Chapter 75: So That's How It Is
Unlocking new skills was becoming increasingly difficult, but the new skills were also growing stronger, as could be seen from the Spirit Shadow Constitution.
"Unlock."
A brief sensation of teleportation came over him. After Su Xiao saw the scene before him, he wasn't surprised.
"Here again."
Su Xiao stood inside a majestic hall. Within the hall were six piles of rubble, which had once been six stone statues.
One pile of rubble trembled, and a blue phantom figure drifted out—it was Su Xiao's enlightener, Mawen Hua'erzi.
"Oh? Here so soon."
Mawen Hua'erzi was somewhat surprised by the speed of Su Xiao's growth.
"You've grown much stronger compared to before. It seems you've come to inherit that ability."
"What ability?"
Mawen Hua'erzi gave a mysterious smile.
"You'll find out soon enough."
Mawen Hua'erzi drifted deeper into the hall. For some reason, Su Xiao had a feeling of "foreboding." He still remembered the excruciating pain he'd endured when obtaining the "Spirit Shadow Constitution."
"I have a question for you."
Su Xiao followed behind Mawen Hua'erzi.
"What question?"
"Have you heard of the Sun Woman?"
Mawen Hua'erzi stopped in his tracks.
"You've seen that vine on Devouring Island? She didn't hunt you down?"
"I saw her. We cooperated once, you could say."
Upon hearing Su Xiao's words, Mawen Hua'erzi was clearly taken aback.
"Did the Black Forest go berserk?"
"Yes."
Mawen Hua'erzi seemed very familiar with Devouring Island.
"The Sun Woman, huh. That was a long time ago, maybe a few hundred years back. I went to the Red Soil area of Devouring Island looking for a material and encountered that vine. She called herself a god and wanted me to worship her. After that, I had a 'discussion' with her about the matter of gods."
Needless to say, Mawen Hua'erzi was the Law-Destroying Shadow who had uprooted the Sun Woman and swung her around a few times in his hand.
"You didn't kill her?"
Although he hadn't known Mawen Hua'erzi for long, the man's temperament was unmistakable.
"That thing knelt on the ground, crying and begging me not to kill her. I was in a hurry, so I let her go."
Su Xiao looked at Mawen Hua'erzi in surprise.
"But I took something from inside her."
"What was it?"
"Over ninety percent of the energy within her. I planned to take it again after she recovered, but then I was besieged by mages."
Su Xiao thought to himself, *So that's how it is.* Given Mawen Hua'erzi's temperament, how could he have simply let the Sun Woman go? He had been using her as a resource.
No wonder the Sun Woman didn't dare make a move against Su Xiao—she was clearly traumatized by the Law-Destroying Shadow.
"When you're strong enough, you can go take energy from her too. Plant energy is a good nutrient; it can nourish the Azure Steel Shadow energy."
Su Xiao was puzzled. Could Azure Steel Shadow devour other energy? He had never discovered this.
"Don't be surprised. You'll soon acquire this ability—provided you're still alive."
Su Xiao grew even more confused. Mawen Hua'erzi didn't elaborate further.
The two walked deeper into the hall. Before long, a pool of pale blue liquid appeared before them.
The 'pool' wasn't filled with water, but with a pale blue liquid, with arcs of electricity flickering on its surface.
"This is…"
Su Xiao crouched in front of the pool. He felt a familiar energy within it.
"This is the purest Azure Steel Shadow energy. It can help you quickly restore your mana."
Mawen Hua'erzi sat cross-legged in front of the pool and looked at Su Xiao.
"The ability you're about to master is the most core ability of the Law-Destroying Shadow. It's precisely because of this ability that the Law-Destroying Shadow can grow strong so quickly."
Organizing his thoughts, Mawen Hua'erzi continued:
"In terms of where you come from, one of the characteristic abilities of the Law-Destroying Shadow should be called the Intelligence Attribute. You've probably found it strange—Azure Steel Shadow is clearly a melee ability, so why does it need the Intelligence Attribute?"
Su Xiao nodded. The Intelligence Attribute, aside from enhancing mana and perception, had little other use. Yet it was the main attribute of the Law-Destroying Shadow.
"The Intelligence Attribute is meant to bear the ability you're about to master. This ability is used to strengthen the Azure Steel Shadow energy. As the core ability of the Law-Destroying Shadow, Azure Steel Shadow naturally has a method for rapid growth."
Mawen Hua'erzi pointed to the 'pool' before them. The density of Azure Steel Shadow energy inside could only be described as terrifying.
"Jump in. If you climb out alive, then you'll be a true Law-Destroying Shadow—a Law Destroyer that terrifies enemies."
Su Xiao furrowed his brow. He felt that jumping in might kill him.
"What's the mortality rate?"
"Around 85%. Otherwise, why do you think the number of Law-Destroying Shadows is so scarce?"
The horrifying mortality rate left Su Xiao speechless. But he had already developed the Law-Destroying Shadow to this extent; giving up was clearly impossible.
"I was wondering before why inheriting the Law-Destroying Shadow was so simple."
Mawen Hua'erzi burst into laughter.
"Do you really think that broken ring's value matches the Law-Destroying Shadow? The Law-Destroying Shadow chose you. Finding inheritors for the Law-Destroying Shadow is very difficult. The hardest part isn't talent, but courage—the courage not to fear making enemies. After becoming a Law-Destroying Shadow, all mages become enemies. Most inheritors voluntarily give up."
Mawen Hua'erzi pointed at the pool before him, signaling for Su Xiao to jump in quickly.
At this point, there was no choice but to jump, unless Su Xiao gave up the Law-Destroying Shadow and chose a new profession. If he did that, he wouldn't be far from death either—he was a Hunter, after all, needing to fight Violators.
"All Law-Destroying Shadows have been tricked like this. Accept your fate."
Seeing Su Xiao's conflicted expression, Mawen Hua'erzi remembered his own past. Before jumping in, he had 'warmly' cursed out every nearby Law-Destroying Shadow.
But now, he didn't regret jumping back then, even if it meant death.
"I…"
Su Xiao leaped up. Not jumping meant a slow death; jumping gave him at least some chance of survival.
"I forgot to tell you, this pool is very deep. It can drown you."
"Damn it!"
With a splash, Su Xiao fell into the liquid Azure Steel Shadow energy.
Gurgle, gurgle.
A stream of bubbles rose, and the pool returned to calm, as if no one had jumped in.
"So it really does bubble."
A smile spread across Mawen Hua'erzi's face.
"Disciple, don't die. The 85% mortality rate is for ordinary soul strength. With your soul strength, your survival rate is over 50%. Huh… seems like I forgot to mention something important."
Mawen Hua'erzi closed his eyes and sat cross-legged, waiting for Su Xiao to swim out or float up.
Inside the pool, Su Xiao slowly sank. His black hair drifted in the pale blue liquid.
Su Xiao's eyes were tightly shut, his body motionless as he descended. Inside him, earth-shattering changes were taking place.
His already depleted mana was instantly restored to full. The restored mana quickly transformed into Azure Steel Shadow energy.
The Azure Steel Shadow energy gradually formed a sphere near Su Xiao's heart. This sphere wasn't meant to store Azure Steel Shadow energy but served another purpose.
Mana rapidly depleted and restored. The newly transformed Azure Steel Shadow energy continued constructing that energy sphere.
Mana restored, transformed into Azure Steel Shadow energy, Azure Steel Shadow energy built the energy sphere—this process repeated. The sphere grew increasingly intricate, and the energy it contained became more and more terrifying.
Gurgle.
Su Xiao exhaled a bubble of air. He was desperately trying to control the Azure Steel Shadow energy within him from going berserk. If it ran wild, he was dead.
Su Xiao sank to the bottom of the pool. He had ten minutes. If he couldn't construct that energy sphere within that time, he would float up instead of swimming up.
Floating up meant Su Xiao was already dead. This showed just how dangerous the process was.
Moreover, while constructing the energy sphere, the Azure Steel Shadow energy within him operated in a very special way—it actually needed to pass through his brain. This was something that had never happened before.