Chen Chuan walked over to the Xuejun Saber and picked it up. Grasping the hilt, he drew the blade out a fraction of an inch, and a flash of bright, snowy-cold gleam instantly filled the room.
Back then, the Gong family had used Xiong Jianyi to smuggle an object into Center City, but when Chen Chuan killed him, that object had also been swallowed by the Xuejun Saber.
For the Gong family to go through such painstaking efforts to bring it inside, it was definitely no ordinary item.
The series of reactions shown by the Xuejun Saber after assimilating it had further proved this point.
Piecing together the information and clues he had gathered afterward, he could basically confirm that this item was connected to the Ferris Wheel Company.
At first glance, it seemed somewhat like an active conscious entity.
However, the Ferris Wheel Company already possessed its own active conscious entity; there was no need for such redundant efforts, not to mention that an active conscious entity did not require such elaborate concealment to be brought into Center City.
Whatever it was had to pose a direct threat to Center City, something they feared the city's field might detect.
Considering that the breach in the Ring of the World had already appeared by then, and that the Ferris Wheel Company likely knew well in advance about Fumu's impending division, he had reason to believe this object was very likely aimed at Fumu's split sub-bodies.
Indeed, after absorbing that object, the Xuejun Saber had developed a keen interest in split sub-bodies, going on to absorb two of them in succession.
It was a completely reasonable guess that Ferris Wheel would want to absorb the sub-bodies. After the Ferris Wheel Company collapsed, most of their archives had been destroyed in advance, but from the surviving fragments of records, Ferris Wheel and the island nations of the Outer Ocean had long wanted to forge a Center City of their own.
If all of the Ferris Wheel Company's plans had come to fruition—including defeating the joint fleet of the two corporations at sea—it truly might have succeeded.
The international climate did not permit outright warfare between sovereign nations, limiting armed conflict to corporate wars at most. Had the Ferris Wheel Company subsequently secured the backing of the Linakes Federation, the Great Shun government would have found it difficult to intervene openly, perhaps having no choice but to tacitly accept the fait accompli for a time.
And now, that object had been almost completely assimilated by the Xuejun Saber.
Whether it could eventually grow to Fumu's level in the future did not matter to him; as long as it possessed a fraction of a split sub-body's abilities, it would be of immense help.
Because that meant he might be able to use it to open fissures.
If he could truly accomplish that, his mental cultivation would undoubtedly be secured, freeing him from the need to search all over for fissures that might exist in the outside world.
Just as this thought crossed his mind, the Xuejun Saber seemed to sense his intent, trembling ever so slightly as if in response.
His gaze stirred.
It seemed he still needed to wait a bit longer; the Xuejun Saber would require some time before it awakened.
Even so, he could sense that the wait would not be long—it might only be a matter of days.
He returned the saber to its scabbard, set it back down, and then walked to the side to open his briefcase. Inside lay another full complement of pure substance tubes.
Three units. More than enough.
He had not stopped absorbing pure substance at night throughout these past few days. Although atmospheric pure substance was scarce, it was far more refined and clear, and supplemented by these tubes, it was fully capable of meeting his needs.
He picked up a tube and watched the fluid shimmer inside like liquid light. A thought struck him: over these past few months, pure substance had dispersed from Center City across the globe. As time went on, more and more people would undoubtedly break through that threshold.
The world of the future would surely be swept by turbulent winds and surging clouds.
He pulled off the seal at the top, tilted his head back, and swallowed the tube of pure substance.
After a night had passed, he looked down at the briefcase, which was now missing a third of its contents, stood up, and went to freshen up.
Today, he intended to make a trip back to Wuyi Academy.
Because he had been away on leave in the Outer Ocean, his physical teaching certificate had been left in his old academy dormitory. He planned to retrieve it, as earning that certificate had been specifically meant to grant him access to the academy's resources.
That way, his sparring sessions with Hongfu could resume. Whether it was honing his force or tempering his spirit, the assistance Hongfu could provide was beyond compare.
After changing into fresh clothes, he stepped out of his residence and boarded his dedicated vehicle to return to Wuyi Academy.
His residence was not far from Wuyi—only about a ten-minute drive—yet the streets were unusually bustling. Upon arriving at the academy gates, the traffic was even heavier, and judging by the flow of vehicles, everyone was heading in the same direction. He looked into the distance; on his boundary credential's display, a pillar of light stood tall over the grounds, and faint cheers drifted from that direction.
This year's academy tournament was underway.
During the three months he had been away, the annual tournament would normally have been held. However, likely due to the impact of Fumu's division, this year's event had been postponed by a month and was still ongoing.
When he had contacted Wei Chang'an and the others earlier, he had heard that they went to watch the tournament, though lacking citizen status, they could only remain on the outer perimeter.
When the armored transport arrived at the Xuangong Building, Hongfu's voice rang out: "Supervisor Chen, welcome back to Wuyi Academy. You may enter the academy through the faculty-exclusive lane."
The vehicle turned and followed the display on his boundary credential, entering the building through an alternate lane. Once he stepped out, there was also an elevator reserved exclusively for faculty.
He rode it up and returned to his original dormitory. Along the way, various messages and notifications flickered across his boundary credential.
First came a notification that he could change dormitories; he was eligible to move into the faculty apartments, which offered far more space and superior training grounds.
That could be dealt with later.
However, as a Wuyi instructor, he also had certain teaching obligations.
The academy evaluated every instructor annually to assess whether they were fit for their post. Each semester, he was required to provide proper instruction to three or more students and ensure that at least two of them passed their academic assessments.
This was reasonable enough. Since he was utilizing the academy's resources, it was only natural that he had to contribute in return.
Following Hongfu's prompts, he activated his faculty privileges and opened his courses for enrollment. The pricing was set according to the academy's average baseline. As for his areas of instruction, he checked all the unarmed combat categories while deselecting finesse-oriented items, and then submitted his profile.
A moment later, the boundary credential displayed that his submission had been verified and approved, and his profile was promptly published on the academy platform's interface.
Once his courses appeared, several instructors currently on the platform immediately sent messages of congratulations and greetings; whether they knew him or not, all took the time to say hello.
This was because, aside from being a Wuyi instructor, he was also an investigation supervisor at the Comprehensive Management Bureau. The Bureau shared deep ties with Wuyi, and by rank, some of the instructors could technically be considered his subordinates.
He replied to them one by one. Right in the middle of doing so, a chime rang out, indicating that someone had already booked his course. He had not expected it to happen so quickly.
Checking the details, he found that the enrollee was a new student named Jiang Xin. A glance at the profile showed that this student had graduated from Yangzhi Wuyi this year and passed the entrance examination for Center City.
Chen Chuan looked at the attached photo—it was a youth with a sunny smile and a slightly shy demeanor.
After reviewing it, he tapped to approve the enrollment on his boundary credential. Seeing that this student had open lectures over the next two days, he rescheduled the session for the day after tomorrow.
Now, he only needed to tutor two more students to fulfill the minimum requirement.
This Jiang Xin had likely heard of him and, both of them hailing from Yangzhi, had immediately signed up for his course. Others, however, probably would not book his classes so quickly and would adopt a wait-and-see attitude for a while. Still, he had an entire semester, so there was no rush; at worst, he could simply have Wei Dong fill one of the slots.
Meanwhile, in a student lounge, Fan Cheng and Kong Yao were browsing the platform when they suddenly spotted a new notification stating that a new instructor had joined Wuyi and students could purchase his courses.
Fan Cheng clicked on it, then let out a startled gasp. "Kong Yao, look! Isn't this... isn't this Classmate Chen?"
Kong Yao looked over, her eyes widening in astonishment. "It really is Classmate Chen!"
"Classmate Chen became a Wuyi instructor?!"
The two exchanged an incredulous glance. They felt it was utterly mind-boggling—back then we were classmates, and now you're our teacher?
Still, neither was out of touch with information; they followed Center City affairs closely and knew that Chen Chuan held a position at the Bureau, and a rather prominent one at that.
Fan Cheng quickly skimmed through the bio, reading aloud, "Chen Chuan, Level-3 Wuyi Instructor, third-limit fighter, Investigation Supervisor of the Comprehensive Management Bureau..."
As he read that title, he swallowed hard. He knew all too well what an investigation supervisor at the Bureau represented.
He kept reading. "Areas of Instruction... Unarmed Category, All Disciplines?!"
His eyes went round. What did "All Disciplines" mean? It meant that as long as it fell under unarmed combat—whether striking, grappling, or throwing—he could teach it all.
This was not something one could casually write down; it required appraisal and certification from the academy and Hongfu. The fact that it was listed meant that both the academy leadership and Hongfu endorsed this assessment.
Fan Cheng stared at the screen for a good while, then turned to her. "Kong Yao, what do you say... should we book two sessions with Teacher—Teacher Chen to try it out?"
Kong Yao was taken aback. "Why?"
Fan Cheng looked back at the interface. "Since enrolling, we've studied under quite a few instructors, but our progress has always been limited. Every time, we barely scrape through the evaluations. Do you know how terrified I am while waiting for the results, scared that in the next second we'll be thrown into the tournament arena?
"Everyone is giving it their all right now. If we're even a little slow, the ones dragged into the arena could be us.
"I feel like I'm hitting a bottleneck, and you probably feel it too, right? But the instructors we find are all roughly the same level. Even with private tutoring, it seems like we improve at first, but then we stall out again very quickly. Teacher Chen's rate of progress is something I've never seen before. I'm thinking... maybe he has some secret? Why don't we sign up for his class and give it a shot?"
Kong Yao hesitated. She felt that Chen Chuan's rapid growth was purely down to his innate talent. Still, buying a session or two wouldn't hurt; at worst, they could just switch back. She nodded. "All right. Let's try it first."
Chapter 649