Chapter 100: Light

He Xiaoxing gave Chen Chuan an intense stare. After some time, he said, “You need strength to overcome hardships, and strength means violence. This is the fundamental rule that keeps the world running. The major corporations are doing it, and so are the countries. When you shrink it down by scale and put the rule on a martial artist, that rule becomes all the more apparent.

“But if you want power, you must first understand yourself before understanding your enemies. The university asked me to come back to teach you and even told me that they were going to ask you to learn the Arcane Phase Force, but if you had accepted that arrangement, you would have, at best, ended up as the next Shen Zheng. Even if you managed to make any changes, they wouldn’t have amounted to much.

“Walking down the path of someone else isn’t meaningful. You picked the All-Encompassing Force, and I heard that you went up against the Aspiration Club trying to interfere with your choice. That shows me that you know what you want. From this alone, if you continue down your path with grit and determination, you’ll reach further heights compared to Shen Zheng.”

He then extended a hand and spread his fingers apart with his palm turned to Chen Chuan. “Hit me with all your strength.”

Once Cheng Zitong saw what he was doing, he took two steps back and motioned for Chen Chuan to attack.

Chen Chuan nodded and took a step forward. He brought his hand up, curled his fingers, sucked in a deep breath, and his second self instantly overlapped with him. At the same time, all his mutated tissue contracted at his will. When they accumulated enough power, Chen Chuan shouted and stomped down, leaving behind a hole on the ground, and punched He Xiaoxing’s palm.

The moment their hands collided, a clear, focused sound rang out. A layer of green tattoos showed up on the back of He Xiaoxing’s hand. As the power from Chen Chuan’s punch charged into He Xiaoxing, the tattoos spread up his arm until they almost reached his elbow.

Chen Chuan had been ready to receive backlash after delivering the punch, but to his surprise, all the power from his punch just sank into He Xiaoxing until not a bit was left.

He had no doubt that if He Xiaoxing pulled his palm away right now, he would fall forward. He Xiaoxing was at a state where he could keep Chen Chuan at bay but not let even a single bit of unnecessary energy leak out of him. Such a level of control was truly at an ingenious level.

He Xiaoxing took a look at the tattoos that stretched up to his elbow and said, “Hmm... Interesting. Your power is near the peak of the First Limit. You are indeed as talented as Lao Cheng said you were.”

“I told you that my mentee is not your average student and has outstanding talent,” Cheng Zitong said matter-of-factly.

“The peak of the First Limit?” Chen Chuan asked.

“Why do we call the True Seed Reserve the First Limit? It isn’t just because we’re talking about how much your mutated tissue can transform, but also because there’s a limit to a person’s strength.

“As long as you’re human, no matter how strong your mutated tissue is, you have a fixed ceiling. That’s the meaning of the First Limit.

“Everyone is different, so there’s a lot of room for adjustment regarding the peak. Theoretically speaking, only those who are almost perfect in every aspect can reach the peak of the First Limit. Despite saying that, you’re already very close to that level.”

Chen Chuan stared at He Xiaoxing’s elbow. Through the punch just now, He Xiaoxing seemed to have measured his strength and ability. He might have also made his judgment based on some other thing, but Chen Chuan did not know what it could be at his level.

In any case, he was not disappointed that he had not surpassed the peak, because whenever he improved, his second self also improved. If Chen Chuan only took himself into consideration, he would not be at the peak of the First Limit.

Based on that theory, he had the chance to challenge and even surpass all his predecessors.

Cheng Zitong butted in then. “Tan Wang’s lackey had reached the Second Limit, but while digging for information about the fight yesterday, I learned that he lost to Xiao Chuan in a context of pure strength. This is the difference between talents.”

“That’s entirely possible. Those at the peak of the First Limit can surpass those at the bottom of the Second Limit, but those at the First Limit cannot possibly match those at the peak of the Second Limit. So, the key here lies in how deeply the person’s mutated tissue has permeated into their body and how complete it is. Lao Cheng, have you only taught him one breathing technique?”

“Yes, aside from the basic breathing technique he already knows, I only taught him the Respiration Node Breathing Technique, along with Principal Sanshou. I didn’t teach him anything else. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to teach him well, considering my abilities. I didn’t want to lead him astray. That’s why I didn’t rush into teaching him the more advanced training methods,” Cheng Zitong replied.

“That caution of yours has saved us a lot of trouble,” He Xiaoxing said, then turned to Chen Chuan. “To me, you’re a blank piece of paper. You have a lot of room to grow and shouldn’t rush to enter the Second Limit. Building a good foundation is the key to everything. I’ll teach you a new breathing technique and a training method later. They will help perfect and strengthen your mutated tissue.

“Based on what I saw when you threw your punch just now, you didn’t draw strength from many parts of your body. Entire bundles of mutated tissue did not take part in the attack, which led to a loss of strength and a total rejection of the transfer of power into your punch.

“For other people, this would be normal, because they only strengthen the mutated tissue in certain parts of their bodies, but you’re practicing the All-Encompassing Force. The core of this refined force is to have mutated tissue in every part of your body, so it can come from everywhere within you. Because of this, you must think of ways to include all of you in your attacks.

“Otherwise, later on, you’ll find that some small parts you didn’t manage to include in your attacks are starting to affect how you generate power and slowing your improvement. At that time, you’ll need to work ten times or a hundred times harder to make up for what you’re lacking.”

Chen Chuan nodded and took his words to heart.

“The overall power you managed to generate isn’t enough either. This is actually related to the problem I mentioned earlier. It’s not enough because you didn’t manage to utilize a lot of your mutated tissue. I might not know the layout of your mutated tissue, but based on your attack, I’m confident that they’re not uniform in strength. The distribution is also quite scattered.

“That doesn’t mean that you weren’t attentive during your training. The more you train, the more your strength grows, and everyone goes through what you’re going through when they just enter the First Limit. But you must understand that other people only train a part of their mutated tissue and have a small bit of it spread through their entire bodies. They have the time and energy to make corrections, because they have the summarization of their predecessors’ experiences as a reference. They won’t walk down the wrong path and can always make corrections if they make mistakes.

“But you don’t have those things with the All-Encompassing Force. You can only figure things out by yourself, so it’s much more difficult.

“So, you must know what you’re doing. If we think of this as building a tower, then if one of the blocks you’re using to build the tower is chipped or cracked, it will lead to your foundation being vulnerable. Then, in the future, your tower won’t be able to get higher past a certain point.

“I suggest that you use the Respiration Node Breathing Technique to observe what’s going on and use the stances of your refined force to focus on stimulating and guiding the parts that need strengthening so that those mutated tissue can get sufficient training as well. Fortunately, you’ve only been training for two months, so you’re just at the beginning. The difference between the strength of your mutated tissue isn’t too great yet, so you have time to correct and make up for what you’re lacking.”

“Lao He, why don’t you stay for a few more days to guide him?” Cheng Zitong suggested.

He believed himself to be far less capable when it came to teaching. If He Xiaoxing could stay and guide Chen Chuan for even just a few days, that would be great.

“I’ve decided to leave tonight and won’t change my mind. I’ll write some notes later and send them to you. Keep in mind that you need a lot of resources when it comes to training, especially when it comes to people like your mentee. If he wants to achieve his goals, he’ll need a lot of medicine, and the amount is only going to increase the further down he goes.

“In the past, he would have never had a chance to reach mastery, but technology is always improving. It drives the world forward, and it’s also taking us along with it. We can now use all sorts of convenient methods to create a brand new future for ourselves.” He Xiaoxing turned to Chen Chuan. “I’d like to see just how far you can go.”

“I’ll take care of his medicinal needs. Xiao Chuan is my mentee, and I can get all that he needs for him, even things from Central City,” Cheng Zitong declared seriously.

He Xiaoxing trusted Cheng Zitong’s abilities, so he said to Chen Chuan, “I’m going to show you the training method and breathing technique. Memorize it, especially the key points. You don’t need to master what I taught you. As long as it patches up your flaws and trains the parts you’ve neglected, you’ll have achieved your goal. You can then cast aside the training method and breathing technique.”

“Alright,” Chen Chuan agreed.

He Xiaoxing did not waste his breath any further and began his demonstration. He performed the moves himself before asking Chen Chuan to copy them. Compared to the other lecturers, he had great judgment. When Chen Chuan copied his moves, he could immediately point out what he was lacking and tell him how to fix his mistakes.

After three times, not only did Chen Chuan manage to remember everything, but he also fixed all of his mistakes. His movements flowed with effortless smoothness. It was as if he was moving with the wind behind him or sailing along the current. It was as if there was a force guiding his movements.

Time passed quickly. When another gust of wind blew and it was almost midnight, He Xiaoxing said, “Let’s end the lesson here.”

It was the end of He Xiaoxing’s guidance. Chen Chuan stopped, but he was not the only one to be left wanting more. Even Cheng Zitong felt the same way just by watching.

He Xiaoxing’s hair danced in the wind. “I’ve told you what you need to pay attention to, including what you need to fix, and how to get stronger. From now on, you will need to train by yourself. But don’t just follow my instructions blindly. My words may not be necessarily correct. You must make adjustments based on your situation. Part of the process of our training is to continuously fix our mistakes and what we’re lacking.” He looked up at the full moon above his head. “Alright. It’s time for me to leave.”

“Thank you for your guidance, Mr. He,” Chen Chuan said sincerely with a bow.

He Xiaoxing accepted his gratitude with a nod.

“Lao He, we’re going to go down too, so let me drive you back,” Cheng Zitong offered.

He Xiaoxing did not reject it. “Alright.”

They got into the car and drove down to Chen Chuan’s dormitory. After he got out, he gave a fist-and-palm salute to the two lecturers and watched them drive off under the streetlights. The lights from the car gradually faded into the darkness, but Chen Chuan knew that soon, a brand new day would arrive.

He turned around and walked into the still lit dormitory.

He had gained a lot. He Xiaoxing had explained all that he was not sure about and even pointed out all his problems and provided solutions, giving Chen Chuan a clearer direction.

He walked up the stairs. The quiet of the night made his footsteps echo loudly. With his back toward the dark, he walked into the building full of light.