Chapter 111: Good Faith (1)
"Can you wait a bit? I need to ask the higher-ups for their opinion," Night Demon said.
This time, she did not wait until the next day to give an answer like before; instead, she pulled out a silver ring.
The ring had a few buttons on it. NIght Demon pressed one of them, then passed on the words that Su Chen had spoken into the ring. An instant later, the ring began to let out a faint red glow.
Night Demon placed the ring next to her ear, listening closely. An instant later, she said to Su Chen, "You want a show of good faith? Then come with me."
She walked outside.
After exiting the Su palace's backyard, a carriage was already waiting. The person driving the carriage was dressed in all black robes, and their face was hidden. When Su Chen walked over, the carriage driver glanced at Su Chen. It was then that Su Chen discovered that there was nothing under that black robe.
A chilly aura manifested around her, as Night Demon said, "If you aren't afraid of dying, get on."
As she spoke, she jumped onto the carriage.
Su Chen laughed. "The moment that I decided to begin a relationship with you all, I lost the right to be afraid of death."
He jumped on the carriage, which began to slowly move. They travelled along the Han River and continued advancing past the limits of the city. After travelling for around half an hour, they finally stopped in front of a farm.
There were around ten or so rooms in the farm. Night Demon brought Su Chen directly into the oldest and most run-down room. Upon arriving in front of a tattered storage container, she opened it, then pressed on the switch inside. A wall began to open on its own, revealing a dark tunnel.
She brought Su Chen into the tunnel. After walking another lengthy distance, the tunnel gradually began to widen in front of them.
They were now in a large underground space. The space was divided into different layers, just like different rooms.
Su Chen had walked directly into the main lobby. At this moment, there were a few people standing in the lobby, all of whom Su Chen had seen before.
They were Copper Deer, Qingbai, Smoke, and Aaron.
Baron was not there. Night Demon had previously told him that Baron was just an ally of the organization and didn't actually belong to them. Thus, it was not strange that he was not present in this kind of place.
Apart from these four people, there was also an old man. Although Su Chen had not seen his appearance, he instinctively felt that they had likely encountered each other before.
Indeed, in the next instant the old man laughed, "Prince Su, we meet again."
Upon hearing this voice, Su Chen laughed. "Old Sang."
The old man in front of him was precisely the Old Sang whom he had unintentionally overheard speaking a while ago, marking the beginning of this chapter in his life.
Though it seemed like he was the leader here, he was definitely not the highest-ranking official in the organization.
Old Sang said, "I originally thought that the unintentional leaking of our secret would be a great problem, but I never expected that such a thorough cooperation would develop. Indeed, fate is always filled with twists and turns."
Su Chen indifferently said, "I like to think of it more as the affairs of life being variable, and that disasters and happiness depend closely on one another.."
Old Sang was stunned for a moment before laughing loudly, "Haha, well said. Fate is always controlled by oneself. This kind of development is not so much fate as it is the result of Prince Su's hard work. Come, please sit, Prince Su."
The lobby had already prepared a place for receiving guests.
Su Chen stepped forwards and sat down. He even politely conversed a bit with Qingbai, Copper Deer, and the others since they had met each other before.
Old Sang poured tea personally for Su Chen. He said, "Let me introduce myself first. I am Sang Zhen. I am in charge of the Immortal Temple in the northern area of the Three-Mountain Region. I am also responsible for the matter of opening the Spirit Burying Terrace."
"Immortal Temple?" Su Chen pretended to be oblivious.
Old Sang said, "Prince Su, there's no need to pretend like you don't know. Just like you said, trust is the foundation for cooperation. If you continue to tell me that you haven't guessed already who we are, then there's no need to bring up the words 'good faith'".
Su Chen thought for a moment, then said, "So then you mean, when you were selling me the Origin Skills, you already intended to reveal your identities to me?"
Sang Zhen didn't reply directly. He only said, "If an organization wants to expand, they cannot allow themselves to be buried underground forever. Expansion inevitably requires a foundation, and probing is the prelude to expansion. Prince Su's performance has pleased us, and we appreciate your way of doing things. Thus, the organization has treated Prince Su as an important member that will be recruited in the future. All we are doing is taking advantage of the current situation; since you want a show of good faith, we will give it to you. Look, this is the secret meeting place of the Immortal Temple in Northface City. How about it? Is this enough good faith?"
Su Chen shook his head. "I don't actually want to become an official member of the organization. If possible, I want to be more like Baron, working together under the guise of cooperation. A secret is worth far more than just some Origin Stones, after all."
"You think you're worthy!" Aaron angrily said.
Cooperation meant that they were equal to each other. People who had the right to stand side by side had the right to discuss cooperation. Even people of the same rank as Baron, strictly speaking, could not be considered true cooperation. It was more accurate to say that he was employed.
For Su Chen to open with talk of cooperation was truly somewhat arrogant. It was no surprise that Aaron was angry.
Sang Zhen stopped him, however, and laughed, "The Immortal Temple doesn't just ally itself with anyone. If you want to establish this kind of relationship, you need to first demonstrate your own value. However, this is not very important right now. As for the million Origin Stones, it was just a random figure. The Spirit Burying Terrace does not contain that many riches, and even if it did, we would not give it to you."
"What's inside?"
"Has Prince Su ever heard of Sark's Energy Nucleus?"
"Sark's Energy Nucleus?" Su Chen thought for a moment. He suddenly thought of something and yelled out, "An Energy source?"
"Yes! An Energy source." Sang Zhen's expression was one of satisfaction. "Prince Su truly was raised in a scholarly family. You even know about energy sources."
How could he not know about them?
It was an existence that was on par with the Bloodline Extraction Instrument. It was the royal treasure of the Feathered Race.
Back then, when the Arcana Kingdom fell into ruin, the Five Great Races split the Arcana Kingdom and obtained many secret treasures. The most valuable treasure that the human race obtained was the Bloodline Extraction Instrument, while the Feathered Race obtained an energy source. They used it as the core for their Sky Expanse City, establishing the Sky Country.
Precisely speaking, "energy source" was just a common name. Many things with unique energy characteristics could be called energy sources, and from a certain standpoint even Origin Stones could be considered energy sources.
The one that the Feathered Race possessed was naturally the most powerful energy source.
The energy that it could supply was more than enough to keep a large city floating in midair. Its strength was quite apparent.
It was an extremely large engineering construct in its own right and possessed tremendous capabilities. Upon installation, it could automatically absorb Origin Energy from the air and turn it into the pure raw energy before supplying it.
This kind of energy installation was primarily invented by the Arcana Race great master Isador Sark. Thus, it was named after him and was called the Sark's Energy Nucleus.
For Sang Zhen to mention Sark's Energy Nucleus gave Su Chen quite a shock.
If the Spirit Burying Terrace truly possessed Sark's Energy Nucleus, it was definitely a treasure that was worth more than the entire Three-Mountain Region.
The Five Great Races could begin to fight a large-scale battle for it without any hesitation.
Thus, Sang Zhen supplemented with another sentence, "Of course, they are not at the level of the Sark's Energy Nucleus in the Sky Expanse City. precisely speaking, there are three levels of Sark's Energy Nuclei: one is a city-grade Sark's Energy Nucleus, which can continuously power an entire city. The Arcana Race only ever invented one of those kinds, and it is installed in the Sky Expanse City. Another is a warship-grade Sark's Energy Nucleus, which is used on floating warships. There are probably a few of these scattered all over, but they are still quite uncommon. Lastly, there are tool-grade Sark's Energy Nuclei, which are used to power Origin Puppets."
"Then what's inside the Spirit Burying Terrace is..."
"Tool-grade, but there are a total of four of them. They can be used to support four large Origin Demon Puppets," Sang Zhen replied.
"Can they be used only by large Origin Demon Puppets, or can they be used by many things including large Origin Demon Puppets?" Su Chen asked.
Only and including implied two drastically different things.
Sang Zhen laughed, "Even if it's just a tool-grade Sark's Energy Nucleus, it is about as large as a Melted Golden Battle Armor. Naturally, it can only be used by large Origin Demon Puppets."
"Then it's useless to me," Su Chen replied.
Controlling large Origin Demon Puppets was extremely complicated, and moving and concealing them was very difficult. They were very powerful, but as a target they were quite obvious.
Su Chen pursued his own increase in strength, so he was not very interested in it.
"Apart from this, there are three Void Essence Crystals. Prince Su should know the value of these things even if I don't say anything."
Void Essence was a very rarely seen substance and could be used to assign space to other objects. For instance, spatial rings could be created using these, but it was too wasteful. Normal people wouldn't do this. Their true usage was to bestow an Origin Tool with a powerful spatial attribute. If an Origin Tool possessed that attribute, its strength would greatly increase.
The value of three Void Essence Crystals was extremely high.
"Is there anything else?" Su Chen continued to ask.
"We are not too clear about whether there is anything else. After all, these are all clues that we obtained from history texts. Things that are less important are unlikely to be recorded," Sang Zhen said.
"So that's how it is..." Su Chen drew out his sentence. He thought for a moment, then let out a strange smile as he said, "Since that's the case, how about we compromise? Since these two items are not useful to me, how about this. I help you go into the Spirit Burying Terrace. If I get the Sark's Energy Nucleus and the Void Essence Crystals, I'll give them to you. If I make any other discoveries, they will all belong to me. How does that sound?"
"How can that be allowed?" Aaron instantly jumped to his feet.
Sang Zhen slowly sighed, "It seems it is still impossible to hide it from Prince Su."
Su Chen gently smiled as he said, "Then now, can you make a more solid show of good faith?"
Sang Zhen leisurely said, "Of course. However, Prince Su, do you not feel that it is slightly unfair that we are the only ones displaying this good faith? Do you not intend on displaying your own sincerity?"
"Me? What do I have to display my sincerity?" Su Chen said. "I don't have any secrets that I can't tell others."
"That might not be true," Old Sang said with deliberation. "I believe that Prince Su's secrets can interest many people. For instance... Prince Su's eyes. Or... Li's fate? Am I right, storekeeper Demon Face?"
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Page 2
Chapter 112: Good Faith (2)
The hand that was holding the tea was frozen in midair, completely unmoving.
Finally, Su Chen suddenly laughed.
He brought the cup of tea to his mouth and gulped it down. Su Chen raised his head to look at Sang Zhen.
"I was wondering how it was possible for me to keep such a large organization in the dark for so long."
As he spoke, his eyes flicked from Sang Zhen to Night Demon, then Qingbai, Copper Deer, and everyone else nearby.
In that instant, his eyes were bright and full of spirit and vitality.
Night Demon could no longer endure it. She began to yell, "You... you... you aren't blind?"
She truly did not know that Su Chen was not blind.
Qingbai and the others wore expressions of laughter. Evidently, they had known this a long time ago.
"When did you recover?"
"When did you find out?"
In the next instant, Sang Zhen and Su Chen simultaneously spoke.
The two of them gazed at each other before laughing.
Su Chen said, "My eyes recovered on the day that I killed Lin Xie."
"They actually recovered that early?" Old Sang was shocked.
However, this also explained why he had been able to kill Lin Xie.
"Then what about you? I am not too surprised that you know that I was Demon FAce, but how did you know that Li's death had something to do with me?" Su Chen asked.
With Iron Cliff and Lin Shu present, Su Chen was not surprised that the knew that he was Demon Face. Upon knowing that he was Demon Face, they would also naturally realize that his eyesight had returned. However, they actually also knew about Li; this was quite rare.
Sang Zhen replied, "You did very well in destroying the corpse and any traces left behind. However, next time remember that you need to be more thorough in destroying things. The broken pieces of Origin Tools, the indications of battle, and the collapsed secret room were more than enough to indicate that someone had returned to that place, and that there were secrets there that they didn't want others to discover. If you search carefully, there will always be some clues."
"But there were only a few clues, right? That doesn't mean that I was the one who did it."
"When you greeted everyone here, you didn't seem to ask about Li's fate, did you?" Sang Zhen countered.
"Uh..." Su Chen was speechless.
He had not expected to give himself away from this aspect.
This Sang Zhen truly was not a simple character.
Su Chen scratched the back of his head and said, "I hope that you do not take exception over this."
Copper Deer laughed, "That bastard Li wanted to swallow up all the benefits for himself, so he deserved his death. However, Prince Su, since the treasure store of the Shadow Mountain Troops is not limited to what we found, shouldn't you also fulfill your end of the agreement?"
Su Chen didn't even blink as he said, "Sorry, in terms of nature that is already a completely different transaction. Killing a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator is very taxing."
"..." Everyone was rendered speechless by his words.
You clearly killed one of our men, yet now you act as if you are in the right.
However, Copper Deer was just mentioning it. Right now, the primary focus was the Spirit Burying Terrace, and only Su Chen knew how large the treasure storage of the Shadow Mountain Troops was. Even if they forced him to pay up, he could just say that there was only thirty thousand or so, and there was nothing that they could do.
There was no point trying to regain what they had already lost. It was more practical to consider how to use the situation to obtain more benefits during the current operation.
Sang Zhen already spoke. "The treasure store of the Shadow Mountain Troops can belong to you, but the Spirit Burying Terrace..."
"Let's first be clear about what exactly is inside. I still hold to my previous statement. If you don't bring it up now, it's mine. Of course, you can also disagree, and you can also continue to lie to me, but remember that I am still the person entering the Spirit Burying Terrace, and the person bringing the items out is also me! Since you know that I am not blind, you should also know that you can't pull any wool over my eyes. There is no need to continue playing cheap tricks."
Su Chen interrupted him as he stared at him.
It felt good not having to pretend to be blind.
Having realized that it was no longer possible to continue trying to fool him, Sang Zhen finally gave in.
He sighed, "It's a Corpse Spirit Flower."
"What did you say?" Su Chen jumped to his feet.
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Corpse Spirit Flowers grew under extremely dark conditions. It collected all the filthy Qi in the heavens and the earth and was extremely poisonous. The conditions for its growth were extremely harsh; they would only grow in extremely filthy, poisonous locations.
This was a textbook example of things turning into their opposites if pushed too far in one direction. This plant, which could only grow in the filthiest of conditions, had many exotic features. It had many different uses and was rare and valuable.
Upon mentioning that there was a Corpse Spirit Flower in the Spirit Burying Terrace, Su Chen instantly understood the reason for the Spirit Burying Terrace's existence.
Most likely, the Spirit Burying Terrace existed to foster the growth of Corpse Spirit Flowers in the first place.
Corpse Spirit Flowers could only grow in filthy, evil locations, but it was very hard to find these kinds of places in the human world, unless one went to the savage territories controlled by the beast race regime.
Since there was no such filthy, evil locations to be found, then might as well create one.
This was just like Ulrich, who could not find a high-ranking bloodline and thus decided to create his own. Their thought processes were similar.
But the difference was that the latter had failed, while the former had succeeded.
Back then, the chaos and massacres that occurred in the Illustrious Divine Dynasty were intended to create this extremely evil place. The construction of the Spirit Burying Terrace was just a continuation of this goal. In that dark place, where corpses and spirits were put to rest, a huge plot with selfish interests was being carried out secretly.
As for the Sark's Energy Nuclei and the Void Essence Crystals, they were all there to support the execution of this plan. There were four Origin Demon Puppets using the Sark's Energy Nuclei to protect the area. The Void Essence Crystals were used to create a vacant space, allowing the Corpse Spirit Flower to grow safely.
However, the plan had never been completely successful.
The Arcana Organization that had put this plan into motion was struck by a destructive attack not long afterwards. Most of their members were killed, and only a small number were able to escape.
Thus, the secret of the Spirit Burying Terrace had been kept until now.
Until this very day.
"So that's why." Su Chen let out a long sigh. "Then... what do you plan on using it for once you retrieve the Corpse Spirit Flower?"
"Naturally, we will use it to refine medicine?" Sang Zhen replied quizzically.
"What kind of medicine is the important question," Su Chen said. "We all know that the Corpse Spirit Flower can be used for a wide range of applications. It can be used to develop medicines that can cure the sick, and it can also be used to make vicious, fatal poisons. As for as I know, there is a kind of plague medicine that is created using the Corpse Spirit Flower. Merely a vial of that medicine is more than enough to wipe out most of the Three-Mountain Region, right?"
Sang Zhen understood what Su Chen meant. "Are you worried that we will use it to make a poisonous medicine to harm others?"
Su Chen replied, "I have my principles when doing things. There are a few bottom lines that I do not wish to touch."
"You don't have to worry about this. We won't do something like that. In fact, according to the organization's plans, our goal is to use it to concoct a Spirit-Sobering Medicine," Old Sang replied.
The Spirit-Sobering Medicine was a medicine that could develop the strength of one's soul. It was quite a high-end medicine, and the Corpse Spirit Flower was a main ingredient in refining this kind of medicine.
However, Su Chen did not believe them because of this.
He shook his head and said, "I don't dare to believe these kinds of empty promises."
Aaron was enraged. "Brat, what are you trying to say?"
Su Chen stared Aaron in the face fearlessly. "What I'm saying is that I know what kind of organization the Immortal Temple is!"
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Page 3
Chapter 113: Good Faith (3)
The Immortal Temple was not just any ordinary underground organization.
They had their own faith and their own political ambitions that they pursued.
Usually, if an underground organization possessed these two things, there was another term to describe them that was more accurate – a terrorist organization!
The Immortal Temple was one such organization.
If someone else had said that making the plague medicine had no benefit to themselves and they would rather make the Spirit-Sobering Medicine, Su Chen might have believed them.
However, these words came from the Immortal Temple, and they were not very convincing.
Thus, no matter how angry Aaron got, Su Chen refused to back down.
Sang Zhen immediately attempted to compromise. "Prince Su, you are misunderstanding us. The current Immortal Temple is no longer the Immortal Temple of the past. After tens of thousands of years of change, everyone is no longer interested in pursuing the hazy dream of the Arcana race any longer. Of course, you can refuse to believe us, but take a look – is there anyone in front of you right now that is a member of the Arcana Race?"
These words had struck the heart of the matter.
The people standing in front of him were all purely humans. Not a single Arcana Race individual was there.
The shaping of history and the organization's expansion had caused the terrorist organization to slowly change their way of thinking and their nature.
As humans, it would be a joke if they wanted to fight for the Arcana Race's dream of restoring their kingdom.
Right now, they really were most likely striving for resources and a better quality of life.
Despite this, Su Chen continued to shake his head. "Perhaps you are correct. But can you guarantee that every person in the Immortal Temple has this kind of thought?"
"This..." Sang Zhen really wanted to say yes, but he could not look Su Chen in the eye and speak such nonsense even though Su Chen could do it.
Yes, there would always be people who were unwilling to give up on their dream of the past.
And many of these people likely occupied high positions in the organization.
"Thus, if I give the Corpse Spirit Flower to you, something big will definitely happen," Su Chen said. "I have a few ideas that might be able to resolve this issue and can also resolve the matter of building up mutual trust."
"What ideas?" Sang Zhen asked.
Su Chen replied, "Once I find the Corpse Spirit Flower, leave it with me. If you need Spirit-Sobering Medicine, I can make it for you. This way, I don't have to worry about a dangerous item falling into your hands, and at the same time if I control the Corpse Spirit Flower I don't have to worry about you silencing me. Thus, we will have established a new trust... in any case, it is much more reliable than using a secret as the foundation of our trust, right?"
"You?" Aaron laughed loudly. "Even someone like you wants to refine a Spirit-Sobering Medicine? That is a high-end medicine, can you do it?"
"If if I can't, I can learn how to."
"It will take too long."
"I will do my best to study. I trust it won't take too long."
When Sang Zhen heard this plan, he shook his head and sighed, "Prince Su, you are looking down on alchemy too much. Regardless of whether it's a plague medicine or the Spirit-Sobering Medicine, it is not something that can be controlled in a short period of time. If you don't believe me... Hey, come with me, I'll take you to see something and then you'll understand."
As he spoke, Sang Zhen took Su Chen with him to another room.
Inside the room, an old man was busy mixing a medicine together. Both the old man's workbench and the tools on his workbench were all much more advanced than what Ulrich had.
However, the most outstanding point was still the old man's skill in refining medicine.
His hands were so nimble that it seemed like each of his fingers had its own mind, dancing in the air and creating quite the gorgeous symphony of movement. As his fingers danced, portions of medicinal powder, liquid, and pellets were tossed in, dissolved, heated, and chemically reacted. Finally, they would constantly interact and produce something else...
But even so, the end result was still unpredictable.
Bang!
After a muffled explosion, the medicine in the old man's hand blew apart.
"Dammit! I failed again! I actually failed again!" The old man yelled in anger.
He turned around to look at Su Chen and Sang Zhen. "It's all your fault! Your entrance caused my to lose concentration. I've told you before not to disturb me while I'm working."
Sang Zhen first said to Su Chen, "This is Master Feng, the individual that we invited specifically for the matter of the Spirit Burying Terrace. Master Feng's value is very high and doesn't usually move. If it weren't for the fact that he heard about the Corpse Spirit Flower, he would not have accepted our invitation."
He then turned around and said to the old man, "Apologies, Master Feng, I have a question that I wanted to ask you."
"If you have to fart, do it quickly!"
Sang Zhen pointed to Su Chen and said, "This young man to my side wants to learn how to refine medicine. I would like you to help him realize how long it would take for a young man like him to reach a point where he can concoct the Spirit-Sobering Medicine if he has no prior experience?"
"A point where he can concoct the Spirit-Sobering Medicine? That depends on how deep his understanding of refining medicine is. As for how long..." Master Feng glanced at Su Chen before saying, "That depends on his own innate talent and effort. Geniuses will only need two or three years to do it, while idiots might not be able to do it for their entire lives. As for this young man, I think he looks more like an idiot who only knows how to talk big."
Master Feng's expression was filled with scorn.
Su Chen walked over. He picked up a pouch of medicinal powder and dumped it into a vial.
Master Feng yelled in anger, "Don't touch my stuff!"
Su Chen ignored him. He only said, "There's one thing that I must correct Sang Zhen about, which is that I am not starting from zero experience. I have some experience related to refining medicine."
As he spoke, he began to blend the powder in the beaker, then began to add things one after the other.
Although he could not reach the level of Master Feng yet in terms of putting medicine together, his movements were very stable and he didn't make any mistakes.
An instant later, a vial of common, light injury medicine was placed in front of Master Feng."
"This is the level of control that I obtained in a hundred fifty days or so. What do you think?"
Master Feng stroked his chin. "You have some talent. If you practice for four hours every day, you can probably reach a point of refining the Spirit-Sobering Medicine in about seven or eight years."
"I can practice for six hours every day, and just then I did not display my full strength."
"Then, three to five years." Master Feng impatiently said, "I say, why are you asking me all of these things?"
Sang Zhen replied, "This young man wants to reach a point in alchemy one day where he can refine the Spirit-Sobering Medicine and then personally refine it using the Corpse Spirit Flower."
"What? How can that be allowed!" Master Feng yelled with rage. "There won't be just a single Corpse Spirit Flower, and refining a Spirit-Sobering Medicine only requires one. There are also many other high-end medicines that require the Corpse Spirit Flower!"
"That includes poisons, right? I don't want it to be used to harm others," Su Chen said as he gazed at Master Feng's workbench.
There were many things that he had never seen before.
The heart of a Vicious Beast soaked in medicine was still beating.
An herb planted inside of a flower pot had actually grown to look like the countenance of a woman.
A strange, patterned Vicious Beast tooth had been sharpened to the point that it was as sharp as a blade.
Everything here gave Su Chen a sense of novelty.
Master Feng was still yelling crazily, "Naive! What do you know? Weapons don't harm people. What harms people is the person wielding the weapon. We are only making weapons, so why do we need to worry about how others use them? Isn't it enough if you don't die? Young man, you cannot save this world. Forget about those impractical dreams of yours and pursue the ultimate secrets of this world; that's the only thing worth doing! The Corpse Spirit Flower is a rare ingredient, and it shouldn't only be limited to one kind of application. There are even more high-end medicines that require it!"
"Having heard what you said, I must insist even more strongly on keeping the Corpse Spirit Flower to myself. In addition, it can only be used to refine Spirit-Sobering Medicine," Su Chen replied as he picked up the beast tooth, taking a closer look at it. The razor-sharp edge of the tooth left a thin trail of blood as it brushed past Su Chen's palm.
"Bastard!" Master Feng had been completely enraged. "If that's the case, what point is there in me staying here? I didn't come here just for a few vials of Spirit-Sobering Medicine!"
"You said one thing that is correct," Su Chen suddenly said.
"What?" Master Feng didn't understand.
"There is no point in you staying here any longer."
Su Chen flipped his hand, and the beast tooth shot into Master Feng's throat.
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Page 4
Chapter 114: In Control
Blood continued to bubble around Master Feng's fingers even though his hands tightly clutched at his own throat.
Master Feng stared at Su Chen, his eyes wide with shock. How could he do this?
He fell to the ground without any strength remaining and died.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Sang Zhen howled in panic.
As he yelled, all of the others all rushed over. They were all dazed when they saw Master Feng lying in a pool of blood.
"It seems like you need a new alchemist," Su Chen replied. "I'll be the one to do it. How does that sound?"
"Do you know how much money and energy is required to train an alchemist?" Aaron said angrily. "A talented alchemist is impossible to raise without spending hundreds of thousands or even millions of Origin Stones!"
Thanks for reminding me." A happy smile appeared on Su Chen's face. "I suddenly remembered that we never discussed the matter of repayment. Why not use this to repay me?"
He gazed at Sang Zhen as he said word by word, "How about rewarding me by raising me up as an alchemist? As for the items in the Spirit Burying Terrace, we will continue with our previous agreement. Anything that you mention will belong to you, and anything else that I discover will belong to me."
Sang Zhen gazed at Su Chen with shock.
He had never expected that Su Chen actually dared to do such a thing and dared to ask for such a high price.
However, he had to admit that the price that he had requested was close to the bottom line of the Immortal Temple, and was quite a tasteful price.
He could ensure his own safety by keeping the Corpse Spirit Flower near him and didn't need to worry about it being used to harm others. If the Immortal Temple wanted to obtain their medicine more quickly, they could only use all of their efforts to raise Su Chen and wouldn't be able to renege on their agreement. Finally, Sang Zhen had also said that only with strength could one have the authority to become an ally of the Immortal Temple.
Of course, Su Chen didn't possess enough strength, but he was definitely qualified to become an alchemist that could concoct the Spirit-Sobering Medicine.
Most amusingly, this alchemist needed to be trained by them personally. They had no way of not acknowledging it.
It was not too much for Su Chen to request that everything else belonged to him. Just like Baron and the others, they had ensured that they would at least break even along when dividing up the spoils. This way, they could also ensure that the Immortal Temple would not hoodwink them.
After going around in all these loops, all of the problems had been resolved.
If Su Chen had planned this out a long time ago, then it would not be such a big deal. However, everything had occurred during their process of negotiation. It was not possible for Su Chen to have known that they would meet with Master Feng, and yet he was still able to make his decision and kill in such a short period of time.
Even Sang Zhen couldn't help but praise such adaptability and decisiveness.
He nodded his head. "Although your strength is not great, your head has already demonstrated your value. You have the right to become an ally of the Immortal Temple... Hehehe, the Immortal Temple has not had any Qi Drawing Realm allies for a long time."
Su Chen also laughed.
After determining the big picture, all that remained was outlining some of the details, such as how to enter the Spirit Burying Terrace and how to bring the items out, etc. It was only a matter of determining what approach to take and there would not be any more large conflicts. All that was necessary now was time and exploration.
Thus, Su Chen and Sang Zhen left the room together, analyzing the next step of the plan.
Only Master Feng remained in the room, lying on the floor all alone. It wasn't until later when a servant came to clean up the bloodstains in the room and dragged this master's corpse out, as if he were dragging a dead dog...
Everything went back to normal.
————————
After conversing with Sang Zhen for quite some time and planning out appropriately their approach, Su Chen returned.
He also returned with an Origin Energy Pattern Fragment instruction module, as well as Master Feng's workstation, the scientific instruments on it and his experimental recordings.
The Origin Energy Pattern Fragment instruction module was given to him as a gift, and Master Feng's workbench and experimental recordings were all part of the agreement – Su Chen's training as an alchemist, or more accurately his repayment, began from here.
Apart from this, he had made a small extra request – dealing with the Lin Clan.
However, Su Chen had only asked the Immortal Temple to make some noise and attract the attention of the Lin Clan's experts. The actual assassination plan would be carried out by someone else. As for who that was, the Immortal Temple didn't need to know about it.
When Sang Zhen heard this request, he was stunned for a moment.
Before, the Immortal Temple had chosen to try and rope in the Lin Clan in order to ensure the success of their plans in Northface City.
He never expected that the situation would be reversed so quickly. In the blink of an eye, the Immortal Temple was about to go deal with the Lin Clan.
Thankfully, the Lin Clan was only a commodity that was being used, and its value was not even equal to that of Master Feng. Giving up on it wasn't too big of a loss.
He even wanted to help out for free, but Su Chen still paid a fee as per convention.
However, since it was just making some noise, he didn't need to pay very much money. Although Sang Zehn very much wanted to help Su Chen take care of Lin Yemao at the same time, Su Chen refused.
He believed that it would still be best for the killer to be Lin Jingxuan.
Indeed, Lin Jingxuan did not disappoint him.
On the second evening, Lin Jingxuan came with unease and fear, as well as humility and a deferential attitude.
After thinking about it for an entire day, Lin Jingxuan finally made his decision.
Although he knew that doing so would allow Su Chen to extort him in the future, Lin Jingxuan had no other choice. He was not Lin Yemao and did not have a father who could uphold the heavens for him. He was just a collateral relative of the Lin Clan. Everything that he had obtained up to this point was due to his own effort and striving. If he didn't want to lose everything he had obtained, he could only bow his head to Su Chen.
Lin Jingxuan's surrender caused the final piece of Su Chen's plan to fall into place.
The third night that Lin Yemao returned to the Lin Clan.
On that night, the wind was blowing and the sky was dark. It was the perfect night for killing and arson.
Su Chen stood on top of a small mountain to the south of Northface City. He surveyed the situation from above, gazing at the Lin Clan's brightly lit main courtyard.
In the darkness, where he could not see, a group of black-clothed people were silently advancing, and a disciple of the clan stood guard with duplicitous intent.
"Did you know? Just then, I suddenly thought of something," Su Chen suddenly said as he gazed downwards, the mountain wind blowing.
Iron Cliff did not respond.
He knew that Su Chen would continue on his own.
Indeed, Su Chen said, "I still made the members of the Immortal Temple make a move. Why didn't I just make things more straightforward and also tell them to take care of Lin Shuyue and Bai Li as well? I could have even extended this to Lin Qingyun; wouldn't this be simpler and conserve energy?"
This question was somewhat complicated to answer.
Iron Cliff thought for a moment before replying, "I do not know, but I feel that killing people is quite senseless. If possible, it is always better to do less killing."
Su Chen couldn't help but laugh.
"Then what if someone wants to kill you?" Su Chen asked.
Iron Cliff scratched his head. He thought for a moment before replying, "Master taught me the Flowing Wind Body Technique and the Iron Mountain Shield. I also have the Melted Golden Armor; I won't die that easily.
Indeed, it was a very typical "Iron Cliff" response. Su Chen once again couldn't help but laugh.
Below them, the Lin Clan courtyard had already begun to catch fire, and people were running and yelling. The assassination plot took advantage of this opportunity to be carried out.
Su Chen watched the chaotic scenes below. He did not blink, and his eyes shone like the stars in the night.
He said, "One thing you said is absolutely correct. Killing people really is quite senseless."
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Page 5
Chapter 115: Explosive Medicine
That night in Northface City, Su Chen's final problem was burned away.
Lin Yemao had died.
Died to a criminal organization.
Rumor was that Lin Yemao had colluded with some criminal organization. He had taken some of their benefits and was unwilling to give them up, which caused him to receive such a retaliation.
The truth of the situation was not very important. More importantly, the Lin Clan had expended all their manpower yet were unable to find the black-clothed individuals who had carried out the raid.
This matter eventually became an inconclusive, unsolved case. In the beginning, there was quite a commotion surrounding it, but interest began to die down and in the end it had merely become a topic for conversation on the streets.
It was already the peak of midsummer. The greatly-anticipated Hidden Dragon Battle was also drawing near.
The institute envoys from Long Coiling City had already entered Northface City. Next, they began to mobilize forces to lay down a giant formation and lock down the entire Red Peak Range. Outsiders were not allowed to enter or leave. There were even higher-ups who used their soul to scan the sealed mountain range to prevent any existences outside of the specifications from affecting the Hidden Dragon Battle.
Of course, creating such a large formation was not just for the selection of Northface City's four most talented individuals.
This place was the location for the Hidden Dragon Institute's entrance exam for the entire Three-Mountain Region.
The Hidden Dragon Battle was split into two portions. One was competition within the same city, and victors would obtain an invitation to enroll in the Hidden Dragon Institute. Secondly, the victors would then participate in another competition to determine their ranking in the institute.
Because of this, there were many subregions in the Red Peak Range, and the Spirit Burying Terrace was not located in the Northface City subregion, but rather in the Flowing Cloud City region.
This implied that if Su Chen wanted to enter the Spirit Burying Terrace, he would need to cross into a different subregion. That was very bad for his attempts to obtain a spot in his own region.
According to the agreement that Su Chen had made with the Immortal Temple, he needed to take out everything inside of the Spirit Burying Terrace when he entered before returning to participate in his own region's battle to ensure that he would put in the necessary effort.
In reality, with this prerequisite in front of him, the difficulty of Su Chen obtaining a spot had greatly increased. The Immortal Temple had already prepared comforting words for Su Chen after he failed in the Hidden Dragon Battle. Only Su Chen himself was unwilling to give in.
Thus, in the days before the Hidden Dragon Battle, Su Chen was also making his last preparations.
However, while others were furiously cultivating their Origin Skills, Su Chen was practicing in front of a research bench.
After killing Master Feng, Su Chen had obtained his workbench and experimental recordings. After reading them, he received great enlightenment, and began to open up many different avenues of thought when performing experiments.
Thus, Su Chen decided to continue his own research, but this time he was not researching the Soaring Serpent Bloodline but rather another item.
Within the stone room in the Dustsift Courtyard.
Su Chen carefully held a beaker in his hand.
The beaker had been split by a thin partition into two. A red and blue liquid were stored separately in it.
Su Chen carefully pulled out the partition and sealed the beaker's opening. The two liquids began to mix and bubble.
The beaker began to shake. As the bubbles increased, it shook more and more violently until it finally exploded with a "BANG!".
The shards from the explosions flew everywhere, landing on Su Chen. However, Su Chen had made preparations beforehand, and a Meg's Guardian easily blocked these flying fragments.
"I've finally succeeded!" As he gazed at the shards on the ground, Su Chen laughed with satisfaction.
"What did you succeed in?" Iron Cliff didn't understand.
"Explosive Medicine, didn't you see? There was an explosion! I finished the Explosive Medicine!" Su Chen replied.
"It doesn't seem that powerful," Iron Cliff replied.
The noise and smoke that the explosion made was quite solid, but its force was pitifully small. Iron Cliff could forcefully resist it using his own skin.
"That is because I diluted it!" Su Chen replied. "The true Explosive Medicine's strength will increase as I increase the concentrations of the liquids. Its power is slightly lower than the Blood Aura."
"Then it isn't weak at all." Iron Cliff understood what Su Chen was thinking. "You're planning on using it during the Hidden Dragon Battle?"
The Hidden Dragon Battle forbade the usage of Origin Tools, Origin Talismans, and Origin Scrolls – any weapons using Origin Energy. However, one could carry normal armaments and other items that did not have direct usage in battle.
This was because the Hidden Dragon Battle was a test of one's innate talent and strength, not one's wealth.
Although Su Chen dared to say that every Origin Tool he possessed he had earned, he had no way of explaining that to the Hidden Dragon Institute or to other students.
Thus, he could only find an alternate approach, instead focusing on the Explosive Medicine.
"That's right," su Chen replied. "It was invented by Master Feng; I just made a few changes and improvements to it so that it suits my own needs a little more."
If Master Feng was still alive and heard these words, he would've been shocked and said that Su Chen was a genius in this aspect.
Improving medicines was not something that could be done by just anyone. After all, innovation was built on a foundation of a thorough understanding of older objects.
Su Chen could improve this medicine firstly because he already had a foundation in place, secondly because his eyes made it much more convenient, and thirdly because he truly did have quite a bit of talent in this aspect. Finally, he also had some luck
Ulrich and Master Feng's research shared some similarities, allowing Su Chen to understand Master Feng's recordings much more efficiently.
Su Chen's improvements to the Explosive Medicine were mostly focused on its stability.
The original Explosive Medicine was not very stable. It exploded very easily, and was hard to store.
Su Chen's method was to separate the Explosive Medicine into two different kinds of liquids. Before they came into contact with each other, they were both safe and wouldn't explode. However, once combined, they would quickly react and release a large amount of energy, finally producing an explosion.
Most importantly, most of its ingredients could be found in the Red Peak Range.
Even if he used up all of the medicine, Su Chen could find a substitute.
After completing the Explosive Medicine, Su Chen began to search for an appropriate carrier for this explosive. Placing it in a vial just like that and tossing it out wouldn't be possible. He needed to find a carrier that could contain two liquids simultaneously yet prevent them from contacting until the moment that he wanted them to mix.
For this, he had already sent Mingshu and Zhou Hong out to search for a long time.
In the end, it was Zhou Hong who discovered the item that he needed.
It was a very specific kind of wine jug. The jug contained a spacer that allowed for storage of two kinds of wine. Upon drinking, as long as one rotated the jug's handle, one could easily change the type of wine. It had been used by road bandits to scam and drug travellers and were commonly sold by mobile peddlers. As long as he made some slight modifications, it would be suitable for Su Chen's needs.
Thus, Su Chen commanded the gathering and modifications of large quantities of these kinds of wine jugs. Most importantly, the opening for pouring wine was to be plugged up, and the lid of the jug was to be fixed in place.
Time flew by very quickly.
Finally, the day of the Hidden Dragon Battle had finally arrived.
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