Chapter 37: Meeting
Blood smoke rose from the ruins, and as far as the eye could see, there were only broken walls and collapsed buildings. The originally magnificent Scarlet Cathedral was now in a state of dilapidation.
Su Xiao's current location was in the rear courtyard of the Scarlet Cathedral. Going further back led to the ancient bonfire site, and continuing past that was the Blood Altar, along with the Blood Pattern Disk on top of it.
The underground world had originally been filled with a sweet, coppery scent, caused by the Blood Pattern Disk. Now, a putrid odor permeated the air. Although it wasn't quite a stench, it was still unpleasant.
After surveying his surroundings, Su Xiao decided to first check the ancient bonfire site and the Blood Altar. As he moved forward, he reached the ancient bonfire site within a few minutes.
The previously extinguished bonfire pile had been rekindled. A blood-colored flame burned on this bonfire pile, which was over ten meters wide. As soon as Su Xiao approached within a few dozen meters, his health points began to drop at a rate of over 6000 per second.
Faced with such high damage, even Su Xiao could only withstand it for a little over three minutes. After observing for a moment, he noticed a withered corpse beside the bonfire. This corpse was definitely not killed by the bonfire's heat; it seemed more like all its primordial life force had been absorbed, causing its death.
Su Xiao quickly walked to the bonfire pile, kicked open the sealed hidden door, and entered the space inside the massive bonfire pile.
This place seemed to be made of blood-colored crystals, only a few square meters in size. Root-like blood-colored crystalline structures spread from the periphery and converged at the center. At this central point, there was a bright red, eye-catching gelatinous substance. It looked like a lush flower, with juice accumulating at the edges of its petals, looking ready to drip. An intoxicating, exotic fragrance permeated the surroundings.
Seeing this object, Su Xiao, as a master alchemist, immediately stopped in his tracks. He took out a charcoal box and, relying on his willpower to ignore the burning pain of his continuously decreasing health, extended a spirit shadow thread from each of his ten fingers.
Crack, crack~
One by one, the spirit shadow threads gradually severed the crystalline roots around the blood-colored flower, until only the last root remained. While suspending it from above, he used three spirit shadow threads to fix the charcoal box beneath the blood-colored flower. Notably, the inside of this charcoal box was coated with a white, greasy substance, forming a protective layer.
Crack~
The last crystalline root suspending the blood-colored flower snapped. The blood-colored flower fell into the charcoal box. Juice welled up from the lush flower, and the surrounding exotic fragrance became even more intense. Fortunately, the greasy substance inside the charcoal box quickly enveloped the blood-colored flower, keeping it in optimal condition.
If handled improperly, this object would wither within 5 seconds at most after being detached from its roots. Subsequently, its value would decrease by 10% to 15% per second. If it wasn't effectively processed within a total of 10 seconds, this exotic treasure would dry up and lose all its value.
[You have obtained: Sun Blood Flower (Eternal Rank · Rare Material).]
[Sun Blood Flower]
Origin: Eternal Light World · Underground.
Quality: Eternal Rank.
Category: Rare Material.
Effect: Direct consumption permanently increases True Stamina by 10 points, and Health Points by 50000 to 56000 points. Also heals 'Deep Damage'.
Rating: 5860 points (Eternal Rank item rating is 3000 to 6000 points).
Introduction: A rare plant that only grows in places abundant with heat and fresh blood. It requires several hundred years of slow growth to reach this level.
As an alchemist, Su Xiao naturally knew about the [Sun Blood Flower]; otherwise, he wouldn't know how to harvest it. As for how to use it, eating it directly would be a waste. Brewing it into a potion would maximize its value.
The seeds of this thing were rare enough, and its growing conditions were harsh. Finally, there was its slow growth rate. This [Sun Blood Flower] had been growing for several hundred years. Although it hadn't reached perfect maturity, it was already quite good. If it were to reach perfect maturity, its rating might reach 6000 points.
This item was definitely cultivated by the Scarlet Faction. Its purpose could also be guessed. It was likely that they knew the Scarlet Monarch, imprisoned in the Nightmare Land, had damaged his origin during his death battle with the Law Destroyers back then. Therefore, he needed this item to pave the way for his return to his peak.
Speaking of which, this thing was hidden very secretly. When he passed by the ancient bonfire site last time, he really hadn't detected the fluctuation of this item. Even the [Greedy Treasure Orb] he was wearing didn't react. This wasn't surprising; the [Greedy Treasure Orb] wasn't omnipotent.
The barrier at the ancient bonfire site was exceptionally marvelous. When this large bonfire was extinguished, no one could discover the [Sun Blood Flower] hidden in the center of the ash pile. Only when this giant bonfire was ignited by a special blood flame would this barrier open.
The situation just now was clearly this: the large bonfire was ignited, and the barrier successfully opened. But before this person could open the secret door, he was drained of his primordial life force by the ability of the distant Nightmare Blood Shadow. If he guessed correctly, that large-scale ability to absorb primordial life force was most likely a nightmare version of the Devouring Core.
The person who opened the barrier suddenly died, leading to the current situation. After putting away the charcoal box containing the [Sun Blood Flower], Su Xiao quickly left the area covered by the bonfire. The burning sensation rapidly receded. He took out a bottle of recovery potion and drank it. His health points began to gradually climb.
Su Xiao looked towards the distant blood-colored hole. That huge hole, like a leak in the sky, was where the Nightmare Blood Shadow had broken through the space of the underground world and gone to the outside. He could be sure that the Nightmare Blood Shadow was not here, because earlier, when he was over ten kilometers away from the Nightmare Blood Shadow, he could vaguely sense its general direction.
This seemed like an advantage, but it also carried a risk: whether the Nightmare Blood Shadow could also sense Su Xiao's position within a certain distance.
Setting this aside for now, the key at the moment was to secure any possible hidden gains in the underground world. Su Xiao noticed one thing: when the Nightmare Blood Shadow killed members of the Scarlet Faction, besides absorbing their primordial life force and soul power, it only took the secret treasures that were visible on the surface and could be directly absorbed. It ignored any valuable secret treasures that needed to be sold to be turned into resources.
This wasn't hard to understand. The Nightmare Blood Shadow was very powerful, yes, but it had only recently emerged from the nightmare. Its understanding of the material world was very low. Having strong combat power didn't mean it was omniscient and omnipotent.
When Su Xiao arrived at the Blood Altar, the blood smoke here had completely dissipated. The broken stone disk floated in mid-air. It was clear that this huge disk had been shattered by a slash.
After searching for a while, besides scattered, withered corpses, he found nothing of value. Su Xiao walked down the steps of the altar and headed towards the direction of the Scarlet Cathedral. Soon, he arrived amidst the cathedral ruins.
At least two-thirds of the entire cathedral had collapsed. The blood-eye sculpture that was originally at the top had crashed to the ground, with a withered corpse embedded inside it. Judging by its size, this corpse was at least over four meters tall in life. It wore dark golden armor all over, had a vertical pupil in the center of its chest, and a scepter-shaped scarlet mark on its forehead.
No matter how you looked at it, this was one of the heads of the Scarlet Faction. But when it faced the Nightmare Blood Shadow, the first slash damaged its weapon, the second slash pierced its throat. Then it was lifted up, its primordial life force flowing along the blood blade, drained completely by the Nightmare Blood Shadow. Finally, like throwing away trash, the Nightmare Blood Shadow flicked its blood blade, blasting the corpse into this blood-eye sculpture.
This place wasn't the main battlefield between the Scarlet Faction and the Nightmare Blood Shadow. That was the courtyard in front of the cathedral. There, the corpses of Scarlet Faction members formed a mountain of flesh and a sea of blood. The vast courtyard's stone ground was completely invisible, and the blood on the ground could only be described as so thick that shields would float on it.
The usually arrogant and cruel Scarlet Faction had been completely cowed by the Nightmare Blood Shadow this time. After their courage was broken by the Nightmare Blood Shadow, the corpses of Scarlet Faction members began to scatter, a result of their flight.
Although Su Xiao couldn't obtain kill rewards from the Nightmare Blood Shadow, the gains he was making now were not low. He walked through the empty doorway into the main hall and found that the hall's door was embedded in the opposite wall.
The main hall was a mess. Su Xiao had Bubu Wang and Amu form one team, and Baha form another, to search this relatively intact part of the cathedral. He himself walked towards the inner side of the main hall.
The inner side of the main hall had upward stairs. The stairs split into left and right branches at a landing. However, both staircases had collapsed. Looking up, most of the building above had disappeared. It felt like it had been cut down by a single slash.
To the right of the main staircase, there was an arched door. Su Xiao walked through the arched door. Not far in, he entered a gallery. At this point, he noticed that the aura here changed abruptly, becoming dark and profound.
At the end of the gallery was a half-open door. Entering it, this was an indoor altar. Rings of steps went upwards. The area at the top of the altar was about a hundred square meters. Now, the surrounding rings of steps were filled with priests who seemed to be rushing upwards but had suddenly frozen.
Looking closely at the faces of these priests, one would notice that they were slightly different from Shenfu's face, retaining some of their original facial features.
This scene reminded Su Xiao of a picture: Shenfu standing on the altar at the top, his goal about to be achieved. The spiral arrows shot at him all turned into ashen powder the moment they touched him. Therefore, the surrounding red-eyed knights all charged at Shenfu.
When the first red-eyed knight's heavy sword struck Shenfu, the weapon was assimilated by Shenfu. This assimilation spread along the weapon to the red-eyed knight holding the sword. Then, the assimilation spread at an even faster rate, resulting in the current scene.
With a crack, cracks appeared on a gray-white corpse, which then gradually crumbled into ash and scattered on the ground. Subsequently, the corpses on the surrounding ring-shaped steps did the same. This was Shenfu's ability, eerie to the extreme.
Although the Nightmare Blood Shadow had suddenly appeared earlier, judging from the current situation, Shenfu's goal had already been achieved. Su Xiao returned the way he came. When he reached the stairs, he followed the left arched door this time. Not far in, he saw a damaged metal door.
Entering through the several-meter-high breach, this place seemed to be a warehouse. The various weapons inside still retained their original shapes, but they were all withered and covered in cracks. It seemed that the nightmare version of the Devouring Core could not only absorb life force but also the supernatural power within these treasures.
Su Xiao wasn't envious of this ability of the Nightmare Version · Devouring Core. His Devouring Core was better at filtering and purifying. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to absorb large amounts of blood energy in dangerous places like the ancient battlefield. If he couldn't do that, he wouldn't have such a strong blood energy system now.
Just as Su Xiao was about to turn and leave, he suddenly sensed a faint aura behind the wall diagonally opposite. He went to check and, after pushing aside a shelf, a secret door opened.
This was a secret room of a few square meters, but it was completely filled by one person. The person was tall and large, with layers of fat on his body. It was the Scarlet Eldest Son, whom he had met once in the Scarlet Castle.
Seemingly due to Su Xiao's arrival, the dying Scarlet Eldest Son struggled to open his eyes. Seeing Su Xiao, he said with difficulty, "The Scarlet Monarch has escaped. I have seen this legendary, terrifying existence with my own eyes."
"..."
Su Xiao didn't speak. Seeing Su Xiao so calm, the Scarlet Eldest Son became even more anxious and said, "I know the Scarlet Monarch's weakness, so, save me quickly."
"..."
Su Xiao still didn't speak. This Scarlet Eldest Son was full of lies. Last time, he said he knew Grocery Brother · Saunus and was cooperating with him. He even produced half of the Watcher's Ring. Out of respect for Grocery Brother, Su Xiao let the Scarlet Eldest Son go. When he later mentioned this person to Grocery Brother, Grocery Brother was somewhat surprised.
The truth was, once, Grocery Brother happened to encounter the Scarlet Eldest Son. Seeing that he was using scarlet power, he prepared to eliminate this member of the Scarlet Faction. In the end, the Scarlet Eldest Son begged and cried, claiming he was from the Scarlet Castle and had nothing to do with the Scarlet Faction in the underground world. He promised to guard the monsters in the Scarlet Castle and prevent them from escaping. Only then did Grocery Brother spare his life.
Putting that aside, the Scarlet Eldest Son's ability to beg for mercy in desperate situations was quite strong. Moreover, at critical moments, he would use lies that wouldn't create enemies to save his own life. For example, when they met in the Scarlet Castle last time, the Scarlet Eldest Son had indeed lied. He wasn't Grocery Brother's underling. But this guy, within limited conditions, successfully survived in front of a Law-Destroying Shadow with red glowing eyes full of killing intent. That was also a talent and ability.
Crack, crack, crack~
As Su Xiao sat down, a crystal chair with a backrest formed beneath him. In his view, this Scarlet Eldest Son had some use. Whether to let him live depended on his performance in the last few minutes. Judging by the extent of his life force depletion, he would be dead within ten minutes at most.
"I... I... sorry, I lied just now. That probably wasn't the Scarlet Monarch. It was more like a nightmare."
"..."
Su Xiao remained silent. The Scarlet Eldest Son, sitting opposite in the secret room, almost filling it, had his thoughts racing. But when the words reached his lips, he suddenly stopped. Because from the eyes of the person opposite, whose pupils faintly glowed red, he could tell that if he said one more useless word, the next second would be his death. The Law Destroyer sitting opposite was definitely not from a friendly faction. He wouldn't hesitate to kill him.
Su Xiao took out a pocket watch given by Holy Maiden Seat. He didn't know where Holy Maiden Seat got this thing; it had a bit of a steampunk style. He pressed the countdown button, and the pocket watch began a ten-second countdown. The intricate gears, fork locks, wheel rings, and other precise structures inside emitted an increasingly rapid mechanical sound.
This increasingly rapid crackling sound put immense mental pressure on the Scarlet Eldest Son. He seemed to feel his life slipping away even faster, with death about to descend. This caused him to grind his teeth until they cracked, pale yellow saliva dripping from the corner of his mouth, his breathing becoming rapid, and finally panting like an ox.
In the last few seconds of his life, the Scarlet Eldest Son's brain cells were running at full speed. The most brilliant moment of his intelligence in this life was definitely these few seconds.
"I... saw... the Star Devourer was severely wounded by that nightmare. The Star Devourer must be very badly injured, definitely!"
Click~!
Su Xiao pressed the pause button on the pocket watch. The air around him, which had almost solidified due to his aura, gradually returned to normal. This allowed the Scarlet Eldest Son in the secret room to breathe more deeply and greedily.
Su Xiao still didn't say a word. He reset the pocket watch to ten seconds before and pressed the countdown button again. The terrifying ticking sound that made the Scarlet Eldest Son fearful returned.
"I can help you deal with this powerful enemy."
"..."
Su Xiao's index finger pressed the pause button again. Then he took out a bottle of potion and tossed it to the Scarlet Eldest Son in the secret room. The dying Scarlet Eldest Son, regardless of whether the potion was problematic, treated it as his last lifeline. He pulled out the stopper and poured it into his mouth.
Seeing this, Su Xiao used his spirit shadow threads to pull the shelf beside him. This triggered a mechanism, and the secret door in front slammed shut. Subsequently, miserable screams and crashing sounds came from the secret room.
After a moment, Su Xiao used the mechanism to open the secret door. The secret room was now covered in bloodstains. Although the Scarlet Eldest Son was covered in wounds, a kind of blood smoke slowly rose from within the wounds. This was caused by the nightmare's invasion. Without dealing with this nightmare invasion, it was impossible to treat the injuries.
Su Xiao threw another bottle of potion inside. This time, the Scarlet Eldest Son hesitated before drinking the potion. A few seconds later, the pain on his face gradually eased, and he opened his mouth to let out a long, relieved breath.
A pill appeared in Su Xiao's hand. He flicked his thumb, and the pill flew into the Scarlet Eldest Son's mouth. Before the Scarlet Eldest Son could react, the pill had already entered his stomach.
"Is this also... a healing medicine?"
"No, it's a potent poison."
Su Xiao said this, then gestured to the returning Amu to use the terminal to show the Scarlet Eldest Son what happens after this potent poison takes effect.
After watching a short video, the Scarlet Eldest Son swallowed hard. From beginning to end, he never doubted the potency of this poison. The reason was that half a minute ago, the Law Destroyer opposite had used a potion to save him from the brink of death. A master alchemist skilled in brewing healing potions, how could he not be skilled in brewing potent poisons?
Perhaps the Scarlet Eldest Son would never figure out that what he had just swallowed was actually a vitamin pill. There were two advantages to this. First, no matter which alchemist the Scarlet Eldest Son found, they wouldn't be able to detect the potent poison in his body. That was the most terrifying part. Second, the cost was low. Truly effective potent poisons were too expensive, even more costly than permanent enhancement potions, and their shelf life was very short.
"You can go now."
Su Xiao spoke. This made the Scarlet Eldest Son breathe a long sigh of relief in his heart, because the pressure was immense when the Law Destroyer opposite remained silent.
"I... can go anywhere?"
"Of course..."
Just as Su Xiao said "of course," a smile gradually bloomed on the Scarlet Eldest Son's face.
"No."
Su Xiao's second half of the sentence caused the Scarlet Eldest Son's expression management to go awry.
"Go to Sanctuary City. Find a place to hide there and lie low to recover. A famous doctor healed you. He is permanently stationed in Black Iron City..."
Hearing Su Xiao's words, although the Scarlet Eldest Son was puzzled, he chose to comply. He stood up and walked out of the warehouse slowly.
Why did Su Xiao send the Scarlet Eldest Son to Sanctuary City? The overall plan was complex, but explaining it was quite simple.
First, the Scarlet Eldest Son had just provided a piece of information: the Star Devourer was wounded by the Nightmare Blood Shadow. Considering this was the Scarlet Eldest Son's last struggle, the credibility of this information was over ninety percent.
Furthermore, considering the Nightmare Blood Shadow's terrifying combat power, and that the Star Devourer had previously been besieged by the Scarlet Faction and Shenfu, it was entirely plausible that it would be severely wounded upon encountering the Nightmare Blood Shadow.
Top-tier world-destroying entities have an undying and indestructible ability. The Star Devourer naturally had it too. But now, its undying and indestructible ability was exhausted. Before it could devour stellar power, it couldn't recover. Based on this, it could be inferred that the Star Devourer's recovery ability was definitely not as good as its peak.
Being wounded by the Nightmare Blood Shadow, the most troublesome thing wasn't just the injury, but also the invasion of nightmare power.
This also meant that the severely injured Star Devourer couldn't recover its injuries in a short time. Under such circumstances, it would definitely immediately return to Sanctuary City. After all, that was the lair of the Lightless Temple's Four Titans. There must be some powerful attack method there. The black stone giant tree that covered the entire Sanctuary City was probably not simple.
With the Star Devourer hiding in Sanctuary City to recover its injuries, and under this premise, the Scarlet Eldest Son, who still carried a nightmare aura but had recovered over sixty percent of his injuries, fled to Sanctuary City and hid there to recover.
Sanctuary City was the territory of the Lightless Temple's Four Titans. As soon as the Scarlet Eldest Son arrived there, he would be targeted. Moreover, he exuded a nightmare aura but had recovered a lot of his injuries. Would the Star Devourer let this guy go?
The situation would definitely be that the Star Devourer would send people to drag the Scarlet Eldest Son out. On someone else's turf, the Scarlet Eldest Son definitely wouldn't dare to be arrogant. After being obediently dragged out, he would explain the situation in detail.
Don't forget the situation the Star Devourer was facing. A great enemy who had slain the Primordial was right in front of it. It was severely injured. At this moment, learning that there was a famous doctor who could treat this injury, it definitely wouldn't let go. As for who that famous doctor was, naturally, it was Kaisa in disguise.
If the plan went smoothly, this would be a perfect opportunity to kill the Star Devourer.
Su Xiao turned and walked out of the warehouse. As soon as he left the warehouse, he noticed a notification. This notification didn't pop up directly. He opened it to check. It was an anonymous contractor contacting him, ready to sell a Nine-Star Title.
Anonymous: "Are you there?"
Bai Ye: "Mm."
Anonymous: "May I ask, how much space-time power are you prepared to spend on a Nine-Star Title?"
Bai Ye: "The seller sets the price."
Anonymous: "1000 ounces for one Nine-Star Title, is that okay?"
Bai Ye: "At most 100 ounces for one."
Anonymous: "Deal. How many do you want?"
Seeing this message, Su Xiao's first thought was that this might be a trap. A Nine-Star Title, even if it was an attribute-less title that could only be used as a secondary title for refining, shouldn't be at this price.
However, Su Xiao had fallen into a misconception. Besides him, no one in this world progress would use space-time power to buy titles. This also meant that high-star titles available for trade weren't easy to sell. If the price was low, the seller was unwilling. If the price was high, the buyer felt it was a loss.
Using space-time power for trading was different. This stuff was usually hard to come by. Being able to exchange it for a title was a huge profit.
Su Xiao's situation was the opposite. With the [Hunt List: Blood Pact], he could steadily obtain space-time power. But high-star titles? This thing was entirely based on luck. Others got them by killing powerful enemies or completing tasks. He had just killed the Primordial. Wasn't that enemy strong enough? Forget a high-star title, he didn't even see a one-star title.
After weighing the options, Su Xiao replied to the other party:
Bai Ye: "How many do you have? I'll take them all."
Anonymous: "Really? I've synthesized a total of 12 attribute-less Nine-Star Titles. If you need more later, there are more."
Perhaps because he had been hit by Su Xiao's display of wealth, the other party replied very quickly, and the text inevitably showed a bit of excitement and shock.
Seeing this message, Su Xiao couldn't deny being surprised. This person actually had over a dozen attribute-less Nine-Star Titles. It was ridiculously wealthy.
Clearly, both parties were shocked by each other's wealth. The seller was in shock, and the buyer was surprised.
Bai Ye: "We'll discuss the details in person later."
Anonymous: "Can we... trade in another way? I'm a bit... cautious."
Bai Ye: "Then forget it."
Anonymous: "No, no, no. How about meeting in Black Iron City? Give me a few hours to think about a location."
Seeing the last message, Su Xiao suddenly felt that this might not be a trap. The other party seemed genuinely ready to sell a Nine-Star Title for 100 ounces of space-time power.
One must know that to get a Nine-Star Title, one needed to obtain 390,625 points of reputation and exchange them for title chests to synthesize...
Su Xiao's train of thought abruptly stopped, because this calculation method was based on the assumption that a title chest could only yield a one-star attribute-less title. He had opened hundreds of thousands of title chests before, and it was always like this. He had almost forgotten the original properties of the title chest.
[Title Chest]
Use Effect: Upon opening, can obtain ★ to ★★★★★★★★★ Title.
Stock Quantity: -- pieces (unlimited exchange quantity).
Exchange Price: 1 point of World Reputation.
Su Xiao chose to ignore the title acquisition probability of the [Title Chest]. This noticeably improved his mood. Furthermore, although his difficulty in obtaining titles was extremely high, he had a lot of space-time power and could buy them from other contractors.
"Boss, over here."
Baha flew back, clearly having found something. Under Baha's lead, they passed through several long corridors and after many twists and turns, Su Xiao arrived before an underground entrance. Following the downward steps, at the bottom, an arched door sealed by scarlet mist appeared ahead.
Su Xiao put on the [Scarlet Ring (Fake)], opened a passage through the scarlet mist, and walked through the passage. The scene before him made him stop.
This was a room resembling a study. The furniture was luxurious but old. A wooden chair was placed in the center of the room. On the wall behind it hung a huge painting frame several meters tall. The painting depicted the Blood Monarch. At this moment, Shenfu was sitting on the wooden chair, looking at Su Xiao with a kind smile.