Chapter 3: Plans and Hounds
If one were to gaze upon the Blazing Sun Star from the Star Realm, they would see a massive planet encircled by a black ring, dividing the entire celestial body into two halves. This black ring, which wraps around the Blazing Sun Star, is known as the "Lightless Zone."
Looking at a map of the Blazing Sun Star, one would find that the "Lightless Zone" splits the vast continent in two. The area south of the Lightless Zone is called the Southern Continent, where Twilight City is located. The Soul Academy's tower and the Holy Heart City, the stronghold of the Divine Cult, are also situated here. The "Realm of Exiled Gods," plagued by aberrant deities and bloodthirsty creatures, is also in the Southern Continent.
As for the area north of the "Lightless Zone," this is the Northern Continent. The Dark God Cult's stronghold, the "Undercity," along with the ancient tower further north, the "Dead City"—a cold hell for the exiled—and regions like the "Dark Moon Nightmare," are all in the Northern Continent.
Traveling from the Southern Continent to the Northern Continent is extremely difficult, unless one uses the teleportation arrays of major powers. As for smaller factions, they possess teleportation technology, but the several core materials required for the arrays are all controlled by Twilight City, the Divine Cult, and the Soul Academy.
However, traveling from the Northern Continent to the Southern Continent is much easier. The alliance led by the Dark God Cult in the Northern Continent does not restrict the materials needed for teleportation arrays. It's not that they don't want to; it's that the Northern Continent is teeming with various monsters. They consider themselves lucky to hold the Undercity. If possible, who would choose to live in an underground city? It's a matter of necessity.
The problem is, the Dark Alliance would rather fight a defensive war against monsters in the Northern Continent than move to the Southern Continent, where monster numbers are relatively lower. This shows the terrifying power of the Soul Academy and the Divine Cult. In the Dark Alliance's perception, these two are worse than monsters.
At least they know that monsters attack the Undercity for flesh and soul-devouring. In contrast, when they were beaten by the Soul Academy and the Divine Cult years ago, they had no idea why.
Imagine this: the members of the Dark Alliance are in their lair in the Southern Continent, discussing how to spread their dark faith. Suddenly, a member of the Soul Academy, face streaked with tears and wailing in despair, claims the Dark Alliance killed his entire family. Then his soul power instantly erupts, polluting the minds of everyone within a vast area.
After paying a heavy price to deal with this madman from the Soul Academy, the Dark Alliance investigates and finds that none of their subordinates had any contact with this lunatic. Upon further inquiry, they discover that the man had gone mad, killed his own family, and then delusionally blamed the Dark Alliance.
Initially, the high-ranking members of the Dark Alliance declared, "We are the evil faction; we must retaliate!" But before they could act, the Divine Cult's holy missionaries launched a massive attack on them, branding them heretics.
After being tormented by the Soul Academy and the Divine Cult in turns, the Dark Alliance decided to relocate, leading to the creation of the Undercity in the Northern Continent.
One important point to note is that the Lightless Zone, which divides the continent into north and south, has a pitch-black rock wall on both its northern and southern sides. These two walls nearly seal the Lightless Zone, with only one breach on each side, allowing explorers from the Southern and Northern Continents to enter.
Teleportation methods are unusable within the Lightless Zone. This means that if one enters the Lightless Zone from the entrance on the Southern Continent's rock wall and ventures deep inside, they can only continue forward, searching for the exit leading to the Northern Continent, or be lost forever.
Attempting to turn back increases the risk of exploration dozens of times over. As explorers pass through, their souls leave residual traces in the air, which gradually attract various monsters.
As for the danger level within the Lightless Zone, this dark region contains several hundred small Abyss passages. Just this fact alone gives an idea of the peril.
With so many small Abyss passages, Abyss energy naturally seeps out. The pitch-black rock walls on both sides of the Lightless Zone nearly contain the spread of this Abyss energy. This leads one to speculate that these two walls are almost certainly the work of the Sun God Clan. Only they, who created the Transcendent Realm, would have the qualifications and ability to construct such a magnificent sight.
Since they used the rock walls to seal off this Abyss region, why leave an entrance on each wall? Aren't they afraid of Abyss energy leaking out?
The answer is that they had no choice. If the two walls completely sealed off the Abyss region, the accumulated Abyss energy would create high pressure, causing the walls to gradually crack and shatter.
Conversely, leaving two pressure-relief outlets is the best solution to this problem. It's not that the Sun God Clan didn't want to close those small Abyss passages. Even the current Law Destroyers have tried; these small Abyss passages simply cannot be closed. More accurately, these are not Abyss passages that appeared after the world was damaged. They have existed since ancient times. Forcibly sealing them would only bring greater calamity.
In truth, no disaster descends without reason. For example, the solar aberration in this world is a curse left over from when this world was a Transcendent Realm.
Abyss energy slowly drifts out from the passages in the two rock walls. This energy, which was originally borne by the world's inhabitants, is now absorbed by the sun in the sky. The reason for this lies in the karma between the Sun God Clan and this Blazing Sun.
The Blazing Sun Star and the Ancient Dragon Kingdom·Eberus are both Transcendent Realms located in the Star Realm. One is hot, the other cold, and they are too close together. Eventually, one will be destroyed. To protect their clan and their Blazing Sun, the Sun God Clan has been locked in a fierce battle with the Ancient Dragons. The Blazing Sun responded to the Sun God Clan's guardianship by absorbing all the Abyss energy erosion that was originally meant for them.
As a result, the Sun God Clan is also known as the "Perfect Race." Looking across several eras, all the protagonist races of Transcendent Worlds have their own defects left over from achieving transcendence through fighting the Abyss. The Beast and Sea races have bloodline curses; the Wizards have malignant transformations. Only the Sun God Clan has no such defects. The reason is that their Blazing Sun bore the cost of transcendence for them, just as they guard this Blazing Sun.
Therefore, aside from the Blazing Sun Lord of this world, Ashlot, all those in the myriad realms who dare to call themselves "Blazing Sun Lord," "Sun Lord," or "Solar King" are false kings, for they are unworthy.
Ashlot can be called the Blazing Sun Lord because, as the last royal descendant, he bears the "Blood of the Blazing Sun" within himself, keeping the Blazing Sun Star stable. He also carries the glory of his ancestors.
To put it simply, in the Southern Continent, the power of intelligent beings is stronger than that of the monster factions. This is evident from the "Vanguard Fortress" built right at the exit of the southern rock wall of the Lightless Zone.
As for the Northern Continent, the factions here are generally in a "tower defense game" situation. The Undercity is a prime example. This city, powered by electricity and steam, has a total population of ten million. It is the largest human settlement in the Northern Continent.
Walking the streets of the Undercity, one finds it not as dim as imagined. Looking up, the artificial dome emits a white light during the day, resembling a sky blocked by thick clouds. In reality, this is the root system of a type of tree. Above the Undercity, the ground is covered with towering trees called "Sun Trees."
The leaves of the Sun Tree take advantage of the Northern Continent's mere 3-4 hours of sunlight per day to absorb sunlight, storing it in their roots for photosynthesis. The Undercity uses this characteristic of the Sun Tree as an ultra-low-cost urban light source.
This gives the steel buildings of the Undercity a unique aesthetic. Each building is covered with vine-like steam pipes. Some pipes intentionally have valves left open, allowing steam to hiss out. The steam rises into the air, gradually losing heat, and the moisture moistens the soil layer on the dome, which is firmly bound by tree roots. The water allows the Sun Trees to grow more robustly, providing a stronger light source.
After years of construction, the Sun Tree forest above has become dependent on the Undercity for water. This allows the Undercity's scholars to control the brightness of the dome's root layer by regulating the amount of steam released.
Years ago, an old scholar proposed adding nutrients to the steam to make the Sun Trees stronger, increasing their resistance to the dark storms on the surface. However, after the entire city's air was filled with a smell that left people with complex expressions, and the daily vomiting rate among residents skyrocketed by 90%, this measure was canceled.
Now, in the central building of the Undercity, a somewhat bloated steel palace, blood splattered everywhere in the corridor of the fifth-floor council hall. Holding a bloodthirsty battle axe, Amu stood with one foot on the head of a Mane Beast tribesman, pulling the axe from the creature's shoulder.
Amu rolled his shoulder, feeling a sting in his left shoulder. He looked down and saw a thin metal needle piercing through his shoulder. The needle, coated with poison, was covered in barbs. Amu pinched the needle between his index and middle fingers, ignoring the barbs, and pulled it out.
"You monster!"
A long-haired female swordsman charged in, her sharp sword piercing Amu's chest. Amu didn't even flinch. His large hand grabbed the female swordsman's head. Never having faced such a ferocious enemy, she gasped for breath and tried to break free, but only felt her head clamped like a steel vise. She could only look on in terror as the bloodthirsty axe swung toward her neck, letting out a terrified scream before she died.
Pfft~
The axe blade cut through. Amu casually tossed the severed head aside. For a hand his size, discarding the head was like tossing away a tennis ball.
The corridor was littered with severed limbs and broken bodies. Amu had only one task: ensure no one entered the council hall.
Inside the council hall, Su Xiao sat on a wooden chair. The polished marble floor beneath him was covered in a layer of blood. The sheathed Dragon-Slaying Flash stood upright on the ground, his hands resting on the pommel.
In front of him was a several-meter-long council table. At the head of the table sat the Dark Bishop, Berkhwa, along with a few of his terrified trusted aides.
Half an hour ago, Su Xiao had arrived and proposed cooperation. But as soon as he spoke, a local evil faction leader told him to get out. As a Law-Destroying Shadow who understood etiquette and reason, Su Xiao didn't respond with insults. Instead, he helped the man immediately see the "reincarnation list"—if such a thing existed.
After this minor incident, Su Xiao sat down to continue discussing cooperation with the evil faction leaders present. However, these fellows were extremely agitated. To calm their anger and stop the commotion, the heads of these evil faction leaders were placed on the council table.
Su Xiao's purpose here wasn't to kill them all, although it did net him 425 Sun Gold Coins. He genuinely came to negotiate. The reason was that, as a newcomer to this world, he should find a reasonably reliable faction to collaborate with.
The Dark God Cult was a good choice. The Dark God Cult in this world was different from any other. Here, it could be called a benignly mutated version, mainly because it had been forced to reform by the torment of the Divine Cult and the Soul Academy.
With Su Xiao's strength, claiming he could single-handedly take on Twilight City, the Divine Temple, or the Soul Academy would be arrogant. These three factions all had Supreme-level beings. However, if he faced the Dark Alliance in the Northern Continent, he could indeed take them on alone.
As for using the War Lord title to summon the Demon Insect Race to this world, that wouldn't work on the Blazing Sun Star. The world had a powerful seal. Otherwise, the gods who entered this world long ago would have escaped. Summoning a small number of Demon Insects was feasible, but a massive swarm passing through the world's seal was unlikely.
Su Xiao could indeed take on the entire Dark Alliance alone, but as a newcomer without a high initial status, it would be difficult for him to intervene in the situation at Twilight City. And Twilight City was the center of everything in this world. Without a foothold in this royal city, he might not even be able to proceed with the main quest.
His previous idea was to find an agent to establish a foothold for him in Twilight City, gaining some influence to facilitate his subsequent plans. This was why he had considered the extremely greedy dwarf merchant, but the dwarf was full of lies.
Fortunately, after eliminating the dwarf merchant, a former noble from Twilight City among the remaining slaves and prisoners volunteered. In Su Xiao's view, the identity of a former noble was more suitable as his agent in Twilight City.
This former noble was named Sei·Albers. His Sun God bloodline was so thin it was nearly nonexistent. He could only activate basic "Sun Miracles," which proved his identity as a member of the god clan but was otherwise useless.
In the first 30 years of Albers' life, aside from fantasizing about his etiquette teacher, casually littering might have been his most morally questionable act. This shows the vast difference in stability between the inside and outside of Twilight City.
Following this trajectory, Albers' life should have been: meeting a lover, marrying, having children, and eventually inheriting his father's respectable job in the inner city palace, becoming one of the many minor nobles.
However, Albers got stuck at the "meeting a lover" stage. At a banquet, he met his true love, and they quickly fell in love. But Albers gradually noticed that his passionate girlfriend never wanted to go shopping with him. When he invited her to dinner, she always chose remote restaurants, claiming she didn't want him to spend too much.
This moved Albers, who was nearly 30 and had only one past relationship, to tears. As a minor noble, Albers was somewhat peculiar. Most minor nobles loved pleasure, as power in Twilight City was beyond their reach.
Then one day, a group of men in black intercepted Albers, threw a sack over his head, dragged him into an alley, and beat him severely. When Albers woke up, he was in a police station in the outer city. His passionate girlfriend was nestled in the arms of a middle-aged high noble, her eyes red from crying.
Albers was arrested for harassing the high noble's adopted daughter. In reality, this so-called adopted daughter was the high noble's secret lover. She knew that if things continued, she would be discarded when her beauty faded. Finding a wealthy fool to spend the rest of her life with was a good choice. When she met Albers at the banquet, she might as well have seen the words "big fool" written on his forehead.
Albers learned all this from his father, who visited him in prison. His father, who had been timid his whole life, decided to fight for his son one last time. Normally, when a lover cheats, the person involved just curses a few times and finds a new lover.
But Albers' father, who worked in the inner city palace, knew the high noble's character well. He knew the man was pathologically possessive and twisted. He was certain that his only son wouldn't survive a month in prison before being stabbed to death by a vicious inmate.
The result was that Albers' parents died in an "accident." Albers, being transported to Prison District 105, escaped when the steam prison wagon crashed due to the driver's heavy drinking. According to the story, Albers would hide in the shadows, grow stronger, and eventually get his revenge.
The harsh reality was that Albers was sold to slave traders by a local gang while trying to smuggle himself out of Twilight City. After gathering enough slaves, the traders used a simplified teleportation array to send them to the Northern Continent. What is a simplified teleportation array? It's an ultra-low-cost array built with spatial formulas and the easiest-to-find spatial materials. The survival rate for using this thing is less than 50%.
The slave traders didn't care about the slaves' lives. The Undercity in the Northern Continent needed steam and electricity to function. With the world's technology nearly stagnant, a massive labor force was required to stably produce these two energy sources.
The residents of the Undercity were "simple folk"—either full-fledged cultists or carriers of various monster bloodlines. Capturing them as slaves was too risky, leading to a booming slave trade between the Southern and Northern Continents.
During his years as a slave in the Undercity, the former noble Albers' moral lower limit lowered with every hardship he endured. This turned him into someone who still looked a bit like a fool but was actually ruthless.
Compared to an outsider, the nobles of Twilight City would be more willing to accept Albers, a former noble. The downside was that he had a natural high-noble enemy. However, after a few years, that high noble might not even remember Albers, unless Albers appeared before him and brought up the past.
Having just the former noble Albers wasn't enough. He needed the support of a local faction to quickly gain influence in Twilight City. The Undercity in the Northern Continent was undoubtedly the best choice.
The nobles of Twilight City had been eyeing the rich resources of the Northern Continent for a long time. The Southern Continent was divided among three major powers, while the Northern Continent remained largely undeveloped.
A few hundred years ago, the nobles of Twilight City wouldn't even glance at the Undercity. But times had changed. The three factions of Twilight City—the Old Guardians, hostile to the Great Library; the Old Nobles, remaining neutral; and the city's population of several hundred million—consumed an enormous amount of resources daily. Moreover, the central district was like a resource-devouring beast, forcing even the wealthy Old Nobles to lower their pride and consider cooperating with the Undercity.
So Su Xiao's plan was to have the current ruler of the Undercity, Dark Bishop Berkhwa, openly support the former noble Albers. First, they would negotiate with Twilight City's nobles under the guise of resource cooperation. Once a preliminary agreement was reached, they would play the trump card of permanent enhancement potions.
According to Albers, more than half of the high nobles in Twilight City had weak physiques, only slightly better than ordinary people. The reason was that the Sun God bloodline required the radiance of the Blazing Sun to remain active and be passed down.
As the sun grew dimmer, the Sun God bloodline became thinner. Now, it seemed that only the Blazing Sun Lord Ashlot remained as a pure Sun God in all of Blazing Sun City.
With the world's alchemy in a near-dead state, the high nobles of Twilight City had never seen potions that could permanently enhance physique or vitality. For an alchemy master, brewing a bottle of potion that permanently enhances a commoner's physique and lifespan was trivial. They could even brew a large vat, enough for all the high nobles in Twilight City.
Compared to the temptation of a longer life, even doubling their lifespan, granting some power to the former noble Albers was nothing to these high nobles. If one noble gave a little power, it would accumulate to a significant amount. When they realized that the accumulated power was too much and tried to take it back, Su Xiao would use his Dragon-Slaying Flash to show them that things weren't that simple.
Baha relayed the above plan to Dark Bishop Berkhwa. Berkhwa's response was that he needed to think it over.
Translated, this meant: "Wait for me to gather some men, and I'll kill you immediately."
Faced with this, Su Xiao didn't kill Berkhwa on the spot. This local big shot had been entrenched in this world for years and was a crucial part of the subsequent plan. Without him, many things would take more time and might not yield the desired results.
Su Xiao's method of dealing with Berkhwa was simple and brutal. He asked Berkhwa's trusted aide if he was interested in cooperating. The aide clearly stated that he would rather die than cooperate with Su Xiao.
However, judging by the eager look in his eyes, if Berkhwa weren't right beside him, ready to kill him with his bare hands, the aide would have already rushed over to latch onto a new patron.
Seeing this, Berkhwa realized the gravity of the situation. This silent, soft-spoken man who never threatened but killed with every swing of his blade was not only a formidable fighter but also a master schemer.
Between dying immediately and being stabbed in the back by his trusted aide later, Berkhwa chose neither. He decided to cooperate with Su Xiao, as he could see that this man didn't care who was the Dark Bishop. What mattered was whether the Dark Bishop was willing to cooperate and be used.
"To ensure the sincerity of our cooperation, let's sign a contract."
Su Xiao tossed out a contract, causing Berkhwa to hesitate. His villainous instincts told him this contract was not simple.
"I think... that's unnecessary. I trust you, Bai Ye, hahaha."
Berkhwa laughed to mask the awkward atmosphere. But when Su Xiao placed his hand on his sword hilt, Berkhwa gritted his teeth and signed the contract.
After signing, Berkhwa began plotting how to deal with Su Xiao later. But when he saw the contract split into 58 copies, his eyes widened. All his revenge plans shattered. After a few seconds of stunned silence, he looked at the former noble Albers and smiled humbly. After all, they would be cooperating, so leaving a good impression was necessary.
Su Xiao didn't fabricate his origins but didn't elaborate either. Berkhwa wisely didn't press further.
Through Berkhwa's description, Su Xiao gained a deeper understanding of Twilight City. First, the Blazing Sun Lord Ashlot was indeed the ultimate authority, but this lord rarely left the central district. He barely visited the inner city, let alone the vast outer districts.
Therefore, the daily management of Twilight City was handled by a council of high nobles. Minor matters could be decided by a single high noble, medium matters required council discussion, and major matters had to be reported to Ashlot for a decision.
It turned out that Su Xiao's initial plan to enter Twilight City was on the right track. According to scholars from the Great Library, Ashlot could only hold on for another hundred years at most. A new inheritor of the "Blood of the Blazing Sun" had to be chosen early. With no Sun Gods left to inherit it, choosing an outsider was inevitable.
Ashlot didn't comment, which was seen as tacit approval. However, not everyone was qualified to compete for the "Blood of the Blazing Sun." In simple terms, Twilight City, the Divine Cult, and the Soul Academy would each send a team to compete for the scattered "Sun Source Stones" that had been usurped across the world.
Whoever gathered all the "Sun Source Stones" would become the new inheritor of the "Blood of the Blazing Sun." Ashlot's tacit approval suggested that his physical condition was worse than rumored. He might not even have a hundred years left.
If possible, gathering a reliable team to represent Twilight City in the competition for the "Sun Source Stones" was the best option. At least in the early to mid stages, he wouldn't have to be an enemy of Twilight City. Otherwise, once he started collecting the stones, he would be at odds with the entire high council.
If he could secure this qualification, there was no need to hesitate about teammates. From a while ago, the two badges in his storage space had begun to emit a faint glow, indicating that those two bastards had entered the world.
It made sense. The Blazing Sun Star had the "Origin Stone: World" as bait, which those two would surely see through. They had experience with the Dead Silence City.
Through Berkhwa, Su Xiao obtained an uninhabited winery in the Undercity. It had been maintained until two months ago, when a bloodthirsty creature infiltrated the city during a defense battle and killed the owner.
The winery's residence was large, with two floors. Opening the door to the first floor, Su Xiao looked around and found it acceptable. With a bit of tidying, it would be livable. He went to the backyard, crouched down, and placed his hand on the ground. Sensing that the summoning spell for individual entities was still usable, he knew the subsequent plan would go more smoothly than expected.
Instead of heading to Twilight City, Su Xiao first used the over 500 dragon hearts he had prepared to let the Iron-Blood Hound clan know that a top-tier summoner had arrived.
Su Xiao placed his hand on the ground. A massive crimson summoning array appeared. As blood smoke dispersed, an Iron-Blood Hound, like a hellhound, emerged from the smoke. Not counting its long tail, which resembled a cobra with a mouthful of sharp teeth at the end, the hound was over four meters long. It wasn't bulky or clumsy, nor was it thin. Its dark red, hairless, glossy skin gave it a sense of agile strength.
Its mouth was filled with uneven, sharp teeth. Its blood-red vertical pupils were intimidating. Unlike normal canines, the Iron-Blood Hound's front claws were very sharp, hook-like structures indicating it was adept at climbing on massive enemies. Its strong jaw muscles suggested immense bite force.
More importantly, if the Iron-Blood Hound were cut in half or blown apart, it wouldn't die. Instead, it would split into two hounds, attacking until its primordial life force was exhausted.
After appearing, the Iron-Blood Hound looked at Su Xiao with a scrutinizing gaze, as if judging whether he was worthy of its combat assistance and where the enemy was.
Normally, after summoning an Iron-Blood Hound, it could be sent to fight first, and payment—a strong creature's heart—would be given after the battle.
Plop, plop~
Two dragon hearts were thrown beside the Iron-Blood Hound. The hound, which had been fierce-eyed, suddenly looked confused and innocent. It had never seen a situation where it was paid before even knowing where the enemy was. These were Absolute Strength-level dragon hearts, far superior to ordinary Absolute Strength-level hearts for Iron-Blood Hounds.
However, the hound's stunned confusion was interpreted differently by Su Xiao. Could it be that the hound wasn't interested in the dragon hearts from the Hive Mother Nest? He had never dealt with Iron-Blood Hounds before and didn't know their habits.
After weighing the situation, another dragon heart appeared in Su Xiao's hand and was tossed beside the hound.
This move caused the notoriously fierce Iron-Blood Hound to step back a few paces, looking at Su Xiao with rare, innocent confusion.
"..."
Su Xiao didn't speak. He hadn't expected the Iron-Blood Hound to be so difficult to please. But he was prepared. Another dragon heart was thrown beside the hound.
The Iron-Blood Hound looked at the four dragon hearts in front of it and couldn't hold back any longer. It pounced forward and began devouring them greedily. It was ready to face an extremely powerful enemy that might cost it its life. Such a generous summoner couldn't be let down; it had to uphold the reputation of the Iron-Blood Hound clan.
Although Su Xiao didn't yet know the hound's combat prowess, its eating speed was impressive. Four massive dragon hearts were devoured in just over ten seconds.
After the hound finished eating, even letting out a burp, Su Xiao terminated the summoning contract. The message was clear: the hound, having consumed four dragon hearts, could leave.
A breeze swept through the spacious backyard, carrying a few withered leaves past the hound. Despite this, the hound didn't leave. It sat there, utterly confused, its canine life completely bewildered.
[Note: The author's cervical spine was acting up, causing delays. Apologies to the readers.]