Chapter 27: The Beast King
Seeing his own bounty in the commission list, Su Xiao was not surprised. There was a high probability that this bounty was issued by Arcane Eternal Star. Thinking about it that way, the bounty amount wasn't too high either.
Su Xiao pondered for a moment and finally determined that only Arcane Eternal Star would be willing to offer 1.5 million Soul Coins to put a bounty on his head.
Besides this, Su Xiao also noticed that his list of enemies was smaller than he had imagined. Only Arcane Eternal Star and the Underworld God were on it. As for other grudges, he had basically settled them as quickly as possible, whether by taking revenge or eliminating the root cause. Su Xiao always tried not to let things drag on overnight, and the benefits of this habit were now evident—he had very few enemies.
Looking at the 1.5 million Soul Coin bounty in the list, even for Su Xiao at his current level, this was a huge sum. Under normal circumstances, an Eighth Rank contractor going through a world progression, even if they made a killing, would only earn around 300,000 Soul Coins.
This 1.5 million Soul Coins was equivalent to the earnings of five world progressions. In a sense, Soul Coins equaled combat power, especially after Su Xiao obtained the Awakening Stele.
On the Awakening Stele, besides independent skills, there were many passive abilities that didn't even have skill names. By consuming 1 Law-Destroying Skill Point, he could master one of these passive abilities, and after mastering it, he could even name it himself.
When first mastered, when the ability was still at lv.1, it was very unremarkable—perhaps increasing body defense by 0.5 points, or 50 Health Points, or 30 Mana Points, etc.
But don't forget, this kind of ability could be leveled up in the Skill Upgrade Hall at a relatively low cost. The max level was lv.10, with some being lv.20. However, even after maxing out such abilities, the bonuses were only decent.
What was truly powerful was the lower part of the Awakening Stele, densely packed with "engravings" of such abilities. One or two of these abilities were unremarkable, but dozens? Hundreds? When these passive skills piled up, they could truly achieve unadorned power—normal attacks becoming ultimate moves.
The most likely scenario was: when fighting an enemy, even if he lost the initiative and the enemy seized the opportunity to unleash a full set of flashy combos, as long as he had a slight chance to counterattack, he could turn around and one-shot the enemy with a single slash. Then he would inevitably sigh, "I almost got comboed to death by this guy, luckily I was one step ahead."
The more Su Xiao looked at the 1.5 million Soul Coins in the list, the more he felt this item was destined for him. After all, who was more capable than him of "killing" Kukulin Bai Ye? Obviously, no one.
If others wanted to fake his death, they would need various methods to steal his body energy and blood, etc., to make the replica of his head or other proof items more realistic.
Su Xiao was uniquely positioned for these conditions. In fact, he had an even better method than faking it. First, he had to consider: what best represented his identity? His head? No.
If someone had a superb level of biology, as long as they obtained a small number of Su Xiao's cells—such as collecting the flesh fragments and blood left behind during his battles—as long as their biology was strong enough, they could use these cells to create a replica of his head.
At high ranks, the hardest thing to fake was the heart. As a Law Destroyer, Su Xiao's heart was both powerful and special, because at the center of his heart was the energy-form "Devouring Core," or rather, the most fundamental source of the Devouring Core. With this thing, he could use the Devouring Core normally.
Besides the "Law-Destroying Heart," another thing that could prove his identity was his weapon, Dragon-Slaying Flash. The former could be managed with some effort and by teaming up with Kaisa, who was one with the jar, but the Blade of Law Annihilation could not be faked. No matter what shameless abilities Kaisa had, it was impossible.
But did he really need to fake it? Su Xiao could completely create a second "Blade of Law Annihilation" that was all show and no substance, but he couldn't do this alone—he would need the cooperation of the Dwarf King.
Dragon-Slaying Flash had been upgraded step by step by Su Xiao using the "Supreme Blade" ability. Its journey was unique and couldn't be replicated. However, Su Xiao could use the "Supreme Blade" ability to create a new white-quality "Blade of Law Annihilation," then ask the Dwarf King to help forge several blade-type weapons from white quality, green quality, blue quality, purple quality, dark purple quality, gold quality, Legendary, Epic, Holy Spirit, and Immortal ranks, one for each.
Then, using the new "Blade of Law Annihilation," he would gradually devour these weapons, rising from white quality all the way to Immortal rank. Of course, the strength of the two would be vastly different, but that didn't matter. Su Xiao wasn't trying to create another main blade; he just needed it to pass the Hunter Guild's verification.
This new "Blade of Law Annihilation" wouldn't have a Demon Spirit inside. So, he would create a fake Demon Spirit by injecting extremely pure Abyss energy into it. As for high-purity Abyss energy, Kaisa, who was one with the jar, could obtain it.
With that, the "Law-Destroying Heart" and "Blade of Law Annihilation" would be complete. The most critical point was that the Hunter Guild's members in this world would find a diviner to further confirm whether Su Xiao was dead.
If Su Xiao wasn't dead, it would be difficult for the diviner to divine the specific situation of the Law Destroyer. This was different from divining what experiences he would have. The former directly touched his karma, like stabbing an iron spike into the causal web, while the latter drifted along his karma, peeping carefully and gently.
To be honest, Su Xiao didn't have a way to fool the diviner. However, the problem was that the top diviners in this world numbered no more than five fingers. Additionally, divination had a characteristic: the longer a diviner stayed and lived in this world, the more tightly their own karma merged with the world, and the more accurate the divination results.
Thus, the Hunter Guild could only choose two or three diviners. Su Xiao indeed couldn't avoid the divination results of such diviners, but he could recruit the diviner into his scheme. He would be satisfied with getting 700,000 to 800,000 of the 1.5 million Soul Coins, using the remaining share to recruit accomplices.
Then, no matter how many times the Hunter Guild asked that diviner to divine, the result would be that Su Xiao was dead. It was difficult to change the divination result, but it was possible to change the person who saw that result.
Thinking this way, rescuing the Dwarf King became even more important. It wasn't just about the three "Primordial Fragments"; it also involved 1.5 million Soul Coins.
Su Xiao continued scrolling down the commission list. Most were item searches or recruitment information. As a Transcendent Primordial World that had been heavily invaded by the Abyss and successfully resisted, this world had many "Danger Zones" and "Nightmare Zones," similar to dungeon-like dangerous areas that attracted many people keen on exploration.
Although Su Xiao was interested in this, he had other things to do. As for how to accept commissions from the "Hunter Guild," he didn't actually need to accept them—he just needed to remember the commission details.
For example, one of the commissions Su Xiao had his eye on was the Aberrant Beast Erba, a powerful beast with a body length of ten thousand meters, dwelling in a vast lake. To kill a beast of this size, the Dragon Riding state was essential.
The strength of aberrant beasts generally correlated with their size. Although this wasn't absolute, it was true in most cases. Therefore, aberrant beasts were roughly divided into four levels: hundred-meter level, thousand-meter level, ten-thousand-meter level, and hundred-thousand-meter level.
Hundred-meter-level aberrant beasts were equivalent to early Ninth Rank combat power. Aside from their long lifespans, there was nothing noteworthy about them, as they were reproductive beasts that could breed with their own kind.
Thousand-meter-level aberrant beasts had upper-tier Ninth Rank combat power. Beasts at this level generally had their own unique abilities, and few in the same combat tier could match them. However, beasts at this level could also reproduce with their own kind.
Ten-thousand-meter-level aberrant beasts had top-tier Ninth Rank combat power. Beasts at this level were extremely powerful and difficult to kill. In contrast, beasts at this tier could not reproduce. Their life mass was too enormous, making it difficult to produce offspring of the same tier by splitting off source matter life.
Simply put, beasts at this level could only reach this state through repeated transformations and advancements from thousand-meter-level beasts.
As for the final hundred-thousand-meter-level aberrant beasts, the threshold for this tier was "Absolute Strong" combat power. Whether any of them could reach "Supreme Strong" was unclear, but it was estimated that none had. The most famous "Supreme Strong" in Wind Sea Continent was Spider Lady, a fact that all strong beings in Wind Sea Continent took pride in.
For an ordinary Ninth Rank world, having one or two "Absolute Strong" was already impressive. Only in the Void or Transcendent worlds would a "Supreme Strong" appear once in a very long time. The Dead Silence City in Gloomy Continent had also produced a Supreme Strong, the Eternal God. However, due to various reasons, the Eternal God could only be considered half a "Supreme Strong."
To date, the number of "Supreme Strong" could be easily counted on one hand: the Underworld God of Doom Star, Soul Lord of Arcane Eternal Star, the Blade Demon of Black Abyss, the Deer God representing the Divine System, the Demon Old Hag of the Demon Race, and Spider Lady of Wind Sea.
Why could the Law Destruction Faction, with its sparse population back then, be considered the representative of an era? Because the Old Law Destroyer, Green Gillian, Mawen Hua'erzi, Star-Swallowing Akas, and Ximan Aqide were all Supreme Strong.
If Arcane Eternal Star hadn't produced the Supreme Being, even if they had thrown everything they had, they couldn't have dealt with so many Supreme Strong. As a price, the group of "Absolute Strong" in Arcane Eternal Star at that time was reduced to only four survivors. The black mist figure who now presided over the Starry Sky Seat was once a "Supreme Strong" of Arcane Eternal Star, but now he was dead, with only a remnant soul left.
Interestingly, the black mist figure, the Old Law Destroyer, and Mawen Hua'erzi had fought to the death when alive, but after death, they became a trio of black-hearted old mentors. Uninformed people might think they were close friends in life.
It could be said that the strong echelon of Arcane Eternal Star hadn't recovered to this day. If Soul Lord hadn't advanced to the "Supreme Strong" rank, they would have lost even more face. However, it must be admitted that the Supreme Being was far stronger than "Supreme Strong."
As for the strongest enemy Su Xiao had ever faced, it was undoubtedly Ximan Aqide. Although they hadn't fought much, and he was almost beaten to death by the other's Demon Spirit alone, that was a Supreme Strong. Even if the other was old and weak, with less than a tenth of his original strength, and restricted by the world's rank, he was still a former Supreme Strong. Su Xiao couldn't suddenly explode with power, nor did he have the heaven-defying talent to break through during battle. Losing was only natural—if he couldn't win, he simply couldn't win.
Su Xiao recorded the key information of over a dozen commissions. For hunting aberrant beasts, he only needed to bring back specific parts of the beast to submit the commission.
As for the possibility of someone colluding with an aberrant beast to complete the commission, it was impossible. The parts required by the commissions were either heart cores or source blood. Even for the ancient candle ox, which lacked both, one of its eggs had to be brought back.
To become an official hunter of the "Hunter Guild," one had to complete any commission first, after which they would receive a "Hunter Nameplate." Su Xiao was very interested in this because, after becoming an official hunter, the commission reward would increase by 10-15%.
After recording over a dozen commissions, Su Xiao turned and walked toward the space gate on the wall. After a soft and weak teleportation, he returned to the fourth floor of the ancient castle in the Lord's Manor. He sat on a wooden chair by the window, calming the discomfort after the teleportation. Having frequently used demon teleportation arrays, he was now very unaccustomed to this gentle form of teleportation.
A knock came from the door. It was City Lord Fenris, who had been waiting outside.
"Lord, several lords have come to visit."
"..."
Although Su Xiao didn't really want to see them, considering the subsequent development of the fungal carpet, it wasn't necessary to offend these people at this stage. He simply asked Fenris to arrange a meeting with them in the banquet hall.
In the afternoon, on a small platform at the top of the ancient castle, Su Xiao sat cross-legged in meditation. He had come here because, at this moment, at least thirty lords were in the ancient castle. Although none had stated it outright, it was obvious they were all here for the fungal carpet. The performance of the Fierce Winter Legion on the main battlefield was simply too impressive.
That evening, an old acquaintance, Grand Commander Kane, arrived at Fierce Winter City. The two had been cooperating before. Su Xiao had originally wanted to personally receive this old acquaintance, but unfortunately, there were about fifty lords in the manor, making it difficult to extricate himself.
At 8 PM, in the banquet hall, a bewildered Gu Erwei sat in a corner, watching the scene that resembled a grand banquet. She took a sip of juice to calm herself. Now, there seemed to be more lords in the manor than servants.
Clearly, these lords and Grand Commander Kane had agreed beforehand to come here together. They were determined to stick with Su Xiao, preventing him from doing anything else until he resolved the fungal carpet issue.
Finally, early the next morning, a herald who had traveled from Eternal Ring City broke the deadlock. The Beast King wanted to summon Su Xiao—more precisely, he wanted to summon all lords.
Before noon, except for Grand Commander Kane, the other lords gradually left. They hadn't come to force Su Xiao to make a statement but to deliberately escalate the matter, forcing the Beast King to intervene. Now that their goal was achieved, they naturally stopped bothering him, lest they truly form a personal grudge with Su Xiao. The beast lords were all old schemers and wouldn't do something so counterproductive.
In the inner hall on the second floor, Grand Commander Kane put down his teacup and leaned comfortably on a single sofa, speaking casually: "Bai Ye, be honest with me. What exactly is the origin of that fungal carpet? Without knowing its origin, no one dares to use it."
"It's just an anti-slip fungal carpet cultivated through biology. Besides, why should I make others feel at ease using it?"
Su Xiao looked at Grand Commander Kane with suspicion, causing Kane to smile awkwardly. Yes, from the beginning to now, Lord Bai Ye had been tightly guarding the fungal carpet, never intending to let outsiders use it. Under such circumstances, why should he explain its origin? He had never planned to sell or transfer this thing from the start.
"The fungal carpet's performance is excellent. Such a good thing should be shared..."
"No sharing."
"Bai Ye, that's short-sighted of you. Think about it, if you share the fungal carpet, later in the beast tribe..."
"How long can I stay in this world?"
"Well~, as the saying goes, we should cherish every day and pursue happiness and ideals every day."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course."
Grand Commander Kane's eyes lit up. He felt he had persuaded Su Xiao.
"In that case, I agree with pursuing happiness. So, why not introduce me to your adopted daughter?"
"Cough~"
Kane choked, nearly spraying tea out of his nose. His adopted daughter was the only child left by an old friend with whom he had a life-and-death bond. Over the years, he had treated her like his own, like a granddaughter.
"Give me a reason."
Grand Commander Kane's expression turned serious.
"I covet your adopted daughter's beauty."
"You're lying! You clearly have your eye on her divination ability. If you truly admired her beauty and temperament, I might let you two meet, since you're both young. But you're definitely not thinking that. No wonder she contacted me yesterday, telling me to be wary of you."
"Oh? Is that so?"
Su Xiao's eyes sparkled. He was now basically certain that Kane's adopted daughter was likely one of the strongest diviners in this world.
Grand Commander Kane chose to change the subject and continued discussing the fungal carpet, but Su Xiao insisted that the fungal carpet's main function was anti-slip. As for its other characteristics, they were just incidental abilities obtained by chance, not worth mentioning.
"It's almost time. The main city council hall closes for entry at 6 PM. We should head over early. By the way, you need to go with Gu Erwei. Nominally, you're the acting lord of this fief, but she's the hereditary lord here."
"Mm."
Su Xiao asked Xian Lulu to inform Gu Erwei to prepare. They would set out for the main city, Eternal Ring City, in the afternoon.
At 4 PM, in the main city, Eternal Ring City, Second District, inside the Grand Council Hall.
Although the entire hall wasn't luxurious, it was absolutely imposing. The main seat of the council table was the Beast King's throne, which was iron-black and looked as if it had been scorched by fire. It was carved from the stump of a World Tree, holding extraordinary significance.
On either side of the throne were two seats for the two Grand Commanders, but only one was present at the moment. There was also a rumor that the other Grand Commander had been assassinated by the Sea Race long ago.
On both sides of the council table closest to the throne were seven slightly lower seats, each bearing a different family crest, representing the seven great families of the beast tribe. Further back were the lord seats, but since the council table was only so large, some lords had to sit in the second or even third row. The rows further back were occupied by high-ranking officials of the main city or great nobles of the beast tribe.
At this moment, Su Xiao was sitting in the last row. Beside him, Gu Erwei was looking around, having gained quite an experience today. Many people in this hall she had only heard of in biographies or rumors.
Gu Erwei ate snacks she had bought on the way and asked curiously, "Bai Ye, why aren't we sitting in the front row? Aren't we lords?"
"A tall tree catches the wind. Keep a low profile."
Just as Su Xiao finished speaking, the two doors of the council hall were fully pushed open. First, two squads of imperial guards entered the hall and stood in two rows. Then, surrounded by a crowd, a figure nearly three meters tall, wearing a steel-feather cloak and a crown, walked into the hall supported by two attendants. His hair and beard were white, and his figure appeared thin, but his large frame made him look not frail. Even though he was old and his expression was peaceful, no one dared to meet his gaze.
Supported by the attendants, the Beast King, whose skin showed a hint of gray, took his seat. He coughed a few times, and the guards around him quickly formed a protective barrier. After the Beast King drank a small amount of potion, the guards around him, all Ninth Rank peak combatants with one "Absolute Strong" among them, retreated behind the throne.
Su Xiao, sitting in the last row, witnessed all of this. When the Beast King first appeared, he found it unbelievable. With such a life state, how was he still alive? Not just being supported to the throne by attendants, but even if he could only breathe weakly, given his condition, it was absurd to the extreme.
After the Beast King sat down, he slightly raised his hand, and the lords in the first three rows stood up one after another. As for those in the further rows, they wanted to pay their respects to the Beast King, but they weren't qualified.
Everyone sat down, the doors of the council hall closed, and the council officially began. However, for some reason, the atmosphere was a bit off.
"Bai Ye, you really have good judgment. This atmosphere is terrifying. Good thing we didn't sit in the front row."
Gu Erwei whispered, and as she said, the atmosphere of this council was wrong.
"Cough~, Bai Ye?"
Grand Commander Kane stood up and looked around, searching. After looking for a long time, he couldn't find Su Xiao anywhere. His heart sank, thinking Su Xiao might have left temporarily, which would be a huge joke.
"Bai Ye, Bai Ye, where are you?"
"Over here."
Su Xiao raised his hand from the last row, then, under the astonished gazes of several beast officials on either side, continued to blend in among them.
"Why are you hiding over there?!"
"I'm at most an acting lord, so I should naturally sit further back."
"You! Get over here!"
Grand Commander Kane was so angry his beard nearly stood on end. Although the seven great families and the other lords maintained serious expressions, the strange situation and atmosphere made them want to laugh. The mood inexplicably became cheerful.
Under the gaze of all the lords, Su Xiao moved from the last row to the third row, making Grand Commander Kane gnash his teeth in hatred. He thought to himself, "Is he that afraid of having his fungal carpet snatched?"
"Over here."
Grand Commander Kane pointed to another empty Grand Commander seat.
"..."
Su Xiao looked speechless but eventually took the Grand Commander seat. The council began. Following tradition, the lords first reported major events in their fiefs.
Half an hour later, Su Xiao faintly heard snoring beside him. He turned to look and found the Beast King sleeping with his eyes open. When the lords had mostly finished reporting, Grand Commander Kane cleared his throat and began to mention the fungal carpet. Strangely, the Beast King happened to wake up at that moment, his eyes regaining their luster.
"Bai Ye, I heard you recently developed a kind of fungal carpet."
"Mm."
With Su Xiao's response, the discussion about the fungal carpet ended there. As for the Beast King ordering Su Xiao to share the fungal carpet with other lords, that was impossible. The Beast King wouldn't say such words directly. From start to finish, the Beast King only said that one sentence, which was already clear enough.
The atmosphere in the council hall gradually relaxed. When it was almost over, it became noisy, with many lords chatting among themselves. At that moment, the Beast King on the throne beside him spoke in a casual tone: "That fungal carpet of yours looks a lot like the product of the insect race."
"..."
Su Xiao didn't speak. Since the Beast King had discovered it, saying more was meaningless.
"To prepare for the training in Eternal Light, you've gone to great lengths. If you ask me, the Ancestral Law Destroyers of your Law Destruction faction all had some mental issues. How could they send a junior to train in Eternal Light? Is that training?"
In the end, the Beast King glanced at Su Xiao with a hint of pity and sighed.
"That was a thousand years ago. It's said that the Ancestral Law Destroyers left all their treasures in the treasure vault of the Eternal Light World. Have you heard of this?"
"I even have the key."
Su Xiao really didn't care about the key to the Eternal Light World's treasure vault, so he didn't hide it.
"Is that so? But why do I feel that there's nothing in that treasure vault? Don't doubt it—Mawen Hua'erzi and Green Gillian's group are capable of such things. Among them, I think Akas was reliable, but that reliable guy died the earliest."
"..."
Su Xiao didn't speak. Seeing this, the Beast King, his large hand thin to the point of being almost skeletal, patted his shoulder and said, "Develop the insect race quickly, but don't hatch combat insects here. Not even one, understand?"
The Beast King spoke calmly.
"Mm."
"Alright then. I'll keep the origin of the fungal carpet a secret. That's just how the world works—everyone takes what they need. Who doesn't have one or two secrets?"
With that, the Beast King raised his hand from the armrest of the throne, and a rolled-up piece of parchment fell. His guard quietly picked it up and, as if by chance, slipped it into Su Xiao's hand.
The Beast King stood up with the help of his attendants, and a group of guards escorted him out of the hall. The lords in the hall also left one after another.
When no one was around, Su Xiao opened the rolled-up parchment. On it was written: "Do not leave Eternal Ring City today. Sea Race and Spellcasters, multiple Absolute Strong lying in ambush to kill you."
Seeing this, Su Xiao had already guessed the general situation. He had been wondering earlier why the Spellcasters, who should have known he was in Wind Sea Continent, hadn't made a move. Now it seemed they were preparing a big move.
It was certain that if Su Xiao used the main city's teleportation tower, he would be intercepted and surrounded by a large group of strong beings, leading to certain death.
Faced with this situation, Su Xiao's idea was to try out his latest version of the "Law-Destroying Teleportation Array," a super-enhanced upgraded version based on the demon teleportation array. This time, he could casually teleport something to Mudong City, with the purpose of attracting the Sea Race and Spellcasters lying in ambush to intercept this teleportation.
As for this "Law-Destroying Teleportation Array," Su Xiao had never dared to use it himself. This time, he would let the Sea Race and Spellcasters intercept it and see what reaction they would have.