As Chen Chuan felt the spirit contained within the parchment booklet, its owner's lifetime of experiences unfolded before his eyes.
This crusade knight had lived more than six hundred years ago during the Ross War era, a time when the long-declining East Yono was under attack by the Aetai Empire, which had nearly unified the entire Paranio Region.
The two sides had engaged in an offensive and defensive struggle over the famous city of Novarom that lasted over a century, including as many as twelve major pitched battles. Crusade knights from both sides threw themselves into this war endlessly for wealth and glory.
Because of this, the holy warriors who ultimately survived had honed formidable martial skills and forged an unshakeable faith.
Yet a person's potential was sometimes determined at birth. This crusade knight reached the Secret Palace level at the age of forty, but over the following fifteen years, he failed to make any further progress.
Believing that his faith was not pure or steadfast enough, and taking advantage of an interval in the fighting between the two sides, he chose to temporarily depart Novarom and enter the Confluence for an ascetic pilgrimage.
Little did he imagine that just one year after his departure, an unprecedented pitched battle broke out between the two forces. East Yono made several consecutive misjudgments, causing the tide of war to take a disastrous turn. Despite repeated efforts, the defeat could not be reversed. Novarom was breached, and from then on, it never returned to Yono rule.
However, upon hearing the news, the knight did not give up. He believed this was a trial set for him by the Holy Lord, and he swore to recapture the great city from the hands of the Aetai once more.
By coincidence, during his cultivation in the Confluence, this crusade knight discovered a fragmentary volume of the early Holy Church's Book of Revelation. After reading it, he came to believe that sanctification was the path he ought to take: he should abandon his mortal flesh and let the external visage reign supreme, thereby drawing himself closer to the divine.
He thought this way, and he acted this way. The conception and execution were utterly crude and brutal: *I believe it is feasible, I have unshakable faith that it is feasible, therefore I can achieve it.*
Yet the wisdom and experience of so many predecessors were not baseless. Predecessors had already explored every path; what had been summarized and passed down were the most correct methods. One could not simply force their way through on mere personal idiosyncrasy or sheer willpower.
Thus, unsurprisingly, he failed, to the point where his final strokes of handwriting became wildly erratic.
Chen Chuan was experienced; one glance was enough to tell that these were signs of alienation.
Naturally. Cast aside one's own body and retain only the spirit visage? That was fundamentally accelerating one's own alienation. Cultivating the Visage of Man yet refusing to even remain human—that was bound to be the inevitable outcome.
Even so, he gained a great deal from it. Experiencing the mental imprint left by this man was like walking through his entire life alongside him.
He also understood why this item was useless in the hands of the Federation's Purist Faction. Because this man's faith was excessively pure, anyone below a certain level who was influenced by his mental imprint was very likely to become a fanatic.
Meanwhile, faith in the Old Church had long since declined. Believing in it would only make one more likely to connect with entities from the other side, running entirely counter to the tenets of the Purist Faction. At most, they could glean something from the surviving text.
Yet words had their limits in conveying such things, and the text had likely been transcribed countless times. Gifting it to him, however, was just right. His level was sufficient, and he had no fear of mental contamination. Even if he couldn't extract anything useful, it remained a six-hundred-year-old antiquity, possessing immense research value in its own right.
After finishing it, he closed the booklet and pondered quietly.
After passing the "Storehouse Release" and deepening the transformation of the mutated tissue, the next step was "Visage Dissolution." This stage primarily involved further expanding the spirit visage, enabling it to absorb more energy from the other side to sustain one's needs.
That crusade knight's ultimate ceiling had been reaching this very stage. To that end, he made numerous breakthroughs and attempts, venturing down many paths predecessors had never dared to tread.
Because his conviction was extraordinarily firm, every time one might think he was about to alienate or sink entirely into madness, he managed to hold his ground, persisting in writing down the ideas he had conceived along with their various effects and consequences.
This gave Chen Chuan a clear understanding of certain aspects of this stage, which would undoubtedly speed up his upcoming cultivation considerably.
Moreover, he was currently pondering variations of the spirit visage, and this knight had truly provided him with much inspiration.
Some of the methods for utilizing the spirit visage were quite similar to his own original train of thought—such as manifesting only a portion of the spirit visage during combat, which made attacks stealthier and faster.
In reality, the crusade knight had faced far more problems than he did. Manifesting only a fraction of the spirit visage also meant a reduction in power, so effort had to be spent trying to enhance its might—for instance, by integrating more external matter.
Yet doing so increased power at the expense of speed, trapping him in a vicious cycle. No wonder his ultimate goal had been to abandon the physical body; otherwise, this fundamental contradiction could never be resolved.
Chen Chuan had no such concerns. Given his foundation, even a partial convergence of his spirit visage possessed formidable power. For now, he didn't need to worry about such limitations, and it could be anticipated that as more cultivation resources were invested, that power would continue to rise.
In his final phase, the knight had indeed attained certain things that could help reverse one's spirit, and he had recorded them all. But those were not meant for humans to practice. What Chen Chuan wanted was something humanly achievable.
Therefore, he directly absorbed the useful elements while discarding what was useless, ultimately integrating and digesting them into his own methods. Now that he had the concept, he still needed to test it in practice; all he lacked was a sufficiently formidable opponent to verify and refine it.
Well, if Vegadov moved fast enough, results should be forthcoming within a few days.
In the blink of an eye, several days passed, and the calendar turned to March 3rd. The invitational tournament, long in preparation, officially opened.
This invitational was set to last for a month. Dome Sword Academy's arrangement had been prompted by instructions from the Government Affairs Department; it was sufficient to capture the public's attention and minimize recent negative fallout.
And Chen Chuan's movement permit was indeed approved. Part of the reason was that Duwan State, his destination, was one of the most sparsely populated states in the south-central region and would not stir up much conflict with the government or corporations; another reason was that certain parties wanted him away from here.
Before departing, Chen Chuan spoke with Delegation Leader Xie, and on that day, he boarded a dedicated vehicle and left.
Delegation Leader Xie also took the two martial artists, Gui Zihan and Ka Zhijie, to attend the opening ceremony. Over the next few days, they would be visiting to observe the tournament.
Wang Tongshan stayed behind at Red Rock Villa. The villa held many classified documents and crucial items that ultimately required protection, so Wang Tongshan and Ka Zhijie would take turns on duty moving forward.
Sitting alone in the room, he watched the program on the field screen, with snacks specially provided for martial artists placed beside him. In truth, with Chen Chuan and Gui Zihan absent, he felt considerably more relaxed.
Whenever those two had free time, they spent it cultivating, leaving him and Ka Zhijie unable to go outside and forced to bury their heads in cultivation alongside them. Now, he could finally catch his breath.
While watching the broadcast, a notification arrived on his boundary credential, instructing him to deliver an urgent document to the tournament venue.
He couldn't help feeling a bit puzzled. Why send him with a document at a time like this?
He verified the situation with the other end and found it was indeed Delegation Leader Xie's directive. The Federation had discovered that several resistance organization members had infiltrated the event. To ensure the tournament's enforceability and security, a state-guaranteed martial artist qualification document had been requested at the last minute.
So, after informing the security captain, he went to Delegation Leader Xie's office to retrieve the file and drove off from the villa.
Shortly after he left, as guards made their routine inspection rounds into Chen Chuan's training room, a figure almost indistinguishable from the surrounding air slipped quietly inside behind them.
The field surveillance equipment showed nothing at all; the intruder had clearly donned a membrane with strong anti-jamming and anti-detection properties.
Once the guards departed, this figure remained behind, his eyes fixing upon the external implant standing in the middle of the training hall.
He walked over slowly and affixed an interference device onto the containment casing. Then, he pulled open the door panel, immediately revealing the imposing external implant standing within, blade in hand. The eyes on its mask seemed to be staring straight at him.
He knew this entity was alive, and any reckless contact might trigger an immediate reaction.
Fortunately, he had come prepared. Reaching into his robes, he produced a black ritual rod engraved with intricate silver ceremonial patterns. So long as it was inserted into the external port of the implant's outer sheath, it would buy him at least two minutes.
He drew closer and raised the ritual rod. Just as he was about to strike, a voice suddenly drifted from behind him: "Deputy Leader He, what are you looking for?"
He Yishan shuddered violently. Spinning around, he saw Chen Chuan seated on a chair in a corner of the training room, watching him with utter composure.
His eyes widened, and the ritual rod clattered to the floor as he stumbled back several steps. "Sec—Section Chief Chen? You didn't leave? Impossible... clearly you already—"
Chen Chuan said, "Clearly, I already boarded the car and drove off, right?"
The one who had departed was merely his simulacrum. He had remained here the entire time—a ruse deliberately orchestrated to draw out the mole.
He said, "Captain Wang, notify Delegation Leader Xie."
"Understood."
He Yishan whipped his head around and discovered to his horror that Wang Tongshan, who should have driven off, hadn't left either. He stood not far behind him.
Wang Tongshan said in a tone tinged with amusement and warning, "Deputy Leader He, you'd better stay right where you are. Don't even think of trying anything. With Section Chief Chen here, you couldn't do a thing even if you wanted to." With that, he tapped his boundary credential and spoke into it, "Leader, the startled bird has been caught."
Chapter 1206