"This is really quite troubleso..."
Xia Hanshi panted heavily, his clothes in tatters, revealing the close-fitting armor underneath. He held a slender golden hamr, only a ter long, with the diamond-shaped facets on its head bursting with an amber halo.
The ground was a complete ss, either scorched pitch-black or burning with flas, covered in trenches. Fortunately, this place was already near the edge of the Outer City, quite desolate.
In the distance, Yuan Chenyang's face was deathly pale and he was tottering. Zhang Hongbo had fallen to the ground, Yang Yan was covered in blood, and Gu Bing was lying flat on her back, panting heavily.
In the center of the battlefield, that statue of Black Buddha remained completely intact, displaying the black pupil on top of its head to everyone.
However, the Priest's body had already been torn to pieces. His head had rolled to the side, and his eyes were trembling slightly.
"What a pity, just a little bit more." Xia Hanshi landed next to the head, his voice hoarse. "Thanks to that person with a heart full of justice!"
With a light tap of the slender hamr, the air was compressed into transparent ripples. When these ripples touched the ground, they produced an explosion of light, and the Priest's head shattered instantly. The Priest had an extrely firm faith in the Evil God and held no value for interrogation.
"A statue of Black Buddha, this trip wasn't in vain."
Xia Hanshi looked at the statue in front of him. If it wasn't for the power of Black Buddha contained within it, a 4th-tier professional couldn't possibly have dragged out a fight with him for so long.
The Priest himself could not bring about an increase in strength; it was rely a representation of the intensity of one's faith. However, the resulting divine favor allowed them to channel the power of the Evil God to assist themselves.
Tapping the slender hamr, golden chains burning with fierce flas extended from the void, wrapping the statue layer upon layer.
.........
When Yuan Chenyang and the others dragged their exhausted bodies back to the Supervision Departnt, they imdiately noticed the large number of guards heavily patrolling the surroundings, as well as the thick black smoke rising from the roof of the building.
"The Supervision Departnt was attacked?"
Yuan Chenyang's expression changed drastically. "Luring the tiger out of the mountain?"
"Who would lure a tiger back to its lair?" Zhang Hongbo, whose face was dreadfully pale, coughed drily twice. "It should be that Black Buddha's people discovered the Priest was attacked, and so they turned to attack the Supervision Departnt?"
Yang Yan frowned and hesitated. "The statue of Black Buddha is there. Even if the followers of Black Buddha have to go through fire and water, they will rush forward at any cost."
"If it's those non-believers who were bought off with profits, seeing that the matter is exposed, they should logically hide instead..."
"Zhou Xian..." Zhang Hongbo spat out a na, and Yuan Chenyang couldn't help but shout, "Su Chen!"
Everyone felt a chill in their hearts; Xia Hanshi had already vanished.
Yang Yan and the others tightened their expressions and hurriedly followed. It was only when they found Su Chen completely unhard in the rooftop office that they breathed a sigh of relief.
Xia Hanshi was already in the room with his hands behind his back, his expression gloomy.
"How are your injuries?" Yuan Chenyang ca forward to ask with concern, noticing the bandages wrapped around Su Chen's upper body.
"No major injuries. It's just those folks from the first aid departnt insisting on wrapping up," Su Chen explained helplessly.
He had to prove that he had done sothing, lest he incur the wrath of that fierce Chief Inquisitor.
Sun Tai, who was standing to the side, muttered to himself. His clothes were also in tatters, covered in dust. So of his injuries remained untreated, and there were even traces of dried tears on his face.
He had to let others see his miserable state, too.
"That damn Zhou Xian! We should tear his corpse into ten thousand pieces!" Yuan Chenyang roared. "Zhang Hongbo, what the hell are you doing? It's been so long, and yet you still can't find him!"
Zhang Hongbo's face was taut as he frequently signaled Yuan Chenyang with his eyes.
"Bla ," Xia Hanshi said coldly.
Su Chen advised, "Teacher, when you let him leave, you couldn't have predicted what would happen next. It can only be said that the waters of Nanfeng City run too deep."
Yuan Chenyang's face stiffened. Zhou Xian was let go by Xia Hanshi?
"Yeah..." Yang Yan chid in, and couldn't help but add, "Who could have expected that it would nearly draw out an Evil God Vessel? Black Buddha is considered the type of Evil God that doesn't like conflict. What exactly do you people have here in Nanfeng City?"
As soon as this question was raised, everyone present fell silent.
Zhang Hongbo, Yuan Chenyang, and even Du Jingming and Sun Tai began thinking subconsciously.
"Regardless, this is the best outco now," Zhang Hongbo was the first to break the silence. "Zhou Xian is already a stray dog. Lock down the four gates of Nanfeng, and we'll be able to find him very soon."
"I'll go give the order right away," Yuan Chenyang reacted quickly.
"Minis... City Lord," Du Jingming called out, speaking with a peculiar expression. "There's no need to search for him anymore."
"Hmm?" Yuan Chenyang frowned and looked over, only to notice Du Jingming glance at Su Chen before continuing, "He is already dead. His corpse is right in the morgue."
"Dead?" Yuan Chenyang was inevitably stunned, even sowhat disbelieving. However, there was absolutely no way Du Jingming would lie about such a matter.
Zhang Hongbo also looked over in astonishnt. Zhou Xian was an interdiate 3rd-tier professional, a 【Rushing Thunder Shadow】. Having persevered for so many years, he had already developed his abilities into the latter stages, aning his strength was absolutely formidable.
The Supervision Departnt had mobilized nearly all of its forces. The only one left who was sowhat decent was Du Jingming, but he was an incomplete 3rd-tier professional; there was no way he could be Zhou Xian's opponent.
"Haha..." Yuan Chenyang couldn't help bursting into loud laughter. "Old Du, you really gave a lot of face. Not bad, not bad at all..."
"To have you serve as this minister, there were quite a few people who voiced their complaints. This should finally shut them up, right?"
Yuan Chenyang didn't hold back much when he spoke, but Du Jingming's expression beca rather awkward as he repeatedly waved his hands. "I wasn't the one who killed him. It was... it was..."
He pointed in a direction. Yuan Chenyang subconsciously followed his gaze and raised an eyebrow. "Su... Chen?"
He felt speechless inside. Du Jingming's attempt at passing the credit was far too fake! Su Chen was rely a 2nd-tier professional; how could he possibly kill Zhou Xian?
Du Jingming emphasized, "...A lot of the internal guards saw it. I wouldn't dare claim the credit."
Zhang Hongbo, who hadn't paid much attention initially, couldn't help but turn serious. Since Du Jingming put it that way, perhaps he really wasn't just offering up the credit?
Could it be... he couldn't help but find it unimaginable in his heart.
Yang Yan and Gu Bing looked at each other in dismay. A direct combat where a 2nd-tier kills a 3rd-tier was simply a fantasy tale.
Su Chen explained helplessly, "Du Jingming helped out a lot and heavily injured Zhou Xian. Later on, Zhou Xian started fiddling with so bizarre gadget and ended up summoning a phantom image of Black Buddha. For so unknown reason, however, the backlash ended up killing him in the end."
"I rely took a few hits and didn't die. My luck was just a bit better."
"Summoned Black Buddha and got himself killed?" Yuan Chenyang listened with a blank expression.
Yang Yan hesitantly looked over at Gu Bing. "How could sothing like this happen?"
"Hmm..." Gu Bing pondered and speculated, "If I'm not mistaken, Zhou Xian must have used a post-manufactured item infused with Evil God-like power, allowing a believer to burst forth with imnse strength."
"However, such items can only be used by believers. Zhou Xian probably wasn't a follower of Black Buddha, or his faith wasn't firm enough. Consequently, using this toy resulted in a fatal backlash."
"So that's how it is." Su Chen revealed a look of sudden realization, roughly understanding how Zhou Xian had been heavily injured previously. In a battle between followers of an Evil God, it was a test of whose faith was firr.
The Evil God would aid whoever was firr.
Yuan Chenyang also muttered, "To think such a thing could happen."
Xia Hanshi hadn't spoken a word since the beginning. Standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, nobody knew what he was calculating.
"However..." Gu Bing suddenly added, "Zhou Xian probably also knew he might suffer a backlash, yet he still chose to take the gamble. He was likely already out of options at that mont."
"Perhaps he was afraid you all would return too quickly and didn't dare get entangled in a drawn-out fight," Du Jingming guessed, and everyone nodded thoughtfully.
Nonetheless, the way they looked at Su Chen underwent a subtle change. No matter what, this proved that Zhou Xian was completely incapable of doing anything to Su Chen in that short period of ti.
Even if Su Chen could only take a beating, it was astonishing enough.
Stared at by the group, Su Chen felt his scalp go numb. Not wanting everyone's attention to be focused on this matter, he imdiately asked, "How is the situation over there?"
"Hmm..." Yuan Chenyang pondered briefly, and Sun Tai promptly stated, "I'll go down and check to see how the situation is being handled."
Sun Tai left. The one with the lowest status remaining was the Minister of Supervision, Du Jingming.
"The Priest has already been killed, and a statue of Black Buddha was successfully seized," Yuan Chenyang explained simply.
Du Jingming's expression changed drastically, and he said in horror, "There's actually a Priest of the Evil God in Nanfeng City? And even a statue of Black Buddha?"
The palpitations of fear on his face were clear to see, yet nobody entertained the thought of mocking him.
Yuan Chenyang similarly had lingering fears. "It was only a tiny bit away. That Priest was setting up a sacrificial array. If we had waited a little longer, the entirety of Nanfeng City might have truly been reduced to hell."
Du Jingming didn't know the exact details prior to this; he only guessed that the people from Black Buddha seed to have invested a significant amount of power. Suddenly hearing these specifics, his throat bobbed up and down.
He couldn't help but ask again, "How on earth did our Nanfeng City attract such a thing?"
It was this unanswerable question once again.
Zhang Hongbo directly skipped past it. "Thanks entirely to Chief Inquisitor Xia, who led us straight into the enemy's lair, we were able to avert this disaster."
Yang Yan echoed the sentint. "As expected of you, locking onto the Priest's location so early on."
"I wasn't the one who locked onto the location," Xia Hanshi stated flatly, making Su Chen's heart skip a beat.
"It was a person with a heart full of justice..."
A gust of cold wind blew past, stiffening everyone's bodies. To think Elder Xia possessed such a humorous side?
"Is that so-called statue of Black Buddha inside here?" Su Chen looked at the silver-white tal box placed at the door. Roughly a cubic ter in size, it wasn't considered large.
"Mhm," Yuan Chenyang nodded.
"May I take a look?" Su Chen was quite curious.
Yuan Chenyang hesitated slightly and looked toward Xia Hanshi. Finding that the latter had no reaction, he nodded indecisively. "It's fine to take a look."
He carried the box inside and placed it on the floor. After inputting a few passwords at the lock, with a click, the four tal walls split open, revealing the statue of Black Buddha bound by golden chains inside.
"This is the statue of Black Buddha?" Su Chen scrutinized it. "Why is it locked up by chains? Is there still any danger?"
"The power within it has already been completely exhausted by us. This is rely a precaution just in case," Yang Yan explained.
"Oh," Su Chen noted with sudden understanding. He took a couple of extra glances but didn't feel anything extraordinary about it, so he had Yuan Chenyang close the box again.
"Bringing this statue of Black Buddha back is a great ritorious achievent," Yang Yan couldn't help but sigh with emotion.
In the beginning, they were simply here to investigate the followers of the Evil God. They had thought they might stumble upon a nest of praying mantises, but little did they expect things to escalate to such a massive scale.
Fortunately, it had been a close shave without any real mishaps. Elder Xia possessed brilliant thods, easily obtaining the statue of Black Buddha in the end. This would serve as a beautifully written entry on their resus as well.
"You guys are preparing to return?" Zhang Hongbo caught the underlying aning in Yang Yan's words and couldn't help but ask.
"Pretty much," Yang Yan pondered. "Once we wrap up the trailing matters, this incident will conclude as well."
Zhang Hongbo's expression fluctuated, but ultimately, he turned toward Xia Hanshi and gritted his teeth, "Elder Xia, could you possibly bring Zhang Hengyu away along with you?"
Even though no one had brought up the matter of the Adjudication Court's quota over the past period, everyone had already implicitly agreed that it had automatically transferred to Su Chen.
Yuan Chenyang squinted his eyes slightly, while Yang Yan secretly shook his head.
"Zhang Hengyu?" Xia Hanshi turned around to stare at Zhang Hongbo. After a long ti, he finally asked, "Who is that?"
Zhang Hongbo's already pale face lost even more of its blood. How could Xia Hanshi possibly not know who Zhang Hengyu was?
He was rely trying to express that his son hadn't caught his eye whatsoever.
If it wasn't for his high level of cooperation recently and his contribution during the events of tonight, Xia Hanshi's reaction might have been far more direct.
Little Zhang, huh... Su Chen thought of the 'Sage' class and pondered, "Teacher, Zhang Hengyu is Uncle Zhang's son. He is quite earnest and diligent, possesses a Brilliant Silver talent, and is currently already a 2nd-tier professional."
"If possible, could you let him head to the Adjudication Court as well?"
Gratitude flooded Zhang Hongbo's eyes. Su Chen ignored him; his decision to speak out had nothing to do with Zhang Hongbo.
"Fine," Xia Hanshi nodded, keeping his response concise and to the point.
"F-fine?" Su Chen hesitated.
"It's rely a single quota. Rules are dead, but people possess agency," Xia Hanshi spoke in an apathetic tone. "Since you have opened your mouth, I still have this bit of face."
(End of Chapter)
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