"The Holy Banquet..." Ni Chuan's expression shifted slightly. Thinking of those troubleso Bizarre Gods, his teeth could not help but ache a little. "That is going to be troubleso."
Pondering for a mont, he asked again, "Is there anything else?"
"No." Lan Hao thought about it carefully; there was nothing else to report.
"Alright. If anything happens, notify imdiately," Ni Chuan said. "After this, we should not et again. The risk is too high."
Lan Hao coldly snorted inwardly. He did not want to et either, but the Underworld Stones in his possession were limited. After using them twice, they were completely depleted.
"Take this." Ni Chuan seed to know what he was thinking and tossed over a tal box.
Lan Hao opened it and saw chunks of black tal resting inside.
"Then there is no problem." Lan Hao stored the box in his spatial inventory and watched Ni Chuan leave.
'Just what is Father trying to do?' Lan Hao remained where he stood, lost in deep thought. 'The conflict between the sect and the Royal Court is almost irreconcilable. Reaching out to soone from the Royal Court now... is he looking for an exit strategy? Or is he truly planning to defect?'
He could not figure it out, but since his father had given him a plan, he simply had to follow it.
Checking the ti, Lan Hao briefly got his bearings and prepared to hunt down a mutant to fool the others.
However, not long after his figure disappeared, Ni Chuan surprisingly stepped out of the mist again. Glancing left and right, he muttered, "This damned Underworld Mist is truly disgusting."
'This guy...' Su Chen, hiding within the spatial fold, could not help but feel his heart pound.
The other party's class tier was absolutely staggering. If it were not for the presence of the Underworld Mist, he likely would have been discovered even while concealed in the spatial fold.
After waiting for a long ti, Su Chen cautiously erged and followed the trail Lan Hao had left behind.
..
"What a pity about this Crimson Blaze Echoing Thunder Exalt..." On the way back, dragging the corpse of a wolf with a pale gold mane, Lan Hao's eyes lacked focus, filled with unavoidable regret.
After all, it was a Morning Star-tier class, and an extrely rare opportunity at that. If he beca the chosen one, he might even catch the eye of the Ancient King.
This was a chance that even the two Star Seeds in the Holy Sanctuary did not possess.
Unfortunately, that spirit was completely blind and simply did not think highly of him.
"However, Wan Chen is probably brimming with hope right now..." Thinking of Wan Chen's face, Lan Hao could not help but sneer aloud. "What a pity... what a massive pity..."
With this class falling into the hands of the Royal Court, he certainly had no more delusions about it, but Wan Chen was equally out of the running.
'So what if your talent is extraordinary? Just like , without spiritual recognition, you will never reach the Morning Star tier in your entire life.'
As he thought about it, Lan Hao felt increasingly exhilarated. 'And then there is Su Chen, getting all buddy-buddy with Wan Chen. He has so petty cleverness, knowing how to find a backer, but he is still not smart enough.'
'Forget it, I will not stoop to his level. Once we return to the sect, he will naturally realize that picking a side too early is never a good thing.'
Initially, Lan Hao wanted to exact brutal revenge upon returning. But over the past few days, his anger had subsided. Having just facilitated such a major event, his state of mind had shifted, and he could not even be bothered to care about Su Chen anymore.
Deep in thought, Lan Hao suddenly felt a warm sensation beneath his nose. He wiped it subconsciously, and the wet, slippery texture made him freeze. Looking down, striking crimson blood t his eyes.
"This..." His expression shifted slightly, completely unaware of what was happening.
He glanced back at the corpse he was dragging. It was rely an ordinary Tier 5 mutant. He had killed it with little effort; there was no way it could have inflicted hidden injuries on him.
Suddenly, an intense burst of agonizing pain ripped through his chest. Unable to control himself, he opened his mouth and spat out a massive mouthful of blood with a wet splat.
'Just... what is going on?!' Violent pain radiated from his chest and abdon. Lan Hao's face was filled with horror; he had absolutely no idea what was happening.
"Argh—"
With a miserable shriek, he collapsed to his knees with a heavy thud. His fingers dug deeply into the rock crevices, his knuckles twisting and deforming from the extre force.
His spine arched backward as if constricted by an invisible python, and his shoulder blades emitted a teeth-aching pop as they dislocated beneath his skin.
'So fierce...'
In the distance, Su Chen was secretly astonished. At this mont, black lightning surged all over his body; he had already entered his class fusion state.
The special ability this form granted significantly reduced the ntal energy required when he used his Spirit Words against targets.
His ntal energy was depleting like water from an opened floodgate, but the Reverser was squeezing his stamina to convert it into ntal energy, while the nutrients stored by the Glutton were rapidly being converted back into stamina.
The Spirit Word he just used was ant to severely injure Lan Hao. It was an ongoing process; he could cut off the ntal energy drain at any mont to end it.
He had originally intended to weaken Lan Hao as much as possible to pave the way for his next move.
But he had not expected the effects to be this devastating. Su Chen's eyes flickered slightly. The continuous ntal energy drain had completely emptied his reserves more than four tis over.
Given Su Chen's current condition, even with the Glutton's backup resources, he could only afford to be drained dry five tis.
"I..." Lan Hao was still completely in the dark. His heart spasd violently, the veins on his forehead bulging and pulsating like writhing earthworms. His ntal energy was constantly churning, also draining rapidly for so inexplicable reason.
A tearing sensation erupted simultaneously from every bone and limb in his body. A ragged, bloody gasp leaked from his open throat as his pupils shrank to pinpricks from the excruciating agony.
His heart was filled with nothing but terror. With trembling hands, he struggled to channel his boiling ntal energy to retrieve a healing potion from his spatial inventory.
Bam!
The hands holding the potion were violently kicked away, the montum causing his entire body to sprawl flat against the ground.
Propping himself up, Lan Hao's mind was consud by sheer horror. He never imagined soone had ambushed him from the shadows, leaving him in such a miserable state before he even caught sight of his attacker.
He looked up, freezing for a second before his face drained of all color in absolute terror.
The approaching figure wore a mask and slightly lowered his head. Intersecting black runic lines gathered at the top of his head, forming a vertical eye.
"You... you are... a believer of the Bizarre Gods!"
Lan Hao instantly recalled the images of the Bizarre Gods' believers he had seen in the Holy Sanctuary. The black vertical eye on the head seed to belong to a Bizarre God known as Hei Tuo.
His expression was thoroughly terrified, and his heart rate spiked even further. Having been born into the sect, he had almost never co into contact with these Bizarre Gods.
But no matter where he had learned about them, the information always ca with warnings, warnings, and more warnings!
These people were absolute lunatics who did things without any regard for the consequences.
'The effect seems to be even better than I imagined...' Su Chen was inwardly amazed. It appeared that having a noble background was not entirely a good thing.
If it had been a normal professional from Yingfeng, they would not have been scared out of their wits just by seeing a believer of the Bizarre Gods.
To think he had actually been wary of this guy putting up a desperate fight. After all, as a Tier 5 professional, he still possessed a certain degree of resistance even in his heavily injured state.
"Good that you recognize it," Su Chen said in a deep, gravelly voice.
Lan Hao swallowed hard, forcing himself to calm down. "Your Excellency, let's talk this out. If there is anything you need, I am willing to help."
He rembered that while these madn acted without considering the consequences, they never did things completely without reason.
Their sole purpose was to please the god they worshipped.
'He caved just like that?' Su Chen was sowhat speechless, but since that was the case, he did not hold back and asked directly, "The person you t just now—were they from another sect, or from the Royal Court?"
'He saw eting with Ni Chuan?'
Lan Hao's heart grew even more panicked. Even Ni Chuan hadn't realized soone was spying on them from the shadows?
'For soone so powerful to actually sneak attack ... How utterly shaless!'
"Speak!" Su Chen barked. Lan Hao shuddered in fright and hastily answered, "The Royal Court! He is from the Royal Court, one of the commanders of the Sect Suppression Army."
'The Sect Suppression Army? That na does not sound very friendly.'
"Aren't you a mber of the Bronze Sect? Why are you colluding with the Royal Court? What were you talking about with him?" Su Chen interrogated further.
"This..." Reaching this topic, Lan Hao began to hesitate.
"Never mind. I shall just send you to please my Lord," Su Chen said with an eerie tone. "I will simply have to dig through your mories to find out everything that just happened."
"I will talk! I will talk..." Lan Hao abandoned all other thoughts. Threats from these maniacs were never empty; they absolutely did not care about one's background.
Imdiately, he relayed the entirety of his recent conversation.
'So that is how it is. The Lan family is playing both sides...' Listening to his confession, Su Chen furrowed his brows tightly. The people from the Royal Court had arrived, and they seemingly even possessed the confidence to deal with Qing Cang. This was certainly not good news.
"You said you were willing to do your best to help ?" Su Chen asked, his head lowered.
"Please, na it..." A hint of joy sparked in Lan Hao's heart. If the other party said this, it ant there was truly a use for him.
"What are the requirents for your Lan family's Phoenix Holy Class?" Su Chen asked directly.
Lan Hao froze upon hearing this, completely taken aback that this believer of the Bizarre Gods was actually targeting their family's Holy Class.
"Th-this, I really do not know the exact requirents either. We just undergo the class advancent," Lan Hao answered hastily.
"Oh..." Su Chen nodded and then asked, "If that is the case, how many have you acquired?"
"Currently, just one..." he replied cautiously.
"Let's hear about it then..."
"It is not that I do not want to tell you, but I have a spiritual contract engraved on . I absolutely cannot speak about anything related to the class," Lan Hao said with a miserable expression.
"A spiritual contract..." Su Chen nodded, sighing mournfully. "In that case, I shall send you into the embrace of my Lord."
He took a step forward, looking as though he was about to strike at any mont.
"Wait..." Lan Hao's eyes twitched helplessly. "I am the son of the family head. I can forcefully tear the contract apart."
Su Chen said nothing, rely placing his palm on top of the other's head. Lan Hao took a deep breath. As soon as he squeezed out a single word, he let out a gut-wrenching wail of agony, struggling imnsely as he spat out all the class requirents.
'A spiritual contract...' Su Chen could acutely feel Lan Hao's ntal state fluctuating violently.
[Special Class discovered: Persevering Walker. Can be acquired upon fulfilling the requirents.]
[Class Requirent 1: The user must have acquired at least four physique-oriented classes, at least two of which must be top-tier classes.]
[Class Requirent 2: Heal over one hundred fatal wounds relying solely on one's own restorative capabilities.]
[Class Requirent 3: Sar the resin of an Immortal Ancient Tree onto oneself and absorb it into the body.]
'This class...' Su Chen skimd through the details. The difficulty was quite standard; the only slightly troubleso part was the resin of the Immortal Ancient Tree.
[The Persevering Walker who treads the edge of life and death possesses an exceptionally resolute mindset. As a sign of respect toward the Majestic Exalt, Class Requirent 2 has been weakened. The user only needs to heal over ten fatal wounds.]
anwhile, Lan Hao had practically collapsed onto the ground, wheezing heavily. Bloody froth continuously bubbled from his throat. His breath was weaker than a thread, looking as if he could drop dead at any second.
"If my estimation is correct, you should know one more. After all, you have already obtained this class, so you must be preparing for the next one," Su Chen asked gently as he crouched down.
"I..." Lan Hao's body stiffened. Tasting the thick stench of blood in his mouth, he gritted his teeth and asked, "Are you truly planning to let go?"
"Originally, I was not going to," Su Chen replied. Lan Hao let out a miserable chuckle, only to hear the other party continue, "But since you have already betrayed your own people, even if you go back, you have no one to run to about what happened today."
"You might still be useful later, so as long as you cooperate obediently, I will not kill you."
These were all excuses. Su Chen truly had no intention of killing him—it would bring far too much trouble.
Hearing these words, Lan Hao suddenly mustered a bit more strength out of nowhere. The logic was sound; at the very least, he was desperately grasping onto a ray of hope.
"Indeed, there is indeed another one..." He propped himself up. "Let take a sip of a potion, otherwise, I will die before I can even finish speaking..."
Su Chen reached out, using his power to draw the previously kicked-away potion into his hand, and poured a fifth of it into Lan Hao's mouth.
'This bastard is so incredibly powerful, yet so overly cautious—believers of the Bizarre Gods are all absolute animals!'
Lan Hao cursed inwardly, but he truly had no intention of fighting back. He impatiently swallowed the potion. After recovering slightly, he gritted his teeth, endured the soul-tearing agony, and continued his explanation.
[Special Class discovered: Nourishnt Siphoner. Can be acquired upon fulfilling the requirents.]
[Class Requirent 1: The user must have at least four top-tier physique-oriented classes.]
[Class Requirent 2: Obtain and consu the hearts of over one thousand different species that are not lower than the user's current tier.]
[Class Requirent 3: Revive the Eternal Withered Flower using your own blood.]
The difficulty of this class spiked significantly. A thousand different hearts... It was hard to say whether the Crimson Thunder Planet even possessed that many distinct non-human mutant species. Su Chen briefly pondered before another prompt appeared: [The Nourishnt Siphoner, roaming among myriads of spirits, is generally unwelcod, but still shows respect to the Majestic Exalt. Class Requirent 2 has been weakened. The user only needs to consu one hundred hearts.]
Lan Hao watched him with intense nervousness.
"One more thing... your spatial storage..." Su Chen's voice sounded like the low murmur of a demon. Stripped entirely of his will to resist, Lan Hao highly cooperatively took out his various belongings.
Most of the items were potions, alongside a few weapons and scattered miscellaneous objects. Su Chen ticulously interrogated him about the nas and uses of everything.
"I presu there is nothing else left," Su Chen stated after finishing his questions, though his tone carried a hint of suspicion.
"That is everything. My spatial storage is only a little over ten cubic ters," Lan Hao explained.
Since things had reached this point, Su Chen veiled his head with flowing currents of wind and muttered in a low voice, "Enchant this person's mind, compelling him to respond truthfully to my questions."
His ntal energy surged out like an opened floodgate once again. This was another continuous drain, although... perhaps because Lan Hao's ntal body was already severely damaged, the energy consumption was not overly massive.
Lan Hao's eyes turned blank and distant as Su Chen asked, "Is there any deception in what you just told ?"
"No." Lan Hao shook his head vacantly.
'He was actually that honest?' Su Chen was surprised. Estimating that his ntal energy reserves could hold out a little longer, he tried making Lan Hao repeat the class details once more, but it only resulted in relentless, agonized wailing.
Su Chen did not force him to continue and halted the process.
'It seems this spiritual contract exerts its effects regardless of whether he is in an active or passive ntal state.'
Lan Hao snapped back to his senses, sowhat dazed. However, the person who had just been standing in front of him had vanished without a trace, leaving behind two bottles of recovery potions exactly where he had stood.
'He actually let go.' A wave of sheer joy bubbled up in Lan Hao's heart. These believers of the Bizarre Gods were surprisingly true to their word.
He grabbed the two potions from the ground and hurriedly chugged them down.
anwhile, sowhere else within the Underworld Mist, Su Chen wore a strange look in his eyes as he stared at the system interface slowly unfolding before him: [You have masterfully utilized your class abilities to heavily injure the recognized individual, Lan Hao, above your own tier, and instilled a sense of awe and reverence in him. The Crimson Blaze Echoing Thunder Exalt expresses his approval of you. You have obtained one portion of Punishing Thunder Potion.]
Su Chen could not help but mutter aloud, "It can actually reward physical items?"
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