In the Training Room, Su Chen's skin glowed with a golden-red light, and his entire body became transparent. One could clearly see the meridians, bones, and internal organs within his body being continuously scoured by elemental power.
Until a certain moment, he suddenly opened his eyes, and a Virtual Screen popped up before his eyesâ
A Flight Vehicle was docking at the Port. The person who came down was exactly Bo Siqi. His body type looked like he had gained a circle of weight, his face beaming with spring breeze.
"Finally back."
Su Chen restrained the elemental fluctuations all over his body and glanced at the Status Panel. The Development Progress had already reached 92%.
After Job Entry into Cinderless Flame, the Development Efficiency was elevated once again. It had only been over a month since the Flash-Shadow Body returned, and it had already increased to 92%.
Bo Siqi had high-level Access Level to the Floating Island. It would only issue a reminder for him, without any obstruction.
When Su Chen came out of the Main Building, Old Bo had almost walked in. The two bumped into each other head-on, and he couldn't help but tease:
"Senior Brother Bo, your figure is becoming increasingly plump."
"Plump?" Bo Siqi glared and said snappily, "This is called sturdy."
Su Chen grinned, and only then asked: "How did it go?"
Bo Siqi patted his chest: "Are you still worried about how I handle things?"
"Those..." The words reached Old Bo's lips but still stagnated a bit, before he said: "Those guys looked foolish. They didn't have the slightest suspicion towards me and directly gave me the stuff. As soon as I walked out the door, I called people to blast them all away!"
Speaking to the end, he was already beaming with joy, and took out three small metal boxes, handing them over.
He knew what was inside, but looked completely unworried, saying as he did: "When I came back, you don't know, those garrison commanders along the way practically treated me like an ancestor. Sigh, that feeling..."
Bo Siqi said, revealing a nostalgic expression.
Su Chen reached out and took them, somewhat speechless. Old Bo was enjoying himself in it.
"I'm off. I made an appointment to drink with someone. Next time there's such a good thing, call me." Bo Siqi didn't say much more. After handing over the items, he turned around and left.
Just as he returned to the Port, he found that another spaceship had arrived.
His footsteps paused. Looking at the figure walking down from the spaceship, a smile instantly bloomed on his face: "So it's Old Jiang."
The one coming down was exactly Jiang Mufeng. Seeing Bo Siqi, he was also somewhat astonished, and then revealed a smile, addressing him: "Senior Brother Bo."
Bo Siqi was Su Chen's Senior Brother; this point was known to everyone.
Although Bo Siqi's Professional Tier wasn't high, and his potential was extremely low, likely having no high ceiling, the respect that was due still had to be given.
"Came to find Su Chen?" Bo Siqi said a sentence. Seeing Jiang Mufeng nod, he didn't chit-chat: "Alright, you guys chat, I'm leaving first."
He knew why this group of people were respectful to him. Outside in those remote places where the emperor is far away, he didn't mind putting on airs.
But here at the Bronze Core, it was still better not to borrow Su Chen's prestige to put on his own face. He could still grasp this degree properly.
Jiang Mufeng's etiquette was proper. He watched Bo Siqi leave before walking over. Su Chen was already here waiting for him.
His friendship with this person, although not comparable to Chu Ran and Wei Zhenghong, was still considered okay. Normally, they frequently communicated with each other regarding Intelligence.
Jiang Mufeng walked forward briskly without exchanging pleasantries, lowering his voice and saying: "That He Peiting you asked me to keep an eye on has left the Sect."
He was cautious by nature. This kind of thing wasn't good to leave a written record of in the Sect's system, so he came personally to notify him.
"Oh?" Su Chen's eyes shifted slightly, inviting him into the Lounge.
Ever since Lao Hei stopped letting him be responsible for related matters last time, he hadn't relaxed his vigilance, having people constantly keep an eye on He Peiting.
This was the interior of the Sect, and He Peiting's overt identity wasn't high either. There were too many ways to keep an eye on him.
"What's the situation?" Su Chen brewed a cup of tea.
Jiang Mufeng reached out to take it, saying: "It happened yesterday. He accepted a tempering mission and is currently heading to the Mount Tai Nexus."
"Mount Tai Nexus?"
Su Chen instantly understood. Lao Hei was going to personally pick up the stuff.
True, using Zhou Yunyang's and his names, He Peiting had recently gained quite some fame in the Sect. By going personally to pick up the stuff, the Probability of bringing it back successfully was truly not low.
The Mount Tai Nexus was the closest transit hub to the Bronze Sect. Traveling from there to other places, his destination was obviously no longer within the area controlled by the Bronze Sect.
This Lao Hei was truly scared, even making a large detour. While Su Chen was pondering, Jiang Mufeng spoke probingly: "What exactly is the situation with this person?"
He was also somewhat curious in his heart. Wasn't it said that Su Chen found him quite pleasing to the eye? Zhou Yunyang even widely publicized it in the Sect, but secretly he had people keep an eye on him.
"Oh, I just feel this little guy is somewhat strange." Su Chen gave a Vague Prevarication.
"Strange?"
Jiang Mufeng's Thoughts turned in his mind. He hadn't seen anything strange about this He Peiting, but he also didn't press further. After chatting for a few sentences, he stood up and took his leave.
"Right." Just as he was about to leave, Su Chen stopped him again, asking: "Where has the Profound Heaven Instrument reached?"
Jiang Mufeng pondered briefly: "It should have just left the Yuande Hub. I estimate that for it to arrive at our Sect, it will still take about two more months or so..."
Su Chen understood, and asked again: "Has Venerable Chu Lingyuan arrived?"
"Not yet, probably another month."
Su Chen nodded, saw Jiang Mufeng off, rubbed his hands, and having already grown somewhat impatient, came into the Nether Tower, looking at the three small metal boxes before him.
The handover between him and Bo Siqi was very simple. He wasn't told what was in each box either, giving him a surprise akin to Opening a Blind Box.
He picked the middle Metal Box and opened it. Instantly, a gloomy and cold Aura came Rushing Toward One, as if a cold, wet tongue was licking his skin.
Inside was astonishingly a clump of black blood the size of a baby's fist, its edges continuously rolling over, making one shudder.
"So much?"
Su Chen was startled, and then overjoyed. Estimating briefly, such a clump was at least fifty drops of Divine Blood.
He clicked his tongue secretly. Lao Hei truly invested heavily this time. For a substance like Divine Blood, it was very difficult for minor Evil Gods to condense; its essence wasn't fresh blood.
Losing fifty drops all at once, no wonder Lao Hei was so angry.
And his originally somewhat depleted Divine Blood inventory instantly became quite full. Su Chen happily put it away.
He then opened another Metal Box, inside which neatly lay thirty profound, pitch-black Faith Essences.
"Tsk tsk... This, another thirty portions. Added to the ones in my hands, it's already approaching fifty portions, almost enough to meet the Remnant Spirit's minimum standard."
Su Chen extracted the Heituo Divine Power within, transforming them into pure Faith Essence.
And what was placed in the last Metal Box was naturally Essence Power.
Boiling incessantly, intertwining with each other. Su Chen could even faintly hear rustling sounds coming from the surrounding corners, as if someone was whispering in the dark. There were a full four portions.
"Ha..." The corners of Su Chen's mouth involuntarily cracked open into a grin. Compared to last time, the various Evil God items in this package had increased by several times over.
But then, he also realized that in order to make a move against him, Lao Hei had probably spared no cost.
"The amount of various Evil God items Black Buddha personally went to hand over this time is probably no less than this time. It would be best to get my hands on it, wait for him to return to the Sect..."
Thinking of this, Su Chen shook his head again: "I can't wait for him to come back. By then he will already have thoughts of making a move, which has risks. It's best to strike directly at a time when he completely doesn't expect it..."
His eyes rolled, temporarily suppressing this matter, and instead opened the Status Panel's Class Forging function.
Having waited for a long time, he could finally see what kind of manifestation this function exactly had.
With a slight shift in thought, the Forge of Vocations on it ignited at once, the flames burning fiercely. Class Forging could not only strengthen Professions, but could also forge new Professions.
However, for the function of forging new Professions, Su Chen felt it didn't have that much use to him. Unless he needed to find a certain specific Profession but couldn't find it, only then could it come in handy.
But right now, he truly didn't have any urgently needed Professions, mainly also because the Bronze Sect's internal Profession reserve quantity was too large, and most Professions could be found.
What he cared more about was still the function of strengthening Professions.
"I wonder what difference there is between this kind of strengthening and directly using Essence Power." Su Chen selected the Flash-Shadow Body, but his expression changed slightly, "It actually wants to consume three portions of Essence Power."
He originally thought it only needed one portion. Su Chen frowned slightly, took the Flash-Shadow Body down, and swapped a normal Profession up.
Sure enough, this time it only needed to consume one portion of Essence Power.
"It's still because of the Holy Class."
"Tsk... Just got four portions, and in the blink of an eye I have to consume three portions." Su Chen didn't hesitate too much. After all, Resources were meant to be used.
[The Forge of Vocations shattered three portions of Hei Tuo Source Power, forging it into the Flash-Shadow Body. The Flash-Shadow Body faintly underwent some kind of wondrous Transformation...]
So it was this kind of form, Su Chen was suddenly enlightened.
If Hei Tuo Source Power was directly used on the Flash-Shadow Body, due to the stimulating effect of the Hei Tuo Source Power, it would probably make the Flash-Shadow Body generate a need to strengthen itself.
But this kind of need also required meeting conditions, for example, like when he previously used Hei Tuo Source Power to stimulate the World-Slaying Manifestation, making it devour Sky-Scars.
The Hei Tuo Source Power itself only played a stimulating role. The true Transformation of the World-Slaying Manifestation was still because it devoured Sky-Scars.
But Class Forging was different. It seemed to discard the original stimulating effect of the Hei Tuo Source Power, merely using it purely as Essence Power to directly carry out strengthening, without needing more conditions to supplement it.
Between the two... Su Chen thought about it, and found it hard to say which was better or worse. Using it directly required an additional price, while this method, although consuming more, did not require an additional price.
While pondering, text emerged on the Status Panelââ
[The Sacred ClassâShadowstep Form gradually settled down. Ten Thousand Shadows Return to Silence gained strengthening - Ban-Breaking: Increased resistance against confinement-type abilities, difficult for even a Morning Star to confine.]
Difficult for a Morning Star to confine? Su Chen's heart paused slightly. Ten Thousand Shadows Return to Silence was inherently special, not purely Extreme Speed. After strengthening, it was probably even more Without a Trace.
He estimated that even a Morning Star would have to pair it with a confinement-type Holy Class to be able to affect him.
The strengthened ability was very good, but Su Chen still sighed helplessly. What was strengthened this time was not strengthening the "Shadow of the Past".
"This way, I can only Forging a Concealment Holy Class."
Su Chen still resisted in his heart. Concealment-type Holy Classes weren't entirely useless, nor were they unusable. It was just that, he had already planned it out previously,
"Are there any other methods?"
Casually Dispatching the Flash-Shadow Body out again, Su Chen's thinking further diverged. In the Dust Star Sea, all Holy Classes were basically related to combat strength; very few had purely To Spy On-type abilities.
"To deceive the naked eye, the Shadow of the Past is enough. It can even withstand ordinary detection instruments. The only thing it can't handle is actually just this Profound Heaven Instrument, which focuses on Talent."
"Since this is the case..." Su Chen's eyes flickered, and a thought suddenly surfaced in his heart. If the Profound Heaven Instrument didn't exist, or was destroyed...
The first instant this thought surfaced...
He felt he was somewhat impulsive, actually thinking of an ambush. But on second thought, this feeling of impulsiveness seemed to be his habitual thinking of acting cautiously for a long time.
He wasn't a low-tier now; he was only one step away from the 8th-Tier...
Thinking of this, his train of thought instantly opened up: "If I advance to the 8th-Tier, pair it with Limit Break, and also have a body full of Holy Classes... I can even fight a Morning Star in normal condition."
Currently, the highest combat strength in the Dust Star Sea was exactly Morning Star.
This hadn't even counted the previously accumulated chances for the Heavenly Sovereign to make a move. In other words, in the Dust Star Sea, as long as he didn't go attack the old lairs of the various Sects and the Royal Court, almost no one could subdue him.
"I hadn't carefully thought about it before. Now that I think about it, I'm already about to ascend to the top combat strength of the Dust Star Sea. I actually don't need to have too many scruples anymore, but to be safe..."
He narrowed his eyes, opened his Comm-Bracelet again, found Jiang Mufeng, and sent a message over. Soon the other party respondedâ
"The escorts for the Profound Heaven Instrument are Lu Huai of the Profound Heaven Sect and Ni Chuan, one of the Commanders of the Royal Court's Sect-Suppressing Army."
They were still acquaintances, but only these two guys... Su Chen blanked slightly. There wasn't even a Morning Star?
"Right. Prison-Suppressing is on his way to the Bronze Sect. God-Defier is busy pursuing and killing the Longriver Clan. King Peng still has to clean up the mess."
The various Sects didn't know the specific situation that occurred in the Flare Realm. Strictly speaking, escorting the Profound Heaven Instrument wasn't considered that important of a matter.
He had a guilty conscience in his heart, but others didn't know. He estimated that the numerous Morning Stars, as well as Lu Huai and the others escorting the Profound Heaven Instrument here, didn't treat this as a serious matter.
"In the entire Dust Star Sea, there has never been a True Radiance Talent before, and I only just Metamorphosed into Divine Dawn not long ago. The others probably all have similar thoughts to Qing Cang, wondering if there's a misunderstanding..."
Moreover, the only people who knew about this matter were the higher-ups of the various Sects. Naturally, they didn't need excessively high-end combat strength to escort it.
"Hmm... One Dual Ninth-Rank, one 9th-Tier. Actually, this configuration is already not low, but since there's no Morning Star, it seems, it looks like it can really be done..."
Once a thought arises, the heaven and earth widen.
Su Chen pondered for a bit, becoming increasingly eager for action. Catching them off guard, the success rate was extremely large. He himself also wouldn't have to agonize over what Holy Class the direct Job Entry opportunity should act upon. The only trouble was To Conclude things afterwards.
"The Morning Stars originally didn't care much about this matter, but if this Profound Heaven Instrument is destroyed, it might not fail to implicate me."
"After all, the sole purpose of bringing this thing out is to come inspect my Talent. If a problem really occurs, they will definitely associate it with me. I have to find a scapegoat, or perhaps I don't necessarily have to destroy it..."
"If it really doesn't work out, there's still the retreat path of Molten Casting Sacred Profession..."
On second thought, he sent another message to Jiang Mufeng, and the other party responded equally fastâ
"The Mount Tai Nexus is closest to the Bronze Sect. Although it is a neutral party, as long as our Sect members enter, the internal station will receive a notification in the first instance."
"Ha..." Su Chen's Thoughts churned. Like this, they could actually coincidentally be pieced together.