Chapter 497: Senior, Please Wait |
"Has the Divine Bloodline already become perverted to this extent? A True Radiance actually has this kind of strength?" The middle-aged man's mouth was full of blood, and he couldn't help but ask.
"Your Excellency, we can talk now, right? I bear absolutely no ill will." Su Chen felt he was acting quite amiably.
"Haha..." The middle-aged man on the ground laughed loudly, but before he could laugh twice, he started coughing violently, blood foam spilling from his mouth.
"Let me heal you." Seeing that this guy didn't seem to have a recovery-type profession, Su Chen offered proactively.
"You won." The middle-aged man suddenly said.
As his voice fell, Su Chen's face changed slightly, watching helplessly as the middle-aged man turned into streaking light and dissipated.
"Wait..." Su Chen reached out but grabbed nothing. After a moment of silence, he laughed in anger.
Is this guy out of his mind!
Taking a deep breath, although this guy had only spoken a few sparse sentences, Su Chen could still deduce some information.
"But trials always have a purpose..."
As Su Chen was pondering, a voice sounded by his ear.
"Trial passed. Won despite an extreme disparity in talent. Allowed existence time extended to one month. Reward obtained: a wisp of Origin Fire, one portion of Buddha-Heart Fluid."
There were actually benefits?
Su Chen's spirit was instantly lifted, especially since the reward included a term he had just mentioned—Origin Fire.
Radiance flowed before his eyes. On the left, it was brilliant gold, with liquid like flowing gold swirling around.
On the right, it was a cluster of grayish-white mist, faintly condensed into the shape of a flame.
"Isn't this... Mist Source?"
Su Chen was stunned. He took two steps forward and examined it carefully, becoming increasingly certain. Don't be fooled by its flame-like appearance; this thing was exactly Mist Source.
"Mist Source is Origin Fire?" He suddenly realized and reached out to try and grab it. This thing flipped and leaped in his hand, taking the shape of a grayish-white flame.
[Origin Fire: A special flame supported by Mist Source.]
"So this thing is condensed from Mist Source." Su Chen understood. At the same time, the status panel popped up—[The Sun-Mirror Calamity-Slaying Sovereign perceived that you obtained some Origin Fire and hopes you can give it to him. He will provide some help within his capabilities.]
"Don't worry, it's definitely yours, but there's no rush right now."
Su Chen put it away first, then turned to look at the so-called Buddha-Heart Fluid. He tentatively grabbed it, and a prompt appeared.
[Buddha-Heart Fluid: Originates from the Buddhist lineage, brewed from the blood of the Buddha. Can assist in the growth of the Seven-Branch Wondrous Tree.]
Assist in the growth of the Seven-Branch Wondrous Tree?
He felt a slight shock in his heart. Such a coincidence? The reward just happened to be this thing.
No, he thought of the voice that evaluated him earlier. The Seven Treasures Refinement was a top-tier Ascension Refining method of the Buddha Land, and it inherently required the Seven-Branch Wondrous Tree to coordinate.
"He recognized me as someone from the Buddha Land, so he rewarded me with this kind of thing. The Buddha Land is also considered part of the Divine Bloodline? Or are all Five Pillars part of the Divine Bloodline?"
"The specifications of this trial are not low. I couldn't even find this kind of thing on the black market."
Su Chen reached out. After he put away these two rewards, everything around him gradually disappeared, and he returned to that space.
"Changed locations again?"
Su Chen looked around in astonishment. This was a brand-new city. There were holographic projections everywhere, even half of the firmament was covered by holographic projections.
High-tier professionals flew around everywhere. Su Chen immediately noticed several 7th or 8th-tier professionals.
"The level of this place seems to be very high..." After spending some time, Su Chen figured out his current location.
"Shaojiang Planet, one of the three planets directly under the Pure Yang Star Region." Su Chen frowned. "And then? Let me stay here for a month to welcome the next challenge?"
"What is the significance of extending the existence time?"
But a moment later, he fell into thought. "To me, this kind of existence time has no meaning. But if it was after the Abyssal Void was destroyed, and someone could find this place, the value would be immense."
"Perhaps part of the Abyssal Void's culture, technology, and professional information is completely preserved here. The longer you stay, the greater the harvest. Is it a kind of revival method?"
"But this place was only washed out fifteen thousand years ago. At that time, the Abyssal Domain had already stood for many years, and the Radiant Suns had alternated for many generations. How many useful things can there still be in here."
Su Chen estimated that there were probably many secrets in here that he was currently unable to probe.
"One month..." Su Chen thought about it. With a thought, his vision blurred, and he suddenly appeared outside the Formless Heavenly Gate, storing it away first.
The flow of time inside wasn't much different from the outside. Since this place belonged to the Nether Realm, it wasn't guaranteed he wouldn't run into anyone. Staying here for a long time wasn't a wise move.
He took out the Origin Fire first and directly fed it to the Heavenly Sovereign.
[The Sun-Mirror Calamity-Slaying Sovereign swallowed the Origin Fire, only feeling his whole body boiling, feeling himself growing increasingly powerful. His gaze shifted, landing on the Sovereign of the Purple Zenith. He quietly approached and brazenly attacked.
The Holy Sovereign coldly snorted in anger, once again sweeping him away, but the Heavenly Sovereign seemed to have obtained something from him.]
He went to provoke that guy again. Su Chen's expression was strange. He could tell; the Heavenly Sovereign was relying on the fact that the Sovereign of the Purple Zenith's professional information was incomplete and had little reaction to the outside world. Even if he took action, it wouldn't matter much.
Text continued to emerge—[Vocation Fire: Can bestow a medium-level characteristic to a certain Sacred Class, or provide a certain degree of enhancement to an existing characteristic.]
"Directly bestow a characteristic?" A sharp gleam shone in Su Chen's eyes. And a medium-level one at that...
How powerful a medium-level characteristic was could be seen from the World-Slaying Manifestation's [God-Ascension]; it was an enhancement that almost doubled the power.
"I wonder if it can make the Sky-Scars undergo a metamorphosis." Su Chen couldn't help but ponder. The Sky-Scars could only be enhanced up to Morning Star Artifacts.
After he advanced, the effect would definitely be greatly discounted. Perhaps it could still allow him to sweep away low-level Morning Stars, but it would be hard to touch those high-level freaks who had tempered themselves for many years.
"However, it seems a Sacred Class can only possess one characteristic, and subsequently can only be enhanced. To make the Sky-Scars undergo a metamorphosis, I probably have to think of another way."
Su Chen thought for a moment. Except for the Eternal Physique and the World-Slaying Manifestation, none of his other Sacred Classes had characteristics. For the time being, he couldn't think of which Sacred Class to use it on. Besides, these guys had all been dispatched out.
"Let's see who comes back first..."
Su Chen took out the Buddha-Heart Fluid again, opened the status panel, and tentatively transferred it to the Seven-Branch Wondrous Tree.
The effect was indeed extraordinary. The entire Seven-Branch Wondrous Tree emitted a radiant glow, trembling incessantly.
Previously, consuming a hundred portions of Faith Essence couldn't make this small tree grow much. But now, it was shooting up at a speed visible to the naked eye, and even the trunk and branches below had thickened considerably.
It quickly grew much taller. However, an eighth branch didn't spread out.
"The effect is actually this obvious. It at least thickened by a full circle and grew ten centimeters taller." Su Chen was quite surprised.
"Although I don't know what the purpose of that trial is, there are quite a lot of benefits. If I get this Buddha-Heart Fluid one or two more times, it might even be able to catalyze the growth of the eighth branch..."
"Having to stay inside for a month... after coming back, there should still be enough time."
Su Chen returned to Five Pillar City and used his fake identity to purchase a property. The price was not cheap either, nearly three hundred essence portions. However, the various configurations were far inferior to those in High Heaven; it wasn't even a detached villa, just a two-story townhouse.
He naturally couldn't take this thing out in High Heaven, and using it in the wilderness of the Nether Realm had too many uncertain factors.
If he returned to the Bronze Sect, passing through the Star Gate once would also cost a hundred essence portions. He might as well test it out in this Five Pillar City; the risk was definitely lower than in High Heaven.
Su Chen closed the door, his expression solemn, ready to use various methods at any time. He flicked his finger, and the Formless Heavenly Gate appeared in the center of the room.
He waited a while, and after finding no movement around, he slightly let out a sigh of relief.
Although the Five Pillars claimed they wouldn't conduct any surveillance within the city, he wasn't the only one who doubted this statement. However, up until now, no one had discovered any clues.
After waiting a few more days to confirm he wouldn't be discovered, Su Chen finally entered it.
It was still the same place as last time. After Su Chen got a general understanding of the place, he found a place to rest.
Although there were no supporting facilities, he could still develop his profession progress, so it wasn't considered a waste of time.
......
Dong!
A month's time arrived, and the familiar bell toll sounded. In the room, Su Chen abruptly opened his eyes, already finding himself in that Absolute Domain.
[Trialist Number Six, the second layer of the trial has begun. There is a massive disparity between the trial target and you. Do you wish to continue?]
"Trialist Number Six?" Su Chen was slightly taken aback, feeling somewhat subtle in his heart. "The first five... could they be those five Radiant Suns?"
This Primordial Return-to-Void Realm had only appeared fifteen thousand years ago, and outsiders who wanted to come in had to go through an Abyssal Eternal. Nine times out of ten, there was no one else.
And exactly five people were ahead of him. It was hard for him not to associate them with those five Radiant Suns.
"Massive disparity... should be about the same as I guessed. I should be facing a Morning Star." Su Chen gathered his thoughts, focusing on the present, and tentatively asked: "Will I be beaten to death?"
"You have already passed the initial trial. If subsequent trials fail, you will only be expelled. If you fail three times, you will be permanently expelled."
Su Chen was just asking tentatively, and that voice actually responded. He hurriedly followed up: "What exactly is this trial for?"
But the only result was a cold response: "Do you wish to continue?"
"Let's try it a little bit. Anyway, I have three chances. If it's only one stream of Morning Fire, I might not necessarily lose."
Of course, also because the trial target had independent intelligence, he still wanted to try and fish for information.
There was no response. Su Chen focused his attention and waited. Not far away, a figure gradually emerged. He spoke first, hoping to chat a few words, "Your Excellency... I..."
Before he finished speaking, his face stagnated slightly. The figure wore a ferocious smile and had a tuft of short beard on his chin. Impressively, it was the guy who had taken three of his punches earlier.
"Kid, didn't expect this, did you? It's me again. I knew you would continue." The bearded man gave a ferocious smile. A blazing, majestic, and dazzling flame emerged around him, followed by a second... and a third...
"Three streams of Morning Fire, the limit of a Lower-Tier Radiant Sun!" Su Chen's eyelids twitched. This guy's talent was suspected to be above Azure God, and he had actually tempered out three streams of Morning Fire.
Even a Divine Dawn level Morning Star who had tempered out five or six streams of Morning Fire might not necessarily be this guy's match.
How the f*ck am I supposed to fight this!
"Senior, please wait..." he hurriedly said. Before his voice fell, he was interrupted by the bearded man, who said coldly: "Kid, I took three of your punches. How about you take one of my palm strikes?"
He almost gave Su Chen no time to react. He extended his fingers and palm, and all three streams of Morning Fire sank into it.
Boom!
That hand instantly transformed into a massive palm, whose might was hundreds of times greater than when he was at the 8th-tier. It covered the sky and blocked out the sun. Su Chen couldn't even see the end of it; just the ravines in the palm prints were like continuous mountain ranges.
Su Chen's heart palpitated. An unrivaled tremendous force tightly constricted him from all directions. He activated the Flash-Shadow Body for a long time but found it completely useless. The disparity was simply too great.
"F* me!"
Energy auras rippled out. Su Chen was stunned. He had already appeared outside the Formless Heavenly Gate, his heart still beating violently, his back covered in cold sweat.
"It was actually this guy again..." Su Chen calmed down a bit and let out a long sigh of relief. "His strength actually increased... No, he should have been suppressed below Morning Star earlier."
"I wonder what the situation is with the other Radiant Suns. Could they have pushed through the whole way?"
Su Chen shook his head and put away the Heavenly Gate. Three streams of Morning Fire, suspected to be a talent surpassing Azure God—he had given up on any thoughts about it for the short term.
"Wait until I advance to Morning Star... The Four-Armed Golden Ape is still waiting for me, this old guy..." Su Chen coldly snorted and directly returned to the Bronze Heaven in reality.
"Phew..." Returning to the hall, Su Chen moved his limbs. In the Nether Realm, there was always a feeling of sluggishness that he was somewhat unaccustomed to. Only after returning to reality did he feel comfortable.
"I shouldn't have missed it..."
With a thought, the holographic projection appeared before him, rapidly jumping to the leaderboard page. Before he had time to check the changes on the Star Potential Ranking, he noticed a difference.
Su Chen noticed a change. In front of the three rankings, an extra tab had appeared. "Why is there an extra leaderboard? Selection Ranking List?"
He clicked it open and refreshed a long list of names. There were also two sub-pages within it.
[Ordained Path]
[Selection Probability]
There was also an additional note in small print—[This leaderboard can only be seen by members of the Five Pillars. Please try not to leak it.]
"So intuitive..." Su Chen also found it novel. He first clicked open the Ordained Path, and what came into view was impressively—[Xu Yingshen: Defeated 3 people]
Followed by—[Chang Geming: Has already defeated 2 people]
"This is ranked according to the number of people defeated who were also recognized by the Three Dragon Phantoms."
Su Chen fell into thought. This way, everyone in the Five Pillars could see it.
Those guys who aspired to be chosen, watching others go further and further on the Ordained Path, would inevitably feel anxious and involuntarily speed up their progress and the intensity of their conflicts with each other.
He jumped to the Selection Probability again, and this time, the one ranked first was Qin Guanyu.
[Qin Guanyu—10%: Actively entered the Tower of Spirit, challenged everyone, no one dared to answer. Gained the favor of the Spirit of the Vast Sun, but may not necessarily be the strongest.]
[Mingxin—7%: Besides the dead Taixuan Hong and the disqualified Kong Ming, the first person to obtain the Three Dragon Phantoms, but did not elicit any other reaction from the Spirit of the Vast Sun.]
"It can actually calculate probabilities? Based on what?" Su Chen was somewhat curious. "Could it be calculated based on the overall data of the Five Pillars obtaining the selection over the years?"
He glanced down. His position was the first one below the Morning Stars.
[Su Chen—5%: Received extraordinary favor from the Spirit of the Vast Sun due to being excessively young, but is neither an Azure God nor a Morning Star.]
A 5% probability was actually not considered low; it was almost the same as those Morning Stars with no particular characteristics. The 8th-tiers below, like Chang Geming and the others, basically only had a probability of 3% or 2%.