Candlefire Mental Training Method

"Blood... Blood Oath Contract!" She gritted out the words. "I can enter into a Blood Oath Contract with you. If you die, I die too."

"Live and die together." Though Su Chen stopped when he heard about this so-called Blood Oath Contract, he immediately thought of ways around it.

Still unsatisfied, he asked, "I want the kind that lets me control your life."

"There is no such thing. At least, I can't do it, and neither can you." Jiang He forced herself to explain. "This is the best solution I could think of. There are indeed ways to circumvent it, but they come at an enormous cost."

"There's no such thing. At least, I can't do it, and neither can you." Jiang He forced herself to explain. "This is the best solution I could think of. There are indeed ways to circumvent it, but they come at an enormous cost."

Su Chen looked at her and figured this was as far as they could go. He did not want to leave Southwind City either; that truly would be a dead end. He could only take some risks.

"Then let's begin." Su Chen nodded.

Jiang He's tense body visibly relaxed, and she let out a breath. "We need to wait. The Withered-Grass Potion is still in effect, and my mental strength is severely depleted."

Su Chen was still somewhat uneasy, but then he recalled the resistance he had shown against Jiang He's area-of-effect attack just now.

That should have been a mental attack. Before I even became a professional, my resistance was stronger than a Rope Master's. Maybe it's because I transmigrated here.

This is a good chance to test her...

With that thought, Su Chen said nothing more. He merely walked aside, picked up his clothes, then collected the rope Old Ghost had dropped on the ground.

Hm?

[First-tier Item—Blue-veined Hemp Rope: A special rope made by soaking Blue-Veined Grass in black oil for three days before weaving it. Can be controlled by a Rope Master.]

He could identify items too? Su Chen was surprised. He casually touched the other objects, and only the two garments that could blur one's silhouette produced prompts.

[First-tier Item—Shadow-Hiding Garment: Clothing made primarily from Shadow Wolf hide.]

It seemed only items of this rank came with prompts.

"Do you know who wants to kill you?" He found somewhere to sit and looked at the two corpses on the floor.

Jiang He was rubbing her brow. Her clothes had long since been torn to shreds, exposing large swaths of skin, yet she paid it no mind. At his words, resentment surfaced on her face. "I've made quite a few enemies, but there aren't many who would insist on killing me."

"You seem to be married." Su Chen abruptly brought it up.

"What do you mean?" Jiang He suddenly looked over, her expression tinged with alarm and suspicion.

"Nothing. They say spouses can be the closest or most distant people to each other. If one spouse is attacked, isn't it perfectly normal to suspect the other?" Su Chen said casually.

"That Withered-Grass Potion had to be drunk, right? Very few people could have slipped you the drug."

"Also, that Old Ghost said that if you died, your family and academy would quickly put the matter to rest, but he never mentioned whether your husband would do the same."

"Logically, if you died the way he described, your husband should have been the one who cared most."

Jiang He's expression shifted slightly. Old Ghost had indeed said that, but the situation had been so dire that even she had forgotten it. She had not expected Su Chen to remember.

"Was it him... Would he dare?" Jiang He murmured softly, her gaze sweeping over the puddle of wine-red liquid on the floor.

"If it was him, he must have had a reason. Your reputation isn't great, so it's probably not because of a green hat. Think carefully." Su Chen reminded her again.

He wanted to figure it out as well, because whoever was behind this had clearly included him in their scheme. Since neither of them had died today, there would likely be more to come.

"Could it be..." Jiang He suddenly raised her head, as if realizing something. "Third-tier profession—Arcane Weaver!"

"Hm?" Su Chen looked at her. Jiang He seemed slightly agitated.

"A month and a half ago, my father told me that the family would select three people for focused training and support them all the way to becoming Arcane Weavers."

"He had been pulling strings for me all along. Half a month ago, he told me that the arrangements were nearly complete. I'm my father's only daughter. The slot had been secured, and the price had already been paid. Even if something happened to me, my father would not simply hand it over to someone else."

"He should give it to him."

"It must be him!" Jiang He was almost certain, but she could not help feeling puzzled. "But where did he get the ability to hire two professionals... And this is a family secret. My father only told me about it. I never told him."

Seeing that Jiang He had sorted through her thoughts and roughly identified the suspect, Su Chen did not continue analyzing it for her. He simply asked, "How do you advance to Arcane Weaver?"

"This..." Jiang He shook her head. "I don't know either. Arcane Weaver is the advanced profession of an Arcane Scholar. I don't even know how an Arcane Scholar advances."

"That information is absolutely confidential."

Arcane Apprentice, Arcane Scholar, Arcane Weaver. They should be part of the same profession system.

He folded the hemp rope and Shadow-Hiding Garment together. They did not take up much space. Su Chen asked, "Then you should at least know how to become an Arcane Apprentice, right?"

Jiang He hesitated briefly before answering, "First, your mental strength must reach a certain standard. Then you have to pass the Whispering Trial."

Su Chen frowned slightly. "Reach a certain standard? How is that measured?"

Jiang He hesitated. Su Chen made as if to stand, and her eyelids twitched. A first-tier profession was not much of a secret.

"The Candlefire Mental Training Method..." she hurriedly said. "If you can complete ten cycles of construction within one minute, that's enough."

"You have it, right?" Su Chen held out his hand.

An Arcane Apprentice was an upper first-tier profession. It was definitely stronger than a Strongman.

"I do..." At that point, Jiang He simply said, "It's in the study. Come with me."

"The corpses..." Su Chen pondered.

"You don't need to worry about them. I'll deal with them tomorrow." Jiang He seemed to have recovered some of her spirit, regaining some of Violet's bearing.

She picked up the silver bracelet from the floor and slipped it onto her wrist. A grayish-yellow virtual projection appeared above it, though the image was blurry.

Su Chen's expression turned strange for a moment as all sorts of memories surfaced in his mind. This world seemed rather peculiar.

He followed Jiang He out of the room. This was not the living room, but the basement.

The servants had long since gone home, leaving the house empty, solemn, and imposing.

The two of them walked up the stairs. A huge wedding portrait hung in the stairwell, showing a man and a woman. The woman was Jiang He, smiling brightly.

The man was handsome as well, with a gentle smile. His most striking feature was his pair of pale blue eyes.

Su Chen deliberately stared at them for a few moments.

Once they reached the study, Jiang He took a book from the safe. It was not thick, only a few thin pages.

"I can't let you take it out. If you want to practice it, you'd better memorize it here." She could not help emphasizing, "Every faction investigates this sort of profession-related information very strictly. Taking it out would be trouble for you too."

Su Chen accepted it and roughly flipped through it. This thing was similar to a meditation method. It required one to outline the image of a candle flame in one's mental realm, then imagine being burned by it.

Of course, it was not purely based on imagination. It described several mental nodes and a few tricks, such as first using a real candle flame as a model.

It seemed...

Su Chen closed his eyes and gave it a brief try. He imagined his mental strength outlining a candle flame, gradually drawing its outer form, then its heat...

Boom—

Su Chen felt his head grow hot, and he abruptly opened his eyes, uncertainty written across his face.

"It's normal not to be able to form it on your first try. For an ordinary adult, it takes at least three to five months to complete the first construction. Even though you're already a first-tier professional, you'll still need more than ten days of practice."

"You only need to memorize it roughly. Afterward, once you enroll at Southwind Academy as a visiting student, you can come ask me anytime..." Seeing Su Chen's expression, Jiang He could not help soothing him, afraid that he would forcibly take the book away.

Su Chen remained silent. This thing truly posed no difficulty for him. Was it a small gift from transmigrating?

The so-called ten cycles meant constructing the candle flame ten times in succession. He had just constructed it once and felt no pressure at all.

The only thing he needed to pay attention to was the time limit. One minute was a little short.

With that thought, he suddenly felt something and swiftly opened his skill panel.

Sure enough, besides the Strongman profession, there was now another independent skill.

[Candlefire Mental Training Method—Beginner: 50%]