Chapter 48: The Great Sea Monster
The soul memories dissipated, and Su Xiao gently rubbed his temples. This batch of soul memories was indeed "complete," but essentially useless. From now on, any further "suffering memories" extracted would be ignored outright unless they were very special.
Nigadi was a man of backbone. Forget about begging for mercy or anything like that. From the moment Su Xiao arrived in this great hall, there were no pointless words exchanged; it was simply a fight to the death.
Amu carried Nigadi's corpse away, dug a pit outside the hall, and buried it. The only thing Su Xiao kept was Nigadi's right arm, a gray-white limb composed entirely of bone.
After searching the hall, Bubu Wang found three Soul Crystals (Complete) in a hidden compartment behind the throne. Nigadi had originally taken four crystals in total, but one had already been used. If Su Xiao hadn't arrived in time, these three wouldn't have remained either.
Aside from these three Soul Crystals, Bubu Wang found no other supernatural items. Those things had likely been used by Nigadi to reward his followers, ensuring their unwavering loyalty.
A great deal of gold, silver, and jewelry was found. Beyond these treasures, after Su Xiao pushed over the stone throne, he saw a floor covered in gold coins beneath it.
Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha began collecting the coins. After tallying them up, excluding the gold and silver ornaments, there were a total of 82,504 gold coins. This was a considerable sum of assets. With this, one could buy a position as an "Honorary Councilor" in the Kingdom of Fuyinding and still have more than half left. For the ambitious, it could also be used to purchase several large ships, recruit over a thousand sailors, set sail, and seize a trade route to amass wealth.
With these gold coins, future actions would be much more convenient, especially with Nigadi's arm in hand.
Now, Su Xiao had only one goal left: to find Losh Island (Terror Island), reach it, and complete the third round of the Strongest Warrior Tournament.
From his previous inquiries, Su Xiao learned that Terror Island was a taboo among pirates. Few pirates had ever managed to reach it. The most effective way to learn Terror Island's location was to contact one of the three legendary pirate crews and obtain the coordinates from their captain.
Among the three legendary pirate crews, Su Xiao had only encountered the Black Sea King, Agati. His only impression was that he was a somewhat narcissistic pirate.
The rain outside the hall gradually subsided. Seeing this, Su Xiao walked toward the hall's entrance. As he stepped out, moonlight shone down. Without the cover of clouds, the sky was filled with stars. The night scenery of this world was beautiful, especially after slaying an Ancient God.
Returning along the same path through the withered forest, when he reached the shore of the shallow waters, Su Xiao saw the small wooden boat under the night sky.
"You... have returned."
The black-robed figure looked at Su Xiao, his eye sockets burning with a ghostly green flame.
"That deity... has it fallen?"
The black-robed figure's voice was still hollow, but it no longer carried the same sorrow as before.
"I killed it."
Su Xiao tossed the bone arm onto the wooden boat, producing a dull thud.
"Ah~, so that's how it is."
The black-robed figure fell silent. Just as Su Xiao leaped onto the small wooden boat, it began to slowly drift back toward the opposite shore. The reward the black-robed figure had offered was not high—no treasures, no power inheritance, nothing of the sort. He had merely ferried Su Xiao across.
Soon, the small boat stopped at the opposite shore.
"Don't come back. Leave everything here to me. Farewell, unknown strong one."
The black-robed figure looked up at the stars in the sky. The two smiling faces in his mind became clear once more.
'Shooting star! Look, it's a shooting star!'
A crisp, childish voice seemed to echo in the black-robed figure's ears. The ghostly green flame in his eyes turned a pure white. Tonight's starry sky was brilliant, but unfortunately, no shooting stars appeared.
"If you can manage it, leave no survivors."
Su Xiao leaped off the boat and walked into the mangrove forest ahead. Some remnants of the Extinguished Light God Cult might find their way to this island. Those people would be troublesome.
"I obey... your command."
The black-robed figure pressed his hand to his chest and gave a slight bow toward Su Xiao's retreating back. At that moment, the flame in his eye sockets shifted from pure white to blood-red, like the God of Death ferrying souls across the River Styx.
...
An hour later, several nautical miles out at sea, the Doom Number unfurled its sails. With the wind, the ship's speed surged dramatically.
Su Xiao's destination this time was not a land island, but a "drifting island" at sea, known as the Great Sea Monster, Tantangro.
The Great Sea Monster, Tantangro, only drifted within a fixed sea area. A circular undercurrent made it a landmark of that region.
The Great Sea Monster, Tantangro, was classified as an island-ship and was the largest known "Secret Relic." It belonged to the Kingdom of Fuyinding. Strangely, this island-ship only served pirates.
As for the reason, it involved several conflicts between the Black Sea King and the Kingdom of Fuyinding. The Great Sea Monster, Tantangro, could not leave that sea area. As a Secret Relic, its ownership belonged to a certain high-ranking official of the kingdom, leading to the current situation.
The Great Sea Monster, Tantangro, could only drift on its own. Due to the climate of its sea area, the Black Sea King could not obtain this island-ship, nor could the Kingdom of Fuyinding. So, the Kingdom of Fuyinding simply leased the Great Sea Monster, Tantangro, to the Black Sea King.
This island-ship was indeed massive, but its drifting speed was too slow. Pirates were more accustomed to calling it Turtle Island. This was a paradise for pirates. Anything could be bought on Turtle Island, and all stolen goods could be safely sold off, after all, it was the Black Sea King's territory.
Turtle Island was such a famous drifting island that it was naturally marked on the sea chart Su Xiao had purchased. Moreover, it was not far from his current sea area. An ordinary ship would take 3 to 5 days to reach it, but the Doom Number would arrive by tomorrow morning at the latest.
With nothing to do, Su Xiao lay down on the wooden bed in the captain's cabin to rest. Just as he was half-asleep, a notification appeared, perking him up considerably.
[Notification: Divine Judgment has been upgraded to Epic Rank.]
[Divine Judgment]
Quality: Epic Rank (Originally Legendary Rank)
Category: Ring
Durability: 29/30
Equipment Requirements: None
Equipment Effect 1: Soul's Life (Passive), each point of the wearer's Soul Strength increases Health Points by 100 (Increased by 20 points), and Neural Reflex Speed by 0.6% (Increased by 0.1%).
Current Soul Strength: 180 points.
Increased Health Points: 18,000 points (Originally increased 12,000 Health Points).
Increased Neural Reflex Speed: 108% Neural Reflex Speed (Originally 75% Neural Reflex Speed).
Growth Condition: After killing an extremely evil deity, this equipment can absorb divine energy to grow. The growth magnitude depends on the rank of the slain evil deity (Extremely evil deities are mostly Ancient Gods).
Rating: 700++ (Epic Rank equipment ratings range from 530 to 700 points).
Introduction: Survive, and then... hunt.
Price: Unsellable.
...
This was the result Su Xiao had most hoped for, and it was within his expectations. [Divine Judgment] did not gain any flashy abilities. After its rank upgrade, it simply provided more Health Points and Neural Reflex Speed, which was exactly what Su Xiao needed.
Based on Nigadi's strength, Su Xiao had thought [Divine Judgment] could be upgraded to Holy Spirit Rank. Unfortunately, it fell just short of that threshold. He would have to wait for the next evil deity to appear.
During the voyage, time passed unnoticed. The morning sun rose from the horizon, illuminating the vast sea. Today was not a rainy day.