Chapter 28: Banishment
Within the Kingdom Council Hall, the previously somewhat boisterous atmosphere had become so quiet that a pin drop could be heard.
The royalty and nobles seated on the surrounding circular seats all sensed that the situation was not simple, especially after the Little King, Duke Gula, and the High Priest had chosen to stand on Su Xiao's side.
Across the negotiation table, Black Rose, having passed her initial confusion and surprise, first focused her gaze on the High Priest. His shift in stance made Black Rose realize that the Law Destroyers had targeted the Radiance God first and should have already killed him by now.
Yesterday's rumors had already made Black Rose very vigilant about this aspect, but today, those rumors were disproven. Her original plan was to go to the Divine Domain after this morning's council meeting to confirm the situation. Now, Black Rose felt there was no need to confirm.
In her view, yesterday's rumors were because the Radiance God had been slain by the Law Destroyers, but the news was concealed by the High Priest and several high-ranking members of the Dawn God Church. The reason the Dawn God Church stabilized this morning could only be one thing: a new Radiance God had appeared.
Although Black Rose didn't understand what method could be used to seize the 'Divine Soul', the fact that the High Priest had changed sides was right before her eyes.
After assessing the High Priest's situation, Black Rose looked at the Little King, but only glanced at him before ignoring this figurehead.
Turning, Black Rose looked at Duke Gula. She actually found it hardest to understand why Duke Gula would betray her. Their interests were bound together. Adding in the somewhat incongruous feeling she had about Duke Gula this morning, a conjecture had already formed in Black Rose's mind: Duke Gula had been assassinated, specifically, assassinated by the High Priest who had defected to the enemy. Otherwise, with Duke Gula's methods, he wouldn't have died so quietly.
Black Rose's estimation was that the Law Destroyer first sent a sufficiently strong squad, traveling by train towards Saint Lan Kingdom, to confuse her line of sight. Then, the Law Destroyer himself arrived quietly in Saint Lan Kingdom and entered the Divine Domain to kill the Radiance God.
With the Radiance God dead, the collapse of the Dawn God Church was only a matter of time. Thinking of the many enemies the High Priest had made over the years, the High Priest, who was about to flee for his life, was easy to win over. Once the High Priest was won over, the probability of assassinating Duke Gula was very high. After accomplishing these two things, the Little King only needed a little coaxing to choose to fight to the death.
"Misled by them. In my impression, although the Law Destroyers are both powerful and wise, those few Law Destroyers were all the type who, if they could use force, would be too lazy to use their brains. Over time, it left me with a fixed impression."
Black Rose spoke with a half-smile, her calmness making people mistakenly believe that all this was within her expectations.
"Compared to this, I'm more curious why you are called the Mysterious One."
Su Xiao spoke. This was very unusual. In the past, he would have already ordered the forbidden troops ambushing the surroundings to attack.
"There are many reasons. In a few hours, you should know."
"Oh."
"Having said so much, aren't you going to have them make a move yet?"
"Not for now. I plan to continue chatting with you."
"I've been very busy lately. If you want to continue chatting with big sister, you'll have to tell me a few things."
Saying this, Black Rose's purple lips curved into a graceful arc.
"A several-thousand-year-old old hag, calling herself big sister, pfft~"
Baha behind launched a spiritual attack. Black Rose's expression remained normal, but the way she looked at Baha was as if she were looking at tonight's ingredients.
"You are the only Law Destroyer I've seen who likes to waste words with an enemy, especially wasting so many words with an enemy's clone."
Black Rose's figure became semi-transparent for an instant. Always using this lifelike clone to appear was very much in line with Black Rose's style.
"To wait for the technique to activate, what's wrong with wasting a whole day talking nonsense with you?"
As Su Xiao's voice fell, black tendrils pierced through the ground around the seat where Black Rose was sitting, binding her arms.
"It's just a clone. Even if you kill it..."
Black Rose's expression changed drastically mid-sentence, because she found that the connection between her main body and this clone had become tighter. Based on her experience, she immediately judged that the enemy was using the position of her clone to track her main body.
"Where is she?"
Su Xiao no longer paid attention to Black Rose, but looked at Kaiser, who had just appeared.
"Looking at the direction, it's the back district of the royal capital. It should be a manor."
Kaiser said, hurriedly putting away the strangely shaped compass in his hand. This was a treasure he had recently acquired.
Having received Kaiser's confirmation, a blood spear appeared beside Su Xiao. After piercing through layers of air blasts, it pinned Black Rose's clone across the table to the seat, blood splattering everywhere.
"You're too late, Law Destroyer."
Black Rose's clone had specks of blood on its face. This was the brilliance of her clone; it was a flesh-and-blood body that could carry part of her mental energy.
Boom!
The blood spear exploded, shattering Black Rose's clone along with the seat beneath her.
Su Xiao had long anticipated that Black Rose would appear via a clone. Otherwise, he wouldn't have commissioned Kaiser to set up a tracking technique in advance. To be precise, when he learned that all the forbidden troops in the Kingdom Council Hall were dispatched by Duke Gula's own nephew, he guessed this outcome.
The fact that Black Rose could nearly control the entire Saint Lan Kingdom with just a clone showed her meticulousness. She would certainly not appear with her main body in a building surrounded by forbidden troops, unless those troops were all under her control.
Before coming to Saint Lan Kingdom, Su Xiao had been considering a problem. First, from everything Black Rose had done, it showed that this person was not irrational. On the contrary, she was a meticulous person with great ambition.
With this foundation, Su Xiao began to deduce her goal. On the surface, Black Rose's goal seemed to be to control the entire Saint Lan Kingdom.
If Black Rose were a native of this world, then it would make sense for her, born in Saint Lan Kingdom, to ultimately aim to control this kingdom.
The problem was that Black Rose came from the Void, was once a member of the Law Destruction Faction, and participated in the peak battle between the Law Destroyers and the Spellcasters. Think about it, would someone like that really limit her vision to controlling a kingdom in a Primordial World?
And not even a kingdom like the Alliance or the Northern Empire, but Saint Lan Kingdom, a kingdom in internal chaos. This was hard to understand.
A person's experience, ability, and ambition determine the upper limit they can reach. And Black Rose's upper limit was definitely not as simple as controlling Saint Lan Kingdom.
Thinking this way, only two possibilities remained: Black Rose was extremely addicted to pleasure, or she resided in Saint Lan Kingdom for her own strength.
Someone who had participated in a peak battle would naturally lean towards the latter. In other words, she craved becoming a 'Supreme Powerhouse' more than most people and had a clearer path to take that step.
Thinking this way, one had to re-evaluate Black Rose's goal. Specifically, what was there in Saint Lan Kingdom that could allow Black Rose to take this step? Resources? Unlikely. Even exhausting the resources of the Alliance might only make it possible for Black Rose to take this step, and that was just a possibility.
So, one had to consider things that were harder to notice. For example, in this kingdom, suffering from the plunder of gods, the oppression of royalty, and the exploitation of nobles, how much calamity would arise? If one could absorb this calamity, it would be an unimaginable force.
The Radiance God used the suffering of believers to generate more faith power. Thus, Saint Lan Kingdom had the most of two things: 1. Faith power, 2. Calamity. The faith power belonged to the Radiance God, and the calamity belonged to Black Rose. The goal of both parties was the same: to become a 'Supreme Powerhouse'.
This was also why the royalty and nobles of Saint Lan Kingdom acted as if they didn't know what the consequences would be. They weren't unaware; they simply didn't dare to stop it, as it would anger the god and the queen.
The way Black Rose absorbed calamity was within the royal capital. This was also why, while nearly the entire Saint Lan Kingdom was suffering, with constant natural disasters and beast clan invasions, only the royal capital was peaceful. Because no calamity remained here; it was all absorbed by Black Rose's methods.
"The council is over. Dismissed."
The Platinum Archbishop, disguised as Duke Gula, spoke. Hearing this, the royalty and nobles in the hall hurriedly left. The reason they were willing to obey Black Rose was both because of her power and because they had leverage over her.
Now that the High Priest, Duke Gula, and the Little King had all stood up simultaneously, and Black Rose's power base was no longer as stable as it had been years ago, after this incident, the secret forces hidden in the darkness began to disintegrate on their own.
This was only natural. Sometimes, 'individual strength' and 'organizational stability' are hard to coexist. After deciding to pursue individual strength, one must concentrate resources to strengthen oneself. Over time, the subordinates, not getting the generous benefits they once did, would inevitably develop disloyal thoughts.
From Black Rose's performance, she had probably become strong enough that she no longer needed her subordinate forces. If she truly advanced to 'Supreme Powerhouse', then given a year, or even half a year, she could build a force far stronger than before.
Thinking of this, Su Xiao finally understood why Black Rose, who was skilled in political maneuvering, had a force that shattered at the slightest touch. It turned out she was only using this force as a transition. If the ultimate goal was to become a 'Supreme Powerhouse', then this was in line with Black Rose's vision.
Thinking carefully, Black Rose's purpose in coming to this world might have been this all along. Even during the era of war between the Alliance and the Northern Empire, Black Rose had started collecting calamity.
If this were true, that era was the main period for Black Rose to collect calamity. The subsequent control of Saint Lan Kingdom was more like filling in the remaining small gaps.
"Did we win or lose?"
The Little King didn't understand the current situation. The people around him were all planted by Black Rose, leaving him with almost no information.
"From the looks of it, we were a step too late."
The Platinum Archbishop took off the Primordial Mask. There was no longer any need for disguise.
With a snap, the few invisible threads connecting Su Xiao and the Primordial Mask all broke. This caused the Primordial Mask to gradually fade away, eventually disappearing from Su Xiao's perception. They parted ways.
Su Xiao glanced at the spot where the Primordial Mask had disappeared. Continuing to wear the Primordial Mask was no longer wise. Parting this way was the best outcome. However, he had a feeling that this was only a temporary separation; they would meet again.
Crack, crack, crack~
A crystal layer spread across the ground, forming the shape of an array. Su Xiao pressed his hand onto the center of the array. With a boom, a spatial teleportation exploded, and Amu appeared, crashing heavily to the ground.
Amu hadn't come alone; it was also holding an assassin in full black armor. Amu grabbed the black-armored assassin's head and neck with both hands and, with a crack, twisted its head 180 degrees.
"Moo."
Amu threw the enemy in its hand. Because it was angry, the enemy bounced like a ball when it hit the ground.
The axe blade hummed. Amu pulled the Dragonheart Axe, embedded in its own flesh, from its lower back. The wound, nearly 20 centimeters deep and having severed bone, healed at a visible rate. Amu hung the Dragonheart Axe on its back, as if it hadn't been injured at all. A mere fatal wound would heal in a minute or two.
"Bai Ye, I will take care of the remnants of Black Rose's forces. Leave this to me."
The High Priest spoke. This old bastard was clearly planning to lie low for a while. As for 'cleaning up the remnants of Black Rose's forces', since that force was nearly disintegrated, whether or not to clean up the remnants was no longer important.
"..."
Su Xiao didn't speak. He led Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha out of the hall. He hadn't originally planned on having this old divine stick exert much effort. As long as the Dawn God Church didn't stand on the opposing side in this matter, he didn't need to bother with them.
"Just leave this to me."
Watching Su Xiao about to leave the hall, the High Priest spoke. Hearing this, Su Xiao stopped. Seeing this, the High Priest's heartbeat suddenly slowed by half a beat. In his entire life, he had never been so wary of a single person.
"You really want to help me?"
Su Xiao looked intently at the High Priest. If the High Priest's answer contained even half a 'no', he would be bleeding on the spot today.
"Of course."
The High Priest answered decisively.
"Very well. Then handle the royalty side as well."
Hearing Su Xiao's words, the High Priest was stunned. After Duke Gula's death, the royalty side was in disarray. Plus, given the current situation, whoever took over this side could reap a huge profit. This pie falling from the sky hit the High Priest, leaving him somewhat at a loss.
"Kaiser will assist you in handling this matter."
Su Xiao looked towards Kaiser. Kaiser grinned and rubbed his hands, his eyes signaling a fifty-fifty split after the matter was settled.
The High Priest was certainly happy to see a pie fall from the sky. However, having Kaiser sitting on that big pie was a different concept entirely. It was no longer a question of whether he could profit, but whether he would end up losing a fortune instead.
This made the High Priest's expression darken. He spoke in a firm tone: "Bai Ye, I have this handled. Actually, letting Kaiser go..."
Before the High Priest could finish, Su Xiao stopped again, placed his hand on his sword hilt, and said with a smile: "It seems you have a different opinion?"
A contract parchment covered in blood patterns appeared. Blood threads extending from the contract parchment sank into the High Priest's heart and head.
"Hahaha, how could that be? I've long wanted to work with Kaiser. It's a rare opportunity this time."
The High Priest spoke with extraordinary sincerity and enthusiasm, as if he hadn't seen the contract parchment.
"..."
The contract parchment beside Su Xiao faded away. He led Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha out of the hall.
Inside the hall, the High Priest leaned back in his seat and muttered with a sigh: "Defeated."
The High Priest took out a contract parchment. This was a reverse-linked contract he had set up when signing the previous contract. It could link to the contract's drafter through the act of signing, causing them to unknowingly sign this contract.
The High Priest rubbed his thumb over the signature area. The name 'Kukulin Bai Ye' on it gradually blurred, transforming into Ancient Elvish. Translated, it meant: 'Abyss'.
"My friend, you actually dared to contract with the Abyss. What courage."
Hearing Kaiser's words, the High Priest tore the contract parchment in his hand to shreds. Not satisfied, he burned the fragments before letting out a long sigh.
On a cobblestone path in the rear garden of the royal palace, trees on both sides were lush and green. The Little King was leading the way, finally stopping before a stone stele. He pressed his hand on it, and a passage leading underground opened.
"Are you sure you want to come with us?"
Baha looked the Little King up and down, not understanding why he had chosen to follow.
"Right now, that old divine stick and the queen both want me dead. But if I can hold out until things calm down, they'll be forced to put me back on the throne. Following you gives me the best chance of survival."
The Little King ate snacks shared by Bubu Wang, no longer hiding his intelligence.
"By the way, is your soul your own, or your father's?"
"It's my own. I just absorbed my father's experiences, not his cognition or consciousness. My father just wanted me to live well, not to use me to come back to life."
As he spoke, the Little King walked down the steps into the underground passage.
Going diagonally downward, when a firelight flickered on, Su Xiao arrived at an underground space several hundred meters in size.
"This is the most secret place in the royal palace. It was used for ancestor worship before, but later, when every king was controlled, this place was abandoned."
The Little King looked around curiously. This was actually his first time here. He only knew of this place because he had inherited part of his father's memories.
Su Xiao crouched down, knocked on the ground with his knuckles, then pressed lightly. Fine cracks appeared on the stone slab. This place was relatively sturdy.
Taking out various materials, Su Xiao began to draw an array on the ground. Each time he completed a branch node, he took out a Soul Crystal Core and embedded it. When the array, over ten meters in diameter, was completed, a total of 32 Soul Crystal Cores were embedded in it.
Spending such a cost just to set up an array was because Su Xiao had indeed arrived in this world a bit late. But there was no choice. If he had come half a year earlier, he could have caught Black Rose before her plan was complete. However, half a year ago, his strength wasn't sufficient to enter this world. Even if he had entered, with his strength at the time, he would have been coming to die.
The matter was already settled. Su Xiao now had only two choices: return to the Alliance and give up hunting the traitors, or confront the 'Supreme Powerhouse' Black Rose head-on. Even the ascended Black Rose wouldn't dare to easily enter the Alliance's territory for now. That was a powerful force honed through a thousand years of supernatural warfare.
The other option was to confront the 'Supreme Powerhouse' Black Rose directly.
The so-called 'Supreme Powerhouse' was actually a term for those who had reached the peak strength of the Ninth Rank. Those whose strength exceeded the Ninth Rank were 'Supreme Strong'. Su Xiao had heard this term from the Goddess of Fortune. So, calling Spider Woman and the Ancient One 'Supreme Powerhouses' before was somewhat inappropriate. Spider Woman was definitely a 'Supreme Strong', and as for the Ancient One, what level he was at was unknown.
One thing was certain: Su Xiao's current strength was definitely no match for the ascended Black Rose. As for how he knew she had ascended, he could tell from the terrible performance of the forces she commanded. A meticulous person like Black Rose wouldn't make such a sacrifice unless it was necessary.
After confirming the array was correct, Su Xiao took out a crystal dagger and stabbed it into the center of the array, activating it.
Boom~
A shockwave spread out, then contracted back, sinking into the crystal dagger.
The array on the ground made the stone slab semi-transparent. Looking down, one could see dark shadows flashing past. A giant claw suddenly reached out but was blocked by the array, looking as if the giant claw was wrapped in a highly elastic membrane.
The sharp beast claw stopped in front of Su Xiao, its tip less than ten centimeters from the tip of his nose.
"Law Destroyer!!"
A roar, as if from ancient times, came from beneath the array. Although the language of the roar was ancient, Su Xiao understood it.
A blue light appeared in Su Xiao's eyes, increasing the binding force of the array, suppressing the extended beast claw back.
"Sooner or later, you will have to face us directly. We will wait, wait to taste the flesh of a Law Destroyer."
A voice filled with anger and intense hatred came, sounding like the voices of thousands of beings overlapping and interweaving.
Su Xiao pulled out the crystal dagger from the center of the array and walked towards the steps. After exiting the underground passage, he headed straight for the back district of the royal capital, the manor Kaiser had located earlier.
In fact, Kaiser's location was no longer needed. After the incident of Black Rose using a clone to participate in the council was exposed, there were hardly any living beings left in the entire back district of the royal capital. Even those who survived had become twisted monsters.
Taking a street behind the royal palace as the boundary, everything beyond was in a state of decay, as if eroded by thousands of years. Dark clouds gathered in the sky, and black dust particles filled the air, making the area look dark, oppressive, and eerie.
Following the dilapidated main street for half an hour, Su Xiao stopped before a tall nest formed from proliferating flesh.
[Prompt: You have arrived at the Nest of Suffering.]
Su Xiao stopped at the entrance of the Nest of Suffering. On the ground, covered in a web-like tissue, was a trail of outward-facing footprints. Su Xiao took out a bottle of solution and poured it on the footprints, immediately discovering that the footprints were highly toxic. Anyone stepping on them would be severely poisoned.
Avoiding the footprints, Su Xiao asked the Platinum Archbishop to temporarily stay at the exit to prevent the enemy from cutting off their retreat. As for the Little King, he could follow Su Xiao deep into the Nest of Suffering or stay with the Platinum Archbishop. The Little King firmly chose the latter.
Walking through the oval passageway several meters high, Su Xiao had sensed upon arrival that Black Rose was probably no longer here. The aftermath of her transformation had caused the back district of the royal capital to become like this. After that, the newly ascended Black Rose, still choosing to play it safe, was waiting a few hours for her strength to stabilize before coming to settle the score with Su Xiao.
After advancing several hundred meters along the passage formed by biological tissue, Su Xiao finally reached the end. This was a space of over a thousand square meters. It was clear that Black Rose had lived here for a long time. But upon arriving, Su Xiao sensed a faint aura buried within the flesh wall ahead.
Zheng, zheng~
Blade light flashed. The flesh wall ahead shattered into fragments. A figure with bound hands, long black hair, and purple pupils came into view. She was extremely emaciated, and her life force was on the verge of extinguishing.
As if sensing someone's arrival, the purple-eyed woman regained some vitality in her eyes. She looked up at Su Xiao, first showing some surprise, then smiled, murmuring: "Strange, dreaming of a Law Destroyer I've never seen before."
Zheng~
Blade light flashed, severing the chains binding the purple-eyed woman's hands. Su Xiao casually picked up a black-purple cloak from a nearby rack and tossed it to her.
Using her remaining strength, the purple-eyed woman wrapped herself in the cloak with white rose patterns. She leaned against the bedside, her aura growing weaker.
"Where is Black Rose?"
Su Xiao spoke. Hearing this, the purple-eyed woman's lips curled into an elegant arc, and she said with a smile: "Right before your eyes."
The purple-eyed woman, no, it should be Black Rose, looked at Su Xiao with a smile. Su Xiao was somewhat surprised but also felt it was normal. He checked the Hunt List, and the bounty for the Mysterious One was still 600 ounces of Space-Time Power.
Of the six traitors—the Deceiver, the Informant, the Usurper, the Mysterious One, the Defector, and the Betrayer—the titles of the other five were based on how they betrayed the Law Destroyers. Only the Mysterious One had a special title, and its meaning was the hardest to understand.
"The Black Rose active in the outside world, is she your other personality? Or a twin sister?"
Baha spoke. If the real Black Rose was here, then the one seen earlier, who had ascended to 'Supreme Powerhouse', must be an impostor. But what puzzled him was why this impostor would use Black Rose's identity.
"That is also me. Many, many years ago, a talented fool, full of curiosity about everything, used dangerous knowledge passed down from her ancestors to reverse-teleport herself to the Abyss. When she returned, she was on the verge of death from Abyssal invasion. Just then, an old man walking a big dog, who was dealing with Abyssal remnants, happened to pass by. Yes, that fool was me."
Black Rose narrated the truth of the matter. After teleporting herself to the Abyss out of curiosity and ignorance, and then being dragged back by the self-activating reverse teleportation array, the dying Black Rose was lucky enough to encounter Silver Moon Wolf Xidi and the old Law Destroyer.
It could only be said that the young Black Rose was truly lucky. Moon Wolf Xidi was one of the strongest healers for Abyssal erosion, and the old Law Destroyer, an old fellow who even devoured Demon Blade energy, was also skilled at removing Abyssal spawns from living beings.
The problem was that Black Rose had directly gone into the 'Abyss'. Moon Wolf Xidi and the old Law Destroyer saved her life, but they couldn't eradicate the Abyssal power fused with her life source.
At that time, Moon Wolf Xidi gave Black Rose two choices: go with them to the Law Destruction Faction, or live at home for over a decade, and then one day, the Abyssal power within her would erupt, triggering the wolf technique, and she would die before mutating into a monster.
Black Rose chose the latter. Over the years, under the training of the previous generation Law Destroyers and the Moon Wolves, Black Rose became a professional in dealing with Abyssal invasions, often accompanying one of the several Moon Wolves to places where the Abyss erupted.
Unfortunately, even to this extent, Black Rose's life source was still being eroded by Abyssal power. She knew her time was short, but she didn't give up, because what she was doing now was preventing more beings from suffering the pain of Abyssal invasion that she was enduring.
However, what she didn't realize was that under excessive suppression, the Abyssal power split her life source in two. Another 'her' was thus born, a soul with the same aura, soul fluctuations, memories, and knowledge as her, but with different thoughts and personality.
The suppression of the Abyssal power within her life source by the real Black Rose gave this other 'her' unimaginable suppression power. It instantly enveloped and suppressed the real Black Rose's soul, then took over the body.
Thus, 'Black Rose', to the bewilderment of the previous generation Law Destroyers and Moon Wolves, defected to the Spellcasters' side. This also left Sefeiliya, Soul Lord, and Frost Wind King very bewildered. They initially thought 'Black Rose' was using a clumsy counter-espionage tactic. It wasn't until shortly after, when several Spellcasters discovered in bewilderment that Black Rose of the Law Destruction Faction had indeed defected, that this not only left the previous generation Law Destroyers even more bewildered but also left the Spellcasters scratching their heads.
Later, in this world, the traitor Black Rose found a way to separate from the real Black Rose's body, obtaining a new body. The real Black Rose, with her dying body, had been imprisoned until now. This imprisonment had stagnated her thoughts and body cells but also allowed her to survive until now.
Because of this, Black Rose could be considered to have betrayed the Law Destroyers, but also not. Hence the title Mysterious One, along with a bounty of 600 ounces of Space-Time Power. If judged by Black Rose's peak strength, her bounty would be at least 1400 ounces of Space-Time Power.
"Leave this place... When you... are stronger... then you can..."
Black Rose weakly grabbed Su Xiao's sleeve, but before she could finish, the light in her eyes faded, and her body gradually crumbled into dust.
A few drops of blood flew over and were sealed by Su Xiao with crystal. With Black Rose's death, the Nest of Suffering lost its final support and began to slowly collapse. Black Rose ultimately completely dissipated into drifting dust.
Su Xiao turned and walked out. As he walked, he materialized the Hunt List and, using a few drops of Black Rose's blood, erased her name from the list.
[You have successfully erased the name of the Mysterious One.]
[Due to the multiplied bounty of the 'Hunt List: Blood Pact', you will receive a total bounty of 600 ounces of Space-Time Power.]
[You have obtained Space-Time Stone Fragment × 10 (This is an equivalent item. Selling it to Reincarnation Paradise yields 100 ounces of Space-Time Power).]
[Checking the required resource type for the Hunter...]
[You have obtained Exemption Badge (★★★★★). This item is condensed based on the Hunter's personal circumstances. In this judgment, this item is equivalent to 400 ounces of Space-Time Power worth of resources.]
...
[Exemption Badge (★★★★★): (After using this badge, it can exempt the debuff effects caused by Charm Attribute, Willpower Attribute, and Luck Attribute falling below 0 points, within -50 points).]
This Exemption Badge was quite useful. Although Su Xiao had the Negative Charm Basic Skill, the debuffs caused by negative charm were always present. In other words, while negative charm derived powerful enhancements, it also came with debuffs. However, he had previously been using the [Exemption Badge (★★)] to exempt this debuff.
With the five-star Exemption Badge now, Su Xiao felt it would be enough for him. After all, his Charm Attribute shouldn't go below -50 points. Currently, he was at -16 points. Ahem, his -17 points Luck Attribute shouldn't drop that rapidly.
Recently, using [Dark Devour] to open the Golden Jar had caused his Luck Attribute to drop by another 1 point. This was perfectly normal.
Su Xiao directly used the [Exemption Badge (★★★★★)]. This item didn't just affect the Charm Attribute. A Luck Attribute within -50 points wouldn't affect Su Xiao either. In other words, even if an enemy's ability caused his Luck Attribute to drop to -49 points, his fortune would remain stable. Although there weren't many people who could make his Luck Attribute drop to -49 points.
The bounty on the Hunt List was resolved, but the immediate powerful enemy was not. Before the real Black Rose died, she told Su Xiao to leave this world. This meant that the traitor Black Rose had definitely reached the peak strength of the Ninth Rank.
Su Xiao looked up at the overcast sky. He thought for a moment, then told Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha to hide first. He walked alone towards the royal palace. If he fought the traitor Black Rose alone, even in the worst-case scenario, he could use [Drifting Bait] to save his life.
This was a life-saving item obtained from Molei. Su Xiao had considerable confidence in this item's strength. Even in a Ninth Rank world, this thing's judgment level was still very high.
Su Xiao leaped between buildings. The drastic change in the back district of the royal capital had thrown the entire capital into panic. Both commoners and nobles were fleeing the capital.
Arriving at the now unguarded rear courtyard of the royal palace, Su Xiao sat on a stone stele over ten meters high. Below and behind the stele's location was where he had previously set up the array.
Su Xiao began to meditate. Time passed minute by minute. When it reached around three in the afternoon, an explosion came from afar. Su Xiao opened his eyes and saw a figure flying towards him.
This person wore a black dress, with hair several meters long that trailed behind her as she flew at high speed, looking both beautiful and eerie.
With a boom, the traitor Black Rose suddenly stopped, hovering in mid-air opposite Su Xiao, about a few meters higher than him. To be precise, the traitor Black Rose at this point had nothing to do with the former Black Rose. Scanning her information, her name had even changed to the Queen of Suffering.
"You didn't escape back to the Alliance. That surprises me."
The Queen of Suffering spoke. Her black eye shadow extended to behind her ears, and her pupils were a deep purple. Just looking at her made one feel dizzy, and soon they would fall dead. This was caused by spiritual poison.
"Calamity leads to suffering. To this world, you are a world-destroyer, a world-destroying calamity."
Su Xiao spoke. Hearing this, the Queen of Suffering across from him looked puzzled. She felt that this Law Destroyer was flattering her?
Actually, Su Xiao wasn't talking to the Queen of Suffering. He was using his world status of 45 points of World Reputation to narrate this matter to the world.
Su Xiao didn't speak. A crystal dagger appeared in his hand. Seeing this crystal dagger, the Queen of Suffering across from him almost put on a pained expression. She had not only seen this item before, but years ago, she had also stolen it when she betrayed the Law Destruction Faction. Not only that, she had thrown this item into the Abyssal Erosion Zone, not far from the Necronomicon. This item was called [Sealing Blade], an item used by the Law Destroyers to open the Eternal Light World. Of course, it also had another use: banishing world-destroying calamities.
The Queen of Suffering just raised her hand when she felt a slight coolness in the center of her torso. She looked down and saw that, at some point, the [Sealing Blade] had sunk into her torso. There was no pain, no discomfort. This weapon, forged by a legendary blacksmith commissioned by the Law Destroyers, was not meant to kill enemies, but to banish them. Of course, it couldn't banish all powerful enemies. This item was only effective against one type of enemy: world-destroying level.
This weapon, which had banished numerous world-destroying clans, had one of its characteristics being that each time it banished a world-destroying clan, its banishment ability became stronger. Currently, the durability of [Sealing Blade] was '195/340 points'. Each use consumed 1 point of durability.
"No!"
Boom! A blue spatial vortex appeared behind the Queen of Suffering. Blue chains bound her, dragging her towards the massive spatial vortex behind.
"No!!!"
The Queen of Suffering's long hair pierced into the surrounding space. As she was pulled backward, her sharp fingernails clawed black spatial rifts in the air. Her eyes, which had turned into vertical pupils, were filled with unwillingness and disbelief.
In fact, the Queen of Suffering encountered this situation entirely due to bad luck. Before choosing the path of calamity level, she had made two preparations. First, she stole the [Sealing Blade] to prevent being hard-countered by this weapon after using the forbidden secret technique to ascend to world-destroying level. Second, she betrayed the Law Destroyers to obtain massive resources from the Spellcasters.
To prevent outsiders from obtaining the [Sealing Blade], the Queen of Suffering steeled herself and went to the Abyssal Spreading Zone, just to throw away the [Sealing Blade]. She had thought about destroying it, but after a little probing, she gave up. Destroying it would be equivalent to opening the seal of the Eternal Light World. Just thinking about that scenario was terrifying.
Keeping it herself was too risky. Giving it to someone else was equivalent to giving them a weakness. Sealing it in one place could also be discovered. Thinking this way, throwing the [Sealing Blade] into the Abyss was the best option.
What the Queen of Suffering didn't expect was that when she arrived at the Abyssal Spreading Zone, she saw the Necronomicon there. She simply threw the [Sealing Blade] next to the Necronomicon and left. At that time, she thought to herself, this time it's safe; no one will get this item.
The Queen of Suffering didn't expect that Shenfu would enter the Abyssal Spreading Zone, not only awakening the Necronomicon but also taking the [Sealing Blade] beside it. Even more unexpected for the Queen of Suffering was that Shenfu would use this [Sealing Blade] to make a deal with the Law Destroyer, ultimately causing the [Sealing Blade] to return to the Law Destroyer's hands.
Boom!
A loud noise came. The massive spatial vortex closed. The Queen of Suffering disappeared, heading to the place where world-destroying beings belong: the Eternal Light World.
At this stage, Su Xiao was certainly no match for the Queen of Suffering. Even if they ganged up on her and won by luck, it would be a pyrrhic victory with heavy casualties. Among Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha, perhaps only Bubu Wang would survive. Paying such a price was not as good as banishing her first and fighting her later when he was stronger.
"Seal."
Su Xiao said, grasping the [Sealing Blade] floating before him. This completely locked the one-way spatial passage to the Eternal Light World. Who knows how the world-destroying clans in the Eternal Light World will welcome their new friend named the Queen of Suffering. If the Queen of Suffering meets the Silver Empress and the World-Eater, they will definitely have common topics.