# Chapter 3: All Your Abnormal Attribute Resistances Increased by 56 Points
[Tip: When Xianlulu is attached to you, she can use the "Psychic Revival (Active, Lv.72)" ability, immediately restoring 20% of your maximum health, and within the following 6 seconds, increase your movement and dash speed (this boost follows a diminishing pattern, starting at 70% increased movement and dash speed, decreasing by 10% each second until the buff ends).]
[This skill's cooldown was originally 180 seconds, now reduced to 9 seconds.]
...
Xianlulu, floating above Su Xiao's shoulder, widened her cat eyes. The fur on her ear tips gradually turned golden, with faint gold-blue flames flickering on her body, and her small gaze started to swell with confidence.
"Wahahaha, I feel like I could solo the Nether Emperor."
Xianlulu looked like she was about to challenge the Emperor to a duel, but a cold wind blew past, causing her to shiver. Her rationality quickly returned, and she immediately hid behind Su Xiao.
"Xianlulu, you're attached to the wrong person. First attach to Rhine·Gode. Once the battle starts, he'll be the frontline. Later, decide who to transfer to based on the situation."
Baha spoke. Hearing this, Xianlulu felt it made sense. It was indeed her first time teaming up with so many big shots, and she was a bit nervous.
After Su Xiao received the buff effects of Silver Moon Blade and Spirit Blade, he signaled that the door could be opened.
Rumble~
The metal door in front was pushed open by Aisea. Suddenly, an irresistible dragging force appeared, accompanied by black mist, pulling everyone present into the door.
Boom!
The metal door behind slammed shut, and the suction force disappeared. Su Xiao stabilized himself in a half-crouch position. After standing up, he surveyed the area ahead. The tall throne at the far end of the hall immediately caught his attention.
On the throne, the Nether Emperor's appearance matched the portrait seen earlier—black battle armor, a two-handed greatsword thrust into the ground before him, and a crown integrated with the head armor, symbolizing the ruler's authority while also being a metal helm with formidable defensive performance.
However, now that he was seeing the Nether Emperor in person, the oppressive pressure was far beyond what the portrait could convey. The Emperor merely sat there, yet it made one feel their shoulders sink. The greatsword, covered in mottled marks, had blade edges that appeared exceptionally sharp.
The number of living beings this greatsword had slaughtered was so great that even from a hundred meters away, one could faintly hear the wailing of lost souls. Those souls, which had grown, twisted, and been corrupted by Abyss power, were sealed within this greatsword. The first sight of this thing made one's hair stand on end.
This was a normal reaction. Back when the vast kingdom ruled by the Emperor was eroded by the Abyss, the billions of subjects of that kingdom should have died horribly or mutated into monsters. But driven by some coincidence, this greatsword, tainted by the Abyss, absorbed the souls of all the kingdom's subjects.
Dong, dong, dong~
It sounded like ancient bell chimes. Hearing these chimes, a scene involuntarily appeared in one's mind—a prosperous ancient city standing amidst gradually thickening clouds, flying dragons circling above the clouds, and a bronze bell within the city being struck repeatedly by ascetics.
Crack, crack, crack~
The throne beneath the Emperor shattered. At the same time, the Emperor stood up. His large hand, wrapped in black armor, grasped the hilt of the two-handed greatsword, causing the sword thrust into the ground to tilt slightly.
Zheng~
The nearly 1.9-meter-long greatsword let out a clear ring. The widest part of this greatsword was over 20 centimeters wide, with well-proportioned overall dimensions. In the hands of the Emperor, who stood nearly 4 meters tall, this two-handed greatsword felt like an ordinary person holding a cavalry sword with one hand—only the oppressive pressure was on a completely different level.
Seeing the Emperor himself at first glance, Su Xiao chose not to act. The reason was simple: the Emperor's oppressive pressure was too strong.
[Comparing both parties' Intelligence attributes... Due to the environment being a secondary Abyss region, detection failed. Only 3.7% of the enemy's data obtained.]
Name: Nether Emperor · ???
Category: Abyss/???
Health: ???
Abyss Power: ???
Strength: ???
Agility: ???
Stamina: ???
Intelligence: ???
Skill 1: Abyss ???
...
...
Skill 16: ???
...
Su Xiao glanced at this data sheet, which was nothing but question marks and the word "Abyss," and felt that the situation was grim. But retreat was no longer possible now; they could only settle things with the Emperor.
"Here it comes!"
Aisea raised one hand, and a Mithril barrier formed before her. An evil wind rushed toward her face, a greatsword tainted by the Abyss swept horizontally.
Boom!!
A loud noise echoed throughout the hall. Aisea was sent flying by a hammer blow. The reason it was a hammer blow was that when the black sword struck the Mithril barrier, the barrier clung to the black sword, forming a hammer shape that smashed into Aisea.
Compared to being cut in half by the black sword, Aisea, who had strong self-healing abilities, would rather take a heavy hammer blow.
By the wall, Aisea, who had crashed into the wall, landed. Due to her body's weakness, she could only kneel on one knee. With a "wow," she spat out a large mouthful of blood. She breathed heavily and greedily, her pupils trembling. The Emperor was far stronger than expected.
After swinging his sword once, the Emperor chose not to pursue Aisea. He ran his hand over the black sword, tearing off the solidified Mithril wrapped around it, scattering it on the ground.
A mournful sound of wind breaking came from the Emperor's side. The green flame-like pupils in his eyes flickered, and he horizontally blocked with his sword.
Boom!
Rhine·Gode's heavy punch struck the face of the black sword. With a crisp "crack," to his slightly surprised gaze, the black sword shattered. But in the next instant, a large number of head-sized black fireballs surged out from within.
'Blade Path Sword: Slay.'
Whoosh!
A blood-red chain slashed diagonally. All the black fireballs rushing toward Rhine·Gode shattered with wails. The remnants of the blood slash gradually dissipated in the air.
Rhine·Gode, who had continuously backflipped, stopped. He nodded at Su Xiao before refocusing his gaze on the Emperor.
At this time, the Sun Saint by the wall did not act. Despite his macho appearance with bulging muscles, aside from Bubu Wang and Baha, he had the worst survivability among those present. His long-range firepower was terrifyingly strong, but if forced into close combat with the Emperor, he would be dead soon.
The battle had just begun, and Aisea had nearly been killed on the spot, showing how formidable the Nether Emperor was.
The shattered black sword reassembled, held in the Emperor's hand. From his appearance until now, the Emperor had remained silent. The cold flame-like green pupils indicated that he had been completely eroded by the Abyss.
"Roar!!"
A roar came from within the Emperor's armor. The sound did not come from inside the helmet but from beneath the armor on his torso. This roar seemed to be a mixture of many voices.
Layers of air waves spread with the roar. Su Xiao shielded his face with one hand, staring at the Emperor through the gaps between his fingers. His most intuitive feeling now was that there was simply no way to defeat the Nether Emperor.
Yes, it was that exaggerated. That was why Aisea had nearly been killed instantly at the start of the battle.
"Cough, cough, cough~ Think of something, or we retreat."
Aisea, who had quietly moved to Su Xiao's diagonal rear, spoke. She had just taken an attack from the Emperor, which suppressed her self-healing ability to almost nothing.
"We can't retreat. This place is sealed by some kind of power."
Rhine·Gode, standing three meters away from Su Xiao, spoke.
"Then there must be another reason. The Nether Emperor is too absurdly strong. Look at those holes burned into him by the Mithril."
Aisea raised her chin. Indeed, on the Nether Emperor's right shoulder, there were several finger-sized holes. The Mithril inside the armor was still sizzling as it burned, but this burning didn't last a few seconds before the holes in the Emperor's shoulder armor gradually healed, eventually returning to normal. The Emperor's aura did not weaken in the slightest.
Witnessing this, Su Xiao knew that a solution had to be found immediately, or within no more than 10 minutes, everyone present would die under the Emperor's sword.
A scroll appeared in Su Xiao's hand. As this scroll shattered, a residual image too fast for perception to capture shot toward the Nether Emperor.
Boom!!
A soul arrow pierced through the Nether Emperor's head. As an Immortal-rank one-time item, the power of [Soul Wound] could be imagined.
What happened next was jaw-dropping. The hole in the Emperor's head quickly returned to normal as black smoke threads converged, including the external armor.
This was no longer within the realm of self-healing or regeneration. It was more like, as long as the Emperor was here, any damage he sustained would recover to normal after a few seconds, unless he could be killed in a single burst.
Using an Immortal-rank item to test this seemed wasteful, but it was much better than losing a team member. If the team suffered casualties while probing the Emperor's abilities, there would be no way to continue the fight.
Su Xiao had a conjecture in mind, but if he guessed wrong, this battle would be lost for sure. However, considering that they would all be wiped out within ten minutes at most, even a wrong guess was better than doing nothing.
"The ceiling."
Su Xiao spoke in a low voice. Aisea, behind him to the diagonal, said, "Huh?"
Before Aisea could finish, the ground shook with a loud noise. Su Xiao and Rhine·Gode had already charged at the Emperor. Seeing this, Aisea pointed forward with one hand. Mithril gathered around her, condensing into a silver droplet at her fingertip.
On the other side, the Sun Saint held his cannon hammer, aiming the muzzle at the Nether Emperor. At the same time, solar energy within his body rapidly surged into the weapon, causing fire patterns to appear on the cannon hammer.
Bang!
Shrapnel mixed with flames blasted out from the cannon hammer's muzzle, tearing a few black traces through the air before striking the Nether Emperor's back squarely. It made the Emperor's body sway slightly, which was already quite impressive.
A metal fist tore through the air, punching straight at the Emperor. At the same time, a gravitational force pressed down on the Emperor. The Emperor, clearly battle-hardened, switched to a two-handed grip and executed a vertical slash.
'Blade Path Sword: Flow.'
A wind scar cut through, leaving a slash mark on the Emperor's right arm guard. This sudden slashing force caused the Emperor's sword momentum to deviate.
Facing the Emperor, Rhine·Gode's original plan was to clash head-on with the Emperor under Su Xiao's cover, creating an opportunity for the others.
But when facing the Emperor's black sword vertical slash, Rhine·Gode realized the situation was bad. If he took this sword head-on, it wouldn't just be a matter of losing one metal arm.
Boom!
The black sword narrowly slashed past Rhine·Gode. When it hit the ground, debris flew everywhere. Cold sweat broke out on Rhine·Gode's forehead, but with his combat experience, he naturally wouldn't miss such an opportunity. He immediately launched a barrage of punches with both fists at the Emperor.
A thunderous blast swept past Rhine·Gode's ear, making him turn his head. It was a silver water thread shooting past. Aisea's accumulated attack pierced through the Emperor's neck. This thread, as thin as a needle, had astonishing power.
'Blade Path Sword: Flow.'
With a tearing sound, an elegant wind scar slashed across the ceiling. Just as the slash landed, Rhine·Gode shot upward, delivering a heavy uppercut to the ceiling—one of his ultimate killing moves.
Boom!!
After a punch no less powerful than Su Xiao's signature kick, the entire hall shook. The ceiling, which had been hit by Blade Path Sword: Flow and the heavy uppercut, was covered in cracks but did not collapse.
Crack, crack, crack~
The broken armor on the Emperor's neck repaired itself. He swung his sword diagonally.
Zheng!
A massive black sword aura shot out. Azure Demon looked on, tears of envy streaming down.
Clang!
The black sword aura was blocked by a long blade. Su Xiao, holding the sword with one hand and pressing against the spine of the blade with the other, felt his arms go numb and was forced back by the momentum.
The Emperor felt very wrong to him. He was incredibly strong, yet in terms of combat techniques, he wasn't as terrifying as imagined. Simply put, from start to finish, the Emperor had been using basic attacks, at most slashing out black sword auras.
A golden blazing sun appeared behind Su Xiao, blowing his hair forward. Behind him, the Sun Saint, who had been charging for several seconds, aimed his cannon hammer at the ceiling as well.
Boom!!
A beam of light blasted out. Su Xiao felt his right ear ring, and his cheek was scorched painfully.
When the aftermath of the attack dissipated in the air, the ceiling was finally blasted open with a hole about 3 meters in diameter, revealing pitch blackness above.
Several semi-transparent black chains gradually appeared in the air, with one end disappearing into the darkness above and the other end embedded in the Emperor's left arm.
Su Xiao had been guessing all along that the Netherworld was an Eighth Rank world, so why was the Emperor this strong? The most likely thought was that, for some unknown reason, the Emperor's power source was directly connected to the Abyss Passage.
Earlier, the mission had indicated that the Abyss Passage in the Netherworld was at the Netherworld's Bottom. This information was correct, but it was actually very misleading, because the Netherworld's Summit was not underground in the Netherworld, but at the very top of the Netherworld.
The place where Nether power settled was the Netherworld's Bottom. The problem was that Nether power was a type of energy that floated upward. The concept of "settling" needed to be understood differently.
When climbing the spiral staircase earlier, Su Xiao made a choice. He didn't send Bubu Wang and Baha to the underground of the King's Hall but brought them to the Emperor's location instead. The reason was that the higher they went, the stronger the reaction of the cursed silver coins, indicating a higher concentration of Abyss power.
And now, the passage to the Netherworld's Bottom had been blasted open by Su Xiao, Rhine·Gode, and the Sun Saint working together.
Without any noticeable fluctuation, Bubu Wang and Baha had already entered the hole in the ceiling. Their task was simple: find the Abyss Passage.
Logically, before killing the Emperor, it would be difficult to close the Abyss Passage connected to him. But if the Abyss Passage wasn't closed, the Emperor was nearly immortal. Whenever his armor or body was damaged, it would immediately be repaired by Abyss energy. This was a vicious cycle.
It was hard to imagine how to defeat the Emperor in this state. Fortunately, Su Xiao had prepared for this.
Earlier, he had gone to Oka Star and had the Crimson Witch divine his battle with the Emperor. The Crimson Witch's original words were: "A mask, and... it and it."
At the time, the Crimson Witch had pointed at Bubu Wang and Baha respectively.
Su Xiao now fully understood the meaning of these words. The key to the life-or-death battle with the Emperor was to open a passage to the Netherworld's Bottom, allowing Bubu Wang and Baha to take the Primordial Mask to the Abyss Passage.
The previous great battle in the Netherworld had allowed the Primordial Mask to absorb a massive amount of Nether power. Even so, the mask still hadn't crossed that threshold to become a Daddy-rank artifact.
But Su Xiao was certain that the Primordial Mask could absorb pure Abyss energy. Thus, as long as the Primordial Mask was thrown into the Abyss Passage to absorb Abyss energy, it would cut off the Emperor's connection to the Abyss Passage. Only then would there be a chance of victory.
Su Xiao and the others' positions vaguely surrounded the Emperor in the middle. In such a situation, they naturally couldn't act rashly. If the Emperor didn't move, they would wait and see.
In the almost suffocating tension, time passed minute by minute. Half a minute later, the semi-transparent black chains connected to the Emperor's left arm shattered with a crack. This meant that the Primordial Mask had been thrown into the Abyss Passage, severing the Emperor's connection to it.
The Emperor's vast aura suddenly contracted. Although he was still the strongest present, he was no longer as exaggerated as before. Cold air exhaled from the vents in his mask. The somewhat bloated armor on his body quickly detached, revealing the black armor that had fused with his skin.
The Emperor casually grasped the sword hilt. The tattered black cape behind him looked ragged but still maintained its general shape.
"I feel like the current Nether Emperor is even more dangerous than before."
Aisea spoke. The current Nether Emperor had lost that vast aura, lost his endless bodily energy, and lost his Immortal-rank recovery ability. But Aisea felt that the current Emperor was even more terrifying.
Whoosh!
The tattered cape trailed black flame shadows. The Emperor appeared in front of the Sun Saint in the next instant, his black sword slashing horizontally with astonishing momentum.
Clang!!
The black sword clashed with the alloy arm. Just as the slash landed, black crystals spread over the alloy arm, then suddenly burst into black flames.
With one slash, the Emperor's slashing power seemed endless, breaking through Rhine·Gode's alloy arm block and sending him flying.
A wave of air burst open. Flying through the air, most of Rhine·Gode's body was numb. He had never encountered an enemy like this before. In the past, the moment weapons clashed was the strongest instant of both sides' power. But not with the Emperor. After the weapons clashed, the power from the black sword would grow stronger and stronger, making it impossible for the enemy to block within a short time, thus breaking their defense.
The cannon hammer aimed at the side of the Emperor's head. The Sun Saint pulled the rough trigger. Shrapnel mixed with sparks blasted out, powerful enough to tear through space.
The black sword blocked like a shield. The impact force caused the Emperor to step back, but he pushed his hand forward. From within the black sword came the roar of billions of souls, shaking the Sun Saint's mind with a buzzing sound, causing him to collapse on the spot.
Clang!
The long blade clashed with the black sword, sparks flying everywhere. In the next instant, Su Xiao felt an endless stream of immense force coming from the blade. He now understood why Rhine·Gode had been so easily sent flying earlier.
The long blade in Su Xiao's hand shifted slightly. With a tearing sound, the black sword scraped along the blade edge, seemingly about to be guided into slashing the ground beside them. But at that moment, a black core appeared above the Emperor. This thing was, unexpectedly, a combat-oriented Devouring Core.
PS: (Originally wanted to finish the decisive battle in this chapter, but Feiwen's recent health condition is in recovery. Sitting too long in front of the computer makes me feel short of breath. When I'm not in good condition, the writing doesn't have that feeling. I'll definitely finish the decisive battle tomorrow.)