Book 4, Chapter 11: Joining The Faction

Mr. Zhuan stood at Wen Tong’s gate with a confident smile that practically screamed, “See? Finding my way here wasn’t so hard.”

The moment he heard footsteps coming over, he set his briefcase down, grabbed the black mask, and put it on his face.

His demeanor changed, and he brought his wrist up to check the time before sighing in resignation. Then, he said to Chen Chuan and Wen Tong, “Sorry for making you two wait again.”

“You don’t have to apologize, Mr. Zhuan. We never set a time to meet. I should be the one apologizing for making you come here, even though it’s already so late,” Chen Chuan said.

Zhuan Liang faced him and said sincerely, “It’s no trouble at all, Lead Investigator Chen.”

After the greetings, they went into the living room.

Once they sat down, Chen Chuan took out the package he brought with him and retrieved the things he had taken from Kenwa. He also produced some photos and documents as proof that he had completed the exam.

One of them stood out among the other items; it was Kenwa’s mace.

Zhuan Liang took a look and recognized it. After Wen Tong notified him about Kenwa’s death, he had also verified the truth through certain channels.

Even so, he inspected every item carefully, especially the photos about the strange transformation Kenwa went through after he died.

In the end, he took out a camera to take some photos. Once he was done, he set the camera down and faced Chen Chuan.

“We’ve verified that you’ve eliminated the target, Lead Investigator Chen. As the representative of the faction, I hereby announce that you’ve passed our exam. Allow me to present you with the question one more time.”

His voice became stern and solemn.

“Will you join the purity faction?”

Just as solemnly, Chen Chuan answered, “Yes, I will.”

Zhuan Liang stared at him for a while before nodding and saying, “Then, as your recommender and examiner, I welcome you to the faction.”

Then, he stood up and extended his hand.

Chen Chuan stood up as well and shook his hand. “Thank you.”

Wen Tong smiled.

Once Chen Chuan officially joined the purity faction, the atmosphere in the living room became even friendlier.

After the three of them sat down again, Zhuan Liang took out a few documents from his briefcase. “I’m going to submit your information and exam results to the higher-ups. Please fill out these forms. They’ll be stored in our files.”

Chen Chuan took a look. The forms were basically stating that he was joining the purity faction. Some of them had some of his public information filled out, but there were no details. All he needed to do was sign as confirmation. One of the forms was quite unique, though. It was the application form for training resources.

After reading through everything, Chen Chuan picked up a pen and signed every form.

Zhuan Liang took the forms to check them before removing his mask and signing his own name on each form. Then, he handed the forms to Wen Tong, who also signed them as a witness.

Zhuan Liang put his mask back on and arranged everything neatly before putting it back into the briefcase. “While I haven’t submitted the forms, you’re already a part of the purity faction. Once the higher-ups confirm things, they will provide you with the training resources you need at your current level.

“You won’t need to do anything to apply for them this time, but in the future, the faction will check what you’ve been doing and whether you’ve contributed to anything. It doesn’t necessarily have to be contributions to the faction. We also acknowledge contributions to your local area, the country, and even the world.”

If that’s the case, my problem with pure essence has just been solved,

Chen Chuan thought.

“Mr. Zhuan, since everyone needs different amounts of resources, how much will the faction give me?” he asked.

“For now, they’ll give you two units,” Zhuan Liang answered.

He explained that the unit was based on a regular individual as a standard of measurement. From the purity faction’s calculations, one unit was about enough to satisfy a regular martial artist’s needs.

Unique individuals couldn’t be measured with this. Chen Chuan was a good example of that. They could tell based on his previous achievements that he had extraordinary talent, so they decided to give him two units.

Chen Chuan nodded. He had already absorbed a lot of pure essence and was still taking it. Two units on top of that would certainly be enough.

“As your recommender, I am in charge of teaching you the faction’s secret techniques and other regular techniques,” Zhuan Liang said.

“Once you get pure essence and meet your needs, you’ll meet the conditions to move to a higher limit. Then, I will tell you what you need to pay attention to in your training. In the future, if you recommend someone else to the faction, you will also share the same responsibility.”

“I understand. Mr. Zhuan, can I ask you some things about my training?” Chen Chuan asked.

“What are they?”

“I’m still lacking in terms of mental training. Is there a way for me to further my mental training?”

If he continued training as before, his physical body would reach the limit, but he had only just begun his mental training. Even with the secret technique Xue Shou taught him and the rewards he gained some time ago, he might need a few years or even longer to reach the peak with his mind.

This amount of time wouldn’t be considered long for his age, the Great Crash might arrive in that time in the fastest estimates, and Chen Chuan wanted to reach a higher limit before that.

“Let me check your mind,” Zhuan Liang instructed.

With a flash in his eyes, Chen Chuan released his mental energy. Wen Tong whipped his head up in shock.

Zhuan Liang took a moment to sense it before commenting, “Not bad. Even though it’s lacking in breadth, the depth is pretty good.

“You should have learned an advanced mental technique. You also had a chance to help your mind grow. It must have been during the time the active biosentient entity in Jibei Road’s Central City propagated, right?”

“Yes,” Chen Chuan answered honestly.

Zhuan Liang grunted at that. “Mental training has always been pretty complicated, and it’s more dangerous than physical training, but there’s one simple thing about it. If you increase the depth of your mind to a sufficient degree, you will be able to improve very quickly.

“Your mental foundation is good. Your teacher must have been really attentive and a really good teacher. As for furthering your mental training... Hmm...”

After some thinking, he said, “You should know that mental training was easier in the old era than now.

“Back then, the World Ring wasn’t around, so it was easier to absorb quintessence and get pure essence.

“Even though the martial artists could get corrupted by the other world sometimes, they had to face this risk after deciding to walk down this path.

“Now, the World Ring has blocked off the corruption from the other world, but that means that the number of fights against it has also dwindled. Without these hardships, mental improvement slows down.

“If you want to speed up your mental training progress, you need to fight against the existences.”

Chen Chuan remembered what Zhuan Liang had previously said. He believed that martial artists could only grow through non-stop fighting. It seemed like the faction promoted this belief.

Zhuan Liang continued, “There are places like that. I’m talking about the gaps. If you can train in one, your mind will improve much faster.”

“A gap, huh?”

Chen Chuan nodded. When the Fu-Mu Entity had lost its ability to block off the other world, plenty of gaps had appeared in Central City, which led to what was known as the Gate to Heaven opening. He could understand what Zhuan Liang meant by this.

“While the World Ring has formed a lock, it didn’t lock down every place. Gaps still show up occasionally. They’re like tiny holes in the World Ring, and it’s hard for anyone to close all of them. Whenever they do find one, they seal up the area and isolate it or have a Central City collect it, then seal it off.”

Chen Chuan had heard about this. As the two worlds drew closer, more gaps appeared, so the Central Cities had the duty to collect them. This was also why the number of Central Cities kept increasing.

“There are only a handful of undiscovered gaps in the world right now. It’s the case even in underdeveloped areas. The moment any local power or company finds them, they immediately seize control of them.

“Take the Sarmanj Continent Guild as an example. Even though the tribes and warlords keep fighting, the companies remain powerful. They value gaps very highly. Through gangs, informants, tribe members, and bioweapons, they monitor every inch of the gaps.

“They’re not doing this for the sake of the world’s safety. The pressure from the world is forcing all governments and companies to keep expanding and improving their technology. The collection and isolation of gaps allows these entities to claim the benefits entirely for themselves and even reduce certain risks.

“Yet even though they’re enforcing such strict control over the gaps, there are some that are hard to control. Usually, it’s the gaps at the bottom of the ocean. There are only a few of them, and they aren’t large. Even so, they exist, and some have been around for a long time.

“You might have heard that there were a lot of martial arts schools within the island nations in the past. They were able to rise to power because of the martial arts they passed down to their disciples. But that’s not all. Those who have survived until now did so because they are in control of a gap that has existed for a long time.

“Even though many of the schools have disappeared, they were definitely in possession of a gap back when they passed down their teachings.

“The last successor of one of these schools joined the purity faction some time ago and offered the gap to the faction. He’s guarding the place now. You can train there for a while.”

Zhuan Liang released an invisible wave of mental energy, and Chen Chuan received some information.