Atlas of Heaven and Man

After about two minutes, Ding Mai pushed away the people around him, stood up from the ground, and looked at Chen Chuan.

Although Chen Chuan knocked him down, he didn't show any resentment or other emotions. Instead, he revealed a look of admiration. He walked up to Chen Chuan and said loudly, "Captain Chen, you are really amazing. I, Lao Ding, am convinced!"

There's nothing shameful about losing to an opponent. It's only shameful to not learn to face your opponent squarely and to just find all sorts of reasons for yourself. If you can't even get over that hurdle yourself, how can you expect to beat your opponent? There's no logic to that.

The people present also felt that Chen Chuan had won with magnanimity. He had directly withstood Ding Mai's attack. Those who had sparred with Ding Mai or seen him in action had never seen such a tough fighting style. Not to mention Ding Mai, they were also convinced.

The young man on the side even ran to the mannequin to look at it again and again, and then looked at Chen Chuan from time to time, his eyes full of light.

At this time, Fang Zhixin seemed to have received some news. He nodded to Chen Chuan, walked to the side, and said a few words to Jie Ping. After a while, he came back and said to everyone, "I'm sorry, Teacher Chen has been invited to the Speaker's house as a guest today, so he won't be able to come today."

The crowd didn't react much, as if they had expected this situation. Only the young man next to him showed a look of disappointment.

Fang Zhixin said with a smile, "Although Teacher Chen can't come today, everyone who is here today has received an invitation, so they are all talented individuals. There is a bar downstairs, why don't we go for a drink? It's on me."

Everyone present cheered in unison.

At this time, Chen Chuan looked around. When he and Ding Mai were sparring just now, more than a dozen people had entered one after another. Now there were almost thirty people in the field, most of them young military officers, and a few others who looked like they came from simple backgrounds.

Although he didn't see Chen Bitong, he didn't plan to leave, because he would definitely have to deal with people in this circle in the future, so he could take this opportunity to get to know them.

At this time, Fang Zhixin specially came over to invite him: "Captain Chen, you don't have any official duties, do you? Want to go together?"

Ding Mai also chimed in, "That's right, Lao Ding, I'm convinced by Captain Chen. This time, Captain Chen's expenses are covered by Lao Ding."

He withdrew his gaze and left with the others.

A group of people arrived at the tenth floor. As expected, there was a very large bar here with elegant decoration. It was only a little after ten in the morning, and there were not many customers yet. These people who poured in only occupied a corner. It could be seen that they all had their own small circles, gathering together in groups of two or three.

Chen Chuan sat at a table with Ding Mai and Fang Zhixin.

The waiter immediately began to serve wine. Fighters from Wu Yi don't drink alcohol, but those from the military don't have this taboo, except during missions.

Someone skillfully ordered a song, and the music in the bar's dance floor started at this time. A dozen or so singers and dancers with decorative implants on their bodies walked in and began to sing and dance in the lively music.

These officers immediately applauded, but no one booed or whistled. They all sat upright, showing that most of them were well-educated and had a conservative style.

Chen Chuan ordered a drink, listened to a song, and followed along with the applause. Then he turned to Ding Mai and tentatively asked, "Executive Ding, was that a foreign fighting technique you used just now?"

Fang Zhixin smiled.

Ding Mai also laughed. He gulped down a mouthful of wine and said, "Every time someone sees me use this fighting technique, they ask this. The name of my fighting technique is 'El-Tel'. When translated from Yinglu, the name is 'Steel Stone Aura'."

"Yinglu?"

Chen Chuan asked, "The Linux Federation?"

Yinglu was the name before the Linux Federation was established. In the old era, that land had communication with the old empire. Documents referred to them as the people of Yinglu, but the people there called themselves the 'First Clan'.

Ding Mai took another sip of wine, put it down, and said, "Captain Chen, have you heard of 'Pottery Cup Day'?"

Chen Chuan recalled and said, "I seem to have heard of it. It is said that when the Linux Federation was founded, it invited the old people of Yingzhou to raise pottery cups together, drink the light and water, and enjoy the high mountains and the earth together. It is now used as a famous celebration."

"That's the Linux Federation's version."

Ding Mai showed a look of disdain, "The truth is that when the Linux Federation was founded, they invited the First Clan, who had taught them the ancient secret inheritance, to build the country together, but they were rejected. However, out of respect for each other, several highly respected religious leaders still attended the founding ceremony.

According to the ancient method of the First Clan, the two sides would jointly hold a pottery cup made of earth, snow mountain water, high mountain stones, and sunlight, to express reconciliation and sharing.

But when a religious leader held up the cup, the cup suddenly shattered. The Linux Federation immediately attacked, believing that the First Clan was humiliating them. They immediately turned their backs and arrested these main religious leaders, and declared war.

In order to save the religious leaders and avoid war, the First Clan repeatedly negotiated. Finally, the Linux Federation demanded that the former hand over twenty veins of ancient inheritance.

The countries of the First Clan repeatedly discussed and finally agreed to this condition."

Speaking of this, Ding Mai's voice was low, with a hint of helplessness and indignation, as if he hated them for not being competitive.

Chen Chuan said, "Involving this kind of inheritance, did the people of Yinglu agree so simply?"

Fang Zhixin said from the side, "Because the Linux Federation had a long-term war with the people of Yinglu before the founding of the country, the countries of the First Clan were almost defeated. If the old imperial family hadn't given them some assistance from time to time, they would have almost lost their last breath.

After the last emperor came to power, he launched several wars to the west and never paid attention to Yingzhou across the ocean."

Ding Mai took another sip of wine, put it down heavily, wiped his mouth, and said, "The First Clan finally handed over the highest inheritance of the ancient method, the sun, the high mountains, and the angry rivers, to the Linux Federation.

Only the lineage of the Earth inheritance resolutely disagreed, crossed the ocean to the old imperial family, and took the initiative to offer the secret inheritance of the Earth lineage, which was later collected by the old imperial family.

After the people of the Linux Federation obtained the secret biography, in order to show that they were not taking it for nothing, they gave the First Clan a pair of leather boots, a porcelain bowl, and a magnifying glass as a reward at that time, and announced that they would be friends forever.

But only twenty years later, the Linux Federation tore up the agreement and, on the pretext that the First Clan had not handed over all the secrets and deceived them, attacked the last territory of the First Clan, overturned the religious altar, killed all the religious personnel, and turned all the remaining people into slaves after massacring a large number of the First Clan.

At that time, it happened to coincide with the Renzi Palace Rebellion, and the various clan kings took turns on stage, so they had no time or interest to interfere in matters far away overseas.

The old empire had its own secret methods passed down, and they couldn't practice them all themselves, so they didn't pay special attention to the Earth inheritance, and eventually even forgot about it. Later, after the old era was overthrown, the government found the complete collection and promoted it among the descendants of the First Clan."

Ding Mai exhaled forcefully and said, "The reason why I study these fighting techniques is because I have the blood of the Yingzhou people in my body. My great-grandmother was once the high priest of the Earth lineage, but in her hands, there was no complete inheritance at that time. Later, people in the army found me and taught me.

My dream is to one day take back all the stolen secrets."

He smiled again, "Perhaps Captain Chen will think that I am overestimating myself, but this is my true thought."

Chen Chuan said, "This is not overestimating yourself. Sticking to a goal and going down step by step to achieve it, whether it can be achieved or not, this kind of effort is worthy of praise. Besides, who can say for sure about the future? Maybe Executive Ding will be able to realize his wish someday."

Fang Zhixin smiled and raised his glass, saying, "Then I'll toast Brother Ding and Captain Chen, and wish you all the best in realizing your heart's desires."

"Cheers!"

The three people raised their glasses and clinked them together, each drinking.

After Fang Zhixin finished drinking, he smiled and said, "Captain Chen, I just saw you giving pointers to Xiao Jin?"

Chen Chuan said, "Assistant Fang, are you talking about the young man in the training hall?"

Fang Zhixin nodded and said, "Yes, Xiao Jin, that's Teacher Chen's youngest son."

Chen Chuan was slightly surprised. Chen Bitong was called a teacher because he had taught many excellent students, but since Xiao Jin was his son, why did he seem to have never received formal fighting guidance?

At this time, Fang Zhixin sighed and said, "Teacher Chen guarded the World Ring for more than twenty years. His other son and daughter were sacrificed on the front line. Did Captain Chen know about this?"

Chen Chuan nodded slightly, "I've heard of it."

He had read Chen Bitong's information before and knew about this. Putting aside whether Chen Bitong was a traitor or not, this matter itself was worthy of respect and sympathy.

He thought for a while and said, "Is it because of what happened before that Teacher Chen doesn't want his youngest son to go down this road either?"

Fang Zhixin shook his head, "It's not like that. Teacher Chen doesn't have such selfishness. He treats everyone, including his sons and students, equally.

He sighed softly, "If he had taken care of his senior brother and senior sister a little bit at the beginning, instead of letting them perform dangerous tasks, the final result might not have been like this."

At this time, a song and dance began to be performed on the stage again. This time the tune was relatively soothing, and many officers went down and politely invited several dancers to dance.

He glanced at it and saw that neither of them had any intention of going down to dance, so he continued, "Actually, the real reason is that Xiao Jin doesn't have the talent that his older brother and sister had since childhood."

Chen Chuan said slowly, "Is that so? I don't think Xiao Jin is bad."

...