Chapter 276: Chapter 171: A Sudden Showdown, the Past of Cliff Mountain (Part 2)

Su Chen’s eyebrow twitched. He considered himself ruthless enough, but his targets had always been those who had tried to infringe upon his interests.

’As for something like mere thoughts, that’s too hard to pin down. There are plenty of people who can’t stand the sight of me and want me dead.’

’And those who did act against my interests might not have even wanted me dead.’

But hearing Old Xia say this gave him a sense of unexpected reason.

"But if we act now, Yuan Capital will definitely refuse to open those ruins. Things could get ugly, and they might drag everyone down with them," Su Chen reminded him. The immediate problem was the Holy Banquet—a crisis that affected everyone.

"It is a bit troublesome..." Xia Hanshi twirled the teacup in his fingers, his gaze somewhat unfocused, lost in thought.

Suddenly, he spoke again. "Tell me the truth. Do you have some kind of precognitive ability?"

Hearing this, Su Chen’s eyes flickered, and the teacup in his hand trembled. The question had caught him completely off guard.

’Old Xia wants a showdown.’

"What are you still afraid of now?" Xia Hanshi frowned. "In Southwind, you used that chubby kid to find Priest Black Tuo the first time. Then you fabricated some story about a ’righteous person’ to locate him a second time."

"After arriving in Ying Feng, you even knew a blood sacrifice was about to happen. And the business with Meng Qi... how did you know all that?"

"Well..." Su Chen’s gaze darted about. It wasn’t that he hadn’t prepared for a confrontation.

But this guy, Old Xia, was just too unpredictable. He’d stay silent for ages, and then when he finally asked, he was brutally direct.

His original plan had been to fob him off with something about dreams. The ambiguous nature of dreams would have been enough to cover up many issues.

’But the situation now is different from before. I have the Great Venerable’s recognition, my status is completely different. Maybe...’

He thought of something, something he had long since cast to the back of his mind.

"You’re too perceptive," Su Chen said with a wry smile.

"Perceptive?" Xia Hanshi scoffed. "If he knew all this, never mind me—even that fool Bu Siqi would have realized something was off."

"So, out with it. What’s really going on?"

’I already have a rough story prepared. It’s just a modified version of my original plan. As for precognition... that ability is too terrifying. I definitely can’t admit to it.’

"To be honest, I don’t know if you could call it precognition..." Su Chen said helplessly. "It’s just that sometimes, when I come into contact with things related to the Deceitful Gods, strange visions flash before my eyes."

"The first time I found Priest Black Tuo was because when I killed Qi Chuan, I came across an empty Deceitful Artifact..."

Su Chen forcibly linked all the incidents Old Xia had mentioned to items related to the Deceitful Gods.

"Related to the Deceitful Gods..." Xia Hanshi listened, his face unreadable. He suddenly murmured, "Could you really be that... thing from all those years ago?"

’Huh? The thing from all those years ago? What thing?’

Su Chen was stunned. A bad feeling washed over him. ’Did the lie I just fabricated actually line up with some kind of prophecy?’

’I can’t be that unlucky,’ he thought, feeling a knot of anxiety tighten in his stomach.

’Old Xia is so hard to read. If he gets the wrong idea, even with my current status, he might just bring the hammer down on me.’

"What are you talking about?" he asked cautiously.

"Cliff Mountain City. Do you remember it?" Xia Hanshi shot him a glance.

’This place again,’ Su Chen thought with a sense of resignation. "I really don’t remember."

"Has someone else mentioned it to you? Who?" Seeing his reaction, Xia Hanshi’s voice turned cold.

"Judge Jiang mentioned it," Su Chen answered honestly. But judging by Old Xia’s attitude, he didn’t seem to suspect him of anything.

"Jiang Shu Mo. So self-righteous." Xia Hanshi’s gaze was icy. "Did he subtly imply you were some kind of refugee?"

"No, not really," Su Chen shook his head.

’No?’ Xia Hanshi was slightly taken aback. He suddenly realized that Su Chen was no longer the person he once was. Even without the Great Venerable’s recognition, he was a rising star in the Judicial Court and already possessed immense prestige.

He fell silent for a moment before continuing, "You’re from Cliff Mountain. Twenty years ago, Cliff Mountain City was corrupted by a Deceitful God. The Black Tuo Followers intended to bring about the descent of a Divine Son."

"A Divine Son?" Su Chen seemed to make a connection.

As if not noticing the change in Su Chen’s expression, Xia Hanshi went on, "We discovered their plan and, using all our strength, destroyed Cliff Mountain. A great number of innocent people were caught in the crossfire."

"The descent of a Divine Son requires a mother’s body to gestate a vessel. The ritual was interrupted, and we never found the mother. At the time, we concluded she had been annihilated, but perhaps... she wasn’t."

Xia Hanshi’s gaze was dark and intense as he stared at him. Su Chen’s heart pounded. He couldn’t help but ask, "You don’t actually think I’m that Divine Son, do you?"

’The heavens are my witness! Even my predecessor had absolutely nothing to do with that blasted Divine Son.’

At the same time, he felt like this was all some kind of bullshit. ’I can’t believe my predecessor’s hometown has such a history, and even more, I can’t believe the lie I just made up actually managed to connect to it.’

"Heh heh..." Xia Hanshi let out an unsettling laugh. Only after it had made Su Chen’s skin crawl did he say slowly, "As your teacher, what kind of image do you really have of me in your mind?"

’It would probably be a lot better if you scared me less,’ Su Chen grumbled inwardly, but he also breathed a sigh of relief.

"My guess is that the ritual was incomplete, so the Divine Son failed to descend. However, the people of Cliff Mountain were more or less affected," Xia Hanshi continued. "That’s why you have a reaction whenever you come into contact with something related to the Deceitful Gods."

’He closed the loop?’

Su Chen was stunned. The lie had been patched up so perfectly that he’d almost lost all right to interpret it himself.

But then he realized Old Xia must still have his own suspicions. After all, there were plenty of survivors from Cliff Mountain. Why didn’t any of them have this sensitivity?

"Can you trigger those visions voluntarily?" Xia Hanshi asked.

"Voluntarily..." Su Chen hesitated. "It’s hard to say. Compared to the number of times I’ve come into contact with items related to the Deceitful Gods, the number of times the visions have appeared is obviously quite low."

"What do you have in mind?"

Xia Hanshi’s question was unusual; it seemed he wanted to make use of this ability. ’Uh... an ability that doesn’t even exist,’ Su Chen thought, speechless.

"I suspect there’s something fishy about this attack by the Faceless Ghost Followers," Xia Hanshi didn’t hide it, his expression flickering. "Thinking about it now, this land is vast. And yet, Yuan Poshan and I just happened to run into that group of Faceless Ghost Followers."

"Are you suspecting they let you find them on purpose? A ploy to lure the tiger from the mountain?" Su Chen recalled the last time; the Faceless Ghost Divine Son had played the same trick.

"Exactly..." Xia Hanshi nodded. "But the sheer number of those Faceless Ghost Followers was no fake. If Ying Feng doesn’t respond, it will be in grave danger."

’How is this exactly the same as last time...’ Su Chen had an indescribable sense of déjà vu.

Last time, the Faceless Ghost Divine Son had gathered various factions of Believers lurking in Ying Feng. If no one had been sent to deal with them, they would have caused immense destruction.

’This old trick... don’t tell me the one pulling the strings this time is that Divine Son again.’

Su Chen muttered to himself. The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed.

"So, I want you to try and see if you can foresee anything," Xia Hanshi finally revealed the true purpose of their confrontation.

"It is my duty," Su Chen agreed at once, but then a hesitant look crossed his face. "But right now, I don’t have any items related to the Deceitful Gods."

"This is the Judicial Court," Xia Hanshi said faintly as he stood up. "We’ve been fighting the Deceitful Gods for so long. We have far too many things related to them."

’So that was Old Xia’s plan all along,’ Su Chen’s heart skipped a beat. He quickly finished the thought that had been interrupted by the talk of that bullshit Divine Son. "I suspect ordinary items might not work. It would be best if it was something like a Deceitful Artifact, one that contains Deceptive Divine Power."

"And..." he said hesitantly, "there’s one more thing I have to tell you."

"What else haven’t you told me?" Xia Hanshi wasn’t surprised. The kid was hiding far too many secrets.

"Triggering the visions seems to consume Deceptive Divine Power," Su Chen said, as if it had taken him a great deal of resolve to speak.

"Actually, when I killed Qi Chuan, the Deceitful Artifact I obtained wasn’t empty."

"It’s just that after the vision appeared, the Deceitful Artifact somehow became empty."

"Later," Su Chen gave a bitter laugh, "after learning about the dangers of Deceitful Artifacts from Master Yuan, I didn’t dare speak of it again."