Xue Shou continued, “If you’re in a mental battle and they use something similar to the Mind Shattering Hammer to attack you, you need to compress your mental gemstone to block it. This is a head-on clash, and it’s a simple, crude way to fight.

“But doing this means staking everything into this one attack or defense. It leaves no way to retreat. It doesn’t have much technique involved, and it’s way too crude and extreme. It’s going to end in someone dying.

“You need to think of a way to avoid that.

“When it comes to battles between martial artists, you should try to get the best outcome with the least sacrifice.

“If your opponent can punch harder and is stronger, then you need to think of ways to avoid him while bringing out your strengths. The same rule applies in a mental battle.”

Xue Shou clapped his hands, and a holographic screen appeared around them to display a diagram of a martial artist’s mutated tissue. While facing the diagram, he said, “Martial artists’ mutated tissue is really sensitive toward mental energy. This is its unique trait. Those who haven’t trained mental energy before will have their mutated tissue instinctively absorb external mental energy.

“But as long as your mutated tissue remains under your mind’s control, it won’t be affected. It will even reject external mental energy.

“This will lead to another problem. When other people attack you with mental energy, you will end up in the same old ‘I will fight my enemy head-on’ route.

“The Hollowed Heart Mark is a way to avoid that situation.”

Light flickered in his eyes.

Knowing that this was a sign that Xue Shou was going to teach him something again, Chen Chuan relaxed and let his mind receive the training method for this technique. He examined it and quickly figured it out.

“If your mutated tissue is a white sheet of paper, then this technique will help you add your mark on it.

“After all, no matter what sort of mental energy tries to leave its mark on you, it won’t be able to affect the core of your mutated tissue. You can also wipe out their marks easily.

“But that will leave you open to attacks and unable to fight back. You'll still be in a passive situation. So, there’s a variant in this Hollowed Heart Mark.

“When your mutated tissue is strong and tough enough to resist external interference, the moment you feel an external mental energy attack you, empty your mind and body to let that hostile energy in.”

Xue Shou spread his fingers. “It’ll be like two armies going against each other, but you will enter the encirclement willingly.”

He struck his palm. “Then, you strike based on the connection between you two. Mind Shattering Hammer will have a great effect at this point.”

Chen Chuan nodded at that.

Xue Shou then continued, “Do you remember what I said about how important it is for you to attack first in a mental battle, when you’re about the same level as your opponent? If you’re careless and let your opponent attack first, you can use this move.

“I’d like to remind you that this is only effective against martial artists. As you continue advancing, you’re going to run into stronger opponents. You might even face the existences from the other world.”

His expression turned stern. “Their mental power and level are far above that of the average person. They might even bypass your mind to control your mutated tissue.

“When I was reading up about you, I learned that you once chased away an existence that had infiltrated our world. You must have thought that you were strong and lucky.

“But the one you met should have been something similar to a parasite. These existences need to take into consideration their hosts’ endurance and can’t bring out their true power. If you run into an existence that’s at the very end of the incorporeal spectrum, you’ll be in real danger.”

If Chen Chuan didn’t have his second self, the second half of the battle would have indeed been really dangerous. Wu Quan had told him that if he found the situation dangerous, he was to ignore his mission and run away. This might have been what worried him.

But because Chen Chuan had his second self, he had the courage to fight. Otherwise, he would have immediately retreated.

“Practice these two techniques. After that, spar with Hongfu. Once you’re familiar with them, I’ll teach you some practical tricks,” Xue Shou said.

“Thank you, Mr. Xue,” Chen Chuan replied.

Xue Shou then took out a small box and put it in front of him. “This is the medicine you’ll be needing for the next stage. Just like before, you can buy it from Martial Valor University. It might be a bit pricey, but I think you can afford it.

“You should keep in mind that the medicine you need will only get more expensive. You won’t be able to find some of it anywhere outside the merged space either. You must be ready for that.”

Chen Chuan did not mind it. Up to this date, he had already spent a lot of money on resources meant for training, and it was when medicine was broadly available and generally suitable in their era. As he continued getting stronger, though, that availability and suitability were going to decrease.

Xue Shou watched him. “Honestly, I thought that you’d only be able to master what you’ve learned by May or June. I’m not going to say much else about this, but considering your current speed of progress, I do hope that you’ll be able to master what I just taught you before April.”

Chen Chuan whipped his head up. “Before April? That’s only around ten days.”

“Yes. Ten days. This is the deadline I’m giving you. Consider it a test. Can you do it?” Xue Shou challenged him.

Chen Chuan thought about it. “I can’t promise you that I can, but I’ll do my best.”

Xue Shou then said meaningfully, “You can afford to wait for certain things, but not everything. This all depends on you, though. I’d just like to remind you that you only get one chance for certain things. If you miss it, you won’t get it again.”

Chen Chuan quickly shifted his mindset and said seriously, “I’ll remember your words, Mr. Xue.”

“That’s more like it.” Xue Shou smacked his knees and stood up. “That’s the end of our lesson. By the way, same old: Use all the things around you that benefit you, and don’t think too much about it. Do it only when you’re strong enough. Bye now.”

“Safe trip.”

Chen Chuan saw Xue Shou off before turning to the two plants. Clearly, Xue Shou had left them for him, but he hadn’t mentioned their name. He wondered what they were called and how he was supposed to take care of them; he would have to look into it when he returned to his room.

Chen Chuan picked up a plant in each hand before leaving the training hall. When he went back to his room, he put the plants by the window.

After taking two steps back, he went to the World Ring Defense System’s platform to search for the plants’ information. Since they came from the merged space, he was sure he could find the information he wanted there.

Just as he expected, he soon located it.

The plants were known as Leafbound Cages, and they were carnivorous. Their main food source was small creatures and insects, which fit Chen Chuan’s impression of the merged space.

They weren’t all that hard to care for since Martial Valor University’s cafeteria had all sorts of food available. He could just take some meat back whenever he went to the cafeteria.

No matter what, they were his “sparring” partners, so he should treat them well.

However, as he stared at the plants, he remembered what Xue Shou said. He had been hinting at him to master the two techniques soon so that he wouldn’t miss a certain chance.

Chen Chuan connected it with what Cao Guiqi had said during the day and the sense of urgency he got from Chen Bitong. All of them were hinting that something big was about to happen in Central City.

Honestly, he had sensed it too. The number of airships and cruise ships coming to Central City had increased in number. Everyone was preparing for something.

The Resolution Department did not seem to be doing anything, but based on how Ni Qianqian didn’t have time to come out for food over the past few days off, there had to be something going on behind the scenes.

However, Chen Chuan was tied to another mission right now, so he didn’t know what the department had planned for him.

Then again, Advisor Pei had said that he had something to say to him, and it was highly likely related to this. If that was the case, there was no need to keep thinking about it. He would learn about it after meeting the man.

Chen Chuan’s thoughts then went to Dawncall, which led to him going to the Secret Python Cult’s platform to search for information about the animals they bred getting mutated tissue, but he couldn’t find anything.

So, he contacted Zuo Handan and told him about his idea before asking whether the cult provided such services.

“Since this concerns some of our secrets, I can’t give you a straight answer, but the Bird Reptile is a creature we’ve disqualified, so it’ll be difficult for us to help Dawncall improve meaningfully,” Zuo Handan answered.

Chen Chuan understood what he was implying. The Secret Python Cult had conducted research in this area, and the Bird Reptiles were disqualified due to their lack of potential. It was unlikely that further research would bring any new discoveries.

But the cult’s research was mostly focused on snakes, so Bird Reptiles didn’t fit their focus, which meant that it wasn’t entirely impossible for them to look further into this.

Zuo Handan continued, “But if you need to modify Dawncall, we can provide implants for it.”

There was no way Chen Chuan would agree to it. Even if Dawncall couldn’t fight, there was no need for it to go through that. “That’s fine.”

“While we can’t satisfy your needs in this regard, other companies might be able to. I suggest approaching Photon Nest. This company is the best in the country when it comes to researching mutated tissue in creatures. They have a branch company in Jibei Road,” Zuo Handan suggested.

“Photon Nest? Thanks.”

Chen Chuan remembered the name and thanked Zuo Handan before hanging up. Then, he looked into Photon Nest. Based on the information on their platform, plenty of people were interested in helping non-human creatures get mutated tissue, especially the rich.

They didn’t believe in martial artists entirely and preferred pets and plants with mutated tissue.

Photon Nest’s services were geared toward civilians, because when it came to military-grade non-human creatures with mutated tissue, the best was still Compound Eyes. It barely had any competitors in this area. Meanwhile, in terms of the civilian market, Photon Nest was the leading expert in terms of avian and reptilian creatures.

Chen Chuan took a quick glance at the photos. They had all sorts of exotic creatures, and some of them showed animals in brutal fights. They were geared toward hobbyists who loved testing animals or seeing them fight each other.

After browsing through everything, Chen Chuan decided to send a message to them.