Free Web NovelChapter 80: Chapter 78: Speculation
Dragon Heaven Building, underground.
The proselytizing was over. The Space High Priest had sent the Spiritualist Followers back to the surface one by one using her Sequence, and now she was the only one left sitting in the gathering place.
She had planned on waiting for the Corpse High Priest to come crawling back so she could have a good laugh at his expense. Instead, something even more surprising occurred...
’The spatial marker I placed on the Corpse High Priest actually shattered!’
As the wielder of the Spatial Items Sequence, she knew exactly how durable her creations were. It was impossible to destroy them unless one could tear space itself.
Now, the spatial marker she had personally placed on the Corpse High Priest had shattered. This meant the Corpse High Priest had encountered a powerful enemy capable of tearing space. Could it be that the special organization had sent Li Yu?
’No... even if Li Yu is a genius, he’s only at Tier Four Peak. Could he really tear space? Or did the special organization directly dispatch one of their Tier Five old-timers?’
At this thought, the Space High Priest’s face turned pale. Tier Four and Tier Five were two completely different worlds. She had to report the situation here to Collapse.
With this in mind, she took a pink hairpin from her forehead, letting her pinned-up hair fall loose.
She took the pink hairpin and swiped it through the air in front of her. Instantly, a tanned, well-built man appeared before her.
It wasn’t that the man had appeared directly, but rather a spatial projection, allowing him to manifest before her as an image.
The man’s eyes had been closed, as if he were cultivating. Then, sensing something with his keen perception, he slowly opened them. He looked at the Space High Priest through the projection and spoke slowly:
"Space, what’s the sudden call for?"
"Corpse, that old bastard, is probably dead."
The Space High Priest told Collapse what happened to the Corpse High Priest. At first, Collapse seemed unconcerned, but when he heard that the Spatial Item created by Space had shattered, his expression grew serious. He then asked:
"Have the two Vice Bishops contacted you?"
The Space High Priest shook her head and replied helplessly, "They haven’t even contacted you. Why would they contact me?"
Hearing her words, Collapse’s expression became even more solemn.
This meant the old-timers from the special organization probably hadn’t made a move. If they had, the Spiritual Sect’s Vice Bishops, and even the Bishops, would certainly not have ignored it.
So...
’Did someone at Tier Four break through to Tier Five?’
’No!’
’If someone broke through to Tier Five, there would definitely be a phenomenon.’
Reaching Tier Five means you have a complete understanding and insight into your abilities. In ancient times, this understanding and insight was called the "Dao"; now, Sequencers call it the "Origin."
When an Origin expert breaks through, a phenomenon corresponding to their Origin manifests around them. Typically, it’s a manifestation of a Sequencer’s Sequence, a Martial Artist’s weapon, a Confucian Scholar’s book, or a Qi Cultivator’s Dao.
After that, the phenomenon becomes more exaggerated with each subsequent breakthrough. Therefore, with Tier Five being the starting point of the Origin, the difficulty of breaking through is far beyond that of the first four tiers.
Many Vice Bishops have said, "All those below Tier Five are but ants." This is the real reason why reaching Tier Five is the true entry ticket into the core echelon of the Spiritual Sect.
It is said that the Vice Bishops in the Spiritual Sect have one chance each month to go to the Spirit Realm and have an audience with It. Bishops get one chance a week, and Archbishops live directly in the Spirit Realm.
High Priests like them, despite having exhausted themselves for It, have never seen whether It is male or female, nor what It looks like.
Breaking through to Tier Five has always been the one thing these High Priests dream of day and night. They dream of breaking through to Tier Five, going to the Spirit Realm, and personally enjoying a blessing from It.
Thus, the difficulty and importance of breaking through to Tier Five are self-evident. The emergence of any Tier Five expert is taken extremely seriously by both the Spiritual Sect and the special organization.
It’s just that...
’There don’t seem to have been any celestial phenomena recently.’
Collapse’s thoughts ran in a circle before he finally dismissed the idea that someone had recently broken through to Tier Five. He continued:
"Since no one has broken through to Tier Five recently... does that mean someone at Tier Four possesses the ability to tear space?"
As this thought settled, Collapse’s eyes narrowed slightly, a trace of disbelief rising in his heart.
Because not even he, the strongest High Priest of the Spiritual Sect, could tear space. Even when Collapse went all out, he could only cause minute ripples in space, always feeling as if he was on the verge of tearing it, yet always falling just short.
’So this new Tier Four expert who’s just appeared is even stronger than me?’
This was a little hard for the ever-proud Collapse to accept. Then he heard the Space High Priest’s speculation:
"In all of Cang City, the only person capable of tearing space at Tier Four would be Li Yu."
Hearing Li Yu’s name, Collapse, though still resentful, had no choice but to accept it.
He had crossed swords with Li Yu in the northern part of Cang City before and had to admit that Li Yu’s talent far surpassed his own.
"When Li Yu was just Tier Four, he could fight me—at Tier Four Peak—to a standstill. I’m afraid I’m no longer his match now."
However, the Space High Priest’s second guess immediately put Collapse’s mind at ease.
"Although my Spatial Items can only be destroyed by someone who can tear space, any space-type Sequence user usually has the ability to do so. So... maybe a space-type Sequencer arrived on the scene. For example, that Liu Chang."
"Liu Chang?"
Collapse muttered his name. The more he thought about it, the more he felt it had to be him. He let out a heavy sigh of relief; he really couldn’t accept that Li Yu was now so much stronger than him. After a moment’s thought, he said:
"Did that mysterious expert make a move this time?"
Regarding the death of Thousand-Change, although they never caught the killer, almost everyone in the Spiritual Sect was convinced he was killed by the mysterious expert.
The traces left at the scene were just too similar to the mysterious expert’s usual style. This made the remaining High Priests in the Spiritual Sect wary of this mysterious expert’s existence.
After all, this mysterious expert also possessed the ability to kill a Tier Four. They weren’t idiots; they knew better than to look down on him.
"I just received the feedback that the spatial marker shattered. As for how that old bastard Corpse died, we’ll need to investigate further."
Hearing the Space High Priest, Collapse nodded and continued,
"Then investigate the details and report back to me. Also, we still haven’t dealt with Su Xing and Lu Anning, the two targets we need to capture alive. I’m afraid the Vice Bishop will hold us accountable."
"And Su Yu... we need to hurry up and grab his brother, then figure out a way to deal with him. The time for the Spirit Realm’s descent is drawing closer."
"It’s just grabbing an ordinary person. Once I’ve finished the task the Vice Bishop assigned me, I’ll naturally figure out a way."
The Space High Priest seemed disdainful of Collapse’s words, clearly not taking Su Xing and Lu Anning seriously at all. Collapse didn’t doubt her words in the slightest and simply closed the projection between them with a wave of his right hand.
...
Dragon Heaven Building, employee dormitories.
The employees of the Dragon Heaven Building lived here, mixed with a few Spiritualist Followers. Soul Priest Li Kong and the Assistant Priest who always followed him were staying in a two-person room here.
"Soul Priest, what should we do?"
The Assistant Priest said with some agitation. A long time had passed since the masked, mysterious expert had turned the tables on him when he was controlling Liu Shiyu.
He had been waiting for the Soul Priest to help him achieve a great merit so that It would forge a physical body for him, resolving the predicament of being stuck in a soul state.
But now their direct superior, the Thousand-Change High Priest, had croaked, and the Soul Priest was still just turtling. He really couldn’t take it anymore.
"Just wait a little longer... Don’t be impatient."
Li Kong placated him helplessly.
The Assistant Priest wanted Li Kong to step forward and tell the High Priests that he could control Su Xing, which would allow them to capture Su Yu directly.
But Li Kong always felt something was off. The Spiritual Sect had been trying to capture Su Xing for a long time, but they kept missing their chance due to various accidents.
In fact, to this day, Su Xing was still just referred to as "Su Yu’s brother" within the Spiritual Sect. No one paid him any real attention or cared about him.
Many High Priests also felt that capturing Su Xing was a trivial matter. The only things worth their attention were the special organization and the mysterious expert. But how could a truly useless person survive for so long?!
But not only had Su Xing survived, he was living quite comfortably. Could someone really be that lucky?
This made Li Kong start to wonder if there was something wrong with Su Xing himself. Although he also found his own baseless suspicion strange, once the thought appeared in his mind, he couldn’t shake it.
So, even though he held the Sequence marker that had hypnotized Su Xing, he didn’t dare to show his hand and could only continue to put off the Assistant Priest by saying, "Just wait... just wait."
But this "just waiting" had gone on for a bit too long. The Assistant Priest, annoyed, plopped down on the bed and couldn’t help but sigh as inappropriate thoughts began to surface in his mind.
...
’You fought me and you thought you could fucking run?!’
Su Xing cursed inwardly. After confirming that the Corpse High Priest beneath him was as dead as could be, he finally allowed the Black Sword and Sparrow Sword to dissipate.
If his "Mortal Sword" hadn’t successfully broken through to "Spirit Sword" this time, giving his Black Sword the temporary ability to tear space, he really would have let this guy get away.
Su Xing didn’t even dare to imagine it.
If he had let that guy escape,
and news that he was the mysterious expert got back to the Spiritual Sect, he would face an unimaginable level of attention. He feared that all of the Spiritual Sect’s Tier Fours, and maybe even Tier Fives, would come after him.
Just the thought of it was a huge headache for Su Xing.
"Coach Su, are you okay?!"
A startled cry rang out from the distance, and a figure quickly ran to his side. She seemed to want to support him but found that Su Xing was standing even more steadily than she was.
Su Xing glanced at Lu Anning, who was grabbing his right arm, and said with a smile:
"What could happen to me?"
"But you might have to help me with something in a bit."
