You could hear a pin drop in the massive challenge hall at this mont. All around the arena, pairs of completely round eyes stared fixedly at the stage, as if everyone had forgotten how to blink.
Nobody underestimated Su Chen. After all, he held dual classes concurrently. Even though Chu Xuan risked his life to advance to a 3rd-tier top-class professional, even if he won, it would be a pyrrhic victory.
Furthermore, it wasn't impossible for Su Chen to win either.
Regardless, their inward expectations were that if either side wanted to win, it definitely wouldn't be this simple.
However, Su Chen had been on the stage for barely three minutes, and they hadn't even exchanged more than a single move, yet Chu Xuan was cleanly and decisively defeated. Moreover, it was a miserable defeat; he was beaten so badly he couldn't even stand up.
"This—Chu Xuan really lost?"
The massive psychological drop even made so people believe that Chu Xuan was executing so kind of hidden stratagem.
"Why isn't he defending? Is his strength just for show?" soone shouted in exasperation, wishing iron could beco steel.
In a corner, Chu Yunze and the others turned pale, completely devoid of their initial cheerful laughter.
Only ng Qi, who was sitting at the very back, had a glint flash through his eyes, though it was quickly restrained.
"This—this—Why isn't Chu Xuan resisting?" Standing behind Wei Yufan, He Kang found it utterly unimaginable. His thick black eyebrows jumped up and down, looking incredibly comical.
Wei Yufan's expression was grave, and the other three, including Ming Lin, felt exactly the sa way.
Zhong Ming suddenly spoke, his voice heavy. "It was a ntal attack. In the instant of his assault, Chu Xuan entirely lost control. His muscles lost their strength, and his energy dispersed, essentially turning him into a at target."
"That's right—" Ming Lin nodded, his eyes faintly harboring a trace of alarm. "Chu Xuan is a top-tier professional. His ntal resilience is absolutely not low. If it were re interference, that would be very normal. But for his body to completely lose control..."
He didn't finish his sentence, but everyone understood. A ntal attack of this intensity shouldn't appear on soone who had only just advanced to the 3rd tier.
"A 3rd-tier top-class professional?" Zhong Ming suddenly remarked. Beside him, Feng Ze's complexion was ugly. This batch of newcors was slightly too ferocious. He silently and tracelessly advanced to a top-tier class?
If his luck was bad and he chose to challenge Su Chen, wouldn't the one losing face on the arena right now be him?
"Not even a top-tier class is enough. Chu Xuan completely lost control, even if only for a brief mont." Ming Lin shook his head, his eyes profound. "He hid himself even deeper. Perhaps the ti he beca a 3rd-tier professional was far earlier than our estimates..."
"He could hide it that well?" Feng Ze's eyelids twitched. This was far too sinister.
"Don't neglect another matter: the strength of his physical class is equally not low." Zhong Ming added, looking toward the arena below. "That punch possessed imnse power."
Chu Xuan was a physical-type professional, so his body's enhancent couldn't be underestimated. Even without actively using any defenses, his physical toughness wasn't low.
"You... you guys can't be trying to say that both his physical and ntal sides are top-tier classes, right?" Feng Ze couldn't help but interject, not daring to believe it at all. "How could he possibly complete the requirents for top-tier classes all on his own?"
Unfortunately, no one echoed his words. All of them wore grave expressions.
Zhong Ming's face carried a complex expression. "If it weren't for us being suppressed to the 3rd tier, and our ntal resilience being stronger than the current Chu Xuan's, Su Chen would be able to instantly kill us one by one right now."
Ming Lin revealed a bitter smile. "Even setting aside his ntal attacks, based on the strength Su Chen just displayed, it will be very difficult for us to win..."
Hearing these words, Wei Yufan's expression grew increasingly ugly. He couldn't help but look up at the higher-floor rooms, his eyes full of anger.
How could there be so much fairness in this world? Erasing their years of bitter cultivation and forcibly suppressing them to the sa level as lower-tier challengers—could that really be considered fair to them?
Thinking of this, his resentnt toward this reform grew even deeper.
If he couldn't obtain the position of Chief Seed, then nobody else should even think about sitting in it!
Having made his resolution, he abruptly stood up and, under the gazes of Ming Lin and the others, turned around and left.
"With this level of intensity, it should be a top-tier class, and a dual top-tier class at that—" After a brief mont of astonishnt, Jiang Shumo recovered his wits and couldn't help but look at Chong Jingtian. "How did he manage to do that?"
Chong Jingtian's gaze remained fixed straight on the arena, slowly shaking his head. "I don't know either."
"He only ever retrieved two upper-tier classes from the Adjudication Court, nothing more."
"Old Xia?" Jiang Shumo couldn't help but ask.
You Shan's expression was hesitant. "The classes might have been given to him by Xia Hanshi, but Xia Hanshi hasn't been in the Adjudication Court recently. Who has been helping him?"
"Even if Xia Hanshi were present, it's impossible for him to unknowingly help him advance to top-tier classes, let alone dual top-tier classes."
"Then that is strange," suspicion briefly flashed through Jiang Shumo's eyes. "It wouldn't have anything to do with the Evil Gods, right?"
Evil Gods were capable of accomplishing all sorts of unimaginable things. Since the events surrounding Su Chen couldn't be explained, his first instinct was to suspect the Evil Gods.
Chong Jingtian shook his head. "He was tested when he entered the Adjudication Court. He is definitely not a believer."
"What about a peripheral mber?" Jiang Shumo was still uneasy. "How about we take a look at his mories? Second Sister, you should be able to do it, right?"
"There are risks." You Shan shook her head. "He is already at the 3rd tier, and he possesses a ntal-type top-class. His ntal resilience is inevitably very high."
"If an accident occurs, Xia Hanshi will turn the sky upside down. Can you stop him?"
At the ntion of Xia Hanshi, Jiang Shumo froze slightly.
"Presumption of innocence. Without evidence, don't ntion the matter of peripheral mbers again," Chong Jingtian shook his head, smoothly changing the subject. "Before leaving, Xia Hanshi specifically told that regardless of what happens with Su Chen, as long as it isn't related to the Evil God Cultists, I shouldn't pry."
"In that case, Xia Hanshi should be aware of it," Jiang Shumo said thoughtfully. This was his first ti seeing Su Chen, so naturally he wasn't targeting him without cause.
He just held so doubts. Since Xia Hanshi had already pre-emptively addressed the issue, seemingly anticipating this, Jiang Shumo decided to say no more.
"However, there is so reason in your words. We must think of a way to check his ntal body again to see if there is any corruption," Chong Jingtian remarked. "Over at the Class Decoding Departnt, there is a miraculous class nad Spatial Storage Adept. Its universality is very high."
"I plan to let these Core Seeds all give it a try. However, one of the requirents is to be a 2nd-tier ntal-type top-class professional. By then, they will probably require external assistance."
"Chief Inquisitor You, when the ti cos, you can take that opportunity to confirm things once more. Let's see if anyone among this group is tied to the Evil Gods."
"Alright." You Shan nodded. This could also be considered a major screening. The Inner Court reform had likely triggered dissatisfaction among quite a few people, so it wasn't impossible for soone to collude with Evil God Cultists.
The death of Liu Chen was a living example.
"We have an abundance of talents..." Jiang Shumo sighed with emotion, yet felt sowhat pitiful. "It's just this Chu Xuan... I hope he can adjust himself. Otherwise, the person will be ruined."
=========
"Chu Xuan's ti spent in the Nether Realm was far shorter than Liu Chen's..."
Shadows gradually covered Chu Xuan. He struggled to raise his head, looking at Su Chen before him.
That gaze looking down upon him seed to overlap with the one from the day of the assessnt.
His heroic and bold words before the battle, including his so-called 'exertion and strive for progress' during this period, all felt like slaps to his face.
What arch-nesis? What struggle between dragon and tiger? They were all just jokes.
He figured that in Su Chen's eyes, he was just a clown. Su Chen had quietly watched him bounce around, and then swatted him to death with a single slap.
"Kill..." He struggled to open his mouth, fresh blood spilling out endlessly.
"What?" Su Chen didn't hear him clearly. He swept his gaze left and right. The battle was already over; was there no one in charge of ergency aid? If Chu Xuan died now, whose fault would it be?
After looking around, he finally spotted several people in white coats struggling to squeeze through the spectators gathered all around, seemingly shouting sothing.
"Kill... kill !" Chu Xuan said through gritted teeth, his pupils completely bloodshot.
"Huh?" Su Chen was taken aback as he looked at Chu Xuan, who had finally struggled to stand up. Could this guy be thinking that he didn't want to kill him?
With bigshots watching from above, even if he wanted to land a fatal blow, he wouldn't be able to kill him.
"I willingly go to my death. The Adjudication Court will not hold you accountable. Kill !" Chu Xuan looked almost maddened as he repeatedly shouted.
Pairs of eyes stared at him. The ergency personnel had already climbed onto the arena and were preparing to examine him, but he forcefully threw them off.
You say they won't hold accountable and it's suddenly true? If you just step off the stage and commit suicide yourself, no one will stop you. Why do you insist on having do the deed?
Su Chen felt speechless inwardly. If they were in the remote wilderness, this guy would have already died without a burial place long ago.
Last ti during the assessnt, he hadn't even paid any attention to him, yet this guy had harbored resentnt toward him for so long. Now that he had lost so miserably, this resentnt would likely evolve into a life-or-death blood feud.
But the death of just one Liu Chen had already caused such a massive commotion... After pondering for a mont, Su Chen opened his mouth to ask, "Why are you so hostile toward ? As you just said, no one holds back during the assessnt. Since that's the case, why do you harbor resentnt?"
"I..." Chu Xuan was left speechless. His earlier sense of relief was because he had pre-determined victory as his ending; only then would he appear relieved.
Now that he had suffered a miserable defeat yet again, how could he possibly be relieved?
"After entering the Adjudication Court, there are many people pressing down upon your head. So don't even possess the Red Gold talent. Why don't you harbor resentnt toward them?"
Su Chen asked again, "Is it just because you think they ought to be stronger than you, but I shouldn't be stronger than you? Or is it because I caused you to lose face?"
"This—" Chu Xuan's expression grew hazy and dazed.
"All we need to do is continuously train, train, train, and train so more. Those inferior to you will naturally be left behind, and those stronger than you are beyond your ability to deal with," Su Chen bluffed and lectured. "Hosting hostility toward others won't improve our talents or strength by even a tiny sliver."
'Right—don't be hostile. Just think of a way to directly kill them.' Su Chen ntally added.
Chu Xuan's figure swayed. Naturally, it wasn't because he was knocked dizzy by Su Chen's words, but because he realized sothing.
Su Chen didn't seem to look down on him or view him as a clown at all. Rather, he equally 'ignored' everyone.
Only at this mont did he abruptly grasp that after entering the Adjudication Court, aside from training, Su Chen had practically done no extraneous things at all.
As for his own hostility, it seed more like unrequited, one-sided 'wishful thinking.'
Finally, Su Chen said indifferently, "If you truly seek death, you can go find a place below to slit your throat. As you know, I cannot kill you on this arena."
"Heh..." A miserable smile surfaced on Chu Xuan's face as he fell onto his back, quickly caught by the ergency personnel who then administered brief treatnt.
Jiang Shumo looked at Chong Jingtian, astounded. "Old Xia actually took in this kind of student? Did his personality change?"
Chong Jingtian also nodded secretly.
"Well said!"
"What a benevolent heart! He even helped Chu Xuan adjust his mindset. From the looks of it, he had already gone mad. If things went wrong, he would have been ruined."
Soone below cheered loudly.
Su Chen was speechless. If it weren't for the sake of avoiding Chu Xuan constantly locking his eyes on him moving forward, he wouldn't have bothered wasting all this breath.
Looking at the near-unconscious Chu Xuan on the arena, an almost imperceptible ntal seed sank into his brain.
He had to find a way to confirm whether Chu Xuan had a grand awakening today or if his obsession had only deepened.
'Let's hope he can adjust his attitude. Otherwise—I'll have no choice but to eradicate the root of the problem forever.'
Looking up toward where Ming Lin and the others were, he discovered that Wei Yufan and the rest had already left. Only Ming Lin was left alone.
'They ran away quite fast...' Su Chen jumped down from the arena. The crowd spontaneously parted to make a path, pairs of fervent eyes staring at him.
When he reached the entrance, Ming Lin was already waiting for him. He offered a bitter smile, "You hid yourself truly deeply."
"What?" Su Chen feigned ignorance. Ming Lin only shook his head without speaking, and the two waded through the crowd.
It wasn't until they returned to Su Chen's villa that Ming Lin spoke, "If the challenge arena wasn't flawed, you should have already beco a Chief Seed by now."
After saying this, he gave another bitter smile. "It's only a matter of ti anyway. Once the progression of your class developnt goes up, your ntal attacks will be even stronger."
Upon stepping onto the arena, his 4th-tier class would be sealed. Their class developnt progressions were essentially equal, but their ntal resilience was equivalent to a 3rd-tier at its absolute limits, possessing extrely high resistance.
However, Su Chen had only just advanced to the 3rd tier and still had room for improvent.
"It doesn't matter." Su Chen didn't hold any obsession over the so-called Chief Seed position.
As it currently stood, there were no direct benefits to becoming the Chief Seed.
If he actually attained it, he would instead beco the focal point of ten thousand eyes, which might not necessarily be a good thing for him.
"It doesn't matter..." Ming Lin wore an indescribable expression. His mood seed very complex as well. Without saying much more, he hurriedly left.
Not long after this battle concluded, the eyewitnesses at the scene excitedly retold the story to their friends and relatives.
Just a few hours later, one invitation letter after another was delivered to Su Chen's ho.
"The Zhang Family, the Zhou Family, the Sun Family..."
Gu Bing was currently helping him organize them, listing them off like family treasures, inevitably feeling envious. "These are all families that support Ming Lin and the others. Now they're extending olive branches as well."
These olive branches didn't an they would switch their allegiance to Su Chen. However, they were willing to provide so support because due to the Inner Court reform, factions like theirs could only place bets on multiple parties.
While this would cause their relationship with the Core Seeds they were originally bound to to beco sowhat distant, it simultaneously weakened the intensity of their internal struggles.
Since they were simultaneously investing resources into multiple parties, if sothing actually happened, they would at least step forward to attempt diation.
"Take them all to your grandfather and have him pick a few we can make contact with," Su Chen waved his hand. "Don't accept the ones with too many bad marks. Don't accept the ones who offer too much, and don't accept the ones who offer too little. Your grandfather should understand what I an."
Gu Bing felt pleasantly surprised inwardly and couldn't help but ask, "You... are asking my grandfather to help you pick your supporters?"
Even her form of address toward him had changed.
The battle with Chu Xuan today not only forcefully proved that Su Chen could defend his position, but his proactive act of pacifying Chu Xuan also earned him a lot of goodwill.
Rumors were currently spreading outside that it wouldn't be long before the Chief Seed position fell into Su Chen's hands.
The influence of this event was far more profound than even Su Chen himself imagined.
"Mm, I'll leave it to you guys to handle." Su Chen nodded and continued:
"Also, earlier, the Internal Affairs Departnt inford that the Pang Family's assets had mostly been divided up, and they allocated a portion to . However, it's not cash, it's physical assets. Have your grandfather handle that as well."
Su Chen pulled out several contract docunts and handed them to Gu Bing.
(End of this chapter)
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