Book 4, Chapter 105: Instruction
Book 4, Chapter 105: Instruction
As the station bell rang clear and true to signal the arrival of a train into Raised Lake Station, a train entered the train station and came to a slow stop.
Chen Chuan, Chang Dong, and Gao Yanjun stood before it. Chang Dong took a look at the train number before checking his watch. “Yes. That’s the train.”
Once the doors opened, passengers with bags of various sizes walked out. Most of them were adults in their prime and left quickly.
Chang Dong had his eyes fixed on the leaving passengers. After a while, he saw Zhuan Liang get off the train with a luggage bag in hand. The tension left his shoulders, and he smiled as he said, “Over there.”
Chen Chuan nodded. Getting Mr. Zhuan to take the train is indeed the best method. Someone can escort him to the station and pick him up when he disembarks. There’s no chance for him to... Ahem.
He walked over with Chang Dong and Gao Yanjun.
“Mr. Zhuan?”
Upon seeing them, Zhuan Liang immediately turned around. He was already wearing the mask, so instead of the dull persona, he had a mature, wise, cheerful, and talkative one.
“Hello, you three,” he said with a smile and shook hands with all of them.
“Please come with us, Mr. Zhuan. We should go to the base,” Chang Dong said warmly.
A martial arts master coming to Central City always had an effect on various parties, especially during such a sensitive period. That was why they could only talk in the suburban area.
The industrial area had plenty of warehouses and factories, so once he learned via a telegram that Zhuan Liang was coming, Chang Dong bought a small warehouse and bought some daily necessities for him. It would be his base.
Chang Dong volunteered to be their driver. After around ten minutes, they reached a secluded warehouse, and Chang Dong parked in front of it.
The stray cats sunbathing in front of the door meowed before jumping away.
With a briefcase under his arm, Chang Dong opened the car door with his elbow and opened the warehouse door with a key. When he opened the door, dust rolled off it.
He waved his hand in front of him and said, “I’ve only just got the place and haven’t gotten the time to clean it up. I hope you won’t mind, Mr. Zhuan.”
“You’ve only just rebuilt the branch in Jibei Road and have limited resources. I also don’t care about such things. The important thing is that we have a place to talk,” Zhuan Liang said with a smile.
Once they went inside, Chang Dong brought them to a partitioned room. It had been cleaned up, and it had everything, including a sofa, table, and chairs.
After they sat down, Gao Yanjun brewed tea for them.
Zhuan Liang took a cup from her with a thanks and chatted with them for a bit. The moment Gao Yanjun sat down, he went straight to business. “The headquarters has seen the telegram you sent and have come to understand what had happened. They care about this a lot, but since a martial arts master might be involved, they believe that the branch won’t be able to handle it and sent me here.
“The headquarters believes that before the branch is rebuilt, it’s best to set aside what happened in the past. Once all the conditions are set, we can start pushing things again.”
Chang Dong relaxed a bit. This made things much easier. “What about Tian Rui? Has the headquarters said what they’re going to do about him?”
“They won’t look into his case for now. Once everything is settled, they will judge him as well,” Zhuan Liang replied.
Chang Dong understood what he meant. The branch was to focus on defense and not take the initiative to attack. He leaned back against his seat and rubbed his slightly-smaller-than-before belly before sighing. “With you here, I can finally eat at ease.”
“The headquarters approves of your efficiency. You managed to learn part of the truth really quickly,” Zhuan Liang praised them.
“Lead Investigator Chen is the one who got it done. He’s also the one who found where Tian Rui is. All Miss Tian and I did was to help him a bit and not cause him trouble,” Chang Dong immediately deflected.
“Don’t say that, Mr. Chang. We’re all part of the branch and essential to it. It’s just that our specialties are different,” Chen Chuan countered with utter seriousness.
“By the way, how are reconstruction efforts going?” Zhuan Liang asked.
“Due to the threat from Swamp Training Camp, we can’t stay there for long and are currently living in Majestic Light District. It’s the safest area in the city.
“But the building itself is still being built. The outline is already ready. The land is huge, so if we want to expand in the future, it’ll be easy.”
Chang Dong was prepared and brought out a stack of documents from his briefcase. They contained data about the money used, reconstruction progress, and photos of the process.
Zhuan Liang took a look before nodding and saying, “If you lack anything, send a report to the headquarters. I’ll sign it for you. You’re rebuilding the branch in Jibei Road from scratch, so you’ll be facing a lot of problems, pressure, and dangers. The headquarters understand the hardships you face.”
“The other things are nothing. We can take care of them, just lack the funds for it,” Chang Dong answered with a smile.
“Well, every branch lacks funds, but your situation is different. Write a report later, and I’ll send it for you,” Zhuan Liang said with a grin.
Chang Dong immediately beamed at him. “Alright. Thanks for going through this for us, Mr. Zhuan.”
Zhuan Liang looked around himself. “I’ll be in Jibei Road for a while. This is a good place, so you don’t need to look for another place for me.”
“Then, my apologies for having you stay in this dump, Mr. Zhuan,” Chang Dong said, and since he was good at reading the room, he noticed that Zhuan Liang had something to say to Chen Chuan. “I’ll be going out to write the report now.”
He stood up and turned to Gao Yanjun. “Miss Gao, Mr. Zhuan will need quite a lot of things if he’s going to stay here. Please take care of it.”
“Leave it to me,” Gao Yanjun replied with a nudge of her glasses.
They excused themselves and left.
Zhuan Liang turned to Chen Chuan. “Now that we’re done talking business, let’s talk about your training. As one of the people who brought you into the faction, I have the duty of guiding you through your training.
“I told you before that after you got pure essence and fulfilled your needs, I will tell you what you need to do next.”
He then observed Chen Chuan. Even though Chen Chuan couldn’t see his expression, he could see the shock and praise in his eyes.
“It’s only been a few months since we last met, and your mental energy has gotten much stronger. It’s well on its way to reaching perfection.
“I’ve only met a handful of people with your talent.
“Since you’re about to reach the peak of your current limit, I believe I can tell you some of the important points and methods on how to reach the Fourth Limit.”
Chen Chuan perked up. He knew that the first requirement to reach the Fourth Limit was to attain mental and physical perfection.
After becoming a lead investigator he had learned about some things on how to reach the Fourth Limit, including what he should do and what he should pay attention to, but it wasn’t much.
Guidance from a martial arts master was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Zhuan Liang’s voice became a little more serious. “You should know by now that after reaching the Third Limit, a martial artist isn’t able to go any further by relying on their physical abilities, because there’s a limit to the human body. If you want to reach a breakthrough, you need mental energy.
“The key to reaching the Fourth Limit is strengthening your mind, and it’s the most important part in the path to reach transcendence.
“In broad terms, the martial artist needs to use their mind to communicate with the powers from the other world and use them to twist reality and turn the impossible into possible. This is how you transcend.
“The power from the other world is as fierce as a tidal wave. If you want to anchor yourself to it and not be shaken off, you need an incredibly strong mind.
“The best way to do it is to reach a breakthrough through your own power and transcend naturally, but that’s the ideal. Some people can do it, but I haven’t heard or met such a person before.
“Our minds are not stable enough in the face of the power from the other world. Fortunately, our predecessors were wise, and they came up with a way to stabilize them: We have to cast aside something important.
“It’s just like how you need to give up on something if you want another thing, right? This is a stage that practically all those who want to reach the Fourth Limit have to go through.”
At this point, he asked Chen Chuan, “Do you have any strengths or hobbies?”
Chen Chuan thought about it, but before he could answer, Zhuan Liang gave him a dismissive wave. “You don’t have to tell me. You just need to know.”
His gaze then became distant as he said, “All those who are ready to reach the Fourth Limit must first swear an oath or give up on something in order to get feedback from the power. It makes their minds stronger. Take Mr. Zhuan as an example.”
He pointed at Zhuan Liang’s face.
“He gave up on his sense of direction. In the past, he was really good with directions and was a great tracker and navigator. No matter how secluded a place was or how hard a person was to track down, he would find them based on the tiniest clues.
“When he reached the Fourth Limit, in order to get enough power, he gave up on this strength. This gave him a lot of mental feedback.
“The more precious the thing is that you give up, the more power you get.
“You can also swear an oath and force yourself to do something in the future, which you will need to keep doing.
“It must be something you hate or something that disgusts you so much that when you think about it, it fills you with dread and fear. After you swear the oath, you need to do it every day. Then, you will reach your goal.”
Zhuan Liang smiled. “However, after crossing the threshold, what you hated in the past might become something you like.”