"That was fast..."
Startled by the condition of his body, Su Chen quickly fell into deep thought. "There are a lot of benefits to pleasing the Exalted One."
"But right now, it seems the only way is to defeat soone he acknowledges. I wonder if acquiring the second job-advancent requirent is what made him more active."
Was there any other way to please him?
As he pondered, Su Chen suddenly felt a strange sense of irony. "This doesn't seem much different from how those cultists try to please their Eldritch Gods."
"No, that's not right. The Exalted One is the Exalted One, and the Eldritch Gods are the Eldritch Gods." Su Chen shook his head and glanced at his interface. There was no reaction.
"However, I can still use their experiences as a reference. I wonder what the Exalted One likes?"
He didn't know much about the Exalted One, but the sa couldn't be said for Yuandu. Once Wu Chenpei returned, Chong Jingtian and the others would definitely make a move. He should be able to learn a lot when that happened.
With that in mind, he didn't waste any ti. This divine favor would only last for three months, so he needed to make the most of it.
Once Old Xia extracted the power of those Eldritch Gods, he would naturally call for him.
At the frontlines, where the Faceless Ghost cultists and the Yingfeng forces clashed in close combat, the battlefield was already damaged beyond recognition. Crisscrossing trenches scarred the earth, their depths seemingly bottomless.
Shattered weapons and twisted tal wreckage littered the scorched ground. Embers still smoldered in several deep craters, sending plus of black smoke into the air.
The remnants of torn defensive structures lay half-buried in the dirt, alongside broken blades jutting diagonally from the soil. In the center of the battlefield, a massive rift split the encampnt in two, its edges covered in a fine, spiderweb-like network of cracks.
Faint traces of unextinguished residual energy glowed with an eerie luminescence at the bottom of the rift. Destroyed chanical debris was scattered everywhere, the tal hulls riddled with holes lted by energy weapons. So still sparked occasionally from short circuits.
In the distance stood an incredibly colossal Faceless Statue, seemingly looking down over the land.
Standing upon its shoulder, the Faceless Head Priest suddenly looked up. Two streams of bloody tears rolled down his face as his body trembled faintly. A long sigh escaped his lips. "The Son of God has perished."
"What?!" The several High Priests gathered around him cried out in shock. "The vast majority of Yingfeng's forces are pinned down by us here. How could the Son of God—"
"I do not know the exact reason." The Head Priest shook his head. While surprised, he could accept it. Yingfeng had never been an easy target; otherwise, they would have succeeded long ago.
"The Son of God's plan has failed. It is ti to retreat. Go and prepare the Holy Banquet." He shook his head again, the two trails of bloody tears gradually drying on his cheeks.
With the Son of God dead, the Head Priest was now the supre commander. The High Priests voiced no objections.
"They're retreating! The Faceless Ghosts are falling back!"
At the Yingfeng encampnt on the other side of the battlefield, the spotters imdiately noticed the colossal statue gradually fading into the mist.
The news was swiftly reported to the high command. Filled with doubt and surprise, Chong Jingtian personally stepped outside the camp to verify. Seeing that the statue was indeed withdrawing, he checked with the Elders at several nearby outposts and confird the retreat was genuine.
"Be careful. The Faceless Ghost cultists are masters of deception," Wu Chenpei warned from his side.
Chong Jingtian deeply agreed and issued an order: "Observe them closely. Do not let your guard down."
Even though there were three other Elders present, Chong Jingtian was the most skilled at directing large-scale battlefield movents, so everyone followed his commands.
By mid-afternoon, compiled reports from all fronts confird that the Faceless Ghost cultists were truly pulling back.
Chong Jingtian's confusion only deepened, right up until he received an urgent ssage from Yingfeng.
"They used the Cipher Glyph thod. What situation could be this urgent?" Chong Jingtian muttered as he watched Jiang Shumo hurry over. He was handed a tal plate that resembled a Holy Word Stone, covered in dense, intricate symbols.
This was a communication thod they had created by imitating the Holy Word Stones. It could only be deciphered using a secret technique known strictly to the Elders of Yingfeng.
After delivering the plate, Jiang Shumo tactfully excused himself.
Chong Jingtian reached into his spatial storage, withdrew a crystal, and placed it on the tal plate. Instantly, the encrypted symbols transford into lines of readable text.
His eyelids twitched the mont he scanned the ssage.
"Xia Hanshi!" he growled under his breath. "I should have known. That bastard definitely had an ulterior motive for staying behind."
Though he had his suspicions, he never expected Xia Hanshi to be so decisive. Even if the results were highly favorable, being caught off guard like this still left a sour taste in his mouth.
"What news ca from Yingfeng?"
Wu Chenpei walked in without any hesitation. This was a privilege Chong Jingtian had granted him as a sign of respect and trust.
"Oh." Chong Jingtian looked up with a faint smile and pocketed the crystal, the symbols on the tal plate in his hand flickering out. "It was about the Faceless Son of God. He infiltrated Yingfeng, but Shi Yunzhou and Xia Hanshi discovered him. He has already been executed."
"Hm?" A flash of surprise crossed Wu Chenpei's eyes. "So it was a ploy to lure the tiger from the mountain. What was the Faceless Son of God's purpose in sneaking into Yingfeng?"
"I don't know the exact details either," Chong Jingtian replied, shaking his head.
"I see." Wu Chenpei looked thoughtful before asking, "Did he cause any damage to Yingfeng?"
Chong Jingtian smiled. "Not at all. He was discovered while still in his dormant phase."
A hint of hidden disappointnt flickered within Wu Chenpei. "Yingfeng is truly experienced. It's no wonder the Faceless cultists retreated. With their plan ruined, continuing to make pointless sacrifices would be aningless."
"If that's the case, can we head back to Yingfeng now?"
Chong Jingtian maintained a natural expression. "Yes. Once we fully confirm that the Faceless Ghost cultists have actually withdrawn, we will return."
Under normal circumstances, he would have loved to pursue them, but right now, there were more pressing matters waiting for them to handle back ho.
Wu Chenpei let out a calm breath. With the Faceless Ghost issue resolved, they could finally head to the ruins.
Chong Jingtian shot a profound glance at Wu Chenpei. 'I am the only Elder at this outpost right now. It will be much safer once we return to Yingfeng and the Five Elders join forces.'
Outside the atmosphere of Planet Red Thunder, the void suddenly rippled. A shuttle-shaped spacecraft tore through space without warning. It started as a thin line before rapidly expanding into a sleek black vessel.
The dense gray mist perating the surroundings churned violently. Residual energy from the spatial jump still clung to the dark armor plating, flaking off in shimring showers.
Two pairs of crimson, compound-eye-like sensors suddenly lit up at the bow. Scanning beams pierced the thick fog, landing on the massive planet below, which was covered in sweeping white oceans.
The warp engines gradually powered down as the conventional thrusters ignited, and tallic stabilizer wings extended from both sides.
"So this is Planet Red Thunder..."
Inside the ship, a group of people stood before a projected virtual screen, gazing at the fog-enshrouded planet before them.
The man leading them wore an indifferent expression and had a single scale resting between his brows. This was Qingcang, who had co to Planet Red Thunder under his master's orders.
"The Nethermist concentration has actually reached 52 percent," the young girl beside him exclaid, staring at the data readouts on the side of the screen. "That concentration is terrifying. Their lifespans will be cut in half right off the bat, and the stronger they are, the more life force they lose."
She was clad in a dark gray combat suit that perfectly accentuated her slender figure.
Qingcang casually reviewed the data. "The concentration was already at 50 percent ten years ago. It's no wonder the previous expedition team left so hurriedly. Their ship malfunctioned, their hazard suits were compromised, and they were forced to face the Nethermist directly. They couldn't stay for long."
Another young man with blue hair chid in, "Then they were far too unlucky. Getting entangled with Nethermist and trying to cleanse it back ho cos with a steep price. It's enough to bankrupt them."
As he spoke, a flash of greed darted across his eyes. "But their loss is our gain. The Exalted Crimson Fla Thunder God—a Morning Star-tier class! To think its spirituality is scattered here."
"Lan Hao," the girl beside him said, giving him a sidelong glance. "Listening to you, it sounds like victory is already within your grasp. Should I congratulate you in advance?"
"Lin Yue," Lan Hao chuckled airily. "I said 'our' gain, not just mine. I only have Crimson-tier talent. I can't compare to you, nor can I compare to Wan Chen."
"Spirituality is unpredictable. As long as your talent is sufficient, what use is having it any higher?" the young man leaning against the wall said, shaking his head faintly. "Besides, even the primitive natives of this planet could gain its recognition. The difficulty certainly won't be too high."
"One of the three of us is bound to be the chosen one."
The three of them continued to exchange polite deflections, fully displaying their false modesty.
Acting as if he hadn't heard them, Qingcang continued, "According to the previous intel, this planet is divided into four main cities. Yingfeng City is the strongest among them. Let's go have a chat with them first."
"The strongest? Just how strong are they?" Lan Hao asked curiously.
"They've produced an Eighth-Tier Professional, and they currently have five Seventh-Tier Professionals," Qingcang answered. "Although they all only hold single classes."
"Oh?" All three were quite surprised. Lan Hao couldn't help but say, "That's already quite impressive. Furthermore, this is the ho planet of that Ancient King's junior brother. Why hasn't the Royal Court brought it under their rule?"
"This place is already at the very edge of the Dust Star Sea. With such a high concentration of Nethermist, it's incredibly difficult to purge," Qingcang shook his head. "Moreover, there are traces of activity from more than one Eldritch God."
"Eldritch Gods?" The trio's expressions shifted slightly. Lin Yue couldn't help but murmur, "And more than one... How does this planet even still exist?"
"That is precisely what makes it extraordinary," Qingcang noted as the spacecraft gradually plunged into the atmosphere.
By the following day, Su Chen received a notification from Xia Hanshi. However, the eting point wasn't the old man's ho, but a public training room that had been strictly cordoned off.
When Su Chen arrived, Teng Liang was already waiting. Seeing him approach, he gave a nod of greeting.
"Senior Brother," Su Chen called out, speaking with a bit of hesitation. "About that Faceless Son of God..."
"Don't take it to heart." Teng Liang glanced at him. While he had been sowhat speechless at the ti, he hadn't truly minded.
"Regardless of the fact that a Son of God only appears once every few decades or even a century, the very fact that I managed to strike fear into his heart ans I, Teng Liang, haven't lived my life in vain."
He added a few more words of comfort, clearly wanting to ensure Su Chen didn't carry any unnecessary guilt.
Su Chen remained silent for a mont before saying gently, "He won't have the chance to cause you any trouble."
Teng Liang paused briefly, but then rely said, "Teacher is waiting for you."
——
Su Chen nodded and walked into the public training room. The mont he pushed the door open, his expression froze. The massive space was currently packed to the brim with all sorts of bizarre Eldritch Artifacts and statues.
There was a Heituo statue sitting cross-legged with its head bowed; a winged, three-faced scarlet idol; a grotesquely obese Dark Plague statue covered in festering sores; and a human-faced fox sporting three tails.
They were neatly sorted and displayed into distinct categories.
"Good heavens..." Su Chen swallowed hard. The more nurous ones, like the Heituo statues, numbered as high as five, while even the rarer Plague statues had at least two.
The Heituo artifacts were the most plentiful. Just a passing glance revealed no fewer than fifty. This was partly because his cult was the most active around Yingfeng, and partly due to Heituo's pragmatic style—if a situation turned against them, they would simply retreat rather than fight to the bitter end and risk everything.
"You can handle this, right?" Xia Hanshi asked, having appeared beside Su Chen at so unknown mont. A plan was just a plan, but actually dragging all these cursed objects out and piling them together was enough to give even an experienced Elder like him the creeps.
"I should be fine," Su Chen replied, shaking his head. He was already struggling to hold himself back.
"Be careful. If you feel anything unusual, tell imdiately," Xia Hanshi warned. Ever since Su Chen's last premonition, he had kept a close eye on the boy.
He had observed him for a while, and Su Chen had routinely passed all the corruption inspections at the Judgnt Bureau without a single anomaly.
But the sheer quantity of these cursed objects in front of them was genuinely terrifying.
"Alright." Su Chen took a deep breath and stepped forward, deciding to start with the Heituo statues first.
However, the first statue yielded absolutely nothing. It was far too clean, likely the exact one he had drained previously.
The second statue, on the other hand, held two residual wisps of mid-tier Heituo power. The third went even further, directly yielding a drop of Heituo essence; it was likely the very statue recovered from Cliff Mountain.
The fourth statue provided a portion of high-tier Heituo power, which wasn't a bad haul at all.
After draining the statues, Su Chen moved on to the remaining artifacts, siphoning them clean one by one. He didn't spare a single item this ti, gathering a grand total of fifty-two portions of energy.
Once the absorption was complete, he stood rooted to the spot, his brows furrowed tightly. He didn't move for a long while.
"How do you feel?" Xia Hanshi asked.
"I'm fine..." Su Chen shook his head. "I vaguely saw a few scenes. A large number of Heituo cultists are gathering together, but I don't know what they're up to."
He sighed regretfully. "There were no distinct landmarks, so there's no way to pinpoint their location."
Xia Hanshi wasn't surprised. Judging by the previous premonition, Su Chen's ability clearly had significant limitations.
If it hadn't been for the highly recognizable one-ard middle-aged man in that earlier vision, it would have taken them a massive amount of ti to track down that specific group in Gujiang City.
"I'll keep going." He seed to be speaking both to himself and to Xia Hanshi.
"Don't you want to rest for a bit?" Xia Hanshi asked, still a bit uneasy.
"Don't worry, I know my limits," Su Chen assured him. Seeing this, Xia Hanshi didn't press the matter, quietly watching as Su Chen walked past statue after statue, artifact after artifact.
Only when he had thoroughly drained every last bit of energy from the collection did Su Chen sway unsteadily on his feet. He let out a helpless sigh. "Teacher, all I saw were ambiguous, fragnted scenes. I couldn't be of much help."
"That doesn't matter." Xia Hanshi didn't share his disappointnt. Instead, he said, "At the very least, this indirectly proves that Yingfeng should be much safer now."
"Furthermore, even if the scenes appear fragnted right now, perhaps one day they will naturally piece together with future intelligence."
Hearing this, Su Chen couldn't help but sigh with emotion in his heart. 'Oh, Old Xia... Don't worry. Once I have the strength, I will definitely scrub this entire planet clean. I won't leave a single speck of filth behind.'
Xia Hanshi instructed him to stay and observe his condition for a bit longer, to which Su Chen had no objections. Teng Liang led a few people in to clean up the area. Seeing the utterly drained and hollowed-out artifacts, he couldn't help but marvel in secret.
'I've really hit the jackpot this ti.'
Su Chen sat off to the side, staring at his interface. He actively suppressed his facial expressions to prevent Old Xia from thinking he had been corrupted.
On the panel, he had gained one portion of essence from each of the various Eldritch Gods, with the sole exception of the Dark Plague. He just didn't have enough items related to that specific deity, as there had only been one statue.
As for low-tier divine power, he averaged over forty portions for each type. He had even managed to absorb a scattered but sizable amount of mid-tier divine power.
Su Chen rubbed his fingers together. "Let's test this out first and see exactly what these divine powers can do."
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