Roadmap to the Boundless Sky-Chapter 166: Cinnabar Lakes

He Xiaoxing reached out and pointed at Chen Chuan’s chest. “You should have sensed by now that the mutated organs are attached to your original organs but can work independently as well.”

Chen Chuan nodded. Right now, they could only work independently on days when Chen Chuan didn’t expend much energy. He needed both of them to be working during fights. Neither of them could be absent.

“The mutated organs have great potential, but since your original organs are enough for your daily needs, your mutated organs will be in a near dormant state when you’re not in battle. Even though they’ll get stronger with guided growth, they won’t do anything on their own. You need to tell them what to do.

“The mutated organs react and grow differently according to different demands. The direction of their growth differs from person to person as well. There’s no best method to grow the mutated tissue, only what is best suited to you, but everyone can use the same basic techniques to make the mutated tissue grow. So, your subsequent training should be to awaken your mutated tissue so that they can sense your needs and demands at all times.”

Chen Chuan had a pretty good understanding of what his training was going to be. He asked, “What should I do next, Mr. He?”

He Xiaoxing looked down the hill. “Do you see the lake?”

Chen Chuan turned to it. “Yes.”

“It’s one of the famous Cinnabar Lakes, a scenic destination. As you can tell from the name, it’s not just one lake. There are more than one thousand such lakes in this region. The lakes contain a unique mineral called stone algae, which regular algae are especially drawn to. It’s also why the lake appears red.

“But stone algae is a parasite. It attaches itself to people once it comes into contact with them. That’s why most people here suffer from a disease that turns their skin red. The stone algae will even enter a person’s body through the water supplies. By now, you should have noticed that most of the drinking water here is from other places.”

Chen Chuan took some time recalling this particular detail. On the way to the hill, he had seen quite a number of people with reddish skin. Also, while the food and lodgings were cheap, drinkable water and water for showering were quite expensive.

“Martial artists who have entered the First or Second Limit can expel stone algae by using their breathing technique and regulating their organs.

“A sect from the old era once discovered the unique properties of the stone algae and used this unique environment for supplementary training. Your training is going to start from here.”

He Xiaoxing went to the side and knocked on a small bronze bell. After a short while, an SUV drove over from the town. Chang Ba peeked out from the driver seat and waved at them. “Uncle He, I’ll send you both to the lake.”

He Xiaoxing said nothing else and headed straight to the car. Chen Chuan did the same. After they settled in, Chang Ba started the car and brought them down the hill. A little over fifteen minutes later, they arrived by Cinnabar Lakes.

The perimeter of the lake was a light red while its center was as red as blood. No ripples could be seen across the surface. It looked like a large piece of jade.

The blue sky, white clouds, yellow land, and red lake formed such a colorful picture that it gave a vivid and striking visual impression.

The three men got out of the SUV, and He Xiaoxing gave Chen Chuan some instructions. “Go to the lake and put your arm in the water. Don’t fight it even if anything strange happens. Pull your arm out only when I tell you to.”

Chen Chuan nodded and walked to the lake. He rolled up his sleeve and put his arm in the water. Perhaps it was just his imagination, but he felt as if the water had come alive.

Then, he saw a red layer forming on the skin of his arm. He also felt a faint, numb itch. At the same time, he saw his second self’s arm blur out faintly.

He quickly stopped his second self from absorbing the damage because He Xiaoxing had told him not to fight it. His second self could take a break for the moment.

After around three minutes, He Xiaoxing said, “You can pull your arm out now.”

Chen Chuan straightened his back and saw that his entire forearm had turned a deep red. The redness was also spreading.

“That’s the stone algae,” He Xiaoxing said. “Now, use your mutated tissue to expel it from your body.”

Chen Chuan nodded. He began adjusting his breathing, and as he slowly guided it, the mutated tissue under his skin expelled the foreign microorganisms that had invaded his body.

After around five breaths, the redness on his forearm turned a grayish black and started curling and wrinkling, as if Chen Chuan had gained a layer of dead skin. When he touched it, it fell on the ground like ashes.

Chang Ba had been paying attention to him. When he saw how easily Chen Chuan expelled the stone algae, his eyes flew wide open.

He had done this training before, but it had taken him over ten minutes to expel the stone algae. The worst thing about this was that the process was so incredibly itchy and numbing that it was almost as bad as trying to pick up a breathing technique for the very first time. Yet Chen Chuan looked completely indifferent, as if he didn’t notice any of it. Chang Ba was impressed.

“You had an easy time expelling the stone algae because you were using a guided external breathing technique. I’m going to teach you a guided internal breathing technique. It will allow you to perform gas exchanges through the mutated tissue under your skin and mutated organs. You won’t be using your mouth or nose to do it.”

He then began describing the key points of the breathing technique.

Chang Ba had tried it, but gave up with a long face, because he knew that he wouldn’t be able to pick it up.

This process required a large amount of mutated tissue. Only a martial artist with an almost complete coverage of mutated tissue or mutated tissue covering their entire body would be able to do this. If any part of their body didn’t have mutated tissue, then even if they learned the guided internal breathing technique, its effectiveness would drop significantly. Chang Ba had only been able to cover some parts of his body with mutated tissue, so while he had gotten stronger, nothing had changed.

Chen Chuan practiced the All-Encompassing Force, so he had the mutated tissue required for this. He managed to pick up the technique after around half an hour of He Xiaoxing’s teachings.

“Go and try it again. This time, don’t use the guided external breathing technique, but the guided internal breathing technique you just learned,” He Xiaoxing instructed.

“Okay,” Chen Chuan said and went to the lake again. He put his arm in, and when it was time, he pulled his arm out and tried using only the guided internal breathing technique to make his mutated tissue expel the stone algae.

This time, he found the process much more difficult, because he was used to the guided external breathing technique. When he used the guided internal breathing technique, he felt as if he couldn’t summon any power, which led to the process of expelling the stone algae being really awkward.

In the beginning, he even subconsciously used the guided external breathing technique. He always soon realized his mistake and stopped, but it led to him having to divert some of his attention into preventing himself from making that mistake again.

“I’ll give you one day to master this. If you can do it by tomorrow, we’ll move to the next stage.”

Chen Chuan nodded.

He Xiaoxing didn’t tell him what would happen if he didn’t manage to do it, but Chen Chuan was certain that this was the most basic of his requirements for the crash course training. If Chen Chuan couldn’t do this much, then there was no need for him to attend any of the subsequent training.

But Chen Chuan wasn’t worried about this. If he overlapped with his second self, his physical abilities would increase by leaps and bounds, and it would be easy for him to master the technique. Even so, Chen Chuan wanted to test his limits. After all, it was only when he himself was strong that he could become even stronger when he overlapped with his second self.

When He Xiaoxing saw that Chen Chuan had thrown himself into training, he left. Chang Ba watched for a moment before saying, “Hey, we’re going back first. Take your time training. Do you want me to pick you up at night?”

“No need, thank you, but could you bring my stuff over? I’m going to be staying here tonight,” Chen Chuan answered without even turning his head around.

“Your choice.” Chang Ba shrugged. The place wasn’t far from the town, and the wilderness here wasn’t dangerous to martial artists.

Chang Ba returned to the SUV, brought Chen Chuan’s things out, and set them beside him. Then, he said goodbye and returned to the driver seat. Once he started the SUV, he asked, “Uncle He, can he really do it in just a day?”

He had needed half a month to successfully expel the stone algae using the usual breathing technique. Wasn’t this requirement a little too harsh?

“One day is enough for him,” He Xiaoxing said sternly.

“Oh,” Chang Ba said, but he felt a flicker of jealousy.

After they left, Chen Chuan continued training, but after a while, he was still unable to find the key to figuring this out.

He didn’t stubbornly press on. Instead, he stopped, went to his backpack, and took out a tube of nutritional paste. After eating it, he reviewed what he had done and tried again.

This cycle lasted until another break in the evening. This time, he stared at his light-red arm. Even though he had been trying for so long, he had only been able to expel some of the stone algae. This was a sign that he was still not doing it right.

Just then, he looked up and saw the setting sun’s rays spreading through the entire expanse of the sky. It looked like it had become one with Cinnabar Lake. The red was brilliant and dazzling, a sight rarely seen in other parts of the country.

After admiring the scenery for a while, Chen Chuan thought of something, and he stared at the beautiful sight before him again.

Of course! The whole unit needs to be involved!

Even though He Xiaoxing had told him what mutated tissue he needed for the guided internal breathing technique, that didn’t mean that he could use only that mutated tissue. He Xiaoxing had also said that everyone needed to find a method most suited for them in their path as martial artists.

Chen Chuan had been unable to master the basics of the guided internal breathing technique because the mutated tissue participating in the process wasn’t strong enough, but he practiced the All-Encompassing Force and had more mutated tissue than anyone else. His mutated tissue also covered his body more thoroughly. Then, he could make his other mutated tissue help with the guided internal breathing technique!

Making the mutated tissue work as a whole was an ever-present principle for all martial arts training after any martial artist picked up the basics of a breathing technique.

Once Chen Chuan figured this out, he immediately stood up. While using the guided internal breathing technique, he tried making all his mutated tissue work with him.

There wasn’t much of a change in the beginning, but after around ten minutes, he saw ash flakes fall by his feet, and his arm returned to how it originally was.

The next day, at around 6 a.m., Chang Ba drove over with He Xiaoxing.

From the distance, Chang Ba saw Chen Chuan sitting on a stone by the lake with his trousers rolled up. He had both his legs submerged in the water and was watching the sun rise.

Upon hearing the SUV approach, he stood up from the stone and got on the sand beside the lake. There were no traces of red on his legs.