When the queen saw that Chen Chuan was perfectly fine, it opened its mouthparts, and a blast of air gushed out.

Chen Chuan narrowed his eyes but didn’t dodge. Instead, he positioned his arms in front of him to shield himself and was pushed back for more than ten meters before finally stopping. Meanwhile, two deep trenches were left behind where his feet had been.

That was all there was to the airblast, though. It wasn’t as destructive as the soundwave just now.

Chen Chuan could already tell that the soundwave just now was part of a combo. When the target was under attack, even if they could defend against the swarm, they would still be forced to focus most of their defenses on their epidermis. Once their vision was obscured and senses muddled, that soundwave would ram into the target, and the target would then die.

However, the airblast should just be to push Chen Chuan to the back so that the queen could get ready for its next attack.

Just as he predicted, the queen puffed out its chest again, and its wings spread out again. But Chen Chuan wasn’t going to give the queen any further chances. He flipped the Frost King Saber around and charged forward.

In the blink of an eye, he managed to travel dozens of meters.

A flash appeared.

The queen froze. Then, as if it had suddenly lost its balance, it fell to the side.

The Frost King Saber had cut off one of its legs.

Without the swarm’s protection, Chen Chuan could attack the queen at will. Since the queen was so huge, it wasn’t as agile as Chen Chuan was, so he could hit it in one go.

Sensing that it was in danger, the queen let out a piercing screech and flapped its wings to fly off the ground.

While it exposed its torso by doing so, that part was still covered in a thick, sturdy shell.

Chen Chuan just shifted the saber to his left hand before reaching out with his right hand to quickly shove the queen’s head upward. The queen shuddered in midair, and its compound eyes bulged out before it fell on the ground.

Chen Bitong had taught him this particular penetrating force, and it was used specifically against creatures with hard, sturdy shells. It could help Chen Chuan send his power inside his targets’ bodies before exploding. The tissue in the queen’s head all exploded.

Even so, it still tried to fly when it landed. After skittering dozens of meters away, it plunged down from the sky and crashed on the ground on its back, but it continued flapping its wings and twitching. Even when dying, it still caused a huge ruckus, and a long time passed before it finally stopped.

At that moment, the scenery around him started turning transparent before fading away. Once again, he returned to the training center.

Chen Bitong was standing not too far away. “You’ve passed your test, Captain Chen. The last test was something I’ve never taught you before, and I added it at the last minute. I’ll mention it in your report to the Word Ring Defense System.

“I also told you before that I’ll give a reward to all those who pass.”

As he spoke, he motioned to Fang Zhixin, who walked over and handed a metal box to Chen Chuan. “Please accept it, Captain Chen.”

“This is something I found while I was in the merged space, and it can strengthen or repair your mind. It’s useless to me now, so I’ll give it to you as a reward,” Chen Bitong explained.

Fang Zhixin stared at it with longing. That was incredibly valuable, but since Chen Chuan was the one who got it, he could accept it. After all, Chen Chuan was the only one from the first batch who stayed to the very end.

Once Chen Chuan took the box, he thanked Chen Bitong. “Thank you, Instructor Chen. By the way, you mentioned that this is just the first session. When will the second session start?”

“I haven’t settled on the date yet, but if I open the second session, I’ll notify you. Still, it might take a long while before the second session starts,” Chen Bitong answered.

“If that’s the case, I’ll be excusing myself now,” Chen Chuan said.

After Chen Chuan walked past Chen Bitong, he started heading outside, but when he reached the entrance, he turned around and said, “Instructor Chen, I’ve been studying with you for a long time, but I never got the chance to spar with you, and I find it really regrettable.”

Chen Bitong watched him for a while before saying, “You’ll get your chance.”

Chen Chuan nodded before leaving the place and walking out of the building. When he opened his car door, he looked up in contemplation before getting inside and driving off.

On his way back, he contacted Advisor Pei and told him what had happened. Then, he went back to the Arcane Palace.

When he was back in his room, he set the box by the side and wasn’t in a hurry to open it. Instead, he contacted Zhuang Ke first to check on Dawncall’s progress. Things progressed smoothly, and once five days were over, it could proceed to the next stage.

However, Dawncall would need to stay in an incubation pod for a long time, so he wouldn’t be able to visit it.

Still, he could check on Dawncall through his Realm Pass whenever he wanted. Photon Nest would also give him a report of Dawncall’s progress and mutated tissue’s growth every day. Zhuang Ke even told him that if he changed his mind, they could still make changes, since the process had just started.

Chen Chuan walked to the window. Soon after he came back, it started raining outside. The sky was dark, and Central City was covered in rain and fog. It didn’t manage to drown out advertisements and neon lights, though. Chen Chuan could still see their blurry forms.

Occasionally, lightning would tear through the sky, giving the city a moment of brightness.

He couldn’t see the harbor from here, but Chen Chuan could see airships heading into the city, and there were a lot more of them than usual. Since it was getting closer to the Fu-Mu Entity’s propagation period, the atmosphere in the city became even tenser.

Chen Chuan contacted Xue Shou, and the call went through in a moment.

“Chen Chuan?”

“Mr. Xue, I’ve almost mastered the Mind Shattering Hammer and the Hollowed Heart Mark. Can we proceed to the next lesson?” Chen Chuan asked.

“You’re almost there? Good. Then, let’s meet at 9 a.m. tomorrow. I’ll be there on time.”

I’ll be there on time, Chen Chuan thought at the same time Xue Shou said those exact same words. (the sass) He then said, “I’ll be there on time too.”

“That’s settled, then,” Xue Shou said with a chuckle.

With the date and time set, Chen Chuan went into the training room and sat down with his legs crossed to begin his daily training.

In Chen Chuan’s mind, the most important thing Xue Shou taught him was the nourishment technique. Not only could it help him nourish his body and mind, with the help of the special medicine, his body also got stronger.

Since he had a sufficient amount of resources and since he was in a period of rapid growth, he couldn’t really tell when his mutated tissue was growing or when it was in a slump.

But he could sense that as he continued getting stronger, his mutated tissue’s growth would slow. This particular state hadn’t shown up yet, but if things continued this way, after a few years, he might not be able to improve as quickly as the past one to two months even after a few months or year passed.

Hence, before figuring out how to solve that problem, his best solution was to keep improving during this period of time.

***

The next day arrived, and it was the first of April.

Chen Chuan went to the training hall on the seventieth floor. Despite raining for an entire night, the rain didn’t let up. It was still dark outside. Only the silent screens outside kept flickering.

Chen Chuan sat down and started practicing his mental techniques. When it was almost noon, he opened his eyes, only to find that Xue Shou was sitting in front of him while grinning. At some point of time, he had arrived. (for once! He’s early!)

Just as Chen Chuan was about to shoot to his feet, Xue Shou beckoned him to sit back down before clearing his throat. “We can skip the pleasantries. We’ve wasted a lot of time, so we should begin now.”

Before Chen Chuan could say anything, Xue Shou schooled his expression. “I took a moment to observe you while you were meditating and observing yourself. You’ve reached my requirements, so I’ll tell you what we’re going to learn next.”

Chen Chuan straightened his back and put on an expression that said he was all ears.

“Considering your job as a squad captain, you should know that the Fu-Mu Entity is about to split, right?” Xue Shou asked.

Chen Chuan nodded. It really is related to that.

“Just as I mentioned before, this is a chance for you.”

Xue Shou’s voice turned even more serious.

“Among the biosentient entities in the Central Cities, those like the Fu-Mu Entity are unique. They’re created using various technologies by multiple countries. But before their creation, there existed biosentient entities that could move about at will between the two worlds, and they were all found in the old era. Some believe that the earliest gaps are torn open because of these creatures.

“Some of the larger ones will draw the two worlds closer when they propagate and form special gaps.

“In the old world, this phenomenon is known as Opening the Gate to Heaven.”

“The Gate to Heaven...” After taking a moment to ponder over the words, Chen Chuan looked up and asked, “Mr. Xue, does this gap lead to the merge space or somewhere else?”

Xue Shou answered, “Good question. You should already know that the merged space is a place where the two worlds converged. Meanwhile, when the domains of the biosentient entities in the Central Cities are connected, they form the World Ring.

“The Gate to Heaven is further away, but the biosentient entities can still connect to that part.”

He looked up and slowed down his speech. “We describe it as the Gate to Heaven because once such a connection is made between our world and that place, a swarm of pollutants will come here. At the same time, the quintessence from the other world will come here as well.

“Martial artists who have begun mental training need to seize this opportunity. If they use the right method, they’ll be able to gain certain benefits from the quintessence.

“That’s what was meant when the national religion of the former empire talked about taking spirit elixirs to gain longevity.

“But even the national religion needs to get their rituals ready before the Gate to Heaven opens. They also need to predict the location and date. Even the biosentient entities they picked to open the Gate to Heaven have been carefully chosen to minimize the chances of things going wrong.

“After all, when martial artists who try to transcend their limits face the Gate to Heaven and absorb the quintessence coming from the gap, they will also face the pollutants. The lucky ones might survive and reach a higher limit.

“The unlucky ones, though...”

He shook his head. “They’d be lucky if they just died, but most of the time, they’d end up transforming into something else or get possessed by the existences from the other world.

“But due to the existence of the World Ring, most of the pollutants that will hurt martial artists will be blocked behind the World Ring, so things are much safer now compared to before. That also means that while we’ve blocked off most of the pollutants, we’re going to be blocking off a lot of the quintessence as well.”

His voice turned grimmer as he looked at Chen Chuan and said, “So, I’m going to teach you how to bypass those obstacles as much as you can and absorb the quintessence.”