Chapter 25: Fallen God Blood
Inside the second floor of the wooden building, Su Xiao dispelled the Spirit Shadow Thread beneath his feet and landed on the floor. His gaze remained fixed on the Necronomicon floating ahead.
The appearance of the Necronomicon was sudden but not abrupt. Previously, after surrounding and killing the Ancient God·Holy Oak, the Banishment stored within the team storage space had sent out a throbbing sensation through its tendrils.
The reason for this was that, earlier in the Treeborn World within Bei City, Su Xiao had encountered the Abyss Guardian inside the palace, in the passage leading to the Great Ruins.
At that time, Su Xiao's left arm was a crystal arm, and Banishment had fused into it to enhance the crystal arm's flexibility, strength, and so on.
The situation back then was too dangerous. Su Xiao could only grab the Necronomicon with his crystal arm and hurl it toward the Abyss Guardian.
After the Abyss Guardian lost an arm and escaped, Wood represented the Demon Clan in welcoming a new daddy.
Su Xiao also paid a price. After touching the Necronomicon with his crystal left arm, the Banishment within the crystal arm underwent some kind of mutation. Since then, he had never used Banishment again, fearing that his own mental energy might also mutate upon contact.
The current situation proved that Su Xiao's caution was correct. The Necronomicon had indeed formed some connection with Banishment, otherwise it would not have appeared here.
The reason for the Necronomicon's appearance was actually easy to understand. Over the years, the Demon Clan had been impoverished by the Abyssal Jar. As the Demon Clan's new daddy, the Necronomicon was quite dissatisfied with this.
Previously, the Necronomicon had apparently sensed Su Xiao's fishing for evil gods through its connection with Banishment and found the matter excellent.
Although Su Xiao fished for evil gods, he never fished for ancient gods. Mainly because ancient gods were too bizarre, and there was a real possibility of catching one he couldn't defeat, which would be awkward.
Su Xiao looked at the Necronomicon floating ahead. Regarding cooperating to take down an evil god, he certainly wouldn't refuse, but he wasn't ready to agree immediately. He needed at least a few hours of buffer time.
"I'll give you an answer by noon at the latest."
Su Xiao spoke calmly, ready to activate the Dragon Shadow Flash ability and retreat at any moment. When facing any "Daddy-level" artifact, he maintained the highest vigilance. The Demon Clan's situation alone was enough to demonstrate the terrifying power of such artifacts.
Su Xiao was indeed a Law Destroyer and Hunter, but this more often made "Daddy-level" artifacts disdain him and not stay by his side. It didn't mean they couldn't kill him. Conversely, with his current strength, although he could contact and even cooperate to a certain extent with these artifacts, they still posed a fatal risk to him.
Hearing Su Xiao's reply, the Necronomicon floating ahead gradually faded, leaving only the Banishment fragments forming the framework of a book, suspended in midair. This clearly meant that before noon, Su Xiao had to give the Necronomicon an answer here.
Su Xiao sat cross-legged on the floor, pondering how to handle this matter and how to profit from it.
With the Necronomicon involved in fishing for the evil god, his side wouldn't need to deploy combat power, nor even set up traps like alchemical arrays. The Necronomicon's meaning was quite clear: Su Xiao was responsible for luring the evil god into this world, and how to kill it afterward was not Su Xiao's concern. The Necronomicon would handle it.
Su Xiao had seen the clash between Mousheng's Frenzy and the Abyssal Jar, but he had never witnessed the Necronomicon's power. This time, he could take the opportunity to observe it, so that if certain events later led to a falling out with the Necronomicon, he would have some advance preparation, at least knowing how to escape.
The problem was that luring an evil god was not simple. Previously, Su Xiao had fished for an evil god once using that evil god's finger, and another time using [Sacred Oak] to lure the Ancient God·Holy Oak.
As for other items related to evil gods, Su Xiao had Beini purchase them. However, those items at most had a connection to an evil god, unlike [Evil God Pinky Finger] and [Sacred Oak], which had a direct link to a specific evil god.
Without such a direct link, it was basically impossible to lure an evil god into this world. Those evil gods weren't stupid.
As Su Xiao was pondering, a notification appeared.
[Notification: You have received 5,000 Soul Coins.]
Su Xiao looked at the morning light streaming through the window. Today was the seventh day of entering this world, the time for the reputation ranking settlement.
He currently held first place with -32,600 reputation points. The ones behind him—Black Demon, Undead Girl, and Kain—were all closing in.
Like Su Xiao, Black Demon and Undead Girl had negative reputations. Kain, however, was becoming increasingly unpredictable. His team members were all dead, yet his reputation gain hadn't slowed down; it was faster than before. It truly was "teammates sacrificed, power boundless."
Or rather, Kain had completely removed the mask of "good leader" and revealed his true demonic nature. He had started to get serious, no longer coaxing the members of the Hall of Heroes to gradually become bait.
Kain's previous style was basically: "Young man, want to join an adventure group? An SSS-class large adventure group. Once you join, we're all family. Want to consider it?"
Besides Kain, the situation with Shenfu was also off. Shenfu's reputation never surged, but three days ago, it had been rising steadily, increasing by 1 point at a time at a not-so-fast pace.
Now, Shenfu's reputation had already exceeded 20,000 points, and the rate was accelerating. Heaven knows what he was doing on "Aokai Star."
It was a mix of good and bad news. Among the top five—Su Xiao, Black Demon, Kain, Undead Girl, and Shenfu—all had reputations, whether positive or negative, exceeding ten thousand points. The sixth place was a sudden shift in style: the anonymous person, Lu Ge, had only obtained 1,200 reputation points.
Looking only at the top five, it was hard to say who would ultimately take first place. Su Xiao's situation needed no elaboration. Black Demon's devouring had never stopped from the beginning.
Undead Girl was a legion unto herself. If she caught a good opportunity, her reputation would definitely go negative explosively.
Kain and Shenfu were both unpredictable, likely to pull some kind of stunt.
One interesting thing was that both Kain and Shenfu, these two bizarre individuals, had positive reputations. This was particularly confusing.
These two—one was a teammate-devouring maniac, the other a professional teammate-saboteur—yet their reputations were positive. Heaven was unjust.
Su Xiao closed the reputation ranking. The usage interval for [Sacred Oak] was also 48 hours. He took it out and, as before, activated it at the cost of sacrificing his charm attribute.
[Notification: You have gained 1 Golden Skill Point.]
Su Xiao had now obtained a total of 4 Golden Skill Points through [Sacred Oak]. The item's durability had 6 points remaining.
Putting away [Sacred Oak], Su Xiao's thoughts returned to fishing for the evil god. With his gradually accumulating experience in this area, what he lacked now was an item directly linked to a specific evil god.
For such items, Su Xiao's first thought was Kaisa. He took out his communicator and contacted Kaisa.
After a moment, Su Xiao hung up the communicator. Kaisa was certainly willing to participate in this evil god fishing. That guy was always particularly enthusiastic as long as there were benefits.
There were two reasons for contacting Kaisa. First, Kaisa had extensive connections and might have an item linked to an evil god. Second, Kaisa's arrival also meant the Abyssal Jar would be involved.
For Su Xiao, everything about the Necronomicon was unknown. Entrusting his safety to an ancient, evil, and bizarre artifact was far less reliable than finding a party that could restrain it and maneuvering between them.
Su Xiao estimated that the power of the Necronomicon and the Abyssal Jar was likely evenly matched. If so, the arrival of the Abyssal Jar would certainly restrain the Necronomicon.
Although the Abyssal Jar would take a large share of the benefits, Su Xiao firmly believed that when one shouldn't be greedy, one must know when to compromise.
Contacting Kaisa also had other benefits. When luring the evil god later, Su Xiao, Bubu Wang, and Baha were all unsuitable. Su Xiao, in particular, would likely alert the evil god with his aura.
Kaisa, on the other hand, had an aura that posed no threat. He could pull off an evolved version of a honey trap, letting the evil god experience a "goblin trap."
Su Xiao increasingly felt this plan was feasible. He sent a host to greet Kaisa at the ancient ruins.
More than half an hour later, a semi-transparent host descended, and Kaisa stepped out. His pace was hurried, clearly very interested in fishing for the evil god.
Inside the wooden building, Kaisa sat down and immediately grabbed a plate of snacks. He never passed up free food.
"My dear friend, unfortunately, I don't have the kind of item you mentioned. I obtained such a good thing once before, but I've already used it."
Kaisa looked pained. If he had known about this matter, he would never have used that item.
"Used it? You completed a sacrifice with an evil god?"
Baha asked in surprise. Such evil god-related items were not something ordinary people would use.
"Yes, we made a fair exchange."
Kaisa gave a sly smile. Last time, he had sacrificed his hemorrhoids to an evil god. Presumably, that evil god was now searching for Kaisa's whereabouts.
The problem remained the linked item. Without it, this plan couldn't proceed.
Su Xiao sat on a chair by the window, watching the "Brutal Cannon Towers" being built ahead. The Empire and the Company had been quite trustworthy this time. Before dawn, they had delivered 1,050,000 units of life ore. The mother nest had converted this into 10,500,000 points of bio-energy.
These 10,500,000 bio-energy points were nearly depleted. A total of 53 "Brutal Cannon Towers" were under construction, expected to be completed in about ten minutes.
At this point, Su Xiao checked the defensive strength of his mother nest.
Demon Beasts: 101,950.
Sun Flame Dragons: 1,300.
Lord-level Demon Flame Dragon: 1.
Insectoid Scientist: 1.
Brutal Cannon Towers: 75.
All of his base camp was situated on a 5-kilometer-diameter fungal carpet. Around the circular perimeter of this carpet, Brutal Cannon Towers were arranged.
Currently, the towers were spaced somewhat far apart. When the number reached 200, the distance between them would be about 48.5 meters, and with walls made of biological tissue connecting them, the defense would be impregnable, providing a strong sense of security.
The remaining 125 Brutal Cannon Towers would require another 25,000,000 bio-energy points to build, not to mention the even more expensive Plasma Defense Towers and the enhancement of all Demon Beasts' combat power, which would need 40,000,000 bio-energy points. The resource demand was enormous.
Regarding the development of the base camp, Su Xiao felt it had reached a bottleneck. Before the Nether invasion, his side's resources could at most complete the construction of 200 Brutal Cannon Towers.
Further development would depend on whether there was a turning point after the Nether invasion. Given the current situation, hunting supernatural creatures for more bio-energy would be like a drop in the bucket. The only way was to rob the Empire or the Company.
But once he did that, open conflict was inevitable. Starting a civil war just before the Nether invasion was no different from courting death.
That was why Su Xiao felt the current development speed had reached a bottleneck, or perhaps a limit. The only good news was that the fungal carpet had undergone a transformation after Jila advanced to the Dominator level.
Whether this defense could withstand the Nether forces' attack depended on one key point: whether the fungal carpet could absorb the corpses of Nether-type minions and convert them into bio-energy.
If it couldn't, his side could only rely on the source mine beneath the base camp to hold out until the main mission was completed or the world progress time limit was reached.
If the fungal carpet could absorb the corpses of Nether-type beings, then after his mother nest accumulated enough, Su Xiao would take a risk and have Jila advance beyond the Dominator level. After that, he would launch a counterattack against the Nether forces.
No one said this time could only be passive defense. Su Xiao's ultimate goal was to counterattack, and he had been preparing for this for a long time.
Jila entered this world initially at the Queen level, then advanced to the Mother Nest level, and now to the Dominator level. During this time, the mother nest had undergone three evolutions.
These three evolutions should, in theory, have unlocked more insectoid soldier types and insectoid buildings.
What was the result? The new soldier types were only non-combat units like jellyfish and hosts. The Sun Flame Dragon was developed by Su Xiao, not from the mother nest's evolution.
There were no new insectoid buildings either. Sensing towers, Jila Spiral Towers, etc., were all insectoid building genes his side already had. The only new addition, the research lab, was a mother nest organ, not a separate insectoid building.
To make an intuitive analogy: the mother nest had obtained three evolution opportunities, equivalent to 30 evolution points. Logically, 10 points should go to combat soldiers, 10 to insectoid buildings, and the last 10 to resource extraction.
But Su Xiao hadn't allocated any. For combat soldiers, he plundered the gene libraries of other insectoid mother nests, continuously improving Demon Beasts and Flame Dragons through war. Even without using "evolution points," they were still powerful.
For resource extraction, he directly captured the Spider Queen, again without consuming "evolution points."
Where did all these "evolution points" go? The answer was that Su Xiao had poured them all into the fungal carpet. Whether this plan succeeded depended mainly on the fungal carpet.
Su Xiao wasn't worried that the Nether faction was entirely composed of dead things. According to Shenfu's intelligence, those Empire citizens corrupted by Nether power were still flesh and blood, just undergoing painful mutations and having their minds completely eroded.
From another perspective, these monsters were still living beings, just no longer human but Nether-type creatures. Since they were living beings, as long as the fungal carpet was strong enough, absorbing bio-energy from them was possible.
Confirming that the base camp's development had no room for improvement at this stage, Su Xiao turned his thoughts back to fishing for the evil god. This collaboration with the Necronomicon and the Abyssal Jar to fish for an evil god was, to some extent, also a backup plan.
If his base camp truly couldn't withstand the Nether attack, using the Necronomicon or the Abyssal Jar to take Jila, Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha and leave Pandora Star was a last resort. Failing once was better than dying here. Moreover, as long as Jila didn't die, there was a chance to turn things around later.
The most reliable way to obtain an evil god-linked item now was to purchase it on the world communication platform. Su Xiao opened the platform and posted.
Bai Ye (Reincarnation Paradise): "Buying evil god-linked items at a high price."
Biting Cat (Watchful Paradise): "Big shot, long time no see. Remember me?"
Bai Ye (Reincarnation Paradise): "Mm."
Anonymous (Apocalypse Paradise): "Someone still buys evil god-linked items? Isn't their only use selling them to the paradise?"
Shenfu (Sanctuary Paradise): "You can also eat them."
Anonymous (Apocalypse Paradise): "?"
Biting Cat (Watchful Paradise): "Barely maintaining a smile at the terrifying comment above."
Sheep Man (Death Paradise): "Shenfu has been gone for a long time. Watch out for him causing trouble."
Lilia (Holy Light Paradise): "Sheep Man big shot, does your team still need a hanger-on? Count me in."
Fortune Teller (Holy Light Paradise): "May the holy light guide you."
Snow Monster (Death Paradise): "Don't need holy light guidance."
Sheep Man (Death Paradise): "Isn't the Hall of Heroes wiped out except for Kain? How did this thing not die together?"
Anonymous (Apocalypse Paradise): "Silver Pheasant kicked him out of the group before. He didn't accept it and was still yelling at Silver Pheasant here."
Snow Monster (Death Paradise): "Heh, without me, they really can't do it. See, wiped out."
Biting Cat (Watchful Paradise): "When it comes to shamelessness, I crown you the strongest."
Kain (Death Paradise): "The Hall of Heroes has suffered heavy losses but isn't wiped out. Recruiting contractors from Death Paradise as new members. After joining, you can enjoy..."
Snow Monster (Death Paradise): "Captain, can I... rejoin? Please."
Kain (Death Paradise): "Don't let it happen again. Be more restrained in the future."
Snow Monster (Death Paradise): "Thank you, Captain!"
Sheep Man (Death Paradise): "Idiot."
Kain (Death Paradise): "Sheep Man, are you insulting my member?"
Sheep Man (Death Paradise): "No, I was just farting. Don't mind it. I apologize."
Biting Cat (Watchful Paradise): "Why be scared on the communication platform? It's not like you can hit each other."
As the saying goes, good advice is hard to give to a ghost doomed to die. Snow Monster had survived being expelled from the Hall of Heroes, but now he was preparing to rejoin.
Kain welcomed this situation. In fact, if Silver Pheasant hadn't been so firm, Kain wouldn't have agreed to expel Snow Monster. Sometimes, he really needed useless teammates.
For a team, useless teammates were detestable. But for a slaughterhouse, useless teammates were very welcome. The pork obtained after slaughter would only taste better.
Su Xiao closed the communication platform. He had originally wanted to buy an evil god-linked item, but the topic had gradually drifted off. After Kain spoke, Su Xiao knew no one would notice his purchase request above.
Since this avenue was unreliable, he could only try his luck with the Empire. Su Xiao didn't hold much hope for this. The Empire's arrogant and dismissive attitude toward mysticism meant they wouldn't have many such items.
Just as Su Xiao picked up his communicator to contact the Empire, he received a temporary message. Someone had contacted him through his post on the world communication platform, paying Soul Coins for the privilege. It was Molei.
Molei's message was simple: she had an evil god-linked item but wouldn't sell it. Truly, "leg-breaking" behavior.
Molei wasn't just messing around. She wanted to ask why Su Xiao was buying such items. From her attitude, there was clearly more to it.
Su Xiao's reply was simple: have Molei come to his base camp to discuss. Normally, Molei wouldn't walk into a trap, but just an hour ago, Su Xiao had released her, Yueshitu, and Hao Mei.
This would make Molei and the others feel that the Sun Holy Nest wasn't very dangerous. This was exactly the effect Su Xiao wanted. Later, when the Nether invaded, those three would have nowhere to hide and would obediently pay to take refuge in the Sun Holy Nest.
Su Xiao waited in the wooden building's first floor for over 40 minutes before Molei and Yueshitu walked in. Hao Mei was nowhere to be seen, either afraid of having her lightning blood drawn or wary of all three being taken out in one go.
"You have an evil god-linked item?"
Su Xiao looked at Molei across from him. Molei didn't speak but patted Yueshitu's back, signaling her to answer.
"It's like this..."
Yueshitu gritted her teeth and began explaining. As a summoner, she often encountered divine beings, including benevolent gods, neutral gods, evil gods, and evil gods, but never ancient gods. Yueshitu didn't want to court death.
Previously, through a "medium-type summon," Yueshitu had come into contact with a group of evil gods. Yes, a group.
These evil gods shared a common trait: they all had a malevolent power called "Fallen God Blood" within them, which was why they gathered together.
The "Fallen God Blood" of these evil gods, when diluted, could be accepted by humans or other intelligent races. After paying a terrible price and becoming servants, they could gain some power, such as controlling blood, corrupting blood, or strengthening their own blood.
That time, Yueshitu had been trying to find new neutral or friendly gods to trade with. Although risky, the rewards were high. Unfortunately, she had stumbled into an evil god nest.
If the Moon Goddess hadn't protected her, Yueshitu would have been finished. Although she survived, she lost quite a few pieces of equipment.
Yueshitu had come this time to test what Su Xiao wanted with the evil god-linked item and whether she could take the opportunity to send "greetings" to those evil gods. That experience had left her with some trauma.
Yueshitu took out a palm-sized piece of cloth. Around this fragment floated fine blood beads, and a heavy bloody smell hit them, even making them dizzy.
"This is the linked item of an evil god. That evil god is called Ancestor·Feld, one of the Four Pillar Gods of the 'Initial Temple.'"
Yueshitu revealed quite a bit of information. Baha asked, "Initial Temple? Four Pillar Gods? What are these things?"
"The Initial Temple is a major force with many followers. The Four Pillar Gods are the four most powerful evil gods of the Initial Temple."
At this point, Yueshitu pressed further, "You still haven't said what you need the evil god-linked item for."
"To fish for an evil god."
"Huh?"
Yueshitu looked blankly at Baha. She understood each word, but together, they made no sense.
"It's like fishing. Evil gods with non-human forms have kill rewards and can be used as ingredients. Humanoid ones aren't eaten to avoid affecting appetite, but they can be cold-stored as array materials. Many uses."
Hearing this, Yueshitu was even more confused. The concept of "stir-fried evil god heart with green peppers" simply didn't exist in her understanding.
"After all this talk, name your price."
Baha tilted his head, indicating that this was indeed a business deal and no coercive measures would be taken, so Molei and Yueshitu didn't need to worry.
"I'll give it to you."
Yueshitu offered the cloth fragment. Sell it? No, Yueshitu wasn't short on money. She would rather see the Four Pillar Gods of the "Initial Temple" get dealt with.
Everything was ready, only needing to choose a good location. The ancient ruins to the east were a suitable place.
Su Xiao went up to the second floor, opened the wooden box in his hand, and revealed the cloth inside. The Necronomicon appeared within the framework formed by Banishment. The next second, the Necronomicon floated behind Su Xiao.
Su Xiao put away Banishment and turned to go downstairs. Moments later, Su Xiao, Kaisa, Bubu Wang, Baha, Molei, and Yueshitu rode a host together, heading to the ancient ruins in the east.
This time, Molei and Yueshitu were just bystanders, watching the show. The Necronomicon and the Abyssal Jar would, once Ancestor·Feld was lured over, be responsible for pulling it completely into this world and killing it, respectively.
Su Xiao was responsible for setting up the scene to make it attractive enough. As for Kaisa, he was the protagonist of this event. The goblin trap depended entirely on him.
An hour later, in the abandoned main hall at the center of the ancient ruins, all doors and windows were sealed, plunging the place into darkness. On the ground were engraved circles of patterns filled with blood. Around each circle were rows of candles, creating an atmosphere of evil ritual.
At the center of the pattern, Kaisa, dressed in a black robe and wearing a strange crown, knelt there babbling in goblin language, bowing repeatedly. Around his neck was a large necklace he had made himself, strung with Soul Crystal Cores. Such a wasteful act made it clear at a glance that this was a "foolish rich guy."
Ask yourself, what evil god could resist such temptation?
Hidden in a corner, a micro-monitoring device transmitted everything happening in the main hall in real time to a stone house a kilometer away, which was shrouded in a kind of black mist.
Molei and Yueshitu looked at the terminal in their hands. Yueshitu was a bit nervous and whispered to Molei, "There won't be any problems, right?"
"I analyze that absolutely not."
Molei's tone was exceptionally certain. As she spoke, she looked at Su Xiao, the Necronomicon floating beside him, and the Abyssal Jar, plus Kaisa in the main hall. With this lineup, it wasn't just about fishing for one evil god. It was very likely that after killing one, they would immediately invite the next victim to make a grand appearance.