Chapter 23: What's the Difference Between Not Courting Death and a Salted Fish
The prompt disappeared, and the room fell silent.
"Heh~, I don't believe I'll be trapped and die here."
Su Xiao simply sat down and began to stalemate with Reincarnation Paradise.
He now understood one thing: the item inside his storage space was extremely precious.
From the rating of ???, it was clear that Reincarnation Paradise seemed unwilling to display the value of this item.
A prompt appeared again. Su Xiao thought for a moment, then asked:
"Teleporting me to a derivative world, what exactly is your purpose? And this ring, what is it?"
Unexpectedly, Reincarnation Paradise actually gave him an answer.
...
Although the prompt from Reincarnation Paradise was brief, Su Xiao grasped the most crucial point.
The reason Reincarnation Paradise teleported him to a derivative world was to obtain World Force through him.
This so-called World Force was likely extracted from World Source, which was why Reincarnation Paradise rewarded him based on the amount of World Source he obtained.
Reincarnation Paradise probably operated under certain rules; otherwise, it wouldn't have asked him to sell it but would have forcibly taken it instead.
His identity as a Hunter indicated one thing: under normal circumstances, Reincarnation Paradise could not directly execute Contractors.
As long as a Contractor didn't violate Reincarnation Paradise's regulations, it couldn't punish them—not just him, but all Contractors. That was why Hunters existed.
So-called Hunters were tasked with dealing with those "violators" in derivative worlds who hadn't technically broken Reincarnation Paradise's rules.
For example, if a Contractor discovered a loophole in Reincarnation Paradise's rules and exploited it for gain.
That was when Su Xiao stepped in.
No need to think twice—those "violating" Contractors were probably very strong and extremely cunning.
Su Xiao remained seated on the floor, casually fiddling with the ring as if nothing was wrong.
He had a bold idea: to blackmail Reincarnation Paradise.
Although it seemed like courting death, given his identity as a Hunter, Reincarnation Paradise wouldn't do much to him.
Su Xiao was gambling—gambling on whether his Hunter identity was important. If it wasn't, then wouldn't his experience in the Nightmare difficulty world have been for nothing?
Time ticked by, minute by minute. Finally, after two hours, a prompt from Reincarnation Paradise appeared before him.
Difficulty Level: ???
Mission Brief: Hand over the ring to Reincarnation Paradise.
Mission Info: None
Mission Time Limit: Five minutes.
Mission Reward: A legacy with extremely high compatibility with the Hunter's talent.
...
A smile spread across Su Xiao's face. It seemed his Hunter identity was more valuable than he had imagined. Reincarnation Paradise had actually issued a mission.
After a moment's thought, Su Xiao chose to accept the mission.
For the cold and merciless Reincarnation Paradise, Su Xiao still felt uncertain. He would have to survive within it in the future.
Preparation? It seemed this reward was no simple thing.
Just as Reincarnation Paradise finished issuing the prompt, a beam of light appeared in the room, enveloping Su Xiao.
Su Xiao sat motionless on the spot, staring blankly ahead. His eyes lost focus, and occasionally, blue light flickered within them.
At that moment, Su Xiao's consciousness had arrived in a vast hall.
The hall was extraordinarily expansive, so much so that its edges were invisible.
Su Xiao scanned his surroundings and noticed six stone statues over a hundred meters tall before him. They were human statues, but magnified many times over.
"Successor... step forward."
A majestic voice rang out. Su Xiao's body tensed—the voice came from one of the stone statues in front of him.
"The agreement from back then has come time to be fulfilled."
Another stone statue spoke. Su Xiao's arrival seemed to trigger a chain reaction, and all six stone statues began to speak one after another.
"You are the last successor. From now on, our legacy ends here."
"Whether we should fade into the river of time, or those Spellcasters, you will be the one to verify."
"Spellcasters disrupt the balance of the world and matter. Their so-called magic consumes the power of rules."
"Foolish Spellcasters, even if our bodies are destroyed, our consciousness endures forever."
Su Xiao stood still, his scalp tingling. The stone statues speaking before him were all far more powerful than he could imagine.
Moreover, these stone statues were not living beings—they were merely the lingering consciousness of some incredibly powerful entities.
"Destruction, birth, annihilation, revival—all take place in this Birth Sanctum."
"Successor, remember the name we share. We are the Shadow of Law Destruction, the natural enemy of all Spellcasters!"
The six stone statues opened their eyes simultaneously, gazing at Su Xiao. He felt a surge of violent energy rush into his body, followed by a dizzying spin and a buzzing in his ears.
...
"Haah, haah, haah~."
Su Xiao woke up in the room, gasping for breath.
He was still in his Exclusive Room. The previous scene seemed like an illusion.
After Reincarnation Paradise's prompt, a door appeared on one wall of the Exclusive Room, indicating that he could finally leave.
But Su Xiao couldn't care about that anymore. He felt a surge of energy filling his body, threatening to burst him apart.
"What... is happening."
Su Xiao could no longer speak properly. The energy inside him was rapidly transforming his body.
His blood flowed at high speed. That unknown energy wasn't destroying his body—it was strengthening it, albeit in an extremely brutal manner.
The cells within his body underwent a transformation. The most noticeable change was in his hair: his black hair began to subtly turn gray, though the change was slight and hard to detect.
With a thud, he collapsed to the floor. Su Xiao felt he couldn't hold on much longer. If this continued, he would die soon.
At that moment, Reincarnation Paradise's voice no longer sounded cold to Su Xiao's ears—it was like a heavenly melody.
"Acti... vate."
Agony flooded his body, gradually consuming his consciousness.
The moment Su Xiao finished speaking, an emerald light enveloped him, and his Paradise Coins began to decrease rapidly.
In less than five seconds, the recovery function had consumed over a thousand Paradise Coins.
After more than ten seconds, the energy inside him dissipated, fully absorbed by Su Xiao's body. The recovery function also shut down.
Su Xiao sat up and tried to move his body. He immediately noticed something unusual.
"This is...?"
He looked at his hands in disbelief. After absorbing that energy, he seemed to have become stronger.
No, he had become much stronger.
However, this enhancement didn't come through Reincarnation Paradise's assistance, so no prompt appeared.
Opening his personal information, Su Xiao stood frozen in place.
The reward from the World Tree Ring was far more astonishing than he had imagined.
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