Chapter 150: Successfully Deciphered

Hearing this, and being told that there might be other ways to unseal it, Luo Chen hurriedly said, "Damn it, just get to the point, stop dawdling!"

Thinking to himself, *How was I supposed to know you had so little patience?*, the voice continued, "There are two methods of unsealing. The first is brute force, which means forcibly opening the door. If the person breaking the seal has a power level dozens of times greater than the one who sealed it, brute force might succeed. However, seals are usually intricately connected to the sealed object itself, so brute force can also damage or even ruin the sword's body. The second method is decryption. The breaker figures out the specific unlocking mechanism used by the person who sealed it, just like a thief who can open a locked door even without a key!"

Luo Chen muttered to himself, "I definitely don't have enough power for brute force, and I don't know the first thing about decryption either. Fat Bird, are you messing with me?"

Fearing that Luo Chen would start shouting about beating and killing again, the voice immediately said, "Rest assured! Even though you don't know how to decrypt, I do!"

"You do? Fat Bird, you aren't lying to me, are you?" Luo Chen thought to himself, *How does this fat bird know so many things?* He hadn't even heard of seals before, yet not only did the fat bird recognize the seal, but it claimed it could also decrypt it. He felt rather suspicious.

The tone, however, was very firm: "Yes, I can help you decrypt its seal, and I have a success rate of over ninety percent!"

Luo Chen was overjoyed. "Haha, great! You're a good little thief, I like that. Hurry up and help me open this door!"

The voice let out a couple of "caw-caw" sounds.

"Please put the sword into the Myriad Treasures Pouch first. I'll go inside to check the situation so I can determine how much time it will take to decrypt it!"

Even the Myriad Treasures Pouch was known to this fat bird. It seemed Nicole had chatted with it about quite a few things. And Nicole really was too trusting; she didn't have the slightest guard up against the fat bird. After all, it was an outsider, and they still couldn't be entirely sure if it was trustworthy.

Very well, let's treat this decryption of the seal as a test. If it really can help, I'll trust it more from now on.

Luo Chen placed the sword into the Myriad Treasures Pouch. The consciousness within his spiritual world transformed into a streak of white light, flying out of his mental realm, following his nerve bundles, and drilling straight into the pouch. The Divine Emperor Ring was a sealed item capable of storing consciousness. Nicole had been able to survive inside it for several hundred years as pure consciousness, so another conscious entity could enter and exit just as easily.

The white light fell onto the long sword, resembling a droplet of water hitting a sponge, and was instantly absorbed without a single trace left behind.

Luo Chen was utterly amazed. This fat bird really did possess many skills he knew nothing about. His trust in it inevitably grew a bit more.

He waited patiently for about five minutes. The white light representing the entity overflowed from the sword once again, reforming into the shape of the fat bird. It used its plump, whale-like front limbs to wipe away sweat—though as a mere entity of consciousness right now, it couldn't sweat at all; this was simply a subconscious reflex when encountering trouble. Because its consciousness had merged with Luo Chen's spiritual world, its personality had also been influenced by humans, occasionally mimicking human actions.

Under Luo Chen's expectant gaze, it said, "This seal is a bit more complex than I imagined. I'm afraid it will take two or three days to complete the decryption!"

Luo Chen asked doubtfully, "Can you really do this? You aren't just boasting, are you?"

"Caw-caw!"

The entity jumped up in anger. "Of course there's no problem! Needing a bit more time doesn't mean I can't decrypt it!"

In this world, there was probably no seal that the King of Illusionary Spirits couldn't break; it was itself a great master of seals!

"Fine, I'll start right away. If I can't decrypt it, you can boil me into fat bird hot pot!"

Having made a solemn pledge, the entity immediately drilled back into the sword, thinking to himself, *Even if I have to work day and night and put in extra effort, I must lift this seal quickly so I don't get looked down upon.*

However, at this rate, I'm afraid I won't just be a fat bird anymore—I'll soon turn into a fat bird with dark circles around my eyes!

That said, this kid really is lucky. The more complex the seal on a sealed item, the stronger its capabilities usually are. This should be an even better treasure than I imagined!

Luo Chen was also very eager to find out what kind of abilities this sword possessed that required it to be sealed. It had to be pretty impressive, right?

No matter what, as long as the fat bird managed to decrypt it, he wouldn't just be making a small profit—he'd be striking it rich!

Leaving the long sword to go through its ordeal, Luo Chen spent the remaining two days practicing in the trial grounds. This continued until the evening of the third day, when the holiday came to an end. Classes would resume the next morning.

When Luo Chen returned to the dorm, Shi Feng was nowhere to be seen. Over the past few days, the playboy's whereabouts had been very mysterious, and his daily habits were vastly different from usual. Not only did he come back late at night, but he woke up at the crack of dawn, even leaving the dorm before Luo Chen had finished his morning meditation. For the playboy—who loved to eat and sleep as much as a pig—this was quite a rare occurrence.

Damn it, no midnight snack. Where did that bird-man run off to again?

Starving, Luo Chen had no choice but to take matters into his own hands and prepare his own food.

Just as the midnight snack was almost ready, the dormitory door finally opened with a click. "Be-ba-la-be-ba-la, ba-la-ba-la-ba! Be-ba-la-be-ba-la, ba-ba-ba-bi-bi-bi," Shi Feng hummed a cheerful little tune as he walked in.

Luo Chen frowned and asked, "Bird-man, what kind of tune is that?"

In the past, this guy basically only hummed lewd songs like *"Beauties love my big staff, I love beauties' big melons,"* and now he had suddenly turned so pure that Luo Chen wasn't used to it at all.

"This is the Song of Youth! Youth is truly wonderful." Catching sight of the steaming midnight snack, Shi Feng's eyes instantly lit up. "Oh, damn! Food right as I get back, awesome!"

Shi Feng's radiant and glowing expression made Luo Chen deeply suspicious. "What? Did you go on a date with Sarah again today?"

Ever since their internship mission ended, Shi Feng had stepped up his pursuit of Sarah, asking her out on frequent dates. Moreover, Sarah seemed to have been completely dazed by him, entirely forgetting what kind of person the playboy was, accepting his invitations every single time. This was also the reason why the playboy's whereabouts had been erratic and elusive these past few days.

However, Luo Chen found it somewhat strange. Normally, this bird-man Shi Feng's patience for any particular woman lasted at most a single night; after daybreak, he would wipe his hands clean and walk away, never showing the slightest bit of interest again—a textbook definition of a fleeting romance. But this current level of enthusiasm was definitely something he had never seen before.

"Mmph, mmph," Shi Feng muttered indistinctly while eating, making it impossible to tell whether he was saying yes or no.

Luo Chen said with considerable dissatisfaction, "Cut it out, bird-man, don't play dumb in front of me. Is there something worth being so happy about? Look at your face, you practically have the word 'Slut' written in big letters across your forehead!"

"Slut your sister! A real man stands tall. I went to woo Sarah, so what? What's there to be afraid of admitting!" Shi Feng lowered his voice and said, "Beast, let me tell you something!"

Seeing him acting all mysterious, Luo Chen hurriedly asked, "What is it?"

"Today, I kissed Sarah! Wahahahahaha—"

Shi Feng laughed maniacally for a long time before noticing the very strange look Luo Chen was giving him—a look that seemed completely speechless—which finally made him stop laughing.

"Damn it, and here I thought it was a big deal!" Luo Chen mocked, "My friend, remember when we were at the Weston Martial Arts Academy, and you told me, 'Beast, let me tell you. I went on dates with that Aurora for three whole nights before finally getting her into bed. Such a disgrace, absolute disgrace!'"

Luo Chen repeated it imitating Shi Feng's tone, then continued, "You considered it a disgrace to take three dates to get Aurora into bed, and now you've been on at least eight or nine dates with Sarah and you've only managed a kiss?! It looks like your skill at picking up women has really regressed drastically for you to be this happy over such a minor achievement!"

"What the hell do you know?" Shi Feng scoffed. "My realm has upgraded! Back then, I wasn't picky about what I ate; as long as it was female—from eight to eighty years old, from human to animal—I accepted everything. But now, this stallion prefers a slow simmer, just like a nourishing ten-ingredient soup, a forever-erect artillery soup, or a sleepless-night soup. You have to take it slow to get the flavor and the effect out of it, understand?"

"But didn't you used to tell me that you would never give up a whole forest for the sake of a single tree?"

"That was a misunderstanding. My ideology hadn't sublimated back then. Think about it: no matter how many trees there are in a forest, if I harvest them all, they're still just trees. Can they possibly turn into mushrooms? Now I've figured it out. It's not about getting more trees; being able to train a tree into a mushroom—now that's real skill! Sarah is the target of my training right now. I believe it won't be long before I can make her a tree whenever I want a tree, and a mushroom whenever I want a mushroom. That is the ultimate realm!"

"Fine, I can't argue with you." Luo Chen didn't bother arguing further with him, and besides, Shi Feng not going around ruining women everywhere was a good thing anyway. "By the way, let me ask you: besides assisting in combat, do spiritual pets have any other uses?"

"Oh, come on, you've got to be kidding me. Did you hear what I said and now you want to train your spiritual pet to act like a woman too? Having a rich imagination is great, but it has to be based on reality!"

"Ass. I'm not as fond of training things as you are; I'm asking about a serious matter!"

Seeing how serious Luo Chen looked, Shi Feng finally answered properly, "Alright, if you're willing, you can also have a spiritual pet run errands and help you do odd jobs."

"I mean more important functions, not just doing simple chores—like, say, breaking seals."

"Breaking a seal?" Shi Feng's expression became very strange. "Beast, you're way too wishful. Where in the world would there be such a spiritual pet? Even if a spiritual pet possesses a certain level of intelligence, it's still limited. Besides, a seal is something that even super powerhouses might not necessarily be able to crack with brute force!"

"Oh, is that so?" Luo Chen was somewhat baffled now. Then why did the fat bird have the ability to decrypt seals?

"Why are you asking about these things? Just eat your food! Be-ba-la-be-ba-la, ba-la-ba-la-ba! Be-ba-la-be-ba-la, ba-ba-ba-bi-bi-bi!"

Shi Feng started humming his cheerful little tune again, but Luo Chen began to feel uneasy. Could the fat bird have been boasting, or did it have some kind of hidden motive?

Just as he thought about summoning the fat bird to ask clearly, a voice suddenly echoed from his spiritual world:

"Alright, the seal has been decrypted! This is a pretty decent sword!"

Hearing this, Luo Chen was overjoyed. He finished his food in two or three bites, dropped his tableware, and ran out the door, wanting to find a place to test it out.

"Hey, beast, where are you going so late?" Shi Feng called out from behind, but Luo Chen had already dashed away in the blink of an eye. The playboy shook his head. "Could it be he's going to fool around with Joanna and the others again? What an impure person!"