Chapter 58: Immortality and the Mask
The Soul Skeleton knelt on both knees, holding a metal cup with both hands. Black reverse-flow incense overflowed from the cup, shrouding the ground and vaguely giving a sense of security.
After successfully activating one "Soul Skeleton," the Soul Shop refreshed. The prices of the two original exchangeable items decreased, their stock increased, and three new items appeared.
Divine Bone, Sanctuary Language, and an Immortal-rank weapon.
The Immortal-rank weapon [Soul Scythe: Death Herald] — just by looking at its name, one could feel its devastating lethality. However, Su Xiao decided not to exchange it for now because, after activating other "Soul Skeletons" later, the exchange price of [Soul Scythe: Death Herald] would decrease.
Su Xiao was very curious about what the "Core Enhancement" effect of Immortal-rank equipment was, but he currently lacked sufficient Soul Coins, and exchanging it now would be too wasteful.
Su Xiao currently had 1,500 Soul Coins. The large quantity of [Crude Soul Condensate] in his storage space could be sold at any time for 950 Soul Coins. Besides these, Eunice's Scarlet Card could also yield some Soul Coins.
Su Xiao would not touch the [Crude Soul Condensate] or Eunice's Scarlet Card for now. He would only consider using them in an urgent need for Soul Coins. Selling the [Crude Soul Condensate] now would result in a loss of 122 Soul Coins.
Su Xiao spent 100 Soul Coins to first exchange 2 Epic-rank Divine Bones. The more of these, the better.
In his storage space, he had 4 Holy Spirit-rank Divine Bones and 2 Epic-rank Divine Bones, all prepared for Fate Dominator.
Three Divine Bones of the same rank could be synthesized into one [Divine Miracle] of the same rank, something Su Xiao urgently needed.
Fate Dominator was Legendary-rank. To upgrade it to Holy Spirit-rank, it required an Epic-rank [Divine Miracle] and a Holy Spirit-rank [Divine Miracle].
Su Xiao could have synthesized the Holy Spirit-rank [Divine Miracle] long ago, but the Epic-rank one had been impossible due to insufficient Divine Bones of the same rank. Now, he finally obtained Epic-rank Divine Bones.
A long time ago, Su Xiao had always thought Divine Bones were useless, causing him to miss out on several Epic-rank Divine Bones. It wasn't until later that he obtained one.
This was Su Xiao's mistake, and precisely this mistake caused Fate Dominator to remain Legendary-rank until now. Fortunately, his luck was good this time.
Putting away the Divine Bones in his hand, Su Xiao looked at the last exchange option: Kyriad Language, which was the language of the Sanctuary.
Undoubtedly, if Su Xiao completed his promotion mission and left the Sanctuary of Kyriad alive, this language would be essentially useless. Moreover, its exchange price was as high as 320 Soul Coins.
Over 300 Soul Coins was no small amount. Su Xiao's total income from fighting in a Seventh Rank world was usually around 4,000 to 8,000 Soul Coins, and that was under favorable circumstances.
But if he didn't exchange for the Sanctuary Language, Su Xiao wouldn't understand what the enemies were saying. The Sanctuary of Kyriad was different from places like Dead Silence City or Doom Town. For example, the Sun Warriors — though fierce and powerful, they were capable of communication.
Not only the Sun Warriors, Su Xiao suspected that aside from enemies like the Jailers who were half-dead, most other enemies were in a communicable state, such as the Big Axe Brother he encountered earlier.
Although Su Xiao didn't really need to communicate with enemies, he needed to know what they were saying. Blindly charging toward the Central District of the Sanctuary of Kyriad was suicidal. Not only were the enemies strong there, but there were also many malicious mechanisms.
Su Xiao felt that learning the language here would likely not be a loss. The over 300 Soul Coins were like an investment — the earlier the investment, the higher the return.
Moreover, in the Torture Dungeon, a very special Sun Warrior was imprisoned. Knowing the language here would allow him to deceive... negotiate with the other party.
Shenfu, his temporary teammate, was missing, dead or alive. Su Xiao needed a new temporary teammate, someone to scout ahead.
Earlier, when he looked at that Sun Warrior, he seemed not very bright, yet strong enough. Plus, Sun Warriors were thick-skinned and tough, with survivability surpassing even Amu without a shield. Most importantly, that Sun Warrior was a local, more familiar with this place.
Having made up his mind, Su Xiao spent 320 Soul Coins to exchange for the Kyriad Language.
Soul Coins rapidly depleted, and Su Xiao felt a slight dizziness as a large amount of information about the "Kyriad Language" appeared in his mind.
This language was very complex because it was extremely ancient. If one traced the eras of this world backward, it would be:
Soul Energy Era → Ganglu Dynasty → Empire Wars → Chaos Calendar → Dark Age → Unknown Era.
The "Kyriad Language" Su Xiao now mastered was the language before the Dark Age. It wasn't that older things were better, but this language was so complex that it was unnecessarily so.
More than half of the characters in the Kyriad Language, at first glance, would be mistaken for the emblem of some family.
Su Xiao gradually sorted out the somewhat chaotic knowledge in his mind. This language seemed to be used not only for communication but also had a more important function, otherwise it wouldn't be so expensive.
Walking out of the cell where the "Soul Skeleton" was located, Su Xiao, along with Bubu Wang and Baha, headed toward the cell where the Sun Warrior was imprisoned.
Meanwhile, in the Sacred Sacrifice Hall of Kyriad Royal City.
Sunlight streamed through numerous holes in the ceiling, casting large patches of light spots on the floor. At the deepest part of the "Sacred Sacrifice Hall," a strong man sat. His head was full of golden hair, wild like a lion's mane, and the muscles on his chest were as distinct as granite.
What was most eye-catching was the mask on this man's face. The mask was overall bone-white, with a black hole as thick as an index finger at the center of the forehead. This was exactly the Dark Mask that Shenfu and Guild Leader Rogesh wanted.
Black liquid, like traces of blood, flowed from the black hole of the mask, dripping down his chin. The golden-haired man held a stone basin in both hands, already filled with black liquid.
Drip~
A drop of black liquid fell into the stone basin, stirring up layers of ripples. The masked man remained motionless, like a sculpture.
With a creak, the two large doors of the Sacred Sacrifice Hall were pushed open. Over a dozen Sun Warriors holding war spears entered the hall, lining up in two rows on either side of the lion-skin carpet.
Guild Leader Rogesh walked into the Sacred Sacrifice Hall. He looked at the golden-haired man sitting at the far end and the mask on the other's face.
"What meaning is there in taking the mask from me?"
Guild Leader Rogesh stepped forward, finally stopping before the stone platform where the golden-haired man sat. His hand reached for the Dark Mask, intending to remove it from the golden-haired man's face.
Slap!
A large hand grabbed Rogesh's wrist. With a crack, Rogesh's wrist was twisted and deformed. This strength was terrifying, almost unbelievable.
Rogesh hooked his finger, tossing the Dark Mask into his other hand.
"Your two children have grown up. One is named Hushiro, the other Enier. Unfortunately, one of them is already dead. If you delay any longer, the other will also be on the verge of death. As their true father, go save him."
Rogesh whispered into the golden-haired man's ear. As soon as he finished speaking, the golden-haired man slowly stood up. Over three meters tall, he looked down at Rogesh.
Powerful, incomparably powerful. This golden-haired man was Rogesh's former nemesis. The two had a decisive battle, and in the end, Rogesh lost. But now, he had returned to the Sanctuary of Kyriad.
After a moment, the golden-haired man put down the stone basin, brushed past Rogesh, and walked out of the Sacred Sacrifice Hall. As he passed by a Sun Warrior, he stabbed his index finger without any resistance into the Sun Warrior's brain. The Sun Warrior's body began to dissolve, eventually being completely absorbed by the golden-haired man.
After the golden-haired man left, Rogesh picked up the stone basin and poured the black liquid over his head. This caused his entire body to turn pitch black. He lowered his head, standing still in place for about half an hour, before picking up the Dark Mask beside him and putting it on his face.
With a thud, an impact spread. A hole appeared above Rogesh, and a large amount of black liquid poured out, enveloping him.
Bang!
An explosion occurred. The Dark Mask flew out from the black fluid. Everything disappeared in an instant. The Sacred Sacrifice Hall returned to its original state. Rogesh's long hair fluttered, his eyes black-red, making him look like a demon crawling out of hell.
"Not enough, far from enough. Hushiro, don't disappoint me. Accept your father's power, then... come before me, and let me take your power."
The doors of the Sacred Sacrifice Hall slammed shut. Guild Leader Rogesh's plan was about to succeed. He was not Hushiro's father at all. Everything about touching the Dark Mask and passing the "Immortal Power" to Hushiro was all lies.
Hushiro's immortal body was his innate power. He and his sister — one inherited their father's Immortal Power, while the other remained forever young.
Hushiro belonged to the Sanctuary. No, he was born in the Sanctuary of Kyriad, which was why he could ignore the scorching of the "Sun" and fully activate the fifth key, the Heart Flame. All of this was planned by Rogesh long ago.
When Rogesh's plan succeeded and he finally wore the Dark Mask, he would be the undisputed strongest in this world.
In Rogesh's view, life was too fragile, including his own. Even with his current strength, being beheaded would still kill him.
So he had always thought: if he possessed Immortal Power, maintained an eternally young body, and finally wore the Dark Mask, could he achieve immortality? Even if the price was becoming inhuman.
Immortal Power, Eternal Youth Body, and the Dark Mask were the three main points of Rogesh's plan.
Rogesh had obtained the Eternal Youth Body over a decade ago. He purified Hushiro's sister into a liquid state and drank it. After that, Rogesh stopped aging. As a bonus, he also acquired the "Puppet" technique, creating puppets like "No. 9" and "No. 0."
Now, Rogesh had also obtained the Dark Mask. He only lacked Hushiro's Immortal Power. But that power was not yet perfect. When it became perfect enough, Rogesh would go to take it.