When he had dealt with these fellows as Taixuan Hong, it was always the Xuantian Ancient King who took the lead.
Even the Zhenwu Ancient King, who acted defiant toward everyone, hadn't contested that role.
It wasn't because the Xuantian Ancient King held a dominant position among them, but because the old fox was devastatingly shrewd. Many of his judgnts were based on intuition — and it was razor-sharp.
Last ti at the Royal Capital, they had already confird his talent as Divine Dawn, not True Radiance. Yet this old fox had still managed to ask about his professional tier right at the end, as if guided by so sixth sense.
Su Chen still vividly rembered the jolt of alarm he'd felt when Qing Cang relayed that detail.
Moreover, he was clearly the Bronze Ancient King's student. There was no reason to be addressed as "young friend." Su Chen even suspected the old fox was still probing.
His mind churned, but outwardly he played along smoothly. "Before you, how would I dare call myself a friend?"
"Ha ha..." The Xuantian Ancient King chuckled lightly. "Anyone younger than is a young friend; anyone older is an old friend. It's just habit. No need to be nervous."
Su Chen nodded, then greeted the Vast Sea Emperor.
The Emperor's gaze was rather sharp. He gave a nod in return. Standing behind him were none other than Han Xingliu and King Peng.
Han Xingliu looked at Su Chen, his expression inevitably complex, as mories of the Peak Star Tournant from roughly a year ago surfaced.
This man had risen as an unimaginable dark horse to seize the Star Pri title, sending Han Xingliu into a prolonged slump.
There had been no shortage of jealousy and resentnt. Later, when the Royal Court had seized the opportunity to attack the Bronze Sect, he'd assud this man was already Han Xiao's prize for the taking. Yet no one expected the Starfire to fully revive, dealing the Royal Court devastating losses instead.
And now, the Royal Court's Starfire had been extinguished. The Court had all but disintegrated. The Emperor's throne had dissolved like a dream, like a bubble.
While the Bronze Sect remained perfectly intact, its people still safe under its protection — and he himself had beco a stray dog.
The fickle world — nothing more aptly described it.
Han Xingliu sighed inwardly. But having weathered such upheaval, he felt his mindset had changed considerably. With his heart now set solely on vengeance, the jealousy he once harbored toward Su Chen had faded.
The Vast Sea Emperor wasted no ti on pleasantries and asked directly, "How long will the purification of the Mist Embers take?"
"Hmm..." Su Chen considered briefly, then answered conservatively, "If everything goes smoothly, roughly half a day."
"Half a day?" The Xuantian Ancient King's hand, lifting his teacup, froze in midair. Astonishnt was plain in his eyes.
These were Mist Embers — the unsolvable curse of the Dust Star Sea. Crimson, the Great Evil God that had corroded this Radiant Moon Spirit, had itself been tainted by Mist Embers, forcing the Iron-Blood Sect to release it into the Nether Realm.
Even the Bronze Sect's own Starfire had taken a long ti to repair.
"Ahem..." The Bronze Ancient King cleared his throat twice in warning. "That's the best-case scenario. If complications arise, there's no telling."
The Xuantian Ancient King's eyes glinted. He sipped his tea.
The Vast Sea Emperor, on the other hand, seed impatient. He extended his palm, and a sphere of pale golden luminescence materialized.
Within it, a faint dragon-shaped phantom could be seen swimming about, emitting feeble cries of distress. Coiled around its body were several chain-like strands of crimson radiance.
"Take a look first. See whether there will be any complications." The Vast Sea Emperor stared straight at Su Chen.
"Well..." Su Chen glanced at it, but before he could speak, the Bronze Ancient King interjected, "What cos next involves certain internal secrets of the Bronze Sect. It wouldn't be appropriate to show you two. Vast Sea—"
He extended his hand, gesturing for the Vast Sea Emperor to release the Radiant Moon Spirit.
"It can't be done here?" The Vast Sea Emperor frowned. This was, after all, a Radiant Moon Spirit — it concerned his very foundation.
"Of course not." The Bronze Ancient King shook his head. "Besides, the Galaxy Throne is still in your possession. I'm well aware of its capabilities."
"Vast Sea." The Xuantian Ancient King also weighed in. "The purification thod for Mist Embers certainly can't be leaked. I know Yuan Shuo's character well enough. I can vouch for him."
The Vast Sea Emperor's gaze flickered. He'd anticipated this before coming. After a token show of insistence, he relented. "Very well, then please proceed quickly."
With a flick of his wrist, the Radiant Moon Spirit landed in the Bronze Ancient King's hand.
"Please wait." The Bronze Ancient King nodded. Without any visible action, he and Su Chen vanished from the room.
Su Chen felt a mont of disorientation. When his vision cleared, he found himself in a familiar place.
Crimson earth stretched to the edge of sight. A brilliant little fla burned vigorously — this was the interior of the Bronze Sect's Starfire space.
The Bronze Ancient King examined the Radiant Moon Spirit in his hand with great seriousness, his expression grave. "The Mist Embers entangled around this Radiant Moon Spirit are different from the ones that clung to the Starfire. Those I had already segnted into layers — they weren't interconnected."
"But this one has fused into a unified whole. Its strength and its autonomous will both far surpass what ca before."
At this point, as if fearing Su Chen wouldn't fully grasp it, the Bronze Ancient King elaborated, "Your combat-style purification thod is quite clever, but if the Mist Embers' autonomous will is strong enough, it will simply overwhelm you."
"Understood." Su Chen nodded. During the final purification of the core Mist Embers, Black Buddha had used its own consciousness to influence them. Without the Starfire pulling its attention, he would have had great difficulty purifying it.
The Bronze Ancient King continued, "I can only use the Starfire's power to suppress it, giving you a chance to try. Whether it works, I can't say."
Having said that, he added another cautionary note, "Black Buddha specializes in toying with people's hearts. But this Crimson was originally the Iron-Blood Sect's Radiant Moon Spirit that fell to corruption. It excels in warfare. Be careful."
"Understood." Su Chen nodded. He hadn't dealt with complete Mist Embers before, so he wasn't arrogant enough to think himself invincible. The specifics would have to be assessed firsthand.
The Bronze Ancient King still harbored so concern, but when he rembered the kid's other identity, he felt considerably more at ease.
Approaching the Starfire, he drew out a wisp of fla and wound it around the Radiant Moon Spirit. The mont it collided with the crimson radiance, a sizzling hiss erupted.
The Radiant Moon Spirit trembled ceaselessly, gradually exuding a bloody crimson mist.
Su Chen's gaze sharpened. He stepped forward and entered it in a single stride. The familiar sensation enveloped him — an ashen-white landscape stretching out beneath his feet, the thick stench of blood driving straight into his brain.
Su Chen frowned slightly. He raised his eyes to the figure not far away — wreathed in crimson flas and lightning, with great wings sprouting from its back and four heads facing different directions, each with a ferocious visage.
He could faintly hear the sizzling from outside — that was the Bronze Ancient King drawing away the vast majority of Crimson's power within the Mist Embers.
The aura radiating from the crimson shadow grew increasingly terrifying. The complete Mist Embers' strength was extraordinary indeed. The phantom's power had long surpassed the 8th-Tier.
"Crimson..." Looking at this sowhat familiar figure, Su Chen couldn't help feeling a touch nostalgic. He still rembered his Trial of Whispers on Crimson Thunder Planet — the first Evil God he'd ever encountered.
Back then, that overwhelming dread crashing into him had left a deep impression.
"And now..." Su Chen's gaze hardened.
BOOM!
His vital energy surged. Limit Break activated — now that he could use Faith Essence to mitigate the backlash, he could use it with far less restraint.
Lightning and fla intertwined, detonations crackling in rapid succession like muffled thunder rolling through deep clouds, warping and scorching everything around him.
Doppelganger overlaid. Fierce black flas adhering to his body's surface poured ceaselessly into him, amplifying the Eternal Physique under the Wondrous Tree's influence.
Then, all eight Mystic Tools surged simultaneously to 9th-Tier.
BOOM!
His aura grew ever more imposing. Crimson flas mingled with the black ones — these weren't ordinary fires, but the physical manifestation of his formidable constitution under the effects of multiple abilities.
"At full 9th-Tier output, I can sustain this for several hours. And that's not even accounting for the Inexhaustible Titan's fight-to-sustain chanic." Su Chen took a mont to gauge his condition.
Then Immovable Vajra activated. His skin turned a blood-gold hue, crackling arcs of blood-fla lightning snapping across its surface.
As if sensing sothing extraordinary about him, the crimson shadow's form solidified further. The sizzling outside intensified, until the two forces reached an equilibrium and gradually stabilized.
In this confined space, two auras clashed and collided with unceasing rumbles, forcing the surrounding crimson mist to retreat continuously.
"...This thing is cheating. What happened to sa-tier?" Su Chen muttered under his breath, eyeing the shadow.
The pressure before him wasn't just 8th-Tier — it would be considered formidable even among dual 9th-Tier experts.
"Using Sky-Scars would be too costly. But I could try how the new abilities synergize."
A thought stirred. The four Deliverance Seeds within his body silently detonated. Surging life force flooded into every limb, frantically repairing the flesh being incinerated by Immovable Vajra, only for it to be wrung dry once more.
The cycle continued without end. Su Chen's breathing hitched as he felt his body's raw power climbing relentlessly.
His eyes shifted. He stepped forward. He raised his hand — veins bulging like iron cables — and before his arm had fully extended, the fist-wind hamred into the void before him like a sledgehamr, sending out a deep hum.
With a resounding BANG, a crimson lightning bolt streaking toward him at extre speed was shattered by a single punch. Fire and electricity exploded into a blinding sphere of light.
His palm pressed downward, pulverizing a long blade forged of crimson fla into dust.
CRACK! A crisp sound of shattering erupted, disintegrating into a shower of searing fragnts.
He spun into motion. His left fist swept across the sky like a teor, and the corresponding crimson phantoms detonated in succession. Each collision warped the surrounding space, producing heavy, muffled booms.
Nine consecutive strikes hamred the crimson shadow. Its form scattered like a paper kite in a gale, disintegrating into ten thousand drifting motes of light before being utterly shredded in the churning currents.
Simple. Far too simple.
Limit Break elevation combined with Mystic Tool augntation and the special synergy of the Deliverance Seeds — effortless.
It was even easier than his previous purification of the core Mist Embers entangling the Starfire.
"I estimate the power converted from four Deliverance Seeds is roughly equivalent to two Sky-Scars enhancents — maybe not even that." Su Chen settled his stance and exhaled.
After all, it involved the conversion of multiple abilities. The Deliverance Seeds' greatest strength was still wound repair, along with the special synergy enabled by the Seven-Branch Wondrous Tree.
The crimson radiance enveloping his body gradually faded, condensing into an extrely dense Mist Source.
Then he saw the Radiant Moon Spirit's dragon-shaped phantom erge, lunging straight for the Mist Source.
"The hell—!" Su Chen's eyelid jumped.
Fortunately, the Bronze Ancient King was quick on the draw, snatching it up in one grab.
"Quite the greedy thing." The Bronze Ancient King pushed the Radiant Moon Spirit's manifestation back, holding the Mist Source and turning his gaze to Su Chen. The shock in his eyes had yet to fade.
Previously, he'd only watched Taixuan Hong's battles through virtual projections.
The fight with Kong Ming had been further disrupted by the Spirit of the Vast Sun's anomalies — choppy and intermittent — making it hard to accurately gauge his true strength.
But just now, he had sensed it all with perfect clarity. Su Chen's physical power had surged to an almost unimaginable level.
It had even reached a level rivaling Qing Cang and the sect's Heads of Seat — and was faintly approaching Chu Lingyuan's level.
Seeing the Bronze Ancient King's increasingly complex expression, Su Chen gazed longingly at the Mist Source and called out softly, "Master?"
"You..." The Bronze Ancient King sighed. "To think you could unleash this kind of power. No wonder you could defeat Kong Ming."
Su Chen hesitated briefly, then clarified, "At this level of power, I still can't beat Kong Ming. I might manage an even match, or perhaps a slight edge."
"What?" The Bronze Ancient King's expression shifted. This level of power only earned a slight edge?
"Kong Ming..." Su Chen paused. "Was genuinely strong beyond imagination. The Abyssal Void's cultivation thods are far superior to ours."
Without the absurdly overpowered combination of Sky-Scars and Mystic Tools, he wouldn't have been able to beat Kong Ming at all.
In his astonishnt, the Bronze Ancient King suddenly realized — if Kong Ming was that strong and Su Chen had still defeated him, even reversing the situation in an instant, then what he'd just witnessed wasn't even the kid's full power.
The Bronze Ancient King's expression grew complex. Perhaps, given enough ti, Su Chen could have beco the Chosen of the Spirit of the Vast Sun purely on his own rits, without needing the Taixuan Hong shell.
A pity... no one would have given him that kind of ti. The Bronze Ancient King sighed inwardly, then noticed Su Chen's gaze had been fixed on the Mist Source in his hand the entire ti.
"Stop staring. It's yours." The Bronze Ancient King tossed it over casually.
"Thank goodness..." Su Chen caught it, breathing a quiet sigh of relief. This was one of the key spoils he'd been counting on. If the Radiant Moon Spirit had swallowed it, he'd have dismantled the damn thing.
[Sun-Mirror Calamity-Slaying Sovereign detects the Mist Source's aura and hopes you will offer it to him.]
The panel unfolded. The Heavenly Sovereign had jumped in imdiately. Su Chen waited a mont, but no reaction ca from the Holy Sovereign.
"Not interested in a Mist Source this large?" Su Chen muttered. "Even if you were, I wouldn't give it to you."
Now wasn't the ti. Su Chen simply pocketed it for later, choosing not to feed it to the Heavenly Sovereign just yet.
The Bronze Ancient King didn't head back right away. He toyed with the Radiant Moon Spirit in his hand, musing, "That was a bit too fast. We'll need to stall for at least most of a day."
Su Chen's efficiency was staggering. Right now, that was actually counterproductive.
.........
The Sacred Cauldron Sect's territory — now occupied by Great Heaven as a temporary base. Everywhere, figures with grim faces and dark mist clinging to them moved ceaselessly.
"Where is Huang Pan!?"
Without warning, a vast psionic shockwave surged forth like a tidal sea, shaking the very stars. White lightning tore through the void, and a towering figure appeared — the Zhenwu Ancient King.
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