Chapter 21: Choosing an Identity
On the eastern coastal line of Falling Star City, a cylindrical watchtower over 500 meters tall stood tall. The tower was nearly a hundred meters in diameter, essentially a fortress, built to guard against attacks from the Sea Race.
The Sea Race in the Witch Realm differed from those in the Wind Sea Continent. Here, they were closer to low-intelligence beast tribes, often called the Sea Beast Race, and frequently clashed with the small and medium-sized cities along the coast near the Witch Faction.
The true core of this watchtower, standing on the coastline, lay underground. Nominally, it was meant to guard against the Sea Beast Race, but in the past century, the Sea Beast Race had landed nearby fewer than ten times. In reality, it was a secret prison, holding heinous criminals.
This underground prison had ten levels in total. Su Xiao was currently on the tenth level. Due to the increasingly rampant activities of the Dark God Cult recently, more criminals were imprisoned here. Originally, the tenth level had single cells, but the number of criminals needing confinement exceeded capacity, so Su Xiao was placed in a double cell, awaiting interrogation by the Hunter Organization's officer, Ashis.
Su Xiao had just mastered Sky Fury: Torrent Slash, and the demon spirit within Dragon-Slaying Flash was becoming increasingly active. This was a stage requiring quiet meditation, but his current cellmate was somewhat neurotic, constantly muttering and occasionally letting out strange laughs.
It wasn't until Su Xiao used Spirit Shadow Threads to hang him up that the cellmate initially struggled and flailed. After a few minutes of hanging by the neck with the Spirit Shadow Threads, this foul-toothed, neurotic cellmate finally quieted down, hanging motionless without even a breath. His politeness and manners had undergone a qualitative leap.
The guards watched from outside the half-meter-thick Crystal Resin wall. As for why they didn't enter to stop it, the various sealing runes on Su Xiao were as useless as decorations. The guards naturally wouldn't come in to die. After notifying the Hunter Organization members, they waited outside the cell. As long as Su Xiao didn't attempt to escape, the guards wouldn't act.
Su Xiao closed his eyes to rest and steady his breath. Wisps of dark blue energy drifted from his storage space and were absorbed by him. This was the demon spirit energy he had seized. Now, with the Demon Devouring Constitution ability, he no longer needed tedious operations. He could directly absorb this demon spirit energy to enhance all potential limits and Abyss Resistance.
Additionally, after wearing [Old Hunter] to kill the Dark Twins, the title had improved. The enhancement was:
[Old Hunter]
Origin: Reincarnation Paradise
Quality: Special (Obtainable only by Hunters)
Category: Title
Title Effect 1: Hunting Mark (Active)...
Title Effect 2: Ruthless Hunter (Active)...
Title Effect 3: Old Hunter (Passive): For each successful hunt target, this title permanently stacks 1 layer of Hunting Effect. Every 5 accumulated layers of Hunting Effect grant this title a permanent combat-related bonus effect (each 5 layers provide one effect, random, but must be related to combat assistance, combat gains, or combat enhancement).
5 Layers of Hunting Effect · Spoils (Passive): When wearing this title and successfully hunting and killing an enemy, there is a 20% chance to seize one of the enemy's abilities (randomly seized) and convert it into a skill scroll through Reincarnation Paradise's certification.
Tip: This skill scroll can be transferred, traded, etc., and is a high-quality gain after full certification.
...
The new characteristic of the [Old Hunter] title was quite good, but it also involved a problem: when facing a powerful enemy, should one gamble for maximum profit? Remember, the [Old Hunter] title had no combat power bonus, unlike [Deep Blue Shadow], which boosted combat power by a notch.
If, in a battle against a powerful enemy, one obtained an opponent's ultimate-level skill scroll through the Spoils ability, it would definitely be a huge profit. At the Absolute Strength level, the cheapest ultimate-level abilities cost hundreds of thousands of Soul Coins, and values of millions were common.
After a brief consideration, Su Xiao abandoned this idea. The powerful enemies he faced were already absurdly strong. The Old Hunter title was more suitable for fighting elite bosses. Previously, when fighting the Dark Twins, he had already experienced the feeling of fighting a powerful enemy without the [Deep Blue Shadow] title.
Putting away the title, Su Xiao looked at the dozens of guards outside the crystal wall. This made the guards nervous, some even stepping back. Seeing this, Su Xiao was puzzled. He hadn't released his aura. These guards, accustomed to heinous criminals, shouldn't be like this.
Crack, crack, crack~
A dark blue crystal layer formed, starting from Su Xiao's shoulder, constructing a crystal arm that reached for his neck. When it was only half a centimeter from his neck, this crystal arm stopped abruptly, then shattered inch by inch.
Coldness and darkness were the most intuitive feelings the demon spirit gave Su Xiao. Sensing this, he breathed a sigh of relief. His biggest worry was that the demon spirit, upon awakening consciousness, would become a personality like Baha's. He wasn't afraid of the demon spirit's erosion or challenge, but he truly couldn't withstand Baha's type of mental attack.
Su Xiao chose to release the demon spirit. A figure made of iron-sand-like dark blue smoke stood before him, with a female physique and a bone mask on its face. On the right side of the mask were a few faint blue lines, like naturally formed cracks. It could be said that the demon spirit had a mature lady's figure like Tide Hunter, but it was more of a shape approximation. It had no skin, flesh, or the like. The dark blue demon spirit source energy constituted it.
This state was the strongest, able to ignore physical and energy attacks. If it transformed into a physical body, it would be self-weakening. The demon spirit's purpose was to fight, not to be beautiful. Moreover, the current demon spirit had a dark aesthetic.
Another point was that the demon spirit would not speak. Regardless of any language, the demon spirit would not say a word, nor even make a sound like a shout. This wasn't unique to Su Xiao's demon spirit; all Law Destroyers' demon spirits were like this. The demon spirit would definitely not speak or make sounds. This was like a law, even a rule.
After Su Xiao's demon spirit gained some consciousness, its first emotion was indifference. But this indifference didn't last long before gradually giving way to some anger. Thinking about it, how could it not be angry? After painstakingly devouring the source energy of the Undying and Immortal Abyss Spawn and converting it into delicious demon spirit energy, just as it was about to take a big bite, seventy percent was taken away. And through sensing, it learned that from now on, fifty percent of the demon spirit energy it converted would have to be given away.
After observing for a moment, Su Xiao confirmed that his demon spirit was the aloof type and secretly breathed a sigh of relief. But then he thought, since the demon spirit had consciousness and self-judgment, could he trick... ahem, persuade it? At least, make it not rebel. Once his own soul strength increased, he would suppress it again. By then, the demon spirit would be at his mercy.
Thinking of this, Su Xiao began to organize his words in his mind. Since he was indeed not good at persuasion, usually resorting to physical negotiation, after brewing for a full few minutes, he spoke:
"To some extent, I can be considered your father."
Hearing this, the dark blue smoke on the demon spirit noticeably accelerated its dispersion. Thinking about it, this guy first took fifty percent of its demon spirit energy, then wanted to be its father. This was simply too much. The demon spirit didn't pounce and kill him directly only because it had been suppressed by Su Xiao's powerful soul for too long and hadn't yet adapted to its newfound power.
"I understand that seeing your father for the first time... I will..."
Before Su Xiao could finish, the demon spirit pounced. Dragon-Slaying Flash, still in its sheath, appeared in Su Xiao's hand. The Sealing Demon Scabbard was truly activated, emitting an irresistible suction force that pulled the demon spirit back into Dragon-Slaying Flash.
After putting away the sheathed Dragon-Slaying Flash, Su Xiao felt that his demon spirit was both aloof and ferocious. If Green Gillian were present, she would be very envious, because her demon spirit's first near-loss of control almost devoured her.
But that incident also caused Green Gillian to awaken another strange attribute. However, Green Gillian already had many strange attributes, so one more didn't matter.
As the Demon Devouring Constitution ability converted the absorbed demon spirit energy into energy he could absorb, Su Xiao felt himself gradually improving. But the improvement was hard to perceive, as potential-type enhancements were like this. After a moment, a prompt appeared.
[All your potential limit ranks +11.]
[Your Abyss Resistance increased by 7 points.]
...
Su Xiao checked his information. His Abyss Resistance reached 60 points, which was already quite high. Scrolling down, he saw all potential limit ranks +36.
After all potential limit ranks exceeded 30, improvement became very difficult. He estimated that to achieve the potential for 800 points in Strength, Agility, Stamina, and Intelligence attributes, he would need at least all potential limit ranks +45.
It seemed close, but in reality, he would need to absorb nine more portions of Demon Spirit Source Matter to achieve it. This time, he was lucky to devour a Supreme Rank, Undying and Immortal Abyss Spawn. Subsequent opportunities wouldn't be so good.
Although the demon spirit was temporarily suppressed, it wasn't stable enough. Su Xiao took out a communication device and called the Moon Witch. As soon as it connected, the Moon Witch, Serisilis, said:
"I know the situation. Someone will pick you up in two hours. Now, there's a dying Filth Seeker looking for you everywhere. Within two hours, my people will deal with him."
The Moon Witch was quite reliable. As for the Filth Seeker she mentioned, a dying Filth Seeker was very troublesome. Even if killed, one might be contaminated by the violent mutation it triggered. Mutation only eroded Wizards, but violent mutation could invade all living beings.
Su Xiao contacted the Moon Witch not only about this matter. He said, "There's another thing."
"No borrowing."
"..."
Both sides fell silent. It wasn't that the Moon Witch was stingy. The 3.5 million Soul Coins used to hire Su Xiao included a significant amount from her own pocket. Plus, having been in power for so many years, she cared more about the Witch Realm's development, so naturally, she wouldn't use her authority for personal gain.
"I need a Sealer."
"No problem."
This time, the Moon Witch agreed readily.
"Arrange for me to meet that Sealer as soon as possible."
"I can't do that. It's up to you."
"..."
Su Xiao was puzzled. The Moon Witch's handling of this matter was very confusing.
"Haven't I told you? Alanna is one of the top ten Sealers in the Witch Realm, no, in all realms. Otherwise, why do you think I made her your assistant?"
"Alanna is the Witch Realm's top Mystic Scholar."
"Yes, that doesn't prevent her from being a top Sealer."
The Moon Witch's tone carried a hint of amusement.
"You should have said so earlier."
Hearing Su Xiao's words, the Moon Witch replied with even more amusement:
"Dream on. Our Alanna is beautiful, kind-hearted, and capable. Apart from her average personal strength, she's perfect. How could I let someone like you poach her to the Paradise faction?"
"Serisilis, you should trust the reputation of a Law Destroyer."
"The reputation of a Law Destroyer..."
The Moon Witch, Serisilis, had a very complicated tone. Indeed, the reputation of Law Destroyers was truly... complicated.
Ending the communication, Su Xiao began to think about subsequent matters. What exactly did Black Hole Azler want to steal from that bank to go through so much trouble, even blowing up the 10th District of Falling Star City? This would surely invite fierce retaliation from the Wizard Faction, especially since the current city lord of Falling Star City was notoriously vengeful, even among Witches.
The answer didn't take long to arrive. Serin's family, being experts in intelligence, quickly identified the item stolen from the bank as Black Hole Azler's target.
In the Dawn Team's channel, Su Xiao looked at the photo Bubu Wang sent. The photo showed a gold ring. This item was called the Champion's Ring, the prize for the previous Golden Arena champion.
Additionally, Bubu Wang sent another photo. This was taken according to Su Xiao's instructions during a search in the central area of the 10th District. It showed a Humid Life Ritual, an extremely evil dark ritual. Its function was to absorb the lingering, agonized souls within the surrounding area, converting them into a resentment-type energy and storing it.
The explosives the Fanatic had set up in the 10th District would kill many innocent civilians. Then, the Humid Life Ritual would activate, absorbing the souls of the civilians in their painful state, gaining a large amount of resentment-type energy.
Su Xiao's arrival undoubtedly interfered with Black Hole Azler's plan. In fact, the other party didn't even bother to have the Humid Life Ritual removed. Whether this was exposed or not, Black Hole Azler didn't care.
Combining the clues gathered by Bubu Wang and Baha, along with intelligence from Serin's family, Su Xiao confirmed one point: Black Hole Azler was very interested in the upcoming Golden Arena. And that Champion's Ring was the best way to participate in the Golden Arena, much better than using a Gold Invitation. It would surely bring many advantages.
Black Hole Azler himself couldn't participate in such a competition. So, it must be the Fanatic participating. With sufficient preparation, the Fanatic's combat power was no less than the Dark Twins. Knowing what enemy to face, the Fanatic would only be stronger. This guy was a god-level fighter in arranged battles but average in unexpected encounters.
An hour later, Falling Star City, 15th District, Third Floor Interrogation Room of the Hunter Organization Branch.
The reason Su Xiao was transferred here was that the warden of the secret prison had stated that, regardless of any approval from the Hunter Organization, they refused to continue holding Su Xiao. The Hunter Organization officer in charge of this case, Ashis, had no choice but to transfer Su Xiao here. Along the way, Ashis's female adjutant and several Hunters were terrified.
The interrogation room was about 20 square meters, somewhat simple and crude, with only a wooden table. The white fluorescent light illuminated the room brightly. Su Xiao and Ashis sat across from each other at the thick wooden table. Ashis's female adjutant sat beside him, holding a very thick stack of documents. These were the materials she had gathered about Su Xiao, and the more she read, the more shocked she became, especially regarding the destruction of Arcane Eternal Star's Resource Star.
Ashis had initially suspected that the Fanatic might be responsible for the 10th District incident, but now it seemed the real culprit was right in front of him.
This confirmed to Ashis that the notorious Law Destroyer across from him had blown up nearly half of the 10th District. Coupled with the various traces at the scene, all evidence pointed to this.
Ashis spoke, patting the stack of documents on the table. "These are solid evidence. You can't deny it. So, just confess and save everyone time."
"What's your name?"
Su Xiao looked at the man opposite him. He was about thirty years old, with stubble on his chin and a firm, determined gaze. However, judging by the fact that his subordinates were all young, this man wasn't doing well within the Hunter Organization. Only newly joined Hunter Organization members would be assigned to him.
As for the Hunter Organization's capabilities, they were useless. If the Hunter Organization had been competent, the Moon Witch wouldn't have spent a large sum to invite Su Xiao here. To simply describe the Hunter Organization: they were timid against the Dark God Cult but aggressive in internal conflicts.
In such a department, someone like Ashis, who was both capable and righteous, would naturally be unpopular. When the 10th District incident occurred, Ashis, responsible for monitoring the 15th District, arrived at the scene before the 10th District Hunter squad leader and arrested Su Xiao.
"My name is Ashis. Although I don't believe you're innocent, if you can provide evidence, I will submit it to my superiors for a fair trial."
Ashis stared at the man across from him. Though filled with rage, he tried his best to suppress it. He now wanted to send this villain, who had caused the deaths of millions of civilians in the explosion, to the seabed prison to pay for his crimes. But before the trial, he couldn't do that, nor would he allow himself to.
"Breaking your word is a bad habit. Your adjutant said earlier that dinner would be provided. It's almost ten o'clock."
"?"
Ashis was stunned, staring at the villain across from him in disbelief for a moment before barely suppressing the anger in his heart. This villain, after harming so many civilians, was still concerned about a dinner.
"What time is it?"
"Time no longer matters to you. What you need to do now is confess and repent, and hope the judge doesn't send you to the Dark Prison..."
Before Ashis could finish, the door was knocked. Ashis frowned. One of his subordinates entered with a communicator, whispered something to him, then handed it over. Ashis took the communicator and quickly walked out of the interrogation room, closing the door.
A few minutes later, Ashis returned with a dark expression. He sat down, staring at Su Xiao with lowered eyes. The female adjutant sensed something was wrong and quietly pushed the thick stack of documents aside, then turned her head and remained silent.
"My pig-brained superior ordered me to release you within an hour. Now... 53 minutes left."
Ashis picked up the timer on the table, clicked and turned it to set 53 minutes, then placed it on the table. He then stared intently at Su Xiao across from him. As a Hunter, before resigning from this position, he wouldn't act recklessly based on his own judgment. But he chose to keep this demon in this place until the last second he could detain him before letting him go.
At this moment, Night City, Back District.
Energetic music, burning oil drums, an octagonal cage stained with dried blood, and the cheering and cursing spectators outside the cage, along with two boxers fighting to the death inside the cage.
A huge fat man, weighing at least 500 pounds, wearing a custom floral shirt, sat on a sofa, filling it completely. His ring-covered hand held a glass of wine, and his eyes, filled with a fierce light, were very inconsistent with his physique.
This was the boss of this place, the monopolist of all gambling fights in Night City, the former strongest fighter of Night City, Giant Fighter Yup. Of course, only for that era's Night City.
As Yup was enjoying tonight's gambling fight, feeling it was average and somewhat boring, a figure draped in a black robe with a hood blocked his path.
"Law Destroyer, Kukulin, Bai Ye, where, is."
A female voice with a pause came, lacking the softness of most women, but with a slight hoarseness.
"Never heard of him. Don't know. Move aside."
Giant Fighter Yup showed displeasure. He actually knew the general location of that Law Destroyer, either in Moon Ring City or Falling Star City. However, for profit reasons, Yup wouldn't reveal such information to a stranger.
"Fight one round. Lose, tell me."
The black-robed woman spoke. Hearing this, Giant Fighter Yup became interested. He grinned, revealing a few gold teeth.
"Alright, I was bored tonight anyway. But I can't guarantee you'll still be alive after one round."
"Then, start?"
"Good..."
Boom!
The black-robed woman, Sha, punched Giant Fighter Yup in the chest. The fat on Giant Fighter Yup's body rippled like water, then, along with blood, exploded out with a slap. With one punch, the 500-pound Giant Fighter Yup became a large-framed, skin-and-bone skeleton. His lips trembled, and the teeth in his mouth totaled no more than five, sparsely distributed. He said shakily:
"What I was about to say... was 'good, let's... enter the fighting cage,' not 'start directly.'"
After saying this, Giant Fighter Yup vomited a large amount of blood and organ fragments like a fountain.
"Then, sorry."
Sha's hand reached into her hood and scratched her head. She grabbed Giant Fighter Yup by the hair with one hand and threw him into the octagonal cage. She then jumped in herself, crouching beside Giant Fighter Yup's massive head, and said:
"Let's, start, now."
Hearing this, Giant Fighter Yup's eyes moistened. It wasn't fear. It was that this villain, who had done many bad things, met an end he hadn't imagined: not being defeated by a righteous strong person and then judged, but being punched to death like a minor thug.
Pat, pat~
Sha patted Giant Fighter Yup's face like a ball and said, "Don't, die yet. Tell me, where is, Kukulin, Bai Ye."
Before Sha finished speaking, Giant Fighter Yup died on the spot. Sha tilted her head and thought for a few seconds, then pierced her hand into Giant Fighter Yup's head and pulled out his soul. Giant Fighter Yup's soul looked completely bewildered.
...
Falling Star City, 3rd District, a seafood restaurant.
Su Xiao, Bubu Wang, Amu, Baha, Alanna, and Serin were enjoying dinner. Among them, Alanna ate with eyes full of happiness and exclaimed, "I've been to Falling Star City many times, but this is the first time I've known there's such a delicious restaurant here."
Su Xiao put down his utensils, picked up the Goddess of Fortune's Ten Thousand Realms Food Guide, and wrote the restaurant's address on a blank page at the back.
This caught Serin's attention. After swallowing the delicious food, she asked, "Mr. Bai Ye, may I take a look at this food guide?"
Su Xiao handed over the Ten Thousand Realms Food Guide and continued enjoying his meal. Serin read it with great interest. The first 80% made her nod repeatedly, deciding to try these delicacies in various realms during future travels. But when she reached the later parts, her eyes gradually became confused. The names of these restaurants and the dishes seemed a bit special, especially Xia's Restaurant. The signature dishes there challenged her perception.
After dinner, Su Xiao began to consider his subsequent plans. To deal with Black Hole Azler, there were two key points. First, his wife, Dancer Fular, was Black Hole Azler's weakness. Second, the Fanatic. If the Fanatic was eliminated, it would be like cutting off Black Hole Azler's arms.
[Tip: As you hold a Golden Arena Entry Ticket, you can decide whether to participate in this Golden Arena.]
[This arena will officially start at 8 AM tomorrow. Golden Arena Entrance Location: Witch Realm · Falling Star City · 16th District · Central Square.]
[To participate in this Golden Arena, you need to choose an identity.]
[Available Identities: Overlord Unit (1/1 slot available), Challenger (30/30 slots available).]
[Due to the different risks undertaken by the Overlord Unit and Challenger identities, the profit ratio for the Overlord Unit is increased by 420%, while the Challenger has a standard profit ratio.]
[This Golden Arena has no rules. The last one standing will be the champion.]
...