Before he could finish, Bu Siqi suddenly found his vision darkening. Teng Liang’s large hand was already on his head, a pair of emotionless eyes staring him down.

He didn’t even have time to speak before the world started spinning. He was sent flying, tumbling through the air before crashing stiffly onto the ground. Bu Siqi cursed:

"Are you fucking crazy? Can’t a guy even give you a compliment?"

......

"You want me to have another premonition?"

Aboard the Hovercar, Su Chen looked away from the passing scenery below and turned to Xia Hanshi in surprise.

He’d actually been looking for a chance to bring this up with Old Xia. He wanted to drain the Judicial Court’s entire supply of Deceitful God’s Power.

Chong Jingtian and the others were probably coming back soon. Trying to handle this after their return would just create more complications.

"Correct," Xia Hanshi nodded.

Before the Faceless Divine Son’s identity was exposed, he’d found a fair amount of corroborating evidence, but he was still only about ninety percent certain.

After all, the identification of the Divine Son was fundamentally based on Su Chen’s premonition.

There was no hard evidence against Xu Siyuan himself; pinpointing his identity was more a case of fitting the facts to the conclusion.

Being ninety percent sure was already a testament to his immense trust in Su Chen.

Now that his precognitive ability had been factually verified, it was only natural to find ways to maximize its use.

"Hmm..." Su Chen hesitated. Before he could speak, Xia Hanshi said, "If it’s too risky, then never mind."

’That’s not it...’ Su Chen faltered. ’Aren’t you even going to ask what the issue is?’

"It’s not exactly a risk," he had to explain. "It’s just that these premonitions of mine don’t have a one-hundred-percent trigger rate. I was pretty surprised it even worked last time."

"Sometimes, I might use up the Deceitful God’s Power and still see nothing, or just get a few cryptic images."

’It’s not like I have any real precognitive ability. I just rely on my senses. But Yingfeng City is cleaner than ever right now, so I probably won’t be able to sense anything. I have to manage his expectations.’

"No matter," Xia Hanshi said, unconcerned. "That stuff is just sitting in storage anyway, and it takes manpower to guard it. If you can make it disappear without any negative side effects, I wouldn’t call that a bad thing."

Seeing that Xia Hanshi was just taking a ’nothing to lose’ approach, Su Chen relaxed. He had been genuinely worried that the man would pin too much hope on his so-called precognitive abilities.

"To increase the probability of it triggering, could you let me access information on other related Deceitful Gods?" Su Chen added.

"Fine," Xia Hanshi said succinctly. "This needs to happen quickly. It’ll be harder to arrange once Chong Jingtian is back."

"Understood. I’ll get ready as soon as I’m back," Su Chen said quickly.

Back at the Judicial Court, the two parted ways. Xia Hanshi headed to the restricted vault to retrieve the stored items related to the Deceitful Gods. The amount he planned to take was massive, so he would probably have to argue with Old Lei again.

Su Chen first made a trip to logistics to pick up a Biyun Potion; Old Xia had specifically told him to grab one.

He downed it in one gulp and immediately felt his injuries begin to ease. His Spiritual Power gradually seeped into his body to observe the internal damage.

’I really have no idea what the full extent of that Power of Word Spirit was.’

A quick inspection made him marvel. ’Everything is so perfectly balanced.’

The internal structure of the human body is incredibly precise and complex. Right now, his insides—except for vital organs like the heart—were covered in a network of fine wounds. He was like an exquisite piece of porcelain, riddled with cracks and on the verge of shattering, yet held in a state of perfect, precarious balance.

Nourished by the Recovery Potion, the wounds gradually healed. Before long, they were almost completely repaired, and his body returned to normal. The dull, persistent pain faded, leaving him feeling quite refreshed.

’This Potion is pretty good...’ Su Chen thought, savoring the feeling. He found the logistics supervisor and, after a brief chat that left the supervisor with a pained expression, walked away with five more vials.

’All Things, Life Burner...’

Leaving the logistics department, Su Chen headed for the archives containing information on Ghost Gods. His gaze was unfocused as he scrolled through his panel.

’Neither of these two Professions can be acquired easily. All Things requires at least one Professional Fusion, but I have no idea how to trigger it.’

’Then there’s Life Burner. I don’t want to burn away my lifespan—not even a single year of it.’

’I do have one Faceless Essence left, but there’s no guarantee it can remove that specific requirement. I’ll just have to wait.’

’As for Life Fire...’

’I know what that is. It’s the tangible manifestation of a person’s theoretical lifespan. Only a select few can perceive it, and it’s affected by many factors. A single major illness could cause a vigorously burning Life Fire to be extinguished instantly.’

As Su Chen mulled this over, his thoughts began to wander. He was already a Tier Four Professional, yet his theoretical lifespan was only about one hundred and fifty years, give or take.

’My physical constitution now is countless times stronger than in my past life, yet my lifespan has only increased by forty or fifty years...’

He was still young, so he wasn’t worried about his lifespan just yet, but he still found it a bit baffling.

Tier Seven Professionals like Chong Jingtian and Shi Yunzhou possessed power that could practically move mountains and part seas, yet they’d be hard-pressed to live past two hundred.

’No wonder the Deceitful God’s Followers have grown so quickly. They’re always tempting people with the promise of a longer life. That’s a hard offer to refuse...’ Su Chen sighed to himself, looking up at the boundless, dense fog.

’Can a Morning Star Tier live for five hundred years? Based on the estimates, probably not. But they can’t possibly cap out at three hundred, can they? That just doesn’t seem to match their level of power.’

’When you do the math, after subtracting their formative years and the period of decline at the end of their life, their actual peak doesn’t last very long.’

Lost in these calculations, Su Chen arrived at his destination. Xia Hanshi had already granted him clearance, so he walked straight in and quickly accessed all the information Ying Feng had stored on the Deceitful Gods.

Besides the Faceless Ghost and Black Tuo, Ying Feng’s records contained detailed information on three other Deceitful Gods:

Crimson: Delights in riots and chaos. Its Believers are the most brutal. They were the primary instigators during the last incident within Ying Feng.

Dark Plague: Delights in spreading disease. Every one of its Believers is afflicted with a malignant illness.

Cunning Fox: Revels in deception. Its Believers are all exceptionally treacherous and sly.

Of course, more than just these five Deceitful Gods have appeared throughout the history of Red Thunder Star. There have been at least ten, by conservative estimates.

Some vanished after being cornered and suppressed by the major cities, while others were eliminated during infighting among the Deceitful God Sects. In the end, only these five remained, and their records were the most detailed.

After reviewing the information and gaining a basic understanding, Su Chen pulled up the profession requirements for their Believers and fed them all to his ’Priest’ class.

’I wonder what kind of role these Deceitful Gods are actually playing in all of this.’

The sky had already grown dark by the time he left. Su Chen couldn’t help but wonder.

’I originally thought the fog was the work of the Deceitful Gods, but after reviewing all of Ying Feng’s records on them, I’ve realized that’s not the case.’

’The fog has also significantly weakened the connection between the Deceitful Gods and the physical world.’

’The number of disasters caused by the Deceitful Gods is decreasing, and it’s not just because the cities have grown stronger.’ According to Ying Feng’s records, it was also because the fog’s density seemed to be increasing.

The price for Believers to communicate with the Deceitful Gods grew steeper. It even became difficult for Deceitful God’s Followers in different cities to contact one another.

’This stuff is indiscriminately harmful. Where the hell did it even come from...’ Su Chen waved a hand through the air. It looked like there was no fog in Yingfeng City, but in reality, it was just extremely thin, not completely absent.

Back at his residence, Su Chen went down to the Gravity Chamber. Hiding his body in a spatial rift, he began switching between the states of various Deceitful God Priests. But he found nothing within the range of his perception.

’It’s completely clean. A lot of time has passed since their last joint operation, yet they haven’t sent anyone new.’ Su Chen was a little exasperated. ’There’s no one from Black Tuo, either. It’s like they’ve given up on coming after me.’

’In that case, I’ll just have to take the resources anyway and cook up a few harmless lies to fool Old Xia.’ Su Chen sighed, emerging from the spatial rift.

He reined in his thoughts and turned his attention to another matter. ’Now then, about this buff from the Great Venerable... let’s see what it’s all about.’

He tentatively activated his Body Refining and Meditation Technique and immediately felt a difference. A warm current from an unknown source welled up inside him, seeping into every inch of his flesh and blood as naturally as a spring rain.

The efficiency of his Elemental Body Refining instantly doubled. His muscles and bones seemed to hum with pleasure in the warm current, and the elemental particles surging through him began to temper his body with incredible activity.

His Spiritual Power also began to circulate along an unprecedentedly bright path, as clear and unimpeded as a mountain stream.