Book 4, Chapter 158: Activating The Mind

Xue Shou blocked the attack with his arms, and an invisible barrier formed before him to stop the six arms half a meter away.

The two mental energies kept clashing with each other, which caused both Xue Shou and Wei Guochan’s figures to sway.

With the ritual giving him a boost in strength, Xue Shou stabilized faster. He looked at the much taller Wei Guochan, then grinned and pushed forward. His image shattered like a mirror.

Then, he turned his head sideways and said, “I can block him one more time. Do whatever you need to do.”

Chen Chuan nodded and took a step back. In a flash, he vanished from the spot. When he showed up again, he was in the undeveloped forest behind him.

There was an adult-sized gap there, and bright light was spilling out from it. Chen Chuan had opened this gap before entering the plains. Due to the time and the terrain outside, he had a feeling that the chances of him running into Wei Guochan were exponentially high, so he prepared for it.

Otherwise, Chen Chuan wouldn’t have stayed to watch the fight.

With the gap around, unstable rifts formed in the area, and he could move about them with the Flying Dragon Force. While he couldn’t move about them with the ease and precision of Chen Bitong, he still became much harder to pin down.

Wei Guochan’s second wave of mental energy came charging at him. Xue Shou blocked it once more, but his image wavered. He could no longer stabilize himself.

A moment later, Wei Guochan truly arrived, and his appearance destroyed whatever was left of Xue Shou. It did freeze up Wei Guochan for a moment, though.

By then, Chen Chuan reached the gap. He sensed something and looked over to find that Wei Guochan was watching him. Chen Chuan narrowed his eyes. This time, it wasn’t Wei Guochan’s mental energy, but the conqueror general himself that had come for him.

At the moment this realization struck him, a biofield enveloped him, and all the unstable rifts seemed to freeze over. Even his body got stuck in place.

Red flashed, and a woman in a veil showed up. Her red dress fluttered, while her goose-quill saber cut through the shackles placed upon Chen Chuan.

Immediately, he felt lighter and leaned back to vanish. When he showed up again, he was behind the gap. He brought the Frost King Saber up, and the adult-sized opening closed.

Hongfu turned into a red flash and shot inside before the gap closed to return to the form of a fluttering scarf around Chen Chuan’s neck.

In an instant, the place became empty of the gap and the boy. Only a violent gust of wind made the grass and leaves dance.

Wei Guochan observed the place for a bit before taking a step forward while staring at where the gap had been. Then, the four extra arms swung up, and he punched the space.

It was as if he hit something solid. Small cracks formed in the air, and brilliant light spilled out of them. He raised his fists and punched the air again.

Bang!

More cracks showed up.

A moment later, he leaned forward and put all six hands on the cracks to slowly pull on the sides. Light spilled out of the opening.

Chen Chuan saw it from behind the gap. People with unique or powerful mental energy could open gaps on their own. Since Wei Guochan was a martial arts master, he could do this, but he needed to prepare and target certain weak spots.

But right now, due to the gap in the World Ring and the gap Chen Chuan closed still releasing some energy, Wei Guochan could locate him and open the gap again.

Luckily for Chen Chuan, this wasn’t an easy task. Shut gaps did their best to stay shut, and the smaller the opening was, the harder it was to open it. Wei Guochan wasn’t going to have an easy time making it inside. Even if he widened the gap, Chen Chuan could close it instantly with the Frost King Saber, though he wasn’t going to do that for now.

Wei Guochan’s presence was giving a huge shock to his mutated tissue, and it was trying to push him to the Fourth Limit, because it needed greater strength and for Chen Chuan to reach a higher plane of existence to fight against this threat.

Chen Chuan fulfilled all conditions to reach the Fourth Limit.

Just as he expected, during the face-off against Wei Guochan’s mental image, his second self had resonated strongly with Chen Chuan, and they were now equal in strength.

Since his second self was Chen Chuan himself and he had no aversion toward the idea of fusing with it, all the strength gathered in his second self flowed into his body.

In an instant, his mind became stronger. His biofield spread outward so quickly that it reached several kilometers in the span of a single breath, and it was still spreading outward. Everything within its reach was reflected clearly in his heart.

The next moment, with a single thought, he pulled his biofield back. The increase in strength wasn’t uncontrollable. He could command it with ease.

He took a deep breath to sense the great life force within him and clenched his fists.

Now that his second self’s strength had become entirely his, his mutated tissue’s vitality and strength had doubled.

Even so, Wei Guochan was making him feel like he was in grave danger. The gap was trembling nonstop while being pulled open; it was expanding every second. His mutated tissue was also urging him to reach a higher limit.

Martial arts masters were not people those below their level could face. They were simply different beings, because the ascendance of their minds led to the transition of their form.

It was time for Chen Chuan to try reaching the Fourth Limit.

He looked upward. After coming here, the light from the artifact seemed to have become much weaker and was only limited to hundreds of meters around him. It could ward off all corruption, though, which was what gave him the confidence to attempt reaching the Fourth Limit behind a gap.

As he kept his eyes trained forward, he removed his overcoat and threw it at his feet. “Help me block Wei Guochan for a bit, Hongfu.”

“Alright,” Hongfu said.

Chen Chuan sat down, grabbed his backpack, and positioned the eggshell artifact beside him.

As the light shone on the eggshell, it started releasing smoke, which was considerably thicker than when it was in the merged space. With just a sniff, the fatigue in Chen Chuan’s body and mind faded, and he reached the peak of his condition again.

He took out all the medicine the purity faction had given him. While he intended to use One with the Mind to reach the Fourth Limit, that was solely limited to him stimulating his mutated tissue to make them get the energy and drive for it. If he wanted to truly advance, he needed enough nutrients for it, since he was going to burn through a lot of calories during the process. This meant taking certain medicines.

They weren’t as rare as pure essence, but a single person would have a hard time gathering all of them. However, it wasn’t hard for the purity faction.

Chen Chuan grabbed a jade-green pill and took it. This was Life Shield, a pill that guaranteed that he wouldn’t ever run out of energy while trying to reach the Fourth Limit. At a crucial moment, it could keep him alive, though barely. Then, all he lacked was sufficient nutrients to recover. He set aside all the nutrient and calorie-dense medicines beside him to take them whenever necessary.

The next thing he picked up was the Soul Guard. This pill could protect his mind from corruption. This, too, he swallowed quickly.

The last was the Heart Defender. This powder wasn’t a supplement, but it could ensure that he didn’t end up transforming into something else during his attempt.

If a martial artist’s mind got too corrupted while in the other world, they wouldn’t be able to remain true to themselves. Some ended up joining the other side rather than staying human. Once this thought showed up even for a brief moment, they wouldn’t be able to turn back anymore.

That was why this powder was necessary. While Chen Chuan was confident in himself, he didn’t skip this step. He pinched some of the golden powder and spread it on the center of his brow before dragging it down in a straight line.

Once he was done getting ready, all his cells, mutated tissue, and mental energy became united due to external and internal pressure. All that was left was for him to surpass the limits and reach a higher plane of existence.

He didn’t hesitate and immediately held his breath while defending his mind.

There were three steps to reach the Fourth Limit. The first was the metamorphosis of the mind, the second was the metamorphosis of the body, and the third was sculpting his true form. For the metamorphosis of the mind, his mind needed to tear down the walls separating him from the Fourth Limit first, then let all sorts of corruption refine his mental gemstone. Then, he would have to return to refine his physical body. Once he was done, he would need to sculpt his true form. This was the last step of the full metamorphosis.

Chen Chuan had to take all three steps. Each one had different things he needed to pay attention to, and he couldn’t make any mistakes.

Once he did a quick run-through of everything he needed to do, Chen Chuan activated the Observance of the Gold Planet to protect his mental gemstone. Through it, he could observe himself, and through himself, he could observe his soul. Then, with his soul, he should perform a reverse reflection to unite his mind and physical body to truly become one with his mind.

Chen Chuan acted according to what he had been instructed. First, he made sure that he had nothing else in his mind, aside from his mental gemstone. Once he succeeded, his entire world became quiet. Light shone from his mental gemstone. In the beginning, there was only a wisp, but after a while, the light grew stronger until it became so bright that it started spilling outward.

If anyone was looking, they would have noticed that his skin had become duller. This was because this step required him to burn his life force as fuel for his mind to transcend. Most people shrivelled up and looked like a sitting mummy at this stage. In the words of the Observance of the Gold Planet, he was at the first stage. To burn his life to awaken divine abilities, he needed to die and come back to life.

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