Chapter 28: Sharing
Inside the council hall, Su Xiao ignited a small piece of parchment in his hand, watching until it burned completely to ashes. Regarding the authenticity of its contents, he estimated there was over a ninety percent probability it was accurate.
As for why the Beast King provided him with this information, there were many implications. First, it was recognition of his status as a lord, along with sincerity for future cooperation between the two sides, and a proper display of the Beast Clan's intelligence-gathering capabilities. Aside from these relatively friendly implications, the rest were less amicable.
The other party was telling Su Xiao in this form that everything the Spellcasters and Sea Clan did on Beast Clan territory could not escape the eyes and ears he had deployed. This also meant that if Su Xiao broke his promise and secretly mass-produced insects in Twilight City, it would likewise not escape the eyes and ears of the Royal Guard.
Under normal circumstances, such a warning would provoke resentment. However, the problem was that this warning contained the information that the Spellcasters and Sea Clan planned to ambush and kill Su Xiao tonight. If he were unaware of this and recklessly used a teleportation tower or demon teleportation array to return to Twilight City, he would almost certainly be intercepted and ultimately die under the siege of many powerful enemies.
Against the backdrop of such life-saving information, the warning implied within became much easier to accept, not to mention that the warning was not explicitly stated.
Su Xiao had certainly considered what would happen if the Beast King saw through the origin of the fungal carpet. The other party was a top-tier ruler of a Transcendent Primordial World, with an incredibly broad range of knowledge. But even so, he could not abandon the fungal carpet due to momentary concerns. This was the most effective means to deal with the Eternal Light World.
Moreover, with the Sea Clan now cooperating with Arcane Eternal Star, the Beast Clan was facing unprecedented pressure. Under these circumstances, the sudden appearance of the Insect Race made it unlikely for the Beast Clan to act directly, especially since the one now controlling the Insect Race was a Law Destroyer.
If the Beast Clan's situation on the main battlefield deteriorated to a certain degree, allying with the Insect Race to deal with the Sea Clan and Arcane Eternal Star through insect mass-production would not be a bad strategy. As for the potential threats and hidden dangers the Insect Race might bring, with a great enemy at hand, who could afford to worry about that?
Furthermore, as long as they first joined forces to repel the Sea Clan and Arcane Eternal Star, the latter would not continue to support the Sea Clan. Arcane Eternal Star was a Void overlord, not a force of this world. Losing too much power in this world would inevitably weaken its control over the Void.
Not to mention that there was now an Abyss Passage in the Void that could not be completely closed, and each time it was closed, the next opening would be larger.
Once Arcane Eternal Star withdrew, the Beast Clan plus the Insect Race would besiege the Sea Clan. What would the Beast Clan do then? Destroy the Sea Clan? No. The Beast Clan would join forces with the Sea Clan to drive away the Insect Race. The reason was that whether the Beast Clan or the Sea Clan lost to each other, neither would be completely annihilated; at most, one would suppress the other.
The Insect Race was different. If the Insect Race truly rose to power in the Wind Sea Continent, the Beast Clan and Sea Clan would not be far from total annihilation. The Insect Race was that ferocious. Killing, devouring, and evolving were the most instinctive genetic memories of the Insect Race.
Of course, at present, even the stage of cooperation between the Beast Clan and Insect Race could not be reached. The conflict between the Beast Clan and Sea Clan, even with the intervention of Arcane Eternal Star, would be difficult to resolve within a few years, or even a decade.
The lords and officials in the council hall gradually left. Su Xiao did not rush to set up the Law-Destroying Teleportation Array. He estimated that after arriving at Eternal Ring City this time, he had likely been spotted by Sea Clan spies in the shadows. However, they could not infiltrate a place like the main city council hall, so this was a blind spot for the enemy's detection.
Taking out a piece of parchment, Su Xiao examined the array inscribed on it. This was the Law-Destroying Teleportation Array he had developed based on the Demon Teleportation Array. Because he feared it might cost him his life, he had never tried it.
The Law-Destroying Teleportation Array excelled in many aspects. Its maximum teleportation distance was 12 to 15 times farther than the Demon Teleportation Array, and it was extremely difficult to intercept. If the interception difficulty of the Demon Teleportation Array was 20, then the Law-Destroying Teleportation Array's interception difficulty was at least around 300. Not only that, but this teleportation array could also quickly train spatial resistance.
Given such an excellent teleportation array, why had Su Xiao never used it? He was concerned about one thing: after activation, when he arrived at the destination, would he still maintain human form, or would he be reduced to chunks evenly distributed on the array?
Was this thing a space railgun or a space shredder? Su Xiao had never been able to determine this. If it was the former, given his spatial resistance, he could use it. If the latter, it could only be used as a trap.
The ambush by the Sea Clan and Arcane Eternal Star gave him hope of testing the Law-Destroying Teleportation Array. He estimated that Arcane Eternal Star must know he was using the Demon Teleportation Array. Therefore, this ambush likely involved finding a spatial expert capable of intercepting the Demon Teleportation Array.
This also meant that as long as Su Xiao later learned roughly what this spatial expert experienced during the interception, he could determine whether this spatial array was a space railgun or a space shredder.
With this in mind, Su Xiao began to review the miniature array inscribed on the parchment. He had been developing this thing for a long time, and some detailed structural aspects needed careful review.
After more than ten minutes, Su Xiao put away the scroll and, with Gurweiss, walked out of the council hall. After leaving the hall, the anticipated feeling of being watched did not appear. Su Xiao was not surprised by this. The Sea Clan had many capable people. Moreover, his main focus was blade techniques, giving him unparalleled close-range perception, but mid-to-long-range perception was only average.
Following the Goddess of Fortune's "Ten Thousand Realms Food Guide," Su Xiao took a public train to the Fifth District and tasted a noodle shop highly recommended by the guide. He had to admit that while the Goddess of Fortune's ability to boost luck was unreliable, her "Ten Thousand Realms Food Guide" was indeed top-notch.
After dinner, Su Xiao went to the residence of Grand Commander Kane to discuss matters regarding the fungal carpet. The gist was that Su Xiao did not plan to contact over a hundred lords directly. Instead, he would hand over the cultivated fungal carpet to Grand Commander Kane, who would then distribute it to the various lords' legions as needed.
The Beast King knew about the Insect Race in Twilight City and kept silent about it, which was a great show of respect. Face was something that needed to be reciprocated. Grand Commander Kane was the Beast King's absolute confidant. Having him distribute the fungal carpet would, to the greatest extent, win over the lords.
The lords naturally understood who was behind Grand Commander Kane and would attribute this favor to the Beast King. Whether in the council hall or the subsequent distribution of the fungal carpet, it was the Beast King who secured the fungal carpet for the lords. With the clear support of so many lords, the seven major families would no longer dare to openly compete with the Beast King.
It might seem that the Beast King and Grand Commander Kane had taken all the benefits of the fungal carpet, but that was not the case. Within the Beast Clan camp, although Su Xiao was a lord, his credibility could not compare to that of the Beast King and Grand Commander Kane. If he were to distribute the fungal carpet, among the over 140 lords, only about 40 to 50 percent of the radicals would initially be willing to use it.
In contrast, if the Beast King gave the order from behind the scenes and Grand Commander Kane handled the distribution openly, all lords would ignore the origin of the fungal carpet and compete fiercely for the allocation quota. First, because it was genuinely useful, and second, because it was reassuring—this was personally chosen by the Beast King.
Thus, Su Xiao's evolution points would double again on top of the super multiplier. Additionally, Grand Commander Kane hinted that Su Xiao would not provide the fungal carpet for free; this was a contribution to the Beast Clan.
At first glance, this sounded like a verbal promise. In reality, Grand Commander Kane understood well. With such a promise, it became a notarized act judged by the Void Tree. Simply put, every time Su Xiao provided a batch of fungal carpet to the Beast Clan, he would gain a certain amount of reputation points.
With a faction shop available, gaining reputation points meant real resource acquisition.
This made Su Xiao consider whether he could have the insect nest draft temporary insect race building genes to cultivate something like the fungal carpet—convenient to carry and quickly deployable after battle.
With the Beast King backing him from behind the scenes, there was no need to worry about Beast Clan lords investigating Twilight City. However, one condition was that no offensive buildings could be created. This was the bottom line of cooperation. Buffs were acceptable, but direct attacks were not.
Regarding the recovery ability of the fungal carpet, Su Xiao always felt it was not very effective. He could completely develop a temporary insect race building gene sequence based on the existing insect race building gene library.
Its function would be: after battle, the fungal carpet absorbs the life force of dead enemies, gathers it into this insect race building, converts it, filters and catalyzes it into non-specific life force, and then slowly releases it through plant-like photosynthetic reactions, allowing friendly units near the insect nest building to recover health slowly but persistently and in large amounts.
This could be named the "Life Nourishment Pile." Its overall height should preferably not exceed 3 meters to reduce the chance of being targeted by enemies. Its horizontal area could be larger, as the Beast Clan warriors would sit around it on the fungal carpet.
If such an insect race building were created, it would be a mobile fountain, greatly reducing casualties among Beast Clan warriors and increasing the combat endurance of Beast Clan legions. These improvements would undoubtedly allow the fungal carpet to absorb more soul energy, granting Su Xiao more evolution points.
As for having the fungal carpet absorb the soul energy of dead Beast Clan members, that was not feasible. The fungal carpet must have recognition abilities, absorbing only the life force and soul energy of the Sea Clan. Absorbing the soul energy of allies was not a long-term solution. Fortunately, the life energy and soul energy of the Beast Clan and Sea Clan differed greatly. The former was hot and irritable, while the latter was damp, cold, and gloomy. The fungal carpet's genetic memory in this regard had already been adjusted.
Around 9 PM, Su Xiao left Grand Commander Kane's residence and took a car back to his temporary lodging in the Tenth District. Everything seemed normal. Whether it was going to the Fifth District for dinner or discussing fungal carpet matters with Grand Commander Kane, Su Xiao acted as if he had completely failed to notice the person secretly observing him.
Inside the three-story mansion, Su Xiao sat cross-legged on the first-floor sofa, meditating. Gurweiss yawned and said she was going to the third-floor bedroom to rest.
"The guard is outside. Baha and Xianlulu will pick you up tomorrow morning."
Su Xiao spoke. Upon hearing this, Gurweiss, who was climbing the wooden stairs, stopped. Sleepy and a bit dazed, she asked, "Are you going back tonight?"
"Yes."
"I'll come too."
"The teleportation array I use is very dangerous."
"Why use a dangerous teleportation array?"
"To avoid enemies."
"Alright, I'll go back tomorrow. Going to sleep now, so tired."
Gurweiss went upstairs, leaving only Su Xiao meditating on the first floor. The place became exceptionally quiet.
Meanwhile, on the roof of a building five kilometers away, a figure stood in the darkness. Its eyes, shimmering with a brilliant luster like gems, stared at Su Xiao's direction from five kilometers away, as if it could see his every move.
"As expected, the target, due to his cooperation with Grand Commander Kane, will return to Winter City tonight. And because the last use of the space tower changed the teleportation endpoint, he doesn't trust the teleportation tower and will set up his own teleportation array."
The gem-like eyes spoke in a voice devoid of emotion. Upon hearing this, the Sea Clan member beside him leaned back, and with a sound of diving, vanished into thin air.
Outside Eternal Ring City, in a farmhouse, the original farmer now acted like a servant, serving tea and water. There were over a dozen people in the room, led by Mage Sage Seraphilia and Dean Guya of Zhongshi Academy. Besides these two Absolute Strong, Green Gillian, Luen, and others were also present.
Unlike their last meeting, Luen, who was originally handsome and liked to flirt, now had several scars on his face and hands. His gaze had become much sharper. He had likely been surrounded by White Bull's subordinates and, after escaping death, had significantly improved his strength.
Among the other unfamiliar Spellcasters, the Crow Woman sat silently, her gaze somewhat dazed. After all, she now possessed two "Daddy-level" artifacts and had not yet shared this "good news" with the others present.
Besides the Spellcasters, there were also several Sea Clan members, led by Heizhao Abonus and Great Warrior Zakawa. These two were Absolute Strong of the Sea Clan.
Heizhao Abonus was originally the Sea King's personal guard captain and a newly promoted Absolute Strong. Later, following the Sea King's orders, he went to protect the general of White Hoof Port, the Sea Clan Commander Penelope.
During the last incident in the central building of White Hoof Port, Heizhao could have inflicted extremely heavy losses on the lord team. However, due to concerns about assassins during Commander Penelope's retreat, he acted as a guard and did not take the initiative to attack.
Heizhao Abonus gave off a sharp and cold feeling. In contrast, Great Warrior Zakawa was a giant fishman. He achieved Absolute Strong on the battlefield, with a story that was both inspiring and legendary. His one blinded eye was likely due to severe soul damage that could not be healed, probably left by a formidable enemy.
Behind Heizhao and the Great Warrior were several Sea Clan powerhouses at the peak of the Ninth Rank. Was this lineup just to besiege and kill Su Xiao? No. There were a total of 4 Absolute Strong, nearly 30 Ninth Rank peak fighters, and over a hundred Ninth Rank mid-to-upper tier combatants, all gathered in this farm.
Without thinking, it was clear that this was planned by the Spellcasters. Their style was like this: either don't act, or mobilize all available and necessary forces, leaving the trapped enemy no chance at all.
A long-haired Spellcaster in a black robe quickly entered the room and whispered something to Dean Guya. Upon hearing the report, Dean Guya remained solemn and said:
"Seraphilia, are you sure the person you found can intercept this teleportation? As far as I know, that Law Destroyer uses the space array the Demon Clan used in the early years."
"Of course, I'm sure."
Seraphilia spoke. She was still in a gold-white robe with a hood. Aside from that, her golden pupils, brought by the Li element, had a unique beauty. However, the powerful magical energy aura made people dare not approach.
At Seraphilia's instruction, Luen brought in a thin, slightly bald little old man.
This person was called the Space Breaker Morser. From the faint smile on his face and his slightly raised chin, it was clear how confident he was in his abilities. Moreover, he specialized in helping people settle grudges, intercepting space teleportation, sealing space, and deploying large-scale barriers—all his specialties.
"The space array the Demon Clan used in the early years? That technique is terrifying. My abilities are limited, so..."
Space Breaker Morser spoke with a smile. Upon hearing this, Seraphilia knew he was saying this because he was absolutely certain.
"The risk is too high, so in terms of compensation~"
Space Breaker Morser smiled ingratiatingly. Hearing this, Green Gillian turned her head to look at him, thinking she would beat him half to death, lock him in a cage, and then ask if he dared to raise the price again. As for why she wanted to do this, Green Gillian herself didn't know. She just felt like she should, as if it were her nature.
Just as Green Gillian was about to act, the Crow Woman grabbed her neck from behind with one arm, causing Green Gillian to say, "Sister Crow, don't stop me..."
"Shh~"
The Crow Woman covered Green Gillian's mouth, signaling her to be quiet.
"As long as it succeeds, name your price."
Seraphilia didn't care about such small money. In her view, Su Xiao must be eliminated as soon as possible. The combat power growth rate of this Law Destroyer was too absurd. Or rather, the combination of the Reincarnation Paradise camp and a Law Destroyer was extremely absurd.
"Money for work. You should know my reputation. It's about to start over there. I can sense another space node in Eternal Ring City. That's the Law Destroyer's teleportation array."
With that, Space Breaker Morser walked out of the room. Everyone followed him into a spacious barn, where they saw layers of array diagrams inscribed on the ground.
"Just wait for the Law Destroyer to activate the array."
Space Breaker Morser stood at the center of the space array, a strange gleam in his eyes.
Meanwhile, in the three-story mansion in the Fifth District.
Su Xiao looked at the Law-Destroying Teleportation Array he had set up on the ground. Although it was his first time setting it up, he was quite satisfied with the various details. However, he hadn't yet decided what to teleport.
Originally, he planned to teleport a few Blazing Sun Wrath Apollos. But considering he needed to judge the characteristics of this teleportation array, he shouldn't teleport anything too dangerous.
He released his Cyan Steel Shadow energy and activated the Aoge passive. Translucent blue crystals spread and eventually formed a statue similar to Su Xiao. He placed this statue at the center of the array and finally inserted a Soul Crystal Core into the central node. For the first use of this array, it definitely needed to be fully charged.
Su Xiao stepped outside the array, then pressed one hand on it to activate it. Accompanied by a low, eerie hum, he felt the ground beneath his feet begin to vibrate at a high frequency. It felt very much like the array was charging.
Almost simultaneously, in the barn of the farm outside Eternal Ring City.
Standing on the reverse array, Space Breaker Morser's eyes suddenly snapped open. The few remaining hairs around his head fluttered without wind. He clapped his hands together with a smack, a hint of ferocity in his eyes as he growled:
"The Law Destroyer has activated the teleportation array. Get ready to welcome his arrival!"
As he shouted the last syllable, Space Breaker Morser erupted with all his physical energy, triggering the reverse array beneath his feet to intercept and modify Su Xiao's teleportation destination, redirecting it to this barn.
But in the next second, the confidence in Space Breaker Morser's eyes diminished. He felt as if he had set up roadblocks, waiting for a train speeding along a rocky road to arrive. Who would have thought that this time, a "strong wind" would first hit him, and what followed was not the expected speeding train, but a bombardment like a space railgun.
Space Breaker Morser's gaze quickly turned to shock and terror. His pupils contracted to the extreme. Fear caused his face to wrinkle tightly.
The moment fear appeared on Space Breaker Morser's face, his entire body exploded with a bang, turning into a cloud of blood mist. The reverse array beneath his feet erupted with a terrifying spatial explosion.
The shockwave hit. Seraphilia instinctively wanted to teleport away but immediately stopped this wrong evasive method. Even she could not teleport now. So she could only twist her body. The impact made her stagger a few steps to the side, her left ear ringing.
When everything settled, Green Gillian sat on a haystack at the edge of the farm. She stood up, patted her ringing right ear, and looked toward where the farm used to be. She saw that within a ten-kilometer radius ahead, the air was filled with spatial cracks and residual embers. On the ground, there was a semicircular giant crater.
"Cough, cough, cough~"
Luen coughed up several mouthfuls of blood. Looking at the shocking scene before him, he pressed one hand to his head and muttered in disbelief, "This is really... intercepting a space teleportation?"
Luen, Green Gillian, the Crow Woman, and other Ninth Rank peak Spellcasters and Sea Clan members all stared at the scene before them. Clearly, at this moment, their understanding of space teleportation had been completely overturned.
...
Spatial ripples dissipated. Inside the three-story mansion, Su Xiao looked at the now-calm space array and found it relatively stable. At least after the teleportation, the array remained intact and could be reused about 8 to 10 times.
Calculating this way, one Soul Crystal Core ensuring 8 to 10 ultra-long-distance space teleportations that could never be intercepted seemed acceptable. Moreover, through the enemy's interception just now, he had clearly perceived the characteristics of the Law-Destroying Teleportation Array. The activation process of this thing was more aptly described as a space railgun.
This confirmed to Su Xiao that the Law-Destroying Teleportation Array had the following advantages: