Chapter 163: Put In Order

After the idol statue shattered, Chen Chuan saw the violent blurring of his second self begin to subside, and he pulled his hand back. Slowly, he began to relax as wisps of white steam spread out from him.

Chen Chuan turned his attention to the powdered lime on the floor. Since he had gotten rid of the Hill Demon, there was no need for him to leave at night. He could wait until morning. So, he switched out the torches, added some more incense sticks to the incense burner, and sat back down again.

The buzzing of the insects reached his ears. The wall isolating the sounds had been torn down, and the area became full of life once more.

After composing himself, Chen Chuan began using his breathing technique to guide his mutated tissue’s growth. The Hill Demon had dealt so much damage to him that his second self even began fading in and out. He had almost been unable to guide the growth of his mutated tissue in an orderly manner too. Now that he had calmed down, he could focus on smoothing it all out.

The night passed in a relative calm. Amid the pleasant bird chirps, the morning sun shone its light on the temple.

Chen Chuan opened his eyes and noticed that the blurring was still spreading, which meant the invisible damage hadn’t stopped. He wondered just how long this effect was going to last.

This was not a good thing for other people, but it was great for Chen Chuan.

The stronger supernatural beings he encountered, the longer their damage lasted.

He could now understand why no one wanted to take the Hill Demon out, even after it had been active for so long. It was just a losing deal.

What sort of supernatural-related mission was the best for other people?

Without a doubt, it was the type like the movie theater’s midnight ghost. Even though it was somewhat harmful and deadly, it affected members of the upper and upper middle class. Dealing with such a creature led to an increase in reputation and influence, along with a handsome reward.

Chen Chuan was declared an expert after taking out the movie theater’s midnight ghost, even though those people couldn’t even tell what supernatural beings were.

Meanwhile, after he took out supernatural beings in rural areas, all he got was just a small sum of money the hamlet residents were able to pool together after digging through all of their meager savings. It was not even enough to buy equipment or pay for fuel. A moment of carelessness could also lead to death, so no one in their right minds would take up such missions.

Chen Chuan watched the bright sunlight shine on the mottled wall. Some birds flew in and landed on the wall, giving some life to the once ghastly and grotesque temple.

Chen Chuan stood up and walked over with the machete to where the Hill Demon died. The powdered lime was still on the floor. He poked around with the blade and found something white underneath. Chen Chuan bent down and picked it up.

It was an upper jaw with sharp teeth. Clearly, it didn’t belong to a human. Chen Chuan wondered what it was.

Just then, he saw something else, and he swiped the powdered lime away to find a yellowing piece of paper. He picked it up as well and checked it. There were strange symbols made of circles and long lines drawn over it. They seemed to have been drawn using cinnabar ink.

The paper looked like one of the cult ritual items Lei Guangcheng had mentioned, so Chen Chuan’s mind went straight to the secret cults often mentioned in

the Legend of the Three Mountains.

Did it belong to them?

He knew little about the secret cults, but he did know that cultists always left traces of a ritual behind, so he looked around the place.

Lo and behold, he did find quite a lot of things.

In all eight directions of the hill, he found a buried skeleton. Each skeleton was placed in a meditative position with their heads placed over their stomachs.

There was something worth paying attention to: The heads had been preserved with some unique method to not lose flesh. They looked withered, just like the Hill Demon’s head.

This explained a lot. The legend of the Hill Demon said that it had been sealed up by secret cultists, but they didn’t do it with the goal to stop it from tormenting the people, but to make use of it.

The cultists were likely the ones who sealed the Hill Demon’s head in its stomach.

But that was something that had happened in the old era, a very long time ago. There was no knowing why they did it. Still, Chen Chuan could go back and ask Lei Guangcheng about it. He might learn something from it.

He had always been interested in things shrouded in mystery, and he wanted to learn the methods to restrain and use supernatural beings.

After some thinking, he returned to the temple and took out a camera from his backpack. He took a few shots to see whether it was still working and was quite relieved to see that it was. It looked like only the movie theater’s midnight ghost corroded non-living things. Perhaps the damage each supernatural being dealt was different, but since his second self took on most of the damage, he couldn’t tell the difference.

Chen Chuan walked out of the temple with the camera and took a few photos of the temple, the skeletons he had dug out, and some places he thought were worth noting.

The photos of the temple and the powdered lime were evidence that he had completed the mission. As for the rest, he wanted to bring them to Lei Guangcheng to ask him about them. Of course, he didn’t have the time for that now, so he would visit him later.

Once he was done with these things, he packed up, made sure that he gathered everything back, and left the hill to return to the hamlet.

When the villagers heard that he came back, they surrounded him to ask about the situation.

“I’ve taken out the Hill Demon, Sir. You don’t need to hide in the fort at night anymore,” Chen Chuan replied to the mayor.

The hamlet’s residents remained somewhat skeptical. The Hill Demon had been a blight to them for decades, but Chen Chuan was telling them that it was gone after spending a single night on the hill? That didn’t sound possible.

𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

While the mayor was also doubtful, he held onto hope and asked, “Are you telling the truth, young man?”

Xiao Wei defended Chen Chuan, “Mr. Chen didn’t come here to get rid of the Hill Demon for money. He has no need to lie to you.”

His words had an opposite effect. The villagers became even more unconvinced. Why would Chen Chuan have come if not for money? They refused to believe that someone would do anything good for nothing.

Chen Chuan didn’t continue trying to convince them that he had killed the Hill Demon. It was impossible for him to dispel the decades-long wariness among the residents with just a few words. “If you’re worried, do what you’ve always been doing. You’ll see the truth for yourselves after some time.”

He said goodbye to the mayor and patted the shoulder of the hunter who had led him up to the temple. This time, the lock of hair around his wrist showed no reaction.

Under the residents’ dubious gazes, Chen Chuan got into the car and headed back to the city.

He went to the company and handed the camera film to an employee so that he could produce the photos. Meanwhile, Chen Chuan wrote a mission report. After reading it, Ren Shu was delighted.

“No one has ever been able to do this mission before, but you did, Mr. Chen! Once it’s verified, our evaluation points will go up again.”

“That’s good. Mr. Ren, I’ll be busy over the next few days and might even leave the city. It’s highly likely that I won’t be able to do any missions for some time. I’d like to apologize to you in advance,” Chen Chuan said.

Ren Shu was surprised but soon realized what was going on, and he said seriously, “We might be a small company, but we are still somewhat capable, Mr. Chen. If you’re in trouble, please tell us. If we can help, we will.”

“If it ever comes to that, I will,” Chen Chuan promised.

After leaving the company, Chen Chuan went straight to Cheng Zitong’s private martial arts training center to make use of the energy causing his second self to continue blurring out. He intended to train until that energy ran out.

He checked his overlap time while training, and the results didn’t disappoint. The increase this time was more than one hour, which was nearly the same as what he gained during the unrestricted defense permit test.

While the unrestricted defense permit test was just as dangerous, Chen Chuan had been confident that he could pass. The night’s fight was different. He hadn’t actually thought about getting rid of the Hill Demon in one night and had even made a misjudgment before going up the hill. In the end, he had to take a risk, so it could be said that while he won, it was only barely.

Now, his total overlap time was more than five hours.

If this trend continued, his total overlap time would sooner or later reach twenty-four hours, and he could sense that once he reached that stage, his second self would go through some sort of transformation.

Chen Chuan stayed at the martial arts training center for two days, but his second self remained blurry, though the effects didn’t spread anymore. The summer holidays were about to start, and he still had some things to take care of in the university, since Cheng Zitong had helped him cash out the two gold certificates. It was quite a huge sum—one certificate was worth ten thousand devs, while the other was worth forty thousand devs.

He suspected that this was the reward the Merkarians had given Mitai’s gang. It was not a huge sum for a country, but it was a lot for a gang in the wilderness.

Since good news should be shared with others, Chen Chuan invited the wilderness team to meet up again at Douyi Hotel for a meal.

Just like last time, he split the money before the meal according to the agreed split. Everyone knew how much they would get, so they didn’t argue about it.

Once the food was on the table and they were about to start eating, Wei Changan said, “Chen Chuan, I’m about to graduate, but you can call me if you need any help with a mission, just like when I was still in the university. Use the number on my business card. If you can’t find me, look for Fourth.”

“That’s right. If you can’t find Changan, look for me,” Cai Si piped up.

“I won’t ever forget calling you if I need more hands for a mission, Changan,” Chen Chuan said with a smile.

“That’s a promise.”

They clinked their glasses while grinning.

Lin Xiaodi then said, “Chen Chuan, I’ve already passed my entrance examination and am going to take my follow-up exam in two months. I’m joining Martial Valor University too. We’re going to be university mates by the next semester.”

“I hope that things go smoothly for you, then,” Chen Chuan said with a smile.

Lin Xiaodi was He Nan’s disciple, and He Nan had taught her with great care since she was young. While Chen Chuan had never seen just how skilled she was, based on her nimble movements, she had a great foundation. Lin Xiaodi was also very lively and knew many skills not related to martial arts, which showed that she was smart and resourceful. It shouldn’t be hard for her to pass the follow-up exam.

After the meal, Chen Chuan parted ways with the group and went back to the university with his cohort. Most of the students were already waiting for the summer holidays, so for once, the tense and stern atmosphere in the campus was not around.

Chen Chuan’s true trial was about to start, though, so this wasn’t the time for him to relax. While other people were thinking about where they wanted to go to have fun, Chen Chuan stayed in his training room to keep improving.

In the afternoon, his phone rang. Chen Chuan stopped his training and went over to pick up the phone receiver. Cheng Zitong’s voice came through.

“Xiao Chuan, Lao He sent a telegram. He said yes! The summer holiday is going to start in two days. Get everything settled at home, then once you decide on a date and time to leave, I’ll buy your train ticket. This is a crash course training session, so it won’t last long. Do your best to make use of every single day. I’ll prepare all the medicine you’ll need.”

“Thank you, Mr. Cheng,” Chen Chuan said calmly.

Chen Chuan had a feeling that this would be his last chance to get stronger before the Mutual Aid Group learned his secret, so he had to make good use of it.