Chapter 488: Stingy Dragon's Disdain |
"I had dealings with this person before," the Bronze Ancient King sighed softly. "He indeed possessed some methods. In that Flare Realm, several Radiant Moons from my Dust Star Sea were also quite constrained by him."
"It's quite a pity..."
He also put on an act of lamenting for a few sentences, his gaze then turning towards the other two Heaven Lords.
Heaven Lord Pei naturally said: "You master and disciple haven't seen each other for a while. You must have many things to say, so we won't disturb you."
"Regarding the construction of the 'Compass' next, we'll discuss it after you finish your affairs."
Ancient Heaven Lord's reaction was obviously half a beat slow, but upon hearing Pei Song's words, he also nodded.
Su Chen nodded in agreement, watching the two leave the Ancient King Palace.
After the two left, Qing Cang couldn't help but say: "On that Compass, not only will there be a statue of you, but also a statue of Daoist Lord Lingxiao. High Firmament clearly wants to replace your position in the Dust Star Sea."
The Bronze Ancient King shook his head and said: "We are already members of High Firmament now. Adding the Daoist Lord's statue is perfectly justified. Moreover, High Firmament has also provided a lot of technical assistance. If it weren't for the method to relocate Life Stars, it would be difficult to gather so many lifeforms here."
Qing Cang was helpless and could only shut his mouth, but then he noticed his Master staring straight at him.
At first, he was a bit confused, looked left and right, and only then realized, saying in astonishment: "I have to leave too."
"Otherwise?" the Bronze Ancient King retorted.
Qing Cang was momentarily speechless. He glanced at Su Chen, who was standing to the side seemingly looking honest, but could only bow and leave.
After everyone had left and the hall doors were closed, streams of data light flowed out from the Bronze Ancient King's body and merged into the ground.
This Ancient King Palace was originally his residence and inherently possessed no small amount of might.
After making the proper arrangements, he finally couldn't help but ask: "What was going on with Taixuan Hong?"
"An Avatar..." Su Chen replied honestly.
"An Avatar could deceive those Radiant Moons and even pin them down in that Great Void Realm, forcing them to compromise?" The Bronze Ancient King had a look of "Do you take me for a fool" on his face.
"I indeed played a few tricks." Su Chen chuckled.
"Alright, save it." The Bronze Ancient King waved his large hand. Having experienced it many times, he was already immune to Su Chen's method of laughing things off to muddle through.
"As expected, I can't hide it from Master." Su Chen's expression remained unchanged as he whispered: "Didn't the Tianyi brothers' blood sacrifice summon the ancestor of the Taixuan family last time? When he sent me out, he left some means for me, which I happened to use this time."
"Taixuan Tianyi..." The Bronze Ancient King remained silent. "So, you also helped him resolve the Taixuan family's problems."
"If you receive Karma from someone, you always have to repay it." Su Chen shrugged.
Hearing this, the Bronze Ancient King couldn't help but glance at Su Chen, feeling somewhat moved. Apart from him, no one knew who Taixuan Hong was, and that Taixuan Tianyi had long been dead.
Even if Su Chen completely ignored the Taixuan family, no one would know. No one would dislike a junior disciple who knows how to repay a debt of gratitude.
Thinking of this, although he still had some doubts in his heart, he didn't voice them, merely asking: "But how will you handle the Spirit of the Vast Sun?"
"The reason I returned to the sect was precisely for this matter." Su Chen didn't hide anything. Towards Old Yuan, apart from the Status Panel, there wasn't really much he couldn't say.
"I have some means in my hands to contact the Spirit of the Vast Sun. Its spirituality is very high, so cooperating with me to put on a show shouldn't be a big problem."
Contacting the Spirit of the Vast Sun... The Bronze Ancient King's eyes shimmered slightly. "Is it also the means left behind by the Taixuan Ancestor?"
"Yes." Su Chen nodded.
Thoughts surged in the Bronze Ancient King's mind. Considering how comprehensive this was, Su Chen would be able to completely clear his name and legitimately become the Chosen of the Sovereign of the Purple Zenith.
Then wouldn't the Bronze Sect...
Thinking of this, even he couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement. That was the Radiant Sun. The last time he met Daoist Lord Lingxiao, the other party's might left a deep impression on him.
"However..." Suddenly, he thought of a crucial question and frowned slightly. "But you can't let the Spirit of the Vast Sun directly select you the moment it sees you."
No one could directly become the Chosen of the Spirit of the Vast Sun. Taixuan Hong had the backing of the Taixuan Ancestor, but Su Chen had nothing.
Moreover, with the matter of Taixuan Hong happening right before, it wouldn't necessarily stop others from associating him with the Taixuan family.
He had finally washed himself clean of this identity; he absolutely could not be tainted by it again.
"I understand. I just need to follow the normal selection process." Su Chen naturally knew this. In reality, he had previously managed to do it opportunistically by inputting a portion of the profession information into his Status Panel first.
Even so, he didn't completely succeed; it was only after Taixuan Tianyi gave him a push that it was accomplished.
Although the outside world, and even Old Yuan, believed that Taixuan Hong could become the Chosen because of the Taixuan Ancestor...
Su Chen estimated that if it was solely based on the Taixuan family bloodline, even with the Empyrean God talent, there was absolutely no way to directly become a Chosen.
"If you follow the normal selection process, you'll have to defeat all the competitors." The Bronze Ancient King subconsciously frowned, but suddenly remembered Su Chen sweeping the top ten, as well as Taixuan Hong sweeping the Five Pillars, so it seemed it wouldn't be too difficult.
"Well, normally speaking, it shouldn't be a big problem, but there will also be people at the Morning Star level participating." The Bronze Ancient King reminded him. "The minimum age requirement for the Radiant Sun Elect is five hundred years old."
"Five hundred?" Su Chen was slightly taken aback. He really hadn't understood the relevant information regarding this before.
If calculated based on the age of five hundred, it would probably include quite a few Morning Stars.
"They won't have us face off against Morning Stars directly, right?" Su Chen muttered. Although he didn't know much about this, Tong Zhuo and the others definitely did, and they hadn't shown any anxiety about the potential participation of Morning Stars.
The Bronze Ancient King also shook his head: "Definitely not. From what I understand, past Radiant Sun Selections would last for a hundred years or even longer. Some people would even drag it out until they exceeded the age limit. During this period, the changes in strength are immense to begin with, so there should be a set of procedures."
"It's fine. I'll just go through the procedures first. If I really can't handle those Morning Stars, I'll have the Spirit of the Vast Sun pull some strings behind the scenes. After all, everyone's talent is about the same, and being pleasing to the eye is also an important factor." Su Chen thought about it carefully and didn't feel overly worried.
Pull some strings... The corners of the Bronze Ancient King's eyes twitched.
Su Chen then changed the subject and asked, "Master, there's one more thing. Can you get the specific procedures and details for the Azure Deity Metamorphosis?"
"Azure Deity Metamorphosis, indeed... If you obtain the Selection with True Radiance, it wouldn't make sense." The Bronze Ancient King pondered and said: "I estimate the other Heaven Lords know this method. But to be safe, I'll wait until the Dao Sovereign returns and ask him directly."
"Listening to the two Heaven Lords, he should be returning soon."
"Alright." Su Chen nodded. Having reported his affairs and explained his needs, he bid farewell to the Ancient King and prepared to go back to contact the Spirit of the Vast Sun.
Exiting the grand hall, there was no one outside. The flight vehicle he rode in on had already been driven away by Qing Cang.
"Lao Qing is throwing a tantrum again..." Su Chen was speechless. He leaped into the starry expanse, utilizing the Metal Element to execute the Shadow-Slaying Phantasm, tearing out a sharp streak of light behind him.
In no time, he returned to his floating island on the Bronze Core. Naturally, it hadn't been assigned to anyone else, and even the layout on it was still preserved.
"The dents are still there." He stuck his head out and glanced into the Nether Tower; the traces of damage from before were clearly visible.
Sitting inside the Nether Tower, a familiar sense of security arose spontaneously, and he couldn't help but sigh deeply, "It's still more comfortable here."
Reaching out, he took the Remnant Spirit Origin from his portable space, and then took out solid Faith Essences one by one, piling them up to the side. Five hundred of them fully occupied a small half of the Nether Tower's space.
He rubbed his hands together and, following the method he tricked out of the Remnant Spirit last time, began to chant in a low voice: "...Sovereign of the Pure World..."
As his voice rose and fell, at a distance of precisely three fen and three li in front of Su Chen, a purple flame the size of a fist suddenly ignited.
Initiating a sacrificial ritual as the Chosen of the Sovereign of the Purple Zenith, under normal circumstances, a response should have been generated very quickly.
But in reality, even until he chanted until his mouth was dry, the purple flame in the void only became a bit more vigorous.
"It's sealed really tightly..." Su Chen shook his head. His arm plunged into the Remnant Spirit Origin, naturally unable to pull anything out, but as his prayer words shifted, strands of deep, dark grey matter surged out along his arm.
Cold, chilling, and profoundly silent.
It actually slowly merged into the purple flame in front of him. As if stirred by an invisible hand, layers of ripples appeared at the edges.
The grey matter slowly devoured the light and heat of the flame, gradually dyeing the dazzling purple flame dark, transforming it into an obscure and profound grey-purple light.
This grey-purple flame emitted an aura that made one involuntarily feel disgusted, perhaps because of the Chosen's connection.
Su Chen even felt vaguely nauseous, as if he had been polluted.
Strands of pure Power of Faith were pulled out from the essence and merged into this grey-purple flame.
In an instant, the flame rushed toward him. Su Chen resisted his body's instincts, allowing his consciousness to be pulled into it.
The sound of howling wind echoed in his ears, and his vision was a blur of hazy nothingness. Su Chen only felt himself falling rapidly, traversing an endlessly vast distance in a split second.
"Merely sacrificing to the Sovereign of the Purple Zenith makes the other party descend, but integrating a portion of the Nine-Eye Final Ruin's origin brings me over..." Su Chen realized the difference between the two methods.
Suddenly, a massive golden light appeared before his eyes. He felt as if he had crashed into a wall. After his consciousness cleared a bit, he discovered that it was actually rows upon rows of golden Buddhas, layered upon each other, densely packed, and endless.
Their entire bodies flowed with a molten gold-like radiance, tightly connected to form a boundless wall.
"Is this the blockade outside the Tower of Spirit?" Su Chen realized.
He then noticed that the grey-purple flame spread all over his body, carrying his consciousness, and gradually passed through this wall of Buddhas.
Behind it was a deep, surging river of mist.
And behind that was a magnificent Heavenly Gate, boundless and vast.
"There are actually only three blockades..." After squeezing through the gap of that magnificent Heavenly Gate, Su Chen felt as if he had been flattened.
And what was floating before his eyes was precisely that Tower of Spirit. The palace of the Spirit of the Vast Sun on the top of the tower, which had been shattered last time, was now perfectly intact as before.
His vision blurred, and the scene changed again.
His consciousness had already entered the hall straight away. Right before his eyes was the vessel of the Spirit of the Vast Sun—a wisp of purple flamelet.
And the moment he appeared here, this flamelet seemed to sense something and suddenly grew a bit larger.
A dragon's head popped out from within, its eyes filled with suspicion, its nostrils flared, seeming to sniff for some kind of information.
With a thought from Su Chen, the grey-purple flame on his body gradually materialized, indistinctly sketching out a shadowy silhouette.
Visible to the naked eye, a look of disgust welled up in the Spirit of the Vast Sun's eyes, and it seemed about to take action.
"Stingy Dragon, it's me." He hurriedly said. The partial information of the Final Ruin on his body made this guy hate it very much.
The Spirit of the Vast Sun tossed its head, its eyes seemingly somewhat alarmed and doubtful, its voice muffled: "The Chosen?"
"Yes, yes." Su Chen nodded repeatedly.
"What the heck is on your body, it stinks so much..." The dragon head shrank back, saying in disgust.
Hey, I've already become the Chosen. Even if you don't submit right away, at least be polite. Such an awful temper... Su Chen grumbled inwardly, but said helplessly: "I used some methods to pass through the blockades of the other several Radiant Moons."
He didn't explain too much and said straightforwardly: "Time is tight, there's something I must inform you in advance. Soon, someone might bring a guy with quite high talent to find you. Just pretend I don't exist temporarily and give him your recognition normally."
"What do you mean?" The Spirit of the Vast Sun didn't quite understand.
"It's complicated to explain..." Su Chen had already prepared a draft and recounted his general idea exactly as it was.
"...That's how it is. Do you understand now? This is to avoid some trouble."
"I roughly understand..." That small dragon head frowned deeply, not looking like it understood at all no matter how one looked at it.
"In short, you just pretend this Chosen of yours doesn't exist, and then go through the previous process again?"
Hearing this, Su Chen closed the mouth he had prepared to explain again with and nodded, saying: "That's pretty much what it means."
"What if you don't pass?" The Spirit of the Vast Sun rolled its eyes and suddenly asked, carrying some sort of malicious amusement.
"Pull some strings for me behind the scenes." Su Chen didn't mind at all, and then clearly saw disdain welling up in those mung bean-sized eyes.
But then, the Spirit of the Vast Sun turned its body, moving around the flamelet, and asked: "You kid are quite interesting. Last time, I thought it was the aura of Taixuan Ye, but later I found out it wasn't quite right. That seemed to be the aura belonging to the profession itself. How did you get it?"
"My time is up. Be absolutely sure to remember to pretend I don't exist. I'll feed you more Faith Essence in the future..." Su Chen's expression changed slightly. The grey-purple flame wrapping around his body flickered unstably. He only had time to leave behind this sentence before disappearing without a trace.
"Hmph..." The Spirit of the Vast Sun snorted coldly, but its tongue couldn't help licking its lips. Having stayed here for tens of thousands of years, only that little bit of Faith Essence this kid fed it a while ago satisfied its craving.
"No, what do you mean feed? That's called an offering!" The dragon head raised high, then suddenly shrank back into the flamelet.
"Phew..." Inside the Nether Tower, Su Chen opened his eyes, looking at the Faith Essence beside him that had completely dissipated, and his eyebrows couldn't help but twitch.
Five hundred portions of Faith Essence were only enough to last for such a short while.
The Remnant Spirit Origin had also dimmed considerably.
"I wonder how many more times it can provide for my use. The remnant origin at the Final Ruin level is truly easy to use."
Su Chen carefully put it away. This thing had already helped him solve troubles many times; it was simply a panacea.