Chapter 293: Advancement! World-Reflecting Thunder Ember! |
Su Chen sorted through the various pieces of information he had obtained once more, his thoughts inevitably still falling upon Qin Tianlin.
Plundering professions, exactly what kind of manifestation was it? He didn't know if there were any hidden dangers, but he was truly somewhat curious, as it sounded extremely perverted after all.
'But this matter isn't without benefits for me. When the time comes, revealing Qin Tianlin to that old codger Black Buddha will perfectly round out the lie.' Su Chen's thoughts wandered. If Qin Tianlin didn't possess anything peculiar, after this matter concluded, he probably wouldn't be able to contact the other party using the identity of a Believer of Black Buddha anymore. What use was an incompetent believer?
'Even to say, if the timing is right, perhaps I can have Black Buddha kill Qin Tianlin before he is killed by the Ancient Bronze King?'
Or perhaps, have Lan Hao figure out a way to contact Qin Tianlin?
Su Chen considered it briefly and shook his head again. Lan Hao definitely wouldn't do something so risky. The identities of Qin Tianlin and Qin Guang were completely different.
While thinking, he opened the Status Panel and took another look. Because of the fusion into Sovereign Vajra, the essence he had collected during this time had already been completely consumed.
'I still need to continue collecting essence. If I didn't have this essence, the difficulty of Sovereign Vajra couldn't possibly be this low.'
Although the difficulty already seemed not simple to him, Su Chen also understood in his heart that if it were a normal Tri-Fusion and he hadn't used the essence, the difficulty should be much more arduous.
The one piece he obtained from Ding Fan last time had basically drained his net worth completely.
'However, I gave him those thirty Mother Stones last time and there has been no movement until now. Perhaps I can take out more in the open.'
Now, his status was different from the past. As long as those Nether Realm Mother Stones didn't leak out from within the sect, no one should overly dwell on this matter.
'My relationship with that Centipede Dragon has also gone a step further. I should be able to excavate more Nether Realm Mother Stones. Purchasing Heaven-Forged Items shouldn't be a big problem.'
Su Chen smoothed things over in his mind. The most important thing right now was to advance to the 6th-Tier as quickly as possible, undergo Job Entry for Sovereign Vajra, forge the Holy Class, and do his best to help the Ancient Bronze King resolve the trouble with the Starfire.
'Only like this will I have a safer space to develop.'
Su Chen pulled out a tube of Lightning Plasma Potion and downed it, entering a state of development while simultaneously raising his own body temperature to prevent the melted Heaven-Forged Item from solidifying.
Qin Guang's death very quickly caused widespread discussion within the sect. Many middle and lower-level members were quite terrified.
He was, after all, a Venerable's son. To them, his status was already dignified enough. They didn't expect him to die so silently and stealthily, and it even seemed to involve Evil God Cultists, causing everyone to feel in danger.
Although Wu Feng couldn't investigate Qin Guang's death, he set off a storm of screening internally. The atmosphere tightened considerably. Fortunately, Ming Lin and the others had stopped their actions of purchasing Evil God Power earlier.
The Qin Family side also took action, investigating many people, but in the end, they didn't determine any specific direction either.
As time passed, this matter of Qin Guang's death unexpectedly carried a faint sense of ending without resolution.
"They didn't find out anything?"
In the Lan Family's Reception Room, Lan Hao's eyes revealed a look of shock and suspicion. The shifty-eyed fellow before him nodded and said, "Yeah, the Qin Family also worked for nothing. They actually didn't find out anything at all."
"This matter is also strange when you talk about it. Why didn't they let the Punishment Hall intervene earlier?" He seemed somewhat doubtful.
"Only the Punishment Hall has the access level to investigate the various departments of the sect. With the Qin Family investigating on their own, they definitely won't be able to find out anything."
Because the Qin Family themselves had skeletons in their closet, Lan Hao had known about this matter for a long time. It was just that what surprised him was that it had already been a month—did the Qin Family really not find even the slightest clue?
The person before him chattered endlessly, "Brother Lan, who exactly do you think made the move? Our sect was actually infiltrated so deeply by Evil God Cultists. I'm somewhat afraid now."
"Tell me, what should I do if the Evil God Cultists target me one day?"
"Enough." Lan Hao shot him a cold glance. "For Evil God Cultists to take an interest in you, don't make a joke."
This person gave an awkward smile and was shooed away by Lan Hao.
Coming out of the Reception Room, Lan Hao's brow furrowed tightly, quite puzzled. He didn't mobilize many people, but it wasn't as if there were no traces to follow. Was the Qin Family this useless?
"Sigh, I really shouldn't have agreed." Lan Hao sighed deeply, feeling somewhat regretful again. He felt that he had been fooled by that Evil God Cultist.
The methods the other party used had indeed helped him save a certain amount of energy, but while resting a while ago, he had unexpectedly caught a faint glimpse of a terrifying Evil God, giving him a massive fright.
The only thing that made him rejoice was that aside from having nightmares, he hadn't discovered any other hidden dangers.
'I hope that within a short period of time, that Evil God Cultist absolutely does not assign me any more missions.'
Thinking this in his heart, he pushed open the door, yet his movements couldn't help but stiffen. Inside his own room, a figure was currently standing with hands clasped behind his back.
"Father?" He couldn't help but call out. The arrival was precisely his father, Lan Hai. Recently, he had been cooperating with Qing Shi to build the new Satellite City, and the same was true for Wan Chen's father. After this Peak Star Tournament ended, it would be decided whether the Lan Family or the Wan Family would ultimately control the Sect-Suppressing Army.
Therefore, he hadn't seen Lan Hai in a very long time.
"What's wrong, am I not welcome?" Lan Hai turned around with a half-smile.
"No, I'm just somewhat surprised." Lan Hao felt somewhat guilty in his heart, but he was no longer the person he was before. No clues could be seen on his face as he walked to the side naturally and began brewing tea.
"How are your preparations for your professional advancement?" Lan Hai sat by the table and asked seemingly casually.
"It's more or less there. I estimate I'll be able to complete the profession requirements very soon."
"Not bad, still considered diligent." Lan Hai nodded in satisfaction, hinting at something else. "Aside from this, are you busy with any other matters?"
Lan Hao's movement of handing over the teacup stalled. Cold sweat instantly broke out on his back, his heart jumping to his throat. These words were no longer a hint; they were practically an explicit statement.
"What's wrong?" Lan Hai reached out and took the teacup from his son's hand, taking a sip, appearing puzzled.
"Even if the Ancient King is right in front of you, you must deny it to the death..." Suddenly, Lan Hao heard the words his father had spoken after Meng Shiyu's death echoing by his ear.
Now was not the time to show his hand. He had already handled the matter. If he were to still expose this issue, that would be too great a loss.
'I am his son. He can't do anything to me anyway.' His thoughts turned in just an instant, and Lan Hao shook his head firmly. "No."
"No?" Lan Hai's movements paused.
"No," Lan Hao repeated once more.
"It's good that there's none." Lan Hai's meaning was hard to discern as he put down the teacup, with two-thirds of the tea still remaining inside.
"Father, take care." Lan Hao saw him off respectfully. On the front that he couldn't see, Lan Hai's brow furrowed slightly. Negotiating for a tiger's hide, where did he get such great courage? And exactly when did he come into contact with them? But he hasn't been corrupted yet... Let's see just how much capability he has.
"Since Father already knows, then he has definitely helped me clean up the loose ends." Lan Hao slowly exhaled, relaxing considerably. "Mhm... when that Evil God Cultist gives me a mission that is absolutely impossible to complete, it won't be too late to show my hand."
On this day, in the Training Room, blazing lightning glow exploded all around Su Chen. Red and purple electric snakes tore through the air, and fiery light coiled and roamed around his torso.
Until a certain moment, as if reaching some kind of boundary, Su Chen's body trembled slightly. The flame and lightning radiance shrouding his body abruptly exploded. Fire plasma and electric snakes entangled together, rolling outward.
But very quickly, they rolled back like an ebbing tide, sinking into Su Chen's body through his pores, transmitting a familiar sense of fullness.
"Finally..." Su Chen opened his eyes and glanced at his Status Panel. Sure enough, the Development Progress of both professions had already reached one hundred percent.
As early as more than ten days ago, Body Tempering and Meditation Method had reached one hundred percent, respectively awakening strengthening abilities to enhance himself.
And the Heaven-Forged Item in his stomach had also been completely digested. His physical strength had consequently increased by quite a bit.
"Next is to go to the Fortune Bronze Core... and complete the final step." Su Chen had planned this long ago and didn't hesitate, coming out from the floating island and heading straight for the Bronze Core.
"So fast."
Coming out of the Port, Su Chen looked up. The framework of the new Satellite City above his head was already more or less complete. It currently still looked to be in a hollowed-out state; he estimated ground paving would begin very soon.
"Star Seed Su."
Su Chen responded to everyone's greetings along the way, arriving at the location of the Fortune Bronze Core.
After entering the door, he turned and greeted, "Senior Brother Ku."
"It's you again? Coming so frequently?"
The old man lifted his eyelids, somewhat surprised.
Was this considered frequent? It had been almost three months since he last came. Su Chen was secretly speechless, but on second thought, for a person of Senior Brother Ku's age... three months really didn't seem very long.
"Go on." Senior Brother Ku had no intention of wasting words with him.
Su Chen nodded and stepped into the Fortune Bronze Core. Starlight flowed, and the Bronze Spirit's voice sounded. "Your Excellency Su Chen, what are your instructions?"
Su Chen was already quite familiar with this and recited exactly according to the profession requirements: "Mimic a place that satisfies the requirements of a land of paramount thunderstorms, paramount venomous starfire, and paramount authentic illusions."
"Instructions received..." the Bronze Spirit responded. The surrounding scene rapidly transformed. A streak of cyan-white lightning flashed across his vision, followed immediately by unceasing roars. Above, dark clouds pressed down like an iron curtain, and molten-gold plasma churned within the cloud layer.
The ground spread outward, and viscous crimson flames surged from the depths of the rifts, condensing into indigo fire beads. They exploded upon hitting the ground, and rolling waves of heat rushed directly against his face.
Where lightning and fire intertwined, the void faintly distorted, yet reflected scenes that shouldn't appear here, such as a spring peach blossom grove and an isolated snowy city.
"Please test whether this satisfies your profession requirements."
Su Chen immediately sat cross-legged. Phantoms of fire snakes raised their heads to bite, and lightning spears tore through the cloud layer, smashing onto Su Chen's body and shattering into fragments of light, crackling and popping.
But a moment later, he frowned and opened his eyes. "The intensity of the mental interference still isn't quite enough."
"Understood." The Bronze Spirit's voice fell.
In the next moment, Su Chen felt his brain swell. The surrounding scenery twisted in an instant. The lightning glow vanished, and the fire snakes disappeared, instead transforming into one enchanting, alluring woman after another. Their delicate, smooth fingers roamed over his body, bringing a faint, stinging numbness wherever they passed.
He then took another look before finally nodding. "It's enough. Next, speed up the time flow. Ten times."
However, the Bronze Spirit said, "Your Excellency Su Chen, you must have misunderstood. The Fortune Bronze Core cannot speed up the time flow."
"It can't speed it up?" Su Chen was surprised. "But someone said it should be possible."
"That is merely a cognitive distortion caused to Pseudo-Spirituality. In essence, it is speeding up the operational flow of the mimicked illusion, but in reality... the time flow has not sped up," the Bronze Spirit explained.
"Uh..." Su Chen paused. "What is the difference?"
"For example, originally you only needed to endure ten strikes per minute. If you speed it up ten times in the Bronze Core, then you must endure one hundred strikes per minute," the Bronze Spirit explained.
"But if the true time flow sped up, you would still only need to endure ten strikes per minute."
"So it's like that." Su Chen roughly understood. The environmental flow rate changed, but his own time flow rate did not change.
The number of forging strikes originally endured in ten minutes was compressed into one minute.
That's true too... Su Chen pondered. If manipulating time were so easy, then wouldn't it be fine to just develop his Profession Development Progress in this kind of environment directly?
"Therefore, under these circumstances, you might not necessarily be able to endure a mimicked environmental acceleration of ten times or more."
Su Chen understood clearly. "Then let's take it step by step. Add it up one multiple at a time. I'll see when I can't endure it."
"Understood." The Bronze Spirit's voice fell. The surrounding environment began to flow rapidly. The number of fire snakes abruptly increased, their biting speed growing faster and faster. Above his head, the dark clouds shattered like an iron curtain, and lightning spears fell like rain.
One multiple, two multiples, three multiples—he temporarily didn't feel any pressure.
Four multiples, five multiples—his body felt a bit of stinging pain.
Up until seven multiples, Su Chen called out, "Stop."
And right now, the speed at which the surrounding lightning struck down and the surging speed of the flames were extremely fast. His entire body felt as if it were being pricked by needles. Illusions constantly surfaced around him, some even being faces he was familiar with.
"This already far exceeds the limits of what a 5th-Tier Professional can withstand. If it weren't for my various strengthening abilities constantly performing foundational enhancements, I would have been unable to hold on long ago." Su Chen clicked his tongue.
Immediately, he took out his Mastery Secret Tools and integrated them into his body. He didn't use any strengthening abilities, so the consumption wasn't considered high.
His physical strength increased significantly, and the stinging sensation instantly vanished. Su Chen breathed a sigh of relief before saying again, "Continue raising it."
Eight multiples, nine multiples, ten multiples!
This was already the limit of what the Fortune Bronze Core could achieve. If it went any faster, it would be unable to distort the Professional Pseudo-Spiritual Perception.
Crackling sounds rang out unceasingly. Fire snakes drilled into his seven orifices, and lightning plasma poured into his pores, completely submerging him.
Normal tempering required at least half a year. Under these circumstances, it only required eighteen days. To Su Chen, this wasn't considered too long of a time either.
"Your Excellency Su Chen, the time you set has ended. Do you need to continue extending it?"
The Bronze Spirit's voice suddenly sounded. Su Chen abruptly opened his eyes and exhaled a long breath.
He could clearly perceive that whether it was his physical body or his Mental Core, both had grown considerably tougher.
But traces of exhaustion couldn't help but appear in his eyes. Even when developing his Profession Progress outside, he wouldn't persist for such a long time in one go; he would also occasionally rest in between.
"Tch, this was only eighteen days. If I really had to temper myself for half a year, it would truly be torturous enough."
Su Chen couldn't help but sigh with emotion, but it immediately turned into anticipation, making him increasingly unable to hold back.
He declined the Bronze Spirit's suggestion for him to undergo Job Entry here, hurriedly leaving the Fortune Bronze Core. He returned to the floating island and stepped into his Training Room.
"Finally, Primary Class Fusion. Let me see exactly what Special Aspects it has."
Su Chen adjusted his state, his eyes focusing slightly. World-Reflecting Thunder Ember, advancement!
In an instant, Su Chen only felt his vision go dark, as if someone had viciously swung a thick iron rod from behind, smashing right into the back of his head without the slightest deviation.
A crisp crack exploded deep beside his ear. It wasn't an illusion; he could clearly sense his own Mental Core shattering inch by inch, like glass smashed by a heavy hammer, cracks spreading.
This... Su Chen's heart couldn't help but jump. The Mental Core was the most important of the most important. In the one-in-ten-thousand chance something went wrong, the consequences would be unimaginable.
However, those shattered fragments of the Mental Core didn't dissipate. Instead, they gradually sank into his body, as if wanting to fuse into his limbs and bones.
With his vision darkening, Su Chen gritted his teeth, trying his best to remain conscious.
A brutal and overbearing power rose up within his body, washing over and reforming every cell, every meridian, and every bone in his body.
Metamorphosis erupted in all parts of his body simultaneously. Muscle fibers were tearing and recombining, bones were stretching and reshaping, and blood vessels were boiling and expanding under high temperatures.
The pain brought about by this Metamorphosis far exceeded the intensity of any previous Job Entry or advancement. Psionic Power and cells were brutally kneaded together.
Su Chen breathed heavily. Even the slightest movement felt like billions of red-hot steel needles stirring and piercing within his body.
Boom!
Blazing fiery lightning exploded around his body, wreaking havoc in the Training Room. As time passed...
Su Chen's pale face gradually smoothed out. Behind his back, a blurry, holy, and majestic figure was cultivating and manifesting.
[Thunder Brilliance Flame Lord and Crimson Thunder Sovereign fusion and advancement to World-Reflecting Thunder Ember successful!]
[Mystic Artifact Lord obtained strengthening — Controllable Mystic Tools +1]
[Mystic Holy Hand obtained strengthening!]
[Spiritual Pressure obtained strengthening!]
[Obtained Professional Abilities. Affinities similar to Kalpa Fire Thunder Body, Authority Aspect, Crimson Thunder Core, Thunder Flash Flame Strike. Fusing...]
[Fusion successful. Obtained Professional Ability — Exalted Projection: Project the Shadow of the Great Sovereign Crimson Flame Responding Thunder Great Exalted onto oneself. I am the Exalt, the Exalt is me!]