Chapter 78: Sun God
A full 500 Soul Crystals were obtained, this was the big meal Su Xiao had been waiting for. To achieve this, he had been "idling" the whole time, accumulating reputation within the Sun Church.
Exchanging for these Soul Crystals consumed a total of 1,159,500 reputation points for Su Xiao. Could he have bought these Soul Crystals at a lower price? The answer was yes, but there would be a price to pay.
Soul Crystals (Complete) were non-sale items in the Sun Church. Caesar's method was not to forcibly buy or sell Soul Crystals (Complete), but to swap the "existence" of the Soul Crystals (Complete) within the reputation shop with items of equivalent value but different acquisition costs. This was commonly known as cooking the books.
Caesar's operation was to swap the "existence" of one Soul Crystal (Complete) with thirty Residual Warmth Sun Stones. In other words, he was falsifying the accounts.
Thirty Residual Warmth Sun Stones = 30,000 reputation points = one Soul Crystal (Complete). That was roughly the conversion process.
In reality, the exchange Su Xiao conducted had nothing to do with [Residual Warmth Sun Stones]; it merely used their value as a reference.
Calculated this way, the Soul Crystals (Complete) appeared on the exchange list, but their price was too high. To exchange for all of them would require 15 million reputation points, and with limited time, Su Xiao couldn't possibly earn that much.
This was where Caesar's second slick move came in: to suppress the price as much as possible without going to extremes. With Caesar's "Faction Bully" ability, he could even push the price of the Soul Crystals (Complete) on the list down to 1 reputation point each.
Even if you killed Caesar, he wouldn't dare do that. Such an action would immediately cause his ability to fail, awakening the Sun Bird in the underground treasury beneath the Grand Cathedral.
That thing, normally it looked cute and adorable, but once its body ignited with flames and transformed, it would be the one looking at you as cute and adorable.
Su Xiao had once planned a decisive battle with the Blazing Sun Lord, but he had never considered fighting the Sun Bird. There was no chance of victory.
Sun Bird · Tahakakk, the strongest existence in the Sand World. Its birth was due to the Sun Church's millennium-long fanatical faith in the sun.
Faith was a kind of power, commonly known as faith power. The sun itself would not absorb faith power. Over the past millennium, countless believers of the Sun Church had worshipped the sun. Although their faith was stubborn and fanatical, it was also pure and vast in number.
During the dynasty era of the World of Paintings, the Sun, the Ocean, and the Painter were revered as the three deities. The Sun represented pure faith, the Ocean represented royal authority, and the Painter was the existence that maintained the world.
One day, in people's hearts, the Sun deity gradually transformed from the sun itself into the Sun Bird · Tahakakk. However, in the hearts of the Sun believers, the Sun Bird · Tahakakk held a high status but could not represent the divine authority of the sun.
Over the millennium, the faith power generated by successive generations of Sun believers had all been absorbed by the Sun Bird · Tahakakk. This was a divine creature inadvertently created by the Sun Church.
The Sun Church always said they would not create a sun like the Sun God Clan of the Holy Land · Chilia. If the Sun God Clan heard this, they would definitely spit a glob of phlegm in the Sun Church's face and curse, "You've already created a sun-type deity, and you're pretending to be innocent here."
Su Xiao wouldn't be afraid of an ordinary divine creature. The problem was that the Sand World was the Sun Bird · Tahakakk's home turf. Moreover, this thing could not only be reborn from fire; as long as there were still Sun believers alive, the Sun Bird · Tahakakk could use their faith to transform into flames, reborn from the fire while absorbing the sun's power as the energy needed for rebirth.
This thing was closely linked to the sun, the Sun Church, and the Sun believers. Unless all Sun believers were killed, it would be possible to kill the Sun Bird · Tahakakk. Note, it was possible. No one knew if it could be reborn using the sun in the sky.
At this moment, the Sun Bird · Tahakakk was in the underground treasury a hundred meters below Su Xiao's feet. And Su Xiao and Caesar, under the watch of the Sun Bird · Tahakakk, had stolen 500 Soul Crystals (Complete), which was why substitutes were needed.
Under the interference of Caesar's ability, the Sun Bird · Tahakakk had not yet discovered that all the Soul Crystals were gone. The effect of Caesar's Faction Bully ability was that the lower the price of the Soul Crystals was set, the shorter the ability's duration.
If a Soul Crystal (Complete) was bought for 30,000 reputation points, according to Caesar's estimation, the Sun Bird · Tahakakk wouldn't notice for an hour. The current purchase price was 2,319 reputation points each. If it were more expensive, Su Xiao's reputation points wouldn't be enough to buy all the Soul Crystals (Complete).
Beforehand, Caesar estimated that if a Soul Crystal (Complete) could be bought for over 2,000 reputation points, he could last at least five minutes without being discovered by the Sun Bird · Tahakakk.
That was precisely why Su Xiao tried to earn as much reputation as possible.
Not only the 500 Soul Crystals, but the [Scroll Fragment ×21], [Steel Box], and [Sun Flame · Detonation Mark ×2] he had just exchanged were all non-sale items.
Under these circumstances, Su Xiao and the Sun Church would become mortal enemies. He had almost emptied the Sun Church's treasury. In fact, if the Sun Bird · Tahakakk hadn't been sleeping inside, Su Xiao might have really done it.
[Warning: You have used irregular methods to exchange for multiple "non-sale items" with faction reputation, and colluded with Caesar to use faction authority to obtain a large amount of reputation points without source.]
[Warning: Your reputation level with the Sun Church is about to change to Mortal Enemy.]
[Current Reputation Level: -178,620/-300,000 (Mortal Enemy).]
[Tip: Since the Hunter's actions have not yet been exposed, this reputation level is pending activation. If the Hunter's actions are exposed, this reputation level will take effect.]
...
"Only 30 reputation points left. This harvest isn't bad."
Su Xiao took out a Soul Crystal (Complete), bit down with a crunch, and it was crispy. As for the taste, the flavor of a Soul Crystal was hard to describe. It wasn't sweet or fragrant, but the more you ate, the more you wanted to eat. You just couldn't stop.
"Mm, a bit higher quality than last time."
Baha was lying through its teeth. Caesar inside the counter rubbed his thumb against his middle finger, indicating he wanted his share too.
Su Xiao placed an alchemy formula on the counter. He had previously offered Caesar two options: after the deed was done, Caesar would get one-fifth of the Soul Crystals obtained, or the reward would be [Ancient Secret Medicine · Formula].
[Ancient Secret Medicine: After drinking/injecting, physical strength permanently increases by 6 points, and health points permanently increase by 2,500 points (still effective for those with body attributes above 200 points).]
Earlier, Caesar had hesitated for a long time before choosing the [Ancient Secret Medicine] formula. Such a high-level alchemy formula was something Caesar had never seen before. He could obtain Soul Crystals later, but if he missed this opportunity for the [Ancient Secret Medicine] formula, Su Xiao might not bring it out again.
And indeed, that was the case. If Su Xiao hadn't been so desperately short of Soul Crystals (Complete) recently, he wouldn't have taken out the [Ancient Secret Medicine] formula.
Bubu Wang had already started a timer in the team channel. The total escape time was 6 minutes, and 31 seconds had already passed. Yet Su Xiao, Bubu Wang, Baha, and Caesar all looked unhurried.
If they bolted now, Yueshitu and Molei would be scared into running too. Who would be left to take the blame? Don't underestimate Yueshitu and Molei; once they unleashed their full wealth power, they could be quite formidable.
"Transaction complete. Shall we go check out the commotion in the New Kingdom?"
Caesar started boiling water, preparing to brew a cup of instant coffee.
"Not for now. The First Devourer is too unstable. This time it has taken over the Blazing Sun Lord's body. The longer it is released, the less control I have over it."
Su Xiao finished the last small piece of Soul Crystal in his hand, found a chair, and sat down. He looked like he was about to meditate to pass the time.
"Aren't you guys running?"
"?"
Bubu Wang, Baha, and Caesar all looked at Yueshitu with confusion. Baha retorted, "Why should we run?"
"You guys just looted so much stuff."
"We saved up over 3.5 million reputation points and finally used Caesar's faction authority to get a discount on the exchange. What's the problem with that?"
Baha looked Yueshitu up and down, its gaze clearly saying: 'Cute face, but not so bright in the head. What a pity.'
"You two have real composure. Not interested in the Beast Heart?"
Baha took out the timer and glanced at the time. It was doing this on purpose.
"Of course we are."
Molei stepped forward and answered first. Saying she wasn't interested in the Beast Heart would be more suspicious.
"Then why aren't you going? The remaining Sun Potion is all smeared on the head barrels you're wearing. The dosage is limited. You can disguise yourselves as Sun believers for about five more minutes. Oh, and if you succeed, remember to keep the head barrels safe. They're our property. If you dare throw them away on purpose, we'll hang you up and beat you when we get back to the main painting world. If they're destroyed in battle, then there's nothing anyone can do. Our bad luck."
After hearing Baha's words, Yueshitu and Molei were filled with inner conflict. They could give up the [Scroll Fragments], but they had to seize the Beast Heart.
Molei observed Su Xiao and the others for a moment. She saw that Bubu Wang, Baha, and Caesar were already planning to play Landlord. To prevent anyone from cheating, they were going to sign a contract. They hadn't decided yet whether to notarize it through Reincarnation Paradise or through the Void Tree.
Molei was dizzy from this operation. Playing cards required a contract? Her gaze shifted to Su Xiao, who had moved to a single sofa and was sitting cross-legged in meditation.
Yueshitu and Molei exchanged a glance. They were confused, deeply confused. No matter how they looked at it, there was nothing wrong with this side.
"Yueshitu, Molei, if you expose the Beast Heart, we'll also gang up on you. But don't worry, it'll just be for show. After all, we have a prior deal. I'll say the ugly stuff first. If you sell us out, heh~"
Baha spoke while drawing cards. Yueshitu and Molei gave it four middle fingers and slipped out of the room.
"Damn it."
Baha made a move to chase them, but found that Yueshitu and Molei had already left. It continued drawing cards.
Just then, Bubu Wang blended into the environment. Thirty seconds later, it reappeared at the door. It had just followed Yueshitu and Molei to confirm they had gone upstairs.
"Woof."
Bubu Wang let out a low bark, meaning: 'Run!'
The previously relaxed atmosphere in the room vanished with a whoosh as the wind pressure lifted the playing cards. The next instant, the room was empty, leaving only a few dozen playing cards fluttering down.