Chapter 15: An Unprecedented Windfall
Within the dark domain, inside the shrine at the innermost part of the town.
The bones along the wall formed a sloping pile. These bones had a unique structure: multiple skulls crowded together, short and thick neck bones, and ribs below that were thin but dense, three layers deep, all stuck together. The limbs were more like those of a running beast, with four sets of legs.
Notably, all these bones showed signs of cracks or comminuted fractures. They must have originally had flesh, but it had been stripped away. The organs within the ribs had turned black and shriveled.
Sensing Su Xiao's arrival, the Lightbringer, who was sitting and praying at the inner table, stopped.
Perhaps aware of how imposing his own image was, and how it didn't match the first impression a Lightbringer should give, he had a small goatee on his chin and wore glasses with a decorative chain.
Unfortunately, these attempts at disguise were utterly helpless against the priestly robe stretched taut by his pectoral muscles and biceps.
"New resident, welcome to 'Dawn Town.' Darkness will always pass; dawn will eventually arrive."
The Lightbringer smiled kindly, but just then, a slightly burnt, fragrant smell drifted from the small wooden door inside.
"My name is Anderson. I'm the Lightbringer of 'Dawn Town.' Here's a candlestick and some tallow wax. Take them. If you run into any trouble in town, you can come find me."
Lightbringer Anderson handed over an old, copper candlestick and a candle that was white streaked with black.
"Have you chosen a place to live..."
Lightbringer Anderson paused mid-sentence as the wooden door to the inner room went *bang bang*. Something inside was lightly bumping against it.
"It's my pet. It's probably hungry. Wait a moment, I'll deal with it."
Anderson stood up and walked toward the inner room. When he stood, his 2.7-meter height was overwhelmingly imposing.
As soon as Anderson opened the door, a pitch-black claw reached out from the gap, groping and scratching left and right. This black claw gave a strong feeling of evil, filth, and distortion. There was no doubt it was dangerous, but from the way it fumbled, it seemed panicked.
Anderson calmly used his size 67 foot to push the black claw back inside. Perhaps worried Su Xiao might suspect something, he explained, "Looks like it's really hungry."
A few minutes later, after handling the matter, Anderson came out of the wooden door carrying a tray with several large, hard loaves of bread and some dried fruit.
Dawn Town wasn't a resource-rich place, but the residents here wouldn't starve to death even if they didn't eat.
Anderson sat down on the floor, placing the tray between himself and Su Xiao, and made a gesture for him to help himself.
Su Xiao picked up a piece of baked bread but didn't eat it. He judged that this bread was probably older than he was. It hadn't rotted only because of Dawn Town's special environment.
Su Xiao took some food from his storage space. Anderson just kept eating his expired baked bread, warning him:
"Eat all this abundant food quickly, then forget its taste. That will reduce the pain of missing it during the long time to come."
Anderson spoke. As the town's only Lightbringer, he too couldn't leave the Dark Domain.
Rather than calling it the Dark Domain, Su Xiao felt it was more like a place of exile, where dangerous, unstable existences were banished.
This wasn't Su Xiao's random guess. Don't forget, the only entrance to the Dark Domain was under the Queen's bed, personally guarded by her.
Of the three dark residents he'd met earlier, two gave off a dangerous feeling. Brother Pig was intensely savage and vicious, like a world-devouring maw. The Mimic Man was eerie, purely and utterly eerie.
The last one, Alia, the Queen's sister, was probably here because she had nowhere else to go, or maybe she was the Queen's spy left here.
Thinking about it this way, Alia was the monitor, Lightbringer Anderson was the warden, and Brother Pig, the Mimic Man, and others were the heinous criminals exiled here.
From the earlier prompt, Su Xiao learned one piece of information: the most law-abiding person here was Chaotic Neutral, followed by Chaotic Evil and Extreme Evil. Looking at all of Dawn Town, you couldn't find a single good person.
During the meal, from Anderson's scattered words, Su Xiao learned a few things. For example, Anderson wasn't a native of this world.
Anderson came from a place called the 'Nidibo Continent.' He had once worked as an executioner.
Being in a decaying, massive empire on the brink of destruction, serving a bloodthirsty, cruel monarch, along with numerous obedient imperial ministers, and finally a royal city with a population of over two million on the verge of riot.
Adding these factors together, you could imagine how busy Anderson was as an executioner back then. He beheaded prisoners every day, coming home at night with a sore back and aching arms so swollen he couldn't sleep.
At some point, Anderson started hearing many strange, eerie voices. One night, he dreamed he was sinking into a dark swamp. He woke up drenched in sweat.
The next morning, starting his new day's work, 'Master An' had just chopped off the first prisoner's head when he discovered a strange power flowing into his body. A few minutes later, after his body absorbed this strange energy, he became a bit stronger.
The price was that the chaotic whispers in Anderson's ears became louder. But work had to continue. Anderson repeated his daily executions.
The empire's situation grew more chaotic. Anderson's execution targets went from ordinary people to warriors, then to weaker supernaturals, then to quite powerful supernaturals, and finally, occasionally, famous tough guys.
Anderson discovered that the stronger the prisoner he beheaded, the more strange energy he could absorb, and the stronger he became.
Anderson's treatment got worse and worse. He used to work 10 hours a day, then it became 16 hours, 18 hours, until finally, he worked 24 hours a day.
Prisoners were brought up, pressed onto the block, beheaded with an axe, heads falling into a bamboo basket. This was what Anderson repeated every day: dull, bloody, and brutal.
The title of an executioner who never slept or rested even caught the attention of that cruel monarch, who personally watched Anderson's executions and bestowed rewards.
Although the vast empire was decaying, it would still take years, or longer, to fall. This caused Anderson to almost become an execution machine. Until one day, after Anderson beheaded a prisoner, he found he had cut a black rift. With that ordinary execution axe, he had sliced open space.
An executioner had gained the ability to continuously strengthen his body through killing. Plus, he had forgotten how many people he had executed. Even Anderson himself didn't know how strong he was at that point.
The bad news was that the whispers Anderson heard were getting louder. He executed people without rest precisely because these whispers annoyed him so much he couldn't sleep.
Finally, one day, Anderson's strength surpassed a certain limit. He grabbed those 'Dark Wandering Souls' from some unknown place with his bare hands and chopped them apart with a few axe swings.
At that moment, Anderson felt the world was quiet. After four years, he could finally sleep peacefully. After sleeping for a whole week, Anderson returned to his previous work: execution, execution, every day only execution and blood.
This continued for another three years. Anderson grew utterly sick of it. He couldn't understand why the royal family had so many people to kill. The royal family had too many enemies.
To solve the problem at its root, that night, Anderson, alone with one execution axe, went to the royal palace. He chopped the Grand General, hailed as the empire's strongest, to death with one axe, then massacred the palace.
Anderson left no survivors, not even any witnesses. After doing this, he returned to the execution grounds. For him, power, money, etc., were all meaningless. His greatest pleasure was chatting with the death row inmates. The words of those dying prisoners came from the heart, with little hypocrisy or lies.
The old empire's royal family was slaughtered. A new empire was established in its place. Anderson, as an executioner not involved in politics, wasn't affected. Of course, this was also related to him looking very troublesome.
At first, Anderson's workload increased. A few months later, he entered the off-season, executing only a few people a day. This gave him plenty of time to chat with the death row inmates. Since he had plenty of money to buy wine and meat, the inmates were naturally willing to chat with him.
Unfortunately, Anderson's good days didn't last long. Sixty years later, he found the number of prisoners to be executed was gradually increasing. Everything seemed to be repeating itself, and this time it was worse. The newly formed royal family repeatedly investigated why he, scruffy and disheveled, showed no signs of aging after over sixty years.
With more prisoners to execute, Anderson had no time to chat with them. Plus, the royal family kept making small moves to test him. Finally, Anderson got annoyed.
Everything was the same as sixty years ago. The royal family and the palace guards were all wiped out overnight. According to witnesses, it was done by a demon covered in black smoke.
After Empire 2.0 fell, Empire 3.0 was quickly established. Anderson was still unaffected. His feeling at the time was that this batch of royalty seemed okay.
Anderson let his guard down. Empire 3.0 only lasted a little over forty years before it became similar to Empire 1.0, even worse than Empire 2.0.
Feeling a bit tired, Anderson dug up the execution axe he had used to destroy two generations of royalty and wiped out Empire 3.0's royal family.
After Empire 3.0 was destroyed, Empire 4.0 appeared within just ten days.
Everything seemed like yesterday, a constant cycle of birth and destruction. Several hundred years later, when Anderson saw Empire 12.0 being established, he was utterly disappointed with human hearts and nature. People always thought that if they were the monarch, they could do a better job. In reality, they just hadn't sat in that seat.
At that time, Anderson understood many things. People hated greedy ministers but envied power and pleasure. People hated monopolies by wealthy merchants but wished their own goods were unique. People mocked the empire's atmosphere and corruption but, after making mistakes themselves, spent money everywhere to pull strings and avoid punishment. This made Anderson realize that people aren't angry about unfairness; they're angry that they aren't in a favorable position, that they aren't the beneficiaries. This is human heart, this is human nature.
When Anderson had this great awakening, something attracted him: faith, faith in gods.
Anderson left the royal city and went to a sacred place representing faith, becoming a servant of God.
But soon, Anderson discovered that the god called 'Lord of All Things' seemed to have impure motives. Anyone could come to believe, and even the most heinous villains, as long as they were willing to reform, immediately received God's love. Conversely, those simple, faithful people who had believed devoutly for decades were punished with divine wrath for just a small mistake.
With a heart full of questions, Anderson sought out the 'Lord of All Things'' representative on earth, the High Priest. Faced with Anderson's questions, the High Priest was furious and roared on the spot: "Seize this heretic!"
The result was that the heretic wasn't seized, but most of that sacred place of faith was destroyed. From beginning to end, the 'Lord of All Things' never descended.
It was hard on the 'Lord of All Things.' He was just a divine being. Seeing Anderson, whose grievance aura was almost solid, the 'Lord of All Things' felt a chill down his spine and his head was buzzing.
But the stubborn Anderson decided he had to get an answer from the 'Lord of All Things.' He was full of piety, so why was he called a heretic?
In the end, the 'Lord of All Things' called three other divine beings to confront Anderson with great vigilance. But because they answered a certain question incorrectly, all four gods were chopped down by Anderson.
Right after that battle ended, Anderson was engulfed by surging darkness. When he woke up, he was already in the Treeborn World, during the dark age, the peak of the Yada civilization.
The Yada people's longing for and faith in light moved Anderson. He saw many shining points of humanity in the Yada people. So he became a Lightbringer, walking in the darkness with the Yada people, spreading light. He no longer killed easily and gradually restrained his irritable temper.
Whenever he shared light with others and saw the happiness on their faces, Anderson felt a sense of fulfillment.
In the final battle between the Yada people and darkness, Anderson was swallowed by darkness. After an unknown amount of time, when Anderson woke up again, he was already in the Dark Domain. Dawn Town was already established then, but there were over a dozen rows of houses, unlike now, where only two rows remained along the street, eroded by darkness.
Hearing Anderson's reminiscent self-narration, Baha gulped. Bubu Wang beside him was dumbfounded. Although Anderson spoke calmly, the content was incredibly intense.
"These are all old stories. Just listen to them as tales."
Anderson smiled kindly, not taking pride in his past strength. On the contrary, he spoke in great detail about spreading light.
"Anderson, do you believe in a deity representing light?"
"I no longer have faith. I'm just a Lightbringer."
Anderson, sitting cross-legged, placed his hands on his knees, his smile becoming even kinder.
"Have you ever heard of people believing in the sun?"
"Believing in the sun? What kind of deity is that?"
"Not a deity, but the sun."
Su Xiao tossed a small vial to Anderson. Inside was Faith Power: Sun.
Anderson opened it, and tiny golden particles of light drifted out. Anderson tried to touch them. The next moment, his eyes became vacant, yet it seemed he saw thousands of things.
After a long while, light returned to Anderson's eyes. His face showed slight shock, as if saying: 'There's such a great way to have faith in this world?'
Then, Anderson shook his head, said nothing more, stood up, and walked towards the inner room.
Su Xiao left the shrine, found an unoccupied stone house by the street, and pushed the door open.
The stone house was about 30 square meters. Although the tables, chairs, and bed were old, they had everything. One entire wall was taken up by a bookshelf, its wooden compartments filled with many books, mostly historical biographies. He didn't see any valuable books.
The bedding on the bed was blackened and hard. Baha threw it out. Considering they might stay here temporarily, new bedding was laid down.
With a *clang*, the nearly 10-centimeter-thick metal door closed. Other things aside, the 'burglar-proof awareness' of the residents here was strong. With the material of these doors and windows, plus the blessing of dark supernatural characteristics, even a naval cannon couldn't blast them open.
In the darkness, Su Xiao lit the tallow wax. The white candlelight spread, and combined with the enclosed, safe environment, it gave one the urge to live here forever.
This was clearly some kind of inducing method of Dawn Town, to make the dark residents stay home and not cause trouble.
Su Xiao sat cross-legged on the bed, took out the Queen's Crown. This item was very useful. Earlier, in the Queen's bedchamber, he had shared the [Blood Fragrant Fine Wine] with the Queen, completing the 'Hidden Quest: Thorn Venom Pain.'
The quest reward, [Stone Throne Supplement Device], was to be used with the Queen's Crown.
First, Su Xiao needed to return to the 'Underground Settlement: Si Yi' in the Cold Graveyard, go to the sealed hall at its deepest point, where the Stone Throne and the Queen's foster father, the Betrayer: Goru, were located.
Then, Su Xiao could use the [Stone Throne Supplement Device] to supplement the Stone Throne and have it certified by the Reincarnation Paradise.
The Stone Throne would emit Soul Frost Mist. If Su Xiao wore or held the Crown and sat on the Stone Throne, he could use the Crown to filter out the cold from the Soul Frost Mist and obtain pure soul energy.
This soul energy would pass through the [Stone Throne Supplement Device], and after being modified by the Reincarnation Paradise's fairness, Su Xiao could directly absorb it to enhance several of his abilities.
The [Stone Throne Supplement Device] had a duration of 5 hours. Simply put, Stone Throne + Supplement Device + Reincarnation Paradise Certification + Crown equaled a 5-hour skill enhancement authority.
Su Xiao sensed his own condition. The battle with the Queen had left him severely injured, near death. As an alchemist, with the combined treatment of Vitality Potion and Spirit Shadow Thread, his injuries had recovered considerably.
This life-or-death battle had brought Su Xiao many hidden gains. For example, after this battle, the Cyan Steel Shadow Energy had completely stabilized.
Su Xiao took out the [Old Beast King's Essence]. The Devouring Core ability activated, and he began absorbing the energy within the essence. The biological energy in the essence, after filtering, purification, and refinement, turned into a colorless energy that merged into Su Xiao's body, quickly absorbed by his internal Cyan Steel Shadow Energy.
Two hours later, the empty shell of the essence floating in front of Su Xiao turned into powder.
[Prompt: Cyan Steel Shadow has been upgraded to Lv.50.]
[Cyan Steel Shadow: Lv.50 (Active/Passive Skill)]
Usage Condition: After activating Cyan Steel Shadow ability, consumes 240 mana points per minute (increased by 30).
Active Effect: Each melee attack burns 782 mana points from the enemy (increased by 32), and deals true damage equal to 1.7 times the burned mana (1329 true damage + Dragon-Slaying Flash increase 25% + Azure Shadow King increase 30% = 2060 true damage). The enemy will suffer intense pain from the mana burn.
Defense Form: Proud Song (Active)...
Battle Form: Law Annihilation (Passive), after taking magic damage, the Cyan Steel Shadow Energy within you will further activate, continuously increasing your magic resistance (incremental increase).
Prompt: If you do not take magic damage within 40 minutes, this bonus will gradually decay.
Prompt: Each time you fight against a magic user, if you take multiple instances of magic damage, your magic resistance will have a small permanent increase.
Prompt: When taking damage from lightning, fire, frost, etc., you will permanently gain a slight increase in the corresponding resistance (this is a growth-type increase, slow speed).
...
The true damage dealt by Cyan Steel Shadow Energy broke through the 2000-point mark. This was the power accumulated over time. A new characteristic that hadn't awakened before finally awakened this time.
This passive characteristic called 'Law Annihilation' was unpretentiously powerful. After taking magic attacks, Su Xiao would continuously stack magic resistance, potentially reaching a point where magic-type enemies couldn't hurt him.
Combined with the 60% magic damage immunity provided by the Absolute Magic Physique, Su Xiao's defense against magic would reach an extremely exaggerated level.
This made Su Xiao understand one thing: back when the Law Destroyers fought the Spellcasters, why did so many Spellcasters have to gang up on one Law Destroyer? The reason was simple and helpless: if they didn't gang up and blast him, they simply couldn't kill a Law Destroyer.
No wonder Mawen Hua'erzi once said that to fight, you first need to ensure you can survive. This ability called 'Law Annihilation' fully embodied the Law Destroyer's combat style against Spellcasters: you hit me for a long time, I'm fine, but if I slash you once, you're either dead or severely injured.
Su Xiao exhaled turbid air. His physical condition was much better. He took out the [Container Core] from his storage space. Earlier, he had traded for a Shadow Spirit's right arm. He planned to combine the two.
To combine them, the ideal way was to add some other materials as a balance. He took out five [Active Crystals], a certain amount of [Fire Gold], and about 10 ounces of Faith Power: Sun, and began the combination of the Container Core and the Shadow Spirit's origin energy.
The candlelight flickered occasionally. Su Xiao wasn't in a hurry to leave Dawn Town now. He had already completed part of his goal, and the pressure had eased significantly.
Currently, he and Gray Gentleman seemed not to be in direct conflict, but they were actually competing secretly. He needed to obtain the Soul Severing Shadow Stone and find the Talent Awakening Device to awaken the Law Destroyer's unique talent ability.
He was sure that Gray Gentleman was also completing something on his end. So for now, both sides were restraining themselves, at most commissioning collaborators to annoy each other.
The current situation was: once Su Xiao found the Talent Awakening Device and awakened the Law Destroyer's unique talent, he would be free to act. Then, his remaining task would be to hunt down Gray Gentleman and beat him hard, which would make Gray Gentleman miserable enough to vomit blood.
Conversely, if Gray Gentleman completed what he wanted to achieve first, he would also be free to act and could focus on beating Su Xiao hard. Even Su Xiao would be beaten dizzy.
So, although the two sides hadn't met yet, they shared the same attitude: 'Wait until I finish my business, then I'll beat you to death.'
Su Xiao was already halfway done. One problem was that he didn't know where the Talent Awakening Device was. He had asked Kaiser earlier, and that guy used the Ouroboros Board to predict, but the answer was very unclear.
This meant that the Talent Awakening Device involved too much cause and effect. Just as Su Xiao was thinking, the door was knocked. Baha went to the door, cleared his throat, and asked, "Password."
"Bubu climbs a tree."
"Password correct."
Baha opened the door. Bubu Wang beside him was very confused.
"..."
Su Xiao looked at Kaiser, who was walking in. This password was really unique.
"My dear friend, there were too many people earlier, so I didn't dare say. A few days ago, I went back to my hometown and brought you some local specialties."
"..."
Su Xiao didn't speak. He wasn't interested in the local specialties Kaiser brought, because when this guy gave gifts, he always went straight for the urinary system. It was nothing but whips.
"This is my Five-Linked Whip medicinal liquor. Don't be polite, take it."
Kaiser was holding a brewing jar in his arms and patted it. Sure enough, there were five whips inside.
"..."
Su Xiao put away the 'Five-Linked Whip medicinal liquor.' Kaiser rarely gave gifts, and Su Xiao planned to resell this 'Five-Linked Whip medicinal liquor' to Zuiyasi. Anyway, that guy had an Ancient God system physique, so he definitely wouldn't die from drinking it. It even saved the trouble of product guarantees.
"Kaiser, can you get the residents here to leave the Dark Domain?"
"No way."
Kaiser looked regretful, but after cooperating for so long, Su Xiao noticed that his hand-rubbing movement slowed down a bit. Whenever Kaiser's interests might be damaged, he would have similar instinctive actions.
Su Xiao estimated that Kaiser could probably do it, but the price would be high, or the risk would be very high. For a guy like Kaiser, personal safety was the absolute top priority, followed closely by his wealth.
"What a pity. I wanted to use this as a reward."
Su Xiao took out a scroll from his bosom. On it was recorded 'Decay and Dangerous Fermentation.' Su Xiao hadn't studied this type of alchemical knowledge, but he felt Kaiser would be very interested in it.
"My dear friend, you've already given Kaiser a lot of alchemical knowledge. I haven't fully mastered that knowledge yet, so..."
Before Kaiser finished speaking, Su Xiao seemed to lose his grip on the scroll, causing it to slip a bit and unroll partially on its own.
At that moment, Kaiser was as if possessed by a printer. His eyes widened to the limit, recording the dense, tiny Void Script on the scroll, along with the intricate diagrams.
In just 0.72 seconds, Kaiser had recorded the first third of the scroll. Unfortunately, Su Xiao closed the scroll.
Kaiser began to organize the knowledge in his mind. This made the sly smile on his face fade a bit, and his eyes showed rare seriousness. He found that 'Decay and Dangerous Fermentation' was a 'match made in heaven' for him. If he had this knowledge as a foundation, many of his unachievable ideas could be integrated. For example, he could greatly enhance one of his 'Three Divine Artifacts,' the [Filthy Footwrap].
Kaiser's expression went from serious to conflicted, then to uncomfortable and itching with desire. He tentatively asked, "My dear friend, is it enough to just bring one person to the outside?"
"Yes."
"Then... I can do it."
Kaiser put on an expression of having made a great sacrifice. Seeing this, Su Xiao knew the time was mostly ripe. The more critical point now was to wait.
Su Xiao left the dwelling and went to the stone house of Alia, the Queen's sister. He knocked on the wooden door covered in black patterns.
"Is that you, Law Destroyer?"
Alia's gentle voice came from inside the door.
"How do you know I'm a Law Destroyer?"
A different light appeared in Su Xiao's eyes. He placed one hand on his sword hilt.
"Uh..."
Alia was momentarily speechless. She thought very seriously for a moment, then said, "I guessed."
"..."
*Zheng~*
It sounded like the drawing of a blade. Alia inside the door became a bit nervous. She stammered, "I actually... um... can foresee some things. Yes, I'm a prophet."
"..."
Su Xiao still didn't speak.
"I'm sorry, I lied. The Lightbringer told me."
Alia began to frantically lie within her limited knowledge.
"..."
Su Xiao remained silent, because the Lightbringer didn't know he was a Law Destroyer either.
"I... saw it."
After saying this, Alia sighed. Hearing this, Su Xiao's hand released the sword hilt. The Dragon-Slaying Flash, which hadn't fully left the sheath, slid back into place with a crisp *da* sound.
"Since I was a child, I've been able to see many things. Some I can understand, some are beyond my comprehension. I can both see and make wishes."
"Wishes?"
Baha on Su Xiao's shoulder chimed in. He decided to temporarily take over the conversation.
"Yes, wishes. Anything I wish for will definitely come true. But I also have to pay an equal price. A very... painful price."
"So, your parents were both outstanding Ghost Clan?"
Baha continued probing.
"My mother is Ghost Clan, but besides her beauty, she's very different from others. As for my father, I've never seen him. I've only heard many people mention him."
Alia's chatterbox opened. She was completely open.
"We've talked for so long. We're practically friends now. At least tell us your father's name."
Baha noticed that Alia, the Queen's sister, had a gentle, mature voice but the mind of a child.
"Okay. People call my father... the Abyss."
Hearing this, Baha's eyelid twitched, but he calmly asked, "The Abyss? Is that a person's name?"
"My mother said that one day, she accidentally walked into the darkness. When she came out, her belly was already very big. The next morning, she gave birth to me and my sister."
Hearing this, Su Xiao thought about the Queen's data, which listed her type as Ghost Clan/Abyss Eldest Daughter. Previously, he thought the Queen was heavily eroded by Abyss Power, but now it seemed that wasn't the case.
The Queen's mother had been affected by Abyss Power. Not only did she not die, but due to multiple coincidences, she became pregnant and gave birth to a pair of sisters.
The younger sister had astonishing talent. Although delayed by the old Ghost Clan members and chosen as the 'Heir,' her strength continued to grow. When she was free to act, she went from the middle-upper tier to become the strongest in the Northern Continent in just two years, becoming the Northern Queen. What terrifying talent and aptitude.
As for Alia, the Queen's sister, Su Xiao guessed she was an anomalous existence. She didn't have the Queen's powerful talent, but from birth, she had two abilities: 'Seeing' and 'Wishing.'
Anything Alia wished for would definitely happen. Afterwards, everyone related to that wish, except Alia herself, would pay an extremely painful price.
The Ghost Clan had once valued this ability greatly. A few years later, the Ghost Clan abandoned Alia in the Black Forest. In the Ghost Clan's view at the time, Alia was simply a monster wrapped in a gentle, beautiful skin.
Su Xiao knew from the start that Alia was dangerous. The Reincarnation Paradise's prompts had already implied it clearly: there wasn't a single good person in the entire Dark Domain.
Su Xiao wouldn't make a wish through Alia. This seemingly shortcut ability to reach the sky hid unimaginable costs behind it. However, the 'Seeing' aspect could still be utilized.
"Alia, can you help me 'see' something?"
"Okay, but you have to give me something of equal value in exchange. Otherwise, some things might 'cause and effect' onto you. Also, each person can only let me help them see once."
As Alia spoke, a flat, lidless rectangular wooden box was pushed out from under the door.
Su Xiao pondered for a moment. Since it was an equal exchange, Soul Crystals or Soul Crystal Cores were the best choice. Considering the significant implications of what he was asking, he took out five Soul Crystal Cores and placed them in the flat, lidless wooden box. He had really splurged this time.
The wooden box was pulled inside, but after a short while, it was pushed back out with disgust.
"I don't want these crystal chunks. I can't even bite... ahem, they're meaningless to me."
"..."
Su Xiao frowned and put the five Soul Crystal Cores away, wiping the saliva off one of them in the process.
Su Xiao took out some desserts Beini loved from the team storage space: caramel pudding, iced porridge, soufflé, osmanthus cake, yogurt fruit salad, etc., completely filling the flat, lidless wooden box.
This time, after the lidless wooden box was pulled inside, within a few seconds, a *slurp* sound of sucking jelly came from inside the door.
Su Xiao lit a cigarette. If he had known she was so easy to please, why would he have taken out Soul Crystal Cores? Truly, 'You are not a fish, how do you know the joy of a fish?'
"Bai Ye, what do you want to know?"
Alia's voice came from inside the door. Her address for Su Xiao had changed from Law Destroyer to the more intimate Bai Ye. This clearly showed a significant increase in friendliness. It could only be said that they were twin sisters, both foodies.
"Where is the Talent Awakening Device I'm looking for?"
"In the Great Ruins. Anything else?"
"No."
"Then I'll continue eating. This is really delicious, sweet and soft."
"..."
Su Xiao walked towards his temporary dwelling. The Talent Awakening Device was in the 'Great Ruins.' For him, this was both good news and bad news.
The bad news was that the 'Great Ruins' was in the far south, the farthest place from Su Xiao's current location in the far north.
If he returned the same way, he would have to pass through the 'Black Forest,' 'White Swamp,' 'Cold Graveyard,' then reach the central 'Yada Ancient Capital.'
After that, he would reach the south side of the ancient capital, first entering the 'Hot Jungle,' then passing through the 'Sunlit Wetland' adjacent to the 'Hot Jungle,' then passing near the 'Soul Arena,' and finally arriving at the 'Great Ruins.'
The Treeborn World had three initial trees: one in the Black Forest, one in the ancient capital, and the last one in the far south at the Great Ruins.
If going north meant cold climate, going south meant getting hotter and hotter. Walking along, Bubu Wang might get so hot he'd temporarily turn into a fool.
After returning to his temporary dwelling, Su Xiao settled down to wait. He would wait at most 12 hours. If it didn't work out, he would immediately head south.
The person he was waiting for didn't make him wait 12 hours. The other party came to him after a little over 5 hours.
*Dong dong dong.*
The door was knocked. Su Xiao signaled Bubu Wang to open it. Anderson walked into the room.
"Something?"
Su Xiao finished his daily meditation, took a long breath, came to the wooden table, and sat opposite Anderson. He used the hot water Baha had boiled to brew a cup of maple leaf tea for the other party.
Anderson didn't refuse. The tea's fragrance was hard for him to refuse. Even though he wasn't a tea drinker, he couldn't help but pick up the cup.
"It's not a very important matter. I just wanted to ask you about believing in the sun. Is this a sect? Or a faction?"
"It's something to fill the void in the hearts of those who are empty inside. There's no corresponding deity, no doctrine, no faction, not even a specific joining ceremony. The sun is in the sky. You believe in it, it gives back to you. It's that simple."
"This..."
Anderson didn't know what to say for a moment.
"I've come into contact with many people who believe in the sun before. Believing in the sun is both simple and difficult."
"What do you mean by that?"
Anderson asked while taking a sip of maple tea.
"Outside, believing in the sun is simple. Just praise the sun. But here, can you see the sun?"
"That's true."
Anderson smiled and shook his head. In this sunless Dark Domain, you couldn't see the sun, so naturally, you couldn't talk about believing in it.
"This was given to me by someone else. It's useless to me. Since you're interested in sun faith, I'll give it to you."
Su Xiao took out a glass rod and tossed it to Anderson. Inside was the Devourer: Blazing Sun.
"This is?"
"Coexisting with it grants the ability to spread sun faith. I'm not sure about the specifics. After being 'infused' by this thing, it takes at least 4 to 5 days to safely separate it."
"This gift is too precious."
Anderson was very interested in the 'Devourer: Blazing Sun.' As a Lightbringer, if he could spread sun faith, it would be very meaningful to him, since the sun also represents light.
Anderson looked at the 'Devourer: Blazing Sun' inside the glass rod, his heart filled with mixed emotions. He now knew about the wonderful faith system of sun faith and had the qualification to become a sun preacher, but he couldn't leave the Dark Domain. Anyone would feel frustrated.
Su Xiao wasn't trying to develop a Sun Legion strategy. Based on known information, it was absolutely impossible to develop in the Northern Continent. It would be a waste of time. He could develop it in the previous world because the situation provided the opportunity.
What Su Xiao wanted was Faith Power: Sun. As long as someone used the 'Devourer: Blazing Sun' to spread sun faith, it would definitely be guided by the Sun Ring. Thus, the Faith Power: Sun generated by those beings would all be absorbed by the Sun Ring that Su Xiao held.
"Kaiser, I think Anderson is a good guy. Think of a way for him."
Baha spoke.
"No way, absolutely no way. This place has been eroded by the Abyss. I suspect this area was once connected to an Abyss Passage."
"Damn, you're too stingy."
"It's not a matter of stinginess. This is very difficult for me."
Kaiser sighed. Hearing this, Anderson's gaze changed. He was trapped here, not here voluntarily.
"You might be able to use this."
Anderson took out a palm-sized wooden sculpture and placed it on the table. Su Xiao picked it up, and a prompt appeared.
[You have obtained Ancient God Statue (Special Equipment).]
[Ancient God Statue]
Origin: Treeborn World · Yada Civilization
Type: Special Equipment
Durability: 107/107 points.
Equipment Effect 1: Record (Active), can record an initial tree.
Recorded Initial Tree: Yada Ancient Capital · Initial Tree.
Recording Limit: 19/20 (1 occupied).
Equipment Effect 2: Travel (Active), can use this equipment as a medium to teleport to a recorded initial tree.
Prompt: This teleportation requires over 20 seconds of channeling (if more than 2 units are teleported, the channeling time will increase).
Prompt: Each use consumes 1 point of this equipment's durability. After soaking in water, this equipment will slowly recover durability, but each large recovery will permanently reduce the maximum durability.
Introduction: A statue made by the Yada people. During the dark age, there were many initial trees. This statue became an essential item for explorers among the Yada people. It is the highest honor given to the brave.
Selling Price: Soul Crystal Core × 3.
...
Su Xiao calmly put away the [Ancient God Statue]. This item had strategic significance in this century.
Although there were only three initial trees left, one was in the far south, one in the center, and one in the far north. Their locations were all quite good.
The initial tree in the center was already recorded. Su Xiao could use the [Ancient God Statue] to teleport there anytime, saving a lot of travel time.
Seeing Su Xiao put away the [Ancient God Statue], Kaiser understood everything. He grinned slyly and signaled Anderson to follow him.
With the goal achieved, there was no need to stay longer. Su Xiao returned the same way. After leaving the Dark Domain and reaching the Queen's bedchamber at the bottom of the big tree hole, he continued back until he exited the tree hole and stood under the initial tree.
Su Xiao activated the [Ancient God Statue] in his hand and began recording. After a moment, he checked the [Ancient God Statue]'s information.
'Recorded Initial Tree: Black Forest · Initial Tree'
Good, the places he could teleport to became two. Su Xiao waited for nearly an hour. When Kaiser arrived, he activated the [Ancient God Statue] and teleported to the initial tree in the Yada Ancient Capital.
*Hum~*
A wave of fluctuation spread out. Everything around became hazy. After a few dozen seconds, the dense fog around dissipated a bit. The world became clear. A breeze carrying the smell of soil blew over.
Su Xiao looked around. He had returned to the initial tree in the ancient capital. On this circular grassy field, there were still traces of the battle from earlier when they were fighting over the supply crate.
The Crown was still in his hand. Su Xiao headed north again. He needed to cross the Cold Graveyard again to reach the 'Underground Settlement: Si Yi' there.
A few hours later, amidst the sky-filling wind and snow, Su Xiao saw the huge hole in the snow ahead. As soon as he entered the hole, warmth greeted him. The 'Underground Settlement: Si Yi' had arrived.
The underground settlement was still empty. After experiencing what happened earlier, looking at the Ghost Clan corpse hanging from the vines above now gave a different feeling.
Behind this hanging Ghost Clan corpse was a stone wall with many horizontal and vertical lines marking the days, and the final message: 'Queen, please take me with you too.'
Su Xiao proceeded deeper into the underground settlement. Soon, he saw the sealed hall, the metal door that had been forcibly smashed open, and the claw marks on the edge of the metal door.
Back then, the Ghost Clan had ambushed the Queen in this hall. The result was that they used a strong poison, but still got more than half of their forces killed in a counterattack. Finally, the Queen escaped. The Ghost Clan was a classic case of being weak but loving to play.
As the saying goes, fools have fool's luck, but idiots don't, especially idiots who keep seeking death. If the Ghost Clan hadn't sought death, with the abilities of the Queen and her sister, they could definitely have pushed the Ghost Clan to become the hegemon of the Northern Continent.
There was a conjecture that could explain why the Ghost Clan treated the Queen and her sister this way. Their birth was closely related to the Abyss, and the Ghost Clan extremely hated Abyss Power. This led to the Ghost Clan high-level members being both vigilant and contemptuous of the Queen and her sister from the very beginning.
Su Xiao walked into the sealed hall and immediately felt the temperature drop sharply. Sensing his arrival, the Betrayer: Goru, who was sitting cross-legged beside the Stone Throne, opened his eyes.
"Law Destroyer, you succeeded?"
"..."
"It seems you succeeded. Bring the Crown here. It originally belonged to my Ghost Clan. Now it's returning to its rightful owner."
*Bang!*
A blood spear pierced through the Betrayer: Goru's head, pinning him to the wall behind.
"Why..."
The Betrayer: Goru's face showed anger, his expression very ferocious. He stopped hiding his strength.
*Bang! Bang!*
Two more blood spears shot out, piercing through the Betrayer: Goru's neck and chest. He died on the spot.
Su Xiao came before the Stone Throne. After confirming that the earlier attack hadn't damaged the Stone Throne, he felt quite satisfied. There was no way he was handing over the Crown.
Everything was ready. Just as Su Xiao was about to take out the [Stone Throne Supplement Device], he received an announcement from the Void Tree. It was almost noon, and the coordinates of the special overlord unit, Aidoer Papa, were about to be announced.
Killing that person would grant 100 Kill Merits. So far, Su Xiao had only obtained 76 Kill Merits.
Su Xiao wasn't too concerned about this. But the next second, when the coordinate sharing appeared, a momentary surprise flashed in his eyes. He turned his gaze to the ceiling directly above. The special overlord unit, Aidoer Papa, was right on the surface above, less than 200 meters away from him.
Su Xiao didn't react for a moment. After all, this kind of windfall was truly the first time he had encountered it from Rank 1 to Rank 8. Given his usual luck, he felt a bit unaccustomed at the moment.
"My dear friend, don't kill her."
"Hm?"
Su Xiao looked at Kaiser.
"You must capture her alive. This is a big deal."
Hearing Kaiser's words, Su Xiao knew this guy was about to make a move.