Xue Shou and Chen Chuan sat across from each other. Beyond the long, wide window beside them was the dark sky.

Countless raindrops fell from the thick, dark clouds and struck the window. Even though the training hall had superb soundproofing, they could still hear the faint, persistent patter of the rain crashing against the window. The light flickering underneath from the screens spread out among the clouds before it shone on the window, causing the area beside Xue Shou and Chen Chuan to flash from time to time.

Xue Shou’s voice echoed in the empty training hall.

“After toppling over the old empire, the Great Shun Republic got a lot of training scrolls from the national religion and the royal family. They organized and filed them away.

“Once we entered the new era, technology became more advanced. We then compiled a set of techniques that are more suited to the current times. Later on, we put in a lot of resources to modify and optimize those techniques.

“The technique I’m going to teach you is one of them.

“But this technique has been banned, so a lot of information about it has been locked up or destroyed.”

“It’s banned?” Chen Chuan was quite surprised.

“More accurately speaking, this technique has never been circulated outside and is only allowed to be taught in private to a limited number of people. Some people keep a tight leash over it. Heh.”

Xue Shou sneered and patted his thigh. “In any case, there are a lot of complicated reasons behind this, but I won’t go into detail about them. You’ll learn them in the future.

“Since this technique does not officially exist, it doesn’t have a name, so I call it by its name from the old ear: Awakening Clarity.

“It’s said that when you cleanse your soul, your mind awakens. When your mind gains enlightenment, it becomes as clear as polished jade. When you cast your brilliance on others, you can cast a light into the void. When you return to the void, you can chase away all impurities.

“The national religion believes that a person’s mind comes from the void, and when you return to the void after becoming a master of yourself, you transcend.

“This is just a theory, though. As to whether it’s possible to achieve this state that our predecessors longed for, we don’t know. I just believe that if we keep passing down this legacy, those after us will surpass us, and someday, someone might reach that state.

“Anyway, I’m going to teach you the details now. Get ready, Chen Chuan.”

Chen Chuan immediately held his breath and focused. “Got it.”

Xue Shou remained sitting, but light shone from his eyes.

Chen Chuan felt a lot of vital principles being pushed into his mind. After a long while, he finally recovered from receiving the information.

He took a moment to examine it and found that aside from techniques to sense and absorb quintessence, there was also a set of moves that could help him reject pollutants.

Xue Shou let him take a moment to examine the technique before continuing, “I told you before that the pollutants and quintessence come together. Some people don’t pay attention to rejecting the pollutants and only focus on absorbing the quintessence, but this is exactly where things go wrong.

“After all, you might not sense certain pollutants in the beginning, and they can change you without you ever noticing.

“Many don’t even realize that something has gone wrong with their bodies. They become one with the pollutants and can never be separated. By then, it’s too late for them.

“They might be able to travel far down their paths as martial artists, but in the end, they become something else entirely. By then, they might not even be considered human anymore, and when they stop considering themselves as people, something more terrifying happens.”

Xue Shou shook his head and didn’t continue the topic. Instead, he shifted to speaking about the technique.

With a stern expression, he said, “Chen Chuan, if you want to go past your current limit, you need to polish and perfect both your mind and body.

“I won’t tell you anything about how to train your body, just remember to pay attention to it. I’m going to focus on your mental training instead.

“It’s impossible to improve one’s mind overnight. After all, you need to cleanse the impurities and contaminants in your mind bit by bit. In the words of the old era, they’re what you’ve gathered while living in the world. You need to refine your mind to return it to the pure form you had when you were just born.

“Usually, martial artists do as you did. We train our minds repeatedly to gradually refine it.

“But once the Gate to Heaven opens, quintessence arrives. If you can get enough quintessence to cleanse your mind, it can largely cut down the time you need to train your mind.”

Chen Chuan nodded at that.

Xue Shou smiled and said, “But that’s still not enough, because times have changed.

“This was the most suitable method when the World Ring wasn’t around. Now, this method can help you train in a relatively safe environment, but your mind won’t become much stronger with it.

“You might not understand what I’m saying, so let me put it this way. While expanding your mind, don’t just focus on expanding its width, but its depth too.

“The further you can push your mind through the Gate to Heaven, the more quintessence you can get. That’s the theory, anyway.

“Also, while exploring the Gate to Heaven, you should leave behind a trace of yourself, so the next time you go there, you can use it to return to where you once were. This is a great way to get more quintessence.

“So, you can’t just focus on using this technique and stay still. You also need to use another method to move your mind.” 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

A sharp glint shone in Xue Shou’s eyes.

“Martial artists need to use martial arts to validate and perfect themselves.

“So, when the Gate to Heaven opens, fight with everything you have to experience the joys of fighting. Chase after your goal so that you can push your mind to keep growing.

“Don’t bother thinking about where to find opponents. On that day, you’re going to face a lot of them.

“Ever since the World Ring was set up, the Gate to Heaven has become much less dangerous. Many martial artists and organizations tried to break through the Gate to Heaven when it’s shut to get more sources of power, but this has led to a lot of severe consequences, and the governments and companies all over the world banded together to seal it shut.

“Hence, whenever the biosentient entities in the Central Cities propagate, plenty of martial artists who long to get stronger show up.

“On that day, a lot of Third Limit martial artists who have begun mental training will enter Central City and use this chance to get stronger. Many organizations and groups will also use it to achieve their goals.

“After all, this isn’t just a special gap appearing on the World Ring. The Fu-Mu Entity will be propagating, which is a chance that comes only once every fifteen or so years. You should not miss it.”

Suddenly, Chen Chuan remembered something. Sancheng Huang had said that he had come to challenge Chen Chuan, but he gave up right away and said that he was going to stay in Central City for a while.

He might be here for that reason too.

Chen Chuan sucked in a deep breath and said, “I understand.”

“You need to pay attention to certain things when you challenge other martial artists. When a martial artist’s mind has been refined to a certain degree, they can somewhat affect physical objects. This is a manifestation of their mental gemstone’s light, which is strong enough to shine outside their bodies.

“It means they’re already half a step through the threshold to reach the next limit.

“The martial artists who are only one step away from reaching a breakthrough are in the state I just mentioned. They haven’t gone through the final cleansing of their minds and still carry with them some impurities from the world. But they are, without a doubt, incredibly strong. If you run into them, be careful.”

Chen Chuan felt a stir of emotion in his heart. By the looks of it, Chen Bitong had already reached that state. He nodded and said, “Thanks for the warning.”

Xue Shou grunted before continuing, “I also need to tell you something else. When you use this technique after the Gate to Heaven opens, your mind will be connected to the other world. The further you travel, the more your mind will be refined and purified, but at the same time, when your mind grows to a certain degree, you’ll start encountering more danger. The existences from the other world might notice you, so you need to protect your mind.”

He then took out something and handed it to Chen Chuan.

“This is for you. It can protect you from being corrupted for a certain amount of time, but remember that once it starts changing color, pull back, or things can and will go wrong, so make the most out of it and pull out when it’s time.”

Chen Chuan took the string of beads made of some unknown material, which resembled tear-shaped ambers.

“Thank you, Mr. Xue. May I know exactly when the Fu-Mu Entity will start propagating?” he asked.

“I can’t give you an exact date. Even the municipal government doesn’t know, even now. But as a martial artist who has begun mental training, you should be able to sense the Fu-Mu Entity’s pulse. Didn’t you sense it when you used the special medicine?

“The same logic applies. When the Fu-Mu Entity propagates, its mind starts fluctuating. You can deduce the time based on its reaction. It’ll propagate once the fluctuations begin. You won’t have to wait for long before it starts.”

Actually, I never sensed it, Chen Chuan thought.

When he absorbed the special medicine, he had his second self ward off all external interruptions. Now that Xue Shou had put it this way, he might as well try it when he was back in his room.

Xue Shou stood up and said in a relaxed fashion, “Anyway, I’ve told you everything you need to know. Let’s end our lesson here today. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me.”

Chen Chuan stood up as well and bowed. “Thank you for your guidance, Mr. Xue.”

Xue Shou laughed and dismissed his thanks before leaving the place.

After seeing him off, Chen Chuan turned to look at the thick clouds outside and fell into deep thought for a while. When he entered the elevator, his Realm Pass started flashing.

Yan Yi’s voice came through. “Mr. Chen, the company received an official notice from the government. Since it concerns security, we’d like you to come to the company for a bit.”

It should be related to the propagation, Chen Chuan thought.

Since he was still Border Fusion’s security advisor, he needed to be in charge of certain things in the company. “Got it. I’ll be there in a moment.”