# Chapter 3: This World Contains a Vast Amount of Abyss Power
Thinking of this, Su Xiao guessed a possibility—that Gray Gentleman's "secondary objective" might be Abyss power, which should be his backup plan.
As a puppet master, Gray Gentleman likely had more than one body. That was precisely why, even after blowing up the Skill Upgrade Pod where Gray Gentleman was located, the latter hadn't died.
To be precise, the body that Gray Gentleman had been using inside the Skill Upgrade Pod—the one that gained powerful strength through Dawn Paradise—had died. But Gray Gentleman's spirit, consciousness, and soul hadn't perished; they had transferred to another body.
Gray Gentleman's "Dawn Paradise Revival Plan" had many schemes. But after that plan failed, his backup plan wouldn't have too many objectives. Or rather, his backup plan could only have one goal: acquiring powerful strength to survive the failure of this "main plan."
Alternatively, he wanted to stage a comeback. Gray Gentleman was the type who, as long as he wasn't dead, would never give up or become dejected. He never spoke arrogantly or made threats, yet the things he did made others feel like thorns in their backs, unable to rest or eat in peace.
In other words, the 2000 Apollo bombs Su Xiao had taken out had blown Gray Gentleman's "Dawn Paradise Revival Plan" to ashes.
Assuming Gray Gentleman's backup plan really was to seek Abyss power, then he was either at the Great Ruins in the far south or the Black Forest in the far north.
Compared to the Great Ruins, Su Xiao felt Gray Gentleman was more likely to have gone to the far north's Black Forest. The Abyss power there was in a "pure" state, not yet having enhanced any energy or living beings.
There was also something he felt guilty about: in the super-massive explosion just now, Su Xiao had killed both Faceless Man Pete Pepper and Butcher Giant Luo.
Su Xiao estimated that both had come to assassinate or ambush Gray Gentleman. They hadn't found him before, and when Gray Gentleman finally showed up, the two rushed over—only to die from friendly fire via the "Sun Holy Sword."
Su Xiao checked the kill notifications that had appeared.
[You have killed Butcher Giant Luo.]
[You have obtained the Hate Bone Box: Giant Blood Hand (Chest-type item; opening it has a certain probability of yielding negative returns).]
[You have killed Faceless Man Pete Pepper.]
[You have obtained the Spirit Feast Treasure Box: Ten Thousand Faces (Chest-type item).]
Somewhat strange. Killing Brother Pig and Faceless Man didn't yield Soul Coins, and the chests obtained weren't orthodox chests but rather chest-type items.
Su Xiao didn't know how Brother Pig and Faceless Man had evaded the Death Domain. In the current situation, to use Baha's words, he could only "gulp down tears while looting their packs."
As for giving the allies a grand burial—forget it. Those two didn't even leave ashes behind. The remains of Dawn Paradise had been blown to nothing, let alone them.
However, one thing remained: Su Xiao's war mission wasn't complete—specifically, "Assassinate Dawn Again" hadn't been finished.
Combined with the fact that he hadn't received a kill notification for Bee, Bee might not have been just the last contractor of Dawn Paradise. It was even possible that Bee was currently the temporary vessel of Dawn Paradise, since the remaining wreckage of Dawn Paradise had been blown up by Su Xiao.
Thinking of these things, Su Xiao's goal became clear. He looked ahead at the Fire Domain. Because the remains of Dawn Paradise had been shattered by the explosion, the battle had ended. Void Tree had begun to intervene in the situation within the Fire Domain.
Or rather, if not for Void Tree's intervention, the power of that blast and the chain reactions it caused wouldn't have just turned the "Ancient Capital" into a lava lake—the entire continent would have split into two, with the Southern Continent and Northern Continent becoming independent.
The temperature within the Fire Domain was rapidly cooling. Su Xiao stepped into the Fire Domain with the Sun Ring fused into his chest. The heat and various terrifying toxic gases had been cleared by 99%, so aside from feeling hot, Su Xiao experienced no other discomfort.
The Death Domain had disappeared. The S-002 Death Grail, once called indestructible, had been vaporized by the explosion. This proved that nothing was absolutely indestructible—it was just a matter of insufficient explosive power.
Su Xiao had two purposes for entering the Fire Domain: to pick up treasure chests and to confirm whether Dawn Paradise's remains had been completely obliterated. After confirming these, he would rush to the far north's Black Forest to settle life and death with Gray Gentleman.
...
Meanwhile, Arcane Eternal Star.
A majestic Elemental Superconducting Tower stood at the center of the building complex. This was the tallest Elemental Superconducting Tower on Arcane Eternal Star.
At the very top floor of this tower, inside a room, several high-ranking members of Arcane Eternal Star sat in silence, including the Supreme Being at the head.
The elemental fluctuations around the Supreme Being were too strong, making it impossible to see his appearance or clothing, let alone determine his gender.
In front of them was a screen formed by magical energy, with the image frozen on the Apollo explosion forming the shape of the "Sun Holy Sword."
"Assess this for me—if that thing exploded on Arcane Eternal Star, what would be the result?"
An old woman with a stern expression spoke. Hearing this, the nearby Frost Wind King and Sefeiliya and the others remained silent.
What these people were seeing was a delayed transmission from Treeborn World, a few minutes behind. Currently, Arcane Eternal Star was also one of the participating parties in Treeborn World's Slaughter Arena, so it was normal for them to learn about the situation in Treeborn World through Crow Woman.
Frost Wind King and Sefeiliya and the others stared at the "Sun Holy Sword" paused on the screen. Frost Wind King's brows were furrowed in worry, while Sefeiliya's eyelids drooped low.
If before they had been factional enemies with Su Xiao, now they had become threatening enemies. Frost Wind King and Sefeiliya and the others didn't know if Su Xiao could replicate that "Sun Holy Sword." If he could and threw one at Arcane Eternal Star...
Thinking of this, Sefeiliya's eyelid twitched. She still couldn't understand how an enemy she could have killed with one hand before had grown to this level in such a short time.
More critically, the "Arcane Festival" was about to be held. If Arcane Eternal Star suffered such an attack on the day of the festival, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Clearly, the "Sun Holy Sword" Su Xiao had created this time had caused his hostility level at Arcane Eternal Star to skyrocket.
"Sefeiliya, how is your investigation into that Alchemist going?"
Frost Wind King deliberately changed the subject. Currently, they really didn't have a good way to deal with Su Xiao. Even though the Spellcaster faction had heaven-defying abilities in the Void, if Su Xiao didn't come to them, they couldn't do anything.
In Frost Wind King's view, the "Sun Holy Sword" they had just seen was certainly terrifying, but Arcane Eternal Star had multiple layers of defensive measures. Everyone present could see that this terrible explosive had many drawbacks: a very long detonation time, and after detonation, a sense of threat so exaggerated that it could be felt even through the screen.
Besides, their enmity with Su Xiao wasn't something that had just started. Since the Supreme Being hadn't directly given orders yet, there must be considerations.
"Still in the contact phase. You should know about White Bull's people."
Sefeiliya spoke with a headache. Some time ago, the forces under White Bull had unreasonably entered the potion sales business, which further intensified the conflict between White Bull's forces and the Feather Clan.
Initially, Arcane Eternal Star hadn't paid attention to this. They had a long-term cooperation with Alchemy Grandmaster Tree Sage. But later, a potion very suitable for Spellcasters to drink began to circulate, and the high-ranking members of Arcane Eternal Star started to take notice.
When they took a sample of the potion to find Tree Sage, although Tree Sage pretended to be calm, the "Holy sh*t, how was this potion formulated?" look in his eyes told the high-ranking members of Arcane Eternal Star that they might have hit the jackpot this time.
Compared to the finished potion, the high-ranking members of Arcane Eternal Star were more interested in the Alchemist who formulated it. If they could invite this Alchemist and keep him well-supplied, they wouldn't have to worry about this type of potion in the future.
The person responsible for this matter was Mage Sage Sefeiliya. She had been worrying herself sick recently. That Alchemist was clearly cooperating with White Bull.
Who was White Bull? He was the emperor of the Void's dark world, specializing in various gray industries or illegal activities. Although his forces were weaker than Arcane Eternal Star's, all of White Bull's men were desperadoes. No one wanted to cross blades with these desperadoes—it wasn't worth it.
Currently, Sefeiliya was facing this situation. White Bull's subordinates were all polite to her. Politeness was fine, but their work efficiency was extremely low. When it came to information about that Alchemist, they were evasive, only revealing the representative title "Holy Flame."
Thinking of this, Sefeiliya raised her hand to rub her brow. Seeing this, Frost Wind King frowned and said, "Sefeiliya, you're going to invite the Alchemist this time. Don't put on a deadpan face."
Hearing this, Sefeiliya's expression darkened. She had never gotten along with Frost Wind King. If not for the Supreme Being's authority pressing down on them, she and Frost Wind King would have fallen out long ago.
"I know better than you how to invite the Alchemist."
"You'll need to smile. Look, aside from being older, you're still quite attractive."
Frost Wind King spoke with a smile, clearly enjoying watching the drama.
"You..."
Sefeiliya stared at Frost Wind King, then turned her gaze to the Supreme Being, meaning that if the Supreme Being didn't make Frost Wind King restrain himself, she would attack now and let him know what kind of close-combat abilities Lightning Element could derive.
Noticing Sefeiliya's gaze, the Supreme Being, whose surroundings were slowly distorting from elemental fluctuations, nodded slightly, meaning that Sefeiliya should greet the Alchemist politely when inviting him, not keep a long face. If she could invite that Alchemist, it would be no exaggeration to say that Arcane Eternal Star would be like a tiger with wings.
Seeing that the Supreme Being agreed with Frost Wind King's opinion, Sefeiliya sighed and decided to practice when she got home. She had already forgotten what a smile looked like. To welcome that Alchemist, Sefeiliya believed that apart from the various treasures offered as enticements, this extra effort was completely acceptable.
After careful consideration, Sefeiliya decided it would be best to invite that Alchemist to Arcane Eternal Star a few days before the "Arcane Festival," letting the Alchemist stay for a few days, just in time for the "Arcane Festival."
The "Arcane Festival" would undoubtedly showcase Arcane Eternal Star's strength, wealth, influence, and cohesion to the maximum. Extending an olive branch to that Alchemist on the day of the festival would be perfect.
Thinking of this, Sefeiliya, wearing a gold-white magic robe and a hood that only revealed the lower half of her face, showed a slight smile, practicing in advance.
Little did she know, if Sefeiliya discovered that the Alchemist she was about to welcome was Su Xiao, she might be so furious that she'd leave this beautiful world on the spot. Truly, fate is unpredictable.
...
Treeborn World, Ancient Capital Ruins, now the Great Lava Lake Area.
Su Xiao stood at the center of the lava lake. The rock layer beneath his feet was about 10 centimeters thick, already heated to a red-hot iron-like state, with magma below.
Crack, crack, crack~
A crystal layer formed on Su Xiao's right arm. He reached his hand into the magma and fished out a bone square box. This was the chest left behind by Brother Pig. As for Faceless Man's chest, he had already found it.
Looking at the bone box in his hand, Su Xiao mourned for Brother Pig for 0.5 seconds before putting it away. Brother Pig was indeed strong; the chest-type items he produced were this exquisite and valuable.
Arriving at where Dawn Paradise's remains had been located, a large patch of gray-white residue floated on the magma. Su Xiao activated the temporary scanning authority he had obtained, scanned several times, and after confirming nothing was abnormal, turned and walked out of the Fire Domain.
Leaving the Fire Domain, Su Xiao found that aside from Bubu Wang and Baha, all the other contractors who had been watching had left. The lava lake had completely separated the Northern Continent from the Southern Continent. Currently, the contractors were all in the "Mushroom Village," "Shell City," and "Great Ruins" area of the Southern Continent.
Because of this, Su Xiao suspected Gray Gentleman had gone to the Black Forest in the Northern Continent. Earlier, after Anderson started preaching the Sun Faith, the efficiency of forceful conversion was incredibly fast. Now, the Mushroom Tribe, Ghost Tribe, and over a dozen other ethnic groups were all praising the sun in the Northern Continent.
Su Xiao didn't know what had gone wrong. Perhaps because Treeborn World had been in danger for a long time, these sun-worshipping intelligent races had become united, extreme, and xenophobic. Those who didn't worship the sun were considered heretics in their eyes, needing to be captured and converted.
It was no wonder they were like this. These races had struggled on the edge of life and death for a long time. Now that they finally had a chance to live stably, of course they would act fanatically.
Through the World Contact Platform, many participants had described their experiences of being caught by the sun fanatics. No beatings, no scolding, good food and drink every day, but endless nagging and persuasion, and they weren't allowed to sleep. Only when they praised the sun would they be considered one of their own.
Because of this, Su Xiao didn't go to contact those sun believers. He certainly didn't think it would be good for him, who possessed the Sun Ring, to meet those fanatical believers.
First of all, he had no Sun Power in his body. Someone without Sun Power possessing the Sun Ring—those sun fanatics might do anything.
Walking out of the Fire Domain, Su Xiao pressed his hand flat against his chest and extracted the Sun Ring from his body. The moment the Sun Ring left his body, the fire patterns on him completely faded, and he returned to his previous appearance.
Su Xiao exhaled a breath of hot air and sensed his internal condition. There was residual faith power: Sun in his organs, but it wasn't a big problem. After returning alive to Reincarnation Paradise, he could pay Soul Coins to cleanse it.
Su Xiao took out the Ancient Divine Statue and activated it. The surrounding world turned into warm-colored thick fog. When the fog dissipated, the temperature turned cold, the surrounding light dimmed, and the environment was dark. The Black Forest had arrived.
A cold wind blew. Su Xiao put on his original clothes and looked ahead at the Initial Tree. This giant tree had turned into charcoal, with large pieces of charcoal floating in mid-air, performing its final functions.
Where the Initial Tree had originally stood, a dozen-meter-wide hole led downward. This had been the Great Tree Hole, but it was now destroyed.
Su Xiao jumped down, decelerating a few times with Baha's help, successfully reaching the bottom of the Great Tree Hole. He walked into the long corridor ahead.
After passing the corridor, Su Xiao stopped in front of the Queen's Bedchamber. There was the aura of a living creature inside, so he pressed his hand on his sword hilt before stepping into the bedchamber.
The bedchamber hadn't changed otherwise, except that a small old man was leaning against the wall. His body was withered, his arms like dead tree branches, and blood dripped down his goatee.
Sensing someone approaching, the goatee old man raised his head slightly and said with the weakness of a dying person, "You hunters have such keen noses. Truly professional hunters."
The goatee old man laughed somewhat neurotically. There was a hole in his chest, his heart missing, and golden blood flowed from the wound.
This old man was a violator named Bogos. Previously, Su Xiao had almost fallen into his hands. This old bastard could enhance others' fortune from an ultra-long distance. As the saying goes, when a cup is full, it overflows. When Bogos enhanced someone's fortune to a certain degree, their fortune would dry up, followed by extreme misfortune.
Bogos had suffered a crushing defeat at Su Xiao's hands. He had fiercely enhanced Su Xiao's fortune. When his eyeballs were about to pop out from the strain, trying to enhance Su Xiao's fortune to the point of "overflow," he realized something was wrong.
To make a simple analogy: other people's fortune capacity was a water cup, while Su Xiao's fortune capacity was a bucket. This was something a Law Destroyer had to accept. The fortune of Law Destroyers was something even the Goddess of Fortune couldn't handle. She had even been beaten because of this.
For others, 10 milliliters of fortune could fill a water cup to the luck scale of 1. But pouring that 10 milliliters of fortune into Su Xiao's bucket wouldn't even cover the bottom, far from reaching the luck scale of 1.
This was the problem with Law Destroyers: high upper limit, high lower limit. Otherwise, how could they use the "Law Destruction Formula" to collect resources? They were all old unlucky bastards.
What Bogos had done before—enhancing Su Xiao's fortune—was quite impressive. The old bastard had temporarily enhanced Su Xiao's fortune to half a bucket's worth. But at the same time, our Mr. Bogos had nearly exhausted himself to death.
Now, dying Bogos finally saw Su Xiao, the main party. He looked at Su Xiao with a gaze of slight admiration and incomprehension, and said earnestly, "You really are... an unlucky bastard."
"..."
Su Xiao's thumb brushed over the end of the sword hilt. Just as he was about to draw his sword, Bogos, slumped against the wall, said:
"That's right, Gray Gentleman is in the Dark Domain. Truly surprising. His plan actually failed. In the end, he chose to face the Abyss. Knowing how terrifying the Abyss is, he still faced it."
Bogos laughed hoarsely, then fell silent.
Su Xiao frowned. This person had wasted 30 seconds of his time. He had thought the dying man would reveal some information about Gray Gentleman, but it was all nonsense.
A crystal spike formed in Su Xiao's hand. He casually threw it, nailing Bogos's head to the wall. Kill Merit +1.
If Su Xiao wasn't mistaken, this person had been deliberately left here dying by Gray Gentleman as a temporary lookout. The old man's heart had been taken, and golden blood flowed from the wound in his chest. Considering he was a luck-type, that meant Gray Gentleman, who had obtained that heart, should have gained a means to temporarily enhance his fortune.
In front of the Queen's bed, the steps leading downward had been revealed, no longer shrouded in black mist. This meant the Abyss power within the "Dark Domain" had been largely absorbed.
Although absorbing Abyss power wasn't a good strategy, as a backup plan after the main plan failed, it was undoubtedly excellent. When about to lose, paying a certain price to gain power was completely acceptable. If it were Su Xiao, he would do the same.
Furthermore, the Devil Clan had been plagued by the Abyssal Jar for so many years and still survived. As long as one didn't absorb Abyss power in a suicidal way, this power was a decent choice.
If Su Xiao's analysis was correct, one of Gray Gentleman's core abilities was that he had two main bodies. Now that one of his main bodies had been destroyed, if the other main body died too, he would face death.
Unless necessary, Gray Gentleman wouldn't control both bodies to enter Treeborn World. But this time, he had no choice.
Su Xiao followed the downward steps from the bedchamber into the "Dark Domain." Beside him, Bubu Wang blended into the environment, and Baha entered an alternate space, both ready for battle.
The changes within the Dark Domain were significant. Dawn Town had completely disappeared, leaving only gray-white rock layers on the ground.
Various rusted weapons were stuck in the ground around him. Su Xiao walked along the stone path until he reached rough steps leading upward.
Su Xiao climbed step by step. After passing through a layer of black mist, the space ahead opened up. He had returned to the outside world—or rather, this was the other side of the mist wall at the innermost part of the Black Forest, a previously sealed area.
Dark clouds filled the sky, with muffled thunder rumbling.
Su Xiao stood on a stone platform about a hundred meters wide and of unknown length. On both sides were calm water surfaces. The surrounding water was vast, without a single ripple.
The hundred-meter-wide stone platform spanning the entire water area was very flat. This magnificent structure had been built by the ancient Yada people.
Su Xiao looked forward. Several hundred meters ahead, a figure seemed to stand between water and sky. Wind rose, and large ripples spread across the water's surface. The scene was like old friends meeting—but in the next moment, this image was shattered.
Crack!
Black lightning streaked across the sky. The figure standing several hundred meters ahead was Gray Gentleman. He looked at Su Xiao with a smile, showing no anger at having his plan thwarted. The depths of his eyes turned pitch black, his pupils became dark gold, and combined with his slicked-back hairstyle and the monocle over his right eye, he exuded a unique charm.
"You're here."
Gray Gentleman spoke calmly. As his voice fell, the ripples on the surrounding water suddenly stopped. The clear water surface turned pitch black in an instant. Dozens of figures slowly rose from the black water—these were Gray Gentleman's puppets.
Clang~
Su Xiao drew the long sword at his waist. He could sense that Gray Gentleman still retained some of the power gained from Dawn Paradise, along with the depth and darkness of Abyss power.
The thunder in the sky had somehow ceased. The dark clouds parted slightly, and a half-meter-wide beam of sunlight shone down, illuminating the black water surface and stone platform between Su Xiao and Gray Gentleman, as if separating the two sides.
The death battle was about to begin.