Book 3, Chapter 98: Information

Forty-five minutes later, Chen Chuan returned to his room. He set down all the things he brought back and inspected them to make sure that nothing was damaged. He could finally begin preparing to reach the Third Limit.

He first took out the yellow brocade containing a record of the breathing technique Cao Guiqi gave him. The words on it were written neatly, like it was a classic script. Chen Chuan could even sense a wisp of energy on it. When he read it, he straightened his back subconsciously.

He spread out the brocade and began reading it. The first half was mainly about how to use the breathing technique. The steps were clear and easy to understand, making it not complicated at all, but the second half was rather difficult. Not only was the wording awkward, but the contents were also obscure. They referenced various other old era texts.

If the people from the past read it, they would have been stumped for a long while, but fortunately, Chen Chuan had a Realm Pass. If there was anything he didn’t understand, he could check. Hence, after cross-checking multiple texts, he figured out what it was trying to say.

He realized that the author wasn’t intentionally trying to make their writing hard to understand, but that only these words could convey what they wanted to say.

If they used simpler language, the text would lose its flair and the respect for the breathing technique. It was only when the user had an appropriate amount of respect that they could keep their wavering, fragile state of mind intact.

The more Chen Chuan pondered over the words, the more he felt that they had a strong, evocative mood that drew him in. He noticed that when he read them out loud, he could pair them with the breathing technique. Once he became familiar with it, he could instinctively use the breathing technique while just thinking about the words. He no longer had to actively think about using it.

Hence, the second half was the true essence of the breathing technique. The person who created it was definitely no ordinary person.

Once Chen Chuan figured it out, he decided to try practicing the breathing technique while reciting the words in his heart. However, if he wanted to practice this way, he needed to burn some incense. He didn’t ignore this step and did as he was told. He went to take a shower, changed into a comfortable martial arts uniform, then took out an incense burner from among the things he brought back.

The incense burner was not expensive. What was important, though, was the medicinal incense. According to Cao Guiqi, it could help him meditate.

Chen Chuan took out the medicinal incense from its paper wrapping and found that it was cut into blocks. Even before being lit, the aroma coming from them made him feel his head clearing.

Just then, he also noticed something else. The Frost King Saber was trembling lightly, and he could see wisps of white fog coming out of it.

Surprise flickered in Chen Chuan’s eyes. Ever since he pushed the foreign object back into the Frost King Saber, it had shown no life. But now, it was reacting.

He looked at the blocks in his hand and wondered whether it was due to the medicinal incense.

He put the medicinal incense into the incense burner, then went to the stand and grabbed the Frost King Saber. The moment he touched the weapon, the white fog started drifting to the hand that had touched the medicinal incense.

It really is because of the medicinal incense, then.

The foreign object hiding in the Frost King Saber had long since merged with the blade, so Chen Chuan didn’t mind sharing with it. Hence, he went back to his original spot with the saber, set it by his side, and threw multiple blocks into the incense burner. After closing it with the lid, he took out the medicine that he needed to take.

The medicine resembled ginseng in shape, though it was only the size of a finger pad and jade-white in color. When he put it in front of him, Chen Chuan had the irresistible urge to eat it.

He knew that this was his body and mind telling him that he needed the medicine, but he couldn’t take it straightaway. He needed supplementary medicine to go along with it.

Fortunately, he could get the supplementary medicine from Wu Ruo and Phantom Form’s stash, which saved him the effort of asking Green Satchel Pharmacy for medicine. This way, the company wouldn’t know about his progress.

First, he boiled the supplementary medicine until it dissolved and turned into a liquid according to the appropriate ratio of medicine to water. Then, he took it along with the ginseng-like medicine before sitting down and lighting the incense burner.

Soon, wisps of incense-laced smoke rose into the air, and he began practicing the breathing technique from the brocade.

As he recited the words in his mind, he breathed in the incense-laced smoke and immediately felt as if his lungs had been cleared of all impurities. At the same time, the medicine’s effects started kicking in, and he felt his mutated tissue stirring awake.

However, it was not as exciting and lively as it usually was. Instead, it grew at an orderly, gentle pace. It was as if his entire body was soaking in warm water, and every part of it was working in perfect tandem. It was a comfortable feeling.

Wisps of gentle white fog rose from the Frost King Saber and drifted in the air with the incense-laced smoke before filling the entire room, but it restrained itself and didn’t cause any abnormal domain reactions.

As Chen Chuan repeatedly guided his breathing, he subconsciously entered a deep, meditative state. When his mind finally returned to the present after a long period of meditation, he found that the incense had finished burning.

A quick glance at the time revealed that it was 7 a.m.. The sun had already risen in the east. Without even realizing it, Chen Chuan had sat in meditation for an entire afternoon and night, though he felt as if only a brief moment had passed.

While Chen Chuan watched the sun rise, he felt a deep calmness in his heart, while his mutated tissue was bursting with energy, as if it was about to start growing like mushrooms after a rain.

Yet the actual growth was gentle and not chaotic. Every bit of it happened according to what Chen Chuan wanted and planned. He even created a somewhat idealized balance between his weaker mutated tissue and stronger mutated tissue, as well as performed subtle adjustments.

The adjustments made his senses and reaction even sharper and faster than before.

He then cast a glance at the Frost King Saber before picking it up and drawing it out of its sheath. The bloodred line on the back of the saber had become more distinct than before. Their connection had also become stronger.

By the looks of it, the Frost King Saber had also gained quite a lot of benefits from the incense, and Chen Chuan could communicate much more easily with it. If that was the case, he could set the saber beside him when he practiced this breathing technique in the future.

Chen Chuan stood up and started setting up his timetable for the month. Aside from the times when he absolutely had to leave his room, he decided to spend all of his time on training to reach the Third Limit.

However, he didn’t know when his next shift was…

Hence, he decided to first use up his hours at Oceanview Hall. He contacted them to book his session. The employee told him that if he wanted his session as soon as possible, he could have it arranged today itself, though they only had the afternoon slot free.

After giving it a brief consideration, Chen Chuan decided that it was a good idea, so he set his session to be at 2 p.m..

With that conversation done, he noticed a voice message from Wu Bei. It was sent five minutes ago, but he had been meditating, so he didn’t notice it. Now that he did, he contacted the resonator.

Soon, he heard Wu Bei’s voice. “Chen Chuan, while I was digging around, I found some clues and restored a file Zhao Qian had recently deleted. It might not be in its full version, but I think it might be useful, so I’m sending it to you.”

“Sure,” Chen Chuan said and received two files. After checking the first one, he found that it was a conversation record spanning over three years. He didn’t need to check its contents, since Wu Bei had noted the names of the people involved in the conversation.

Zhao Qian only had conversation records with three people over the past three years. One of them was a United Might executive, while another was a subordinate providing him routine assistance, so it was obvious why Zhao Qian was contacting them.

But the last one was an unknown person. While the two always spoke at length, they seldom contacted each other. Wu Bei had restored their most recent conversation.

Once he started playing it, he heard two voices.

“Help me…”

“…”

“Seasonal review… trust outside… hate me… eyes and ears…”

“Fine.”

The voices were distorted, but it was clear that one of them was Zhao Qian, while the other one was a girl.

“Zhao Qian has been working in United Might for three years, and he got his implanted Realm Pass around the time he started. From that moment on, he started contacting the owner of this biosignal,” Wu Bei said.

Chen Chuan mulled over this. “Based on this final conversation, Zhao Qian was asking for her help. Is she his support in the company?”

“I thought so too, but there’s something weird about this. I can tell the differences between each individual biosignal through the help of a resonator nest as long as the biosignal isn’t hidden from sight. Through the fluctuations in the biosignal, I can also determine the age of the person. The younger they are, the livelier their biosignal is, and their fluctuations keep changing too. The older they are, the more stable the fluctuations are.

“So, based on my judgment, the biosignal fluctuations of the girl in the conversation show that she’s no more than fifteen years old!”

Chen Chuan felt his heart skip a beat in excitement, but he still asked calmly, “If she’s no more than fifteen now, then she was even younger three years ago.”

“Exactly! I’m guessing around eleven or twelve, perhaps even younger. Could this be related to the person you’re trying to find?” Wu Bei asked.

Chen Chuan grunted and said, “Thanks, Wu Bei. This is an important clue.”

“I’m glad that it was useful…” Wu Bei said and yawned. “By the way, I almost forgot. I got the password for Zhao Qian’s account, and he has around 120,000 devs in it. I’ll give you the authority to get the money out of that account. I’ve been working in the resonator nest over the past few days without rest, so I need to catch up on my sleep now.”

“Alright. Sleep well.”

Once Chen Chuan ended the call, he pondered over what he had heard. Based on the conversation just now, the girl’s status should be higher than Zhao Qian’s, but she was too young to be a company executive. It sounded like she was the daughter of an executive, though.

Still, there was another possibility. Based on what Zhao Qian said at the very end, the conversation records they had accumulated for three years, and how her age matched the person they were trying to find, could she be Zhao Qian’s sister?

If she was, the situation was quite different from what they had imagined. Chen Chuan decided to talk to Lu Fang about it before thinking about what they should do next.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep