Chapter 15: The Secret
As the prompt for the activation of the [Super-World Boundary Sealing Art] appeared, within the Gray Sanctuary, Su Xiao faintly sensed a wave approaching from afar. Even though the Gray Sanctuary was within an independent space, it could not escape the range of that wave.
Hum~
After a brief humming sensation, Su Xiao felt a wave pass over him. This was precisely the effect of the [Super-World Boundary Sealing Art]. However, since he was not a Supreme above the Absolute Strength rank, the sealing had little effect on him.
[Announcement (Void Tree): The combat power limit of this world has been sealed to the Absolute Strength rank, lasting for a total of 0 natural days.]
After this prompt appeared, Su Xiao opened the World Contact Platform. When he first entered this world, the platform was extremely lively, only calming down in the last two days. Now, with this announcement, the platform became lively again, filled with profanities and curses directed at whoever activated this seal.
Did the activation of this seal make the Eternal Light World less dangerous? Not at all. Within this world, besides the Four Titans of the Lightless Temple and the Mechanical Maker of Black Iron City, there were Supremes a full tier weaker than them.
Although such Supremes were not numerous, there were at least ten of them. They were either Abyssal creatures or World-Destroying beings, and of course, there were also powerful beings born from the world's extreme elemental environment.
Before the [Super-World Boundary Sealing Art] was activated, unless they fought each other, nothing could threaten these Supremes. Now that the art was activated, their achievable combat power was sealed to the Absolute Strength rank, meaning the number of enemies that could threaten them suddenly increased dramatically.
Under such circumstances, whether it was the Four Titans of the Lightless Temple or the weaker Supremes, their killing intent would be exceptionally strong, causing the world's danger level to skyrocket compared to before.
The number of Supremes alone shows the terrifying nature of the Eternal Light World. The Wind Sea Continent produced a single Supreme, Spider Lady, who was the pride of that world for ages. In contrast, the Eternal Light World had Absolute Strength beings as common as dogs, over a dozen Supremes, and Ninth Rank elites were merely elite monsters, and rather mediocre ones at that.
It was precisely for this reason that Su Xiao invested so much effort into developing the insect race before entering the Eternal Light World. However, plans never kept up with changes. The Monarch's Treasure had appeared during this time, causing the Lightless Temple to focus their attention on this matter.
If Su Xiao still followed the original plan of immediately developing the insect race upon entering the world, he would not only waste this advantage but also increase the risk of exposure.
Nevertheless, developing the insect race within this world was still necessary. Not to mention other things, there were two old friends that even Su Xiao, in his current state, could not handle: the World Borer and the Star-Clinging Crab. Such groups could only be dealt with by developing the insect race.
Especially the World Borer. Its splitting speed was simply unsolvable. Initially, Su Xiao summoned the World Borer using a title ability, and it was merely a silver-gray metal flying insect. That was also the best chance to eliminate the World Borer.
After being summoned, the World Borer's first action was to absorb soil and rock, the most common things on a planet. It then used the energy converted from these inorganic substances to split, multiplying from one to two, two to four, and eventually becoming endless.
Wherever the World Borer passed, not to mention rock or soil, even space was riddled with holes. Even more terrifying was that the World Borer no longer had a main body; any individual could be considered the main body.
This also meant that as long as even one World Borer remained uneliminated, the swarm would reappear before long. As a Blade Grandmaster, even after advancing to Absolute Strength, Su Xiao was not adept at dealing with such enemies.
For now, there was no rush to develop the insect race. There were too few places in the Eternal Light World suitable for insect race development. He had to find the Silver Queen first to locate a development area for the insect race. The Silver Queen probably never dreamed that one of the reasons Su Xiao banished her to the Eternal Light World was to have her scout for areas suitable for Jila's insect race development.
Only insects understood insects better. If the Silver Queen found a comfortable development area, Jila would surely love it too.
In fact, Su Xiao's original idea was that if the Silver Queen was willing to cooperate, he would certainly accept it. The problem was that although she had reached a state ready to revive, she kept her aura hidden, concealed within the Origin Stone: Silver Queen. This was clearly waiting for an opportunity to break free, making Su Xiao her first prey, then using the resources obtained from him to quickly recover and develop her nest.
Faced with such a situation, banishing the Silver Queen to the Eternal Light World was the only option. It was just unknown which area she had chosen as her development lair.
This matter could wait for now. Su Xiao had already sent the Irritable Little Elf, Diagu, to search for traces of the Silver Queen.
Once found, if he could capture the Silver Queen alive, Jila could silently replace her, re-establish the nest's characteristics, and develop quietly, minimizing the risk of attracting the Lightless Temple's attention. It had to be admitted that the Lightless Temple was the strongest force in this world, bar none.
The Four Titans of the Lightless Temple were the leaders of this force, beyond doubt. Under such circumstances, the Lightless Temple was destined to attract some World-Destroying creatures or Abyss Spawns. The reason was that serving under the Archbishop of the Abyss, the Eternal Dark Lord, the Ancestor, or the Star Devourer did not feel disgraceful to other World-Destroying creatures or Abyss Spawns.
For Su Xiao, dealing with the Four Titans of the Lightless Temple was not only about completing the Talent Awakening Quest: First Stage. In fact, this talent awakening quest coincided with Su Xiao's original goal.
First, the Monarch's Treasure contained an item called [Moonlight Radiance]. The so-called [Moonlight Radiance] was actually the key to the Eternal Light World used by the Moon Wolves.
The Lightless Temple had already learned of this, so their four leaders ordered that [Moonlight Radiance] be found at all costs.
If the Four Titans of the Lightless Temple obtained [Moonlight Radiance], would they forget being imprisoned for periods ranging from over a hundred thousand years to just a few thousand years?
Even if they suddenly changed their nature and became magnanimous, they would still consider another issue: the sole remaining Law-Destroying Shadow was growing stronger. When he advanced to Supreme, would he, like the Ancestral Law Destroyers, take issue with their devouring of countless worlds and imprison them again in the Eternal Light World?
This determined one thing: once the Four Titans of the Lightless Temple left the Eternal Light World and restored their respective immortality abilities, they would inevitably join forces again until they killed Su Xiao, the last Law-Destroying Shadow.
Therefore, Su Xiao could not afford to play it safe at this stage. He must do his utmost to eliminate the Four Titans of the Lightless Temple. They had been imprisoned for so many years that two of the World-Destroying beings had exhausted their immortality abilities and could not recover for now. The status of the remaining two was unknown, so this opportunity must be seized.
That said, with Su Xiao's current strength, seeking out any one of the Four Titans of the Lightless Temple would be suicide. Regardless, he had just advanced to Absolute Strength. Even though he had used a [Primordial Fragment] to stabilize his power, he still needed a few battles.
The Extremely Dark Ancient Castle in the Wet Salt Area was a very good choice. It was challenging enough and could yield Precipitated Glass. After advancing to Absolute Strength, Su Xiao planned to accumulate over 4000 Precipitated Glass and then exchange it for a [Primordial Fruit] in the Abyss Shop.
[Primordial Fruit]
Category: ???
Stock Quantity: ??? (Hunter reputation too low to view).
Exchange Price: 4608 Precipitated Glass (Original price: 7680 Precipitated Glass).
...
This item was a resource only usable after advancing to Absolute Strength. Before one's physique reached the Absolute Strength level, using it would mean certain death. This was not due to side effects but because its efficacy was too potent; a weak physique could not withstand it.
The [Primordial Fruit] did not enhance strength. Its function was to stabilize the current foundation. To put it simply, if the original foundation of one's combat power was rock, the [Primordial Fruit] would transform that foundation from rock to indestructible metal.
Only then could one bear the power brought by high-level abilities. Whether one was qualified to advance to the Supreme level largely depended on the solidity of one's foundation.
If Ninth Rank was a mansion, then Absolute Strength was a palace, and Supreme was a magnificent structure towering between heaven and earth. A foundation that could bear Absolute Strength would be crushed in an instant by Supreme-level power.
Why were Supremes so few? Because a large portion of Absolute Strength beings dared not take that step. Once they chose to take it, they would either withstand the Supreme power and ascend to Supreme, or die, their souls and bodies crushed to ashes by the Supreme power.
Not to mention the Supreme level, even within the Absolute Strength rank, one's level of achievement was directly related to one's foundation.
The difficulty of obtaining a [Primordial Fruit] was already high. After obtaining it, one had to find a Master Alchemist to concoct it into a potion. Eating it directly would yield less than a tenth of the effect. For this, Su Xiao did not need to find anyone else; he was himself a Master Alchemist. If inspiration struck, he might even concoct a bottle of "Miracle" grade Primordial Potion, which would be extraordinary.
Su Xiao felt that his condition was almost adjusted. He was about to leave the Gray Sanctuary using the Watcher's Ring when he received a prompt from Reincarnation Paradise.
[Detected that the Hunter has advanced to Absolute Strength rank. A current health point settlement is about to be conducted. Due to your advancement to Absolute Strength, some of your abilities and equipment that increase health points by a percentage will have their increase magnitude adjusted.]
Seeing this prompt, Su Xiao began to stabilize his aura to speed up the settlement. He was also curious to know, after advancing to Absolute Strength without the 1 million health point cap, how much health he would have.
However, he felt it would be lower than expected. Because of his advancement, some equipment that originally provided a 50% health bonus might now be reduced to 45% or even lower, rendering previous estimates inaccurate.
[Because health is a special attribute, it will not be semi-digitized to an absolutely precise value.]
[Your current maximum health is: 1,100,000 points.]
Obtaining this result, Su Xiao was in a good mood. He didn't know if 1.1 million health points was considered good at the Absolute Strength rank, but it shouldn't be in the squishy category. Regardless, it seemed to be a melee type with moderate survivability.
If a group of veteran Absolute Strength experts knew Su Xiao's benchmark, they would surely remain silent.
Wave~
Space rippled, and Su Xiao left the Gray Sanctuary with Bubu Wang and Baha. Amu was still in a deep sleep due to the massive increase in his attributes and would likely be unconscious for the next few days. When it came time to fight the final big bosses, Amu would surely have a standout performance.
The advantage of the Watcher's Ring was that as long as one was not in a space barrier or an extremely special area, such as the depths of the Extremely Dark Ancient Castle, one could use the ring to return to the Gray Sanctuary at any time. Correspondingly, one would exit at the same location they returned from.
Inside the tunnel entrance of the train station, a toxic purple rain was falling outside with a clatter, and a sweet, fishy smell wafted in. Su Xiao did not enter the Erosion Rain Zone. He followed the tunnel downward and arrived at Platform 15.
Upon arriving at the underground platform, Su Xiao inserted a Black Iron Coin into a pillar-like machine. There was a clattering sound of gears inside, then everything quieted down. A few minutes later, the rumbling sound of a train came from the other side of the tunnel.
With a burst of steam, a single-beast train stopped. The door of the single-carriage train opened. After boarding, Su Xiao went to the coin slot, twisted the dial to the platform marked 0, which represented the main station of Black Iron City.
The beast train charged Black Iron Coins based on distance. For example, from near Sanctuary City to the edge of the Erosion Rain Zone, passing five stations, the fare was 50 Black Iron Coins. Going to Black Iron City was the cheapest, costing only 5 Black Iron Coins regardless of the starting point.
This showed Black Iron City's goodwill towards the world's residents. After inserting the Black Iron Coins, the train door closed and started moving. Su Xiao closed his eyes to rest.
Compared to this significant increase in strength, the two pieces of equipment upgraded with [Divine Miracle] were less conspicuous. Because they had reached their limit after this upgrade, Su Xiao had used two Origin-grade [Divine Miracles] on [Berg Heart] and [Killing Instinct] earlier in Reincarnation Paradise. Only now had these two pieces of equipment finished upgrading.
[Berg Heart]
Quality: Origin Grade.
Category: Accessory · Pendant.
Equipment Effect: Adaptive Power (Core · Passive), during combat, based on the enemy's ability characteristics, increases the wearer's abnormal status resistance by 110 to 10 points (adaptive).
Rating: 850 points (Origin grade equipment rating is 1500 to 000 points).
...
[Killing Instinct]
Quality: Origin Grade.
Category: Belt.
Equipment Effect: Instinct Activation (Special Skill), after wearing this equipment, a willpower check will be conducted. If successful, the "Instinct Activation (Passive)" effect will be activated. If failed, it will enter the Instinct Killing State (Active), lasting for 10 hours. After the Instinct Killing (Active) state ends, this equipment can never be worn again.
Instinct Activation (Passive): Greatly increases the growth rate of the wearer's perception-type abilities.
Tip: Detected that Instinct Activation (Passive) has a 95.8% compatibility with the Instinct ability. The growth rate of the Instinct ability is increased by 10 to 95 times (95 times during combat, 56 times in dangerous environments, 10 times in safe environments).
Rating: 960 points (Origin grade equipment rating is 1500 to 000 points).
...
These two pieces of equipment could still be used for a long time. As for why not quickly replace them with Eternal grade, that was a tricky problem. The main reason was that he couldn't afford it. After raising all seven [Basic Passives] to X and pushing the acquired Overlord Power to near max level, he couldn't resist the temptation of high-level passives. The Technique Sublimation: Supreme Blade was simply too hard to refuse.
Under such circumstances, saving up to buy an Eternal grade piece of equipment was too difficult. Eternal grade equipment cost between 100,000 and 500,000 Soul Coins, and that was for unrefined Eternal grade equipment. A weapon with a full 6000-point rating, set with Eternal grade gems, and reinforced to +10 or above, was astonishingly expensive.
The train stopped, and as the door opened automatically, the aroma of food wafted in, along with the faint sound of bustling voices. Stepping off the train, Su Xiao saw a moderately prosperous train station with trains frequently arriving and departing.
As soon as Su Xiao got off the train, a team of sharp-eyed patrol guards approached. Although they were polite, their words were full of traps, probing Su Xiao's origins and purpose here as much as possible. After confirming that Su Xiao was a traveler and had permission to enter Black Iron City, they let him pass.
This place was the complete opposite of Sanctuary City. To enter Black Iron City, one had to pass through several checkpoints. Conversely, to leave, one only needed a simple inspection. Sanctuary City was the opposite: easy to enter, but almost impossible to leave through conventional means.
Walking into Black Iron City, as an underground city, it did not feel dark or damp. A faint light shone from above the city. Because it was tens of thousands of meters underground, the ground of Black Iron City was over ten thousand meters from the dome above. There were even giant airship-like flying machines floating in the mid-air.
The entire Sanctuary City was vast. Compared to the Wind Sea Continent, it was about the size of several districts of Eternal Ring City. Don't think this was small; a single district of Eternal Ring City was larger than some small to medium-sized kingdoms.
Walking along the street, there were many vendors on the roadside, indicating that public security here was acceptable, at least a place governed by law. Su Xiao's purpose here was both to meet up with his "good teammate" and to exchange some Black Iron Coins. Previously, Amu and the Irritable Little Elf, Diagu, had come here together but only exchanged a little over a hundred Black Iron Coins, which was not enough for subsequent beast train rides.
"Boss, over here."
Baha flew back. He had just gathered basic information about this place and learned that exchanging Black Iron Coins at the southern exchange was more profitable.
Since it was on the way to meet the "good teammate," Su Xiao walked towards the exchange. When he could already see the dozen-story metal building of the exchange, a thought suddenly occurred to him: were there any World-Destroying beings or Abyss Spawns in Black Iron City? Thinking of this, he activated [Hunting Vision].
The world in Su Xiao's eyes changed drastically. Everything lost its color, leaving only the pedestrians, who appeared as a light red representing the flame of life. This light red was gentle, but within this gentleness, there were scattered black fine particles, like black sand suspended in mid-air.
Su Xiao focused his gaze and determined that this was the residual aura of a World-Destroying being. Although the being had not acted, merely passing through this place, it had left obvious traces.
Su Xiao's blood aura was completely concealed. Bubu Wang's silly, joyful gaze gradually disappeared, his eyes narrowing as he blended into the environment. Baha infiltrated space, transforming into a Demon Hawk gliding silently through spatial gaps.
After activating [Hunting Vision], Su Xiao noticed that his followers, Bubu Wang and Baha, also shared a portion of this ability. Bubu Wang could now sniff out the auras of World-Destroying beings, Abyss Spawns, and various evil entities, while Baha could bird's-eye view their general locations from above.
With Su Xiao, Bubu Wang, and Baha combined, once [Hunting Vision] was activated, tracking was seamless.
This meant one thing: once tracked by Su Xiao, whether it was a World-Destroying being, an Abyss Spawn, or any evil entity, none could escape. No matter how terrifying these things usually were, at this moment, they were prey.
Following the residual aura of the World-Destroying being, Su Xiao soon arrived at a dark zone. There were many scavengers and explorers in Black Iron City. Even if they used Shelter Stones, prolonged exposure to daylight outside would require a long rest in the dark zone to recover.
Finally, Su Xiao stopped in front of a two-story private residence. This was a private recuperation center that charged fees to help explorers severely burned by daylight. According to the introduction by the door, it was run by an elderly couple, perhaps with their children, making it a family business. Unfortunately, the aura of the World-Destroying being ended at this recuperation center, meaning it was still here.
In such a situation, this family had likely met with misfortune. Over ninety percent of World-Destroying beings had no pity for living creatures, and more than half took pleasure in their suffering.
Su Xiao's [Hunting Vision] ability was further activated, increasing from 0 mana points per second to 50 mana points per second. This made the walls of the house, previously shrouded in black particles, become transparent.
But after seeing the scene inside the building, Su Xiao was somewhat surprised. The elderly couple of this recuperation center, their son and daughter-in-law, and their ten-year-old granddaughter were all safe. Moreover, the little granddaughter was with the World-Destroying being, less than half a meter apart.
Su Xiao raised his hand. Baha, who had infiltrated space, flew over silently. His eagle claws touched the wall ahead, using spatial abilities to make it silently transparent. Su Xiao directly passed through the illusory wall.
Completely concealing his aura, Su Xiao entered the building. He came to another wall, silently drew the longsword at his waist, and Baha flew over silently again. His eagle claws touched, and this wall also became illusory.
After passing through this wall, Su Xiao entered the room where the little girl and the World-Destroying being were. The scene before him surprised him for a moment. On the floor of the room, the Dark Devourer was sitting with the little girl next to a castle made of building blocks. The Dark Devourer's cracked little face was exceptionally serious, holding a block in its hand.
"..."
Su Xiao didn't speak. It seemed to finally realize a hunter had arrived. The Dark Devourer's gaze suddenly turned fierce. It turned its head to look at Su Xiao, paused, and instinctively hid the block behind its back. But thinking of the Blade Grandmaster's powerful close-range perception, it directly stuffed the block into its mouth and crunched it.
"This cookie is pretty tasty."
The Dark Devourer spoke. As a World-Destroying being, even though it only ate Dark Spirits and had no interest in devouring living creatures, playing with building blocks so happily with a human little girl was something the Dark Devourer would never admit, even on pain of death. If this got to the ears of other World-Destroying beings, just thinking about it made the Dark Devourer feel a surge of shame.
"Let's talk outside."
The Dark Devourer stood up and walked out. The little girl, still holding a block, asked, "Little brother, are you leaving?"
Hearing this, the Dark Devourer didn't speak, only quickening its pace. Seeing this, the little girl's eyes curved into crescents with laughter. From her gaze, it was clear that this little girl was exceptionally intelligent beyond her years. Although smart, she still had a child's nature.
A moment later, in a nearby alley, Su Xiao stood at the entrance while the Dark Devourer was inside.
"Oh, so you've advanced to Absolute Strength. But you should know, even within Absolute Strength, there are differences..."
Before the Dark Devourer could finish, Su Xiao began to release his aura. Sensing his aura, the Dark Devourer's eyes, black with white lines, became confused. It was certain that just over ten hours ago, this Law Destroyer wasn't even Absolute Strength. But now...
"Even if you are stronger than me, can you be sure you can kill me?"
"..."
Su Xiao didn't speak, his longsword pointing diagonally at the ground.
"I know the location of a treasure vault. I tried to blast it open with all my might, but couldn't. The secret pattern structure on it is very complex. But I can take you to try."
Hearing this, Su Xiao paused in his steps into the alley. The probability of the Dark Devourer lying was low. There were indeed many treasure vaults in the Eternal Light Continent. It was too dangerous here, so storing supplies in vaults was more reliable. Also, because the world was so dangerous, it was common for some forces to be wiped out, leaving many vaults ownerless.
After exchanging some Soul Coins for Black Iron Coins at the exchange, Su Xiao boarded a beast train to Platform 1. Two hours later, he arrived at a cave. A giant metal door blocked the way, covered in a complex secret pattern lock. Judging by how scrambled the lock was, the Dark Devourer had already tried and failed.
The Dark Devourer had gone to Black Iron City this time both to meet the Mechanical Maker and to indicate that, although it was a World-Destroying being, it did not devour living creatures and intended to stay in Black Iron City. After obtaining the Mechanical Maker's permission, the Dark Devourer began searching the city for someone who could solve the puzzle, carrying a drawing of the copied lock.
As a result, a young little girl managed to solve ninety percent of the lock, clearly able to solve it completely. As a reward, the little girl asked the Dark Devourer to play with her. Her grandparents and parents were usually very busy and had no time to accompany this exceptionally gifted little genius.
"So, that's why you got so into playing. Do you want to see how absorbed your expression was?"
Baha was always a master at reopening old wounds. Hearing this, the Dark Devourer's shark-like teeth ground together with a crunching sound.
"The method to open this vault's lock is now known only to me. So, if you want to open the door..."
Before the Dark Devourer could finish, Su Xiao stepped forward and delivered a straight kick.
Boom!!
When everything calmed down, the Dark Devourer looked at the hole in the door. Due to good control of force, the edges of the hole were curled inward, with no metal fragments flying into the vault.
The Dark Devourer's gaze gradually turned serious, because it realized that the Law Destroyer across from it was now looking at it, as if it might be the next target of a straight kick.
"Alright, you can indeed kill me. I'll trade a secret to settle the score from before."
The Dark Devourer's eyes narrowed slightly, filled with hatred, but this hatred was not directed at Su Xiao.
"Speak."
"Swear in your own name that you won't deceive me."
"I swear in the name of the Law Destroyer."
"Hmph."
"..."
Su Xiao paused for a moment, then said, "Go ahead."
Receiving this promise, the Dark Devourer spoke with hatred in its eyes: "The remnant soul of Green Gillian is somewhere in this world. I'm sure of it!" (To be continued)