Book 3, Chapter 244: Focus And Steady The Mind

Chen Chuan cast a cursory glance at the living liquid. Ripples immediately appeared on the surface.

He restrained his biofield, but it was useless. He tried changing it, but the results were the same.

With no other options left, he started thinking of other strategies.

When Xue Shou brought the living liquid to him, it had no ripples.

Xue Shou had asked him to sense it with his biofield, which perhaps stimulated the liquid in some way and made it hostile and wary toward him.

This would mean that the liquid “remembered” him.

It could have also led to it forming some sort of mental connection with Chen Chuan, which wasn’t going to be easy to get rid of. It might even be impossible to do it as long as he stayed here.

Honestly, if he wanted to make the liquid not react to him, the simplest way would be to have his second self hide his biofield, thus cutting off all external interferences and making him invisible. Then, he would be able to pass the test instantly.

But Chen Chuan was here to learn how to control his mind. If he used that method, it wouldn’t be of any help in training his technique. Besides, this wasn’t a fight to the death, so he didn’t need it.

Chen Chuan slowly cast aside all unnecessary thoughts. This wasn’t difficult. After all, when he practiced his breathing technique, he had to focus his mind and calm his breathing. This step already required him to be able to control his mind.

Besides, the liquid served as his reference. He could tell whether he was doing it right by just watching it.

But after doing it, he found that it wasn’t really effective. The ripples had become weaker, but they hadn’t disappeared.

Chen Chuan was sure that as long as he lacked the technique to do this properly, even if he continued trying, he wouldn’t be able to achieve the results he needed. Perhaps he could make the ripples even weaker if he had a few more days, but what he was doing now wouldn’t sever the mental connection between them.

He thought about it a little more. Xue Shou had told him that he needed to restrain all his thoughts and that was it, but Chen Chuan had a feeling that it wasn’t that simple.

The instructions might have been delivered like an offhand remark, and Xue Shou himself appeared to be an easy-going person, but there could be a trap in his words. If Chen Chuan did as he was told, he might fall into it. He had already fallen for it once; he wasn’t going to make the same mistake.

So, Chen Chuan carefully considered the situation and decided that restraining his thoughts was just one of the steps. There had to be other things he needed to pay attention to.

Xue Shou had mentioned a biofield technique. It couldn’t be for no reason.

Changing his biofield was a way to use his mental energy, but right now, changing his biofield didn’t do anything to change the situation. That might be because biofields were a way to display all sorts of information. Perhaps the only way he could pass this test was if his biofield stopped displaying all information aside from that about his mind. Then, he would have to restrain his mind and send it through a similar transformation as he usually did when he changed his biofield. Chen Chuan had a feeling that this was the only way to make the liquid stop reacting to him.

He had to try and see whether his theory was correct, though.

Since he had never done it before, it was quite hard for him to succeed right away. Fortunately, the liquid was a direct point of reference, and he could use it to constantly make corrections.

Xue Shou observed Chen Chuan by the side and tapped his knee slowly. His eyes shone with interest and hope, as if he was waiting for something.

As Chen Chuan worked his hardest to restrain his mind, a few minutes passed. Suddenly, the ripples in the liquid vanished. But after just the span of one breath, they reappeared.

Chen Chuan realized how difficult it was to maintain that state. It was exactly as Xue Shou had said. Those who had not trained their minds before had a hard time controlling them.

While Chen Chuan could change his biofield and even make the entire thing transform, it was difficult for him to do it when he had to transform the mind alone.

He needed a technique for that, but it wasn’t something he could figure out on his own.

Still, he had a feeling that there might be another method.

Xue Shou smiled. Chen Chuan could already be considered to have passed his test. After all, he had only asked Chen Chuan to make the ripples disappear. He had never said anything about the duration. So, even if Chen Chuan had managed to make the ripples disappear for only a fraction of a second, he had passed the test.

But Chen Chuan looked like he wanted to keep trying, so Xue Shou would wait and see how far this student of his could go.

After giving it some thought, Chen Chuan had a feeling that if he couldn’t restrain his mind, he wasn’t going to do it. He had no need to stay in that particular state.

Since he could refer to the liquid, he could keep changing the presentation of his mind. If he presented enough variations to the liquid, it would lose track of Chen Chuan and think that whatever it was sensing was just a stranger.

Then, no matter how many “strangers” appeared in front of it, it wasn’t going to react to “them.”

With that plan in mind, Chen Chuan began testing his theory while correcting his mistakes.

It was usually difficult to identify one’s own mistakes and to know which aspects you should work on to improve yourself, but with this liquid, Chen Chuan had a clear direction, and he was going to make use of it.

Xue Shou saw lots of ripples on the liquid. Sometimes, they were stronger, while at other times, they were weaker. There were also times when they would disappear for a while.

This process continued repeating itself until the liquid finally stopped moving once the hour was almost up. It then stayed like that.

Xue Shou laughed heartily and trained his eyes on Chen Chuan. “You managed to do as I asked within an hour. Well done. You did especially well by not following my instructions blindly and searching for other solutions.”

He loved students like this the most. Chen Chuan had mastered all the abilities required before Xue Shou could even start teaching him. He had also found a solution based on the hint Xue Shou gave him instead of trying to achieve the results by stubbornly sticking to one method. Xue Shou had a feeling that he was going to have an easy time teaching Chen Chuan.

“You should have noticed that the mind is active and dynamic. It’s going to be hard trying to control it. Even if you can restrain the core of your being, you can’t completely restrain the parts that are already released. Actively trying to change those released parts is relatively easy, though.”

Chen Chuan nodded.

Xue Shou began his lecture. “This is unavoidable. After all, as long as we’re alive, our minds remain active. But if you want to become stronger, you need to focus.

“The more you focus your mind, the tougher and more powerful it will become. It’s similar to how scattered streams can’t become a force to be reckoned with unless they gather together to form the ocean. Now, I’m going to teach you the technique for that.

“The first step is called Settling Thoughts. As the name suggests, you’ll be anchoring your thoughts at this step.

“It’s hard to describe mental techniques with words, though, so I’m going to use a method to let you sense what I’m talking about.

“It’s not a biofield technique, mind you. That method isn’t the right one for teaching mental techniques. After all, you’ll be sensing too much information. It won’t be pure enough, and it’ll cause unnecessary interference. Sometimes, the mind can even be corrupted because of it. That’s why we’re going to use another method.”

He stretched out a hand and said sternly, “Grab my wrist, Chen Chuan.”

The moment Chen Chuan did as he was told and grabbed Xue Shou’s wrist, he started drifting, as if his consciousness had left his body. Everything around him turned silent, and his sensory organs’ information vanished. It was as if he had fallen into a void.

“I’ll show it now,” Xue Shou said.

He hadn’t used his mouth to speak since Chen Chuan couldn’t use his ears to hear anything. The words had appeared in his mind.

“If you want to settle your thoughts, you must silence your mind. The first stage in Settling Thoughts is clearing and guarding the emptiness of the mind. You have thousands of thoughts, and they’re as fickle as hyperactive apes. It’s hard to capture them all normally, but once you settle your thoughts, it’s no longer a challenge. We call this Restraining Mental Apes.

“That’s not the end, though. The mental apes might break free, so you need to focus your mind on one thing and converge your thoughts on one object. Then, you use that to guard your resolve.”

While Xue Shou’s voice echoed in his mind, Chen Chuan saw a ball of light in the void. It was like a glowing jade. It drew all his thoughts over, and he no longer paid any heed to anything else.

Xue Shou continued, “Once you focus your mind, your ideas, memories, and thoughts will converge into one bundle. No one will then be able to affect it from outside.

“However, if that bundle breaks down, you might lose your sense of self. The best case scenario would be you walking around like the living dead. Battles of the mind are as dangerous as physical fights. In certain ways, they’re even more dangerous.

“So, you need to repeatedly train your mind. As time goes on, you’ll learn to get rid of all the unnecessary thoughts, and your mind will become pure and shiny like a precious stone.”

The glowing jade became transparent and started shining even brighter, as if everything around it should bask in its glow.

Just then, he trembled and was pushed out of that state, as if he had fallen down from the clouds. His consciousness returned to his body, and all sorts of unnecessary thoughts charged into him from the corners of his mind.

When he was in that quiet state, the thoughts were like the silent moon in the night sky. They stayed up in the sky and didn’t whisper a single thing to him. But now, he felt like he was standing on a noisy street. The thoughts rose and fell, and he had nowhere to place them. It was such a stark contrast that he needed some time to regain his composure.

Xue Shou waited for Chen Chuan to settle down before saying with a smile, “That’s all I’ll be teaching you this time. It’s not that I don’t want to do more, but while learning in this manner, you’ll be able to gather your mind. It’s a gentle method, sure, but those who have never trained their minds before have a hard time staying in that state for a long period of time.

“If we continue, I’ll end up whittling down your mental foundation. Then, your vital energy and blood essence will go next. If I still don’t remove you from that state, your life will be sucked out of you, and you’ll die.”

Chen Chuan nodded in understanding. Now he knew why Jiancheng Sheng had lost and died that day.

He must have staked everything on that mental attack. If he didn’t kill Chen Chuan, he would end up ruining himself. That was quite extreme.

“I’ve already taught you how to settle your thoughts. Once you’ve grasped the basics, I’ll start teaching you how to refine your mind.”