Chapter 190: Infiltration
Su Chen wrapped his finger in a white cloth and rubbed it across the surface of the metal, creating a faint blot of dust on the surface of the white cloth. Su Chen stared at the cloth, which had already been stained a number of times, then tossed it aside and put on another one as he continued to wipe the surface of the metal.
The Origin Energy Temple had extremely high requirements for cleanliness so that the crude, lazy Ravagers who normally only bathed themselves once every few months maintained a strict daily cleaning schedule for the Origin Energy Temple. Every time they cleaned, they needed to use clean white cloths which would be tossed as soon as they grew dirty. They could never be reused.
They did this not only because of how important this place was but even more because of the practical enhancements it created.
The Origin Energy Temple’s operation required an extremely clean environment because the Origin Energy was forcibly compressed via the Origin Energy Extractor and a number of extremely complex Origin Formations into the target’s body. The target would experience a cleansing, allowing them to use Origin Energy.
During this process, any contaminant that managed to sneak in would affect the purity of the Origin Energy, and the target would suffer from the effects of it. This was also the reason why it was only possible to undergo six baptisms at the most; once you reached that point, the accumulated byproducts of daily life would create intense side-effects for the Ravagers, making it impossible for them to handle more Origin Energy. Actually, most Ravagers were forced to stop after four or five baptisms for this very reason.
In that sense, the Ravagers had done far too little to preserve the cleanliness of the environment.
Far too little!
“They should have at least given it a larger housing and a dustless environment, and every person who enters should have to undergo numerous cleansing rituals, as well as their clothes. Flames can destroy most microscopic organisms and contaminants, greatly decreasing the dirtiness of the surrounding area. It would be beast to find a few fire-type Ravager warriors to handle the cleaning, not some commoners who committed a crime. Perhaps this is the utmost limit of cleanliness in the Ravagers’ eyes, but to me it’s so bad that it couldn’t possibly be worse,” Su Chen said after returning to his residence from a long day’s worth of work.
“You found a problem in a single day?” Danba, who had been waiting for him there the entire time, was stunned.
Su Chen frowned. “The totems didn’t take me much time either. It’s not that I underestimate you guys; your intelligence just makes it so that nothing you produce is particularly difficult for me to crack.”
“......”
Danba didn’t know if he should get angry at Su Chen’s disdainful comment or support it.
“But from your tone it sounds like you also knew about this problem already?” Su Chen asked.
Danba sighed. “It’s not really a secret. Some Ravagers mentioned it some time ago. But you should know that this is just too difficult for the Ravagers. Cleaning every day and inspecting every corner for dust, making sure to exchange for a new piece of cloth every time and using clean water required hundreds of years for the Divine Shrine to implement. This is simply our cultural and racial limitations. No matter how the Divine Shrine tried to force its subordinates, nothing worked.”
“You guys could build two physical mountains, but you couldn’t create a building that could contain the Origin Energy Temple?” Su Chen asked, shocked.
Danba shrugged. “That’s the Ravagers for you.”
“......” Su Chen was speechless.
Yes, this was the way the Ravagers were.
Of course, the problem that Su Chen had discovered was just the tip of the iceberg. There were simply too many secrets about the Origin Energy Temple for him to uncover, and too much knowledge for him to assimilate.
Su Chen began a life of cleaning the Origin Energy Temple on this day.
Every day, Su Chen followed the other Ravager servants in cleaning the Origin Energy Temple from head to toe once. While he cleaned, Su Chen would commit to memory the sprawling Origin Formations inscribed on the walls of the temple and he would observe the circumstances of operation for the temple.
His observation process was exceptionally straightforward. The innate crudeness of the Ravagers made them incredibly unalert, and Su Chen’s impeccable camouflage allowed him to easily infiltrate the Divine Shrine.
Even though the Ravagers did have individuals who could see through his disguise, there were very few of them. In addition, many of these individuals had extremely high social statuses, and none of them would pay any attention to a small, lowly individual like Su Chen.
After merely half a month, Su Chen had managed to get a feel for the Origin Energy Temple as a whole. He had copied most of the Origin Formation inscriptions down onto slips of paper. The process had been so simple that he almost couldn’t believe it.
As per usual, Su Chen returned to his residence after completing the day’s work. He found Danba sitting there, intently inspecting the Origin Formation inscription drawings Su Chen had created.
Upon seeing Su Chen return, Danba said, “We should be able to fill in this last missing section today, right?”
“Mhm.” Su Chen walked over to the inscription map and began to draw delicately on its surface.
A moment later, the final portion of the inscription map had been completed.
“Your memory is really astounding,” Danba sighed in amazement as he stared at the Origin Formation that Su Chen had completed.
These inscriptions were incredibly complex, requiring a high degree of precision. There was no way that Su Chen was going to be able to trace the inscriptions then and there, so he could only draw it based on memory. Yet he was still able to recreate the Origin Formation in such a short period of time. If Danba hadn’t witnessed it occurring in front of his eyes, he would not have believed that anyone could accomplish something like that.
Su Chen chuckled. “Anyone who wants to accomplish something in life needs to have the skill to back it up.”
With the consciousness crystal in hand, his memory capacity had greatly increased along with his ability to perform calculations. If it weren’t for the fact that he was still wary of Danba, he would have memorized the inscriptions in a single day. Even so, Danba was totally stunned by Su Chen’s incredible memory.
“No wonder you have achieved so much.” Danba nodded repeatedly, as if he had obtained an answer. Su Chen’s words seemed to have made an impression on him.
“That’s right. Now that the Origin Formation is complete, we can leave, right?” Danba asked. He had too many things he needed to take care of back at the Gravel Lizard Tribe, and staying here for too long wasn’t good for him.
Su Chen shook his head. “What we need to do is not recreate an Origin Temple but to understand the secrets behind its use and figure out a way to combine it with the technique I have created for you.”
Danba said with som exasperation, “So this isn’t enough either? What else do you want? Do you want to tear down the entire temple?”
Su Chen chuckled. “I won’t need to be that extreme. I just want to analyze it a bit more thoroughly, and this won’t take me much longer. Also, I need some data on its actual use.”
“What do you want to do?”
“I want to observe the baptism process.”
“You want to observe it yourself?” Even though he had guessed that this might be the answer, Danba’s heart still jolted violently.
Su Chen’s request wasn’t an easy one to grant.
At that moment, however, Danba gazed at Su Chen intently before nodding in agreement.
He was very clear that, at this moment, his only choice was to continue walking. There was no longer any possibility of turning around.
Su Chen’s request was very difficult to fulfill, but he must find a way to do it.
The sky had yet to brighten when a few drunk Ravagers came knocking on the front door of the Divine Shrine.
Two guards standing at the entrance stopped them from entering. “This is the Origin Energy Temple. No one is allowed to just charge in.”
“Hey, friend, take a closer look. I’m here to undergo a baptism,” one of the Ravagers said as he pulled out a bone medallion.
These medallions were vouchers for the baptism. On the baptism was written the time of baptism. The guards had a special ability to determine the veracity of such vouchers, making it so that no one could sneak by with a counterfeit.
The two guards took a closer look at the medallion, confirming that it was real, then nodded. “You may go in. Everyone else, please leave.”
“Please, my best brother is going through one of the most important experiences of his life. I want to wait for him here to experience his strength and fortune for myself,” the Ravager standing to the side said.
The only person who could say something like that was probably Danba.
As he spoke, Danba handed an Origin Stone over. “We’ll just be right here. We won’t go anywhere.”
The Ravagers were impulsive, barbaric, and idiotic, but that didn’t mean that they weren’t greedy.
The two guards glanced at each other, then silently accepted the Origin Stone.
One of them said, “Stay right here. Don’t go anywhere.”
“Of course,” Danba chuckled.
As they spoke, the individuals cleaning the temple also began to back away.
“Hey, Monk, it’s time to go,” one of the servants said to Su Chen. Monk was the name he had chosen for this Ravager persona.
Su Chen glanced at the servant. “I’ll be leaving with you guys.”
The Ravager servants seemed to start slightly before nodding and turning around.
At the same time, a black streak suddenly appeared outside the Origin Energy Temple, shooting into the temple.
“Careful!” Danba yelled as he gestured. A streak of light shot towards the black shadow.
“Don’t!” the two guards simultaneously cried out.
The black shadow turned around in midair, dodging Danba’s attack and pouncing in his direction instead.
“Who dares trespass on the Origin Energy Temple...... A Soul- Soulless?” Fear was written all over Danba’s face, as if he had run into some powerful expert. He no longer dared to attack, instead dodging as he constantly retreated.
The black shadow was one of the Ravager race’s consciousness protectors, the Soulless.
The Origin Energy Temple was an incredibly important location to the Ravagers. No matter how sloppy the Ravagers were, their defensive organization was quite comprehensive. Apart from the guards, there were specialized Soulless to deal with any opponents with strong consciousnesses that might infiltrate.
The Soulless were the biggest annoyance to Su Chen, who had both disguise and illusion techniques.
The reason Danba was here was to stop the Soulless.
Even though they had a powerful perception of consciousness fluctuations, their defensive instincts made it impossible for them to choose to only attack targets with powerful consciousnesses. Anything that attacked them would immediately become their enemy and would experience a powerful backlash.
Danba had used this to purposefully attack the Soulless so that its attention would be fully occupied by him instead.
An instant later, however, the two guards had managed to restrain the Soulless.
Upon discovering that Danba was no longer attacking itself, the Soulless refocused its attention on the Origin Energy Temple.
However, the consciousness fluctuations it had sensed early had disappeared instantly. Only small traces of consciousness energy remained.
The Soulless followed the traces of consciousness energy to a servant who was walking out of the temple.
An instant later, its figure flashed through the air, reappearing near the servant. It clawed out, grabbing the servant’s head and killing him immediately.
“What’s going on?”
The commotion the Soulless was making had attracted the attention of other Ravager guards.
A green jade belt had rolled off of the servant’s body, which was currently lying on the ground.
“Hm?” An Ancestor who had hurried over upon noticing the commotion picked up the green jade belt and inspected it closely. “So it’s a broken Origin Tool containing a soul fragment of the Jade-Eyed Demon. It seems like it’s seen better tomes. Oh, it seems as if it was some treasure unearthed from a black market. This guy must have gotten lucky and managed to find it from there. But this guy is also unlucky, to have brought it into the Origin Energy Temple. Hehe, no wonder the Soulless attacked. It seems like this was all just a misunderstanding. Everyone, you may disperse.”
The Ancestor analyzed the situation, believing himself to be infallible, but what he didn’t know was that he had fallen right into Su Chen and Danba’s trap.
With Danba’s interference and the green jade belt’s distraction, the Soulless had lost its original target.
The main door to the Origin Energy Temple had already been closed behind the Ravager who had just walked inside. At this point, the plan was about halfway complete.