Chapter 30: Hidden Powerhouse
Most of the Demon Beasts had gone out hunting, leaving the base camp under the defense of Su Xiao and 25 elite Demon Beasts.
With nothing much to do at the moment, Su Xiao decided to study his blade techniques.
A gentle breeze blew, carrying a few green leaves toward the wooden shed. Due to the bio-energy emanating from the insect nest, the roof of the shed had already sprouted a thick layer of lush green foliage, giving it a natural, rustic charm.
Su Xiao took out a wooden plaque from his storage space. The plaque looked old and worn, with several fine cracks visible on its surface. It was a yellowish-brown color.
‘The greedy shall surely fall into eternal stillness.’
Aside from this line of text carved into it, the plaque had nothing else special about it. Su Xiao had obtained this plaque back in Dead Silence City, trading a few bottles of wine with an old holy cultivator. That old man also used a blade, and his swordsmanship far surpassed Su Xiao's.
Su Xiao had tried various methods before but could never uncover the secret of this plaque. However, as a fellow practitioner of the blade, he could sense that something was hidden within.
“The greedy? Shall surely fall into eternal stillness? Can't you just say it plainly? All these vague, ambiguous things.”
Su Xiao muttered to himself as he continued his research.
After studying for several hours, Su Xiao felt like chopping this broken piece of wood into pieces with a few slashes. But since it was of Legendary quality, destroying it would be a waste.
Su Xiao's thumb brushed across the plaque. When he touched a crack in the upper corner, the crack visibly widened by a fraction. If Su Xiao's perception weren't sharp enough, he wouldn't have noticed this at all.
He pressed his thumb down hard. With a crisp crack, the front of the plaque was covered in cracks. This wasn't damage; these cracks divided the ten characters of ‘The greedy shall surely fall into eternal stillness’ into hundreds of pieces. They could even be moved relative to each other using the cracks, though it was very tedious.
Soon, Su Xiao assembled a completely nonsensical string of text.
‘The fall eternal greedy shall stillness into.’
This strange combination appeared. Su Xiao felt something was off and began changing the order one by one, eventually piecing together:
‘He who falls into eternal stillness shall surely be greedy.’
This content was practically describing that old holy cultivator. He had fallen into Dead Silence City and was assimilated into that place. So he was willing to trade the insights of a lifetime for a few bottles of cheap wine he wouldn't have even deigned to look at before. How ironic.
Crack, crack…
One by one, the characters shattered. At the center of the plaque appeared a thumb-wide, less than ten-centimeter-long groove. Inside the groove was carved an extremely intricate pattern.
Su Xiao pressed his thumb onto it. Nothing happened. He tried channeling his mental energy into his thumb. The next moment, his vision plunged into darkness.
A blue light appeared, and Su Xiao felt a pulling force. When his vision cleared, he was standing on a patch of darkness.
This was a space about a hundred square meters in size, surrounded by gray smoke. These smoke formations created walls that gradually sloped upward, eventually closing together at the top.
Beneath Su Xiao's feet was hard darkness. He couldn't tell what material it was. It had wood grain, but was harder than metal.
Two blades were thrust into the black ground. One was right in front of Su Xiao, and the other was a few meters ahead of him.
The long blade was similar in length to Dragon-Slaying Flash. Blue flames rose from the end of its hilt.
Su Xiao looked at his hands. Without needing to carefully sense, he could tell he was in a spiritual form.
The space was empty all around, with soft lighting that wasn't dim.
After a moment's hesitation, Su Xiao grasped the blade in front of him. As soon as he held it, he knew its name: ‘Azure Devourer.’
As Su Xiao gripped the hilt, a figure gradually appeared behind the blade a few meters away. It was that old holy cultivator, completely bald, with no eyebrows or beard, wearing loose, gray-green clothes.
The old holy cultivator's frame was gaunt, his collarbones prominent. But the moment he grasped the hilt of the long blade with blue flames rising from it, his aura changed.
“Greedy… one.”
The old holy cultivator spoke. He seemed to have no consciousness of his own, merely following some remnant will.
The situation was clear: he had to kill this spiritual entity. The old man's demeanor didn't seem like he was here for a negotiation.
Su Xiao was about to use his Dragon Shadow Flash ability to close the distance when he suddenly realized that here, he could only use blade techniques. All other abilities were sealed by this space. It wasn't that they were completely unusable; if foreign energy invaded, this place would expel him.
Clang!
Sparks flew. A long blade had already slashed toward Su Xiao. The two blades clashed, a sharp ring echoing.
‘Blade Path Sword: Time!’
Su Xiao twisted his blade, its tip stabbing into the ground.
Bang.
The old holy cultivator stomped on Su Xiao's blade hilt. Although Blade Path Sword: Time was successfully executed, the old holy cultivator had already leaped over ten meters away.
Su Xiao lunged forward. The old holy cultivator had just landed when a long blade appeared at his neck.
Clang! The old holy cultivator's blade hilt struck Su Xiao's blade edge, slowing his slashing momentum.
Clang, clang, clang…
After a storm of slashes, Su Xiao and the old holy cultivator both leaped back.
The next moment, Su Xiao felt a sharp pain pierce his back.
Pfft!
A long blade pierced through Su Xiao's chest. The old holy cultivator stood behind him. This strike had gone straight through his heart.
“You… are not greedy enough…”
The old holy cultivator's voice grew distant. Su Xiao felt his consciousness blur. ‘He was dead.’
Su Xiao's eyes suddenly snapped open. He was still sitting in the wooden shed. The nearby forest rustled. The 25 elite Demon Beasts were guarding him nearby. Jila poked her head out of the insect nest, looking over curiously.
“12 seconds…”
Su Xiao looked at the wooden plaque in his hand. In just 12 seconds, he had lost. He didn't even know how the old holy cultivator had gotten behind him. It wasn't spatial ability, nor was it speed. It was just as eerie as it was natural.
That ‘death’ had some effect on Su Xiao. He felt mentally fatigued, like after a fierce battle with a strong enemy, followed by two or three days without sleep. Fortunately, his consciousness and soul weren't damaged.
Su Xiao looked at the plaque again. Without a doubt, this was a good item.
That old holy cultivator, relying solely on blade techniques without any other abilities, had combat power at the Sixth Rank. Being able to fight a blade master like this was quite beneficial for honing his own swordsmanship.
【Greed Chapter】
Origin: Black Throne Continent
Quality: Legendary ~ Epic (Incomplete Activation State)
Type: Medal-type Equipment/???
Effect: Consume 2000 Mana Points or other basic energy to engage in combat with a Soul Spirit Manifestation.
Soul Spirit Manifestations Defeated: 0.
Total Soul Spirit Manifestations: 10.
Challenged: Soul Spirit Manifestation · Holy Cultivator (Ranked 10th Soul Spirit Manifestation, Defeated!)
Rating: 530 ~ 700 points
Introduction: A strange object once corroded by the power of deathly stillness. The deathly stillness within has been cleansed.
Sell Price: Cannot be sold until the challenge is completed.
…
Su Xiao suddenly realized that he had previously misunderstood 【Greed Chapter】. This wasn't something the old holy cultivator had created. The old man had obtained it through some other means, and after he was assimilated by Dead Silence City, 【Greed Chapter】 was also assimilated.
The reason 【Greed Chapter】 was judged as 【Divine Wood】 was because the broken wooden characters were indeed Divine Wood. The old holy cultivator had been concealing the true value of 【Greed Chapter】.
Given the old holy cultivator's situation at the time, the value of 【Greed Chapter】 really wasn't worth two bottles of cheap wine. He was too strong, so strong that Dead Silence City had to focus on him.
Su Xiao was wearing the Black King Set. The deathly stillness power was his weapon, and he had inadvertently absorbed the deathly stillness within 【Greed Chapter】 into his metal arm guard.
Now, understanding the phrase ‘The greedy shall surely fall into eternal stillness’ took on a different meaning.
Su Xiao didn't know what defeating the ten Soul Spirit Manifestations within 【Greed Chapter】 would yield. The immediate problem was that he couldn't even beat the first one. The old man's Blade Grandmaster ability was likely above Lv.40. If the old holy cultivator's other supernatural abilities hadn't been so weak, he would never have been assimilated by Dead Silence City.
Furthermore, when Su Xiao fought the Black King, he had noticed something: the Black King's shoulder armor and head armor were relatively fragile. This was one of the keys to Su Xiao's victory. Clearly, the Black King's head and shoulder armor had been broken or shattered more than once, making their defenses weaker.
If his guess was right, that old holy cultivator had fought the Black King. But for some reason, after repeatedly cutting off the Black King's arms, he had given up. Perhaps he knew that wasn't what he was seeking.
When Su Xiao met the old holy cultivator, the man had no obvious external injuries, only assimilation symptoms.
What was even more noteworthy was that the old holy cultivator had stayed in Dead Silence City for many years, yet he hadn't been completely assimilated. If he had been fully assimilated, he might have been even harder to deal with than the Black King.
As for why the old holy cultivator's blade techniques were so powerful, Su Xiao didn't believe it had nothing to do with 【Greed Chapter】. Perhaps the greatest gain from delving deep into Dead Silence City wasn't just the Black King Set, but also this 【Greed Chapter】, which he had been overlooking all along. After all, obtaining it had been too simple, and overlooking it was only natural.