Chapter 67: Wealthy
Inside the cavern, Yueshitu stiffly turned her head and saw Su Xiao standing on a rocky passage not far away. She knew there was no point in fighting anymore.
"Everyone, stop."
Yueshitu shouted. Tianyu Akuci, who was entangled with Baha, retreated. Nearby, Amu had the Black Knight pinned to the ground, raising the Dragonheart Axe with one hand, ready to chop off the Black Knight's head.
With a *crack*, Amu severed the Black Knight's head without a moment's hesitation. The ox was fierce and spoke little.
No blood splattered. The Black Knight's armor was filled with black mist. Seeing this, Amu grabbed one of the Black Knight's lower legs, spun it around in an Amu-style whirlwind slam, and finally smashed the Black Knight to the ground, creating a crater.
Amu stomped the Black Knight's chest plate flat, two streams of cold air blasting from his nostrils. In Su Xiao's team, aside from Su Xiao himself, Amu was the strongest.
"I surrender."
Yueshitu raised her hands, but in the next instant, a cyan-blue blade aura slashed across her neck, so fast she barely had time to blink.
"My Lord!!"
Tianyu Akuci's eyes bulged, her voice tinged with tears as she flew full speed toward Yueshitu. But halfway there, her entire body began to turn translucent.
The blade aura passed. Yueshitu's pale cheek trembled. She rarely encountered such a ferocious enemy—no negotiation, no accepting ransom, not even a single word spoken.
Once hostile, it was a fight to the death. This gave Yueshitu a deep, visceral dread. She was certain this person was not the same kind as her, fundamentally different from all the contractors of Apocalypse Paradise. It wasn't even about strength anymore.
Confirming this, Yueshitu silently decided: she must stay far away from such a ferocious enemy, as far as possible!
*Clatter, clatter~*
Soul crystals fell to the ground, at least 80 or more. Besides these, there was an earring, three items, and an egg the size of a pebble.
In addition, the ground was littered with translucent coins—manifested Soul Coins. A rough estimate put the number at over 3,000.
Yueshitu wasn't dead yet, but she was already dropping equipment. Normally, even if a Battle Angel or contractor died, they wouldn't drop equipment directly, at most dropping a Scarlet Card.
Yueshitu's body became translucent. Seeing this, Su Xiao was surprised. He was sure she hadn't used any items just now—using an item would have caused a subtle fluctuation.
Without using any items, Yueshitu had forcibly returned. This was likely a protection mechanism from Apocalypse Paradise.
"Damn! Is she Apocalypse's own daughter? She can forcibly return like that?!"
Baha's voice cracked a bit. It was the first time he'd seen such a thing. Bubu Wang beside him was dumbfounded, truly witnessing such a shady move for the first time.
"Yay~"
Yueshitu made a somewhat smug peace sign. In truth, her forced return was indeed due to Apocalypse Paradise's protection mechanism.
In the previous world, she had single-handedly won a World War for Apocalypse Paradise, 1 vs. 372 contractors. She won. This forced return was a privilege rewarded by Apocalypse Paradise, but it came at a cost: random drops of equipment, items, and Soul Coins.
As fellow Battle Angels, Little Angel Molei's treatment compared to Yueshitu's was like heaven and earth.
"I lost. I really don't get you Reincarnation Paradise people. You should take the money and let me live. Who would fight to the death with you lunatics?"
Yueshitu wanted to say something harsh, but considering her opponent was from Reincarnation Paradise—the infamous Lunatic Paradise—she decided against it. If she provoked him, and he did nothing else but buy tracking items to hunt her down, she'd cry herself to sleep in the toilet.
It wasn't Yueshitu being paranoid. Such things had happened before, and not rarely. That's why Lunatic Paradise was so feared. Once a major grudge was formed, it was a fight to the death—one of them had to die.
Leaving behind dozens of Soul Crystals, an important piece of equipment, three items, and a pile of Soul Coins, Yueshitu, her heart aching, disappeared. Before vanishing, she felt like hanging herself. Her gains from this world were all gone, no—the gains from the previous world were also lost. That was the price of forced return.
The battle ended abruptly. Su Xiao walked to where Yueshitu had vanished, and a flood of notifications appeared.
[You have obtained 3192 Soul Coins.]
[You have obtained New Moon Sprout (Holy Spirit +13 Accessory, 2 Holy Spirit Gems socketed, Female-Exclusive Equipment).]
[You have obtained Elf Light Cocoon (Holy Spirit Consumable).]
[You have obtained Soul Crystal (Complete) x84.]
[You have obtained Directional Coordinates (Holy Spirit Item) x3.]
Seeing these notifications, Su Xiao felt this was far more profitable than killing Yueshitu—by hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands of times.
"Unexpectedly wealthy."
Su Xiao stored all the items. [New Moon Sprout (Holy Spirit +13 Accessory)], [Elf Light Cocoon], and [Directional Coordinates x3] were in a pending authentication state. They would need to be authenticated upon returning to Reincarnation Paradise to see their specific properties.
However, the earring [New Moon Sprout] seemed very valuable to Su Xiao. It was likely one of Yueshitu's core equipment pieces.
"That woman... way too rich."
Baha sighed, but now wasn't the time for sentiment. After dealing with Yueshitu, they had to focus fully on the Doin Empire.
Just minutes after Yueshitu's forced return, the world chat channel nearly exploded with messages.
Biting Cat (Holy Light Paradise): "Yueshitu died on the spot, 233."
Mu Xiao (Holy Light Paradise): "Expected."
Flame Master (Sanctuary Paradise): "I feel..."
Moguni (Apocalypse Paradise): "No need to feel. That's how it is."
Huang Hai (Watchful Paradise): "Solve the problem at the root, one step ahead."
Dragon Skeleton (Apocalypse Paradise): "Gray Gentleman, if I were you, I wouldn't show up anytime soon."
Gray Gentleman (Reincarnation Paradise): "Almost got burned to death by the Doin King. By the way, everyone, the Void Tree Fruit is in the fourth basement of the Doin King's palace. Intel provided for free."
Biting Cat (Holy Light Paradise): "Void Tree Fruit? I'm a bit interested."
Gulu (Reincarnation Paradise): "Shut up, stupid cat."
Biting Cat (Holy Light Paradise): "Thanks."
East of the Burning Land, Su Xiao looked at the vast lava lake in the distance. The Wolf Cavalry Legion still had 530,000 troops, including the 100,000 Wolf Knights at the main battlefield, which had already withdrawn.
From the "Yatade Wall" all the way here, nearly 70,000 Wolf Cavalry had died. That was a significant loss, but considering the number of battles fought, it was within expectations.
As for the Infernal Legion, its size was a full 5.04 million. Due to its sheer numbers, Su Xiao planned to use it as the main force for the decisive battle against Doin.
That's right, Su Xiao intended to engage Doin in a full-scale war. With the army under his command now, it was enough to support a direct confrontation.
But before that, the main concern was how to leave the Burning Land.
Starting from Winter City and crossing the Northern Border was absolutely out of the question. The reason: they might not even make it out of the Northern Border before the Infernal Legion was wiped out. In the extreme cold, the Infernal Legion's all attributes decreased by 25%, body defense by 47 points, and max HP by 1,200 points.
The Ice Descendant warriors of the Northern Border were no pushovers. Since they couldn't start from the Northern Border, they needed another route. Su Xiao felt that Dark Lord Agamemnon, who wanted him to destroy Doin, wouldn't fail to prepare a marching route.
He had Bubu Wang fetch the Traitor Ocam. After questioning him, Su Xiao learned that the Burning Land had another exit, located behind Chimney Mountain at a lava lake.
Hearing this, Su Xiao realized that Agamemnon had completely abandoned the Chaos Legion and was instead accumulating power in the Burning Land.
With Ocam leading the way, the army marched for over seven hours before finally arriving before a large lava lake to the west.
Waves of heat washed over them. Su Xiao picked up the Molten Sword handed to him by Ocam and thrust it into the ground before the lava lake.
*Gurgle, gurgle...*
Countless bubbles surged from the lava lake. The lava inside seemed to come alive, flowing to both sides, eventually forming a hundred-meter-wide passage.
Following this passage, when Su Xiao felt the cool air blowing from ahead, patches of volcanic ash drifted near him.
Emerging from the lava lake via a slope, Su Xiao saw snow that was half-melted in the distance, along with a chimney-shaped volcano—Chimney Mountain. Near it was the Chaos Legion's former main city, Blackmelt City.
Su Xiao had gone directly from the Northern Border to the innermost area of the Western Border. Clearly, the Burning Land was in an independent space with two points connecting to the outside world.
Confirming this, Su Xiao immediately ordered the Wolf Cavalry in Winter City to gradually withdraw and seal the metal giant door in the Ice Seal Hall. Without the Polar Ice Crown, that door was hard to open, and the Burning Land wasn't an easy place to traverse anyway.
The main army's retreat was swift. After successfully pulling out of the Northern Border, Su Xiao had Baha contact the Old Serpentman to completely clear Blackmelt City, sending the few civilians there to other major cities. At this point, only a few thousand civilians remained in Blackmelt City; no one wanted to stay in this barren place.
Standing on the dragon's back, Su Xiao watched as Blackmelt City grew closer. He was about to begin the final battle in this world—the ultimate showdown with Doin. There was a trump card he had never used, and it was prepared specifically for Doin.