Chapter 45: Return
Su Xiao walked across the shallow water that barely covered his ankles. Ahead was the Hall of Atonement, the only path to leave this place.
When he entered the Hall of Atonement through the back door, a vast expanse of corpses came into view. The place had been destroyed beyond recognition. A large number of Death's People and Church Knights lay dead on the ground, with occasional Tree Eroded whose heads had been severed.
Drip, drip~
Black-red blood dripped from the tip of a lance, indicating that the battle here had ended not long ago.
From the defensive line formed by the Church Knights, it was easy to see they had stood like an unyielding wall, holding back the tide of Death's People. However, after the Eternal God fell, their eternal life came to an abrupt halt. These Church Knights, who had guarded this place for a thousand years, fell almost simultaneously.
It wasn't hard to guess why the Death's People had swarmed this way. Their target must have been the Dead Silence Origin. It could be said that this victory was thanks to these Church Knights. Without them blocking this only path, the previous battle would have been a chaotic melee. No one would have won; everyone would have died there, and the eventual spread of dead silence would have been the only possible outcome.
The teleportation device in the side hall had been destroyed. Su Xiao walked out of the Hall of Atonement. A figure in golden battle armor with a long fishbone braid stood proudly at the main entrance, holding a spiral spear. Unfortunately, she had no breath left. It was Sacred Heart One.
Exiting the Hall of Atonement, a massive pile of Death's People corpses rose nearly a hundred meters high. Su Xiao used the corpses of a few Tree Eroded as footholds and leaped to the top of the pile.
A figure, emaciated to skin and bones, lay there, half of its body gnawed away. Its lifeless eyes stared at the sky, as if seeing the black clouds disperse, revealing the sun that had been hidden for who knows how many years.
The Archbishop didn't manage to hold on until Su Xiao arrived, as stories would tell, to speak a few last words before dying. When eternal life was severed, he died after seeing the sunlight break through the clouds. That was the result he had been waiting for.
After a while, Amu dug a grave, and the Archbishop was buried in the courtyard before the Hall of Atonement.
"Surprising. The chosen one tradition established by the Saintess really solved the problem of dead silence spreading."
A deep, metallic voice sounded. Hearing this, Su Xiao's hand instinctively moved to his sword hilt.
"Moo."
Amu called out from behind, expressing that this was not an enemy.
The newcomer was a dwarf. His head and the right half of his body were made of metal, giving him an unapproachable, fierce appearance. He was the Demigod: Steel Maker.
The Dead Silence Origin had been permanently sealed within the Black King Bracer, which meant Dead Silence City would dissipate in a few days. The ancient laboratory within Dead Silence City could no longer imprison the Steel Maker.
"After being trapped for so long, you didn't leave immediately?"
Baha spoke, unusually polite. This had nothing to do with the Steel Maker's strength; it was because he had looked after Amu.
"Leave? An old relic like me from the last era isn't suited for the outside world. As for you, you're about to leave this world, right? People from the Paradise faction don't stay long in one world."
The Steel Maker pulled the cork from his wine bottle and took several large gulps. As a demigod of the Transcendent Primordial World, it wasn't surprising that he knew about the Paradise faction.
In fact, the Steel Maker had his own legend. If the Eternal God had sealed the Dead Silence Origin, then he had suppressed the Abyss Battlefield.
Back then, the powerful beings of this world, led by the Eternal God, had fought a protracted, deadly war against the monsters surging from the Abyss.
Though they ultimately won, the battlefield had become extremely dangerous. So, that part of the world was separated, becoming an independent space that was still inseparable from the main world. To put it simply, it was like a small world hanging outside the main world. This small world was the Abyss Battlefield.
Over the years, the Abyss Battlefield had never had any problems because the Steel Maker had been guarding it. Now, although Dead Silence City was about to disappear, the Abyss Battlefield would not vanish. The Steel Maker would continue to suppress the monsters inside.
A badge flew over. Su Xiao caught it, and a prompt appeared.
[You have received the Lone Warrior Badge.]
Looking back at the Steel Maker, he was already gone.
This badge was for Amu. For some reason, the Steel Maker took a liking to Amu. Not only did he allow it to enter the Abyss Battlefield, but he also set a trial for it.
The specifics of the trial were unclear, but Amu had now completed it, thus receiving the [Lone Warrior Badge]. Perhaps in the Steel Maker's view, while he had no use for this item, he would only give it to someone worthy of possessing it.
Su Xiao walked along the main street until he reached the treatment center, encountering no more Death's People or Tree Eroded. Presumably, with the Dead Silence Origin sealed, the Death's People had lost their immortality and turned into skeletons.
As soon as he entered the treatment center, Su Xiao saw a Crow Doctor. She was draped in a black feathered robe. From her build, she was female. In her hand was a strangely shaped short blade, about 60 centimeters long.
On the hilt of this short blade was a circular emblem. Su Xiao had never seen this emblem before, but after obtaining the [God Hunter] title, he had seen it in the title's description. It was the emblem of the Hunter Guild.
Su Xiao had never heard of the Hunter Guild. He estimated that this organization was similar to the Goblin Merchant Guild, having dealings with the Paradise faction, the Void, Transcendent Worlds, and many high-level Primordial Worlds.
However, compared to the business-oriented Goblin Merchant Guild, the Hunter Guild was more secretive and low-key, only handling and issuing commissions.
This Crow Doctor was likely a member of the Hunter Guild. When he had seen her before, she was reading on the second floor and didn't seem dangerous.
Now, with her single-handedly holding that strangely shaped short blade, a faint sense of danger emanated from her, as if the next second, she would appear behind him and decapitate him with a single slash.
After a few seconds of eye contact, the Crow Doctor walked upstairs, not intending to fight Su Xiao.
Su Xiao approached the wooden counter. Although the Ghost Old Man wasn't inside, he could still activate the treatment center's faction shop.
[You have paid the Lone Warrior Badge.]
[You have received the Lone Warrior's Soul Blood.]
...
This item was for Amu. Although it didn't enhance his tank abilities, it would significantly boost his overall combat power in his Lone War Bull state.
Su Xiao had originally wanted to ask about the Hunter Guild, but the Crow Doctor on the second floor didn't say a word, only occasionally using gestures to communicate.
After a round of communication where Su Xiao said nothing, Amu did all the talking, and the Crow Doctor occasionally gestured, he learned that this Crow Doctor was not actually a doctor. She called herself Black Feather, a hunter from the Hunter Guild. She was here because she had accepted a commission to temporarily fill in for a mad Crow Doctor.
Black Feather's meaning was that she could also treat people, but whether they lived or died depended on the patient's vitality, and she couldn't handle serious problems.
Compared to the title of doctor, Black Feather was more suited to being called a hunter. In fact, she had already completed her commission, but upon hearing that the "Hunting Blade" was in Dead Silence City, she couldn't bear to leave.
The "Hunting Blade" was one of the three legendary weapons forged by the Dwarf King. Back then, the Divine Cult paid a great price to commission the Dwarf King of Wind Sea Continent to forge this weapon as the weapon for each successive Chief Hunter.
After hearing this from the Ghost Old Man, Black Feather was tempted. She had been cautiously searching for the "Hunting Blade" in Dead Silence City.
Today, she found the "Hunting Blade" in the Grand Cathedral. To be precise, she found only the remaining hilt. This weapon had been shattered when the Archbishop fought a powerful enemy.
Using the teleportation device on the second floor of the treatment center, Su Xiao returned to the Grand Cathedral. Compared to before, the cathedral was now desolate. The Demon Blacksmith had left, and there was no longer the clanging sound of forging.
He came to the altar. The one-meter-tall "Star Core Stone" was still at the center.
Zuiyasi and Wude hadn't come to compete for this item. The reason was that Su Xiao hadn't taken the Black Maple Tree seeds, so the ownership of this "Star Core Stone" naturally fell to him. This was an unspoken understanding.
Regarding how to create the Dark Source, Kaisa had some leads. The known information was that one of the main materials for creating the Dark Source was Black Maple Tree yield.
As Su Xiao removed the "Star Core Stone" from the altar, the entire Grand Cathedral quickly became dilapidated, unable to prevent the thin dead silence energy from seeping in.
He stored the "Star Core Stone" in the team storage space and walked back the way he came. Passing by the Gray Rock Plaza, he saw the withered Black Maple Tree mother tree slowly turning into black ash and drifting away.
Su Xiao, with Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha, walked along the main street of Dead Silence City. Along the way, buildings on both sides occasionally cracked and shattered into fragments that flew upward into the sky, as if foretelling that there would be no more dead silence spreading in the future.
When Su Xiao reached the exit of Dead Silence City, the Seal Gate, there were few intact buildings left behind him. The moment he stepped out of the Seal Gate, a gray smoke drifted from his body.
As this gray smoke dissipated, Su Xiao felt an unprecedented lightness, as if he had been carrying a heavy burden unknowingly, and now that burden had vanished.
The Seal Gate behind him slammed shut. Su Xiao stood in the hall that had originally been used to imprison the Sin God. His karmic ties with dead silence were severed. Or rather, he had overcome dead silence and sealed its origin within his own equipment.
Exiting the hall, Su Xiao saw a lake not far away. There had been no lake here before he came. Then he realized that during the fierce battle with the Sin God, they had blasted a huge pit here, even breaking through the groundwater. Now it had turned into a lake, and unexpectedly, the scenery was quite nice.
Bang.
A signal flare shot into the sky. After a while, several figures ran over from a distance. It was the Silver Wolf Woman of the treatment center, Marina, along with Xiusi and others.
Xiusi opened a Space Ghost Gate. When Su Xiao stepped out, he had already returned to the treatment center's headquarters office in High Wall City.
Xiusi's ability was very practical, but unfortunately, he couldn't be brought into Dead Silence City. Not to mention the issue of Shelter Stones, even with enough Shelter Stones, Xiusi wouldn't survive more than a few hours in Dead Silence City.
While there, Su Xiao had been chased quite a bit by the Dead Silence City Sword Saint Group. He eventually got used to it. Whenever he passed through the main district, if he wasn't chased by the Sword Saint Group, he felt uneasy, suspecting they were lying in ambush somewhere.
In the office, Lisi, who was reviewing documents behind the desk, was first stunned, then stood up excitedly and said, "Lord, you've finally returned."
Little Secretary Lisi's tone was incredibly aggrieved. Seeing this, Marina, standing behind Su Xiao, glared fiercely. She instinctively thought that while they were away from High Wall City, some other force had come to cause trouble at the treatment center.
After asking, she found out that wasn't the case. With Su Xiao's tacit approval, Lisi's new home now had four tenants: Little Flower, the Ancient Magic Mirror, the Mirror Evil Spirit, and the Wandering Soul Brother, who was considered half of Lisi's master.
These four tenants, whether eerie, powerful, or terrifying, made Lisi question her life. Her newly purchased house, though a haunted house, now only had one bedroom left for her before she could even move in.
If it were just that, Lisi could endure it. But the problem was, she didn't know if Su Xiao had activated some kind of constitution in her. During the few days Su Xiao and the others were away, the number of her tenants had skyrocketed from four to nineteen like bamboo shoots after a spring rain. This forced Lisi to sleep in a tent in her yard. One night, she even secretly wiped away tears, wondering what kind of bad luck she had stumbled upon.
Later, on Old Chaman's suggestion—which could be called a terrible idea—Lisi rented an apartment. Now, that apartment was almost full...
When Lisi got to this point, her eyes were red. Marina and Xiusi were dumbfounded.
"Holy shit, an apartment full of monsters and ghosts. If you don't continue being the director of the treatment center, you'd be wasting this great opportunity."
Baha spoke. Su Xiao said nothing. He sat behind the desk and wasn't surprised by Lisi's predicament. Or rather, it was inevitable.
Currently, Lisi was the nominal director of the treatment center. The evil spirits should have been avoiding her, but they soon discovered that the director wasn't strong or scary. It was the vice director who was terrifying.
Moreover, Lisi's tenants gave these evil spirits a misunderstanding: as long as they behaved and clung to a powerful figure, they wouldn't end up on the treatment center's hunt list.
Su Xiao checked the return time limit. There were still 7 hours left, which was enough. It was now 10 AM. Some things needed to be dealt with before evening today.
"Lisi, go to the workshop and tell them I'll visit at noon."
"Yes."
Lisi returned to her normal work state. This little secretary was very sharp. Sensing that this matter was not simple, she decisively invited Marina, who was 2.37 meters tall and weighed over 410 pounds, to go with her.
Su Xiao leaned back in the leather chair, closed his eyes, and rested. He roughly calculated his gains in this world. He felt that if he could convert all these gains into strength, this would be his biggest power-up yet.
[Prompt: Detected a change in your tracked item.]
This sudden prompt made Su Xiao open his eyes. He only had one tracked item: the Law Destroyer's "Awakening Stele."
[Detected that the "Awakening Stele" has entered a transaction state.]
[The "Awakening Stele" transaction has been completed. The transaction price is 1592 ounces of Space-Time Power.]
[Transaction parties: Holy Light Paradise and ??? faction.]
[This transaction was completed 12 seconds ago, notarized by the Void Tree.]
[Because the Hunter paid 50 ounces of Space-Time Power to track the "Awakening Stele" location, do you wish to abandon this tracking?]
[If tracking is abandoned, 46.25 ounces of Space-Time Power will be refunded to the Hunter.]
...
Plans couldn't keep up with changes. Su Xiao had originally thought that in the next world progress, he would go to a world belonging to Holy Light Paradise to retrieve the "Awakening Stele."
But before he could act, the "Awakening Stele" had been traded away. Under the notarization of the Void Tree, it was sold to the ??? faction for 1592 ounces of Space-Time Power.
[Prompt: Detected that the party acquiring the "Awakening Stele" has an enmity relationship with the Hunter. Does the Hunter wish to pay an additional 53.75 ounces of Space-Time Power, combined with the pending 46.25 ounces, to total 100 ounces of Space-Time Power and construct a "Hunt List"?]
[Hunt List: Write the names of your enemies on it. For each enemy hunted, smear their blood over the corresponding name, and you will receive corresponding rewards (After completing all hunts on the list, the total value of the reward items will be 1.5 to 5 times the construction cost).]
[You can choose from the following Hunt Lists.]
[Hunt List: Bone White (Construction cost: 100 ounces of Space-Time Power. After completing all hunts, the total value of reward items will be 1.5 times the construction cost).]
[Hunt List: Iron Gray (Construction cost: 300 ounces of Space-Time Power. After completing all hunts, the total value of reward items will be 2.5 times the construction cost).]
[Hunt List: Shadow (Construction cost: 500 ounces of Space-Time Power. After completing all hunts, the total value of reward items will be 3.5 times the construction cost).]
[Hunt List: Blood Pact (Construction cost: 800 ounces of Space-Time Power. After completing all hunts, the total value of reward items will be 5 times the construction cost).]
[Prompt: This is a unique authority of the Reincarnation Paradise Hunter.]
...
Seeing this prompt, Su Xiao pondered. The 50 ounces of Space-Time Power he had paid earlier, minus the tracking fee, left 46.25 ounces. Adding a little over 50 ounces would allow him to construct the fourth-level Hunt List.
This kind of Hunt List maximized high risk and high reward. If he chose the highest-level [Hunt List: Blood Pact], once he dealt with the several enemies on the list, the return would be equivalent to 4000 ounces of Space-Time Power.
But something about this felt off. Not long after he paid Space-Time Power to track the "Awakening Stele," someone had bought it from Holy Light Paradise under the Void Tree's notarization.
Even if it were a coincidence, the people who bought the "Awakening Stele" turned out to be Su Xiao's enemies.
His first thought was that Arcane Eternal Star had bought it. But then he reconsidered. If they wanted to buy it, they would have done so long ago. Why wait until now?
Moreover, Arcane Eternal Star was about to hold the Arcane Festival. Even if they wanted to fish, they wouldn't do it at this juncture. This was a classic case of self-sabotage. The high-ranking members of Arcane Eternal Star would never make such a decision.
Each Arcane Festival, while it was a holiday for Arcane Eternal Star, was essentially about gathering the various races of the Void, showing off their foundation and strength appropriately, and letting the new generation of spellcasters compete with the new generations of other major races to solidify their position as the Void's overlord.
Under these circumstances, if Arcane Eternal Star tried to fish for Su Xiao, they would be asking for trouble.
Besides, this time it was Reincarnation Paradise tracking the "Awakening Stele." Su Xiao really didn't believe that Arcane Eternal Star could detect Reincarnation Paradise's tracking of the "Awakening Stele," especially when the "Awakening Stele" was in a world belonging to Holy Light Paradise.
If Arcane Eternal Star had such means, Su Xiao felt he would have died long ago and wouldn't be alive today.
Another point was that if Arcane Eternal Star had bought it, the prompt would definitely say "Transaction parties: Holy Light Paradise and Arcane Eternal Star," not "??? faction."
The ??? faction indicated that the seller was definitely not a Void faction. The entire Void faction, as well as Transcendent Primordial Worlds, could participate in other competitions besides World Wars in the Void Tree's judgment.
The ??? faction in the prompt was definitely a high-level Primordial World or a high-level fully open Primordial World faction.
Excluding the possibility of Arcane Eternal Star doing this, the situation became completely clear. Because besides Arcane Eternal Star, Su Xiao had no other enemies.
It wasn't that he didn't make enemies, but he always tried to ensure his enemies didn't see the next morning's sun. If he couldn't kill them openly, he would assassinate them. If assassination didn't work, he would use alchemical poison. If that didn't work, he would overwhelm them with an army. If that still didn't work, he would build an insect nest and flatten them with a demon insect swarm. If even that failed, he would introduce them to the Sun Holy Sword.
Excluding Arcane Eternal Star, the only possible enemies were remnants of the Law Destruction faction. In other words, the faction or individuals who traded for the "Awakening Stele" were enemies of the Law Destruction.
Although the Law Destruction were often called bandits, the ancestral Law Destroyers didn't easily hate anyone. They usually settled grudges on the spot. In fact, the ancestral Law Destroyers didn't even hate the spellcasters of Arcane Eternal Star; they simply saw them as enemies that had to be completely wiped out.
However, the ancestral Law Destroyers deeply despised one thing: betrayal. If they used 100% force when beating enemies, they would use 300% force when beating those who had betrayed them.
The group that bought the "Awakening Stele" was likely those who had betrayed the Law Destruction faction, and after a vicious backstab, had joined the spellcaster faction.
The prerequisite for betrayal was having cooperated with the Law Destruction faction. In other words, this group was once like the Slinster Dwarves, allies of the Law Destruction faction, but later betrayed them.
Because they were once allies, they were eager to obtain the "Awakening Stele." As for why they only bought it now from Holy Light Paradise, Su Xiao didn't think it was a coincidence. There must be some unknown reason why they now had a need for the "Awakening Stele."
Su Xiao wasn't in a hurry to construct the [Hunt List]. The "Awakening Stele" was something he had to retrieve. After returning to Reincarnation Paradise and opening the sealed bottle containing Space-Time Power, using 800 ounces to construct the highest-level [Hunt List: Blood Pact] would be the best choice.
Since he had to go anyway, he might as well max out the investment. A net profit of four times the cost was worth the risk.
Another point was that as a unique authority of the Hunter, if the enemy was someone Su Xiao couldn't defeat, this item couldn't be constructed. Conversely, even with only a 10-20% chance of victory, it could still be constructed.
Su Xiao wasn't worried about this. As long as the enemy wasn't overwhelmingly powerful, he had ways to deal with them. No one said that eliminating an enemy had to be a head-on confrontation. If he could beat them, he would finish them off quickly. If he couldn't, he would make them put on a pain mask first.
Having made up his mind, Su Xiao remembered another matter. He had originally thought that in the next world, he would enter a world belonging to Holy Light Paradise. Now it seemed he definitely couldn't go to that world. This meant he had wasted a [Dark Stone] and 5 ounces of Space-Time Power on Sacred Poem.
This seemed like a huge loss, but as long as he didn't alert the enemy, recovering the loss would be very simple. In fact, he could even make a big profit.
When Sacred Poem used that [Dark Stone], she would be "surprised" to find that she had signed 15 contracts. This proved that one should never believe in the good fortune of pie falling from the sky.
Faced with this situation, what would Sacred Poem do? She would come to negotiate.
Demanding a sum of wealth immediately might seem like a small gain, but don't forget, after Sacred Poem returned to her exclusive room in Holy Light Paradise and her soul returned to her body, she was the strongest eighth-rank healing type. After advancing to ninth rank, her healing and support abilities would only improve.
This time, he was going to the world corresponding to [Hunt List: Blood Pact]. Having a healing support like Sacred Poem, who was practically unkillable, would increase his chances of becoming the final victor by at least 40%. Moreover, Sacred Poem had a hobby of burying people. After killing enemies, it would be a one-stop service: Su Xiao kills, Sacred Poem buries.
Of course, a big healer like this, forcibly recruited, could only be used for one world at most. But the employment fee for a ninth-rank healing type for one world progress would be at least 8000 Soul Coins, plus a share of the profits.
That was for a soft, cute healer. For a healing type like Sacred Poem, with explosive survivability and strong combat power, it would be impossible to hire her without a fee of 10,000 Soul Coins.
If Sacred Poem joined an ordinary team, she would be the one besieging enemies with her summons while her teammates watched from the sidelines in confusion, like helpless cheerleaders. Don't laugh; this had happened before, more than once.
Before noon, the mining duo was brought back by Amu. A tall and a short figure walked into the treatment center's courtyard.
The "Silent Servant" was about 1.4 meters tall, humanoid in shape, with a total of four mechanical arms and six mechanical tentacles on its back.
When needed, these mechanical tentacles could split into dozens, enabling high-precision operations. The Silent Servant's head looked somewhat old, like a face pieced together from multiple metal parts, with a microscope-like probe on its right eye.
The Silent Servant was responsible for searching for wild resources, its main job being to survey mineral veins and appropriately process the mined ores.
Beside it was its good brother, the "Tunnel Servant." The Tunnel Servant was a big fat guy, 4.2 meters tall and 3 meters wide, wearing work suspenders. The upper part of its head was covered by a sealed metal helmet, revealing only a single red electronic eye. It held a large mining pick in one hand and had various tools like mining shovels hanging from its waist.
Of this mining duo, the Silent Servant looked a bit shifty-eyed, while the Tunnel Servant was a simpleton.
This simpleton was currently carrying a large box, walking and smashing through the door frame and most of the wall before entering the office.
The Silent Servant and the Tunnel Servant sat side by side against the wall. Near Su Xiao, the core energy matrices of these two simpletons gradually quieted down, entering minimum power mode. Finally, they were stored in the team storage space.
Su Xiao opened the metal box. Inside were all "Star Flow Ores." Each of these cost 700 Soul Coins. Whether sold at a stall or on the auction platform, they were in high demand.
In this metal box, 127 "Star Flow Ores" were neatly stacked, worth at least 88,900 Soul Coins.
Mining was incredibly profitable. Su Xiao finally understood why the Apocalypse Sisters were so wealthy. After each looting spree, as long as there was an interval of one or two world progresses, Molei, Yueshitu, and Hao Mei could all recover to full strength.
He checked the time. There was still half an hour until meal time. Just then, the door was pushed open, and Lisi walked in carrying a large box.
"Lord Director, this was given to me by the workshop to deliver to you."
Lisi placed the large box beside the desk. Seeing this, Su Xiao took out a flat wooden box and tossed it to Lisi, who caught it somewhat flustered.
"You've worked hard these past few days. The dozens of potions inside are your reward."
"Lord, this is our duty..."
"..."
Su Xiao shifted his gaze to Lisi, who immediately dared not continue. Using the excuse of going to eat, she slipped out of the office. Lisi knew that this director wouldn't show any mercy. Last time she made a mistake, he hung her upside down from a chandelier for an entire morning. If not for Marina and Xiusi pleading together, she would have been hanging there all day.
Su Xiao opened the large box sent from the workshop. Inside was a complete set of armor. After checking the attributes, he decided not to "visit" at noon.
The small and medium-sized forces of High Wall City had been coasting along, waiting for a free win. Su Xiao didn't mind that, but if the workshop, which belonged to the same Healing Church, did the same, they would have to pay a sufficient price. Now that they had shown sincerity, Su Xiao decided not to "visit."
[You have activated the return authority. The remaining stay time will, to a certain extent, improve the comprehensive evaluation of this world settlement.]
[Detected that you are holding a special item that cannot be taken out of this world: Sacred Divider.]
[This item has been recycled. As compensation, you have received 32 ounces of World Force.]
[You are about to leave this world and return to Reincarnation Paradise.]
[Transmission begins. Destination: Reincarnation Paradise.]