Chapter 50: Unexpected Turn
The restaurant door was pushed open, and Wood and Zuiyasi walked in, both looking travel-worn, with Zuiyasi appearing particularly fatigued.
"Bai Ye, if you don't pay me extra Black Maple Tree this time, you won't be able to make up for the over 600 times I've died in the past few days."
Zuiyasi sat down, not minding the leftovers, grabbed a piece of ham bread, and stuffed it into his mouth. Seeing this, Su Xiao ordered the servants to bring up the prepared fine dishes. Zuiyasi, whose face was always thicker than a city wall, dug in directly, while Wood, who valued etiquette, also ate at a fast pace. It seemed both were genuinely hungry.
After eating and drinking their fill, Zuiyasi let out a long sigh and pulled out a large piece of parchment from his bosom. This item looked aged, eroded by time until it had a woody texture, and a small piece could be snapped off with a light twist.
The ancient parchment bore most of a circular array diagram, so dense it was dizzying. Su Xiao could still identify the characteristics of the main nodes: Sun, World, Convergence.
Originally, the Twilight Team consisted of Su Xiao, Zuiyasi, and Wood. But after dealing with the first formidable enemy, the "Aberrant Beast Deity," Zuiyasi and Wood had gone into "stealth mode," as if they hadn't come to this world at all. Subsequent enemies like the High Tower Knight, the False King, the Nun, and the Incarnation of the Gods were all handled by Su Xiao himself.
One might ask, what were these two good teammates doing during this time? This question touches on the essence of the Twilight Team from the start. Simply put, it can be summarized as: defeat powerful enemies and seize each "Sun Source Stone."
No one stipulated that the only way to obtain "Sun Source Stones" was by defeating the world's powerful enemies and taking the existing ones. And what exactly is a "Sun Source Stone"? The earlier prompt gave the answer.
[Sun Source Stone: The supreme treasure of this world. It is the nourishment and gift of the blazing sun to the Sun God Clan after millions of years of their faith and praise. However, to this day, many Sun Source Stones have fallen into the hands of powerful beings who have usurped the power of the sun. You must defeat these powerful beings and reclaim those Sun Source Stones.]
According to the information provided by Reincarnation Paradise, there are a total of 32 "Sun Source Stones" in this world. Su Xiao has already obtained 16, meaning the remaining 16 are likely in the hands of the Sun God Clan, specifically with the Blazing Sun Lord, Ashlot.
No information indicates that this world can only have a maximum of 32 "Sun Source Stones." Moreover, in the final analysis, this treasure called the "Sun Source Stone" is a man-made artifact.
The two good teammates had been lying low for so long with the goal of finding and investigating how "Sun Source Stones" are made. This large piece of parchment was their harvest. These two scoundrels had somehow retrieved a lost/forgotten secret technique of the Sun God Clan from the gaps in time.
This "Sun Source Stone Creation Secret Technique" had been lost in the current era. The two good teammates' first goal was to determine roughly which era it was lost in. Then, using Zuiyasi's time ability, they saw this ancient parchment. It had ended up in the Northern Continent's Steel City's second-hand market. After not being sold for a long time, it was thrown into a drawer at home by a scruffy middle-aged man. A few days later, it was broken by his mischievous child.
When it was found to be irreparable, the wife gave the naughty child a taste of motherly love that was like a mountain crumbling, and then threw the broken parchment into the fireplace.
As for why the "Sun Source Stone Creation Secret Technique" met such a fate, it stemmed from a conflict between the previous Blazing Sun Lord and his younger brother. The source of their conflict was whether to continue the inheritance of the "Blazing Sun Blood."
Leaving aside the succession of the Sun God Clan's throne, Zuiyasi, through his time-based ability, saw the complete appearance of this ancient parchment before it was broken. This was not easy. Zuiyasi needed many mediums related to this ancient parchment, perhaps the wooden box that once held it, the sealed chest that stored it, or the adjacent treasures that had been stored with it in the treasury for a thousand years.
Zuiyasi and Wood spent a lot of time on this and finally succeeded in locating it. It's worth noting that Zuiyasi used his time ability, not the divination perspective of a prophecy system. He personally saw this "Sun Source Stone Creation Secret Technique." There is an essential difference between a divination image and seeing it with one's own eyes.
After personally seeing the "Sun Source Stone Creation Secret Technique," Zuiyasi gouged out his right eye and tossed it to Wood. For others, this would be an unacceptable price, but Zuiyasi, who regenerated his right eye in 1.2 seconds, didn't care at all.
Next came Wood's turn to shine. What is Wood's core ability? Contract Master? No, he is a Fraudster. What is the pinnacle skill of a Fraudster? The answer is: deceiving oneself. Its ultimate ability is: I Can Do It.
Using this eyeball as a medium, Wood began to use his "Temporary Manifestation" ability, obtained through deception, to manifest the ancient parchment. With his current ability, it was unlikely he could directly manifest the ancient parchment. Creating something from nothing like this was simply absurd to even think about.
But don't forget, Wood has the ability to switch matter between 3D and 2D. If he first manifested a 2D version of the ancient parchment, he could turn the impossible into the possible. After successfully manifesting the 2D version, he could then convert it to 3D.
If the difficulty of directly manifesting the ancient parchment was 50,000, then splitting it into two steps immediately reduced the difficulty to around 500-600.
The problem was that this ancient parchment was damaged. Only 60% to 70% of the "Sun Source Stone Creation Secret Technique" remained. Even with Su Xiao's advanced knowledge of array diagrams, trying to deduce a technique of this level with 30% missing was a pipe dream.
Array diagrams and techniques couldn't achieve this. However, some particularly unscientific abilities, even those that would be verified as %#*& garbled code, could accomplish this in a strange, cunning, and shameless way. For example, the infamous Deceiver, Nicholas Caesar. That's right, get Caesar to help restore this ancient parchment.
Caesar's shameless abilities, Su Xiao's Alchemy, Zuiyasi's time system, Wood's fraud and 2D/3D conversion—if the four of them got together and didn't try to manufacture a "Sun Source Stone," it would be a waste of coming to this world.
The characteristic of Su Xiao's current "Sun Lord" title is that the more "Sun Source Stones" he absorbs, the more powerful the [God Clan Emblem] will be after finally devouring the "Blazing Sun Blood" to complete the finale.
Creating more "Sun Source Stones" benefits Su Xiao alone. Zuiyasi, Wood, and Caesar are willing to help because of the Black Maple... ahem, because their friendship is too deep.
However, one thing to note: after defeating the final enemy, Zuiyasi and Wood will not compete for the benefits derived from the "Sun Source Stones." These two scoundrels still have that much integrity. But if there are other benefits, such as successfully entering the Sun God Clan's treasury, then these two scoundrels' backstabbing skills will be exceptionally practiced. Of course, Su Xiao's backstabbing blade is also quite proficient.
Su Xiao had Baha deliver the ancient parchment to Caesar in the outer city. They needed to confirm that Caesar could restore it before proceeding to the next step.
He took out the "Dark Moon Ring" from his storage space. According to the agreement, the Daughter of Nature, Eklu, helped Su Xiao deal with the Incarnation of the Gods, and Su Xiao was to give her this "Dark Moon Ring" in return. The problem was that while Su Xiao was fighting for his life against the Incarnation of the Gods, Eklu was recovering from her injuries.
Interestingly enough, during the first siege of the Incarnation of the Gods, Su Xiao, Shenfu, the Platinum Apostle, and others each used their own methods to escape. Those left on the scene were the Tyrant, the Star Devourer, and Eklu. The first two were lying on the ground playing dead, while Eklu floated in mid-air, using her elemental abilities to resonate with the surrounding natural elements to avoid detection.
The three of them originally thought the Incarnation of the Gods would leave. But who knew, the Incarnation of the Gods actually entered the darkness above. Seeing this, the three could only continue playing dead and pretending.
Finally, the three waited for Su Xiao to arrive. The Tyrant and the Star Devourer planned to slip away, while Eklu prepared to assist Su Xiao in defeating the Incarnation of the Gods to obtain the "Dark Moon Ring."
All three were overthinking it. When Su Xiao entered his Dragon Knight state and flew high into the sky, Eklu felt a sense of dread. When the Giant Brother's earth-shattering hammer came crashing down, Eklu no longer had any desire to participate in this battle.
Severely injured and having successfully escaped, Eklu didn't question her life. Instead, she felt that the world from now on would be different. Before coming to Blazing Sun Star, she had felt a sense of burnout. The enemies she faced were either scared witless by the reputation of Arcane Eternal Star or were no match for her elemental abilities.
But this time, entering a world like Blazing Sun Star, where the Absolute Strongest roamed, Eklu felt that the ceiling she had previously touched had suddenly been raised significantly.
Wearing a gray-black robe and a hood, Eklu walked on the pedestrian street of the inner city. She looked up at the sun above. Her elemental intuition told her that the remaining time in this world was short, and something big was about to happen.
The problem was that Eklu's only goal in coming to this world, the "Dark Moon Ring," had not yet been obtained. Her only gain was inexplicably signing a whole bunch of unheard-of contracts. If these contracts didn't expire upon leaving this world, her mood would be even more gloomy.
Eklu's brow furrowed slightly. How to obtain the "Dark Moon Ring" next was a problem that had to be solved. Only by obtaining the "Dark Moon Ring" could she possibly contain the unclosable Abyss Passage in the Void's Green Meadow Wetlands. This was crucial.
As she was thinking this, Eklu suddenly heard a crisp sound in front of her feet, as if some metal object had fallen to the ground, with a hint of ethereality. It was probably someone's metal ring or something that had dropped. She subconsciously looked down and saw a ring a few sizes larger than a normal one. It was entirely dark purple, with infinite darkness inside, and within that darkness seemed to contain vast stars.
Eklu picked up the ring and examined it closely. The more she looked, the more it seemed like the "Dark Moon Ring." She peeled off the sealing wax, and the unique fluctuation of the "Dark Moon Ring" surged forth. Eklu was now 100% certain that this was the "Dark Moon Ring."
The unclosable Abyss Passage in the Void's Green Meadow Wetlands had to be closed as soon as possible. If that special Abyss Passage triggered a large-scale event verified by the Void Tree, contractors from multiple Paradise could be conscripted. If Su Xiao was also among them, not only would he have no time for development, but he would also have to face Supreme-level Spellcasters head-on. That would be the worst possible scenario.
Finding the "Dark Moon Ring" like this, Eklu wasn't stupid. She immediately took 10,000 points of True Critical Dignity Damage.
On the pedestrian street, Eklu held the "Dark Moon Ring" with trembling hands.
"Dis... disgraceful."
Eklu muttered under her breath, a hint of self-doubt in her tone. But she wasn't someone who didn't know when to be grateful. After taking a few deep breaths, she said to her surroundings, "Thank you for this."
After saying this, Eklu almost wanted to slap herself. She turned to leave, but then stopped, because another question occurred to her: how should she explain obtaining the "Dark Moon Ring" when she returned to Arcane Eternal Star? Should she say she was walking on the pedestrian street in Twilight City's inner city and just picked it up off the ground?
Just thinking about saying that and imagining the looks from the faction leaders like Soul Lord, Fierce Wind King, and Sefeiliya made Eklu break out in a cold sweat. She absolutely couldn't say that.
But if she fabricated a lie, she would have to fill it with a string of lies. Eventually, she wouldn't dare to mention anything about the Law Destroyer. Mentioning it might create a flaw in the lie. If that happened, she would have to willingly help the enemy side conceal the information she knew.
Between "Picking up the Dark Moon Ring on the Pedestrian Street" and "Concealing Enemy Intelligence," Eklu unhesitatingly chose the latter. The former was too absurd.
...
Under the pitch-black sky wall of the Southern Continent, the Vanguard Fortress.
The light of the teleportation array faded. Su Xiao stepped down from the array, which was covered in sword cuts, axe marks, and monster claw scratches. Cold, fierce gazes came from all around. Those stationed at the Vanguard Fortress were all members of the Hunting Expedition Group. These guys spent years exploring the Lightless Zone and carried a heavy aura of darkness.
"Mr. Bai Ye, this way, please."
The commander of the Hunting Expedition Group's Second Brigade, Black Heart Gude, quickly stepped forward and led Su Xiao and his group to the inner area of the fortress. There was a bit of a living atmosphere here, but most of the people here were members of merchant caravans. After more than ten minutes, the group arrived at Lu Xiwa's residence.
It was a two-story building. They went upstairs to the study door. Black Heart Gude made a gesture of invitation and stood by the door. Su Xiao, Wood, and Zuiyasi walked into the study.
"You're here."
Behind the desk, Lu Xiwa, who was reviewing intelligence statistics, spoke without looking up. They were old acquaintances, so there was no need for formalities. Su Xiao sat down opposite the desk. Lu Xiwa put down the statistics, let out a long sigh, and took a bottle of wine from the display rack behind him. The wine was pitch black. Lu Xiwa introduced:
"This is a specialty of the Vanguard Fortress."
As he spoke, Lu Xiwa poured a glass for Su Xiao. He glanced at Zuiyasi and Wood, meaning to ask if they wanted to try some. After all, they were brought by Su Xiao. Even if Lu Xiwa didn't know them, he wouldn't snub them and embarrass Su Xiao.
"Suddenly coming to the Vanguard Fortress, you're not planning to enter the Lightless Zone, are you?"
"Yes."
Hearing Su Xiao's words, Lu Xiwa frowned deeply. He opened a drawer and took out an exploration report from a few days ago. He said:
"Starting three days ago, the Lightless Zone has become abnormal. I withdrew all my men. I'm going to observe for a few more days, and then I plan to seal the sky wall entrance here for a few months."
Lu Xiwa's words made Su Xiao understand the seriousness of the situation. The worst loss the Hunting Expedition Group had ever suffered was a 90% casualty rate within half a month. Even then, they didn't retreat. They just recruited new people and went back into the Lightless Zone a month later.
But this time, the Hunting Expedition Group was clearly planning to temporarily abandon exploring the Lightless Zone. The reason was that, four days ago, the Third Brigade of the Hunting Expedition Group was wiped out in an instant. The few surviving members of the Second Brigade described it as a moment of darkness descending. The darkness disappeared in an instant, leaving only still blood mist in the air.
The Hunting Expedition Group had encountered many strange beings. But when they returned to the Vanguard Fortress to investigate what this being was, Lu Xiwa discovered an even more terrifying problem. All the relatives of those deceased members of the Second Brigade, even distant relatives like aunts and uncles, had also turned into blood mist at the exact moment those members died.
In the following hours, Lu Xiwa noticed signs of forgetting. Before he forgot the names of those Second Brigade members, he wrote them down in a notebook. A few hours later, he still remembered that the Second Brigade had been wiped out, but when he opened the notebook, the names of those who had once been like brothers to him were all so unfamiliar.
Lu Xiwa quickly realized that this was not an Abyssal being that the Hunting Expedition Group could handle. Among the three levels of Abyssal contact—Direct Encounter, Invasion, and Residual Existence—the Hunting Expedition Group's limit was "Invasion Level." But this time, it should be "Direct Encounter Level."
Faced with this situation, retreating immediately wasn't cowardice; it was taking responsibility for the lives of his brothers. If it was truly "Direct Encounter Level," stubbornly trying to fight head-on would only result in the complete annihilation of the Hunting Expedition Group.
"Bai Ye, I know Law Destroyers are good at dealing with the Abyss, but this time is different. If possible, don't enter the Lightless Zone now."
As soon as Lu Xiwa finished speaking, Su Xiao received a related prompt.
[Prompt: The current main mission is of the Reconnaissance, Exploration, and Infiltration type (non-combat/kill type). The difficulty of this type of mission will gradually increase based on the intelligence you possess, approaching the accurate value.]
[Prompt: Accurately judging the true danger level of Reconnaissance, Exploration, and Infiltration type main missions is part of the difficulty of this type of mission.]
[Main Mission · Seventh Ring · Darkness of the Lightless: Current mission difficulty is Lv.95+.]
[This mission difficulty is based on the normal danger level of the deepest western part of the Lightless Zone.]
[Main Mission · Seventh Ring · Darkness of the Lightless: Mission difficulty has been increased to Lv.95++++++.]
[The mission duration for this mission is +3 natural days.]
[The mission reward for this mission is significantly increased. Upon successful completion, you can obtain Exclusive Team Skill Card Chest × 2 (This team skill card chest will only draw X-tier Exclusive Team Skill Cards).]
[Prompt: Main missions above Lv.95+ will expand from Combat/Survival type to Combat/Survival/Exploration type. For exploration-type missions, regardless of the method used to complete them, they will default to 100% optimal completion.]
...
Compared to the rules of exploration-type main missions, Su Xiao was more concerned about the mission difficulty of Lv.95++++++. What did this mission difficulty mean? The mission difficulty for killing the Incarnation of the Gods was Lv.95+++++.
Before leaving, Su Xiao planned to give Lu Xiwa his share of the 97,500 Soul Coins obtained from the "Side Mission: Hunting Expedition Shield Spear" according to their prior agreement. But Lu Xiwa just said, "A poor guy developing three Grandmasters shouldn't be so generous. I have more Soul Coins than I can use."
After the group left the Vanguard Fortress, the magnificent pitch-black sky wall appeared ahead. The Vanguard Fortress behind them gradually receded. Black mist emanated from the entrance in the sky wall. Usually, Hunting Expedition Group members would be stationed here, but now it was completely empty.
"Woof."
Bubu Wang brought out Little Bu, planning to send it in to investigate. As soon as Little Bu entered the black mist at the entrance, strong interference distorted the images sent back by Little Bu, finally turning into complete darkness. Seeing this, Bubu Wang controlled Little Bu to retreat.
After observing for a while, they found that Little Bu hadn't been eroded by the darkness. This meant that the environment inside the Lightless Zone had become milder compared to before. However, the unknown beings roaming within the Lightless Zone had caused its danger level to skyrocket.
Clang, clang, clang...
The crisp sound of blades rang out. Several translucent blue crystal long swords without guards were embedded in the ground in front of them, one after another. Green Gillian's soul body emerged from the black mist ahead.
"Bai Ye, although I really want to ask for your help, I definitely can't let you wade into this muddy water."
"..."
Su Xiao didn't speak. Seeing this, Green Gillian's gaze rarely showed a hint of guilt. She tentatively asked:
"Could it be that you're here because of the Paradise faction's imprint mission? If so, just bear the cost of failing this mission. Don't worry, I'll compensate you several times over. In short, absolutely don't enter this Abyss Sprawl Zone now."
"Forced execution."
"Huh? What's that? My soul body is a bit unstable... The world in front of me... is starting to spin... I can't hear what you're saying at all."
"..."
Su Xiao silently stared at Green Gillian. After a moment, Green Gillian covered her eyes with one hand, looking pained. If it weren't for the corners of her mouth that she was barely holding back from curling up, one might actually believe her sorrow.
"I won't waste time on unimportant details. The current situation is that I have already opened the seal at the deepest western part of this Abyss Sprawl Zone. My purpose in coming to Blazing Sun Star this time is to make an end with the thing sealed inside. As a Law Destroyer, I must do this."
At the end, Green Gillian let out a long sigh.
"I've been to the deepest western part. There was no seal there."
Su Xiao's expression was calm as he spoke.
"Cough! Your perception isn't sharp enough. Besides, you don't understand seals."
Green Gillian tried to bluff her way through.
"I have sealed six Original Sin Objects."
"Oh, well, I mean, this... um..."
Green Gillian was momentarily speechless. But could this stump her? She suddenly put on a serious expression and began to explain the current situation.
The unknown being in the Lightless Zone was called the Eternal Dark Queen, an Abyss Descendant. The good news was that her combat power could no longer be judged by Absolute Strength or Supreme. She had long lost her former strength and had become strange and bizarre. If the wrong approach was taken, death was certain. But if her weakness could be found, it was possible to contend with her.
The difficulty of killing this Abyss Descendant was extremely high. Saying it was impossible to eliminate her wasn't quite accurate, but within this world, no one could do it. Green Gillian's purpose in coming here in her residual soul form was to banish the Eternal Dark Queen back to the Abyss. She had sealed this Abyss Descendant back then, and now, calculating the time, the seal should be about to give way.
Rather than waiting for the Eternal Dark Queen to break the seal and appear outside the Lightless Zone, it was better to actively open the seal. That way, the Lightless Zone barrier left by the Sun God Clan could still trap the Eternal Dark Queen for a while.
Although Green Gillian was known as the most despicable female Law Destroyer in history, she was very serious when it came to dealing with Abyss Descendants. And she had come this time without any intention of leaving.
As for why Green Gillian was hesitating earlier, it was quite interesting. When the Eternal Dark Queen was still human, she had thoroughly deceived Green Gillian. Green Gillian, who had played with many girls' hearts, finally got her comeuppance with the Eternal Dark Queen, wearing a mask of pain.
Even so, before the Eternal Dark Queen gradually fell into the Abyss, Green Gillian had advised and tried to stop her more than once. It was only when the other party completely fell into the Abyss that Green Gillian could only draw her blade with a complex expression. She hadn't loved many people, and the Eternal Dark Queen was the 129th person she had deeply loved.
"Sigh, I was clearly devoted to her, but in the end, she still fell into the Abyss."
Green Gillian sighed. Hearing this, Baha said, "Are you sure the Eternal Dark Queen didn't fall into the Abyss because of the shock you gave her?"
"That's definitely not the case. The world where her hometown was located was devoured by the Star Devourer. Not a single relative was left."
Hearing this, Baha nodded in understanding. There was no need for Green Gillian to lie about this. Or rather, with Green Gillian's reputation, which had already reached rock bottom, there was no need to lie about such things.
"You, me, Bubu Wang, Amu, Baha, plus the Ancient God System and the Devil Clan—is this our entire lineup?"
Green Gillian's eyes showed concern. If possible, she didn't want to drag Su Xiao into this mess. But since things had come to this, and with his sealing level from sealing six Original Sin Objects, he would be the undisputed MVP in the subsequent banishment.
"Three more 'friends' will be coming."
The friends Su Xiao mentioned were naturally Shenfu, the Platinum Apostle, and the Black Demon. If properly prepared, it wasn't impossible to temporarily drag these three onto the same boat. Once they were all trapped in the Lightless Zone, Shenfu, the Platinum Apostle, and the Black Demon wouldn't have a choice but to be teammates.
As for why he wanted to bring these three in, it was a matter of probability. If it were just Su Xiao, Green Gillian, Wood, and Zuiyasi facing the Eternal Dark Queen, when confronted with some unsolvable strange abilities, each of the four would have a one-in-four chance of being unlucky. But if Shenfu, the Platinum Apostle, and the Black Demon were included, the probability would immediately drop to one-in-seven.