Chapter 78: Improvement

While Chen Chuan was talking to Cai Si, Lao Wu walked over. “Fourth, I got the info. The woman who attacked you is part of Scar Face’s gang.

“Even though we had Brother Tian send a letter to make sure they stayed, they felt worried and sent her out to keep an eye out.

“While she was walking around, she saw our people climbing up the building and wanted to call Scar Face to give them a warning, but we had cut their telephone line. Because of this, she caused chaos in the market to attract Scar Face’s attention. Thank goodness Changan acted decisively and we moved fast, or her plan would have worked.”

Cai Si recalled what had happened back then and felt shaken. “That was close. If Scar Face had run away…” Then, he looked at Chen Chuan and smiled. “No. We have Chen Chuan here. He wouldn’t have been able to run away regardless.”

Lao Wu looked at Chen Chuan and agreed with that statement.

But Chen Chuan shook his head. “Without the help from everyone, I wouldn’t have been able to stop him.”

That was both true and false. Chen Chuan had been able to successfully launch the first strike at Scar Face because he had observed him beforehand. If a martial artist could get information about their opponent before a fight, they could think of all sorts of ways to take them down.

Without any information, Chen Chuan would have had to fight for a while before he could figure out Scar Face’s tricks and skills. Still, Chen Chuan had his second self and a much larger margin of error compared to other people, so his chances of winning were still high.

Once Wei Changan finished taking care of things on his side, he came over to look for Chen Chuan. “I want to treat you to a meal, but I have a lot of things to deal with, like extracting the whereabouts of Fang Dawei and his gang. I don’t have any time right now. I’ll only be able to do it after I have concrete results.”

“You should take care of your business first. We can put the meal on hold,” Chen Chuan said with a smile.

“I still plan to call you to join any missions related to this,” Wei Changan said after a nod.

“Sure thing,” Chen Chuan replied.

Wei Changan called Cai Si over and tossed him the car keys. “Fourth, since we have Lao Wu here, send Chen Chuan back with my car, will you?”

“All right,” Cai Si agreed as he caught the keys.

“You don’t have to do this, Changan. You’re busy here. I can go back on my own,” Chen Chuan rejected the offer.

But Wei Changan grabbed his shoulder and shook his head at him before saying seriously, “Listen to me this time.”

Then, he gave Chen Chuan’s shoulder a hard smack.

After this, he no longer treated Chen Chuan as an underclassman needing his care and attention, but a partner who was equals with him. No, considering the strength Chen Chuan displayed, Wei Changan might need to hold him in even higher esteem.

When Chen Chuan saw how insistent he was, he didn’t make a fuss about it and accepted it with a nod. “Okay.”

Cai Si immediately went to where Wei Changan had parked his car and drove it to a cleared road before picking Chen Chuan up. He then drove him back to the university.

The operation had started at 10 a.m. When Chen Chuan got back, it was not even noon. After getting out of the car and parting ways with Cai Si, Chen Chuan went to the public phone and called Cheng Zitong to tell him that things had ended smoothly and he was back.

Since there were other people wandering about the dormitory, he could not tell Cheng Zitong many of the details and hung up after giving a general gist of the operation. Since it was time for lunch, he went to the cafeteria to eat before returning to his dorm room.

After the win against Scar Face, he could sense that the maximum overlap time with his second self had increased again, but he still had to check the specific time. Since he had not returned Nian Fuli’s watch to him, he used the second hand to count, and the test showed that he had gained at least five extra minutes.

That made his total overlap time more than twenty minutes.

It was more than enough for a fight against another martial artist.

But Chen Chuan might end up in more complicated situations in the future. It was even highly likely that he would have to fight several times in a single day. Once his second self was unable to help him anymore, his fighting strength would fall drastically, and his life would be at risk. Hence, this amount of time was far from enough. He had to continue working hard.

Also, he was once again reminded just how important the weapons permit was. Putting everything else aside, if he had a weapon he could use, the fight would have been a lot easier and shorter.

But the government placed a lot of restrictions on weapons, and they were even tighter when it came to those from Martial Valor University.

During the operation, only Wei Changan had a weapons permit. The others could only toe the line by using makeshift weapons or were not strong enough to use any sort of weapons.

Even if those who did not manage to learn refined force had weapons, they would not be a threat to Scar Face, since guns could not make him budge.

Of course, there were those who brought weapons along in secret. After all, it’s not as if the government could keep a close eye on everyone, but this was a government-led operation to arrest a criminal, so they could not use their weapons in broad daylight.

After some thinking, Chen Chuan went into his bedroom and took out the Frost King Saber. Then, he went to the shared training hall.

Once he stood still, he positioned the saber horizontally before pushing his left thumb against the crossguard and pulling out a bit of the snow-white blade. Then, he flicked it, and the saber flew out of its sheath. At the same time, he walked forward and brought his right hand inward to grab the hilt before swinging it as he took another step forward. Then, he grabbed the hilt with both hands, took yet another step, and delivered a thrust.

The snow-white blade glinted sharply under the light.

He turned around and put the saber on his shoulders before taking two steps back. He proceeded to perform a series of slashes and thrusts. As he performed the moves, the training hall filled with saber energy and the glints of icy steel.

Even though it had not been long since Chen Chuan got the saber and Cheng Zitong had only taught him some basic saber techniques, he had been practicing every day and could perform the saber techniques with speed and precision. The only thing missing was real combat experience with the saber, though honestly, a person’s physical abilities determined whether they could perform combat techniques well.

Chen Chuan had some questions he wanted to ask Cheng Zitong, but his mentor seemed to be busy lately, so he could only wait.

***

Xiao Ran was sparring with a partner in his villa on North Peak.

After he successfully picked up a breathing technique, he started improving at lightning speed. His sparring partner had been slightly stronger than he was before, but now, he could not fight back at all. In the end, Xiao Ran delivered a powerful kick to his sparring partner’s stomach, and the latter collapsed in pain.

Xiao Ran pouted and said in disdain, “How useless.”

He beckoned the maid. She was used to this and immediately called for a retainer to take the sparring partner away.

Xiao Ran went over to his instructor and asked, “Mr. Feng, what do you think of my performance?”

His parents had offered Mr. Feng a high salary to be Xiao Ran’s instructor. Compared to the mentors in the university, Mr. Feng stayed with him 24/7 and was in charge of teaching him alone.

“You’ve been improving quickly. In another seventy days or so, you’ll be ready to learn a refined force,” Mr. Feng praised him.

“That long?” Xiao Ran thought of something else and changed the topic. “There’s a student in the university who relied solely on his breathing technique to defeat more than a dozen upperclassmen before he even learned a refined force. Just how skilled is he? Could I do it too?”

Mr. Feng pondered over it. “I think you’re talking about a naturally gifted student. Those who aren’t gifted can’t compare to those who are.”

“Naturally gifted, huh?” Xiao Ran became jealous, which was a rare thing for him. After all, one had to be born naturally gifted. Talent could not be obtained through money or power.

“Don’t compare yourself to such people. Commoners can only rely on their bodies to climb up the social ladder. They have no other avenues to improve. There is also a limit to how much your gift can help you. The further a martial artist goes down their path, the more resources they need, and you were born with them,” Mr. Feng comforted him.

“But I’m not gifted…” Xiao Ran was still bothered by it.

“That isn’t an unsolvable problem. There’s a way for you to become equal with the naturally gifted within a short amount of time,” Mr. Feng said.

“What is it?” Xiao Ran’s eyes lit up.

“Implants,” Mr. Feng said.

Xiao Ran became disappointed again upon hearing the answer and pouted, “Implants? My bodyguards have them, and they’re just so-so. They also have a lot of limitations. I heard that they damage the body as well. Weren’t you the one who kept reminding me that my body is precious?”

“The military-grade and civilian-grade implants you see in the market are outdated by a generation or two. The negative effects of the high-end implants in Central City are no longer as bad. Some of them are even so technologically advanced that they align perfectly with the body. As long as you have the money, you can easily negate the results of decades of hard work of talented martial artists.”

“Central City, huh?” Xiao Ran had an expression of longing on his face. Even if he came from a powerful family, unless the university recommended him, it would not be easy for him to gain a footing in Central City.

“Didn’t they say that a lecturer from Central City comes to the university every year? It’s been more than two months since the start of the semester. Why isn’t he here yet?”

“He’s already in the university, but he’s mentoring another student,” Mr. Feng said languidly.

“Who is it?” Xiao Ran’s eyes flew wide open.

“I don’t know, but that lecturer is currently teaching an upperclassman from among the recommended students. Whether any first years will catch his eye will depend entirely on whether any student has enough potential and if the mentor is in the mood to teach them.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep