Chapter 113: Sudden Change—everyone Holding Back Their Strength
Su Chen slept until mid-afternoon before finally waking up. He had chugged some nutrient solution before bed, and now he felt full of energy.
The first thing he did was have Zero summarize the news.
As a result, he learned that the ranking system announcement had just been issued not long ago, and all sides were still adapting.
After washing his face, Su Chen eagerly entered the gravity chamber again.
“…Training to the point of muscle fatigue requires much longer rest time, which wastes even more time. I already figured out my limit yesterday, so today I’ll reduce the intensity a bit…”
“I wonder if there’s a profession that can quickly restore energy…”
……
At the same time, in another villa not far away, Chu Yunze and the others had gathered there.
Compared to their lofty ambitions when entering the Court of Justice, they had been stunned by Chong Jingtian’s combination punch.
“Challenge system…” Chu Yunze smiled bitterly, but his eyes gleamed with an unusual light, “Our Chief Judge really has a lot of tricks up his sleeve.”
“Ranking… ranking…” Chu Xuan stared coldly at the virtual screen in front of him, which listed six people in order.
“It’s only temporarily ranked by rank for now, no need to mind it.” Chu Yunze reminded.
“Since it’s by rank, why is Su Chen above me?” Chu Xuan looked at the last person, who was him, while Su Chen was fifth.
“Uh…” Chu Yunze paused, muttering to himself, don’t you know why?
Chu Xuan knew of course, which was why his face looked so bad. This guy had almost become his inner demon; these past two days, he dreamed of Su Chen knocking away the assessment judge and revealing his talent.
“You need to become Third Order to officially join the challenge ranking, no rush.” Chu Yunze comforted.
“That means before that, I’ll always be suppressed by him.” Chu Xuan’s train of thought was unique, gritting his teeth: “I want to change to a promotion profession, promote to 【Night Butcher】.”
Chu Yunze’s expression changed slightly, “That’s a Third Order Top Tier Profession, you don’t have enough accumulation, the risk is too high!”
“No, I must promote!” Chu Xuan’s expression was cold. He knew Su Chen’s strength; if he just promoted to Third Order Upper Tier step by step, he still wouldn’t be Su Chen’s opponent.
Moreover, he knew that once this challenge ranking system was in place, after he promoted to Third Order, waiting for him would be Inner Court Seeds with green eyes one after another.
“Why bother?” Chu Yunze couldn’t help saying. Even if he couldn’t become Chief Judge, with Chu Xuan’s talent, he was guaranteed to be a Judge at least.
But risking promotion to Third Order Top Tier, if he died midway, everything would be over.
“If you regret it, you can leave.” Chu Xuan tossed out the words and headed to the basement.
Chu Yunze looked around. Except for Meng Qi who looked confused, the others had varied expressions. He sighed deeply.
The team’s morale was scattered.
……
While the Court of Justice was churning internally, things outside weren’t idle either; the chain reaction from the Pang Family’s downfall was still ongoing.
Some judges keenly noticed that the number of Inspector Guards patrolling near headquarters had increased, and each one glared viciously at those judges, as if they wanted to devour them.
In secret, a group of people had also gathered because of the Pang Family’s downfall.
In the basement of a certain building, the walls were carved with intricate symbols that flickered with faint light from time to time, and several figures stood in the center.
There were those with pitch-black patterns covering their faces and black vertical pupils on their foreheads, those with ashen-yellow faces without facial features, and those with scarlet pupils.
“The Pang Family is destroyed, Ying Feng has noticed our secret actions.”
“What exactly happened? No warning at all, how could they be wiped out.”
“Heituo side doesn’t know what got into them, wanting to target Xia Hanshi’s student, the Court of Justice’s core seed. Maybe that’s what drew their attention…”
The Heituo Follower looked up, suppressing the urge to correct the other’s terminology, and said gravely: “Invited on the first day, exterminated on the second— no matter how fast, it couldn’t be that quick. Ying Feng was clearly prepared long ago, and it has nothing to do with that Su Chen.”
“In any case, we must inform the outside; we need to speed up. Also, Heituo’s divine blood is lost—what about the plan to corrupt Wei Yinshuo…”
“I’ll get it back.” The Heituo Follower said solemnly, not just because of the plan, but because losing the divine blood was a blasphemy.
“Not many people acted that night; we can check them one by one and find clues.”
“You want to get yourself killed, don’t drag us into it? Afraid Ying Feng won’t discover us?” The other Strange God Followers spoke up at once, “The plan isn’t complete yet!”
“Our actions in Ying Feng City are also to draw attention externally. Act carefully; low-rank Inspector Guards can be bewitched to spill everything. Start with them.”
“Moreover, whether we like it or not, Ying Feng will definitely start large-scale screening both openly and secretly next. Better to strike proactively than wait to be caught.”
The many Strange God Followers fell into thought. They weren’t afraid of dying, only of dying without value.
Soon, they agreed with the Heituo Follower’s idea.
“Let’s do it then, give Ying Feng something to do.”
..
Another training session until late at night; the gravity chamber hummed open, and Su Chen’s toned body was covered in sweat, reflecting the surrounding light.
“Holy crap!”
As soon as he came out, he got a big scare; a hunched figure was standing sinisterly in the shadows.
“Teacher?”
Looking closely, Su Chen recognized it was Xia Hanshi and couldn’t help complaining: “You scared me too much. At least make a sound.”
“Such a small bladder.” Xia Hanshi glanced at him.
With your aura, standing in the shadows—who wouldn’t be scared? Su Chen muttered inwardly, but just chuckled on the surface.
“In a couple days, I’m leaving Ying Feng.” Xia Hanshi turned and went upstairs.
“What’s up?” Su Chen’s expression froze, inexplicably thinking of Yuan Chenyang.
“We dug up a lot from the Pang Family; something big is about to happen, bigger than we expected—at least five Strange Gods collaborating.” Xia Hanshi’s expression was grave.
“Their plan has been underway for at least two or three years, and only recently with bigger moves did we discover it.”
Ultimately blocked by mist, communication between cities isn’t smooth, which has a big impact.
“Five Strange Gods?” Su Chen was startled. Not to mention anything else, just summoning carriers simultaneously would be enough to give Ying Feng a headache.
At the same time, he thought of the “blood sacrifice ten cities” information.
“Where are you planning to go?” Su Chen couldn’t help asking.
“There are a few specific places, but I don’t want to go to any…”
The two reached the first floor, and Xia Hanshi suddenly stopped.
“What do you mean?” Su Chen saw the old man turn around, his deeply sunken eyes staring straight at him, quite eerie.
“So, I want to ask one person’s opinion.” Xia Hanshi showed an ugly smile, “That justice-hearted person.”
Su Chen’s expression changed slightly. He didn’t know what Xia Hanshi was thinking—whether it was a shot in the dark.
Or if the Pang Family matter made him suspicious, even guessing that Heituo’s investment in South Wind City was for him.
The message he left before didn’t mention any “justice-hearted” person.
This sudden probe did startle him, but while surprised, he wasn’t panicked.
Su Chen believed there was a certain rapport and trust between him and Old Xia.
“Actually, he really sent me a letter.” Su Chen walked to the side tea table, casually pulled open the drawer, and took out the envelope.
Su Chen had planned to tell Old Xia about the blood sacrifice anyway; the letter was prepared long ago.
Xia Hanshi’s gaze suddenly deepened, with some shock and doubt. This… could it be some innate precognition profession?
He beckoned casually, and the letter floated over. Opening it, he still grumbled: “Such ugly handwriting; can’t he practice?”
Su Chen strongly suspected the old man was settling a personal score.
But reading the content carefully, Xia Hanshi’s expression gradually sobered, his shock and doubt deepening.
“…White Crane City, Purple Dawn City, Green Moon City… there might be Strange God activity. The info we collected from the Pang Family only had a few general areas, but this guy knows the specific cities, even pointing out what might happen.”
“He wouldn’t be able to foresee, would he?” Xia Hanshi probed.
As long as it didn’t involve the Cult of the Strange God or stop him from dealing with the Cult of the Strange God, he was actually very tolerant of many things. If it could help him against the Cult of the Strange God, even better.
There were a few cities here that matched the info from the Pang Family, making him even more curious.
But Su Chen was too vigilant; laying cards on the table would likely backfire.
“Don’t know, maybe.” Su Chen was vague; these things really couldn’t be explained.
He wasn’t too afraid of Old Xia digging now; worst case, he’d play dumb three times. The info was real anyway.
Plus, with the core seed identity, in a sense, it wasn’t easy for Xia Hanshi to touch him.
Moreover, Old Xia would need him for things later.
All these reasons combined were why he dared to play coy.
“Got it.” Xia Hanshi pondered for a moment without pressing, then said: “Many judges are leaving this time, including Wei Yinshuo. You can rest easy.”
That guy is leaving too?
Su Chen finally breathed a sigh of relief. On the surface, only Wei Yinshuo had hostility toward him that he couldn’t resist yet.
“For small matters, find Bu Siqi. For slightly bigger trouble, find Teng Liang. For really big ones, go to Chong Jingtian.” Xia Hanshi put away the envelope and pondered again:
“As for this challenge ranking system, don’t take it too seriously. Those guys are experienced; failing is normal. Don’t risk promoting to Third Order Top Tier Profession because of it.”
Old Xia actually comforting people—Su Chen’s eyes showed surprise. Actually, he hadn’t paid much attention to that challenge ranking system.
Xia Hanshi saw Su Chen’s surprise, snorted coldly, and left.
“A big event that even Ying Feng has to treat cautiously… blood sacrifice…” After seeing off Xia Hanshi, Su Chen’s expression was also grave. He only hoped Ying Feng could nip the threat in the bud.
He inevitably felt a sense of urgency, but strength improvement wasn’t instantaneous. He chugged some nutrient solution and went to rest.
And the changes from the Court of Justice’s internal reform were faster than Su Chen imagined.
The next day, someone challenged the core seed ranked third—Fang Yan.
Not from his own faction, but from under another core seed.
Out of curiosity, Su Chen went to see that so-called challenger arena. It was in a dedicated venue, quite large, with a very thick base, overall black, not sure what material it was made of.
A lot of people gathered that day, and Fang Yan reluctantly accepted the challenge with a bad expression.
The challenger was Third Order. As soon as Fang Yan stepped onto the arena, he was suppressed to Third Order, his aura much weaker.
After over twenty minutes of fierce battle, Fang Yan won, but his expression was still bad when he left.
He was the first to be challenged, equivalent to announcing to the outside that someone thought he was weak.
“That’s it? Took over twenty minutes to win, not as good as that Su Chen from this year’s assessment…”
Su Chen heard someone mention his name and looked back. The other gave him a friendly smile, clearly recognizing him and saying it on purpose.
“Yeah, battled over twenty minutes and nearly flipped.”
In same-rank fights, the core seed halo was broken, and many thought it was nothing special. As this idea spread further, more would challenge.
“Getting lively… wonder who will temporarily take the chief seed position.”
These things were unrelated to him for now. Su Chen watched the spectacle and went back to training.
Over the next few days, aside from him and Chu Xuan who were temporarily excluded, the other four core seeds were all challenged.
Without exception, all successfully defended their positions, but the toughest battle lasted a full forty minutes.
The fastest was Ming Lin, winning in just over ten minutes.
And so, in this increasingly tense atmosphere, over half a month passed in the blink of an eye.
The gravity chamber opened, and Su Chen came out, still breathing heavily. As usual, he glanced at the panel—
【Wind and Thunder Emissary: 65%】
【Mystic Mind Master: 70%】
【E-grade Thunder Radiance Body Tempering Method–Proficient: 30%】
【E-grade Burning Heart Meditation Method—Proficient: 55%】
Thanks to talent improvement and multiple ability stacking, his current training speed was even faster than the first half of profession development.
Glancing at the time, it was already 7 a.m. He intentionally didn’t train too long today.
“Hmm, should finish deciphering today.” Su Chen took a shower, changed clothes, “Wonder if I can exchange for Soldier Breeder.”
During this time, he didn’t just train blindly; every few days he went to the Translation Department to assist in deciphering the Holy Word Stone. Under deliberate control, the resonance interval with the Holy Word Stone had clearly lengthened.
“You’re…”
As soon as he opened the door, Su Chen saw a guy standing with his back to him at the bottom of the steps.
“Finally waited for you.” The other turned around, with very black eyebrows drooping down, making his face look like a “derp” character.
“He Kang?” Su Chen named him right away. This was one of the Inner Court Seeds, with Crimson Gold Talent.
During this time, Su Chen had familiarized himself with most of the notable people in the Court of Justice.
But naming him at once was because of that signature “derp” brow.
“As expected…” He Kang smiled bitterly, making his face look even more like “derp”, “Everyone recognizes me at first sight, even you, a core seed who stays holed up.”
Lately, the Inner Court was lively, with core seeds fighting every few days, but none involved Su Chen. He wasn’t at a level to participate in challenges yet, and was rarely seen outside.
This funny face naturally carried affinity. Su Chen smiled and asked, “Why is Senior Brother He at my door?”
“I’ve been standing here half the day.” He Kang pointed to the “Do Not Disturb” on Su Chen’s door.
