# Chapter 19: The Immortal One
Putting away the [Ring of Oblivion], Su Xiao continued forward. As he advanced, he also kept an eye on the road surface and the black grass on both sides, hoping to find another piece of equipment. Such good fortune was naturally welcome in abundance.
This wasn't a gift falling from the sky. For such a precious item to be left on the ground, one could imagine what had happened in Doom Town and how long it had been since anyone came outside the town.
Previously, Su Xiao thought that female contractor had ended up in such a state after arriving outside Doom Town and trying to enter. Now it seemed her entry method was wrong—she might have directly entered Doom Town itself.
Upon arriving near Doom Town, Su Xiao discovered this place shouldn't be called a town. The outer walls alone were over ten meters high, with the buildings inside even taller. By estimation, it covered about half the area of Angor City.
A town with tens of thousands of people would never be obscure. Su Xiao had checked the history of the Light and Dark Era, and there was no place called Doom Town. In the Light and Dark Empire, towns typically had only a few thousand residents.
The pitch-black walls stood tall, their surfaces weathered into large irregular circular pits. Su Xiao stood beneath the wall, raised his hand, and brushed it across the stone. It was very solid. The edges of the weathered pits were sharp, like crescent-shaped blades.
Climbing the wall was unwise. Ten-plus meters wouldn't trouble Su Xiao, but there might be unknown dangers on top.
Following the wall, Su Xiao arrived before a four-meter-tall gate opening. This was a door made of thick planks and metal, now lying on the ground with a massive footprint on it. It had been kicked open from the inside, with splintered wood scattered everywhere.
Following the wall corridor, Su Xiao continued forward. After advancing a few meters, he stopped.
Dense clusters of buildings appeared ahead. These structures leaned toward medieval style, not large in area but overall tall, packed closely together. Their roofs were sharply pointed to prevent leaks, and some had tall black iron spikes at their peaks.
Facing the wall corridor was a main street, with dense buildings on both sides. Several carriages lay toppled on the street.
On one overturned carriage sat a figure. His clothes were tattered, a guardless longsword hung at his waist, and his head was covered in gray hair. As a breeze passed, his hair and shredded clothing fluttered—decayed, corrupted, yet possessing a unique sense of powerful beauty.
Crack, crack~
The seated figure cracked his fingers, then slowly grasped the sword hilt at his waist.
Boom!
The carriage shattered. The figure burst through a wave of air, his longsword slashing downward.
Clang.
A black blade aura shot out, cutting a diagonal gash into the high wall as crushed stone rained down.
Su Xiao's Dragon-Slashing Flash was held horizontally before him. Gravel slid off his shoulders. The Apostle's Eye floating behind him had already activated.
[Comparing both parties' Intelligence attributes...]
[Hunter has not obtained the Light and Dark Amulet. Detection-type equipment is suppressed, unable to detect. Due to the Hunter equipping 'Divine Judgment,' partial suppression is negated. Only 6.1% of enemy data obtained.]
Name: The Immortal One
Category: Lord-level Unit
Health: 93.9%
Divine Power (Ancient): 61500/61500 points
Strength: 167 (True Attribute)
???
???
...
Seeing this data, Su Xiao basically confirmed this was a gatekeeping boss.
The Immortal One didn't charge directly, having judged that this living person wasn't easy to deal with—different from those encountered during his last awakening.
Near the broken carriage was a wooden box, very old and already opened. Su Xiao saw Soul Crystals inside. From their size, these were Soul Crystals (Complete), at least a dozen of them. They were likely meant to be offered to an Ancient God but had been abandoned here for some reason.
On the nearby stone road were several large pools of blood, not yet dried. Broken corpses lay scattered around. On a nearby stone building, black cracks could be seen—remnants of an opened gap.
Seeing this, Su Xiao realized that female contractor from his side had been dealt with by the Immortal One and forcibly expelled from Doom Town through some method.
Her encounter with Su Xiao wasn't coincidence. Using the old councilman as a coordinate, she had opened a space passage from Doom Town into the second-floor building, thus meeting Su Xiao.
That female contractor probably hadn't obtained Soul Ashes, so she cooperated with the Death Paradise contractors to enter a high-risk area like Doom Town, trying to gain benefits.
That female contractor had avenged her great grudge. The Death Paradise contractors she cooperated with were all dead. If they couldn't even handle the gatekeeper, they would certainly die after venturing deeper into Doom City.
Su Xiao could even imagine the situation. Using Soul Ashes to enter Doom Town would suppress detection equipment. Those contractors probably thought: kill the Immortal One, grab the treasure chest, and retreat—split the loot later.
The result was that they never needed to consider splitting loot. Those contractors who had just advanced to Seventh Rank had no idea how dangerous this "high-risk hidden area" was. If the world's maximum difficulty was Lv.67, then this "high-risk hidden area" would directly hit Lv.67 with no room for negotiation.
The contractors who came here were cut down by the Immortal One. The remains on the ground were theirs, the blood not yet dry.
Su Xiao's health was dropping from the Ancient God's power erosion, plus he couldn't use recovery items. Having the Light and Dark Amulet would avoid both issues, but unfortunately, he didn't have it now.
There was no way to fight. Su Xiao immediately penetrated space, appearing outside the high wall the next moment. Wind sounds came from the wall corridor—the Immortal One was pursuing.
Just as Su Xiao was about to turn and retreat, he found the Immortal One stopping inside the wall corridor, seemingly unable to leave Doom Town.
The Immortal One's lifeless eyes stared at Su Xiao. His face was withered, and at his waist hung a skull with cracks on it.
Su Xiao had only come to check the situation. With the "gap" permanently open and without obtaining the Light and Dark Amulet, venturing deep into Doom Town was suicide. That's why he came alone, without Bubu Wang, Amu, or Baha.
Su Xiao had killed many Ancient Gods. He wore the [Divine Judgment] ring. Due to this equipment's characteristics, when Ancient God power eroded him, it was suppressed. If Bubu Wang, Baha, or Amu came here without the Light and Dark Amulet, they might not last even a few minutes.
The Immortal One stared at Su Xiao for a while, then turned and walked back into the wall corridor.
Su Xiao had been near Doom Town for over twenty minutes. It was time to return to Angor City. Now wasn't the time to fight the Immortal One. He needed at least to obtain the Light and Dark Amulet before he could qualify to venture deep into Doom Town.
Returning toward the wooden house, Su Xiao saw the Penitent again, still kneeling in the wild grass, muttering something softly.
Su Xiao was puzzled about one thing: the Ancient God in Doom Town was far too kind to its residents, even sharing Divine Power with them. This was extremely abnormal.
From the perspective of an Ancient God of that rank, the humans of this world were no different from ants.
For example, summoning an Ancient God was like a giant having an ant nest in his backyard. The ants arranged small stones in circles or squares, trying to summon the giant.
Seeing this, the giant would be amazed—these ants were so interesting. Not only could they communicate, but they also made requests, like killing a stronger ant or giving them a piece of sugar.
From the "giant's" perspective, why not satisfy them? Such interesting little ants were rare.
Either ignore them, or step on them. When bored, flip open the ant nest and watch the ants scurry in panic to pass the time. That was an Ancient God.
Every Ancient God Su Xiao had seen, except for one coward and one homebody, was exactly like this.
The Ancient God of this world would only be worse. The characteristics of Ancient God power couldn't be faked. That malice and erosive force far exceeded Ancient Gods like Sotos and Shabu. Compared to this Ancient God, Nightmare God Nigadi was barely a child—a kindred spirit that could be crushed with a hand.
How could such an Ancient God share its most core Ancient God power with the residents of Doom Town? This made no sense at all. Furthermore, Gru had even used this power to destroy the Four Kingdoms.
Su Xiao thought of one possibility. If that were the case, Doom Town would be a place worth risking death to explore, with very many Lord-level enemies inside.
Entering the wooden house, Su Xiao looked at the black crack now only half a meter wide. After taking a deep breath, he charged into the surging darkness.
Struggling forward for a long distance, Su Xiao saw light and pushed through with all his strength.
Stepping out from the surging darkness, the darkness clinging to him was torn away. As his vision recovered, he saw Puli pacing in the room.
"Kukulin, you're finally out. Councilwoman Rose has come looking for you. A fight's about to break out downstairs. Elves Gru is looking for you, wants to talk."
Puli's words were shocking. Gru, who had been unseen all this time, had taken the initiative to come to the Parliament building. Using a strangely shaped withered monster, he was negotiating with two councilmen and King Rayman.
Gru's second sentence had enraged both councilmen and King Rayman. That sentence was: "Let Kukulin Bai Ye come talk to me. You're not qualified."