Chapter 347: Chapter 207: A Painstaking Operation

’Leaving none behind... that covers a lot of ground.’

The thought crossed Su Chen’s mind for a moment before he pushed it away and continued trading drinks with Old Bu.

The spirits they drank were specially brewed to be beneficial even for High-tier Professionals, and by the end of the night, even Bu Siqi was swaying on his feet.

Ling Yue and the others were still somewhat reserved, not speaking as freely with Su Chen as Bu Siqi did.

Late into the night, the banquet had yet to end; in fact, a few more people had arrived.

Chong Jingtian and Shi Yunzhou had both arrived, and Su Chen used their arrival as an opportunity to slip away, feigning a need for the restroom.

As he stepped outside, a cool wind brushed against his face, causing the scarlet flush on his cheeks to fade slightly. Above, the inverted red and cyan shield covering the sky shimmered with a soft glow.

"Hic—" He hadn’t taken two steps before letting out a drunken belch. The potent smell of alcohol dissipated into the night, and he wrinkled his nose in disgust.

He actively stimulated his Gulping Stomach, which quickly processed the alcohol in his system. By the time he reached the door to his quarters, he was completely sober.

He opened the door, closed it behind him, and descended into the underground Gravity Chamber. Glancing around, he couldn’t help but feel a pang of melancholy. ’I won’t be able to stay here for much longer.’

Shaking his head to clear the last trace of grogginess, he couldn’t help but rub his hands together in anticipation. This was his most familiar environment, the place where he felt the safest. It was the perfect time to take stock of the Deceitful God’s Power he had acquired.

Before returning, he had mentioned to Chong Jingtian that he might be studying some Deceitful Artifacts, asking him to ensure no one within the Judicial Court became alarmed.

Chong Jingtian had readily agreed and already issued an order to ensure no one would disturb him.

Su Chen took the Deceitful Artifacts out of his Storage Space, absorbing them one by one as he kept a running tally.

It took him nearly half an hour just to finish absorbing the Deceitful Artifacts containing Low-tier Ghost God Power.

’Tsk, tsk... what a massive haul this time,’ Su Chen thought as he stared at his status panel, his eyes gleaming. He had acquired around eighty portions of Low-tier Divine Power for each of the five Ghost Gods.

Yuan Capital had contributed nearly half of the total, with Lieyang and Celestial Joy making up the rest.

’These eighty portions of Low-tier Ghost God Power can be fused into twenty portions of Middle-tier Divine Power. From that, I’m guaranteed to be able to extract at least one Essence for each type.’

Of course, that wasn’t all. He still had some statues. Lieyang, being a bit stronger than Celestial Joy, had yielded three.

Yuan Capital had yielded even more, exceeding Su Chen’s expectations. There were a full nine Divine Statues—two for each Deceitful God, with the sole exception being a single statue of Black Tuo.

The reason for this abundance was a period in Yuan Capital’s history when its ties to the Deceitful Gods were extremely close. After a great purge, they were left with the most knowledge about the Deceitful Gods, and thus had preserved the most high-grade Divine Statues.

’And now I get to reap all the benefits,’ Su Chen grinned and began extracting from them one by one.

Not every Divine Statue contained an Essence, a fact Su Chen had realized when he’d extracted from the one preserved by Ying Feng.

Only Divine Statues involved in events like the descent of a Divine Son would contain an Essence. From these twelve statues, Su Chen managed to extract a total of six Essences.

He opened his status panel and took a quick look—

Faceless Ghost Essence: 2

Black Tuo Essence: 2

Crimson Essence: 2

Sly Fox Essence: 2

Dark Plague Essence: 1

Factoring in the ones he could fuse, this haul brought his count for nearly every type of Essence to around three portions, with the exception of the Dark Plague Essence.

Su Chen gazed at the panel with satisfaction. Nothing beat the thrill of getting so much stronger in one go.

Unfortunately, opportunities like this were rare. This represented the entire accumulated resources of four cities over many years.

’Next, it’s time to take care of the Professions I haven’t advanced into yet.’

Su Chen was looking forward to this. For one, he could use the various Essences to reduce the difficulty of advancement, shorten the required time, and increase the post-advancement rewards.

For another, the process of using the Essences also involved a certain degree of unpredictability.

’Right now, there are three special Professions I haven’t advanced into: Power User, Sturdy Traveler, and Nourisher.’

Su Chen’s gaze unfocused as he scanned his status panel.

’Of these, Power User is the most important. Advancing my Talent will increase the efficiency with which I can develop my other Professions. At the same time, it’ll shut some people up over at the Bronze Sect.’

Su Chen understood perfectly well that the only people who were genuinely happy and excited for him were a small minority on Red Thunder Star.

Outside of Red Thunder Star, almost everyone he met probably wanted to eat him alive. This was a natural consequence of reaching the Morning Star Tier.

Even his status as one of the Red Sun Disciples and the protection of the Ancient King offered no solution.

The only thing he could do was to increase his importance in the eyes of the higher-ups. His Ink Jade Talent was simply too low, making it an easy pretext for others to use against him.

’Same as always, I’ll start with the Faceless Ghost Essence.’ Su Chen didn’t hesitate. Of the three advancement requirements for Power User, erasing the first one would be a waste, but getting rid of either of the other two was acceptable.

[The Faceless Ghost Essence has corrupted the Power User, driving it to madness. The second advancement requirement for Power User has been erased.]

’So it erased the requirement for the number of Body Refining Techniques...’ Su Chen nodded. Even with the leeway the Great Venerable had given him, he would have still needed to raise fifteen Body Refining Techniques to Master Level, meaning he couldn’t advance until at least Tier Five. Now that the requirement was gone, that restriction no longer applied.

’However...’ A glint appeared in his eyes. Next up was using the Sly Fox and Crimson Essences.

’If I’m not mistaken,’ Su Chen mused, ’using the Crimson Essence, which reduces difficulty, on the requirement to "surpass the limits of Body Refining" should generate some sort of guidance.’

On the way back, he had asked Qing Cang how to break through the limits of a Body Refining Technique, but Qing Cang didn’t have any clear ideas either.

"According to the Sect’s experience, your best bet is to continuously attempt to circulate your Body Refining Technique in an environment with extreme interference. That might give you a chance."