Chapter 27: Hidden Land
Su Xiao once again refused the assessment to become a Battle Angel. Once he agreed to this assessment, it would trigger the corresponding mission. At that time, whether the temporary brand on his arm could continue to disguise itself was unknown.
Walking out of the nearly ruined Grand Theater, Su Xiao headed toward the direction of Gem Street.
Through the temporary brand, Su Xiao checked the messages sent by two contractors, both wanting to sell Immortal-grade gems. Unfortunately, the gem data sent by these two was not suitable for Dragon-Slaying Flash.
From the current situation, it was unlikely to acquire a second Immortal-grade gem suitable for Dragon-Slaying Flash on the contact platform. There were three remaining channels: Gem Street, the Insect Kingdom, and the Kodo School.
Regarding gem acquisition, Su Xiao left it entirely to Beini. He himself continued to break the Ancient God's seal, which was also part of completing the main mission.
Returning to Gem Street, the streets were bustling with pedestrians. Su Xiao felt that if he did not interfere, when the Ancient God broke free from the seal in a few years, Gem Street would become one of the last few sanctuaries. The Kodo School managed this place precisely to prepare for that. There were too many crystal resin accessories here; unless the Ancient God personally descended, it would be difficult to corrupt this place.
Returning to the second floor of the inn, Su Xiao took out a map from his storage space, spread it flat on the table, and began to examine it.
The map was marked with many honeycomb-like white dots, each representing a bug tower. The interconnected bug towers could achieve long-distance spatial movement through the resonance of void chirping bugs.
The bug towers located on human territory were mostly connected by dotted lines. There were not many bug towers connected to the Insect Kingdom, only those in special areas like Gem Street and Outpost Light were linked to it.
Overall, this continent could be divided into three parts: human territory, the Insect Kingdom, and the territories of the beasts.
Human territory bordered the Insect Kingdom, with even large areas overlapping. The Insect Kingdom was built underground, which was normal.
The beasts' territories were located in the northern part of the continent. Getting there was not difficult; through the bug tower at Gem Street, one could reach 'Miya Canyon,' which was the beasts' territory.
The only problem was that in the beast tribes' area, there was basically no civilization left. It was absolute survival of the fittest. Whether one could negotiate with the intelligent beings encountered there depended entirely on luck.
The Wolf Spider Queen, the Great Sage, and the Light King. To break the seal, these three had to die. The Wolf Spider Queen was already dead, the Light King had been found, and only the Great Sage remained.
Unlike the Wolf Spider Queen and the Light King, the Great Sage's whereabouts were unknown. This was an old fellow who had survived to the extreme.
Su Xiao was not afraid of how strong the Great Sage was. With the Ancient God as the ceiling of combat power, the Great Sage's strength had its limits.
Su Xiao was worried that this old fellow was too good at hiding. If he kept hiding, unless he used the [Navigation Compass], it would be difficult to find him.
Thinking this over, Su Xiao decided to first go to the beasts' territory to see the situation. Unless absolutely necessary, he would not use the [Navigation Compass], which was the ultimate means of finding enemies or artifacts.
If he fell into a desperate situation because he could not find a certain artifact and was about to face the forced execution of the main mission, the [Navigation Compass] would be the last insurance. Used well, it was a life-saving treasure.
Bringing Bubu Wang, Baha, and Moon Spirit, Su Xiao headed straight for the bug tower area on the adjacent street.
After knocking on the bug tower's door for a while, the long-braided woman of the One-Legged Gang opened it. Her eyes were full of resentment. From her slightly disheveled hairstyle, she had just woken up. This was a woman with a strong temper.
"Where to?"
"Miya Canyon."
"500 Lang crystal resin."
Leaving these words, the long-braided woman turned and walked up the spiral staircase behind to activate the bug tower.
In the end, Su Xiao paid 30 Lang crystal resin, and the bug tower started. These gang members were sometimes unfriendly, but they followed the rules. Or rather, in 'Dank City,' the gangs that did not follow the rules had already been dealt with by the Kodo School.
The surrounding mist was hazy. When the spatial fluctuations dissipated, Su Xiao was standing by a small river. He looked around; no matter how he looked at it, this was not 'Miya Canyon.' There were no mountains, not even a single stone. The scene before him was full of withered branches and fallen leaves. The water in the nearby river was faintly purple, indicating it was highly toxic.
"This is... where? Pudu hu (local world curse word)."
The long-braided woman not far away spoke. She was completely dumbfounded. After activating the bug tower, as the tower's activator, she had been teleported here as well.
"You're asking us? Isn't this 'Miya Canyon'?"
Baha looked at the long-braided woman, whose expression was somewhat embarrassed. She said, "Normally, you should have arrived at Miya Canyon."
"And in abnormal situations?"
"Well~, using the bug tower carries some risk."
Hearing the long-braided woman's words, Baha felt relieved.
"Do you often encounter this situation?"
"No, I've worked at the bug tower on Gem Street for 6 years, and this is the first time I've encountered this."
"Damn it, refund."
"Okay."
"You..."
Baha was momentarily speechless. The long-braided woman really refunded the money, returning the 30 Lang crystal resin she had just received to Baha.
"What can be confirmed is that this must be the beasts' territory. The bug tower's teleportation can have deviations, but not too far."
As she spoke, the long-braided woman walked into the withered dense forest. After a few steps, she suddenly thought of something and said, "If you need anything in the future, remember to visit... uh~, forget it. Where the hell is this? Pudu hu."
The long-braided woman cursed softly and walked away, clearly feeling uneasy.
"Damn it, could this be the work of the Goddess of Fortune?"
Baha speculated that this misfortune might be due to the Goddess of Fortune's covert influence. However, there was no evidence yet, only suspicion.
Meanwhile, near the bug tower at Miya Canyon, the Goddess of Fortune was in a spatial rift.
"Based on spatial wave sensing, it should be here. But where did they all go? I didn't affect their luck. The teleportation shouldn't have gone wrong."
The Goddess of Fortune's energy avatar penetrated the bug tower, looked around inside for a moment, but did not find Su Xiao.
"Thinking carefully, I think I only affected his luck once. What kind of aura is this, fluctuating so wildly?"
The Goddess of Fortune was puzzled, but in her view, it didn't matter. She came here mainly because she was interested in Fate Dominator and wanted to see how Su Xiao had forged it to such a degree. The risk of forcefully taking it was too high, so the Goddess of Fortune planned to replicate a Fate Dominator.
"Forget it, I'll go back."
The Goddess of Fortune's energy avatar gradually dissipated. Interestingly, others would run away after doing bad things, but the Goddess of Fortune was the opposite; she took the blame and left.
...
Unknown Area.
Su Xiao walked through the withered jungle. A decaying smell permeated the air, as if all the vitality of the plants had been taken away. This feeling was not like corruption; corruption was the erosion of Ancient God energy, not forced plunder.
Su Xiao speculated that this might be where the Ancient God first descended. The Ancient God had used this place as a center to suck the life out of this world, causing this scene.
Rather than wondering what caused this jungle to become like this, Su Xiao wanted to know where exactly this was.
Su Xiao continued forward. He felt that his arrival here was no coincidence. He had used the bug tower many times, and never had mist appeared during the teleportation. It seemed someone had deliberately interfered, rather than him being unlucky and being teleported here.
After walking about half a kilometer, the vegetation ahead began to thin out, with strange rocks standing everywhere. A steep cliff wall lay ahead, blocking the way.
At the base of this cliff wall was a patch of black-gray land, where the vegetation had decayed to the point of being brittle, crunching underfoot.
A stone altar about a hundred meters in diameter appeared ahead. The altar was covered in cracks, and the center was inlaid with soul crystals, but these soul crystals were all empty shells.
The altar was severely damaged. Su Xiao walked up, crouched down at the center of the altar to examine it, and finally concluded that after completing some task, the altar had been destroyed, even smashed to pieces. Some parts were barely pieced together with rock powder.
After the altar was destroyed, it seemed someone had repaired it, apparently wanting others to come here and see it.
Su Xiao picked up a fragment of a soul crystal. Inside, he could faintly see black threads, caused by erosion from Ancient God power.
After observation, Su Xiao confirmed one thing: this was where the Ancient God descended. More importantly, the Ancient God did not descend voluntarily but was summoned here by this altar.
Since it was not an invasive descent, who summoned the Ancient God? Based on known clues, Su Xiao already had an answer in mind.
PS: (I have something to do in the afternoon and need to go out for a while. I'll update one chapter at noon first. Asking for monthly votes.)