Chapter 44: Consultation Fee
On the endless shallow water beach, a tall tomb built from piled rocks stood tall.
The sky had cleared somewhat after the rain, and a ray of sunlight slanted down, illuminating only this towering tomb. Such a magnificent sight could only be seen by the final victor—someone like Su Xiao.
"Boss, everything's handled."
Baha flew over, with Amu behind him carrying a life-support device on his shoulder. Inside it stored Su Xiao's left arm, left shoulder, and a small portion of his left torso.
Su Xiao sat on a large rock, examining the gray sphere before him. This object was about half a meter in diameter, with the gray growing denser toward the interior until it became almost white at the very center. This was the Dead Silence Origin Source.
After the Eternal God fell, the Dead Silence Origin Source had automatically separated from its body. Because the Eternal God had been defeated in a life-or-death battle, the Dead Silence Origin Source had entered a temporary period of dormancy.
This was precisely the significance of Su Xiao's desperate battle with the Eternal God. After Su Xiao chose to break the seal and slay the god, the Eternal God had made a corresponding choice. In its final moments, it used the Dead Silence Origin Source as its power source.
If Su Xiao had been defeated, the Eternal God's body would have served as a vessel to continue sealing the Dead Silence Origin Source, giving the world's living beings one last chance to prepare—either for another strong figure to step forward and seal the Dead Silence Origin Source, or to face annihilation.
If Su Xiao won, then because the Eternal God had used the Dead Silence Origin Source as its power source, its defeat would inevitably plunge the Dead Silence Origin Source into an unprecedented temporary period of weakness. During this time, it would likely be possible to use the Proof of Existence to permanently seal the Dead Silence Origin Source within an artifact, thereby completely solving the problem.
This was also the significance behind the existence of the Chosen One tradition, Source Stones, the Four Gates Trial, the Supreme Sanctuary, the Proof of Existence, and so on.
The facts proved that this method was indeed feasible. Su Xiao, Wood, and Zuiyasi had used every means at their disposal, combined with the crucial elemental affinity to attract lightning. That strike had sent the Dead Silence Origin Source into an unprecedented temporary period of weakness.
Even so, they still needed to complete the permanent seal. Within at most a day or two, the Dead Silence Origin Source would recover. And by then, without the Eternal God using itself as a vessel for the seal, Dead Silence City would erupt and spread, eventually swallowing the entire world and turning it into a massive Dead Silence City.
Su Xiao took the Black King Bracer that Bubu Wang had retrieved. He turned the Banishment into fragment form, then, starting from the wound on the left side of his torso, crystals began to spread, with the Banishment fragments gradually mixing in, along with Spirit Shadow Threads acting as a nervous system.
Soon, Su Xiao's small portion of left torso and left arm were both composed of semi-transparent, light-blue crystals. He moved his left hand. With the Spirit Shadow Threads serving as a nervous system, the left arm had some sensation, though its touch and sensitivity were far inferior to the original.
Under his control, the Black King Bracer expanded, then clicked shut around his left forearm, completely encasing his left hand and all five fingers.
Su Xiao flipped through the notifications. When he had defeated the Eternal God earlier, a pile of prompts had appeared. Only now did he have time to check them.
[Prompt: Your Promotion Quest · Fifth Ring · Has Been Completed.]
Seeing this prompt, Su Xiao remembered that he had a promotion quest. Before entering Dead Silence City, the content of the promotion quest had been one link after another.
But after entering Dead Silence City, the quest had simply shown "This Quest Has Been Triggered" and then nothing more. In the past, the quest information was sparse, but this time there wasn't even a quest name. The content, time limit, rewards, etc., were also invisible.
It seemed to imply that after entering Dead Silence City, he could just play it by ear.
Now it appeared that this promotion quest was actually fine. As a Chosen One, Su Xiao either chose to leave here and endure the karma of Dead Silence, or be crowned the White King, or become the final victor, or die here.
[You have completed the Promotion Quest · The End of Dead Silence (This is the final segment of this promotion quest).]
[You have received the following quest rewards:]