to the major Daoist sects. Having a Daoist background was still advantageous there.
As the saying goes, it's good to have a big tree to lean on. He Heng naturally intended to join a major Daoist sect for cultivation in the future. If people noticed Buddhist martial arts foundations in him, that wouldn't be good. The struggle for orthodoxy was extremely cruel.
With these considerations, He Heng didn't choose to learn those famous Buddhist martial arts in this world. Instead, he built his foundation on Daoist martial arts, practicing Wudang Taiji Force and Dragon Tiger Golden Elixir Method. With his status, it was easy to get the true transmission from these sects. After all, times had changed, and those techniques that sects used to guard closely had now loosened up. No matter how skilled you were, you could still be taken down by a gun. This was the sorrow of martial artists in this world.
Later, after achieving success in martial arts, He Heng chose to become an assassin. The reason was simple: he wanted to train his practical combat experience and develop a grand momentum. There was still a tough battle waiting for him when he went back.
So, he joined the GOD organization, the strongest assassin organization in the original "Dragon Snake Romance," which had the top expert of the current era. He Heng actually understood that "God" quite well and indeed found his martial arts attainments extraordinary. It's just that his ideas didn't align with most people's perceptions in this world.
This world had no spiritual energy, and no matter how high one's martial arts were, they were still just mortals who couldn't escape aging, sickness, and death, and couldn't win against firearms. Despite being unable to transcend the secular world as an individual, that "God" was contemptuous of everyone in the world. In his mindset, he no longer considered himself a mortal, which naturally led to tragedy.
He Heng felt sorry for him. In the Great Celestial World, this person's ideas wouldn't be anything special. There, power was concentrated in individuals. True peak experts could destroy stars and shatter continents with a finger snap, or even open up their own small world. How could ordinary people, no matter how numerous, compare to them? What did it matter if they didn't conform to the masses?
In fact, the true top experts in the Great Celestial World rarely appeared in the mortal world, sometimes not showing up for hundreds or thousands of years. For such figures, all worldly matters had long become insignificant and not worth caring about. They could go into seclusion, and several generations of mortals would pass. The long years were enough to erase all human emotions, transforming into transcendent divinity. That realm was exactly what He Heng aspired to and pursued.
But in this world, GOD's ideology was completely impossible to realize. He Heng felt sorry for him – he was born in the wrong place!
However, it was precisely because of He Heng's understanding of GOD's ideology that he maintained a good relationship with GOD. Perhaps it could be called a mutual appreciation – no one else in this world would understand them.
Of course, understanding GOD's ideology was one thing, but that didn't mean He Heng was willing to help him realize that dream of a divine kingdom on earth. It was simply impossible to achieve, at least in this world.
He Heng joined GOD's Curse purely to train himself. In the following years, he completed hundreds of assassination missions, traveling all over the world. His targets included business tycoons and political figures from various countries. He encountered countless opponents, including many experts above the Transforming Energy level, which greatly enhanced his combat experience.
Of course, this also had significant impacts. Although He Heng operated covertly and mainly abroad, one can't always walk by the river without getting their shoes wet. Over time, some of his actions naturally came to light. However, his family's influence was considerable, and He Heng hadn't done anything within the country, so he could still roam around openly instead of hiding.
Of course, because of this, his family put a lot of pressure on him, preventing him from going out to kill people now. He could only go around looking for experts to spar with. This time, seeking out Tang Zichen was one such instance. She was an opponent he had been looking forward to, and indeed, she didn't disappoint He Heng. Although she didn't force out He Heng's potential and make him break through on the spot, she did help He Heng understand the direction of his future path.
As for later notifying Yan Yuanyi to cause trouble for Tang Zichen? That was purely to watch the show – a show between the two women with the highest martial arts in this world. It was also to let Yan Yuanyi temper Wang Chao, helping this future Wang Wudi grow up sooner.
As for whether this might lead to Wang Chao's premature demise, He Heng believed that Yan Yuanyi was no match for Tang Zichen. As a member of a top military family, He Heng had naturally become very familiar with those top military experts over the years, especially Yan Yuanyi. They had fought dozens of times – after all, she was the one with the highest martial arts in the military. He Heng knew her as well as he could.
Although He Heng had only met Tang Zichen once, from that one encounter, he could determine that Yan Yuanyi's previous loss wasn't unjust. She was indeed inferior to Tang Zichen, and this was undeniable.
While Yan Yuanyi's boxing skills were exquisite, they still remained at the level of technique. Moreover, she couldn't let go of various desires for glory, and her mind was still tainted. Tang Zichen, on the other hand, had reached a mystical state of unity between heaven and man, seeing through various external appearances. Not to mention other aspects, at least in terms of mental state, she surpassed Yan Yuanyi by more than one level, approaching an almost immortal state.
In this aspect, even the "God" of the GOD organization couldn't compare. His fist was still at the level of technique, not touching the realm of method.
In the Great Celestial World, there were nine characters that summed up the realms of martial arts cultivation: Master techniques, understand methods, exhaust the Dao!
These referred to the three great realms of technique, method, and Dao. The technique was divided into nine grades, the method into three levels, and Dao had no high or low.
The so-called technique referred to the realm of skills and variations in things like boxing or sword techniques, divided into nine levels, with the ninth grade being the lowest and first grade the highest. Generally speaking, a person with decent talent, practicing their martial arts day in and day out for decades, could reach the fourth grade. The top three grades, however, depended on talent and opportunity.
To achieve the third grade, one needed to reach a state of subtlety, where every bit of force could be used as finely as a hair. This was the third grade of martial arts.
The second-grade realm referred to the aspect of artistic conception, such as the magnificence of mountains, the vastness of the sea, the immensity of the sun, moon, and stars. One could form their own artistic conception and comprehend their own martial truth. This was the second grade of martial arts.
To achieve the first grade realm required a kind of grand momentum, a massive momentum like a mountain. This momentum permeated everyone's life and the world. For ordinary people, their momentum was mediocre. But for some high officials, even if they didn't possess much martial power, they could still have endless dignity, the so-called official air. The anger of an emperor could even cause heaven and earth to lose color. This was also a kind of grand momentum, like overturning mountains and seas.
In the original "Dragon Snake Romance," in terms of boxing technique, Wang Chao might not necessarily surpass GOD. But why could he eventually win against him? Because he had been undefeated all along, already forming a massive momentum, while GOD had been in hiding for decades and had lost some of his edge.
In fact, the last three realms of technique could be infinitely improved. For example, subtlety to the level of a hair was subtlety, subtlety to the level of molecules was still subtlety, subtlety to the level of atoms was still subtlety, but could the effects they produced be the same? The same was true for artistic conception and grand momentum.
Above technique was the realm of method, divided into three levels: heaven, earth, and human. He Heng didn't understand much about this realm because his level wasn't high enough. He had only heard a little about it. However, when he fought with Tang Zichen, he discovered that she carried some characteristics of the so-called human method realm.
This didn't mean Tang Zichen's combat power was extraordinary. She still couldn't beat GOD or the future Wang Chao, because the fundamental characteristic of the human method realm was in the mental aspect. But the earth method would be terrifying, with every move able to invoke the power of heaven and earth. He Heng had never even heard of the heaven method realm.
The human method realm couldn't greatly enhance combat power, but that didn't mean this realm wasn't terrifying. Tang Zichen had just begun to touch this realm, yet she already had abilities similar to premonitions and foreseeing imminent fortune or misfortune. If one truly stepped into that realm, the development of mental aspects would be truly terrifying.
However, these were still far off for He Heng. He was personally only at the second grade of technique, having comprehended subtlety and artistic conception, but not having formed a grand momentum. In fact, although Tang Zichen had touched the human method realm, she herself hadn't formed any grand momentum either, not achieving the first grade of technique. However, martial arts realms were unlike cultivation levels; one didn't need to climb each level slowly. It was possible to skip levels, directly achieving the human method realm from the second grade.
However, the experience of countless top experts in the Great Celestial World told people that it was best to go through each realm one by one. This provided the most solid foundation and more promising future development.
Well, although He Heng didn't think Yan Yuanyi could handle Tang Zichen, it would still be interesting to watch them fight. Although He Heng estimated he wouldn't have the chance to see it, because he planned to go out and travel, to see this world.