Book 3, Chapter 147: Adjustments

September passed by with no further excitement. Meng Shu’s manor wasn’t attacked once.

But all of them knew that Meng Huang wouldn’t give up. This could only mean that he was getting ready and making adjustments to his plans while waiting for a suitable chance.

The more time he took to plan for his attack, the harder it was going to be to deal with it.

Chen Chuan opened his eyes from his meditative state. Recently, he had been focusing on composing his mind and getting his body ready for a fight. He replaced sleep with meditation. Because of it, he hadn’t received any memories for some time.

But he knew that the memories remained within him and didn’t disappear. Once he relaxed and no longer had any burdens, they would naturally rise to the surface. It was just that when he had to be in his best state and couldn’t have anything bothering him, the memories stayed dormant.

Just then, he received a notification. Tan Zhi had sent him some videos and photos. Aside from the videos of the dance pool and of himself dancing, he also sent Chen Chuan photos of Dawncall eating and drinking.

Since Chen Chuan had to move into Motie Mountain, he asked Tan Zhi to take care of Dawncall. He only needed to prepare food and water for it. Dawncall was smart, so he wouldn’t need to spend too much energy taking care of it.

Tan Zhi was completely on board with the idea. Why wouldn’t he? Not only was Chen Chuan his friend, but he was also a Third Limit martial artist. If he asked Tan Zhi to do this, it meant that Chen Chuan trusted him and that they were good friends. Other people wouldn’t get such a chance in their dreams.

Chen Chuan sent a reply thanking Tan Zhi, then started reading up on the news. The three-month-long tournament had finally ended, and as usual, Central City was plagued with daily violent criminals. Nothing out of the ordinary was going on.

Once he was done reading, Chen Chuan took a shower, ate a few tubes of nutritional paste, grabbed a training saber, and left the villa to practice Principal Sanshou and some saber techniques.

It was now October, and the leaves of the maple tree forest had turned red. When he looked over, he saw an ocean of red and yellow. Training here painted beautiful, artistic imagery, and he felt like he could easily immerse himself in this environment.

Two hours later, he ended his training and walked around the manor.

After a whole month of preparations, the manor’s defenses had been completely revamped. Even Third Limit martial artists would have to give up on breaking in in a single attempt, and many places were covered in traps.

While they couldn’t stop Third Limit martial artists in their tracks, as long as the traps could slow them down enough for the security team to alert the manor, everyone inside it could react in time.

After returning to his villa, Chen Chuan took some medicine. Meng Shu was providing him with it, so Chen Chuan didn’t need to get any extra.

After a month, his mutated tissue’s growth was starting to slow down. If things progressed like they did during the First and Second Limits, then while he could still get stronger, his progress would be slow. He would no longer improve as fast as during the period of rapid growth.

Chen Chuan believed that in a few more days, he would have to start taking the special medicine.

After another hour of practicing his breathing technique, he picked up a stack of documents from the table and started reading.

They were records left by Third Limit martial artists from the old era. Meng Shu had gotten them from certain channels.

While some of them were completely outdated or used backward technology due to being from the old era, they were still important reference materials, especially when it came to the understanding of martial arts. Chen Chuan received a lot of insights from them.

Based on the incomplete records, after the martial artists of old reached the Third Limit in the era of change, they needed to find a gap and kill the “monsters” inside to soak in their aura. By doing so, they would get rid of the impure aura within themselves and cultivate a righteous spirit. Then, they could search for a chance to reach a breakthrough.

But if they were in the era of dormancy, things became much more troublesome. The martial artists had to spend lots of time and energy to search for the remnants from the era of change.

During the era of dormancy, the number of civilian martial artists plummeted. But since the empires and royal families collected the remnants, they could train up a pool of talented martial artists.

Hence, when there were plenty of martial artists in the past, it marked an era of change. The world was also full of turmoil during those times, and the world changed rapidly. Usually, the eras of change marked a change in dynasty as well.

The eras of dormancy were a slump for martial artists, but the rulers were able to stay in power. This pattern was the same everywhere in the world.

However, getting stronger through this method was incredibly outdated and dangerous. Most of the time, the martial artists were just trying their luck, and if they didn’t succeed, they ended up dead. Practically none of the records spoke of those experiences with fond memories.

Chen Chuan was reading an incomplete instruction letter from a master to a disciple at the moment. It spoke about a martial artist finding a gap and deciding to go inside with his companions in search of a chance to get stronger. Since he wasn’t sure whether he was going to make it back, he gave his disciple some instructions and told him earnestly to pass down their school of martial arts.

Things were different now. The two-hundred-year-long era of change had brought about unprecedented changes to the world’s political situation. While getting medicine seemed to be even harder than before, they had a fixed channel to get it, and they no longer were at risk of dying at the drop of a hat.

That wasn’t all. The Great Clash was right around the corner, so the world might go through a historical transformation. This might be a huge danger for all the living beings on the planet, but it could also be a form of good luck.

After setting down the stack of documents, Chen Chuan searched for information on the university platform to see whether he could find anything important and worthy of his attention, but he found nothing.

So, he contacted Jiang Tian and Mr. Bai to ask about this, but both of them became much more cautious after they heard his question.

Even though they gave him a lot of feedback, they were all just vague descriptions. They also told him to be careful, as if they were wary of something.

Realizing that there was something off, Chen Chuan didn’t dig any deeper. Fortunately, aside from the university lecturers, he could also ask Cao Guiqi and the Resolution Department.

However, Cao Guiqi did not use a Realm Pass, so Chen Chuan had to contact Mr. Ding first and tell him that he had some questions for Cao Guiqi.

Mr. Ding politely asked him to wait for a while before coming back and saying, “Chen Chuan, I’ll send you a secret channel. You can talk to the young master on it.”

Chen Chuan then received a password, and he could immediately tell that it was for a private channel. He logged in.

After waiting for a while, Cao Guiqi asked, “You’re at Motie Mountain?”

Chen Chuan didn’t hide the truth from him. “Yes.”

Cao Guiqi didn’t ask anything more. “This is a temporary private channel that is maintained with a powerful domain. Since the biosentient entity used to construct this channel is somewhat unique, Central City rejects its existence. The channel will only last for around ten minutes. If you’re at Motie Mountain, we might be able to stretch out the conversation for a little longer. If you have any questions for me, you should ask them now.”

“Okay.”

Chen Chuan then told Cao Guiqi that he got the special medicine and wanted to know whether he needed to pay attention to anything when he took it. He also mentioned that he had asked his lecturers about it, but they seemed to be unable to give him clear answers, as if they were on guard about something.

Cao Guiqi did not ask him where he got the special medicine. Instead, he said, “There’s a reason why they couldn’t tell you directly. They’ve signed an NDA. Unless the university gives them the okay, they aren’t allowed to reveal anything about the World Ring or talk about it, even if you’re in the know.

“Special medicines are also under strict regulation because they’re rare and have the unique nature of affecting a person’s mind. Sometimes, even talking about them will bring about strange effects that you simply can’t put to words.”

Chen Chuan felt his heart freeze for a moment. “Even just talking about them…”

“Yes. If you were to hear other people talk about their experiences with the medicine and form impressions and ideas about them, some strange effects might happen to you because of it, even though you would have been fine if you took the medicine while being ignorant.

“That’s why I can’t tell you what will happen if you take the medicine. The dosage taken also varies from person to person, since everyone’s mutation and coverage of mutated tissue, physical abilities, mental strength, and emotions are different. The effects from the medicine, thus, are also different.

“Your body is a physical entity, which is like a sturdy shell that tightly encases your mind. After you reach the Third Limit, a crack forms on your shell, and there’s a possibility that your mind will escape through it.

“That alone isn’t enough to make you improve. That’s where the special medicine comes in. It brings your mind closer to the other world and weakens your shell.

“Once you take the medicine, its effects will be fully realized, which will raise your potential.

“At the same time, you will inevitably be affected and attacked by those creatures from the other world. You need to keep your composure, stay true to yourself, and not be affected by those things.

“That’s not all. Every time you take the special medicine, the effects from those creatures will linger. That’s why you need to figure out a way to expel those effects each time after you take the medicine.

“You need to depend on your blood essence and mind for that. The stronger both of these things are, the more effectively you will be able to defend against those effects. That’s why you need a solid foundation. Every time you take the special medicine, wait for a period of time. Aside from expelling the effects, you need to accumulate enough blood essence and compose your mind once more before taking another dose.”

Chen Chuan took note of everything Cao Guiqi said and thanked him before ending the call.

His new goal was to compose himself and get his body ready.

Five days passed. When he felt that his mutated tissue’s growth had practically slowed to a stop, he knew that it was time, and he got ready to take his first dose.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep