Chapter 691: Each Harboring Ulterior Motives

The six Moonlight Tier experts who dominated the Dust Star Sea each possessed an incredibly illustrious reputation. Even the slightest connection to any of them was enough for one to rule over an entire region.

Yet right now, they were separated from Su Chen by only a single door. The six of them stood fanned out in a line, their expressions varying, but their gazes uniformly fixed on the palace door.

It would be a lie to say Su Chen didn’t feel a chill of terror upon seeing this scene. But a moment later, after realizing these guys were not making any further moves, he couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

“This Cultivation Residence is truly somewhat special. These individuals haven’t tried to break down the door; they must have suffered losses doing so at other palaces previously,” Su Chen thought to himself as his gaze swept over his titular master, the Bronze Ancient King.

In that brief moment, the Profound Celestial Ancient King spoke. He wore a calm, genial smile that made one feel an immediate sense of goodwill just by looking at him. “Friend inside, could you come out for a chat?”

Go out for a chat?

Su Chen shook his head inwardly. He had many objectives for coming in this time. Among the most important—and one that could be completed in a short timeframe—was to obtain a Morning Star Artifact to fulfill the Holy Profession requirement of forging the Celestial Mark. Next, he wanted to observe the condition of these Ancient Kings and see if there was any chance to obtain a Moonlight Treasure Bone from them.

After all, the fact that all six Moonlight Tier experts of the Dust Star Sea were trapped here presented an excellent opportunity. If he failed to acquire one this time, who knew how long he would have to wait for the next chance.

Su Chen did not respond to the Profound Celestial Ancient King. Instead, he asked the Residual Spirit, “How can I extract a Morning Star Artifact from the Spirit of Sun?”

“You went inside?” the Residual Spirit asked. Without Su Chen’s permission, he couldn’t see anything.

Su Chen opened up a portion of his vision to him. The Residual Spirit was immediately astonished. When his gaze fell upon Su Chen, he first paused in disbelief, then exclaimed in shock, “How did your physical body come in here as well? Unity of Spirit and Body… aren’t you only at Tier Seven?”

Su Chen did not answer him, only saying, “Answer my question.”

The Residual Spirit was secretly amazed that this guy could achieve Unity of Spirit and Body at merely Tier Seven. He replied, “You need to bring the Fire-igniting Ash before the Spirit of Sun. Using it as a medium, conduct a simple sacrificial ritual and ask it to bestow the artifact upon you…”

“It’s that simple?” Su Chen was surprised. “Will the Spirit of Sun agree to it?”

“Simple?” The Residual Spirit fell silent for a long moment before speaking again. “You are not only a recognized candidate with the Three Dragons qualification, but you also passed the Sun Trial. It is only right that it rewards you.”

Su Chen suddenly realized the truth. It wasn’t actually simple; it was just that he had laid such a solid foundation beforehand.

“It’s just that its spirituality is too high. If you don’t ask for it, it won’t just hand it over.”

If he didn’t ask, he wouldn’t get it… Su Chen was rendered speechless. However, he glanced at the six Ancient Kings on the screen. Given the current situation, taking the Fire-igniting Ash outside to find the Spirit of Sun and returning safely would be no less difficult than fighting all six of them simultaneously and beating them all to the ground.

“The Fire-igniting Ash is of the utmost importance. I rely on it to enter and exit the Flame Space. I absolutely cannot afford to lose it, much less rashly take it outside.” Pondering for a moment, he asked again, “You mentioned earlier that by using this Cultivation Residence, I can use a mimicked figure to walk outside. How do I do that?”

The Residual Spirit felt helpless. He had been tricked into revealing too much earlier, and it was hard to take his words back now. He had no choice but to say, “Use the Fire-igniting Ash to ignite a wisp of Sun Residual Fire, then supplement it with your blood and Spiritual Power…”

Su Chen followed the Residual Spirit’s instructions, attempting the process step by step. Soon enough, using the Sun Residual Fire, he molded a phantom whose figure closely resembled his own.

“Turn on the Cultivation Residence’s ‘Meditation’ mode.”

Su Chen raised an eyebrow and opened the control panel. He had noticed it last time; the Cultivation Residence had three modes: Meditation, Open, and Do Not Disturb.

As soon as the Meditation mode was activated, faint, thread-like lines emerged from the void and wrapped around the phantom. This instantly made it much more corporeal, at least to the point where one couldn’t tell it was composed of condensed flames.

Finally, the Residual Spirit added, “You just need to control it with your Spiritual Power. Under the Meditation state, you can use clone-type abilities to walk outside, but the ambient heat out there is too intense. You can only use a mimicked phantom created from the Sun Residual Fire…

“Serving as a relay station, the Cultivation Residence can shield your mental link from being severed. Therefore, the projection cannot wander too far from it. While outside, it can autonomously absorb power from the Flame Space to maintain its own existence.”

After this explanation, Su Chen generally understood. It was a multi-layered system that could both conceal his true body and guarantee the mobility of the phantom.

“It’s quite complicated. Why isn’t there even an instruction manual?” Su Chen grumbled to himself. At the very least, without the Residual Spirit, who knew how long it would have taken him to figure out that the Meditation mode supported utilizing clones and wandering projections.

Immediately after, he asked again, “If I use the projection to conduct the sacrifice to the Spirit of Sun, will I be able to obtain a Morning Star Artifact?”

The Residual Spirit estimated, “There shouldn’t be any problem. While others might not see through the true nature of this phantom, the Spirit of Sun naturally can.”

“Then that’ll do.” Su Chen breathed a sigh of relief. Without needing his true body to step outside, his safety was vastly guaranteed.

The next step was dealing with the group of guys right in front of his doorstep. His gaze fell once again onto the virtual screen displaying the Ancient Kings.

Outside, although the few individuals kept their eyes on the palace doors before them, they were secretly communicating amongst themselves.

“Why is the method this person used to enter different from what Zhen Yu described?”

“We already established that earlier. It might not necessarily be that expert from the Abyss Realm.”

“What is the situation with this palace? Why can it still house people?”

“This person doesn’t seem to have forced his way in. I wonder if he has a way out…”

Just as the Profound Celestial Ancient King was about to speak again, his expression flickered. The surface of the palace door suddenly rippled with water-like patterns, and a figure that looked quite young walked out.

Almost instantaneously, the Zhenwu Ancient King made his move. His silhouette flashed, appearing directly in front of the young figure with his large hand already descending. It curled into a claw-like grip as swirling cyclones surged abruptly, slithering like living creatures and transforming into tangible ripples that locked down the surrounding space.