Chapter 38: Gradually Becoming Withdrawn
Seeing the recruitment conditions offered by the three Paradise, Su Xiao would be lying if he said he wasn't tempted. But even if Reincarnation Paradise hadn't blocked the recruitment, he wouldn't have accepted offers from other Paradises. In the Black King World, a rule-breaker whose corpse was still warm proved that jumping ship never ends well.
That rule-breaker was called Di Ya. What she had done, Su Xiao didn't know, but she proved with her own experience that turncoats die miserably, whether they are rule-breakers or Hunters.
Take this World War for example. If Su Xiao had jumped to another Paradise, they likely wouldn't have allowed him to refuse conscription. Reincarnation Paradise was different. Su Xiao had participated in World Wars many times and made significant contributions.
Combined with titles like Old Hunter, Reincarnation Paradise shielded Su Xiao from this forced conscription, giving him the time to accumulate his insectoid army.
The war ended. One by one, Demon Beasts patrolled the altar, finishing off any Contractors who looked suspiciously dead, in case someone suddenly "rose from the dead."
Most of the Contractors from the three-Paradise alliance were permanently left here by Su Xiao. The remaining few, about 11 according to Bubu Wang's count, had spatial abilities and fled as soon as the battle started.
In reality, both Yake Luo and Mu Yushi had escape abilities, but they were the primary targets of the Demon Beasts and Titans, leaving them no chance to break free.
Even if a few fish slipped through the net, the defeat of the three-Paradise alliance was an indisputable fact. Even if they tried to develop insectoids like Su Xiao, it was already too late.
Because of these stragglers, the World Coordinates would take 10 days to form. During these 10 days, Su Xiao would not let his guard down; he would continue developing his insectoids.
Wiping out the three-Paradise alliance earned Su Xiao a large amount of Reincarnation Paradise Merits. The initial chaotic battle alone netted him several hundred Merits. Combined with this harvest, his total Merits reached 3835 points.
If the rewards for these Merits were increased by 300%, the benefits would be the highest ever.
The risks of the World War were high, but the rewards were astonishing. Thinking about the rewards after the World Coordinates formed, even Su Xiao felt a surge of excitement. As long as he could convert these gains into strength, he would definitely become one of the top-tier combatants in the Fifth Rank.
In fact, improving oneself was a snowball process. The stronger one became, the more resources one obtained, leading to even greater strength in a continuous virtuous cycle.
Of course, this process also involved the risk of encountering unbeatable opponents, ultimately dying in battle and losing everything.
But if one was afraid of death, they would never obtain resources to grow stronger when weak, remaining mediocre forever.
With the three-Paradise alliance, the major threat, eliminated, the heavy burden on Su Xiao's shoulders was lifted, and he felt relaxed.
The dark clouds in the sky gradually dispersed. A ray of sunlight shone through the gaps in the clouds, casting down onto the altar.
Now, only bloodstains remained on the altar. The bodies of Contractors and Demon Beasts had been transported away and buried. Although Contractor corpses could be converted into a large amount of Bio Energy, Su Xiao had previously tried to have the insect nest devour the bodies of the Totem Tribe members. At first, there was no issue, but after the number exceeded 10, Jila's loyalty dropped slightly.
Jila was confused, wondering if human corpses could be consumed. But the man who had raised her to this point was human.
To be safe, Su Xiao did not let his insect nest devour these Contractor corpses. If Jila's loyalty dropped too low, he would have to use demonic force to control her, which would significantly reduce the Demon Beasts' flexibility.
With the major threat resolved, Su Xiao stood before the World Coordinates and let out a long breath. Next, he would execute his follow-up plan.
First, he needed to deal with the Sacrificial Bull God. After dealing with the three-Paradise alliance, out of 30,519 Demon Beasts, 27,230 remained.
Even though the Contractors' firepower was strong, their abilities varied, and they had 3,000 Blazing Sun Warriors assisting them, large-scale war was not a duel. Surrounded by dense insect tides from all directions, killing over 2,000 Demon Beasts was already a testament to their combat prowess, given they were besieged.
In reality, many of the dead Demon Beasts were killed by Titans. As for the Titans at the edge of the ancient ruins, not a single one died; the Contractors couldn't even see them.
Su Xiao left 7,000 Demon Beasts and 300 Titans in the ancient ruins. The Titans were at the center, with Demon Beasts distributed within a one-kilometer radius, forming six layers of defense.
As for the remaining Demon Beasts, Baha, Amu, and Beini led them back to the base camp to continue development.
The base camp had developed to the point where Su Xiao no longer needed to guard it. From now on, the focus was on full-scale development, advancing into the forest interior of the base camp, fighting to sustain growth. With Titans, battles against wild insect nests became significantly easier.
First, over 700 Titans fired a long-range volley, then the Demon Beasts charged. After five minutes of fighting, a second volley. Most third-stage insect nests couldn't withstand the second volley.
Su Xiao and Bubu Wang stayed at the ancient ruins. In the next few days, Su Xiao did not plan to leave unless his insect nest could directly confront the Mage insect nest.
The Sacrificial Bull God was not easy to deal with, and attacking it would certainly alert the Mage insect nest at the edge of the grassland.
On the altar, Su Xiao used wood cut by Demon Beasts to build a wooden shed. He sat inside, while Bubu Wang lay on top, basking in the sunlight.
Su Xiao took out the [Greed Chapter] from his storage space. In the next few days, he planned to conquer this item.
Su Xiao pressed his thumb onto the central pattern of the [Greed Chapter]. As his mental energy spread, he arrived at the consciousness space with gray mist walls and a pitch-black floor.
Looking at the "Devouring Blue" long blade before him, Su Xiao grasped the hilt. The old Saint appeared across from him.
"Greedy... one."
The old Saint was as sharp as ever. Su Xiao assumed a stance. This time, he would at least last five minutes.
Twenty seconds later.
Su Xiao sat in the wooden shed, raising his hand to touch his head. Just now, the old Saint had pierced his head with a single strike.
After using the [Greed Chapter] for the second time, Su Xiao realized something: the side effects were not small. It was only because he had consumed the Soul Fruit, greatly increasing his soul strength, that he could withstand the side effects of the [Greed Chapter].
Not only had he consumed the Soul Fruit, but his blade technique had improved to its current level using countless Soul Crystals. Although the soul strength gained from each Soul Crystal was negligible, the sheer quantity made a difference.
After resting with his eyes closed for half an hour, Su Xiao continued to "die," or rather, to hone his blade technique.
Time slipped through his fingers like fine sand.
Su Xiao chewed on nuts picked by Bubu Wang. He had lost count of how many times he had challenged the old Saint. From initially being pierced through the heart in 12 seconds to now lasting about three minutes.
Now, whenever Su Xiao saw the old Saint, his whole body ached from being cut. Hundreds of challenges, hundreds of "deaths," had not only improved his blade technique but also greatly enhanced his reaction speed in close combat.
Now, even if someone stabbed a sharp weapon into Su Xiao's heart, his first reaction would not be to retreat or strike the enemy. Instead, he would use his arm and long blade to block the enemy's weapon, then slash off their head. The old Saint had nearly been decapitated by this move a few times.
"Woof."
Bubu Wang barked beside Su Xiao, meaning: "Master, stop challenging. It's been seven days. You're glaring at living things with red eyes now. It's freaking me out."
"Seven days have passed?"
Su Xiao was surprised. In his perception, only a day or two had passed.
"Woof."
Bubu Wang looked utterly hopeless. In the past few days, enemy Contractors occasionally appeared nearby, but when they saw over 7,000 Demon Beasts and 300 Titans, their legs went weak.
There were only 11 of them. Winning wasn't entirely impossible—each person just needed to solo 636 Demon Beasts and 27 Titans. That was much better odds than Su Xiao's previous 1 vs. 900+ Contractors.
In seven days, Su Xiao had become addicted to "dying," unable to stop. He hadn't even checked how his insect nest had developed.
[Insect Nest (Owned by Jila).]
[Rank: Third Stage.]
[Bio Energy Reserve: 50,000/50,000 points.]
[Total Demon Beasts: 278,500 (including 4,157 elite individuals).]
[Total Titans: 14,523 (including 2,310 elite individuals).]
...
Su Xiao checked the number of Demon Beasts again, confirming it was 270,000. He hadn't checked on Jila's insect nest for seven days, and it had already developed to this extent.
"Bubu, did the resources in the base camp forest support developing this many Demon Beasts?"
"Woof?"
Bubu Wang looked at Su Xiao in shock, meaning: "Master, the base camp forest was cleared five days ago. Now, the swamp area, Gobi area, Windy area, Southwest Mountains, and Falling Stone Valley have no resources left."
"Has it developed to this extent? It's no wonder the Demon race became one of the overlords of the void."
Su Xiao really hadn't expected his insect nest to grow to this scale in just a few days. Originally, he planned to capture an enemy Contractor, have them touch the World Core to reset the World Coordinates, then reset them himself to extend the formation time back to 10 days.
As long as the World Coordinates formed within 30 days of entering this world, there would be no problem.
Now, it seemed unnecessary. According to Bubu Wang, two days ago, the Mage insect nest discovered the base camp and declared war but didn't send any insectoids.
The nearby Sun Tribe was also on high alert. Currently, Jila's insect nest had become the sixth-largest force in the area, stronger than the Awa Tribe (Poison) and the Red Calamity insect nest, but weaker than the Mage insect nest, Sun Tribe, and Hasaluo Tribe (Predator).
Now, the nearby Sun Tribe was terrified every day, unsure if the two large insect nests would join forces against them. It was said that the Sun Tribe was considering an alliance with the Awa Tribe (Poison).