Chapter 21: Supreme Treasure
One good piece of news and one bad piece of news lay before him.
The good news was that he had successfully killed High Lord Gurbak.
The bad news was that eighty percent of the gains he should have received from killing High Lord Gurbak had been stolen by the mysterious merchant.
In all their time cooperating, this was truly the first instance where Su Xiao and Kaiser had been fleeced while working together.
“My dear friend, I’ll find a way to drag him out.”
Kaiser spoke with a full, lecherous, and treacherous grin.
“I’ll handle it.”
Su Xiao walked out of the office. He and Kaiser always had a clear division of labor. After leaving the top-floor office, he went to the hole smashed by High Lord Gurbak, jumped down into the underground city, and saw Gurbak’s mangled corpse.
A crystalline short blade formed in Su Xiao’s hand. He cut open the clothing on Gurbak’s left upper arm, revealing a golden mark that was fading. This thing had another name: the [Apostle’s Mark].
Su Xiao had seen this mark many times before, so he naturally knew it was set up by his old adversary, the Platinum Apostle. To be honest, the confrontation with the Platinum Apostle was more troublesome than expected. This guy’s methods never manifested immediately; they always took at least a few days to ferment. By the time his plan was exposed and one tried to track him down, he had already vanished without a trace.
Su Xiao never hunted the Platinum Apostle. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust his own tracking abilities, but that he trusted the tracking methods of the strongest hunter in Reincarnation Paradise, Tuanzhang. The fact that the Platinum Apostle had survived Tuanzhang’s hunt proved that tracking wasn’t the right way to deal with him. Instead, one had to find his weakness.
At this stage, it was no longer possible to eliminate violators through sheer pursuit. Thinking carefully, there was actually some enjoyment in clashing with these strange and formidable foes. One must not be dominated by urgency or anger; one must enjoy the process of the hunt. A hunter who was both focused and enjoyed the hunt was both skilled and terrifying.
The crystalline short blade cut through the skin at the [Apostle’s Mark] site, and a small amount of golden blood flowed out. Seeing this, Su Xiao understood why the usually platinum-colored [Apostle’s Mark] had been dyed golden this time. High Lord Gurbak was the World Child of this world!
Realizing this, Su Xiao felt that the Scarlet Lord’s move here was truly brilliant. He could only say that, as the overlord of the First Era, even without his former fearsome fangs, his ruthless methods were undiminished.
Su Xiao had been locked in a death struggle with the Golden City for so many days that he had long since had the irritable little spirit, Diagu, investigate the Golden City’s past, to ensure the enemy had no decisive trump cards. The most crucial piece of intelligence was Gurbak’s rise.
The appearance of a World Child was closely related to the World Consciousness. For this world’s World Consciousness, the Lord system was a forcibly embedded parasite, a terrible organism whose core was the Scarlet Lord.
Unfortunately, Gurbak, as the World Child, had not been able to gradually grow stronger along his destined path. Given the Scarlet Lord’s experience, he had discovered Gurbak’s existence as soon as he began to show promise.
An even more brilliant move was that the Scarlet Lord chose not to kill Gurbak. He knew clearly that if he killed this World Child, a new one would appear within a few years, or even sooner.
The Scarlet Lord actively supported Gurbak, using this World Child to eliminate the Golden Lord.
Gurbak destroying the Golden Lord was undoubtedly the outcome the Scarlet Lord most desired. Moreover, as a World Child, even if Gurbak mastered the Lord’s Halo, he could never possess the Lord’s Core. This would inevitably lead to rejection by this world’s World Consciousness.
The World Consciousness needed a World Child who could defeat the Lord system, not one who would create a powerful Lord.
From Gurbak’s perspective, he could only feel that he had no talent for the Lord system and couldn’t activate the Lord’s Core even after seizing it. But for the Scarlet Lord, letting a useless waste like Gurbak, who couldn’t master the Lord’s Core, rule the Golden City was the best choice.
As for why he didn’t destroy the Golden City to eliminate future trouble, twenty percent of Eternal Light City’s wealth expenditure came from the Golden City’s [Energy Crystal] business. This was also why the Scarlet Lord hadn’t directly attacked the Golden Lord back then, despite his arrogance. The Undead clan only recognized cooperation with the Golden City; they didn’t much care who controlled it.
The Undead clan were notoriously stubborn mules. It wasn’t just that they were inflexible; they were completely dead to reason.
After completing this step, the Scarlet Lord began the next: destroying this World Child’s beliefs. This wasn’t difficult to manipulate. By using his own hands, he could make Gurbak kill his own close friends, partners, childhood sweethearts, and so on, leading to instant dark corruption.
Su Xiao had personally planned and executed similar things when dealing with World Children from other worlds… Ahem, he had a friend who had done such things before.
After being subjected to the Scarlet Lord’s series of operations, Gurbak, the World Child, was completely corrupted. Then, a few days ago, a Law Destroyer arrived in this world.
When the overlord faction of the First Era met the strongest camp of the Second Era, the former was cautious. Just as it was about to test the waters, an Apostle took the initiative to approach, offering a more perfect plan.
Gurbak had grown to this point and was somewhat famous throughout the Void. This made the Scarlet Lord feel threatened again, so he agreed to the Platinum Apostle’s plan and conditions without much hesitation.
This time, the Platinum Apostle didn’t devour High Lord Gurbak’s fate. Instead, he quietly stripped away Gurbak’s destiny. In theory, it was impossible to strip a World Child’s destiny. The problem was that Gurbak, as a World Child who occupied the position without fulfilling his role, was also being rejected by this world’s World Consciousness. With this guidance, the destiny stripping succeeded.
This caused Gurbak to lose his luck, leading to his army collapsing like a landslide when facing the formidable enemy Su Xiao. His four legions should have had three and a half that were highly capable in battle, but in the end, only the Troll legion truly fought; the others either fled or betrayed him.
Su Xiao didn’t believe the Platinum Apostle would help the Scarlet Lord with such a big favor for no reason. He held out his hand, keeping it from touching the golden blood flowing from Gurbak’s [Arm Mark], levitating it, and sealing it in a thumb-sized crystal container.
[You have obtained: Tainted Fate Blood.]
[Tainted Fate Blood]
Origin: Lord Continent.
Quality: World Grade.
Category: Tainted Substance.
Effect: This tainted substance can permanently erode and pollute all sacred characteristics. When activated, this Fate Blood will automatically track a specific sacred entity to pollute.
Rating: 5999 points (World Grade item rating is 10~6000 points).
Introduction: Oh, twisted, deformed fate.
Undoubtedly, this was the Platinum Apostle’s goal. The only flaw in his plan was that he hadn’t expected Gurbak to die so early. In other words, he hadn’t anticipated that Su Xiao could raise an ultimate skill like [Azure Shadow King] to max level in just a few days and solo the Golden City.
Thinking from another angle, the Platinum Apostle, even at the risk of exposure, had catalyzed this [Tainted Fate Blood], likely to deal with a specific person. This person possessed sacred abilities and, moreover, their existence greatly threatened the Platinum Apostle.
But on second thought, given the Platinum Apostle’s style, how could he leave such a隐患? Even if Gurbak hadn’t died so early, the subsequent recovery of [Tainted Fate Blood] would have carried many unknown risks.
If so, the target of [Tainted Fate Blood] was most likely not the Platinum Apostle’s weakness, but something else. The current plan somewhat felt like deliberately sending [Tainted Fate Blood] to Su Xiao.
Combining these factors, a possibility became clear: this unknown powerful sacred entity might have a way to counter Shenfu’s immortality. Considering Shenfu’s immortality ability at a very high rank, it meant that across the entire Void, only this unknown powerful sacred entity possessed an ability that could potentially kill Shenfu for good.
Once Su Xiao obtained [Tainted Fate Blood] and successfully completed this World War, he might activate it, thereby tracking down that unknown powerful sacred entity.
Why would the Platinum Apostle go to such lengths to sabotage his own ‘teammate’? The answer was that he knew his teammate’s style all too well. If he didn’t use some means, this old thing would eventually pull off a move where his faction and team lost, but he himself won.
This World War was crucial for the Platinum Apostle, or rather, his only chance to survive. The [Dawn Exemption Certificate] that blocked Tuanzhang’s tracking would expire in a few months, and then it would be his death sentence. Facing Tuanzhang, he truly had zero chance.
The effect of the Platinum Apostle’s open scheme was this: either Shenfu killed Su Xiao in this world, or after this World War ended, Su Xiao would expose his only weakness. With this choice, Shenfu couldn’t just coast through the whole thing and end up as one of the winners.
And this open scheme wasn’t just aimed at Shenfu; it was also aimed at Su Xiao.
Just as Su Xiao was pondering, footsteps came from the side. An elf wearing a dark green long coat and a hood walked over. She appeared to be past middle age, but from her features, she must have been a beauty in her youth. However, on her left cheek, there were erosion marks that extended down into her collar.
“He’s dead. Your grudge should be over. Can I take him away and bury him?”
The elf spoke with a complex expression.
“…”
Su Xiao didn’t speak. [Dead Silence Annihilation] appeared in his hand. He fired a shot through Gurbak’s chest, piercing his stopped heart. One could grant a dead powerful enemy dignity, but that dignity must ensure they wouldn’t rise again.
Seeing Su Xiao’s silent permission, the elf stepped forward, hoisted Gurbak’s corpse onto her back, and after a few steps, tilted her head slightly to say to Su Xiao: “He wasn’t like this before… Be careful of the Scarlet Lord. He might be your true enemy.”
With these words, the elf walked away. The story of a lord named Gurbak ended here. Sadly, this wasn’t his story, but an insignificant, albeit somewhat brilliant, page in the thick biography of the Scarlet Lord.
Returning to the surface, the Golden City had now revealed its ‘simple and honest folk customs.’ The enslaved underground city poor, upon regaining their freedom, didn’t cheer or show joy like in movies. Instead, they hysterically released their past despair and suffering, turning it into violence.
Boarding the Lord’s Train, Su Xiao, along with Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha, left the place. When the scenery outside the window turned lush green, the boost from [Azure Shadow King] gradually faded. In response, he felt waves of exhaustion. This wasn’t a drain caused by the ability, but the discomfort of using max-level [Azure Shadow King] for the first time.
Taking the iced lemon water handed over by a smart robot, Su Xiao drank it in one gulp, feeling a refreshing coolness from the inside out. He checked the current gains. Although the casino vault’s haul had been intercepted, the ‘supplies’ Kaiser and Fenny had ‘procured’ from the second treasure vault were still secure. The total gains were as follows:
[You have obtained 620,000 Soul Coins.]
[You have obtained Soul Crystal x106.]
[You have obtained Goblin Merchant Guild 50% Off Coupon.]
[You have obtained Giant Bank Vault Key (With this vault key, you can retrieve 10 pieces of Eternal Rank equipment stored in the Giant Bank).]
It was clear that Gurbak had already been planning to flee. His accumulated wealth of Eternal Rank equipment wasn’t stored in his own vault, but in the Giant Bank.
However, storing this key in the casino’s top-floor vault seemed more appropriate. It was as expected: the casino’s top-floor vault only stored Soul Coin savings cards. Thinking about this made it even more painful. How many Soul Coin savings cards must there have been?
Su Xiao looked at the [Goblin Merchant Guild 50% Off Coupon] in his hand, which resembled a plane ticket but didn’t feel like paper. Used well, this could also be a huge amount of Soul Coins.
By evening, Su Xiao returned to the Lord’s Manor. [Azure Shadow King] could indeed kill enemies to restore health, but it didn’t fully heal injuries. He urgently needed thorough treatment now. Going up to the third floor, he knocked on Fenny’s door.
After several knocks with no answer, Su Xiao looked at the head maid beside him. The head maid hesitated but, under Su Xiao’s gaze, could only open the door.
A moment later, in the inner hall, a yawning Fenny maintained her healing ability. As his injuries gradually recovered, the persistent feeling of weakness faded. Su Xiao opened the city list to check the current development situation.
[Current Identity: Lord of Muyu City.]
Lord’s Halo: E Rank (E~SSS Rank).
Lord’s Core: SSS Rank (E~SSS Rank).
Food: 98.6 million units.
Soldier Units: 1.685 million (Feral Orcs).
The insect nest ruled by the Silver Queen had successfully reached the fifth stage and established an [Insect Race Space Tower]. This boosted their food production from the original 960,000 units per hour to 92 million units per hour, an increase of nearly a hundred times.
This meant the Feral Orc mass production had officially begun. Relying solely on the Lord’s Core for production was too slow. Although their Lord’s Core was high-level, its scale was small to medium, producing 50,000 units per hour, which was already due to being upgraded to SSS Rank. This was also why the Scarlet Lord allowed each lord to have their own Lord’s Core.
This world only had one super-large Lord’s Core, located beneath the Lord’s Palace in Eternal Light City. This was the super-large Lord’s Core created during the peak of the Eternal Light World.
Their production relied on Feral Orcs devouring large amounts of food to undergo perfect division. This, of course, came at a cost. Their Lord’s Core produced one Feral Orc for 40 units of food, but for perfect division, a Feral Orc needed to devour 52 units of food to complete the split.
Now, what they lacked the least was food. What they lacked were Worker Scorpions. Currently, they had 1.685 million Feral Orcs. If they were all in Muyu City, the small city couldn’t contain them even if packed to the brim. They had to dig large spaces deep underground to accommodate these Feral Orcs and provide them with places for perfect division. Excavating these large spaces required many Worker Scorpions, so their number had reached 269,000.
If one were impatient, they could attack the neighboring Corrupted Beast Horde now. Su Xiao didn’t plan to do this. With 1.685 million Feral Orcs, doubling their number would require 87.62 million units of food.
With their current food production of 92 million units per hour, they could add 1.77 million Feral Orcs per hour. After 24 hours, their Feral Orc count would exceed 45 million.
After two days, they wouldn’t need to decide who the enemy was. They could just continuously release Feral Orcs. By then, the Feral Orc Legion would spread across the entire Lord Continent like a tide. The lords of this world still didn’t know that their death knell had sounded and was in its final countdown.
Su Xiao estimated that the Scarlet Lord, the Corrupted Beast Horde, and Molten Iron City wouldn’t wait two days. Although they were an endless legion style, it was best not to be purely defensive. They should take the initiative tomorrow at noon, attack the Corrupted Beast Horde, and enter the fastest development state.
The soft glow of the healing ability faded. Fenny yawned. She had been very drained these past two days and really wanted to sleep soundly for a day and a night: “I’m going back. So sleepy.”
“Wait.”
After saying this, Su Xiao leaned back on a single sofa to rest. Fenny didn’t react at first, about to speak.
“Sit here.”
Su Xiao pointed to a crystalline stool that formed beside the sofa. Fenny took a deep breath, mentally comforting herself that this was her captain, before sitting down.
What made Fenny even more exasperated was that after making her do this, Su Xiao actually started to doze off. Her mouth twitched. She took a deep breath and mentally comforted herself, like ‘He’s the captain, bear with it for now,’ or ‘There must be a deeper meaning to this arrangement.’
After successfully psyching herself up, Fenny was bored and looked around. When two hours had passed, she put away her personal terminal and prepared to talk to her captain. She was a healing type, responsible for buffs and healing, not companionship. Just as she was about to speak.
Clang!
A long dagger, over 50 centimeters long and incredibly sharp, suddenly stopped right in front of Fenny’s brow. A hand wrapped in a crystalline layer held the blade of the dagger. The blade scraped against the crystalline palm with a grinding sound. After 0.5 seconds, the force on the other end of the dagger disappeared. The assassin had released the handle, preparing to flee.
Su Xiao flicked the dagger’s handle. With a bang, it was nailed to the wall beside the fireplace. Blood first spread along the dagger’s blade. Two seconds later, a nearly humanoid Corrupted Beast covered in black fur was pinned through the head and killed.
“Gulp~”
Fenny swallowed. Her detection-type equipment and passive defense equipment could have blocked this attack. The problem was that while these pieces of equipment were strong, they weren’t strong enough to withstand repeated surprise attacks from an Absolute Strength level assassin. A few hundred backstabs in an instant, and the shield formed by Eternal Rank defense equipment would burst in two seconds, unless it was a shield formed by an Eternal Rank one-time-use item.
Suddenly, the pinned Corrupted Beast’s body twisted. All its blood surged out and formed a few words a few meters in front of Su Xiao. It seemed to prevent Su Xiao from not understanding this world’s language, as it was written in Void language.
‘Leave our world within a quarter of an hour.’
The black bloodstains hung in the air for half a minute before gradually falling to the ground. No matter how one looked at it, this was a warning from the Corrupted Beast King.
But in Su Xiao’s view, this was the work of the Lord of Molten Iron City in the south. The Lord of Molten Iron City had always been the Scarlet Lord’s top henchman, said to have followed him since the Second Era. This framing, though not clever, was practical.
Su Xiao had just eliminated High Lord Gurbak, causing the newly formed four-faction alliance to collapse. Among the three remaining factions—Molten Iron City, the Undead clan, and the Corrupted Beast Horde—the Undead clan was the most indifferent. They mainly did [Energy Crystal] business with Gurbak. It was Molten Iron City and the Corrupted Beast Horde that truly cared about this alliance.
The Lord of Molten Iron City, seemingly the Scarlet Lord’s henchman, had a saying: no one likes being a henchman, especially after an entire era. By now, the Lord of Molten Iron City felt he could challenge the Scarlet Lord’s authority, especially since he had mastered several highest-tier combat unit types and commanded over 90 legions.
Gurbak had money, the Lord of Molten Iron City had war strength, the Corrupted Beast Horde provided an inexhaustible supply of [Corrupted Soil], and the Undead clan had [Energy Crystal] mines. If these factions joined forces and eliminated the Scarlet Lord, this territory would be theirs.
This plan was shattered before it even began. This made the Lord of Molten Iron City very wary of Su Xiao’s strength. He decided to test the waters with the Corrupted Beast Horde to see the limit of this Law Destroyer.
When necessary, the Lord of Molten Iron City would step in to mediate and then try to ally with Su Xiao. This might provide a better way to deal with the Scarlet Lord.
The scheme wasn’t complex, not on the same level as super old schemers like Shenfu or the Platinum Apostle. But this couldn’t be blamed on the Lord of Molten Iron City. In his view, Su Xiao, this Law Destroyer, was an ultimate brute. Otherwise, how could he have soloed the entire Golden City?
Decision made. Tomorrow at noon, they wouldn’t attack the Corrupted Beast Horde first. They would take Molten Iron City as the first target, perfectly testing the Feral Orcs’ siege capabilities and their ability to fight flying units.
Fenny, who had been sleepy earlier, was now wide awake. Just then, the inner hall door was knocked, and Kaiser pushed it open.
“My dear friend, we can begin.”
Seeing Kaiser arrive, Fenny instinctively stepped back a few paces. It wasn’t that Kaiser’s aura was terrifying, but that during the ‘procurement,’ Kaiser’s mind-boggling operations had truly made her question life. Abilities like [Unique Ability: Impersonation] and [Unique Ability: Join in the Filth] left her with a helpless and complex smile.
After Kaiser described the general plan with an increasingly lecherous and treacherous expression, Su Xiao pondered and judged it, feeling it was feasible.
Su Xiao looked at Fenny: “Need a favor.”
“What favor? Not healing someone, is it?”
“No.”
“Oh, okay then. I really have no healing energy left.”
The group set off. Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha naturally joined. Beini lazily lay on the cat tree on the balcony, indicating she would stay and watch the house. She couldn’t fight, but she wasn’t afraid of assassins.
After leaving the Lord’s Manor, the group walked the streets of Muyu City at nine in the evening. Compared to when Su Xiao first arrived, the city was visibly prospering. It made sense. With ample supplies of food and fresh water, residents from nearby lordless small underground cities would naturally be attracted here.
Correspondingly, the crime rate in the city had increased, forming various gangs. Along with this, the lord’s power system was gradually being perfected, and there were plans to expand Muyu City soon.
This was related to Su Xiao, but not much. He wouldn’t stay in this world long. This was just one round of the World War, not a separate world progression.
In the drizzling rain, Su Xiao arrived at Xina’s residence. It was a three-story mansion with a front and back courtyard of several thousand square meters. However, Xina had never lived here. As the vice lord, she had to deal with all kinds of strange and formidable characters every day.
Her greatest hope now was to quickly select a capable vice lord so she could immediately take a vacation, far away from the seemingly gentle and sincere but actually scheming officials, family members, and wealthy merchants.
Entering the mansion’s first floor, Su Xiao and the others sat down in the living room. After turning on the lights, Kaiser took out a scroll. It was a contract scroll. Where he got it was unclear, but he must have offered the other party a high price to have it delivered so quickly.
[You have obtained: Mysterious Contract. This is a contract established between the Mysterious Merchant and Contractor No. £135****52. After use, Contractor No. £135****52 can conduct one transaction with the Mysterious Merchant.]
The prefix ‘£’ in the number ‘£135****52’ represented Death Paradise. ’13’ was a very early recruitment batch, but adding ‘5’ meant it was likely a recruitment batch from the last 1-2 years.
None of the three present were contractors of Death Paradise. However, there was a Contract Grandmaster and an… Unscrupulous Grandmaster? Thinking carefully, Kaiser’s abilities truly exuded a strong and unbelievable unscrupulousness.
Su Xiao picked up the contract parchment, rolled the corner to feel its texture. Then, blood smoke spread on his index finger, and he pressed it onto the contract parchment. The spot he pressed turned red-hot. After removing his finger, he picked up the parchment, folded it to highlight the red-hot spot, carefully felt its temperature, and even sniffed it. He said:
“It’s not a contract notarized by the Void Tree or a Paradise faction. It should be a contract carrier from the Devil race.”
As he spoke, Su Xiao tapped the pattern on the contract parchment. Kaiser carefully observed and asked, “How did you judge that?”
“Looking from this angle, there are reverse scale patterns. Also, to save costs on contract carriers, the Devil race uses second-grade materials. When heated, it has a waxy smoke smell.”
“Oh~”
Kaiser nodded in understanding. Asking questions when unsure was one of Kaiser’s rare good qualities.
Hearing this unfamiliar knowledge, Fenny hesitated before asking, “How can you avoid contract traps?”
Hearing this, Su Xiao glanced at Fenny, as if assessing her level of scheming. After a moment, he gave his answer: “Don’t sign the contract.”
“Hey! I feel like my intelligence is being underestimated. That’s annoying. I’m pretty smart, you know? Otherwise, how could I have reached the Absolute Strength level?”
“Mm.”
“Don’t answer! I was just complaining, not asking. Answering makes me look even less smart.”
Fenny’s complaints soon stopped because she saw the hunter across from her take out a piece of parchment of similar texture. After several steps, he made the two parchments identical. What truly made Fenny’s eyes widen was that he then stacked the two parchments, the one with contract content on top, the blank one below, and then placed another parchment with various strange contract contents on top of that.
The topmost parchment began to turn transparent, and those strange contract contents actually seeped into the second layer below, the [Mysterious Contract]. This didn’t change the content of the [Mysterious Contract], but it caused some of its content to gradually seep into the bottom layer. Thus, the content of the third contract parchment became:
‘This is a contract established between the Mysterious Merchant and (blank), after use, (blank) can conduct one transaction with the Mysterious Merchant.’
Just as confusion filled Fenny’s bewildered eyes, she saw the man across from her take out a contract inscription pen, write her imprint number in the blank, and then notarize it. After notarization, her imprint number on the contract automatically appeared before it.
“Alright, use it.”
Su Xiao handed the [Mysterious Contract] to Fenny. Before she could respond, he had already drawn the sheathed Dragon-Slaying Flash. The long blade was unsheathed and pressed against Fenny’s fair neck. In this regard, Fenny’s business became familiar. This wasn’t to threaten her into doing it, but to leave a safe judgment space, allowing her to file a notarization complaint on the grounds that ‘she was forced to do this.’
With this premise, Fenny wasn’t worried. She chose to use the Mysterious Contract. As for losing the opportunity to trade with the Mysterious Merchant, Fenny really wasn’t concerned. Among the top-tier contractors of Apocalypse Paradise, the Mysterious Merchant was the least popular of the three highest-tier merchants. He was a notorious profiteer. The Traveling Merchant was the reliable one.
The contract force caused a spatial passage to appear. As expected, sensing that it was time to fulfill the contract in this world, the Mysterious Merchant, who had just fleeced the Fraudster and the Law Destroyer here, chose to activate the contract’s hidden content, intending to default without penalty.
Unfortunately, the original [Mysterious Contract] did have this backdoor, but now it didn’t. Moreover, it came with a contract penalty. This penalty was related to the content of 15 branch contracts, which in turn were densely linked to a total of 1,280 sub-contracts.
These 1,280 sub-contracts were densely packed with penalty content. To put it simply, getting a mosquito bite was common in life, but if a mosquito bit you billions of times, even a mammoth would ascend to heaven on the spot.
It turned out that even neutral units notarized by the Void Tree had to yield when facing contract arbitration. Moreover, not every neutral unit notarized by the Void Tree or a Paradise faction was honest and trustworthy. Kaiser was an Arbiter, after all.
A figure carrying a large wooden box and wearing a strange hood walked out of the spatial passage. As soon as the Mysterious Merchant arrived in this world, a contract activated, transferring Fenny’s trading rights to Su Xiao. This meant the Mysterious Merchant had to complete this transaction with Su Xiao to successfully fulfill this contract.
The Mysterious Merchant naturally understood the situation. He unstrapped the large wooden box he was carrying, sat cross-legged against the wall, and opened the box, revealing various items.
Though silent, the Mysterious Merchant’ attitude was clear. He had the Void Tree’s neutral notarization and wasn’t worried about Su Xiao attacking or threatening him. At worst, they could stall, or Su Xiao could buy one of his items to fulfill the contract.
Beside him, Kaiser put the Abyssal Jar on his head, took out various suspicious items, arranged them around him like setting up a formation, and began to dance wildly. During this, he even fell to the ground convulsing or swimming on dry land. After working up a sweat, he fumbled a rusty badge from the white ashes on the ground and handed it to Su Xiao.
[You have obtained ^/*|?◣##??.]
[You have used this item: Reversal Badge.]
[Reversal Sequence Judging…]
[Currently, the only reversible judgment is: Transaction.]
[Current Transaction Content: Purchase.]
[Reversal Complete. The current transaction content has been reversed to: Sale.]
[Tip: You can sell items to the Mysterious Merchant. Maximum number of items that can be sold: 30.]
Su Xiao walked to the stall, opened the [Book of Original Sin] in his hand, took out the [Soul Crown], and placed it on the stall.
“I hope our transaction this time is pleasant.”
As the [Soul Crown] was placed on the stall, the previously calm and composed Mysterious Merchant’s gaze grew increasingly serious. From the constantly twitching corner of his eye, he seemed to ‘like’ this item he was about to sell very much.
A Big Daddy-level Original Sin Object was placed on the stall. The Mysterious Merchant was a neutral unit notarized by the Void Tree. Couldn’t attack him? No problem. This was just a transaction. As for him dying from the side effects of the transaction, completing this transaction’s karma and then dropping dead on the spot, that wasn’t something Su Xiao could control. At least on his end, these few Big Daddy-level Original Sin Objects were properly sealed. Who knew the Mysterious Merchant’s destiny was so fragile.
“Name your price.”
As Su Xiao spoke, he sat on a crystalline chair formed behind him and activated the contract’s hidden content, forcing the contract to be fulfilled within half an hour. Otherwise, contract arbitration would gradually descend. The Contract Grandmaster who could make Shenfu, the Platinum Apostle, and Haoji all admit defeat in this regard was truly not just a name.
The Mysterious Merchant looked at the five Big Daddy-level Original Sin Objects on the stall and swallowed hard. If he actually completed this transaction, even if he had a million lives, he wouldn’t last an instant. Besides, he only had one life.
This made the Mysterious Merchant’s stiff face gradually break into a smile. He simply pulled off his hood, revealing a middle-aged face covered in dense wrinkles and an unexpectedly explosive afro.
“It seems I have offended you two in some way. If so…”
The Mysterious Merchant prepared to play dumb. Seeing this, Su Xiao and Kaiser walked out of the mansion.
“Wait… wait! Let’s talk. Let’s talk slowly.”
The Mysterious Merchant put on a flattering smile. Then, as if suddenly enlightened, he slapped his thigh and said, “Ah, I remember! Is it because of that vault I accidentally entered earlier? I was wondering why a vault of that scale had lost resonance with its owner. So it was your spoils of war. What a misunderstanding.”
The Mysterious Merchant laughed awkwardly a few times. Then, his face showed difficulty: “Two sirs, I’ve used a tiny bit of those Soul Coins that belong to you. Don’t get me wrong, even though I have the title of highest-tier merchant, my Soul Coin consumption is… sigh~”
The Mysterious Merchant sighed. Hearing this, Kaiser’s eyes widened. He stepped forward. Since they were of similar height, Kaiser easily grabbed the Mysterious Merchant by the collar and demanded, “How much is left?!”
Using Kaiser’s Soul Coins was like cutting his own flesh. This caused his face to tremble, not from anger, but from heartache.
“Thirty left.”
“Only 3… 300,000 left?!”
Kaiser took a big step back in shock, his body swaying. That was tens of millions of Soul Coins! He could see that the guy in front of him was now a pauper. Even if he squeezed hard, not a single drop of oil would come out. As for killing him, what was the point? Soul Coins were Kaiser’s precious darling.
“No ‘ten thousand.’ Thirty coins.”
The Mysterious Merchant grew more心虚. Kaiser felt dizzy. If Amu hadn’t held him back, he would have already gone up and stuffed his sock into the Mysterious Merchant’s mouth.
“You… you must hold him back.”
The Mysterious Merchant, while dry heaving, got up and leaned against the wall.
Su Xiao could now see the Mysterious Merchant’s style. If Kaiser’s style was life > money, then the Mysterious Merchant’s was money > life.
But now, the Mysterious Merchant was starting to panic. Seeing this, Su Xiao signaled Amu with his eyes. Amu released Kaiser, stepped forward, pinned down the Mysterious Merchant, and pried open his mouth.
“Dare to cheat me out of my money! Let me give you a taste of my treasured socks, aged for over 6,000 years in the twisted time dead pool! Amu, pry his mouth open wider!”
Kaiser gritted his teeth and stepped forward. The Mysterious Merchant looked at Kaiser, then at the Big Daddy-level Original Sin Objects on the stall. To be honest, he was really afraid these Original Sin Objects would end up with him. And last time he met this Law Destroyer, the other party had more than one Original Sin Object. If he sold all the Original Sin Objects to him, plus the armguard sealing the [Dead Silence Origin], then even dying would be a relief.
The current threat was the filthy object coming straight at him, followed by a fate worse than death. This made the Mysterious Merchant shout in a muffled voice:
“Compensation! I’ll give you compensation that will satisfy you! Compensation worth… several times the value of those Soul Coins!”
Hearing this, Kaiser naturally put on his sock and shoe, winked at Amu to release the Mysterious Merchant, and warmly stepped forward to help him up:
“Just kidding! Look how serious you are, haha. Tell me, what compensation?”
Kaiser put his arm around the Mysterious Merchant’s shoulder like an old friend not seen for years. And honestly, the auras of these two were unexpectedly compatible.
Leaving Kaiser’s negotiations aside for now, Su Xiao helped up Fenny, who had fallen to the ground with her eyes rolling back, and told Baha to open the window. Fortunately, it was raining outside, and the air was especially fresh. Fenny recovered after a moment.
After two friendly slaps on the cheek, Fenny sobered up a bit and asked dazedly, “Bai Ye, where are we? I think I saw an old man with a scythe smiling and waving at me, telling me to come over. Earlier… I felt a strange force hit my nose, my head went ‘buzz,’ and then I saw that old man.”
“…”
Su Xiao didn’t speak. Bubu Wang and Baha looked away. Laughing out loud at Fenny’s misery was really not kind.
On the other side, the negotiation between Kaiser and the Mysterious Merchant had reached its final stage. However, the Mysterious Merchant was still hesitant. When Kaiser suddenly turned cold, called out to Amu, and made a move to take off his shoe…
“Brother, brother, wait! I didn’t say I disagree. Let’s… let’s do it your way.”
The Mysterious Merchant seemed deflated. He now regretted it deeply. He had been fine, why did he have to provoke these two scourges? Unfortunately, it was too late to regret. Today, he had to take a huge loss to save his life.
Su Xiao didn’t ask what Kaiser had obtained. After cooperating with Kaiser for so long, this guy, though treacherous, lecherous, and unhygienic, never cheated when it came to dividing spoils… ahem, dividing gains.
[Tip: Do you agree to change the content of this contract transaction from Transaction·Sale to Gift to you?]
[Change completed.]
[You have obtained: Supreme Soul Essence (Permanent Enhancement Item·Ultra-High Rarity·Multi-Notarized Item. This item can only be used on core technique-type abilities, and any living being can only use it once in their lifetime).]
Updated late. The ten-thousand-word update was written slowly. I only finished writing now. Sorry.