Chapter 7: Challenge
After hearing Su Xiao’s words, the Devourer of Darkness narrowed its pitch-black eyes dotted with shifting points of light, pondered for a long time, and felt that what Su Xiao said did make sense.
First of all, the Devourer of Darkness could not guarantee that Su Xiao had no means of self-preservation. Once the two sides completely fell out here, there would be no possibility of hypocritical cooperation between them.
Furthermore, even if it killed Su Xiao here before he advanced to Absolute Strength, what would be the point? The Devourer of Darkness did not have a Paradise Mark, so it could not obtain a treasure chest by killing an enemy and open it to get the key to leave this world.
Moreover, this type of key, as a World-Destroying level creature, the Devourer of Darkness likely could not activate. The fact was indeed so. The [Blade of Sealing] was the key to leave this place. Except for Su Xiao, who was a Law Destroyer, no one else could activate it. Even the Moon Wolf and the Eternal Light Watcher could not activate this thing, because those two allied factions had their own characteristic Eternal Light keys.
After thinking it over, the Devourer of Darkness realized that if it wanted to leave this prison world, it could only cooperate with this Law Destroyer. However, it was very unwilling to do so.
Speaking of which, the Devourer of Darkness did not fall into the category of being locked into the Eternal Light World. Although it was a World-Destroying existence, it did not actively devour living beings. Instead, it devoured Dark Spirits, which were World-Destroying creatures. The Devourer of Darkness was an anomaly among World-Destroying creatures. Otherwise, the Sea Race of the Wind Sea Continent would not have allowed it to stay within the Sea Race’s main city; they would have fallen out with it long ago.
The reason it was exiled to the Eternal Light World was ultimately because, after Su Xiao went to the Wind Sea Continent, the Devourer of Darkness took the initiative to come knocking. Needless to say, this was definitely a grudge left behind by some Ancestral Law Destroyer.
Regarding this, Su Xiao was also somewhat curious about what that unknown Ancestral Law Destroyer had done to the Devourer of Darkness, causing it to be so hostile towards the Law Destruction Faction.
Hearing Su Xiao’s question, the Devourer of Darkness acted like its tail had been stepped on, grinding its teeth in anger. Its originally flat teeth all turned into shark-like fangs.
“That damned Law Destroyer, just because I glanced at her when passing by, she captured me and made me search for traces of Dark Spirits in all kinds of worlds. When I found them, she wouldn’t even let me eat them, exiling them all to Eternal Light.”
The more the Devourer of Darkness spoke, the more agitated it became, its mouthful of shark teeth grinding together with a cracking sound.
“Because of this, you almost got locked into the Eternal Light World years ago?”
Su Xiao already knew which Law Destroyer the Devourer of Darkness was talking about, but he pretended not to recognize her.
“That… that’s not it…”
When the Devourer of Darkness said this, its gaze became evasive. Its voice noticeably dropped a notch as it mumbled, “I got lucky and broke the seal, then swallowed some of that Law Destroyer’s resources, and then captured her, preparing to lock her in the Eternal Light World… I released all the Abyss Spawn.”
After saying this, the Devourer of Darkness added, “Swallowing those resources was compensation for that Law Destroyer sealing me up.”
Hearing this, Zuiyasi asked casually, “What did you swallow?”
“A dozen or so Primordial Fragments.”
Upon hearing this, Zuiyasi said nothing more, but his gaze conveyed: ‘That Law Destroyer didn’t kill you; she must have been pretty good-tempered.’
However, in Su Xiao’s view, given Green Gillian’s wealth and temper, she really wouldn’t have been enraged by the Devourer of Darkness swallowing a dozen or so [Primordial Fragments]. Instead, she would have been interested enough to find the Devourer of Darkness, catch it again, and observe what changes occurred in this World-Destroying creature after swallowing a dozen [Primordial Fragments].
What actually made Green Gillian decide to exile the Devourer of Darkness to the Eternal Light World was that it had released several dozen Abyss Spawn. Green Gillian wasn’t very skilled in setting up formations and arrays, so she would accumulate a large batch of Abyss Spawn and then set up a teleportation formation all at once, exiling them all into the Eternal Light World.
But none of this was the main point. For the current stage, Su Xiao and the Devourer of Darkness could only cooperate temporarily.
Su Xiao, with a faint smile on his face, looked at the Devourer of Darkness, whose face was covered in ceramic-like cracks, revealing a shark-toothed grin. On the surface, it seemed harmonious, but both sides had another meaning, which was:
Devourer of Darkness: ‘Once I escape here, I’ll definitely kill you.’
Su Xiao: ‘Once I advance to Absolute Strength, I’ll slaughter you.’
In this harmonious atmosphere, the cooperation was reached. The ‘Good Teammate’ group added a temporary member, and the group continued moving through the poisonous rain.
Boom!
Thunder rumbled in the sky. Looking at a fleeting black shadow in the rain curtain ahead, Wude asked the Devourer of Darkness in a low voice, “You’re very familiar with this area.”
“Some… what.”
The Devourer of Darkness’s gaze began to unfocus again. It would never mention that it had only been here a few days and was already being hunted. It wasn’t that the Devourer of Darkness was weak; the Eternal Light World was inherently dangerous, and the Corrosive Rain Region was one of the major danger zones. Being able to avoid being devoured by other monsters here was already quite impressive.
“Then how did you get close to that Watcher Tower?”
Hearing Wude’s words, the Devourer of Darkness was stumped. It wrinkled its small face, thought for a moment, and answered honestly, “I don’t know either. A few days ago, I was wandering in the rain, and before I knew it, I was at the foot of that tower. Then… Huh? Where’s that damned Law Destroyer? Hmm? The tentacle guy is gone too.”
The Devourer of Darkness turned to look at Wude, only to find that Wude had also disappeared. It looked around, and Su Xiao, Zuiyasi, Wude, and Kaisa were all nowhere to be seen.
Meanwhile, at the tunnel exit of Platform 15, Su Xiao stood at the entrance, looking at the fluorescent purple rain curtain falling ahead, and the metal ore a few meters away that had been eroded into residue. He was certain that he hadn’t been dragged into an illusion or nightmare. That ore residue was something he had personally thrown out earlier.
Su Xiao had been puzzled earlier as to why the Lightless Temple had destroyed all the other Watcher Towers but left this one with the [Super-World-Class Sealing Array] intact. It was very unreasonable.
Now it seemed that it wasn’t that the Lightless Temple didn’t want to destroy this Watcher Tower, but that they couldn’t get close to it. Another point was that the Corrosive Rain Region was constantly raining poisonous rain, and in some areas, the poisonous rain was so purple it was almost black. Although those areas weren’t large, if one accidentally entered them, the probability of surviving was extremely slim. Looking at the piles of crystalline bone fragments scattered across those areas confirmed this.
Those bone fragments were good things, the remains of powerful Aberrant Demons that had been eroded by the highly toxic rain. However, it was impossible to get close to those highly toxic rain areas. Su Xiao had tried earlier; not even using Blood Qi to resist, or using the highest intensity Proud Song Crystals, could withstand the instantaneous erosion of that toxic rain.
Su Xiao looked at the distant Watcher Tower. There must be a specific method to get close to it. He took out the map given by Soens. This map was used by the previous Watchers. But after observing for a moment, he didn’t find any clues on it.
Just as he was about to put it away, a flash of lightning streaked across the pitch-black sky, causing Su Xiao to notice that on the map, the area corresponding to the Corrosive Rain Region had a series of fine circular lines. It wasn’t that he had been careless earlier; these circular lines only became visible when the purple lightning flashed in the sky.
Su Xiao tried to release the map, and it floated steadily in mid-air. Moreover, this seemingly parchment map actually magnified the Corrosive Rain Region on its own, occupying the entire page. This was no ordinary map; it was an extremely precise piece of equipment, and it could only be used by Law Destroyers, Moon Wolves, and Eternal Light Watchers.
After waiting for several dozen seconds, the purple lightning flashed again. This time, the circular rings on the map were more obvious. He tried to touch them and found that these rings could be turned, emitting a precise clicking sound.
When the purple lightning in the sky faded, the circular rings on the map disappeared, and no matter how he tried, he couldn’t turn them anymore.
The rings could only be turned when the purple lightning appeared. This made Su Xiao feel like it was a precise lock dial. The 15 layers of nested rings were like a 15-digit password. This reminded him of the 30-digit activation code mentioned by the Old Tree Clan earlier. He decided to try the first 15 digits to see if he could unlock this dial.
When the purple lightning flashed again, Su Xiao used the arrow at the bottom center of the map as a starting point and turned the lock dials on the map in sequence. Finally, his index finger stopped at the Watcher Tower in the center, adjusting it to face him directly.
Click~
With a crisp sound of a mechanism closing, the lock dials on the entire map began to turn on their own. Some rings changed positions, large rings shrank, and small rings expanded, fitting into outer rings. When the change ended, a completely different map of the Corrosive Rain Region appeared.
On it were dazzlingly complex array structures. If one wasn’t proficient in this area, just one glance would be dizzying. But as the holder of the Great Library badge, Su Xiao naturally wouldn’t be stumped by this level of array.
The more Su Xiao analyzed the arrays on it, the more puzzled he became. If the Devourer of Darkness hadn’t lied and had really wandered to the foot of the Watcher Tower, its luck was simply unbelievable.
Simply put, the entire area around the Watcher Tower consisted of 15 ring zones, and each ring zone was divided into multiple small areas. Looking down from above, this large area was very similar to a compass.
These numerous small areas all had different spatial attributes. When someone walked through these small areas, they would be temporarily imbued with that spatial attribute without realizing it. When they walked out of that small area and into the adjacent one, they would be imbued with another spatial attribute.
When two different spatial attributes were simultaneously applied, the person would be randomly teleported outward. Su Xiao had been randomly teleported here earlier because of this.
To walk from the edge all the way to the foot of the Watcher Tower, one had to ensure that they were only imbued with the same spatial attribute, meaning they had to walk on small areas with the same spatial attribute. There was actually only one such path.
If the Devourer of Darkness wasn’t lying and had wandered to the foot of the Watcher Tower, it meant that it had succeeded with a probability of a few millionths. But that was useless; without a key, the tower couldn’t be opened.
After studying it for a while, Su Xiao found that his current location was the starting point of the entire array. The probability of others being teleported here was about 50%. Presumably, the others would be randomly teleported here one after another soon.
Using violent means to reach the foot of the Watcher Tower was nearly impossible. These surrounding ring zones were actually layers of space, reinforced by the world’s extreme natural elements.
Unless one could pierce through these 15 layers of space in a single strike, violent breakthrough was impossible. Multiple attacks wouldn’t work either, as these layers of space would recover extremely quickly under the reinforcement of extreme elements.
If one had the ability to pierce through these 15 layers of space in one strike, breaking the spatial seal of the Eternal Light World would be a better choice. As things stood, no one in this world had that kind of power.
Su Xiao took out the treasure vault map given by the Dark Daughter earlier. He had been puzzled then as to why this treasure vault map only partially matched the Corrosive Rain Region map. Now he understood; the Corrosive Rain Region map had been scrambled earlier, so they didn’t match.
Su Xiao compared the treasure vault map with the current Corrosive Rain Region map and found not only the corresponding location but also a perfect overlap.
Seeing this, Su Xiao wrote a message on the wall at the entrance of the train station and then walked into the poisonous rain.
In the pouring rain, Su Xiao followed the map’s markings and gradually walked towards the distant Watcher Tower. But after covering half the distance, he changed direction and finally stopped in an empty area. A Law Destruction treasure vault was supposed to be here, but the surroundings were barren.
In this situation, one would instinctively think that this Law Destruction treasure vault was underground. But the Law Destroyer who set the vault here must have had a different idea.
Su Xiao released the Blade Demon Spirit and had it leap upward. As soon as the spirit leaped, transparent threads materialized, cutting the spirit into black mist like iron sand. The spirit was then sucked into a spatial vortex above, where it was shredded by the mechanisms inside and then drawn deeper.
The spirit naturally wasn’t afraid of these attacks and successfully entered the Law Destruction treasure vault. Su Xiao then swapped positions with the spirit.
The sound of rain disappeared, and the world became quiet. Su Xiao was now in a long corridor. Behind him were multiple deadly mechanisms. The entrance was cleverly set up. Although there were layers of spatial seals, multiple deadly mechanisms could shred the target multiple times before drawing it into the vault.
The spirit naturally wasn’t afraid of this and could eventually be drawn into the vault. Moreover, [Position Swap] wasn’t a spatial ability and could ignore the vault’s multiple spatial seals. Therefore, to enter the Law Destruction treasure vault, the Blade Demon Spirit was the key.
Su Xiao looked around at a large pile of bone fragments. This was probably from a World-Destroying creature that had tried to enter the vault using its own immortality. The result was predictable.
He walked along the corridor. After a dozen meters, a pair of metal doors blocked his way. There were multiple grooves on the door, and on the far right, there was a handprint-shaped indentation.
Su Xiao pressed his hand against it and released Cyan Steel Shadow Energy. This energy flowed along the energy lines, passing through the multiple grooves on the door, lighting them up. Finally, these dozens of grooves formed the shape of the Law Destruction mark, and the vault door opened.
Su Xiao steadied his breath, ready to face the possibility that the vault only contained a note saying: ‘You have passed my test. I have high hopes for you, although there is nothing in this vault.’
He stepped into the vault. The entire vault wasn’t large. What met his eyes were several rows of storage racks, all empty. Su Xiao felt no particular emotion about this. Not all vaults contained secret treasures.
He went to the innermost part of the vault, where five storage boxes were placed side by side on a stone platform. Three of them were already open. Su Xiao randomly chose one, but just as he was about to open it, a hair-raising sense of danger came from the storage box. Moreover, this perception had been enhanced by an array specifically targeting Cyan Steel Shadow Energy.
With Cyan Steel Shadow Energy in his body, trying to open this storage box triggered this hair-raising feeling. Su Xiao didn’t think this was a test of courage. The Ancestral Law Destroyers wouldn’t set up such a thing, because anyone who dared to master Law Destruction abilities already had extraordinary courage. There was no need for such a test. Therefore, this storage box contained a deadly mechanism. Opening it meant certain death.
Su Xiao chose another storage box and opened it. This one had no sense of danger. After opening it, a prompt appeared.
[You have obtained Soul Crystal x12.]
[You have obtained Awakening Stone x1 (Law Destruction Exclusive Gem): Can deeply enhance Law Destruction abilities.]
[You have obtained Blade of Sealing·Inheritance Stone (After use, can master Blade of Sealing X).]
…
Just the 12 Soul Crystals alone represented the richness of this harvest. As for the [Blade of Sealing·Inheritance Stone], this thing was very useful. After mastering this ability, Su Xiao wouldn’t need to rely on the [Blade of Sealing] equipment to exile World-Destroying beings to the Eternal Light World. This equipment, whose durability was nearly half consumed, was itself a transitional item for Law Destroyers who hadn’t mastered the Blade of Sealing ability.
He opened another storage box. Inside was a black gem. He tried to check its attributes, but they were all ???. This was a common situation for high-level items that hadn’t been notarized.
A crystal layer wrapped around his hand as he picked up the black gem. Staring at it intently, he saw that it seemed to contain an endless starry sky inside. With a pop, the black gem shattered, turning into black particles of light that dissipated into the air.
[Prompt: You have lifted the Dark Seal. It is expected to regenerate within 10 natural days. You must enter the Extreme Dark Castle in the Wet Salt Region before the Dark Seal regenerates.]
[You have obtained the Eye of Extreme Dark. This item will exist for 10 natural days and can track the location of the Extreme Dark Castle.]
[Killing all enemies within the Extreme Dark Castle will grant you Precipitated Glass and region-specific products.]
[Warning: You must at least reach Absolute Strength to explore this region.]
[Prompt: This region is extremely dangerous but is a high-yield area.]
…
Seeing these prompts, Su Xiao felt puzzled. This vault felt very peculiar. It seemed less like a place for storing items and more like it was specifically set up for other Law Destroyers to come here.
The reason for this was that the spirit was the key to entering this place, and there was that malicious storage box on the side. If one wasn’t a Law Destroyer and didn’t have Cyan Steel Shadow Energy as a perception medium, it would be difficult to detect the danger of that storage box. Opening it meant certain death.
Of the remaining two boxes, one yielded a rich harvest, while the other, when opened, activated an extremely dangerous area, something like a high-yield instance.
This felt too much like waiting for a Law Destroyer to come here, then using the Eye of Extreme Dark to go to the Extreme Dark Castle in the Wet Salt Region.
Su Xiao turned and walked out of the vault. At the entrance, he swapped positions with the spirit while releasing his aura.
Back in the outside world, under the falling poisonous rain, he controlled the spirit to pass through the vault’s layers of deadly traps, escape from inside, and then retract it into the Dragon-Slaying Flash.
Su Xiao stepped forward. After a few steps, he entered a small area with a new spatial attribute. The two temporarily imbued spatial attributes on him activated, causing him to be teleported away. However, under his calculation, he was teleported back to the starting point.
Returning to the initial point at the train station tunnel entrance, he found Zuiyasi, Wude, Kaisa, and the Devourer of Darkness all there. Seeing this, Su Xiao took out the map and said, “Follow me.”
Su Xiao and his group moved through the rain curtain. With the correct route, it only took them over two hours to reach the foot of the Watcher Tower. Looking up, the Watcher Tower was cylindrical, with a diameter spanning over a kilometer, towering between heaven and earth. The higher it went, the smaller each floor became. It was estimated that the top floor was only a few hundred square meters.
A magnificent giant door blocked their way. About a meter above the ground at the bottom of the door, there was a circular lock dial. Strangely, this lock dial had no rings that could be turned. Noticing this, Su Xiao pressed the Watcher map against it. As expected, the map fit perfectly on it, becoming the lock dial for opening the door.
Having used the first 15 digits provided by the Old Tree Clan to find the location, he now tried the remaining 15 digits. After adjusting the lock dial, the Watcher map detached from the door, and the tall door in front gradually opened.
Su Xiao walked into the Watcher Tower. The bottom floor was completely empty, with only a metal spiral staircase leading upward in the center. Unexpectedly, on the wall near the giant door, there was a spatial vortex. Besides the normal way, there was actually a second method to come here.
With a bang, the giant door behind him closed and locked. A prompt appeared.
[Prompt (Void Tree): Detected that the Hunter has entered the Watcher Tower through the main entrance. The Watcher Tower has a total of 14 floors, all of which will be open to you.]
Seeing this prompt, Su Xiao roughly understood what was going on. He tried to inquire about the relevant information and soon learned that when the Law Destruction Faction was on the verge of collapse, this Watcher Tower had been notarized by the Void Tree. This was naturally facilitated by some Ancestral Law Destroyer.
As a result, this Watcher Tower had stood until now. The Lightless Temple was completely helpless against it.
There were two ways to enter this Watcher Tower. One was through the Void Tree notarized path, which meant bypassing the Corrosive Rain Region outside and entering the Watcher Tower directly through the spatial vortex inside the door.
However, with this method of entry, the Void Tree would only open the first twelve floors of the Watcher Tower. To enter the thirteenth and fourteenth floors, one had to use the conventional method: cross the Corrosive Rain Region and open the main entrance of the Watcher Tower.
Under the Void Tree’s notarization, the Watcher Tower had become a trial. Those who came here could obtain corresponding ‘Trial Settlement’ rewards based on how many floors they could clear. Therefore, those who came here were Contractors, Hunters, Battle Angels, etc., who had obtained the ‘Tower Trial Invitation Letter’.
More interestingly, to use the ‘Tower Trial Invitation Letter’ to enter here, one’s Paradise Mark had to be below Lv.91. Once one advanced to Absolute Strength, they couldn’t come here anymore.
This move by that Ancestral Law Destroyer was indeed brilliant. It allowed the Void Tree to obtain a trial ground without any cost, while also ensuring that the World-Destroying beings and Abyss Spawn of this world could never destroy this Watcher Tower. Any attempt to destroy it would be equivalent to challenging the Void Tree’s notarization.
Even if a challenger from a Paradise camp did clear the Watcher Tower, because they entered using the ‘Tower Trial Invitation Letter’ and didn’t have the authority to enter the thirteenth and fourteenth floors, it completely prevented any malicious individuals from destroying the [Super-World-Class Sealing Array] at the top.
Only when a future Law Destroyer first went to the Gray Sanctuary, obtained the Watcher map and the Old Tree Clan’s 30-digit activation code, could they pass through the Corrosive Rain Region’s setup, open the main entrance of the Watcher Tower, and enter here normally.
Only in this way could they, after passing through the trials of the first twelve floors, finally step onto the top floor and activate the [Super-World-Class Sealing Array].
Su Xiao had not entered the Watcher Tower through the ‘Tower Trial Invitation Letter’, which meant he was not bound by the corresponding notarization restrictions. Even though the Devourer of Darkness in his team had a comprehensive combat power that exceeded the trial’s participation limit, it could still participate in this challenge.
[Prompt: Detected that you are in a team. Yes/No to conduct this trial in team form.]
[Selected to participate in this trial in team form.]
[Team member count: 7 (including followers).]
[Because your team’s comprehensive ability upper limit has exceeded the predetermined value, all upper limit locks for all challenges in the Watcher Tower have been lifted. Simultaneously, all team members will receive better ‘Trial Settlement’ rewards.]
[The first floor of the Tower Challenge is about to begin.]
[As the team leader, your identity judgment will determine your team’s faction for this round.]
[Your faction is: Reincarnation Paradise·Hunter.]
[Hostile faction judgment in progress…]
[Inviting an equal number of Violators in progress…]
[Invitation completed. A total of seven Violators will participate in this challenge. If the Violator faction wins, they will receive 1.5 times the ‘Trial Settlement’ reward for this round’s challenge.]
[Competition content being selected…]