Chapter 62: The Opponent That Could Never Be Defeated
After finishing the transaction with the gem merchant, Su Xiao left Locke Street. He considered going to the ancient battlefield to absorb blood energy, but unfortunately, that place was too dangerous. Located within the void, there was a risk of running into spellcasters.
Against spellcasters of the same rank, Su Xiao was certainly confident. But if their rank was far higher than his, there was nothing he could do. Su Xiao never challenged opponents he was certain he couldn't defeat. He didn't believe he could escape from a desperate situation or anything like that. If an enemy was that much stronger than him, would their tracking methods be weak? Completely impossible. He wasn't Bubu Wang, able to blend into the environment.
Against that kind of enemy, they would crush him in every aspect. If he encountered one, there was a 99.9% chance he would die. Su Xiao wouldn't gamble on that 0.1%. He chose to accumulate gradually, and only go find that kind of opponent to fight when he was strong enough.
It was more reliable to slowly nurture his blood energy. He could sense that it wouldn't be long before his aura release ability recovered.
After wandering around the trade market a few times, Su Xiao arrived at Beini's stall. Beini had already collected two bottles of epic-grade recovery potions. Including what he had obtained from opening treasure chests before, that made three bottles total.
That was far from enough. Breaking through the 150-point attribute barrier would definitely be fraught with danger. He needed at least eight or more recovery potions to be safe.
Leaving Beini to continue purchasing, Su Xiao returned to his exclusive room. Pushing open the door, he saw Bubu Wang with half his body under the bed, doing who knows what, his tail wagging with pure joy.
Su Xiao crouched behind Bubu Wang. After about ten seconds, Bubu Wang sensed something was wrong. He backed out from under the bed, slowly turned his head, and when he saw Su Xiao, he shuddered in fright.
"Hiding something?"
"Gulu~"
Bubu Wang stretched out his neck, bulged his eyes, and with a gulp, swallowed whatever was in his mouth, choking until his eyes rolled white.
Su Xiao looked under the bed. Not finding any signs of damage, he turned his gaze to Bubu Wang.
Bubu sneaked a glance at the slippers by the bedside, his worried little eyes revealing a hint of final stubbornness.
Not finding anything, Su Xiao began to set the final gem into Dragon-Slaying Flash.
[To perform this inlay, a total of 350,000 Paradise Coins must be paid.]
Gem inlaying was nothing new. Su Xiao completed the process skillfully. The Shadow Moon Gem transformed into a grain of rice, embedding into the groove at the end of Dragon-Slaying Flash's hilt, symmetrical with the other two gems.
With the power upgrade complete, Su Xiao felt much more relaxed. He entered the alchemy laboratory, took out the [Alchemy Codex], and flipped open this thick metal book.
Su Xiao could only open the first page. Only after deciphering the 275 engravings on the first page could he turn to the second page and view the alchemy formula on the back of the first page.
Su Xiao's fingertip touched the first page, on the 32nd engraving. Last time, he had deciphered up to this point before experiencing mental fatigue, and during the war world, he hadn't had time to continue.
Just as he was about to inject his mental energy into the 32nd engraving, Su Xiao heard retching sounds from outside the door. He ignored it and gradually focused his thoughts.
The flow of time seemed to slow down. In his perception, his surroundings gradually darkened. Countless formation diagrams appeared, rapidly shrinking to form a new formation diagram, and then the cycle repeated.
Whether it was an illusion or not, Su Xiao felt his mental energy had become somewhat tougher. It wasn't an increase in total quantity, but a change in quality.
Various types of alchemical knowledge appeared in Su Xiao's mind. He became immersed in it, almost forgetting the passage of time.
Unconsciously, Su Xiao felt mental fatigue. This sensation was trying to push him out of the Alchemy Codex. The more he persisted, the stronger the repulsive force became.
Perhaps it was a few seconds, perhaps just an instant. Su Xiao's mental energy was ejected from the Alchemy Codex. The blue light on the first page's engravings gradually dimmed.
Removing his finger, Su Xiao looked at the Alchemy Codex. 93 engravings on the first page were now lit, showing a pale blue color, while the engravings further behind were gray.
This time, Su Xiao had deciphered 61 engravings. Compared to the 32 from last time, it was nearly double. Now he could confirm that each time he deciphered the Alchemy Codex, his mental energy would become a bit tougher.
Su Xiao gently rubbed his brow with one hand and began to organize the knowledge in his mind. After nearly an hour and a half, he had sorted out the knowledge. Two hours later, he had a preliminary grasp of it. Fully mastering it was just a matter of time, at most a few days.
[Alchemy Bomb Manufacturing has been upgraded to Lv.29 (Increased by Lv.6).]
[Alchemy Potion Manufacturing has been upgraded to Lv.29 (Increased by Lv.6).]
[Alchemy Creature Manufacturing has been upgraded to Lv.29 (Increased by Lv.6).]
[Plant Harmonization Chapter has been upgraded to Lv.44 (Increased by Lv.7).]
All branches of alchemy had improved. If any other alchemist in the void knew about this, they would definitely form a group, hire people, and come knocking on his door, fighting to the death to seize the Alchemy Codex.
Su Xiao rested for a while, and his fatigued mental energy eased significantly. It would be impossible to decipher the Alchemy Codex again in the next few days, as it would cause permanent damage to his mental energy.
With his current alchemy level, he was qualified to do something: the third development of Apollo.
He had already decided to temporarily sacrifice Apollo's activation time, developing an Apollo with a slow activation speed but immense power.
As for the range, for now, two kilometers was sufficient. But the power was far from enough. The powerful enemies he encountered now all had health points in the tens of thousands. For example, the Alien King could withstand two or three Apollos without any problem.
What Su Xiao wanted to do was make it so that a powerhouse like the Alien King couldn't withstand a single Apollo. Either they wouldn't be hit at all, but if they were, even if they weren't reduced to ashes, they would be severely injured. Ordinary strong enemies would be wiped out in one blast.
With the development idea in mind, Su Xiao took out a large piece of fire gold, 10 soul crystals (large), plus a few small pieces of sun remnants, and began experimenting.
Having few required materials didn't mean the creation was simple; developing it was even more difficult, after all, Apollo only had three types of materials.
Time passed quickly during the development. When the timer went off, Su Xiao had already placed the semi-finished Apollo into the cooling liquid. This was an Apollo in gradual transformation. It would take over 170 hours to get results. Developing Apollo was no simple matter.
He had 16 hours of stay time left. He needed to reserve 10 hours to go to the Land of All Beings to develop his blade techniques, after which he would return to the real world.
For the remaining 6 hours, Su Xiao had nothing important to do. The arena was out of the question. He was now in first place. The top five had all blocked him. If he tried to match again, it would cause all 9 of the top 10 to block him. Besides, Su Xiao wasn't very interested in bullying the weak.
The arena was unplayable, but there was one opponent always waiting for Su Xiao. That's right, the Life Butcher. To date, the only opponent who had cut Su Xiao down to the point of frustration.
Su Xiao's Blade Grandmaster had reached Lv.46. He now had the qualifications to defeat the Life Butcher.
Taking out the [Chapter of Greed], as his mana points were consumed, he felt a pulling force. The next moment, his consciousness entered the [Chapter of Greed].
The walls were still hazy and misty on all four sides. The stone floor was black. A long blade was inserted in front of Su Xiao, blue flames rising from its hilt.
Su Xiao grasped the hilt of the Devouring Blue long blade and drew it, standing ready. This blade was called Devouring Blue.
Gray mist surged. A tall figure walked out from within the gray mist. He held a long-handled great blade. The weapon was nearly three meters long in total, the handle alone a full meter, the blade nearly two meters, and the edge about four fingers wide. Overall, it didn't look cumbersome, but rather sharp and unstoppable.
The Life Butcher had arrived. His skin was a dark red, faint cracks visible. His tattered clothes hung down in strips, and in some places, fragments of broken armor remained on his skin.
'Life Butcher: Execution.'
These five words formed from blue flames, then dissipated.
Having been killed 76 times, Su Xiao was very familiar with the Life Butcher. He slightly lowered his body, a red gleam flashing in his eyes.
With a bang, Su Xiao and the Life Butcher charged at each other simultaneously. The Devouring Blue long blade and the Decapitation great blade both swung toward the other's neck.
Su Xiao was very curious about what he would obtain after defeating the Life Butcher, and who the next opponent would be, and how strong they would be. Referencing the combat power of the Old Saint and the Life Butcher, as well as the number of times Su Xiao had been "killed" by these two, the third Soul Manifestation should also be absurdly strong. He just didn't know how absurd that would be.