Chapter 83: The Big Shot Named Fairy
The fluctuations in the gallery dissipated, and the corpse sitting on the iron chair exploded into a mass of flesh and blood, which turned to ash as soon as it hit the ground.
Gray Gentleman had made thorough preparations, and having discovered that Su Xiao was an alchemist, he had disposed of the used body so cleanly. Suffice it to say, Gray Gentleman was genuinely afraid that Su Xiao would obtain his flesh and blood tissue to track him down.
As the saying goes, injuring the enemy by a thousand costs oneself eight hundred, but Gray Gentleman's move here could be described as aiding the enemy by nine hundred ninety-nine while gaining nine hundred ninety-nine for himself.
Undoubtedly, Gray Gentleman's purpose in coming to this world from start to finish was the Death Holy Grail, and everything he did revolved around the Holy Grail.
This all began when S-109 (Gaze Eye) was brought to the real world.
Initially, Gray Gentleman wasn't scheming against Su Xiao. His goal was simply to bring S-109 (Gaze Eye) back to the real world so that the Gaze Eye could be used in other primordial worlds.
When Gray Gentleman was wrapping up his plan in the real world, he encountered Gulu. Originally, Gray Gentleman planned to teach Gulu a lesson and let her live out of respect for Tuanzhang. As a violator, Gray Gentleman wouldn't actively provoke Tuanzhang. In his view, provoking Tuanzhang before reaching a certain level of strength was an extremely idiotic and brain-dead move.
What Gray Gentleman didn't expect was that the person handling the Gaze Eye in the real world was Su Xiao.
This delighted Gray Gentleman immensely. His last world progression was in the Alliance World, and through a contractor, he had brought the Gaze Eye to the real world. Being able to accomplish this, Gray Gentleman naturally knew that after Su Xiao temporarily destroyed the Gaze Eye, the remaining ashes would be the key to entering the Alliance World. In the next world, Su Xiao had over an eighty percent chance of entering the Alliance World.
After confirming this, Gray Gentleman's mood improved even further. In reality, his original scheme in the Alliance World wasn't for S-109 (Gaze Eye) but for S-002 (Death Holy Grail).
To take the Death Holy Grail out of the Alliance World, an event notarized by the Void Tree needed to be triggered. The prerequisites for this event were quite complex, requiring travel back and forth between the Eastern Continent and the Western Continent.
The last time Gray Gentleman sought the Death Holy Grail, he collaborated with a violator named Soul King, who was at the top tier of the eighth rank. For this, Gray Gentleman paid a considerable reward. The result was that during the final judgment, Gray Gentleman successfully passed the willpower judgment, while Soul King failed the soul judgment on the spot, his body exploding into tens of millions of pieces.
Fortunately, Gray Gentleman had prepared a backup plan, using his secret technique puppet to bear the punishment. The secret technique puppet he had never been willing to use was destroyed on the spot, a huge loss.
Originally, Gray Gentleman had given up, planning to make do with S-109 (Gaze Eye) after obtaining it. But upon learning that Su Xiao was about to enter the Alliance World, Gray Gentleman immediately decided to enter the world together.
Why hadn't Gray Gentleman's puppet shown up since entering this world? The reason was that he was preparing to trigger the "Death Holy Grail Event," during which he traveled back and forth between the Eastern and Western Continents multiple times.
Back then, Gray Gentleman couldn't be sure if Soul King would pass the soul judgment, but he was certain that Su Xiao would. As Shenfu put it: "That guy's soul strength—you, me, and Fairy combined might not match his. A soul strength that can withstand the gaze of an eighth-rank ancient god is more terrifying than you imagine."
Gray Gentleman had estimated back then that this damn task was likely beyond the limits of eighth-rank contractors, which was why no one had taken the Death Holy Grail in all these years. He couldn't take it himself, but if he added Su Xiao, he could handle the willpower judgment while Su Xiao handled the soul judgment.
After success, he would use his authority as the team founder to give up all rewards except the Death Holy Grail. This way, he had a decent chance of obtaining the Death Holy Grail without division and with minimal weakening.
For Gray Gentleman, even a Death Holy Grail weakened by ninety percent was better than S-109 (Gaze Eye).
Gray Gentleman had bided his time for a world and completed this at the last moment. Not only that, but he had an even slicker move: before coming himself, he had tricked Fairy into entering first.
For Gray Gentleman, he knew Su Xiao would come to the Alliance World. They had clashed multiple times, and the incident in the Sky Void Continent had left him somewhat traumatized.
Gray Gentleman admitted that if he were scheming for the Death Holy Grail while being targeted by Su Xiao, he would be done for. Within a few days, his puppet would be killed.
So Gray Gentleman tricked Fairy into entering first. He wanted Fairy to draw all of Su Xiao's hatred and then bear the brunt of Su Xiao's firepower, allowing him to operate in the shadows.
Things developed according to this plan. In the early stages of this world, Fairy was the epitome of a big shot, hunting powerful figures across the Eastern Continent and firmly holding the top spot on the World Source Ranking.
The bad news began from there. Fairy hadn't actually done much—just chatted with Su Xiao a couple of times on the communication platform—and then she became the public enemy of everyone, opposing the Containment Institution, the Eclipse Organization, the Eastern Alliance, and the Southern Alliance. At that time, Fairy was unconvinced.
A few days later, Fairy became somewhat silent. Previously, she had stayed in seven-star hotels, but now she started choosing small inns, keeping a low profile. Being hunted by four major forces simultaneously was truly unpleasant.
At that time, Fairy always had one thought: to find Su Xiao and kill him with lightning speed. In a one-on-one fight, she would definitely win.
Not long after, the Western Continent war began. Fairy naturally participated, only to be bombarded by artillery for several days. Fairy's mindset underwent a slight change.
When the war ended, Fairy still hadn't given up. She arrived in the Southern Continent only to find that, due to the war, the four forces were in a honeymoon period. As the common enemy of all four forces, the intensity of the hunt against her increased.
At that point, Fairy had an epiphany. Being able to win in a one-on-one fight was useless in this situation. She couldn't even see that detestable man. From start to finish, she had only observed him through a telescope from ten kilometers away, and she had nearly been detected by the organization members protecting him.
Fairy left, heading to the vast ocean. Upon learning this, Gray Gentleman immediately tried to persuade her. If Fairy, who was bearing the brunt of the firepower, left, Gray Gentleman's chances of exposure would naturally increase.
Fairy's reply was exceptionally simple, just one sentence: "Get lost, you bastard."
By this point, how could Fairy not realize she had been used by Gray Gentleman? Recalling the entire process, Fairy's chest ached from anger. She rubbed it for a long time, but it still hurt. It was truly a case of Bai Ye and Gray Gentleman both showing off, while she, Fairy, was the one getting beaten. Why? Was being an old yinbi that impressive? Huh?!
Fairy left with such humiliation, which was very out of character for her. Her current thought was: "The Treeborn World is my home turf. I need to stay calm now. Endurance brings the future. I'm not angry at all, not at all!!!"
It could only be said that Fairy had it rough. Among the three, she was clearly the strongest, yet she was first tricked by Gray Gentleman, then beaten by Su Xiao, then tricked again, and beaten again.
Was Fairy strong? Of course she was. Not only was she strong, but she also knew how to weigh pros and cons and make appropriate concessions. Compared to those strong but reckless types, Fairy was far more difficult to deal with.
Su Xiao stood at the entrance of the gallery. Being schemed against this time wasn't frustrating. He had obtained 100 Soul Crystals (Complete), 10.7% World Source, a Soul Box (Soul Equipment Chest), and the Basic Passive: Spirit Toughness (Skill Scroll).
Adding up these gains, Su Xiao could only say that if such good things happened again, they must not forget to call him. Presumably, Gray Gentleman had no choice but to resort to this because he couldn't handle the soul judgment.
Although the gains this time were extremely abundant, caution was still needed. Gray Gentleman had obtained the Death Holy Grail, and who knew what tricks he could pull with it. As for selling the water inside, before notarization, the Death Holy Grail was connected to this world, and the water it produced was equivalent to an indirect output of this world. After notarization, the connection between the Death Holy Grail and the world was severed, putting it in a standalone state. The production of talent water would be cut in half, or even more severely. Without the support of this world, the energy required for the Death Holy Grail to produce water that could temporarily awaken talents would have to be funded by Gray Gentleman himself.
Su Xiao looked at the scroll in his hand. This scroll, named [Basic Passive: Spirit Toughness], was no less valuable to him than the Death Holy Grail.
Basic passives all correspond to specific body attributes. For example, Su Xiao's "Basic Passive: Recovery" corresponds to true intelligence, "Basic Passive: Body Soul" corresponds to true stamina, and this newly acquired "Basic Passive: Spirit Toughness" corresponds to soul strength.
[Basic Passive: Spirit Toughness, Lv.1]
Type: Basic Passive Scroll
Prerequisite: Soul Strength 5 points
Skill Effect 1: Increases soul damage dealt by 3% (This trait applies to all abilities that can deal soul damage, such as Blade Grandmaster, Soul Gaze, etc.)
Tip: This ability has strong growth potential.
Skill Effect 2: Soul Energy Rank +1
Tip: This trait currently only reduces soul damage taken. With subsequent upgrades, it will bring multiple benefits.
Tip: The level of "Soul Energy Rank" is a prerequisite for mastering 75.65% or more high-level soul-type abilities and for using 92.53% or more high-level soul equipment.
Tip: Your class inheritance is Shadow of Law Destruction. To master the "Soul Severing Shadow" ability, you must ensure your Soul Energy Rank is above 5.