Chapter 41: The Reason
A series of prompts appeared. After seeing them, Su Xiao understood what was going on.
This place called the Endless Desert had a very special type of soul. These souls were normally formless and invisible, provided they didn't encounter other living beings.
When a living being encountered one of these souls, due to the protection of the Endless Desert, no one could detect the soul, but the soul itself would undergo a change.
For example, if Molei encountered a soul, it would immediately follow her. After about a few minutes, the soul would detach. Provided Molei hadn't undergone a mental beast transformation, this soul would transform into a mental beast, existing independently, having no direct connection with Molei, and would not cause her to undergo a mental beast transformation.
To put it simply, this was the defense mechanism of the Endless Desert. Everyone who arrived here would encounter these souls, which would then metamorphose into mental beasts. The result would be the mental beast killing that person, and then the mental beast would revert back into a soul, one stronger than before.
The tentacle guy and scythe-wielding reaper they saw earlier were the mental beasts of Zuiyasi and Wude. However, these mental beasts did not mean the two of them had already transformed. The mental beasts formed by the souls in the desert were more like imitations of mental beasts.
The blood energy incarnation was different. It wasn't Su Xiao's mental beast. While the soul was following him for those few minutes, he was fighting with Luo Xi, so of course he had to release his blood energy. The soul absorbed the blood energy, failed to transform into a mental beast, and instead metamorphosed into a blood soul.
A blood soul was a very special existence. In a one-on-one fight, Su Xiao's chances of winning weren't low. However, he didn't get the chance for a one-on-one fight. As soon as they met, the blood soul swallowed the tentacle guy and the scythe reaper, without any possibility of stopping it.
What was even more infuriating came next. The blood soul, which originally had a weakness, lost that weakness after devouring the 'projections' of the three-girl group.
Because of this, the blood energy monster before them wasn't some ethereal existence. This thing was a super big boss. Killing it might not yield much World Source, but the quality of the treasure chest would definitely be top-notch.
At the moment, Su Xiao didn't care about the quality of the chest. Whether he could defeat it was his biggest concern. The initial probing was done. [Eye of the Gods] was affected by this desert, failing to provide detection data.
This monster grew stronger the more it fought, but the rewards were also high. At the very least, there was an Immortal-grade high-value treasure chest and the seven-star title [Blood Intent]. Just seeing the name of this title, Su Xiao vaguely felt that this thing suited him.
Su Xiao unfastened a sapphire pendant from his waist and put it around his neck, while removing [Berg Heart].
What he was wearing now was [Demon Hunter King], which he hadn't worn for a long time. Although this pendant was Gold quality, it was the first set Su Xiao had synthesized and used as a single piece. In the mid-to-low tiers, the Demon Hunter Set was known as the dream melee set.
Thinking back, the ring from this set was something he had snatched from Gulu. Even now, when Gulu remembered this, she was so angry she couldn't eat.
A cyan-blue flame seemed to ignite on Su Xiao's body. Demon Hunting Hour activated, forcibly resetting the cooldowns of all his active abilities, including Dragon Shadow Flash.
Whoosh!
Su Xiao vanished from his spot. When he reappeared, he was behind the blood energy monster. Dragon-Slaying Flash tore through space, leaving a black scar as it slashed towards the monster's neck.
Clang~
The long blade cut through empty air. Su Xiao turned his head. The blood energy monster had already appeared behind him using spatial movement, its serrated long blade thrusting towards the back of his head.
Pfft, pfft, pfft!
Three slash marks appeared on the monster's shoulder, neck, and other areas. Its long blade pierced through Su Xiao's head, but in the next instant, the Su Xiao it had pierced turned into blood energy. This was a blood-red afterimage Su Xiao had left in place when he penetrated space. He himself had appeared beside the blood energy monster. The three slashes 0.2 seconds ago were his.
Clang.
Two blade auras crossed simultaneously. One cyan-blue aura flew into the sky, while the other blood-red aura slashed into the ground. Rocks splashed as it carved a trench nearly a hundred meters long and seven or eight meters wide in the earth.
Molei stared blankly at this scene. The phantom behind her had its bow fully drawn, but she had no idea who to shoot. Shoot the blood energy monster? Don't be ridiculous. That monster appeared once every 0.5 seconds, then vanished, and the next time it appeared, it could be anywhere.
Two figures trailing blood energy left afterimages in the mid-air. Blade auras crisscrossed, the sheer force of the slashes causing large sections of the white rock ground to shatter.
Boom!!
A blood-red afterimage broke through a wave of air pressure and crashed straight down. It was Su Xiao. In the crater, the crystal layer on his body was extensively cracked. There was a sword wound piercing through his chest, and blood had already stained his bare upper body.
The blood energy monster suddenly appeared, raising its serrated long blade as if to decapitate Su Xiao in one strike.
Black smoke spread over, forming a skull that let out a sinister laugh. The blood energy monster's entire body emitted green smoke, and a sour stench dispersed. A layer of its skin and flesh peeled off, and before it even hit the ground, it was corroded into gas by the acidic energy.
The blood energy monster vanished, appearing behind Wude. Wude's eye flames shrank to their limit. He was not a melee fighter.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
One slash after another swept through. The black smoke around Wude was quickly slashed apart. Before anyone could come to his aid, the serrated long blade in the blood energy monster's hand was already chopping towards Wude's shoulder. Wude could clearly judge that if this blade came down, he might die on the spot.
A sound of wind breaking appeared. An energy arrow nearly 5 meters long shot over. Just as it was about to hit the blood energy monster's head, its body became semi-transparent.
The blood energy monster deliberately slowed the slashing momentum of its serrated blade. After the energy arrow passed through its head, it exited the spatial penetration state. Because the slashing blade hadn't stopped, the blade edge was now less than 10 centimeters from Wude. Even though he had used the time Molei bought him to leap backward, he still couldn't escape the monster's slashing range.
The serrated blade cut into Wude's shoulder. At this critical moment, tentacles spread out from beside the blood energy monster, heavy and forceful.
Pfft.
The tentacles failed to touch the blood energy monster. It vanished, appearing behind Zuiyasi. The serrated blade in its hand had already pierced through Zuiyasi's head. It was all too sudden.
Gurgle, gurgle~
The sound of blood being sucked appeared. If other people's abilities involved absorbing blood upon attacking, then the serrated blade in the blood energy monster's hand was directly drinking the blood. There was even a gurgling, gurgling sound of blood being channeled.
Zuiyasi immediately wilted. His cheeks even caved in, and his entire body became as thin as a stick. Even if he were made of iron, he couldn't withstand this kind of abuse. Fortunately, a figure appeared behind the blood energy monster and delivered a straight kick.
Bang!!
A sonic boom spread. The blood energy monster was immediately kicked in two. The serrated blade was pulled from Zuiyasi's head. Zuiyasi's body swayed back and forth, nearly falling.
"I'm... in a bad way."
As Wude spoke, he fell to one knee with a thud. His suit jacket scattered in large pieces, revealing his withered Devil Clan body. In reality, Wude wasn't a complete skeleton; only his head was a skull.
At this moment, Wude's chest was torn open, and various organs were pulled out. After Su Xiao kicked the blood energy monster away, it immediately entered spatial penetration state. When passing by Wude, it reached an arm into Wude's chest cavity, canceled the spatial penetration, and as it returned to a solid state, it violently yanked Wude's organs out.
Several dozen meters away, the lower half of the blood energy monster rapidly regenerated. As its left leg regenerated, it stomped one foot on the ground and crouched. It raised its left hand. Embedded inside its left wrist was half of Wude's liver. Seeing this, the blood energy monster calmly used its serrated blade to cut off its own left arm.
Hiss~
Because the flesh regeneration was too fast, the sound of regeneration was especially noticeable. The blood energy monster flexed its left arm.
"Left arm... acquired."
The blood energy monster's voice was still hoarse, but its tone was somewhat similar to Su Xiao's, especially its decisiveness in just now cutting off its own arm.
"Bai Ye, do you always fight like this?"
Zuiyasi shook his head. He was seeing stars. From the start of the battle, he had been decapitated 4 times, shattered 2 times, and once, due to an awkward position, was blown apart by a combined attack from Su Xiao and Wude.
"Pink hair, get serious."
Hearing Zuiyasi's words, Molei felt a surge of frustration. She was very serious. Just a few minutes ago, while trying to provide support, she was almost cut in two. If she hadn't used a certain item, her intestines would be all over the ground now.
Although she felt frustrated, Molei couldn't say anything. The enemy was like a ghost. Rushing into melee was useless. Using 'Gathering Void·Bow Guard' to shoot had a hit rate so low it was heartbreaking. This wasn't only because the blood energy monster could use spatial movement, but also spatial penetration.
Every time the enemy penetrated space, Molei felt like she was being played for a fool. She shifted her gaze and looked at Su Xiao with a very aggrieved expression. Molei was certain that the blood energy monster's abilities were just a cooldown-free version of Bai Ye's abilities.
Actually, there was one thing that made Molei even more uncomfortable. The three people present were fighting tooth and nail with the blood energy monster, but the blood energy monster... completely ignored her. While she secretly felt relieved, she also felt her self-esteem had been dealt a devastating blow.
She could only hang back and output. However, Molei estimated that the damage she had inflicted on the monster was actually quite heavy.
Boom!
A wave of air pressure spread. Slash marks flashed everywhere. Amidst the chaotic spatial fluctuations, a dark blue-black afterimage flashed by. It was Baha, clutching a large piece of flesh in its claws.
The blood energy monster, with a chunk of its cheek flesh torn off by Baha, took two steps back. Before it could steady itself, black tentacles burst out from the ground, piercing through its body like sharp needles.
Baha circled overhead, its eagle eyes sharp to the extreme. It made no sound while flying, leaving only traces of spatial fluctuations. It was an assassin lurking in space.
In the black smoke below, Su Xiao's long blade slashed continuously. The crisp sounds of clashing metal were endless. Sparks flew everywhere. Opposite him was the blood energy monster, nearly three meters tall, holding a serrated long blade. Its injuries had completely healed, as if all previous attacks against it were ineffective. Even more terrifying, its health had recovered to 98.6%.
Clang!
Su Xiao was knocked back. He wiped the blood from his chin. The strength of this enemy was different from previous ones. The blood energy monster was this powerful because it was in the Endless Desert. Even so, it couldn't be underestimated. A moment of carelessness, and he would die here.
However, this environment-enhanced strength was only powerful in certain aspects. For example, the blood energy monster's defense wasn't ridiculously high. This was an opportunity.
He just needed one chance. Cooperating with Wude and Zuiyasi, Su Xiao could win. Even though one of them was half-dead and the other was nearly a dried-up husk, once the opportunity came, they would both use their respective trump cards.
Wude and Zuiyasi had held back their trump cards until now because of Su Xiao. Su Xiao had been engaged in a one-on-one, true-man duel with the blood energy monster the entire time, the kind where whoever flinched was a coward. Because of this, both Wude and Zuiyasi had discovered the monster's powerful regeneration ability.
Zuiyasi was very frustrated. This enemy's regeneration ability was already stronger than his.
Su Xiao stood up and reactivated the Demon Hunting Hour ability of the [Demon Hunter King] around his neck. This ability lasted for a total of 100 seconds. After using it for so long, he had figured out its pattern.
Demon Hunting Hour didn't need to be kept on constantly. As long as it wasn't completely ended, leaving a small amount of 'blue flame' on the body surface, the ability could be reactivated within 10 to 15 minutes of deactivating it. The prerequisite was that some of the original 100-second duration remained.
As soon as Demon Hunting Hour was activated, Su Xiao and the blood energy monster vanished simultaneously. The crisp sound of slashing, the clash of blades, sparks flew everywhere.
When Su Xiao reappeared, he felt a burning pain in his chest. This was the consequence of being pierced through the chest twice by the enemy's blade.
A spatial fluctuation appeared behind him. Su Xiao immediately penetrated space, but this time, the spatial penetration failed.
With a crack, a crisp sound came from Su Xiao's neck. A sapphire pendant shattered.
Pfft.
The serrated blade slashed down from top to bottom. Su Xiao's left arm flew off, spinning and landing on the ground with a smack.
Crack, crack, crack~
A crystal layer spread from Su Xiao's severed arm. The Exile Fragment also joined in constructing the crystal arm. As soon as the crystal arm was formed, Su Xiao spun and delivered an elbow strike with it.
Bang! The air pressure spread. The blood energy monster leaned back, the exoskeleton on its face shattered, and its head was slightly flattened.
"Sorry for the wait!"
Lilim's shout came. She suddenly appeared several dozen meters away. From the start of the battle until now, she hadn't attacked even once.
On both sides of Lilim's eyes, purple patterns spread backward. Her eyes sparkled like two purple stars. A phantom heart floated behind her.
'Sleep.'
The phantom heart behind Lilim rapidly contracted, shriveling until it was distorted, like a wrinkled balloon.
Almost simultaneously, the blood energy monster, which was using its serrated blade to continuously chop at Zuiyasi, suddenly froze in place.
"3 seconds!"
Lilim's hands clapped together with a smack. Blood seeped from her ear holes.
The blood energy monster suddenly stopped moving. It was a godsent opportunity. This was why Lilim had been hiding and not attacking since the battle began. She was charging up a big move.
Wude, who had been playing dead, surged with black smoke. His eye flames turned into a deep green. Whoosh! Deep green flames rose on the surface of the blood energy monster's body. Its health dropped like flowing water.
Zuiyasi, who had almost been chopped into a dozen pieces, raised his hand. An eye opened on the back of his hand. As soon as this eye opened, fine tentacles grew all over the blood energy monster's body. These tentacles were like worms, burrowing through the monster's flesh and brain.
Interestingly, just moments ago, Su Xiao, Wude, and Molei were all playing dead. The first two were too heavily injured, and Molei was too easy to kill. Only Zuiyasi was left getting chopped. In a little while, he would have been minced into meat paste.
A nearly solid energy arrow shot over, piercing through the blood energy monster's head before exploding. It was Molei.
A dozen meters away, Su Xiao, lying in a rocky pit, suddenly opened his eyes. He nimbly leaped up, breaking through a blood shadow, and appeared in front of the blood energy monster. The path he charged along was covered in mottled bloodstains. This blood energy monster was simply too strong in the Endless Desert.
Su Xiao ambushed in front of the blood energy monster. Dark blue-black smoke rose on Dragon-Slaying Flash. Demon Blade activated. The muscles in his right arm holding the sword bulged slightly.
Dragon-Slaying Flash slashed through the blood energy monster's neck. Everything around seemed to freeze for an instant, then returned to normal.
As soon as this slash passed, the blood energy monster's eyes reopened. The exoskeleton on its face was already shattered. Its expression was very calm. Its scarlet pupils coldly stared at Su Xiao. Even in death, it showed no fear or submission.
The blood energy monster's head was severed. Dark blue-black smoke entered its severed neck. Su Xiao's crystal arm grabbed the monster's head, threw it to the ground, and stomped it into a pulp, just in case the head was a separate entity or existence.
"Boss, the arm is here."
Baha's shout came. It was holding Su Xiao's left arm in its claws. Su Xiao let out a long breath. The prompt from Reincarnation Paradise appeared.
[Prompt: You have killed Blood Soul·Shadow of Dark Demon.]
[You have gained 5.42% World Source (this enemy is a special existence, World Source gained from killing is relatively low).]
[You have gained 3227 Soul Coins.]
[You have gained Immortal-grade Treasure Chest·Shadow of Dark Demon.]
[You have gained Title·Blood Intent (★★★★★★★).]
[You have lifted the Ancient Curse of the Endless Desert. You can now leave this area.]
...
The treasure chest belonged to Su Xiao. This wasn't surprising. Not counting Bubu Wang and Baha, a total of six people participated in the battle. Due to the triggering of a special event, the kill contribution, damage dealt, etc., were all percentage-datafied. The damage intensity list was:
Bai Ye: 49.62%.
Zuiyasi: 21.59%.
Wude: 20.77%.
Molei: 7.49%.
Lilim: 0.53%.
Yueshitu: 0%.
...
Yueshitu got a free ride. At this moment, she was hiding behind a sand dune in the distance, still shaken, with half her head peeking out.
"Got a free ride this time."
Molei pressed her hand on her waist, grinning in pain. It had to be said, during the battle, Molei was very daring to charge in.
"Gave... gave 2 seven-star titles and 1 six-star title? What the... hell? Isn't that too exaggerated?!"
Molei's words made the heavily injured Su Xiao turn his head.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
Su Xiao coughed repeatedly, blood seeping from between his fingers. Molei was about to step forward to help when she suddenly shuddered. For some reason, she felt it was better not to go forward right now. She seemed to have said something she shouldn't have.
"Bai Ye, you didn't get a title because your charm is too low, right? Actually, I didn't get one either. Really."
Molei smiled. Su Xiao didn't say anything. He walked over to a spot a dozen meters away and picked up the shattered pendant from the ground. It was [Demon Hunter King]. Any equipment had its limits. The Gold-quality [Demon Hunter King] couldn't withstand Su Xiao's high-frequency usage anymore.
It could be said that all the pendants Su Xiao had obtained over time were exceptionally good, such as [Demon Hunter King (1/1 Set)], [Glory of the Dragon Hunter (1/1 Set)], and [Berg Heart (Immortal-grade)].
[Demon Hunter King] and [Glory of the Dragon Hunter] were both broken. Only [Berg Heart] remained. Su Xiao hoped this pendant would last a bit longer. Judging from its attributes, [Berg Heart] probably wouldn't break. For some reason, the necklace slot was especially dangerous.
Crack, crack~
The sound of something growing reached Su Xiao's ears. He followed the sound and saw tree roots sprouting from the blood energy monster's corpse, intertwining to form a circle. This circle suddenly expanded to a thousand meters. Inside was pitch black, leading to an unknown place.
Within this huge ring formed by tree roots, a large mass of intertwined roots floated out. Its diameter was several hundred meters, and this was in its densely packed state. If it were to spread out, its volume would definitely be on the kilometer scale, or even the ten-thousand-meter scale.
Seeing this, Su Xiao knew things were bad. He had been wondering earlier why this time, the Rampage of Maosheng hadn't completely devoured the blood energy monster. It turned out that the main body of the Rampage of Maosheng had arrived!
The presence of the Rampage of Maosheng was very strong. Staring directly at it would cause mental frenzy and distortion, leading to irreversible damage, or even death of consciousness.
The sun in the sky disappeared. The desert was no longer hot. The previously clear and sunny weather turned pitch black. An aurora that was both colorful and eerie appeared in the sky, layered upon layer.
The main body of the Rampage of Maosheng floated in the sky. Its roots pierced into space. The yellow sand on the ground gradually turned white, then finally black, becoming hard, feeling like rock when stepped on.
This wasn't a change in just one area. Everywhere Su Xiao could see had turned into this scene. Chaotic murmurs entered his ears.
"Rampage... of... Maosheng!"
Lilim lowered her head, her eyes full of disbelief. She couldn't understand why such an existence would come here. Suddenly, she guessed something. Her gaze turned to Su Xiao. What she saw shocked her. Su Xiao was looking up at the Rampage of Maosheng.
"Bai Ye, don't look directly..."
"Thank you for this. When I return to the Paradise, I'll pay you one page of Treeborn Page. It was my oversight. So, you and the Abyssal Jar are in a hostile relationship."
Su Xiao spoke. This made Lilim doubt her life. She suspected that Su Xiao seemed to be communicating with the Rampage of Maosheng.
Why did Su Xiao have to pay the Rampage of Maosheng 1 page of [Treeborn Page]? The reason was that the Rampage of Maosheng and the Abyssal Jar were hostile. When the two met, even if one wasn't destroyed, they would fight until the sky turned dark and the earth cracked.
This time, the Rampage of Maosheng sensed the Abyssal Jar was present, but it didn't immediately appear to fight it. The Rampage of Maosheng chose to wait temporarily, waiting for Su Xiao and the others to kill the blood energy incarnation, or for the blood energy incarnation to kill Su Xiao and the others.
Regardless, Su Xiao had traded with the Rampage of Maosheng several times. Both sides were very satisfied with the transactions. This was also why the Rampage of Maosheng didn't immediately start a war with the Abyssal Jar. If that situation occurred, all living things in this desert would die.
Ignoring his injuries, Su Xiao vanished in a flash. When he reappeared, he was behind Molei. One arm wrapped around her neck, the other around her waist. He didn't want to die here. Yueshitu was too far away. He could only try Molei.
"Molei, do you have any life-saving items? The kind that can get you out immediately, right now."
As Su Xiao spoke, he tightened his arms a bit.
"I do, but it's very expensive. Do we really have to use it? If it's not necessary..."
Before Molei could finish, she saw a clay pot float up into the sky. A terrifying fluctuation filled the surroundings.
Yueshitu and Molei both became sought-after treasures. Baha, Zuiyasi, and Lilim rushed towards Yueshitu. Bubu Wang was already right beside Yueshitu.
As for Molei, she was being held from behind by Su Xiao with an arm around her neck. The others, intimidated by the ferocity of Su Xiao's aura at the moment, didn't approach Molei.
While preventing Molei from escaping, Su Xiao looked up at the sky. The Rampage of Maosheng and the Abyssal Jar each occupied half the sky, clearly about to start fighting each other.
PS: (A 6000-word chapter delivered. Originally, it could have been updated around 11 o'clock, but this battle wasn't finished, and it felt uncomfortable to stop, so I kept writing. That's why it's updated now.)