Book 3, Chapter 99: Sparring

Chen Chuan immediately contacted Lu Fang. Once the call went through, he asked about his current situation.

Lu Fang told him that nothing abnormal had happened. After Zhao Er woke up and learned that Zhao Qian was already dead, he still didn’t give up and tried to attack Lu Fang again, only for Lu Fang to crush him.

As for Thirteen, she stayed in the mansion, just like she always did, and did not show any intention to leave. It seemed like she wouldn’t do anything on her own, unless someone gave her an order.

Once Chen Chuan understood the situation, he said, “Wu Bei found some new clues. Things might be different from what we expected.”

𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

As he spoke, he sent the things Wu Bei found to Lu Fang. “Call me once you go through everything.”

Chen Chuan then went to the table. According to the date, he was supposed to take a green pill, so he took one and went to do his daily training.

In less than half an hour, Lu Fang contacted him, and his voice was a little downcast. “If that’s all the clue we have, I think... that she might be Shen Zheng’s sister.

“She might have caught the eye of some United Might company executive or have some special value. That’s why her status became higher than Zhao Qian’s after she joined the company three years ago. There’s also a possibility that Zhao Qian was only able to join United Might because of her.”

“Both situations are a possibility. All we can do now is guess,” Chen Chuan said.

“Yeah. All we can do now is guess.” Lu Fang sighed.

“Do you still want to look for her?” Chen Chuan asked.

“When I first came to Central City, I just wanted to find Shen Zheng’s sister to know whether she’s alive. If she is and isn’t living a good life, then I was planning to save her, but my decision doesn’t represent her thoughts. That’s why I want to make my decision after seeing how her life is.

“If she needs help, then I’ll do my best to help. If she doesn’t, then I will not bother her. That’s what I’m thinking now.”

“Even though we have a clue now, things have become more complicated. If her status in United Might is higher than Zhao Qian’s, then we don’t have any way to approach her. She might not even be in Jibei Road’s Central City. With our current strength, we can’t figure out the truth,” Chen Chuan pointed out calmly.

“True...” Lu Fang felt powerless. The longer he was in Central City, the more intensely he felt the invisible barrier delineating them to their circles and keeping them within them. If they so much as thought about taking a step out of their circle, the people from the other circles would attack them mercilessly.

Back in Yangzhi City, the powerful families had worked together to create a huge dam. Now, in Central City, he saw a towering wall, whose end he couldn’t see, built by even greater forces.

He wasn’t even a citizen right now. Forget contacting the companies, he could not even get close to them. If Chen Chuan hadn’t helped him, he wouldn’t have been able to learn anything at all.

“Lu Fang, if you want to keep on investigating, you might only have one path to take... the path of martial artists,” Chen Chuan said.

Lu Fang’s heart trembled.

He knew what Chen Chuan meant. He was asking him to continue down his path as a martial artist. It was the only way for him to break free of his circle.

With his talent, he had a chance of climbing to further heights. After all, he had been a vice president of the Aspiration Club, since he was one of the most talented and outstanding students in the university. Some of the lecturers had even called him a talented person who only showed up once in a blue moon.

When compared to Wei Jun, Zhao Qian, and the rest of the Mutual Aid Group, all he lacked was resources. Yet that very thing which he lacked made his path incredibly hard to tread. He could already see it from the seniors who helped him. They had been in Central City for a few years, yet they hadn’t reached the Third Limit.

But he believed that Chen Chuan was right. If he wasn’t strong enough, then even if he did find Zhao Qian’s sister, he wouldn’t be able to do anything. He had to be strong enough to change things.

Without proper strength he wouldn’t even be able to help himself.

“Thanks for the reminder. I’m a martial artist, so I’ll think of a way to solve this problem through a martial artist’s way,” he said earnestly.

“I’ll have someone take care of your situation later,” Chen Chuan offered.

“No need. This is just a small matter. I can handle it. Let’s stay in touch, Chen Chuan. If you need my help for anything at all, just let me know,” Lu Fang said with a chuckle.

After a brief pause, Chen Chuan said, “Alright.”

Once the call was over, Chen Chuan returned to the training room and resumed his training.

He was going to keep paying attention to this matter, but he wasn’t going to do anything about it right away, because he needed to focus on reaching the Third Limit. Once he was there, he would step into another circle, and he would be able to learn things that he was unable to in the past.

When noon arrived, he took a few tubes of nutritional paste and went for a shower before leaving for Oceanview Hall. This time, he only came out at 10 p.m.. The moment he was out of the domain interference zone, he sent the drug feedback to Green Satchel Pharmacy.

By the time he returned to the Arcane Palace, it was past 11 p.m.. Without wasting another second, he lit the incense burner, though he put less incense in the burner this time. Then, he took the ginseng-like medicine and the supplementary medicine together before beginning to practice the breathing technique.

In what seemed like the blink of an eye, he came out of his meditative state, but when he checked the time, just like before, it was already 7 a.m..

Chen Chuan felt as if his body had soaked in a hot spring, and he felt so warm that he didn’t want to get up, but his mind felt incredibly clear. His mutated tissue also seemed full of life, which was a sign that all the nutrients and blood in his body had gone to his mutated tissue.

But meditating alone wasn’t enough. This was just one of the steps. He still needed a powerful opponent to help him get his body and mind to become one.

He sat still for a little while longer before getting up and going to the weapon stand to pick up the Frost King Saber. Once Chen Chuan was in the training room, he logged onto the university’s platform and searched for the Hongfu sparring partner service.

It cost nine thousand devs per session, and each session lasted three hours. The hologram resource points required were also the exact same as the points allocated to him daily.

While it was rather expensive, if it could help him achieve his goal, it was worth it. Besides, Hongfu was unique to Martial Valor University, and no other place offered such a sparring service.

Chen Chuan still had one last chance to take his assessment, but the results could be leaked far too easily. Also, having Hongfu test him and having her as his sparring partner were two different things, so Chen Chuan excluded the option of using his last assessment chance.

As he was purchasing the sparring service, he noticed a privacy option. If he picked it, other people would be unable to see any information recorded while he used the service. Of course, this cost an additional one thousand devs.

Without any hesitation whatsoever, Chen Chuan picked that option. Now that he knew for certain that people in the university were paying attention to him, he had to keep his strength secret. This way, those people wouldn’t be able to get any information about his progress and situation.

After paying for the service, Hongfu said, “You have been confirmed to have paid for me to be your sparring partner. The session will last three hours. You have picked the sparring venue, so now please pick the sparring time and date.”

Chen Chuan looked ahead and said, “Right now.”

The next instant, he saw a flutter of red robes, and Hongfu walked out from thin air. Her lively eyes were fixed on him, and in one hand, she held a goose-quill saber.

At the same time, their surroundings changed, and they appeared next to a sparkling blue lake with a blue sky, white clouds, and red sun above them. Under their feet was soft, fluffy sand and mud. The lake water kept splashing against the bank and drenched the hem of Chen Chuan’s trousers. There was a stone as tall as a person by the bank. A few birds were relaxing on it.

Upon sucking in a deep breath, Chen Chuan gave Hongfu a fist-and-palm salute. “Let’s have a fair fight.”

Hongfu returned the salute.

With another deep breath, Chen Chuan released all restraints over his mutated tissue. Since he had fought against Hongfu using this method before, her skill level should match it.

Hence, the moment the sparring session started, he let loose. With a flash, his saber came out of its sheath, and he lunged forward while swinging his blade.

Red sleeves fluttered across from him, and the goose-quill saber danced with the red tassel at the end. With seemingly no effort at all, Hongfu’s saber came into contact with the Frost King Saber. At the same time, an abnormal wave of refined force surged into Chen Chuan.

Since this wasn’t an assessment but a sparring session, Hongfu wasn’t going to let him bring out his full strength. Instead, she was going to do her best to overpower him.

After parrying some of her attacks, Chen Chuan felt a pressure he had never sensed before from all his other opponents, because Hongfu’s footwork, technique, and refined force were all perfect. Every slash reached the utmost limit of what he could comprehend. He simply couldn’t find any openings or chances to attack.

Hongfu would also never run out of stamina. So, unless he could bring out more power in an instant or use the things around him for the fight, it was practically impossible for him to win just by engaging her in a fight focusing on technique.

The moment he made the slightest mistake or misjudgment, he might lose in a few moves, thus demanding him to be wholly focused on the fight the whole time.

This was precisely the sort of pressure he needed.

Chen Chuan wanted Hongfu to draw out his potential and make him enjoy this fight, because he knew that each one was going to further refine him and gradually make his body and mind perfect.

Three hours later, the spar ended. Just like how she had stepped out from thin air, Hongfu faded away into nothingness, and everything returned to normal.

As Chen Chuan stood in the room, he quietly took in the changes in his mind and body after the fight. His mutated tissue was full of life, and his mind had gained greater control over his body.

He needed to have his breathing, body, and mind become one to reach the Third Limit. The breathing technique, meditation, and medicine he took were all meant to help him get there. Then, he would release all the accumulated energy from the three things during the sparring sessions so that all the preparation became of value.

Essentially, Chen Chuan was guiding his mind through the things happening around him to make it know which direction to go. Everything around him also provided him with feedback on how to keep improving.

However, just going through this process once or twice was not going to be enough. He had to keep on repeating it until he touched the barrier.