Chapter 3: Technique Sublimation: Supreme Blade
Although this "High-Tier Passive" is only at Lv.21, its enhancement intensity is formidable. "Blade-type weapon attack power increase +210%" and "Blade technique power increase 210%" alone are enough to demonstrate its strength, not to mention that this is a powerful enhancement beyond the limit after Blade Grandmaster has already raised weapon attack power to its cap.
The full potential of blade techniques is capped at around 80%, and "Technique Sublimation: Supreme Blade" is outright sealed by over 80%.
Aside from these abilities, other core abilities are more or less half-sealed. Once promoted to Absolute Strength, all the accumulated power will burst forth completely. This includes the development path of four main attributes plus three Technique Grandmasters, the heavy stacking of passive abilities, and the fact that the Shadow of Law Destruction is a inheritance system that grows stronger in the later stages. All these accumulations await only the promotion to Absolute Strength.
Previously, Su Xiao's plan was that if the Eternal Light World was this dangerous, he would leave immediately after breaking through the 300-point attribute barrier. Now it seems things have taken a turn.
Back in Sanctuary City, Su Xiao had one thing he couldn't figure out. How could the ancestral Law Destroyers not leave behind contingency measures in a prison world like Eternal Light World? Now it appears they not only left measures, but the contingencies were so powerful they defied logic.
As long as the "Super-World-Level Sealing Art" of the Watcher's Tower is activated, even existence of Supreme strength like the Archbishop of the Abyss, Star Realm Devourer, Ancestor, and Eternal Dark Lord would have their power suppressed to the Absolute Strength level. This isn't targeting individuals but directly pulling down the entire world's combat power ceiling.
Regarding whether this "Super-World-Level Sealing Art" is reliable, Su Xiao feels it is very reliable. The reason is that over the years, these world-destroying existences in Eternal Light World have failed to break the spatial seal here, showing the brilliance of the setup. The "Super-World-Level Sealing Art" must be on the same level as this world's spatial seal.
Su Xiao checks the trial mission. It has three stages. The first stage is to find the "Watcher's Tower," the second is to activate the "Super-World-Level Sealing Art," and the third is to complete the breakthrough of true attributes using the Attribute Enhancement Pod.
The third stage also presents a choice: leave this world or continue staying here.
A gentle, soft light shines down from above. Su Xiao looks around the Gray Sanctuary and finds that aside from the sculptures and stone seats along the walls, a third of the area is a workshop. The workshop contains a furnace, forging table, etc. Looking at the ash at the bottom of the furnace, it has been unused for a long time. The forging hammer on the table is clearly not an ordinary item, suggesting the blacksmith who once worked here was no small figure.
On the right side of the Gray Sanctuary, there are several wooden doors, each a few meters apart, representing individual rooms. There are five rooms in total. Su Xiao tries pushing the doors and finds three locked, with the remaining two empty. He chooses one as a temporary residence.
"Bai Ye, have you seen the Dark Girl?"
Sauness walks over, carrying a backpack and wearing a face scarf.
"No."
"She must have gone out to clean up the spawns again. Those spawns are endless. As long as the Watcher's inheritance remains, they will keep sending spawns here. After all, it's the lowest risk and most efficient method."
Sauness shrugs, then sits down at a wooden table and gestures for Su Xiao to sit opposite, treating the place like home.
"By the way, that old tree told me the Law Destruction era ended long ago, and the Law Destroyers have been gone for a long time. You becoming a Law Destroyer isn't because of the resurgence of the Law Destruction faction, is it? Was it by chance? Or something else?"
"More or less, by chance."
"I see. So you're the last Shadow of Law Destruction, plus me, a half Eternal Light Watcher, a seemingly gentle but inwardly cold Dark Girl, a scroll master who's missing due to getting lost, and finally a senile old tree clan member. The five of us have to deal with the entire Lightless Temple. That's the situation, right?"
"No."
"There are others?"
"Yes."
Su Xiao certainly hasn't forgotten Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha still at the Sand Dune Shelter. As for Beini, he could sense her location before when heading to Sanctuary City, but she was in the upper district of Sanctuary City. He wonders how she got there. She must have made some important discovery.
Usually in such situations, Beini has unexpected gains. More accurately, if Beini hasn't made any moves, she's either brewing to become the MVP of this round or drifting at sea with tears in her cat eyes.
"Bai Ye, how much do you know about Eternal Light World?"
"Basic understanding."
"Got it. I'll look for something later."
Sauness rummages through his large bag for a moment, pulls out an arm-thick wooden barrel, removes the seal, and pours out a scroll of parchment. When he spreads it out, it turns out to be a complete map of Eternal Light World.
"This area is the Barren Desert. Don't go there. The edge zone is okay, but once you go deep enough, you'll be dragged into Hell's Nightmare."
Sauness points to the upper part of the map, then to the left side, saying, "This is the Wet Salt Zone. Be very careful when you get here. Oh, and water is precious here, more popular than Soul Stones. But don't be tempted. Avoid this area if possible. If you absolutely must go, stock up on pure salt. That's good stuff."
After saying this, Sauness points to the middle of the map, saying, "This is the Sanctuary City area. A large surrounding territory belongs to the Lightless Temple. We can't avoid going to Sanctuary City eventually. We might find needed supplies there. But remember two things: don't touch the Sanctuary Stones there. They've all been tampered with by the Lightless Temple.
Also, remember to leave Sanctuary City through Yousha's teleportation array. That's the only way not detected by Sanctuary City's spatial membrane."
Hesitating, Sauness adds, "If possible, pay Yousha extra for using the teleportation array. She's barely holding on sheltering those children herself. Sigh, Sanctuary City is the only place they can survive, yet it constantly drains their lives."
With that, Sauness takes out an Eternal Light Watcher ring and places it on the table. This belonged to a certain Eternal Light Watcher but has been unused for years. Whether Law Destroyers, Abyss Watchers, or Eternal Light Watchers, they can all use this to come to the Gray Sanctuary.
But one thing: never let anyone contaminated by Sanctuary City's aura come here. That would expose the Gray Sanctuary's location, and the Lightless Temple would swarm to attack this place.
For the four giants of the Lightless Temple—Eternal Dark Lord, Archbishop of the Abyss, Ancestor, and Star Realm Devourer—this Gray Sanctuary is their final threat. So once discovered, they would destroy it at any cost.
After explaining the general situation of Eternal Light World, Sauness pushes the map toward Su Xiao, meaning it's a gift.
"If I'm not mistaken, you're planning to advance to Absolute Strength here, right?"
Sauness speaks with a smile, a hint of pride in his eyes.
"That's right."
"How many Primordial Fragments do you have?"
"Five."
"Just as I thought. This secret technique has been lost for a long time."
Sauness's words are puzzling, but the scroll he then takes out explains everything.
This scroll records a secret technique once developed by a certain Shadow of Law Destruction but later abandoned due to its high failure rate.
The technique's function is to consume more "Primordial Fragments" when advancing to Absolute Strength, thereby bringing greater combat power improvement from the advancement.
To make a simple analogy: suppose all abilities are removed, and only the combat power brought by advancing to Absolute Strength is considered. Directly advancing to Absolute Strength without anything would give a combat power of 100 points.
If advancing to Absolute Strength with five "Primordial Fragments," the combat power would be around 400-500 points.
But if advancing to Absolute Strength using this secret technique, the combat power would be around 1100-1300 points.
The reason for such a huge gap is that this secret technique requires a total of 11 "Primordial Fragments" to advance to Absolute Strength. Moreover, this technique is only usable by Law Destroyers and a few other inheritance systems.
This is because when advancing to Absolute Strength, the inheritance system's advancement also requires "Primordial Fragments," usually 1-6 pieces. The Shadow of Law Destruction doesn't need this consumption for advancement.
Although not required, if one wanted to do so, they could use 6 "Primordial Fragments" to upgrade all Law Destruction abilities. As for the improvement, it's at best better than nothing.
Law Destroyers have never lacked daring individuals. Some have even used elemental affinity to attract realm thunder in the void. In this regard, a certain ancestral Law Destroyer thought: since there's this upper limit quota, why not apply it to advancing to Absolute Strength?
Transferring the quota used for advancing Law Destruction abilities to advancing to Absolute Strength is like having two buckets. The Law Destruction bucket is nearly overflowing, while the Absolute Strength advancement bucket is still mostly empty. With plenty of water, naturally you pour it into the bucket representing Absolute Strength advancement.
This concept led that ancestral Law Destroyer to develop this nameless secret technique. As for why it was abandoned, it's not because it consumes more "Primordial Fragments." When the Law Destruction faction was strong, they had the Black Maple Mother Tree and didn't lack such resources.
The key is the technique's high failure rate. It requires exceptionally abundant life force as a foundation to have a 90% success rate.
But before advancing to Absolute Strength, it's very difficult to reach the required life force level. Otherwise, the success rate wouldn't even reach 20%. Especially since ancestral Law Destroyers weren't from the Paradise camp. They could only increase their life force cap through permanent enhancement potions, which have a drinking limit. The rest depended on luck, whether they could obtain secret treasures that strengthen life force.
Regarding this prerequisite, Su Xiao is not worried at all. His health is already capped at 1 million points, the ninth-rank limit, because he's not an Absolute Strength. This prerequisite is naturally no issue. It's because Sauness sensed Su Xiao's abundant life force that he brought out this secret technique.
Su Xiao's total life force is indeed sufficient. The problem is that he doesn't have enough "Primordial Fragments." The secret technique can be used, but it depends on whether he can obtain more "Primordial Fragments" later. If not, he'll have to advance to Absolute Strength with just five "Primordial Fragments."
"Thank you."
Su Xiao accepts the secret technique scroll. Having received a map of Eternal Light World and this secret technique scroll, he should give something in return. He takes out the two Soul Crystals he has, but Sauness suddenly says:
"Do you have any alcohol?"
"..."
"Keep the Soul Stones for future use. I clashed with a world-destroying creature a few years ago and damaged my origin. I can't improve myself anymore. If you have alcohol, I'd be more interested. The scroll master's last bottle of brew in the sanctuary was drunk by me a few years ago. Because of that, the scroll master didn't talk to me for half a year."
Mentioning this, Sauness's face shows a hint of smug satisfaction.
"This might be for the best."
Su Xiao takes out five bottles of Elemental Brew. So far, he hasn't seen any wine superior to Elemental Brew. There are indeed wines of the same grade in the void and Wind Sea Continent, but those are treasured away.
After packing the bottles of wine into his backpack, Sauness takes out a small cloth bag, saying, "There are some uncontaminated Sanctuary Stones inside. Although you probably won't need them, just in case. First, go talk to the old tree. I'll find the Dark Girl. She shouldn't have gone too far."
With that, Sauness shoulders his backpack and leaves. Su Xiao picks up the ring on the table. With this ring, as long as he's not in particularly dangerous areas or places with spatial membranes like Sanctuary City, he can quickly return to the Gray Sanctuary.
Su Xiao doesn't go directly to the center of the Gray Sanctuary to find the old tree clan. He walks out through the main door of the sanctuary into the courtyard. The courtyard is filled with strange rocks and many graves without tombstones. The sky is covered with soft light lines. This space contains only the Gray Sanctuary and the courtyard. Beyond that is a tough, pitch-black spatial boundary.
Arriving at an open space in the courtyard, Su Xiao sets up a "Law-Destroying Teleportation Array" on a relatively solid rock slab. For normal returns, he'll use the "Watcher's Ring" teleportation. In emergencies, he'll use the "Law-Destroying Teleportation Array."
After setting up the "Law-Destroying Teleportation Array," Su Xiao activates it.
Boom!!
An explosion echoes. The old tree clan sleeping in the Gray Sanctuary is startled awake. It blinks in confusion, looks around, then begins sleeping again.
At the Sand Dune Shelter, after a loud noise, Su Xiao is already standing on the "Law-Destroying Teleportation Array." He immediately raises his left arm, palm to the side, and skillfully supports himself against the wall with one hand. After a moment, his breathing smooths out. The teleportation activation wasn't good, nearly knocking the wind out of him.
"Woof."
Bubu Wang runs over quickly, looking scared out of its wits. Seeing this, Su Xiao looks toward the exit of the Sand Dune Shelter.
He sees a huge eye. This eye is completely pale like a vengeful spirit, covered in black-red bloodshot veins. It feels like a tall, fierce ghost is standing outside in the sand water, one hand gripping the Sand Dune Shelter, one eye staring intently at the living creatures inside.
Swish! A barbed long tongue licks across the outside of the shelter, causing the runes inside to flicker unsteadily.
This thing is not to be trifled with. Although not at the level of the Star Realm Devourer, it's only one tier weaker. Blade Grandmaster can counter such vengeful spirits and fierce ghosts, but that's based on the combat power gap not being too large.
Su Xiao signals Amu and Baha to retreat onto the "Law-Destroying Teleportation Array." This action causes the pale eye at the shelter entrance to narrow slightly.
Crack!
Like two large hands crushing a paper box, the shelter's walls begin to cave in. Seeing this, Su Xiao activates the "Law-Destroying Teleportation Array."
Boom!!
The loud sound of teleportation echoes. Vaguely, Su Xiao hears a fierce roar. The tongue piercing into the shelter and a claw are all blasted away by the spatial impact of the "Law-Destroying Teleportation Array." The barbed tongue seems to have broken off a section.
When the spatial teleportation ends, Su Xiao has returned to the courtyard of the Gray Sanctuary. A several-meter-long, barbed broken tongue is writhing wildly ahead, as tenacious as a severed leech, making one's hair stand on end.
Sizzle~
The soft light shining down from above actually burns the broken tongue, and within a short time, it turns it to ash, evaporating into the air.
[Tip: You have eliminated Deep Sea Evil Spirit (1/30).]
[You have gained 2680 World Reputation.]
[You have been hated by the Deep Sea Evil Spirit.]
...
This acquisition of World Reputation is quite unexpected. Su Xiao closes the prompt and walks into the Gray Sanctuary. He comes to the central pillar, where an ancient tree has merged with the original pillar. This was a forced choice. This old tree clan member, serving as an Eternal Light Watcher, has lived for too many years. With the Eternal Light Watchers on the verge of extinction, it chose to merge with the Gray Sanctuary to continue existing.
But even using this method, the old tree clan often becomes senile. As the saying goes, having an elder is like having a treasure. This describes the old tree clan when lucid. Earlier, it was the old tree clan that guided Sauness to find Su Xiao in Sanctuary City, showing that the old tree clan has some prophetic or divination ability, perhaps even able to glimpse a bit of a Law Destroyer's future.
Su Xiao stops in front of the old tree clan. Seeming to sense the arrival of a Shadow of Law Destruction, the old tree clan's eyelids twitch, then open. The old face on the tree trunk shows some kindness, saying, "Little Law Destroyer, you're here."
"Woof?"
Bubu Wang looks dumbfounded at the old tree clan staring directly at it.
"Ahem, I'm over here."
Su Xiao clears his throat and speaks.
"Huh?"
The old tree clan suspiciously casts its gaze toward Su Xiao. After a moment of confusion, it seems to understand and says, "Oh, I see. Little Law Destroyer, did you encounter any danger on the way here?"
The old tree clan naturally forgets the conversation from seconds ago and continues looking kindly at Bubu Wang. Bubu Wang doesn't dare make a sound.
"..."
Su Xiao rubs his aching brow and says, "I'm over here."
"Huh? Oh~, I was wondering why you'd grown fur. You don't look like what I saw in my dream prophecy."
The old tree clan's gaze finally meets Su Xiao's, but this state doesn't last two seconds before its cloudy old eyes drift back to Bubu Wang. Seeing this, Bubu Wang quickly moves behind Su Xiao, perfectly solving the problem.
"Old Tree, do you know where the Watcher's Tower is?"
Su Xiao asks the question he most wants answered. He needs to break through the 300-point attribute barrier as soon as possible.
"What tower?"
The old tree clan's gaze is full of confusion.
"The Watcher's Tower."
"Oh, I know. Of course I know. I am a Watcher."
"Where is it?"
Su Xiao's mood turns from cloudy to sunny.
"The Watcher's Tower, it's... it's... where is it?"
Seeing the old tree clan's eyelids trembling as it thinks, Amu and Baha quickly take out Eternal Spring Water and pour some at the tree roots. This clears some of the cloudiness from the old tree clan's eyes. It looks kindly at Su Xiao and says:
"Little Law Destroyer, you're here. Did you encounter any danger on the way?"
It's over. It's rolled back. Seeing this, Su Xiao repeats the previous process. After that, the old tree clan falls into contemplation again. After at least half an hour of contemplation, even snoring comes.
Su Xiao forms a crystal seat and sits on it, telling Amu and Baha to pour more Eternal Spring Water for the old tree clan. Since there's nothing to do now, and the mission deadline is ten days, there's no rush. About two hours later, the old tree clan wakes up. Su Xiao repeats the meeting process again, gradually advancing to asking where the Watcher's Tower is.
"The Watcher's Tower, huh. Many of those towers have been destroyed. The only one that might remain is deep in the Corrosion Rain Land. I'll tell you quietly, don't tell outsiders. On that Watcher's Tower, we left emergency measures. Now only you and I can activate that 'Sealing Art.' I can't move easily, so it's just you. Adjust the activation lock panel to..."
The old tree clan recites a 30-character activation code combining rune imprints and numbers. It's hard to believe that the old tree clan, senile to this degree, can perfectly remember such a complex activation code. However, after reciting this activation code, the old tree clan seems to have exhausted its mental energy and falls into deep sleep again.
Sauness hasn't returned yet. While waiting, Su Xiao opens the World Store and exchanges 2680 World Reputation for 2680 [Title Chests].
[Tip: You have obtained Title Chests.]
[Title Chest: Upon opening, can obtain ★～★★★★★★★★★ titles.]
[Titles obtained from this chest have a 15% chance of being tradable titles (this is an additional compensation for this world's danger level).]
[Because you have successfully exchanged for Title Chests, you have activated this world's unique World Contact Platform function. The results of your Title Chest openings will be announced on the World Contact Platform to facilitate title trading, exchange, etc.]
[You may also choose to hide your name when opening Title Chests. Yes/No hide name.]
[You have chosen to hide your name. Your opening results will be changed to Anonymous.]
[You have opened 2680 Title Chests.]
[You have obtained 2680 One-Star No-Attribute Titles.]
Almost simultaneously, within the World Contact Platform, title notifications scroll one after another, but not too fast. After all, everyone just entered this world. Plus, many contractors have been posting on the World Contact Platform since entering. Combined, the platform appears quite lively. Just then, a message appears.
[Title Notification: Anonymous has obtained 2680 One-Star No-Attribute Titles.]
Brother Tough Guy (Reincarnation Paradise): "Good heavens, who is this?"
Xi'er (Reincarnation Paradise): "Interesting information has appeared."
Lightning Mage Lord·Aige (Apocalypse Paradise): "Everyone coming to Eternal Light World is indeed extraordinary."
Gulu (Reincarnation Paradise): "I think I know who this is."
Gulu (Reincarnation Paradise): "╰(￣▽￣)╭"