It was actually about the sa as the normal lifespan of a Tier 4.
Su Chen estimated inwardly. If not for the hazards of the Nether Mist, judging by the few words Qing Cang and the others had let slip, as a Tier 4 class holder, he would lose about thirty percent of his lifespan, allowing him to live to around two hundred years old.
'However, following this logic, if a high-tier class holder who hasn't been corrupted but is nearing the end of their lifespan suddenly cos into contact with the Nether Mist, would it reduce their remaining lifespan, or would it just kill them instantly...'
Having his spiritual core outside his body felt remarkably surreal. Once the initial sensation of having nothing to rely on faded, it instead felt like a fish returning to water. A faint, euphoric lightness washed over him, causing his thoughts to wander endlessly.
In the past, his spiritual core had always resided within his body, projecting spiritual power outward as a re extension of his consciousness. He had never experienced a sensation quite like this.
"Do not lose yourself in it," You Shan's voice suddenly rang out. "This is an illusion born from your consciousness breaking free from the shackles of your physical body. Without a physical vessel to anchor it, a spiritual consciousness is rely duckweed adrift on the water, easily swallowed by the Nether Realm."
Su Chen had already noticed that the environnt outside the runic array had silently shifted. It was a murky grey expanse, resembling the terrain of the Nether Realm, yet blocked by the array and unable to encroach further.
The "intoxicating pull" had hit him with surprising intensity. When Su Chen had commissioned soone to carve this runic array, he had been warned that this might happen.
Because a spiritual consciousness was confined within the body year-round, freeing it for the first ti brought a deep sense of imrsion, as if one were lting into water and attaining absolute freedom. However, this was rely an illusion. If one truly lted into the water, the only final outco would be complete annihilation.
Quickly reigning in his wandering thoughts, he focused. Right now, he could only see the Life Fire, but his class advancent requirent demanded that he touch it.
His spiritual core floated forward, faintly outlining an illusory silhouette. Reaching out, he touched the Life Fire blazing across the surface of his physical body.
In an instant, Su Chen felt a searing heat scorch his entire being, as if he had been plunged into an inferno. It was like being violently tossed from an icy tundra straight into a volcanic crater. His spiritual projection imdiately collapsed, recoiling back into his spiritual core.
'This...' Su Chen's heart fluttered with lingering dread. The agony of touching the Life Fire had only lasted for a split second, but it was an excruciating pain that struck at the very essence of his spirit, making him feel as though he were lting.
You Shan elaborated, "The more vigorous the Life Fire, the greater the damage it inflicts on spiritual power. Even though it remains invisible on an ordinary day, it serves as a subtle layer of protection for the physical body."
Su Chen's mind stirred. He wondered if it was a re coincidence, but this concept aligned strangely well with so of the ghost legends from his previous life.
Perhaps this was also one of the reasons why spiritual-type abilities grew increasingly ineffective against high-tier class holders. They possessed spiritual resilience to defend against ntal attacks, and their Life Fire to block physical corruption.
You Shan continued to explain, "Attempting to seize control of a physical body like this exacts a trendous toll. This is precisely why deceased high-tier spiritual class holders rarely choose young people when selecting a vessel for possession."
"Does this thing not distinguish between friend and foe?" Su Chen could not help but ask.
"The exterior of your spiritual core is currently mingled with my spiritual power." As You Shan's voice faded, she withdrew the spiritual energy that had been guiding Su Chen's core.
Instantly, Su Chen felt an undeniable magnetic pull emanating from the physical body before him. His spiritual core drifted back into it involuntarily.
The mont he returned to his body, the euphoric sensation of weightlessness vanished. Replaced by the grounded feeling of planting his feet firmly on the earth, a profound sense of security welled up within him.
Su Chen subconsciously took a deep breath. As the cool air rushed into his lungs, he instantly felt much better.
Glancing at his interface, he saw that the second requirent for the Lifeburner class advancent had already been marked as complete.
"As your class tier rises and elevates your life level, your evolutionary lifespan will continue to lengthen. Do not overly obsess over this matter," You Shan cautioned once again.
This was not her first ti helping soone witness their Life Fire. So of the helmsn of Yingfeng City's influential families had been fiercely decisive in their youth, looking down upon everyone else with utter disdain.
However, upon reaching a certain age, they inevitably grew obsessed with their lifespans. Watching their remaining ti dwindle away bit by bit, they would exhaust every possible avenue just to squeeze out an extra year or two, ultimately setting their sights on the treacherous powers of Eldritch Deities.
"Rest assured. Furthermore, in all likelihood, I will be heading to the Royal Court. Once the hazards of the Nether Mist are neutralized, my lifespan will jump significantly. I won't worry about it." Knowing exactly what You Shan was concerned about, Su Chen reassured her repeatedly.
"The Royal Court..." You Shan's expression flickered as the topic was brought up again. "To think it would co to this."
Pondering for a brief mont, the beautiful woman looked at Su Chen again and hesitated before saying, "If it's at all possible, could I ask you to take Ming Lin with you?"
"Oh?" Su Chen asked in surprise. "Are you not planning to leave?"
On the way back with the Chief Inquisitor, he had already given her a complete overview of the situation. He had also ntioned Qing Cang's offer to allow the higher-ups to bring their families along.
Although Qing Cang had made that offer under the premise that he was unwilling to resolve the Holy Banquet, even if the crisis was eventually resolved, they still had the option to leave.
"Sigh..." You Shan let out a soft breath, her eyes rippling with complex emotions. "Born here, raised here, and naturally, I should die here. As wonderful as the Royal Court may be, it is not my holand."
"If Ming Lin were to be taken away by anyone else, I simply wouldn't have peace of mind."
There was an underlying logic hidden in her words. If the Holy Banquet could not be resolved, the ones leaving would be the people who had chosen to accept Qing Cang's proposal.
While it wouldn't be fair to label all of them as cowards clinging to life, You Shan remained entirely unwilling to entrust Ming Lin to their care.
"I understand." Su Chen nodded in comprehension and agreed to her request.
After seeing the Chief Inquisitor out, Su Chen couldn't help but feel a heaviness weighing on his heart. If the Holy Banquet ultimately remained unresolved, Ming Lin wouldn't be the only one he needed to take away with him.
'That Qing Cang definitely has a way; he's just unwilling to pay the extra price. How can I persuade him?' Su Chen frowned as he pondered.
The man seed interested in taking him on as a disciple, but there were vast differences in how disciples were treated. The other party clearly wasn't desperate for him. If Su Chen started making demands, it might backfire entirely.
'I'll just take it one step at a ti. If all else fails, I can only do my best.' Su Chen shook his head, montarily shelving the issue. He turned his attention back to the Lifeburner class interface, which had now t all its requirents. He could finalize the class advancent right now, but he wasn't fully prepared just yet.
During this period of ti, all the essences required for the fusion process had been fully prepared.
He already had a clear plan regarding which requirent he would apply the Cunning Fox Essence to in order to obtain extra rewards.
Naturally, it would be the first class advancent requirent. It pertained to the multiplier condition regarding his remaining lifespan. He was gambling on the probability that he could still et the condition even if the difficulty increased.
Wasting no ti, he took action, directing the Cunning Fox Essence toward the Lifeburner path—
[Class Advancent Requirent One Difficulty Increased: Remaining theoretical lifespan must exceed six tis the host's current age. Upon fulfilling this requirent and completing the class advancent, an additional reward will be granted.]
"Hah." Su Chen broke into a grin. The difficulty requirent had jumped from three tis to six tis, but he still easily t the mark. After all, he was exceptionally young.
'If that's the case, I won't need to lower the difficulty, and I can save a portion of the Scarlet Essence,' he thought.
Brimming with satisfaction, and with everything now in place, the mont for his class advancent had finally arrived.
With a re shift of his thoughts, the Lifeburner icon on the interface burst into blinding light.
Suddenly, a blazing pale-white fla erupted from the soles of his feet, instantly engulfing his entire physical shell. Like a living entity, it bored into his internal organs. His body acted like dry tinder, supplying endless fuel for the inferno.
"What the f—" Su Chen gritted his teeth as sparks reeking of burnt blood sprayed from his nose and mouth. Under the intense searing heat, his chest cavity let out crisp cracking sounds reminiscent of snapping charcoal, as if his flesh were truly nothing but firewood.
Amidst the searing agony of his burning flesh, his Ravager class automatically triggered, pumping a soothing stream of warmth straight from his heart.
This was no illusory fla; it was as real as it could get. The excruciating tornt of this class advancent was second only to the agonizing pain of upgrading his main class.
He guessed that if he hadn't erased the final lifespan requirent earlier, the flas would currently be burning away his very lifespan instead.
The flas blazed with terrifying intensity, but after a re few minutes, they gradually began to recede.
However, Su Chen's body now looked utterly withered and desiccated. Stripped of all the flesh beneath his skin, the rigid outlines of his skeleton were starkly visible.
Yet, at the sa ti, his entire being pulsed with an incredibly dense vitality. Astounding power surged violently through his emaciated fra.
His nearly shriveled heart continued to forcefully pump out the thick, sluggish blood within his body, but he could sharply feel that if it beat just a few more tis, it would genuinely rupture.
[Lifeburner Class Advancent Complete. Acquired Class Ability — Life Ignition: Ignite the Life Fire. The longer the lifespan burned, the greater the boost in power obtained.]
[Acquired Extra Reward — Flesh as Kindling: You may opt to use your own flesh and blood as fuel instead of your lifespan, though the resulting power amplification will be reduced.]
Su Chen's eyelids fluttered, his pupils completely bloodshot. His body, burned to near-emaciation, forcefully triggered the abilities of the Ravager class.
However, in his current state, he didn't even dare to make any sudden movents. He was terrified that the overwhelming surge of power would shatter his tragically fragile body.
During the process, Su Chen had already retrieved a vial of Azure Cloud Potion from his storage space and shoved it into his mouth. Tilting his head back slightly, he let the green liquid slide down his parched throat.
Like rain falling after a long drought, his desiccated body greedily absorbed the potion's nutrients. Before it even reached his stomach, nearly half of the liquid had been aggressively assimilated by his throat alone.
His near-mummified body rapidly plumped up and regained its fullness. After downing a second vial, Su Chen finally made a complete recovery and let out a long breath of relief.
"That was way too ruthless. It practically incinerated ," he muttered.
Taking out a fresh set of clothes and putting them on, Su Chen finally found the ti to inspect his new class abilities. It was more or less exactly as Old Xia had described.
The perfection level of his completed requirents likely only affected the conversion ratio between burned lifespan and the resulting power boost.
He figured that he would rarely ever find the opportunity to utilize this primary ability, so he quickly shifted his focus to the extra reward.
"Flesh as Kindling..." Su Chen murmured. This extra reward presented him with a secondary option: foregoing lifespan as fuel in favor of burning his own flesh and blood, at the cost of receiving a weaker boost in strength.
However, this suited his needs perfectly.
'Burning my flesh grants a surge in power, and the resulting physical damage triggers the Ravager class's passive abilities. This is exactly the kind of synergy I wanted. Now, I won't have to go out of my way to find another class designed around intentional self-harm.' Su Chen imdiately conducted a brief test.
Instantly, a layer of pale flas erupted across the surface of his skin. A sharp stinging sensation spread across his entire body as pulses of warmth pumped rapidly from his heart, drawing an endless stream of power out of his fra.
The Flesh as Kindling burned in an exceptionally balanced manner, and he found that he could also precisely control the flas to burn specific, localized areas of his body.
When it ca to classes, having more wasn't always better. The true goal was creating synergy. Once a person managed to forge a core combat system centered around a specific class, their power among peers of the sa tier could not be underestimated.
Following that, he began to experint tirelessly. Carefully avoiding vital areas like his heart, he tested the limits of the burn—figuring out exactly how far he needed to go to obtain the optimal surge in power without compromising his mobility.
Several hours later, he had finally managed to grasp the knack for it. He stood enveloped in flas as thick and dark as fresh blood, the glow illuminating his skin with searing crimson patterns that resembled molten magma.
Black arcs of lightning darted through the curtain of flas like living serpents, violently tearing jagged, branch-like rifts of blinding light through the fire. Even the very tips of his hair trailed with flickering streaks of interwoven crimson and black light.
He forcibly suppressed the chaotic energy rampaging within his body, doing his utmost to avoid causing collateral damage to his surroundings. Even so, the floor directly beneath his feet had already been scorched pitch-black.
This was his gravity training room, built with exceptionally durable materials. During his previous tamorphosis and class advancents, he had recklessly vented his energy without restraint, yet had never managed to inflict any visible damage to the room.
But this ti was completely different, serving as a terrifying testant to the sheer magnitude of his current energy output.
Su Chen carefully imrsed himself in the sensation. Right now, this was his ultimate, perfect state—a seamless fusion combining the dual abilities of his Lifeburner and Ravager classes.
'I wonder... could I defeat Senior Brother Teng Liang right now?'
Clenching his fists tightly, Su Chen couldn't help but recall that night when he had just arrived in Yingfeng City—the night the Pang family was annihilated.
The imposing sight of the five-ter-tall Ancient Spirit Giant standing upon the rooftop, exuding an aura of absolute, tyrannical destruction, had truly left an indelible impression on his mind.
Of course, this still wasn't his absolute peak state. His strongest state involved using his Holy Hand to further augnt the Lifeburner and Ravager abilities, multiplying their conversion ratios. However, under those extre conditions, his combat endurance would plumt drastically. He likely wouldn't be able to hold out for very long; perhaps after just a few strikes, his physical body would completely give out.
But—perhaps those few strikes would be enough to smash Senior Brother Teng Liang to death?
As this wild thought suddenly popped into his mind, Su Chen's face darkened, and he abruptly deactivated all of his bodily buffs and active states.
A sudden, massive surge in power always seed to bring about bizarre, unexplainable intrusive thoughts.
"The only downside is that it consus too many restorative potions." Su Chen chugged another vial. The physical damage inflicted by this thod was nearly impossible to heal naturally in a short tifra, forcing him to rely entirely on alchemical potions.
'What will happen when the Lifeburner class reaches the Holy Class tier? Will it rely boost the conversion ratio, or fundantally alter its abilities?' Su Chen cast another glance at the Lifeburner's primary ability. If he actually burned his lifespan, just how massive would the resulting power boost truly be?
He was genuinely tempted to test it out.
'Do I have rocks in my head? Why would a re experint ever be worth squandering my own lifespan?' Su Chen silently cursed his foolishness, quickly forcing his attention elsewhere. His thoughts drifted to another matter: 'I wonder what the deal is with those other guys. With their undeniably high talents, they're definitely holding top-tier classes and possess their own thods for class fusion. It's a guarantee they have special auxiliary classes backing them up as well...'
Su Chen couldn't help but think of Wan Chen and his group. If they had been personally brought along by Qing Cang, all of those boons were surely standard issue for them.
'They have also beco acknowledged individuals. If I were to defeat them, I wonder if the Exalted One would show any further reaction.'
Su Chen began to speculate wildly. 'However, they all seem to be older than I am. Their main class tier might no longer be at Tier 4.'
Single-class holders were considered half-crippled. Within the Royal Court, those who could truly stand on the grand stage were undeniably dual-class holders, possessing power that was on an entirely different level.
Mulling it over, Su Chen activated his smart bracelet. He was about to leave Yingfeng City and head for the ruins, and there were still many preparations he needed to make, such as stockpiling essential auxiliary potions.
anwhile, inside the luxurious suite Yingfeng City had prepared for Qing Cang, streaks of azure energy flowed in srizing patterns, enveloping the entire room and blurring everything from an outsider's perspective.
In the center of the space, Qing Cang pushed a tal table to the side. With an expression of utmost solemnity, he bowed deeply. "Your disciple, Qing Cang, respectfully invites the master..."
As his voice fell, a streak of flowing light erged from his body and descended onto the table. It materialized into a miniature bronze figure resembling a porcelain doll. Sitting cross-legged, the tiny entity had a glowing, gear-shaped halo suspended behind its back.
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