Chapter 112: Ruins Of The Past—challenger Arena
“Senior Brother…” Sang Hanhai sat down respectfully, “Junior Brother is dull and can’t help you with anything.”
“You, you…” The old man chuckled, “Speak, what’s the matter.”
“I discovered a Heaven-Bestowed Translator…” Sang Hanhai said.
“Oh?” The old man seemed somewhat surprised, but then lowered his head to look at the smooth Holy Word Stone in his hand, seemingly pondering what method to use to leave writing on it, “It’s been a while since one appeared, it can save some effort.”
A Heaven-Bestowed Translator can only assist in deciphering one Holy Word Stone, this little matter isn’t worth him paying too much attention.
Sang Hanhai’s eyes flickered, his voice low: “Some time ago, the Holy Word Stone he resonated with has already been fully deciphered, but today when he came, he actually resonated with another Holy Word Stone that I am currently deciphering.”
“Hm?” The old man’s lowered head suddenly lifted, his somewhat scattered gaze suddenly sharpened, like an eagle, astonished: “There’s actually such a thing.”
Sang Hanhai continued, “Teacher’s guess might be right, the essence of Heaven-Bestowed Profession Translation is not resonating with professions, but resonating with Holy Word Stones.”
“Hmm…” The old man’s expression flickered, he pondered for a long time, but shook his head: “It’s not the Holy Word Stone, its essence is just a material special stone, even if it resonates, it’s resonating with Divine Language.”
“Divine Language…” Sang Hanhai’s expression was dazed.
They kept excavating ruins, obtaining various information, often proposing one hypothesis, only to quickly have it overturned by another, then overturned again by the next.
The theory that Heaven-Bestowed Translators resonate with the essence of Holy Word Stones was proposed by their teacher.
And Divine Language was his senior brother’s theory, believing that the symbols recorded on the Holy Word Stone look complex, but are actually just one or two segments of text.
It’s just written in the language of the gods.
The information contained in the gods’ language is too vast, and they can only parse it with lower tier languages, thus doing a lot of useless work.
If one could master Divine Language, deciphering Holy Word Stones would be simple.
“Where is he?” The old man couldn’t help but ask, with a hint of urgency.
“I let him go back.”
“Back where?” The old man’s brows furrowed slightly.
Sang Hanhai also knew his senior brother was deaf to matters outside the window, single-mindedly researching Divine Language, and explained: “This year he exceptionally became a core seed of the Court of Justice, with Ink Jade Talent.”
“Ink Jade Talent?” The old man became even more shocked, his expression inevitably excited, “That’s right, I was correct, the higher the talent, the stronger the resonance with Divine Language.”
“Quick, get him over here!”
“Senior Brother…” Sang Hanhai smiled bitterly, “He is a core seed, if the Court of Justice knows you want to pull him to research Divine Language, Chong Jingtian will come over.”
“Moreover.” Sang Hanhai hesitated, “He is also Xia Hanshi’s student.”
“Xia Hanshi…” The old man’s expression only slightly restrained upon hearing Chong Jingtian, but his face changed upon hearing Xia Hanshi, “Is he still trying to save Ji Rou?”
“Su Chen is now a core seed of the Court of Justice, Chong Jingtian should stop him.” Sang Hanhai hesitated, “Xia Hanshi also has to consider it somewhat.”
“He can’t stop him!” The old man said in a deep voice, then sighed in dismay, “Forty years ago, I, Chong Jingtian, Xia Hanshi, Ji Rou went out for training.”
“…In that strange ruins, we discovered ‘Qiong Guang’, but unfortunately Ji Rou was trapped inside to save Xia Hanshi, and Xia Hanshi has since harbored an obsession.”
Sang Hanhai was silent, already knowing this matter, Qiong Guang came from a strange ruins, and it took nearly twenty years to fully restore it before it could be gradually promoted.
And Qiong Guang was just one of the rewards, and only ordinary quality at that.
But that ruins is extremely special, only those with high talent can enter, now jointly controlled by Ying Feng and others from the Four Cities, and over the years, only some fragmented items have been obtained.
“Since his relationships are complicated, we can only guide him step by step, will he come again?” The old man asked.
“Yes.” Sang Hanhai nodded: “He wants to seek a special profession, he will help me decipher the Holy Word Stone in hand, he will come again.”
“Very good, proceed with your original plan, when another Holy Word Stone is sent, let him try again.” The old man instructed, “At the same time, mention Divine Language and such, to spark his interest.”
“Understood.” Sang Hanhai nodded, but just as he was about to stand, he asked again: “Should we find an opportunity to let him see that stone slab?”
That was also a strange item from that ruins, engraved with symbols like those on the Holy Word Stone, but its area was dozens of times that of an ordinary Holy Word Stone.
“No…” The old man glanced at him, “You only glanced at it half-eyed, and one eyeball shattered, even high-rank healers couldn’t restore it, engraving a portion of the symbols on a defensive spirit ring can keep mutants away for thousands of miles around Ying Feng.”
“That thing is too powerful, what rank is he?”
Seeing Sang Hanhai hold up two fingers, the old man shook his head repeatedly: “Being able to leave a whole corpse would be good luck, we’ll talk about it later.”
………
“Why did Old Sang’s reaction feel so strange.”
Outside the Translation Department, Su Chen had already boarded the hover car, muttering to himself, “But since he already let me leave, nothing should happen.”
“I’ve already revealed this characteristic, if there are more Holy Word Stones later, he will definitely show them to me, and Soldier Breeder… not bad, a few more times and I should get it.”
Having resolved the issue of upgrading his weapon, Su Chen was in a good mood, humming a tune all the way back to the Court of Justice.
This round trip only took until noon, and there was an old acquaintance waiting at the door.
“Old Bai…” Su Chen raised a brow, looking at the girl before him, dressed in white training clothes, expressionless, with an aura that kept strangers away.
“Rare guest.” While inviting her in, he told Zero, “This is my friend, next time she comes, don’t make her wait outside.”
“This is really nice.” Bai Fengxi looked at the spacious room, glanced at Zero in her maid outfit, tone indifferent: “Worthy of a core seed.”
“Want to live together?” Su Chen invited her to sit, asking casually.
“Forget it.” Bai Fengxi shook her head, “I need to train in a special environment, you can’t provide it.”
Su Chen shrugged, after some idle chat he learned Old Bai needed to train in extremely cold environments, quite troublesome.
Then, he turned to the hottest news in the Court of Justice right now.
Just this one morning, quite a few things happened.
After a brief chaos, the old seeds unified their camp and raised issues about the fairness of the challenge system.
Even several judges, and leaders from external departments voiced out, the main idea was only one: the challenge system is fine, but how to ensure fairness?
And after Su Chen and Bai Fengxi simply finished lunch, the Chief Judge issued another announcement—
“In cooperation with Ying Feng’s Research Department, the ‘Challenger Arena’ has been created, which can suppress the professional ranks of both combatants to the same level, to serve as the challenge arena for core seeds.”
“Since the minimum suppression is to third order, the two newly recruited core seeds, Su Chen and Chu Xuan, are temporarily excluded from the challenge system until they promote to third order.”
One stone stirred a thousand waves!
“Challenger Arena, there’s actually such a thing.” Su Chen leaned close to Zero, looking at the projected virtual screen, which had the latest announcement and detailed explanations.
“…For example, a third order versus a fourth order, the fourth order will be suppressed to third order level, already promoted professions will be temporarily suppressed, even development degree can reach similar levels…”
“The Chief Judge hid it deep, probably prepared for a long time.” Bai Fengxi also leaned over, clicking her tongue in wonder.
“But even suppressed to the same level, those old guys’ development and experience with their professions are still an advantage.”
The same profession in different hands can have world-shaking differences, this is everyone’s consensus.
Moreover, it carefully explained that mental resilience can’t be suppressed very precisely, not friendly to Mental Side Professionals.
Fifth Order Professionals can’t be suppressed either, but among the current core seeds, no one is a Fifth Order Professional.
“To achieve this level is already very good.” Su Chen shook his head, “In other words, if challengers can’t suppress those old guys, there’s no need to replace them.”
Bai Fengxi pondered, nodding in agreement: “What you say makes sense.”
“This move of removing the firewood from under the pot is ruthless, not only resolving public opinion, but also stirring up struggles within each small group.” Su Chen thought further.
Because when he job appointed 【Sage】, his mental talent didn’t evolve from Crimson Gold to Ink Jade, so he knew there are differences even among same-color talents.
Previously core seeds didn’t rotate, some with excellent talent and disposition were forced to pick sides.
But now, it undoubtedly tore open a gap internally.
And for the forces supporting them behind the scenes, it also weakened their will to directly confront the Chief Judge.
As long as someone from their small group can stand firm in the core seed position, it’s acceptable, not a complete turnaround.
“Offense and defense in one, impressive…” The more Su Chen thought, the more impressive it seemed, if Chong Jingtian really wanted to forcibly reform, he could definitely do it, after all he is the Chief Judge.
But this gradual approach has the least destructive power and is the most stable.
Bai Fengxi said: “Strike while the iron is hot, then wane, thrice exhaust, the fairness offensive is resolved, wonder if they have other moves, perhaps already hiding and crying.”
Su Chen chuckled, “Those core seeds aren’t at the point of panic yet, after all they’ve held the position for years, they should still suppress their underlings somewhat.”
“But over time, disloyalty is inevitable, the Chief Judge has already made them show their health bars, just waiting for someone to strike the first blow.”
Su Chen noticed the eager light in Bai Fengxi’s eyes, “You want to try the taste of being a core seed too?”
“Of course.” Bai Fengxi didn’t hide it, slightly raising her head, “What they can do, I may not be worse.”
“Indeed.” Su Chen deeply agreed, Old Bai’s profession promotion speed wasn’t slow, and her path was already paved, this was also a heaven-given advantage.
Bai Fengxi’s “ambition” wasn’t small, her training never relaxed.
After seeing her off, Su Chen checked the latest news again, Chong Jingtian’s secrecy measures were excellent, the announcement plunged the entire Court of Justice into silence.
“Probably even Old Xia didn’t know beforehand, sly… really sly…”
Su Chen muttered a few words, soon Gu Bing arrived, carrying two large metal boxes.
Su Chen brought her to the storage room, then opened the metal boxes, they were tubes of well-sealed potions, Gu Bing brushed her hair, pointing to the light red potion bottles and introduced:
“This is ‘Ghostly Spirit Essence’ total sixty tubes, this is ‘Black Water’, total thirty tubes…”
With a daily quota of two portions, the potions provided by the Gu Family roughly estimated to cost six or seven hundred thousand gold.
Su Chen couldn’t help but click his tongue, this was just one month, and just second order.
“Who invented these potions… potion training is truly heinous.” Su Chen cursed inwardly, but suddenly realized.
The Court of Justice allowing seeds to form cliques was, in a sense, binding Ying Feng’s various forces.
Not depending on the Court of Justice means depending on the Security Department.
“Alright…” Gu Bing and Zero cooperated to put these potions into the display cabinet.
After squatting down to close the box, she looked up at Su Chen, inexplicably recalling her old man’s words, her gaze somewhat evasive, hesitantly asking: “Do you have any other needs?”
“Hmm…” Su Chen thought, “Can you get Mystic Energy Crystals?”
“Mystic Energy Crystals?” Gu Bing frowned, only recalling what it was after a moment, “Products from the Carving Department, a bit difficult…”
Gu Bing didn’t avoid it, speaking plainly, “Price is one aspect, more critically the output, this thing has significant effects, not yet produced are basically all reserved.”
“I estimate, can barely get one.”
“One…” Su Chen shook his head, not making it hard for the Gu Family, “Forget it, no need for now.”
This matter wasn’t urgent, still some time before promoting to third order, no need to squeeze the Gu Family too much.
Mystic Energy Crystals need three, Thunder Core needs three kinds, these two things together demand no less than ten million gold.
Gu Bing secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but also felt somewhat helpless.
Seeing Gu Bing off, Su Chen returned to the basement, the Court of Justice assessment had passed several days.
But these days he was very busy, never had free time, just scattered training, feeling like his bones were rusty.
However, before that he had one thing to do.
“Wonder what abilities it has…” Su Chen looked at the 【Potion Tester】 on the panel ready for job appointment.
This profession was spineless, surrendered as soon as entered.
The two words “job appointment” turned into flowing light and dissipated, Su Chen immediately sensed subtle changes in his body, not intense, like a pair of soft little hands massaging all over his body, even penetrating skin, penetrating flesh and blood.
“Hiss—first time feeling job appointment so comfortable…” Su Chen suppressed the urge to moan, exhaled long, looked at the panel—
【Potion Tester Job Appointment Successful, obtained professional ability—Powerful Metabolism: Potion effects on self increased by 25%】
“Oh?” Su Chen’s eyes lit up, originally had no expectations for this profession, didn’t expect a small surprise.
“Potion effects increased… equivalent to training efficiency increased…”
The numbing itch in his body gradually faded, he was somewhat reluctant.
Stretching his limbs slightly, Su Chen took out Ghostly Spirit Essence, Black Water, and Glazed Blood from the storage room, entered the Gravity Chamber.
Activated five times gravity, and the Spiritual Realm Instrument.
First took out Black Water, like ink oil, Su Chen hesitated a long time before pouring it into his mouth, entrance cool and refreshing, no taste, but soon turned into bone-piercing chill sweeping the body.
“Hiss—” Su Chen shivered, then opened Ghostly Spirit Essence and poured it in, light red a bit spicy on the tongue, produced by Ghostly Spirit Essence flowers in specific illusions, blazing heat rushed to the brain, forehead turned bright red.
“Ice and fire two heavens, damn…”
Finally he downed Glazed Blood, with Glazed Blood’s stimulation, the two potions’ effects more pronounced, body colder, head hotter.
Assuming stance, electric arcs burst on skin surface, entered Su Chen’s familiar training rhythm.
But with multiple support methods combined, and talent improved again, Su Chen astonishedly found potion consumption speed extremely fast.
Only about seven or eight hours, Ghostly Spirit Essence effect gone, Black Water still some left, but almost.
“This way…” Su Chen bare-chested exited the Gravity Chamber, went to potion storage and took two more bottles, “Excluding Glazed Blood, under full training, I need three tubes each of auxiliary potions per day, ninety tubes each of the two potions.”
“Need to ask Gu Family to supplement a bit…” Su Chen felt a bit embarrassed, “But ninety tubes is theoretical, I can’t train nonstop, estimate supplement ten more each is about right.”
“Gu Family can still hold now, but if I promote to third order, just potion consumption cost flips ten times, really can’t do without money…” Su Chen hadn’t felt it acutely before, but calculating now couldn’t help clicking tongue.
“Next, need to properly scout some supporters.”
Trained until next morning, nearly thoroughly squeezing himself dry.
“Refreshing…” Su Chen dragged his fatigued body out of the Gravity Chamber, eyelids fighting.
Wanted to sleep soundly, but Ming Lin came to visit.
“What happened to you, looking completely drained?” Ming Lin was startled seeing Su Chen open the door, tone quite familiar.
“Trained all night yesterday, preparing to rest.” Su Chen carried obvious intent to send guest away.
“Then I really came at bad time.” Ming Lin helplessly said: “But there’s something I just learned, concerns core seeds, came to tell you first thing.”
“Oh?” Su Chen rubbed his brow, somewhat curious, stepped aside to let him in.
“Sigh… no wonder the Chief Judge wants to reform core seeds, you don’t know what clever trick those guys came up with to cope with the Challenger Arena.” Ming Lin said while walking, tone with annoyance:
“They want to cap challenge quotas, have their own people challenge their own people, this way still hold core seed positions.”
“Not presentable.” Su Chen shook head, plopped on sofa, “Really lost wits, to become Chief Judge originally need to suppress everyone, how can this convince the crowd?”
“Yes.” Ming Lin deeply agreed, “Self-righteous little cleverness, really think Chief Judge didn’t anticipate?”
“How so?” Su Chen got interested.
“This is the announcement this afternoon, my teacher told me, don’t tell others.” Ming Lin lowered voice, using the secret to pull closer their relationship,
“Judge wants ranking system, six core seeds, currently four can participate in challenges, through cross challenges, if can defeat the other three, is first, called ‘Chief Seed’.”
Su Chen’s eyelids jumped, the plot is revealed, this is the killing move of a combo punch.
Previously though only four core seeds, the path to Chief Judge was long and complex, not without core seeds failing midway.
Everyone’s chances seemed equal on surface, but with ranking, entirely different.
Chief Seed, Chief Judge, both chief, called long enough, who can distinguish which is which?
This was inherently gathering momentum.
“Ha…” Su Chen couldn’t help laughing, “Now, those core seeds’ underlings can’t suppress anymore, their backing forces will also force them to breed the strongest, fight for ‘Chief’.”
“Right…” Ming Lin nodded, talking with smart people is simple, “This is open scheme, all eyes will focus on ‘Chief’, have to fight, have to grab.”
“Honestly, ranking system not announced yet, people around me already restless, after afternoon announcement, probably worse.”
He sounded self-mocking, but Su Chen felt his confidence.
Ming Lin mentioned another thing, “That Chu Xuan, forces gathered around him already three-tenths gone, blazing fire boiling oil, foundation unstable, seems prosperous but actually fragile.”
Challenge system inherently increased uncertainty for core seeds, once Chief Seed emerges, other core seeds’ weight decreases, gathered momentum like quicksand dispersing, inevitable.
Su Chen didn’t mind, anyway now only Gu Family investing in him, he speculated:
“I estimate, after some time, challenge system will promote, not only core seeds not fixed, Inner Court ordinary members and ordinary seeds won’t be fixed either…”
Ming Lin stunned, deeply looked at Su Chen, he had always focused on core seeds, gaze not that far, “This way, Court of Justice cultivation system becomes living water, no one can slack.”
“Pity you not third order yet, otherwise really want to spar.” Ming Lin somewhat regretted, “We four still deep-rooted, but many eyeing you two.”
“Short half year, long one year you can promote third order, then probably dragon fights tiger, you should hold core seed position steady.”
“As for Chu Xuan.” Ming Lin shook head: “Might fall for a while.”
No matter how high talent, hard to affect actual combat, just promoted successfully, not familiar with profession, some old-brand seeds challenge opportunistically, very normal.
As for Su Chen, combat power shown during audit too exaggerated, even now people probing what his profession is.
High probability to hold position.
Su Chen glanced at Ming Lin, lightly smiled: “I see this chief position, you already have in hand.”
“Give it full try.” Ming Lin smiled.
After “leaking” this news to Su Chen, pulling closer their relationship again, Ming Lin left, letting him rest well.
“This Chief Judge is quite dutiful…” Su Chen couldn’t help thinking, went upstairs,
“Perhaps also because the solidified four core seeds gathered forces threatening him, and easily entangling with Ying Feng’s various forces, so wants to disperse them.”
Su Chen lay on bed, fell into deep sleep, “Can’t think people too sinister…”
