"En?" The Priest's spirits lifted, his pitch-black eyes involuntarily looking over. "Who, who is it!?"
Pouring so many resources into Nanfeng City, it was all for the sake of that delicious soul.
"Su Chen!" Zhou Xian replied, practically gnashing his teeth.
He himself was a 3rd-tier professional. Although he had become a Black Buddha believer, his inherent mental resilience still allowed him to retain a certain degree of cognitive autonomy.
The grudge of Su Chen killing his son remained deeply engraved in his heart.
"Su Chen?" The Priest's initially uplifted expression gradually darkened. He was no stranger to this name, having eliminated him from the list of suspected targets very early on. He couldn't help but frown. "How could it be him?"
"Isn't he a Faceless Ghost Cultist?"
"You must have made a mistake." Zhou Xian was also taken aback. There were still some doubts that couldn't be explained, but right now, there was extremely powerful supporting evidence:
"He emerged completely unscathed during Yingfeng's testing, and he was even taken in as a student by Xia Hanshi. He definitely isn't a believer of the Faceless Ghost."
"I have long heard of this man, Xia Hanshi. For him to not hesitate to forcefully take him in as a student, his talent must definitely be Red Gold. Nine times out of ten, he is the delicious soul the Holy Lord covets."
"To think I was actually deceived?" Hearing the pieces of evidence one by one, the Priest's expression instantly turned ugly. "The target was right under my nose the entire time!"
He hesitated briefly, looked back, then shook his head. "It's already too late. Since he is protected by Xia Hanshi, it will be very difficult to obtain him through normal means anymore. We still have to overturn this place."
"Zhou Xian, there are still a few locations where the sacrificial arrays haven't been completed. Go there as soon as possible," he ordered.
"Understood." Zhou Xian hesitated. He initially wanted to ask if there was still any hope of resurrecting his son.
But for some reason, after catching sight of the Statue of Black Buddha behind the Priest, that hint of a thought suddenly vanished.
Compared to finding a delicious, delectable soul for the Holy Lord, what did whether his son resurrected or not matter?
Zhou Xian hurried left.
"Su Chen, Su Chen..." The Priest chewed over this name, his brows gradually unfurrowing. "It's good that he hasn't left Nanfeng yet. The Holy Lord will definitely be very satisfied."
But in the blink of an eye, the Priest's expression abruptly underwent a drastic change, and he looked up toward the heavenly vault!
Boom!
Golden raging flames resembled falling meteoric fire, overturning the shacks overhead as a scorching temperature washed over his face.
"He's actually really here!?"
Not far away, Yang Yan's heart trembled violently.
Xia Hanshi looked down at the Priest sitting cross-legged on the ground, revealing a savage smile. "Caught you!"
"Xia Hanshi!?"
The Priest on the ground wore a malevolent expression, feeling both panicked and finding it unimaginable. "You... how could you possibly find this place!?"
For this operation, only he and Zhou Xian knew about it. Zhou Xian had already become a Black Buddha believer, so it was impossible for him to betray them.
"Because of the helpful tip from a Righteous Person," Xia Hanshi said with an inexplicable undertone. His gaze shifted toward the Statue of Black Buddha behind the Priest, following along it to look at those black oil-like runic lines.
His expression instantly turned gloomy and cold, killing intent chilling to the bone. "A sacrificial array... You truly deserve death."
The Priest felt a mix of shock and fury to the extreme in his heart. The sacrificial array wasn't completed yet, but he had expended a great deal of energy on it. Right now was exactly when he needed stability the most.
Just one day! He only needed one day!
How could Xia Hanshi manage to find this place!?
...
Boom!
"That... that is?"
Zhou Xian, who hadn't gone far, abruptly felt the ground tremble. Turning back to look, he saw golden raging flames already covering half the sky.
"Xia- Xia Hanshi!"
He cried out in shock, losing his voice. "How could he find this place? Could the Priest... have betrayed us!?"
"Holy Lord!" He subconsciously started running forward, but then abruptly stopped, the veins on his forehead throbbing. "No, if I go now, it will just be sending myself to death."
"The sacrificial array isn't complete, and the Priest cannot escape. The Holy Lord cannot descend, but..."
He looked in another direction, his expression gradually turning sinister. "Perhaps this is also a rare opportunity."
...
"Little Brother! Little Brother! You absolutely have to come home with me today." Standing at the door of the room, Sun Tai tugged at Su Chen's hand and refused to let go, saying repeatedly, "Your sister-in-law cooked a table full of good food and is just waiting for you."
"If you don't go back with me, I won't have any way to answer to her."
Over these past few days, Sun Tai could be described as feeling the spring breeze on his face, complacent and immensely satisfied.
From the Minister of Internal Affairs, he skyrocketed to become one of the two Vice Ministers of the Supervision Department.
His old superior even became the City Lord, and his Little Brother Su became the Chief Inquisitor's student. Although City Lord Yuan felt somewhat dejected, he himself had snickered secretly several times.
Let alone the other Vice Minister, even the internally appointed Minister of Supervision, Du Jingming, had to give him face to some degree.
As for the reason, it was naturally because of the young man before him.
"Since that's the case... then I'll make a trip," Su Chen found it hard to decline such hospitality. He went back, packed up a bit, and changed into a different set of clothes.
As the two walked, Sun Tai chattered incessantly: "Staying in the room all the time will stifle you. You need to come out and walk around more. What is the purpose of raising your professional tier? Isn't it just to enjoy an even better life?"
Su Chen chuckled, speaking as he walked, "It's not time for me to enjoy life yet. When that time truly comes, rest assured, Brother Sun, I won't lack even the slightest bit of the enjoyment I deserve."
The two got into the elevator, and Sun Tai nodded. "Sigh, that's true too. Life is short. As a 2nd-tier professional, I'll only live a dozen or so years longer than an ordinary person."
"However, the methods of our former City Lord were truly ruthless. His younger brother's entire family was thrown into prison and has already been escorted to Yingfeng."
"If he wasn't ruthless, the ones thrown into prison would be his own family," Su Chen said flatly.
"That's true." Sun Tai sighed with quite a bit of emotion. Just as he was about to say something else, he suddenly felt a violent rumble. Hideous creaking sounds echoed from the elevator shaft, and the elevator rapidly plummeted downward.
Su Chen's expression changed slightly, and he stabilized his body in an instant. Sun Tai's reaction wasn't slow either. His fat actually tightened abruptly, and his hands gripped the metal elevator car tightly.
Sun Tai's body continuously shrank. That body full of fat quickly transformed into bronze, robust muscles, making his clothes hang loosely on him.
This was Su Chen's first time seeing Old Sun's combat mode, and he found it quite remarkable.
Boom!
He saw Sun Tai's arms violently pierce through and smash open the elevator car, burying themselves into the wall. The plummeting elevator abruptly came to a halt.
Not knowing which floor they stopped on, Sun Tai forcefully tore open the elevator doors, and the two darted out.
"Fuck, accidents can happen with the elevator too?" Sun Tai cursed, but then saw Su Chen's solemn expression. Only then did he notice the warning lights in the corridor flashing non-stop.
Rumble!
Another series of rumbling sounds echoed out. Blazing electric arcs spewed from the elevator shaft, instantly filling the entire floor.
"Someone actually dares to attack the Supervision Headquarters?" Sun Tai's expression was utterly shocked. He dodged the spreading electric arcs as if avoiding snakes and scorpions, but then surprisingly discovered they didn't have much lethal power.
"Su Chen!"
A roared shout echoed endlessly from within the elevator shaft. Su Chen's expression changed slightly. "Zhou Xian!?"
This fellow's timing was simply too coincidental. Old Xia and the others hadn't been gone for long.
No, it must be that he discovered Old Xia and the others weren't here, so he turned back to attack this place.
"It's... Zhou Xian?" Sun Tai also realized it, his face turning pale. With a 'duang' sound, his body reverted back into a fatty.
"Courting death!"
But an angry roar also came from the elevator shaft above. Azure raging flames surged downwards, clashing fiercely with the lightning flares.
"Thank goodness, thank goodness Minister Du is here..." Sun Tai breathed a sigh of relief.
Su Chen's brows were tightly furrowed. Du Jingming underwent a forced advancement. In terms of head-on combat strength, he probably wasn't Zhou Xian's match.
Rumble!!
A violent collision erupted from within the elevator shaft. Wild winds howled, wrapping up lightning arcs and electrical glares, and spewed out from the gaps in the elevator doors onto every floor.
"Su Chen!" Zhou Xian roared again, seemingly driven mad.
"His state seems very strange." Su Chen didn't hesitate, turning around and running, with Sun Tai following closely behind.
"Don't even think about escaping!"
For some reason, even though Zhou Xian was still on the bottom floor, he seemed able to perceive Su Chen's movements.
Boom!
Like a sudden clap of thunder on level ground, at the end of the corridor, the jammed elevator car exploded violently. A figure enshrouded in electric arcs charged forward at extreme speed, their face malevolent, with only Su Chen alone in their sights.
"You have to get past me first!" Du Jingming followed closely behind, his pupils turning cyan-red. He reached out to grab Zhou Xian, his five fingers simultaneously spitting out azure raging flames to form a massive net.
"Scram!" Zhou Xian's body burst apart, transforming into electric arcs, and broke free from Du Jingming's palm in the blink of an eye.
"Trying to run?"
Su Chen abruptly stopped in his tracks, watching helplessly as Zhou Xian's malevolent face coalesced from the surging electric arcs all around him.
Sun Tai's expression was filled with horror, his heart convulsing.
'It's these seemingly harmless electric arcs under our feet!?'
Su Chen instantly realized how Zhou Xian was able to lock onto his position from so far away.
Boom!
A sudden thunderclap resounded. The surface of the Azure Cable Su Chen whipped out with a spin suddenly manifested scarlet electric arcs, which then spewed forth.
Crack!
The glowing blue electric arcs intertwined with the scarlet lightning. A massive hole was blasted through the surrounding walls, and Zhou Xian, who had yet to fully condense into a human form, was directly whipped apart as energy ripples continuously expanded outward.
"Good heavens!" A chill ran down Sun Tai's spine. Little Brother Su's strike made him feel goosebumps all over his body. If that landed on him, nine times out of ten he would be turned into charred cinders.
"Careful!" Sun Tai exclaimed.
He saw a thick arm coalesced from electric arcs smashing down ruthlessly beside Su Chen.
With a shift in thought, the Azure Scale Cable Armor attached to his entire body quickly piled up on his shoulder. 【Wind and Thunder Bastion】 adhered to it, and indigo elemental energy surged.
Bang!!
Su Chen was directly blasted away, crashing through the walls on both sides and sending smoke and dust flying everywhere.
"Little Brother!" Sun Tai's eyes felt like they were going to split open from anger.
"Zhou Xian!" Du Jingming barely arrived in time. Blazing wild winds spewed forth, blowing away the electric arcs permeating the surroundings.
"Cough, cough..." Su Chen staggered to his feet, but merely coughed dryly a few times. Compared to the last time he was beaten to the point of vomiting blood, this time he was purely knocked flying without any major injuries.
"Little Brother, Little Brother..." Sun Tai hurriedly ran over and helped Su Chen up. Seeing that he was fine, he finally breathed a sigh of relief, unable to suppress a click of his tongue inwardly.
If it were him, that strike would have ended his life.
The disparity between tiers was akin to a massive chasm.
"You're actually... fine." Zhou Xian's figure gradually coalesced. It could be visibly seen that his breathing had grown significantly heavier.
Transforming into electric arcs for high-speed evasion clearly placed no small burden on him either.
'His arm actually grew back.' Su Chen looked at Zhou Xian's perfectly intact pair of arms.
"What a fine suit of armor..." Zhou Xian, on the other hand, saw the azure scales beneath Su Chen's torn clothes, his expression growing ever more furious. The reason the other party managed to escape last time was probably precisely because of this suit of armor.
But this time, his injuries had already recovered, yet a single strike actually still couldn't kill him. Could this armor possibly be a 3rd-tier item?
"I'll try my best to hold him off later. You two run. The others should come over to support very soon." Du Jingming stared fixedly at Zhou Xian, blocking in front of Su Chen and the other, and lowered his voice.