Chapter 60: Chén Chén's Secret

Thanks, Brother Luofeng, but this time I plan to try it myself.

Luofeng was somewhat surprised, then smiled again and gave Jiāng Jiāng a thumbs-up to show encouragement.

Beside him, Xiao A Yun was also quite surprised, because according to what she knew, her mother shouldn't be this kind of character setting.

However, what surprised everyone present even more was Jiāng Jiāng's subsequent action.

Jiāng Jiāng walked straight toward East Lord.

"Could you let me look at that Wood Seed Crystal again?"

Xiao A Yun also felt somewhat surprised by Jiāng Jiāng's abnormal behavior today, but as someone who is always acting, handling this situation naturally poses no problem for her.

East Lord revealed an encouraging and appreciative smile, then took out the Wood Seed Crystal and tossed it aside like random trash, which Jiāng Jiāng caught with both hands.

"I've borrowed it; just return one to me after you finish the evaluation."

Jiāng Jiāng stared blankly, then brought the white crystal in her hand closer for a careful examination, rubbing it with her fingers and then sniffing it.

Then she handed the crystal back to East Lord.

"I've finished borrowing it; I'll return it to you."

East Lord was stunned, then smiled again and took the Wood Seed Crystal from Jiāng Jiāng.

"Wish you good luck."

After saying that, East Lord's body gradually vanished in place, and the people around had long been accustomed to this way of exiting.

On the contrary, Jiāng Jiāng's behavior today attracted the attention of many of those who remained.

It's not that everyone is overly meticulous; rather, Jiāng Jiāng's behavior has gradually overturned the image everyone usually has of her.

As for what Jiāng Jiāng's usual image actually is,

First, she is aloof, rarely smiles, devoted to martial arts, cold-blooded and ruthless, the most aloof goddess of Dragon Gate, and she only shows a smile and reveals her laziness and fatigue in front of that person.

Because Jiāng Jiāng usually appears and disappears mysteriously, treats others with indifference, and in public maintains an extremely focused expression (the "three noes"), this low-key demeanor should have made her the most unnoticeable among the top-ranked, gradually fading into the crowd.

However, Chén Chén's fame is too great; you can't hide fire in paper, and along with Chén Chén's outstanding brilliance, Jiāng Jiāng, who was originally "ordinary," also acquired a mysterious hue.

Whether out of curiosity or dissatisfaction, this led to the outbreak of a situation where many trainees previously challenged Jiāng Jiāng.

And Jiāng Jiāng swept aside all challengers, and even "easily" defeated Jī Hēng's deeds, so all negative rumors about her in the outside world were completely dispelled.

And Jiāng Jiāng's devotion to martial arts, aloofness, and even the rumor that she would only speak to Chén Chén spread widely thereafter.

And Jiāng Jiāng's "aloofness" is not limited to peers and contemporaries; it extends to seniors as well, including the Thunder Lightning Martial Hall's senior brothers and sisters who usually address her affectionately—even those friends who are somewhat closer are equally aloof.

This is also Jiāng Jiāng's persona that she went along with due to lack of confidence in her emotional intelligence.

Besides aloofness, Jiāng Jiāng also has another widely spread trait: "low-key." This low-key does not mean being unknown.

It's like in class, even though her grades are excellent, she never raises her hand to answer the teacher's questions, nor does she voluntarily go to the board to solve problems.

Jiāng Jiāng is exactly that person; many of her peers have never even heard what she sounds like when she speaks, and this is no exaggeration.

However, today is abnormal, because Jiāng Jiāng did something that cannot be considered low-key in front of everyone.

Amidst everyone's astonished gazes, Jiāng Jiāng also obtained the information she needed most.

It was not news about the Wood Seed Crystal, but a secret concerning the person she cares about most.

East Lord told her in the illusion that her name is Cloud Lord, and surely also learned in the illusion of her identity as a Spiritual Mind Master.

Moreover, East Lord should also have learned part of her past, but her memories of the past were cut off at the crucial moment.

Therefore, Jiāng Jiāng did something even bolder than what everyone saw; at the moment of passing the Wood Seed Crystal, she used a spiritual force that no one present understood to ask East Lord a question:

"Shall we go forward?"

This is someone whom no matter how one looks at, cannot be fathomed; Jiāng Jiāng fully understands this, so she can only be direct.

Faced with Jiāng Jiāng's question, East Lord showed no reaction, took the Wood Seed Crystal, and vanished in place.

Jiāng Jiāng sighed inwardly; she had clearly taken considerable risk, yet ultimately obtained no decisive clue.

However, based on the current information, the most formidable person openly affiliated with Dragon Gate definitely has some kind of connection with Chén Chén, though it remains undetermined whether this connection is mutual.

If it truly is mutual, then the special instruction Chén Chén gave when leaving—telling herself not to trust others—might very well refer to such a person who is secretly connected to Chén Chén.

Jiāng Jiāng summoned her personal aircraft, rode it to fly over Mist Island, and the aircraft's tail light left a silver streak in the sky; as the silver light pierced the clouds, she heard a voice from within her own heart—the voice of the already departed East Lord:

"Don't go."

……

Above the clouds, where even a planetary-level being cannot see, Xiao A Yun changed to a worried expression.

"My mother sure does like to give us tough problems."

"Sigh, although our opinion seems to have no effect……"

"Ah, rather than worrying about these, we should just properly complete the task left by our father."

Xiao A Yun muttered to herself as the clouds around her gradually gathered, slowly forming a human shape; from the gradually emerging bodily features, it could be seen that this was a man.

Black hair, deep brown eyes, clad in a white combat uniform yet bearing a black halberd—this was none other than the likeness of Chén Chén.

The surrounding clouds then shifted into a watery mirror.

The new clone flexed its finger joints, then pinched its own face, looked at its reflection in the mirror, smiled slightly, and was indistinguishable from the true Chén Chén.

"Without Father's essence, I suppose this is the best I can do."

"Although I'm a bit unhappy, who made this Father's task?"

Saying that, the fake Chén Chén clone boarded the warplane that Chén Chén usually pilots when going out, and headed toward the human frontline battlefield.

Cloud Lord, the second special lifeform created by Chén Chén using her innate ability, has as its true body the sole cloud in the heavens, and the innate power she controls also bears some relation to clouds.

Over these many years, Xiao A Yun has relied most on one of the abilities that can create clones.

Unlike the general concept of a "clone" in the universe, Xiao A Yun's clones are more like the clones Sun Wukong creates by transforming his monkey hairs in Journey to the West, or like monkey offspring.

Xiao A Yun's clones can change their bodies, personalities, and all physical attributes, can exert a certain amount of strength, and can also serve as vessels for Xiao A Yun's true form to "descend as a deity."

Each clone is like a program, a command, and an action; they even possess personality and thought, but all of their existence only has meaning at the moment of their appearance.

When a program ends, the clones that make up the program will not "die", but will become part of Xiao Ayun.

However, conversely, Xiao Ayun's construction of a clone is not something that can be done casually; the formation of each personality requires many components, and each clone is part of Xiao Ayun's future, so when constructing a clone, one must also.

The nutrients brought back by an imperfect clone under external influence are like disgusting food; that feeling will make Xiao Ayun feel nauseous for a while.

So Xiao Ayun also has another way of gathering materials, that is to use a real organism as a blueprint to construct a clone that truly "exists".

And this also requires using its second ability, which is Xiao Ayun's main means currently relied upon, 【Mirror Flower Water Moon】.

【Mirror Flower Water Moon】 is not merely an attack launched purely by psychic power; it uses the environment as a cornerstone and psychic power as a blade. On the whole Earth, aside from Father, Xiao Ayun is confident that no one can defeat him.

Using the ability of 【Mirror Flower Water Moon】, Xiao Ayun can deconstruct all the components of a person's personality and thereby compose a brand-new clone, which for Xiao Ayun is perfect nourishment.

However, it's a pity that the father whom I respect most naturally cannot enter my own Mirror Flower Water Moon, and Xiao Ayun also didn't have the courage to probe into Chen Chen's composition.

So I could only rely on my own understanding to create a clone suitable for this plan; the task to be carried out is actually not difficult—namely, to replace the departing Chen Chen and go to various battlefield fronts to farm reputation.

This part of the plan was originally supposed to be carried out personally by Chen Chen's Earth clone, but now, because the war started early, Chen Chen's Earth clone must personally deal with the "True Self", so only Xiao Ayun can stand in.

————

On Misty Island, the war trial has already kicked off.

The monster density on Misty Island is not high; at least it is much lower than the monster density in the war mode of the Challenge Tower.

Although Misty Island's surface is occupied by many Lord-level monsters, to the War Gods who have come here they are merely prey; just half a day later, the monsters on the island have already been slaughtered more than half.

Almost the entirety of Misty Island has been overturned and searched, yet not a single person has found even a single Wood Sprout Crystal.

Meanwhile, Jiang Jiang, on this side, had already obtained hints and an analysis of Misty Island's terrain, and found the underground abyss hidden within Misty Island.

However, Jiang Jiang did not enter immediately; instead, she sent the news of the cavern via message to Luofeng and some friends from the Thunder Electric Martial Hall.

Being hasty makes one unable to eat hot tofu; rushing to act upon discovering something strange is a very brainless behavior.

Especially in the so-called "assessment" environment, one might end up involving something like the sealed ground of an old demon.

After sending out the message for a while, Lord East had no response, which means this is probably part of the assessment.

Jiang Jiang also did not intend to miss the opportunity; she entered the labyrinth alone.

Underground there is no light source; for a War God-level martial artist, relying solely on perception to fight in the darkness is not yet a crisis, but searching for things is extremely difficult.

Fortunately, at this time the advantage of being a psychic once again manifested: psychic perception that can penetrate objects can sense more than ordinary sight.

The noble psychic once again gained the advantage; fortunately, Jiang Jiang herself is a member of that advantaged group.

After reaching War God level, bodily perception is no longer solely dependent on light; in fact, not all creatures need sight, just like the monsters dwelling in mountain caves…

Although for Jiang Jiang it remains quite easy, she disposed of more than ten Lord-level monsters in a few quick moves; as for those below Lord level, they are hard to count.

Beneath the abyss it is like a labyrinth, with many monsters adept at digging tunnels having carved the underground rock into one intersecting passage after another.

Fortunately, psychic power can easily penetrate these complex structures, and then one can simply dig in a direction using a weapon.

At first Jiang Jiang was somewhat reluctant, after all the knife given by Chen Chen had just slain 1,800 monsters, yet it was to become scrap.

But upon further thought, many monsters' phosphor shells are much harder than rock; after a slight trial, I confirmed it feels the same as when cutting monsters, so speaking of this, when Chen Chen gave me these, he never said they were definitely for slaying monsters; perhaps these two could actually be… they are actually kitchen utensils.

Perhaps it's just bad luck; although I was the first to arrive, the harvest of the first Wood Sprout Crystal actually came from another martial artist of the World Tree.

In Dragon Gate there is a "botanical garden", a place for selecting and cultivating Nature Spirit companions, and likewise one must contribute points to enter.

However, as a feature of the World Tree, many members of the World Tree already possessed a Nature Spirit before coming to Dragon Gate.

In the underground environment, many Nature Spirits possess stronger detection skills and also have decent tunneling abilities; when assisting martial artists together, surpassing Jiang Jiang's progress is not impossible.

However, the assessment itself is actually not important to Jiang Jiang, so instead of seeking Wood Sprout Crystals, she has been seeking not only Wood Sprout Crystals.

As we continually advance deeper, Wood Sprout Crystals have gradually been unearthed; having confirmed their location, everyone has begun to muster strength to dig.

One Wood Sprout Crystal after another has been dug out; some lucky fellows simply took their Wood Sprout Crystals and passed the assessment, while many others continued the martial artist's adventurous spirit, pressing onward into the depths.

In this process Jiang Jiang also occasionally found two, which isn't many, but the distance to the assessment requirement is already not far.

And as the strata continue downward, the frequency of Wood Sprout Crystal appearance is gradually increasing; meanwhile, the monster density and overall strength within are also gradually strengthening, with King-level monsters already beginning to appear frequently.

Jiang Jiang feels a lingering fear; this place seems as if it were born just for this trial, hoping that in the end it won't be her who gets trapped.

While Jiang Jiang was praying here, on the other side Luofeng had already been trapped a step earlier; Li Yao and his wife, whom Luofeng had been guarding against, actually entered the trial grounds by some unknown means, and just now they happened to run into each other.