Atlas of Heaven and Man.

Chapter 168: Swimming
Can we move on to the next training?
Chen Chuan's spirits lifted. It was not difficult for him to realize that every training he had experienced was related to each other, and only when the previous one met the conditions could the next one continue.

But it will undoubtedly be more difficult.

But only this kind of training can truly improve yourself.

He Xiaoxing said: "Some of the shafts here are not closed at the bottom, but are interconnected. Since you already have the ability to stay submerged underwater, then next, I require you to swim quickly between the shafts.

I will sink signs at the bottom of most shafts, and I won’t tell you where they are beforehand. You need to collect enough signs within a specified time.”

After listening to this, Chen Chuan's expression became much more serious. The difficulty of this situation increased a lot at once. Movement and stillness are completely different. Not only will it double the physical exertion, but there will also be many unforeseen difficulties and dangers when traveling through unfamiliar underwater paths.

Moreover, considering the time limit, the speed cannot be slow, and he himself is not sure how far he can achieve.

Chang Ba swallowed his saliva. Are they going to start swimming now? He had also plucked up the courage to swim at first, but he gave up soon.

Because you are swimming in a deep underwater tunnel where you don't know where you are coming from or going, if you are not careful, you may not find the right way out. If you happen to run out of strength or cannot maintain your breathing when entering a long and narrow passage, there is almost no hope of coming out, which will cause serious psychological pressure.

When he first tried to come up, he felt like he had come back from hell. He had never felt that the world was so beautiful.

He no longer cared about martial arts, property, or girlfriend. He just wanted to lie down quietly, breathe the air smoothly, and be bathed in the warm sunshine. At that time, he never thought that everything he came into contact with in his daily life was so beautiful.

That was only about ten minutes of swimming below. Judging from Chen Chuan's performance just now, it was unknown how long it would take. He really didn't dare to imagine it.

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

Chen Chuanzheng nodded, looked at his watch, went to one side, sat cross-legged, and began to adjust his state. This time he used internal and external breathing methods at the same time to recover as much strength as possible.

Chang Ba thought to himself, wow! He finally figured out that He Xiaoxing called out before Chen Chuan reached his limit just to leave some margin so that he could continue with the next training.

It was already planned.

This is really intense.

But this is not the most difficult level. He doesn't think anyone can pass the most difficult level within the first or second limits.

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 pit ahead and said, "Start from there. I'll give you one hour. The more signs you can find in one hour, the better. Pay attention. When the time is up, I'll call you up."

Chen Chuan nodded, walked to the edge of the pit, and jumped into it without hesitation.

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

However, these underwater tunnels were not smooth, but winding and uneven. He thought it was almost impossible to pass through them quickly, as doing so would inevitably result in collisions and scrapes.

Using brute force is not advisable, so in this process, he must concentrate on feeling the direction and speed of the water flow, while also taking into account internal breathing and resisting the invasion of foreign objects. It was very difficult from the beginning.

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

At this time he stretched out his hand, and Chang Ba quickly handed him a metal sign with a rope hanging on it. He threw it into a pit, and when the thing drove the rope to sink, he threw another one into another pit nearby.

Chen Chuan felt that he had passed through a tunnel at this time, but he could not intuitively judge from below that there was a hole leading to the surface, it was just a waterway heading upwards.

He walked around and suddenly felt a rope in his hand, then found a piece of metal. He couldn't help but think, and at the same time he realized that this sign actually served as a guide, telling him that there were potholes on the ground, and if he couldn't hold on, he could go back directly from there, which invisibly reduced some danger.

There was no need to take this thing with him, so he pulled it twice to show that he had found it, and then swam quickly to another waterway.

The most dangerous thing about traveling here is that he has no idea of ​​the distance of the waterway. If he suddenly runs out of energy halfway through, or his breathing becomes disordered, problems may arise immediately. He needs to be highly alert and remember as much as possible the route he has traveled.

Generally speaking, it is easy to lose your sense of direction when walking in such a dark place, but there are embossed numbers on the sign, so you can roughly know whether you have come into contact with it before by touching it;
Another possibility should be the influence of the alienated organization. He has an inexplicable intuition. It seems that he can clearly judge whether the place he is in has been there before, relying only on body memory without conscious judgment.

Then he found several more signs. At this time, he had completely lost his sense of time. He just kept swimming and moving to the next one.

After touching another sign, he suddenly felt the rope shaking, knowing that he was being pulled up. So he climbed up along the rope, and when he saw the light above, he pushed hard, broke out of the water, and supported himself with his hands at the edge of the pit, and sat there. He wiped his face, relaxed a little, and then dragged his heavy body to stand up, breathing hard in the fresh air outside.

At this moment, he had never felt that the world was so vast and so comfortable.

He Xiaoxing waited until he had recovered a little before speaking, "One hour and seven minutes. You exceeded seven minutes. You touched four signs in total. You can only be considered qualified. Take a break and try again in half an hour."

Chen Chuan took a breath and nodded. This time, he also did not use his second self, relying purely on his own alienated organization. This was because he wanted to train himself as much as possible. But even so, he had met He Xiaoxing's minimum requirements. It could be seen that even he himself was already very strong now.

Half an hour later, he jumped into the pit again. This time it was better than last time. He got two more signs and came out ahead of schedule within an hour.

Seeing that there was still plenty of time, he rested for another half an hour and then made a third attempt. However, the result was not as good as the second time, and he only got four signs, the same as the first time.

This actually shows that his condition has been declining and the effect of exercise is weakening.

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

Chang Ba was also relieved at this time. He was spinning on top, but he felt more nervous than when he was down there. His attitude towards Chen Chuan was very different at this time. He said, "Brother Chen, take a break. I'll go drive."

After saying that, he ran out, and soon a car drove over. Chen Chuan took off his diving suit and changed into his previous clothes. After getting in the car, he leaned on the soft cushion.

To be honest, I am very tired today. It is a feeling of fatigue that I haven’t felt in a long time, but I also feel very fulfilled.

He found himself as if he was back to the time when he knew nothing and just started learning martial arts from Yu Gang. He felt a sense of novelty and urgency of starting from scratch.

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

After returning to the hotel, he went to take a shower and took a look at the second me. He saw a lot of signs of blurring on it, most of which were concentrated inside the body.

This shows that there is a lot of damage there, but he did not remove it directly. This is the key to super recovery. Just rest naturally. If there is any hidden damage that cannot be eliminated, let the second me bear it.

After coming out, he took some medicine to help his body recover. Because He Xiaoxing had instructed him to, he did not practice any more. Instead, he did some simple exercises, practiced some sword moves and free-hand fighting, and just kept his body's memory.

It was already dark by then. 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 the ancient city of Luoya, and some people made up some true or false adventure stories based on past events.

He felt like he had discovered a treasure, and he listened in one breath until about nine o'clock, then he turned up the knob and went back to sleep.

A night passed and another day came.

Chen Chuan opened his eyes and checked the time in the dim light. It was exactly four o'clock.

It felt to him that he had just closed his eyes, even though he had rarely had such a deep sleep before. This meant that he was indeed very tired yesterday.

However, he felt that he had fully recovered at this moment and was very energetic. He glanced at the second me and found that the signs of emptiness there had almost completely disappeared.

This shows that after a night's sleep, all the damage to the body is repaired.

He got up from the bed, washed up, ate a nutritional paste, and walked out with his things. When he reached the door, he saw Chang Ba had already parked the car there. He raised his hand and greeted him, "Morning, Brother Chen, get in the car."

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

But strangely, this time the car did not stop, but continued to drive forward, and finally came to a place surrounded by wooden stakes and barbed wire.

……

……

(End of this chapter)