The mustached man spoke unhurriedly: "...Everyone, it's just a single piece of Saint Word Stone. Why act as if you are facing a formidable enemy? Among everyone present, who hasn't deciphered dozens, if not hundreds, of these?"
Sang Hanhai's expression was icy. "Tang Chen, is your purpose for coming here the sa as last ti? You want to make a bet using a class?"
Tang Chen ignored Sang Hanhai's coldness and chuckled softly. "It's just an exchange of mutual learning. Adding a little wager for entertainnt, what's there to be so tense about?"
"We should share what we have with each other. Our Yuandu still has many areas where we must learn from Yingfeng."
His words sounded humble, but they only made the expressions of Sang Hanhai and the others grow increasingly ugly.
Last ti, the other party had said the exact sa thing. Then, their main gates were blocked for half a year, and they had to pinch their noses and hand over the 'Sage' class, losing both face and dignity.
"Everyone..." Tang Chen put on an expression of helplessness. "Whether we bet or not shouldn't be such a difficult decision to make, right? It's not like I'm asking you all to decide the life and death of tens of thousands of people."
The people behind him let out low, muffled laughs, while the atmosphere on Sang Hanhai's side only grew more somber.
"Just like last ti, using the 'Spirit Adept' as the wager?" Sang Hanhai remained expressionless.
Tang Chen nodded, "Exactly. If you decipher it, the class on this stone, along with the 'Spirit Adept', is all yours. If you can't decipher it, then I must trouble you to let have a look at the 'Saint'."
A successful deciphering ant trading one for two. Last ti, Sang Hanhai had been bewildered by the other party's words, confidently accepting the challenge and signing the betting contract, only to nearly go mad afterward.
Sang Hanhai furrowed his brow, not agreeing imdiately.
"Sigh..." Tang Chen breathed out, speaking with feigned disappointnt. "Yingfeng... Class Decoding Departnt..."
That tone of voice made Sang Hanhai's eyebrow twitch violently. The other party had already co to kick the pavilion; refusing the challenge would inherently be seen as a sign of cowardice.
Standing behind him, the relatively younger Class Decoders were already red in the face.
Jin Yunxuan was among them, his expression ashen green, sharing a bitter hatred of the enemy.
"If we accept, we accept! What are we afraid of? Either way, we still have..." Halfway through his sentence, Sang Hanhai reprimanded him sharply, "Shut up."
Have who? Tang Chen was slightly taken aback and looked toward the speaker, Pu Zhenghong?
"Elder Pu..."
"Elder Pu..."
Right at that mont, greetings rang out from the rear. Sang Hanhai hurriedly turned around as the crowd behind him automatically parted to make way, and Pu Zhenghong, with his snow-white hair and beard, walked in.
Sang Hanhai let out a breath of relief. Thank goodness Senior Brother hadn't been willful enough to skip this.
Upon seeing Pu Zhenghong, all the Class Decoders relaxed noticeably, as if they had suddenly found their pillar of support.
"Pu Zhenghong..." Tang Chen narrowed his eyes. "Old Pu, it's been a while since we last t. I thought I wouldn't get to see you this ti around."
"Let's see it?" Pu Zhenghong simply pointed at the Saint Word Stone.
Tang Chen seed to hesitate. Sang Hanhai imdiately chid in, "What, you're hesitating?"
"Then look closely," Tang Chen extended a hand in invitation, sitting up a bit straighter. He no longer seed as relaxed as before.
Pu Zhenghong took the Saint Word Stone and held it up to his eyes, scrutinizing it carefully.
It didn't look any different from other Saint Word Stones. Nurous symbols flickered continuously on its surface without any rules or patterns.
On the surface, Tang Chen wore a solemn expression, but inwardly, he was quite relaxed. He acknowledged Pu Zhenghong's profound attainnts, but it was absolutely impossible for him to successfully strip the class from this Saint Word Stone.
'Perhaps three years ago it might have been possible...' he added inwardly.
Minutes and seconds ticked away, and the entire grand hall fell unbelievably silent.
Click—
The door to the room cracked open, and soone else had entered, but no one paid any attention as all eyes were locked on Pu Zhenghong.
"Old Jin..."
Jin Yunxuan was stretching his neck forward to watch when he heard soone quietly calling out from behind. Initially, he didn't want to bother answering, but he vaguely felt the voice sounded familiar.
Realizing who it was, he hurriedly turned around to look, and sure enough, it was Su Chen.
"Your Excellency Su Chen..." Jin Yunxuan quickly greeted. Su Chen cast a glance toward the front where people were packed tightly together and asked quietly, "What's the situation?"
"Elder Pu is here, he's looking at it right now. It looks like he'll accept this bet," Jin Yunxuan explained, unable to resist shooting a glance at Su Chen.
Let alone Pu Zhenghong, with this Heaven-Bestowed Class Decoder here, the Class Decoding Departnt was bound to win and wipe away their previous sha.
He just didn't know if Su Chen could resonate with the Saint Word Stone brought over by Yuandu.
He had already resonated with other Saint Word Stones three tis, so he probably should be able to, right? He hesitated inwardly; there had never been anyone like Su Chen before, so no conclusion could be drawn.
Su Chen could also see Pu Zhenghong's back. Given Old Pu's massive reputation, it likely wasn't just hot air. They were practically guaranteed to secure the Spirit Adept.
Although the two were speaking quietly, in the utterly silent room, it sounded abrupt, like the buzzing of a mosquito.
Sang Hanhai frowned and turned his head. When he saw Su Chen, he couldn't help but be surprised. Why did this brat co here?
Tang Chen absentmindedly swept his gaze over. Seeing a young-looking fellow arrive, he didn't pay it much mind, assuming it was just a staff mber of the Class Decoding Departnt.
"This Saint Word Stone..." Pu Zhenghong looked at it, his brows gradually furrowing.
For so reason, he had a feeling that this Saint Word Stone was slightly different. With his years of accumulated knowledge, he could identify familiar parts among the various symbols flickering on its surface.
It seed to indicate that he could decipher it, yet his premonition told him it wouldn't be that simple.
"Senior Brother, what's wrong?"
As the minutes crept by, Sang Hanhai watched Pu Zhenghong's frown deepen, an ominous feeling quietly rising in his heart.
Could it be that his Senior Brother wasn't confident either?
"This stone..." Pu Zhenghong hesitated, then uttered,"...is strange."
Tang Chen's heart skipped a beat. This Pu Zhenghong was truly a monster, actually managing to sense that sothing was off.
If he had been present three years ago, he definitely would have seen through the trick.
But outwardly, Tang Chen maintained a puzzled expression. "What do you an? Are you also not confident in deciphering it? Is it truly that difficult?"
"Alright then, we won't bet." He shook his head, retreating in order to advance, sighing as he spoke, "Truly..."
He left the sentence unfinished, but the disappointnt conveyed was even heavier.
These words were like adding oil to a fire. On the side of the Class Decoding Departnt, pairs of angry eyes glared over, breathing grew heavy and erratic, while their gazes toward Pu Zhenghong's back were filled with confusion.
Sang Hanhai secretly gritted his teeth, but he was equally puzzled. Was his Senior Brother genuinely unsure?
"We aren't betting?" Su Chen suddenly caught the remark. Then what about my Spirit Adept?
What the heck is wrong with Old Pu? Did he drop the ball?
"Hehe..." Hearing Tang Chen's words, a forced smile accompanied by squirming wrinkles appeared on Pu Zhenghong's face as he suddenly yelled out, "Su Chen."
"I'm here." Su Chen, who had been closely watching the situation unfold at the front, imdiately pushed through the crowd and stepped forward.
Pairs of eyes instantly converged on him, filled with shock and bewildernt. Only a scant few individuals showed an indescribable emotion in their eyes.
Those who knew that he was a Heaven-Bestowed Class Decoder were limited to Sang Hanhai and Qin Qiyuan's people, all of whom had signed Secret Contracts prohibiting them from leaking it.
The vast majority in the Class Decoding Departnt, especially the mid-to-low levels, had no clue of Su Chen's existence as a Heaven-Bestowed Class Decoder.
Senior Brother really isn't confident... Sang Hanhai thought in astonishnt.
But why call out Su Chen?
His resonance also required ti; there was no way he could decipher it on the spot. Surely he wasn't just bringing him out for strategic intimidation?
"Su Chen..." Tang Chen furrowed his brows, assessing the young man who had just erged from the crowd.
It was the sa fellow who had just entered. He initially thought he was an ordinary staff mber, but looking at him now, it seed otherwise.
What is Pu Zhenghong trying to do? He felt confused; calling out a young kid out of the blue, had he lost his mind?
"Take a look." Pu Zhenghong shoved the Saint Word Stone from his hands into Su Chen's as he approached.
Su Chen smoothly took it and inspected it carefully.
But imdiately after, he paused, a look of confusion flashing in his eyes. The panel hadn't popped up?
What's going on?
Su Chen involuntarily flipped the stone and inspected both the front and the back. Still no reaction.
Could it be... Su Chen's mind suddenly birthed a hypothesis.
It's absolutely impossible for there to be an issue with the panel. If there was a class on this, it's bound to be recorded—even the Great Exalted couldn't escape it.
Since nothing was recorded, there was only one possibility: there were simply no classes recorded on this stone at all.
Playing dirty tricks... Su Chen understood. Last ti, Old Sang and the others had likely been driven maddened by this Saint Word Stone that contained no classes whatsoever. Unable to decipher it, they probably thought it was an issue with their own lacking proficiency.
However, how did these guys manage to engrave those symbols onto it, making it look exactly like a normal Saint Word Stone?
Ordinary thods could not fool Sang Hanhai, nor Pu Zhenghong. The information on a Saint Word Stone could be erased, but it couldn't easily be carved onto one.
He even turned it over to look... Tang Chen stood speechless inwardly. Seeing Su Chen's actions, whatever slight vigilance had risen in his heart vanished, and he gave a virtually imperceptible shake of his head.
Many Class Decoders in the back stretching their necks to look were also baffled. Can a Saint Word Stone really be flipped over to find sothing?
"Are you done looking?" Tang Chen asked with a chuckle.
Su Chen ignored him, placed the Saint Word Stone back on the table, and looked at Pu Zhenghong. "You noticed it too, didn't you?"
This kid... Pu Zhenghong smiled faintly. "Go ahead and say it."
Everyone was at a loss, not knowing what kind of riddle these two were playing at.
Tang Chen's brows furrowed tightly as he heard the young man before him state indifferently, "There simply are no classes recorded on this whatsoever."
"What?" Sang Hanhai froze. His mind buzzed as the mories of the tornt he endured three years prior surged up, followed instantly by a sudden flash of enlightennt.
Right, that's exactly it!
No wonder it was so bizarre. There's no class on this thing at all, so what the hell were they supposed to decipher!
Qin Qiyuan and the other professors were also dazed for a mont before they gradually realized the truth.
As expected... Pu Zhenghong's eyes were profound. His strange premonition didn't co from nowhere.
Su Chen was quite bold; without sensing a resonance, he actually dared to outright declare that no class was recorded.
This... how did he figure it out? Tang Chen's expression shifted. His hands clenched under the table and then released, rapidly retracting his emotions as he scowled.
"What nonsense. If a Saint Word Stone doesn't record a class, what else could it record?"
Sang Hanhai sneered. "It doesn't matter anymore. Though we don't know how you managed to pull it off, since the truth has been spelled out, we understand everything."
Ever since Saint Word Stones were discovered, every single piece had invariably recorded so sort of class. This had almost beco an ironclad law, resulting in a cognitive blind spot.
And once this blind spot was shattered, there were no more loopholes to exploit.
"So it was a dirty trick all along!"
"The people of Yuandu are truly shaless to the extre!"
The nurous mbers of the Class Decoding Departnt behind them glared daggers, infuriated to the utmost limit.
The red-robed people standing behind Tang Chen were equally uncompromising. "Utter nonsense! You just realized you couldn't decipher it, so you're spouting rubbish here."
"It's very simple to verify," Pu Zhenghong stated placidly. "Fetch the people from Lieyang and Tianqing to act as witnesses. You will state what the class is, and then we will decipher it together to see if we can deduce it in reverse."
"Fine, let's fetch them!" The people of Yuandu refused to back down. From their perspective, Yingfeng was simply creating a senseless disturbance by bringing out a young man to spout nonsense.
Seeing that the Yuandu delegation showed no hint of a guilty conscience, murmurs arose within the Class Decoding Departnt. Could it be... they had misjudged?
However, the gazes of Pu Zhenghong and the others remained fixed squarely on Tang Chen.
The surrounding argunts gradually subsided, and everyone noticed that Tang Chen was completely expressionless. "Since we aren't betting, then forget it."
He packed up the Saint Word Stone and moved to leave.
This action caused the expressions of the entire Yuandu group to freeze. This was undeniably the action of a guilty conscience. Was what the other side said true? Was there really no class on this Saint Word Stone?
The mbers of the Class Decoding Departnt erupted into an uproar once again.
"Leaving just like that? Do you think it's that easy?" Sang Hanhai laughed coldly. "Playing dirty tricks, you likely exploited this sa loophole last ti."
"This debt won't be settled so easily."
"What do you want?" Tang Chen's gaze turned chilling.
"Today, leave the 'Spirit Adept' behind first," Pu Zhenghong stated calmly.
Caught red-handed playing dirty tricks, Tang Chen had no other choice. He was forced to leave the 'Spirit Adept' to Pu Zhenghong and lead the people of Yuandu away in a wretched state.
In contrast, the mbers of the Class Decoding Departnt leaped with joy. So were even inquiring about Su Chen's identity, assuming he was Pu Zhenghong's student.
They were astonished to learn that he was actually a core seed of the Adjudication Court.
"A core seed of the Adjudication Court has such profound attainnts in Saint Word Stones?" Many found it unimaginable.
anwhile, Pu Zhenghong brought Su Chen and Sang Hanhai to another room.
"A bunch of bastards! Utterly shaless! To think we were scamd by them last ti!" Sang Hanhai continued to curse.
Pu Zhenghong, however, cast a aningful glance at Su Chen. "Having felt no resonance, you still dared to claim there was no class on it. Weren't you afraid of making an embarrassing mistake?"
Su Chen replied, "I figured that if neither your capabilities nor Elder Sang's could guarantee success, then nine tis out of ten there was sothing fishy going on. I just decided to test the waters and throw it out there."
"Not bad, not bad," Sang Hanhai was clearly pleased. He stated coldly, "This is not over. Yuandu must provide an explanation for this. They also must cough up compensation for the 'Sage' class they scamd from us last ti."
"I'm actually curious about exactly how they managed to carve symbols onto a Saint Word Stone," Pu Zhenghong pondered.
"Senior Brother, what ti is it for you to be curious about that? Stop obsessing over your Divine Language!"
Sang Hanhai had a bellyful of pent-up anger. Having their doors blocked last ti was a humiliating disgrace, and now that they knew it was all due to the other party's dirty tricks, he had nowhere to vent his fury.
"The Divine Language cannot be uttered by anything other than a deity. The god worshipped by Yuandu is not a true deity, so where did they find the deity to do this?" Pu Zhenghong said leisurely.
The furious Sang Hanhai instantly felt a chill run down his spine. "You an, an Evil God?"
"Yuandu colluded with the Evil Gods?" Su Chen asked in surprise.
Pu Zhenghong explained, "Both involve worshipping deities. Yuandu and the Evil God Cultists once had close ties, until they later found the Evil Gods too bizarre and severed their relationship."
Su Chen suddenly understood. Pu Zhenghong then pulled out the material left behind by the other party, which recorded the details of the 'Spirit Adept'. "Your goal must have been this."
He handed it to Su Chen, shaking his head. "Classes that increase talent are unimaginably rare, but their advancent requirents are extraordinarily harsh, and even a successful advancent won't increase it by much."
Su Chen's target had been the 'Spirit Adept', so he didn't act polite. He took it directly and opened it up to look—
'Discovered special class—Spirit Adept. You may advance upon completing the requirents.'
'Advancent Requirent #1: ntal-type Red Gold tier talent.'
'Advancent Requirent #2: Find three portions of Essence of Spirituality in the Nether Realm and fuse with them.'
Only two requirents? Su Chen raised an eyebrow.
(End of this chapter)
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