Chapter 30: That Simple
Feather Crow definitely held a high status within the Feather Race. If Su Xiao wasn't mistaken, the ultimate beneficiary of the Feather Race successfully seizing the Soul Fruit would undoubtedly be Feather Crow.
"All irrelevant parties, stand aside."
Remnant Feather turned her gaze to Su Xiao and Bubu Wang.
"Oh?"
Su Xiao spoke as he pulled an Apollo from his backpack. Upon seeing the Apollo, Remnant Feather shifted her gaze back to Ulysses, acting as if Su Xiao didn't exist. In truth, Su Xiao, holding an Apollo, was not someone to be trifled with, so she could only pretend he wasn't there.
"We meet again, quite the coincidence."
Feather Crow winked at Su Xiao, then turned a provocative gaze toward Lilith.
"Woof."
Bubu Wang barked, meaning to tell Lilith not to be provoked by this little red bird. Unless she was mentally deficient, she wouldn't drag her injured body into a duel with her.
Yet, Lilith resolutely stood up, making Bubu Wang roll his eyes, his face full of utter despair.
Although Lilith was a bit straightforward, she wasn't foolish to the point of stupidity. She first whispered a few words to Ulysses, then swallowed a pitch-black candy pellet.
A dense surge of demonic power erupted from within Lilith.
"You. Come out."
Lilith, wielding her war scythe, pointed directly at Feather Crow. They were the beneficiaries of their respective factions seizing the Soul Fruit, and now, they were about to fight for themselves. It was only fair.
Watching the two on the verge of conflict, Su Xiao greeted Bubu Wang and then leaned back against the soul vine behind him, closing his eyes for a nap. He had little interest in this kind of fight; he'd rather sleep and regain his energy.
In a daze, Su Xiao felt Bubu Wang pushing him. When he opened his eyes, he found Lilith was pounding Feather Crow into the ground with her fists. That's right, punching her over and over.
As it turned out, intelligence didn't play a key role in combat. Besides, Lilith was usually just a bit adorably silly, but her combat intelligence was high.
Feather Crow was pinned beneath Lilith. Although she was protecting her head with both hands, Lilith's straight punches were pushing her to her limit.
"How infuriating... ugh~"
Feather Crow's eyes were full of unwillingness. This wasn't how the script went in her head. She had challenged Lilith to a one-on-one duel because she saw Lilith was severely injured, but in the end, she was the one getting pounded into the ground. This was a classic case of overthinking and messing up.
"Stop! We... surrender."
After Remnant Feather uttered these words, she felt only humiliation. Her current state wasn't much better than being dead.
"Lilith."
Ulysses grabbed Lilith's arm. Lilith looked at him in confusion, as if to say, shouldn't we take this chance to beat her to death?
"Good idea, but not now."
Ulysses exerted a bit of force and pulled Lilith to her feet. Feather Crow, her face bruised and swollen, leaped away.
"So ruthless... only hitting the face. I'll remember this."
Feather Crow was clearly unwilling, but a loss was a loss. Besides, Ulysses had spared her life; Lilith had clearly intended to beat her to death.
The Feather Race quickly withdrew. After both sides suffered nearly two hundred casualties, the Soul Fruit belonged to the Demon Race.
"I am Ulysses."
Ulysses, his whole body emitting black smoke, slowly walked up to Su Xiao and raised his right hand, still stained with drops of fresh blood.
"Su Xiao."
Within the Void, Su Xiao had no intention of hiding his name from the Demon Race. The alias 'White Night' was mostly used in derivative worlds or primordial worlds. People like Sha, Reid, Lilith, Lilim, and others all knew Su Xiao's real name.
"I've heard of you for a long time. Didn't expect to meet under these circumstances. You're... sharper than I imagined."
Ulysses was actually being quite tactful. Su Xiao had just absorbed blood energy on the ancient battlefield not long ago. Just by approaching him, Ulysses, with his keen senses, could faintly smell the scent of blood. This secretly shocked Ulysses. His ally was no longer someone who killed without blinking; the blood energy on him came from slaughtering at least tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of living beings.
After exchanging pleasantries, Ulysses walked towards the vine bearing the Soul Fruit. The Soul Fruit was about to ripen, but it was now the property of the Demon Race.
"Ulysses, I'm very interested in the Soul Fruit."
Su Xiao spoke, a smile gradually spreading across his face.
"This..."
Ulysses also smiled, a bit awkwardly.
"Of course, your people paid a considerable price for this. Even as allies, I won't try to get something for nothing. It's just a fair trade. If you agree, we each get what we need. If not, then the deal simply doesn't happen."
Hearing Su Xiao's words, Ulysses breathed a silent sigh of relief. The alliance between the Demon Race and the Law Destroyers was not something he, a mere demon commander, could decide.
"A trade is certainly no problem. But what to trade with requires..."
"Black Maple Tree branches and leaves."
"Black Maple Tree?"
Ulysses stepped forward a few paces, staring intently at Su Xiao. Su Xiao couldn't help but lean back, and Bubu Wang also backed away, as if to say, "What are you doing? We don't swing that way."
The Black Maple Tree, due to its almost perfect conductivity and biological compatibility, has only three known trees remaining in the Void. One is claimed by the Abyssal Dragon, impossible to seize. Another is protected by Arcane Eternal Star, never circulated externally as internal distribution isn't even enough. The last one is deep within the Black Abyss, in the Sea of Living Beings. This Black Maple Tree is the tallest known, about 27.54 meters.
For that Black Maple Tree in the Sea of Living Beings, if a powerful being was willing to risk their life, they might still have a chance to get some branches and leaves. However, after the Blade Demon sat on that Black Maple Tree, all hope was completely extinguished.
It could be said that the Black Maple Tree is a nearly extinct resource in the Void. Demons also need this thing. Due to the Black Maple Tree's excellent conductivity and biological compatibility, specially processed Black Maple leaves can be used to generate a demonic power core, thereby amplifying and refining demonic power, ultimately enhancing combat strength. Of course, compared to Black Maple leaves, the trunk and bark of the Black Maple Tree have better performance, but they are also rarer and more expensive.
What's even more coveted is that, due to the Black Maple Tree's almost zero rejection rate, this thing can gradually become part of the user's body through post-natal organization, even generating tissues like blood vessels and nerves, allowing the user to intuitively feel the energy within their body.
There are at least over a thousand races in the Void that could use the Black Maple Tree to optimize their internal energy conduction. Unfortunately, this thing is nearly extinct. Su Xiao felt that his ability to cultivate a Black Maple Tree wasn't due to the environment, but because the mother tree was very special.
Su Xiao took out a Black Maple leaf from his backpack. For him, this was a resource produced at home. Given enough time, the Black Maple Tree could produce tens of thousands of these damn leaves without issue. Of course, because the Black Maple Tree was still relatively young, he only had 20 Black Maple leaves in his pack, along with 3 large pieces of bark. Due to being separated from the Black Maple Tree for a long time, the leaves hadn't changed much, but the bark had become transparent, with a relatively soft texture, not like bark at all.
Seeing the Black Maple leaf in Su Xiao's hand, Ulysses showed a troubled expression. To form a demonic power core using Black Maple leaves, at least two leaves were needed. Moreover, this thing was hard to distribute...
That's right. If they traded the Soul Fruit for Black Maple leaves, whether those leaves would actually be used on Lilith was uncertain. Some old demons also needed Black Maple leaves. The demonic power core wasn't something that could only be formed during the growth period; it was a technique for creating artificial organs specifically for combat, or rather, imprints.
More importantly, while the Soul Fruit was rare, its yield was at most scarce. But for the Demon Race, Black Maple leaves were a completely extinct resource. Unless they started a war to snatch them from Arcane Eternal Star, which was basically impossible, the cost would far outweigh the reward.
"As allies, I'll give you twenty Black Maple leaves."
"Cough, cough, cough..."
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. That woman gave me some internal injuries from the fight," Ulysses took a deep breath, nodded at Su Xiao, and said, "Deal!"
Ulysses agreeing so simply surprised Su Xiao. He had originally planned to use the Black Maple Tree bark for the trade.