After ending his call with Advisor Pei, Chen Chuan poured himself a drink and returned to the sofa to recall the fight.

The shepherdess wasn’t weak. With the help of the supernatural being, her direct attacks were practically unstoppable.

But Chen Chuan had been able to win against her not just because he understood supernatural beings, but also because he had the help of his mental energy. It allowed him to combine his previous experiences with what was happening and see the crux of the situation.

Mental energy was more helpful than he imagined, and he was using it before even learning the proper ways to do it. Chen Chuan looked forward to what he was going to learn later.

For now, he needed to familiarize himself with what he had already learned.

Over the next couple of days, Chen Chuan patiently built and polished his foundation.

In the morning, he focused on practicing the tempering method. In the afternoon, he nourished his blood essence and mental foundation while training to stay in top shape. At night, he substituted sleep with practicing his breathing technique. He also took special medicine once every three days.

On the fifth of March, he received a message from Advisor Pei.

Chen Chuan got ready and drove to the office building where the training center was located. Then, he took the elevator up.

There were more people present this time round. There were about sixty, and most of them were young. Some of them were military officers he had met last time.

Including him, there were five Third Limit martial artists.

Two of them appeared to be seasoned martial artists, but the other two didn’t have the sharp, aggressive air of martial artists. Instead, they were reserved.

These two did not seem to have studied under the national education system but received their martial arts education from the teachers within their families before becoming Third Limit martial artists.

After all, as long as a person had talent, resources, and a skilled teacher, they could reach the Third Limit.

All the training equipment from last time had been shifted to the side. In their place were short cushions. They could sit on them cross-legged or stretch out their legs. In front of the cushions were short tables with bronze incense burners.

“Captain Chen,” someone greeted him.

Chen Chuan turned around and saw Ding Mai. He greeted him back and went over to shake his hand. Ding Mai said happily, “I just knew you’d be invited here today. It’s a pity that I only have ten days’ worth of holidays, and I have to go back in three days. I can only study under Instructor Chen for at most three days. Anyway, let me treat you to a meal before I leave. You have to come.”

“I’ll definitely go. Just tell me the time and place,” Chen Chuan promised.

While they were talking, Chen Chuan looked outside and saw Fang Zhixin talking to a young military officer, but he didn’t see Chen Xiaojin.

After chatting with Ding Mai for a few minutes, Chen Chuan sensed something and looked to the front of the room. The others also stopped talking. Chen Bitong had walked out.

“Instructor Chen,” everyone bowed and greeted him.

Chen Bitong nodded and went to the front of the room before turning to them and saying, “Since most of you are here now, let’s start. The Third Limit martial artists are to remain here.”

Then, he turned to Fang Zhixin, “Zhixin, take the rest of them to the other room.”

Fang Zhixin nodded. “Alright.”

After he brought the non-Third Limit martial artists to the room next door, Chen Bitong said to Chen Chuan and the rest, “Have a seat.”

They spread out and picked a spot. Chen Chuan sat down with the others.

Chen Bitong met everyone’s gaze and said, “You’re my first batch of students at the training center. If any of you can’t keep up and are ranked last, I will switch you out immediately and bring in someone more suitable to take your place.

“Most of you have mentors telling you how to train, so I’m sure that they understand you and your progress better than I do. I won’t say much about this.

“What I’m going to be teaching you is how to fight against large creatures, remnants of the royal family, and existences from the other world.

“After some effort, I’ve received permission from the municipal government. Majestic Light District can now connect directly to the Fu-Mu Entity and get the largest amount of hologram resource points.”

The scenery around them started changing. The training center disappeared, and the sky turned dark. Snow fell, and even the temperature dropped.

It was almost as if the merged space had appeared in Central City. At the very least, Chen Chuan couldn’t tell the two apart.

Besides, a line appeared on his Realm Pass. It was the same line that allowed them to observe their vitalization rate.

Could it be that even holograms could lead to vitalization?

Chen Bitong stood in front of them with the wilderness behind him. “No active or passive biosentient entity can hope to compare to the Fu-Mu Entity. It’s the strongest creature in Central City and an important segment of the World Ring. Some of the things it shows here aren’t going to be much different from their real-life counterparts.”

Chen Chuan knew just how rare such domain resources were, which meant that Chen Bitong hadn’t formed ties with government officials and Mr. Quan entirely for his own benefit.

Chen Bitong continued, “I need to tell you that there is a certain degree of danger in this training. Some existences can appear here, even if they were initially projected as holograms through the domain. It might be parts of the existences and not their entirety, but the moment they show up, we need to dispose of them right away.

“If you find it hard and don’t think you can fulfill my requirements, you’re free to quit at any time. There are many students waiting to take your place. You can give up your position to them.”

The martial artists sitting in the room all had stern expressions. None of them chose to quit.

Chen Bitong waited for a moment before saying, “Since no one is quitting, let us begin.”

Aside from Chen Bitong, everyone else vanished from Chen Chuan’s sight, and he stood up from the cushion.

“I’ve used the Fu-Mu Entity’s domain abilities to connect to each of you separately. The me you’re seeing is just a hologram, but it is almost the same as me. This way, I can teach all of you individually.

“Come with me, Captain Chen,” Chen Bitong said and turned to another direction.

Chen Chuan looked around for a bit before following him.

While walking, Chen Bitong said, “In order to make training easier, I’ll show a hologram of a fight I had during a defensive battle in the merged space. In order to reduce the use of resources, I’ll be showing mainly the enemies. You need to fight against them.

“I’ll give you some tips during the fight. Then, I’ll evaluate your performance.

“The report will become an important reference for the higher-ups in the merged space, and it’ll affect the distribution of special medicine and your promotion in the future.”

The ground beside Chen Chuan cracked open, and a huge bulge appeared. An insect with a large mandible crawled out of it. Its sharp raptorial limbs moved about, making its body arch. Under its stomach were near-transparent sacs. Its body was also covered in an uneven, sturdy, gray shell.

At the same time, the horrid smell of earth and decomposed matter filled the air.

Even though there was less than three meters between them since the insect had practically crawled out next to them, Chen Bitong remained calm.

“You should have studied some of these creatures from the merged space. This is the Decomposing Insect, also known as the Wei Family’s Earth Corroding Insect. It’s the greatest threat to the bases in the merged space.

“These creatures can move underground and secrete a unique liquid that can corrode cement, building materials, and metal within a short amount of time. A swarm of Decomposing Insects can make buildings collapse and the earth to sink.

“But they have difficulty changing direction and another huge weakness.” With a shove, the insect toppled over, despite being more than two meters long.

“Its sac is where it stores its corrosive liquid and breeds its larvae. After being flipped over, its instincts will stop it from standing back up.”

Interest shone in Chen Chuan’s eyes. He could tell that Chen Bitong had used an advanced technique that contained a unique power generation move to flip the insect the moment he touched its body.

While they were talking, more bulges appeared on the ground, and a swarm of Decomposing Insects crawled out.

Chen Bitong ignored them and brought Chen Chuan forward. If an insect approached them, he shoved at them and flipped them over. As they walked, they left behind more than a hundred Decomposing Insects flipped on their backs.

Soon, they stopped in front of a fortress.

“Your main target today is right here, Captain Chen.”

Chen Chuan looked over and saw that the gate of the fortress was wide open, as if it had been damaged badly. Above it was a man in full armor. He wore a metal mask and held a spear.

The man reminded him of the Iron Monster.

“He is a remnant of the royal family that I defeated during one of the defenses.

“With the help of the royal family’s technology, he went through targeted vitalization. His position was higher than that of the Iron Monster. He was a grand commandant with a higher fusion rate. According to your report, you found some openings you could exploit while fighting against the Iron Monster, but this person has already reached perfect harmony with his body.

“Are you confident in winning against him?” Chen Bitong asked while watching him.

“Since the Iron Monster lost to me, this one will too,” Chen Chuan declared calmly while staring at the enemy.

“I’ll give you ten minutes. Defeat him within that time,” Chen Bitong ordered.

“I won’t need that long,” Chen Chuan stated.

He plunged the Frost King Saber into the ground, then grabbed the blade’s hilt and walked forward. Amid the sound of metal scratching against the sheath, he drew his weapon out.