Chapter 3: Arcane Eternal Star · Lord Soul
Aside from these three, whether there are other "Supreme Peaks" of the soul system remains unclear. At least, among those still manifest in the world, there are only these three.
Seated to the right of the Clock Tower Master · Xilgefu, on a chair, was a figure at least eight meters tall, draped in a dark red cape that resembled flowing metal. Its overall form was humanoid, with six arms, and its body surface was not skin, but living external armor, precision conduits, mechanical structures, and the like.
Its head only had a single large mechanical eye embedded, occupying the entire face. Its true core was the swaying, dark red, massive heart within the living metal components of its chest.
This was the Leader of the Gods · Primordial Origin · Haluota. As one of the original gods, its aura could be imagined. Furthermore, this was not its true body, but a part differentiated from its true body.
What was more formidable was that after Primordial Origin · Haluota differentiated a sufficiently large part, this divine vessel of its became equivalent to one of its true bodies, capable of exerting its full power. If this differentiated part of its true body was destroyed, its core true body would be injured but could recover in a short time.
This also meant that Primordial Origin · Haluota would not easily leave its lair.
The neighbor of this one was a figure five meters tall, with messy, lignified horns growing from its head, dark golden vertical pupils, a bare upper body, only a black cloak draped over its back. Its powerful arms were covered in various scars, and the backs of its fingers had a thick layer of calluses, giving an impression that if this one clenched its fist, it could smash anything.
This was the clan leader of the Rune Family, known as the Ancient Clan Leader · Hatu. He was also the twenty-seventh clan leader of the Rune Family. One thing to know was that in the mid-to-late First Era, the clan leadership of the Rune Family had changed to the twenty-seventh generation because losing in the arena meant losing the position of clan leader. And Hatu had never lost.
"Alright, everyone is here. Everyone, state your stance on the matter of allying with Bai Ye."
The Clock Tower Master · Xilgefu spoke first, then immediately added, "I agree to this cooperation."
After a brief silence, a dull mechanical sound came from within the chest of Primordial Origin · Haluota:
"Agree."
"Agreeing or opposing is not the point. The point is, Bai Ye, can you still use Alchemy in this world?"
The Ancient Clan Leader · Hatu spoke, his voice so loud it caused a faint, stabbing pain in one's internal organs.
"No."
"Same as our tests," the Ancient Clan Leader · Hatu said, then turned his gaze to Su Xiao. "Since you can come here, it means you have a way to solve it, or at least some confidence."
"Yes."
"Do you have a twenty percent chance?"
The Ancient Clan Leader · Hatu's dark golden vertical pupils narrowed slightly. He actually had a secret he had never revealed to the other two old immortals: his relationship with the Lord of the Abyss was actually very poor. If the Star Realm faced an Abyss Doomsday, the Ancient Clan Leader · Hatu would certainly not have a good ending.
"Roughly, seventy percent."
"Good!"
The Ancient Clan Leader · Hatu spoke boldly, satisfied with this result.
"I don't, know you, but I, know, the Law Destroyers."
Primordial Origin · Haluota's hollow mechanical voice spoke.
Seeing that a consensus had been reached, the Clock Tower Master · Xilgefu immediately made the decision: "From this moment on, our alliance..."
"Wait."
Su Xiao suddenly spoke, causing the gazes of the other three to turn towards him.
"I want to recommend someone."
"Bai Ye, we three trust your ability now, but the person you recommend..."
"He... he has fused with the Primordial Death."
Hearing this, the auras of the three present relaxed somewhat. That did indeed qualify.
"He used a high-level mark to completely master the Primordial Death."
"Hmm? Master?"
Even the Clock Tower Master · Xilgefu was surprised. In his long life, he had never considered that the Primordial Death could be mastered.
"His overall strength is not inferior to mine."
Su Xiao's words, however, made the three present less inclined to bring Shenfu into the alliance. The reason was, if this Law Destroyer and the Primordial Death were friends, and they actually solved the "Causal Lock Ring," it would end up being a 3 vs 2 situation.
"But there's a small problem."
Su Xiao placed his hand on the "Book of Original Sin" on the table. Otherwise, why would the three present be so calm and reasonable in their negotiations with him?
"Speak."
The Clock Tower Master · Xilgefu glanced at the "Book of Original Sin," the corner of his eye twitching almost imperceptibly.
"He and I have some, small conflicts."
"Small conflicts? To what extent?"
"I've killed him a few times."
"This..."
The Clock Tower Master · Xilgefu found it somewhat ridiculous. He understood what was going on. This Law Destroyer and the Primordial Death were not collaborators; he was preparing to drag that one onto this pirate ship as well.
The other two old immortals also guessed this, which cleared the obstacle to Shenfu joining the team. He had strength, his abilities were strange enough, and he was hostile to the Law Destroyer in the team, who would inevitably become an enemy later.
As for the authenticity of this information, it wouldn't trouble the three old immortals; they could confirm it later.
Just then, Su Xiao spoke, "To invite him to join the team, we need to show sincerity."
"Sincerity?"
The Ancient Clan Leader · Hatu gave a half-smile.
"Yes. The four of us going to invite him together would show great sincerity."
"You Law Destroyer have quite the wicked mind. But I like this invitation."
The Ancient Clan Leader · Hatu grinned, revealing a mouthful of white, flat teeth.
"Since Bai Ye has joined the team, you also need to know these secrets..."
The Clock Tower Master · Xilgefu began to narrate the deepest secrets of this world.
Su Xiao's previous guess was correct. The three major forces were indeed trapped here by the "Second Era: Alchemical Civilization." As for the reason, the Clock Tower Master didn't elaborate. After all, being lured by the bait of a semi-transcendent world, while not shameful, didn't sound good.
That wasn't the point. The point was that after entering this world, others were unaffected. This "Causal Lock Ring" only targeted "Supreme Peaks." This showed the wisdom and foresight of the "Second Era: Alchemical Civilization."
There was no doubt that the wider the scope of targeting, the more energy was consumed. Alchemy was not constructed from nothing. For example, every time Su Xiao used an Alchemy formation, he habitually used Soul Stones as the core nodes of the formation.
The "Causal Lock Ring" was the same. It was deeply linked to this world, sustained by consuming World Force. And since this world was a semi-transcendent world, its World Force was immense. Moreover, the "Causal Lock Ring" only targeted "Supreme Peaks."
As for destroying this world, that was certainly not possible. First, the reason the "Causal Lock Ring" could trap the three old immortals within this world was that the "Causal Lock Ring" linked their causality to it... no, it fused with it. And the "Causal Lock Ring" was also fused with the world's causality.
That is to say, the destruction of this world would inevitably be accompanied by the fall of the three old immortals. Furthermore, the first condition for wanting to destroy this world was to completely kill these three old immortals first.
A perfect cycle was thus born. The three old immortals gave this semi-transcendent world a larger volume of world causality. In return, this world produced more World Force, making the "Causal Lock Ring," which consumed World Force, more stable.
The only breaking point was the "Causal Lock Ring." The three old immortals had their subordinates or personally searched for many years in this world. Although this world was vast and boundless, after over two thousand years of searching, they finally had a clue.
There was over an 80% probability that the "Causal Lock Ring" was located at the southernmost part of this world, at the end of the "Sea of Life" in the south.
To cross the "Sea of Life," the only method was to take a specially constructed giant ship. This world was a semi-transcendent world. The problem was this "semi" aspect, which caused some areas of this world to be in primordial chaos. The space there was chaotic, the world system bizarre. Daring to teleport directly there, who knew what evil spirits or alien species one might fuse with due to the high-intensity compression of space.
Or one might become contaminated with distortion, alien existence roots, original sins, etc. The fact that these three purely evil-aligned old immortals didn't choose to do so showed the risk.
As for why they had to take a ship, the things in the Sea of Life were truly no more peaceful than that spatial rift. Some giant things from the Drifting Zone, the calamitous insect descendants from the Star Realm's Decayed Zone, all sorts of weird things from the Void Dead Sea, all were attracted by the "Sea of Life" bred by this world's transformation towards a transcendent world.
Killing all these venomous demons and savage monsters would require too much effort. Over 60% of them weren't truly "alive" in the real sense. Fighting a bunch of existences that were rotting and malignantly mutating after death was time-consuming and unprofitable.
Thus, the final plan was reached: to take a modified giant ship, the bottom of which was studded with the remains of various venomous demons and savage monsters.
Everything was ready, only waiting for the "Dark Tide" to appear three days later. When the dark tide surged, it would disperse the misty area at the southernmost part of this world, allowing entry into the "Sea of Life" range. This misty area was simply a part of this world. Attacking the misty area was essentially no different from attacking the world itself.
Once they became completely hostile to this world's already somewhat abnormal world consciousness, they would face the world's frenzied rejection. This semi-transcendent world consciousness was very unstable.
After listening to the Clock Tower Master · Xilgefu's narration, Su Xiao received a prompt from Reincarnation Paradise.
[Your Main Mission: Star Heart is in a completed state. Yes/No Submit.]
[Main Mission Submitted.]
[You have received Reincarnation Token ×1.]
[You have discerned the truth of this world. Conditions for activating the True Phase of the Main Mission have been met. Yes/No Activate.]
[Warning: The "Main Mission True Phase" of this world is extremely dangerous. Correspondingly, the reward benefits will be greatly increased.]
[Hint: If you choose to accept the Main Mission of this world, the upper limit of "World Source" you can obtain in this world will increase from 300% to 350%.]
...
Seeing this prompt, Su Xiao did not immediately trigger the Main Mission True Phase. Instead, he took out the "Apocalypse Reward Token," "Death Feather Emblem," "Reincarnation Glory Medal," "Apocalypse Authority · IX," "Reincarnation Authority · V," and "Holy Light Emblem" from his storage space.
These items were either to be used in an all-or-nothing gamble, or none at all. Now, the situation in this world was worth Su Xiao going all in.
[You have used the Apocalypse Reward Token. Your World Source acquisition amount in this world will increase by 30%.]
[You have used Reincarnation Authority · V.]
[If the obtained World Source reaches 350%, the upper limit of your evaluation in this world's world settlement will be +0.7.]
[You have used Apocalypse Authority · IX.]
[If the obtained World Source reaches 300%, the upper limit of your evaluation in this world's world settlement will be +0.3.]
[Hint: Due to the non-fully cumulative nature of the above two bonuses, your current upper limit for evaluation in the world settlement is +0.853.]
...
Seeing this, Su Xiao was not surprised. He chose to use the [Reincarnation Glory Medal].
[You have used the Reincarnation Glory Medal.]
[Your World Source acquisition upper limit in this world has increased from 300% to 350%.]
After doing this, Su Xiao checked the prompt that had appeared earlier. The content of the last prompt slowly dissolved, then reconstituted, the content being:
[Hint: If you choose to accept the Main Mission of this world, the upper limit of "World Source" you can obtain in this world will increase from the current 350% to 400%.]
[You have chosen to accept the "True Phase · Main Mission" of this world.]
[Due to the "World Source" acquisition upper limit only having a probability of reaching 400% in very rare cases, you can obtain the following benefits.]
Benefit 1. Highly rare resources (such as Primordial Core, Initial Source Matter, Power Source Matter, etc.).
Benefit 2. Supreme Passive Scroll Chest (★★★).
Hint: Opening this chest will definitely grant a Supreme Passive corresponding to a random body attribute, and the grade of that Supreme Passive will be ★★★ (highest tier).
Benefit 3. Directed Application (Due to this upper limit level of World Source acquisition only appearing in very rare cases, and for high-determinacy notarization of such rewards, this application allows the Hunter to make an application draft based on their own needs. After completing the draft, it can be submitted to Reincarnation Paradise. Upon passing the judgment, the content of this application draft will become the content of this benefit.)
...
The appearance of the third reward, "Directed Application," did not surprise Su Xiao. In fact, he was waiting for this reward to appear. Speaking of which, he had to thank Tuanzhang. During a casual chat at the Empty Seat Banquet, Tuanzhang had mentioned "Reincarnation Level · World Evaluation" and related experiences.
Otherwise, Su Xiao wouldn't have invested over a hundred "Soul Crystal Cores" to buy such a pile of investment-type "Benefit Enhancement Authority/Token."
Of course, the main reason for all this was the "World of Gods" from the "Origin Codex," as well as the Abyss Calamity and the Lord Soul that might strike at any time. All this forced Su Xiao to make this choice.
From the current situation, Tuanzhang's information was not entirely accurate. According to Tuanzhang, after the World Source acquisition upper limit reached 400%, a "Directed Application" reward would appear.
Su Xiao could confirm that this was due to the different worlds. This world appeared to be a "semi-transcendent world," but its level of danger could rank among the top ten of Supreme-tier worlds, or even higher.
However, the strategy Tuanzhang gave was still feasible. Su Xiao did not choose to increase the "World Settlement Evaluation Upper Limit" by obtaining 400% World Source. Instead, he submitted an application of the same category but vastly different content. After a moment, Reincarnation Paradise's judgment review was completed.
[The review content has been approved.]
[Your current Benefit 3 has been changed to the following:]
Benefit 3. World Settlement Evaluation Upper Limit for this world +0.1 ~ 1.7 (depending on the overflow of obtained World Source).
...
[You have used the Death Feather Emblem.]
[You have used the Holy Light Emblem.]
[You have obtained 45.5% World Source.]
[Current total World Source owned: 95.83%.]
...