Chapter 51: Deputy Commander · Oss
At the resting place, near the Soul Tree.
Feishi was buried here. In a one-on-one fight, Su Xiao indeed wasn’t Feishi’s match, but he wouldn’t give the opponent a chance for a solo battle.
Feishi’s reputation as the strongest violator at the seventh rank wasn’t just talk. Of the 270,000 beast cavalry who besieged Feishi, nearly 50,000 died—greater losses than the earlier assault on Peru.
With all four violators now eliminated, Su Xiao felt much more at ease. With over 200,000 soldiers under his command and the War Lord title upgraded to five stars, Feishi’s defeat was inevitable.
When he had just dealt with Feishi, several prompts appeared, and Su Xiao only now had time to check them.
[Prompt: The Hunter has eliminated all four violators in this world and killed the ultra-high-risk violator, Feishi.]
[You have obtained Diamond Honor Medals ×137.]
[You have obtained a Scarlet Chest ().]
[Prompt: Opening this Scarlet Chest will guarantee one of the abilities mastered by the ultra-high-risk violator, Feishi (converted into a Lv.1 skill scroll), or 1–3 pieces of equipment he was wearing, as well as 5 high-value items from his storage space.]
[One of the following will be randomly obtained: Skill Scroll / Worn Equipment / High-Value Items.]
...
The Diamond Honor Medals obtained from hunting Feishi totaled 137, and not only that, Feishi’s Scarlet Chest was also incredibly valuable.
The Scarlet Chest had long been put away by Su Xiao. He stood beneath the Soul Tree, watching the soldiers cleaning up the battlefield in the distance.
“Oss.”
“Your subordinate is here.”
Oss lowered his head, standing diagonally behind Su Xiao.
“How many days has it been since Uno sent you secret orders?”
From the very beginning, Su Xiao knew that Oss was a spy sent by Uno. The reason he hadn’t eliminated him was simple: even if he got rid of this deputy commander, the other high-ranking officers were still Uno’s men.
Uno had held military power for too long. If Su Xiao killed all of Uno’s spies, he would have no one left to command—an unavoidable fact. You couldn’t just pull out any officer and have them lead soldiers.
“Your subordinate doesn’t understand what you mean, sir.”
Oss still kept his head down, his expression unchanged, but his accelerated heartbeat showed he was nervous.
Several glances were cast their way intentionally or not—a military guard leader and four squad guard leaders, all of them Uno’s people.
“I’m not yet sure who among the Sand Emperor, Uno, and Carros will come out on top, but one thing is certain: no matter who wins, you will die.”
Su Xiao sat on a large metal chair under the tree, smiling as he looked at Oss.
“With your abilities, you’ve already prepared an escape route, haven’t you?”
At this, Oss silently knelt on one knee, saying nothing.
“By the way, your wife and daughter have already left Sand City. Uratai risked his life to get them out—without my orders, he rescued your family.”
Hearing this, Oss felt a wave of relief in his heart. Uratai—such a familiar name, his brother in life and death.
“Thank you, sir.”
Oss drew the longsword at his waist and pressed it against his own neck.
“So, how many days has it been since Uno sent you orders?”
Su Xiao needed this information now.
“Until this morning, High Priest Uno was still sending me secret orders.”
As Oss finished speaking, the blade in his hand sliced across his neck.
“Thank you, sir, for sparing my life. We will… never meet again. Sir, don’t return to Sand City.”
No blood spurted from Oss’s severed neck. His body began to turn into sand and dust, carried away by the wind.
“Please, don’t go back to Sand City, Lord Kukulin. Trust me just this once—don’t go back.”
Oss’s voice faded, and the surrounding soldiers and officers stood frozen in place.
Watching Oss completely dissipate, Su Xiao’s eyes showed a hint of contemplation. Oss seemed like Uno’s pawn, but in truth, this guy had long prepared an escape route. More importantly, Oss had also allied himself with another major figure in Sand City.
Oss’s stance was simple: on the front lines, he would absolutely obey Su Xiao’s orders and try to stall Uno to protect his wife and daughter, while using the help of some big shot in Sand City to rescue them.
Seeming mediocre and unremarkable, Oss had survived the power struggle to the very end. Was this a coincidence? Absolutely not.
Su Xiao didn’t care whether Oss escaped or not. On the contrary, if he hadn’t escaped, some matters would be harder to handle. What Su Xiao truly cared about was the situation in Sand City. Now that he had successfully dealt with Feishi, he was qualified to participate in the final “grand feast.”
“Wen Ai You’er.”
“I’m here.”
“You’re the deputy commander now.”
“Huh?”
Wen Ai You’er, with her tomboyish demeanor, looked up, her eyes full of surprise. She had originally been a thousand-man leader, then promoted to military guard leader, and now directly to deputy commander.
This meteoric rise in rank felt like riding a rocket, but she hadn’t realized that Su Xiao had placed her under Oss earlier specifically so she could replace him one day.
Had Oss really escaped? If Su Xiao wanted to, even if Oss fled to the ends of the earth, he could drag him out and kill him.
“Form up the ranks. Return to Sand City.”
“Yes.”
Wen Ai You’er began deploying the military guard leaders. Before long, 220,000 beast cavalry were assembled, marching toward Sand City.
The black dragon flew overhead. Sitting on its back, Su Xiao started organizing the gains from the invasion of the Kingdom of Peru. Other rewards could wait, but the battle merits needed to be used quickly—there wouldn’t be another chance.
He had 51,480 battle merits. After his earlier exchanges, the title shop in this world had no more four-star titles left, and only seven three-star titles remained.
Among these 12 three-star titles, there was one Su Xiao had never exchanged for, because its attributes seemed very suitable for him.
[Natural Resonance ()]
Attribute: Visible after acquisition.
Price: 7,580 battle merits.
This was the most expensive three-star title in the shop. Su Xiao chose to exchange for it.
[You have obtained Natural Resonance ()]
[Title Effect 1: Slightly enhances perception, elemental perception, and insight effects.]
Seeing the attributes of Natural Resonance, Su Xiao hesitated for a moment, then spent 6,170 battle merits to exchange for five three-star titles and activated the title refinement authority to begin refining.
The main title was set in the center, with five sub-titles around it. After consuming 50 Soul Coins, the refinement began.
With nothing else to do during the journey, Su Xiao waited for the result. As it turned out, using five three-star sub-titles to upgrade one three-star main title was very stable—a 100% success rate.
[You have obtained Natural Resonance ().]
[Natural Resonance]
Origin: Flame Spirit Star
Quality:
Category: Title · Rare
Title Effect 1: Greatly enhances meditation and insight effects.
Introduction: When the heart is calm, the world is before your eyes.
Price: Unsellable
The Natural Resonance title didn’t disappoint Su Xiao. When he first saw its price and the attribute of slightly enhancing insight, he guessed this title had great potential.
Su Xiao often meditated. Previously, only the [Origin Stone] could enhance meditation effects. Now, equipping the [Natural Resonance] title during meditation would yield even better results.
With a new title in hand, Su Xiao began testing a certain idea. Earlier, when he was refining a title to upgrade [War Lord], he had first set five sub-titles on the refinement disc. At that time, Reincarnation Paradise’s prompt was intriguing: “Yes/No to start title refinement.”
Notably, Su Xiao hadn’t set a main title then, and the refinement cost was 25 Soul Coins, not the usual 50.
What would happen if he set five sub-titles on the refinement disc without a main title and started the refinement? Su Xiao decided to test it.