From the door opening to it closing, less than three seconds had passed. Su Chen narrowed his eyes.
He continued chewing. The at was crisp and chewy, apparently the heart of a mutant species known as the Tiger Pufferfish. "We should leave as soon as possible," Lan Hao said, retracting his gaze, a vague sense of unease settling in his heart.
"No rush. We already ordered the food. Wouldn't it be a waste not to eat it?" Su Chen consoled him.
Lan Hao was truly on pins and needles, terrified that soone might suddenly burst into the room and assassinate them.
anwhile, the monkey-faced man who had just left scurried away. After taking several turns through the corridors on this floor, he slipped into another private room.
A group of three was already waiting inside.
The mont he entered, he could not wait to speak, his expression flush with excitent. "It is confird. That is Su Chen."
"It really is him..." The expressions of the other three shifted. "I thought you were seeing things."
The monkey-faced man rapidly continued, "This is a rare opportunity! He is only a Tier 4 professional."
"That is three billion star coins! Once this opportunity is gone, it is gone for good."
"He is not the one we are worried about," the middle-aged man with a scarred face, seated in the center of the trio, said in a low voice. "He is the Star Seed of the Bronze Faction."
The monkey-faced man argued eagerly, "So what if it is the Bronze Faction? Once we kill him, we can just hide in the Nethermist. Who could possibly find us?"
"We will just wait until the heat dies down before coming out. By then, we will go our separate ways, change our identities, and who would be the wiser?"
The man sitting beside the scar-faced leader spoke up. "But rumor has it that the youngest disciple of the Ancient Bronze King is traveling with him. The Breath of the Wind, Qing Cang. That guy is a Tier 9 professional."
"Even a Tier 9 needs ti to react. I have looked into it—their hotel is quite a distance from here."
Seeing the hesitation on their faces, the scrawny man gritted his teeth and pushed harder. "More importantly, there is only one Qing Cang, and there are four of us. We strike, secure the kill, and scatter. We will flee the Hengdao Hub with everything we have. From there, it just cos down to who gets unlucky."
"If we let this slip, there will never be a better opportunity!"
It was a pure gamble with their lives, yet the hesitation on the other three's faces faded, gradually replaced by a ruthless glint. A seventy-five percent chance of success was not low.
"What a brilliant idea." Just as the group made their decision...
A long, drawn-out sigh suddenly echoed through the room. "What a pity..."
The four n's faces instantly drained of color. In the corner of the room, a figure clad in green robes had appeared completely unnoticed.
"You..." The scar-faced man's eyelids twitched violently, his expression twisting in horror. "Qing Cang?!"
He scrambled to explain. "We were just joking around! We are leaving right now, right now!"
Qing Cang's gaze swept over the four of them silently. Without a word, the pressure crushing down on the group multiplied exponentially.
The scrawny man was the first to break. Gritting his teeth, he lunged toward the door.
The mont he moved, a chill swept through his entire body. A biting, freezing wind from nowhere pierced his clothes and poured into his veins, making him feel as though he had been plunged into a tundra of ice and snow.
At the sa ti, everything around him began to magnify.
"Th-th-this..."
The scar-faced man and the other two watched in absolute terror as the scrawny man's body shrank to the size of a palm. He was still running mid-air, enveloped in a glowing white gale.
Imdiately after, Qing Cang's gaze landed on the remaining three.
"Hmm... So the Vast Sea Emperor of the Royal Court is using his birthday banquet as a pretext to summon the Five Great Factions for a eting."
While eating, Su Chen opened his wristband and scrolled through the so-called Prophet's Comntary, which compiled major recent events.
"Suspected to be related to the 'Starfall Fla' incident from three years ago."
At the end, there were annotations provided by the Prophet Society. Their notes were generally the most critical part.
Lan Hao, who was fraught with anxiety, could not help but look over upon hearing this. "Starfall Fla?"
"You know about it?" Su Chen asked, surprised.
"Yeah." Lan Hao glanced at Su Chen's plate. It looked like so kind of at arranged in an exquisite pattern, though he could not tell exactly what it was.
"A Morning Star-tier expert from the Royal Court discovered burning flas sowhere within the Nethermist, but ended up drowning in them," Lan Hao recalled. "The Nethermist and fire are natural opposites, as incompatible as fire and water. To find a fla still burning inside the mist caused quite a stir back then."
"Later, rumors circulated that a Radiant Moon-tier profession had been born within those flas."
"Radiant Moon-tier..." Su Chen paused his chewing.
Radiant Moon-tier was a level above Morning Star-tier, which was the realm of the Ancient Kings—the absolute top-tier titans of the Dust Star Sea.
He wondered just how absurd the professional requirents at that level would be.
"But after that, the trail went dead. Nobody knows what really happened," Lan Hao continued, offering his own speculation. "The Royal Court is summoning the Five Great Factions again this ti. They probably still want to figure out what is going on, but they do not want to bear the cost alone."
Coming from an extraordinary background, Lan Hao knew quite a bit.
Su Chen looked thoughtful. These matters were too far out of his league at the mont; he could only treat them as interesting gossip.
He kept scrolling down. "According to statistics... the Nethermist Ring has shrunk by another 0.5 percent compared to a year ago and is steadily eroding into the Dust Star Sea..."
99
The entire Dust Star Sea was essentially an uneroded pocket of space within the Nethermist, much like an isolated island in the ocean. And right now, the sea level was rising.
As ti passed, Su Chen continued reading while eating, gaining a more concrete impression of the Dust Star Sea. At the sa ti, the twenty-four types of mutant hearts were consud along with the al, entering his stomach.
The requirent for the Absorber profession was finally complete.
"Phew..." Su Chen let out a long breath and downed the last of the liquor in his glass, nodding in satisfaction. "Not bad..."
"Let's go," Lan Hao urged impatiently.
Calling the manager over, Lan Hao paid the bill without even looking at it, using a paynt software jointly developed by the Royal Court and the Five Great Factions.
Su Chen did not have an account for it, nor could he register for one here. He would have to wait until he arrived at the Bronze Faction.
Su Chen had no idea how much the al actually cost.
But to soone like Lan Hao, this amount of money was probably not even worth ntioning.
Leaving the restaurant, they returned to their aircraft.
Lan Hao's tense nerves finally relaxed a little. He could not help but feel surprised that they had not been attacked after all.
Were the people in the Hengdao Hub really this restrained?
"Let's head back now." Lan Hao was no longer planning to ask for Su Chen's opinion.
"Hmm..." Su Chen revealed a contemplative expression. Lan Hao's face darkened, almost losing his temper, but he forcibly held it back and asked, "What is it? Is there sothing else?"
"Well, it is like this..." Su Chen said deliberately. "I was preparing to take on a special profession called Potion Manager. I had completed more than half of the requirents just before you and Senior Brother Qing Cang arrived."
"There are still so materials I have not gathered."
"Materials..." Lan Hao fell silent for a mont before secretly gritting his teeth. "There is no need to pursue such a useless special profession. If you really want it, just wait until we return to the faction and have soone collect them for you."
"Who knows what the situation will be like when we get back? Besides, I am almost done with the requirents," Su Chen said, feigning helplessness.
"I only need one more thing: the sap of a natural plant with powerful restorative properties. So, I want to check out the material market here. The Hengdao Hub is bound to have it."
'There are so many people in the market...' Lan Hao's expression turned incredibly sour, but he suddenly paused, hesitating. "The sap of a natural plant with powerful restorative properties... I think I know one."
"Oh?" Su Chen looked over in surprise.
"The sap of the Immortal Ancient Tree," Lan Hao said.
For so inexplicable reason... he thought of the two professions he had accidentally leaked back on the Crimson Thunder Planet, and then of that damned evil god cultist.
However, now that he had left the Crimson Thunder Planet, that cultist would probably never find him in this lifeti. As for the two professions he had leaked, it did not really matter.
After all, not even he knew exactly how many special professions were needed as stepping stones for the complete Phoenix Holy Profession.
"What is that?" Su Chen asked blankly, though inwardly he was not surprised. Given Lan Hao's background as an elite from a major family, it made perfect sense.
Aside from the things he needed to know for his own profession requirents, a young master like him definitely would not bother learning about irrelevant materials.
This Immortal Ancient Tree sap was likely one of the few, or perhaps the only, "sap of a natural plant with powerful restorative properties" that he knew of.
As long as Su Chen provided the criteria, Lan Hao would naturally think of it.
Shaken from his daze by Su Chen's question, Lan Hao recovered his wits and explained, "It is exactly the kind of material you need. They should sell it here, but we do not have to go ourselves. Once we get back, I will just have a guard make the trip."
The only reason he volunteered the information was to avoid running all the way to the material market to search for it himself.
Su Chen hesitated slightly. "That sap..."
"Would I lie to you?" Lan Hao was starting to lose his patience. His voice rose a pitch, though he forced it back down and explained, "The sap of the Immortal Ancient Tree absolutely fits the criteria. In fact, it far exceeds your needs."
"Alright then." Su Chen nodded, and only then did he return with Lan Hao.
The mont they stepped into the hotel, Lan Hao let out a thorough and genuine sigh of relief.
The two made their way to Qing Cang's room. Unbeknownst to them, he had already returned and was standing by the window, exactly as he had been before they left.
"Senior Brother Qing Cang..."
"Senior Qing..."
They both greeted him, and Su Chen continued, "I bought the Prophet's Comntary you asked for."
"Hmm." Qing Cang turned around and nodded. "Thank you for your hard work. Lan Hao, you can head back first."
"Understood." Lan Hao felt a bit disappointed. Just as he was about to leave, he heard Su Chen add, "Brother Lan, do not forget to buy a little extra."
"I won't forget." Lan Hao took a deep breath. He had only spent half a day with Su Chen and was already finding it hard to endure.
He was only following his father's arrangents; his personality had not actually changed overnight. All the emotions he had been suppressing were twisting and boiling in his chest.
Once out the door, he cald himself down and summoned the guard standing by the entrance.
"...Go to the material market in the Hengdao Hub and find a rchant selling the sap of the Immortal Ancient Tree. One liter should be enough," he instructed.
"Uh..." The guard hesitated.
"I will reimburse you," Lan Hao frowned.
"Well..." The guard replied helplessly. "You will reimburse after I buy it, but I do not have enough money on to actually make the purchase."
Lan Hao's face darkened. He transferred a sum of money to the man, and only then did the guard scamper off to complete the errand.
"How is he?" Qing Cang glanced at the closed door as a gentle breeze enveloped the two of them, ensuring their privacy.
"I still cannot figure out his angle," Su Chen shook his head. "However, the movents within the Hengdao Hub should not have anything to do with him."
Lan Hao's anxiety and restlessness throughout the trip had not been faked.
"Hmm." Qing Cang nodded. "Lan Hai is a smart man. He likely would not pull any tricks from the shadows."
Su Chen shot his senior brother a speechless look. 'So we are just not going to investigate how my location on the Crimson Thunder Planet was leaked?'
Thinking for a mont, he said, "There is a website called Dark Bounty. It put a three billion star coin bounty on my head."
"I know." Qing Cang nodded. He brought out his hand from behind his back and opened it. A glowing white sphere of energy spun in his palm, its surface rippling like ocean waves.
Su Chen frowned slightly, but upon closer inspection, he could not help but gasp. Inside the sphere was a dense cluster of terrified, miniature human figures floating up and down.
"Isn't that..." In a fleeting glance, he spotted a sowhat familiar face. It was the monkey-faced man who had accidentally entered his private room earlier.
"Yes..." Qing Cang nodded. "Seventy-six people. These are the ones who intended to make a move on you while you were out."
"Hiss~" Su Chen was shocked. He had expected soone to try and strike from the shadows.
He had even guessed that the guy who stumbled into his room was suspicious.
But he never imagined there would be so many people preparing to attack him in secret.
"Was it all because of the three billion star coins?" Su Chen asked, his brows furrowed.
"More than half were, yes. But a portion of them took on private bounties. Their professional tiers were not low, and so were professional assassins." Qing Cang's eyes glinted, his voice dropping low. "Dark Bounty does not just offer public bounties; they also have hidden bounties. And the rewards from public and hidden bounties can stack."
"Soone put a hidden bounty on my head to assassinate privately?" Su Chen's expression tightened.
Qing Cang's face remained calm, but his eyes burned with hidden fury. "They are really that impatient. You are the legacy disciple of the Scarlet Sun Venerable, and our Master has already promised to protect you!"
These private bounties were highly abnormal. If they were after his spirituality, killing Su Chen would be pointless—the spirituality would ultimately return to the Bronze Faction anyway. It would just cost them more ti and effort to select another candidate.
Leaving aside the stacked bounties, those aiming specifically to kill Su Chen privately were highly likely to be internal mbers of the Bronze Faction.
"I thought they would at least have so scruples." Qing Cang clenched his hand into a fist, and the energy sphere shrank until it vanished completely.
Su Chen raised an eyebrow, faintly hearing the sound of agonized wails fading away in his ears.
Qing Cang's anger was not solely on Su Chen's behalf; it was more so because the authority of the Ancient Bronze King had been provoked.
His senior brother revered the Ancient King to the extre, ready to aggressively defend him over the slightest ambiguity in words. Naturally, he was furious that certain individuals were ignoring the Ancient King's stance and attempting to take Su Chen's life.
"Who do you think it is?" Su Chen asked softly.
Several figures flashed across the depths of Qing Cang's eyes, but he ultimately shook his head. "There are too many suspects. I cannot be certain."
Su Chen's heart skipped a beat. This...
Sensing that his words had sounded too grave, Qing Cang quickly offered reassurance. "Rest easy. So of their thods can only be employed before you return to the faction. Head back to your room for now."
Su Chen sighed inwardly. He had no choice but to take his leave.
Since he was already here, he might as well take things as they co. There were many things entirely out of his control right now anyway.
Once outside the door, he noticed the guard stationed outside Qing Cang's room was gone. Thinking about the two special professions he was about to acquire, he felt a fair bit of relief.
An increase in strength was always a pleasant feeling.
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