Chapter 27: Eradicate Evil
Inside a semi-open cave in the Tiger Bee District.
Su Xiao held a single soul crystal in his hand, one he had exchanged from the Honor Shop. The energy within had long been absorbed by him, leaving only the outer crystalline shell.
Su Xiao activated the Devouring Core within his body, and life energy surged forth. Dark blue smoke clung to his left arm, using it as a conduit to gather the life force within him into his hand, then inject it into the soul crystal in his palm.
Accommodating a large amount of life energy within his body placed a heavy burden on Su Xiao. Life energy had to be absorbed in stages; absorbing too much at once could have adverse effects.
Once the soul crystal in his hand was filled with life energy, Su Xiao stopped the transmission. The Devouring Core began to operate, filtering the remaining third of the life energy.
After filtration and purification, a stream of colorless energy drifted out from the Devouring Core. As soon as this colorless energy appeared, it was absorbed by the Azure Steel Shadow energy within Su Xiao.
At this point, Su Xiao's Azure Steel Shadow ability was at Lv.59, just one step away from Lv.60. However, the biological energy required to reach Lv.60 was about double the total biological energy needed from Lv.50 to Lv.59 combined.
After absorbing the life energy within his body, Su Xiao began to absorb the energy from the soul crystal, followed by conversion, to enhance Azure Steel Shadow.
One hour, two hours, three hours passed. The Azure Steel Shadow energy within Su Xiao became extremely active. After consuming more than two-thirds of the acquired life energy, the Azure Steel Shadow energy reached its peak activation.
[Azure Steel Shadow skill has been upgraded to Lv.60.]
[Due to the significant increase in Azure Steel Shadow energy, your maximum mana points have been permanently increased by 10%.]
[Azure Steel Shadow: External Release Form has been separated into an independent ability, Energy Interruption (Active, X). This ability can only be upgraded by enhancing the Azure Steel Shadow skill.]
[Azure Steel Shadow: Lv.60 (Active/Passive Skill)]
Usage Condition: After activating Azure Steel Shadow, consumes 190 mana points per minute (increased by 10).
Active Effect: Each melee attack burns 657 mana points from the enemy (increased by 30), and deals true damage equal to 1.6 times the burned mana (1051 true damage + 25% increase from Dragon-Slaying Flash = 1313 true damage). The enemy will suffer intense pain from the mana burn.
Passive Effect: When the enemy suffers mana burn, there is a 23% chance to trigger one of three abnormal statuses: Paralysis, Immobilization, or Stun (trigger probability increased by 2%). The duration of the abnormal status is 0.2 to 3 seconds.
Defensive Form: Proud Song (Active): Can generate crystal layers of any shape to defend against enemy attacks. The strength of the crystal layer is proportional to the mana points consumed. The maximum mana consumption per use is 5200 points (increased by 1000 due to the qualitative change in Azure Steel Shadow energy).
Combat Form: Extreme Shadow Blade (Passive): Due to the qualitative change in Azure Steel Shadow energy, when a weapon is imbued with Azure Steel Shadow energy, its sharpness is increased by 45% (currently increases weapon sharpness by 206 points).
Note: This ability only takes effect on exclusive weapons of the Shadow of Law Destruction (Dragon-Slaying Flash).
...
The Azure Steel Shadow ability was successfully upgraded to Lv.60, resulting in a significant improvement in attack power. Now, Azure Steel Shadow not only deals true damage but also makes Dragon-Slaying Flash sharper.
Su Xiao drew the Dragon-Slaying Flash from his waist, imbued it with Azure Steel Shadow energy, and made a virtual slash. At that moment, he felt as if he had cut through something. If Dragon-Slaying Flash were even sharper, it seemed it could briefly cut through space?
A single thought could lead to enlightenment. Su Xiao had always been forging his Dragon-Slaying Flash towards sharpness, and now unexpected results seemed to be emerging. However, to achieve a single slash that could cut through the space of a seventh-rank world, there was still a long way to go. Although he had spatial abilities, he was not a space-type contractor. Penetrating space and cutting through space with blade techniques were different concepts.
He put away the soul crystal in his hand. There was no rush to absorb the life energy inside; it could wait until the Azure Steel Shadow energy within his body stabilized a bit.
The first goal was achieved. As for the purple supply crate on the seventh day, there was no immediate rush. Although the contents were of higher value than the Life Dragon Soul Crystal, there were still nearly four days until it dropped. Anything could happen during that time, especially since there were still over two hundred survivors.
As for the ordinary supply crates to be dropped in the following days, Su Xiao was not planning to compete for them for now. Being surrounded by seventh-rank contractors was very dangerous, especially with over two hundred people. If it weren't for that old man dressed as a priest who sent those contractors flying for a while, the competition would have been even more brutal.
With plenty of time now, Su Xiao planned to do something to prevent the worst-case scenario.
"Bai Ye, this temporary residence of yours is quite nice."
The Gourmet's voice came from behind the water curtain. Su Xiao frowned.
"I didn't track you. Your little follower's aura is too obvious; it's easy to lock onto her."
The Gourmet walked through the water curtain and entered the semi-open cave. At that moment, Xibier, who was contemplating life in the corner, stiffened. A mass of black-red tentacles wildly grew on her back, eventually wrapping around most of her body.
"So, so disgusting. Help."
"Miss, calling other people's abilities disgusting is very rude."
The Gourmet raised his hand. The black-red tentacles on Xibier slithered down, formed a humanoid shape, leaped towards the Gourmet, and finally merged into his body. Half of his face transformed into a mass of writhing black-red tentacles, slowly undulating—a visual feast for anyone with trypophobia.
"Are all you people from Reincarnation Paradise this twisted?"
Xibier felt her scalp crawl. The tentacles that had clung to her were extremely powerful and constantly writhing, as if they would devour her down to the last scrap at any moment.
"As long as it's strong enough and useful, that's all that matters."
The Gourmet said with a smile. In his lower ranks, whether his abilities looked good was never the point. In Reincarnation Paradise, survival was everything. Madmen often clashed in mission worlds, killing each other over disagreements—it was normal.
This also led to the fact that in this trial world, the penalty for killing fellow contractors from Reincarnation Paradise was very low. Not just here, but sometimes in war worlds, contractors from Reincarnation Paradise would kill all enemy contractors and then fight each other, even enduring penalties.
"I have bad news and good news."
The Gourmet sat in front of the water curtain, a position convenient for retreat. In his view, negotiations turning into combat was perfectly normal.
"Let's hear the good news first. 207 survivors have united and formed an organization called the Survivor Alliance. They accept anyone except contractors from Reincarnation Paradise."
"Is that good news? Aren't both of you hunters?"
Xibier couldn't help but ask. She simply couldn't understand the Gourmet's thinking.
"Of course it's good news. It's easier to find them when they're gathered together."
"And what if you get surrounded?"
Xibier rubbed her forehead, convinced she couldn't predict what a madman was thinking.
"Surrounded? Then die. What's the big deal? It's not like I haven't died before."
The Gourmet's tone was indifferent, as if he had 'died' often and was experienced in it.
"You're really... carefree."
Xibier managed to squeeze out those words before falling silent.
"And the bad news?"
Su Xiao sheathed Dragon-Slashing Flash. The emergence of the Survivor Alliance was expected. The scene earlier, where several hunters fought over the Life Dragon Soul Crystal, had clearly alarmed the survivors.
"The bad news is that our side's contractors have also formed a temporary faction called the Dark Force."
After saying this, the Gourmet clearly had a headache. He couldn't imagine what could unite their side's contractors except a world war, and what kind of divine being had accomplished this.
"Dark Force?"
Su Xiao frowned in thought. For some reason, the name sounded familiar to him.
...
In the Water Source Area, large tracts of sky-reaching trees had been cut down and piled haphazardly. Standing on these felled trees was a figure holding a war scythe, wearing a backless outfit, breathing somewhat rapidly. It was Mu Xiao. She hadn't directly returned to Holy Light Paradise but chose to stay in this world.
Mu Xiao had encountered three powerful enemies. These three were clearly contractors who had just advanced to seventh rank not long ago. In terms of overall strength, she should have been able to crush them. However, their abilities were shameless to the extreme, practically the bane of solo contractors. Their survivability was incredibly tenacious, and Mu Xiao was still not fully healed from her injuries.
Although Mu Xiao's physical wounds had healed, for some reason, she often felt a dull pain where she had been cut by a blade yesterday. It felt as if her soul had been injured, which greatly affected her combat performance.
What Mu Xiao didn't know was that the three she was fighting had undergone hellish training. They had given up most of their stay time in Paradise and their chances to return to the real world, using world key-type items to experience 3 to 5 mission worlds in the time an ordinary contractor would experience one.
This was an innate talent—their nerves were so thick they could relax anytime, anywhere.
"Do you people have brain damage?"
Mu Xiao cursed under her breath, feeling extremely frustrated. She had just been beaten up yesterday, and now she had run into these three again.
"Miss, you've been possessed by evil. We three brothers are here to help you eradicate that evil."
A booming male voice came, his tone serious. Hearing this, Mu Xiao nearly spat blood.
A moment later, the corner of Mu Xiao's mouth twitched, and she said, "Eradicate evil? Meaning kill me?"
"No! How could we do that? We just need to beat you up, very badly."
"?"
Even someone as strong as Mu Xiao was left speechless.
"We are the bane of justice! Ah, no! The bane of evil!"
"The transmission of holy light... uh, what was it? Forgot the line. Anyway... Ura!"
"Ura!! ×3"
Watching the three charging towards her, Mu Xiao's expression was one of shock. After all, facing three burly men wielding energy war hammers, shouting 'Ura' as they charged, would leave anyone a bit dumbfounded.