Book 4, Chapter 40: Searching For A Location

A little over an hour later, an SUV stopped at the foot of Greenpeak Hill.

Chen Chuan and Chang Dong got out.

“You might like this place,” Chen Chuan suggested.

Chang Dong looked up and around before commenting, “It’s rather secluded, and it’s located on high terrain. This seems like a good place. Come, let’s go up and take a look.”

They went up the stone stairs to the top, and Chen Chuan said, “This is the temple I mentioned.”

“Judging by the style of the building, it must have had patrons for centuries. The main building looks to have been renovated some decades ago,” Chang Dong pointed out before putting some pressure on his foot. “The materials used for the floor are really solid. It’ll be good as a training ground.”

Chen Chuan nodded. The Temple of the Strange God had always served as a martial arts school. When he sparred against Sancheng Huang, the ground remained in good condition despite them both being Third Limit martial artists. It was enough to show that whoever built had used a lot of special materials.

Chang Dong wasn’t in a hurry to go inside. He stood in the training ground and looked into the distance. He could see most of Central City, so it should be one of the highest places in the area.

“This is indeed a good place. From all that I’ve seen, this place is perfect for a branch,” he said before turning to the temple.

He walked inside and observed the statue of the Strange God. “It’s empty.”

Chen Chuan looked in the direction of his gaze. Clearly, Chang Dong wasn’t talking about the statue itself.

Since emptiness only existed in relation to physical substances, he asked, “Mr. Chang, are you saying that there was something here before?”

Chang Dong nodded. “There are still people worshipping gods all over the world. During the era of dormancy, such worship is only a mental and spiritual anchor, but during the era of change, certain existences might actually appear in these statues.

“Sometimes, they come from the other world through gaps. At other times, they are born in our world when the two worlds get close to each other. This statue should have had something similar in the past.”

Chen Chuan wasn’t surprised. After all, he used to frequently fight against supernatural beings, so he could be considered somewhat of an expert and knew that they were usually related to religions and sacrifices.

Chang Dong took a few steps forward before checking the incense on the altar table. Then, he pinched it. “Focus Incense. Someone came here to concentrate their mental energy in the past few months. It might be because of this that the existence in the statue is gone. If an existence who has been worshipped for a long time notices that their dwelling place is no longer safe, they will leave once the incense finishes burning.”

“In the past few months, huh?” Chen Chuan stared at the burnt incense and couldn’t help but think about the time when the Gate to Heaven opened three months ago.

“Will this affect us, Mr. Chang?” he asked.

“I can’t say. Only the people who offered the incense back then might know,” Chang Dong said while staring at the statue.

After watching it for a while, he turned around and patted his belly. “This is a suitable place, but we’re the purity faction, so it’s not quite right for us to use a place of worship. I also think that securing this place and setting up our branch here will take a lot of money. Why don’t we check out the other places you had in mind?”

“Sure,” Chen Chuan said with a laugh.

After leaving the place, the SUV drove through the city to Roaring Victory District. They stopped in front of a small hill.

Chen Chuan brought Chang Dong to where Wu Ruo once lived.

“This was once a non-gated residential area, but was later abandoned. A Martial Valor University lecturer once lived—No, he still lives on this hill.”

Chang Dong took a look around the burnt ruins. “Won’t we be bothering him?”

“I don’t think he’ll mind.”

They went up the hill. Due to the constant wind, there weren’t a lot of things on the hill.

Chang Dong looked outward and said with absolute certainty, “Something corrupted this place.”

“I checked. Black Orchid wanted to develop this place into a commercial district, but something happened to the company, and the people here got sick with some strange disease. That’s why this place was abandoned,” Chen Chuan said.

Chang Dong bent down and grabbed a handful of dirt to examine it. After a moment, he straightened his back and patted his hands. “Something should have been planted here.”

“Was it?”

Chang Dong gestured with his arms. “Yes. It was huge, so I think it was some kind of tree, and its roots spread through this entire area. If I’m not mistaken, there should still be cavities created by its roots with residue inside them. That’s why this place is being corrupted even now.”

“What is it?” Chen Chuan asked.

“I can’t say without seeing it, but it’s definitely something from the merged space, and it was definitely done in a bio-experiment research lab. There should be a record of it in the Resolution Department,” Chang Dong said with a shake of his head and turned to Chen Chuan.

“I checked, but it was long ago, so many files about the case were locked away. My rank was too low back then, so I couldn’t see them. I can go back and take a look,” Chen Chuan offered.

Chang Dong waved his hand in dismissal. “Even if you can’t find it, it doesn’t matter. That thing is no longer around. This should have been its incubation site. The corruption can’t affect martial artists and gifted people. Staying one night in the merged space is far more corrupting than staying here for a year.”

He hummed, as if he was considering something. A long while later, he rubbed his belly and said, “Let’s set up our branch here. It’s secluded and big. The corruption here will also keep normal people away. It can serve as a barrier.

“You mentioned that this land has been left unattended for around thirty years, right? It should be pretty cheap then. The faction gave me a limited amount of funds, so I’d like to be somewhat frugal in my spending.”

“If you need any help, please tell me. I’m also part of the purity faction, after all,” Chen Chuan said.

“Leave the miscellaneous things to me, Lead Investigator Chen. You don’t have to worry about it. Our third member should arrive in a few days. I’ll be fine with her help,” Chang Dong said with a smile.

Chen Chuan didn’t push any further. He did have a lot on his plate. Besides, the branch’s continued existence wasn’t going to be determined by funds and location. It was going to be determined by brute force, and that was where he came in.

Hence, what he needed to do was to focus on training and getting stronger. This was the best way for him to help the faction.

Chang Dong then said in a more serious voice, “Our location is settled, then. There’s one more thing I need help with. I came here with a mission, and I need to talk to you about it.”

“Please, go on,” Chen Chuan said.

“I mentioned before that our branch here was nearly wiped out before because of a target, didn’t I?” Chang Dong said.

Chen Chuan nodded.

Chang Dong sighed. “The target was originally part of the purity faction and a talent we favored greatly. We poured a lot of resources into him to train him.

“He did some bad things, but some of the leaders of the faction thought that due to his talent and abilities, they just needed to guide him properly, and he would become a pillar of strength for the faction someday. They tolerated his actions and only punished him symbolically.

“But he got worse. Many of the things he did crossed the line. In the end, we had to organize a team to capture him.

“You know what happened next. We had designated him as a dangerous target, but we still underestimated him. After the battle, practically everyone in the branch and the people the faction sent out as reinforcements were dead.

“During the debriefing, a survivor told us that no one could have stopped him if he wanted to leave. He had actually exposed his trail to us on purpose.”

Chen Chuan’s gaze sharpened, because he understood the implication. The man hadn’t fought after being surrounded. He had murdered his former faction members on purpose.

“What was his limit?” he asked.

“He was less than twenty years old fifteen years ago, and he had already perfected his body and mind. With his talent, he should have crossed the threshold by now,” Chang Dong said gravely.

“Someone must be supporting him,” Chen Chuan said.

He thought of Chen Bitong. Despite being incredibly talented, he lacked resources and was unable to reach a breakthrough.

“Let’s not talk about him. Due to how dangerous the target is, some people in the faction are in charge of tracking him down and killing him. What I’m trying to say is that since we were almost entirely wiped out back then, we don’t actually know what really happened.

“While we’ve recovered most of our faction members’ corpses, we didn’t locate one, and even now, we still haven’t managed to track it down. Most of us believed that he died somewhere else.

“But recently, someone noticed him. Through certain channels, we found that he might still be here. We need to find him and figure out what really happened.”

Chang Dong showed him a photo. “It’s this person.”

Chen Chuan took a look and found that he was a young man in his mid-twenties with an oblong face. In the photo, he was making a funny face while grinning brightly. He wore an open-collar, orange shirt with yellow polka dots. It seemed like he was a confident and mischievous person.

The photo was taken around fifteen years ago, so the person should be around forty years old by now.

There was a name written at the back of the photo.

Tian Rui.

“I’ll keep an eye out,” Chen Chuan promised.

“Thank you. It should be easier for you to find him since you’re part of the Resolution Department. There’s no time limit. It’s been fifteen years, so we don’t mind waiting a little longer, but we do need to let the faction members who passed rest in peace.”

Chang Dong sighed.

Chen Chuan nodded.

Chang Dong took one last look at the area before saying, “Let’s go back.”

After getting into the SUV, they went back to Chen Chuan’s house in Martial Order District. Once they got out, Chen Chuan said goodbye to Chang Dong and went back inside.

Once he entered the living room, he grabbed the briefcase of pure essence in the corner and went upstairs.

This amount of pure essence should be enough. Still, even if the pure essence problem has been dealt with, I need to think about how to train my mind...

he thought.

It would be great if he had a gap. Cao Guiqi had said that there were secret warehouses in the wilderness, which could have a gap. He could go looking for them.

Aside from this, there was another way for him to get a gap.

He set the briefcase down and looked at a corner of the room.

The dormant Frost King Saber stood there.