Book 3, Chapter 248: Refinement

Considering how stern Xue Shou’s warnings were, Chen Chuan had no intention of being careless. He put all his attention into focusing his mind. After two minutes, he opened his eyes and looked at Xue Shou.

When he saw the brilliant shine in Chen Chuan’s eyes, Xue Shou knew that Chen Chuan had focused and restrained his mind to the utmost degree. Grimly, he said, “Get ready.”

The moment he finished speaking, a bright light shone in his eyes, and Chen Chuan felt everything around him fading away, as if they were melting. Then, he found himself sitting in a void. Even his concept of existing disappeared.

But things were different this time. The mental jadestone he had envisioned was in the void, and it seemed like the only source of light in this space that anchored his existence in place.

Just then, a bright light suddenly shone in front of him, and an even more powerful light tore through the void. It barged inside like the sun and swiftly cast its rays outwards. It looked like it could chase and devour the small ball of light that Chen Chuan called his own.

The pressure caused Chen Chuan to instinctively focus his mind even more intensely than before. The next moment, he felt his consciousness waver, as if he was about to melt because of the light. Even so, he just focused on defending his mental gemstone and ensuring that his strongest desire was never affected.

An unknown amount of time passed before the strong ball of light finally disappeared.

Meanwhile, there was only a small bit of light the size of a piece of grain left of his mental gemstone. After a moment, though, it started spreading outward until it returned to its original state.

It seemed to be shining brighter.

Before it could fully recover, the sun-like light appeared again. It came charging into the void even stronger than before, and Chen Chuan had a feeling that the effort he put into defending his mental gemstone last time wasn’t going to be enough this time.

Even so, he continued defending his ball of light and never wavered, because he knew that beliefs were crucial for the mind to stay focused. The more confident and firm he was in his beliefs, the more focused his mind would become. The moment he hesitated, it would become hard to focus. The moment he showed even the slightest bit of doubt in himself in this contest of strength, what should have been a possible task would turn into an impossible one.

That was why Chen Chuan couldn’t give up no matter what. Even if he had to use every bit of his strength to resist the strong light, he would do it without hesitation or thinking about the consequences. All he needed was his unyielding and unrelenting willpower.

The attack ended, and the light faded away. When Chen Chuan looked around, it was as if everything had ceased to exist, but his mental ball of spiritual light remained shining stubbornly. Even though it had become almost unnoticeable, it was slowly recovering. When it regained its full splendor, it shone even brighter than before.

But this wasn’t the end. The moment it recovered, the strong light came for the third time.

The attacks kept repeating, but whenever Chen Chuan’s mental gemstone was about to disappear, it was able to stubbornly recover even when it was at its weakest. It also became brighter and more solid than before.

After an unknown amount of attacks, the strong light finally stopped.

The void disappeared, and the training center returned to view. When Chen Chuan looked around, he saw that the sun was still shining brightly outside. Meanwhile, Xue Shou was sitting in front of him with a smile on his face.

Upon checking the time, Chen Chuan found that less than a minute had passed. Yet he felt as if a century had gone by.

Even though his mind had been repeatedly refined just now, Chen Chuan didn’t feel tired in the slightest. Instead, he was feeling great, as if he had just emerged from a long period of meditation and had rested fully for a long time.

“If we continued, you’d be draining your mental foundation, and there’s no need for that. As long as you know how this works, that’s enough,” Xue Shou stated.

He was quite pleased with the test just now. If the person going through the tempering method didn’t have a strong enough will, they fainted.

Then, they could forget about learning any other technique. If one’s mind wasn’t strong and firm enough, no matter how hard they trained, it would be useless.

“The tempering method consists of two parts, the external tempering and internal tempering. I showed you the external tempering, so now I’ll teach you how to do internal tempering. Pay close attention to it.”

As he spoke, light shone in his eyes again.

Chen Chuan immediately focused. When they connected their minds before, Xue Shou had needed to touch Chen Chuan’s arm to draw him in. This time, that was no longer necessary, because Chen Chuan’s mind had become sturdier and could withstand as well as decipher what Xue Shou was trying to mentally convey.

After Xue Shou finished his demonstration, Chen Chuan noticed that the tempering method seemed to be linked with the nourishing meditation method he taught him in the previous lesson.

When Chen Chuan pointed this out, Xue Shou said, “You’re right. In the old era, refinement and nourishment couldn't be separated. The meditation methods I mentioned all contain a refinement method, but as time goes on and we continue improving, the refinement methods of the old era are unable to compare. I’d even say that they’ve become outdated.

“You can practice internal tempering on your own. As for external tempering, I can’t train with you every day, but you have Hongfu. Whenever you’re training in the university, use her.

“She can provide the most suitable and accurate mental attacks. After all, Hongfu is an active biosentient entity that has polished her skills by sparring with generations of lecturers and students in the university for the past seventy years. While the active biosentient entities of other companies can fight as well, they can’t compare to Hongfu in this area. Unless...”

He trailed off and didn’t continue. Instead, he said, “You’re a Third Limit martial artist now. If you have time to spare, I suggest getting a teaching position. With your talent, the university shouldn’t reject your application. The resources allocated to students and lecturers are very different.

“The university is just a platform, and you need to utilize its resources as best as you can. With a teaching position, you can also build your connections and earn money from it.”

“But I’m still lacking in many areas,” Chen Chuan protested.

Xue Shou laughed at that. “You’re being too humble. You’re already a Third Limit martial artist, and that’s more than enough to teach some students. Even if you don’t teach anything, you can spar with them.

“Of course, that’s just a suggestion. It requires time and effort to get a teaching position, and it’s still early for you. It wouldn’t be a mistake to focus on just training.”

Chen Chuan nodded. “Thank you for your guidance. I’ll think about it.”

Xue Shou straightened his back. His easy-going demeanor disappeared, and he said sternly, “Also, I need to tell you something. While training the mind is a way to continue forward as a martial artist, mental energy is something you own. You need to know how to control it instead of letting it control you.

“Those who practise mental energy for a long time usually suffer from a side effect: They bring all that they sense in their mental space into reality, and they think that if their minds can do something, their real, physical selves can do it too. This makes them blind and overly confident in themselves.

“Such people also have unwavering hearts and believe that whatever they’re doing is right. You can’t convince them otherwise, so it’s common for such people to become radicals or for something to go terribly wrong with them.

“Still, I have to admit that people who follow their hearts like that can improve quickly, as long as they stay alive.

“There were such people who reached great heights in the old era, but they were also usually the ones bringing chaos and destruction into the world. Even now, there are factions that focus solely on following the heart’s desires, but we should think of ways to avoid such things from happening.

“I have a method here called the purification method. It might affect your training speed, but it’s stable and will make your mind milder and steadier. Do you want to learn it?”

His eyes were fixed on Chen Chuan when he asked the question.

“Please teach me, sir,” Chen Chuan answered without hesitation.

A power not within his control was no power of his. Chen Chuan would much rather improve slower and at a steadier pace than to use extreme methods.

Judging by how resolute his stance was, he didn’t seem to be humoring his teacher. Xue Shou’s expression relaxed a little, and he said, “Alright. I’ll teach you the purification method.”

***

Song Zicheng, the vice supervisor of the Security Department, was at the headquarters of Ferris Wheel. He was in the department’s hall and, while wearing a pair of sunglasses, was watching a video on the screen.

It showed a group of Cult Investigation Bureau members with ritual arrays painted on their faces wearing overcoats. They were checking the company while accompanied by a guide. The one leading the bureau’s group was the newly appointed vice director, Lei Guangcheng.

While the man was on their purge list, they couldn’t do anything to him in this situation.

A long time passed before he heard a voice from his Realm Pass. “Mr. Song, the Cult Investigation Bureau is about to leave, but they said that in order to make sure that we don’t have any cult influences in our company, they’re going to station an investigation unit here.”

“Got it.”

Song Zicheng knew all too well that this was Lei Guangcheng’s counterattack. With cold eyes, he watched Lei Guangcheng leave the company.

These people were Ferris Wheel’s enemies.

Fortunately, they had an easier time getting rid of the other targets. As of then, they had killed more than half of the future threats.

Song Zicheng trusted Wu Qi’s analysis wholeheartedly. After all, Ferris Wheel had listened to it before and gotten rid of all sorts of enemies by using the active biosentient entity’s strategies. This was how the company had managed to gain its current power in such a short time.

Another voice said, “Mr. Song, the Resolution Department sent someone over. They want to ask us about the attack.”

“Send the company’s PR and legal team to entertain them first,” Song Zicheng ordered.

This was the consequence of failing to kill their targets. In the past, they had encountered such difficulties before, but in the end, they managed to overcome those challenges.

The superiors also hadn’t given up on the plan. It was just that the current situation didn’t allow for them to carry out any assassinations, so they had to wait.

However, even if they couldn’t kill the targets right now, that didn’t mean that they could do nothing at all.

He connected to a secret channel. “Are you ready?”

After a while, he heard a voice using a voice changer. “The men have already arrived at the perimeter of Fat Ring’s logistics warehouse. Everything is in place. We’re waiting for your next orders.”

“Do it,” Song Zicheng said coldly.