After lunch, Wei Dong continued training in the training center, while Chen Chuan went back to his room and told Yan Yi about what Wei Dong had said. Yan Yi promised to get all the paperwork settled within two days.

With this matter done, Chen Chuan turned his attention back to his own training.

Two days later, he believed that he had grasped the basics of Settling Thoughts and sent a message to Xue Shou through the university platform telling him about his progress.

“That’s good. Let’s meet for our next session at the training center on the seventieth floor again tomorrow. I’ll be there at 9 a.m.,” Xue Shou said.

“I’ll be there on time, sir,” Chen Chuan promised.

Since he had set the time for his next class, Chen Chuan brewed himself a cup of plain tea and sat down on the sofa.

Now, aside from mental training, he also needed to do physical training and take special medicine once every three days to get stronger.

His schedule was packed to the brim, and he was even substituting sleep with practicing his breathing technique.

But Chen Chuan didn’t feel tired. Instead, he found himself enjoying this. After all, he could feel himself getting stronger every day, which was a delightful thing. Before he knew it, he was already absorbed in his new schedule.

Still, he kept an eye on the events around him. Every day, he took some time to read the news and information from the Resolution Department as well as Border Fusion.

Every day, Yan Yi uploaded a set of streamlined content on the company platform. It contained all sorts of information. Sometimes, Chen Chuan went there just to read the news because it was more convenient and saved time, since he didn’t have to search for information himself.

But it didn’t have everything, such as information about Chen Bitong’s classes. He had said that he was going to start teaching around the middle or end of February, so his classes were about to start. Once they did, Chen Chuan had to go and check them out.

Chen Bitong was believed to be a person very close to becoming a martial arts master. Since he decided to set up this training center, Chen Chuan was sure that he wasn’t just putting on a show. He was going to teach some practical, useful things, though Chen Chuan had no idea what they were.

After reading everything he was interested in, Chen Chuan took a sip of tea and started deleting messages from last month and all the spam, such as the recruitment offers from Green Satchel Pharmacy that came every few days and the advertisements other companies sent to him whenever they saw an opportunity to do so.

While deleting the messages, Tan Zhi’s ID started flashing on his screen. The moment Chen Chuan answered the call, Tan Zhi said, “Chen Chuan, I got some tickets for a theater production. This is the first major production of the new year. Some politicians from the Department of Administrative Affairs and senior government officials are going as well. I’ve already asked Pan Xiaode and Qi Huixin to come. Do you want to join us?”

“When is it?” Chen Chuan asked.

“The last day off of the month.”

Chen Chuan thought about it. He had the time, and he usually didn’t train on his days off. It would be nice to go out and take a break. “Yeah, I’m free.”

“Alright. I’ll see you on the last day off, then.”

With the promise made, Chen Chuan went to a niche channel and found some unplayed audio messages.

They had an answer to a question he sent to the platform after returning to Central City. He had asked about a location that had appeared in one of the inherited memories.

Based on what he remembered, he gave a general description of its scenery, but no one had answered it until now. Finally, though, people left a few comments.

“That should be Elder Tai’s Rock. I’ve been there once. My maternal grand-aunt’s place is around five kilometers from that place. She opened a hotel on the mountain and earns quite a lot of money from it.”

“Now that you mentioned it, it does look like Elder Tai’s Rock, but the OP’s drawing is too abstract. Otherwise, I would have recognized it a long time ago.”

Chen Chuan ignored the second message and immediately searched for information about the place. Elder Tai’s Rock was deep within the Great Shun Republic’s territory and was famous for its scenery. It was located around the middle of the Stranger’s River, and the five-kilometer-long jetty as well as its suspended corridor were its most famous attractions. There was also a dangerous gorge with rapid waves near it. Every year, a lot of tourists visited it.

The mention of the jetty and suspended corridor matched what he saw in his dream, so that should be the place.

Chen Chuan scrutinized the pictures a little more. Once he was sure of it, he decided to visit the place when he had time. After all, more memories would resurface when he was at the places they happened, and with more inherited memories, he could get more clues about why the old Chen Chuan died, along with his parents’ whereabouts.

But he wasn’t in a hurry. Even if he managed to figure out some things, it would be meaningless if he couldn’t solve the issues. Instead, it would just cause him more problems, so it was better for him to take things slowly.

Chen Chuan had intended to exit the platform after a little more browsing, but an article suddenly popped up at the top of the screen and caught his attention.

It was related to Ferris Wheel. One of its motorcades and two warehouses near the harbor were ambushed. The article contained some photos and videos.

More than a thousand theories and discussions were in the comment section.

Chen Chuan didn’t read the discussions. Instead, he went straight to the Resolution Department’s platform to search for information. Soon, he found it along with the report.

The ambush had happened forty-five minutes ago, and it was done by an armed force of more than a hundred people, which was quite a lot. Not only did they drive armored cars to attack the motorcade, but they had also brought a lot of heavy weaponry.

The fight had lasted for half an hour, and Ferris Wheel’s security team suffered quite a lot of casualties. Initial estimates were that more than forty people had been injured and killed, and one person from the middle management was dead. The two warehouses were damaged and burned as well. The video in the report showed thick, rolling smoke, ambulances, and firetrucks everywhere.

Chen Chuan watched the video and noticed that the leader of the ambushers was a man with half of his body replaced with implants, which made him look incredibly buff. Without a doubt, he was a Third Limit martial artist. The people around him also didn’t seem like they were to be trifled with.

Chen Chuan then decided to read up on them. This group was known as Blood Hammer, an armed mercenary group that had never been active in Jibei Road’s Central City before.

Chen Chuan’s expression turned into something hard to read. While Jibei Road’s Central City had violent crimes popping up every day like mushrooms after rain, such large-scale attacks were rare. After all, it was impossible for the Resolution Department and City Patrol to ignore big groups like that.

Yet they really didn’t notice them.

Usually, once such a violent crime occurred, all Resolution Department officers would receive an emergency order telling them to stop the crime. Even the City Patrol would go to the scene of the crime to watch and pretend they were doing something.

This time, though, not only had the department not said anything, but the City Patrol also hadn’t arrived on time, as if the higher-ups wanted the ambush to run its full course.

Also, Blood Hammer had brought many light and heavy weapons and used every bit of that firepower to deal as much of a blow to Ferris Wheel as possible. Most likely, another company was supporting them.

The first suspect Chen Chuan thought of was United Might.

Their main business was in the outsourcing security services and logistics industry. Mobilizing manpower and weapons was not a problem for them, but the central government had investigation and law enforcement departments that looked into it. While companies could mobilize some combatants and weapons, it was practically impossible for them to gather a force of this scale.

So, the answer was evident.

The Resolution Department had to have allowed this to happen.

That made sense. After all, Ferris Wheel had attacked a Resolution Department law enforcer twice, so it was impossible for them to turn a blind eye to this. Even if they didn’t have concrete proof linking directly to the culprit, which prevented them from using the law to attack Ferris Wheel, they had other ways to fight.

Chen Chuan was sure that such attacks were going to increase in scale.

After reading through the report, he exited the platform, took a sip of tea, and looked outside. The weather was pretty good, so Chen Chuan set his teacup aside and went over to pat Dawncall’s head before going into his training room to train.

The next day, Chen Chuan went to the training center before 9 a.m., only to find it empty. But he had expected this. He didn’t just wait around and do nothing, though. He sat down and started practicing his breathing technique.

He only heard footsteps when it was almost noon.

“Sorry, Chen Chuan! Something came up just as I was about to leave. I promise, it won’t happen again,” Xue Shou said while walking in.

Chen Chuan stood up. “You’re being too harsh on yourself, sir. It’s only right for the student to wait for his tutor.”

“I really won’t be late again. I promise you that if I get delayed again, I’ll think of some way to compensate you. After all, your time is precious too. Anyway, sit.” Xue Shou motioned for Chen Chuan to sit down.

Chen Chuan sat down only after Xue Shou did.

“Let me check your progress,” Xue Shou requested.

Chen Chuan immediately focused his mind. He had been practicing Settling Thoughts for some time. While he hadn’t mastered it, he could now restrain and release his mind at ease. With just a single thought, he could suppress all thoughts.

The moment Xue Shou observed Chen Chuan’s biofield, he saw his progress.

When it came to training speed, Chen Chuan wasn’t exceptional. The fastest student he taught was from the highest central institute. After being taught the technique, he was immediately able to focus his mind and restrain his thoughts. It had shocked plenty of people, and even the higher-ups had taken note of it.

Still, Chen Chuan’s mind was stable and balanced. How should he describe it? It was solid and did not stand out, but by no means was it behind in terms of progress.

While Xue Shou was an easy-going person, he liked students like Chen Chuan. They picked up everything thrown their way and improved at a steady pace instead of bothering with all the trivial stuff.

Unlike them, the outstanding students were prone to all sorts of accidents and always caused the tutors trouble. Because of it, they were a lot more work. On top of that, even if he managed to teach them all that they needed to learn, the students and even he himself wouldn’t think that it was because of him. Instead, they would think that the student managed to master the technique because of their amazing talent, and that annoyed Xue Shou to no end.

“Not bad. You’ve gotten the gist of Settling Thoughts. We’ll progress to the next step,” he said. Even though he had arrived late, once he got into the right headspace for teaching, he didn’t waste a single second.

“After restraining your mind, you need to start refining and polishing it.

“The old era had a number of ways to do it: praying, performing image reading, meditating, practising stances, chanting, and other ways. To me, though, the most direct and effective way is the tempering method. You can also use it to complement other methods.

“It’s simple. All you need to do is use powerful mental attacks to refine your mental gemstone. It will get rid of the impurities and make it sturdy.

“But this method also has its weaknesses. Using it for a prolonged period of time will make you susceptible to getting corrupted and influenced by other people’s minds. When that happens, you’ll lose the unique aspect of yourself.

“So, the person in charge of attacking your mind must know the severity of this method and how to control themselves. They can’t harbor any hostility toward you either. Otherwise, you won’t even know when you’ve been set up. Keep that in mind.”

“I’ll remember it,” Chen Chuan nodded.

Satisfied, Xue Shou continued sternly, “Alright. Focus your mind now. The tempering method is good, but the one receiving the attacks must have great willpower. If you’re even the slightest bit careless, you will have to pay a huge price. Once you’re ready, tell me.”