Chapter 597 - 327: It Turns Out to Be Su Chen

"Getting my hands on Divine Blood shouldn’t be too hard. If it actually works, it’ll save me a ton of effort."

"However..." Su Chen’s brow furrowed. Although it was called Divine Blood, it wasn’t, strictly speaking, the pure blood of a Deceitful God. It was a highly condensed substance mixed with the Power of Faith. It was hard to say whether it would actually be effective.

’Regardless of whether it works or not, I have to give it a try.’

Unlike the direct need for Divine Dawn to ignite the Morning Fire for the Melting Holy Profession, Su Chen didn’t know much about his True Radiance Talent. For the moment, there was no urgent need, so he wasn’t in a hurry.

As Su Chen mulled it over, he tidied up a bit and left the training room. He activated his wristband, pulling up the virtual screen. He couldn’t help but be surprised when he looked at it. ’How am I still in first place?’

As he walked, he stared at the preliminary selection rankings before him. It had been nearly a month since he’d taken first place, yet no one had managed to supplant him.

Su Chen had a clear understanding of his own strength. In terms of pure explosive power, he could likely contend with a Top-tier Professional like Shen Yi’an, a Tier Seven who had undergone the Melting Holy Profession.

In fact, if their Holy Profession wasn’t geared toward direct combat, he might even hold the upper hand. The drawback, however, was the immense energy consumption.

If he couldn’t take down someone on Shen Yi’an’s level instantly, his opponent could simply drag out the fight, waiting for him to exhaust himself before easily claiming victory.

But those hidden Tier Seven Professionals with Holy Professions still hadn’t come forward to take his place. Su Chen didn’t think it was because they couldn’t, but because they simply didn’t want to.

’These people are so damn cunning. They don’t even care that a Tier Six like me is sitting on top of them. They’re just stubbornly holding back, refusing to reveal their strength.’

Su Chen grumbled internally. More and more factions had been arriving at Dragon Abyss recently, and his number one spot was just too conspicuous.

Now that he had obtained the Morning Star Essence, he didn’t want to stay in such a prominent position. He had thought someone would have knocked him down by now, but he had underestimated their patience.

’They’re all in their forties, but in this world, that’s still considered young. Why don’t any of them have any fighting spirit?’

Su Chen’s gaze swept downwards. Qin Tianlin’s name had already been removed. Second place was still He Muyang.

Qin Tianlin was dead, after all. What was the point of keeping his name up there for people to challenge?

The Sect had no intention of keeping the news under wraps forever. This was also an indirect way of announcing that Qin Tianlin was dead.

He scrolled down. Aside from the top ranks which hadn’t changed much, the middle and bottom ranks had changed significantly. Some people had already been pushed down.

"Luo Chen... Shen Jiqing..."

His gaze focused on the few individuals who were widely rumored to have potentially undergone the Melting Holy Profession.

Their rankings weren’t high, around thirtieth or fortieth place. After clicking on their names, you could see several saved battle records.

No wonder these people were keeping a low profile. Battle records could be reviewed at will, even studied frame by frame. It would be easy for others to find ways to counter them.

It would put them at a great disadvantage in the later competition for the title of Peak Star.

’But the Sect itself should have battle records for these people, right?’

A cynical thought crossed Su Chen’s mind. Officially, failed challenges didn’t leave behind battle records, but a fight still occurred. The Sect had to have recorded it somehow.

However, even if such records existed, the Sect certainly wouldn’t leak them. This selection method was simple, fast, and fair. It generated a lot of discussion and minimized the impact of unexpected factors.

But for years, there had been discussions about the privacy of Professionals. For a Professional, exposing all of one’s abilities to the Bronze Sect was no different than being naked.

As far as he knew, all data collected by the Sect during the Peak Star Conference was jointly supervised by the Five Great Sects and the Royal Court, and had to be destroyed afterward.

Just as he was pondering this, a small transport-type Flying Device appeared in his field of vision and soon docked at the port.

An old acquaintance, Wei Fan, stepped out, carrying two small metal cases, one in each hand.

He had expected to see Su Chen waiting there, but he still feigned shock and flattery as he hurried over. "My, for you to be waiting here again..."

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, he handed over the cases, explaining as he did, "This is the Heart of the Barren Dragon, and this is the Dust of All Things."

"Our Sect has these two items in stock. However, the remaining few items need to be gathered on short notice, so it will take some more time."

"Then I’ll have to trouble Steward Wei." Su Chen reached out and took them.

The Ancient King himself had given the order: Su Chen was to report any needs directly to Qing Cang. Su Chen, of course, didn’t hesitate and had submitted a list of all the materials he required.

Qing Cang had already made the arrangements. The only condition was that he couldn’t resell the items. Su Chen naturally had no objection to this; he had no intention of reselling them anyway.

"It’s our duty. Master Qing has already given the order. The contribution points for these items will be deducted from his account," Wei Fan added, explaining the bookkeeping process.

Although the Ancient King had ordered that the resources be freely allocated, the Bronze Sect’s internal structure was complex. To avoid unnecessary trouble, the request still had to be processed through Qing Cang. This showed that Qing Cang was covering the cost, rather than Su Chen simply taking resources at will.

"Steward Wei..." Seeing that Wei Fan was about to leave, Su Chen called out to him again.

"Do you need anything else?" Wei Fan paused and asked eagerly.

"I need a drop of the Blood of the Deceitful God. Can you have it delivered as soon as possible, Steward Wei?"

"Blood of the Deceitful God?" Wei Fan’s heart jumped. He looked troubled. "That... the Blood of the Deceitful God is one of the Sect’s most precious resources. It’s not a decision a simple Steward like me can make. You’d best ask Master Qing directly."