Chapter 101: A Supernatural Mission

Despite going to bed late, Chen Chuan woke up at the time he was used to. This did not affect him much. After using his breathing technique to guide his qi and blood a few times, he managed to get into his optimal condition.

From that day onward, he intended to set aside practicing his saber for the time being and fix all the areas in which he was lacking based on He Xiaoxing’s guidance. It was his foundation for everything.

Only when he filled up all the holes and strengthened his foundation would he be able to put more blocks on top of it.

He trained quietly in his room for over twenty days and corrected all his weaker and neglected parts.

Cheng Zitong dropped by to check on him when he could, and they discussed the problems of his training. After all, Cheng Zitong was his mentor, and he had way more experience than Chen Chuan did. Even if he could not figure out the cause of the problem, he knew where it was and could give some suggestions.

During the twenty or so days, Chen Chuan felt like he had gained a lot. Even if he had no model of reference he could compare himself to, he could feel that he had become much stronger than before.

The most obvious change was that his mutated tissue had become stronger after nearly a month of training. It could now withstand more damage and release more power.

He went to his desk and picked up a notebook to flip through it.

He Xiaoxing had sent it to him ten days after their meeting. There was no return address, but according to Cheng Zitong, he had already arrived at a new place.

The notebook was not thick, but it contained a lot of things Chen Chuan would need to take note of in his training later on. There was nothing unnecessary in the notebook. Every sentence was full of substance.

He Xiaoxing had listed many special methods on how to use the Respiration Node Breathing Technique to examine himself to deal with different situations.

The Respiration Node Breathing Technique was quite popular, so a lot of predecessors had left notes about it, but the practitioner would either need to figure out which of those experiences was useful to them or have a teacher tell them. The solutions He Xiaoxing provided to Chen Chuan were an effective shortcut.

Before learning of those methods to examine himself, Chen Chuan had no idea that there were so many problems within his body. He used all that he could to find the flaws in his previous training.

Cheng Zitong had said that the martial artists of old called the First Limit strengthening tendons and structuring bones. So, the First Limit could be divided into two stages.

The first stage focused on strengthening the mutated fascia, while the second stage was about it penetrating into the bones and even changing some bones, tendons, and muscles.

Many of the movements to execute refined force required the bones as support. Different refined forces required different bones, while Chen Chuan needed to strengthen everything, considering the refined force he chose. It meant he would need to stay longer in the First Limit.

He was not afraid of it, though, because other people had far less time to train compared to him.

After all, many types of training required a recovery period, so the martial arts had to stop to rest. They also needed to let their bodies recover after they used medicine to stimulate the growth of mutated tissue.

All of that did not apply to Chen Chuan. His second self could withstand all the damages. As long as his second self could take it, he could continue training. If he wanted to go to the extreme, he could even cut short his sleeping time, but there was no need for him to go that far yet.

Just then, he heard noise and cheers coming from somewhere far away. The second-class students’ tournament had begun and would last until the end of the year. The semi-finals and finals were scheduled after the new year.

The tournament was only for the second-class students. The first-class students would never have such public fights. While the second-class students learned regular competitive moves, the first-class students honed pure combat prowess.

Wei Changan’s words were correct. The first-class students were on a track set to make them law enforcers. While he spoke to Cheng Zitong, he could sense that such students were still useful to the government, but Chen Chuan did not have a high enough status and could not come into contact with people of that level yet.

That was where the unrestricted defense permit came in. The wielders of the permit could enforce the law when the country needed them to, which meant that it was highly likely that if he had this permit, he would have a way to get in touch with the higher-ups.

Regardless of whether it was the effect of the permit itself or the possibility of climbing up the social ladder after getting it, he had to do whatever it took to get it.

After the meeting with He Xiaoxing, Chen Chuan had looked into the permit. It was divided into Classes A, B, and C. The Class A permit was effective for life, but Chen Chuan could forget about getting it through a test alone, because the country was the one who decided who got this permit. Once a recipient was chosen, the test was just a formality.

As for the Class B permit, as long as a person fulfilled the conditions and registered for the test, they could take it whenever they wanted. After they passed, the permit would be effective for ten years. They would then need to take another test ten years later. It would be much more difficult, of course.

The difficulty level of the Class C permit was relatively lower, and it was held once every two years, but it was also only effective for two years. If someone who got the Class C permit failed to get the Class B permit twice, then every time they registered for another Class C permit exam, they would be charged with a high exam fee, and that fee would keep increasing every time they took the exam.

This meant that if the children of powerful families wanted the permit, they had to get the Class B permit or the Class C permit, and they needed to keep throwing money into the test. Some families had multiple permit holders, which was quite a large investment. This was basically another way of taxing the rich.

Chen Chuan decided that he would either not take the test or find a way to get the Class B permit. Not only was the Class C permit a huge waste of money, but it was also not that useful, since it was only effective for a short while. Once anyone got it, they had to already have a plan on how to make a profit from it or an escape route for after whatever wrongdoing they intended to do.

Chen Chuan could already imagine the obstacles he would have to face trying to get that permit. If he did not want to end up the same way as Shen Zheng, raw strength would not be enough. He would also need to put in a lot of effort behind-the-scenes and make use of all his resources.

Fortunately, he had plenty of time to prepare for it, and at the end of the day, sheer power was still the most important thing. He needed to push himself to the peak of the First Limit before considering anything else.

He flipped through the notebook a little while longer, then put it down and returned to training.

When it was almost noon, Cheng Zitong came to his room. “It’s almost the New Year. I was thinking about letting you get your body into top shape before giving you another mission, but someone actually pulled some strings and asked me for help.

“I took a look at the mission. As long as the one doing the mission is able to exercise proper judgment, it won’t be dangerous. That’s why I brought the information over. If you think you can do it, take it. If you’re busy, I’ll reject it.”

“If you hadn’t come looking for me, I would have gone over to you myself. I need a lot of medicine for my training and can’t afford to let my bank account go empty,” Chen Chuan said with a smile.

“It won’t come to that. You’re definitely going to get the scholarship. You got into the newspaper, you know? Who else is the university supposed to reward with a scholarship aside from you? I’m pretty sure that the scholarship is in the bag, so I won’t talk about it. Anyway, since you’ve decided to take it up, let’s talk about the mission.” Cheng Zitong grinned at him before taking out a stack of papers from his briefcase. “Take a look.”

Chen Chuan took the papers and flipped through them, only to feel surprised by what he read. “Something like this actually exists? I thought that they were just ghost stories or stunts movies pulled for views.”

“The rumors changed some things and exaggerated stuff, but it does exist. If you do take it up, you’ll be able to see it with your own eyes. I saw it once before,” Cheng Zitong replied with an even wider grin.

“I’m really interested in this. I’ll go take a look,” Chen Chuan said with a nod.

“Then, be careful. I’m swamped with work at the end of the year, so I need to go back and deal with it. You’ll find a business card with a contact number inside. Call the manager, alright?” Cheng Zitong said and stood up.

“Okay,” Chen Chuan promised and sent Cheng Zitong off before going back to read through the papers again. Once he was certain that he did not miss anything, he picked up the business card and went out to use the public phone outside to call the number on the card.

The call was answered right away. After a brief talk, the client said that they would send a car to pick him up, so Chen Chuan went to the cafeteria for lunch. After he took a shower, he changed his clothes and picked up the Frost King Saber from its stand.

𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Then, after some thinking, he went to his desk, pulled out his drawer, and took out the Halberd Pistol Cheng Zitong had gotten him a few days ago, grabbed the bullet case, loaded the bullets into the magazine, and pushed it into the pistol.

He did not put the gun into its holster. Instead, he put it into the bag he always carried with him. The pistol was a backup to him. His main weapon was still the Frost King Saber.

Once he was ready, he went downstairs and walked out of the university gate, only to find that a car was already parked at the square in front of the university. When the driver saw him, he pressed on the honk.

He went over. A man came out and said fawningly, “Are you Mr. Chen? Mr. Huang asked me to pick you up.”

“Sorry for the trouble,” Chen Chuan said with a nod.

“It’s no trouble at all. Please, get in.”

Once Chen Chuan got in and fastened the seatbelt, the driver started the car and headed south of the city.

This was the busiest part of the city, second only to the downtown area. More than half of the people in Yangzhi City lived here, and most of the rich stayed here too. It looked completely different from the northern part of the city. It was much livelier and prosperous.

After around twenty minutes, they stopped in front of a movie theater called Orchid Fragrance Theater. There was a face of a woman covered in thick makeup on the huge billboard. She had her eyes shut while blowing on a dandelion, whose puffs flew outward. It was a very artistic advertisement.

The movie theater was quite large. While the building itself was not tall, Chen Chuan could tell that the building was at least three hundred meters in length.

The driver drove through an arched gate. Once he parked the car, Chen Chuan got out with the Frost King Saber. He smoothed out his clothes and observed his surroundings.

When the movie goers saw him, their eyes went wide open in shock, and they sized him up. Some of the security guards trained their eyes on him when they caught sight of him. They were nervous, but also curious and shocked, because they knew that anyone who could walk around in public with a weapon was from Martial Valor University and had a weapons permit.

The driver ran over to the guards and said with his chest puffed out, “This is Mr. Huang’s guest. Step aside.”

He then motioned for Chen Chuan to come forward as he said respectfully, “This way, Mr. Chen.”