Book 4, Chapter 200: We Search For What We Need

Fenghe Shou didn’t touch the national fish. It was entirely for Chen Chuan. He simply ate the meat slices and rice in front of him.

Neither of them said anything in obedience with the old era’s principle of not talking while eating.

Chen Chuan didn’t care about it, but since he was a guest, he was going to respect his host’s rules.

Once he finished the national fish, he felt his body grow hot. His mutated tissue became much more relaxed. This dish was indeed great. The combination of ingredients bumped up the nutritional value by a large degree.

He remembered Zhuan Liang telling him that there was a martial arts master in the purity faction who was great at combining ingredients. Even if the original ingredients weren’t nutritious enough, the martial arts master knew which medicines to add to make them regain their original value. Sometimes, they would even release more nutrients than the original amount.

Everyone else had to absorb what nutrition there was in the ingredients they had.

Chen Chuan was quite pleased with the food, because he managed to replenish all the energy he lost, even if they hadn’t fought for a long time.

When Fenghe Shou saw that Chen Chuan had finished eating, he lowered his chopsticks and had his attendants clean the table. Then, an attendant brought a bowl of clean water and a hand towel so that they could wipe their hands.

Once they were done, another attendant served a glass of nectar for them.

“Master Fenghe, did you get your ingredients from the gap?” Chen Chuan asked.

“Yes. Our predecessors usually prepare them for us. Once a new sabermaster appears, they take over as a school master, while the previous school master enters the gap and stays there permanently fighting every day against the existences from the other world.

“If they only need to provide for one or two people and aren’t going after any special ingredients, they can hunt all that Fierce Wave School needs. We sometimes even have extra to trade with the other schools, foreign organizations, or any other groups who need them.”

Chen Chuan nodded. Ingredients that lost their nutrients weren’t useful for martial arts masters, but they still had value to ordinary martial artists. In the old era, some royal families sought out these ingredients and paid handsomely for them.

“The previous school master provided me with the ingredients I needed to train. If any of my disciples becomes a sabermaster, I, too, will step down from being a school master and head to the depths of the gap to train and prepare the ingredients for my disciple until the day I breathe my last.”

Chen Chuan understood what he meant. Martial arts masters lived a long time, and once they stepped down from being a school master, they had plenty of time. This was how the predecessors helped and supported those who came after them to continue down their paths.

But this wasn’t a sustainable and stable model. If anything happened to any generation of sabermasters, the new sabermaster would need to hunt for the ingredients themselves, and if they, too, were killed in the gap, the legacy of the school might be lost.

The new era was completely different in this regard. They had armies stationed in the merged space and the World Ring, and they periodically purged those places. They also sent a lot of martial arts masters to the frontline, who killed loads of existences and merged space creatures every day.

The countries could also create medicines and calorie-dense nutritional paste to replenish nutrients, which removed the necessity for fresh ingredients. They were also much more efficient than relying on a sabermaster huntingt in the gap.

Two attendants came forward and switched out the incense in the incense burner. They also pulled back the curtains on the sides to reveal the crimson-flower trees outside, along with the bamboo forest and ocean further down.

“Fierce Wave School has been around for 632 years. Master Hongfa, the first person to set up martial arts schools among the island nations, did it around eight hundred years ago. After centuries of elimination, there are now twenty-one of them left.

“Lately, the number has kept dwindling. No new schools have been created in a long time.

“Based on what I know, a hundred years ago, only seven schools remained, and now, less than half of them are still around.

“This isn’t just due to the masters of the schools dying before passing down their legacies, but also because the mega alliance set up the World Ring. While it stopped the continuous stream of corruption from the other world, it affected our gaps.

“Our ingredients have dwindled. We now have to head to dangerous places to get them, and it takes a long time traveling back and forth. This means that even if we manage to bring the ingredients back, their nutritional value is mostly lost, and the one hunting the ingredients has to set out more frequently.

“It’s highly inconvenient, and it’s the reason why the schools have been disappearing much faster over the past century. Fierce Wave School was only able to stay alive because my master was around, but ten years ago, he went missing.”

Chen Chuan watched him for a bit. By “gone missing,” he likely meant that the martial arts master got lost deep in the gap and went off after Master Chan Dao.

“If the three remaining martial arts schools insist on the old path, we may last another decade or two, but that’s the most optimistic estimate. If we don’t side with a country or someone else, we will disappear in the end.”

Fenghe Shou met Chen Chuan’s gaze. “That’s why I need to make a choice.”

He shifted back a bit and bowed to Chen Chuan. “Please tell the Great Shun Republic that I will accept the republic’s terms and turn the school into its subject.”

Chen Chuan straightened his back and nodded. “I will bring your words back to the government.”

“Please.” Fenghe Shou bowed to him again.

Once he straightened his back again, he cast a glance at the Frost King Saber. “You haven’t trained your saber after becoming a martial arts master, have you?”

Chen Chuan didn’t hide it. “I didn’t have the time to do it.”

“Fierce Wave has been studying sabers for generations, and we place a great importance on our blades. We have quite a lot of ways to increase the quality of a saber and many proper saber techniques.

“If you don’t mind, I can provide some materials and minerals that might be of help to you.”

“That would be great,” Chen Chuan said gratefully.

Since Fenghe Shou mentioned it on his own, Chen Chuan wasn’t going to say no. At the end of the day, he was here today as a communicator and a witness.

Fenghe Shou was worried about the Great Shun Republic going back on their promise to him. With Chen Chuan as a guarantor, he could relax a bit. The things he offered were thanks to Chen Chuan for doing this.

Fenghe Shou continued, “Over the past 632 years, we’ve come up with many ways to refine sabers. The gist of it lies in refining them internally and externally. To refine internally, you need to use your mutated tissue and mental energy to nurture the saber over a long period of time, then train it continuously through battle. You can’t add anything to the saber during this period of time.

“This takes quite a long time, and it’s damaging to the saber. Even though it can repair itself, it isn’t able to heal from certain damages. That’s why external refinement slowly became the norm, while internal refinement only covers for anything that external refinement missed.

“We’ve brought back various materials and minerals from the gap to nurture our sabers. It’s just like martial arts masters hunting for ingredients. Of course, the steps aren’t that simple. You need certain techniques and conditions to refine your saber.

“We don’t have much else, but we have a lot of such materials. I can give some to you. We also have a saber incubation room, which I will let you use. I hope you won’t say no.”

“I’ll take you up on your offer, then. Anyway, do you have a telegraph set here? I need to send the news to the rear,” Chen Chuan said.

While he was on the airship, Ocean Development Corporation had told him that they would send a warship to follow him and wait before the island for a day. If things went well and he had the time, he should send them a coded message. They would know what he was trying to say.

If they didn’t receive any news, they were going to deploy the warship and carpet bomb the island.

“We do,” Fenghe Shou answered and asked an attendant to bring Chen Chuan to the telegraph room.

Chen Chuan sent a telegram back and told the rear that he had some things to do here.

I’ll be back later. Please wait a bit.

They soon sent a telegram back and said that they would wait for him for three days.

With the time set, Chen Chuan went back. When Fenghe Shou saw that he was done, he brought him to the saber incubation room. On the way, Chen Chuan asked, “Do you know anything about Serene Radiance School and Windforest School, Mr. Fenghe?”

“Considering how turbulent the sea is, we don’t communicate much with them. But we did come to an agreement in the past that we would stand together in front of external threats. We didn’t speak to each other much over the past two decades.

“If you’re asking about what they will choose, I can only give you my opinion. Windforest School has deep ties with the Linacrox Union. Regardless of whether they want to or not, their location won’t let them join the Great Shun Republic’s side. They made their choice a long time ago.

“As for Serene Radiance School, I honestly can’t tell. Xiaoyue Zhai often does things without caring about the consequences. He was previously the most active sabermaster among the island nations and often showed his face in public. By doing so, he made the outside world wary of Serene Radiance School. His main disciples rejected Ferris Wheel’s attempts to recruit them many times, but now he needs to make a choice.”

Chen Chuan hummed at that. Serene Radiance School’s position was indeed hard to determine. He had a feeling that they wanted to insist on their old path and remain independent instead of becoming subject to any country. Perhaps it was because of this that they were so insistent on looking for Single Flow School’s gap.

If they had gotten it, they would have had two gaps. With the perfected training method to bring up a martial arts master as well, they could resolve some of their most pressing problems, but it wouldn’t get rid of the root of the problem. All it would do was push it back.

Now, Chen Chuan had killed practically all of Serene Radiance School’s elite students in Mistlight Island, which made it hard to say what they were going to choose.

While he was thinking about this, Fenghe Shou stopped walking and said, “We’re here, Mr. Chen.”

He pushed open the heavy sliding door and beckoned Chen Chuan inside. In a stern voice, he said, “This way, please.”

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