Chapter 130: 【divine Blood Manipulation】
“Thank you…” Zhang Yunqing walked back from outside the hall, thanking him. She was referring to the moment when Pang Yongliang launched the assassination, when she was flung away by Su Chen.
Su Chen didn’t mind, instead turning to look at Zhou Jun, who had been brought in restrained. He was now trembling like chaff, pale-faced, unable to even stand properly.
“Tell us what happened here… exactly?” Wu Yang’s expression was cold as he pressed Zhou Jun’s head, forcing him to look at the cavern.
Zhou Jun had a mournful face: “I don’t know, I don’t know, I really don’t know anything. I was just sent here as the person in charge, and I’ve only been responsible for half a year.”
“Check my memory, check my memory…”
This method, which people normally avoided like the plague, had now become his lifeline.
With a wave of Wu Yang’s hand, he was taken away again. Wu Yang frowned and said, “He probably really doesn’t know anything.”
“But such a large place—how do they come and go?”
“Wait for the people below.” Su Chen was concise.
Nearly a hundred Judges entered the cavern, and within ten minutes, there was a report.
“Discovered something suspected to be a Strange Artifact…” Wu Yang received the report and looked up at Su Chen.
“Go down and take a look.”
Su Chen immediately jumped down, with Wu Yang and the others following closely behind.
It was about a hundred meters deep, with floodlights already set up around, but the cavern remained dim because of the grayish-brown metal attached to the walls, which absorbed the light.
“Twilight Ink Gold… it can block Mental Power and absorb most detection waves…” Zhang Yunqing touched it and explained.
“No wonder… what a grand move. This stuff isn’t cheap…” Wu Yang couldn’t help but marvel, looking at Su Chen and probing, “Dig it out and split it according to the rules?”
“Handle it as you see fit?” Su Chen looked around. The paths branched in all directions, all forged from Ink Gold, with markers every certain distance along the passages indicating they had been checked and were safe.
Along the way, they also encountered Judges transporting Heituo Followers outward.
These Heituo Followers had all been sealed by You Shan, with a glassy substance attached to their body surfaces, rendering them immobile, but there weren’t many—only a dozen or so in total.
In just two or three minutes, the group arrived at the reported area. It was a small room, quite cramped; standing two or three people inside felt crowded.
On the central circular altar were three black metal boxes, made of material almost identical to the small box Su Chen had taken when he killed Pang Xingwen last time.
“Boxes mixed with Meteorite Iron, which can block our equipment for detecting Strange God auras.” Wu Yang recognized them at a glance. Catching Su Chen’s movement out of the corner of his eye, he exclaimed, “Wait!”
With a click, Su Chen had already forcibly pried open a box, revealing a Heituo Strange Artifact inside. He reached in and took it out.
“You…” Wu Yang snatched it, sternly scolding, “How could you take such a risk!”
“If your mental resilience is insufficient, rash contact will erode you!”
“It’s empty…” Su Chen wasn’t angry, pointing at the Strange Artifact.
Wu Yang was stunned, then realized the Strange Artifact in his hand was indeed empty.
“Besides, my mental resilience is strong…” As he spoke, Su Chen pried open another box.
Wu Yang’s cheek twitched, but he heard Su Chen frown, “Empty again?”
Wu Yang reached out to take the other Strange Artifact from Su Chen, then saw him pry open the last box, raising an eyebrow, “Empty again.”
“All three are empty?” Wu Yang forgot to lecture Su Chen on how cautious one must be when handling Strange God-related items.
He said in surprise, “How could this be? Did that Heituo Priest use all three Strange Artifacts in the attack just now?”
“Possibly. Since he was discovered in Ying Feng, he couldn’t escape anyway—maybe he didn’t want to leave them to us.” Su Chen’s eyes were dazed as he opened his Panel.
Actually, only one of the three Strange Artifacts was empty; he had temporarily extracted the power from the other two, and two portions of low-tier Heituo’s Power were now prominently stored in his Panel.
Su Chen secretly speculated, “Low-tier Strange God’s Power can only affect Third Order professions. I wonder if it can be upgraded, or if I need to absorb power from better Strange Artifacts?”
“Even empty ones need caution!” Wu Yang came back to his senses, put the Strange Artifacts back in the boxes, and handed them to a nearby Judge. “Register and store them.”
He then cautioned Su Chen, “The Strange God’s methods are unpredictable. Never take them lightly.”
Su Chen naturally understood; he had only absorbed the power opportunistically. Once they were stored, he wouldn’t be able to access them again.
Knowing Wu Yang meant well, he pretended to take the lesson to heart and nodded solemnly.
After all, he was a Core Seed, so Wu Yang didn’t press further. Just then, a new report came in, and he said in astonishment, “The entire cavern has been thoroughly explored—no external exits.”
“No exits?” Su Chen was also surprised. “Could they be using some ability to come and go, or were they sealed underground from the moment it was built, just remotely controlling things from outside?”
“Either way, they clearly had big plans. Good thing it was discovered this time.” Wu Yang said with lingering fear.
As the group walked outward, someone hurried over with another report: “Found a half-damaged Scroll of Incantation.”
“Scroll of Incantation?” Su Chen’s heart skipped a beat as he asked in confusion.
Ying Feng strictly guarded information about Strange Gods; he had almost no way to learn more through public information.
Wu Yang quickened his pace slightly and replied, “Priests and High Priests are rare among Followers, so they use Incantations to assist Followers in communicating with Strange Gods.”
“I see…” Su Chen got the general idea. After a few turns in the cavern, they arrived.
In the center where several Judges had gathered was a half-damaged black leather scroll, with charred red marks on the edges still flickering with sparks.
A Judge reported, “There was originally a Follower here, probably destroying it, but halfway through, he was sealed by the Chief Judge, leaving half.”
Wu Yang was quick-eyed and quick-handed, picking it up before Su Chen could bend down. It was covered in mysterious tadpole-like script. The two leaned in for a glance, both dizzy and unable to recognize any.
“This kind of Incantation needs translation… We’ll submit it to the Court of Justice after we get back.” Wu Yang coughed dryly.
But Su Chen said, “It might contain key information. If we don’t figure it out, our merit this time could be greatly diminished.”
“I can try translating it…” Someone spoke from behind—it was Zhang Yunqing. She said, “I studied Incantation studies.”
“I’m not a Heituo Follower, so simple translation is no problem.”
Wu Yang hesitated for a moment, facing the gazes of the Judges, and could only hand it over. “Be careful.”
No one wanted their merit diminished.
Zhang Yunqing took it. The upper half of the leather scroll had been mostly burned, leaving only the lower half.
“This is dragon lizard demon leather…” She rubbed it in her hand and said, “Even among materials for recording Incantations, it’s high-tier…”
She stepped aside, took out a sheet of paper, and began translating Incantation by Incantation.
This clearly couldn’t be done quickly, so Su Chen and Wu Yang went out to inspect again.
There weren’t many things left here; what could be destroyed had been, and there were some materials for performing Heituo Strange Techniques that made people nauseous just looking at them.
Everything that needed sealing was sealed. The many Judges meticulously checked inside and out, even prying open wall cracks, confirming nothing was missed, before preparing to hand over to the waiting Inspector Guards outside.
“Translation done…” Zhang Yunqing looked grave as she hurried to Wu Yang and Su Chen with a sheet of paper.
After a slight hesitation, she handed it to Su Chen first, rubbing her brow. “Su Chen was right; the information inside is extraordinary…”
“…My Lord in the rift…”
The first thing that met their eyes was a chant. Su Chen glanced at it, about to memorize it, when his Panel suddenly popped up.
【Heituo Priest（Follower Disguise） obtained incomplete knowledge belonging to Heituo, awakening a new ability】
【Chant–Divine Blood Manipulation: Through complex and devout chants, Heituo Divine Blood can be mobilized.】
“It was actually absorbed as an ability?” Su Chen was quite surprised inwardly. Wu Yang had already taken the translation from his hand, looking thoughtful.
“Or rather, this was originally an ability of Heituo Priests, but since I’m disguised and haven’t had a chance to contact Heituo, I didn’t obtain it.”
He didn’t know how it was mobilized, but since that egg could erode Wei Yinshuo, the Divine Blood’s power must be formidable.
He speculated inwardly as Zhang Yunqing continued:
“…From analyzing the chant, this is probably used to mobilize Heituo Divine Blood…”
“Mobilize Divine Blood?” Wu Yang, standing beside Su Chen, looked horrified. Today’s events were already plenty, but these words nearly made him lose control.
“Divine Blood… does this mean there’s Heituo Divine Blood in Ying Feng City?”
“Big trouble, big trouble…” Wu Yang’s expression flickered uncertainly.
Zhang Yunqing added, “Even more troubling, the upper half was destroyed—we don’t know what it recorded, but anything documented alongside Divine Blood is no small matter.”
“Fortunately, ordinary Followers need Incantations to mobilize Divine Blood, and the Heituo Priest here was confined by the Chief Judge, so nothing major should happen in the short term.”
Wu Yang came back to his senses and said gravely, “Su Chen, this matter needs to be reported immediately.”
“Mm.” Su Chen nodded solemnly. “Submit the translation and Scroll of Incantation together.”
With the Divine Blood matter exposed, Wu Yang had the Judges search inside and out again, even halting the handover process and not allowing Inspector Guards to intervene further.
“Su Chen, I need Su Chen…”
Just as things were packed, someone burst into the hall, wearing a Judge’s heavy armor, voice urgent and anxious.
The moment he entered, he locked onto Su Chen and rushed over.
“Senior Brother?” Su Chen looked in surprise. It was Bu Siqi, but his face bore an unprecedented unease. He dropped a bombshell:
“Teng Liang killed Meng Qi!”
Wu Yang and the others beside Su Chen were stunned by the bombshell, frozen in place, staring blankly at Bu Siqi.
What had they heard?
Teng Liang, student of Chief Judge Xia, one of the honorary Directors of the Disciplinary Department, killed Meng Qi, this newly minted Core Seed potential stock?
Fake, right?
Meng Qi was killed?
Su Chen was startled inwardly, then couldn’t help but marvel at how decisive his Senior Brother was.
“What happened? Why would the Director kill Meng Qi?” Wu Yang asked immediately. As Teng Liang’s staunch subordinate, his tone was panicked.
“This isn’t the time to explain. Su Chen, come with me now…” Bu Siqi grabbed Su Chen and turned to leave.
“Senior Brother, Senior Brother…” Su Chen called repeatedly. Bu Siqi looked awful, ignoring everything until he suddenly felt his hand empty.
He turned in astonishment, only to find Su Chen had somehow slipped his grip.
The others nearby were still in shock and hadn’t noticed Su Chen’s frame-like flicker.
Entering the Spatial Layer in an instant and coming out was a good way to dodge attacks and traps… Su Chen thought to himself. He looked seriously at Bu Siqi, his voice cold, “Senior Brother, calm down!”
“Panicking like this, you can’t help at all.”
His tone was stern, and Bu Siqi, dazed, felt his anxious heart ease somewhat for some reason.
“Now, tell me carefully exactly what happened!” Su Chen said again.
Like he had a strong backbone, Bu Siqi took a deep breath. Just as he was about to speak, he glanced at the eyes around them and pulled Su Chen to the second floor.
Finding an empty room, he slowly recounted, “It’s like this…”
“…That’s it?” Su Chen finished hearing the cause and effect, speechless.
He thought Teng Liang had found some clue and acted decisively, but it turned out to be pure brute force aesthetics.
He hadn’t expected his slight hint to make Teng Liang fixate on Meng Qi.
Of course, the key was Old Xia; his parting words had made Teng Liang take him so seriously.
“…What’s the situation now?” Su Chen asked again.
Hearing Su Chen’s question, Bu Siqi had calmed considerably and said gravely, “All the Judges present saw it; can’t cover it up.”
“The corpse has been brought back to the Court of Justice. The Chief has initiated ‘internal review.’ Those at odds with the Teacher will definitely pile on.”
“If we can’t prove Meng Qi had issues, Old Teng is done for.”
This was no small matter, and Xia Hanshi’s faction had offended plenty in the past.
Su Chen pondered briefly and said, “Senior Brother, go back first and try every way to contact Teacher.”
“Teacher isn’t here personally; passing a message won’t help much.” Bu Siqi understood but said helplessly, “Old Teng struck too hard—no room for reconciliation. Even if Teacher were here, without proof of Meng Qi’s issues, he couldn’t protect him.”
“Listen to me: go contact him, and tell Teacher…” Su Chen instructed in a low voice.
Bu Siqi frowned slightly but, seeing Su Chen’s solemnity, could only trust him. “Alright, I’ll contact him now.”
Su Chen said, “Wait for me to wrap things up here, then I’ll head back to the Court of Justice.”
Bu Siqi couldn’t help but say, “Wrap up what? Come back with me. Only you, this Core Seed, can say a few words.”
Su Chen patiently explained, “We found a Heituo Priest here, plus a major incident—big merit. I have to handle it properly to submit, then voice my opinion. Otherwise, going up empty-handed?”
“Heituo Priest?” Bu Siqi was startled, not expecting a major event here too.
Su Chen made sense, so he said no more and hurriedly left.
