Chapter 33: The Reason
Drip, drip, drip～
Blood dripped from the blade's tip. Su Xiao held a powerful royal by the nape with one hand, observing the mechanical right eye of the target. After a moment, Azure Song crystals spread, and amidst the royal's agonized screams, his throat and neck were assimilated into crystalline matter, which shattered with a crack.
From an aerial view, the docks of Silver Sand Harbor were littered with crystallized limbs and broken bodies. For these ninth-rank and powerful beings, large-scale crystallization was the most effective means of killing.
For instance, a dozen meters away, a ninth-rank Ascended Sorcerer who had been poised to leap was now fully crystallized, his expression frozen in the terror he felt just before his neck turned to crystal.
Su Xiao reversed his long blade, turning the spine outward, and swung it in a crushing strike. With a bang, a crystallized statue of a royal shattered. This royal had undergone extensive modifications, and even after being crystallized, he continued to detonate his core.
Among those who came to besiege Su Xiao, not a single true supreme being was present. The Ancestral God Yashmis was powerful, but not strong enough to forcibly control a true supreme. After the exile Hatu died, the arena faction of this world collapsed entirely, and the few supremes from the remaining two major forces had hidden themselves without a trace.
No wonder. Knowing that the Abyss calamity might strike, all powerful beings desperately sought to truly ascend to supremacy. Once they reached that level, facing a great disaster, they could at least protect themselves and their families, let alone participate.
Of course, the supremes of this world who had been summoned to the "Secret Island" were an exception. If they hadn't gone, Xilgefer, Su Xiao, and the others would have shown them what it meant to be beneath the "Supreme Peak" yet rarely matched among supremes.
The Secret Island was the final consequence of the Second Era's Alchemical Civilization. Not to mention them, even the exile Hatu died there.
The current situation was different. These supremes, who hadn't been drawn into the world's major events, chose to take their kin and flee the empire. They only needed to wait for the final victor. If the Ancestral God Yashmis won, they could rejoin the Mechanical God Cult. This Ancestral God would almost certainly not kill them, because supremes were rare no matter where.
The empire had stood for thousands of years, and with the top-tier power systems provided by the three major forces, it had produced this many supremes. Su Xiao had killed a few upon arriving in this world, and nearly half had died on the Secret Island.
Supremes had long lifespans, spanning thousands of years. This couldn't compare to the ancient monsters who had lived since the First Era, but thousands of years were still vast, especially since this was just the base lifespan, extendable through rare treasures and secrets.
At this stage of the world, Su Xiao gradually understood the status and advantages native supremes held in their own world. After he ascended to supremacy, the first world he visited was the Ancient Dragon Kingdom.
The first three people he met upon entering that world were all supremes. After leaving the Sanctuary City, things became even more absurd. The Abyss's spread covered everything. Within the Abyss zones, ninth-rank dark creatures were as common as anything, powerful Abyss beings were frequent, and supreme-level Abyss creatures appeared occasionally.
After clashing with the Dukain family, things got even more ridiculous. As a newly ascended supreme, he fought only supremes. It wasn't intentional; he simply couldn't find weaker enemies.
Finally, after finishing the absurd world of the Ancient Dragon Kingdom, Su Xiao arrived at the Divine Realm. It was even more absurd. The hidden rulers of the three major forces were all "Supreme Peaks" from the First Era, even if suppression and power decline had reduced them to below that level.
Now, being besieged by a large group of ninth-rank and powerful beings made Su Xiao realize something. Even in late-stage worlds, supremes were actually few. The majority of major forces were composed of powerful beings, and supremes rarely acted personally. Of course, there were exceptions.
The exception was encountering an enemy like Su Xiao. The opposing force would have a stress reaction, because a supreme technique grandmaster was notoriously infamous.
In clashes between supremes, actual life-or-death outcomes occurred less than ten percent of the time. Over ninety percent ended with one side severely injured, and the other, unwilling to face a desperate counterattack, would cease the fight. Subsequent negotiations through subordinates would see the victor gain enough benefits, and the loser pay a sufficient price.
But supreme technique grandmasters were like supreme executioners. When they fought others, seven out of ten times, it ended in life or death. Which major force wouldn't have a stress reaction to that?
Not to mention losing a supreme; if a force had one supreme severely injured, it would be on high alert. If two supremes were both heavily wounded, they would enter a state of complete retreat.
Just as Su Xiao was about to turn back to the Lord's Train, he suddenly raised his crystallized left hand.
Crack!
A blade pierced through the crystallized left arm. The blade was about fifty centimeters long, a sharp short sword. Its hilt made up one-fifth of the weapon's total length. The weapon had a beautiful balance and excellent grip, clearly a masterwork.
Su Xiao didn't bother with the shadow assassin. He pulled the "Shadow Dance" short sword from his crystallized palm and felt its grip.
"Good."
Su Xiao held the short sword in one hand, and with the crystallized index finger of his other hand, he traced the spine of the blade before pressing the tip against the sword's point. Rarely one to praise, he didn't hold back this time. He looked to the side at the dissipating shadow clone of the assassin, puzzled that a powerful being dominated by fate could possess such a weapon.
Several hundred kilometers away, in a sealed cave in the wilderness, only a faint light from a yellow gem on the ceiling provided illumination. In the darkness, a pair of eyes opened, filled with lingering fear but tinged with a hint of crimson. This was the true body of the shadow assassin.
At that moment, the shadow assassin was gasping for breath. Waking from her strange state, her scalp tingled slightly, and her body trembled uncontrollably. As a former genius, she had always harbored an ambition: to successfully assassinate a supreme. Only then could she ascend to supremacy.
The problem was that the supremes of this world were all high-ranking or top-tier figures in major forces. There were no supremes without backing. Born and raised here, Ianna knew well the terror of the Mechanical God Cult, the royal family, and the three minister factions.
When news of a siege circulating in the black market reached Ianna's ears, she was naturally drawn in. Especially when she learned that the target was an outsider, with no ties to this world and an enemy of the three major forces, Ianna knew her chance had come.
Ianna made the mistake that most "powerful beings at the limit" made: she felt she was only one breakthrough away from supremacy. Moreover, the siege involved hundreds of participants, and absurdly, it was said that supremes were also involved.
This actually made Ianna hesitate. But her power system dictated that she needed to kill a supreme to advance further. In her inner turmoil, fate made the choice for her.
Before Ianna struck her assassination blow, she was so terrified that her mind went blank. She even wanted to turn and flee, but her assassin's instinct told her she had to continue, or there would be no chance of survival.
There was no counterattack as she had imagined. In fact, the target didn't even look at her. Instead, he took the "Shadow Dance" short sword she had used for the assassination. Though she wanted to reclaim this weapon, which was as precious as her life, after striking that blow, Ianna woke up as if from a dream.
Why had she come to assassinate a supreme who had been besieged by hundreds of powerful beings and had slaughtered them all like chopping vegetables?
So, after the failed assassination, she immediately dispelled her shadow clone. Now, she was almost amused by her own stupidity. Not only had she used the "Shadow Dance" short sword, which was as important as her life, but her shadow clone's assassination attempt had made her so nervous that she felt as if she would die in the next second.
On second thought, Ianna felt relieved. The aura of that supreme grandmaster was truly overwhelming. As an assassin, approaching him made her feel weak in the knees, as if stepping on cotton.
"So this is a supreme. Truly terrifying."
Clearly, Ianna's judgment of supremes was wildly off. The one she had tried to assassinate had personally killed double-digit supremes. Of course, Abyss creatures and top-tier alchemical beings didn't count, as per common consensus.
"What's wrong with me? Why did I do something so stupid?"
Ianna furrowed her brows. With her wheat-colored skin and petite frame, she couldn't understand why she had done something so foolish today.
"Yeah, why did you do something so stupid?"
A sudden voice from beside her nearly made Ianna jump up from her seated position. Her body stiffened as she turned to look. Sitting next to her, holding a bottle of fine wine, was none other than the target of her assassination.
It's over.
That was Ianna's only thought. Through her perception's precognition of the next few seconds, she foresaw that if she suddenly leaped sideways and turned into shadow, her head would be severed by her own weapon, the "Shadow Dance" short sword. Even more absurdly, the "Shadow Dance" short sword was a hundred times sharper in the enemy's hands than in hers.
Su Xiao looked at Ianna, finding the situation strange. As for Ianna's assassination attempt, the assassin was simply unlucky. The assassination was purely driven by fate.
First, the siege at the docks was an open scheme. Those powerful beings had all been stripped of their "existence," or rather, they were merely puppets of the Ancestral God Yashmis.
This was a test to see if Su Xiao, after returning to the main body of this world, would leave immediately or head straight for the imperial capital, Star Radiance City Inseton.
If the former, the Ancestral God Yashmis wouldn't stop him, as it was the biggest beneficiary of the Secret Island trip. If Su Xiao intended to go to Star Radiance City Inseton, it would signal that he wanted to settle things with the Ancestral God Yashmis.
The Ancestral God Yashmis didn't care about the fight itself. It was confident of victory, as its current strength was above "Ultra-Peak Supreme" and recovering toward "Supreme Peak." The key was that it needed to prepare for the original sin objects it would face after killing this Law Destroyer.
Now, having confirmed that this Law Destroyer was an obstacle to controlling this world, the Ancestral God Yashmis had begun investing massive resources to prepare for the original sin objects it would face after killing him.
Beyond this test, what truly puzzled Su Xiao was the shadow assassin's attack. Her assassination was no different from suicide. But when he held her assassination short sword and felt the fate energy on it, he confirmed a possibility.
This shadow assassin had been coerced by fate energy into participating in the siege. In this world, the only fate user with such power was the Star Realm's strongest diviner, the old woman whose name and origin were unknown.
But if the old woman harbored ill intentions, why send such a weak assassin? It was truly incomprehensible.
Inside the cave, Ianna's face was ashen. She was certain she would die here today. No one would forgive an assassination attempt against them. If the target was of an evil alignment, they might toy with her before torturing her to death.
"Where did this short sword come from?"
Su Xiao flipped the "Shadow Dance" short sword in his hand, then held it by the blade and offered the hilt to Ianna. This left her slightly stunned.
"You mean?"
Ianna was confused, then thought of something. She curled up and prostrated herself on the ground, speaking in the most sincere tone: "I don't want to die yet. I can kill for you, serve you, do anything. And I'm clean. I didn't come from an assassin organization..."
Seeing this, Su Xiao tossed the short sword to her. Ianna caught it instinctively.
"Don't get ahead of yourself. Just answer the question honestly."
"Ah? Oh, I..."
At this point, Ianna hesitated. The place where she had obtained the short sword was a treasure vault she had reserved for herself to open after ascending to supremacy.
Why not open it now? Because she couldn't. Otherwise, she would have long used it to hire a supreme to kill a supreme-level Abyss creature in the Abyss spread zone, fulfilling her condition for advancement. Not all supremes ascended through traditional methods.
Su Xiao took out a pocket watch and clicked it. Every ten seconds thereafter, a "Mercy Thorn" would deeply pierce Ianna's body. Of course, after the first "Mercy Thorn" entered her, she would have to die regardless of what followed.
Su Xiao was too lazy to kill a powerful being who had been driven and half-dominated by fate to assassinate him. But he would definitely kill one he had tortured, cutting them down with a single blow, then crystallizing and assimilating them until they shattered into dust. Scenarios where the enemy grew stronger and came for revenge were almost nonexistent with him.
The pocket watch ticked, ticked, ticked, putting immense psychological pressure on Ianna. Just as the time was about to reach ten seconds, she slapped her own face with both hands. She was stupid again. Being able to live was more important than any wealth.
"It's far away, in the empire's Eastern Cold Region..."
The train sped along. Sitting by the window, Ianna drank hot coffee, which gradually calmed her nerves.
She discreetly glanced at the minotaur and quickly looked away. The minotaur's gaze was not just hostile; it seemed ready to pin her down and chop off her head with an axe at the slightest move. The dark executioner's aura made Ianna's perception sting.
The big dog was also formidable. During the siege, she had seen multiple strong beings of the divine flesh system suddenly lose control, turn on their allies, kill several, and then explode without being surrounded.
The demon hawk near the big dog needed no further mention. The oppressive aura of superior power convinced Ianna it was a supreme-tier assassin.
The only one who seemed easy to deal with was the cat. But that thought vanished a few seconds later when the minotaur slammed down a dark battle axe, startling the sleeping cat awake. The cat stared at the dark executioner, and the result was that the dark executioner became a docile cow, sitting there silently.
Of course, Amu stayed quiet. Beini was in charge of the money. Making the young miss unhappy meant losing the extra meal allowance. These expenses came from Beini's own earnings from selling treasures she found. However, when Su Xiao urgently needed money during his powerful being days, Beini's savings were wiped out.
With the Lord's Train's speed, they reached Ianna's Eastern Cold Region by the next morning.
A blizzard howled. From above, the Lord's Train carved a path through the snowfield, pursued by a large pack of icefield wolves. Bubu Wang, that fool, howled a couple of times upon reaching the cold region, attracting the local wolf pack.
Killing them all was possible, but unnecessary. Su Xiao had exterminated entire clans when dealing with enemies, but coming to someone else's territory, howling a couple of times, and then not allowing them to chase for dozens of kilometers? When he acted, he preferred to be in the right. If he couldn't, he would use the Law Destruction formula to convert the situation and naturally become justified.
After traveling several hundred kilometers, the wolf pack behind was exhausted, foam dripping from their mouths. Seeing this, Bubu Wang stuck his head out and howled again. The pack stopped, howling back. Though Su Xiao couldn't understand, he guessed the cursing was quite foul.
"Supreme sir, the blizzard is affecting my ability to locate that underground palace. I'm not trying to back out. Once the blizzard clears, I'll find it. If I can't, you can kill me immediately."
Ianna's tone was firm. She wasn't trying to stall. The blizzard had drastically changed the environment, making it hard to sense the shadow stones she had left behind.
"..."
Su Xiao stopped the Lord's Train. A few minutes later, the wolf king, which had cursed the loudest earlier, sat awkwardly but nervously inside the train. The pack behind, though not reduced in numbers, were generally bruised and swollen, clearly having been physically negotiated by Amu's fists.
As it turned out, locals were best. With the wolf king's enthusiastic guidance, they soon spotted an ice-sealed high hall.
Creak, creak～
Su Xiao stepped onto the snow, ignoring the cold. Looking at the ice hall ahead, he suddenly felt a sense of familiarity. Soon, he realized it wasn't familiarity but the effect of fate abilities.
Approaching the ice hall, he looked at the half-open door and asked, "When did you discover this ice hall?"
"About... a month ago? Yeah, that's right."
"..."
Su Xiao entered the ice hall. Inside, he saw a sculpture about two meters tall. It depicted a female warrior with a fishbone braid, wearing half-armor. Her figure wasn't voluptuous but had a harmonious beauty. One hand was behind her back, the other hung by her side, with a hollow grip in her hand.
Su Xiao used his index and middle fingers to pull out the short sword from Ianna's waist, then tossed it, catching it by the blade and inserting the hilt into the sculpture's hand.
After doing this, he went to the inner side and pushed open the originally sealed metal door. On the door, hundreds of white puncture marks could be seen. Who made them went without saying.
Rumble～
The metal door opened, revealing a staircase leading underground.
Seeing this, Ianna pressed her hands to her head, dumbfounded. When she first arrived, she had been immediately drawn to the short sword in the female warrior's hand. After a polite bow, she had taken it.
Now she was told that the door she had struggled with for half a month, unable to open, was actually keyed to this short sword?
Slap～
The sudden sound drew everyone's attention. Ianna, with a handprint on her face, said, "There's a mosquito."
Ianna was so regretful she wanted to slap herself again.
In reality, she was mistaken. The short sword wasn't the key. In all the Star Realm, only Su Xiao could open this door without violence. He had returned the short sword to its place simply to avoid letting Ianna notice anything.
Ianna naturally had no right to go deeper. Amu watched her outside while Su Xiao, Bubu Wang, Baha, and Beini entered the underground passage.
Walking down the icy steps, Su Xiao soon felt a faint warm breeze rising from below. The steps became wet, confirming the breeze wasn't an illusion. At the bottom, a dark gold metal door blocked the way.
Observing the door, Su Xiao placed one hand on it. The metal gradually dissolved, revealing a secret chamber.
The chamber was about several dozen square meters, filled with withered flesh structures. At the core, a bench-like shape was faintly visible, with a dried humanoid figure sitting on it. On either side were shriveled creatures huddled together, seemingly the size of apples in life.
Yes, the humanoid on the flesh bench was the Star Realm's strongest diviner, the old woman. She was dead. On her dragon-headed staff hung a rune stone emitting a faint white light.
Seeing this, Su Xiao was more convinced that the shadow assassin's attack had been driven by fate. In fate, she couldn't harm Su Xiao and would trigger another causal chain, provided Su Xiao could perceive it. If he had casually killed the assassin the moment after the attack, everything that followed would have vanished.
That was how fate worked. It didn't force things to happen, because doing so would inevitably incur corresponding costs.
Su Xiao took the rune stone and sensed it. It contained textual information. He probed with his mental energy and found the old woman's final words.
First, the old woman wasn't entirely on Su Xiao's side. She made this clear in her opening sentence.
The whole matter began when the Ancestral God Yashmis was nearly killed by the First Era overlords. Though it didn't die, its divine body perished, an almost unsolvable death at the causal level. Until the Second Era's Alchemical Civilization fully rose, giving the Ancestral God Yashmis hope.
The alchemical faction's fall wasn't orchestrated solely by the Ancestral God Yashmis, but it was inextricably linked. It was the one who gave the alchemists the "Causal Rune." From then on, alchemy pried open the Pandora's box of "causal power."
The alchemical civilization's god-making plan wasn't a rumor; it was real. The alchemists weren't creating a known god. They used the Ancestral God's body as a vessel and ancient god power as the source (Endless Origin) to create a supreme god beyond the "Supreme Peak."
With this supreme god, they would kill the current Lord of the Abyss. Then, dark knowledge would belong to the alchemists.
This ambition never materialized. They revived the Ancestral God's body and created the "Endless Origin," but the fusion device malfunctioned. If it went out of control, it would compress the entire Star Realm to the size of an apple.
Worse, this leaked out. A top alchemist could no longer bear his colleagues' increasingly mad actions. No matter the justification, he couldn't comfort himself that alchemical development and creation would implicate countless innocent lives.
The major forces of the Star Realm could no longer tolerate the alchemical faction's recklessness. The alchemical faction's fall began. What followed was unremarkable: the fall, the formation of the "Causal Lock Ring," and the alchemical curse.
What was truly noteworthy happened half a year ago. The old king learned that the Star Realm's strongest diviner was traveling through and in poor condition, seemingly ready to perish here. The old king knew his chance had come.
Emperor Roald Saint Adez of the empire found the strongest diviner. Though without power, this emperor had top-tier knowledge of the Star Realm. He spoke a few words that moved her:
"The Abyss calamity is coming. The unstable worlds of the Star Realm are already collapsing. There are tens of thousands of such worlds, perhaps more. Let's try to create a world that can accommodate all races. If it transcends, its resources will be more than enough for all races.
Respected prophet, do you want to witness the first transcendent world of the Third Era before your life ends? Right here, a world that accommodates all races. Even if there will be conflicts and chaos in the future, at least we will have continuity. Before the Abyss calamity arrives, we will surely unite.
Even if our power is insignificant before the calamity, at least we have resisted. Our world of all races has existed and resisted."
Yes, this world was the most likely to become a transcendent world in the current Third Era. Especially since, in the Second Era, it had already suffered a large-scale Abyss invasion. The alchemists had actively opened a super-massive Abyss passage and successfully resisted the invasion, along with the endless tide of Abyss monsters.
Su Xiao had previously wondered why a world had to face a large-scale Abyss invasion, with at least 95% of the world affected. Only after the native inhabitants successfully resisted could the world transcend.
After mastering "Top-Tier Abyss Studies," he understood why. The Abyss had extreme enhancement properties. The Abyss energy spreading into a world was second-generation Abyss energy, altered by contact with world force.
Only without contact with world force was it pristine Abyss energy. If a world was invaded by the Abyss over 95%, world force was so scarce that it could only alter a small amount of Abyss energy. Over 90% of the Abyss energy flooding in was pristine.
This meant the world was being enhanced by pristine Abyss energy. And because the Abyss erosion was widespread, the entire world was receiving this enhancement.
But if this continued, the world would fully Abyssify, being absorbed into the Abyss as part of it. This required the native inhabitants to resist the Abyss, ending the uncontrolled enhancement.
A world enhanced to such a degree by the Abyss would naturally become a transcendent world: vast, resource-rich, and top-tier in rank.
The peak alchemists could certainly achieve this. This world matched all the above characteristics. The empire had grown here for over 2,000 years, yet over 90% of the world remained undeveloped.
The world's transcendence was only one step away. The "Causal Lock Ring" had turned that step into a deadlock.
The old woman was moved by the emperor. She saw the future, witnessing the "Origin Codex" awakened by the blood of gods and the Law Destroyer wielding a demon blade.
According to the original plan, Su Xiao was to be lured here with the "Star Heart." The exile Hatu, eager to escape, agreed to provide the "Star Heart." But Su Xiao arrived early.
Moreover, the Priest also came.
Though different from the prophecy, the overall direction was similar. In truth, the old woman had schemed against Su Xiao, but in her plan, Su Xiao was one of the winners. Of course, the risks he bore were genuine.
The old woman didn't live to see the world's transcendence. She died first in this remote, frozen land because, when Su Xiao sealed the "Causal Rune," he bore half the causal pollution, and she bore the other half. This was why she went to the Secret Island and then quietly left. She needed to set a fate coordinate there.
The old woman hadn't lied to Su Xiao. The strong beings he had killed and put to rest were indeed her old friends. That was why, in her fate weaving, Su Xiao was one of the final winners.
Unfortunately, the old woman's fate weaving was shattered. She was already a dying ember. In her own words, in the past, she chose to revere fate. But this time, she wouldn't watch intelligent beings despair as the earth crumbled and the sky collapsed.
Besides this letter, the old woman left Su Xiao a gift: a wooden box by her hand. Su Xiao picked it up and opened it.
[You have obtained Soul Energy Crystal ×4.]