Chapter 46: A Bountiful Harvest
On the earthen couch, a large array of tools and instruments were laid out. Su Xiao had not left this building located in the rear district of the Serpent Abyss Estate, because the surrounding area was already under lockdown. The Old God he had summoned had been dispersed, but the Tianba clan within the estate had also been alerted. The battle had rekindled their thoughts and actions. Leaving this three-story building now would actually be more dangerous.
Su Xiao put on rubber gloves, flexed his ten fingers, and began modifying the Tianba clan member, Sang Leng, who lay on the earthen couch.
Su Xiao intended to implant a core array diagram into Sang Leng's heart to make him easier to control. If he wasn't completely transformed into an alchemical creature, the core array diagram could be used as a remote manipulation device.
Bubu Wang stood guard at the entrance of the wooden staircase. If there was any movement, he would immediately signal Su Xiao and Baha to retreat.
Baha had also arrived. Taking advantage of the commotion caused by the Old God, he had made a wide detour and flown in from the rear.
"We won't get trapped here, will we? This damn place."
Baha stood beneath a window, observing the situation outside the building through a hole he had torn open.
After 9 hours and 54 minutes, Su Xiao removed the rubber gloves from his hands and took out an injection gun. He pressed it against Sang Leng's neck. Moments later, Sang Leng slowly sat up.
"Baha."
Su Xiao tossed a 'glass ball' to Baha. The object was about the size of a marble, its surface covered in carvings.
Baha tilted his head, directly swallowed the glass ball, and his eyes gradually lost their anxious look as he collapsed to the ground.
"This feeling... is really strange."
'Sang Leng' raised his arms, flapping them like wings, looking both ridiculous and comical. Yes, at this moment, Sang Leng was being controlled by Baha.
Originally, Su Xiao had planned to personally control Sang Leng's actions, but the current situation no longer allowed it. He was nearly trapped inside this building. For now, there was indeed no immediate danger, but he couldn't guarantee that other Tianba clan members wouldn't enter this building.
"Try to finish within a day."
"No problem."
Sang Leng, controlled by Baha, spoke and then walked down the wooden stairs.
Su Xiao, Bubu Wang, and Baha were all inside this building. As for Amu, he was located in the forest outside the main gate of the Serpent Abyss Estate, keeping company with the nocturnal insects.
Baha and Bubu Wang coordinated their actions. Baha controlled Sang Leng to find those Tianba clan members who were about to turn into monsters, helping them die as Tianba before they transformed. Afterwards, they would bring their bodies to the Source Pool behind the mountain and merge the 'Source' within them into the pool. With this series of operations, as long as Baha didn't slip up, the chance of exposure was low.
To prevent exposure, Su Xiao's modifications to Sang Leng were minimal. He even extracted the demonic power from within him. Initially, using demonic power was only to quickly restrain Sang Leng. To complete the plan, consumption at key steps could not be stingy.
As for Bubu Wang, he merged into the environment, responsible for collecting the Soul Coin Pouches. Although having Baha-controlled Sang Leng bend down to pick them up posed little risk, this was the Serpent Abyss Estate, an area where even Seventh Rank contractors would be beaten into submission. In such a region, minimizing risk was the most basic common sense.
When Baha, controlling Sang Leng, approached the first Tianba clan member about to turn into a monster, the other party's attitude surprised Baha greatly. The Tianba member actually knelt on one knee.
All the Tianba clan warriors Su Xiao had seen wore loose green clothing. Sang Leng, however, wore a purple long robe. It was highly probable that Sang Leng held a special status among the Tianba clan warriors. This was an unexpected gain.
In less than twenty minutes, Bubu Wang deposited a Soul Coin Pouch into the Adventure Group's storage space. Su Xiao took it out. He now had three Soul Coin Pouches and was in no hurry to open them.
The cooldown for Fate Dominator was 3 natural days. It had already recovered nearly half. In about another day, Su Xiao could use a low cost of 1 Soul Crystal (Fragment) to bestow himself with the Lucky King state.
Baha and Bubu Wang's cooperation became increasingly tacit. Initially, Baha was worried about whether it could merge the 'Source' from the Tianba corpses into the Source Pool. But after the first test, it found that it didn't need to do anything. The 'Source' within the corpses would automatically drift into the Source Pool, just a bit slower. As long as no other Tianba clan members were present, there was no problem.
After Baha, controlling Sang Leng, made a few rounds inside the Serpent Abyss Estate, it discovered that there were more Tianba clan members about to turn into monsters than expected.
This proved that entering a high-risk area didn't necessarily mean fighting your way through. When you were completely outmatched, you had to think of other ways to profit.
Time slowly passed. One by one, Soul Coin Pouches were deposited into the Adventure Group's storage space, while Baha shuttled back and forth between the Serpent Abyss Estate and the back mountain, very busy.
In the forest at the main gate of the Serpent Abyss Estate, a night breeze blew. Amu sat inside a clump of bushes. Probably out of sheer boredom, Amu began to imagine himself as a tree.
Compared to Amu, who was so bored he had started 'disguising' himself as a tree, Baha and Bubu Wang were exceptionally busy.
Unbeknownst to them, the sky began to lighten. Inside a building in the rear district of the Serpent Abyss Estate, Su Xiao checked his storage space. There were already 34 Soul Coin Pouches inside. This was the return he got for paying the [Old God's Ashes] and 20% of the demonic power from the [Demonic Jar].
Last time he contacted the Demon clan, Su Xiao had proposed that Lilim get him more Demonic Jars, ideally eight or ten jars. Hearing this, Lilim nearly fainted, blurting out: 'Are you a bandit?'
According to Lilim, the demonic power inside the [Demonic Jar] was quite special, a specialty of their Demon clan. This demonic power was attribute-less and had no spiritual imprint. Although not extremely precious, its production was pitifully small. It was a natural product of a certain place, sometimes not producing a single jar for decades. The jar Su Xiao had was the result of 139 years of accumulation.
Nevertheless, Lilim still promised that when they met next time, she would help Su Xiao get one jar.
The plan continued. Baha, controlling Sang Leng, roamed the Serpent Abyss Estate, searching for Tianba clan members about to turn into monsters. Of course, not all Tianba members were willing to accept death.
In response, Baha simply passed them by. The Sang Leng he controlled used a long blade. As Su Xiao's follower, through constant exposure, Baha naturally understood some swordsmanship. But he only looked imposing when drawing the blade. Once actual combat started, he would be exposed in no time.
The reason Su Xiao didn't control Sang Leng himself was to guard against any Tianba clan members entering the building he was in. As things stood, even if he was discovered, he had a decent chance of breaking out before the Tianba clan members in the Serpent Abyss Estate were fully alerted.
Su Xiao sat on the earthen couch. He was about to take out a cigarette to light it but gave up. That would unnecessarily increase the risk.
The only thing Su Xiao had to do now was rest, to alleviate the fatigue from the long journey to the Divine Kingdom.
According to his speculation, the 'Space-Time Hub Device' was most likely with the Serpent Abyss. When the time came, he would need to strike quickly and decisively. Otherwise, Death Paradise would likely teleport Punishment Knights, who were equivalent to Reincarnation Paradise's Hunters.
After Su Xiao rested for nearly 20 hours, Sang Leng, controlled by Baha, could no longer maintain the disguise. Searching for Tianba clan members about to turn into monsters inside the Serpent Abyss Estate once or twice was fine, but after dozens, even hundreds of times, it was bound to arouse suspicion.
"Exposed!"
Baha, lying on the earthen couch, spoke. The next moment, his eyes lost focus again as he continued to control Sang Leng.
Su Xiao grabbed Baha from the earthen couch, went to the back window, and began to wait.
Boom!
A loud crash rang out. Su Xiao slammed open the back window and leaped out directly.
"At most, buy us a dozen seconds."
Baha, in Su Xiao's hand, spread his wings, spat out the glass ball, and flew up to a low altitude to scout the nearby situation for Su Xiao.
Su Xiao rushed through the bamboo grove, passed through the crevice between two peaks, and arrived at the stone forest.
He checked the Soul Coin Pouches in his storage space. He had obtained a total of 61 Soul Coin Pouches! Unless his luck was abysmally bad, [Divine Judgment] was already in hand. With normal luck, [Heavenly Walk] was also secured. If his luck was a bit better, he could even exchange for [Electric Walk (Holy Spirit Rank · Pendant)].
Su Xiao quickly rushed to the front of the Source Pool and took out a test tube, pouring the solution inside into the pool water.
Gurgle, gurgle...
The pool water instantly boiled. With a splash, the water surged downward. This was caused by the breaking of the seal layer at the bottom of the pool.
Just then, Bubu Wang quickly ran over from a distance.
"Woof, howl, woof!"
Bubu Wang was so anxious he almost spoke human language. The moment Su Xiao shifted his gaze, an arrow whistled past him.
"Ho... holy... sh*t!"
Baha directly leaped into the Source Pool. It was pitch black below, but compared to the three hundred plus Tianba clan members charging over, it was clearly safer inside.
Su Xiao also leaped into the Source Pool, beginning to descend. Bubu Wang, at the very back, lunged forward, striking a pose in mid-air before falling into the Source Pool.
Bang!
An arrow shot over. A crystal layer surged from within the Source Pool, enveloping Bubu Wang.
Just as Bubu Wang was about to fall into the Source Pool, he let out a howl of agony. An arrow had hit the right side of his butt. However, thanks to the crystal layer's defense, the arrow didn't pierce deeply. But due to the increased damage from the drowning attribute, Bubu Wang was in so much pain that tears streamed down his face. He was currently merged with the environment; this arrow was purely accidental.
In the end, sparkling teardrops fell into the Source Pool along with Bubu Wang.