Standing before his room, Su Chen told the guard stationed at the door not to disturb him unless there was an absolute ergency.
After leaving these instructions, he finally stepped inside.
Once the door clicked shut, his ntal energy rippled outward like a gentle stream, washing over every nook and cranny of the room. He needed to ensure there were no hidden surveillance devices, probes, or strange symbols lurking in the shadows.
The guards accompanying them had already conducted a thorough sweep of the room beforehand. Su Chen double-checking was simply a matter of ingrained habit.
The Sixing Group had been wise enough not to pull any petty tricks behind his back. The room's insulation was exceptionally well-done, utilizing so top-tier sound-absorbing material that completely blocked out the noise from the outside world.
"Wherever there are people, there will be conflict..."
Su Chen let out a sigh, his thoughts lingering on the conversation he just had with Qing Cang. Human nature truly was a complex and unpredictable thing.
Take Ying Feng, for example. Despite their constant internal friction, the mont they faced a true life-or-death crisis—like the Holy Banquet or the invasion by the Faceless Ghost cultists—they could instantly twist together into an unbreakable rope.
Then there was Zhou Yanwu. The man had always harbored a distaste for the Tribunal, pulling countless little stunts both in the open and from the shadows. Yet, when it ca down to betting on Su Chen for survival and standing against Yuandu, he hadn't hesitated for a single second.
However, the mont he realized Qing Cang offered a second option, he had imdiately withdrawn his attention from Su Chen. Calling him fickle wouldn't be entirely accurate; he was simply consistently choosing what he believed to be the right path.
The Bronze Sect was infinitely larger than Ying Feng, aning this kind of behavior would only be magnified to a terrifying degree.
He had never even t the vast majority of the sect's mbers, so there couldn't possibly be any life-or-death grudges between them. It all boiled down to the simple fact that his status as the 'Chosen One' was too much of an eyesore to them.
Finding an empty spot in the spacious room, Su Chen suppressed his wandering thoughts. The interface materialized before his eyes. The requirents for the Siphoner class had all been t.
'According to Lan Hao, everyone in his family who has ever forged the Phoenix Holy Class has progressed in this exact order. I originally thought forging a Holy Class ca with strict sequencing requirents...' he mused silently.
'But the evolution of the Life-Burner only had a quantitative requirent. If the Life-Burner had no sequence requirent because it was the first forging, then what about the Immaculate? It didn't have one either.'
He continued his inner deductions. 'This sequence requirent is essentially based on difficulty. The Siphoner class is clearly much harder to attain than the Tenacious Walker, so naturally, they would inaugurate from the easiest to the hardest.'
'Could it be that just because the sequence was inverted, it would beco impossible to forge the Holy Class later on?'
Su Chen didn't dwell on the issue for long. He shook his head and muttered, "Forget it. I'll inaugurate it anyway. In the worst-case scenario, I can just use it as filler for the Glutton's evolution. It won't go to waste."
With his decision made, the large word "Inaugurate" floating next to the Siphoner class abruptly shattered into motes of light.
In that instant, Su Chen's pupils contracted to pinpricks. He violently clutched his chest as a searing agony assaulted him, feeling exactly as though a red-hot iron rod had been violently shoved straight through his heart.
The pain didn't just explode; it burrowed outward in agonizing threads. With a soft sizzle from beneath the flesh of his left breast, a series of dark red runes violently pierced through his skin, swimming through his flesh and blood like molten copper.
The edges of the runes glowed with an eerie light, each one writhing like a live snake as they linked together to form a web of bloody lacerations.
Su Chen staggered, nearly collapsing to the floor. Gritting his teeth, he braced himself against the wall, his fingernails digging fiercely into the plaster.
More blood-colored symbols erupted from his heart. The semi-transparent patterns slithered along his blood vessels, burrowing deep into the very crevices of his bones.
Looking down, he watched as thick blue veins bulged across his chest. The subcutaneous runes pulsed with a rhythmic light, gradually circulating throughout his entire body as if forcibly remodeling his anatomy.
A long while later, Su Chen finally let out a heavy breath. The coppery taste of blood welled up in his throat, and his entire body was completely drenched in sweat.
"Another targeted enhancent for the heart..." he murmured. A current of wind swirled around him, swiftly drying his sweat-soaked clothes. He could not help but massage his chest, still feeling a dull, lingering ache.
[Siphoner Inauguration complete. Acquired Class Ability—Siphon: Capable of absorbing the life force of a target to heal one's own injuries.]
[Acquired Bonus Reward: Siphon rate doubled.]
Su Chen scanned the ability. It matched Lan Hao's description almost perfectly, and surprisingly, there was no strict limitation dictating that it could only be used during combat.
However, during a battle, both parties would be constantly channeling their abilities, causing their vitality and blood to surge, which naturally made siphoning life force much easier.
The reward was fantastic, directly doubling his absorption speed. Su Chen was highly satisfied.
"This Phoenix Holy Class is probably just a massive accumulation of classes focused entirely on healing injuries in various ways. Eventually, it'll turn the user into an ultimate health-regenerating machine, recovering vitality just by breathing, or even granting true resurrection," he noted.
It wasn't a difficult deduction to make. Su Chen extended a finger, a blood-red symbol briefly flashing at his fingertip before fading. "This will only show its true potential in close-quarters physical combat."
Without a suitable target to experint on, Su Chen couldn't confirm the exact efficacy of his new ability just yet.
After taking a few monts to adapt to the changes, he imdiately plunged back into his ability developnt trance.
A few hours later, a sharp knock echoed from the door.
It was Lan Hao. Standing right behind him was a guard holding a square tal case.
"This is the sap of the Immortal Ancient Tree." Lan Hao gestured for the guard to bring the case inside. "I've already had my people run a scan. There's nothing else mixed in."
A sincere smile instantly blossod on Su Chen's face. "Thank you for the trouble, Brother Lan."
"Is there really a need for such formalities between us?" Lan Hao had clearly managed to adjust his mood, waving his hand with overflowing boisterousness. He then explained, "I initially ordered them to buy one liter, but the guards checked several stores and could only gather nine hundred milliliters. The Hengdao Hub is a bit too small, after all."
"Diluting it with water should be enough for my needs," Su Chen said, feigning a thoughtful tone.
"That's good to hear." Lan Hao nodded. After watching the guard set down the case, he exchanged a few more pleasantries before Su Chen eagerly escorted him out of the room with a warm smile.
Click. As soon as Su Chen's door shut, Lan Hao's smile faded slightly. The guard by his side hesitated for a mont before asking cautiously, "Lord Lan Hao, what about the leftover funds..."
Lan Hao glanced at him, too lazy to investigate whether there truly was a supply shortage or if the guard had deliberately bought one hundred milliliters less to pocket the difference.
He waved his hand dismissively. "Keep it for yourself."
"Thank you, Lord Lan Hao!" The guard was overjoyed, bowing and expressing his gratitude repeatedly before hurrying off in high spirits.
Lan Hao scoffed inwardly and prepared to return to his own room, but the mont he turned around, his expression subtly shifted.
Further down the corridor, another door had silently swung open at so point. Wan Chen was standing in the doorway, staring at him with an eerie, unreadable gaze.
Lan Hao's heart skipped a beat, a flash of guilt involuntarily rising within him. He quickly cursed himself in his mind—what did he have to feel guilty about?
"Lan Hao..." Wan Chen was the first to speak, his tone thick with implication. "Your relationship with Su Chen has certainly improved quite a bit over the past two days."
Unsure of what the man was getting at, Lan Hao feigned a sigh. "It's not like there was ever any deep-seated blood feud between us. We're all mbers of the sa sect, and we'll be seeing each other constantly. Why make things so unbearably awkward, right?"
"True," Wan Chen nodded, his eyes flashing with a hidden light as he matched the sigh. "That fight between Lin Yue and Su Chen's training projection the other day was quite fascinating, wouldn't you say?"
Having dropped the bait, his gaze transford into a sharp sword, locking firmly onto Lan Hao's face to catch even the slightest reaction.
"What?" Lan Hao looked genuinely bewildered, his response purely instinctual.
'He doesn't know?'
Wan Chen frowned deeply. He had initially assud that the sudden shift in attitude from both Lin Yue and Lan Hao stemd from the exact sa reason.
Since he couldn't coax anything out of Lin Yue, he had set his sights on Lan Hao. He knew this guy fairly well; Lan Hao was the type to be calculating, but not overly brilliant at it.
By pretending to be in on the secret, he thought he could trick him into spilling so valuable information.
But now, he couldn't tell if Lan Hao was simply an exceptional actor, or if he genuinely had no clue.
He guessed it was likely the latter. A person's attitude might shift overnight, but their fundantal cunning rarely changed so quickly.
anwhile, the mont the question left Lan Hao's lips, he sensed that sothing was off.
'Lin Yue and Su Chen's training projection?' Lan Hao's mind raced. 'Could Lin Yue's bizarre attitude be tied to that?'
'But what could possibly happen with Su Chen's training projection?'
He had originally assud that Lin Yue was simply acting on Lin Langtian's orders, sharing the sa pragmatic mindset as his own father. Yet Wan Chen's sudden probe made him realize there was a deeper mystery at play.
Both n were left drowning in their own calculations, but neither dared to speak another word. They were terrified of accidentally revealing information the other party didn't possess, which would be a massive loss.
For a long mont, the atmosphere in the hallway was stiflingly awkward.
Wan Chen couldn't help but feel a pang of regret. If Lan Hao really didn't know anything, bringing it up like this guaranteed that even an idiot would realize sothing was wrong.
"If there's nothing else, I'll be heading back to my room," Lan Hao finally said, breaking the heavy silence. He couldn't just stand there staring all day.
Wan Chen nodded silently, his eyes locked on Lan Hao until the door closed behind him.
Once the hallway was empty, Wan Chen's brow furrowed tightly.
'Lin Yue's attitude has obviously changed. That initial defiance toward Su Chen is completely gone. This proves he must have discovered sothing extraordinary about him.'
'A training projection...' Having been cooped up in his room all day, he had already ford a vague hypothesis. 'Could it be... Lin Yue actually lost?'
His expression paled slightly. 'Lin Yue possesses greater innate talent than Su Chen, he's older, and his unique class was ticulously tailored. If he truly failed to defeat Su Chen...'
'...'
His expression flickered with uncertainty, unable to fully commit to this terrifying theory. A backwater place like the Crimson Thunder Planet didn't even have a systematic foundation for unique classes.
'Does Su Chen truly possess such overwhelming strength?'
It was common knowledge that even a projection built on the most comprehensive data collection would inherently have a power gap compared to the real person.
Not to ntion, the simulation equipnt on their ship was far from state-of-the-art.
Which ant that the Su Chen in the training projection might not even represent his peak performance.
'If it ca down to a true, head-on battle, with both of them at the Fourth Tier, could Su Chen actually have a chance of winning?'
His eyelids twitched. The sheer audacity of his own hypothesis terrified him, making him want to sprint back to the spaceship imdiately to verify his suspicions.
However, rembering their current precarious situation on the station, he forced himself to suppress the urge.
It was much safer to stick close to Qing Cang. It would only be a few more days before they could return to the ship anyway.
"If that's really the case, things are going to get very interesting..." Wan Chen muttered under his breath.
"So this is the sap of the Immortal Ancient Tree..."
Back in his room, Su Chen flipped open the tal lid. A small pool of vivid green liquid rested within the container, swirling with a faint mist. A fresh, botanical fragrance washed over his face, making him feel as though he were standing in the middle of a vast, lush adow. Even his mind felt significantly clearer.
The sap was quite viscous. Su Chen dabbed a tiny amount with his finger and sared it onto his skin. That specific patch of skin imdiately felt icy cool, yet waves of searing heat soon began to seep deep into the underlying muscle.
"I need to coat my entire body in this stuff and let my flesh absorb it naturally. It looks like it's going to take quite a bit of ti." Su Chen stared at the sared patch on his arm. In the short term, the sap showed no signs of diminishing.
"I absolutely cannot let anyone see while I'm covered in this and absorbing it. Doing it here might be a little too inconvenient..." Su Chen pondered his current circumstances. No one could guarantee that an unexpected incident or sudden ambush wouldn't occur.
"Just to be safe, I'll wait until we get back to the ship." Storing the container away, Su Chen closed his eyes and returned to advancing his class progress.
The following days passed without a single ripple of trouble. The group remained confined to the hotel, and the ambush they had been expecting never materialized.
However, the number of suspicious individuals loitering downstairs did undeniably increase. It got to the point where the administrators of the Hengdao Hub were forced to deploy additional security personnel to intimidate the stalkers into dispersing.
On this particular day, inside Su Chen's room, visible ripples of energy violently pulsed in and out of his head. The tables and chairs rattled frantically, while years of accumulated dust in the corners of the room floated into the air, stirred up by an invisible hand.
His ntal energy boiled fiercely before he swiftly reigned it all back in. [Mantra Lawmaster class ability developnt reached 50%. The newly generated class ability shares an affinity with 'Gaze of the Black Buddha'. Fusion and evolution initiated...]
[The fused and evolved class ability shares an affinity with 'Decree'. Secondary fusion and evolution initiated, resulting in—Might of the Lawmaster:
Manifest your ntal energy as the Lawmaster to inflict massive intimidation upon a target. Defeated targets will be permanently marked by the phantom shadow of the Lawmaster. If they cannot overco this shadow, they will forever revere the Lawmaster as supre.]
This... Su Chen stared at the doubly evolved ability, his expression shifting rapidly. One defeat ant eternal defeat?
He acclimatized to his vastly expanded ntal energy, feeling his spiritual core swell in size alongside it.
"Excellent, truly excellent..." He nodded in deep satisfaction as he analyzed the skill.
Integrating and enhancing multiple abilities not only broadened their applicability but also made them much easier to manage, with the added bonus of terrifying secondary effects. He estimated that only high-tier ntal-type class holders would even have a chance of dispelling this kind of psychological domination.
Shortly after, a knock ca from the door. It was a guard informing him that the space lane adjustnts were complete. It was ti to depart.
"It's been unexpectedly quiet..." Su Chen stepped out of his room, genuinely surprised. They had stayed here for ten full days without facing a single direct disturbance.
Everyone else was already packed and ready. Ming Lin had gradually adapted to the atmosphere and was making casual small talk with Lan Hao.
The administrator, Yuan Fusheng, was already waiting for them downstairs. He wore the sa enthusiastic smile from when they had first arrived, though this ti tinged with apologetic warmth. "I am terribly sorry to have kept you all waiting so long. That nether fog cluster has finally drifted past, and the Stargate has been fully recalibrated."
"Mn." Qing Cang nodded nonchalantly, his face an unreadable mask as he boarded the hovercraft destined for the docking port.
Xia Jie had long since finished restocking their logistical supplies and was waiting for them there.
"May you all have a smooth and safe journey," Yuan Fusheng called out, watching the ramp slowly retract until the hatch completely sealed shut.
"I don't know why, but my eyelid won't stop twitching. I have this awful feeling that an ambush is going to hit us at any second," Lin Yue muttered under his breath.
"Stop jinxing us," Qing Cang chided flatly. "Brace yourselves. We're about to initiate the Stargate jump."
Guided by massive chanical docking arms, the Copper Star was smoothly pushed out of the port.
"So that's the Stargate..." Su Chen stood by the observation window, staring up at the colossal, luminescent blue vortex suspended above the Hengdao Hub. The exterior tal frawork was terrifyingly thick. He had seen the ring when they arrived, but the swirling energy vortex hadn't been active then.
"The Stargate at the Hengdao Hub is a single-destination gate. It only connects to the Taiyue Nexus, and the jump will take roughly fifteen days," Qing Cang explained briefly. "If we were to rely on normal spaceflight to reach Taiyue from here, it would take us at least a year and a half."
Traversing a year and a half of distance in a re fifteen days. Su Chen marveled silently at the sheer scale of the technology.
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