Celestial Human Diagram

Chapter 339 - 70: Laying out the Plan

Chen Chuan thought about the matter with the Secret Snake Sect and decided it was worth a shot.

He had actually seen this project before while browsing the Secret Snake Sect’s platform. He hadn’t chosen it at the time, partly because he found the paid project expensive, and partly because he had some reservations. But now that Cao Guiqi was vouching for it, he certainly wouldn’t miss such an opportunity to improve himself.

After expressing his willingness to accept, he sat with Cao Guiqi a while longer, finished his tea, and then left.

After seeing him off, Uncle Ding returned and said, "Young Master, I’ve given this month’s share of Treasure Ointment and the information about the Cyan Bag Jade Workshop’s medicine testing to Brother Chen."

Cao Guiqi said, "Good. Thank you for your trouble, Uncle Ding."

Uncle Ding looked at him.

Cao Guiqi said, "Uncle Ding, if you have something to say, just say it."

Uncle Ding said, "Young Master, regarding the medicine testing opportunity at Cyan Bag Jade Workshop you recommended... if it works out well for Brother Chen, he will naturally be grateful. If it’s useless, well, that’s that. But...

"Brother Chen is still young. He might not think much of it now, but if his progress slows down in the future and someone instigates him, blaming it on the effects of the medicine testing, he might resent you for it instead, Young Master."

Cao Guiqi shook his head. "Brother Chen has a very strong will. He’s not someone who can be easily swayed." He gazed ahead, his voice tinged with melancholy. "Sometimes, you have to seize the opportunities right in front of you, so you don’t regret missing even greater ones later on."

Uncle Ding didn’t reply, only letting out a soft sigh.

After leaving Motie Mountain, Chen Chuan drove back. Midway through his journey, he received a notification on his Realm Token informing him that his vehicle ownership applications had been approved. The ownership of both cars had been transferred to his name.

It also notified him that his temporary pass was valid for another half a month, and he was required to obtain the official driving documents within that period.

He had paid a fee to the Processing Bureau and other relevant departments at the end of last month, and now it had finally borne fruit.

The Gard Car wasn’t expensive since it was an ordinary vehicle, so he paid for it himself. The "Silver Lightning," however, had a much steeper fee. Since he didn’t usually need it, he discussed it with Wubei and Old Qi.

The two of them felt it was necessary to keep such a fine car, especially since it looked like it had barely been driven. In the end, they used their shared funds to secure ownership, agreeing that any of the three could use it whenever needed.

Now that the cars were his, he had to find time to get his driver’s license.

This was a very easy task in Central City, however. Even if your driving skills weren’t up to par, you could pay a fee and use your Realm Token to connect to a non-active Consciousness Body for prompts and driving assistance. He had become quite familiar with the system over the past few days, so getting a license shouldn’t be difficult.

After returning to the Profound Palace Building, he opened the file on the Cyan Bag Jade Workshop that Uncle Ding had given him.

He hadn’t agreed immediately back then. ’If the Cyan Bag Jade Workshop just wanted him to test their medicine, that would be fine. But if they wanted to subject him to long-term observation and testing, it would be a hassle.’

However, as he read through the documents, he found the conditions to be relatively lenient—perhaps because the target audience was different. Still, upon closer inspection, the initial requirements were not low.

The requirements stated that a candidate had to be a Fighter approaching the Third Limit, with an officially tested probability of reaching the Third Limit of over sixty-five percent.

’This medicine must have been around for a while, not just developed in the last couple of months. Cao Guiqi didn’t mention it last time, probably because my test scores were still too low back then.’

’But this presented a contradiction. Anyone who met these conditions already had a very high chance of reaching the Third Limit; it was just a matter of sooner or later.’

’Yet the risks of a new, unknown drug were too great. It could potentially damage the body or overdraft one’s potential. Therefore, most people would be extremely cautious about such a thing, likely preferring a slower progression over this choice.’

’Furthermore, aside from Fighters cultivated by the companies themselves, few would willingly let a corporation examine their physical condition and easily obtain their personal data.’

Presumably for this reason, the Cyan Bag Jade Workshop had made some compromises. A Medicine Tester only needed to fill out a monthly report according to their requirements and answer some of the company’s questions. If they felt it wasn’t right, they could stop at any time. In addition, Medicine Testers would receive a discount on future purchases of the Cyan Bag Jade Workshop’s products.

He mulled it over. If that was all, he was inclined to agree. He contacted Uncle Ding via his Realm Token to express his acceptance. The latter replied that he would make the arrangements and told him not to worry.

After settling this matter, he went to the training room for his daily workout. His current focus was on Saber Techniques, as they were part of this semester’s assessment. A high score could help raise his academy evaluation score.

The afternoon passed in the blink of an eye.

In the evening, he received a package from Yangzhi City. His spirits lifted, guessing it was Director Lei’s reply.

He opened it and, sure enough, found a thick, sealed notebook inside. He leafed through it and saw it was densely filled with annotations for the various texts in the photographs, along with some added advice and guidance. The content was extremely detailed, with writing crammed onto every page. Some of the handwriting was quite elegant, which he recognized as Senior Sister He’s.

Director Lei also told him that the material he had brought was very valuable. It helped confirm that a currently active sect had close ties to a certain Cult. He would report the situation, and if it was verified, he would request a commendation for Chen Chuan.

He also thanked him for the toys sent to Xiaoying, saying she liked them very much. Chen Chuan had bought a lot of toys from Central City last time; aside from the ones for his cousins, he had sent a few along to Director Lei as well.

After tidying things up a bit, he sat back down on the sofa and began to pore over the notebook. As he cross-referenced Director Lei’s annotations, many parts of the old book that he hadn’t understood before immediately became clear.

In addition to the annotations, Director Lei had also explained the origins of many things and the reasons behind them. It was tantamount to receiving personal guidance. After reading through it once, he felt his knowledge of Esoteric Buddhism had grown significantly.

Not only that, but after reviewing the materials, Director Lei seemed to have guessed what he was planning to do and offered some additional advice purely from the perspective of Esoteric Rituals.

After reading everything, he felt he was ready to give it a try.

’This time, I need to complete a pact-forming ritual. I’ll have to slightly modify the original ritual to make this Raccoon Cat Strange Talk serve me.’

He didn’t plan to forge a new pact from scratch. The original pact had surely been made at a great cost, which likely included a large number of human lives.

’And not just ordinary people, but Old Faithful who willingly sacrificed their own lives.’

’If I were to start from the beginning, that step would be indispensable; otherwise, the Strange Talk wouldn’t respond.’

’But simply continuing and altering the existing pact is much easier. That part of the price has already been paid, and I won’t have to offer anything extra.’

’Moreover, drawing such a ritual requires intense malice and a specific state of mind, which is not something an ordinary person can achieve. Chen Chuan knew he couldn’t do it either. By using the original ritual pattern, he wouldn’t have to worry about that.’

Director Lei had also corrected several traps left in the old book’s rituals. These were originally known only to insiders of Esoteric Buddhism, designed to sabotage anyone who might find the lost texts and try to use them.

But times had changed. Much of the knowledge of Esoteric Buddhism had now been thoroughly studied by the Esoteric Bureau. Seemingly secret information was no longer the exclusive property of any single sect and could be easily corrected.

Nevertheless, this was still considered esoteric knowledge, held by only a few. An ordinary member of the Esoteric Bureau wouldn’t be able to figure it out; it required an expert of Director Lei’s caliber.

However, this ritual needed to be performed at a specific time to be effective. According to the old book’s description, the original date chosen for the ritual was in the middle of the month. Therefore, it would be best to choose the middle of the month this time as well. This meant he would have to wait a few days, but that would give him the perfect opportunity to make some preparations.

In the following days, besides training during the day, he spent his evenings before rest studying the ritual, striving to understand it completely and ensure there were no oversights.

On the fourteenth, after informing Gao Ming, he took the Ritual Materials and drove to the wasteland in front of Teacher Wu’s old house. There, he used the rubble, bricks, and remaining concrete walls to set up a large-scale arrangement.

To avoid being disturbed or tracked, he also had Wubei conceal his travel tracks.

Once the preliminary setup was complete, he took out the notebook and began to trace the patterns within, stroke by stroke.

This time, he needed to lay out three ritual patterns: one for release, one for binding, and the final one for the pact. The first two were relatively simple. He had experience with the binding ritual twice before, so it was easy to set up. The last one, however, was more difficult.

The ritual patterns differed depending on the objective. The caster used these patterns to communicate with the Strange Talk, which required removing the unnecessary parts of the original design and inserting the new, required components.

It looked complicated, but Director Lei had already given him guidance on the general framework. All he had to do was follow the prescribed method for the rest.

His requirement was this: when needed, he would have the Strange Talk deal with a designated person. Beforehand, he would offer a necessary sacrifice, but it would not be his own Mutated Organization.

This method might cause the Strange Talk to be less ferocious than before. Previously, it was essentially confined within a stone carving, almost completely cut off from the outside world and prevented from devouring people. When it was needed, it was given a small bait, and then the half-starved Strange Talk would be unleashed to tear at its target.

The Strange Talk would see the target as a necessity for its own survival and would surely unleash its full power. But now, by giving it a sacrifice first and then asking it to do something, the Strange Talk’s power might not be fully brought to bear.

’However, this makes it much more controllable, and the choice of sacrifice is up to me. In Central City, finding a truly irredeemable criminal is incredibly easy.’

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