Chapter 18: Slaughter
The blood moon hung high in the sky, with two trial options before him. Had it been before absorbing the soul blade, Su Xiao might have chosen the first, the "Trial of Courage," because of the many powerful enemies he would face later. But now, he very much wanted to test the power of the Blade Grandmaster's ultimate skill, "Powerful Slash."
[You have accepted the Trial of Steel Will. You must face this encirclement alone when the Second Son of the Abyss leads a horde of dark creatures to attack you.]
[You will be teleported to the ancient ruins 150 kilometers from the Spirit Crown City.]
[Teleportation begins.]
...
When the spatial mist around him dissipated, Su Xiao completed the teleportation. Having left the protective barrier of Spirit Crown City, he personally experienced the Blood Night's descent. A dark, cold sensation invaded from above, and under the blood moon's illumination, reason seemed to slowly evaporate like mist from his skin.
The Blood Night was not dark. Su Xiao surveyed the crumbling walls and ruins around him. This had once been a great city, but over a hundred years ago, it couldn't withstand the Blood Night's invasion. It was breached by frenzied beasts and dark creatures, its high walls collapsed, and it ultimately met this fate.
Su Xiao stood at the center of the ruins. The stone floor beneath his feet was covered in cracks and signs of weathering. This was an open area of over a thousand square meters. Not far away, a half-damaged statue of a goddess, missing an arm, had a certain tragic beauty under the blood moon.
Suddenly, the goddess statue opened one eye. More accurately, an eye suddenly appeared in the outstretched right palm of the statue. Starting from this point, like the spread of a disease, one eye after another opened on the statue's arm, torso, and base, then quickly spread throughout the entire ruins in a very short time.
These millions of eyes all stared at Su Xiao. Wisps of darkness rose from the ground, making the already dim environment even darker and deeper. Even more peculiar was that amidst the darkness rising from the ground, a few white flames were mixed in. The combination of black and white gave a glimpse of the Abyss's scenery.
A long, beast-like howl came from afar, the sound drawing closer. As the wind pressure approached, with a loud crash, a figure over ten meters tall, covered in black fur, landed. Its upper body was humanoid, its lower legs bent like a beast's, its right side of the head covered in irregularly shaped, woody horns, and its right arm full of Abyssal eyes. This was the Second Son of the Abyss, Uvaliuto.
"Roar!!"
The Second Son of the Abyss roared, sending layers of black soundwaves spreading outward. This caused all the eyes distributed throughout the ancient ruins to turn crimson. A powerful mental pressure descended, accelerating the rate at which the sanity attribute value dropped.
As the long roar ended, the surroundings were already filled with dark creatures. Looking around, aside from the dark creatures of various forms, from an aerial view, the ground could no longer be seen.
Black and white flames ignited on the Second Son of the Abyss's body, or rather, black smoke with a few white embers. A spatial rift opened above, and a black liquid spread out, flowing onto its body. With a crackling sound, bone spurs pierced out from its back.
Boom!
The Second Son of the Abyss suddenly vanished from its spot, the ground cracking. When it reappeared, it had pounced in front of Su Xiao. Along its path, wherever its right claw had raked, it left behind pitch-black spatial cracks.
The Second Son of the Abyss adhered to the strategy of ganging up rather than dueling. As it pounced forward, the surrounding dark creatures surged in together.
Su Xiao felt the surroundings suddenly darken. In the past, "Ring Break" would have been a good response to this situation, but this time, he wanted to experience the ultimate blade technique, "Powerful Slash."
Almost instantly, most of the protective energy generated by Su Xiao's technique abilities was consumed. With a hum! The Dragon-Slaying Flash in his hand, its tip pointing diagonally at the ground, erupted with a golden radiance. Unlike the golden light corresponding to gold or the sun, this golden radiance was more condensed, even possessing formidable offensive power.
Boom!!!
The golden radiance surged like a tidal wave, instantly clearing the endless sea of dark creatures around him. The pouncing Second Son of the Abyss was covered in blood, its black severed hair flying, but this didn't stop its charge. It intended to interrupt Su Xiao's ability.
How could the Second Son of the Abyss know that this erupting golden radiance wasn't the ability itself, but merely the phenomenon before the "Powerful Slash" was executed?
Zheng!
Su Xiao delivered a simple, unadorned slash, yet one that seemed to have been honed through billions of repetitions and trials. The first thing to give way was the space in the surrounding area. The space within a radius of over a hundred kilometers shattered like exploding glass, cracking with a loud pop. Nearly a third of the dark creatures that were charging forward were caught by the shattered space, torn apart by the ensuing vortex of suction and annihilation.
Compared to these dark creatures, the Second Son of the Abyss had a deeper experience of this "Powerful Slash." The moment the edge of the blade came slashing towards it, every eye on its head contracted.
The Second Son of the Abyss, over ten meters tall, was much larger than Su Xiao, but at this moment, its aura suddenly wilted. Facing this oncoming slash, it could only raise its right claw to meet it. As for dodging or spatial abilities, the Second Son of the Abyss's strongest feeling was that its body and soul were firmly welded to this spot. Against this slash, any evasive or avoidance abilities were meaningless.
The Second Son of the Abyss raised its single hand to meet the attack, but its right arm, which it intended to use to buy a little time, shattered, turning into a mist of blood under the overwhelmingly powerful slash. Then, the slash landed on its body.
Zheng!!
The crisp sound of the slash pierced the sky. The Second Son of the Abyss threw its head back, its mouth wide open. Looking at it now, its entire right side of the body was gone, even nearly half of its right head was severed. As dark blood gushed violently from the wound, the Second Son of the Abyss crashed to the ground with a thud. Its powerful regenerative ability was meaningless under this slash.
The Second Son of the Abyss struggled to get up from the ground, but failed. In a prone position, it propped itself up with its left hand, raised its upper body, and roared once before its body exploded with a bang.
That's right, Su Xiao had one-shot the Second Son of the Abyss. This big boss, representing the ★★★★★ tier trial difficulty, was instantly killed.
Not to mention others, even Su Xiao himself was momentarily surprised. However, the intense pain that immediately struck his right arm made him realize the price of such a powerful "Powerful Slash."
Cracks appeared on the skin of his right arm, some deep enough to reach the bone. Blood quickly seeped out, dyeing his entire arm crimson. As for his [Wild Hunt Night] long leather coat, he occasionally had to consider the psychological shadow area of his old friend, so before using "Powerful Slash," he temporarily unequipped [Wild Hunt Night] from his equipment slot.
Originally a night with a blood moon hanging high, after this slash, not only was the space within a radius of over a hundred kilometers shattered, but the black clouds in the sky were also split open, forming a channel that let down white light. It was as if the night sky had been cut open, allowing light to shine down, temporarily turning the night into day, just like the name of "Powerful Slash" in the skill list, "Extreme Blade: White Night."
Standing in this white night, Su Xiao's right arm holding the blade was bright red. Behind him, the corpse of the Second Son of the Abyss was gradually turning to ashes and drifting away. A dozen meters around him, the dark creatures, intimidated by his overwhelming aura, involuntarily retreated. If this scene were recorded or captured, it would surely be a magnificent sight.
"Roar!"
An Abyssal Spawn, seemingly made of black tentacles, roared. Under this roar, the surrounding dark creatures suppressed their fear of Su Xiao and all charged at him.
Early the next morning.
The sun had just risen. After a night of steadfast defense, Spirit Crown City had successfully survived this Blood Night. However, what puzzled the soul scholars was that the dark creatures' attack during this Blood Night wasn't very fierce. Instead, not long after the Blood Night descended, a sudden spatial tremor caused many cracks to appear on the city walls. This was the biggest loss from this Blood Night's defense.
The battle outside the city was, of course, detected by several elders of the Soul Academy. So, as soon as the sun rose, a team from the Soul Tower rushed out of the city. The team was led by two people: Soul Mentor Adelru and Soul Calmer Feina.
In this team, the bald Soul Mentor Adelru, draped in a loose black robe, was the combat powerhouse. Among the soul systems, there was indeed a major branch that had a habit of opening holes in their heads, but usually, opening three to five was the limit. Soul Mentor Adelru had so many holes in his head that it gave his skull a somewhat hollow look.
Moreover, he was no longer satisfied with just opening holes in his head. He had also opened many holes in his torso, arms, and other places to release more soul power during combat.
From this extent of hole-opening, one could also guess Soul Mentor Adelru's mental state. Don't be fooled by the gentle smile on his face. With just a slight external emotional stimulus, he could go mad to the point of hysteria.
Therefore, Soul Calmer Feina, as the team's vice-captain, accompanied Soul Mentor Adelru and over a dozen soul apprentices to investigate the ancient ruins over a hundred kilometers outside the city. A Soul Calmer's job was to use their own soul abilities to calm the target's mental state as much as possible when a hole-opening soul system user was in their most unstable state, bringing them back to the realm of reason.
The group moved quickly. When they reached the area near the ancient ruins, they all stopped. The sight before them left Soul Calmer Feina and the dozen soul apprentices wide-eyed with shock.
The ancient ruins had disappeared, replaced by a mountain of bones that pressed down on where the ruins used to be. Blood flames still flickered on the bones, but since the flesh had burned away, the white bones were not fuel for these blood flames.
Crack, crack~
A figure walked down step by step from the bone mountain. He had a sheathed long sword at his waist, was bare-chested, his left arm made of translucent blue crystal, and his right arm wrapped in bandages with bloodstains on them. The person's calm expression passed through the dozen members of the Soul Academy, showing neither avoidance nor hostility, at least on the surface.
Everyone in the team, including the team leader Soul Mentor Adelru, instinctively held their breath. Only when the person had walked far away did he slowly exhale. As for the soul apprentices, they felt a sense of relief at having survived a disaster.
"Adelru, this person... let's tentatively identify him as human. He seems to be heading to Spirit Crown City."
Hearing Soul Calmer Feina's words, Soul Mentor Adelru's expression turned unpleasant. He was about to chase after him, but the feeling of having his neck gripped by a giant blood beast, and the beast patting his head encouragingly as it left, as if praising a well-behaved little dog, immediately made him stop.
That lingering sense of fear was like a blood mark branded onto his soul. If he dared to face that blood beast again, this blood mark would burn his soul.
Around noon that day, the sun after the Blood Night was exceptionally glaring. A steam car drove down the street. Bubu Wang was in the driver's seat, Su Xiao in the passenger seat, Amu in the back, and Molei and Baha squeezed against the windows on Amu's left and right sides.
The car drove into the large courtyard where the Academy Tower was located. A slightly overweight middle-aged man with small round glasses stepped forward to greet them. This was the behind-the-scenes controller of the Soul Academy's finance department, named Gildas.
Gildas seemed full of enthusiasm, but from his words, it was clear that he wasn't very welcoming of Su Xiao coming here to eliminate the "Undying Abyssal Spawns." This indicated that the Soul Academy wasn't monolithic on this matter and had some disagreements. Hence, they offered such a low reward of 50,000 Soul Coins per "Undying Abyssal Spawn" eliminated.
Faced with this offer, the higher-ups of the Soul Academy and Twilight City all thought Su Xiao wouldn't come. But Su Xiao agreed on the spot.
This caused the Dean of the Soul Academy and the representative of the Twilight City old nobility, Augustus, to simultaneously slap their foreheads. One of these two big shots hadn't expected Su Xiao to agree, and the other had become the sucker paying 500,000 Soul Coins per "Abyssal Spawn."
This situation confused the Holy Heart City's Pantheon of Gods, which also had "Undying Abyssal Spawns" to deal with. They decided to wait and see. If things went smoothly at the Soul Academy, they would also offer 50,000 Soul Coins per spawn and entrust Su Xiao with eliminating their two "Abyssal Spawns."
The Soul Academy had sealed two "Undying Abyssal Spawns" in the lowest level of the Academy Tower. An hour later, Su Xiao stopped in front of a silver-gray metal door.
Compared to Twilight City, the Soul Academy's sealing techniques were much more backward. This was normal. According to Wude, a Primordial Sin Object was sealed in the central district of Twilight City. Primordial Sin Objects were the greatest driving force for progress in sealing techniques. Su Xiao's current achievements in sealing techniques were mainly "thanks" to this.
Click, clack~
The long-sealed metal door was pushed open by Su Xiao, then closed by itself. He stepped into the black mist ahead. After walking about a hundred meters, he arrived at a cage that sealed an "Abyssal Spawn." Looking at the "Abyssal Spawn" inside, it had been sealed to the point of extreme weakness. Although its source energy wasn't damaged, dealing with it was simple. After activating the Demon Blade ability, it was just one slash.
Crystals spread behind Su Xiao's feet, forming a crystal chair with a backrest. He sat down. Beside him, Bubu Wang took out a projection device it had made and started playing a recording of Su Xiao dealing with three "Abyssal Spawns" back in Twilight City. Booms and muffled sounds occasionally penetrated the one-way barrier to the outside.
Why do this? If he just one-shot and devoured the "Abyssal Spawn," the client would inevitably feel that spending 50,000 Soul Coins was a bit annoying. Sufficient ritual was an indispensable part of executing a commission.
An hour later, Su Xiao walked out of the black mist with a "weary" expression. After receiving the 100,000 Soul Coins paid by Gildas, he took Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha out of the city. Using the "Law-Destroying Teleportation Array," he returned to the underground safe zone of the God Exile Grounds.
After the teleportation fluctuations subsided, Su Xiao noticed that Yueshitu and Hao Mei were both absent. They had left a note for Molei, saying they had suddenly received a low-risk, high-reward errand mission and needed to go to Twilight City. If Molei saw this message when she returned, she should go to the barbershop at 1850 Walnut Street in the inner city of Twilight City.
Su Xiao walked into the storage room for rough ore. He placed one hand on the ground, and crystals formed a "Law-Destroying Teleportation Array." He was responsible for the extraction this time. Kaisa and the others had already started "shopping." According to the Storm Rat's investigation, the Soul Academy's largest treasure vault was in the Soul Tower, which maintained a spatial seal. Conventional teleportation methods couldn't break through this seal.
He glanced at the team channel. Kaisa was indeed in a non-speaking state. Su Xiao had expected this. A place like the Soul Academy's treasure vault was naturally a special area. He took out a timer and watched the countdown. The moment the countdown reached zero, he pressed his hand on the teleportation array on the ground.
Thump!
Spatial crystal fragments scattered everywhere. Kaisa, Molei, the Toad, and the Storm Rat all appeared. As soon as the Storm Rat stood up, it started walking sideways like a crab, then tumbled headfirst into an ore storage box.
Kaisa leaned against the wall with one hand, the man-can integration keeping him steady. The Toad wasn't doing well, lying on the ground belly-up, foaming at the mouth. Molei, beside Su Xiao, sat on the ground, experiencing the "Law-Destroying Teleportation Array" for the second time. She was still questioning her life.
"Save... save me..."
A weak voice came. Everyone looked at the speaker. This was a young man in a white robe with a long braid. He had a frail build, an androgynous face, and fingers as slender as a woman's. His pale complexion was due to severe blood loss.
The young man wanted to say more, but due to his severe injuries, his eyes rolled back and he fainted. Amu stepped forward, grabbed the young man by the collar, lifted him up, and gave him two slaps, one on each side. This "awakening treatment" slap, learned from Su Xiao, immediately woke the young man up.
Thinking that the Soul Academy was full of madmen or hard cases, who would have thought that when Amu put his battle axe against the young man's neck, he would tell everything he knew.
First, the young man's identity. He had no name since childhood. He wandered until he was about ten years old, when he met his mentor. He followed his mentor ever since. By the time he came of age, his mastery of spatial studies had far surpassed his mentor's, especially in spatial blocking. He was completely dominant over his mentor's family's younger generation.
His mentor was "deeply gratified" and then sent him to the Soul Academy for further studies. At first, the young man, the Space Rider, was happy. But not long after, he found something wrong with the Soul Academy. It wasn't until he witnessed a Soul Academy student undergoing a hole-opening ceremony that he was so scared he almost wet his pants.
From then on, the Space Rider decided to escape this terrifying organization. He formulated a plan and started setting it up the next day, only to be discovered by the academy's guards 15 minutes later.
When the Space Rider was tied up and thrown onto the carpet in the Dean's office, the kind-faced Dean told him, "Silly child, you weren't here for further studies. Your mentor sold you to us, and it had to be paid in Soul Stones. The price was almost half of your mentor's entire family's wealth, maybe more."
Upon learning this truth, the Space Rider cried for a long time. He resigned himself to staying in the Space Tower. But as time went on, he found that these soul madmen, though terrifying, were, overall, probably... better to him than his mentor. At least now, if he wanted to learn spatial knowledge, he could just go to the Dean and ask for books, instead of having to steal the knowledge with great effort.
If trying to block the previous version of the "Law-Destroying Teleportation Array" was like trying to stop a speeding steel train on a rocky road with bare hands, then blocking the current version of the "Law-Destroying Teleportation Array" was equivalent to taking a steel train fired by a space rail cannon head-on.
Su Xiao had Amu tie up the Space Rider and send him to the great noble of Twilight City, Lucius. He wanted to know later how this young man had survived.
Soon, everyone else left. Su Xiao walked out of the storage room and sat cross-legged on the carpet in the center of the area. He checked a series of prompts, starting with the "Trial of Steel Will."
[You have completed the Trial of Steel Will.]
[Your True Willpower attribute has been permanently increased by 35 points.]
[You have obtained a Passive Scroll Chest: Highest Grade (Opening it grants one Absolute Strength Grade Technique Passive).]
...
A pretty good reward. Su Xiao continued scrolling down. Next was the reward from "shopping" at the Soul Academy.
[You have obtained Soul Crystal ×125.]
[You have obtained Power Source Matter ×1 portion.]
[You have obtained the Dark Moon Queen Emblem (Eternal Grade, Full Rating, Unique Trait Equipment).]
[Note: This equipment is in a sealed state. Once unsealed, it will soul-bind with you and forcibly occupy at least three of your equipment slots (you can choose and change which equipment slots are occupied).]
...