Chapter 4: Fall
After the Dark Maiden appeared, the attitudes of the Dark Bishop and the other two toward Su Xiao changed drastically. From the previous surface-level politeness with hidden vigilance, it shifted to a state where, though a trace of final caution remained, there was no longer any wariness or hostility.
The letter Su Xiao had left for the Dark Maiden at the "Gloomy Sanctuary" in the Eternal Light World, advising her not to go to the "Ancient Dragon Kingdom·Eberath," was not a warning she ignored. In fact, a month before Su Xiao left that letter, she had already arrived at Eberath.
Upon initial perception, the Dark Maiden possessed the combat power of a veteran Supreme, meaning the lower-middle tier of the Supreme rank. However, in a one-on-one battle, the Dark Maiden was the most troublesome type of enemy. Her "Dark Domain," as long as it was of the same tier as her opponent's domain, could not be resisted. This had been tested by the Ancestral Law Destroyers.
The reason the "Dark Domain" was so unresolvable was that it was a power inherited by each generation of Dark Maidens.
A more intuitive analogy would be that the Supreme rank could be divided into five stages: New Supreme, Veteran Supreme, Top Supreme, Super·Top Supreme, and Supreme Peak.
The Dark Maiden's current "Dark Domain" had likely awakened to the domain tier of a Veteran Supreme. In other words, as long as the enemy did not exceed the Veteran Supreme level, they could not resist the "Dark Domain," not even Abyss Descendants. This was because the "Dark Domain" itself originated from the Abyss, sharing the same tier and origin as the abilities of the Abyss Descendants.
Conversely, once the enemy reached the domain tier of a Top Supreme, the "Dark Domain" would fail, unable to envelop them. In such a case, the Dark Maiden's combat power would plummet by over sixty percent.
All Absolute Strong and Supreme beings possessed their own domain abilities. For some, in the later stages, the domain ability became a core ability, with eighty percent of resources invested into it. As for the domain ability of a Blade Grandmaster? Ahem. Su Xiao's domain ability was:
"Blade Domain (Technique·Passive): You gain 10% total damage reduction. The damage tier of blade-type weapons is increased by +5."
It couldn't be said that this ability was weak, given the 10% total damage reduction. But compared to systems with strong domain frameworks, it fell short. However, this was not Su Xiao's development direction.
Every Dark Maiden was extreme. Before reaching Supreme, they were invincible within their rank. After reaching Supreme, they had virtually no opponents within their tier. Su Xiao was currently between Veteran Supreme and Top Supreme. He estimated that if he were dragged into the "Dark Domain," he would not be a match for the Dark Maiden.
However, Su Xiao had many methods. The moment the "Dark Domain" enveloped him, he could call down "Heaven's Wrath·World Thunder," which would inevitably slow the domain's expansion. Then, with a small combo of the "Law-Destroying Teleportation Array," he could successfully escape. As for a direct confrontation, one would have to be quite foolish to face the "Dark Domain" head-on. Besides, Su Xiao's "Extreme Blade·World" had potential in this regard, but it had not yet been developed as a separate ability.
In short, one should not view the Dark Maiden and the "Dark Domain" as a single entity. The "Dark Domain" was more like an inherited weapon of the Dark Maiden, rather than a domain ability she could fully control and develop.
Also, because of the "Dark Domain," the Dark Maiden needed to act alone. The "Dark Domain" was not fully controllable; she could only decide where to use it, but could not ensure which target within that range would be dragged into the domain.
Everything had a price. The "Dark Domain," which was absurdly strong in one-on-one combat, naturally came with many costs.
"White Night."
The always expressionless and silent High Priest of Agony, Zdenek, spoke.
"..."
Su Xiao looked at the High Priest of Agony, Zdenek.
"You are sure... you want to... deal with... the Beast Lord."
The High Priest of Agony, Zdenek, spoke with slight pauses, as if his language ability had been damaged in a previous battle.
"Mm."
"I can... go with you... to the Beast Lord's lair... the Elf Kingdom·Serton."
The seemingly most cold-blooded and expressionless High Priest of Agony, Zdenek, was the first to express his stance. This surprised Afia slightly. She glanced at Su Xiao, then at Zdenek. These two—one silent and taciturn, his aura like a massive, grinning blood beast; the other cold-blooded and expressionless, his aura like a stinking, bloody flesh monster—could be said to be birds of a feather.
Su Xiao looked at the Dark Maiden, and the High Priest of Agony also looked at her. Su Xiao had known the High Priest of Agony for less than two hours, but he trusted the Dark Maiden. The High Priest of Agony also had a high degree of trust in her. The reason was that in less than a month since her arrival, she had saved the exploration team eight times and rescued several thousand residents of Doan who were out searching for supplies.
If anyone else had such a record, it would certainly arouse suspicion. But the Dark Maiden was different. After arriving in Doan, she spent most of her time in the darkness outside, clearing the dark creatures or Abyss Spawn around the Sanctuary City.
The Abyss Spawn in the surrounding area would hunt and kill exploration team members. This led to a situation where the exploration team would be ahead, the Abyss Spawn would follow behind, and the Dark Maiden would track the Abyss Spawn from even further back. As a result, the exploration team encountered the Dark Maiden three times in a single day.
Calculating this way, it was perfectly normal for the Dark Maiden to save the exploration team eight times in a month. Besides, the Sanctuary City of Doan currently had a total of fifteen exploration teams.
The Dark Maiden ignored the High Priest of Agony. She seemed to think for a moment, then nodded slightly to Su Xiao, indicating that this bald man, who appeared unhygienic and had a strong smell of blood, was still trustworthy.
One must not assume that because the Dark Maiden often spoke softly, calling him "Law Destroyer Lord" in the Eternal Light World, she was gentle and approachable. On the contrary, if she didn't know someone well, she would mostly ignore them. Even if they expressed a thousand thanks for saving their life, she would at most respond with a non-expressionless "mm" as an acknowledgment.
Su Xiao was not surprised by the High Priest of Agony, Zdenek's, decision to join the team. For the three Supremes of the Sanctuary City, whether he truly intended to deal with the Abyss Descendants was of crucial importance.
The root of all this lay in the [Flame Core] that Su Xiao had produced. If this item was genuine, it would bring earth-shattering changes to the Sanctuary City. Not only would the residents' happiness index skyrocket by dozens of times, but it would also solve problems like hunger and the infiltration of darkness.
This was Eberath. The darkness here was different from conventional darkness. In this world, when an area fell into complete darkness, monsters would inevitably begin to spawn. If it were just dark beasts or alien species, they could be cleared at the cost of heavy casualties. But if the darkness gave birth to the immortal and indestructible Abyss Spawn, the only option was to abandon the space in that area and banish it.
The Sanctuary City had many sealed-off areas. These were void zones created after banishment. Entering such areas, living beings would gradually be absorbed and decomposed, turning into bloody dust without any sense of danger.
To dispel a fully formed dark area, aside from banishment through severance, one could only use flame with solar properties or solar-type curiosities. This was also why the exploration teams repeatedly ventured out to search.
The Ancient Dragon Clan and the Sun Faction were mortal enemies. In the war of that era, countless solar-type secret treasures, curiosities, and the like were scattered across the world.
If the [Flame Core] could be activated on the "Torch Tower" in the city center, the Sanctuary City would have a solar treasure that could last for two eras. The problem was that Su Xiao had suddenly appeared in a broken wooden hut in the outer city district just two hours ago. The Dark Bishop and the other two truly did not dare to risk the safety of the Sanctuary City.
That was why the High Priest of Agony, Zdenek, proposed joining the team to help Su Xiao deal with the Beast Lord, one of the three councilors of Dukain. Su Xiao didn't need to defeat the Beast Lord; as long as the two sides truly fought to the death, the High Priest of Agony, Zdenek, could send back a message, allowing for the initial, cautious use of the [Flame Core].
In fact, compared to the three Supremes of the Sanctuary City, Su Xiao also hoped that this [Flame Core] would be activated as soon as possible, shining on the Sanctuary City from the "Torch Tower." The reason was that, due to the special nature of this world, world settlement was determined by the Sanctuary City's reputation.
He didn't quite believe that producing the [Flame Core] would only yield a few thousand points of Sanctuary City reputation. He estimated that the reputation gain this time would be divided into two stages. The first stage was producing the [Flame Core]; the second stage was activating it, after which he would receive the emotional feedback of hundreds of thousands of Doan residents, leading to a continuous increase in Sanctuary City reputation.
Moreover, this time there was a long-lost "Reputation Ranking," certified by the Void Tree. Judging from the previous prompts, due to the special nature of this world, the reward for first place had been multiplied several times over. Considering that this was a Supreme-tier world, the base reward for first place was already exceptionally high. Multiplying it several times more meant that no contractor here would be unmoved.
As Su Xiao pondered this, a knock came at the door. Before the Dark Bishop could speak, the door was pushed open. A servant in a white robe entered the room. He stopped in front of the sofa where Su Xiao was sitting, opened his mouth exaggeratedly, and used both hands to hook his upper and lower jaws, pulling them apart with force.
Crack~
Blood splattered. The white-robed servant's mouth tore open to his ears. He reached his hand into his mouth, stuffing nearly his entire arm into his chest and abdomen, before pulling out an ancient, rolled-up beast-hide map. The map was stained with blood, causing gray-white tentacles to sprout and writhe wildly.
Bang!
Without any visible movement from Afia, the servant's entire head flew off. While still in mid-air, the head was covered in sparks, turning to ash and evaporating before it hit the ground.
With a tearing sound, the servant ripped off his robe, revealing his upper body. On the right side of his chest, a face appeared. After the features became clear, the eyes opened. The pupils were pale white. After trembling a few times, the eyes rolled back, and with a sound of mucus rubbing, the pupils of the eyes were revealed.
"Wait a moment."
Su Xiao spoke, stopping Afia, who was about to strike again.
The face on the servant trembled, then quickly steadied. When its eyes focused, a somewhat kind and smiling expression appeared on the face. It said:
"An Eberath map I happened to buy. But it's from the First Era, the Ancient Dragon Era."
The Father looked at Su Xiao with a smile.
"..."
Su Xiao didn't speak. A crystalline layer climbed onto his right hand as he took the beast-hide scroll tube handed over by the headless servant.
"It seems we'll both be very busy from now on."
After the Father finished speaking, the headless servant he controlled began to proliferate, turning into gray-white tentacles. Finally, with a bang, it exploded, dissipating into gray mist in the air.
"What the hell... is this thing?"
Even Afia, who had long explored the darkness of the Abyss, frowned deeply.
"An... old friend."
Su Xiao's answer made Afia frown even deeper. She asked, "Then how many of these old friends of yours have come?"
"For now... just one."
"For now..."
Afia savored these two words, her expression turning unpleasant. The Father gave her an extremely eerie feeling. Even though she had experienced much darkness, strangeness, and horror, sensing the Father's aura this time made her feel that he was too bizarre. That feeling that he himself was death caused an instinctive discomfort in the living.
Su Xiao looked at the beast-hide scroll tube in his hand. The Father's open scheme was quite insidious. He was certain that Haoji was in this world, having tracked him here. The goal was simple: to force the pursuer, the Father, to confront his long-time nemesis, Kukulin Bai Ye.
The Father had used the Initial Death to devour three Forbidden Marks, obtaining the "Death Mark." But the current "Death Mark" was not yet complete. He needed to fuse the remaining "Devouring Mark" and "Soul Mark" to forge a complete "Death Mark."
Don't forget a key point: the Dawn Paradise had awakened, and the "Forbidden Marks" had always been sealed by the Dawn Paradise. As a violator who had dealt with three "Forbidden Marks," the Father would undoubtedly receive a summons from the Dawn Paradise first, and he would unhesitatingly accept it. This would give the Father his ideal situation.
If Su Xiao guessed correctly, the current Father had entered this world on a mission from the Dawn Paradise. Finding and using the "Death Mark" to devour the other "Forbidden Marks" was likely the Father's main mission.
Therefore, this old fox, who had always stayed behind the scenes, was now slightly more proactive. Though still hidden in the shadows, he had begun to reveal his formidable strangeness and ambition.
A map of this world was crucial to Su Xiao. The problem was that the Sanctuary City·Doan did not have such a map. The outside was shrouded in darkness. The exploration teams, despite their best efforts, had only mapped the area near the Sanctuary City.
The four Dukain territories—"Elf Kingdom," "Empress City," "Corrupted Royal City," and "Molten City"—were known to the Sanctuary City's strongmen through prophecy or divination. As for where these four vast nations were located, neither the Dark Bishop nor Afia knew.
Moreover, after the death of the previous old city lord, this generation lacked a powerful prophet. They were completely in the dark about the Dukain family.
The choice Su Xiao now faced was this: looking at this map would create a fateful karmic connection with it. Don't forget, one of the three Forbidden Marks devoured by the "Death Mark" was the "Fate Mark."
From his understanding of the Father, this old man would not be like the Platinum Apostle, who, though seemingly composed, was arrogantly choosing to devour fate. Furthermore, the Father's Initial Death made him extremely difficult to kill. The current "Death Mark" had amplified the death of the Initial Death a hundredfold, making the Father even harder to completely destroy.
Therefore, the Father did not need the Platinum Apostle's method of using the "Fate Mark" to devour fate and create tens of thousands of lives. With the old fox's cautious style, he would more likely probe fate carefully.
The Father had probed the fate of this "Ancient Dragon Map." When someone looked at this map, their fate would connect. This way, the Father could probe the fate of the "Ancient Dragon Map" to know Su Xiao's approximate location.
A more extreme conjecture was that after Su Xiao accepted this "Ancient Dragon Map," the Father could use it as a medium to probe the map's fate and know Su Xiao's general location.
So why did Su Xiao accept the map? The answer was that this time, he truly could not spare the energy to engage in a covert struggle with the Father. This was his first time dealing with the Abyss Descendants, and there were too many unknowns and dangers.
The Father had proactively used this precious map to show sincerity, proposing a temporary non-aggression pact. It was best to let this situation continue.
As for being spied on by the Father regarding his location, this was sometimes mutual. When the Father controlled the headless servant to hand over this Ancient Dragon Map, a contract had already been formed inside Su Xiao's sleeve.
Su Xiao could draft many contracts, but the one with the highest binding force was the Equivalent Contract. The Equivalent Contract he formed this time was such that what he gave was also what he wanted to receive.
Taking the contract from his sleeve, Su Xiao examined it and learned that he could use this contract to know the Father's location. However, the condition was that every time the Father probed his location through fate, he could use the contract to track the Father back once.
As a subsequent ally, Su Xiao did not intend to hide these matters from the Dark Bishop, Afia, and the High Priest of Agony, Zdenek. After learning about the Father's bizarre abilities, the Dark Bishop and Afia both felt a headache. They had originally thought they were experts in dealing with the bizarre, but now they realized that the bizarre things they had encountered before were nowhere near this level of absurdity.
Afia was very curious about the method Su Xiao had used to produce the contract. When she heard about the function of the "Equivalent Contract" and how it had been signed so covertly, the Dark Bishop and Afia's eyes twitched. A feeling that a monster was right beside them began to surface in their minds.
"You... you signed a contract just like that? Do you have anything... more outrageous?"
Afia's rare display of high emotional intelligence meant that if she were being direct, she would have said: Do you have anything more ruthless? Let me know so I can be on guard in advance.
"..."
Su Xiao glanced at the Dark Bishop, then at Afia's increasingly bright eyes, and at the High Priest of Agony, Zdenek, who was leaning forward slightly, wanting to see what came next. It was expected that they would need to use contract methods to trick the Abyss Descendants through these three Supremes later. It was good to let them understand a bit now.
So that when this method was suddenly revealed, they wouldn't make mistakes in coordination at a critical moment. He drafted a contract, then, as if remembering something, asked Afia:
"Just now, what contract did you want to see?"
Hearing this, Afia extinguished the cigarette between her fingers, a smile curling at the corner of her mouth. "To see your strongest contract."
"Contract, signed."
Su Xiao's voice suddenly carried a surge of authority. His index finger pressed down on the parchment contract on the desk. This seemingly light press felt like a heavy blow to Afia's heart, making her breath catch. Almost simultaneously, beside Su Xiao's index fingerprint on the contract parchment, Afia's fingerprint appeared.
How was this contract signed? The answer was that it was a transaction contract. Su Xiao had agreed to Afia's request to see his strongest contract. In return, Afia had signed this contract with no binding content.
"No binding theme?" Afia examined the contract and breathed a sigh of relief. She continued, "But being able to sign a contract like this is still quite impressive."
Just as Afia finished speaking, her words got stuck in her throat. The "Transaction Contract" she had signed floated up on its own, then split from a single sheet of parchment into 80 layers. One contract instantly became 80.
The top layer of the contract indeed had no binding theme. But the 79 layers below contained various types of contract bindings. What was more terrifying was that each of these bindings was individually weak. However, with 79 contracts totaling several thousand binding clauses, a qualitative change occurred.
Afia's red lips parted slightly. She wanted to say something, but her mouth was slightly open, and nothing came out. Because she discovered that beneath these 79 contracts, each one was linked to 30 sub-contracts. In other words, her single sentence, "Let me see your strongest contract," had caused her to successfully sign 2,370 contracts.
Furthermore, these 2,370 contracts contained a total of 225,000 binding clauses. Quantity led to a qualitative change. Afia could already feel the strong threat from these contracts.
The Dark Bishop, sitting on the sofa beside Su Xiao, quietly lifted his buttocks, moving his sitting position away from Su Xiao in an extremely steady manner. He was truly afraid that a sneeze or a fart might cause him to sign several thousand contracts.
Snap~
Su Xiao snapped his fingers. All the contracts related to Afia were completely incinerated. This gave Afia a moment of physical and mental relaxation. She let out a long sigh, tilted her head, and looked at Su Xiao with one eye slightly larger than the other. She said, "I now feel that you might actually be able to defeat the Beast Lord."
Su Xiao didn't speak. He simply took out a world coordinate locator. The Dark Bishop and the other two were knowledgeable enough to recognize the item, but they didn't feel particularly tense. This world was too dangerous. As long as one wasn't brain-dead, they wouldn't plot an attack on this place.
Nevertheless, Afia still asked, "What are you doing?"
"Finding a helper."
"A helper? Aren't we reliable enough?"
The Dark Bishop's words made Baha, who was standing on the back of Su Xiao's chair, laugh. He asked, "Dark Bishop, Afia, do you think my boss's contract methods are impressive?"
"Of course they are."
Afia answered without hesitation.
"The helper my boss is looking for, in terms of some wonderful abilities, will make people... very doubtful about life."
Hearing this, the Dark Bishop and Afia didn't feel the slightest bit happy about having a powerful reinforcement. Instead, they both had a feeling that this gradually forming team seemed to be getting more and more dangerous.
But since things had come to this point, stopping it was no longer the best option. Afia decided to observe what summoning technique this Law Destroyer would use next, in order to judge the threat level of the incoming person.
Beep, beep~
The world coordinate locator in Su Xiao's hand lit up green. This meant one thing: the other end of his transmission was in the same world as him.
Su Xiao was not surprised by this. For a world like "Ancient Dragon Kingdom·Eberath," which rarely opened for teleportation, now that a safe teleportation was available at the certification level, that scoundrel Kaisa would definitely not miss it.
Also, don't forget one point. The original sin of the "Abyssal Jar" was greed, but its characteristic was darkness. This destined Eberath to be Kaisa's treasure-hunting ground.
Just as Afia was still wondering what teleportation technique Su Xiao would use to summon his accomplice, she saw the Law Destroyer take out a Soul Coin, hold it in his hand, press it with his thumb, and flick it into the air with a *ding*.
The Soul Coin flipped upward in mid-air, drawing everyone's attention. As it gradually fell halfway, a hand suddenly reached out and grabbed the Soul Coin. This hand, with black dirt under its fingernails, pinched the Soul Coin between its thumb and index finger, rubbing it lovingly, feeling the embossed pattern on the coin.
"My dear friend, you have helped Kaisa, who was lost in the darkness, find his bearings again."
Kaisa, wearing the Abyssal Jar on his head and with a face full of treacherous smiles, appeared. He materialized without a trace within the perception range of the four Supreme-tier beings.
The Dark Bishop, Afia, and the High Priest of Agony, Zdenek, all leaped back from their seats simultaneously. The Dark Bishop's eyes turned pitch black. Afia drew her backsword, and with a *click*, she unfolded a mechanical blade. The High Priest of Agony, Zdenek, even stabbed his hand into his own chest, gripping his heart.
Were these three overreacting? Not at all. The thing on Kaisa's head was the daddy-level original sin object, the "Abyssal Jar." Even if it were a peak Void top-tier force, encountering a daddy-level original sin object would make them panic, let alone a Sanctuary City struggling in the darkness.
Seeing the three so tense, Kaisa took off the "Abyssal Jar" with a treacherous smile, but did not put it away. This was because the "Abyssal Jar" was not Kaisa's possession. The two were partners in crime, from initial cooperation to now being inseparable. As a result, Kaisa would not suffer any backlash from the "Abyssal Jar."
"Three, no need to be nervous. With Kaisa here, the Abyssal Jar is very stable. It won't threaten the Sanctuary City."
Baha's words made the Dark Bishop and the other two exchange glances. Considering that this holder of the original sin object was about to become an ally to deal with the Beast Lord, the three reluctantly relaxed their vigilance a little.
Seeing the three still wary expressions, Baha suddenly had a mischievous idea. He was very curious what expressions the Dark Bishop, Afia, and the High Priest of Agony, Zdenek, would have if they knew that his boss was currently sealing six daddy-level original sin objects.
Kaisa, with his shifty eyes, looked around the room, then asked, "White Night, if I'm not mistaken, this is the Sanctuary City·Doan, right?"
"Yes."
"Then I suppose these three are the high-ranking officials of the Sanctuary City?"
Kaisa's smile became even more treacherous, causing Afia to instinctively become wary. "What about it?"
"Well, it's like this, beautiful, powerful, and kind lady. I'd like to inquire if there is a powerful being here, known as the Mother of Fall."
Hearing this, the Dark Bishop and Afia both looked serious. The Dark Bishop asked in return:
"Why are you looking for that evil being?"
"Please don't misunderstand. I am not its follower. I just want to make a deal with it."
As soon as Kaisa said this, the Dark Bishop and Afia, who had been wary, both had somewhat strange expressions.
The Dark Bishop looked Kaisa up and down, then asked, "You... are sure?"
"Very sure."
Kaisa's smile was so happy that a treacherous orange-yellow light appeared in his eyes.
"Mother of Fall?"
Su Xiao had never heard of this being. Hearing his question, Afia began to briefly explain the situation. The Mother of Fall had existed for a long time, appearing in this world during the First Era, the Ancient Dragon Era. After the darkness descended, disliking the darkness, it came to the Sanctuary City to settle down.
The Sanctuary City's strongmen naturally wanted to expel the Mother of Fall. The problem was that the Mother of Fall didn't want to leave, and no one could do anything about it. It was too ancient. Although it had no direct attack ability, if it wanted to kill a powerful being, it would make that being suffer immensely.
Helpless, the Sanctuary City could only maintain a non-aggression pact with the Mother of Fall. This delicate balance had been maintained until now. During this time, the Sanctuary City's strongmen discovered that they could trade with the Mother of Fall using certain curiosities, obtaining random but extremely valuable treasures.
The corresponding risk was that if, in the Mother of Fall's judgment, the "gain" it received was not equal in value to the "cost" it paid, it could take the compensation it deemed necessary from the trader based on the difference between "gain" and "cost."
This compensation could be the trader's treasures, already mastered powerful abilities, or even the trader's body parts, or even the trader's close relatives.
What was even more infuriating was that the valuation of "gain" and "cost" was entirely based on the Mother of Fall's judgment and preferences. If it didn't like something, even if you offered a supreme treasure, it might take your life and close relatives in the next second.
Therefore, this was a huge trap. Kaisa had just arrived and was already looking to trade with the Mother of Fall. This was like a dung beetle going on a long journey, looking for shit (death) everywhere.
Hearing about the strange and evil trading characteristics of the Mother of Fall, Su Xiao's eyes lit up a bit. He suddenly had a very bold idea.