Chapter 26: Holy Temple
As soon as Su Xiao exited the underground passage, a collapse sounded behind him.
He was currently inside a tomb. On the surrounding stone walls were many broken holes, clearly visited by grave robbers multiple times.
"Meow."
Beini leaped down from Su Xiao's shoulder. After drinking a bottle of potion, her injuries mostly recovered, but the bloodstains on her fur made her uncomfortable. Beini had a slight cleanliness obsession; dirty fur made her feel awful all over.
Beini took out a stone slab and used her cat paw to carve five patterns on the ground. These patterns were: a disc, a scepter, a spiked whip, an ouroboros, and a flame.
Beini stood the slab upright above the ouroboros pattern. On this stone slab with irregular bumps on its surface, a snake seemed to be embedded. It was hard to tell if this was carved or if a real snake was set inside.
"Your meaning is that the fall of the Ganglu Dynasty wasn't because of building the Sun Ladder, but because of these five items?"
"Meow."
Beini nodded, then carved a mask above the five patterns on the ground. This mask had a circular hole at its brow.
What Beini was depicting now matched the photo provided by the philosopher. The location in that photo was where a group of Sanctuary Paradise contractors died tragically, and Shenfu had done something unknown there.
Su Xiao picked up the stone slab, and a prompt appeared.
[You have obtained the Ouroboros Stone Slab (This is a special item and cannot be taken out of this world).]
[Tip: This is a key item for the Hunter's 'Eighth Rank Promotion Assessment Mission'.]
[Tip: After the Hunter's promotion assessment mission is activated, you will have a sense for such items.]
[Tip: Since the Hunter has already obtained the Ouroboros Stone Slab, after the promotion assessment mission is activated, you will no longer be able to sense such items. Originally, you could sense the 'Heart Flame', which is located in Smoke City and owned by the Black Tower organization.]
...
Seeing these prompts, Su Xiao thought of many things. His initial faction was the Black Tower, and there was a reason for this. If he won the World War, he would then need to contact the Black Tower organization to obtain the 'Heart Flame'.
The Ouroboros Stone Slab, the Heart Flame, the Sun Disc, plus a scepter and a spiked whip—these five had a huge connection.
Su Xiao set these matters aside. He would first win the World War. If he lost the World War, even collecting all five items would be meaningless.
Su Xiao checked the kill prompts. He had gained 67 Reincarnation Paradise Merits and 31 Scarlet Medals.
The Scarlet Medals obtained were quite a lot. Killing a Seventh Rank contractor would yield about 1 to 3 Scarlet Medals.
His current Scarlet Medals reached 188, still far from the 400 needed to exchange for [Resonance (Blood Weapon)]. Considering the decisive battle at the Ancient Capital was about to begin, as long as he wasn't surrounded and killed, he wouldn't lack Scarlet Medals later.
Compared to Scarlet Medals, Su Xiao's Reincarnation Paradise Merits were much fewer, only 104 points. This was normal. Previously, he had been competing on the same stage as Eighth Rank contractors. Killing those Eighth Rank contractors yielded far more Scarlet Medals than Reincarnation Paradise Merits.
"Meow."
Beini called out, meaning she would continue exploring this tomb. If she found important information, she would send it to Su Xiao through the team channel.
As Beini interrupted the ability of [Shelter Stone], a pulling force came, and a spatial crack appeared behind Su Xiao.
After a brief darkness before his eyes, Su Xiao returned to the first floor of the Sun Holy Temple. Bubu Wang was looking around at the entrance, while Baha and Amu were searching inside the hall.
On the first floor of the Sun Holy Temple were dozens of stone pillars. This place was suitable for ambushes. The friendly contractors used these pillars as cover, focusing their firepower at the main entrance. The metal door there could be destroyed, but the walls could not.
Following the side staircase of the main hall, Su Xiao went up to the second floor. In the middle of the second floor was a passage several meters wide. On both sides were rooms without doors, with thin mist drifting inside.
After Su Xiao took a few steps, a pulling force came from beside him. His vision blurred, and he found himself on a circular stone platform.
This stone platform was about a hundred meters in size, perfectly round. At the edge, Su Xiao saw an endless pitch-black depth. Falling from here would definitely end badly.
Su Xiao could feel that he could leave this place at any time. But if an enemy entered here, he wouldn't be able to leave. One of them had to die before anyone could leave.
A spatial fluctuation appeared, and Su Xiao reappeared on the second floor of the temple. He looked at the doorless rooms on the left and right. There were 50 rooms in total, each one an arena. If two hostile people entered, one had to die for the other to come out.
This place was originally used by the Ganglu Dynasty to test 'Sun Warriors'. Only by passing these 50 trials could one become a formal Sun Warrior.
Assuming 50 friendly contractors were in these 50 rooms, any enemy passing in front of these doorless rooms would immediately be pulled in for a forced 1v1 duel.
Su Xiao walked forward. Every few steps, he would suddenly disappear and then reappear. When he reached the innermost part of the second floor, he raised his hand and pressed it on a hexagonal engraving. The spatial mechanism of the second floor was temporarily deactivated.
It seemed that the madmen on his side, upon knowing about this place, would be overjoyed. But who got these 50 spots was a big problem, to be resolved later.
Following the stairs from the second floor, Su Xiao went to the third floor. The third floor was empty.
Su Xiao took out a piece of clothing and threw it out. Numerous protruding crystals appeared on the walls.
Zzz~
Scorching golden lasers appeared. These were beams produced by converging sunlight. These finger-thick sun beams swept chaotically across the third floor, taking dozens of seconds to calm down.
Seeing this, Bubu Wang swallowed. The intensity of those sun beams was such that even Amu couldn't withstand them. Within 2 seconds in those sun beams, Amu would be sliced up and then burned to ashes.
[Tip (Void Tree): Sun Shelter is being generated...]
A circular mark appeared on the back of Su Xiao's hand. The sense of danger around him dissipated. He stepped forward and did not trigger the mechanism here.
This was the advantage of capturing the World Core first. After passing the third floor, Su Xiao reached the fourth floor. As soon as he entered the fourth floor, he immediately retreated.
Inside the fourth floor, the area was terraced. Over a hundred fiery red humanoid phantoms appeared. These phantoms held translucent bows. They drew their bows simultaneously and shot beams of sunlight.
Ding, ding, ding...
Over a hundred sun beams hit the walls, producing metallic clanging sounds. After sensing no living aura, these 102 humanoid phantoms disappeared.
The defense of the fourth floor seemed formidable, but for contractors, it was at most a deterrent. It would be broken through soon.
The 'Sun Shelter' mark on the back of Su Xiao's hand was slightly improved. When he entered the fourth floor, he no longer triggered the mechanism here.
Going up to the fifth floor, there were no defense mechanisms. The entire fifth floor was filled with walls of varying heights. Some were only half a meter tall, some over four meters. This was a mixed combat zone.
Upon reaching the sixth floor, many stone statues stood there. They were ordinary stone statues, without any unknown energy empowering them. They could be easily broken.
Su Xiao walked to the stairs of the sixth floor and found an ancient text written on the wall above. Thanks to his temporary universal language proficiency, he understood what this ancient text meant.
'No retreat ahead. Intruders die.'
Su Xiao stepped onto the stone stairs and entered the seventh floor, the highest floor of the Sun Holy Temple.
[Tip (Void Tree): You have arrived at the designated defense area.]