Chapter 4: Superficial Courtesy
The battle in the courtyard quickly subsided. The eight guards had vanished without a trace. Amu sat on the steps in front of the castle, deep in thought—yes, actually thinking.
Amu was pondering a very simple question: during the fight, it was clearly the one getting beaten, so why were the enemies so furious? This baffled Amu, so he asked Bubu Wang in a low, rumbling voice.
Bubu Wang’s answer was, “The enemies are jealous of your ‘peerless beauty.’” Amu was stunned for a long moment, scratching his head in confusion. A second question arose: what exactly is “peerless beauty”?
Inside the castle’s banquet hall, dozens of candle flames illuminated the space. The old Duke sat at the head of the dining table, with Su Xiao diagonally across from him. The other seats were occupied by the Duke’s family members.
This old bastard was ruthless enough. Knowing full well that Duke Lilin would send assassins, he still kept his family in the castle. All of the Duke’s relatives possessed the bloodline of the Saint Descendants.
The Curse of Undeath was a hereditary curse. It didn’t forcibly destroy human physiology but spread silently, like a plague.
The horror of this curse lay in the fact that if the Saint Descendants wanted to retain their consciousness and not become mindless fools who only prayed to the gods, they had to continuously absorb life force, preying on ordinary people. Once the commoners were wiped out, the Saint Descendants’ doom would arrive.
For this reason, the Saint Descendants strictly controlled the number of their offspring. When their population grew too large, they would secretly slaughter each other in a frenzy—an iron law set by the first Saint Descendant King.
This dinner, or rather, this midnight snack, was both silent and oppressive. In front of the old Duke on the table sat only a wooden cup filled with a crimson liquid.
The old Duke never stationed troops on his estate, precisely because of that crimson liquid in the cup. Some things, once exposed to the light of day, would force him to remain forever in the shadows.
Soon, the Duke’s family members left the table, all displaying polite manners, especially since Su Xiao, this “distant relative,” was present.
“Kukulin Bai Ye, I’ve never heard of a Saint Descendant being resurrected from death. That’s the price of hunting gods—no one can escape it.”
The old Duke leaned back in his chair, rubbing a small skull with his thumb. There were two skulls, strung together, both showing signs of wear and patina. These were the skulls of his two wives, shrunk to this size using divine secret arts, always carried with him.
Seeing this, Bubu Wang, crouching at Su Xiao’s feet, was momentarily stunned. He’d seen people polishing walnuts, and he’d seen people polishing prayer beads, but this was the first time he’d seen someone polishing their wives—and polishing their skulls to a glossy patina at that.
“Nothing is impossible. Besides, as I said before, there’s only a certain probability of success.”
“Is that so? To avoid you slaughtering my entire family, let me clarify upfront: even if I agree to grant you the title of Duke, the other four Dukes won’t consent. Without being a Saint Descendant, you’re not qualified to be enfeoffed as a Duke.”
The old Duke was well aware of the current situation. Even if his entire family attacked together, the result would only be their complete annihilation—no other possibility, unless he summoned the empire’s army, which might give him a chance of victory.
“Oh.”
Su Xiao wasn’t surprised. The reason he hadn’t killed the old Duke earlier was precisely this: the title of Duke wasn’t inherited through slaughter.
As for the Duke’s claim that he couldn’t grant Su Xiao the title, that was also no issue. Ultimately, the Sera Empire was controlled by the Saint Descendants. They stood at the top of the pyramid and wouldn’t allow ordinary people to encroach on their power—it was their very means of survival. Otherwise, they would become like rats in the streets, despised by all. A case in point was the ghosts on the Gloomy Continent.
“Did I ever say I wanted to be directly enfeoffed as a Duke?”
Su Xiao’s goal wasn’t a mere title. He wanted real power—enough to access the upper echelons of the empire.
If the Space-Time Hub device was in the city of Arlans, it would only be in the hands of the Saint Descendant King. Unfortunately, getting close to the Saint Descendant King was far too difficult.
“Then do you want me to become your puppet?”
The old Duke said this casually, as if joking, but it was actually a test.
“Making an old immortal a puppet is the stupidest choice.”
“Then what do you mean?”
“What criteria determine the ascension of the Saint Descendant King?”
“!”
The old Duke’s gaze sharpened, then he smiled in anger.
“Kukulin Bai Ye, we Undying have controlled the Sera Empire until today only because we are united enough…”
He trailed off, unable to continue, because Su Xiao’s look clearly said: ‘Can you stop talking nonsense?’
“Ahem, my conflict with Duke Lilin is just a game between old friends—nothing more.”
The old Duke clenched his fist, his eyes like those of a demon wanting to devour someone alive.
“I have no interest in becoming the Saint Descendant King. But in other matters, I can cooperate with you. I’ve long grown tired of the power that comes with the Duke’s title.”
This statement from the old Duke gave Su Xiao an important clue: the Saint Descendants were competing for something, even willing to break the balance of power.
Greedy, fickle, and turning hostile without warning—that was the most direct impression the old Duke gave Su Xiao. As for the claim that Saint Descendants lived too long and were weary of the world, the old Duke’s behavior showed he was not only not weary but thoroughly enjoying it. For some Saint Descendants, immortality was a calamity, but for this old Duke, it was exactly what he wanted.
“An artifact? A weapon? Or some kind of ability?”
Su Xiao’s words made the old Duke rub his temples. This uninvited guest was not only as strong as a monster but also terrifyingly intelligent.
“It’s a gemstone. Legend says a thousand years ago, a group of explorers found a corpse in the Abyss. In that corpse’s hand was this gemstone.”
“A gemstone? Specific features.”
“…”
The old Duke was silent for a moment. After realizing Su Xiao wasn’t a Saint Descendant, he pulled a strip of cloth from his chest, on which something was drawn with blue dye.
The old Duke placed the cloth on the table and casually pushed it toward Su Xiao. His attitude suggested that the information he was about to reveal wasn’t a secret—at least not among the Saint Descendants.
“It’s unique. Only it can suppress the life-draining phenomenon of the Undying. Or rather, it can be embedded into the soul.”
Su Xiao didn’t care much about what the old Duke was saying. He was momentarily tempted to store Dragon-Slaying Flash back into his storage space, but considering the concealment of the embedding effect, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Su Xiao had basically figured out the old Duke’s intentions. Meeting under these circumstances, even if they cooperated, the old Duke would lean more toward using him.
Su Xiao didn’t mind this at all. Mutual exploitation was nothing to complain about. What concerned him was why this old bastard had taken out a rag with a drawing of the Soul Severing Shadow Stone—or rather, why the Soul Severing Shadow Stone had appeared in this world.
So far, Su Xiao had found three Soul Severing Shadow Stones. If what the old Duke said was true, this would be the fourth. Once Su Xiao gathered all five, he would have a chance to obtain the Soul Severing ability.
Moreover, the old Duke had just mentioned that this Soul Severing Shadow Stone was held in the hand of a corpse. Could that corpse be the remains of an Ancestral Law Destroyer?
If so, might that Ancestral Law Destroyer have left something on his remains? If there was indeed something left behind, and Su Xiao could find that corpse, he would hit the jackpot.
Of course, the old Duke’s words were a mix of truth and lies. Whether this information was reliable required careful judgment. But the old Duke was smart enough to know that Su Xiao could kill him at any moment. Lying at a time like this would only hasten his death.
“Coincidentally, I’m also looking for something.”
A smile appeared on Su Xiao’s face.
“Is that so? Then our meeting is not only my fortune but also yours.”
The old Duke’s smile grew more amiable, his right hand still polishing the skulls of his two wives, their patina gleaming warmly in the candlelight.
“Indeed. But cooperation requires trust.”
Su Xiao lit a cigarette, his words utterly devoid of sincerity.
“Of course I trust you.”
The old Duke said this without any conviction. Under the candlelight, the two locked eyes.
The old Duke’s change in attitude was interesting. At first, he wanted to stabilize Su Xiao, waiting for an opportunity to summon the army and eliminate him. But after the negotiation, he decided against it—because this was an opportunity to break the curse, to achieve immortality without paying its price.
“Waaah~”
A crying sound came. A little Saint Descendant girl who had been eavesdropping was scared to tears by the conversation between Su Xiao and the old Duke. For some reason, even though both men were smiling, the little girl was terrified—from the bottom of her heart.
The Sera Empire had five Dukes, all old yinbis who had lived for who knows how many years, so dangerous that Xi dared not come here. The situation here was beyond what Xi’s martial prowess and wisdom could handle.
And today, one of the five Dukes, Adrian Alver, had made a huge mistake: he should never have dined with an alchemist.