Chapter 25: Old Friend
Within a small city adjacent to the northern White Dragon fiefdom within the Winterfell territory.
This place is called Wutie City. Due to its remote location, situated between two fiefdoms, under the jurisdiction of two lords simultaneously yet without clear ownership, and coupled with the abundant high-quality mineral veins here, it has spawned a large number of miners and treasure seekers, making this place even more chaotic.
Undoubtedly, this is the favorite hiding place of the Dark God Cult. Additionally, their need for massive funds to conduct various rituals and dark studies makes this location the largest slave trading center among the surrounding fiefdoms.
But today, the underground market of Wutie City is deathly silent. The gas lamps on the steel frames above are brightly lit, while green mist spreads close to the ground. Throughout the entire underground market, whether slave owners, buyers, or the slaves waiting to be sold, all lie on the ground with tears and snot streaming down their faces. Because they are already dead, the expressions of pain are frozen on their faces.
Hoo~, huff~
A figure draped in exotic animal hide, wearing a self-made gas mask, walks through the green mist. The gas mask on his face has a certain technological feel of the beast race, but is more primitive in style. Most of the materials are made from bones and hide, with a ring of beast fangs as decoration around the edges.
Although no battle occurred within the underground market, blood has spread across the ground in a thin layer. Combined with the green mist flowing like incense smoke, this place gives off a chilling sensation.
With a creak, the large iron door leading to the depths of the underground market is pushed open by the masked old man. That's right, this is the Voodoo Warlock, Baze.
Passing through a passage lined with dead guards, connected to the underground market is a dark, eerie, and sinister church. At this moment, the green mist is also spreading here. Of the over a hundred members of the Dark God Cult gathered here, most have fallen dead. Those with stronger physiques are leaning against seats, blood spraying from their mouths and noses. To be precise, blood is flowing from all seven orifices.
"Why... why... we never... offended you..."
The dying bald Dark Bishop speaks. His face and head are covered in black patterns, and he has no eyebrows, making him look exceptionally cold and cruel.
"The thing. Where is it."
The Voodoo Warlock, Baze, speaks in a deep voice. Upon hearing this, the bald bishop is both angry and confused. He roars in a low voice, "What thing? What do you want? Just say it directly! Did you have to do this?!"
"..."
The Voodoo Warlock, Baze, lowers his eyelids, coldly looking down at the half-lying bald bishop, and still asks in a flat tone, "The thing. Where is it."
"What thing exactly!!"
The bald bishop is about to go mad with rage. But the next second, a hand covered in totem imprints presses against his face. Sticky, slimy green worms surge into his mouth and nose. A few seconds later, blood-curdling screams and pleas for mercy spread.
Half an hour later, the bald bishop, tortured to the point of being unrecognizable, tremblingly hands over a wooden box. The Voodoo Warlock, Baze, opens it and sees a small vial of [Spiritual Extract] sealed inside.
The Voodoo Warlock, Baze, closes the lid, takes out a piece of soft animal hide, carefully wipes the wooden box clean, then tucks the box carefully into his bosom. Afterwards, he sits on a bench, looking down at the bald bishop lying on the ground. His gaze is as cruel as if he were looking at a crawling insect. He speaks calmly, "Call for reinforcements from your accomplices. Right now."
"Wh-what?"
The bald bishop is stunned. For a moment, this utterly evil man is frozen there, his expression frozen in place until a familiar beast servant cuts it off and puts it into a wooden box.
...
Inside the lord's manor, in the study on the third floor.
Click~
The wooden box opens. Su Xiao looks at the head inside. He naturally knows whose head this is, sent by one of the Voodoo Warlock Baze's animal servants. He just didn't expect Baze to act so quickly.
Checking the time, it's only 11 PM. Since Baze has dealt with the Dark God Cult so quickly, Su Xiao naturally needs to show some sincerity in return. He goes up to the fourth floor, walks into the alchemy laboratory he set up during the day, and begins to prepare potions.
To treat Baze's eldest grandson, simply drinking potions is not enough. But at this stage, first drinking a bottle of soul potion to strengthen the other's soul can greatly alleviate the pain of being eroded by Abyss energy. Since the other party has shown sufficient sincerity, Su Xiao naturally needs to give back.
When he finishes preparing the three required soul potions, it's already 1 AM. With nothing else to do, Su Xiao takes out two items obtained from dealing with the Evil God faction this time: [Wet Flame Heart] and [Temple Key].
The former is the massive heart of a beast-shaped Evil God. By drinking the source blood within this heart, one can obtain the [Wet Scorching Flame] ability. This flame will ignite the enemy's life force, continuously burning them, and is difficult to extinguish until the enemy's life force is exhausted, turning them into a dried corpse.
At first glance, this ability seems mediocre. But this power called [Wet Scorching Flame] has growth potential. As it burns the enemy's life force, its power will become stronger and stronger. It's a permanent power growth. If developed from the first rank and focused solely on this ability, it would be terrifying by the ninth rank.
Directly ignite upon meeting, then stall the enemy, waiting for their life force to burn out.
Su Xiao feels that by purifying the source blood from this [Wet Flame Heart] and paying a certain amount of Space-Time Power to Reincarnation Paradise to clearly notarize this profession or bloodline, this item could fetch a high price in the Great Gathering Place.
When he first saw this massive heart, Su Xiao didn't think much of it. Since he didn't have ownership rights, he couldn't even check its attributes. The main reason he chose this massive heart was the thick layer of diaphragm muscle wrapped around it, commonly known as the heart protector meat. He could have Xia cook it into dry-fried heart protector strips.
After refrigerating and storing the [Wet Flame Heart], Su Xiao picks up the key on the workbench. The attributes of this key are the most peculiar thing he has ever seen, because:
[Temple Key]
Introduction: This is a key.
...
Not to mention the ridiculously sparse information, just the introduction alone is astonishing. This makes Su Xiao think of one possibility: this item is notarized by the Void Tree but not by Reincarnation Paradise. Due to his low Void Tree Reputation, after checking its attributes, such a fantastical scene appears.
Su Xiao carefully examines the patterns on the key and, through his Hunter authority, inquires that the patterns and ritual style on it are all from the Evil God faction of this world. That is to say, this key is an item from this world, not from the Void Tree.
Why would the Void Tree exclusively lock the notarization rights of this item? If this were a product of the Void Tree, it would be understandable. But the problem is, this is a local item from this world, Wind Sea Continent.
Under what circumstances would this happen? A war mission? This world wouldn't have explicit war missions because all faction missions in this world are essentially war missions.
If not a war mission, then it would be a competition mission or a world mission. The probability of the former is low. This world has a leaderboard notarization, so issuing a competition mission would be somewhat redundant.
Eliminating that, only a world mission remains. Thinking of this, Su Xiao becomes interested. He doesn't have time to execute a world mission; those are at least 7-8 ring major missions. But he wonders if this [Temple Key] is the core mission item of this world mission, so important that without it, the world mission cannot proceed.
Thinking this way, the person or people who failed to obtain the core mission item should be quite anxious right now. World missions are incredibly rare and hard to come by.
Su Xiao opens the World Contact Platform and posts a sale message, attaching a photo of the [Temple Key]. Among dozens of sale messages, this one isn't particularly conspicuous.
Su Xiao doesn't know who is executing the world mission. So, let the willing come to him. He doesn't believe the world mission trigger can hold out forever and not come to buy this key.
With nothing else to do, Su Xiao opens the fiefdom list to check if the fiefdom evaluation has improved. Unexpectedly, the fiefdom evaluation hasn't improved, but the number of legions under the fiefdom has increased from 6 to 7. Checking the details reveals that currently, Egein commands 3 legions, Harvey commands 2, Viper commands 2, and Evil Tooth was assassinated by the Sea Clan Council of Elders and has died.
It's only been half a night since they arrived at the main battlefield, and after just one encounter with the Sea Clan legions, such a major change has occurred.
Furthermore, in the legion's battle records, the legions of the Winterfell territory are incredibly powerful to the point of absurdity. Just arriving at the main battlefield, the two legions led by Egein were surrounded by five Sea Clan legions. This was clearly intended to give Egein, who had just arrived at the main battlefield, a harsh lesson.
The combat power of the Winterfell legions was already at the upper echelon of the Beast Clan faction. Now, with the high bonuses from the War Lord and the benefits of the fungal carpet deployed after the battle began, Egein led two legions against five Sea Clan legions, fighting back and forth and always maintaining the upper hand. By the time Viper arrived with reinforcements, Egein had already driven back the enemy's five legions.
Compared to this, the reinforcements from Viper and Evil Tooth were even more absurd. This reinforcement, which didn't even involve a battle, directly sent Evil Tooth, one of the legion commanders, to his death.
Evil Tooth died rather unjustly. With a fierce general like Egein appearing on the main battlefield, the Sea Clan naturally had to find a way to eliminate him immediately. In his first battle, Egein used two legions to hammer the Sea Clan's five legions. Not only did he drive back the five Sea Clan legions, but he also gathered two and a half scattered Beast Clan legions, merged them into one, and incorporated them under his command.
With such a fierce general, the Sea Clan Council of Elders learned of the news that very night and sent an assassin. Originally, this assassin was sent to kill Egein. But who would have thought that after drinking that night, Egein would sleep directly in the collective camp tent. The assassin wasn't stupid; how could he dare to enter a collective camp tent shared by several hundred high-ranking Beast Clan leaders? But adhering to the principle of "since I'm here anyway," the assassin assassinated Evil Tooth, who was sleeping in the commander's tent.
When Egein was awakened by the sound of horns and rushed into Evil Tooth's tent as fast as possible, seeing the murdered Evil Tooth, Egein was so "heartbroken" that he had to force himself not to laugh. With Evil Tooth dead, the legion under his command obviously wouldn't be recalled to Twilight City. That meant this legion would either fall under Egein's command or be led by Harvey or Viper.
In the end, Harvey held Egein back while Viper took the opportunity to incorporate this legion under his command. Regarding this, Viper was both terrified and had to do it. He was somewhat afraid of Egein, but even more afraid that Egein would continue to grow and swallow him whole. This was the main battlefield, and their lord was far away in Twilight City. The chain that had been restraining Egein had been broken.
Seeing this legion information, Su Xiao frowns. After arriving at the main battlefield, Egein's rebellious tendencies have grown wildly. However, the good news is that because the Winterfell territory has been notarized, all changes to the Winterfell territory's legions and the events they undergo are simultaneously recorded with text prompts in the fiefdom information records. Some important events even include graphic information or viewable images.
Trying to directly restrain Egein himself is unwise. The main battlefield currently relies on this turncoat. Although Harvey is loyal, he can't be the backbone of the legion. Viper has ability, but his style is too much of a fence-sitter.
Given the current situation, Su Xiao isn't worried about Egein causing any trouble. It's getting late, so he returns to the bedroom and goes to sleep. When the first rays of the morning sun filter through the curtain gaps, it's already 9 AM.
Su Xiao sits up in bed, dazed for a moment, then opens the fiefdom information to check. The next second, his gaze is no longer dazed but becomes somewhat serious, because the number of legions under the Winterfell territory has increased from seven to eight. Opening the detailed information, as expected, the number of legions commanded by Egein has increased from three to four.
Using his fiefdom authority, Su Xiao opens the virtual map of the main battlefield and discovers that the four legions led by Egein are currently located in the central area of the main battlefield. Judging by the large cluster of red dots on the map, this guy is locked in a fierce battle with seven Sea Clan legions.
Even more absurdly, the position of our Winterfell legions clearly indicates that they have become one of the main legions of the Beast Clan faction. Unlike the steady War Bear Legion, the solid Steel Feather Legion, and the immovable Iron Pattern Legion, our Winterfell legions are completely carnivorous, aggressive, and fierce.
Other people's legions advance steadily after the battle begins. But our legions, as they fight, end up pulling their formation into a sharp wedge shape due to the heavy cavalry of the Centaur clan, incredibly fierce.
Just as Su Xiao is examining the main battlefield map, the bedroom door is urgently knocked on. Opening the door, the Spotted Fox clan member, Piro, quickly walks in and says in a low voice, "My lord, it's bad. Egein is privately recruiting legions under other lords on the main battlefield. Now, several lords' stewards have come to demand an explanation from us."
"Let Fenris handle it."
Su Xiao knows that Piro isn't good at dealing with this kind of thing. The city lord, Fenris, on the other hand, is very skilled in this area.
Looking at the bright sunlight outside the window, Su Xiao is in a good mood. The fact that the few lords who lost their legions didn't come in person already indicates one thing: those parties don't want to fall out with us.
When have Beast Clan lords ever been this timid? Obviously, those lords didn't become timid for no reason. Without thinking, they must have witnessed the power of the fungal carpet and came to test what it was.
Just as Su Xiao is pondering this, the communicator on the bedside table vibrates. Picking it up, he finds it's from the Great Commander, Kane. After a moment of hesitation, Su Xiao doesn't answer the communicator. Instead, he takes it downstairs to the dining room on the second floor and sits down.
Arriving at the dining room, Su Xiao finds the young lord, Gurvey, eating breakfast. He takes the main seat and silently watches Gurvey, causing her to gradually lower her head, her eating movements becoming smaller and smaller. Finally, she mutters softly, "I'll never get up at 10 to eat breakfast again."
Hearing this, Su Xiao withdraws his gaze. He instructs the maid beside him, "Get me a... brunch."
Hearing this, Gurvey is stunned. She wants to say something, but due to some inexplicable fear of Su Xiao, she can only eat the breakfast on her plate more vigorously. However, after a while, her mood improves because she has a new friend.
As for who Gurvey's new friend is, it's not Xianlulu, but Jila inside the mother nest beneath the castle. Somehow, these two became friends. Now, Gurvey's favorite thing to do is to go listen to Jila tell her stories. Although those stories are a bit scary, Gurvey loves listening to them. But for some reason, Gurvey always feels that the stories Jila tells, about devouring almost all the giant beasts or powerful enemies in a world, sound as real as if they actually happened.
Su Xiao is eating his brunch when the communicator beside his hand rings again. He waits a few seconds before answering. The Great Commander, Kane, on the other end says, "White Night, several lords have complained to me that your subordinate swallowed up their legions. Is this true?"
"Yes, absolutely true."
Su Xiao not only doesn't deny it but admits it with an exceptionally firm tone. This causes Kane on the other end to be silent for a few seconds before dropping the subject entirely. He says, "I know you come from over there and have some methods I can't understand. But we're all in the same boat now. Good things should be shared."
Although the Great Commander, Kane, doesn't say it explicitly, the general meaning is that Su Xiao comes from the Paradise faction and has many tricks. The fungal carpet he brought out this time should be shared so that all Beast Clan legions can use it to boost their combat power.
Although Su Xiao would very much like to see that happen—it would mean a massive amount of evolution points—he can't do it immediately. So he asks with a "suspicious" tone, "What good thing? Kane, speak plainly."
"Then I'll be direct. That fungal carpet your legions use, can it improve legion combat power?"
"Oh, that's an anti-slip fungal carpet."
Hearing Su Xiao's words, Kane on the other end is speechless for a few seconds but still says with a smile, "But I heard that the fungal carpet climbs onto the seriously wounded and helps them recover. In last night's melee, a soldier from the War Bear Legion fell on the fungal carpet. He said he could strongly feel the fungal carpet healing him. And standing on the fungal carpet, he ran faster, had stronger vitality, and recovered stamina more quickly, over thirty percent faster than usual."
"Is that so? I'll test it later. But I guess it's probably an illusion. The fungal carpet is just for anti-slip."
Su Xiao still insists on his original explanation. The Great Commander, Kane, on the other end picks up the thread, "Even just anti-slip is pretty good. Why not give me a few packs of the fungal carpet? I heard it's usually just a big ball, quite convenient to carry."
"Of course. I'll have someone deliver the fungal carpet to Eternal Ring City in a month."
Hearing this, the Great Commander, Kane, is speechless with anger for a few seconds. He naturally knows that in a month, Su Xiao might not even be in Wind Sea Continent anymore.
"I have urgent matters to attend to. We'll talk later."
Su Xiao hangs up the communication and continues enjoying his brunch. He can't rush the fungal carpet matter. If he releases it too early, more than half of the Beast Clan's hundred-plus lords will remain skeptical and study the origin of the fungal carpet.
Once those lords and the Beast King discover that Su Xiao has summoned war insectoids into this world, he will become the target of public criticism. Conversely, by holding onto the fungal carpet tightly now, letting those lords beg for it in various ways, and finally, under the Beast King's command, Su Xiao reluctantly hands over the fungal carpet, then over ninety percent of the hundred-plus Beast Clan lords will dare to use the fungal carpet for their legions.
The fungal carpet absorbs the soul energy scattered after the death of living beings and stores it. Later, the mother nest converts it into evolution points. Imagine, if over ninety percent of the Beast Clan faction's legions use the fungal carpet, how many evolution points can we gain each day?
With the situation developing to this point, Su Xiao feels much more relaxed. Next, he just waits for the Beast King to step in and pressure him. Therefore, he can consider going to the Tribe faction's territory to deal with the Soul Death God and the Absolute Strong Spellcaster on the Sea Clan side.
Su Xiao can solo the Soul Death God, but facing the Absolute Strong Spellcaster, he will definitely need to gang up. Moreover, since he's about to go to the Tribe faction's territory, he will inevitably be targeted by Tribe warlocks, witch doctors, etc. At this time, finding some "teammates" to go with him is an excellent choice.
Unfortunately, his two good teammates aren't around. But then Su Xiao thinks that this time, besides the Voodoo Warlock, Baze, he can also find Shenfu to go to the Tribe faction together.
Ever since entering this world, Su Xiao has felt that Shenfu has been too quiet, so quiet that it makes him vaguely uneasy. Previously, in the Sun Sanctuary, Chiriad, and the Treeborn World, Shenfu secretly schemed against Su Xiao twice. Now in Wind Sea Continent, the familiar feeling is back. There's a high probability that Shenfu is brewing something bad in the shadows.
How to deal with Shenfu? Kill him? Not feasible; he can't be killed. Constantly guard against him? This old guy can lie low for an entire world progression and then step forward at the last moment. It's impossible to guard against. The best way to deal with Shenfu is to temporarily team up with him. Once he's too close, the lethality of his plans will be greatly reduced.
Moreover, Shenfu is indeed powerful and would be an excellent teammate for going to the Tribe faction's territory, able to significantly share the hatred from the Tribe.
As for how to invite Shenfu to join the team, Kaisa's assistance is needed. Su Xiao takes out a Soul Coin. With a *ding*, it bounces up. Before it lands, a hand has already caught it. Kaisa had already set a coordinate in this castle, so coming here is truly instantaneous.
"My dear friend, do you want me to help you deal with the Dark God Cult?"
"No, I want you to help me invite Shenfu to join the team."
Hearing this, Kaisa is a bit puzzled. He can't figure out how to lure Shenfu, who is hiding in the shadows, out.
Su Xiao opens the Legendary Leaderboard and displays his own -??? Legendary.
"Contractors can't transfer Legendary to each other. But a contractor might be able to transfer Legendary to a violator, since after Dawn Paradise fell silent, violators are almost in a state of no notarization."
Su Xiao's words immediately spark inspiration in Kaisa. The reason Su Xiao thought of this is because Shenfu is ranked fourth on the [Legendary Leaderboard]. Among the top five, Brother Ruthless, Demon Scythe, Talid, Enzo, and Black Demon are all relatively active in various areas. Brother Ruthless is slaughtering on the main battlefield, Demon Scythe, Talid, has infiltrated deep into Sea Clan territory, and Water Brother and Black Demon are also on the main battlefield.
Conversely, Shenfu hasn't shown his face at all and is steadily gaining Legendary at a constant rate. This suggests one possibility: Shenfu has gathered multiple violators from this world. They use the incomplete notarization of violators to privately trade Legendary to Shenfu. This thing is useless except for a high ranking. It's better to pool it together, let one violator rank high, get the leaderboard reward, and then all violators involved in this matter share it.
Moreover, in the Void Tree's judgment, this might be allowed, a certain compensation for the incomplete notarization of violators. Regardless, Dawn Paradise still exists. Therefore, in the Void Tree's judgment, violators are essentially another type of contractor.
If Su Xiao's speculation is correct, he might not even need to operate anything. He could directly transfer Legendary to Shenfu. Thinking of this, he tries to transfer 10 points of Legendary to Shenfu.
[Prompt (Void Tree): Your Legendary is -??? and cannot be transferred normally.]
[Detected that the transfer target is a semi-notarized violator. You may proceed with this transfer. However, if the transfer amount is huge, the Legendary held by the transfer target has a high probability of being synchronized to the same -??? as yours.]
...
Su Xiao displays this prompt, and he and Kaisa exchange glances. In that instant, inspiration explodes. They seem to already see dozens of violators in this world, all with Legendary -??? hanging at the very top of the Legendary Leaderboard.
If Shenfu refuses to team up this time and wants to continue lurking in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to scheme against Su Xiao for a third time, then Su Xiao will transfer 1 million Legendary to Shenfu. It's certain that Shenfu will immediately rank first. Then, in the next second, his Legendary will become -???, drop to the bottom, and be hung at the very top of the Legendary Leaderboard together with Su Xiao.
Opening the World Contact Platform, finding Shenfu in the list, Su Xiao tries to contact him in text form. The content is as follows:
White Night: "Let's team up and go to the Tribe faction's territory to grab some benefits."
Su Xiao doesn't wait long. Shenfu, wherever he is, replies:
Shenfu: "Refused."
The meaning is simple and clear. Shenfu, lurking in the shadows, is unwilling to step forward. And he doesn't choose to be polite. The previous two times he schemed against Su Xiao, Shenfu had a similar attitude.
This old guy Shenfu must be guarded against. Having been schemed against twice, when Su Xiao is in the same world as this old guy, if he doesn't hear any news about him for over ten days, he starts to feel uneasy. Don't forget, the Necronomicon was transferred to him by this old guy.
As the saying goes, courtesy demands reciprocity. If Shenfu is unwilling to go to the Tribe faction with Su Xiao this time to share the firepower, then as thanks for transferring the Necronomicon, Su Xiao plans to transfer 1 million Legendary to him this time.
Su Xiao tries to transfer 10 points of Legendary to Shenfu. It goes through without any trouble. Obviously, in this regard, Shenfu has already done some manipulation, which is why it's so easy to transfer Legendary.
Time ticks by. After more than ten seconds, Shenfu sends a message. The content is:
Shenfu: "Old friend, we haven't seen each other for a long time. I was just joking earlier. I've also been planning to go to the Tribe faction recently. Let's travel together."