Chapter 24: Seal Demon
This place was warm yet turbid, giving a sense of twisted life. Su Xiao looked at the blood staining his hands. The moment he killed this seductive demon, he felt something eroding into his mind.
This gave him the inner thought of wanting to stay here forever, no longer risking his life, no longer climbing higher. The Mother of Birth, Eve, needed him to stay. In response, a fierce red light flared in Su Xiao's eyes, and his blood energy erupted outward.
Boom!
It was like a scarlet sea of blood exploding. Su Xiao pressed his right index and middle fingers together, forming a thin, hollow spike. He instantly thrust this spike into his brow and slowly pulled it out. Inside the hollow spike was a pink, illusory-looking threadworm, writhing and struggling, trying to escape.
Crack, crack, crack~
Under the crystal assimilation, this pink threadworm was crystallized and shattered along with the crystal spike. Fortunately, he now had [Absolute Will]; otherwise, with his previous Blade Grandmaster's mental control immunity, he would have been hit. Mental control immunity is a shield that can block a sudden, intense mental impact, but it cannot withstand this kind of continuous, flooding immersion like a great deluge.
Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha were all asleep on the ground. Bubu Wang slept the most soundly because it had no lustful thoughts. Judging by this fool's kicking legs and the expression on its dog face, it was clearly dreaming of being chased by a group of female counterparts.
Amu, on the other hand, was drooling. It had eaten the lustful opposite sex it dreamed of?! Though it was hard to imagine what Amu's dream lustful partner looked like.
Baha had a lecherous grin on his face. No need to guess; he was already enjoying it.
The Alchemical Maid, Vinea, had a dazed look. She hadn't fallen into the [Dream Realm]. The ruler of the [Hall of Procreation], the Mother of Birth, Eve, seemed to have deliberately avoided the Alchemical Maid. This further confirmed to Su Xiao that the Alchemical Maid had once been to this island.
Soul energy attached to his right foot. He gave one kick each to Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha. Coupled with the surging scarlet blood energy radiating from Su Xiao, all three were jolted awake.
"Boss, I met the love of my life!"
"..."
Su Xiao observed Baha. Seeing the faint pink afterimage still in its eyes, he kicked it again, sending it flying into the opposite wall before it bounced back. Seeing it squirm twice without a sound, Su Xiao made as if to kick it again.
"Boss, boss! The love of my life has been kicked out of me. I'm awake, really awake. Damn, I was wondering how I, a male, could be laying eggs..."
Baha shut up immediately. If this dream content got out, he'd be laughed at for life.
Bubu Wang intercepted this recording from its terminal, planning to share it with Beini later. This was Bubu Wang's habit. Despite its frequent cat-and-dog fights with Beini, it would always save important or interesting terminal recordings for Beini to watch.
Miss Beini often pretended to be uninterested, but in reality, she secretly watched these team recordings in her cat house before sleep, often drifting off while watching.
Su Xiao looked at the Grey Hound Brothers. Perfect, the two brothers were already lost in another world, each hugging a pillar, performing a highly embarrassing public display.
In just that short moment, the Alchemical Maid walked towards the inner hall, making as if to push open the greenish-white wooden giant door.
Zzzz~
The Spirit Shadow Threads retracted, pulling the Alchemical Maid back. She struggled weakly a few times, then, as the confusion in her eyes faded a bit, she stopped struggling and stood there blankly, her gaze vacant.
'Vinea.'
'Vinea.'
'Vinea, my child!'
A faint, indistinct call sounded in the Alchemical Maid Vinea's ear. Just as a different light began to appear in her eyes, a hand wearing a crimson metal armguard reached in front of her. With a snap of the fingers, the slight vibration of blood energy dispersed the faint sound in the air.
Confirming that the Alchemical Maid was temporarily stable, Su Xiao formed a crystal chair and sat down to wait. He could sense that pushing open the door ahead would awaken the being in the core area of the [Hall of Procreation]. A fierce battle awaited.
Su Xiao had no intention of fighting this battle. As for joining forces with the Three Giants, Shenfu, and Leishma, that was impossible. Su Xiao didn't trust them, and they wouldn't turn their backs to him. It was that simple.
When these guys arrived, whoever wanted to deal with this mental powerhouse could do so. He took out the tightly wrapped [Seal Demon] from his storage space and examined the upgraded scabbard.
[Seal Demon]
Origin: Void · Demon Blacksmith
Quality: Overlord Rank.
Overlord Ranking: 128th (Growing).
Type: Scabbard.
Durability: 350/350 points.
Equipment Requirement: Shadow of Law Destruction.
Equipment Effect 1: Seal Demon Realm (Core · Passive), When [Dragon-Slaying Flash] is sheathed, each point of [Blade Demon Spirit]'s demon spirit intensity will nourish your [Base Health Points], currently nourishing it to a maximum of 30 million points (this is the limit before advancing to the Supreme Peak).
Current Demon Spirit Intensity: 6605 points.
Current Seal Demon Realm Nourishment Ratio: 6.5% (This nourishment ratio is determined by the overall strength of [Seal Demon]).
Equipment Effect 2: Blade Edge Nourishment (Passive), When your blade is sheathed, it will recover 5 points of durability per minute until fully restored. However, for every 10 points of durability recovered, the [Durability Upper Limit] will be temporarily reduced by 1 point. This temporary reduction can be restored after the weapon is repaired by a highly skilled blacksmith.
Tip: The durability recovery provided by this scabbard does not constitute a repair effect for your blade. You still need to find a blacksmith for a complete repair.
Tip: Using this effect to recover your blade's durability will increase the difficulty of the next repair by 1000% to 1200%. Choose carefully.
Equipment Effect 3: Gluttonous Overlord (Core · Passive), Seal Demon can devour [any Overlord Equipment] and increase its equipment rating beyond the upper limit.
Rating: 7200 points (This Overlord equipment has a unique equipment rating judgment).
Description: Fight! Fight to your heart's content!!
Price: Cannot be sold.
...
Without hesitation, Su Xiao immediately fed the previously discarded [Nightmare Eye] and [Shattered Star] to [Seal Demon]. He also fed [Devourer] to [Seal Demon]. Wasn't this Overlord equipment fond of devouring other equipment? Now it was its turn to be eaten.
[Nightmare Eye]'s Overlord ranking was 559th, and [Shattered Star] was 259th. After devouring both, [Seal Demon]'s Overlord ranking rose from 128th to 121st, an increase of only seven places. It seemed that devouring higher-ranked Overlord equipment was necessary for [Seal Demon]'s improvement.
Speaking of which, some of Su Xiao's equipment were quite ferocious. Dragon-Slashing Flash devoured blades, Seal Demon devoured Overlord equipment, and the Endless Ring was the most impressive—it could devour any equipment.
Other Supreme Hunters had several sets of full equipment slots to handle different situations. Su Xiao, on the other hand, had fewer and fewer pieces of equipment. He couldn't keep any. Those he couldn't sell were all fed to the Endless Ring.
After entering this world, Su Xiao had realized that the method of killing [Undying · Abyss Spawn] or [Abyss Descendants] to obtain their [Primordial Energy], and then absorbing it exclusively to increase health points and Abyss Resistance, while reliable, was very unstable.
For example, since entering this world, he hadn't encountered any [Undying · Abyss Spawn] and hadn't had the chance to completely kill any [Abyss Descendants]. Earlier in the Beast Arena, it seemed possible, but the rule there was that completely killing one meant taking its place. He wasn't ready to fall out with the old beast, nor did he want to temporarily join the Rune Family.
As a result, his health points were still 11.57 million. For other Supreme beings, this was already high, but for Su Xiao, it wasn't enough. Optimistically estimating, if he could later master a sufficiently powerful [Supreme Passive · Stamina], it could increase his health by 7 to 10 million points at most, which was the limit.
To make up the remaining nearly 10 million points by absorbing [Primordial Energy] was highly unreliable. The appearance of the [Seal Demon] scabbard was undoubtedly an opportunity. If he really piled resources onto it, pushing it into the top 20 or even top 10 of Overlord equipment, then combined with the 6605 points of Demon Spirit intensity, it might truly be possible to fill this health gap.
Before advancing to [Supreme Peak], raising [Base Health Points] to 30 million was a crucial step. This would increase the success rate of the advancement, and its importance was second only to the core technique [Heavenly Blade Shadow Slash]. After all, health points determine whether you live or die.
Time passed minute by minute. Su Xiao sat on the crystal chair. In this world, he hadn't yet unleashed his full combat power. Furthermore, after mastering [Heavenly Blade Shadow Slash], [Annihilation Blood Spear], and [Extreme Realm · Star Realm], he increasingly wanted to fight a life-or-death battle against an evenly matched, or even stronger, enemy.
This feeling had been growing stronger since entering this world. He had originally decided to fight the old beast, but the world's [Causal Lock Ring] had extinguished that plan. Moreover, the fights in the Beast Arena had been utterly unsatisfying. Now, he had finally encountered a strong enemy.
Perhaps a mental-type enemy would do? Although the fight wouldn't be exhilarating, it would still be a life-or-death battle of sufficient intensity.
Yes, Su Xiao wanted to fight. He didn't suppress this slight battlelust. Being human, it was impossible to have no desires. Compared to indulging in gluttony or lust, having a bit of battlelust was the best flaw for a Blade Grandmaster.
He had already given up habits like smoking. The reason was that his self-brewed [Elemental Brew] was very good. For instance, right now, when his battlelust was rising.
Pop~
The cork was pulled out. Su Xiao took the bottle of [Elemental Brew] and gulped down several large mouthfuls, cooling the fiery battlelust in his heart.
He looked at the wine in the bottle. If those guys hadn't arrived by the time this bottle was finished, he would fight this battle. As for whether there would be schemes or betrayals after landing on the island, he didn't believe the Three Giants were foolish enough to stab him in the back before the [Causal Lock Ring] was broken. Such fools wouldn't have survived from the First Era to the present.
Su Xiao patted Bubu Wang's dog head and took another sip of [Elemental Brew]. Bubu Wang tilted its head to look at him. It suddenly felt that its master was different. This change wasn't sudden but a gradual transformation as his strength increased. He was still the cold, murderous, and violent technique master, but he had become stronger and more unshakable. Bubu Wang wagged its tail happily.
Just then, flesh grew from the ceiling not far away. Mechanical Pope, Angel Mann, descended first, followed by the Three Pillar Gods, and finally, Primordial Origin, Harota.
After appearing, Primordial Origin, Harota, looked at the tall wooden door leading to the inner chamber.
"You, not interested?"
"Mental type, not interested."
"Then, as agreed, I, will go."
Primordial Origin, Harota, transformed into dark red flesh, growing and spreading rapidly, enveloping most of the area ahead. It gradually seeped through the wooden door and entered inside.
Boom!!
Dark red aura exploded, clashing with the pink aura. Through the doorway, Su Xiao saw a huge bone bed with curtains around it. On it lay a massive figure sideways. Its upper body was a stunningly beautiful giantess, while its lower body was bubbling, writhing rotten flesh.
This was the [Mother of Birth, Eve], created by the Second Era's Alchemical Civilization, whose destructive power against worlds rivaled that of the Great Lords. Her record was:
Destroyed 2 Supreme-tier worlds.
Destroyed 9 Absolute Strong-tier worlds.
Destroyed 59 Ninth-rank worlds.
Destroyed 104 Eighth-rank worlds.
These records could be verified in the Soul Library.
Su Xiao walked into the bedchamber, which made [Mother of Birth, Eve] even more cautious. Facing Su Xiao or Primordial Origin, Harota alone, she could hold her own. But facing both at once, she would have to awaken the other sleepers on the island.
After entering the bedchamber, Su Xiao glanced at [Mother of Birth, Eve] and then walked towards the dark silver metal door on the side. Seeing this, the bone bed beneath [Mother of Birth, Eve] came to life. It was also part of [Mother of Birth, Eve].
When [Mother of Birth, Eve] fully rose, she looked like a giant skeletal spider. Her originally writhing, bubbling lower body was actually her neck, and the giant beautiful upper body was just her head.
Crack, crack~
The center of the giant beauty's chest split open, revealing sharp teeth and rows of eyes, with pus dripping like saliva.
"Roar!!"
The roar echoed far and wide. Su Xiao was within the roar but paid it no mind, simply walking towards the silver metal door.
Clang, clang, clang!
Intersecting slash marks appeared, and the silver metal door shattered with a bang. Su Xiao walked inside. A torrent of foul matter surged towards him but was blocked by the surging dark red flesh.
Primordial Origin, Harota, was draped in a dark red cloak that looked like flowing metal. The cloak closed in front of it, hiding its arms. This, combined with its height of over eight meters and broad shoulders, made it appear even more imposing. Standing atop a towering mass of dark red flesh, its size and aura gave it a strong sense of majesty. It was looking down upon [Mother of Birth, Eve].
A god, looking down upon an ant.
...
The metal corridor seemed to lead to the end of the island. Su Xiao had been walking for half an hour. Just as he thought he might have entered another illusion, a fork appeared ahead.
This was a choice. Su Xiao chose to go left. Bubu Wang chose right. After the team's final discussion, they went left.
Ten minutes later, Su Xiao returned to the fork. This time, he went right. The suppression of perception on this island was too strong. Apart from his [Absolute Perception], all other perception methods were useless. As for why he came back, don't mind the insignificant detail of hitting a dead end.
Before long, a thick, dark golden giant door blocked the way. There were two side paths on either side of this door. The giant door had a total of four keyholes. Four keys were needed to open it.
Su Xiao took a few steps back. Seeing this, Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha turned and ran back down the corridor. After running a few steps, Amu noticed the Alchemical Maid hadn't moved. It turned back, grabbed her by the collar, and ran, dragging her along. Why did Amu bring the Alchemical Maid? Because she cooked delicious food.
The Grey Hound Brothers were both confused. Just as the two brothers hesitated whether to run with them or stay and pretend to show loyalty, Su Xiao had already disappeared from his spot. He delivered a straight kick, hitting the metal door ahead.
Boom!!!
At that moment, the Grey Hound Brothers seemed to see the gates of heaven. The violent impact force hit them head-on, turning them into two beams of light that instantly surpassed Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha, who had already run a long way down the corridor.
Today, the [Secret Island] had some uninvited guests, making the calm, boring Sea of Life a little different. At this moment, above the [Secret Island], the [Crawling Giant] was piloting its floating island here. Its many giant eyes looked down below.
The [Alchemy Giant Eye] above the [Secret Island] naturally recognized the [Crawling Giant]. They had once been enemies, but the passage of endless, boring time had turned these former foes into something like friends. They were both looking down at the huge island below.
Boom~!!
The [Crawling Giant] witnessed an impact, originating from the Secret Island, spreading outwards, violently stirring up waves. No, it was a tsunami. This tsunami was only a few dozen meters high at first but quickly broke through a hundred meters, reaching a terrifying scale of several thousand meters. It looked like it would sweep across most of the Sea of Life.
Boom~! Boom~! Boom~!!
The Secret Island seemed to be struck by divine punishment, trembling continuously. Large sections of the metal weathering layer at the island's edge fell into the sea. Seeing this, the [Crawling Giant], which had come to watch the fun, drove its floating island away into the distance. This fun seemed very dangerous.
The [Alchemy Giant Eye] could only watch helplessly as the [Crawling Giant] departed. It was fixed here and had no way to avoid it except by closing its eyes.
Inside the old metal passage, Su Xiao stomped his slightly numb right calf. He didn't have time to find four keys, so he chose to bring his own key. Judging by the result, hmm, very good. The power of his current kick was on a completely different level than before.
"[X Ultimate Ability · Power Penetration · Kick Technique 12x Enhancement (Supreme Rank · Passive)]: The power of your [Kick] will be boosted by your [Primordial Life Force Volume], [All Main Attributes], and [Soul Strength]."
With his current True Stamina attribute of over 2500, he could deliver several consecutive straight kicks with only a numb right calf. Of course, this was just to open a door, so he held back some force. He couldn't afford to kick this suspected treasure vault to pieces; that would be a loss.
If he were to deliver a full-power kick in a life-or-death battle, he would have to space them out before attempting a second one. He didn't want to lose his right leg while also rupturing various internal organs.
The metal treasure vault door in front was curled inward, as if displaying the brutal treatment it had just received.
[Tip: You have entered the Second Era · Alchemical Faction Legacy Vault.]
Seeing this prompt, Su Xiao confirmed that he couldn't take a single item from here. First, those ultimate ruthless people of the Second Era, who could even curse their own power systems, wouldn't leave any possibility of aiding an enemy. Second, this vault door didn't match the security level of an Alchemical legacy.
The moment Su Xiao stepped into the vault, it was as if he had entered a land of giants. Rows of towering display shelves were neatly arranged, each a hundred meters high, filled with a dazzling array of items: rare materials, secret treasures made by alchemists, and even [Primordial Cores].
Compared to this Alchemical vault, the former Ancient Dragon/Sun Faction legacy seemed rather poor. Su Xiao turned his head to look at Kaisa, who had entered with him.
Kaisa's nostrils were flared, and he was breathing heavily like an ox. He made as if to pick up an Alchemical secret treasure, but just before his hand touched it, he immediately withdrew it. This made him feel an intense, gnawing itch. To see but not possess was torture for Kaisa.
"My dear friend..."
Bang!
Before Kaisa could finish, Amu, under Su Xiao's instruction, knocked Kaisa unconscious with a single blow from his staff. In reality, Kaisa, with his [Absolute Health Points], couldn't possibly be knocked out so easily. He was just giving himself and the [Greed Original Sin] an excuse to back down.
Arriving at the central platform of this vault, Su Xiao looked around. He gained a new appreciation for the wealth of the Second Era Alchemists. Was he going to leave just like that? Of course not.
The [Endless Ring] appeared in Su Xiao's hand. He completely released his suppression of the ring. The [Endless Ring], a few sizes larger than a gold coin, with a dark gold metal outer ring and a completely black interior, floated up. It first sank into the space above, then expanded, forming a black hole over a dozen meters in diameter.
A suction force came from above. Living beings only felt a slight pull, but for rare secret treasures, it was an irresistible, immense suction. All the giant display shelves here flew up, and the various rare secret treasures on them flew even higher. The [Endless Ring] was like a giant whale drinking from a river. In just a few hours, all the rare secret treasures were sucked inside.
"[Endless Ring · Equipment Effect 2: Endless Devouring (Core · Passive)], The Endless Ring can devour other equipment/rare items (including those in an unverified state, or even equipment/rare items that do not belong to you), and increase the Endless Ring's rating cap based on the quality, rating, and strength of the devoured items."
It was precisely because of the [Endless Ring]'s characteristic that Su Xiao chose to do this.
The [Endless Ring] could devour unverified equipment/rare items, or even those that didn't belong to Su Xiao. To others, this was just an equipment description. But to people like Su Xiao and Kaisa, who often performed marvelous operations and had a deep understanding of judgment and verification, the ownership of the [Endless Ring] wasn't entirely with Su Xiao. Or rather, there was an [Ownership Gap].
The so-called ownership gap meant that between Su Xiao and the [Endless Ring]'s ownership, there were other verification parties. When the [Endless Ring]'s [Abyss Sacrifice] ability appeared, he figured out who the other verification party between him and the [Endless Ring] was. It was the Abyss!
Su Xiao didn't know what kind of [Causal Curse] or more troublesome things the Alchemists had placed on these rare secret treasures. But he only needed to confirm one thing.
The [Endless Ring] had devoured these rare secret treasures. Therefore, the corresponding [Causal Curse] would first target the [Endless Ring], then follow the [Endless Ring]'s ownership chain and spread towards the Abyss.
Su Xiao truly didn't believe that the arrangements of the Second Era Alchemists could pierce through the Abyss and then continue the [Causal Curse] spread to reach him. If the Second Era · Alchemical Civilization was really that strong, it wouldn't have been destroyed.
A stream of arm-thick, bluish-gray power, rich in causality and curse characteristics, entered the [Endless Ring]. After a moment, it vanished without a trace, like a clay ox entering the sea.
Clearly, the Second Era Alchemists hadn't anticipated that someone would be so despicably... ahem, so clever as to use the Abyss, this overarching concept, to counter their laid causal curses. Furthermore, this despicable person also possessed Lv.95 Alchemy.
The [Endless Ring] shrank and returned to Su Xiao's hand. This peculiar, no, this marvelous equipment had completed its upgrade. The speed of this upgrade was astonishing.
[Endless Ring]
Origin: Abyss.
Quality: Abyss Rank.
Type: Special Equipment.
Durability: 15000/15000 points.
Equipment Effect 1: Abyss Sacrifice (Passive), You can use this equipment to conduct sacrificial communication and item trading with a random [Ancient Abyss Existence] far from the Star Realm.
Tip: After completing a sacrificial communication or trade with a random [Ancient Abyss Existence], you can choose to fix the [Endless Ring]'s sacrificial rune pattern, and subsequently only communicate and trade items with this [Ancient Abyss Existence].
Tip: Compared to what Star Realm powerhouses consider rare, [Ancient Abyss Existence] are more interested in [Treeborn Pages of the Book of Doors], the highest grade Soul Stones (i.e., Soul Crystals), and [Common Source Matter] of low value to Star Realm powerhouses (i.e., Death Soul Source Matter, Corrupted Source Matter, Resentment Source Matter, Thunder Breath Source Matter, etc.).
Equipment Effect 2: Endless Devouring (Core · Passive), The Endless Ring can devour other equipment/rare items (including those in an unverified state, or even equipment/rare items that do not belong to you), and increase the Endless Ring's rating cap based on the quality, rating, and strength of the devoured items.
Current Rating Cap Bonus: 9000 points.
Equipment Detriment: Dark Drowning (Passive)...
Tip: 201 points of Abyss Resistance can resist the current erosion intensity (your current Abyss Resistance is 213 points).
Rating: 15000 points.
...
Seeing the current characteristics of the [Endless Ring], Su Xiao suddenly felt that he had struck it rich this time.
PS: (Tomorrow is Sunday, a day off. Please forgive me, dear readers.)