Chapter 36: The Strongest Healing Skill
The bounty on the defector from the Hunt List jumped from 800 ounces of Space-Time Power to 1300 ounces. This bounty was closely tied to the traitor's actual strength. No matter how one looked at it, the Soul Crown had made the Sand King stronger and harder to deal with.
Was that really the case? Of course not. The Sand King's individual combat power had indeed increased, but overall, he had become easier to handle. This was because the Sand King had not only killed his own Left and Right Ministers but had also nearly devoured all his personal guards. This mad king was completely intoxicated by the power gained from devouring the life force of others.
In just two days, the Sand King had broken through a barrier he hadn't been able to cross in a hundred years. Not only that, after devouring the Right Minister to take that step, he had consumed several hundred elite guards and taken another massive leap forward. This was why the bounty had reached 1300 ounces of Space-Time Power.
All of this came at a cost. In the current Holy Sand Castle, aside from the servants deemed unworthy of devouring, there were hardly any guards with real strength left. As for the ministers of the Desert Kingdom, after the Left and Right Ministers were killed without reason, the entire noble and official class of Fengshui Capital began fleeing overnight. Anyone would run. Though serving a king was like being beside a tiger, serving the Sand King was far more dangerous.
First, the ministers and nobles fled, then the wealthy merchants. By noon today, even some commoners in Fengshui Capital were preparing to leave the central royal city.
From the current situation, the risk of fighting the Sand King now was much lower than before. Facing the now-powerful Sand King was certainly dangerous, but there was a chance of victory. Before, facing the entire force of Fengshui Capital's ministers, nobles, and the Desert Legion, Su Xiao had no chance of winning at all.
The power the Sand King had accumulated over many years had collapsed in less than two days under the erosion of the Soul Crown. This showed just how dangerous this Original Sin Object was.
To some extent, the Sand King's understanding wasn't wrong. The Soul Crown was indeed highly compatible with him. However, it wasn't compatible for his use, but rather highly compatible for dealing with him. This crown's lethality against a monarch was a 1000% bonus.
[Tip: The fourth ring of your main quest has been locked.]
A prompt appeared. Su Xiao paused in opening the envelope and decided to check the prompt first.
[Main Quest: Kill the Mad King (Fully Activated).]
[Main Quest: Kill the Mad King (Fourth Ring)]
Difficulty Level: Lv.84 ~ Lv.86.
Trigger Condition: Must possess the Soul Crown to trigger this quest.
Quest Information: Kill the Mad King.
Quest Time Limit: 3 natural days.
Quest Reward: Origin Stones x15 (Base 9, with an additional 6 due to the Mad King's combat power exceeding the quest judgment threshold).
Tip: After advancing to the Ninth Rank, the main quest reward for the first world will always be Origin Stones. The specific quantity will be determined by factors such as quest difficulty and completion.
Quest Penalty: Random body attribute permanently reduced by 10 points.
Su Xiao, who had been sitting cross-legged on a single sofa, instinctively sat up straighter after seeing the quest content. His expression grew serious. No matter how one looked at it, this quest was fraught with risk.
A quest difficulty of Lv.86 was enough to make many Ninth Rank contractors' hearts race. Moreover, Su Xiao had just advanced to the Ninth Rank. This was the first quest world he had experienced since his promotion. It was entirely possible that the second world progress would be thrown into a Transcendent Primordial World.
He continued reading the quest description. Whether this information existed or not was meaningless. The content was identical to the quest name. No, the quest information was even shorter than the quest name. At least the quest name showed which ring of the main quest this was.
Looking further down at the quest reward, 15 Origin Stones seemed like a high yield at first glance. At 5000 Soul Coins each, they could be sold for 75,000 Soul Coins. But high rewards also meant high risks.
As for the final quest penalty, for some reason, compared to this "random body attribute permanently reduced by 10 points," the forced execution penalty seemed more reassuring. When a main quest had a penalty that wasn't particularly harsh, it usually meant trouble.
What was more worrying was that if the Sand King, with a bounty of 1300 ounces, was this strong, how strong would the traitor with a bounty of 1500 ounces be?
Su Xiao materialized the Hunt List: Blood Pact. He increasingly felt that this thing wasn't very reliable. When he first dealt with the Deceiver, he hadn't felt anything unusual. The Deceiver was a reincarnator with a strength cap. When he finally killed him, Su Xiao gained a total of 250 ounces of Space-Time Power. Everything seemed normal.
Among the six traitors was the Usurper. This person had been killed by the traitor many years ago. Su Xiao could only find the corresponding bounty on the Hunt List: Blood Pact by locating the remnants of his soul.
These first two traitors hadn't caused any trouble. But when Su Xiao went to deal with the Informant, who had a bounty of 400 ounces, things started to go wrong. As the Nightmare King on Nightmare Island, the Informant's bounty had directly soared to 1500 ounces when he was on the island.
Su Xiao chose not to fight him head-on. He invited Candle Woman to "visit" this Nightmare King. How the Nightmare King died, Su Xiao didn't know. When he saw him again, only his head remained.
After the Informant's bounty spike, Su Xiao was especially cautious when dealing with the Mysterious One, also known as Black Rose. As expected, Black Rose's Abyss Twin had become an Absolute Strong by devouring calamities. In the end, it had to be banished to the Eternal Light World. Su Xiao wondered how the Queen of Pain was doing with her "training" there and whether she had met her good sister, Silver Queen.
Finally getting past the Black Rose hurdle, Su Xiao arrived at the Desert Kingdom to deal with the Sand King. After arriving at Fengshui Capital and understanding the situation, Su Xiao didn't want to use the Original Sin Object. He had no choice. Other than using the Soul Crown against the Sand King, there was no other way. The Sand King himself was the fourth strongest in this world. Combined with his years of development here, he was simply too difficult to deal with.
After weighing the options, Su Xiao decided not to go to Holy Sand Castle immediately to fight the Sand King. The reason was that the other party had likely just absorbed a large amount of life force to enhance his strength. Based on his accumulated knowledge, Su Xiao judged that after absorbing a large amount of life force, the Sand King's health recovery rate would be quite strong for a period of time. It was best to avoid his peak and go to Holy Sand Castle at dusk. Going too late might allow the Sand King to start a third round of life force devouring.
Su Xiao opened the envelope in his hand. This was left behind by the Ghost Clan Prophet before his death. As promised on Skull Island, the Prophet, as the team's diviner, would tell Su Xiao where the Usurper was buried before he died.
After opening the envelope, there was a map of Fengshui Capital. A very conspicuous red circle was marked on it. Upon closer inspection, the location of this red circle was actually the farm estate where Su Xiao was currently staying.
This reminded Su Xiao that when he was about to come to the Desert Kingdom, the initial choice to lure out the Quartermaster, Gabuchi, was not the Farm Owner, Kerba, but a noble merchant from Fengshui Capital. However, the Ghost Clan Prophet insisted on changing the target to Farm Owner Kerba.
As long as one wasn't stupid, no one would go against the team's diviner on such a choice. Now it seemed that the Ghost Clan Prophet chose Farm Owner Kerba as the target for this very reason. The burial place of the Usurper, one of the six traitors, was in the woods behind the farm.
The exact location of the Usurper's burial ground was not specified by the Ghost Clan Prophet. Presumably, that would require a divination at a greater cost to glimpse.
Su Xiao tried to activate the Hunt List: Blood Pact and erase the Usurper's name by gathering soul remnants. As soon as he activated this authority, the Hunt List emitted a faint bloody light. It seemed that the Usurper's burial ground was closer to this estate than expected.
Soon, a few wisps of ash-like remnants floated over. Using them as a brushstroke, they erased the Usurper's name.
[You have successfully erased the name of the Usurper.]
[Because the Usurper was already dead when the Hunter entered this world, this bounty is reduced by 30%.]
[Due to the multiple bounty of the Hunt List: Blood Pact, you will receive a total bounty of 500 ounces of Space-Time Power.]
[Due to the 30% reduction, you can receive a total bounty of 350 ounces of Space-Time Power.]
[You have received Space-Time Stone Fragments x15 (This is an equivalent item. Selling it to Reincarnation Paradise will yield 150 ounces of Space-Time Power).]
[Checking the Hunter's required resource type...]
[You have received the Ancient Dragon Heart Core (Special Equipment). This item was selected based on the Hunter's personal circumstances. In this judgment, it is equivalent to 200 ounces of Space-Time Power in resources.]
[Ancient Dragon Heart Core]
Origin: Second Era: Alchemical Civilization.
Quality: Special Equipment.
Durability: 630/1200 points.
Equipment Requirement: True Stamina attribute of 260 points or more.
Equipment Effect 1: Absorption (Active). This equipment can absorb and store a "massive" amount of Dragon-type, Dark-type, and Blood-type energy.
Tip: This equipment can stably store high-level energy.
Equipment Effect 2: Capacity Increase (Core, Passive). Increases this equipment's energy storage capacity by 35%.
Equipment Effect 2: Capacity Second Increase (Core, Passive). Increases this equipment's energy storage capacity by 50%.
Equipment Effect 3: Capacity Third Increase (Core, Passive). Increases this equipment's energy storage capacity by 70%.
Equipment Effect 4: Capacity Fourth Increase (Core, Passive). Increases this equipment's energy storage capacity by 95%.
Description: This item was commissioned by the Ancient Dragon Faction from the Alchemy Faction. When the Ancient Dragon Faction declined, this treasure was hidden in a secret place. It was later discovered by a Worker and sold to Reincarnation Paradise.
A thick shell, somewhat resembling a dragon's heart, appeared and landed in Su Xiao's hand. The hollow interior of this item gave a feeling of immense vastness. It was understandable. The capacity of this item had been certified by Reincarnation Paradise as "massive."
From the description of the [Ancient Dragon Heart Core], Su Xiao noticed one thing: Workers seemed to have a different kind of benefit. When selling items to Reincarnation Paradise, their selling price should be higher than that of Contractors and Hunters. The reason why Contractors and Hunters got lower prices when selling items to Reincarnation Paradise was probably due to some certification mechanism. This mechanism made Contractors and Hunters more cautious about weighing pros and cons when selling items, rather than selling everything to Reincarnation Paradise.
This benefit for Workers was likely limited. For example, only resources obtained by Workers during their missions could be sold directly like this. As for trying to exploit this Worker benefit, high-level Hunters had "friendly advice" for that.
Su Xiao weighed the [Ancient Dragon Heart Core] in his hand. It felt heavy. As for what this thing was useful for, he actually knew of its existence before obtaining it.
Su Xiao had learned about this matter while reading biographies in the Void Great Library. It was during the heyday of the Ancient Wyvern Faction. The Ancient Wyverns had always wanted a secret treasure that could be swallowed into the body to store a massive amount of Dragon energy. After some discussion, they decided to have the Alchemists make it.
When the two sides first discussed this matter, their relationship wasn't bad. They were just nodding acquaintances who didn't provoke each other. However, during the production of this item, the two sides began to fall out due to their respective allies. In the end, they almost became hostile factions. But both sides were very restrained and didn't actually fight.
The situation was deadlocked. The Alchemy Faction had already accepted the commission. If they continued to make this secret treasure, it would be hard to explain to their allies. In this situation, an Alchemy genius proposed that since they were now hostile to the Ancient Dragon Faction but couldn't break the contract, they should just do as requested. The result was the [Ancient Dragon Heart Core], which had a large capacity and fast absorption.
When the Ancient Wyverns first received the [Ancient Dragon Heart Core], they were both surprised and delighted, but also suspicious. After using it, however, a group of Ancient Wyverns were furious. The [Ancient Dragon Heart Core] absorbed energy at an astonishing speed and had a terrifying storage capacity. But the way this thing released energy made the Ancient Wyverns grind their dragon teeth in frustration.
This thing required continuous mental focus to activate in order to release energy. To make an analogy, even a trivial matter like an itchy nose during this time could cause the energy release to be interrupted. Remember, the Ancient Wyverns planned to use this secret treasure as a body energy storage device to significantly increase the body energy available during combat.
This was why the Ancient Wyverns had hidden this item in a secret place, rather than keeping it in the Ancient Dragon Kingdom, Eberath.
The judgment from Reincarnation Paradise earlier had likely detected Su Xiao's Alchemy skill and given this reward. If it were related to Pharmaceutics, it would be very useful to Su Xiao. As for Alchemy artifacts, Su Xiao still hadn't figured out the principle of the Mysterious Eye. The more this thing was perfected, the more unexpected uses it revealed.
Su Xiao put away the [Ancient Dragon Heart Core]. In his opinion, this thing had one use: going to the Ancient Battlefield to absorb blood energy and store it inside. This way, he could regularly improve his aura ability. It would allow his aura-type ability to steadily improve without having to frequently risk going to the Ancient Battlefield.
The Sleep Guardian, formed from the corpse of a Law Destroyer in the Ancient Battlefield, was too strong. Su Xiao estimated that the other party's strength was between "Absolute Strong" and "Supreme Strong." If it weren't for the protective certification from Reincarnation Paradise every time he went to the Ancient Battlefield, he would have been in grave danger the first time he encountered that Sleep Guardian.
If he could return to Reincarnation Paradise alive this time, Su Xiao planned to use aura-type abilities to increase the level of Blood Spear Grandmaster.
"Blood Spear Grandmaster Lv.60 Ultimate Ability: Blood Soul Resonance (Passive): Can fuse aura-type abilities (requires aura-type ability to reach X or higher X). After fusion, the aura ability will be removed from the skill list, but will not reduce your current blood energy intensity or total blood energy. After completing this fusion, it will bring a certain degree of improvement to Blood Spear Grandmaster and further enhance the quality of your blood energy."
Currently, Su Xiao's "Aura Release" ability had reached X. He could fuse it through Blood Spear Grandmaster and then master a new blood energy-type aura ability. Then, he could use the Ancient Battlefield blood energy to increase its level. This would not only lower the cost of improving Blood Spear Grandmaster but also continuously stack the basic intensity of the blood energy system, preventing the blood energy system from reaching its limit due to the aura ability hitting its cap.
The Azure Steel Shadow ability could have its level cap increased using [First Generation Finger Bones]. The blood energy system could continuously replace aura abilities to stack the blood energy cap. He wondered which of these two abilities had a higher cap.
Time passed quickly during his meditation. Suddenly, Su Xiao opened his eyes and looked toward a corner of the banquet hall. Immediately after, Platinum Bishop, the High Priest, Dray, Amu, Bubu Wang, Veronica, and the Red-Eyed Girl all looked toward the same corner.
In the corner stood an invisible uninvited guest. This was a thin young man, once known as the strongest hider in Fengshui Capital. He was now feeling deeply discouraged. He had infiltrated this place, but everyone in the banquet hall had detected him. He had never been spotted by so many people at once while invisible.
"You can just run in directly. No need to sneak around invisibly from two kilometers away and slowly creep over. You made me wait so long. I specially opened the window for you to hurry up."
Baha spoke. Hearing this, the invisible young man was even more disheartened. He canceled his invisibility and made a move to kneel on one knee a few meters away from Su Xiao. Seeing this, Baha stopped him: "Don't bother with these formalities. Just say what you need to say."
"Alright..."
The invisible young man took out a sealed letter and handed it to Su Xiao. Then he sat on a chair without saying a word. Experiencing that there were people better than you was acceptable, but experiencing that there was a whole group of people better than you was hard to take.
Su Xiao opened the sealed letter. He found that it was a recommendation from Kaisa. The person who wrote this letter was named Sowa, the captain of the Holy Sand Castle's personal guards. The content of the letter was simple. The Guard Captain, Sowa, was preparing to defect to Su Xiao's side. As for which faction Su Xiao's side was, Guard Captain Sowa no longer cared. At this point, other than the Sand King's faction, he would go to any faction.
As a condition for defecting, Su Xiao had to send people to rescue Guard Captain Sowa's parents, his wife, and his son and daughter. If this condition was agreed to, Guard Captain Sowa was willing to risk his life to assassinate the Sand King.
"Bubu, Baha, Veronica, the three of you go to the back district and rescue this guard captain's family."
"Got it."
Baha flew out the window. Bubu Wang blended into the environment. Veronica yawned, looking lazy. However, after Su Xiao gave her a "friendly" look for a few seconds, Veronica stopped slacking off and climbed out the window of the banquet hall.
Half an hour later, Baha was the first to return. He said, "Boss, the people are brought back. The guard force over there wasn't strong."
"Mm."
Su Xiao continued his meditation. A guard captain's family wasn't worth the Sand King sending too strong a guard force. Moreover, the Sand King had already devoured all the strong people around him. He couldn't send them even if he wanted to. He hadn't devoured this guard captain because he needed a messenger.
When Su Xiao finished his meditation, the sky was dyed blood-red by the setting sun. He stood up and walked out of the banquet hall. Among the group, the High Priest, the Red-Eyed Girl, and Dray stayed behind. The High Priest could use his abilities without going to Holy Sand Castle. The Red-Eyed Girl stayed due to Platinum Bishop's arrangement, for reasons unknown.
As for Dray, although he was said to be guarding the temporary base camp, the main purpose was to prevent his causal curse, which targeted protected individuals and objects, from taking effect during this deadly battle. That could kill his teammates.
When Su Xiao stopped in front of the steps leading to the main gate of Holy Sand Castle, he found that this once heavily guarded royal palace was now unguarded. The tall, double-leafed metal gate wasn't even fully closed.
Entering from the main gate into the courtyard, there was a stone path several meters wide with fountain pools on both sides. This made the scorching Fengshui Capital feel cool here.
He advanced unimpeded all the way to the door of the royal hall. Su Xiao ended his communication with Kaisa. He had confirmed that the Sand King was inside the royal hall.
Su Xiao pushed open both hall doors. As the doors opened, the first thing that caught his eye, dozens of meters away at the far end of the hall, was a towering black iron throne. On the throne sat a man over 3.5 meters tall with pitch-black eyes. He sat casually. Beside the throne was a greatsword at least 2.3 meters long.
The front two-thirds of this greatsword was the blade, and the back third was the handle. The crossguard on both sides was long and curved downward. The entire crossguard and handle, when viewed upside down, looked like a trident. This war sword combined sharpness, blade-breaking, and strong thrusting armor-piercing capabilities. Its most terrifying aspect was its weight. It was one of the three heaviest weapons in the Void.
"Oh? A Law Destroyer has come."
The Sand King on the throne spoke, his demeanor calm. But the right hand that had already left a handprint on the throne's armrest showed that he was not actually at peace.
"Soul Severing Shadow? Green Gillian's disciple? That madwoman actually has a disciple. Truly surprising. But, your Devouring Core..."
The Sand King's calm smile froze. The unique fluctuation of the Devouring Core, even if not activated, felt extremely familiar to him. This made him stop talking to Su Xiao. He shifted his gaze and said:
"Everyone has chosen to betray me. But the three of you have chosen to stay. Good. Come with me and kill this Law Destroyer."
The Sand King looked at the three people standing a few meters away. These three were Kaisa, Sacred Hymn, and Guard Captain Sowa.
Kaisa sneered and said nothing. Guard Captain Sowa bowed respectfully, but was actually ready. Once the fight started, he would immediately stab the Sand King in the back.
Sacred Hymn said nothing and didn't express her stance. This made the Sand King frown in dissatisfaction. Seeing this, Sacred Hymn spoke with a firm and sincere tone: "I will do my utmost to heal you during the battle."
At this moment, no one present expected that the healing skill with the highest single-ability damage intensity in history was about to appear.
"Sacred Hymn Ability: Soul Surge (Ultimate Ability, Lv.42): Can be used on oneself or a single allied target. After use, the target will recover 20% of their maximum health every second for 15 seconds and remove all current debuffs."