Chapter 5: The Divine Physician
Within the treatment courtyard, surrounded on three sides by buildings, a crowd of treatment institute members surged forward.
A spiraling dark energy arrow shot out, rippling through the air as it flew straight toward Dragon God Dean's temple, yet he neither dodged nor flinched.
Bang!
Dean tilted his head slightly as the energy burst scattered his flowing hair. The skin at the point of impact had merely roughened, with no other change.
Dean's hand suddenly transformed into a dragon claw, and with a clang, he caught the sharp edge of a hooked scythe. Then his claw tightened, and with a crack, he crushed the weapon.
"ROAR!!!"
The dragon's roar sent out layers of dark golden shockwaves, shattering all incoming mid-to-long-range attacks. The surrounding treatment institute members were forced back as well, since they were all new recruits, far inferior in experience to the veterans who had fallen in battle.
Dean was accustomed to being surrounded and handled it with exceptional ease.
Boom!
The ground split apart as a burly figure charged straight at Dragon God Dean. The nearly two-meter-tall Dean immediately retracted his aura upon facing this imposing figure.
A heavy cannon punch broke through the air with a sonic boom, heading straight for Dean's face. Dean's claw met it head-on.
Thud!!
The heavy fist and dragon claw collided, locking together. A shockwave spread across the open courtyard, shattering the stone tiles on the ground and blowing out every glass window in the surrounding buildings.
Lady Marina maintained her punching stance as Dean gripped her heavy fist with his claw. The ground beneath his feet was a web of cracks.
Dean narrowed his eyes. If all hundred-plus treatment institute members were like this female warrior before him, he certainly wouldn't have barged in—that would be suicide. But times had changed.
Dean's actions seemed reckless, but they were actually based on intelligence gathering, including his earlier pursuit of Gulu.
Dean's initial plan was to use Gulu as bait to lure Su Xiao out of the treatment institute, making things easier afterward.
Unfortunately, the plan went awry. He had nearly beaten Gulu to death, yet the target never appeared.
Gulu had a curse word for this. She had already explained that even if she died on the spot, Bai Ye wouldn't care much. But the enemy didn't believe her. What infuriated her more was not only being an innocent victim but also being belittled in the enemy's eyes. When they first met, Dean's remark, "Strictly speaking, I'm of your uncle's generation," nearly made Gulu spit blood from rage.
Golden-red energy clashed with silver-white energy. The golden-red represented the Dragon God, while the silver-white belonged to Lady Marina.
Lady Marina's face grew angrier. Her ponytail came undone, spreading out as it turned silver. Her entire body began sprouting silver-gray fur as her height rapidly increased to over three meters, transforming her into a werewolf.
"ROAR!"
Marina roared at Dean before her enlarged fist exerted force, sending him flying.
Dean became a straight blur, crashing into a shop across the street, then smashing through a wall as he continued backward.
Mid-flight, Dean raised his claw and thoughtfully rubbed his chin, as if considering something important. He flicked his dragon tail, and the blade at its tip stabbed into a load-bearing wall, abruptly halting his momentum.
Dean casually flicked his tail again, landing atop a fake mountain in a park fountain.
"Still not making a move? Unexpectedly cautious, Night of Decapitation."
Dean seemed somewhat disappointed. Just then, a short-handled axe came whistling through the air. He sidestepped, and the axe flipped past.
As the axe passed behind Dean, Old Chaman, wearing a black cloth mask, suddenly appeared. The spinning axe clicked and extended into a long-handled battle axe, which Old Chaman gripped as he flipped mid-air, swinging the blade down at Dean's rear shoulder.
Clang!
Sparks flew as the descending axe was blocked by golden-red dragon scales on Dean's rear shoulder. The powerful recoil sent Old Chaman flying.
At that moment, every nerve in Old Chaman's body screamed with danger, like fine needles pricking him. In his entire life, he had never felt such a crisis—not even during the brutal beast invasion yesterday afternoon.
"Barely a tickle."
Dragon God Dean turned his head to look at Old Chaman. Only now did Old Chaman see the enemy's true nature: a muscular, demonically evil figure, and more importantly, overwhelmingly powerful. Such strength, Old Chaman had only sensed from their vice director.
Old Chaman's figure flickered as he blocked the silver wolf Marina, stopping her from charging forward recklessly.
Marina's fangs ground together audibly, her eyes fully transformed into beastly vertical pupils.
Dragon God Dean crouched on the fountain's edge, smirking as he watched Old Chaman and Marina, along with the panicked new treatment institute members arriving behind them.
"Bai Ye, won't you make a move? Just watching your subordinates die? How about we really have a one-on-one duel and settle old and new grudges?"
Dragon God Dean's behavior was utterly incompatible with other Apocalypse Paradise contractors or Battle Angels. If someone said he was from Reincarnation Paradise, the vibe would fit perfectly.
On the street beside the park, Su Xiao walked slowly, one hand on his sword hilt. He hadn't acted because this guy named Dean was clearly just testing him.
Su Xiao guessed he had indeed killed Dean's brother. Beyond that, Dean's reason for coming was likely collusion with some local force—the very one behind the trouble planned for the Divine Sacrifice Day.
Otherwise, Dean's sudden attack made no sense, whether for revenge or profit.
Su Xiao's current attitude clearly showed he wouldn't act, to avoid revealing his condition.
Noticing this, Dean, standing on the fountain's edge, flexed his claws, ready to force Su Xiao into battle.
Hum~
Su Xiao's perception field suddenly expanded. His hand on the hilt gripped it, assuming a drawing stance.
Though still dozens of meters apart, Dean immediately grew alert. This terrible feeling of being locked onto by a technique-type was not his first experience.
The distance of dozens of meters became meaningless in an instant as Su Xiao used Dragon Shadow Flash to move, with no warning whatsoever.
Now two meters in front of Su Xiao, Dean felt like cursing. He knew Su Xiao was a technique-type but didn't know he could penetrate space. Note: penetrating space to move is on a completely different level from teleporting through space or using spatial channels.
The latter two could cover greater distances—hundreds of meters or even thousands of kilometers. But Su Xiao had pushed Dragon Shadow Flash to X, yet could only move a maximum of 50 meters per use. However, the speed of spatial penetration was unmatched by other spatial abilities.
To be precise, Dragon Shadow Flash's spatial penetration wasn't entirely a spatial ability. Other spatial movements opened channels or calculated three-dimensional space with n-dimensional formulas. Su Xiao's ability did neither—he simply brute-forced through space, hence the speed. The downside was that brute-forcing through space naturally limited the distance.
Su Xiao appeared before Dean in an instant. Dean's aura completely changed, no longer as relaxed as when fighting Old Chaman and Marina.
Whoosh!
Dragon wings flapped with a sonic boom as Dean tried to soar upward, but Su Xiao, still in his drawing stance, had already struck.
As the blade cut, everything around fell silent and still for a moment.
Clang!
A diagonal blood trail appeared. One slash, breathtaking, faintly leaving a flowing crimson line. Dean's left arm and left dragon wing were severed cleanly, spraying blood everywhere. The slash was not only clean but terrifyingly powerful.
Dean, just rising, lost balance. But his combat experience was equally rich. The pain of losing his arm and wing only made him frown. He raised his right hand, and a ring on his finger glowed with crimson light.
Dean's index finger, wearing the crimson ring, rapidly turned black-purple, veins bulging hideously.
When that finger aimed at him, Su Xiao immediately sensed a faint death warning approaching. He was over fifty percent sure that the ring on Dean's hand wasn't Immortal rank but stronger—Origin rank. Otherwise, it wouldn't have such terrifying fluctuations.
A crimson ray shot out, about the thickness of a pinky finger. Where it passed, space cracked open with black marks.
The lock-on feeling was intense, leaving no time to dodge. The crimson ray struck just before Su Xiao's brow, then pierced through his head with a crisp crack.
Shattered light blue crystals scattered. Looking at Su Xiao now, he was encased in crystals, his head tilted. Strangely, the crystals beside him seemed to have captured his slow-motion movement, forming connected crystal statues. What the crimson ray had pierced was the head of the still-upright crystal statue.
This was an ability Su Xiao had developed after inspiration from his battle with the old knight. He had long noticed that the formation speed of Proud Song crystals was slightly faster than his own dodging speed.
So, he first encased himself in active crystals without solidifying them, then dodged while continuously forming crystals to assist his evasion.
It felt like an invisible hand pushing him while dodging, hence the connected crystal statues resembling slow-motion captures.
Crack, crack~
Su Xiao emerged from the crystal statue. This enemy had both the wealth of an Apocalypse Paradise Battle Angel and the combat skill of a Reincarnation Paradise Hunter.
Mid-air, Dean's severed arm and wing regenerated flesh, but it grew into two lumps of deformed meat. He looked surprised, then inwardly frustrated. This enemy was a technique-type with spatial penetration and soul severing.
Dean crushed something in his hand, producing a crisp sound, then vanished entirely, leaving only slowly dissipating light particles in the air.
Su Xiao sheathed his longsword and turned back toward the headquarters. Baha stayed behind to direct the cleanup, especially retrieving Dean's left arm and left dragon wing.
After mastering the Soul Severing Shadow ability, Su Xiao's blade could sever souls. That meant the souls corresponding to Dean's left arm and left dragon wing had been cut off and were now within the severed limb and wing.
Even for top-tier eighth-rank contractors, regenerating a soul was extremely difficult. But recovering lost soul parts and reattaching them to the main soul was far easier than regenerating a soul.
As the strongest eighth-rank contractor of Apocalypse Paradise, Dean's wealth was unimaginable. Though an enemy, Su Xiao didn't mind Dean recovering his arm—as long as he couldn't recover his dragon wing. Besides, there was an alchemical poison called Soul Bloom in this world.
The enemy attacked and retreated, nearly crippling Su Xiao with an Origin-rank item. While not fatal, taking that crimson ray would have consumed Su Xiao's stored life-saving item, [Bud of Creation].
From the situation, killing Dean in the short term was unrealistic. His strength was formidable, and if he caused trouble after entering Dead Silence City, it would be troublesome.
If Su Xiao could get tens of thousands of Soul Coins from him, that would lift his spirits. Thinking this, he pulled out an old semiconductor radio, inserted two cheap batteries, and the radio emitted static.
"Interested in a deal worth tens of thousands of Soul Coins?"
After speaking, the radio in Su Xiao's hand emitted some black smoke. He tossed it into a trash can as he passed.
Returning to the director's office, Su Xiao found the logistics department members had arrived. A bald, kind-faced middle-aged man sat on the carpet. Within a dozen meters around him, broken windows and cracked walls slowly repaired themselves. This ability only worked on non-supernatural inorganic matter, efficiently handling post-battle damage.
Su Xiao hadn't planned to investigate the hidden force before the Divine Sacrifice Day, but they had jumped out on their own.
Dean's attack, no matter how viewed, seemed like a test. If he truly sought revenge, he would wait until the situation was clear and Su Xiao was in greater trouble.
The force planning trouble on the Divine Sacrifice Day could recruit or bribe someone like Dean. Mere wealth wasn't enough; without sufficient influence, Dean wouldn't be interested.
This narrowed the possible masterminds to four: the Healing Church, the Steam Church, the Wadi Family, and the High Wall Council.
First, exclude the Healing Church. If they wanted to cause trouble on the Divine Sacrifice Day, Su Xiao would be one of the masterminds—no doubt.
Next, exclude the High Wall Council. They had an official nature and severe power-sharing among factions.
Causing trouble on the Divine Sacrifice Day would damage the entire High Wall City. Who would drop a bomb in their own backyard?
That left only the Steam Church and the Wadi Family. Don't take the Duke's words last night at face value—saying they wouldn't attack the treatment institute until after the Divine Sacrifice Day. Out of every ten words he said, maybe one or two were true. The final payment of 500 ancient gold coins hadn't arrived yet.
Currently, the Steam Church's Wrath Hammer organization had nearly replaced the treatment institute, handling various supernatural incidents in High Wall City.
This replacement wasn't stable yet. The treatment institute had deep roots in people's hearts. When facing bizarre supernatural forces, citizens instinctively sought help from the treatment institute.
The Steam Church couldn't ignore this. How to establish the Wrath Hammer organization's credibility among High Wall City residents? The answer: handle a major supernatural case that shook the entire city and affected everyone.
If, on the Divine Sacrifice Day two days later, a sudden crisis arose, and Wrath Hammer members swiftly contained the disaster, residents' trust in them would skyrocket in the following months.
With this wave of public trust, the Wrath Hammer organization could completely replace the treatment institute, trampling it into the mud forever.
Don't think handling supernatural incidents is a thankless job. Out of ten incidents, only five or six are dangerous. The rest are usually caused by supernatural artifacts or resource fluctuations. So, it's a sought-after task.
The Steam Church being the mastermind was increasingly likely. The Duke had visited last night, and this morning someone attacked to test Su Xiao's recovery. Calling it a coincidence was unbelievable.
As for the Wadi Family among the four major forces, there was no obvious motive.
As Su Xiao pondered, the logistics members left the room, and the office returned to normal.
"My dear friend."
A voice suddenly came from beside the desk. Kaisa appeared so abruptly that Su Xiao nearly grabbed an ashtray to hit him.
"..."
Su Xiao looked at Kaisa, who stood beside the desk with a sly grin. As a Blade Grandmaster, he hadn't sensed how this guy appeared. Kaisa's abilities were becoming more inexplicable, yet his combat power never improved, as if locked.
This seemed like a universal law: extreme strength in one area meant extreme weakness in another.
After explaining the situation, Su Xiao took out two thin containers. They looked like very thin glass, containing semi-transparent substances that seemed somewhat illusory—Dean's arm soul and dragon wing soul, absorbed inside.
"My dear friend, this..."
Kaisa hesitated, which surprised Su Xiao. He had never seen Kaisa reluctant to make money.
"My medical skills, you saw last time. If this miraculous healer actually cures Dragon God Dean, I can't explain it to you."
Kaisa looked pained. Hearing this, even Su Xiao was speechless, wondering what gave Kaisa the illusion that his medical skills were superb.
"It's fine. This is a simplified Holy Fire Baptism. Just take Dean's arm soul..."
Su Xiao briefly explained the plan. First, Kaisa would contact Dean. But Dean wasn't stupid—someone suddenly contacting him claiming to heal his soul injury wouldn't be believed.
That didn't matter. Kaisa would treat Dean's arm for free. Afterward, Dean would find his arm soul not only healed but as good as original—because it was the original.
At this point, Kaisa would start his grand deception, claiming the treatment cost him something, or that it defied fate and shortened his lifespan, then demand payment from Dean.
From the earlier battle, Su Xiao determined Dean's left arm wasn't crucial, but his dragon wing was a trump card. To recover it, Dean, being wealthy, would pay tens of thousands of Soul Coins without issue.
What then? That was Kaisa's show. He could treat it however he wanted. Unlike treating Kain, Dragon God Dean had a soul deficiency, not Kain's world thunder invasion.
If Kaisa could actually treat that, he truly would be a divine physician.
After hearing the full plan, Kaisa nodded, finding it excellent. The main point was splitting the profits. Who could resist tens of thousands of Soul Coins? Besides, Dragon God Dean's wealth far surpassed a soul-type like Kain.
"Wait for my good news."
Kaisa left with a big smile. Shortly after, Old Chaman and Marina returned with two newcomers, Lisi and Xiusi.
The new director, Lisi, looked dazed, on the verge of tears. When the powerful enemy attacked, she initially performed well. But when enveloped by Dean's demonically evil aura, she became afraid—afraid enough to want to flee.
This was understandable. All treatment institute members went through this. Even Old Chaman and Marina felt fear when fighting Dean, but they could fully suppress it.
Lisi hung her head, thinking that if all future enemies were like Dean, her nose stung, and she wanted to cry. She was young, hadn't had a boyfriend, and didn't want to die like this.
She looked at Old Chaman and Marina, genuinely admiring how they had survived so many years. If it were her, she'd be dead within a month.
If Old Chaman and Marina knew her thoughts, they'd say, "Young lady, you overestimate us. If every enemy were a monster like Dragon God Dean, we'd have died long ago. In all our years handling supernatural incidents, this was our first encounter with a man as demonically evil as Dean."
"Take the day off today."
Su Xiao spoke. Hearing this, the four in the room brightened up.
"Except Xiusi."
Hearing Su Xiao's addition, Xiusi could only envy the three leaving the office.
"Boss, it's ready."
Baha flew in through the window. It was time to arrange things with the noble son, Klenk. Keeping Xiusi was for convenience.
"Head to East City, 12th Street area."
Hearing this, Xiusi removed his right black glove, making a handshake gesture. A bluish ghost hand appeared and shook his. He used it like a doorknob, creaking open a wooden door in the air.
The doorframe was covered in clustered eyeballs and vengeful spirits, these filth maintaining the stability of the opened spatial door.
If Bubu Wang saw this ghostly spatial door, who knows how awkwardly he'd step through.
Xiusi entered first, followed by Baha. When Su Xiao reached the door, he heard lively voices from the other side. Stepping through, his vision blurred momentarily, then turned cool.
They arrived in an abandoned grass warehouse. Exiting, Baha immediately saw the Pleasure House next door.
"Didn't expect you to be so wild, kid. Opening a 'portal' here is convenient—you can come see exciting shows anytime."
Baha grinned meaningfully. Xiusi looked confused, then saw the Pleasure House. He blushed from neck to forehead, unconsciously speeding up while sneaking another glance.
Unexpectedly, the adult Xiusi was surprisingly shy. Seeing this, Baha dropped the subject.
Minutes later, Su Xiao stopped before a concert hall. Across the street, in a drink shop, Bubu Wang, who had been freeloading all afternoon, bid farewell to the female owner and ran toward the theater.
According to Bubu Wang's surveillance, the noble son Klenk was inside the concert hall, having entered that morning.
Su Xiao walked into the hall, finding it closed for the day. Rows of seats were empty. On the dimly lit stage, a man in a tuxedo played a soothing piano piece, but his gaze wasn't immersed—more like mechanically passing time.
Su Xiao stepped onto the stage, and the piano stopped. Klenk, sitting sideways, spoke: "Mr. White Night, whatever grievances you have with my father shouldn't involve me. Though I don't particularly mind being implicated."
Klenk turned his head, showing a polite, gentle smile. Not fake, but not heartfelt.
"Come with me."
Su Xiao appeared here for a straightforward scheme. He only needed to make Klenk the World Child; the rest would develop naturally.
Someone like Klenk, extremely rational and indifferent to emotions and desires, was hard to manipulate like "Black A's old flame" Aichi.
"Come with you? And if I refuse?"
Klenk maintained his gentle smile.
"..."
Su Xiao didn't speak, just dropped a large leather bag on the ground. The message was clear: Klenk could walk on his own or be taken away in the bag.
"I hate violence."
Klenk stood, clearly not wanting to be bagged. He continued, "So, where are we going?"
"..."
Su Xiao didn't answer, pointing to the side wall. Klenk looked where indicated. The next second, a syringe appeared in Su Xiao's hand, plunging into Klenk's neck. As the potion was injected, Klenk collapsed.
Two hours later, in a secret underground stronghold of the treatment institute.
Beep, beep, beep~
The soothing electronic sounds of medical equipment made Klenk open his eyes. He tried to sit up but found everything below his neck numb—clearly anesthetized.
Klenk looked at the surgical bed beside him, seeing Su Xiao wearing a surgical mask connected to several tubes, dressed in surgical attire.
"What are you... going to do to me?"
Klenk couldn't deny his nervousness and fear. He was only partially emotionally indifferent; fear and tension were still present.
"Don't worry, just a minor surgery."
Su Xiao said, picking up a human-sized cutting saw. This was faster than a scalpel, capable of severing bone in one go—very efficient.
"Why... are you doing this?"
Klenk asked the question that had puzzled him. Su Xiao paused, then replied: "The Duke and I are old friends. I heard your father-son relationship is quite cold. Since I have time recently, I thought I'd help improve your family ties."