Book 4, Chapter 212: Received His New Job Position

Instructor Lian left Treasure Bank Street and Martial Order District itself.

He had put on a disguise in Swamp Training Camp, so his face wasn’t his real one, so no one would notice him being in Central City.

The act of coming to Treasure Bank Street and speaking to Tian Rui as well as Tian Wo, though, should have alerted Fu-Mu Entity, so he had to leave in a hurry. Next time, he couldn’t just saunter into the city again with this face.

After he got into his car, he activated the domain lockdown entity and sped out of the downtown area to the harbor in Oceanway District. He hopped onto the motorboat waiting for him there and went to White Bird District.

The Resolution Department had increased their control of the tunnels to the merged space, but there were a few that weren’t under their control yet, and most of them were in White Bird District. This was the only place in Central City without a branch of the Resolution Department. All the security measures here were set up by the residents’ personal armed forces.

Instructor Lian headed back to the merged space, then carefully bypassed the patrol team from the World Ring Defense System and spent three days traveling back to Swamp Training Camp.

The camp was located on high ground. All the merged space creatures here had been killed, so while the place was located in an undeveloped area, it was safe.

Instructor Lian came to the sail-shaped building in the highest spot in the camp. Light shone through its tall sunroof. Zhao Zhenye was levitating with his legs crossed inside. He wore a long, white, martial arts robe. A fringe covered his eyes, and long hair fell down his back. Only his well-defined face could be seen. Silver-white light shone around him so bright it seemed to have physical substance.

Instructor Lian knew that Zhao Zhenye was only able to levitate due to the modified Fist of the Vast Sky. Zhao Zhenye had modified all his secret techniques into their stronger versions, so all the core techniques he taught the trainees were different. They had to find their own paths.

It had been almost twenty years since Instructor Lian had taken up the path of a martial artist. When he started on it, he had missed the best age to learn martial arts, but Zhao Zhenye managed to bring out his full potential and change his life entirely. That was why his heart was full of admiration and gratitude toward the man.

Zhao Zhenye sensed him. “Did you have a safe trip?”

“It was fine, since no one there knows me, but I won’t be able to show this face in Central City in the future. I did run into some trouble in the merged space. After the imperial army retreated, Jibei Road’s military has been building forts everywhere. Many paths can’t be taken anymore, so I took a lot of detours while coming back,” Instructor Lian replied.

“Thank you for your hard work. You don’t have to go to Central City anymore,” Zhao Zhenye said.

Instructor Lian took a step forward. “This is what I should do. Also, on my way back, I ran into the fusion faction, and they told me something: Mr. Zhuan is still in Central City. With Lead Investigator Chen, they now have two martial arts masters.

“The purity faction might be gathering strength to fight against you.”

With his back turned to Instructor Lian, Zhao Zhenye asked, “Are you afraid?”

“No. I trust you. They might interfere with our future plans, though,” Instructor Lian answered.

“They will definitely interfere, but we’ve run into many interferences throughout the years here. Even so, we’ve never stopped,” Zhao Zhenye countered.

Instructor Lian brought the topic back to the start. “The fusion faction has a suggestion. They said that Lead Investigator Chen has gone to the island nations for a mission and suggested joining hands with you to kill him.”

Zhao Zhenye was not interested in this. “While we can work with the fusion faction, we have no reason to solve their problems.

“The problem won’t disappear by killing a single person. The purity faction can send other martial arts masters. Then, there will be no turning back for us. In order to avoid a war between factions, the fusion faction won’t side with me. Instead, they’ll shove me forward to quell the purity faction’s wrath.”

Instructor Lian was shocked, because this might actually happen. Cold sweat broke on his back as he said, “You’re right. I was looking at this too simply.”

“How is Xiao Wo?” Zhao Zhenye asked instead.

“He’s okay. He loved the present you gave him,” Instructor Lian answered quickly.

Zhao Zhenye grunted at that. “You must be tired after all the running around. Go and rest.”

“Alright.” Instructor Lian bowed to him before leaving.

Zhao Zhenye looked up. There was a stone disc with a ring of black on it suspended above him. The black part was a sign of corruption, and it was slowly seeping toward the center. It wasn’t going to take much longer for the whole disc to turn black.

***

Time passed in a flash, and the end of November arrived.

Chen Chuan was still on the stone platform in Tall Rocks Isle. The light on his body slowly faded away. He had begun practicing the second stance of the Blinding Blaze. With the speed of his current progress, he should be able to pick up the basics of this stance by the end of the month.

If Zhuan Liang knew that Chen Chuan had only used around a month to get his current results, he would be shocked.

This was mainly because practicing the Blinding Blaze burned a lot of energy. Even if a martial arts master had plenty of resources, they would need time to recover.

Picking up one-third of any one stance within a month was already good, much less learning the whole thing and moving onto the next.

Chen Chuan’s goal was to pick up the basics of the twelve stances, because once he could link them all together, it might lead to a major transformation. He didn’t know what it would be, but he had a feeling that it was going to be useful to himself.

Once his breathing calmed down, he stood up and fed Dawncall.

The island had a truly great environment. Not only was it good for him, but it was also beneficial for Dawncall. After being fed the ingredients from the first batch for around ten days, it had grown a little more. Its feathers had also become smoother and shinier.

A housekeeper walked through the corridor leading to the stone platform, stood at the edge, and bowed before greeting Chen Chuan. Once he got permission to come closer, the housekeeper approached Chen Chuan and respectfully handed a newspaper as well as several telegrams to him. “This is today’s newspaper and telegrams, sir.”

Even though he was on an island, he stayed in constant communication with the outside world via telegrams, so he wasn’t completely isolated. Every day, he received news from various parties. Aside from the Great Shun Republic, he also got news from the island nations. He even learned some things about the Linacrox Union.

Chen Chuan went to wash his hands at the stone basin by the platform. After wiping them clean, he flipped through the newspaper. Nothing much had happened since yesterday, but he did find something related to Tall Rocks Isle.

Yesterday, Seagull Cruise had sailed out of it and sank. Law enforcers were still trying to figure out the cause.

Chen Chuan remembered the cruise ship. He had taken a look at it when it left, and it didn’t seem to be in any trouble. It should have been carrying guests from the island, who were all important people, so this case was definitely going to cause quite a stir.

As he continued reading, he found that there were a few martial artists on the ship. They saved a lot of passengers using the lifeboats and life jackets. They kept going until a rescue team arrived, so most people were rescued, and not many died. The survivors were suing the cruise ship’s company.

Chen Chuan continued reading through the other news after that. At the back of the newspaper, he found a sealed telegram.

Once he opened it, he found that it came from the Department of Administrative Affairs. Apparently, the capital had given him his new assignment, and the officials in charge of appointing him to office were going to arrive at Jibei Road in a few days. If he had finished his task, they hoped that he could go back as soon as possible.

Chen Chuan put the telegram away and cast a glance at the waves. It seemed like his short training session had come to an end, and he had to leave.

He immediately went back to his room and called the manager of the island to tell him about the change of plans.

“I plan to leave for Jibei Road in the afternoon. Could you get an airship ready for me?” he asked.

***

Right after he finished packing up at noon, his airship arrived to pick him up.

The liaison officer from Ocean Development Corporation came to see him off and gave him a holiday gift card. He also told him that he could come to Tall Rocks Isle whenever he wanted for a holiday. Chen Chuan was even allowed to bring company, though he would need to give them a heads-up so that the manager could prepare the rooms.

Over his stay, Ocean Development Corporation had satisfied all of Chen Chuan’s needs. Then again, compared to how Chen Chuan had helped them, what they did for him was nothing.

If the matter with Serene Radiance School had dragged out, Ocean Development Corporation would have ended up fighting against the Linacrox Union. Then, their costs would have gone off the charts. Chen Chuan had helped them solve this problem in less than half a day, which saved them a lot of manpower and money.

The reason why they wanted to recruit Chen Chuan was because of how efficiently he solved problems. They might have failed to poach him, but they managed to form good ties with him. If they ran into problems in the future, he might agree to help them again.

The airship left Tall Rocks Isle. Five days later, on the twenty-eighth of November, it returned to Jibei Road’s Central City and stopped at the mooring point in Martial Order District.

Right after Chen Chuan stepped out, he received a ton of messages on his Realm Pass. As he replied to them, he returned to his house. Just then, Qiao Yang called him. He greeted Chen Chuan before telling him that the official in charge of appointing him to office had arrived the day before.

“The appointment ceremony is set for tomorrow. It’ll be held at the Department of Administrative Affairs’ conference hall. Will you be available for it?”

Chen Chuan went through his timetable. “Yeah. Tomorrow is good.”

“Alright. It’s at 9 a.m. tomorrow. The department will send a car to pick you up. If you have any special needs or demands, please tell us. We’ll get it done.”

“Okay,” Chen Chuan said and ended the call. Then, he turned to the calendar on his table and tore off the old pages until he reached the current month.

Tomorrow was going to be a brand new day.