Although the Secret Snake Cult's service seemed terrifying at first glance, it followed a rigorous set of procedures. As long as one adhered to them, nothing would go wrong; the main challenge was overcoming the psychological revulsion.
Chen Chuan felt no resistance toward it. It was obvious that after generations of breeding, these anomalous serpents had become fundamentally different from genuine snakes; they were purely biological tools designed to aid cultivation.
Below the illustrations, the text listed a series of key considerations. Not just anyone could access this service—certain requirements had to be met.
First, the client had to possess a certain degree of strength. A person at his stage, showing the strength and potential he had demonstrated, was practically the ideal recipient.
Second, it was best to have a sponsor from within the cult. If not, one needed a guarantor of recognized standing.
He glanced at the bottom. The fee was three thousand yuan per session. It seemed pricey, but judging by the service procedures, it consumed the biological instrument used in the ingestion. Viewed that way, this was likely a service that money alone could hardly buy.
Based on what Cao Guixi had said earlier and indirect clues, the service did not merely strengthen muscles and bones; it could also fortify the internal organs. If it truly yielded this dual benefit, the price was not expensive in the least—in fact, it was exceptionally fair.
So after reading through it, he picked up a pen without hesitation and signed his name in the client signature box at the bottom of the service agreement. Pushing it over to Zou Handan, he asked, "Mr. Zou, when might this service be scheduled?"
Zou Handan glanced at his signature, picked up the scroll, rolled it up slowly, and said, "Since Mr. Chen has agreed, we will make the necessary arrangements upon our return. It will take at most half a month to coordinate everything, and at the earliest, the end of the month. Once preparations are complete, we will notify Mr. Chen promptly."
Chen Chuan nodded. "Then I will trouble your esteemed cult."
A faint glimmer emanated from Zou Handan's serpentine pupils, as if he were contacting someone via his boundary credential. After a moment, he said, "I have confirmed with the cult. The follow-up arrangements have already been initiated."
He stood up and extended a hand. "Mr. Chen, thank you for using our cult's service."
Chen Chuan stood up as well and shook his hand. He felt that the muscles on the palm and back of the man's hand were remarkably supple and strong, not at all as soft as his appearance suggested.
At the moment their hands clasped, a new contact request popped up. He glanced at it and accepted. The avatar was a red-robed, snake-eyed figure standing ramrod straight, indistinguishable as male or female. Looming behind the figure was an even larger serpent's eye.
Zou Handan also looked at Chen Chuan's avatar, seeming slightly surprised.
The Secret Snake Cult conducted psychological evaluations on every client, and their choice of avatar served as a valuable reference point. Someone like Chen Chuan, who kept the default setting without choosing an avatar at all, was exceedingly rare. Yet making no choice was itself an indication of a particular mindset.
After taking his leave of Chen Chuan, he spoke courteously to Cao Guixi sitting nearby: "Mr. Cao, the service has been agreed upon. I must return to oversee the arrangements, so Handan will take his leave now."
Cao Guixi nodded slightly. "Safe travels, Mr. Zou. Uncle Ding, see our guest out on my behalf."
Uncle Ding stepped forward with an inviting gesture. Zou Handan nodded once more to Chen Chuan and followed Uncle Ding out, but he left a box on the table before departing.
Chen Chuan turned his gaze to it.
Cao Guixi took a sip of tea and said, "That is for you. The Secret Snake Cult values every client highly and presents each with a gift. The contents vary in quality and value, high or low, and even they do not know what is inside when it is given. You can take it back and have a look."
Chen Chuan thought to himself that the Secret Snake Cult certainly knew how to do business. No wonder that among so many old cults, only the Secret Snake Cult could establish a legitimate foothold in Center City today.
Cao Guixi added, "The medicine from Qingnang Jade Workshop has arrived as well. Since you are here today, you can take it with you later along with the precious paste. There are ten pills in total this time, and you are required to finish taking them within three months. Pace yourself according to your capacity."
"Thank you, Senior Cao. I will," Chen Chuan replied.
With matters settled, he did not linger. Once Uncle Ding returned from escorting the guest, Chen Chuan finished a cup of tea, bade Cao Guixi farewell, and departed carrying the medicine from Qingnang Jade Workshop, the precious paste from Tiancong Baicao, and the box gifted by the Secret Snake Cult.
Leaving Mount Motie and returning to Xuan Palace Building, he set the Secret Snake Cult's gift box aside and took out the wooden medicine box from Qingnang Jade Workshop.
Opening it with both hands, the first thing to meet his eyes was an exquisite silk handkerchief. Embroidered upon it was a pouch in ink-washed greenish-black, trailing a red cord that looped elegantly around the perimeter into soft washes of pale cyan and white—a unique and pleasing design.
This was not the first time Chen Chuan had seen something like this, so he was already experienced. He observed it with his boundary credential for a moment, and before long, he accessed the Qingnang Jade Workshop platform.
A pleasant chime sounded immediately, first welcoming him to the Qingnang Jade Workshop drug-testing group, and informing him that members could enjoy discounts on medicines produced by Qingnang Jade Workshop anywhere.
Skipping past these, the text below explained how to take the medicine, how to fill out the post-medication report forms, and other procedural details.
It required test subjects to use their boundary credentials to record the scene of taking the medicine and fill out their sensations on the form according to regulations. If one found this too troublesome and wished to skip that step, one could interface directly with the platform through the boundary credential and convey all sensations felt during the process.
Appended after these instructions was an included breathing technique, noting that test subjects were under no obligation to learn it, but once viewed, it must not be leaked. Therefore, a platform agreement had to be signed before full access was granted.
This piqued his interest. Reading the introduction carefully, he found that if a fighter understood the Aperture Breathing Technique, learning this breathing technique would also be very easy.
If mastered deeply, it would not only clarify the exact changes in mutated tissue after taking medicine, but also grant awareness of subtle shifts in every part of the body.
Since it was not mandatory, Chen Chuan felt that not many people would likely spend time practicing it.
Yet he considered it very useful, especially given how widely his mutated tissue was distributed. Having a more detailed understanding of his own body was undoubtedly a good thing.
He searched the Wuyi platform and found that this breathing technique could not be found within Wuyi Academy.
This was hardly surprising. Wuyi was not the only place in the world that trained fighters; there were bound to be many uncataloged breathing techniques and martial arts.
He promptly signed the viewing agreement. After studying it in detail, he grasped the principles. Spending a little time familiarizing himself with it, and relying on his solid foundation, he had already mastered the breathing technique by evening.
At this point, he could formally take the medicine.
Putting on the accompanying biofilm gloves, he unpacked the medicine box and took out a pill. It was for oral consumption, its surface a pale cyan, giving off a distinct, invigorating fragrance.
After a look, he activated his boundary credential's field data recording function and swallowed it with water.
At first, he felt nothing unusual, but after a moment, a surge of feverish heat swept through his entire body. His breathing involuntarily quickened, and his heart began to pound faster.
A few minutes later, his vision brightened. A multitude of scents flooded his nostrils, an array of indistinct noises reached his ears, and his mind grew remarkably sharper.
Yet this lasted for only about half an hour before his muscles and bones began to ache, and a slight feeling of swelling appeared across his skin. An hour later, he felt a tingling itch deep in his marrow, and mutated tissue throughout his body surged with excitement. It reminded him of when he had first begun practicing, but far more intense.
He looked at the Second Self. There was no sign of blurring on it, which meant there was no damage. Or perhaps his body was now robust enough that the side effects of certain medicinal potencies could no longer affect him much.
This time, he did not shift his perception away, as that allowed for better feedback. Since he had agreed to be a test subject, he was willing to cooperate properly.
Remembering that the effects of the precious paste became more pronounced with a certain amount of training after consumption, he immediately stood up, took the Xuejun Saber, and went to his private training room.
Roughly three hours later, the sensation of heightened capability began to recede. He ceased practicing his forms and, following the prompts on his boundary credential, filled out his reactions during the process on the form.
He could feel that the medicine indeed produced a marked enhancing effect on the mutated tissue of his internal organs.
Like the precious paste, its efficacy was sustained over time. Based on past experience, he estimated it would last around two to three days. If that were the case, taking the box of medicine continuously would take exactly one month, which meant Qingnang Jade Workshop had not assigned the dosage haphazardly—they had calculated the timeframe carefully.
His medicinal intake was far greater than an ordinary person's, and over time, this had granted him a discernment of medicinal efficacy that surpassed that of ordinary people.
The outcome indeed matched his estimate: the pronounced effects lasted for only three days before fading into subtlety.
In his assessment, it truly fell short of Tiancong Baicao's precious paste. In comparison, it produced only about a quarter to a fifth of the paste's effect. However, there were plenty of pills. Thus, after three days, he swallowed the second pill, and three days after that, he took the third.
Yet just one day after swallowing the third pill, he noticed something different.
Densely clustered signs of blurring appeared in many areas of the Second Self, all concentrated on the mutated tissue and its surrounding structures.
He surmised this was likely a side effect resulting from the accumulation of residual medicine. Taking it continuously caused a degree of damage to the mutated tissue. Had it been an ordinary fighter, they surely would have suffered a rather severe reaction by now.
At this point, he did not continue. To be reasonable, he could not appear too abnormal either. Therefore, he faithfully recorded his sensations and the reactions of various body parts in considerable detail and submitted them to the Qingnang Jade Workshop company.
Chapter 310