"This—" Xue Fei said with difficulty, "Chief Inquisitor Jiang has already issued the directive, but if you insist—"
"Jiang Shumo?" Wei Yufan withdrew his expression, shaking his head and saying, "Since it's a direct order from the Chief Inquisitor, we should still handle things according to the rules."
Xue Fei's face stiffened slightly. After a long silence, he forced a smile. "Indeed."
Coward!
Both of them cursed in their hearts. Wei Yufan skipped the topic. "That 'Jade-Hidden Flowing Light Potion' I requested—"
"Oh, right—" Xue Fei opened his desktop terminal to check. After a mont, he shook his head. "Unfortunately, the stock for these two months has already been completely exchanged. I'm afraid you'll have to wait—"
"The Resource Depository's next fixed quota belongs to the Security Bureau. If you don't want to wait, you can only go buy it yourself."
Wei Yufan furrowed his brows, saying in disappointnt, "I understand."
'This old fox is investigating ... Is it because of what happened last ti?' Su Chen pondered as he left Jiang Shumo's office.
Was he only investigating him alone, or all the Core Seeds?
'Yashan City—' He thought carefully. The previous owner of this body indeed had no relevant mories. 'This place shouldn't be simple. Otherwise, Jiang Shumo wouldn't have deliberately probed .'
—
'Looks like I have to behave myself recently.' Su Chen wasn't too worried.
A straight foot fears no crooked shoe; as long as no one saw him turn into a Priest of Black Buddha and he wasn't beaten to death on the spot, he would be fine.
Returning to his residence, it was only around eight or nine o'clock. Su Chen directly entered the Gravity Room and began training.
To fulfill the professional requirents of the [Origin Reverser], Su Chen exercised thoroughly. Until the next morning, he didn't leave the Gravity Room, entirely consuming three portions of various potions.
"Hah—hah—hah—"
Su Chen lay flat on his back in the Gravity Room, gasping heavily for breath. He didn't even want to move a single finger. His head was dizzy, having exercised to his absolute limit.
Glancing at his panel, the second requirent of the [Origin Reverser], completely exhausting his stamina and ntal energy, had advanced by 1%.
'So I have to train to this extent for it to be considered complete exhaustion...' Su Chen didn't even want to move, but unfortunately, it wasn't over yet.
Shortly after, the sound of knocking faintly rang out, followed by the opening of a door. After so low, muffled noises, silence returned.
After waiting a mont longer, the knocking sounded again. Before long, the Gravity Room's door was pushed open. Bu Siqi, standing at the door, jumped in fright upon seeing Su Chen lying on the floor.
"Junior Brother—are you alright?"
His expression changed as he quickly hurried over.
He sighed in relief only after realizing Su Chen was rely exhausted, feeling rather speechless. "Are you sick in the head? Why are you exercising to such an extre limit?"
"Attack ," Su Chen said weakly.
"Huh?" Bu Siqi was stunned. After clarifying, he didn't suspect Su Chen of being sick in the head, but instead grew thoughtful. "Is this so sort of requirent to assu a profession? No wonder there are people from the dical Departnt waiting outside."
"How strong of an attack do you need?" he asked.
"A normal 3rd-tier attack is fine—just don't make the intensity too high." Su Chen kept his eyes closed.
"Alright—" Bu Siqi grinned. "Junior Brother, bear with it."
Bu Siqi raised his hand. Viscous, blood-colored particles precipitated from the void, gradually forming the blurry outline of a fist. Upon reaching a certain density, the entire blood fist violently contracted and hardened, plunging downward with a screech that tore through the air.
Bang!
Su Chen's body shuddered, emitting a muffled thud. He bounced off the floor from the repulsive force before crashing back down heavily.
"Tsk, Junior Brother, your physical toughness is formidable." Bu Siqi looked at Su Chen's slightly sunken chest, sowhat astonished. "You didn't use any active defense, yet you only suffered this little damage."
"Cough, cough—" Su Chen coughed dryly, rather speechless. "Continue—"
This was the thod Su Chen had derived: first, exercise himself to his absolute limit to fulfill the [Origin Reverser]'s requirents, and then have soone beat him up to fulfill the [Armored Bone Adept]'s requirent.
He wasn't allowed to use any defenses anyway, so his state after pushing to his limits was exactly right.
And right now, he needed to determine exactly how severe the injuries had to be, so he could ensure his injuries would recover at roughly the sa ti his stamina recovered.
Bu Siqi ferociously attacked Su Chen's other body parts again, not even thoroughly enjoying himself yet.
The personnel from the dical Departnt then entered. They first poured two mouthfuls of green potion down Su Chen's throat, then brought out various instrunts to conduct injury assessnts.
"If we use a high-tier recovery potion, these injuries will take roughly three hours to heal."
The dical leader provided a rough estimate. "As for recovering from a state of complete exhaustion back to peak physical condition, four hours should be enough."
"Drinking one portion of a high-tier recovery potion will be sufficient."
"Is that so? Senior Brother, hit twice more," Su Chen said thoughtfully.
Bu Siqi was happy to oblige and fiercely hamred Su Chen twice more.
"At this rate, the ti required for injury recovery and stamina recovery will reach an equilibrium. I can endure slightly over twenty strikes a day, aning I should be able to fulfill the requirent in just over a month," Su Chen estimated.
However, the cost of potions would inevitably rise to another level.
High-tier recovery potions certainly weren't cheap, costing over 500,000 gold per portion. Coupled with having a dical team on standby at all tis, the price was similarly exorbitant.
Su Chen lay resting on the ground, while Bu Siqi let out a sigh.
"...Sigh, no one knows what's going on with the Judgnt Departnt. Old Teng hasn't said to release them, nor has he ntioned any further disciplinary actions—"
"Even if they were confird to be fine at that ti, the Judgnt Departnt still wouldn't let them go easily. The impact of his probe this ti was far too atrocious—" Su Chen only spoke after recovering so strength.
Even Su Chen absolutely didn't want to see 5th-tier professionals at the Director-level being capable of arbitrarily probing him.
"Indeed—" Bu Siqi understood this logic as well. "I reckon they'll have to wait until the negative impact of this incident has completely blown over."
The two chatted for a while and agreed on a ti for the next session, after which Bu Siqi left.
For the following days, Su Chen's life fell into a regular routine. Every day consisted solely of exercising, reaching exhaustion, getting beaten up, and recovering. The professional requirents were steadily advancing.
Every few days, he would also take a trip to the Class Decoding Departnt to assist in deciphering Saint Word Stones.
In the blink of an eye, a month passed. Su Chen once again exercised to the point of exhaustion and waited for the Gravity Room to open.
This ti, however, the person who arrived wasn't Bu Siqi, but rather—
"Old Bai?" Spotting the slender, graceful figure standing by the door, Su Chen couldn't help but feel surprised. "Where's Senior Brother Bu?"
"He received a temporary secret mission and didn't have ti to notify you, so he could only have fill in for him first." Bai Fengxi's gaze swept over Su Chen's bare upper body.
"You advanced to the 3rd-tier?" Su Chen noted in surprise.
Bai Fengxi's beautiful face sank slightly. "I advanced a month and a half ago."
"Uh—" Su Chen truly hadn't known about this.
She directly walked forward, looking him up and down. Su Chen's brow twitched as he heard her say, "Your Senior Brother explained things very simply."
"Just beat you up, right?"
Following Su Chen's eye signal, the head of the ergency dical team standing outside the Gravity Room walked in and explained, "You need to use the attack intensity of a normal 3rd-tier, preferably just barely reaching the 3rd-tier level."
"When attacking, do not target the head, the heart, and—" The team leader looked slightly awkward. "Basically, just don't hit any fragile areas."
"It's best if the coverage of the attack is kept to an absolute minimum, and do not attack the exact sa area twice."
After a month of coordination, the team leader had long since understood Su Chen's needs and had continuously optimized the process. This allowed Su Chen to be beaten nearly thirty tis after reaching exhaustion while maintaining the exact sa recovery ti.
"I understand." Bai Fengxi circled Su Chen, seemingly looking for a place to strike.
'Old Bu isn't very reliable anymore...' Su Chen inexplicably felt a sense of insecurity.
Whoosh! An icy, biting wind howled!
Bai Fengxi's right arm condensed a translucent ice armor within the freezing wind. The ice layer visibly spread from her shoulder down to her fingertips at speeds discernible to the naked eye.
Her entire arm transford into an angular, jagged ice crystal hamr. Upon fully gathering power, the fist, carrying a bone-piercing chill, ca crashing down like a falling teor.
The instant it smashed into Su Chen's chest, a ring of icy mist exploded. Spiderweb-like fractures rapidly spread outward from the point of impact, alongside splattering ice crystal fragnts.
Fortunately, although Bu Siqi was unreliable, Old Bai was still considered dependable, having strictly followed the dical leader's instructions.
However, since it was her first ti hitting Su Chen, she wasn't quite proficient and only landed twenty-eight strikes.
"Only twenty-eight tis. Could that Senior Brother of yours manage to hit thirty?" Bai Fengxi stared regretfully at Su Chen, whose entire body was covered in ice shards.
The corner of Su Chen's mouth twitched slightly. He remained silent for a long mont before saying, "Practice makes perfect. You'll catch up."
The two hadn't seen each other for a long while, so Su Chen asked about Bai Fengxi's recent situation.
Bai Fengxi seed to smile without her eyes, faintly exhaling a freezing breeze. "You really are quite busy as a Core Seed. The Adjudication Court has been so lively recently, and your old friend isn't exactly a nobody. To think you actually didn't know?"
She heavily emphasized the words "old friend," causing Su Chen to grin, bearing his teeth. "Are you talking about the Core Seed selection matches?"
To fill the vacancies among the Core Seeds, Chong Jingtian had organized a selection tournant. This was a massive event that neither the Adjudication Court nor Yingfeng had witnessed in recent years, drawing widespread attention. It had already been ongoing for nearly a month.
Su Chen had occasionally heard rumors about it but hadn't paid too much attention. This was primarily because he had been focused on fulfilling the requirents for his two professions recently, leaving himself in a miserable state all day long.
He didn't even have the mood to eat breakfast, naturally resulting in fewer information summarization sessions with Zero.
Bai Fengxi gave a rough, expressionless summary of the situation.
Only then did Su Chen realize that the selection matches were already nearing their end and had entered the top eight, featuring several popular candidates.
Feng Ze, an old acquaintance, was the first Inner Court Seed to successfully defeat and replace a Core Seed, only to be later taken down by ng Qi.
Liang Jingcheng, the very first Core Seed to be challenged and defeated, had worked himself up, seeing another opportunity to regain his Core Seed status.
And then there was Old Bai herself. Making a sudden, impressive appearance this ti, she had surprised quite a few people. It was only then that he learned Old Bai's 2nd-tier and 3rd-tier professions were both top-tier.
Not only that, but she had also assud several special professions, following a path exactly identical to Yuan Poshan's, boasting considerable strength.
After listening to her, Su Chen's very first reaction, however, was: 'You don't even blush when praising yourself?'
"Just telling the truth." Bai Fengxi smiled.
Su Chen was thoroughly speechless. Despite Old Bai currently putting on the persona of an aloof beauty, back when they were refugees scrambling for food, she honestly dug through it faster than a dog.
The person beating Su Chen had changed to Bai Fengxi. Apart from that, there were no other changes, and ti continued to march on.
Another half a month passed. Inside the Gravity Room, Su Chen withdrew his boiling ntal energy, and his surroundings gradually cald down.
[D-rank Sanskrit Sound Void-Shattering ditation thod has reached Master Level. Acquired ability — Heart Condensation: Slightly increases ntal power and enhances ntal resilience.]
[Azure Thunder Sovereign: 23%]
[Mystic Holy Hand: 29%]
[D-rank Crouching Tiger Body Forging thod — Proficient: 55%]
His professional developnt was steadily improving. Today happened to be the day he was supposed to switch his ditation thod, sothing he had prepared for a long ti ago. There was no rush for this.
There was still one other matter. Su Chen's gaze refocused as his panel had already opened.
[Armored Bone Fanatic — Assu Profession]
"Finally. After dozens of days of getting beaten up, I can finally assu the profession." Su Chen couldn't help but feel sowhat emotional.
The Core of the Forging-Life Mineral Vein had been delivered a month ago. Following a direct order from Jiang Shumo, it was delivered by the Internal Affairs Departnt without the slightest hitch.
With a re thought, the words 'Assu Profession' scattered, and Su Chen only felt his heart palpitate. A cluster of dark gold liquid suddenly erged before his chest, flowing irregularly. This was none other than the Core of the Forging-Life Mineral Vein.
This cluster of dark gold liquid seed to possess a life of its own, ebbing and flowing in front of his chest before beginning to seep into the surface of his skin.
The skin it ca into contact with instantly took on a tallic luster. The liquid spread along the texture of his muscles, leaving fine, dense geotric patterns wherever it passed.
As the coverage area expanded, a faint humming sound emanated from Su Chen's subcutaneous tissue, glowing with a dark gold luster as it was steeped in the liquid.
"Hiss—"
Su Chen drew in a sharp breath of cold air, feeling as if countless ants were gnawing at his skin. That bone-deep, numbing itch and excruciating pain made him incredibly uncomfortable.
[Successfully assud the Armored Bone Adept profession. Acquired professional ability — Living Armor: You can fuse defensive armor that does not exceed your own professional tier, and you may repair any damage it sustains.]
"Fusing armor?" Su Chen carefully read the description. This ability fell entirely within his expectations.
"I just don't know what form it will manifest in." With a slight shift in thought, Su Chen extracted the Purple Gold Scale Armor from his Storage Space.
The scaled armor encased his upper torso in the blink of an eye.
Following that, he attempted to activate the [Living Armant] ability. The scaled armor currently on his body rippled like water, its edges beginning to ld and fuse with his skin.
The gaps between the armor scales gradually closed up, the sturdy material exhibiting a peculiar, semi-transparent state.
As the fusion deepened, the sharp edges of the scaled armor grew rounded, and its tallic luster transford into a halo resembling biological tissue, thoroughly integrating with his skin.
Su Chen felt an icy coolness without any discomfort. The surface of his skin showed no abnormalities whatsoever; only under certain lighting conditions could a faint tallic luster be barely perceived.
"This way, I don't even have to take the scale armor off anymore. Not only that—" Su Chen experienced the entirely new sensation, his eyes flashing slightly. "After the fusion, the skin across my entire body has received a strengthening boost, even my eyes are no exception, unlike before when I could only defend specific areas."
"Then what about this?"
With a re thought from Su Chen, countless dense electric arcs suddenly flickered across the surface of his skin. The pale cyan lightning wriggled and moved through his muscles like living entities.
Flowing from his fingertips to his shoulder blades, and down along his spine to his ankles, there didn't appear to be any visible changes, yet Su Chen's eyes shone brilliantly. "It really undeniably works—"
The [Mystic Artifact Adept] abilities could still function properly. The Indestructible Thunder Aura Armor ability could be attached over the scale armor fused with his skin.
Su Chen exhaled deeply, the sound of crackling mixed with fine lightning arcs echoing out. "This way, my defense becos a combination of physical toughness armor ability. A three-in-one, omnidirectional enhanced version with absolutely zero blind spots."
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