"Senior Brother..." Sang Hanhai sat down respectfully, "Your junior brother is dull-witted and cannot assist you with anything."
"You ah you..." The elder chuckled, "Speak, what is the matter?"
"I discovered a Heaven-Bestowed Class Decoder..." Sang Hanhai said.
"Oh?" The elder seed sowhat surprised, yet continued looking down at the smooth Saint Word Stone in his hand. He seed to be contemplating exactly what thod could be used to leave text upon it. "It has been a while since one appeared. It will save so effort."
A Heaven-Bestowed Class Decoder could only assist in deciphering a single Saint Word Stone. Such an insignificant matter wasn't worth him paying too much mind to.
Light flickered in Sang Hanhai's eyes, his voice low: "So ti ago, the Saint Word Stone he resonated with had already been fully deciphered. Yet when he arrived today, he actually resonated with another Saint Word Stone I was currently deciphering."
"Hm?" The elder abruptly raised his lowered head. His sowhat unfocused gaze instantly condensed like a falcon's, exclaiming in amazent: "Such a thing actually happened?"
Sang Hanhai continued, "Could Teacher's speculation have been correct? The essence of a Heaven-Bestowed Class Decoder isn't resonating with the profession, but rather resonating with the Saint Word Stone itself."
"Mm..." The elder's expression flickered. After pondering for a long while, he shook his head: "It isn't the Saint Word Stone. The essence of this thing is rely a stone of peculiar material. Even if he resonated, he resonated with the divine language."
"Divine language..." Sang Hanhai's expression turned dazed.
They continuously excavated ruins, obtaining various pieces of information. They would frequently propose a certain speculation, only for it to be rapidly overturned by another, which would then be overturned by the next.
The theory that Heaven-Bestowed Class Decoders might intrinsically resonate with Saint Word Stones was proposed by their Teacher.
And the divine language was his Senior Brother's theory: he believed the symbols recorded upon the Saint Word Stones appeared overwhelmingly complicated, but in reality, they were rely a sentence or two of text.
It was simply that the script utilized was the language of gods.
The volu of information contained within the language of gods was overwhelmingly massive. Yet, they could only use lower-tier languages to analyze it, thus expending an imnse amount of futile effort.
If one could master the divine language, deciphering Saint Word Stones would beco simple.
"Where is he?" The elder couldn't help but ask, his tone carrying traces of urgency.
"I told him to return."
"Return where?" The elder furrowed his brows slightly.
Sang Hanhai knew that his Senior Brother turned a deaf ear to matters outside the window, wholeheartedly focused purely on researching the divine language. He explained: "He was recruited as an exception this year as a Core Seed of the Adjudication Court, possessing Ink Jade talent."
"Ink Jade talent?" The elder grew even more astonished, yet inevitably excited. "Indeed, my thoughts were correct. The higher the talent, the stronger the resonance with the divine language."
"Quick, bring him over!"
"Senior Brother..." Sang Hanhai smiled bitterly. "He is a Core Seed. If the Adjudication Court discovers you want to pull him in to study the divine language, Chong Jingtian himself will co knocking."
"Furthermore," Sang Hanhai hesitated before adding, "He is also Xia Hanshi's student."
"Xia Hanshi..." Hearing Chong Jingtian's na, the elder's expression only restrained slightly, but upon hearing Xia Hanshi, his expression changed. "Does he still want to go rescue Ji Rou?"
"Su Chen is currently a Core Seed of the Adjudication Court. Chong Jingtian will likely stop him." Sang Hanhai hesitated, "Xia Hanshi also has to show so restraint."
"He won't be able to stop him!" The elder said in a deep voice, subsequently breathing out a lancholic sigh. "Forty years ago, myself, Chong Jingtian, Xia Hanshi, and Ji Rou went out for experiential training."
"...In that bizarre ruin, we discovered the 'Vault Light'. Unfortunately, to save Xia Hanshi, Ji Rou was trapped inside. Because of this, Xia Hanshi has harbored an obsession all this ti."
Sang Hanhai remained silent; he had known of this matter long ago. The Vault Light originated from a bizarre ruin, and it taking them nearly twenty years to completely restore it before it could be gradually popularized.
And the Vault Light was rely one of the rewards inside—and only a common good at that.
But that ruin was exceedingly special; those without high talent could not enter. Currently, it was jointly controlled by the four cities including Yingfeng. Over the years, they had only obtained so fragnted, broken items.
"Since his background relationships are so complicated, we can only guide him gradually. Will he co again?" The elder inquired.
"Mm." Sang Hanhai nodded: "He wishes to seek a special profession and will assist in deciphering the Saint Word Stone on hand. He will co again."
"Excellent. Proceed according to your original thoughts. Wait until another Saint Word Stone is delivered and have him test it again." The elder instructed, "Simultaneously, bring up topics like the divine language to pique his interest."
"Understood." Sang Hanhai nodded. Just as he was about to stand up, he asked: "Should we find an opportunity to let him take a look at that stone slab?"
That was a similarly bizarre object originating from that ruin. The symbols carved upon it resembled those on Saint Word Stones, but its surface area was ten-odd tis larger than an ordinary Saint Word Stone.
"Absolutely not..." The elder shot him a glance. "You rely took half a glance, yet one of your eyeballs shattered to pieces—sothing even high-tier healers couldn't restore. Picking out a portion of the symbols and engraving them onto the Defensive Spirit Ring was enough to rid the radius of several thousands of miles around Yingfeng of mutants entirely."
"That thing is too powerful. What tier is he even at?"
Seeing Sang Hanhai extend two fingers, the elder shook his head even more repeatedly: "Being able to leave behind an intact corpse would be considered lucky. We will discuss this later."
.........
"Why did I feel like Old Sang's reaction was so bizarre?"
Outside the Class Decoding Departnt, Su Chen had already boarded the hover car, mumbling to himself covertly. "However, since he already told to leave, nothing bad should happen."
"I've already displayed this trait. In the future, if there are more Saint Word Stones, he will definitely bring them for to look at. Plus, that Weapon Nurturer... Not bad. A few more tis and I should be able to obtain it."
Having resolved the issue of upgrading weapons, Su Chen was in a good mood. Humming a little tune along the way, he returned to the Adjudication Court.
This round trip only took till noon. An old acquaintance was waiting outside his door.
"Old Bai..." Su Chen raised a brow, looking at the young girl before him. Clad in a white training outfit, she was expressionless, carrying an aura that scread 'strangers keep away'.
"Rare guest." While inviting her inside, he instructed Number Zero: "This is my friend. If she cos again in the future, don't leave her waiting outside."
"This place of yours truly isn't bad." Bai Fengxi looked at the spacious room, glancing casually at the maid-outfitted Number Zero a few tis. Her tone was aloof: "Truly worthy of a Core Seed."
"Want to move in together?" Su Chen invited her to sit down, asking casually.
"Forget it." Bai Fengxi shook her head. "I need to train in special environnts. You can't provide that here."
Su Chen shrugged. After chatting for a bit, he learned that Old Bai needed to train in extrely frigid environnts, which was quite troubleso.
Speaking of which, the topic shifted to the hottest current news in the Adjudication Court.
In just a single morning, quite a lot of things had happened.
Following a brief period of chaos, the old seeds unified their factions to launch an attack questioning the fairness of the challenge system.
Even several Inquisitors, and even leaders of external departnts voiced their opinions. Their core ideology was one: the challenge system is acceptable, but how will fairness be guaranteed?
And right after Su Chen and Bai Fengxi had a simple lunch, the Chief Inquisitor issued another announcent——
"Through cooperation with Yingfeng's Research Departnt, the 'Challenger's Arena' has been manufactured. It is capable of suppressing the professional tiers of combatants to the sa level, serving as the challenge arena for Core Seeds."
"Due to the minimum suppression limit being the third tier, the two newly recruited Core Seeds, Su Chen and Chu Xuan, are temporarily excluded from the challenge system until they advance to the third tier."
A single stone stirred up a thousand waves!
"Challenger's Arena... to think there's actually such a thing." Su Chen leaned in closely to Number Zero, looking at the projected virtual screen displaying the latest announcent alongside detailed explanations.
"...For example, in a battle between a third-tier and a fourth-tier, the fourth-tier will be suppressed precisely to the third-tier stage. Advanced professions will be temporarily suppressed, and even developnt levels can be matched to a roughly similar degree..."
"The Chief Inquisitor hid his hand deeply. He presumably planned this for a long ti." Bai Fengxi also leaned over, clicking her tongue in amazent.
"However, even if suppressed to the sa level, those old geezers' developnt and experience regarding their own professions are also advantages."
The consensus amongst everyone was that the exact sa profession, placed in the hands of different people, might yield earth-shattering differences.
Furthermore, it was ticulously explained within that ntal resilience could not be suppressed with extre precision, making it rather unfriendly to ntal-type professionals.
Fifth-tier professionals couldn't be suppressed either. However, among the current Core Seeds, none were fifth-tier professionals.
"Being able to achieve this degree is already very good." Su Chen shook his head. "To put it another way, if a challenger lacks the capability to suppress those old geezers, there's no need to switch people out anyway."
Bai Fengxi pondered, nodding in deep agreent: "What you said also makes sense."
"This move to take away the firewood from under the cauldron is simply incredible. Not only does it dissolve the public opinion, but it also instigates internal strife within individual small factions." Su Chen thought even further ahead.
Because back when he inaugurated into 【Sage】, it didn't cause his ntal talent to tamorphose from Red Gold to Ink Jade. Therefore, he knew that disparities existed even between talents of the sa color.
In the past, Core Seeds were not swapped out. Even so with peerless talent and exceptional dispositions had no choice but to be forced to pick a side.
But now, a tear had undoubtedly been ripped open from within.
As for the factions supporting them from behind, their willingness to directly oppose the Chief Inquisitor was also weakened.
As long as soone within their small faction could securely stand atop the position of a Core Seed, it was still acceptable and wouldn't be considered a total loss.
"Simultaneously neutralizing attacks while launching his own counterattacks, incredibly formidable..." The more Su Chen analyzed it, the more formidable he felt it was. If Chong Jingtian genuinely wanted to push through reforms forcefully, he definitely could have achieved it; he was the Chief Inquisitor after all.
But pushing things through gradually like this caused the least damage and was the most stable.
Bai Fengxi added: "Rouse the energy with the first drum, deplete it with the second, exhaust it with the third. With the offensive on fairness dissolved, who knows if they have any other tricks up their sleeves. Perhaps they've already hidden away to cry their eyes out."
Su Chen chuckled softly, "Those Core Seeds haven't reached the point of panic yet. After all, having sat in these positions for many years, they should more or less still be able to suppress the people beneath them."
"But as ti drags on, harboring ulterior motives will be unavoidable. The Chief Inquisitor has already forced their health bars to beco visible; he's rely waiting for the mont soone inevitably thrusts the first knife."
However, Su Chen perceived an eager light flashing in Bai Fengxi's eyes, "Do you also wish to taste what being a Core Seed is like?"
"Of course." Bai Fengxi made absolutely no attempt to conceal it, raising her head slightly. "What they can do, I won't necessarily be worse than them."
"Indeed." Su Chen deeply agreed. Old Bai's profession advancent speed wasn't slow, and her path had long been paved for her—this was also an exceptional advantage intrinsically blessed by the heavens.
Bai Fengxi's "ambition" was not small, and she never once relaxed her training.
After seeing her off, Su Chen looked at the latest news again. Chong Jingtian's secrecy asures were excellent; once the announcent ca out, it plunged the entire Adjudication Court into silence.
"I reckon even Old Xia had no idea beforehand. Insidious... Truly insidious..."
After mumbling a few sentences and waiting for not long, Gu Bing arrived, carrying two large tal suitcases.
Su Chen brought her to the storage room before popping open the tal suitcases. Inside were neatly sealed tubes of potions. Smoothing out her hair, Gu Bing pointed at the pale red potion bottles and introduced:
"This is 'Nether Enigma Essence', a total of sixty tubes. And this is 'Black Water', a total of thirty tubes..."
With a quota of two portions per day, a rough estimation of the potions provided by the Gu family would cost six to seven hundred thousand gold.
Su Chen couldn't help but click his tongue. This was rely a single month, and it was only the second-tier.
"Exactly who invented these potions... Injecting drugs to train, truly a heinous cri." Su Chen secretly cursed in his heart, yet suddenly ca to a realization.
The Adjudication Court allowing the seeds to form factions and pull strings, in a certain sense, was also a thod of binding Yingfeng's large and small factions together.
If you didn't attach yourself to the Adjudication Court, you would attach yourself to the Security Bureau.
"Alright..." Collaborating with Number Zero, Gu Bing placed these potions into the display cabinets.
After squatting down to shut the suitcases tight, she raised her head to look at Su Chen. Yet, she inexplicably recalled her father's words. Her gaze seemingly dodged slightly as she hesitantly asked: "Do you have any other needs?"
"Mm..." Su Chen thought for a mont, "Are you guys able to procure Mystic Energy Crystals?"
"Mystic Energy Crystals?" Gu Bing frowned. A mont later, she finally rembered what this thing was. "An item produced by the Engraving Departnt... It's a bit difficult..."
Gu Bing didn't shy away from the topic, speaking very transparently, "Price is one aspect. The more crucial factor is output. The utility of this thing is not small. Before it is even produced, it is basically fully reserved."
"I estimate we can barely manage to procure one."
"One..." Su Chen shook his head, not making things difficult for the Gu family. "Forget it, I won't need it temporarily."
This matter wasn't urgent either. There was still a period of ti before he advanced to the third tier; there was no need to squeeze the Gu family excessively.
Three Mystic Energy Crystals and three types of Lightning Cores—the combined requirent for these two playthings was no less than ten million gold.
Gu Bing breathed a sigh of relief internally, yet she also felt sowhat helpless.
Watching Gu Bing leave, Su Chen returned to the basent. Several days had already passed since the Adjudication Court assessnt.
But these past few days had been extrely busy, and he had never found free ti. He had only been conducting scattered, pieceal training, feeling as if his bones had grown rusty.
However, before that, he still had one matter to attend to.
"I wonder what kind of abilities it holds..." Su Chen looked at [Potion Tester] preparing to inaugurate on the panel.
This profession was a spineless coward. The mont it was recorded, it imdiately surrendered and disard itself.
The word 'Inaugurate' morphed into flowing light and dissipated. Su Chen instantly perceived the subtle changes within his body. It wasn't intense; it felt like a pair of soft little hands massaging every part of his body, even penetrating his skin and perating his flesh and blood.
"Hiss—— This is the first ti inaugurating felt this comfortable..." Suppressing the urge to moan, Su Chen breathed out a long sigh, looking toward his panel——
【Inauguration into 'Potion Tester' success. Obtained professional ability — Potent tabolism: Effects of potions applied to oneself increased by 25%.】
"Oh?" Su Chen's eyes lit up. Originally harboring no expectations toward this profession, he hadn't expected it to actually grant him a minor surprise.
"Increased potion effects... also equivalent to increased training efficiency..."
The crisp, numbing, and soft itches within his body gradually subsided; he was still sowhat reluctant to part with the sensation.
Stretching his limbs slightly, Su Chen grabbed the Nether Enigma Essence, Black Water, and Glazed Blood from the storage room before entering the gravity room.
He activated five-tis gravity and the Spirit Realm Instrunt.
He took out the Black Water first. This thing looked like black oil, and Su Chen hesitated for quite a while before pouring it down his throat. Entering his mouth, it felt icy cold, lacking any taste, but very quickly morphed into a bone-piercing chill that swept through his entire body.
"Hiss——" Su Chen shivered. Opening the Nether Enigma Essence, he gulped it down. The pale red liquid stung his tongue slightly. Manufactured from the severed Nether Enigma Flowers spawned within specific phantom realms, blazing hot flas surged toward his brain, turning his forehead scarlet red.
"Two heavens of ice and fire, fuck..."
Only lastly did he pour down the Glazed Blood. Stimulated by the Glazed Blood, the effects of the two potions beca even more pronounced; his body felt colder, and his head felt hotter.
Stretching out his stance, electric arcs began bursting forth from the surface of his skin, entering Su Chen's familiar training rhythm.
However, combining multiple supportive ans, compounding the fact that his talent had been elevated once more, Su Chen was astonished to discover that the consumption rate of the potions had also beco exceedingly rapid.
Barely seven or eight hours in, the dicinal effects of the Nether Enigma Essence had already dissipated. So Black Water remained, but it was almost depleted as well.
"If it's like this..." Su Chen exited the gravity room bare-chested. Heading to the potion storage room, he pulled out two more tubes of potions. "Excluding the Glazed Blood, under all-out training conditions, I need to consu three tubes of each auxiliary potion every day. That's ninety tubes required for each of the two potions."
"I'll have to ask the Gu family to supplent a little bit more..." Su Chen even felt sowhat embarrassed. "However, ninety tubes is rely theoretical. It is impossible for to train every waking second. Adding another ten tubes each should probably be enough."
"Right now, the Gu family can still hold on. But if I advance to the third tier, rely the cost of the consud potions alone will multiply tenfold. Having no money truly isn't viable..." Su Chen hadn't acutely felt it so ti ago, but calculating it now inevitably made him click his tongue.
"Next up, I should properly seek out a few sponsors."
He continued training all the way till the next morning, practically squeezing himself completely dry.
"Exhilarating..." Dragging his exhausted body out of the gravity room, Su Chen's upper and lower eyelids were fighting each other.
Originally wanting to catch a wonderful nap, Ming Lin actually paid a visit.
"What happened to you, looking completely squeezed dry like this?" Ming Lin was startled upon seeing Su Chen open the door, his tone sounding rather familiar.
"Trained all night yesterday, getting ready to rest right now." Su Chen carried an obvious intention to evict his guest.
"Then I truly ca at a bad ti." Ming Lin said helplessly: "However, there is a matter I just learned of regarding the Core Seeds. I ca to tell you imdiately."
"Oh?" Su Chen massaged his glabella, also sowhat curious. Stepping slightly to the side, he invited him inside.
"Sigh... No wonder the Chief Inquisitor wanted to enact reforms on the Core Seeds. You have no idea what brilliant sches those guys concocted to deal with the Challenger's Arena." Ming Lin spoke as he walked, his tone lacking no shortage of anger:
"They intend to hog the challenge quotas, having their own people challenge their own people! Through this thod, they intend to continuously maintain their Core Seed positions!"
"That's utterly disgraceful." Su Chen shook his head, plopping heavily onto the sofa. "Truly lost their minds. To want to beco the Chief Inquisitor, one naturally has to suppress everyone. How could this thod possibly convince the masses?"
"Indeed." Ming Lin deeply agreed. "Petty, self-righteous cleverness. Do they truly think the Chief Inquisitor didn't anticipate this?"
"What are you saying?" Su Chen's interest was piqued.
"This is an announcent that will only be issued this afternoon. It was my Teacher who told ; don't tell anyone else." Ming Lin lowered his voice, utilizing a secret to pull their relationship closer.
"The Chief Inquisitor is instituting a ranking system! Out of the six Core Seeds, four are currently eligible to participate in challenges. Through cross-challenges, whoever manages to defeat the other three will beco the number one, titled the 'Chief Seed'!"
Su Chen's eyelids twitched; the dagger was finally revealed at the end of the scroll. This was the true killing blow of the combo routine.
Although there were only four Core Seeds previously, the path to becoming Chief Inquisitor was long and complicated; it wasn't as if there had never been Core Seeds who died prematurely halfway.
On the surface, everyone's probabilities were identical. But once rankings were established, it would be entirely different.
Chief Seed, Chief Inquisitor, both are Chiefs. If called for long enough, who would still be able to distinguish which was which?
This, precisely, was a way of gathering montum.
"Ha..." Su Chen couldn't help but chuckle out loud. "Now, the subordinates of those Core Seeds won't be able to suppress themselves anymore. The factions behind them will also force them to raise Gu, determining the strongest to fight for the title of 'Chief'!"
"Indeed..." Ming Lin nodded. Speaking with smart people was simply easy. "This is an overt sche. The gazes of everyone will congregate upon the title of 'Chief'. They cannot afford not to fight; they cannot afford not to snatch it."
"To speak the truth, the ranking system hasn't even been announced yet, but so people by my side are already becoming restless. Once the announcent cos out in the afternoon, I am afraid it will beco even more severe."
He sounded as though he were mocking himself, but Su Chen could sense his confidence.
Ming Lin brought up another matter. "The faction gathered around that guy called Chu Xuan had already lost thirty percent of its people. Like cooking oil over a raging fire, its foundations were unstable. Appearing illustrious on the surface, yet unable to withstand a single blow."
The challenge system intrinsically increased the uncertainty regarding Core Seeds. Once the Chief Seed erged, it would subsequently cause the weight of the other Core Seeds to plumt. The gathered montum dissipating like quicksand was also an inevitability.
Su Chen didn't mind. Regardless, only the Gu family had invested in him right now. He speculated:
"I estimate that, after a period of ti, the challenge system will be popularized. Not only will the Core Seeds no longer be fixed, but the ordinary mbers and ordinary seeds of the Inner Court will no longer be fixed either..."
Ming Lin blanked, casting a deep glance at Su Chen. He had always been focused purely on the aspect of the Core Seeds; his gaze hadn't extended that far into the future. "Doing this turns the cultivation system of the Adjudication Court into running water. No one will be able to afford to slack off."
"Pity you haven't reached the third tier yet, otherwise I would truly want to spar with you." Ming Lin inevitably felt regretful. "The four of us are considered relatively deeply rooted, but there are quite a lot of people eyeing the two of you."
"In half a year at the shortest, or a year at the most, both of you will definitely advance to the third tier. When that ti cos, I am afraid there will be another dragon-tiger struggle. You should be able to stabilize your position as a Core Seed."
"As for Chu Xuan." Ming Lin shook his head: "He might plumt down for a period of ti."
No matter how high one's talent was, it was very difficult to impact the aspect of practical combat. Having just successfully advanced, they would still be unfamiliar with their profession. It was exceedingly normal for so veteran seeds to seize the opportunity to challenge them.
As for Su Chen, the combat prowess he displayed during the evaluation was far too exaggerated. Even now, there were still people probing around, trying to discover exactly what his profession was.
The probability of him defending his position wasn't small.
Su Chen swept a glance over Ming Lin, chuckling softly: "From how I see it, you've already grasped the position of Chief firmly within your hands."
"rely trying my utmost." Ming Lin revealed a smile.
Having "leaked" this information to Su Chen to pull their relationship closer once more, Ming Lin departed, telling him to rest well.
"This Chief Inquisitor... is rather responsible..." Su Chen inevitably ca to think as he walked upstairs.
"Perhaps it was also because the factions gathered by the fixed four major Core Seeds had already threatened him, and were easily entangled with Yingfeng's major factions, that he thought of a way to break them up."
Su Chen lay on his bed, falling into a deep sleep. "I shouldn't perceive people to be overly sinister either..."
(End of this chapter)
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