Chapter 25: The Frenzy of Abundant Life
After confirming that the cursed man had entered the sea, Su Xiao walked toward the ancient castle. The dangers within this castle had mostly been cleared, except for a certain secret chamber on the third underground floor, where the danger could not be resolved through the cursed man.
Su Xiao still had many things to do. The main quest required finding the Byrne Family Heirloom, but Baha had searched Baron Byrne and found nothing particularly special.
Aside from the Byrne Family Heirloom, there was also the hidden quest just received: "Sinister Object." The requirement for this quest was simple and crude—destroy the sinister object within the castle. The reward was a [Overflowing Soul Chest].
After entering the main gate of the castle, Su Xiao dismissed the notifications from Reincarnation Paradise. When the cursed men had stormed the castle earlier, his notifications had been flooding the screen, all of them indicating Soul Coin gains.
By killing the parasitic insect guards within the castle, Su Xiao had obtained a total of 895 Soul Coins. As for chest drops, he ignored them for now.
Su Xiao had already discovered that in any fully open Primordial World certified by the Void Tree, if a large number of temporary summons were created, the chest drop rate after killing enemies would drop to an extremely pitiful level.
He recalled that last time in the Primordial Continent, after summoning the insect race and allowing them to develop extensively, the Void Tree had issued multiple warnings. At that time, unless he killed a Lord-tier or Overlord-tier enemy, he couldn't expect any chest rewards.
Su Xiao suspected that even if he now obtained the "key" to enter the Primordial Continent, and his strength was temporarily suppressed to the Seventh Rank, he might not necessarily be able to enter.
The insect girl Jila was still in the Primordial Continent, eating and drinking freely. If Su Xiao entered that trial-type world, starting with hundreds of thousands of Seventh Rank insect creatures, the psychological trauma for the other trial participants in his batch would be immense.
Inside the dim castle, Su Xiao walked down a long corridor. The walls on both sides were splattered with bloodstains, giving a clear picture of how brutal the previous battle had been.
[Notification: You have purged the Byrne Family of Sinking Ship Island.]
[You have obtained 10.5% World Source.]
[Legendary Reputation increased by 470 points.]
...
After glancing at the notification, Su Xiao continued deeper into the castle. Soon, he reached the first underground floor, where a foul stench permeated the air.
Wooden shelves lined the walls, filled with rows of specimen jars. The jars were filled with brownish-yellow liquid, and faint shapes could be seen submerged within.
Despair, oppression, and bloodshed—that was the first underground floor of the Byrne Family Castle. Seeing the iron cages stained with mottled bloodstains, one could almost hear the victims' wails.
Su Xiao walked down the stone steps to the second underground floor. Baron Byrne's headless corpse lay on the ground. Ignoring the body, Su Xiao continued down the nearby stairs.
Winnie, following behind, stopped. When Amu and Baha also descended the stairs, Winnie mimicked Baha's gesture, flipping off Baron Byrne's corpse. She had almost vomited on the first underground floor, but now her sense of oppression had greatly diminished, and she trotted down the stairs.
On the third underground floor of the castle, it was like a maze. The carvings on the walls resembled countless wriggling thin worms crawling over them.
Su Xiao entered the maze. The cursed men's method of breaking through the maze was simple: if the walls were too hard, they relied on numbers. Over a hundred cursed men entered the maze, and after a chaotic exploration and random hacking at the walls, they found the secret chamber on the other side.
At every turn, Su Xiao saw a cursed man. Guided by them, he advanced unimpeded and reached the innermost part of the maze.
This was a wall covered in twisted patterns, with a hidden door half-open. Energy was drifting out from within.
As soon as one entered this hidden door, the cursed men's health would drop by 10% per second, with a judgment check each second. If the check failed, they would suffer a permanent debuff called "Insect Mutation."
Su Xiao reached his hand into the energy drifting from the hidden door. A stinging sensation spread across his skin. Cyan Steel Shadow Energy surged through his hand, and the stinging faded.
Releasing his Cyan Steel Shadow Energy outward, Su Xiao's entire body was covered in it. This state consumed 500 points of Cyan Steel Shadow Energy per second, meaning it could last about a minute.
Su Xiao stepped into the secret chamber. It was about 30 square meters in size. On the inner wall was a stone slab-like protrusion, on which sat half a statue. The statue was about 20 centimeters tall, with the upper half broken off, leaving only the lower half. Its form was abstract, with a fat, worm-like short tail that left a deep impression.
This statue should be the sinister object that the hidden quest required destroying.
Su Xiao drew the Dragon-Slaying Flash from his waist and slashed. The blade stopped just one centimeter from the statue. His perception was warning him, and his entire body felt a stinging sensation.
Su Xiao frowned. Destroying this sinister object by violent means was not impossible, but the cost would be great. The statue seemed like a living thing.
He sheathed his blade and looked at the statue ahead. He had plenty of experience dealing with such things, given his frequent hunts of Ancient Gods and battles with various Violators.
To deal with the sinister object before him, he needed something more bizarre, more sinister, more evil. He had such things in his storage space.
After searching his storage space for a moment, Su Xiao's furrowed brow relaxed. He took out a translucent tentacle and tossed it toward the statue.
The moment the translucent tentacle touched the statue, countless thin worms emerged from within. These worms twisted their bodies, each with a mouth full of sharp teeth. In an instant, they devoured most of the translucent tentacle, eventually consuming it entirely.
"Mortal, I forgive your disrespect. Kneel, and I will grant you power."
A deep voice came from within the statue. Su Xiao stepped back a few paces, thought for a moment, and felt this distance was still not safe. He retreated to the door of the secret chamber. If things went wrong, he would retreat immediately. The danger was not from the statue itself, but from what was about to be drawn here.
The translucent tentacle Su Xiao had thrown was called [Writhing Tentacle]. He had obtained it during a transaction using the Book of Gates, when he encountered an unruly "Void Existence."
That "Void Existence" had appeared 376 years ago and was called the Fallen Apostle. Compared to other Void Existences, the Fallen Apostle was practically an infant—no, a fertilized egg.
The powerful Void Existences had existed for tens of thousands of years. They drifted through the gaps in space. Even attempting to listen to their voices was extremely dangerous. The knowledge contained in those voices was too vast and chaotic for living beings to bear, unless one was very strong.
In reality, Void Existences and Ancient Gods were equally dangerous, but the former were more passive. If one encountered a Void Existence and didn't attack it, it would generally ignore the living being it happened upon.
However, if one offered something that satisfied a Void Existence, they would pay with knowledge of equal value—at least most Void Existences did. But if one ate their kind...
Su Xiao looked at the statue ahead. He could feel that everything around him was showing signs of withering. The Void Existence he had summoned this time was too strong. He had encountered that existence once before, and it had traded with him. That existence was called:
The Frenzy of Abundant Life!
With a crisp crack, a sound came from behind the statue. A crack appeared in the air, like glass shattering. The space of this Eighth Rank world was splitting open. The world was rejecting something, but that existence was still arriving.
Crack! Crack!
More spatial cracks appeared around the statue. Sensing danger, thin worms emerged from within the statue, writhing incessantly.
Several tree roots extended from the spatial cracks. One of them touched the statue—just the lightest touch.
"Skree!!"
A piercing wail spread. With just the slightest touch from the Frenzy of Abundant Life, the statue revealed its true form. Countless thin worms formed a humanoid shape, only the upper half. It tilted its head back, mouth open to the maximum, pale yellow saliva dripping from the corners. The dozen or so eyeballs on its face were nearly bulging out. This thing was expressing an extremely intense emotion: fear, indescribable fear.
The sinister object crumbled like sand blown by the wind. Seemingly satisfied with this meal, the Frenzy of Abundant Life's tree roots flicked, and a small section of root detached, flying toward Su Xiao.
A voice appeared in Su Xiao's ears. It was more like a fragment of a single note, conveying very little meaning, roughly: "Do not touch, cannot contact, avoid direct contact, etc."
Due to the chaotic information, Su Xiao stopped trying to understand after grasping the basic meaning of this "note fragment." Instead, he took out a charcoal box. This was made by burning the bark shed from the Black Maple Tree, compressing the resulting charcoal into a small box, specially used to store dangerous items.
The small section of tree root fell into the charcoal box. With a snap, Su Xiao sealed the box tightly. He didn't yet know what this thing could do. If he could discover its use, it would be a huge gain.
If he couldn't figure it out, he could consider giving this small section of tree root to some "lucky person," letting the Frenzy of Abundant Life "say hello" to them.
[Notification: You have completed the hidden quest: Sinister Object.]
[You have obtained the Overflowing Soul Chest.]
Su Xiao looked at the Frenzy of Abundant Life, which had not yet left. This was one of the oldest Void Existences. It would be a waste not to ask something after summoning it, even though there was considerable risk. This encounter was actually quite rare.
A long time ago, Su Xiao had traded with this entity, obtaining the Alchemy Codex. They could barely be considered old friends. Otherwise, it wouldn't have gifted him a small section of "tree root."
"Abundant Life, I have a question for you."
As he spoke, Su Xiao took out a [Divine Energy Condensed Mass]. He had four of these, obtained from the Source: Divine Realm.
Su Xiao tossed the [Divine Energy Condensed Mass]. The Frenzy of Abundant Life's tree roots wrapped around it but didn't immediately absorb it. This was also why Su Xiao chose to negotiate with the Frenzy of Abundant Life. Although this Void Existence was powerful, it was a good trading partner.
"What is the use of the First Generation Law Destroyer's finger bone? Or rather, how should I use it?"
Hearing Su Xiao's words, the Frenzy of Abundant Life's tree roots absorbed the [Divine Energy Condensed Mass]. A mass of black energy surged on the roots, quickly solidifying into a stony form, then detached, hovering in midair.
This crystal-like black sphere was about the size of a marble. Su Xiao stepped forward, hesitated for a moment, then grabbed this small sphere.
[You have obtained a 'Gift from the Frenzy of Abundant Life.' This gift contains a vast amount of information and knowledge, part of which pertains to the method of using the First Generation Shadow of Law Destruction's remains.]