Chapter 2: To Obtain the Protection of the Light Secret Method, You Need a Dark Stone, Use the Dark Stone to Temporarily Awaken the Nearby Initial Tree; Without a Dark Stone, You Can Trade with the 'Shadow Spirit'.
The so-called 'Shadow Spirit' is the pitch-black figure Su Xiao saw earlier. It is not a living creature, not a ghost, not an energy entity, but an existence that feeds on disease and pain.
Do not think that the 'Shadow Spirit' is a savior for living beings. Wherever the 'Shadow Spirit' is, it won't be long before disease and pain are devoured by it. At that point, the 'Shadow Spirit' will randomly select a living being, severely injure it, cause it pain, make it sick, and feed on that.
The 'Shadow Spirit' is a calamity. Its combat ability is formidable, and after absorbing a certain amount of disease and pain, it will split into offspring.
The Yada people once tried to imprison the 'Shadow Spirit', turning it from a 'pest' into a 'beneficial insect', but they failed. This thing is neither a physical entity nor an energy body; it can travel between the physical and the illusory, and can even temporarily enter others' dreams to escape.
Upon learning the characteristics of the 'Shadow Spirit', Su Xiao, as an alchemist, became very interested in it. Although he already had a [Dark Stone], he still intended to try trading with the 'Shadow Spirit'.
According to the old tree man, what Su Xiao saw earlier was actually an offspring split from the 'Shadow Spirit'. Its main body is located in a small hut. Walking east along the Mist Wall will lead to that hut.
When the old tree man spoke at the end, he revealed his selfish motive. He was too old, so old that he couldn't pull his roots out of the soil and walk like other ancient tree men. If he tried that, he would die within a short time.
The old tree man's selfish motive was that if Su Xiao obtained the needed information, he would give him some water to drink. The Black Forest was dark and sunless, let alone rain, even the sun couldn't be seen.
Su Xiao signaled Baha to bring out several large buckets of fresh water. They poured water on the old tree man for a long time. After being moistened by the clean fresh water, the wrinkled old face on the tree trunk seemed to relax a bit. Before long, it fell asleep snoring.
Su Xiao looked at the Initial Tree located further north. Behind the Initial Tree was a mist wall that rose to the sky. This was the end of the explorable area.
Not in a hurry to enter the tree hole on the Initial Tree, Su Xiao walked east along the mist wall. Wood and Ona naturally followed as well.
After walking for less than 10 minutes, Su Xiao indeed saw a small hut among the oddly shaped trees.
This hut was a few square meters in size, with outer walls of bone-white, as if pieced together from ribs, forming an arched shape. The door was made of hand bones joined together, and the door handle was particularly unique. When opening the door, it felt like shaking hands with a skeletal hand.
Pulling open the door, the scene inside the bone hut appeared before Su Xiao's eyes. The room was not large, divided into inner and outer parts. The inner part was filled with darkness, while the outer part had a seat made of skulls.
The 'Shadow Spirit' was both dangerous and had no alignment or distinction between good and evil. There were only two ways to deal with it: combat or trade.
If it came to combat, anything was possible. If it came to trade, it couldn't be provoked. The number of living beings entering the bone hut each time could not exceed one, and they had to sit opposite it.
Su Xiao sat on the seat made of skulls. As soon as he sat down, the darkness in front quickly gathered, forming a dark figure and a black seat beneath it.
The Shadow Spirit remained silent. Seeing this, Su Xiao took out a crystal vial containing [Dark Substance]. Every time he treated the King of Knights, he would get some of this extra gain.
Su Xiao tossed the crystal vial to the Shadow Spirit. After considering, the Shadow Spirit squeezed a [Dark Stone] from its palm and tossed it to Su Xiao.
After completing this trade, the Shadow Spirit's body dispersed into darkness, preparing to end this transaction. Su Xiao certainly wouldn't allow this. He took out a crystal vial containing [Dark Precipitate].
This was also an extra gain from treating the King of Knights. [Dark Precipitate] looked like a pure black tentacle as thick as a hair. This was a unique substance produced in the King of Knights' body after being eroded by [Dark Substance]. For the King of Knights, this situation was terrible, but [Dark Precipitate] was very valuable.
The amount of [Dark Precipitate] Su Xiao obtained was not much, both because there wasn't much [Dark Precipitate] in the King of Knights' body, and because every time he extracted this substance from her body, the King of Knights would be in so much pain that she would faint several times. Once, during extraction, her heart stopped, and Su Xiao had to resuscitate her, breaking several ribs in the process. The King of Knights barely escaped death.
After Su Xiao took out the [Dark Precipitate], the Shadow Spirit across from him condensed into human form again, squeezing a Soul Crystal Core from its hand, indicating it wanted to exchange the Soul Crystal Core with Su Xiao.
Su Xiao lit a cigarette and exhaled smoke. Under the control of his mental power, the smoke formed a cross shape. According to the old tree man, the Shadow Spirit was more sensitive to shadows and smoke.
A cross represented rejection, and a circle represented agreement. This was the simple way of communicating with the Shadow Spirit.
Upon finding that Su Xiao rejected, the Shadow Spirit seemed disappointed. It swallowed back the Soul Crystal Core in its hand.
Su Xiao pointed at the Shadow Spirit's right hand. The Shadow Spirit raised its right hand in confusion, making a gesture to shake hands with Su Xiao.
This was obviously a misunderstanding. Su Xiao made a chopping motion with his right hand, gesturing to cut off his own left forearm.
This time, the Shadow Spirit understood. Its left hand turned into a sharp blade, and without hesitation, it used this black blade to cut off its own right forearm.
The Shadow Spirit's left hand blade turned back into a palm, grabbing its own right forearm. Black liquid dripped from the severed area, falling to the ground like blood.
Su Xiao pointed at the right forearm held by the Shadow Spirit and then handed over the crystal vial containing [Dark Precipitate].
The Shadow Spirit shook its head, indicating it wasn't enough. This one [Dark Precipitate] wasn't enough to exchange for one of its arms.
Su Xiao took out all three [Dark Precipitates] he had, plus a vial of Evil God Blood. The Shadow Spirit across from him was very satisfied and tossed its own right forearm to Su Xiao.
Su Xiao didn't touch this dark forearm. Instead, he took out the [Container Core]. After repair, its durability was as high as 530/530.
This was the [Container Core] Su Xiao obtained after killing the Container in the Dark Star. The Container was not an object but a name. It was a prince who was given great expectations but was stripped of everything. The meaning of his existence was only to seal the Feather God.
The [Container Core] was entirely bone-like, looking like an apple-sized pure white skull, but besides two eye sockets, there were no other holes on it. Its texture was much thicker than a skull.
As Su Xiao activated the [Container Core], the right forearm tossed by the Shadow Spirit turned into a black mist that entered the [Container Core].
Su Xiao planned to temporarily preserve this part of the Shadow Spirit's body in this way. Since it could absorb disease and pain, this arm likely had similar effects.
[Tip: The Container Core has good compatibility with the Shadow Spirit's source energy. Do you want to proceed with this unknown fusion?]
Seeing this prompt, Su Xiao was slightly surprised. He didn't expect the Container Core and the Shadow Spirit's source energy could fuse. He decisively gave up on the fusion. As an alchemist, the thing he least liked to do was this kind of unknown and random fusion.
Based on Su Xiao's experience along the way, those random fusions that resulted in heaven-defying secret treasures were all bullshit. Su Xiao had personally tested it more than once, and each time he was tricked. So he decisively gave up on illusions and deeply felt that he didn't have that kind of dogshit luck.
Unknown fusion or random fusion, the resulting product was most likely extremely disappointing. To describe the finished product with one sentence: it was like trash opening the door for trash, trash to the core.
Su Xiao put both away. Finding the Soul Severing Shadow Stone was more important. Once he found the Soul Severing Shadow Stone, he would combine the [Container Core] and the [Shadow Spirit Source Energy] in a safe way.
Ending the trade with the Shadow Spirit, Su Xiao got up and left. Based on his perception, killing this Shadow Spirit for gains was not wise. Otherwise, he, Wood, and Ona would have attacked together earlier.
As soon as Su Xiao left the bone hut, Wood walked in. Moments later, the bone hut door slammed open, and Wood was pushed out by surging black mud.
Needless to say, Wood must have tried to trade with the Shadow Spirit using the Abyssal Jar.
The Shadow Spirit was initially very interested, until it touched the Abyssal Jar. It almost said goodbye to this beautiful world.
The Shadow Spirit was indeed formidable, but it couldn't compare to the Abyssal Jar. The skeleton gambler back then was stronger than the Shadow Spirit, yet it was still subdued by the Abyssal Jar without any temper.
The bone hut made of giant ribs closed up and gradually sank into the soil. Ona, who hadn't had a chance to trade, glared angrily at Wood.
Wood didn't say anything. He tossed two [Dark Stones] to Ona and two [Dark Stones] to Su Xiao.
"This mysterious existence is average."
After leaving these words, Wood walked toward the Initial Tree. It seemed that the last battle between the Abyssal Jar and the Wild Growth left a deep impression on Wood.
The group returned to the foot of the Initial Tree. With a total of four [Dark Stones], Su Xiao took one out and pressed it against the bark of the Initial Tree.
Hum~
A wave spread out. The [Dark Stone] was absorbed by the Initial Tree. A palm-sized piece of bark fell off, emitting a faint white glow.
Su Xiao picked up this piece of bark. It felt tough and flexible. As soon as he picked it up, white light appeared around him, enveloping him. Not only that, but his imprint also certified the follower sharing. A thin light thread extended from the bark, connecting to Bubu Wang and Baha, enveloping them in white light as well.
[Tip: You have received the Light's Protection (this state lasts for 3 hours and 24 minutes).]
With the Light's Protection, he could enter the large tree hole shrouded in 'Darkness' to continue tracking the monkey's footprints. Just as Su Xiao was about to move, he sensed something falling from above. He reached out and caught it.
A pebble-shaped amber fell into Su Xiao's hand. This amber emitted a warm yellow glow. Inside was a slender light insect. This light insect wasn't trapped to death by the amber but swam inside, leaving traces of golden light particles behind.
Just looking at this amber made one feel at ease. It had fallen from the Initial Tree.
Su Xiao felt like his luck had turned. But then he thought, if he was lucky now, wouldn't he be unlucky later when he delved deeper into the large tree hole?
[Tip: You have obtained the Wandering Phoenix.]
[Wandering Phoenix]
Origin: Treeborn World·Unique.
Quality: Special.
Carry Effect: Absorbs the carrier's misfortune, reversing the carrier's luck.
Introduction: This is a unique insect-bird of the Treeborn World. It flies as a bird and lands as an insect. By chance, it was trapped by resin falling from the Initial Tree, eventually becoming this state.
Selling Price: Can be sold (but after selling, your own Luck Attribute will be permanently reduced by 5 points).
...
Seeing the attributes of the [Wandering Phoenix], Su Xiao couldn't help but feel surprised. His luck had always been poor, but today, was this problem solved?
Su Xiao had a vague feeling that the [Wandering Phoenix] was unreliable, but since it was a unique product of the Treeborn World, maybe his luck problem would really be solved today.
"Bai Ye, what is this?"
Wood saw the extraordinary nature of the [Wandering Phoenix].
"Just a piece of amber."
Su Xiao put the [Wandering Phoenix] into his bosom. This item needed to be carried on the person to be effective.
Before long, the entire team was blessed with the Light's Protection, but no more [Wandering Phoenix] fell from the tree.
"Bai Ye, you're very lucky."
Ona spoke. Hearing this, Bubu Wang quickly looked up, while Baha's expression was conflicted. For so long, this was the first time he heard someone say Su Xiao was lucky.
"..."
Su Xiao didn't speak. He stepped toward the tree hole on the Initial Tree. The moment he entered the tree hole, the small crystal vial hanging from his sword handle was pulled off by a suction force, bursting with a pop. The Ghost Clan Queen's blood inside evaporated into the air.
As he descended deeper, Su Xiao walked into the darkness. The deep darkness around him seemed to want to devour him entirely. The faint light on his body, though seemingly weak, stubbornly withstood the erosion of the darkness.
On both sides of Su Xiao, above, and below, there were rough wooden textures, light brown with a hint of green.
The tree hole spiraled downward. After descending about ten meters, the sides suddenly opened up.
This was a cylindrical underground space. Below was bottomless. Inside were intertwined tree roots, some thick and some thin.
Although these tree roots were messy, some nearly 1 meter in diameter had been artificially repaired. Thick tree roots spiraled downward like a winding plank road.
Along the root plank road, Su Xiao descended several tens of meters. The surroundings became more open, and the tree roots became more chaotic, like branching paths leading to the darkness dozens of meters away.
Su Xiao explored along the golden footprints left by the monkey. He had to be cautious moving here. The tree roots had been exposed to underground air for a long time, covered with thick, greasy moss, making them slippery to step on.
Su Xiao jumped from a half-meter-thick tree root to a path formed by intertwined thin roots below. Wood and Ona, who were at the rear, also jumped down.
Drip.
The sound of water came. Su Xiao's hand pressed on his sword handle. Suddenly, tens of thousands of crisis sensations appeared around him.
One by one, vertical pupils opened in the surrounding darkness, staring at Su Xiao and the other two, as if deciding who to fight.
Hiss, hiss, hiss~
A burning sensation appeared on Ona's hand. A dark mark appeared, looking like a vertical pupil eye.
Ona's expression remained unchanged, but the corner of her mouth slightly lifted. In this large tree hole, 'Darkness' permeated everywhere. This 'Darkness' had too many unknown characteristics. Anyone with experience wouldn't use spatial abilities here.
"Don't blame me, you two."
Ona's face was much thinner than Zuiyasi's. Now that she was targeted by the monsters in the darkness, she wanted to drag Su Xiao and Wood down with her to share the risk.
Ona saying 'Don't blame me' showed she still had a bit of conscience. If it were Zuiyasi, that bastard would definitely say with a smile: 'Don't thank me, you two.'
The surrounding darkness gradually gathered, threatening to surround Su Xiao and the others. The pairs of vertical pupils closed, and the feeling of being watched disappeared.
A black panther walked out from the surrounding darkness. Its size was several times larger than a normal black panther. A tiger in front of it would only be considered a big cat.
This black panther had blood-red vertical pupils. From its gaze, it was intelligent.
"The highest consciousness governing this world has opened the mist wall? What kind of life forms are you? You look very similar to the legendary Yada people."
The black panther stopped walking and spoke human language.
"Hello, Brother Panther."
Baha tried to get friendly. The black panther glanced at it, then its expression seemed to be a cold smile, very unfriendly.
"What are you smiling at? Look at your pathetic face, full of spare tire energy."
Baha immediately turned hostile. Faced with unfriendliness, that was its way.
"Spare tire?"
The black panther, specifically the Dark Form Hunter·Torn, didn't know the meaning of spare tire.
"That means you deeply love someone, but that person doesn't love you, and you still act like 'I only love you in this life'."
"You're asking for death! You deserve to die!"
The Dark Form Hunter·Torn, hit in a sore spot, bared its fangs. From its gaze, it had indeed experienced this situation.
"I'll give you one last chance. Before you disturb the Queen, now... go back... the way you came."
The Dark Form Hunter·Torn extended its claws, issuing an ultimatum.
"Hello, Queen's spare tire."
"Roar!"
The Dark Form Hunter·Torn turned into a black shadow and pounced, incredibly fast.
Clang!
A slash cut from top to bottom. The Dark Form Hunter·Torn, pouncing at Baha, was split in two. The upper half fell onto a patch of tree roots, while the lower half fell into the bottomless darkness below.
"You are very strong. Even at my strongest, I couldn't match any of you three. But I am now 'Darkness', darkness that has lost its soul and freedom."
The Dark Form Hunter·Torn walked out from the surrounding darkness. Its body was completely intact. The upper half that was cut and fell on the tree roots had already disappeared.
It could be said that within the large tree hole, the Dark Form Hunter·Torn was almost immortal. It had merged with the 'Darkness'. There were two known ways to kill it: 1. Disperse the darkness in the large tree hole; 2. Make it leave this darkness, then kill it so it couldn't reform through the darkness.
"Boss?"
Baha was asking if they could kill the Dark Form Hunter·Torn in a short time. If not, they absolutely couldn't drag things out. The Light's Protection had a time limit.
"Can't kill it in a short time."
"Understood."
Baha spoke in a low voice, then its expression changed. A mischievous smile gradually appeared on its face. Since they couldn't kill it, they would lure it away. First, give the Dark Form Hunter·Torn some 'talk therapy' to max out the hatred.
Baha asked, "Your name is Torn?"
Torn didn't answer, just stared at Baha.
"If I'm not mistaken, the Queen you mentioned is the Ghost Clan Queen? From what I know, the Queen you admire doesn't seem that great. She became the Ghost Clan Queen but refused to sit on the Stone Throne..."
"Nonsense! The Queen sat on the Stone Throne for 30 years! From the age of 5, she sat on that broken stone chair almost all day."
The Dark Form Hunter·Torn was furious to the extreme.
"Oh? So the old guys of the Ghost Clan slandered the Ghost Clan Queen? And you didn't take the crown either?"
"Of course, we did."
The Dark Form Hunter·Torn slightly raised its head, as if taking the Ghost Clan's crown was not a shameful thing.
"Those old guys refused to accept reality. To survive, they took the Queen's legs. No! They didn't have the ability to take the Queen's legs. The Queen gave her legs to them to repay their upbringing. Time will prove who is right and who is wrong."
The Dark Form Hunter·Torn's account completely contradicted the information provided by the old Ghost Clan.
Su Xiao judged that the latter information was closer to the truth. First, the information from the old Ghost Clan was that after the Ghost Clan Queen successfully took power, she led the Ghost Clan to conquer the White Swamp. But they lost to the Mushroom Clan. After the disastrous defeat, the Ghost Clan Queen refused to sit on the Stone Throne and refused to absorb the Soul Cold Mist emitted by the million ice slaves.
There were many doubts about this account. Su Xiao had seen the Mushroom Clan before. They were indeed strong, but their attitude toward the Ghost Clan Queen was clearly not toward a loser but respect.
Even the statue of the Ghost Clan Queen, ordinary Mushroom Clan members were willing to risk their lives to guard. Without strong admiration, this wouldn't happen.
Also, when Su Xiao obtained the Ghost Clan Queen's blood earlier, the crystal vial containing the blood kept releasing cold air. Hanging at his waist, it even chilled his waist, so he hung it at the end of his sword handle.
Such cold blood didn't seem to belong to an ice-type powerhouse. The blood of an ice-type powerhouse wouldn't be this cold. This involved energy control and mastery of the opposite.
If the Ghost Clan Queen had absorbed Soul Cold Mist for over 30 years, then her blood being this cold made sense.
"I understand. It's those old guys of the Ghost Clan slandering the Ghost Clan Queen."
Baha looked enlightened.
"At least you have some brains."
The Dark Form Hunter·Torn said this, but in reality, it was thinking about how to deal with Su Xiao and the others. Although there was a gap in combat power, it planned to rely on its immortality to win this fight, to prevent these intruders from disturbing the Queen's slumber.
"Brother Panther, let me teach you a lesson today. Even if you're almost immortal, don't waste words with your enemies."
As Baha's words fell, the Abyssal Jar appeared in Wood's hand. A pitch-black thread had already extended from the Abyssal Jar, with the other end connected to the Dark Form Hunter·Torn's forehead.
Sensing this, the Dark Form Hunter·Torn was shocked and angry but didn't show it. It carefully checked, and after confirming nothing was wrong with itself, it said, "You feathered beast..."
Just as the Dark Form Hunter·Torn opened its mouth, terror appeared in its eyes. The next moment, it was forcibly dragged into the Abyssal Jar. Because its size was much larger than the jar's 10-centimeter diameter opening, it was squeezed and cracked as it was sucked in, the sound very cruel.
In an instant, the Dark Form Hunter·Torn disappeared. Its reliance on immortality was useless against the Abyssal Jar.
Along with the Dark Form Hunter·Torn, the surrounding darkness also disappeared. After this darkness vanished, many dark figures appeared. Their forms varied, some humanoid, some animal. These weren't energy but living creatures of flesh and blood.
These dark creatures surrounded the area. A blood spear broke through the air, piercing the head of one dark creature.
The blood spear corroded at a visible rate, but the dark creature also fell dead. The blood it spilled corroded the tree roots below with a hissing sound.
This kind of dark creature had extremely strong corrosive power. Su Xiao didn't even plan to use his sword to cut them directly.
The surrounding dark creatures gathered more and more. After the Dark Form Hunter·Torn died, it seemed to trigger some defense mechanism of this place.
After a series of roars, the surrounding dark creatures charged. Su Xiao was about to fight when he sensed that no dark creature had locked onto him as a target. More were rushing toward Ona, who had the dark mark, and the rest were also pouncing at Wood.
In this situation, Su Xiao naturally wouldn't act. Killing these troublesome dark creatures that gave no kill rewards was not worth it.
Under Ona's astonished gaze, dark creatures rushed past Su Xiao from both sides, heading straight for her. Seeing this, Ona felt she had been set up again.
Before long, the three were scattered by the dark creatures. Su Xiao stood still. Ona, pursued by many dark creatures, fled upward, while Wood rushed into a side cave on the right.
After waiting for the dark creatures to disappear from sight, Su Xiao, full of confusion, jumped down to the tree roots below and continued downward along the monkey's footprints.
Along the way, Su Xiao encountered many more dark creatures, but they seemed not to see him at all, instead chasing after Ona, who was already out of sight. This was very puzzling.
Su Xiao felt that his luck was too good, so good it was unbelievable.
20 minutes later, Su Xiao grabbed a hanging tree root with one hand, using it as a descent rope to reach the very bottom of the large tree hole.
Here, it was overall cylindrical. Directly in front of Su Xiao were two giant metal doors covered in moss.
On the two giant doors, there was a relief face. Due to Su Xiao's arrival, the metal face on the door had opened its eyes. It said stiffly, "Password."
"..."
Su Xiao looked around but didn't see any password written nearby. Finding this, he stepped back a few paces. A crystal layer climbed onto his right calf and right foot. He was going to use a 'key' called Melee Grandmaster to open the door.
Suddenly, a faint fluctuation disappeared from Su Xiao's bosom. Sensing this change, he took out the [Wandering Phoenix] from his bosom and found that the light insect inside was dead. The luck-changing item he had just obtained was dead!
The [Wandering Phoenix] might still have hope for rescue. Su Xiao checked its attributes.
[Wandering Phoenix]
Status: Extinct.
Introduction: Water has its source when it dries up. The reversal of luck by the Phoenix Insect is the same. After reversing a certain amount of luck, the Phoenix Insect will die. This Phoenix Insect died precisely because of this. It did its best.
Selling Price: Can be sold to Reincarnation Paradise. After selling, you will permanently increase your Luck Attribute by 4 points.
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