Celestial Human Diagram

After carrying the items into his weapon collection room, Chen Chuan placed them in a corner. He switched on the light, and under its glow, every single armor plate gleamed.

He then retrieved the restored Long Spear from the Iron Demon and placed it in the mannequin’s hands. After securing the articulated joints, he stepped back a few paces to look and nodded in satisfaction.

’Now it’s perfect.’

He also took out the two ceremonial swords he had been awarded and the Short Sword he had confiscated from Fei Tong. He wiped them down with maintenance oil first, then arranged them in their predetermined spots.

Finally, he placed the Star Medal Pistol on the gun rack on the wall.

Although his haul wasn’t large this time, he believed that with time, his collection here would continue to grow.

After admiring his work for a while, he left the villa and drove back to the Profound Palace Building. As he entered the underground parking garage, he nodded at Hong Fu above.

He parked the car, returned to his dorm, took a shower, and did some simple Breathing Technique practice before going to bed.

The next morning, he got up, washed his face, prepared a hot drink, and walked to the window to look out at the scenery from his corner of the building.

The winter sun was bright and dazzling. It streamed in, illuminating the entire room and casting long shadows behind him.

He stood there for a while before tapping his Lower Realm Token to log into the academy’s platform.

Participating in the defense mission not only allowed him to obtain special medicine but also gave him a channel to contact the Upper Power.

He could now apply to Wuyi for an instructor to guide him on the next steps of his cultivation.

So, he made a few clicks, quickly navigated to the relevant interface, and submitted his application.

This time, he checked the box for having participated in the defense plan and sent it off.

A moment later, Hong Fu’s voice sounded in his ear:

"Chen, your instructor application has been received. Verifying your eligibility may take several hours. Please wait patiently."

Chen Chuan considered it. ’The data from the Merging Land probably hasn’t been updated yet. I’ll just have to wait.’ He checked the time.

It was already late December. He could start preparing to return to Yangzhi soon.

After some thought, he went out and sent a telegram home, informing them he would be back in a couple of days.

He then contacted Old Qi to ask how he’d been doing recently.

Old Qi told him that his daughter, Qiqi, had successfully transferred schools with arrangements made by the Fusion Boundary Company. He himself had been hiding out in a room arranged by Wubei these past few days. Everything was normal, and no one had come looking for them.

However, because he was laying low, he was only spending money and not earning any, so funds were getting tight. He planned to start taking on commissions again after the New Year.

Wubei chimed in, "I’ve been keeping an eye on the area, and no one has been looking for Old Qi. I think they’ve either given up or found their real target."

Chen Chuan grunted in agreement. "That would be for the best, but we still can’t let our guard down. I won’t be in Central City over the New Year. Old Qi, if you’re short on cash, you can take from the team’s public funds for now. Don’t worry about paying it back right away. You can just replenish it from future surpluses."

Old Qi knew it was better to be cautious than to risk everything for a small gain. He said, "Brother Chen, Brother Wu, don’t worry. I know what I’m doing. You two have helped me so much. I can’t do much to repay you, so the least I can do is try not to cause you any more trouble."

Chen Chuan thought to himself that if that plague-like group from the Lower City District didn’t come looking for trouble again, he wouldn’t pursue the matter. After all, it had nothing to do with them. But if they did show up, they shouldn’t blame him for being ruthless.

After ending the call, he communicated with the Fusion Boundary Company. Yan Yi was the one who responded. He mentioned his trip back to Yangzhi and asked about the company’s recent situation.

Yan Yi replied that there were no issues on Meng Shu’s end, the company’s operations were back on track, and that he would receive a year-end bonus in his account.

Seeing that everything was fine there, he contacted Gao Ming, Lu Fang, and the others to let them know he would be heading back soon. Gao Ming said he still couldn’t get away from the firm during the New Year, and since he didn’t have much family, he wasn’t planning on going back.

Lu Fang, however, said he was planning to return to Yangzhi. Chen Chuan suggested they travel back together in his car. Lu Fang thought it was a good idea, thanked him, and they agreed on a date.

After notifying everyone he needed to, he began preparing for his trip home.

While he worked, he also logged into the defense plan’s platform to have a look. After his trip to the Merging Land, many new functions were now visible, the largest of which was the trading platform.

The biggest category on the platform was the trade of special medicine. After all, some Third Limit Fighters, limited by their own abilities, had no motivation to advance further. Others, realizing their talent was insufficient, simply gave up and used the special medicine as a source of income.

This stuff was indeed very popular. As long as the price wasn’t too outrageous, it was almost always snatched up the moment it appeared.

The next largest category was the trade of various special items and intelligence from the Merging Land.

The Merging Land was vast, and new species and never-before-seen items were discovered almost daily. These were acquired by official organizations, companies, and even specialized intelligence agencies.

It was only then that he discovered the platform was filled with a large number of civilian Fighters, in addition to those organized by the government and corporations. These individuals didn’t want to be tied down and accepted employment on a mercenary basis, mostly working for companies, but sometimes taking on missions from various world governments.

And aside from a few Third Limit Fighters, most of these mercenaries were actually First and Second Limit Fighters.

He hadn’t known where these people came from at first, but he learned from a conversation with Counselor Pei that most of the soldiers and Fighters at the garrison were trained by the military. Another portion came from the settlements and cities established behind the Merging Land.

These places had originally been just outposts and exploration points for the Federation of world governments and corporations, but over the past seventy years, they had grown larger and larger in scale.

The residents of these cities and settlements formed the main source of the lower-tier mercenaries in the Merging Land. Since they lived on the front lines, they had the motivation and desire to participate in the defense plan.

However, because most of them had lived in the Merging Land since birth and had almost no interaction with the Edge Cities or Central City, he could see many hidden dangers in this situation.

But these were not his concerns to worry about. He went to the search section. Besides gathering information, his main goal was to build a team, so he wanted to see if he could recruit suitable people from here.

After entering his ID number, information on many individuals popped up.

He did a quick scan and found quite a few people who seemed suitable on the surface, but he would need to meet them in person to be sure. He looked through the list, found one person who seemed particularly fitting, and sent a chat invitation.

But after waiting for a while, there was no response. It seemed the other person was offline.

At that moment, a notification sound from Hong Fu came from his Realm Token:

"Chen, your instructor application has been approved by the review committee. Please wait patiently. The academy will send you your instructor’s information in one month."

Chen Chuan thought about it. ’One month from now will be after the New Year. That’s fine. Even if they assigned an instructor now, they wouldn’t start teaching him at the end of the year anyway. This won’t delay my trip to Yangzhi.’

He felt much more cheerful after receiving this news.

He logged off the platform and spent half the day getting his things mostly organized. Then he went out again and, as usual, headed to the Treasure Fruit Market to buy some gifts.

On the way back, he turned the steering wheel and headed for Tan Zhi’s residence.

The place he was renting was a large estate, with a layout similar to Teacher Zheng’s home. After contacting him through the external token, the main gate opened, and he drove inside.

Tan Zhi’s voice sounded in his ear: "Chen, park anywhere in the open area. I’m in the training room. Just come straight in."

Chen Chuan parked outside, walked to the training room, took off his shoes, and went inside.

Inside, he saw Tan Zhi standing in front of a weapon rack, wiping sweat from his head with a towel. Across from him was a female instructor with a fit physique, dressed in training clothes, who exuded a sharp aura.

But when this person saw Chen Chuan, her eyes sharpened slightly.

Tan Zhi made the introductions. "This is Teacher Wei, whom I’ve specially hired to instruct me. Teacher Wei, this is my classmate, Chen Chuan."

Chen Chuan sensed that the moment she saw him, a flash of panic appeared in Teacher Wei’s eyes, but she quickly suppressed it.

He glanced at her and nodded. "Teacher Wei."

Teacher Wei forced a smile. "So you’re Chen. Tan has mentioned you. I’ve seen the recording of your fight with Wei Wusheng. You’re very skilled."

"Thank you," Chen Chuan said.

Teacher Wei turned to Tan Zhi. "Tan, since your classmate is here, I won’t disturb you any longer." With that, she gave them both a nod and walked straight out.

"Take care, Teacher Wei," Tan Zhi said quickly.

He turned his head to Chen Chuan. "This Teacher Wei isn’t easy to hire. She’s a security consultant for the city council now. Rumor is she’s on very good terms with a certain council member... you know what that means. If my family hadn’t sponsored her in the past, and she didn’t owe us a favor, there’s no way she would have agreed to teach me."

As he spoke, he went to the cooler, took out two canned drinks, and handed one to Chen Chuan. He opened his own, chugged it down with a GULP GULP GULP, and let out a breath.

"The dance and drama academy next door has a new song-and-dance act today. I heard a lot of new students are in it. How about it? Interested in catching a show? We could ask Pan Xiaode and Qi Huixin to come with us."

"Maybe some other time," Chen Chuan said. "I need to prepare for my trip back to Yangzhi these next couple of days. I just came by to see you today, and to pick up Chaoming."

"A shame. We’ll have to wait until next time, then," Tan Zhi said with regret. "Oh, right. Chen, you mentioned last time that you’ve purchased some services from the Secret Snake Sect? I heard you need a referral for that sort of thing. Could you introduce me?"

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