Chapter 358: Chapter 212: Star Seed List, Widespread Fame

"How could I dare to lie to you?" The scrawny, monkey-like fellow waved his hands repeatedly. "He only just became a Chosen One. Plus, he’s a native from a Desolate Planet with a Dual Ink Jade Talent. The Bronze Sect must have just brought him out of the Nether Fog."

"His luck is just off the charts."

As he said this, his words were tinged with jealousy.

"A native with a Dual Ink Jade Talent?" The sturdy man felt like he was listening to gibberish. ’How could a Talent like that produce a Star Seed?’

But he immediately realized something was wrong. He narrowed his eyes, his voice turning cold. "This kind of information should be a secret. How do you know so much?"

"What secret? It’s common knowledge by now. The bounty on Dark Flower changes every day. Right now, it’s over two billion Star Coins."

"It’s already three billion," someone nearby added.

"HISS~" The sturdy man sucked in a sharp breath, a fiery glint flashing in his eyes. That amount was enough for him to live the rest of his life in wealth.

But then a chill went through him. You had to be alive to spend it.

...

The interior of the Prophet Council building was laid out in a peculiar way. The first-floor hall was extremely spacious, lined with rows of metal rooms.

Long lines formed in front of each door. Just as Su Chen and the other man entered, someone came up to greet them.

"Please wait a moment, you two. There are still people ahead..." The attendant, dressed in a white robe embroidered with an Eye of the Prophet, glanced past Lan Hao and his eyes landed on Su Chen. Before he could finish his sentence, his expression changed slightly.

After a brief pause, his tone shifted. "Please, follow me, you two."

Lan Hao, who had been frowning as he surveyed their surroundings, was taken aback. "We don’t have to wait in line?"

"You must be joking," the attendant leading the way said with a smile. "When a Star Seed from the Bronze Sect graces us with their presence, there’s naturally no need to wait."

Lan Hao’s face stiffened. The jealousy and resentment he had been suppressing surged up again. He let out a slow breath to push it back down, managing to keep his composure.

The Lan Family held some status within the Bronze Sect, and as the Patriarch’s son, he wasn’t exactly a nobody. But not everyone recognized him, especially outside the Sect.

The Prophet Council didn’t command respect through strength, but after so many years of selling information, their reputation was built on being fair to all customers, young and old.

He had never received this kind of special treatment before.

The attendant led the two of them to the second floor, drawing the attention of many. Some with sharp eyes had already recognized Su Chen and wore expressions of surprise and contemplation.

The second floor was more or less the same as the first, though the metal rooms were much larger.

He led them into one of the rooms. The furnishings were simple, consisting of only a silver table. The attendant walked behind it and then asked, "May I ask what information you two wish to purchase?"

Lan Hao snorted, finally getting a chance to feel relevant. "Shouldn’t we be communicating directly with the Eye of the Prophet?" he asked in a low voice. "Why is an attendant asking us?"

The attendant explained, "Well, if it’s information of level four or below, we can provide it to Lord Su Chen for free, so..."

Lan Hao choked on his words, his heart filling with frustration.

’They even offer this kind of treatment...’ Su Chen was quite surprised. He didn’t stand on ceremony and stated what Qing Cang wanted.

"The Prophet’s Times..." The attendant’s eyes lit with recognition. "That’s unrated information. One moment..."

He placed his palm on the silver metal table in front of them. It split open down the middle, and a silver-blue light projected out, forming the shape of an Eye of the Prophet.

The attendant first looked at Su Chen’s arm, then mused, "Hmm... your information-receiving device is a bit outdated, but it can still handle the transfer."

Immediately, a stream of blue data flowed from the Eye of the Prophet and into Su Chen’s Wristband.

Su Chen raised an eyebrow. He opened his Wristband and saw that he had indeed received a data file. It was lines of informational text, which he quickly scanned—

[The Hanhai Emperor’s birthday is approaching. The Royal Court will soon begin a fifteen-day celebration.]

The Dust Star Sea was simply too vast. Countless events happened every day, and without a channel to aggregate them, it was impossible to keep up.

"What other kinds of information do you sell here?" Su Chen’s interest was piqued.

"We sell everything..." the attendant recommended with a smile. "However, I think you’ll have a need for the latest Star Seed list."

"You have something like that?" Su Chen was surprised. "Give me a copy. Hmm... does it cost money?"

"I will provide you with a Star Seed list with a level-four information density, as a gift." As the attendant spoke, he reached into the Eye of the Prophet. Another stream of data flowed into Su Chen’s Wristband, this one seeming a bit brighter than the last.

Su Chen opened it, and his Wristband projected a chart—the Star Seed list. Below it was a line of small text: (Note: Rankings are not based on strength).

’They even add disclaimers,’ Su Chen muttered. He glanced over it and was surprised to find that the first name was his.

[Su Chen: Native resident of the Desolate Planet Red Thunder Star. Dual Ink Jade Talent. Professional Tier Four. Astonishing Heart. Survived the corrosion of the Deceitful God’s Power (unconfirmed).

In year 13524 of the Royal Court calendar, became the Chosen One of the Great Venerable Red Flame Thunder Resonator.]

’It’s quite detailed. Ni Chuan must have leaked this.’

Su Chen’s gaze swept further down the list.

[Han Xingliu: Third son of the Royal Court’s Hanhai Emperor. Single-Star Amber Talent. In year 13510 of the Royal Court calendar, he was acknowledged by the Dark Radiance Godslaying Monarch, manifesting the Three Dragon Shadows.

One year later, he personally led the Imperial Guard to annihilate thirteen Star Thief Groups and defeated another Chosen One who had also manifested the Three Dragon Shadows.

The year after that, he swept through the Yinping Gully, killing over ten thousand enemies.

...

In year 13515 of the Royal Court calendar, he defeated another who had been acknowledged and manifested the Three Dragon Shadows. On the Royal Court’s mother star, weapons descended from the heavens and sharp metal formed a dragon, solidifying his status as the one acknowledged by the Dark Radiance Godslaying Monarch.]

Su Chen didn’t even finish reading it. The entry was hundreds of words long, covering everything from his background and Talent to his achievements and the strange phenomena that occurred when he was acknowledged, all in extreme detail.

After reading the introduction for this Han Xingliu, Su Chen glanced back at his own two-line entry.

His only recorded achievement was still listed as unconfirmed.

He was a little speechless. Shaking his head to himself, he looked up and asked, "If a different Star Seed came here, would their name be at the top of the list instead?"

"This is just a list, not a chart. It isn’t based on strength," the attendant explained with a smile.

"Then do you have charts?" Su Chen asked, his curiosity piqued.

"Not for Star Seeds," the attendant said, shaking his head.

"Not for Star Seeds, which means you have them for others?"

"Correct." The attendant nodded. "We have a Potential Chart, which records the people with the highest publicly known Talents in the Dust Star Sea, a Tier Nine Professionals Chart, a Morning Star Chart, a Holy Profession Chart, and so on..."

"You even dare to rank the strength of those at the Morning Star Tier?" Su Chen asked in astonishment.

"Compared to Star Seeds, the components of a Morning Star Tier’s strength are actually simpler to analyze," the attendant explained.

’This Prophet Council is really something else,’ Su Chen marveled inwardly. At the same time, he became intensely curious about the Holy Profession Chart.

Unfortunately, the Holy Profession Chart was level-two information and required payment. Su Chen didn’t have any of the Dust Star Sea’s universal currency.

He looked at Lan Hao.

Lan Hao was speechless inside. He explained, "That thing’s a rip-off. It just gives a speculated name, a rough idea of its power, when it appeared, its battle records, and stuff like that. As for the actual Professional requirements, it has none of that."

’So it’s basically just pure gossip,’ Su Chen thought, rendered speechless. Still, he asked out of curiosity, "What’s the number-one ranked Holy Profession?"

"I think it was..." Lan Hao frowned, trying to recall. "The Royal Court’s God-defying Halberd..."

’The Royal Court again...’ Su Chen mused, having noticed a pattern.

He figured that aside from time-sensitive information, the Bronze Sect probably had records of most other intelligence.

The biggest weakness of intelligence is its replicability. For an organization as large as the Bronze Sect, buying one copy was enough.

Realizing this, Su Chen’s interest in the place diminished greatly, and he bid farewell and left.

As they came down from the second floor, Su Chen noticed many eyes on him. He turned his head and asked, "Do you know what kind of Talent the most powerful person on the Talent Chart has?"

"Dual Divine Dawn," Lan Hao answered. He naturally knew, having been curious about it himself.

Su Chen couldn’t help but suck in a sharp breath. Above Profound Purple was Star Amber, and above that was Divine Dawn. And this guy had a *Dual* Divine Dawn, for crying out loud. ’Is that even human?’

"But he’s not a Chosen One," Lan Hao added.

"Oh?" Su Chen couldn’t help but feel surprised. Lan Hao glanced at him and said grimly,

"The Talent Chart lists a hundred people in total. The person in 100th place has at least a Star Amber Talent. And of those hundred, only twelve are also on the Star Seed list."

Hearing this, Su Chen fell silent. ’Those other eighty-eight people must want to eat the Star Seeds alive.’