Chapter 61: The Prophet Tablet
Inside an old building in Chiliaad Royal City.
Blood seeped through Su Xiao's fingers. His exchange with Death Shadow Oviah had been extremely brief—it seemed he had effortlessly slain her, but that was not the case.
At this moment, Su Xiao's health was dropping at a rate of 5% per second. An unknown substance with dark properties was eroding his body from the penetrating wound in his lower abdomen.
Although Oviah was a powerhouse leaning toward the good faction, this woman was decisive and ruthless in battle. When she realized the Red-Eyed Girl had no effect on Su Xiao and Uchi, and that Su Xiao had closed in on her, she made an instant decision—to drag Su Xiao down with her.
The blood seeping through his fingers turned black. Su Xiao took out a white round stone. He did not drink a recovery potion. Given his current internal condition, a recovery potion would have minimal effect. More importantly, when he had just taken out the recovery item, his Instinct ability gave a faint warning.
What had invaded his body was not energy, but an unknown substance—Oviah's trump card.
[Shadow of Sinking Darkness has subsided.]
[Hunter did not use recovery potions, items, etc. Shadow of Sinking Darkness not fully activated.]
Black sandy smoke drifted from the wound on Su Xiao's lower abdomen. The unknown substance inside him gathered toward the wound, then floated away from his body.
Being inside 'Chiliaad Royal City', if he had a full-fledged battle with Oviah, even if he won, the outcome would not be good. There were all kinds of monsters here, as well as Sun Warriors. Attracting either side would be a very bad result.
Su Xiao checked himself, confirmed there were no issues, then took out a bottle of [Vitality Essence] and drank it. The wound on his abdomen gradually healed, and his damaged organs slowly recovered. It would take some time to fully heal.
[Prompt: You have killed Death Shadow Oviah.]
[You obtain 8.97% World Source.]
[You obtain Blazing Sun Disk (Special item of this world, guaranteed to drop upon holder's death).]
[You obtain Faith Spirit Box (Chest-type item).]
After reviewing the kill prompt for Oviah, Su Xiao confirmed one thing: Shenfu was not dead yet. The 'key' had the property of dropping upon death. The fact that Shenfu did not leave behind the Penitent Thorn Whip after death already explained a lot.
As his injuries recovered, Su Xiao looked at the Ouroboros Stone Tablet on the ground. He felt this thing actually didn't have much real ability.
Su Xiao picked up the Ouroboros Stone Tablet. The treasure locations written on it—he would not easily believe them.
"Baha, smash the Blazing Sun Disk."
The Ouroboros Stone Tablet had previously hinted it could devour the other four keys. Su Xiao speculated this was likely false, so he tested it.
"Got it."
Baha made as if to smash the Blazing Sun Disk. He understood Su Xiao's intention and wouldn't actually destroy it.
Just as Baha grabbed the Blazing Sun Disk, a line of text appeared on the Ouroboros Stone Tablet.
'Do not smash it. The Blazing Sun Disk is connected to the 'Sun'. I am not yet qualified to devour it. You must first obtain the Judgment Scepter.'
Seeing this text, Su Xiao understood what was going on. The Ouroboros Stone Tablet could not devour the other four keys. The previous hint was false. When the Ouroboros Stone Tablet sensed it was about to be destroyed, it intended to use this method to trick the holder into dying—that is, trick Su Xiao into dying. After all, the holders of the other four keys were all very strong.
Crack!
Su Xiao crushed the Ouroboros Stone Tablet in his hand. He had just had Bubu Wang scout. After Bubu activated all his aura abilities, he sensed a very dangerous aura to the southeast.
A dull thud came from the southeast. A church there unfolded, wild tentacles spreading outward like a terrifying blooming flower.
After a moment, these tentacles gradually retracted, reforming into a church. If Su Xiao had believed the Ouroboros Stone Tablet's words, he would have entered that church to seek treasure. The outcome was predictable—entering the body of that unknown creature would likely result in casualties. Bubu Wang had the highest chance of dying there, as he was very afraid of this type of disguised giant enemy.
This was the price of trusting the Ouroboros Stone Tablet. Snakes in most cases represent lies, poison, death, etc. The Ouroboros Stone Tablet was no exception.
There is no such thing as a free lunch in this world. The Ouroboros Stone Tablet had existed for over a thousand years. Would it easily submit? The answer was no.
Stone fragments fell from Su Xiao's fingertips. He brushed the dust off his hands. Just as he was about to walk out of the abandoned building, the Ouroboros Stone Tablet, now reduced to rubble, began to 'reverse flow', quickly reassembling and returning to his hand. A line of text appeared on it.
'Greed is the greatest original sin in this world. I am the Ptolemy Tablet, the Prophet Tablet. I can still prophesy 2 times. After 2 prophecies, the energy accumulated over 317 years will be exhausted.'
Seeing these words on the tablet, Su Xiao frowned in thought.
"Second Era: Alchemical Civilization's origin."
Su Xiao casually asked a question.
'What is Alchemical Civilization?'
Not only did the Prophet Tablet not answer Su Xiao's question, it seemed to want to supplement its own knowledge through Su Xiao.
"How to obtain the Dark Mask."
As soon as Su Xiao finished speaking, text appeared on the Prophet Tablet.
'This exceeds the limit of prophecy. You yourself, as well as Rogash, Xi Wu, Shenfu, Xiuluo, and everyone else—everything you do will affect the ownership of the Dark Mask. There is no absolute prophecy in this world. Your strength makes the prophecy very inaccurate. Do you need... such a prophecy?'
Su Xiao found that the Prophet Tablet seemed somewhat more reliable. This thing indeed had limited ability, but the information it provided had some reference value.
"Where are the remaining Soul Skeletons."
After Su Xiao asked this question, fine cracks appeared on the Prophet Tablet, and a line of text appeared on it.
'Chiliaad Royal City: Prayer Place, Gallery, King's Palace, Holy Sacrifice Hall.'
These should be four hidden or very dangerous areas within the Holy Land. Su Xiao was not prepared to fully believe them.
The last question, asking where to obtain more benefits, seemed good on the surface, but was not. The Prophet Tablet would try to trick all greedy people into dying.
"Last question, what is the weakness of the Dark Mask."
Su Xiao speculated that his promotion mission should be greatly related to the Dark Mask. Since he couldn't ask where the mask was, knowing how to destroy it was also good.
With a crackling sound, the Prophet Tablet in Su Xiao's hand exploded, emitting terrified wails, as if hundreds or thousands of voices were overlapping.
Su Xiao's vision changed. A pitch-black hole appeared in front of him. As the black hole receded, he saw a bone-white mask covered in cracks.
'Good luck to you, my sixth user.'
After the broken Prophet Tablet formed this line of text, a spatial vortex appeared, sucking the stone fragments into it.
Whether the information provided by the Prophet Tablet was credible remained to be verified.
"Uchi, have you heard of the Prayer Place?"
"I have. Why are you going there? That place is nothing special, just a broken wooden hut."
"Some personal matters."
"Alright then, follow me."
Uchi walked out. Earlier, he had lured away many of the monsters nearby. These monsters were once civilians of the Holy Land. When the 'Sun' began to scorch the Holy Land, a small number of civilians survived, but they were all mutated into monsters by the erosion of Solar Force.
Uchi led the way. He was very familiar with the Royal City. On the way to the Prayer Place, Uchi never took the main streets, but traveled through alleys or buildings.
After more than ten minutes, Uchi stopped ahead. A triangular building appeared in front. This building was made of wood, with iron bars connecting the logs, covered in vines.
There were almost no plants visible in the Royal City, so this triangular wooden building was particularly conspicuous.
Approaching it, Su Xiao found the interior was not large, only about a dozen square meters. A skeleton emitting a faint white light knelt inside, facing outward. The metal cup in its hands overflowed with inverted incense smoke.
This Soul Skeleton seemed to have been activated, which made Su Xiao alert. Bubu Wang and Baha spread out left and right, beginning to scout the surroundings.
Su Xiao walked into the triangular wooden hut and reached out to touch the Soul Skeleton.
Waves~
A ripple spread. Su Xiao's tense nerves relaxed a bit. This Soul Skeleton had not been activated by someone; it was inherently special.
[You have activated the 3rd 'Soul Skeleton'.]
[This Soul Skeleton has spatial properties and is connected to the Soul Skeleton in the Holy Sacrifice Hall. Would you like to consume 20 Soul Coins to teleport to the Holy Sacrifice Hall?]