Chapter 2: The Priest Attempts to Release the Scarlet Monarch Through the Scarlet Passage
The second possibility had the highest probability. It was quite possible that the Priest's initial cooperation with the Scarlet faction was precisely to obtain some secret treasure or ability from the Scarlet Monarch.
But thinking about it this way didn't quite fit either. The Scarlet Monarch's ability system clearly had nothing to do with the Ancient Gods. Under these circumstances...
Suddenly, a common point between the Priest and the Scarlet Monarch emerged in Su Xiao's thoughts: both were holders of Original Sin Objects! Furthermore, the Scarlet Monarch had nearly achieved perfect compatibility with the Scarlet Scepter.
It seemed that way, but as the current sealer of the Scarlet Scepter, Su Xiao could clearly judge that the relationship between the Scarlet Monarch and the Scarlet Scepter was completely different from that between Kaisa and the Abyssal Jar. The latter was what true perfect compatibility looked like.
The relationship between the Scarlet Monarch and the Scarlet Scepter was clearly not perfect compatibility, yet it had been filled in to approach perfect compatibility through some method. Thinking about it this way, the Scarlet Monarch had over 80% compatibility with the Scarlet Scepter, and the remaining 20% gap was filled by the Scarlet Monarch using some method, thereby achieving a state infinitely close to perfect compatibility.
Thinking along these lines, the initial cooperation condition between the Priest and the Scarlet faction was this "Compatibility Secret Art." The Priest was currently holding the "Golden Holy Grail," and he also couldn't achieve perfect compatibility with it, at most 80% compatibility—exactly the same situation as the Scarlet Monarch back then.
Therefore, the Scarlet faction proposed that as long as the Priest helped them rescue the Scarlet Monarch from the Nightmare Seal, they would give him this secret art. Both parties established a contract for this, and the Contract Parchment along with the "Compatibility Secret Art" were jointly notarized and stored by the Void Tree. As long as the Scarlet Monarch broke free, the Priest could obtain this secret art through the Void Tree.
Now the Scarlet faction had been destroyed, but for the Priest, this had an impact, yet it wasn't enough to cause the plan to fail. He didn't care whether the Scarlet faction lived or died. What he wanted was the "Compatibility Secret Art" currently under the Void Tree's notarized storage. Therefore, releasing the Scarlet Monarch from the Nightmare Land was the Priest's current goal.
This made sense. It explained why the Priest had arranged to meet the Scarlet Eldest Son here. The Priest didn't have the key to open the Nightmare Land deep within the Sand Sea, and the knowledge the Scarlet Eldest Son possessed about opening the Scarlet Passage might be the second method to free the Scarlet Monarch.
Su Xiao wasn't sure if his deduction was correct. These were all speculations and guesses based on known information. But whether they were correct or not didn't matter; the subsequent probing was the key.
Su Xiao hadn't removed the [Scarlet Ring (Fake)] yet, so he once again opened a passage on the Scarlet Mist behind him, letting Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha immediately pursue the Scarlet Eldest Son. They had to intercept him—the plan had changed, and they couldn't let him go to the Sanctuary City for now.
That wasn't all. Su Xiao contacted Zuiyasi through the team channel, entrusting him to capture the Scarlet Eldest Son as quickly as possible. Upon success, 5 bottles of [Divine Blood Potion] would be the reward. After Zuiyasi received this news, he immediately decided to set off. 5 bottles of [Divine Blood Potion] were a bit "unimportant"; the key was friendship—a deep, weighty friendship worth 5 bottles.
As for why Su Xiao had Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha intercept the Scarlet Eldest Son while also having Zuiyasi capture him, this was a precaution. Su Xiao instructed Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha to deliberately take the wrong path, to avoid being targeted by the Priest's main body as soon as they left this place and getting intercepted.
Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha's team would attract any possible enemies, while Zuiyasi was the main force to reliably capture the Scarlet Eldest Son.
Inside the secret study, Su Xiao appeared to be confronting the Priest, but in reality, his thoughts were racing, and he had already formed a relatively reliable hypothesis. On the other side, the Priest was also weighing the situation, considering why Su Xiao had released the Nightmare Blood Shadow and what his subsequent goals were.
"It seems releasing the Nightmare Blood Shadow was also an accident for you."
The Priest guessed that Su Xiao hadn't intentionally released the Nightmare Blood Shadow. In this exchange of mutual scheming, the Priest had taken the lead first.
"Let me guess, your target is the Four Giants of the Lightless Temple, right? Is it a mission from the Law Destruction faction? No, the Law Destruction faction only has you left. So, is it a test for you, the Shadow of Law Destruction? Or... a talent mission for the Law Destruction? With such astonishing mission difficulty, the talent ability of the Shadow of Law Destruction is truly powerful."
The Priest spoke with a kind smile. Although this was a clone, it was definitely controlled by the Priest's consciousness.
"I heard that the Archbishop of the Abyss got the 'Sealing Blade' from you before. That's the key to leaving this place. A fake 'Sealing Blade' wouldn't fool the Archbishop of the Abyss. But my old friend Bai Ye wouldn't be so careless. He wouldn't give the Archbishop of the Abyss even the slightest chance to escape. Unless, this mission doesn't require killing all four giants. Killing three out of four is enough? So even if one slips away by mistake, it's still acceptable."
The Priest smiled even more kindly. This was the third time the Priest had spoken in this confrontation, and each of his three statements precisely revealed Su Xiao's intentions, seizing the initiative three times in a row.
"This is the method to open the Scarlet Passage. You should have been to the Scarlet Castle and seen the battle traces I left behind on the fifth floor while fighting the City Lord's wife. I found this in the City Lord's study on the sixth floor."
Su Xiao took out a rolled-up parchment. Then, he tossed the parchment in front of the Priest. The parchment scroll rolled, finally lightly bumping against the Priest's shoe tip, rolling back a little before stopping.
This move made the Priest feel extremely uncomfortable in his heart. If he bent down to pick it up, he would instantly expose his entire purpose for cooperating with the Scarlet faction. But if he didn't pick it up, based on his understanding of the Law Destroyer opposite him, there was a more than 70% chance that the other party had thrown out the real method for opening the Scarlet Passage. This guy specialized in this kind of open scheme that left people with no choice.
In this exchange of mutual scheming, the original score of 3:0 was immediately pulled to 3:5.
The situation was somewhat deadlocked. Su Xiao and the Priest both roughly understood each other's goals.
The Priest's goal was to release the Scarlet Monarch. Su Xiao wouldn't allow this to happen. Once the Scarlet Monarch was released, he would definitely come for Su Xiao first, both because they were mortal enemies and because the Scarlet Scepter was with Su Xiao.
Now came the interesting part. How to achieve one's own goal while preventing the other party from achieving theirs—this might be the key going forward.
"Bai Ye, you must have a way to break the Scarlet Monarch's seal."
The Priest spoke, directly laying his cards on the table. But this made Su Xiao's heart sink. The Priest had revealed his hand too directly; there must be a trap in this.
"I actually admire the Law Destruction faction."
The Priest suddenly mentioned the Ancestral Law Destroyers, and even said he admired them. But then, his tone sharply changed as he continued:
"But even the Ancestral Law Destroyers have reached their limit in sealing the Scarlet Monarch until now. I'm not disparaging the seals set up by the Law Destroyers. A seal that hasn't been maintained for so many years lasting until recently is already astonishing."
The implication of the Priest's words was that even if the Scarlet Monarch's seal wasn't actively opened, it wouldn't last much longer.
"Oh? Then why bother spending time and effort using other methods to break the seal? Just wait."
Su Xiao sat on a crystal seat. Hearing this, the Priest smiled and shook his head, saying: "That's what the contract stipulates. The Scarlet faction also has experts in contracts. Although they're not as good as you, Grey Gentleman, and Wood, they're only slightly weaker. I need to open the seal, or use other effective methods to help the Scarlet Monarch break free, for me to fulfill the contract."
Having said this, the Priest took out a piece of deep blue crystal fragment and continued: "Actually, before signing that contract, my thought was that a seal about to collapse was nothing. Using the erosion of the Ancient God system to break through that seal would be no problem. But, that seal, which could last at most another ten-plus days, only cracked off this much under my full-force assault."
As the Priest spoke, he held that deep blue crystal between his index and middle fingers, a hint of speechlessness visible in his expression. The seal left by the Law Destruction faction had even refreshed the understanding of a super old schemer like the Priest in this regard.
"Since this outcome is unavoidable, why don't we take the initiative? Actively open that seal and permanently eliminate the Scarlet Monarch. I fulfill the contract terms, and you achieve your goal."
As the Priest spoke, the smile on his face grew wider. Against the backdrop of the shadows behind him and the faint light above, his eyes seemed to turn pitch black, and a sense of oppression from an Ancient God grew stronger.
"In ten-plus days, I'll have already left this place. At most, I'll never come to this world again. The Scarlet Monarch will be trapped here. So, what does this have to do with me?"
Although Su Xiao said this, if he had the opportunity to eliminate the Scarlet Monarch, he wouldn't miss it. The reason was that the Scarlet Monarch was not only powerful but also immortal and indestructible. After being imprisoned in the seal for so many years, his immortality and indestructibility must have been reduced to less than a tenth, or even temporarily ineffective.
Additionally, the "Super·World-Level Sealing Art" activated here suppressed the combat power representing Scarlet Force to the Absolute Strong level. Even under these circumstances, this entity's combat power was still stronger than the Star Devourer, Eternal Dark Lord, and Archbishop of the Abyss. But undeniably, this was the best opportunity to eliminate this being.
As for the Priest's claim that the seal at the deepest part of the Sand Sea could only last ten-plus days, Su Xiao wasn't worried about that. The seal wasn't a single layer. This could be confirmed from the description of the obtained item [Scarlet Eye].
Thus, that seal should still last a long time. However, one point couldn't be ignored: the Abyss Passage opened in this world had Scarlet Force surging out. Could this be seen as an omen? The Scarlet Monarch within the seal had found another way to break free.
Moreover, when this escape method would take effect was unclear to Su Xiao. It could be the next second, a few days later, or several years later—full of uncertainty. Therefore, taking advantage of the "Super·World-Level Sealing Art" notarized by the Void Tree to eliminate the Scarlet Monarch was clearly a good choice.
The more troublesome issue was that if the Scarlet Monarch was left alone, once he broke through the seal and the "Super·World-Level Sealing Art" failed, whether the Eternal Light World could still trap this powerful being was really uncertain.
The spatial seal here had been too many years without maintenance or repair. Furthermore, the Slinster Dwarves who could repair this spatial seal were nearly extinct. Even if some survivors remained, they had long lost the technical inheritance to repair this seal.
Not to mention that over the years, the prisoners here had been constantly assaulting this spatial seal. That this seal had lasted until now was already astonishingly resilient.
One really couldn't count on this scarred spatial seal to withstand the full-force attack of the Eternal Light World's strongest being, the Scarlet Monarch.
If the Scarlet Monarch escaped, and Su Xiao hadn't yet advanced to Supreme rank, he would be dead for sure.
After weighing the pros and cons, Su Xiao didn't directly agree to cooperate with the Priest. First, regardless of whether the situation the Priest described was credible, directly agreeing to cooperate with him was the most disadvantageous choice. On the surface, if the Nightmare Land was left alone, the Priest seemed to be the one losing more, at least on the surface.
The Priest opposite him obviously understood this implication, so he directly said: "I guess you're also quite troubled by that Nightmare Blood Shadow, right? I can... trap it for 5 seconds, no, 3 seconds, at most 3 seconds, and I need a prepared venue."
Hearing this condition, Su Xiao would be lying if he said he wasn't tempted. He did have the enhanced Greed Chapter, but it wasn't as simple as just taking out the Greed Chapter to seal the Nightmare Blood Shadow. One major difficulty was temporarily trapping the Nightmare Blood Shadow.
When the Priest was an enemy, he was extremely troublesome and hard to deal with. But if the situation required temporary cooperation, this teammate was quite reliable.
Su Xiao frowned in thought. If he continued to maintain hostility with the Priest, the more likely outcome would be mutual harm and annoyance, which might even cause both the talent mission and the legendary mission to fail.
On the contrary, if he joined forces with the Priest, not to mention whether they could deal with the Scarlet Monarch and the Nightmare Blood Shadow, just considering whether they could handle the Star Devourer, Eternal Dark Lord, and Archbishop of the Abyss—as long as they didn't get overconfident and try to take on all three at once, dealing with them one by one with the Priest as an ally would increase the chances of victory by at least 20%.
As if to show more sincerity, the Priest's clone entered a disguise state, gradually transforming into the Temple High Priest·Ezler. It was worth noting that this identity in the Lightless Temple was second only to the Four Giants.
Although he had guessed about this card in the Priest's hand earlier, seeing was believing. Since the Priest's identity this time was one of the Temple High Priest·Ezler, having him join would conservatively increase the winning rate against the Four Giants by 30%.
As the saying goes, plans can't keep up with changes. Since cooperation had been decided, there was no need to entrust Zuiyasi to catch the Scarlet Eldest Son anymore. He immediately contacted Zuiyasi through the team channel.
Bai Ye: "Have you caught the person?"
Zuiyasi: "Almost."
Bai Ye: "Then don't bother catching him."
Zuiyasi: "What did you say in the last message? My time reversed a few seconds, and the received message also disappeared. My memory from just now is blurry."
Bai Ye: "Have you caught the person?"
Zuiyasi: "Caught (attached photo)."
Bai Ye: "..."
...
Su Xiao closed the communication channel. This bastard Zuiyasi was really efficient. Black Iron City was so far from the Wet Salt District—how did this guy get here? Normally, ordinary teleportation arrays couldn't be used in the Eternal Light World.
But since a promise had been made, the reward couldn't be shortchanged. Originally, if he hadn't caught the person, he planned to pay 80% of the hard work fee. Su Xiao deposited 5 bottles of [Divine Blood Potion] into the team channel, setting them to a pending claim status.
"See you in Black Iron City."
"I'm already over there. See you in Black Iron City."
After saying this, the Priest's clone exploded into a large number of black tentacles, which eventually disappeared.
Seeing this, Su Xiao stood up. Just as he was about to leave, he noticed several parchments on the desk not far away. Picking one up, it had a precisely structured formation, but these formations were all half-finished.
Earlier, when he first arrived in the underground world, Su Xiao had seen the exquisite formations of this formation master in a treatment center. From the current situation, it seemed this formation master had been placed under house arrest by the Scarlet faction. He wondered how this person was doing now.
After leaving the secret study through the [Scarlet Ring (Fake)], the ring on Su Xiao's hand cracked with a snap. He didn't mind this; the Scarlet Temple no longer had mist doors that required this item to open.
Leaving the underground world through the space gate opened by the Scarlet faction, Su Xiao returned to the Wet Salt District. As soon as he got back, Bubu Wang sneezed and twitched his nose, clearly not liking this place.
Su Xiao took out the Watcher's Map and then the Treasure Vault Map given by the Dark Woman. After comparing the two, he searched along the way. Two hours later, he arrived at a forest with pitch-black withered trees.
Looking around, an ancient tree that would take several people to encircle caught his attention. He stepped forward, gathered Cyan Steel Shadow Energy on his hand, and pressed it against the tree. A vertical crack gradually appeared on the tree, revealing churning blue fragments inside that looked very sharp.
He released the Demon Spirit to charge into it. After waiting a moment, as the Demon Spirit endured the grinding of numerous mechanisms, it finally reached an independent space. He could sense that it wasn't large there. Confirming this, Su Xiao swapped positions with the Demon Spirit.
The scene before him changed. Su Xiao had arrived inside the Law Destruction Treasure Vault. Looking ahead, rows of shelves were empty, with only a storage box at the innermost part still intact. He walked over and opened it.
[You obtained Awakening Stone ×1.]
[You obtained First Generation Finger Bone ×1.]
[You obtained Scarlet·Awakening Stone (Manufactured by the Law Destruction faction, special Awakening Stone).]
...
[Scarlet·Awakening Stone]
Origin: Law Destruction faction·Eternal Light Watcher.
Effect: Can be used to awaken Scarlet Force (requires having a Scarlet Seed within the body).
Description: First open the Scarlet, then activate the Darkness.
...
Seeing this item, Su Xiao guessed something, but the clues were too few now, and there were too many possible answers. Therefore, he temporarily set aside speculation about this aspect.
Leaving the Law Destruction Treasure Vault through the Demon Spirit, then recalling the Demon Spirit, Su Xiao set up a disposable Law-Destroying Teleportation Array. He stood on it and looked at Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha. The three of them shook their heads in unison.
Su Xiao glanced at Amu. The Fierce Winter War Bull immediately cowered and obediently stepped onto the teleportation array. He then looked at Baha. After a moment of internal struggle, Baha also stepped on. Finally, he looked at Bubu Wang. Bubu suddenly raised his dog head and started whistling while looking up, then secretly glanced at Su Xiao. Seeing that Su Xiao's gaze was the kind that would take out a custom-made slipper to hit him, Bubu quickly ran onto the teleportation array.
After many training sessions, Bubu Wang, Amu, Baha, and Beini had all adapted to the Law-Destroying Teleportation Array to some extent, at least to the point where they wouldn't be seriously injured after teleportation.
Boom!
The teleportation array activated. The next moment, they arrived at the manufacturing facility in Black Iron City. After returning to the safe zone, Su Xiao didn't rest but set out alone to go to the meeting place with the anonymous person to buy the titles.
An hour later, inside the Black Iron Coin Exchange, this was the safest place in Black Iron City. Given Su Xiao's friendship with the Mechanical Manufacturer, even out of respect for him, no one would make a move here.
Su Xiao sat on a bench waiting, drinking a local beverage that resembled lemon soda. He had to admit, Black Iron City's drink packaging was quite good. It even had a thick straw and was an iced drink.
Just then, a figure wearing a khaki long coat and a hood arrived. This outfit had a face-concealing function, making it hard for others to see the face under the hood.
"Hel... hello, I'm the anonymous person here to trade titles with you."
The newcomer seemed a bit nervous for some reason. Seeing this, Su Xiao took a sip of his iced drink and asked, "You look very nervous. Could it be that you've arranged teammates to ambush me?"
"How could that be! I'm... I'm just a bit... fierce because of your reputation outside."
The anonymous person chose as euphemistic a word as possible, "fierce," to describe Su Xiao's reputation outside.
"Don't worry about that. It's just slander from enemies."
Su Xiao took out 1200 ounces of Space-Time Power and handed the sealed container to the anonymous person opposite him. Receiving the 1200 ounces of Space-Time Power, the anonymous person couldn't help but get a bit excited, but quickly took out an exquisite wooden box. Opening it, inside were 12 attribute-less titles. Then she closed the wooden box and handed it to Su Xiao.
Confirming the titles were fine, Su Xiao said, "If you have more titles later, remember to contact me. Same price."
"Okay!"
The anonymous person relaxed a lot, her tone becoming a bit more cheerful. She turned and walked toward the exit of the Black Iron Coin Exchange.
"Eldor."
"Hmm?"
Almost at the door, the anonymous person, whose mood was great, paused mid-step, about to turn her head to look at whoever called her name. Suddenly, the anonymous person, Eldor, froze, then ran out of the Black Iron Coin Exchange without looking back.
Watching Eldor run off, Su Xiao finished the cold drink in his hand, then tossed the empty cup into a trash can a few meters away. He had vaguely felt that this person's aura was somewhat familiar earlier, but due to the interference of concealment equipment, he couldn't judge immediately. In the end, he chose to test it, and it actually worked.
This wasn't really surprising. Eldor was a healing-type contractor from the Apocalypse Paradise. Given the atmosphere among Apocalypse Paradise contractors, healing types were always key protected team members during group missions. However, there was no doubt about the strength of Eldor's healing abilities.
Leaving the Black Iron Coin Exchange, Su Xiao returned to the manufacturing facility. As soon as he entered the inner hall, he found the Dark Eater staring warily at the Priest sitting by the round table.
"Bai Ye, you're back! This guy actually came looking for us himself. He doesn't take you seriously at all. Let's team up and take him down. Priest, you..."
The Dark Eater grew more excited as she spoke, a smile spreading across her cracked, fair little face.
"He's a teammate now."
Su Xiao said in a flat tone.
"Huh?"
The Dark Eater's words suddenly got stuck. She didn't quite react for a moment.
Su Xiao, the Priest, Wood, Zuiyasi, and Kaisa took their seats around the round table. Su Xiao was the first to speak, asking:
"For this round against the Star Devourer, who's participating?"
Hearing this, the Priest raised his hand. Kaisa gave a sly smile—anything with benefits, Kaisa would definitely join.
"The Star Devourer took a lot of the Monarch's treasure."
Zuiyasi also expressed his stance.
"In that case, if we seize that treasure, you, Wood, and Kaisa will split it three ways."
Su Xiao's suggestion received unanimous agreement. He was killing the Star Devourer for the mission, the Priest was doing it for the cooperation terms plus seizing the Star Devourer's source power, and Zuiyasi, Wood, and Kaisa were after the Monarch's treasure that the Star Devourer had taken.
The plan remained unchanged. They would still let the Scarlet Eldest Son go to the Sanctuary City, then attract the Star Devourer's attention. However, this time, with the Priest's assistance as the Lightless Temple's Temple High Priest, things became much easier.
At this moment, the Star Devourer, recuperating from its injuries in the Sanctuary City, had no idea that the "good teammate" group of Su Xiao, the Priest, Zuiyasi, Wood, and Kaisa had already set their sights on it.