Chapter 457: A Clash of Titans |
"Why are there so many people here?"
Upon getting closer, Wei Zhenghong couldn't help but be surprised. There was originally an empty plaza near the Martial Proof Hall, but right now, it was almost densely packed with people.
Not only that, but there were also people standing in mid-air and even further above. It was only because the tokens didn't allow people to stick to one another; otherwise, the entire area would probably be jammed full.
"When we came here before, this place was quite empty. Did something happen?" Shen Yi'an looked around. The three of them landed at the edge. The mid-air nearby was almost entirely filled with people, and there was no way to continue moving forward.
"Is that Qi You?" Halfway through their descent, Su Chen caught sight of an acquaintance on the left side, standing in mid-air at the very front.
"Hmm?" Qi You sensed someone staring at him and suddenly shifted his gaze over, unable to help but be taken aback. Su Chen?
He saw the three people at the edge; it was exactly the three Star Seeds of Bronze Heaven. Seeing Su Chen nod in greeting, he also nodded in return.
"Junior Brother Qi, what's wrong?" Someone beside him asked. It was an elegant noblewoman with disheveled green hair and a pink lotus flower between her eyebrows.
"Nothing, just an acquaintance," Qi You shook his head.
Qi You's eyes moved. "He's a bit too anxious. If he truly finishes the Azure Deity Metamorphosis, it might not be impossible, but right now..."
......
This guy's perception is truly sharp. I wonder how many Morning Flames he has tempered, Su Chen clicked his tongue inwardly.
Then he heard Shen Yi'an say in surprise and doubt, "There are quite a few big shots here. There are two Morning Stars from the Upper Three Heavens, and among the other eight heavens, except for our Bronze Heaven, all have Morning Stars present."
"Almost all of the top ten on the Lingxiao Hidden Star Ranking have come."
Su Chen followed his gaze. Indeed, there were some guys in the front row who looked like big shots at a glance, because there were very few people around them, leaving a large area empty.
He even saw Tong Zhuo, one of the few people he recognized, his expression indifferent.
"Brother Shen, do you recognize all these people?" Su Chen was surprised.
"Newly arrived, we should at least recognize some of the higher-ups." Shen Yi'an smiled bitterly in helplessness.
Not far in front of them, someone seemed to have heard their conversation and turned around to look. It was a sincere-looking middle-aged man. "Bronze Heaven?"
Bronze Heaven had been here for over three months, but Lingxiao was so massive, and only a minority had truly come into contact with Bronze Heaven.
"Brother..." Wei Zhenghong had already familiarly gone up to him. "What's the situation here?"
"You guys don't know?" The other party was somewhat surprised. "Such a big matter should have spread already."
"We truly don't know." Wei Zhenghong shrugged. "What exactly is it? Stop keeping us in suspense, brother."
"That's truly a big deal." The sincere middle-aged man grinned. "Zhong Yue of Eternal Dragon Heaven is preparing to challenge Du Yunfei of Jade Firmament Heaven. Do you think it's worth watching or not?"
"The third on the Hidden Star Ranking challenging the second?" Wei Zhenghong raised an eyebrow, quite astonished, and hurriedly said, "Isn't this Zhong Yue a True Radiance talent? Du Yunfei is an Azure Deity, though. Can he win?"
"You're asking me?" The middle-aged man couldn't help but laugh. "If I knew, would I be chatting nonsense here? It's precisely because no one knows the outcome that we came to watch."
"Star Seed Su..." Just as Wei Zhenghong was about to speak, he heard a voice by his ear.
Following the sound, he saw a person squeeze out from the crowd, followed by a rather immature teenager, and walked up to Su Chen.
"Star Seed... Su?" The middle-aged man looked at Su Chen and said in surprise, "Is he that Star Seed from your Bronze Heaven who focuses on Main Profession development?"
"Mm..." Wei Zhenghong responded perfunctorily, already noticing that quite a few people nearby had turned their heads, casting varied gazes.
He didn't like this kind of scrutiny very much and stepped back.
"Brother Jiang?" Su Chen looked at Jiang Ce in front of him, then his gaze fell on the teenager beside him. The boy only reached Jiang Ce's chest, his eyes dodging.
A small amber snake was crawling on his shoulder, seemingly a bit lethargic, with a bulge on its forehead.
Dragon-Transforming Celestial Serpent... So Jiang Ce wasn't scheming for himself. Su Chen's thoughts flashed by in an instant. "And this is..."
"This is my son, Jiang Fan..." Jiang Ce introduced, patting the back of the teenager's head. "Say hello."
"Uncle Su..." Jiang Fan said in a low voice.
He was used to being called Martial Uncle, but this was truly the first time he had heard this address. Su Chen fished out a piece of Faith Essence from his clothes. "Your Uncle here doesn't have any good things. Take this."
Jiang Fan was surprised and looked at Jiang Ce, only to see that his father was also somewhat astonished, but still signaled him to accept it.
"Thank you, Uncle Su..."
Su Chen waved his hand and then said, "Zhong Yue is going to challenge Du Yunfei? That's quite fierce... That Du Yunfei is an Azure Deity, though."
Hearing this, Jiang Ce's expression was somewhat proud. "Although Du Yunfei is an Azure Deity, Zhong Yue is also extraordinary. He already has seven Holy Classes, and they harmonize with his Cultivation Technique. The Star Beasts he raises all have extremely terrifying tiers and potential."
Speaking of this, Su Chen noticed that even Jiang Fan seemed to hold his head high, equally proud.
"It's not the first day Zhong Yue has reached this state. Why didn't he challenge before?"
Suddenly, someone interjected. It was that sincere middle-aged man, asking back with a chuckle.
Hearing this, Jiang Ce's brow couldn't help but furrow. He didn't know the other party, nor did he know which heaven the other party came from, merely saying implicitly, "Perhaps he wasn't certain before."
"Hehe... Between a True Radiance and an Azure Deity, one cannot solely look at Holy Classes and Cultivation Techniques." The sincere middle-aged man shook his head unhurriedly. "Du Yunfei majors in the Sword Class, which brings out the best in his Azure Deity talent. His might is terrifying..."
"And you are?" Jiang Ce didn't respond, merely inquiring about the other party's identity.
"Jade Firmament Heaven—Meng Yusen." The sincere middle-aged man cupped his hands.
As expected... Jiang Ce was expressionless. "Eternal Dragon Heaven—Jiang Ce."
"Since Brother Meng comes from Jade Firmament, then there's nothing left to say."
Ultimately, everyone would defend their own people, so discussion naturally lost its meaning.
"Brother Jiang misunderstands. I didn't mean to belittle Zhong Yue," Meng Yusen explained.
"Belittle?" The corner of Jiang Ce's mouth twitched. Just as he was about to speak, someone else spoke up, "You have to be qualified to do that too."
Meng Yusen narrowed his eyes and looked towards the source of the voice. It was a not-so-tall guy, who said sinisterly, "Du Yunfei's Azure Deity talent is indeed astonishing, but Zhong Yue's challenge this time isn't without certainty. He's already walking on the path of the Azure Deity Metamorphosis."
"Azure Deity Metamorphosis?" Meng Yusen's face changed slightly, and Jiang Ce's expression also didn't look too good.
He had also vaguely heard about this recently, thinking it was a secret of Eternal Dragon Heaven, but he didn't expect other heavens to seem to know about it as well.
"The success rate of the Azure Deity Metamorphosis is less than one in a hundred. Why bother..." Meng Yusen shook his head, but his demeanor was clearly not as calm as before.
Is the Azure Deity Metamorphosis related to undergoing a metamorphosis into the Azure Deity talent? Su Chen had been watching from the sidelines, but at this moment, a guess arose in him.
This Zhong Yue intends to undergo metamorphosis into an Azure Deity?
"But it seems he hasn't succeeded, otherwise that short guy wouldn't have said he was 'walking on the path'... So this kind of metamorphosis is actually done step by step?" Su Chen couldn't help but speculate. There was still no news of The Unsullied; it seemed they still hadn't completely researched the Azure God's Blood.
But from the exchange between these few people, he caught a piece of information: it wasn't impossible for a True Radiance to defeat an Azure Deity. At least some people believed Zhong Yue could win.
"In this way, I don't have to worry too much."
The crossfire here attracted the attention of quite a few people.
Seeing this, the three didn't argue further. Although the various heavens fought openly and secretly, and each had friction, it was all controlled within a certain scope.
Seeing there was no more drama to watch, the crowd turned their gazes back to the Martial Proof Hall.
Soon, light outlined and intertwined on all four sides of the Martial Proof Hall, forming a massive holographic projection, which was impressively the battlefield of Du Yunfei and Zhong Yue.
Everyone's attention was drawn to it. The crowd had gathered here specifically to wait for this Clash of Titans.
Wei Zhenghong and Shen Yi'an couldn't help but look over as well, but Su Chen's mind was elsewhere, muttering, "Why is this battlefield so similar to my trial space in the Tower of Spirit?"
"The destruction of the Taixuan family happened over ten thousand years ago. The Abyssal Domain's technology seems to not have developed much either."
In the arena, the expressions of the two were both indifferent. No communication could be seen as they each stood on a mountain peak.
He had seen Zhong Yue before. At this moment, the other party hadn't equipped any armored weapons or the like, nor could any accompanying fierce beasts be seen.
The person opposite him looked much more ethereal, his body draped in a wide white robe. He also looked quite young.
His brows were like swords, and an extremely sharp sword momentum rose up. Even through the screen, Su Chen felt a piercing sharpness rushing toward his face.
"Du Yunfei... Focuses on the Sword Class, belonging to a professional category combining body and spirit." Su Chen pondered. This kind of profession centering on a specific cold weapon also existed in the Dust Star Sea, but it was hard to form a system.
The holographic projection had no sound. Only the ground could be seen exploding, dust and smoke rising from all sides.
Du Yunfei's eyes narrowed slightly as he transformed into a sword shadow, shuttling and dodging at extreme speed. The thousand-mile radius of ground where he stood had already collapsed into pulverized dust.
Zhong Yue had already disappeared. What appeared was a fierce crimson ape, fully three to four meters tall. Its pupils were brilliantly golden, its hair like steel needles, and its muscles knotted. Its energy aura boiled and soared into the sky.
"That's the Golden-Eyed Crimson Blood Ape... one of the most formidable Star Beasts in our Eternal Dragon Heaven..." The young teenager Jiang Fan shouted excitedly, his face flushed red.
Up in the firmament, light and shadow flowed around Du Yunfei as thousands of flying swords rose into the sky, transforming into nine resplendent giant swords that blotted out the sky, cascading down like a torrent with terrifying might.
Boom—!
Once the real fight started, there was only a brilliant expanse of light. Real-time battles couldn't be graphically processed; what you see is what you see, and if you can't see it, there's nothing you can do.
For the vast majority of people present, this battle was just joining in on the fun. The young teenager beside him definitely couldn't see anything, but he was still very excited.
Su Chen watched for a while and lost interest. He didn't come here to join in on the fun.
He flipped through the Lingxiao Hidden Star Ranking, his gaze sweeping upwards from the tenth place one by one.
"The quota reward will overwrite, but the initial ranking reward won't. If I want to maximize benefits, it's best to start from tenth and fight my way up step by step."
This was also what he discovered when calculating how much Faith Essence he could obtain previously.
He previously thought that regardless of how the rankings between fourth and tenth fluctuated, he would only obtain one hundred Faith Essences.
But after careful study, he found out that wasn't the case. After becoming tenth, he could obtain one hundred Faith Essences. If he advanced one rank to ninth, he could obtain another one hundred Faith Essences.
For Lingxiao, this bit of reward was actually nothing much; it was nothing more than encouraging people to continue working hard upwards.
Those who could reach this stage probably didn't lack Faith Essence much either; they cared more about fame and prestige.
But it was different for him. Su Chen's eyes overflowed with a sharp gleam as he murmured, "If I fight my way up from tenth one by one, I can get a total of one thousand seven hundred portions of Faith Essence. It'll more than directly fill the current deficit."
"But if the commotion is too big, will it..." Su Chen's thoughts shifted, and he felt somewhat worried. "But I don't have the Blood of Tai Xuan on me, and I have the power of Nine Eyes to conceal me. Right now, there's no way they would think that Tai Xuanhong isn't a member of the Taixuan family at all. On the contrary, this is my opportunity."
"If I wait until they've searched all the Taixuan family members and realize that Tai Xuanhong has no relation to the Taixuan family, they might associate it with the Dust Star Sea. By then, hiding will be useless..."
"Old Yuan said before that several Hao Ri seemed to have joined forces to go to a certain place. The opportunity must not be missed..."
He just had to use this period of time to complete the idea of thoroughly "clearing his identity," and this idea required piling up resources.
Thinking of this, he looked up at the densely packed figures in the firmament again, calculating, "These top ten are gathered quite completely. If I act fast, maybe I can get it done directly today."
"It'll save me from waiting for people to respond, preparing, and all that later on..."
The holographic projection in the firmament flickered continuously. Both Wei Zhenghong and Shen Yi'an watched, dazzled.
With their professional tiers, they could at least barely make out the details of the exchange.
Su Chen called out several times before Shen Yi'an reluctantly withdrew his gaze and asked in surprise, "Junior Martial Uncle wants to undergo a win-rate battle right now?"
He originally thought Su Chen only came this time to broaden his horizons.
"Isn't it a bit early? How about after advancing to the 8th-Tier?" Shen Yi'an considered.
Jiang Ce was standing nearby and naturally heard it clearly. Withdrawing his gaze, he couldn't help but say, "Star Seed Su, I also suggest you settle down a bit more. Once this win rate is fixed, it will take a massive amount of energy to raise it later on."
"You gentlemen might not understand, but although this Martial Proof matchmaking excludes the top ten from past generations, are the eleventh and twelfth really that much weaker than the tenth?"
"Not to mention that in some powerful eras, even the top twenty were very terrifying."
Although this Star Seed Su was a bit crafty, he had obtained the Dragon-Transforming Celestial Serpent from him after all, and the other party had also made concessions multiple times during the process, not being overbearing. Therefore, he wanted to offer a reminder.
"Just going to see the world," Su Chen was ambiguous, not explaining too much.
Seeing this, Jiang Ce wanted to speak but stopped, and didn't say anything more. Deep conversations between shallow acquaintances could easily lead to misunderstandings if spoken too much.
Shen Yi'an looked at Wei Zhenghong, but saw that this big fellow looked thoughtful and didn't speak to dissuade him.
He couldn't help but frown, but similarly didn't advise against it further, saying, "Since we've arrived near the Martial Proof Hall, there's no need to squeeze in. You can communicate directly with your token."
"It's that convenient?" Su Chen attempted to communicate. His figure distorted and suddenly vanished from the spot.
"Uncle Su went to the Martial Proof Hall?" Little Jiang Fan noticed the commotion and couldn't help but ask.
"Mm-hmm," Jiang Ce nodded perfunctorily. He narrowed his eyes and looked at Wei Zhenghong and Shen Yi'an. Because of Su Chen, he also recognized these two.
These two guys didn't even try to dissuade him... He turned around, and a holographic projection reflected in front of him. Flipping through the list, his expression paused and became quite spectacular.
"987, 1045... These two guys' ranks are so low?"
For a moment, his thoughts turned somewhat dark. Could it be that these two guys wanted to drag Su Chen down to sink together, to save themselves from losing too much face?
"I hope he gets a good rank," Jiang Fan nodded thoughtfully. He was then attracted to the list in front of his father and couldn't help but peek over.
"Eh, how could an 8th-Tier Star Seed be ranked so low?" He didn't know whose name he spotted, but couldn't help being astonished. He looked up at Jiang Ce: "Didn't you say that Star Seeds are all very formidable?"
"Shut up, you saw wrong." Jiang Ce's expression changed slightly. He put away the screen and hurriedly scolded him.
Wei Zhenghong and Shen Yi'an, who were holding their heads high, twitched the corners of their mouths and had to pretend they didn't hear.
Su Chen only felt a moment of daze before his eyes. When his vision cleared again, he was already enveloped by a hazy mist. Between the rolling clouds, no boundary could be seen.
A holographic screen surfaced in front of him—[Bronze Heaven Star Seed Su Chen, 8th-Tier, True Radiance talent, no combat records found. Do you wish to proceed with Martial Proof Matchmaking?]