Chapter 133: Messengers From Yuan Du, The Worshipped God?
The two chatted about a lot from then on, and Su Chen learned many old stories about the Four Cities.
“We in Ying Feng City are the strongest, with one hundred and twenty-five lower tier cities under us. Yuan Du is next, commanding only about one hundred. Lie Yang is third, and Tian Qing is the weakest.”
“The number of cities represents the resources that can be mobilized and the talents that can be produced…” Bu Siqi explained:
“What was the name of the god that Yuan Du worships? It seems like… it was called… Crimson… Venerable…”
“What did you call it?” Su Chen was astonished. Crimson… Venerable… this name was too much like an abbreviation of Great Venerable.
Of course, it was also very similar to the name of this planet.
Bu Siqi fell into recollection, “…I forgot the exact name. It’s been a long time since I’ve had contact with them, and their worship is different from the worship of the Strange God. It’s more like treating it as guidance.”
Su Chen had already suppressed his emotions. The previous question was just a subconscious reaction upon hearing that name from Bu Siqi’s mouth.
Crimson Venerable might represent this planet, or it might point to the Crimson Flame Thunder Great Venerable.
The former would be fine, but if it was the latter, that would be too shocking. Perhaps Heituo, Faceless Ghost, and the like were essentially professions at their core?
Hmm… no, Heituo clearly has its own consciousness, and Yuan Du doesn’t seem to worship it with the same fanaticism as the Strange God.
“Maybe they just got this name from somewhere during ignorant times and then regarded it as guidance…” Su Chen thought a lot, and his curiosity about Yuan Du undoubtedly reached its peak.
Moreover, Yuan Du also had the Spirit User profession that the flawless one needed.
Unfortunately, Ying Feng City was too far from Yuan Du, and in the short term, it would be difficult for him to make contact.
“Fortunately, Old Teng’s life has been preserved for now. Everything will be easy once Teacher returns.”
Finally, Bu Siqi couldn’t help but sigh and warned Su Chen, “I heard you were almost ambushed by a Heituo Priest this afternoon. Don’t go out recently.”
“Chu Xuan was most likely killed by this Meng Qi. I don’t know if they have any other methods.”
“Okay.” Su Chen agreed and saw Bu Siqi off as he left.
The sudden incident caused by Meng Qi’s death was temporarily suppressed.
By the next day, the Court of Justice had Su Chen and the others end their investigation in Ying Feng City and gather the team.
At the same time, strict gag orders were issued to everyone present that night. Core seeds dying one after another was truly a scandal.
But there is no such thing as a perfectly sealed wall in the world. Some things inevitably spread, attracting attention from all sides. Security Department Three Divisions gloated, rarely seeing the Court of Justice repeatedly embarrassed.
But some rumors spread in absurd ways, saying that a Heituo Follower came to the Court of Justice to identify someone, which almost no one believed.
………
“That Teng Liang actually got away unscathed?”
In a hidden location in Ying Feng City, the ground here was inscribed with some kind of complex pattern, crisscrossing to the central pillar, occasionally flashing with some light.
And on the central pillar, there was prominently a multifaceted crystal, with milky white substance flowing inside, and the voice came from within it:
“Are their core seeds just for show? Or is it because Meng Qi had no backing, so it doesn’t matter that he died?”
“The Court of Justice seems convinced that your shell has issues and is conducting further investigation.” A Faceless Person reported in a low voice.
“How could they possibly detect it!” The voice in the crystal contained anger. After a moment of silence, it continued: “That Su Chen, being targeted by Heituo is indeed not simple.”
“For such a small place to have something this interesting.”
“Divine Child…” The Faceless Person explained in a low voice, “From the fragments we’ve gathered, it seems a Heituo Follower entered the Court of Justice and identified you.”
“Heituo Follower?” The voice called Divine Child was stunned, “They… identified me?”
He hadn’t expected to hear such an absurd message from his subordinate.
“They also know I implanted consciousness to steal…” His heart tightened, but then he sensed something wrong, “That was a corpse. What use is identifying me?”
“No, it’s to exonerate that Teng Liang. The other party is already a person of Heituo.”
Reaching this conclusion, his heart tightened again. Being discovered by Heituo, though it sounded more acceptable than being found by a native, was actually more dangerous.
“Divine Child, there’s another piece of news.” The Faceless Person continued reporting, “At the time your shell was discovered, Teng Liang’s junior brother, that Su Chen, led people to clear out the Strange God cult’s lair in the city, and a priest was captured.”
The crystal flashed with light, and the one inside fell silent.
Could Teng Liang not be a person of Heituo? Otherwise, he would definitely have tipped off in advance.
Things became even more complicated, and he couldn’t sort out the clues.
How could this place have such a chaotic situation?
Teng Liang… Heituo Follower… Su Chen… his identity exposed, too many threads… seeming to intertwine, yet also mutually non-interfering.
“Additionally, the latest information: the Ten Cities blood sacrifice only succeeded in two cities…” The Faceless Person added.
“Only two cities succeeded?” Its voice suddenly rose in pitch, “What a bunch of useless trash. Teaming up was indeed the most foolish method.”
“So what do we need to do now?” The Faceless Person asked.
The voice fell silent again, with an indescribable stifled feeling. The reason he decisively abandoned that shell was to prevent that Teng Liang from damaging his body.
Under normal circumstances, he still had a chance to retrieve it, of course not by reviving as Meng Qi, but using it as a base, expending some cost to change appearance again.
But now, with the Court of Justice suspecting issues, that corpse would likely be heavily guarded, making it very difficult to retrieve.
It felt like a dead end. Recreating a body like Meng Qi’s would take at least three years, and he didn’t have three years to waste.
“If not for this nether mist, there wouldn’t be such trouble!” He said angrily.
………
Deep in the Court of Justice, there was a massive metal pillar-shaped body, its surface covered with matte anti-corrosion coating, the pillar body filled with vertical heat dissipation fins.
The middle was surrounded by three rings of circular antenna arrays, the base composed of hexagonal armor plates, and the top unfolded with massive blades inscribed with symbols.
At this moment, the blades were slowly retracting, and Chong Jingtian walked out from within, his expression grave.
“What did he say?” Jiang Shumo, waiting outside, immediately came up.
Chong Jingtian frowned and said: “Yu Xingyao said they are also investigating the Strange God cult and discovered certain things.”
“Investigating the Strange God cult and reaching our Ying Feng City.” Jiang Shumo sneered, “What did they discover?”
“He said it’s hard to explain in a word or two. Yuan Du will send someone to explain in person.” Chong Jingtian said, “Under the guise of sparring and communication to avoid detection by the other two cities.”
“They’re sending people and avoiding the other two cities?” Jiang Shumo was surprised and suspicious: “The last time they came was three years ago. They won’t be plotting something in secret, right?”
“Although Xia Hanshi detected traces of Yuan Du people, they did help, so it’s hard to say.” Chong Jingtian was uncertain, “This matter, I need to notify the Elder Council.”
Mentioning Xia Hanshi, Jiang Shumo muttered, “Old Xia’s nose is truly sharp. The place he chose really had issues. No wonder he detected problems on Meng Qi.”
Upon hearing this, Chong Jingtian asked, “What did you find on the corpse from Meng Qi’s body?”
“I was just about to report to you.” Mentioning this, Jiang Shumo’s expression became much graver, “Initially, we followed normal procedure for testing and found no anomalies. Although its flesh and blood structure deviated due to profession reasons, it had no connection to the Strange God.”
“But later, on a whim, I compared it with Chu Xuan’s flesh and blood structure, and they were almost identical.”
Chong Jingtian’s expression changed. Flesh and blood structure… was the bodily changes brought by various professions upon job appointment from living beings.
And due to differences in profession intensity and the number of promotions stacked, it would lead to various deviations.
Normally, it was almost useless because of profession development degree, which would frequently change it.
But this time was different; Meng Qi and Chu Xuan’s messy flesh and blood structures were exactly the same.
This meant the professions they job appointed were exactly the same, even the job appointment time, job appointment requirement completion degree, all identical.
But Meng Qi’s profession records were already documented and couldn’t possibly be exactly the same.
“What Xia Hanshi sensed was right; there really is a problem. The Faceless Ghost’s followers are actually this strong.” Chong Jingtian’s expression was ugly, “And we couldn’t detect it at all.”
It was also because after Meng Qi “devoured” Chu Xuan, not much time passed, and the profession development degree barely increased; otherwise, the flesh and blood structure would have changed.
It also meant they couldn’t use this method to find another “Meng Qi.”
“I think Meng Qi is a special case.” Jiang Shumo said, “Since Meng Qi had issues, what Teng Liang said is most likely true. He really committed suicide, or rather, preserved the body…”
“This isn’t our first time dealing with Faceless Ghost; they couldn’t easily achieve this level.”
Chong Jingtian understood this reasoning but was still worried. He looked up at the ceiling, “Why would those Strange Gods turn their gaze here?”
“What exactly do they want with Heituo’s divine blood?”
The series of recent events gave Chong Jingtian a sense that a storm was coming.
“If it really doesn’t work, suggest requesting aid.” Jiang Shumo hesitated.
Chong Jingtian’s expression changed slightly, but he shook his head: “Wait and see a bit longer.”
………
【Azure Thunder Lord: 5%】
【Mystic Arts Master: 9%】
【D-grade Crouching Tiger Body Tempering Method—Proficient: 5%】
【D-grade Brahma Sound Void Breaking Meditation Method—Proficient: 15%】
“Phew…” Su Chen exhaled a breath of turbid air, coming out of the Gravity Chamber. He glanced at the single-digit numbers on the panel and couldn’t help shaking his head.
There had been many things lately, so he hadn’t had much time to focus on profession development.
Checking the time, he tidied up a bit and went out, heading to the Court of Justice’s reception area.
“…I’m not leaving! Where’s that old bastard Chong Jingtian? Back then when I wanted to leave, he wouldn’t let me. Now he wants me to leave, but I refuse!”
Before even entering the hall, Su Chen heard a commotion. Sang Hanhai was pointing at a Judge’s nose and cursing, “Get that old bastard out here to respectfully send me off and give me an explanation!”
“Elder Sang, Elder Sang…” Su Chen called out as soon as he entered.
“It’s you, kid.” Sang Hanhai restrained his expression and sneered: “Chong Jingtian sent you, right? That old bastard knows how to turtle.”
“The Chief asked me to apologize on his behalf.” Su Chen said helplessly, “The recent matters have the Chief overwhelmed and truly unable to get away.”
“Unable to get away, or afraid to show his face.” Sang Hanhai cursed loudly, “I came here with good intentions to help you with job appointments, only to be trapped here for over half a month. Outsiders who don’t know might think I died in the Court of Justice!”
“Yes, yes, yes…” Su Chen repeatedly agreed. Seeing his attitude, Sang Hanhai restrained his emotions and waved his hand: “Don’t waste your effort. If he doesn’t come, I won’t leave.”
Su Chen said tactfully: “I came to ask when the Holy Word Stone will arrive.”
“Holy Word Stone…” Sang Hanhai’s expression shifted slightly, and he frowned: “By my calculation, it should be soon.”
He felt troubled; he was still waiting to verify the strange characteristics on Su Chen and couldn’t stay here forever.
“Slick!” Sang Hanhai pointed at Su Chen, “Chong Jingtian hides and won’t show, but you’re the caring one.”
Su Chen was helpless and lowered his voice: “Something big happened in the lower tier cities. These past few days, the closed-door meetings haven’t stopped. I’m really not lying to you.”
Sang Hanhai frowned. He wasn’t really set on cursing Chong Jingtian; he was just unhappy.
“Fine, I’ll give you kid some face.” Sang Hanhai glanced at him and decided to leave.
“I’ll see you off…” Su Chen followed.
In fact, the Translation Department staff had already packed up most things. If he cursed a few more days, Elder Sang would probably leave anyway.
“I heard that Yuan Du actually worships a god.”
Su Chen spoke abruptly. Sang Hanhai looked at him in surprise, “You knew too?”
“Knew what?” Su Chen was stunned.
“Yuan Du is sending people.” Sang Hanhai was suspicious, “If you didn’t know, why suddenly care about Yuan Du?”
Yuan Du is sending people? Su Chen truly hadn’t expected it and couldn’t help asking: “Why so sudden?”
“Who knows. I heard quite a few are coming, so all sides will probably compete covertly again.”
Seeing Su Chen didn’t answer his question, Sang Hanhai didn’t mind and recalled: “Last time, your Court of Justice’s core seeds fought a few matches with their Papal Court’s holy disciples, with wins and losses on both sides.”
“I heard they’ve trained another ‘Divine Child.’ Not sure if he’ll come.”
Su Chen didn’t pay attention to these matters and asked again: “Will they have anyone who job appointed 【Spirit User】 coming?”
“Still hung up on that?” Sang Hanhai was surprised and chuckled, “Not sure if there is, maybe.”
“Right, what did you ask before? The god they worship, right.” Sang Hanhai pondered, “It should be called Crimson Thunder Great Venerable or something.”
Crimson Thunder Great Venerable—Su Chen’s heart stirred. It was too similar to Crimson Flame Thunder Great Venerable. Were they really worshiping this profession?
“But it’s just a pretext to gather people’s hearts. Not like the Strange God, and it won’t grant them any abilities.”
“Worship without benefits?” Su Chen was full of doubts. This wasn’t his previous world; there were truly world-destroying powers here. A god without benefits wasn’t worth worshiping over oneself.
Sang Hanhai shook his head, “Maybe there are benefits we don’t know about.”
After seeing off Sang Hanhai, on the way back, Su Chen’s thoughts wandered. Crimson Flame Thunder Great Venerable was not unknown on this land.
