Chapter 288: High Priest of the Gods |
"This guy is truly decisive enough; saying he's coming, he just comes." Su Chen's expression turned heavy and condensed. "But it shouldn't be his Main Body."
To this day, he had never heard of anyone in the Dust Star Sea seeing the Main Body of an Evil God.
In the past, there definitely must have been incidents of Evil God Main Bodies descending, but they were too long ago. Without specifically looking into it, it would be difficult to dig them up.
'Evil Gods and Divine Sons should be roughly the same. It's still the three descent methods: Incarnate Vessel, Flesh Body, and Main Body.'
Su Chen pondered inwardly: 'He'll probably still use a Flesh Body. I wonder what level his strength will reach? 9th-tier, or the Morning Star Tier?'
Although he had fleeced quite a bit of wool from this old boy Black Buddha, the fact that this guy was constantly thinking about him still made him very displeased.
Coming to find the person who purified the Mist Embers, yet still not forgetting to bring him along for the ride.
"I just swallowed the consciousness attached to your Evil God Statue; is there a need to be so brooding over it?" He cursed secretly, glancing at the Sect Core District enveloped by the Starfire not far away.
Although this matter made him quite displeased, he didn't have much sense of crisis.
When the time came, he just needed to find a way to report him.
"However, since this guy is coming with the Heart of Spiritual Light, I must get my hands on the Heart of Spiritual Light first."
Su Chen thought again, "With the personality of an Evil God, it's impossible for him to leave such a precious thing intact for the sect. If he destroys the Heart of Spiritual Light before his Flesh Body is annihilated, then it will be troublesome."
'I have to grasp the timing well...' Su Chen calculated. He figured the problem shouldn't be too big. When the time came, it wouldn't necessarily require his true self to go. He could find an excuse saying he was being watched and couldn't leave.
Sending any random person to take over would also work. After all, Black Buddha still trusted him one hundred percent, and the other party only wanted a name anyway.
"However, then again, this old boy actually hasn't forgotten to reward his Believers."
After confirming his subsequent plans, Su Chen smoothed over the various methods that had welled up in his brain.
From the lowest-level ordinary Believers to the highest-tier High Priest, there truly were quite a few abilities.
A normal Believer would naturally come into contact with the Evil God during the advancement process, thereby gaining the abilities they ought to have, but he was merely in disguise.
The few methods he possessed were obtained through other means. Right now, Black Buddha had actually filled in the blanks for him all at once.
He calmed down and flipped through them carefully, excluding those Ritual Arrays that came at the cost of specific perverted hobbies.
There were actually quite a few useful ones, such as calling upon Black Buddha's Divine Power to cause interference, cast lethal curses, and so on.
Some methods weren't purely evil and could even be considered useful. For instance, injecting Evil God Power into liquid; drinking a mouthful could sustain someone without hunger for two or three days.
On some Barren Planets, this was extremely useful.
Of course, there were also hidden dangers; dreaming easily led to seeing Black Buddha. But as a High Priest, he could decide whether to leave behind such hidden backdoors.
"There actually is a resurrection."
Suddenly, Su Chen's eyelids twitched as he found an ability.
By borrowing at least three portions of high-tier Heituo Divine Power, one could resurrect a guy whose time of death did not exceed six hours.
But after studying it carefully, he discovered that this kind of resurrection carried massive hidden dangers.
In essence, it involved re-condensing the dissipated psionic power from the Nether Realm, repairing the bodily trauma, and forcefully kneading the two together.
However, the collapse of the Spiritual Entity into the Nether Realm began the very moment a person died. Forcefully tearing it back from the Nether Realm—whether it could condense completely was entirely a question mark.
The consciousness would experience chaos, even to the point of being tainted by parts of Nether Realm Creatures.
Simply put, the resurrected person was no longer the same person as before their death. But even so, it was more than enough to fool certain people.
He could even mobilize Heituo Divine Power to forcefully influence Path-based Pseudo-Spirituality. Compared to the future troubles Luo Shuhang had once told him about...
A high-level Evil God Cultist could minimize the future troubles using this method. Of course, he could also mix in some hidden backdoors to let the other party truly be eroded by Black Buddha.
"No wonder even though they know Evil Gods aren't anything good, there are still quite a few factions in the Dust Star Sea flirting with them. Evil God Power is simply a universal panacea; it can do anything..."
Su Chen continued flipping through, his eyes suddenly shifting.
"Nether Pact? This method is somewhat interesting."
This allowed him to sign a certain contract with Nether Realm Creatures, and then use Evil God Power to make them descend to the reality world for a short period as an attack method.
Weak Nether Realm Creatures couldn't descend into reality, but stronger ones had the possibility.
However, the barrier between the Nether Realm and reality was absolutely not something easily penetrated. Moreover, just like under normal circumstances when extraterrestrial beings entered the Nether Realm...
If the creatures in the Nether Realm wanted to come to the reality world, their appearance locations were also random, unless someone anchored the coordinates for them.
The Nether Pact served precisely this anchoring function, subsequently borrowing Evil God Power to weaken the barrier between the Nether Realm and reality to guide their descent.
"It's actually quite useful..." Su Chen completely finished absorbing the information in his brain. "From now on, I am a genuine High Priest of Black Buddha."
"Even..." His heart stirred as he transformed into the High Priest of the Faceless Ghost state. The facial features on his face vanished, faintly surfacing various faces that didn't belong to him.
Calling up the panel, he attempted to utilize its stored Divine Power, but it wasn't Heituo Divine Power, but Divine Power of the Faceless Ghost.
Very quickly, a transparent piece of paper lingering with a massive amount of symbols was formed.
"It really works?" Su Chen was astounded. This was the Nether Pact he formed by mobilizing Divine Power of the Faceless Ghost. He grew thoughtful: "That is to say, aside from those specific Ritual Arrays, as long as I disguise myself in the corresponding High Priest state, I can also call upon the corresponding Evil God's power."
"Universal Enlightenment? Not bad, not bad..."
After handling this, he didn't leave the Nether Realm immediately. Waiting until the Dark Sun Period, he headed to the Netherstone Mining Zone again.
"Master, Master!"
As soon as he appeared nearby, Little Black jumped restlessly, running over excitedly.
However, it had ultimately grown much smarter and didn't crash into him. It stopped a short distance away from him, pounding its chest and howling at the sky like a wolf.
The fur on Little Black's body had become increasingly glossy, and its conscious activities had also become much clearer. All of this was due to eating Nether Realm Mother Stones all day.
Or perhaps because its intelligence had increased considerably, leading to a rise in its faith level.
During his Body Tempering recently, Su Chen could even faintly hear this guy's wolf howls. Several times he thought it was a hallucination.
Later, he gradually figured it out; this was roughly similar to him praying to Black Buddha.
But right now, there were no clear prayer targets, and his Believer didn't have any tiers. This kind of "prayer" belonged to the completely uncontrollable category.
Only when Little Black's emotions were extremely agitated could he faintly sense it.
"You seem to have advanced."
Fierce winds howled, and the Nether Mist surged all around. The Centipede Dragon's head drooped down, staring fixedly at him.
Even those Level-7 Nether Realm Creatures all around, whose intelligence was already not low, didn't flee in fear due to his arrival, yet at this moment they faintly cast fearful gazes.
"I did some things, pleased my Lord, and managed to advance," Su Chen spouted nonsense casually.
Yet, a bit more importance appeared in the Centipede Dragon's pupils. Evil God Cultists at the High Priest level were already a rare sight. Saying that every single one of them was highly regarded by the Evil Gods was an exaggeration.
But to reach this tier, they inevitably must have pleased the Evil God they worshipped many times, so they definitely left an impression.
"Congratulations," the Centipede Dragon suddenly said, its voice deep and low.
Su Chen shot it a somewhat surprised glance. This High Priest identity was quite handy.
Pondering slightly, he flicked both hands, and formless brilliance refined and intertwined within them, forming a transparent sheet with various symbols faintly flickering on it.
"Nether Pact?" the Centipede Dragon recognized it at a glance.
"You know it?" Su Chen was somewhat surprised, then said, "Then there's no need for me to explain. We are old friends; perhaps there will come a time when I need your help."
The Centipede Dragon pondered slightly. This Nether Pact wasn't a mandatory contract, merely a summoning directional beacon. Even if the other party summoned it, it could decide whether to go or not.
"No problem," the Centipede Dragon agreed without hesitation.
In its eyes, this guy was highly likely to become a "huge favorite" in the eyes of the Faceless Ghost, perhaps even further advancing to Chief Priest and possessing an independent self-consciousness. He was still worth investing in.
It swallowed the Nether Pact in one bite, sealing the contract.
Su Chen chatted idly with it for a bit longer, took away the thirty Nether Realm Mother Stones Little Black had excavated during this period, and left the Nether Realm.
"If I want an 8th-tier Nether Realm Creature to descend to reality, I will still need to use at least one portion of high-tier Divine Power to create the corresponding reception area before it can descend."
In the Nether Tower, Su Chen opened his eyes.
As for this Nether Pact, it was just something he did in passing. Within the Bronze Sect, it was highly unlikely he'd need to use it.
Coming out of the Tower, he pocketed the thirty Nether Realm Mother Stones and went to the Main Building first to find Ming Lin. Finding him absent, he sent him a message.
Returning to the Training Room, he called up his new Body Tempering Technique and Meditation Method. They were respectively named—[Thunder-Fire Tripod Body Tempering Technique], using the body as a tripod, refined by the interplay of thunder and fire.
[Blazing Thunder Soul-Refining Meditation], using blazing fire to forge the soul, and the might of thunder to suppress thoughts.
"The intensity of these two is not low; they aren't gentle visualization Tempering methods..." Su Chen swept a glance over them. Lights of flame and thunder surged violently all around, striking his body, and the same applied to his Mental Core.
It wasn't until the Starfire reignited that Ming Lin finally returned.
With a tightly locked brow, he found Su Chen. His complexion didn't look good. Receiving the thirty Nether Realm Mother Stones handed to him, he didn't put them away, but instead placed them on the table before saying, "I was just about to speak to you regarding this matter."
"What's wrong? A mishap in distributing the goods?" Hearing this, Su Chen couldn't help but sit up straighter.
"Not yet," Ming Lin shook his head.
"Not yet?" Su Chen narrowed his eyes.
Ming Lin's expression was quite solemn: "Qin Guang has his eyes on us."
"Qin Guang?" Su Chen frowned slightly, faintly feeling this name was somewhat familiar.
Very quickly, he recalled it and frowned, "Qin Tianlin's father?"
"Correct, it is exactly him." Ming Lin nodded, saying in a deep voice: "Ever since you seized the Top Ranker spot last time, this Qin Guang seems to have set his sights on us."
"It's said that he has already put out the word within the Qin Family's sphere of influence: anything related to us, or related to you, must be dragged out as long as possible. If anyone dares to feign compliance, he won't be polite about it."
Su Chen frowned tightly. No wonder Zhong Chengyu had adopted that posture while at the Spirit Hall earlier.
He didn't really know much about this person; he had only heard him mentioned briefly when drinking with Wei Zhenghong the night he seized the Top Ranker spot.
He was Qin Yun's third son. His talent was nothing special, and he wasn't highly regarded by Qin Yun. He was greedy for wealth and lustful, with a ruthless and violent personality.
It wasn't until he gave birth to Qin Tianlin that this person barely entered Qin Yun's sights.
Back when Wei Zhenghong was facing suppression, this person jumped around constantly, disgusting Old Wei for quite a while.
Moreover, as Qin Tianlin's father, unlike others in their faction, he was firmly tied to Qin Tianlin; their fates were intertwined—if one prospers, all prosper; if one suffers, all suffer.
A cold light flashed in Su Chen's eyes as he asked in a deep voice, "What has he done? Are Senior Brother Teng Wu and the others in danger?"
If this Qin Guang truly dared to strike out from the shadows, Old Qing wasn't a pushover either.
"Danger?" Seeing Su Chen grow angry, Ming Lin hurriedly explained, "That, there isn't."
Speaking of this, he couldn't help but smile bitterly. "He hasn't struck out from the shadows; he just had people keep an eye on our whereabouts."
"Hasn't struck out from the shadows?" Su Chen was quite surprised, but on second thought, he also understood. If this Qin Guang truly struck out from the shadows, he could instead go find Qing Cang, or even unite with Wei Zhenghong to teach him a lesson.
This person must have thought of this too, so he merely sent people to watch them, not even necessarily needing to find anything out, purely to disgust him.
"The people under him even invited Senior Brother Xing out for drinks," Ming Lin said. Senior Brother Xing was one of the people Chong Jingtian had sent over. He then explained, "At the time, Senior Brother Xing didn't know they were Qin Guang's people. The other party was inquiring both openly and secretly about your situation on the Red Thunder Star."
"So he's probing into my secrets." Su Chen understood clearly in his heart.
"But with him watching us like this, it's hard for us to make any moves." Ming Lin was quite helpless. This was precisely the troublesome part; right now, Qin Guang hadn't made a move.
The ones who couldn't bring things to light were instead them.
There was no helping it; their foundation was still too shallow. If they wanted to secretly make some moves, they could only be careful and cautious.
"No wonder he disgusted Old Wei for so long, yet Old Wei still didn't do anything to him. He's deeply versed in Sect survival laws."
Su Chen understood clearly, actually feeling it was somewhat thorny. Even if this Qin Guang merely followed sect rules, by keeping an eye on them for a long time, he could still dig something up.
Opening the panel and sweeping a glance, over this period of time, he had also accumulated roughly two or three portions of the various essences, and the fused Primary Class didn't need to use them either.
Before advancing to the Mu Stage, he probably wouldn't need to use them.
He thought for a moment and said to Ming Lin, "Don't distribute the goods for a short while; let's wait and see."
"That's all we can do. Once the few transactions currently at hand are completed, we will stop." Ming Lin also held this thought, quite helpless.
"This guy is a 7th-tier..." Su Chen returned to the Training Room and subconsciously calculated. "When I advance to the Mu Stage, I estimate..."
After thinking for a while, he shook his head again. "This is the Sect Core District, after all; it's too safe."
He couldn't only sing its praises when the Sect Core District was protecting him.
"I have to think of other methods..." Su Chen muttered, gradually becoming enveloped by flame and thunder.
The petty actions of Ming Lin and the others purchasing Evil God Power came to a halt. They obediently carried out their duties, so Qin Guang's people naturally couldn't discover any clues.
The construction of the Satellite City also gradually got on track. Qing Cang mobilized a massive amount of Transport Vessels, and a massive amount of resources were transported from the subordinate Life Stars.
Meanwhile, some factions relatively close to the Bronze Sect had already arrived at the Equilibrium Hub, which was the large hub closest to the Bronze Sect.
They were just waiting for the Bronze Sect to notify them that the venue was prepared properly before setting off.