Book 3, Chapter 231: Going Back

A foreign cruise ship was anchored at Oceanway Port, Jibei Road’s Central City.

There was a meeting going on inside at that moment. In order to prevent the Fu-Mu Entity from detecting them, they used independent domains.

“According to our information, these two targets are going to come to Central City between the end of January and the beginning of February. Our main goal will be this person.”

Chen Chuan and Lei Guangcheng’s portraits showed up on the screen. When the chairperson tapped on the screen, Chen Chuan’s photo was enlarged.

It was a recent photo, since Chen Chuan was wearing the squad captain’s uniform, which made him look like an elite.

The chairperson took a moment to focus before looking away from Chen Chuan’s photo. He said, “The public road is the best place to kill the target.

“The Resolution Department values the target a lot. If he reports that he’s been attacked, they might send someone to help him. Then, we’ll need to come up with ways to stop him from requesting reinforcements. The target himself is also extremely strong in battle, so we’ll only have this one chance.”

Jiancheng Sheng was standing nearby with his arms on his saber as he stared at Chen Chuan’s photo and read the notes beside it. A lot of it was the detailed information Big Sis Huan and her team had dug up.

The information gave Jiancheng Sheng a better understanding of his opponent and a certain advantage over him.

He also knew that this was an ambush and not a competition, so he didn’t need to care about fairness, though most fights between martial artists were unfair.

Only victory and defeat mattered in a fight, and only the victor had the right to talk about the future. The ones who lost were left with nothing. Hence, both fighters would use everything that would work in their favor to achieve their goals.

“Mr. Jiancheng, we’ve hired two Third Limit martial artists to work with you. They won’t interfere with your fight against the target and are just in charge of wrapping things up, protecting you, and stopping anyone from getting in the way of your fight,” the chairperson said.

This wasn’t to show their upcoming fight any respect, but out of practical, real-world considerations.

Based on previous fights, average Third Limit martial artists posed no threat to Chen Chuan. If they joined the fight recklessly, they were just going to be used against Jiancheng Sheng and affect his performance. That was why it was better for them to just act as support.

In order to prevent the Resolution Department from finding out anything, Ferris Wheel had hired the two martial artists from another Central City.

Jiancheng Sheng didn’t seem to have heard the chairperson and remained still, his eyes fixed on the information. A long beat passed before he said, “I need a quiet room.”

The chairperson immediately ordered a manager, “Bring Mr. Jiancheng to the room.”

Jiancheng Sheng bowed to the chairperson and left with the manager. They went to a training room specially prepared for people like him.

Once the manager left, Jiancheng Sheng removed his shoes and sat down in the middle of the room as he recalled all that he had seen.

One detail had stood out for him. In all of Chen Chuan’s recorded fights, he had never suffered any serious injury. It didn’t matter whether it was due to body hardening or because of his technique itself, but that it was going to be a problem for Jiancheng Sheng.

He shut his eyes, and in his mind, an image formed. When he opened his eyes again, a shadow appeared in front of him.

The shadow had no physical form and was like transparent fog. It stood close to Jiancheng Sheng, and when he looked at it, the shadow assumed Chen Chuan’s face.

Jiancheng Sheng turned to the side a little, lifted the saber hilt and stared at him for a moment before suddenly drawing his saber. Then, he lunged forward and delivered a horizontal slash.

When the saber reached the shadow’s side, it stopped moving, as if there was an invisible barrier preventing it from completing the attack.

Jiancheng Sheng exhaled and stepped back before sheathing his saber. After a moment, he delivered another slash, but it still stopped in front of the shadow.

He stepped back again and put his saber away. As he stared at the shadow, he said with great certainty, “My saber isn’t sharp enough.”

After some thinking, he walked out of the room and said to the manager waiting outside, “I need something that can’t be cut through.”

“May I know what that is?” the manager asked politely.

“I don’t know,” Jiancheng Sheng answered honestly.

“You don’t?” The manager was taken aback. He gave the request some thought before asking tentatively, “May I know why you’re requesting such a thing?”

“It’s related to killing the target,” Jiancheng Sheng replied.

“Alright. We’ll do our best to fulfill your request,” the manager said after some consideration.

“I’ll leave it to you.” Jiancheng Sheng bowed to him and returned to the room.

The manager bowed back before quickly reporting Jiancheng Sheng’s request to the chairperson.

“Something that can’t be cut? What’s that? And he doesn’t know? How are we supposed to find it, then?” The chairperson frowned.

One of the meeting attendants thought of something and said, “I think I know what he wants.”

As the other people in the meeting room turned to him, he said, “The Skyhigh Jade. The Skyhigh Cult produces it. Apparently, Skyhigh Jade is indestructible and has a minuscule amount of jade core. Those things are rumored to be the toughest thing in the world. I heard that they can help a martial artist’s mind transcend.

“It’s likely what he needs.”

“Makes sense, but I heard that jade cores are sacred objects of the Skyhigh Cult, and they usually don’t show them to others. Jiancheng Sheng is highly likely asking for it just to satisfy his personal needs.”

The chairperson didn’t care about that. “He’s our weapon now. Shouldn’t we find him a proper whetstone before the fight so that he can become even sharper? It doesn’t matter whether he wants it for personal reasons. If the jade core is useful, then we should do our best to fulfill his request.”

“But it’s the Skyhigh Cult’s sacred object...” someone objected.

“Everything else needs to be pushed back for the sake of our company’s interests.”

The Skyhigh Cult was a huge organization with a large sphere of influence. In the old era, it had cultists all across the ocean. Since they supported the royal family when the Great Shun Republic destroyed them, the republic was fighting them to destroy the last of their influence.

There was even an army stationed at the Skyhigh Cult’s former sacred grounds, which dealt a huge blow to the cult. Right now, the cult’s most influential figures were gathered at the Gong family for survival. Their influence was very limited and small.

Meanwhile, Ferris Wheel had gathered the technology and resources from all the island nations and had their own armed force. Their influence over the island nations was also growing stronger by the day.

“Send people to the Skyhigh Cult and make them hand over the Skyhigh Jade. I want it to reach Jiancheng Sheng within the shortest amount of time possible,” the chairperson ordered.

***

On the twenty-sixth of January, Chen Chuan was set to go back to Central City. His family walked him to the entrance of the alley, and after saying goodbye, they watched him get into his car and drive out of the constables’ residential area.

Chen Chuan didn’t take the main road to go out of the city straightaway. Instead, he took a turn and went to the square in front of Martial Valor University. Wu Han and Wei Dong were already waiting there with their bags and weapons.

Chen Chuan pressed on his horn twice before stopping in front of them. Then, he got out to greet them and opened the trunk to help them put their things inside.

Once they were seated, he took out two boxes from the glove compartment and handed them to his friends.

“After you told me that you were going to Central City, I bought Realm Passes for you two.”

Curious, Wu Han and Wei Dong took the boxes. The moment they opened them, they saw a delicate mesh of interconnected bone tissue that could connect their heads with their necks, shoulders, and other parts of their bodies. Only the main parts of the Realm Passes stood out, though. Anyone standing further away wouldn’t be able to see the other parts.

The Realm Pass Chen Chuan picked was a pretty balanced model that had all the basic functions. It was much better than the one Qi Gao gave him in the beginning.

He didn’t give them something too good, but it wasn’t because he was trying to save up on money, but because of these two’s fighting styles. It was unlikely these Realm Passes were going to last.

Wei Dong poked at it, and the Realm Pass trembled. “It looks alive.”

“Didn’t Chen Chuan say that before? If it’s alive, of course it can move,” Wu Han pointed out and turned to Chen Chuan.

“We’ve got something for you too.” He then searched around his bag and brought out a beautiful black-and-white wooden box. Then, he handed it over.

Upon opening it, Chen Chuan found it full of throwing stones. All of them were polished until they were smooth and shiny. When he picked up one of them, he identified its origins right away. “They’re from the North Ornament Highlands, aren’t they?”

“That’s right.” Wu Han laughed. “Wei Dong, Luo Kaiyuan, Feng Xiaoqi and I asked a professional for advice and went digging around in North Ornament Highlands. We found some suitable ones and started working on them.

“These stones are seriously tough. Wei Dong was in charge of shattering them into even bits, while Luo Kaiyuan and I worked on finding satisfactory ones to polish them. Feng Xiaoqi made the beautiful box to keep them.

“By the way, we made them based on the stones you used before, so we weren’t sure if you’d still like them.”

Chen Chuan smiled brightly and said, “That’s very thoughtful of you. I

love

them. Thank you.”

The stones themselves weren’t that valuable, but their thoughtfulness was priceless, which gave the stones great sentimental value. Using them was out of the question. Chen Chuan was going to put them in a nice corner in his weapons display room.

He turned to the front, started the car, put his hands on the steering wheel, and stared at the spacious road ahead. “Sit tight, you two. We’re leaving now.”