# Chapter 37: Backstab
On the main battlefield, west side, near a desolate goblin-covered area beside the Dark Salt Lake, this place appeared barren and dim, but beneath the surface lay another world—an underground city with a population of over a hundred thousand.
At this moment, in a side street underground, a figure in a black robe stopped, seemingly confirming no one was following, then knocked on an iron door.
With a scraping sound, the viewing slot of the iron door was pulled open. In the darkness within were the eyes of a beast race member. After observing for a moment, the beast race member inside slammed the viewing slot shut with a bang and opened the iron door.
The black-robed figure followed the beast race member into the dark house, passing through a corridor. On both sides of the corridor were many doors. Through some open doors, one could see either people appraising stolen goods or engaging in pleasurable activities. After passing a slaughterhouse reeking of blood, the beast race member in work clothes stopped before an iron door, clenched a fist the size of a sandbag, and pounded heavily on the door.
With a scraping sound, the viewing slot of the iron door was pulled open, and a sea race siren peered out from inside.
"Open the door."
The beast race member spoke with slight impatience. The sea race siren inside muttered something. This was an underground city, a lawless place. Cooperation between the sea race and beast race was not surprising.
After the door opened, the sea race siren tidied her hair and said, "That person is dead. Didn't get any useful information. Tell Lord Ergein that I did my best."
"We didn't have high hopes anyway. Dress more modestly and take this person to the manor in Midwinter City."
The beast race member hoisted a corpse wrapped in layers of cloth onto his shoulder. Hearing his words, the sea race siren's eyes showed surprise. She asked, "Going to the manor? That's a good assignment. Why don't you go?"
"Heh~ Guess who you're going to see."
Hearing this, the sea race siren immediately felt uneasy. Just as she was about to decline, the beast race member had already strode away with the corpse on his shoulder.
Ten minutes later, the faint light of a teleportation array flickered in a warehouse. The sea race siren, pulling down her hood, walked out of the warehouse and led the black-robed figure toward the ancient castle ahead. As soon as she got within a few dozen meters of the castle, the sea race siren felt as if a pair of demon hawk eyes were fixed on her. That cold and sharp gaze was like countless invisible sharp needles piercing her soul.
Thump, thump, thump.
As she knocked on the door, it creaked open with a groan. The sea race siren was about to speak but swallowed her words. Inside the door stood a figure over three meters tall, chewing something with drooping eyelids. His eyes faintly glowed with red light as he looked down at her, seemingly contemplating whether the visitor posed any danger. If so, he would kill her on the spot with one axe strike.
"I'm from the slaughterhouse, delivering a guest here."
The sea race siren spoke in a deep voice. Hearing this, Amu inside continued chewing without saying a word, nor did he make any move to let the visitor in. At this point, the sea race siren suddenly remembered that in her nervousness, she had forgotten something important. She quickly produced her insignia.
Amu's chewing paused for a moment, then he stepped aside to make way. The sea race siren at the door turned to look at the black-robed figure beside her, signaling that this was as far as she could go.
After the black-robed figure entered the first floor of the ancient castle, she immediately felt much warmer. Under Amu's guidance, she reached the inner hall on the second floor. Though she sat down on a single sofa, she did not remove her hood.
"No need to be so formal. We're all on the same side."
Su Xiao poured a cup of tea for the visitor. The visitor's hand, which had been raised to remove her hood, paused. Her slender fingers clenched into a fist, and she spoke through gritted teeth, "Who's on the same side... as you?"
Crow Woman stared at Su Xiao, hating him to the very core of her being.
"Back then, you hunted me multiple times but always 'showed mercy,' generously sponsored quite a bit of Black Maple Tree yield from Arcane Eternal Star, and helped me bring all three Original Sin Objects over to Arcane Eternal Star's side. Isn't that being on the same side?"
"You... nonsense!"
Crow Woman's emotions were agitated.
"Oh? So you're saying you've always been working seriously for Arcane Eternal Star?"
"Of course."
Crow Woman answered frankly.
"Then I sincerely hope Arcane Eternal Star has more people like you who work seriously."
"You..."
Crow Woman was about to make a move but suddenly realized she couldn't beat the guy in front of her. She chose not to suffer immediate losses, calmed herself, took a deep breath, and asked, "What do you want from me? I won't meet with you secretly anymore."
Su Xiao took out a metal box covered in sealing runes from under the table. The uneven surface of the silver metal box, as if scorched by flames, made Crow Woman instinctively feel uneasy. But considering that Su Xiao already held three Original Sin Objects, she felt somewhat relieved. How unlucky would one have to be to encounter a fourth Original Sin Object? Impossible, absolutely impossible!
"This is an Original Sin Object. Just take it back with you."
After Su Xiao finished speaking, he also took out a small wooden box and placed it on the table. He continued, "After you do this, you can come and take this contract."
The reason Crow Woman had come today was her fear of the contract's binding. Once she obtained this contract, she would no longer be afraid of Su Xiao.
"You're dreaming!"
Crow Woman suddenly lunged at Su Xiao to attack. Energy like black sand filled the room.
A moment later.
Bang!
A blurry figure crashed through the window, hurtling at high speed into the forest in the backyard courtyard. As soon as it landed, it transformed into an ethereal black shadow and vanished. But the next second, a black smoke arrow shot toward her, surpassing her at even greater speed.
Catching a glimpse of the black smoke arrow from the corner of her eye, Crow Woman's heart sank. She had been taught a lesson by this shameless demon spirit ability before.
Large swaths of energy like black sand transformed into blades around Crow Woman, all rushing toward the black smoke arrow. Almost simultaneously, the black smoke arrow demon-spirit transformed, and countless blades pierced through various parts of its body. But as black mist surged, all the breaches healed instantly.
Seeing this, Crow Woman snorted lightly, her eyes turning completely pitch black. Just as the beast race warriors surrounding them thought Crow Woman was about to fight to the death, a crystal appeared in her hand, which she smashed on the ground.
With a boom, spatial dust scattered everywhere. By the time the dust dissipated, Crow Woman was nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, in the inner hall of the ancient castle, Su Xiao picked up the wooden box from the hidden compartment under the table. Opening it, he found it empty. The contract parchment that had been inside had been stolen by Crow Woman.
This was the real contract, not a fake. More importantly, this time Crow Woman had successfully escaped without touching the Original Sin Object. It could be said that this was the most thorough victory Crow Woman had ever achieved in their many encounters.
Su Xiao looked at the silver metal sealed box on the table. What was inside was not the "Golden Holy Grail" but two other Original Sin Objects. More precisely, Shenfu had failed in his attempt to strip away the "Golden Holy Grail" this time.
It wasn't that it couldn't be forcibly stripped, but as a price, all of Shenfu's divine blood would be plundered into the "Golden Holy Grail" during the process. This Original Sin Object was very special. In fact, this Original Sin Object itself would not cause any harm to its holder.
Unlike the "Demon Jar," which would devour its successive holders, or the "Necronomicon," which would drive those who read its knowledge increasingly mad, causing their bodies to grotesquely deform along with their madness.
The "Golden Holy Grail's" function was: whenever the holder killed a living being, divine blood would flow out from it based on the strength of the killed being. And it was incredibly pure divine blood. This was more like a different kind of sacrifice.
Whether directly touching the "Golden Holy Grail" or holding it for a long time, there was no danger. The real risk came from the outside. That was, every time one drank the divine blood overflowing from the "Golden Holy Grail," the holder's mysterious fortune would increase slightly.
What was mysterious fortune? In the early stages, it was fine—one might easily encounter wandering souls or undead. When the mysterious fortune grew strong enough, one would start encountering evil spirits, eerie objects, and so on.
If the mysterious fortune reached its peak, one might trip while going out in the morning and fall into a spatial crevice, then accidentally enter the Drifting Gap. Turning around, one would see—hey~ isn't that Candle Woman? It seems to be floating toward me~
Indeed, once one used the "Golden Holy Grail," it was like voluntarily activating hell mode. As one continued using the "Golden Holy Grail," one's mysterious fortune would grow stronger, and the eerie beings encountered would also become more powerful.
To deal with these eerie beings, one could only use the "Golden Holy Grail" more frequently, drinking the divine blood inside to enhance one's strength. But the more one did this, the stronger the mysterious fortune became, and the more powerful the eerie beings encountered. This created a vicious cycle, like drinking poison to quench thirst.
Until finally, one would accidentally enter the Drifting Gap, facing the vast Mad Growth Chaos ahead. This was an existence that was nearly impossible to resist.
There was once a guy who somehow managed to survive this stage. He had seen Candle Woman, Mad Growth Chaos, and the Lord of the Old Days. Just when he thought this was the worst it could get, he sneezed. When he opened his eyes again, he found a black dot ahead. The black dot suddenly grew larger and then disappeared.
When this guy initially adapted to the darkness, he realized that in the darkness around him, countless indestructible Abyss Spawn were drifting. He had been sucked in by an accidental, temporary Abyss Passage and had fallen deep into the Abyss.
Earlier this morning, Su Xiao discovered something. The spellcasters, at some unknown cost, had managed to send the three Original Sin Objects back. When he opened his eyes, the Necronomicon was floating above him, the Soul Crown was on the bedside table, the Nether Bone Ring was on the table, and Xianlulu was crouching on the chandelier with tears in her eyes. Judging by her trembling cat paws, she had been squatting there for at least half the night.
Su Xiao was not surprised that these Original Sin Objects had returned. Ultimately, he was their holder. They were willing to be sent away by him mainly because they couldn't get any resources from him. Of course, they were happy to be occasionally sent out. The relationship between them had always been one of mutual disdain.
Over time, Su Xiao had recorded all the Original Sin Objects he had seen and held, summarizing their characteristics.
After writing down the characteristics of the "Golden Holy Grail" in his "Original Sin Object Notes," Su Xiao put it away.
So far, this notebook contained the characteristics of six Original Sin Objects: "Abyssal Jar," "Necronomicon," "Soul Crown," "Nether Bone Ring," "Collector," and "Golden Holy Grail."
There shouldn't be any more additions in the future, or at least Su Xiao hoped so. Because even now, seeing a new Original Sin Object still made his heart race.
Meanwhile, at the edge of the main battlefield, in a shallow puddle, blood floated on the water's surface. A figure in a black tight-fitting outfit with a long ponytail lay collapsed in the puddle. Her vision was narrowing and blurring. Just then, she heard hurried footsteps approaching.
"She's here."
Hearing the healer's husky smoker's voice, Crow Woman knew the plan had succeeded this time. Soon, a group of spellcasters arrived and laid her on an emergency treatment mat. Green light appeared in the healer's hands, drifting around Crow Woman, but she pushed it away. With blurry vision, she asked, "Where's that old woman Sefeiliya and that old man Guya?"
"Right in front of you."
The faint smile on Sefeiliya's face disappeared. Hearing her voice, Crow Woman took a deep breath, forcibly revitalizing her life force. Her vision cleared, and she looked at Sefeiliya and said, "The mark is attached to his sword sheath. Whether it succeeds depends on you."
Crow Woman's meeting with Su Xiao this time had not been hidden from the spellcasters. After receiving the secret contact, she had gone to Sefeiliya and Dean Guya to explain the situation.
"Well done. You haven't wasted Lord Soul's trust in you."
Sefeiliya spoke seriously. Hearing this, Crow Woman seemed somewhat moved, as if touched by Sefeiliya's words. She appeared to want to say something but hesitated, and her dying, near-death state moved everyone present.
"Speak your mind. Go ahead."
Sefeiliya patted Crow Woman's shoulder, which made Crow Woman even more "moved." She said weakly, "Even if I say something, you'll forgive me?"
"Of course, as long as you're not a traitor."
Hearing this, Crow Woman said in a low voice, "Of course I'm not a traitor. But, those two Original Sin Objects earlier... after that Law Destroyer beat me half to death, he shoved them into my hands. I didn't..."
"Shut up. There are no Original Sin Objects. There never were any Original Sin Objects entangled with us. Never... have... been."
Sefeiliya spoke word by word. It was clear that they had resolved the entanglement with the Original Sin Objects. As for what heart-wrenching price they had paid, only she and Dean Guya knew. In any case, after returning to Arcane Eternal Star this time, they would have to sell some Black Maple Tree yield to other forces.
...
Midwinter City, inside the ancient castle of the Lord's Manor.
Gu Su Xiao sat on a chair by the window, looking at the snowy scenery outside. Up to now, he still couldn't figure out one thing: where exactly had Crow Woman set the coordinates or mark? He thought of this because everything had been part of the plan.
Unable to strip the Original Sin Object from Shenfu, Su Xiao had still invited Crow Woman to come and take the Original Sin Object. This in itself said a lot. Whether it was Crow Woman's temporary submission to come here, the breakdown of negotiations leading to violence, her subsequent theft of the contract scroll, and finally her heavily injured escape—all of this was part of the plan. Conversely, if Crow Woman had completely submitted today, Su Xiao's plan wouldn't have worked.
But who was she? She was the personally taught disciple of one of the strongest hunters, Xiao. Crow Woman could be defeated, even killed, but she would never submit.
Under these circumstances, she still risked her life to come. There had to be a strong purpose—for example, to establish coordinates or a mark on Su Xiao or an item he always carried. As an assassin, Crow Woman was very skilled at this. With the support of wealthy spellcasters, she was even more adept.
The purpose of this was that once they mastered Su Xiao's real-time location, ambushing him would be much easier. At least, that's how Su Xiao saw it. If he were a spellcaster, he would do the same.
As the saying goes, an excellent hunter often appears as prey. The spellcasters wanted to kill Su Xiao, and Su Xiao also wanted to kill an Absolute Strong spellcaster. When were enemies most careless? When they thought victory was assured. When they believed they had this Law Destroyer completely surrounded, that was when the hunt truly began.
But there was a problem now: where exactly was the coordinate or mark left by Crow Woman? Su Xiao checked his clothes, sword sheath, etc., and perceived his body surface, but found no trace. This made him wonder: had Crow Woman come just to steal the contract scroll?
But on second thought, that didn't make sense. If this matter hadn't been reported to Sefeiliya and Dean Guya, given Crow Woman's current injuries, she should have died. Since he hadn't received a kill notification, it meant Crow Woman had received effective and powerful treatment. They had clearly planned to wait for her near the teleportation destination of the spatial item.
Su Xiao continued checking his carried items. Whether through energy fluctuations or soul energy sensing, everything was the same as before, with no difference. Finding this, he prepared to go find Witch Lilia. Although her divination would likely also be within the spellcasters' calculations, it was worth a try.
"Bai Ye, what are you busy with over there?"
Xianlulu floated up and stretched lazily.
"What's that on your sword sheath? A new decoration? I didn't see it yesterday. It was just stamped on today. Too inconspicuous."
"..."
Su Xiao puzzledly picked up the sheathed Dragon-Slaying Flash, carefully observed and perceived it, and even used a magnifying microscope. Still, he found nothing.
A moment later, Su Xiao, Bubu Wang, Amu, Baha, Jila, and Xianlulu sat around the table. On the table lay Dragon-Slaying Flash. Bubu Wang carefully observed but saw nothing.
"Although it's not obvious, can't you see this mark?"
Xianlulu patted the mark on the sword sheath with her cat paw. Su Xiao, Bubu Wang, Amu, Baha, and Jila looked at each other, seeing confusion and bewilderment in each other's eyes.
Why could Xianlulu see this mark? Su Xiao couldn't figure it out. Did Xianlulu have such an ability? But checking her data, aside from support skills, there was no detection ability for marks.
Su Xiao called over several guards and asked them to try to see the mark on the sword sheath. None could. He called over the young lord, Gu'erwei, and she also couldn't see it. City Lord Fenris observed for a long time and finally shook his head.
Just as Su Xiao, Bubu Wang, and Baha were all frowning, the head maid spoke softly, "Is it a ring-shaped mark?"
Hearing this, Su Xiao suddenly realized why. The criterion for whether this mark could be seen was quite clever. If he wasn't mistaken, this should be a causality system mark, ignoring all detection and perception. Only the naked eye could see it. More specifically, only those weaker than a certain level could see this mark.
Added to the fact that this mark was not easily noticeable, the servants around Su Xiao who could see it wouldn't notice it at all. Even if they did, they wouldn't mention it. Because before, they had never carefully observed the [Seal Demon] sword sheath. Such a minor change was almost negligible for ordinary people to notice.
The most fatal thing was that Su Xiao was the lord. Even though he was generally kind to his servants, they both respected and feared him. Even if they noticed the subtle change on the sword sheath, they would never proactively mention it.
Upon learning that it was because her combat power was too weak that she could see the mark, Xianlulu was stunned. The smug look on her face disappeared, and she suddenly couldn't be happy anymore. She looked at Bubu Wang and said decisively, "One-on-one!"
"Woof?"
Bubu Wang's dog face showed confusion.
A moment later, Xianlulu sat in the corner with tears in her eyes, while the head maid gently comforted her.
Confirming that the problem was with the Seal Demon sword sheath made things easier. Actually, even if he hadn't confirmed it, it wouldn't have mattered. Su Xiao's plan was that if he couldn't determine whether there was a mark, he would wear ordinary clothes when going out recently and put everything else into his storage space. He didn't believe Arcane Eternal Star could track items placed in storage space.
[Prompt: The beast race legion under your command has captured White Hoof Port.]
[Due to obtaining the capture reward for White Hoof Port, you have gained a total of 12,940 prestige points from this capture.]
...
Seeing this prompt, Su Xiao was in a good mood. Despite the risk of accelerating Ergein's rebellious tendencies, he had previously delegated more authority to Ergein. It seemed this was the right decision. That guy had actually gone to attack White Hoof Port and succeeded. However, as a price, his beast race legions had decreased from 12 to 8. This showed that Ergein had fought a tragic bloody battle with Sea Race Commander Penero at White Hoof Port.
Su Xiao came to the map. After capturing White Hoof Port, heading west would lead to the Sea Race's "Ancestral Lighthouse," while heading north would lead to "Floating Light Island." However, "Floating Light Island" was at sea, so his legion would need to go out to sea.
The next step was definitely to advance toward "Floating Light Island." Su Xiao becoming this beast race lord wasn't to help the beast race crush the sea race. He was more like cooperating with the beast race. As benefits, he wanted to achieve some of his own goals.
Besides the good news of capturing White Hoof Port, the fungal carpet would be fully recovered by tomorrow morning and sent back to the Lord's Manor in Midwinter City. This meant a large number of evolution points were coming. He didn't know to what extent he could upgrade the insect race.
Currently, he had a total of 16,490 prestige points. The soul crystals and soul crystal cores in the faction store had been completely exchanged. After browsing for a while, he found the resource he wanted.
[Overlord Essence]
Stock quantity: 30 pieces (irregularly replenished).
Exchange prerequisite: Prestige rank - Leader level (achieved).
Single piece exchange price: 120~400 prestige points (depending on the quality of the exchanged Overlord Essence).
...
Su Xiao chose to exchange all [Overlord Essence].
[You have consumed 9,856 prestige points.]
[You have obtained Overlord Essence × 30.]
Pieces of [Overlord Essence] of various sizes appeared before Su Xiao. He collected them all. Including the Overlord Essence he had saved before, he now had a total of 39 [Overlord Essence].
Exchange for 13 third-tier Overlord equipment? Of course not. Su Xiao's idea was to go to Floating Light Island this time and see if he could use the 39 [Overlord Essence] to exchange for 10 of the largest specifications [Overlord Essence] through Dudu Gugu. Then, use these 10 extra-large [Overlord Essence] to exchange for a first-tier Overlord equipment.
Speaking of which, he had obtained quite a bit of Overlord equipment, but only two remained. [Golden Balance] had shattered before, and [Collector] had been assimilated and absorbed by the mother nest. This left him with only [Silver Moon Blade] and [Blood Feather].
Thinking of this, Su Xiao took out the largest [Overlord Essence] he currently held. Just then, an ethereal child's voice came.
"Can I eat it? It looks delicious."
This voice startled Baha, who was nearby. Bubu Wang also looked toward the sound. But the next second, Bubu Wang's expression turned terrified, and his hind legs trembled violently.
A young boy in luxurious formal attire, with a pale face but cracks like ceramic on his cheeks, stood nearby. His eyes were pitch black, and within that darkness, tiny white dots jumped and rotated. When he grinned, his mouth was also pure darkness. Though his smile seemed innocent, it sent chills down one's spine.
Seeing this thing for the first time, Su Xiao immediately recognized it as the seller of the "Initial Mark" fragment from the Sea Race main city, Yatuo Ancient City.
Without any visible movement, the [Overlord Essence] in Su Xiao's hand disappeared, appearing in the black-eyed being's hand. It was about to swallow the [Overlord Essence] when Su Xiao said:
"I have something more interesting. How about we trade?"
Hearing this, the black-eyed being paused in its action. The smile on its face became a few degrees more eerie, and it said, "Contract, achieved."
"..."
Su Xiao didn't speak. He simply took out the silver sealed box, opened it, and took out the "Soul Crown." This made the black-eyed being across from him narrow its eyes, looking displeased. But what was worth being vigilant about was that it didn't seem afraid of this Original Sin Object.
Seeing this, Su Xiao took out the "Nether Bone Ring." Upon seeing this, the black-eyed boy's angry expression gradually faded, though from his expression, one could still see he wasn't willing.
Su Xiao didn't speak. He took out a charcoal box, opened it, and took out the Necronomicon. The meaning was clear: if the black-eyed being wanted precious resources, here they were.
With three Original Sin Objects laid out before him, the black-eyed being no longer narrowed its eyes. Its gaze seemed to clear a bit. It looked at Su Xiao with surprise, as if it had lived long enough to see something new. Finally, the black-eyed being slapped the [Overlord Essence] in its hand onto the table with a smack, glanced at Su Xiao with disdain, then turned and walked into the wall behind it.
After the black-eyed being left, Su Xiao's face became expressionless. He had been schemed against by that old bastard Shenfu. That old guy had just left the Sea Race main city and immediately headed straight for him. When he arrived, he said he wanted to strip the "Golden Holy Grail." But that old bastard knew very well that at this stage, it was impossible to strip the "Golden Holy Grail."
Without thinking, it was clear that the old guy had been targeted by the black-eyed being. Coming to Su Xiao was clearly intentional—to lead the black-eyed being over and let this existence target Su Xiao.
As for why he didn't lead it elsewhere, it was because Shenfu felt that the probability of others being able to hold off the black-eyed being was too low. Only Su Xiao, who frequently dealt with Mad Growth Chaos, was skilled at this.
As a good teammate, Shenfu had delivered a backstab. In Shenfu's view, compared to the life-threatening danger posed by the black-eyed being, backstabbing a good teammate and paying some other price were both acceptable.
For such behavior from a good teammate, Su Xiao naturally had to respond actively. He opened the contact platform and tried to contact Shenfu, only to receive a prompt that there was no contact authority. This was clearly premeditated—the contact had been blocked in advance.
Finding this, the smile on Su Xiao's face became more amiable. He activated the Legendary Ranking and transferred legendary points to Shenfu.
[Prompt (Void Tree): Your legendary points are -???, unable to perform regular transfer.]
[Verification shows that the transfer target is a semi-notarized state violator. You can proceed with this transfer. However, if the transfer amount is huge, the transfer target's held legendary points have a high probability of being synchronized to the same -??? as yours.]
Without any hesitation, Su Xiao transferred 10 million legendary points to his good teammate Shenfu. Not only that, he didn't forget Shenfu's teammates, violator Beifuli and violator Xiaoge. He transferred 10 million legendary points to each. These three had been teaming up since the Dead Silence City incident. Soon, the Legendary Ranking became:
[Ranking refreshed. Current ranking as follows.]
Last place: Bai Ye (Reincarnation Paradise), -??? legendary points.
Last place: Shenfu (Sanctuary Paradise), -??? legendary points.
Last place: Xiaoge (Sanctuary Paradise), -??? legendary points.
Last place: Beifuli (Reincarnation Paradise), -??? legendary points.
First place: Henren Brother (Reincarnation Paradise), 756,900 legendary points.
...
When this ranking came out, Henren Brother, who was in first place, suddenly felt confused. For some reason, being in first place felt stifling. There were actually several people ranked above him.