Book 4, Chapter 192: A Challenge From Across The Pond
Book 4, Chapter 192: A Challenge From Across The Pond
Since it was so easy to get into the path of the human form, those on it would have some degree of fighting power before those walking down the paths of the mental form and other form had made much progress. They also didn’t have to worry about things going wrong.
People in a hurry to get results or those who didn’t have much talent compared to those at the same limit usually chose this path. This explained why Yao Zhiyi had said that this was the most popular path.
It was difficult to gain mastery in this path, though. Because the human form wasn’t complicated, it didn’t have any mutations or mentalizations. They just had to keep building upon their foundation.
A person’s foundation also determined how far they could climb. Even if they used medicine or nutritious food to compensate for what they were lacking, the further down they went, the harder it would be to keep going.
In terms of training, the human form required the martial arts master to focus on both the mind and body, though they didn’t dive as deep as the other two would in their respective paths. Those in the path of the human form needed to get rid of everything trying to attach itself to them or trying to affect them so that they could stay completely true to themselves. This meant that they had to spend twice the energy to advance.
The mental form and other form just needed to focus on one thing. After the initial hurdle, the further down their path they went, the more power they could control, and the faster they could improve.
It wasn’t as if there weren’t any benefits to the human form, of course. Since plenty of people took this path, the early techniques had all been perfected. There were clear instructions on what nutrition and ingredients were needed, what medicine had to be taken, and what methods should be used. Plenty of predecessors had left their experiences behind, so they didn’t need to worry about deviating from the path.
The path of the human form suits the purity faction’s ideas of purifying the self.
Not all martial arts masters in the purity faction took the path of the human form, however. The mask helping Zhuan Liang was definitely not one of them.
The core principle of the purity faction was to never make any concessions to the other world and fight all those who wanted their world. As long as the person believed themselves to be human and protected their true form, the purity faction would accept those taking the path of the mental form.
Chen Chuan continued reading.
After the general information in the beginning, everything else was focused on the key points of training in the path of the human form, along with the things he needed to pay attention to.
The essence and specializations of the three forms were different, but the main difference was in their mutated tissue. Those in the path of the human form needed to train their minds and bodies to stimulate their mutated tissue so that they could transform.
This was the same as how their mutated tissue grew in the past, though back then, all they needed to do was to make their mutated tissue grow stronger so that they could withstand more power and reach a higher limit. Now, they needed various martial arts techniques and mental training to guide them to a higher limit.
Just like in the previous limits, the dangers that came from reaching a breakthrough into a new limit and his mutated tissue transforming remained the same. Chen Chuan needed to pay a lot of attention to this problem.
Of course, at this limit, a martial arts master’s body had transcended, and their life wouldn’t be at risk if their mutated tissue mutated too much. Even so, there was no guarantee that their mutated tissue wouldn’t deviate from its original path or wouldn’t try to take over the body and become something else.
Chen Chuan stared at some of the diagrams he got. They contained pictures of people who had transformed into human-shaped monsters because of mutated tissue overgrowth. Some of them no longer resembled humans, and their sizes differed greatly.
The crux of defending one’s true form was to push forward boldly but to also exercise restraint.
No matter which path was taken, the martial arts master needed a lot of medicine that corresponded with their training, and a lot of ingredients to sustain their energy levels. There shouldn’t be too long of a gap between each meal.
Chen Chuan considered this. When it came to the supply of ingredients, it would definitely be better if he had Central City supporting him, because it had a proper supply chain. Even if some ingredient went missing, they could buy it from another Central City.
However, Central City wasn’t able to provide certain nutritional pastes and medicines. While martial arts masters could get the nutritional pastes from the merged space, they needed to get their medicine from the government or the companies.
This explained why most martial arts masters took up important positions in the government or companies instead of running to the merged space.
Chen Chuan hoped that he’d be able to get some from the purity faction, not just the government.
If they couldn’t provide all that he needed, he was going to think of something else.
Once he read through all the important points and things to look out for, he started reading the training methods. Right now, he was just perusing them so that he had a general understanding, because his body was still transforming and modifying itself.
This was a good thing. The longer his body took to change itself, the more solid his foundation would become, and this would make his future limit higher. He could patiently wait for it to end.
When Chen Chuan finished reading, he formed a plan, but it wasn’t time for him to train yet. Still, he had to keep replenishing energy. He couldn’t overlook this aspect.
After getting a clear understanding of the three paths, he no longer had any questions and simply waited for the time that he could start training.
***
A few days passed, and it was the thirtieth of October.
Chen Chuan didn’t go to the Resolution Department over the past few days, because after Wu Quan came back, Chen Chuan didn’t need to deal with the daily operations anymore. Xu Chan had also confirmed that he had accepted getting promoted to a lead investigator.
The lead investigator from the other Central City was also on their way. Soon, they would have three lead investigators again.
But Chen Chuan was bound to get appointed to another position, so Wu Quan was going to have to think of someone to fill in his place. They hadn’t received any news about his new position yet, so they were most likely waiting for the gap in the World Ring to be closed, then the World Ring Defense System would send someone over to take over his position.
At noon, Chen Chuan ate a meal prepared by Gao Yanjun and got up to take the airship to train above the sea, but a telegram came at this moment.
It was from Meng Shu. She congratulated him for becoming a martial arts master. Then, at the end was a postscript from Sancheng Huang.
Apparently, Border Fusion’s takeover of Ferris Wheel’s assets was going rather smoothly until a few days ago. Something changed then, and they started running into obstacles.
They were all from his master, Fenghe Shou, the master of Fierce Wave School.
With his prestige and power, the sabermaster had caused negotiations to come to a standstill.
Sancheng Huang returned to Fierce Wave School to meet with his master and learned that Fenghe Shou had heard that Chen Chuan had become a martial arts master and wanted to spar with him. Regardless of whether he won or lost, he would stop interfering after that.
Unable to solve this problem, Sancheng Huang explained the situation in the telegram and sent it to Chen Chuan. He also mentioned that Azure Dragon and Ocean Development Corporation had reported the same thing to the government.
Things might not be as simple as they seemed. It was possible that Fenghe Shou wanted to spar, true, but the man had been a sabermaster for years, while Chen Chuan had just become a martial arts master. Logically, there was no reason for Fenghe Shou to approach him.
Was it solely because he was the security advisor of Border Fusion?
No. There had to be another reason.
But since Fenghe Shou asked for a spar, there was no reason for Chen Chuan to say no.
After all, he could get energy from the gap, so he didn’t have to worry about the loss of it, and he always welcomed fighting against powerful opponents.
Still, while he was happy to go, he needed to understand the whole situation.
He immediately asked Safe Shield to get all the details about this case. The moment he submitted the request, both the Resolution Department and even the Department of Administrative Affairs responded to him.
If a martial arts master wanted to know something and they had a good relationship with his Central City’s government, they would make things easy for him. Within half an hour, Chen Chuan got all sorts of useful information from various sources. Safe Shield sent all of it over. Chen Chuan would go as far as to say that the officials were really efficient.
He couldn’t imagine getting this sort of treatment in the past.
This was the benefit of being a part of the governmental system. He didn’t need to do anything on his own; all sorts of information as well as resources came to him. Of course, in response to that, he needed to protect the governmental system, which led to the solid formation of a mutually beneficial relationship.
After reading through everything he received, he understood the gist of the situation.
Fierce Wave School had lasted this long not just because of Fenghe Shou, but because they never took an active role in any of the world events.
When the Great Shun Republic and the Linacrox Union were busy competing for political power in the island nations, neither of them wanted additional variables in the already chaotic situation, so they didn’t bother Fierce Wave School.
After the Great Shun Republic got rid of Ferris Wheel, the company which had served as the Linacrox Union’s spokesperson, Azure Dragon and Ocean Development Corporation took over most of the island nations. Since Fierce Wave School was built on one of the islands, it had to make a choice.
The spar was likely just an excuse. Fenghe Shou’s true goal was to find someone of equal status to negotiate with him.
Regardless of whether that was the truth or not, Chen Chuan intended to meet Fenghe Shou to see how strong the sabermaster was.
However, considering his current status, he couldn’t just leave because he wanted to. He needed to tell Central City’s government and the National Martial Artists Council about it.
His phone rang, and he jumped in surprise.
Usually, only his family called him on the phone, and since it was a day off, he had called his aunt in the morning.
Chen Chuan went over and picked up the phone. “Lead Investigator Chen, it’s Yao Zhiyi.”
The speaker’s name surprised Chen Chuan even more. “You’re back, Mr. Yao?”
“Just returned, but I’m only here to tell you some things. After that, I’ll be going back. Weren’t you asking around for news about Fenghe Shou? The Department of Administrative Affairs wanted my opinion on this matter. They asked me to go so that nothing happened to you, but I said no. I can’t leave my post right now. Besides, Fenghe Shou specifically asked for you. How would we look if they sent me? Also, they might not know, but I know how strong you are. You should be the one going.”
“I was thinking about witnessing the sabermaster’s strength myself, Mr. Yao,” Chen Chuan stated.
Yao Zhiyi laughed at that. “I just knew that you’d want to go. I can pretty much guess what Fenghe Shou is thinking, and I don’t believe he wants to put you in a tough spot. He just wants a graceful way out of his situation. Don’t you have a good relationship with one of his disciples? You’re the best candidate for this.”
Chen Chuan hummed at that before saying calmly, “I’m friends with one of his disciples, yes, but another one of his disciples died at my hands.”