Chapter 13: Listening
Su Xiao pondered for a moment before approaching the Soul Listener.
“Who are you waiting for to save you?”
“…”
The Soul Listener remained silent once again.
“The people you’re waiting for can’t even breach Eagle Fort, let alone rescue someone from our side.”
Hearing Su Xiao’s words, the Soul Listener kept her head lowered but lifted her eyes to look at him, her expression a mix of sneer and contempt.
“Eagle Lord’s lackey.”
“Pfft.”
The young adjutant beside him chuckled but said nothing.
“The Holy King summoned you recently, and you didn’t dare refuse. Eagle Lord also summoned you, but you refused him. What did the Holy King summon you for? That’s quite intriguing.”
“Greed.”
The Soul Listener grinned, revealing a mouthful of rotten teeth.
“Interesting. What could an empire’s king be greedy for? Sending you after the Moon Goddess? Clearly, you don’t have that kind of ability. But if you found something for him, that’s very possible. Unknown power? Some item? A key? Someone?”
“…”
The Soul Listener closed her eyes, no longer speaking or looking at Su Xiao. But Su Xiao noticed that when he said the word “key,” the Soul Listener’s aura shifted ever so slightly—an instinctive reaction.
“A key to some place, then. The Holy King wants the key to that place, and so does Eagle Lord. But among the three rulers, only the Moon Goddess doesn’t desire it. Let me think about why.”
Su Xiao continued to ponder, and a few minutes later, he spoke again:
“Because… do not blaspheme the gods. Am I right?”
Hearing this, the Soul Listener grew even more silent.
“Do not seek, do not listen, do not blaspheme the gods. I heard that phrase from the old Holy King. That old fellow long ago anticipated I’d meet you and knew you’d be as stubborn as a dead pig unafraid of scalding water.”
Su Xiao kept thinking, unconcerned about the withered, branch-like fists hidden beneath the Soul Listener’s sleeves.
“‘Do not blaspheme the gods’ is nonsense. The key parts are ‘do not seek’ and ‘do not listen.’ Since you’re called the Soul Listener, listening is definitely your forte. That key—you need to listen to find its location.”
As Su Xiao finished speaking, a prompt appeared.
[Prompt: The Hunter has obtained a key clue from the Soul Listener. The second phase of the Awakening Mission has begun.]
[Awakening Mission: The Secret of Listening (Phase 2)]
Difficulty Level: Lv.45
Mission Info: Obtain the Willpower Rune Stone through “listening.”
Mission Duration: 8 days
Mission Reward: The Willpower Rune Stone can be certified by Reincarnation Paradise. This is equipment/item.
Mission Penalty: Forced execution
…
Seeing the mission info, Su Xiao knew how to deal with the Soul Listener.
“Where is the Willpower Rune Stone? You’re still alive, which means only you can listen to that thing.”
Su Xiao looked at the Soul Listener with a full smile.
At this moment, the contempt and mockery in the Soul Listener’s eyes vanished. Not only had Su Xiao deduced that someone would come to rescue her, but he also knew that only she could “listen” to the Willpower Rune Stone. What baffled her even more was how he had inferred the existence and name of the Willpower Rune Stone.
“Heh, ridiculous mortal. You won’t succeed. You’ll never, ever find it.”
The Soul Listener had the demeanor of a dead pig unafraid of scalding water. Clearly, she feared neither death nor torture. To her, pain, loneliness, and even darkness were all part of daily life.
“Hearing you say that puts my mind at ease. Thanks for your cooperation. They will definitely come to rescue you. I really can’t do much with a non-human unknown like you, but they or she should be different.”
Su Xiao stood up and walked out of the dungeon.
“You’ll come to no good end!”
The Soul Listener suddenly became agitated, lunging toward Su Xiao, but the young adjutant yanked her back by a rope around her neck.
“Old hag, I’m taking you to a very interesting place.”
The young adjutant tied the Soul Listener up tightly, stuffed her into a cloth sack, and dragged her out of the dungeon.
…
Lulunfei Palace, 11:27 PM.
The old Holy King sat in a recliner in his bedroom, holding a book in his hands as the steam lamp cast a faint glow.
Creak~
The door pushed open, and Su Xiao entered the bedroom carrying a large cloth sack.
“Did it go smoothly?”
The old Holy King closed his book. On the wooden table beside him, tea, snacks, and other light refreshments were already prepared, along with a chair.
“Fairly smooth. There were a few minor misunderstandings.”
“Minor misunderstandings?”
“Nothing major.”
Su Xiao briefly recounted the encounter with the Moon Apostle in Eagle Fort.
“These Moon Apostles—they’ve gone mad from believing in their gods.”
The old Holy King shook his head with a smile. His assessment of the Moon Apostles was strikingly similar to Su Xiao’s: a bunch of idiots.
“I brought Eagle Lord.”
Su Xiao untied the cloth sack’s rope, tossed it in front of the old Holy King, and sat down in the nearby chair. The black tea was still warm.
“Old friend, this time we meet, you’re looking a bit ragged.”
The old Holy King looked at Eagle Lord inside the sack, his expression unavoidably complex.
“Much obliged.”
The old Holy King retrieved a small glass vial from a hidden compartment in the wooden table. The vial was tightly sealed, containing a transparent solution.
Su Xiao took the vial from the old Holy King, and a prompt from Reincarnation Paradise made him pause.
[You have obtained Soul Source (High Purity).]
[Soul Source (High Purity)]
Origin: Unique to this world
Quality: Epic
Type: Enhancement item
Effect: After use, increases an active/passive skill by Lv.2.
Note: This item cannot enhance basic skills (such as Blade Grandmaster, Melee Combat Grandmaster).
Note: This item cannot enhance X-level skills.
Rating: 700+
Introduction: A rare and wondrous item with no side effects after use.
Selling Price: 371,500 Paradise Coins.
…
Seeing the effect of Soul Source, Su Xiao immediately thought of which ability to enhance: Azure Steel Shadow. Due to bad luck in recent worlds, he hadn’t found suitable high-level biological energy to upgrade Azure Steel Shadow, leaving it stuck at Lv.45.
Soul Source could be used to enhance four of Su Xiao’s abilities: Demon Mark, Goddess’s Favor, Aura Release, and Azure Steel Shadow.
“Kukulin, handle the Soul Listener as you see fit. The foolish things those people did—if not for the Goddess’s cover-up…”
The old Holy King didn’t finish. Some matters, even he was powerless to address. During wartime, he couldn’t afford to fall out with the Moon Goddess, and the post-war power struggle had been ignited by the Soul Listener as a fuse.
Eagle Lord, who had kidnapped the Soul Listener, had picked up that fuse, sat on a powder keg, and even blew on the fuse as if he wanted to die faster.
“…”
Su Xiao said nothing. The old Holy King’s attitude toward handling the Soul Listener was too casual—that was abnormal.
After some inconsequential conversation, Su Xiao left Lulunfei Palace and headed straight for the southern side of the capital.
In the dead of night, Su Xiao exited the imperial capital from the south and arrived at a small forest. A four-story building was shrouded in darkness. This was the former base of the Ninth Unit on the outskirts of the capital. Before the Ninth Unit was disbanded, the surrounding few kilometers were a restricted zone.
Now, the four-story building was abandoned. In the nighttime forest, almost no one dared come near.
The base’s iron gate was opened, with a note stuck to it left by the young adjutant.
As soon as Su Xiao entered the base, figures darted out from the nearby forest—29 Transcendents he had temporarily summoned.
Soon, over 200 soldiers in full armor, holding spears and halberds, marched out of the forest and took up positions around the four-story building.
Su Xiao walked down a long corridor leading underground. After opening three steam doors, he arrived at a large hall. This was originally where the Ninth Unit issued classified missions and stored archives.
Su Xiao opened the innermost iron door of the underground hall, passed through a very narrow staircase, and entered an underground prison. The Soul Listener was locked in a cell, with the young adjutant and Baha standing guard.
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