Chapter 23: Four Divine Artifacts
Regarding the final seal of the [Black King Bracer], Su Xiao had never attempted to open it. This bracer had a total of five seals. As his strength increased, he opened them layer by layer. When he reached the last layer, he became especially cautious because opening it would mean directly facing the [Primordial Dead Silence].
Now, it seemed this caution was well-founded. If he forcibly broke through the final seal of the [Black King Bracer] and fully released the [Primordial Dead Silence], even if his strength were sufficient, the outcome would inevitably be bleak. The best possible ending would be that he suffered permanent erosion from the Dead Silence and was forced to seal the [Primordial Dead Silence] into the [Book of Original Sin].
Su Xiao didn't believe that obtaining the [Eternal Gem] here was a complete coincidence. He didn't look at the old woman, but he knew in his heart that this was her help. Fate systems were indeed very powerful in the later stages.
When they first met, the old woman didn't speak first, clearly not wanting outsiders to know they were acquainted. For this reason, Su Xiao even took the initiative to step forward, like the others, trying to ask the old woman some questions. After receiving no reply, he gave up.
Su Xiao wasn't planning to use the [Eternal Gem] to break the final risk of the [Black King Bracer] for now. Going to the end of the Sea of Life was too dangerous. Not to mention whether the fully unsealed [Black King Bracer] would provide any benefits, even if it did, rashly upgrading before a life-or-death battle might not necessarily enhance combat power.
A sea breeze with a sweet, cloying scent blew over. Su Xiao checked the [Hunt Bounty] he had just triggered. [Bounty 3: Eye Butcher] had appeared, and he had given it up immediately. Now it seemed this was very wise.
He chose to accept Bounty 1 and Bounty 2 and paid the corresponding number of [Space-Time Stone Fragments]. Among them, [Bounty 1: Deadly Poison Treasure] wasn't too difficult, at least it had a clear goal.
What really troubled Su Xiao was [Bounty 2: Rebirth], which required completing a rebirth baptism in the [First Sanctuary]. His ability system had nothing to do with rebirth, baptism, etc. However, one thing was certain: the [Hunt Bounty] would definitely not trigger something that would affect his power system or even weaken it.
The characteristic of the [Hunt Bounty] could be summed up in one sentence: just go for it. As long as you dared to fight through, you could get any number of bounties. Just look at [Fate Tyrant] and [Eye Butcher]; the total bounty amount exceeded ten million ounces of space-time power.
So the content of Bounty 2 wasn't necessarily targeting Su Xiao himself, but something he needed to facilitate. In that case, the rebirth, baptism, etc., in the bounty content didn't matter. After roughly confirming this, he paid enough [Space-Time Stone Fragments], and the bounty was activated.
A total of five [Event Bounties] could be accepted in one world. He had already accepted four. As Su Xiao pondered, the sky above was already a hazy yellow. It seemed this was the storm cloud of the Sea of Life. As if to verify his thoughts, raindrops fell.
Su Xiao stood up and leaped back. The raindrops fell where he had just been. He turned and walked toward the cabin. Without needing his instructions, Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha all walked toward the cabin together. Along the way, Baha flew up and slapped the backs of the heads of the Gray Dog elder brother and younger brother with its wings.
"Get back to the cabin. What are you standing there waiting to die for?"
Baha finished speaking and landed on Amu's shoulder. The Gray Dog brothers both showed anger, but after Amu glanced at them sideways, they shrank their necks and obediently followed into the cabin.
The cabin was about 50 square meters and didn't feel crowded. After Amu closed the door, Su Xiao crouched down, pressed one hand on the floor, and thread-like crystals spread out, sealing all the gaps in the cabin.
At first, there was the sound of raindrops hitting the cabin outside. But soon, it sounded like hail outside. Finally, the ship's hull began to sway back and forth. This giant ship seemed to turn into a seesaw, rocking forward and backward.
The Gray Dog elder brother cursed under his breath and came to the window. Since the window was sealed with a crystal layer, he could only press close to look outside.
The sight before him made his anus tighten and his hair almost stand on end. Outside, it wasn't raining; it was raining insects. Countless black worms were falling from the sky. They accumulated on the deck, and when they reached a certain density, they began to flow to the sides and fall into the Sea of Life.
The black worms, carrying intense mental pollution, crowded together, gnawing at each other, making a crisp cracking sound. This made the Gray Dog elder brother's face twist in pain. Hearing this sound made his brain itch, and he wanted to scratch it with his hand. But his right hand fumbled around for a long time without being able to touch his brain. He finally gritted his teeth and started to push his fingers toward his eyes.
"Mr. White Night! Mr. White Night!"
The Gray Dog younger brother was very anxious. But although he was foolish, he wasn't stupid. He knew that he couldn't touch his brother now, or he would definitely catch this strange change.
"Slap him."
Su Xiao spoke. The Gray Dog younger brother looked confused. After Baha mimed a slapping motion, he suddenly understood.
The Gray Dog younger brother, with muscles bulging all over, a tall figure almost touching the cabin ceiling, and wearing a pink tight-fitting suit, swung his big hand and gave his elder brother a huge slap.
Slap!!
The slap was so fierce that it blew Bubu Wang's fur backward for a moment. The Gray Dog elder brother, as the recipient, was immediately spun like a top. Not a metaphor; he was really spinning at high speed. Because he was wearing a motorcycle suit with metal accessories all over, he actually became shiny as he spun.
After a while, the Gray Dog elder brother's spinning speed decreased. The Gray Dog younger brother, who was very concerned about his elder brother's condition, adhered to the principle of eating more of the good stuff and using more of the good stuff, and swung his big hand again. Slap! Another big slap, spinning his brother, who had just slowed down, back to the previous speed.
The insect rain outside the cabin didn't stop. Inside the cabin, the two brothers played a game of spinning top, but one person was the top, and the other was the spinner. After the Gray Dog elder brother had spun for a full ten minutes, a transparent worm flew out of his ear hole.
A thin spike of blood energy formed, pinning the transparent worm to the wooden wall. The crystal layer spread over and crystallized the transparent worm.
It wasn't that the Revenge was unlucky to encounter an insect rain on the Sea of Life. It was that, located in the middle section of the Sea of Life, there was always a torrential insect rain pouring down. The reason was that on a Rotten Stench Sky Island above, there was a [Crawling Giant].
At this moment, the [Crawling Giant], whose body was so large that its edges couldn't be seen, like a mountain of flesh, was extending a cluster of crowded eyes, looking down at the [Revenge] below.
After seemingly weighing the situation, the [Crawling Giant] retracted its clustered eyes. The people on this ship were all not to be trifled with.
If the orange-yellow Sea of Life became transparent, it would be discovered that on both sides of the [Revenge]'s route, there were many giant, terrifying beings. Those with insufficient willpower would only need to look at them once to suffer mental collapse and go insane.
Sailing until the next morning, when a pale purple light appeared on the horizon, they finally left the insect rain zone. When they came out of the cabin, there were no traces of black worms on the deck, only white streaks left by dried mucus.
Minister Viliam struck a coarse match, used it to light a cigar, and then threw the burning match onto the deck. With a whoosh, gray-white flames quickly spread and soon dissipated into the air.
"It's coming."
Minister Viliam looked at the purple light on the horizon. As soon as he finished speaking, a sky wall slammed down vertically from above, deeply embedding itself into the sea, raising a huge wave that pushed the [Revenge] backward.
This was a metal sky wall that stood between the sky and the seabed. On it were faces of various appearances, some old, some middle-aged, some young. All these faces had their eyes closed. In the center of these faces was a giant face.
This face had a ferocious expression, with raised eyebrows, prominent eyes wrapped in eyelids, thick lips, and a large, fleshy nose. As the eyelids trembled, the giant face opened its eyes. This was the [Appearance of All Things]. The previous voyages of the three giants had all been blocked here, because attacking the [Appearance of All Things] was equivalent to attacking oneself.
If someone tried to trade life for life, and the one who traded survived, the [Appearance of All Things] would also revive, turning back into an iron-black metal sky wall and slamming down.
More troublesome was that one needed to be very powerful to break the [Appearance of All Things]. Within this world, those who could break it numbered less than a handful.
Even more unsolvable was that only the person who broke the [Appearance of All Things] could pass through this place. If others came here, the [Appearance of All Things] would reappear and slam down again. Therefore, everyone here had their own corresponding [Appearance of All Things].
In previous attempts, the three giants had tried various methods to break through the [Appearance of All Things]. The result was that the more powerful the means used, the more [Appearances of All Things] fell.
At most, Ancient Clan Leader Hatu had shattered 1,596 [Appearances of All Things] and, using some unknown method, avoided the death backlash of the [Appearance of All Things]. He even saw a giant island at the end of the Sea of Life.
Unfortunately, at that point, the [Appearance of All Things] began to collapse on its own, and the death backlash intensified dramatically. The three giants had to abort that voyage.
This time, Clock Tower Master Xilgefu took out an apple-sized, hollow crystalline object. Inside was a self-wriggling, translucent blue liquid. If the image were magnified, one would see countless screaming faces in this soul liquid, densely packed, numbering in the thousands.
"Any confidence?"
Su Xiao spoke. Clock Tower Master Xilgefu sighed:
"At most eighty percent. If it doesn't work, we'll use the old method."
"..."
Su Xiao looked at Kaisa. But unexpectedly, Kaisa's gaze at the [Appearance of All Things] was filled with a murky, greedy light. This look made Clock Tower Master instinctively touch his space-attribute ring. A feeling that posed no threat to life but a severe threat to property made Xilgefu feel a deep sense of caution.
Kaisa took out the [Abyssal Jar]. This made Xilgefu's eye twitch. He looked at Su Xiao, then at Kaisa. His only feeling was: was it because the Abyss was encroaching? Had Original Sin Objects become so easy to communicate with?
He remembered that in the First Era, using an Original Sin Object almost always meant death. A [Supreme Peak] from his era, relying on his own strength, had used the [Nether Bone Ring] to seek power beyond the [Supreme Peak], only to die from the heavy original sin karma of the [Nether Bone Ring].
Kaisa wore the [Abyssal Jar] on his head, the [Hand of Deception] on his right hand, held the [Endless Greed Broken POS Machine] in his left hand, and had the [Foul Footwrap] tied around his waist.
With all 'Four Divine Artifacts' taken out, Kaisa made everyone present extremely solemn. Even Reshma, who always wore a smile and had a lazy, otherworldly strangeness, became serious and quietly took a step back.
Kaisa stunned everyone except Su Xiao. This made him instinctively straighten his back and quickly rush forward, pretending to leap into the sea. Unfortunately, he jumped too low, and his foot hooked on the handrail at the top of the ship's side, causing him to fall headfirst into the sea.
With a splash, he fell into the water. Everyone present went from solemnity to astonishment. The subordinates of the three giants quickly stepped forward to the ship's side, ready to see how this fraudster would be devoured by the countless worms in the Sea of Life until not even bones remained.
But a shocking scene appeared. After Kaisa fell into the water, the surrounding worms indeed swarmed in. Kaisa was not flustered at all. He immediately lowered his hand and took off his right shoe.
At that instant, with Kaisa as the center, the orange-yellow seawater within a hundred meters changed color instantly, from orange-yellow to deep yellow, then to a sickening dark yellow.
The worms and various strange aquatic creatures in the surrounding sea area immediately floated to the surface in a layer, and more victims kept appearing. After a while, a giant strange aquatic creature floated up, vomiting profusely, with a pained expression on its face. It seemed it had already croaked.
Mechanical Pope Angel Manr, the Three Pillar Gods, Mentor Loyce, the Faceless Ghost, Minister Viliam, the Soul Master, Aurora, and others were all dumbfounded. Aurora was the most traumatized. Many of the strange aquatic creatures that had been suffocated to death were ones she couldn't handle, yet they had been suffocated like this.
In fact, Aurora didn't know that when Kaisa took off his shoe, Su Xiao, Xilgefu, and Hatu all instinctively took a step back. As for Primal Origin Harota, this was just part of his main body anyway; he could just abandon it if necessary.
Kaisa swam on the water's surface toward the iron-black metal sky wall. With him as the center, the strange aquatic creatures fled further away. The faces on the iron-black metal sky wall began to tremble. They all opened their eyes, gradually showing fear.
The [Appearance of All Things] at the center suddenly widened its eyes. It immediately looked down at Kaisa, who was climbing up. Its giant face visibly trembled. But it was bound by the [Causal Lock Ring]. Unless absolutely necessary, when on the verge of destruction, it would not retreat.
The limit it could withstand was being destroyed less than 5,162 times within two-thirds of a natural day.
The [Appearance of All Things] stared fixedly at Su Xiao. It wasn't afraid of attacks from the powerful. In fact, it grew stronger by absorbing powerful attacks. This was also the payment the Alchemists had given it back then: to stand guard here for eight eras, with the reward being to continuously withstand increasingly powerful attacks for 100 years. From this, it could be seen that the Alchemists had been setting up this cage for a long time.
The [Appearance of All Things] had already received its benefits. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been able to block the three giants so many times. Being broken by the three giants was clearly an additional benefit, so the [Appearance of All Things] was even less willing to let these guys pass.
Kaisa climbed up with difficulty. Halfway up, he suddenly stopped. Just as everyone on the ship was wondering what method he would use, this guy pulled out a long piece of bread and a large half of a dried, cooked sausage and began to wolf them down. He had expended too much stamina and needed to replenish. Finally, after chugging half a bottle of water, Kaisa burped. It was worth mentioning that all these food and drinks were things he had previously swiped from the kitchen of the [Empire Special Affairs Department].
Kaisa continued climbing upward. With a bang, a shockwave blasted out from the surface of the [Appearance of All Things]. But it had no effect on Kaisa. Instead, on the distant sea surface, a huge, bizarre aquatic creature flew out. Mid-air, it shattered from the impact, falling as fragments and a large number of parasitic worms.
When Kaisa climbed below the face of the [Appearance of All Things], its expression was already pulled to the extreme, looking both funny and absurd. When Kaisa reached its chin, all its facial features closed up, with an attitude of refusing to open its mouth or eyes no matter what.
Exhausted and sweating all over from climbing, Kaisa took out the [Endless Greed Broken POS Machine] from his pocket and operated something on it, pointing it at the [Appearance of All Things].
The next second, the [Appearance of All Things] magically opened its mouth to the maximum. In reality, Kaisa had lent the [Appearance of All Things] 5 seconds of "maximum mouth and jaw opening." The interest was that Kaisa would also have to do the same afterward, but for 10 seconds. 100% interest, very high.
But in the [Appearance of All Things]'s perception, it had kept its facial features closed all along.
Kaisa took off his left shoe and threw this shoe, emitting a turbid yellow smoke, into the mouth of the [Appearance of All Things]. The [Appearance of All Things] then closed its mouth.
Seeing this, even Clock Tower Master Xilgefu on the ship twitched his cheek.
After a brief silence, the [Appearance of All Things] suddenly opened its eyes wide, its mouth opened to the maximum, and thick yellow smoke billowed from its mouth, nostrils, and ear holes.
"Ah!!!"
A miserable scream echoed across a small half of the Sea of Life. The metal sky wall began to tremble, dissolve, and finally collapsed into the sea with a crash.
The [Appearance of All Things] wasn't shattered; it had entered a state that seemed little better than death. When Kaisa, having put his shoes back on, climbed onto the ship, everyone on board looked at him differently. If before, when he took out the [Abyssal Jar], it was wariness, now it was focused prevention. Especially for those with larger bodies present, who could easily have a shoe thrown into their mouths.
Entering the Sea of Life, there were actually four layers of danger. First, there were the countless strange aquatic creatures. The reason they didn't approach was not only because of the powerful auras of Su Xiao and the three giants but mainly because of Reshma, this otherworldly strangeness.
The second danger came from the friendly communication of the [Unshadowed Eye]. If one's willpower and soul weren't strong enough, basically, whoever it communicated with would go mad. The [Revenge] wasn't the first giant ship to reach the Sea of Life. The three giants had long spread the news that the God Realm contained all the legacies of the Alchemical Civilization. However, that was over 1,000 years ago.
The reason this matter wasn't recorded was mainly because the adventurers who had come here in droves back then had all become bones beneath the sea.
The third danger came from the [Crawling Giant] on the Rotten Stench Sky Island above. The result was that the [Crawling Giant] didn't want to face the Priest directly; it was afraid of being eaten by the Priest. Yes, this kind of raging giant monster, when facing the Priest, turned from the aggressor into the victim.
The fourth danger came from the [Appearance of All Things]. The situation was already very clear. It had almost croaked, fallen into a deep coma. Whether it would wake up was uncertain, but even if it did, it would need a few hundred years to slightly recover from the huge trauma it had suffered today.
After continuing to sail for two days, finally, land appeared ahead. Along with it, there was a giant metal eye in the sky.
If the [Unshadowed Eye] gave the feeling of being composed of energy, with only the core part being unknown and terrifying, then this metal giant eye, seemingly embedded in the sky, looking down from above, gave a strong sense of fear and eeriness.
Inside, it had the eye tissue structure of a biological creature, but many long, thin spikes were stuck into it. Upon closer inspection, one would find that these were oversized mercy spikes that could bring extreme pain.
In addition, various metal structures were roughly stuffed into this giant eye, appearing cruel and crude. To ensure stability, the giant eye was riveted with many metal ring strips. Therefore, from a distance, it looked like a metal giant eye.
This giant eye, with a diameter of several thousand meters, causing the surrounding space to be covered with flesh and blood tissue, slowly turned, focusing its gaze on the [Revenge].
Su Xiao grabbed the scruff of Bubu Wang's neck and immediately rushed into the cabin. After all the team members entered the cabin, he kicked the door shut with a bang.
Crack! Crack!
A strong grinding sensation came from the entire ship. In the opposite cabin, Mechanical Pope Angel Manr used his ability to create a body without consciousness or soul and threw it onto the deck.
When the ownerless body landed on the deck, its skin was torn open, flesh flew, and bones twisted. This feeling was as if the [Mechanical Giant Eye]... no, it should be the [Alchemy Giant Eye], as if the [Alchemy Giant Eye] was venting all the pain and torment it had endured onto everything its gaze fell upon.
Looking at the buildings on the distant land confirmed this. The tops of the buildings were covered with pits, as if repeatedly ground by a saw blade.
The bad situation was that the [Revenge] couldn't hold out much longer under the gaze of the [Alchemy Giant Eye] and would likely be unable to reach the shore.
Su Xiao raised his hand. Before he could speak, Bubu Wang had already handed him a space probe. He inserted the probe into the space. The space within the range of the [Alchemy Giant Eye]'s gaze was very unstable. Daring to teleport at medium to long range would definitely result in getting lost in some dimensional crevice. For short-range teleportation, with the power of the [Law-Destroying Teleportation Array], it was fine.
Just as he was about to form the [Law-Destroying Teleportation Array], a round, black spirit body beside the old woman suddenly appeared. It opened its large mouth full of small, sharp teeth and spat out an object wrapped in black sealing material. Then it immediately disappeared.
[You have obtained Seal Demon (Overlord Equipment · 128th · Growable).]
The Demon Blacksmith had completed the forging of the [Seal Demon] scabbard. But for some reason, the Demon Blacksmith had handed the scabbard to the old woman.
Su Xiao directly put away the [Seal Demon] scabbard. The [Revenge] was about to collapse. Su Xiao released blood energy to form a blood energy phantom. However, this time the blood energy phantom was much smaller. It drew a bow and shot an arrow. A crystal arrow shot out, hitting the main door of a grand hall several hundred meters high on the distant island.
The crystal arrow shattered, but that didn't matter. Su Xiao had already calculated the spatial distance. The next second, the [Law-Destroying Teleportation Array] enveloped the entire cabin.
Thump!
The [Revenge] shook. The Alchemy Maid Vienia, who had been confused since arriving here, was immediately sent into dreamland.
The surrounding spatial mist gradually dissipated. Su Xiao sidestepped a step and supported himself with one hand against the wall. The space in this area was indeed too unstable.
"Ugh~!"
Kaisa supported himself with one hand on a marble pillar. If he weren't reluctant to waste it, he would have already thrown up the bread and ham he had just eaten. As for Bubu Wang, Amu, Baha, and the Gray Dog brothers, they were all sitting there, completely stunned. A few seconds later, they lined up and began to roar like dragons.
After Su Xiao rested for over ten seconds, he looked around. This was the entrance hall of a grand hall. Above was a stained glass dome. What met his eyes were beautiful women of various races and appearances.
"Law Destroyer, you've had a hard journey. You should rest a while."
A tall, beautiful woman with long silver hair and bold clothing raised her hand to touch Su Xiao's face.
With a calm hand chop from Su Xiao, the tall beauty in front of him was left with only half of her body. She fell straight down and gradually turned into a pool of wriggling rotten flesh, seeping into the black-and-white patterned floor tiles.
[You have entered the high-risk area of this world: The Hall of Procreation.]