Chapter 5: Preparations
Su Xiao had never heard of a star realm entity called the "Mother of Mercy," and furthermore, the bounty on the "Mother of Mercy" was very close to that of the "Eye of the Darkless," only 400,000 ounces of space-time power lower.
One at 6 million and the other at 6.4 million, the difference was actually not that significant when compared. This meant that the "Mother of Mercy," like the "Eye of the Darkless" and the "Three Fingers," was most likely an ancient abyssal existence.
As a Supreme Peak powerhouse, Su Xiao was qualified to challenge beings of this level. The reason the bounty was so high lay in the content of the bounty: "Completely Eradicate the Mother of Mercy."
Facing such an existence, the difficulty of defeating or overcoming them was incomparable to "completely eradicating" them. Even if Su Xiao did nothing else for the remainder of this world and focused solely on eliminating the "Mother of Mercy," the probability of success was not high.
Su Xiao took out the [Task Completion Certificate]. He had obtained three of these in total, used two, and now only this one remained.
[You have paid 20,000 ounces of Space-Time Power.]
[You have accepted Event Bounty 3: Mother of Mercy.]
[You have used the Task Completion Certificate. Target: Event Bounty 3: Mother of Mercy, completed.]
[Evaluating...]
Seeing this prompt, Su Xiao focused and waited for the follow-up. It didn't directly state that this authority could not be used on a bounty, which meant it was indeed possible.
As for keeping all three [Task Completion Certificates] to complete high-value bounties, that was certainly the method for maximum profit.
The problem was that without the previous two [Task Completion Certificates] completing two Abyss Tasks: Death's Grant, the total gains at the end of the last world progress would not have been enough to advance to Supreme Peak. Those two [Task Completion Certificates] had netted Su Xiao nearly one million ounces of space-time power.
Don't think that just because Soul Lord hadn't attacked yet, it was over. This was because Su Xiao had advanced to Supreme Peak. If he were still a "Super-Top-Tier Supreme," no matter which Supreme world he entered, Soul Lord would follow immediately, and his death would be at hand. As for the current situation, who would die was still uncertain. This was the charm of constantly getting stronger and climbing to the peak.
[Evaluation complete. The Hunter has the possibility of defeating the 'Mother of Mercy,' but the probability of completely eradicating her is low.]
[The 'Hunt Bounty' differs from 'Task Judgment,' but both parties fall under the 'Task Notarization Mode' in their initial clauses.]
[Event Bounty 3: Mother of Mercy, completed.]
Seeing this prompt, Su Xiao submitted the bounty without hesitation.
[You have submitted the 'Mother of Mercy' bounty.]
[Due to the 'Hunt List: Blood Pact's' multiplier bounty + bounty correction, you will receive a total bounty worth 3,300,000 ounces of Space-Time Power (as this bounty was completed through unconventional means, only 55% of the reward is obtained).]
[You have received Time Stone Fragments × 330,000 (this is an equivalent item, can be sold to Reincarnation Paradise at any time for 3,300,000 ounces of Space-Time Power).]
[As this bounty was completed in an unconventional manner, no random item rewards will appear.]
He didn't get 6 million ounces of space-time power, but 3.3 million was already very satisfying.
Su Xiao assessed his own situation. The subsequent series of plans were put on hold. His current priority was to ensure the Eye Princess did not die. This meant he had plenty of operating time.
First, he couldn't take the Eye Princess to a safe zone notarized by the Void Tree. This would immediately reset the protection time for the main quest to 24 hours. He took out the map drawn by Bubu Wang and began selecting a location.
First, stay away from the world's central "Eternal City," the stronghold of the Underworld God Cult. It wasn't yet time to clash with the Underworld God. Fighting peak powerhouses like the Deer God or the Old Hag Demon could be done without a life-or-death struggle. But with the Underworld God, once a fight started, there was a 90% chance it would be to the death.
Stay away from Yinmi Maosi, stay away from the Mercy Cathedral, stay away from Dream Castle. Suddenly, a place caught Su Xiao's eye. That's right, Beast Town.
Beast Town as a whole was an anomalous existence. In essence, it was no different from Leshma in the previous world. But if he had to choose, Su Xiao preferred to cooperate with Beast Town, because only Leshma knew what Leshma would do in the next second.
Beast Town's willingness to exist in the form of a building indicated that its stability characteristic was far higher than its weirdness. Moreover, it continuously spread its bestial nature to the town's residents—those beings that looked human but were essentially blood lice parasitic within Beast Town.
This raised the question: why would Beast Town be willing to let a Law Destroyer who would attract a lot of danger stay here? The answer was: the World Borer.
As things stood, Su Xiao was no longer that wary of the World Borer. It was indeed a world-destroying existence, but if it faced Su Xiao now, completely eradicating it was impossible. However, beating it into a weakened state and sealing it again was achievable.
Su Xiao had entered Beast Town before and clearly felt that Beast Town was still a step away from the peak that outer-realm existences could reach, corresponding to a peak powerhouse. Of course, if a powerhouse wanted to destroy Beast Town, it would still be very difficult. Conversely, Beast Town would also find it hard to affect a peak powerhouse.
Peak powerhouses, star realm anomalous existences, ancient abyssal existences, outer-realm existences—all were very powerful, but their combat power couldn't be directly compared. Their life systems, existence systems, and causal systems were all different.
For example, comparing who could live longer with a star realm anomalous existence—who could outlast them? It was possible that even ancient abyssal existences didn't have the lifespan of star realm anomalous existences. No, it couldn't even be called lifespan anymore; it was existence force.
However, when it came to means of destruction within a certain range, that was the forte of peak powerhouses. The area where Su Xiao had just fought the Deer God was still riddled with spatial cracks, and the world force was extremely chaotic. Even hundreds of years later, if an explorer dared to enter that area, they might be suddenly cut in half or have a body part severed by the residual blade might within the spatial fissures.
The biggest difference between a peak powerhouse and an ordinary Supreme, besides peak abilities, was the impact of their own system on the environment of their world.
As an outer-realm existence, Beast Town naturally wanted to climb to the highest point. The problem was that as it grew stronger, it generated intense bestial nature. This bestial nature would affect its continued growth. Those blood lice were Beast Town's method for devouring bestial nature.
Needless to say, this efficiency wouldn't be high. But what if it used bestial nature to envelop the constantly splitting "World Borer"? As long as it could maintain balance, no matter how much bestial nature there was, the "World Borer" could devour it all.
The train's speed decreased, and a somewhat familiar scene came into view. It was the central square of Beast Town. The bonfire was still there, but the old mayor and the townspeople were nowhere to be seen.
Stepping off the train, Su Xiao crouched down and placed one hand on the ground. A crystal array formed, its structure very similar to the sacrificial ritual formed by the "Endless Ring." He didn't need to perfectly replicate it; being inside Beast Town, this level was enough to communicate with it.
A dull and obscure mental message came from the array. The blood vessels on the back of Su Xiao's right hand, which was pressing on the array, bulged and writhed. This was the effect of beast transformation. It showed how much bestial nature Beast Town had accumulated. And this was Su Xiao, a peak powerhouse, communicating with it. Anyone a single level lower would be affected by this beast transformation.
After a short exchange, many fireflies materialized out of thin air within Beast Town. These fireflies emitted a white light, signifying that this place welcomed Su Xiao. Furthermore, if any other powerhouse approached within a thousand kilometers, Beast Town would give a warning.
The [Book of Original Sin] appeared in Su Xiao's hand. All the surrounding buildings seemed to tilt to a certain degree, as if instinctively moving away from the [Book of Original Sin]. He flipped to the seventh page. The metal flying insect-like "World Borer" was located on the page like a specimen.
In the past, the "World Borer" would release intense malice towards Su Xiao. But during the "Dawn Ruins," he noticed that the "World Borer's" malice towards him was weakening. During the "Ancient Dragon Kingdom," its malice was even lower.
By the time of the "Realm of the Gods," the World Borer had basically no malice towards him. Now, entering "Doom Star," no matter how Su Xiao sensed it, the "World Borer" had no malice towards him at all.
Come to think of it, the "World Borer" had been sealed in the Eternal Light World and was still trapped there. It had been sealed for five whole world progresses. Based on one world progress being 30-40 days, plus the stay time in Reincarnation Paradise and the real world, plus trips to the Void or Tianren Star, it had probably been over half a year.
Thinking back, the "Mad Laughing Ghost Face" started its pain mask after just two minutes inside. But the "World Borer" had been locked inside for over half a year. Damn, this wasn't a decrease in hostility towards Su Xiao; it was the "World Borer's" consciousness fading away. As of today, the "World Borer's" previous consciousness seemed to have completely kicked the bucket.
Su Xiao manipulated the [Book of Original Sin] to release the "World Borer." The peanut-sized metal flying insect floated in mid-air. He released a bit of his own aura to touch the "World Borer." The feedback was malice.
Very unfamiliar. Different from the malice before.
This confirmed one thing for Su Xiao: the "World Borer's" physical shell and consciousness were both indestructible. But indestructible didn't mean they couldn't be eliminated; it meant they would quickly revive after being eliminated. What the World Borer produced now seemed to be a brand new consciousness.
Su Xiao discovered this because the current "World Borer's" malice towards him and the surrounding Beast Town was impartial. Especially when several claw-like appendages extended from Beast Town, grabbing at the "World Borer," the "World Borer's" malice towards Beast Town completely surpassed its malice towards Su Xiao. In fact, it soon stopped showing malice towards Su Xiao altogether and, in its weakened state, fully resisted Beast Town.
To put it simply, the "World Borer" had been formatted by being locked up by Su Xiao...
This was undoubtedly good news. Although, with Su Xiao's current strength, he was no longer worried about retaliation from the World Borer, having one less mortal enemy was certainly a good thing.
A downward passage appeared in front of the central square. Su Xiao manipulated the Lord's Train to drive into it. A few minutes later, the train stopped in an underground space. This underground space was about a thousand square meters, with a height of over ten meters. It was pitch black inside, but after just half an hour, Bubu Wang had set it up to be as bright as day, and various warning devices were installed properly.
Su Xiao pressed one hand on the petrified ground. Aoge crystals formed a spatial array. After the spatial array activated, it began to resonate. This resonance lasted for a few minutes...
Boom!
With a loud bang, Beini spiraled out of the spatial array. If Su Xiao hadn't caught her with one hand, Miss Beini would have definitely landed face-first.
This was a spatial rune carried by Bubu Wang, Amu, Beini, and Baha. Its function was that if they encountered danger, Su Xiao could use the Law-Destroying Teleportation Array to instantly teleport them back. To put it simply, it was similar to summoning a follower.
Actually, summoning followers was a basic skill for all contractors with summons/followers. As for why Su Xiao didn't have it, with -36 points of true charm attribute, it would be strange if he had this summoning ability.
Beini took a while to recover. After a moment:
"Meow... ugh..."
Beini vomited violently. When she was summoned, she felt like she had entered a high-speed spin dryer. Moreover, her resistance to the Law-Destroying Teleportation Array was lower than that of Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha.
Summoning Beini was for subsequent operations. There was one thing that only Beini could do, and it would save a massive amount of soul coins.
Ding~
Su Xiao flicked a soul coin into the air. The soul coin flipped in mid-air, but halfway down, it was caught by a hand. The thumb of this hand rubbed the raised patterns on the back of the soul coin, and a smile involuntarily appeared on the face. Of course, it was Kaisa.
"My dear friend, you feel so unfamiliar to Kaisa."
"What?"
"You seem to have become very wealthy."
"..."
Needless to say, this was Kaisa. His sense for wealth was abnormally sharp.
"My dear friend, what brings you to call Kaisa here this time?"
Kaisa showed a somewhat lecherous smile, habitually rubbing his hands together, his greed gradually rising.
"Send Beini back to the Great Gathering Place."
"Hmm?"
Kaisa was very surprised. His eyes darted around cunningly, then he suddenly understood.
"If it's Beini, it might actually succeed. She's rarely with you when it comes to task-related judgments. If I remember correctly, after entering a world, Beini spends 99% of her time traveling alone?"
"Yes."
"In that case, hmm~, it really might succeed. If she stays far away from you all after entering the world, she would need a separate notarization judgment. But maintaining this temporary notarization once or twice is fine. If it's maintained long-term, in Reincarnation Paradise's judgment, this is considered a waste of resources.
At most, Beini can be temporarily notarized three times. After that, she will be given a separate traveler's notarization. Has Beini traveled alone more than three times?"
Kaisa's proposed prerequisites were all exceeded. Not just three times, Beini had traveled alone thirty times.
To put it simply, after entering a world, each team has a notarization. When a team member temporarily leaves, a temporary team notarization is split off. If this member stays away permanently, maintaining the 'temporary team notarization,' which requires a tiny amount of space-time power, is considered a waste of resources in the Paradise faction's judgment. After evaluation, this target will be given a separate notarization that matches their current behavior.
Besides this matter, Su Xiao also needed to make this place a 'Notarization Environment' for Reincarnation Paradise. The reason was that activating the [Skill Upgrade Pod] required at least a 2000+ notarization environment to be feasible.
This world was notarized by the Void Tree, with a basic notarization environment between 2 and 5. Raising the notarization environment of a large area would be very difficult. But if it was just raising the notarization environment of a single train car that housed the [Exclusive Skill Upgrade Pod], that was no big deal.
Hearing Su Xiao's words, Kaisa was visibly stunned. He asked, "My dear friend, do you have the authority to purchase an [Exclusive Skill Upgrade Pod]?"
"I've had it for a while."
"Have you exchanged for it?"
"It's in my exclusive room. I can summon it by consuming authority."
"Have you ever tried summoning your [Exclusive Skill Upgrade Pod] into a primordial world?"
"No."
"The [Exclusive Skill Upgrade Pod] has a notarization attribute. When the owner's authority level is above Lv.100, when it leaves the owner's exclusive room and enters the Void/Primordial World/Underworld, etc., it will carry an 8000+ notarization environment internally. But it's not free. You need to continuously pay space-time power."
Although Kaisa was greedy, he never cheated Su Xiao. This was one of the reasons Su Xiao chose to keep cooperating with Kaisa.
Su Xiao traded 10 ounces of space-time power to Kaisa as a consultation fee. This made Kaisa beam with joy immediately, smiling more brightly than if he had obtained a treasure. Obviously, consultation fees obtained through verbal expression were the most beloved profit method for the greedy Kaisa.
The ultimate purpose of Su Xiao setting all this up was to purchase a 'Supreme Passive' skill scroll, then use the [Exclusive Skill Upgrade Pod] to max it out, and finally use his [Peak Ability: Power Origin] to enhance himself. That's right, after fighting a life-and-death battle with an opponent like the Deer God, he could once again improve his supreme physical attributes.
Su Xiao's subsequent strategy was very clear: devour 4-5 'Supreme Passives' at once, then go find the Deer God for another fight, or simply use the surrounding terrain to enter an abyssal area to fight.
After 'digesting' the enhanced strength, he would return to Beast Town and repeat the above process.
At that time, the Deer God would be surprised to find that the opponent he was facing was getting stronger and stronger, stronger every time they met.
As for the risk of dying in battle because he wasn't quite a match for the Deer God, [Extreme: Star Realm] + [Charged Straight Kick] + [Law-Destroying Teleportation Array] were incredibly powerful survival tools.
As for why Beini needed to be sent back to the Great Gathering Place, it involved the purchase of 'Supreme Passive Skill Scrolls.' He could also find the Goblin Merchant Guild, which would definitely have cooperating Paradise faction workers. The problem was, if he asked the Goblin Merchant Guild to 'purchase on his behalf,' even the worst 'Supreme Passive Skill Scroll' would likely be marked up to 5 million to 6.5 million soul coins.
However, if Beini returned to the Great Gathering Place and contacted a skill scroll merchant to buy one, she could get the worst 'Supreme Passive Skill Scroll' for only 2.05 million to 2.1 million.
Su Xiao didn't care if the 'Supreme Passive Skill Scroll' had poor effects. It was only used to trigger the effect of [Power Origin]. As long as it was a Supreme Passive, it was fine.
While Su Xiao was executing the main quest, no matter how he operated, he couldn't let Beini return to Reincarnation Paradise. But the Great Gathering Place was notarized by the Void Tree. It was a public area that all Paradise faction contractors/hunters/battle angels, etc., could enter upon reaching a certain rank.
Ultimately, this was a public, high-notarization area. Kaisa scratched his head and studied it for a moment, finally deciding to use a teleportation method to send Beini back to the Great Gathering Place.
The problem was, what was the spatial coordinate of the Great Gathering Place?
This core issue was where Kaisa shined. He thought for a moment, then a smile appeared on his face: "My dear friend, this is not easy to handle. It'll cost at least 20,000 ounces of space-time power."
"50."
"Impossible, at least 19,999."
"80."
"15,000, can't go lower."
"3,000."
"Deal!"
Kaisa clapped his hands together, signaling a done deal. Su Xiao immediately knew he had overpaid. 2,500 to 2,700 ounces, and this guy would have taken the job.
"My dear friend, you'll have to provide the teleportation array. Otherwise, it won't be this price."
Kaisa's smile was quite cunning. Su Xiao crouched down and pressed one hand on the ground. Aoge crystals spread out, forming a realm-level Law-Destroying Teleportation Array. Beini, who had just recovered, glared at Su Xiao with her cat eyes, as if saying, 'Scooper, look me in the eye! Look at your conscience!'
Although her cat eyes were wide as brass bells, Beini still stepped onto the teleportation array. Her gaze darted around, looking for Bubu Wang's figure. It seemed she wanted to scratch Bubu Wang's dog face a few times to vent her anger before being teleported away. Unfortunately, Bubu Wang had already slipped into the train's bedroom and was fast asleep.
Bubu Wang wasn't slacking off. When he entered deep sleep, he achieved a deep 'You Can't See Me' state. At the same time, all the warning devices he had set up would synchronize with him into this state, commonly known as 'Smart Synchronization.'
Kaisa came to the array node. With [Deceiver's Hand] + [Endless Greedy Old POS Machine] + [Filthy Foot Wrapping Cloth], the Deceiver's Three-Piece Set, Kaisa then covered his head with the Abyssal Jar.
To put it simply, if the power of the Deceiver's Three-Piece Set in its normal state was 30, then with the 'Abyssal Jar' on his head, the power would increase to around 6,000. If the 'Abyssal Jar' completely covered his head, the Deceiver's Three-Piece Set would skyrocket to a power of 90,000+.
For this deception, Kaisa was very dedicated. He grabbed the core node of the teleportation array with both hands. The content of the deception was to 'deceive' the current spatial node into being the spatial node of the Great Gathering Place for 2 seconds. As for why it was so short, the Law-Destroying Teleportation Array was like a fired cannonball. As long as it was aimed correctly, there was no need for subsequent corrections, nor was it possible to correct them.
"3, 2, 1!"
Kaisa's eyes turned a murky yellow representing extreme greed. He pressed the spatial array back into place. Almost simultaneously, Su Xiao activated the Law-Destroying Teleportation Array.
"Meow meow meow!"
Beini's cat eyes widened. She really hadn't expected that her usual solo travels would play such an important role in this world.
Boom!!
The teleportation array activated. The Eye Princess, Loris, who had been watching the commotion, was blasted back several meters by the teleportation shockwave. She sat down on the ground, stunned for a few seconds, then covered her eyes:
"My eyes!"
The Eye Princess, Loris, curled up her body. But adhering to her gossip-loving nature, while covering her eyes, an eye opened on the back of her hand.
Pop~
The spatial debris blasted out a strong light.
"Ah~"
The Eye Princess, Loris, was both embarrassed and funny. Beside her, Bubu Wang, wearing pilot sunglasses, sat crouched calmly.
After the teleportation came a long wait. Beini had taken 300,000 [Time Stone Fragments] with her. According to the plan, the first thing she did after teleporting was to place one [Time Stone Fragment] and 1 [Soul Coin] in the team storage space. If she couldn't transfer materials through the team channel, the value of going to the Great Gathering Place would be greatly diminished.
[Warning (Void Tree): Detected that the Hunter has used unconventional means to teleport a follower to the Great Gathering Place. This is a warning. If this warning is ineffective, the corresponding amount of reputation will be deducted.]
Obviously, going to the Great Gathering Place mid-mission was allowed. The key was the teleportation method used, which was warned by the Void Tree. Needless to say, entering the Great Gathering Place during a mission should be a one-time authority, similar to 'Emergency Aid' or other teleportation authorities.
He checked his Void Tree reputation. It was still 1 point. It seemed the Void Tree reputation was quite resilient. Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't plummet. As for it dropping to -????, that was purely an accident.
After waiting for over an hour, one [Time Stone Fragment] and 1 [Soul Coin] appeared in the team storage space one after another. This meant that the notarization level of the team storage space was high enough. But come to think of it, the Dawn Adventure Group was an SSS-rank, the highest level adventure group.
Everything was ready. The next step was simple: fight and grow stronger!