Atlas of Heaven and Man

"Can we proceed to the next training?"

Chen Chuan's spirits lifted. He readily understood that each training he experienced was interconnected, and only by meeting the conditions of the previous one could he continue to the next.

But undoubtedly, it would be even more difficult.

Only such training could truly improve himself.

He Xiaoxing said, "Some of the well shafts here are not closed at the bottom but interconnected. Now that you have the ability to remain submerged underwater, I require you to swim quickly between the well shafts.

I will submerge plaques at the bottom of most well shafts, without telling you in advance where they will be. You need to collect enough plaques within the specified time."

Upon hearing this, Chen Chuan's expression became much more serious. This was a significant increase in difficulty. Moving and staying still are completely different. Not to mention the doubled physical exertion, navigating unfamiliar underwater paths would present many unforeseen difficulties and dangers.

Moreover, judging from the time limit, the speed couldn't be slow. He couldn't be sure how far he could go.

Chang Ba swallowed, "So, we're starting underwater swimming now?" He had initially mustered the courage to swim down, but quickly gave up.

Because swimming in deep, long underwater tunnels with unknown origins and destinations, one careless move could lead to getting lost. If one ran out of energy while entering a narrow passage or couldn't maintain internal breathing, there would be almost no hope of surfacing, causing severe psychological pressure.

When he tried it out and came back up, he felt like he had returned from hell, never finding the human world so beautiful.

What fighting skills, what family fortune, what girlfriend, he didn't care about any of it. He just wanted to lie down quietly, breathe fresh air smoothly, and be bathed in warm sunlight. He had never thought that everything he usually encountered was so wonderful.

That was just swimming down for ten minutes. Based on Chen Chuan's performance just now, who knows how long it would take. He really didn't dare to think about it.

He Xiaoxing said, "I'll give you another half hour to rest and adjust."

Chen Chuan nodded solemnly. He looked at his watch, went to the side, sat down cross-legged, and began to adjust his state, using both internal and external breathing techniques to recover his strength as much as possible.

Chang Ba thought to himself, "Good heavens." He realized that He Xiaoxing had called Chen Chuan out before he reached his limit to leave a little leeway so he could continue the next training.

It was all planned out.

This was really intense.

However, this wasn't the most difficult part. He didn't think anyone could pass the most difficult level within the first or second attempts.

Half an hour later, Chen Chuan looked at his watch, slowly stood up, and said, "Teacher He, I'm ready."

He Xiaoxing pointed to a certain pit in front and said, "Start from there. I'll give you an hour. The more plaques you find in an hour, the better. Pay attention. When the time is up, I'll call you up."

Chen Chuan nodded. He walked to the edge of the pit and jumped in without hesitation.

This time, after swimming all the way to the bottom, he felt around and found a passage, swimming forward.

However, these underwater tunnels were not smooth all the way but winding, twisting, and uneven. It was almost impossible to pass quickly, as doing so would inevitably lead to collisions and scrapes.

Using brute force was not advisable. Therefore, during this process, he had to concentrate on feeling the direction and speed of the water flow, while also taking into account internal breathing and resisting the intrusion of foreign objects. It was very difficult from the beginning.

He Xiaoxing was standing above at this moment, but his steps were also moving. If someone could see Chen Chuan below, they would find that he was almost always moving above the latter, not far away.

At this time, he stretched out his hand, and Chang Ba quickly handed over a metal plaque hanging with a rope. He threw it into a pit, and after the thing sank with the rope, he threw another one into another pit nearby.

Chen Chuan felt like he had passed through a tunnel, but he couldn't intuitively judge whether there was a pit leading to the surface above, or just a waterway pointing upwards.

He turned around, and suddenly his hand touched a rope, then followed it to find a piece of metal. He couldn't help but feel certain, and at the same time, he understood that this plaque actually had a guiding role, which was to tell him that there was a pit above, and he could go back directly if he couldn't hold on, reducing some of the danger.

This thing didn't need to be taken, so he tugged it twice to indicate that he had found it, and then swam quickly to another waterway.

The most dangerous thing about traveling here was that he didn't know the distance of the waterway at all. If he suddenly ran out of strength or his internal breathing became disordered halfway, then problems could arise immediately, requiring him to be highly focused and to try to remember the path he had taken as much as possible.

Generally speaking, it is easy to lose your sense of direction when traveling in such a dark place, but on the one hand, there are raised numbers on the plaques, and you can roughly know whether you have touched them before;

On the other hand, it should be the influence of the alien organization. He has a kind of inexplicable intuition, as if he doesn't need to judge through consciousness, but only relies on body memory to clearly judge whether the place he is in has been swam through before.

Next, he found several plaques in a row. At this time, he had completely lost his sense of time, only knowing to keep swimming and go to the next place.

After touching another plaque, he suddenly felt a burst of shaking on the rope, knowing that he was being asked to go up. So he floated up along the rope, and when he saw the light appearing above, he pushed hard, broke out of the water, and supported himself on the edge of the pit.

He wiped his face, eased up a little, then dragged his heavy body to stand up, and breathed in the fresh air outside.

Half an hour later, he jumped into the pit again. This time was better than the last time, getting two more plaques, and coming up in advance within an hour.

Seeing that there was still plenty of time, after resting for another half an hour, he made a third attempt, but this time the results were not as good as the second time, and he only got four plaques, on par with the first time.

This actually shows that his state is declining and the training effect is weakening.

He Xiaoxing decisively stopped and said, "Within three days, you must get twelve plaques within an hour. If you can do it, we will enter the final stage of training. Let's stop here today. Go back and use medicine to repair the damage. Don't add more training. Have a good rest, and continue tomorrow."

Chang Ba also breathed a sigh of relief at this time. He was walking around on it, but he felt more nervous than being below. At this time, his attitude towards Chen Chuan was very different. He said, "Little Brother Chen, take a break, I'll go get the car."

After speaking, he ran out, and soon the car drove over. Chen Chuan also took off his wetsuit at this time, put on his previous clothes, and after getting in the car, he leaned on the soft cushion.

To be honest, today was very tiring. It was a long-lost feeling of fatigue, but it also felt very fulfilling.

He found that he seemed to have returned to the time when he didn't understand anything and just started learning fighting skills from Yu Gang, with a sense of novelty and urgency from the beginning.

At that time, he needed to pass the re-examination, but now he needs to face the pressure from the Mutual Aid Society. Although the goals are different, they are undoubtedly related to the future and destiny, and these all need to be created by himself.

After returning to the hostel, he washed up and took a look at the second self, and saw that there were many signs of virtualization on it, most of which were concentrated inside the body.

This shows that there is a lot of damage there, but he did not directly remove it. This is the key to over-recovery, so just rest naturally. If there are hidden injuries that cannot be eliminated, then let the second self bear them.

After coming out, he took some medicines to help the body recover. Because He Xiaoxing had explained, he didn't add more training, but simply moved around and practiced the knife moves and Zheng San Shou to maintain the body's memory.

It was already dark at this time. After he sat down in the chair, he turned on the radio on the table.

Originally, he just wanted to relax, but soon he found that many programs here were related to Luo Ya Ancient City, and some people had created some true or false adventure stories based on past events.

He felt like he had discovered a treasure. He listened to it all in one breath until about nine o'clock before turning off the knob and going back to sleep.

One night passed, and another day arrived.

Chen Chuan opened his eyes and looked at the time by the faint light, it was exactly four o'clock.

In his feeling, it seemed that he had just closed his eyes. Even before, he rarely had such deep sleep. This shows that he was indeed very tired yesterday.

However, he felt that he had completely recovered at this moment and was full of energy. He looked at the second self, and the signs of virtualization there had almost completely disappeared.

This shows that after a night of sleep, the body's damage has been repaired.

He got up from the bed, washed up, ate a nutrient paste, and walked out with his things. When he arrived at the door, he saw that Chang Ba had already parked the car there, raised his hand to greet him, "Little Brother Chen, good morning, get in the car."

Chen Chuan also said good morning to him and got into the car directly. The town at four o'clock in the morning was still quiet. The headlights illuminated the road ahead, all the way up the mountain. After picking up He Xiaoxing, the vehicle turned down the mountain again and came to the vicinity of the pit where they were yesterday.

But strangely, this time the car didn't stop, but continued to drive forward, and finally arrived at a place surrounded by wooden stakes and wire mesh.

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