Xia Hanshi didn't rush to ask questions. In a flash, he appeared beside the swaying Su Chen and supported him. His hoarse voice carried a trace of anxiety. "How do you feel?"
"I'm fine..." Su Chen massaged his temples. He sounded rather weak as he shook his head. "Every ti I trigger an illusion, I feel sothing similar, but it's just exhaustion. There's nothing else."
Su Chen sat down on a nearby chair. After resting for a mont, Xia Hanshi finally asked, "What exactly did you see?"
"I..." Su Chen seed to be reminiscing. His gaze fell upon the anomalous artifacts scattered across the floor; only three or four had yet to be drained.
If the illusion had triggered exactly when he finished absorbing the last one, it would have seed far too fake, so he had deliberately left a few untouched.
"I vaguely saw a group of people entering Yingfeng. Among them, one gave a feeling very similar to ng Qi," Su Chen explained.
"Very similar to ng Qi..." Xia Hanshi pondered. "That thing was extrely bizarre, and its disguise abilities were simply terrifying. If another one of those things managed to slip in..."
"However," Su Chen frowned, appearing to recall the details carefully. "It felt as if they were the exact sa person as ng Qi, not soone new. It's really hard to describe."
Xia Hanshi's brows knitted tightly as he paced back and forth, his mind racing with various thoughts. He began theorizing based on the little information Su Chen provided. "Ordinary believers absolutely do not possess the ability to split their consciousness. It would require at least a High Priest. But for a High Priest to infiltrate the city, they would just be serving themselves up on a silver platter. It wouldn't be worth the massive price the Faceless Ghost believers paid to lure us out. Could it be the Chief Priest?"
"No, that can't be right. Previous intel indicated the Chief Priest is currently commanding the army of Faceless Ghost believers..."
"Could it be..." Suddenly, Xia Hanshi's expression changed slightly. "The descended Divine Son?"
'Exactly,' Su Chen nodded inwardly. He had finally guided Old Xia to this conclusion.
"A Divine Son... the Faceless Ghost Divine Son..." The more Xia Hanshi thought about it, the more he felt his guess was correct. He continued his deduction, "That vessel nad ng Qi was likely created by the Faceless Ghost Divine Son, who then split off a portion of his consciousness to control it. No wonder we've never seen such thods before."
"But it was seen through. So this ti, they used the believer army to draw out our high-level combatants, while the Divine Son infiltrated the city once again. As for the goal... the goal..."
"To find the person who destroyed his vessel? No... ng Qi's original infiltration goal..." Xia Hanshi's eyes flickered as he spat out a single word: "The stone slab."
Everything perfectly linked together.
However, a new question quickly arose. Xia Hanshi was puzzled. "Instead of preparing for the Holy Banquet, the Divine Son made a beeline for the stone slab. In their eyes, is this slab more important than the entire Crimson Thunder Planet?"
"What do they even want with that stone slab?"
Su Chen was equally curious about this question, so naturally, he couldn't provide an answer.
Xia Hanshi quickly suppressed the unanswerable question and looked at Su Chen again, unable to hide his amazent. "This ability of yours is truly incredible."
In an instant, it had solved so many mysteries.
Su Chen still looked exhausted as he forced a smile. "As long as I can help."
"It's just the cost..." Xia Hanshi glanced at the anomalous artifacts and the stone statue in the room, feeling a faint headache coming on. Almost all of them had been completely drained.
He had no idea how he was going to explain this when returning them.
Lei Tieyan was bound to fly into a raging fury.
If it was hard to explain, then he simply wouldn't explain it. Xia Hanshi reined in his thoughts. Waiting until Su Chen's complexion improved significantly, he continued to ask, "Were there any other clues in the scene you saw?"
"For instance, the clothing and appearances of that group of people?"
rely knowing that a Divine Son had infiltrated the city was far from enough. Yingfeng was simply too massive, making it incredibly difficult to find soone.
"Hmm..." Su Chen acted as if he were thinking deeply. After a long while, he said hesitantly, "The scene was too blurry, and their facial features were hard to make out. But based on their attire, they didn't look like locals from Yingfeng."
Of course, this information wasn't sothing he had seen in so illusion; it was the result of a secret investigation he had commissioned.
Although he had only sensed it for a split second that night, the location hadn't been obscure. Su Chen had secretly tasked Gu Bing to carefully investigate that specific area.
However, there had been quite a lot of foot traffic in that district at that ti.
But the real breakthrough was that soone from the Tribunal happened to be dining there, and it was soone Su Chen was very familiar with—He Kang.
Su Chen didn't believe this was a coincidence. He had Gu Bing follow that lead, only to discover that the people dining with He Kang were a group from his very own hotown.
Furthermore, according to the records, that group had arrived ten days later than originally scheduled.
With this, Su Chen was almost completely certain that the Divine Son was hiding among this group from Gujiang City.
He even wanted to know what they had discussed during dinner that night, but doing so would require questioning the people at that table, which would be difficult to conceal.
Not only might it alert the enemy, but if he later told Old Xia about the news and Old Xia's subsequent investigation revealed Su Chen had already looked into it beforehand, it would needlessly complicate matters.
"Not locals from Yingfeng?" Xia Hanshi's eyes glead as he imdiately ford a guess. "People from a lower-tier city?"
""
"Recently, the various institutions have been assessing newcors from lower-tier cities. With quite a few people slipping in during this period, it indeed serves as an excellent window for infiltration."
Even though there were still many people in this category, they finally had a specific target pool.
After asking a few more questions, Su Chen finally 'struggled' to recall a crucial detail.
"Among them, there seed to be a man with a severed arm," Su Chen said with a hint of uncertainty.
"That's enough." A sharp glint flashed through Xia Hanshi's eyes. This distinct characteristic was more than enough to significantly narrow down their search paraters.
"You've worked hard today. Head back and get so rest. If you notice anything unusual with your body, let know imdiately." Xia Hanshi looked at Su Chen and added, "Once you're rested up, take a trip to the Adjudication Office and go through the protocol."
Naturally, he ant the protocol for checking for corruption. Old Xia was always overly cautious.
Su Chen naturally had no objections. However, right before he left, he glanced at the divine statue that had yielded the Faceless Ghost Essence. Pointing at it, he asked, "Teacher, where did that statue co from? When I first touched it, I felt an incredibly intense reaction."
"That one?" Xia Hanshi followed his gaze and noticed the number two labeled on the back of the statue. He opened his smart bracelet, swiped through it for a mont, and pulled up a file. "Faceless Number: 2—Divine Statue. Confiscated seventeen years ago during the 'Faceless Ghost Divine Son Descent Incident,' handled by the Chief..."
"So it's from that incident." Xia Hanshi suddenly realized. "No wonder you had such a strong reaction when you touched it. This item is also connected to the Faceless Ghost Divine Son."
"Back then, we thought it was completely annihilated. It seems his descent was successful after all."
The essence was connected to the Divine Son? Su Chen was surprised and followed up with a question, "What exactly is the deal with a Divine Son?"
"Well..." Xia Hanshi thought for a mont before explaining, "Currently, all the anomalous deity believers we know of are commanded by a Chief Priest."
"Although they can leverage their faith to channel the power of the anomalous deities, their most potent thod is summoning an anomalous deity's vessel, which grants them strength equivalent to a Tier 7 class holder."
"Anything higher requires a Divine Son to execute. Disasters caused by Divine Sons have been recorded several tis in history, and quelling them always exacted a massive toll."
Su Chen's heart skipped a beat. Didn't that an this infiltrating Divine Son was going to be a huge problem?
"It's not that simple." Seeing the change in Su Chen's expression, Xia Hanshi imdiately knew what he was thinking and comforted him. "A Divine Son is born from the flesh and blood of an anomalous deity. For so unknown reason, they must manifest by being birthed as an infant. Their inherent strength isn't formidable; they even have to undergo the class advancent process step by step to improve their power."
"It's just that it's much easier for them to channel the anomalous deity's power, and they possess nurous thods that ordinary believers cannot use."
'Born from flesh and blood? Could it be that the essence is fundantally the flesh and blood of an anomalous deity?'
Su Chen couldn't help but speculate inwardly, though he also relaxed quite a bit. It seed the barrier between the anomalous deities and reality was far more formidable than he had imagined.
After chatting for a few more minutes, Su Chen finally left the room, deep in thought.
"I'll leave the Divine Son for Old Xia to investigate. With the search radius narrowed down so significantly, as long as they can pinpoint the target and strike directly without giving him a chance to channel his divine power, it shouldn't be a big problem. I just worry he might escape."
Su Chen muttered to himself all the way back to his residence. He stepped into the gravity room and expectantly opened his interface panel.
In addition to two units of Mid-Tier Faceless Ghost Power and one unit of Faceless Ghost Essence, he had a grand total of thirty-eight units of Low-Tier Faceless Ghost Power.
"If it's three-to-one, I should be able to synthesize... twelve units of Mid-Tier Anomalous Divine Power." Su Chen calculated while simultaneously willing the panel to act.
Sure enough, guided by his intent, the low-tier divine power began to rapidly condense.
But in the end, they only transford into nine units of Mid-Tier Faceless Ghost Power, leaving two units of Low-Tier Faceless Ghost Power remaining.
"Huh?" Su Chen frowned slightly. "Why are there only nine units? It wasn't three-to-one; it was four-to-one."
"There's a loss rate when synthesizing lower tiers into higher tiers?"
Prior to this, he had never obtained more than three units of divine power from the sa anomalous deity at the exact sa tier simultaneously.
His three-to-one hypothesis had co from the fact that a single unit of High-Tier Black Buddha Power had previously degraded into three mid-tier units.
"It makes sense that advancing a tier incurs a loss," Su Chen reasoned, feeling only mildly surprised. After all, it just cost one extra unit.
"Going by this math, I now have a total of twelve units of Mid-Tier Faceless Ghost Divine Power. My dual Tier 5 classes and dual Tier 6 classes will only require four units, which still leaves with a solid eight units. That's enough to synthesize two high-tier units..."
With this haul, he was set for quite a long ti.
"However..." Su Chen's gaze drifted down to the [Faceless Ghost Essence] below. "I wonder if divine power can be synthesized into essence."
Although he could save the divine power for future use, it was undeniably potent. Furthermore, essence, which could influence Special Classes, was clearly far more valuable.
The mont this thought crossed his mind, the panel shifted, and a line of small text surfaced—
[Consu divine power to slt essence?]
"It actually works?" Su Chen's heart jolted. Amidst his joy, he also noticed a discrepancy.
"It's surprisingly not a direct synthesis like the divine power. I'm guessing this slting process is sowhat different..."
'Let's try it and see.' Su Chen didn't hesitate and imdiately chose to slt it.
Right away, the quantity next to [Mid-Tier Faceless Ghost Divine Power x 11] began to rapidly tick down: 10, 9, 8, 7...
In the blink of an eye, only two units of mid-tier divine power were left.
"It consud nine units of Mid-Tier Faceless Ghost Divine Power?" Su Chen's eyelids twitched. This amount far exceeded his expectations, and yet the low-tier divine power remained completely untouched.
"These nine units could have synthesized two high-tier units... No, wait, it requires three high-tier units to decompose into nine mid-tier ones." Su Chen speculated, "Slting essence must require the equivalent of three units of high-tier divine power. Furthermore, the baseline material for the slting process must be at least mid-tier."
This consumption rate... wasn't it a bit too exorbitant?
"Is the cost so high because these are two completely different substances?" Su Chen couldn't help but wonder. The essence and the divine power were clearly not the sa thing.
Above high-tier divine power should be a tier of divine power capable of affecting the Morning Star rank, rather than so kind of essence.
As Su Chen mused, a streak of pale golden fla flickered onto the panel, complete with an animation. He could even vaguely hear clinking and clanking sounds.
"It actually takes ti? Is it genuinely slting it?" Su Chen was amazed, growing ever more certain that a material conversion was taking place.
He wondered how long the slting process would take. Su Chen couldn't help but rub his hands together. He still had one usable unit of Faceless Ghost Essence, and he was already struggling to hold back his eagerness.
"The function of this stuff should be roughly the sa as the divine power," Su Chen figured, imdiately applying that unit of Faceless Ghost Essence to his [Windchaser Dancer] class.
Regardless of what it did, he needed a guinea pig. At any rate, based on his past experience, it definitely wouldn't cause any harm.
[The Windchaser Dancer has co into contact with the Faceless Ghost Essence. The eerie power of the Faceless slowly corrupts it, causing it to dance in a frenzied delirium, completely abandoning all restraint. Class Advancent Requirent Two has been erased.]
"Hah!" Su Chen raised an eyebrow. "The function really is the sa. It erases the requirents."
Class Advancent Requirent Two was exactly the Perfect Dodge condition that demanded a massive investnt of ti and energy.
Having it directly erased was fantastic—truly fantastic.
Even though he had already completed it once, Su Chen didn't feel like it was a waste of resources. On the contrary, he felt as if a massive boulder had been lifted from his chest, leaving him feeling incredibly refreshed.
That sensation of standing in the dark, waiting for an imminent attack to strike, was rather torturous.
Moreover, it couldn't be done simultaneously with his class developnt. Having it erased right now was for the best.
"With this out of the way, only the final ritual requirent remains. That one is easy enough; following the experience of my predecessors, it shouldn't be much of an issue."
Su Chen rubbed his hands in anticipation and couldn't resist glancing at the [Ravager]'s progress. It was already at 22%.
This class's requirents had been consolidated into a progress bar. He wondered if the essence would be of any use for it.
However, this class didn't require any ntal effort from him, nor did it eat up his ti. Even after the essence finished slting, he didn't plan on using it here.
"Essence... essence..." Su Chen couldn't help but ponder. "What I saw today was only the Tribunal's stockpile of Faceless Ghost divine power. What about the other anomalous deities? I need to find a way to get my hands on those as well."
He wondered if Black Buddha Essence could allow a Special Class to undergo another evolution.
"So Special Classes can indeed evolve, like the believer types, while others cannot. I wonder what kind of changes it might trigger." Su Chen let his imagination run wild, but he quickly reined himself in.
"Given Old Xia's personality, there will definitely be an opportunity."
Even though the essence required a massive amount of divine power for the conversion, Su Chen was in an excellent mood. He sent a ssage to the Class Analysis Departnt, instructing them to prepare the stormy environnt. He also notified Bu Siqi not to wait up for him, officially suspending his strike training.
"Old Bu has been thoroughly tornted as well." Seeing three consecutive "Okays" pop up on the screen, Su Chen chuckled. He could finally resu the developnt progress of his own class.
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