Chapter 221: Ritual

Lei Guangcheng went to the table and picked up a chess board. Then, he set up an array expanding outward using the chess pieces.

“Take a look. Pretend that these pieces are the arrays from the old era.”

He grabbed a pen and drew a few lines on the board, but he wasn’t connecting the pieces in order. Instead, he connected them with lines of varying lengths. No two lines were the same.

Chen Chuan stared at the pieces and the lines beneath them in deep contemplation.

“Do you understand now?” Lei Guangcheng pointed at the lines. “Since the cultist’s ritual has never been one unified whole, it’ll be hard for him to connect them. I believe that he’ll be using most of his time connecting and making up for what is lacking. But if that’s the case, he won’t be able to activate all arrays at once. Instead, he’ll have to activate them one by one.

“This gives us time to react. We can target them one by one. The more arrays we destroy, the less powerful the ritual will be.

“But that takes time, and I’m sure he’ll need a core for the ritual. That core will be of crucial importance, and we need to find it. If we don’t, we can’t guarantee being able to destroy the entire ritual. While we’re looking for it, we need you to go up against the ritual.

“He’s going to be the one making the first move while we chase after him. Right now, we aren’t sure just how many of the old arrays he’s going to use. That’s why we can’t set up a clear search area.”

Chen Chuan nodded at that. This meant that before the ritual was completely destroyed, Chen Chuan would need to bear the effects of the ritual when it was going to be inevitably turned on him.

He didn’t feel opposed to the plan. After all, he had his second self. This just meant a battle of attrition.

At present, Chen Chuan had eighteen hours of overlap time. While it was going to be reduced if his second self was hurt, Chen Chuan wasn’t going to just stand by and do nothing. Besides, he wasn’t going to fight alone.

“We won’t let you face the ritual without any preparation. That’s why I’ll be helping you cast some resistance-type rituals over the next few days. Even so, they won’t be enough. During the crucial moments, you’ll need to fight against the ritual’s effects on your own and think of a way to destroy it.

“Honestly, if necessary, we could carve an array on your skin, but rituals have a huge negative impact on a person’s mental health. They affect them too much and sometimes even drive them insane.

“If the person in question were a Cult Investigation Bureau member, we’d inject them with medicine or have someone take their place if we see that the situation isn’t going well. But you’re a martial artist, so you need a clear head on your shoulders as well as ample stamina. That’s why I don’t think carving an array on you is the right move.

“That means that the only way to protect you is to draw arrays on your clothes and other personal items. We’ll have to draw them on a few sets of clothes, too, so that we can help you effectively fight against the ritual.”

Chen Chuan nodded at that. It was the right call to make. While Chen Chuan could have his second self absorb the damage, if he could use other methods to defend himself, he would first use them.

No matter how much overlap time he had, every second of it was important the moment he got into a fight. After all, it concerned whether he would make it out alive.

“We need a lot of time and materials to activate the anomalous substances for the rituals. That’s why we need to get ready beforehand. It’s the same even for makeshift rituals.

“They’re like playing cards. By the time you sit at the table, all your cards are already in your hand. All you can do then is decide how you use each card.

“You’re a martial artist, though, not a cult specialist. So, these things will just help you display your strengths without external interference.

“I’ll teach you how to swiftly identify various types of rituals and the simple ways to fight against them over the next few days. That will be enough. I’ve already asked my subordinates to get the materials ready. If I teach you with the real materials, you’ll remember better. Take some time to sort out your matters. Once you’re done, we’ll begin.”

“Okay,” Chen Chuan said. After his conversation with Lei Guangcheng, he called his team members and told them that he had a mission to wipe out an armed group before asking them whether they had the time for it.

He wasn’t at all surprised that all of them readily agreed to join him on his mission.

Even if they didn’t bring their friendship into the equation and just looked at the mission itself, Chen Chuan’s missions were always high-quality, and the rewards were great. Normal missions couldn’t compare to them at all, so no one was going to miss them.

Since this mission was highly confidential, they couldn’t accept it through their companies. Chen Chuan didn’t want to bother Lei Guangcheng, so he called Gao Ming and asked him for help.

Ever since Chen Chuan got out of his trial scot-free, Gao Ming’s reputation among the lawyers skyrocketed. Even though Chen Chuan had escaped punishment because Black Orchid Co. was being targeted, Gao Ming had figured it out with the little information he had and used it to help Chen Chuan achieve his goal. It was a rare talent.

For a while, quite a number of law firms tried to poach him. Some members of the upper-class society even sent him invitations because they wanted to hire him for their lawyer teams.

Gao Ming rejected all their offers. He didn’t stick his nose into any major case because of his fame either. Instead, he kept a low profile and only took a few small cases in order to fade back into obscurity.

According to Gao Ming, his value would only truly rise when Chen Chuan successfully went to Central City. It was too early for him to stand in the spotlight.

He was laying low in order to reap more rewards later on.

Gao Ming agreed to help right away. Chen Chuan wasn’t just his cousin. He was also Gao Ming’s most important client right now, so it was only natural that he prioritized his most important client’s demands. Everything else was secondary.

That afternoon, after Chen Chuan made the phone calls, Lei Guangcheng brought him to the training center. The place had already been filled with all sorts of arrays.

Lei Guangcheng went to the center of one array and said sternly, “There are all sorts of rituals. We train our members for a long time to remember how to deal with each one. But the repeated resistance training is a heavy burden on the body and mind. We don’t have the time for that, nor do I want to subject you to it.

“That’s why we’ve prepared a resistance ritual for you. You just need to identify the rituals you face and determine what kind of ritual to activate to counter them.

“Your judgment plays a crucial role here. You only have a short amount of time to figure out what the ritual is. Even though there are ways to destroy most rituals once they’re activated, some of them don’t give you the chance to counterattack. That’s why it’s best to act before the activation. Your observational skills and sensitivity toward your surroundings are very important for this.”

He handed more than a dozen detailed array sketches in the form of cards to Chen Chuan.

“These are the arrays we’ll be drawing on your clothes. I will activate the rituals next. What you need to do is identify the ritual I casted and find the right array to neutralize its effects within the shortest amount of time possible.”

Chen Chuan cast a glance at the arrays. They were complicated but beautiful, and at first glance, they looked almost the same. It wasn’t going to be easy remembering and identifying their differences.

Fortunately, he had carefully read through the information Lei Guangcheng had given him. His observational skills were also pretty decent, so he managed to differentiate them very soon.

“If you’re ready, we can begin,” Lei Guangcheng said.

Chen Chuan nodded. “I’m ready.”

Right when he said this, Lei Guangcheng clapped his hands. At the same time, he saw his second self blurring out a little. This meant that the ritual had already been silently activated.

After some thinking, Chen Chuan decided to face the effects of the ritual head-on for some experience, so he willed his second self to stop absorbing the damage.

He suddenly felt as if Lei Guangcheng’s clap came from far away.

His world turned dim, and it felt as if he had entered a deep hole. A wave of loneliness and anxiety enveloped him. He felt as if his limbs were slowly moving away from him, and a desire to sink into this darkness crept into his mind.

Chen Chuan immediately started recalling all that he had read. Based on the information, if a ritual didn’t involve supernatural beings, it usually attacked the mind. Some would also hurt the target physically, but the effects wouldn’t be as strong as those of the mental assaults.

Under normal circumstances, he could withstand an attack of this caliber, but Lei Guangcheng’s ritual was just a test. The real one would be stronger than this and pose a certain degree of difficulty fighting against it. If Chen Chuan had an enemy beside him at the same time, he would be in danger.

Chen Chuan remained calm and checked the cards in his hands, only to find that it had become really hard for him to tell which was which. So, he quickly picked one card based on memory, and the feeling of sinking into darkness faded away. Soon, everything returned to normal.

Lei Guangcheng nodded in approval. “Good. It shows that you’ve studied the information I gave you. Let us continue.”

With Lei Guangcheng helping him, Chen Chuan repeatedly familiarized himself with the effects of the rituals he had on hand. Since the parts he needed to learn weren’t hard, he managed to pick them all up in just one afternoon.

When the session was over, he turned to Lei Guangcheng. “Mr. Lei, I have a question. The Life Cult is able to transfer vital energy. If they had more manpower and money, could they use the ritual to achieve longevity?”

“That’s a dangerous topic. Rituals are made for the sake of chasing after dreams the human body can never achieve, but to succeed, they need to follow certain rules and go through the right channels. If some dreams are achieved through the rituals, it means that the rules of nature allowed them to do so. Fortunately, up to this point, what you mentioned has not come to pass,” Lei Guangcheng said slowly.

“Has not come to pass? Does that mean that it’s not impossible?” Chen Chuan pressed on.

“That’s right. Since the old era, people have kept trying to achieve longevity. Even though no one has managed it, they’re still trying and searching for how to do it.

“While the Life Cult can transfer vital energy, they can’t achieve longevity through it. The person might feel energized after they get a transfer, but soon, they return to their original state as if nothing had happened.”

Chen Chuan pondered over this and asked, “If that’s the case, it’s just like taking a medicine that can increase their energy?”

Lei Guangcheng nodded. “That’s a vivid example, but the effects are weaker than those of medicine. The transfer might also cause all sorts of negative side effects.

“So, your next question might be this: Why would someone spend vast amounts of money and manpower to try the ritual if the effects are so weak?

“Because compared to the physical boost of energy provided by the ritual, the joy and satisfaction it brings is something no one can ever forget, especially the moment when the vital energy enters their body. It feels like they’ve been reborn. Many people can’t get over that feeling and even get addicted to it.

“All rituals provide a sort of stimulation to the mind after using them. Quite a number of Cult Investigation Bureau members are taking injections to alleviate the negative side effects brought by activating rituals too frequently, but if you really want to fight against it, you need self-control and a strong will.”