Book 4, Chapter 210: Walking Another Path

Some of the guests on a holiday in Tall Rocks Isle received news that a martial arts master had come to the island within half an hour of Chen Chuan’s arrival.

All the people who could come here were of high status. Hence, even though they were curious about a martial arts master being so close to them, they wouldn’t bother him. They had enough sense not to do so.

However, martial arts masters represented true power, which naturally came with a certain amount of status. They couldn’t just pretend not to see him and needed to observe proper etiquette. The guests on holiday organized a western-style ball and a traditional banquet once every few days, so they extended an invitation to him.

Chen Chuan was uninterested in all of it. What caught his attention more was him getting stronger bit by bit. While he could attend social events when he was resting, he didn’t have much time for them.

Even though he was only practising the first stance of the Blinding Blaze, he noticed that he was slowly but surely getting stronger. Even better yet, he couldn’t see an end to the growth of his strength.

It was no wonder why some of the martial arts masters in the purity faction only focused on one or two stances of the Blinding Blaze or Fist of the Vast Sky, while the others were only used to support them. The main stances alone were enough to bring out their potential and strength.

When Zhuan Liang taught him the techniques, he hadn’t asked Chen Chuan to learn everything. Instead, he told him to pick one or two stances that suited him best and focus on training them.

But Chen Chuan was different from the others. The unprecedented way he reached the Fourth Limit gave him confidence that he could completely master the two techniques.

Because of it, he needed a lot of resources. Mastering one stance of the Blinding Blaze required a ton of them. Trying to master all of them seemed impossible, but he could set it aside for the time being. He was going to master all that he could right now and think about the others once he started getting stronger.

He was so immersed in his training that he didn’t respond to any of the invitations. However, even though he didn’t attend any of the parties, talks about him never ceased on the island. After all, a mysterious and powerful martial arts master had arrived among them. This was something the guests couldn’t ignore during their gatherings.

A few days passed, and the guests organized yet another western-style ball. Chu An danced once. Even though he didn’t like it, this was a social event people in his circle needed to participate in. Since he was a martial artist, his powerful body allowed his mind to wander while completing the most complex movements, so dancing was not a problem for him.

After the dances, the guests gathered in groups to talk, and the topic slowly drifted to worshiping gods and religions from the old era.

In the beginning, Chu An only listened, but later on, he started joining the conversations. He seldom had anything to do with these things in the past, but for some reason, knowledge about them appeared in his mind. Perhaps his teacher had spoken about them before? Or maybe he read about them somewhere?

His stories were more detailed and vivid compared to those from the rumor mill. He could describe some of the bloody slaughters in the old era and the steps of various rituals.

This drew in a large crowd. It wasn’t just the young people who were fascinated by the strange things. The older rich people and important politicians also listened to him from a distance.

The major religions in the old era had deep ties with the former royal family. As the dynasties around the world collapsed and royal families fled, the religions left few things behind, which were gobbled up by the countries.

However, the belief in the mysterious was still popular, especially since supernatural beings, urban legends, and rituals were around so prevalently that no one could ignore them.

There were cults and religions of various sizes all around the world. Some of the people in the upper-class were part of them and even promoted them. A number of politicians from various countries were also believers.

In the Eastern Continent, the Great Shun Republic did a major crackdown on the cults and even religions. However, when the people from the Great Shun Republic went to the island nations, especially the isolated ones, they could listen to the strange stories, and it brought them a sense of excitement. Many of them drew closer to Chu An to listen.

The more Chu An spoke, the more excited he grew, as if there was some sort of power pushing him to do it. As a martial artist, he could tell that something was wrong, but he felt a sense of pleasure in his heart and body from sharing the stories. His mutated tissue was excited by it too, and he couldn’t stop. He didn’t really want to.

As he was about to go deeper, his teacher drew closer to him and put a hand on his shoulder. He flinched and got out of that excited state.

Anxiously, he asked, “Sir?”

His teacher, too, could tell that his student was acting strange, but he simply thought that Chu An wanted to form a good relationship with these people. This was something the youth was supposed to do, so if it weren’t because he had some business with Chu An, he wouldn’t have interrupted the conversation.

“Come with me,” he said.

Chu An apologized to the group and exchanged contact IDs with some of them before leaving with the old man. Once they were outside, his mind became clearer, and he asked, “Where are we going, sir?”

“I’m bringing you over to meet someone. If things go smoothly, you may join the fusion faction,” the old man said.

“The fusion faction?”

Chu An was quite surprised. His teacher was part of the refined training faction, and Chu An himself was already a member in name. He thought that he was going to officially join the faction in the future, but now, his teacher wanted him to join the fusion faction?

“Your older brother and sister are definitely going to join the refined training faction,” the old man said grimly. “The family’s resources, regardless of whether it’s the ones of the faction or the company, will go to them. If you join the refined training faction, you’ll get very little. You won’t get a chance to make a name for yourself. But if you join the fusion faction and walk a different path from them, you may find a chance to rise to power. Even if it’s just out of consideration to diversify their investment, your family will give you a certain amount of support instead of treating you like a backup.

“There’s also another reason why the fusion faction suits you. One of its secret techniques can make up for what you’re lacking. With it, you may be able to walk the path that was originally closed to you.”

Chu An was originally against it, because joining the refined training faction meant becoming an elite. If he didn’t join it despite his background, he would be eliminated from the running. He didn’t want that, but a voice in his heart told him to take this new path, because it was better for him. Strength was true power, and nothing about it was fake. The way to get it made no difference. So, he came around to the idea.

His teacher was planning to persuade him for a while, but when he saw that Chu An wasn’t voicing any rejections, he didn’t say anything else and simply brought him to a villa. The guard at the door examined him for a bit before showing them into the living room. It had a man in a suit wearing a ghost mask.

The teacher referred to the man as Mr. Feng.

Mr. Feng asked them to sit before turning to the old man. “Big Brother Zhan, since you brought him here, I won’t ask the boy to go through any tests. I just need to conduct a simple check on him to bring him into the fusion faction.”

He brought a hand to a lamp beside him. Something resembling a centipede crawled out from under the base. It was long, thin, and black, and its legs were like whiskers as it crawled onto the back of his hand.

“Give me your hand,” Mr. Feng said.

Chu An reached out. Mr. Feng grabbed his hand, and the centipede crawled over to him.

“Eat it,” he said.

“What?” Chu An was stunned. He could sense the moving legs on his hand, along with the tingling feeling on his skin. He wanted to puke.

Mr. Feng didn’t repeat himself. He simply watched Chu An, who turned to Mr. Zhan, but his teacher stayed silent and didn’t give him any instructions.

Chu An’s expression turned a little stiff. Even though this was uncomfortable, he could tolerate this much. Also, even though he hated the centipede, he could smell a sweet fragrance from it, so he brought it to his mouth.

He wondered how he should eat it, but the centipede quickly crawled into his mouth. He could feel its feelers brushing past his teeth before they stabbed into his tongue. Then, it crawled down his throat and straight to his stomach.

He frowned at that.

A while later, when Mr. Feng saw that he didn’t have any reaction, he said, “Your student has a high tolerance.”

“That’s a good thing, no?” Mr. Zhan asked rhetorically.

“Yes. A high tolerance means that he can accept even more advanced merged space creatures.”

Mr. Feng turned to Chu An. “We don’t care about whatever defects you’re born with. To us, nothing in the world is without defects. It’s the same for us and the existences from the other world.

“But that’s fine. By making up for those flaws by fusing with other creatures, we can overcome our defects and reach perfection. This is what we strive for in the faction.

“It might be a little late for you to join us, but that’s okay. We’ve been around since the old era. There are plenty of factions in the world, but in our faction, as long as you have a high tolerance, we can carefully craft a fusion path perfect for you. If you succeed in every step of the way, you will reach a higher limit.”

Chu An hesitated for a bit before standing up and bowing to him. “Please teach me, Mr. Feng.”

“We don’t have any mentor-mentee systems, only seniors guiding juniors. I’ll bring you into the faction and teach you our secret techniques and knowledge,” Mr. Feng said.

“We will provide you and the faction with some funding,” Mr. Zhan said.

Mr. Feng happily gave him a card. “This is my account in Grand Prosperity Finance. Just send the money there.”

“It’ll be done by tomorrow,” Mr. Zhan promised after taking the card.

Mr. Feng seemed to be in a good mood. He liked straightforward people like that. “I already have the fusion materials your student needs. I’ll be staying on the island for a month, so I’ll whip him into shape during that time.”

Just then, he remembered something and asked, “You know that a martial arts master has come to the island recently, right?”

“Yes,” Mr. Zhan answered.

“Good. I just received news that he should be from the purity faction. It’s best that you stay far away from him.”

Chu An tensed up and asked, “Is the purity faction enemies with the fusion faction?”

“Not really, but our ideals clash, so we inevitably fight a lot. If you bother him, we won’t defend you. Of course, he won’t bother you either without reason, since regular people aren’t worthy of his attention.”