Chapter 690 - 41: Course Selection

Chen Chuan walked up to the Snow Monarch Blade and picked it up. He gripped the hilt and drew the blade partway from its sheath, a flash of cold, snow-bright light instantly filling the room.

The Gongshi had once used Xiong Jianyi to deliver something into Central City. However, when Chen Chuan killed him, the object was devoured by the Snow Monarch Blade.

For the Gongshi to go to such great lengths to transport this item, it could be no simple thing.

And the Snow Monarch Blade’s behavior after fusing with it proved as much.

Piecing together the information and clues he had gathered since then, he was fairly certain the object was related to the Ferris Wheel Company.

’At first glance, it seems a bit like an active Consciousness Body.’

But the Ferris Wheel Company already had its own active Consciousness Body, so there was no need for such a redundant act. Besides, an active Consciousness Body wouldn’t need to be smuggled into Central City with such elaborate secrecy.

This thing had to be a threat to Central City, something they feared would be detected by the city’s Domain.

Considering that the breach in the World Ring already existed at that time, and the Ferris Wheel Company likely knew about the Fumu’s impending split long in advance, he had reason to believe this object was intended to target the Fumu’s splintered offspring.

And after the Snow Monarch Blade absorbed that object, it did indeed develop a great interest in the splintered offspring, subsequently absorbing two of them.

It was a perfectly reasonable guess that Ferris Wheel would want to absorb the offspring. After the Ferris Wheel Company collapsed, most of its documents were destroyed ahead of time. However, from the remaining partial records, it was clear that Ferris Wheel and the Outer Ocean Island Countries had always wanted to build a Central City of their own.

If all of the Ferris Wheel Company’s plans had been completed, including defeating the United Fleet of the two other companies at sea, they might very well have succeeded.

The global political situation didn’t allow for open war between nations; at most, it would be a war between corporations. If the Ferris Wheel Company had then secured the support of the Lynx Federation, the Dashun Government would have found it difficult to intervene openly and might have had to tacitly accept the situation for the time being.

And now, this object had been almost completely fused with the Snow Monarch Blade.

Whether this thing could one day grow to the level of the Fumu was unimportant to him. But as long as it possessed even some of the abilities of a Fumu’s splintered offspring, it would be of immense help.

This was because it meant he might be able to use it to open a Rift.

If he could really do that, then his Spiritual Cultivation would finally be on solid ground, and he wouldn’t have to search everywhere for Rifts that might exist in the outside world.

Just as he was thinking this, the Snow Monarch Blade seemed to sense his thoughts and trembled slightly, as if in response.

His gaze flickered.

’Looks like I still need to wait a bit longer. The Snow Monarch Blade needs more time to awaken.’

But he could feel that it wouldn’t be too long now, perhaps just a few more days.

He sheathed the Snow Monarch Blade, set it down again, and walked to the side. Opening his briefcase, he revealed it was once again packed full of vials of Pure Essence.

’Three units. That’s enough.’

He hadn’t stopped absorbing Pure Essence at night these past few days. Although the amount was small, it was purer and clearer. Combined with this supplement, it was enough to meet his needs.

He picked up a vial and watched the shimmering, flowing substance within. A thought suddenly occurred to him: over the past few months, Pure Essence had been spreading out from Central City to the rest of the world. As time went on, more and more people would surely break through that limit.

The world of the future would be one of great turmoil and upheaval.

He unsealed the top, tilted his head back, and drank down the entire vial of Pure Essence.

A night passed. He glanced at the briefcase, now a third empty, then stood up and went to wash up.

Today, he planned to return to Wuyi Academy.

Because he had been on vacation in the Outer Ocean, his teacher’s certification had been left in his old dormitory at the academy. He planned to go pick it up. He had gotten certified specifically to gain access to the academy’s resources.

This way, he could also continue his training with Hong Fu. Whether for honing his Power or tempering his spirit, the help Hong Fu provided was unparalleled.

After changing his clothes, he left his residence and took a private car back toward Wuyi Academy.

His residence wasn’t far from Wuyi, only about a ten-minute drive. But the roads were unusually bustling. The traffic in front of Wuyi Academy was endless, and all the vehicles seemed to be heading in the same direction. He glanced into the distance. On his Realm Token’s display, a pillar of light stood tall, and he could faintly hear a clamor of noise from that direction.

The academy’s annual tournament was underway.

The tournament was usually held during the three months he was away, but it seemed to have been postponed by a month this year due to the effects of the Fumu’s split, and it was still ongoing.

When he had been in contact with Wei Chang’an and the others earlier, he’d heard they had gone to watch the tournament. But without citizen status, they could only remain on the periphery.

When the armored private car reached the Profound Palace Building, Hong Fu’s voice sounded: "Manager Chen, welcome back to Wuyi Academy. You may enter the academy through the faculty-only passage."

The vehicle turned and, according to the Realm Token’s display, entered the building through another passage. After getting out here, there was also a faculty-only elevator.

He took it up and returned to his original dormitory. During the trip, various messages and notifications scrolled across his Realm Token.

The first notification informed him that he could change dormitories. He could move into the faculty apartments, which offered more space and better training facilities.

’I can deal with that later.’

However, as a Wuyi teacher, he also had some teaching duties.

The academy evaluated every teacher annually to determine their competence. Each semester, he was required to properly instruct three or more students and ensure at least two of them passed their coursework.

’That’s nothing. If I’m using the academy’s resources, it’s only natural I have to contribute something in return.’

Following Hong Fu’s prompts, he activated his teacher permissions and course listings. The course pricing was based on the academy average. As for his teaching specialties, he checked all the unarmed combat categories, deselected the technique-focused ones, and submitted the form.

A moment later, his Realm Token showed that the information had been verified and approved. His profile was then displayed on the academy’s platform interface.

After his courses appeared, some of the other teachers on the platform immediately sent congratulatory messages and greetings. Whether they knew him or not, they all sent a quick hello.

This was because, aside from being a Wuyi teacher, he also held the position of Investigation Chief at the Processing Bureau. The Processing Bureau and Wuyi Academy were deeply connected, and some of the teachers could, in terms of rank, be considered his subordinates.

He replied to them one by one. Just then, he heard a notification chime, signaling that someone had subscribed to his course. He hadn’t expected it to happen so quickly.

He checked and saw it was a newly enrolled student named "Jiang Xin." The profile indicated he had graduated from Yangzhi Wuyi this year and been accepted into Central City’s academy.

He glanced at the photo. It showed a boy with a sunny smile and a slightly shy appearance.

After reviewing it, he tapped "accept" on his Realm Token. He saw that the student had public classes for the next two days, so he scheduled their session for the day after tomorrow.

Now he just needed to tutor two more people to meet the minimum requirement.

But this Jiang Xin had probably heard of him, and since they both came from Yangzhi, he had subscribed immediately. Other students probably wouldn’t sign up so quickly; they would likely wait and see for a while. Still, with a whole semester ahead, he wasn’t in a hurry. If worst came to worst, he could always have Weidong fill a spot.

Meanwhile, in a student lounge, Fan Cheng and Kong Yao were browsing the platform when a new notification popped up, announcing a new teacher had joined Wuyi whose courses were available for purchase.

Fan Cheng clicked on it, then suddenly let out a cry of surprise. "Kong Yao, look! Isn’t this... isn’t this Chen?"

Kong Yao looked over, her eyes widening in astonishment. "It really is Chen!"

"Chen is a teacher at Wuyi now?"

They exchanged a look of disbelief, finding it incredible. ’We used to be classmates, and now you’re my teacher?’

However, they weren’t completely out of the loop. They paid attention to happenings in Central City and knew that Chen Chuan seemed to hold a rather high-ranking position at the Processing Bureau.

Fan Cheng quickly scrolled through the profile and read aloud, "Chen Chuan, Wuyi Third Level Teacher, Third Limit Fighter, Investigation Chief of the Processing Bureau..."

He swallowed hard as he read that title. He knew very well what "Investigation Chief of the Processing Bureau" meant.

He continued reading, "Specializes in teaching... unarmed disciplines, all categories?!"

His eyes went wide. All categories? That meant as long as it was unarmed combat—be it Scattering Hand, Capture techniques, or even Wrestling Takedowns—he could teach it all.

This wasn’t something you could just fill in casually. It had to be assessed and certified by the academy administration and Hong Fu. The fact that it was listed meant that both the Wuyi high command and Hong Fu endorsed this claim.

Fan Cheng stared for a moment, then turned his head. "Kong Yao, what do you think? Should we... should we buy a couple of Teacher Chen’s classes and give them a try?"

Kong Yao was taken aback. "Why?"

Fan Cheng looked at the screen. "We’ve studied with a lot of teachers since we enrolled, but our progress has been limited. We barely scrape by the assessments every time. You know? Every time I’m waiting for the results, my heart is in my throat, terrified that we’re about to be sent to the tournament ring.

"Everyone’s fighting desperately right now. If we fall even a little bit behind, we could be the ones dragged into the tournament.

"But I feel like I’m about to hit a bottleneck, and you probably feel it too, right? The teachers we’ve found are all more or less the same. Even with private lessons, we seem to make a little progress at first, but then we stagnate again. Chen... Teacher Chen’s rate of progress is something I’ve never seen before. I’m thinking, maybe he has a secret? Why don’t we sign up for his class and see?"

Kong Yao hesitated. She thought Chen Chuan’s rapid progress was purely due to his own innate talent. But buying a class or two wasn’t a big deal; they could always switch later if it didn’t work out. She nodded. "Alright, let’s give it a try."

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