Chapter 124: The Final Victor
The divine blood crystals in the large cloth sack gradually decreased. Seeing this, Su Xiao breathed a sigh of relief. Having finally passed this hurdle of advancing to the Immortal Rank, things would be easier from here on—just continue hunting evil gods.
The promotion of the Divine Judgment Ring still needed some time. Su Xiao took out various items from the team storage space. These were all things collected within the treasure vault—valuable, but unable to be taken out of the World of Paintings.
For such items, offering them to the White Dragon Emblem was the best choice. Not only would it improve the emblem's quality, but there was also a chance of receiving a reward during the offering.
Su Xiao activated the White Dragon Emblem. The emblem floated up, and a shimmering white vortex appeared beneath it. He placed the items into the vortex one by one, beginning the offering.
The slowly rotating vortex condensed. A faint glow emanated from the White Dragon Emblem, and a surge of energy flowed up from the vortex below, merging into the emblem.
Su Xiao sensed that this energy surging from the vortex was not extracted from the offerings, but came from a very distant place.
...
Ancient Dragon Kingdom: Eberthias.
The blue-gray buildings looked cold just by sight, let alone with frost and snow covering them.
A thousand meters above, a stone bridge hung in midair. At the starting point of this bridge was a metal chair, while the other end connected to a tower—the tower that imprisoned the Dragon Maiden.
Inside the confinement tower, the White Dragon Maiden wore a cold white dress. The translucent veil that once covered her head was nowhere to be found. The reason was that it blocked her vision and affected her performance.
Although her height reached three meters, her body proportions were very well-balanced. At first glance, her figure showed nothing unusual, but beneath the cold white dress hid a great wickedness. She just didn't deliberately flaunt it, because to her, it wasn't important.
At this moment, the White Dragon Maiden sat expressionlessly on an iron chair, holding a tablet in her hand.
People's constitutions differed, so they couldn't be generalized. The White Dragon Maiden was cold, dignified, and elegant, yet she still refused to accept that she had no talent for strategy games.
To this day, the White Dragon Maiden hadn't passed Chapter 1, Stage 2. She was completely stuck here. But she had patience and time. For her, this was the best way to pass the time.
The White Dragon Maiden had just taken a short nap, and her mental state was at its best—perfect for tackling the game.
A vortex appeared above. The White Dragon Maiden instinctively raised her hand, and a large eggshell-like translucent crystal protective shell enveloped her. Her movements were extremely practiced.
Scepters, armor pieces, golden urns, and various other items clattered to the ground. When everything settled, the White Dragon Maiden breathed a sigh of relief—at least there were no bombs this time.
She stood up to inspect the items. Various supernatural objects didn't catch her attention. She was the Dragon Maiden of Eberthias, once the apple of the ancient wyverns' eye. This made her indifferent to treasure. The legacies of both the Ancient Dragon and Sun God clans were sealed in the upper floors of her tower. Theoretically, they were her property.
In terms of wealth comparison, the White Dragon Maiden's personal riches were staggering.
After sorting through everything, the White Dragon Maiden sent the offerings to the lower floor of the tower. But at that moment, a small black card caught her attention. She picked it up and examined it for a moment, then returned to her seat. Picking up the tablet, she found that, sure enough, the slot on the side could accommodate this triangular black card.
With a click, the card slot locked in place. Perhaps anticipating that she wouldn't know how to operate it, the card had a foolproof usage mode—plug and play. An image appeared on the screen. The White Dragon Maiden was initially puzzled, but before long, she was drawn into the video's content. It was a suspense crime film. Just as it was about to reveal the killer, the image suddenly froze, and a line of text appeared.
'Woof, woof woof woof, woof! Woof woof woof woof, YES/NO.'
Seeing this line, the White Dragon Maiden was bewildered. Perhaps thinking the tablet was broken, she even lightly tapped the screen a few times. Clearly, she didn't understand Bubu Wang's dog language.
...
The kettle whistled as it boiled. As Su Xiao finished the offering, the vortex beneath the White Dragon Emblem disappeared. To advance this emblem to the Immortal Rank, this single offering wasn't enough.
Before reaching the Immortal Rank, the probability of triggering 'Legacy (Passive)' and receiving a return gift was low. Using items that couldn't be taken out of this world for offerings made the chance of receiving a reward even lower.
It wasn't without benefits. At this stage, it was about accumulation. Once the White Dragon Emblem reached the Immortal Rank, the emblem's bonuses were one thing, but turning items that couldn't be taken out of this world into resources for strengthening was the emblem's most unique feature.
Su Xiao picked up a gem from the table. This was the only return gift from this offering.
[Scale Guard (Ability Inheritance Stone. After using this inheritance stone, you will master Scale Guard Lv.3~Lv.5. This is an Ancient Dragon faction ability. Requires mastering prerequisite abilities...).]
Overall, this thing wasn't bad. Although Su Xiao himself couldn't use it, he could sell it. Items produced by the Ancient Dragon and Sun God clans were either fine quality or top-notch.
He put away both the White Dragon Emblem and [Scale Guard], then began to meditate, waiting for the Divine Judgment Ring to complete its promotion.
Four hours later, a fluctuation came from ahead. Su Xiao opened his eyes and saw the Divine Judgment Ring floating up on its own.
Just then, Baha spoke up, "Boss, it's about to begin."
"Mm."
Su Xiao grabbed the Divine Judgment Ring, put it on his right index finger, stood up, and walked out of the room.
Descending to the first-floor meeting hall, everyone was there: Wood, Zuiyasi, Crow Woman, Lilim, Water Brother, Molei, and Yueshitu.
Among those present, Lilim, Water Brother, Molei, and Yueshitu were there to watch the excitement. They had all accomplished their respective goals.
Lilim had obtained something unknown. The Demon Race had made the right choice sending her. She completed her mission quietly and discreetly.
Molei and Yueshitu had acquired the Beast Heart and were now just waiting for the competition to end.
Water Brother had completed the Ranger Guild's commission, so the trip wasn't in vain.
It could only be said that at high ranks, unless it was a World War, there wouldn't be situations where people fought to the death with only one survivor.
At this level of strength, everyone had decent judgment of the situation. When they found things were impossible, they would choose a compromise to reap benefits.
After the fight in the treasure vault, Wood and Zuiyasi had both tacitly withdrawn from the competition. Time wasn't on their side. That meant it was now between Su Xiao and Crow Woman for first place. This wasn't just about ranking on the leaderboard—it was about competing for ownership of this world. That was the biggest profit.
"Crow Woman, you came too late. The loser eats dust. By the time you got here, the ashes had already scattered. You can't even eat the dust."
Baha spoke, trying to mess with Crow Woman's mindset. Crow Woman didn't respond. Silently, she submitted 29 Scroll Fragments.
The leaderboard ranking immediately changed. Crow Woman took first place with 29 Scroll Fragments submitted. Su Xiao had 20 Scroll Fragments, placing him second.
Seeing this, Su Xiao calmly took out 12 Scroll Fragments and chose to submit. His ranking returned to first place: 32 to 29, three more Scroll Fragments than Crow Woman. But that was enough to win.
Where did Crow Woman get the Scroll Fragments? The fact that she could return to the castle alive was already impressive. It was unlikely she had time to obtain Scroll Fragments.
A small portion of these Scroll Fragments came from Water Brother, but more came from Wood. He had sold 23 Scroll Fragments to Crow Woman.
"You really have a way, but you still lost."
Baha rubbed salt in the wound. Crow Woman still didn't speak, as if she had long been prepared, or rather, had anticipated what would happen next.
"Bai Ye, I lost in the treasure vault. But now, it seems I've won."
Zuiyasi suddenly spoke. He took out 5 Scroll Fragments. Seeing this, Crow Woman finally showed a hint of a smile.
"Name your price."
Zuiyasi began negotiating quietly with Crow Woman. After a moment, the price was settled. Crow Woman submitted 5 Scroll Fragments, surging back to first place: 34 to 32.
"Bai Ye of Reincarnation Paradise, I originally had two goals: one was to kill you, and the other was to take this world. That faction must have something wrong with their brains, always wanting to go against you. But orders are orders. In terms of killing you, I failed miserably. I couldn't even find you before."
Saying this, Crow Woman felt stifled. Trying to hunt a target in a region without even seeing them was too embarrassing. But at least she had won this world. That was enough.
Just as Crow Woman was thinking this, she saw Su Xiao pull out a large pile of Scroll Fragments—estimated to be over 30. At that moment, her mentality shattered. Completely shattered.
Not only Su Xiao, but Zuiyasi also took out a few more Scroll Fragments. Strangely enough, he tossed a few to Wood, keeping only 2 for himself.
[Scroll Fragment Ranking has been refreshed. Current ranking is as follows.]
First Place: Bai Ye (Reincarnation Paradise), Scroll Fragments submitted: 63.
Second Place: Crow Woman (Arcane Eternal Star), Scroll Fragments submitted: 34.
Third Place: Wood (Devil Race), Scroll Fragments submitted: 8.
Fourth Place: Molei, Yueshitu (Apocalypse Paradise), Scroll Fragments submitted: 7.
Fifth Place: Zuiyasi (Doom Star), Scroll Fragments submitted: 6.
...
Everything was settled. The key points of what had just happened involved five aspects: