Chapter 47: The Prey
Whether the Priest's ultimate goal is to become "Death itself" is speculation, but the accuracy is already considerable.
Regarding how to deal with the Priest, Su Xiao already has a plan. Previously, the Underworld God gathered nearly all the power of the Ancient Gods. The end of that deadly battle not only shattered Doom Star but also caused ninety-nine percent of the Ancient God power to fall silent.
Thus, among the small amount of Ancient God power that currently exists, the portion the Priest holds is not insignificant from a proportional perspective. Under these circumstances, not deploying the "Elder Eye" would be a disservice to the Priest's long-standing 'care.'
Moreover, how can one tolerate another sleeping soundly beside one's bed? Whether facing the Lord of the Abyss or the subsequent final battle, having the Priest lurking in the shadows is hardly reassuring.
Since there is already a rough inference about the Priest's goal, the chances of dealing with this old bastard have increased. Getting him targeted by the "Elder Eye" is just the first step. As for the Priest being hard to kill, Su Xiao is already very skilled at dealing with this type of enemy. If he can't be killed, he'll be banished—banished to the distant reaches beyond the Abyss, the Chaos Zone.
Once there, even if the Priest is immortal, he won't last long before being completely annihilated. With Su Xiao's current knowledge of Abyss studies, he naturally knows how chaotic the time field is in the Outer Chaos. There, unless one stops thinking, one will be stretched, magnifying a single second into what feels like eons. There isn't even a proper concept of time there.
The moment the Priest stops thinking, his defeat is officially declared. And the Priest's flaw this time isn't that his setup wasn't meticulous enough; it's that his ambitions were too great. This old bastard with the kind and benevolent smile ultimately revealed his final greed.
Su Xiao doesn't believe the Priest's ultimate scheme is fully prepared. If it were, there would be no need for him to participate in this notarization operation against Arcane Eternal Star. Not being fully prepared means he can't completely hide behind the scenes. Therefore, the safe choice is to deal with the Priest before facing the Lord of the Abyss. This old bastard has been acting increasingly off since the Gray Gentleman died.
The Priest is a very puzzling existence. He has no particular philosophy and isn't especially eager for immense personal power, otherwise he wouldn't have developed towards the concept of Death.
If the Priest at the seventh rank was the Gray Gentleman's co-conspirator, then after the Gray Gentleman's death, the Priest became increasingly strange... no, it should be eerie. This old bastard always manages to be one of the winners.
Or perhaps, the current Priest is no longer the pure Priest? Did he really succeed... in completely mastering the "Primordial Death"? This extra-worldly power that makes many powerful beings pale, and the "Death Mark" synthesized from the "Forbidden Mark" + "Primordial Death"—was it really mastered so seemingly without cost or with minimal cost? Or perhaps, it wasn't mastery at all.
The Platinum Apostle, the Gray Gentleman, Hao Ji, and the Soul Master—each was a top-tier enemy at their rank. But they each only held one-fifth of the "Forbidden Mark," namely the Puppet Mark, Devouring Mark, Fate Mark, and Soul Mark. Without exception, they all died without a burial place.
And the Priest, who subsequently held the complete "Forbidden Mark," just managed to withstand it so effortlessly? Coupled with his fusion of "Primordial Death" to create the "Death Mark," it's clear that the Priest couldn't withstand it either; what could withstand it was the "Primordial Death."
Furthermore, given the Priest's increasingly obvious ultimate goal, no matter how you look at it, becoming the "Concept of Death in the Star Realm" would inevitably lead to a complete loss of humanity. Although the Priest doesn't have much humanity, that's a different matter from completely abandoning it. No one seeks their own annihilation, and the Priest is no exception.
The Priest's current behavior seems more like a return to Death? Or rather, is the Primordial Death returning to Death?
That sounds more reasonable, and at the same time, it feels like this definitely can't be a good thing. If the Priest burrows into the "Concept of Death in the Star Realm," it would at most be a scheme—an eerie old man's pursuit of immortality. That doesn't seem like the Priest's goal.
But if the "Primordial Death" merges into the "Concept of Death in the Star Realm," who knows what terrible things might happen? It could easily cause intense extra-worldly contamination, allowing eeriness to spread.
Su Xiao began to understand why no one before the Priest could accommodate the Primordial Death. It's because, as long as there is still a beautiful longing for the future in one's heart, one will inevitably suffer severe erosion from the Primordial Death. And the Priest is a monster who doesn't long for the future, only delights in the suffering of all beings. Therefore, the "Primordial Death" never erodes him, and he doesn't reject the "Primordial Death." The two have coexisted peacefully until now.
If the "Primordial Death" were to merge into the "Concept of Death in the Star Realm," it would truly become the world the Priest wishes to see.
This made Su Xiao decide to increase the Priest's threat level by +10. After dealing with Arcane Eternal Star, he would immediately arrange for this old bastard, even placing it before dealing with the Abyssal Dragon.
But Su Xiao thought of another problem: after the battle with Arcane Eternal Star, is it possible that the Abyss invasion will intensify? If so, there might be no time to deal with the Priest.
Also, regarding this operation against Arcane Eternal Star, the Priest readily agreed to participate in the notarization operation together. This clearly means that Arcane Eternal Star has something the Priest needs, but he can't go directly. He must ensure the Supreme Being is not at Arcane Eternal Star before he can go. That's because if the Supreme Being saw the Priest, this "Primordial Death" of his would be immediately eliminated.
The current situation is that, based on Su Xiao's understanding of the Priest, this old bastard is very likely to seek cooperation with Arcane Eternal Star, and then, when Arcane Eternal Star is in chaos, he will get his hands on the item he needs.
Su Xiao took out a communicator and tried to call. The communicator emitted a busy tone. The communicator Bubu Wang made only has one possible reason for this: the other party destroyed the corresponding other communicator.
Very good. This time, there's no need to decide the order of dealing with them. While having the decisive battle with Arcane Eternal Star, it will also be the time to settle old scores with the Priest completely. However, given how hard the Priest is to kill, the plan is definitely to find a way to banish him, not kill him.
At the very least, during the battle against the Lord of the Abyss and the final battle, this old bastard cannot be allowed to lurk nearby. Who knows what schemes this old bastard might concoct? Even if there's a one-in-a-thousand chance he returns to the Star Realm after being banished, by then the overall situation will be settled. And finally, there's a use for the [Scarlet Badge]. Su Xiao has killed the Priest more than once, and the Priest does drop Scarlet Chests. If he is killed and banished at the same time, there's a decent chance his own chest will drop.
[Scarlet Badge (Killing Item): Can be used on a Paradise faction target, marking them for 24 hours. Upon successfully killing the marked target, you will 100% obtain a 'Thick Scarlet Chest' (This Scarlet Badge cannot be used against Hunters, Contractors, or Workers of Reincarnation Paradise).]
Mm, Su Xiao isn't making this decision because he's recently become too poor from enhancing his 'Supreme Body Attributes,' and because the Black Maple Tree yield isn't selling well due to Arcane Eternal Star's interference, so he's turning his sights on the disgustingly rich Priest. This is a choice made through the Law-Destroying formula of hostile conversion.
If the Priest knew that Su Xiao was going to deal with him, he would smile kindly with a hint of composure, because he isn't afraid of this.
But if the Priest knew that Su Xiao was targeting him because he's recently been too poor, the smile on the Priest's face would immediately disappear, and he would start considering whether to abandon all his current plans, even if it meant some backlash from the 'Primordial Death,' and disappear immediately. Because when this old rival is poor enough to draw his blade, it's no joke.
The current priority is to determine the current situation of the Void notarization. You can't just listen to the one-sided words of the Priest, who is already a mortal enemy.
Currently, the entire Void has been notarized by the Void Tree, and the combat power cap is the highest tier of 'Supreme Realm.' This seemingly baseless notarization represents one thing: is the Abyss calamity imminent? Is that why the Void Tree has given this level of notarization?
Su Xiao came to the room where the 'Awakening Stele' was stored. On the display shelf against the right wall were various strange collections. Some were antique clocks collected by Amu, some were wonderful black-tech creations collected by Bubu Wang. Among them was a huge model three meters high, a rough model of the entire Star Realm.
At the bottom of the Star Realm is the Real World, and beneath the Real World is dense Abyss energy. Here, the Star Realm's elemental layer is thinnest. If the Real World had supernatural power, it would inevitably disturb this thin elemental layer. Once the Abyss power surged out, it would be an uncontrollable situation.
Of course, the Star Realm has adaptability. Through long adaptive changes, the Real World almost never produces natural supernatural power. This is the choice of the Star Realm after eons of evolution.
Moving upwards, the suppression of supernatural power weakens. Around the fifth-rank Primordial World, the suppressive effect on supernatural derivation disappears. And at the very top is not the Void, but the 'Land of Beginning and End,' which is the true summit of the Star Realm.
Below the 'Land of Beginning and End' is the Void. Further down are the various Transcendent Worlds, and the Ten Thousand Races Realm is naturally among them. Seeing this, Su Xiao tried to consult Reincarnation Paradise about the notarization status of the Ten Thousand Races Realm. For other Transcendent Worlds, he might not be able to get information, but for the Ten Thousand Races Realm, he definitely could.
[Tip: The Ten Thousand Races Realm is currently in the pre-war notarization stage of the Void Tree.]
The Ten Thousand Races Realm was originally notarized by Reincarnation Paradise. The current notarization status clearly represents one thing: the Abyss calamity is about to begin in the near future.
Su Xiao came before the 'Awakening Stele' and checked the team storage space. First, he took out the completed Dragon-Slaying Flash and checked its attributes:
[Dragon-Slaying Flash +18]
Quality: Reincarnation Rank · Second Seat.
Supreme Blade Effect 1: No change.
Supreme Blade Effect 2: Demon Blade (Core · Active). After activating the Blade Demon Spirit, when attacking an enemy unit whose 'Primordial Life Force' is at 25% or below with this weapon, this unit can be executed.
Tip: Because you possess 'Absolute Power · Causal Penetration,' you have the 'Life Core' penetration characteristic. This characteristic means that when the enemy's 'Life Core' count is equal to or less than 25%, they enter the range you can 'execute.'
Enhancement Effect: Extreme Blade (Passive), no change.
Inlay Effect: 3/3 slots.
Star Realm Gem (Reincarnation Rank Gem): Has upgraded the 'Demon Blade' ability to a flying upgrade level.
Rating: 30000++ points (Reincarnation Rank weapon rating is 15000~30000 points).
Description: Slay gods and punish evil, cut down thousands of enemies, destroy souls and seize souls, sweep away the deepest abyss.
The upgrade of 'Demon Blade' allowed Dragon-Slaying Flash to successfully reach the second seat among Reincarnation Rank weapons. Its essence hasn't changed; it's a further step in execution intensity, or rather, the ultimate execution derived from Su Xiao's current ability system.
Assuming an enemy has 10 Life Cores, the original 'Demon Blade' required all 10 Life Cores to be shattered and the enemy's health to be below 30% for a one-slash kill. Now it's different.
If an enemy has 10 Life Cores, when their Life Cores reach 2, they officially enter the execution line. And when the enemy has many Life Cores, this ability becomes completely different.
Abyss Descendants generally don't have many Life Cores. The Fish family is an exception, which also leads people to mistakenly believe that all Abyss systems have few Life Cores. This is actually wrong.
The small number of Life Cores for Abyss Descendants is due to the 'Ancestral Clan Emblem,' the source of their immortality and indestructibility, and has nothing to do with the large Abyss system itself. Everything has a price. The small number of Life Cores is the price corresponding to the immortality brought by the 'Ancestral Clan Emblem.'
It's important to clarify that Abyss Descendants are just one branch of the vast Abyss system. On the contrary, powerful Abyss systems have a very large number of Life Cores, especially those super-massive 'Ancient Abyss Existences.' The current Lord of the Abyss needs no further mention.
Whether it's dealing with those super-massive 'Ancient Abyss Existences' later or the decisive battle with the Lord of the Abyss, the current 'Demon Blade' is crucial.
And the scope that 'Demon Blade' can execute is undoubtedly supported by 'Demon Spirit Intensity.' The current 6605 points of Demon Spirit Intensity seem sufficient, but when the target is the Lord of the Abyss level, it's not stable.
Fortunately, the current Law-Destroying talent 'Shadow Hunt' can produce 'Soul Energy Crystals,' allowing 'Demon Spirit Awakening, X' to be further enhanced. Su Xiao can clearly feel that among his Law-Destroying abilities, the ones with the highest upper limits are not Azure Shadow King and Soul Severing Shadow. These two are indeed ultimate moves, but their inherent strength is already very high, so the room for further improvement isn't huge.
The abilities that currently feel like they have particularly high upper limits are 'Azure Steel Shadow' and 'Demon Spirit Awakening.'
Besides these, there is another ability with a mediocre upper limit but a significant background: 'Adaptive Power.'
[Adaptive Power, X (Passive)]
Skill Effect...
Tip: Your current physique already possesses 'True Resistance.' This ability is an external characteristic enhancement of 'True Resistance,' different from the 'True Resistance' your own physique possesses. It tends to form an 'Invisible Shield' with 'True Resistance.' A corresponding transformation is required for this ability to continue to take effect and adapt according to your current situation.
In the past, Su Xiao always felt this ability was very useful. No matter what enemy he faced, this small amount of 'True Resistance' was always the final barrier.
But compared to the 'True Resistance' brought by 'Supreme Stamina,' the two seem to provide the same bonus, but they are actually different. [Adaptive Power] can only provide one type of True Resistance, such as 'True Resistance · Darkness,' 'True Resistance · Blazing Flame,' etc. The 'True All-Attribute Resistance Growth' brought by Supreme Stamina is abbreviated as 'True All Resistance.'
The bonus provided by [Adaptive Power] before was more like equipment characteristics, as if forming an invisible shield. This shield has a certain amount of 'True Resistance,' and once adaptation is complete, for example, if the adaptation characteristic is Dark, and the enemy is Dark and Fire dual-type, there is no True Resistance against Fire.
Su Xiao chose to transform [Adaptive Power]. A force originally attached to the surface of his body began to be gradually absorbed by his body, ultimately completely transforming into his own power.
[Adaptive Power, X (Passive)]
Skill Effect: When you enter a combat state, increase your current 'True All Resistance' by 10%.
Tip: This ability can be enhanced by consuming 'Soul Energy Crystals.'
The enhancement is quite good. The inherent strength of this ability is there. It's fundamentally a super late-game ability, and it's truly very adaptive. Moreover, Su Xiao's current 'True All Resistance' has already been raised. The growth brought by the 'Supreme Stamina' attribute is still very powerful.
Attack and defense are always complementary yet opposing. At low ranks, ordinary attack judgments face defense. In the mid-term, various characteristic attacks face physical defense.
And at the Absolute Strength and Supreme ranks, it's powerful attacks like Divine characteristics and Abyss characteristics facing 'Immunity to All Damage' + 'Physical Defense Rank.'
Stacking 'True All Resistance' with 'Extreme Realm Physical Defense Rank,' these two highest-tier defenses—one being physical defense and the other being physical resistance—are ultimately the safest.
Su Xiao took out a blue stele over seven meters tall from the team storage space. This was the 'Ancient Awakening Stele' traded from the Goblin Merchant Guild.
The two 'Awakening Steles' stood together, showing obvious era characteristics. The Awakening Stele of the current great era has more combat system abilities. For example, Azure Steel Shadow and Azure Shadow King are clearly more combat-oriented than those of the ancient era.
The Azure Shadow King of the ancient era was a massive branch system. While its attack characteristics were far inferior to the contemporary version, the risk of mastering it was much lower.
Or rather, all the core abilities of the Law-Destruction system on the 'Ancient Awakening Stele' sacrificed the power ceiling of these Law-Destruction abilities to reduce the risk of mastery. This suggests that the 'Law Destruction Faction' in the ancient era was a large organization with many members, unlike the Law-Destruction era of this great era, where the main members rarely exceeded ten at the same time.
This matches the records seen before. In the ancient era, the Law Destruction Faction had been suppressing the Spellcaster Faction.
The core abilities of the contemporary Law-Destruction system are stronger. However, Su Xiao found that the highest-tier abilities at the top of the 'Ancient Awakening Stele' were very powerful. The reason is that these Law-Destruction abilities were prepared for Extreme Realm Law Destroyers.
For example, 'Dragon Shadow Flash.' Compared to the contemporary version, the current era's version has been weakened by several orders of magnitude. It makes sense. It was too difficult for Law Destroyers of the First and Second Eras to become Extreme Realm. The first-generation Law Destroyer was an unrepeatable exception.
Thus, lowering the mastery prerequisites of 'Dragon Shadow Flash' naturally led to a significant reduction in the ability's strength. However, after extreme simplification, it could be mastered in the early to mid-stages. As for how strong the complete 'Dragon Shadow Flash' was, since the Second Era made it too difficult to develop the Extreme Realm system, even if the complete 'Dragon Shadow Flash' was strong, it was meaningless.
Presumably, the complete version of 'Dragon Shadow Flash' was recorded on the 'Inheritance Stele,' which was completely shattered in that world-shaking bloody battle.
Su Xiao placed one hand on the 'Ancient Awakening Stele' and attempted to resonate with the 'Dragon Shadow Flash' ability inscribed on it. In the ancient era, this ability was called 'Realm Severing.'
[Warning: If you proceed with this upgrade of the 'Dragon Shadow Flash' ability, activating this ability will impose a tremendous physical burden. Do you wish to proceed with this upgrade?]
Su Xiao chose to continue. He began to clearly feel that the 'Dragon Shadow Flash' ability he possessed was further strengthening. It felt like what he had before was a 'Simplified Version of Dragon Shadow Flash,' and now it was rapidly being perfected.
Three hours later, Su Xiao, who was sitting cross-legged before the 'Ancient Awakening Stele,' opened his eyes. He checked the upgraded 'Dragon Shadow Flash' ability, then took out the remaining 34 'Soul Energy Crystals' from his storage space and used them to enhance 'Dragon Shadow Flash.'
Originally, enhancing 'Dragon Shadow Flash' once required consuming 2 'Soul Energy Crystals.' Now it required 5 per enhancement. He chose to continue, aiming to push this ability to its limit, or until he consumed all the current 'Soul Energy Crystals.'
The enhancement began. The newly advanced complete 'Dragon Shadow Flash' started to be further improved. This was the final stage, so it was necessary to concentrate resources on maxing out one ability to reveal its ultimate form. Spreading resources evenly was a mid-to-late game development strategy.
The first enhancement was completed smoothly. The second and third enhancements also went smoothly. This was the difference between the ancient era's Law-Destruction system and the current one. One must have a sufficiently powerful physique to qualify for mastery. In return, one wouldn't be sent to dreamland. When Su Xiao proceeded with the fourth enhancement, a prompt appeared.
[Warning: If you continue to enhance Dragon Shadow Flash, the body energy consumption will increase by more than ten times!]
With enough body energy, even a tenfold increase in consumption could be sustained. He continued with the fifth enhancement.
[Warning: If you continue to enhance Dragon Shadow Flash, the body energy consumption will increase by hundreds of times on the current basis!]
Again, as long as body energy was sufficient, the intensity of 'Dragon Shadow Flash' would be maxed out. He began the sixth enhancement.
[Warning: If you continue to enhance Dragon Shadow Flash, the consumption of this ability will be directly related to your own strength, consuming a percentage of your current mana value! You need to carefully consider whether to proceed with this enhancement.]
[Tip: If you proceed with this enhancement, the 'Dragon Shadow Flash' ability will reach its maximum intensity.]
Since things had come to this, of course he would continue. A sufficiently powerful ability, even if it consumed a tenth or even more of body energy per use, was worth it.
As the sixth enhancement began, a roar sounded in Su Xiao's ears. His entire being seemed to pierce through the Star Realm, entering an unprecedented dimension. Here, he could see the outside world, but his vision was only in black and white. The next second, he was suddenly plunged into darkness, pierced through it, and entered that black-and-white world again.
Su Xiao's eyes opened. He was still sitting cross-legged before the 'Awakening Stele.' He opened the skill list and checked the upgraded 'Dragon Shadow Flash' ability.
[Dragon Shadow Flash: X (Active Ability)]
Skill Effect: Can instantly penetrate 'Star Realm Region/Abyss Region/Element Region' to move 300 meters, freely choosing a distance between 0 and 300 meters.
Tip: Dragon Shadow Flash has a cooldown of 30 seconds.
Tip: Each use of Dragon Shadow Flash consumes 10% Azure Shadow King Energy (i.e., 3842 points of Azure Shadow King Energy).
Tip: After penetrating 'Star Realm Region/Abyss Region/Element Region,' entering the 'Realmless State' can be maintained for 0.01 to 1.8 seconds (the duration of the penetrating state depends on the user's will). Unless the enemy also enters the 'Realmless State,' you will not be affected by any attacks during the duration of the 'Realmless State.'
Tip: The more 'Azure Shadow King Energy' you consume each time you use Dragon Shadow Flash, the longer you can maintain the 'Realmless State.'
The key point of this ability is that it can penetrate 'Star Realm Region/Abyss Region/Element Region' and enter the 'Realmless State' to avoid attacks. This is very powerful.
On the 'Ancient Awakening Stele,' besides 'Dragon Shadow Flash,' there were several other highest-tier abilities that Extreme Realm Law Destroyers could master, namely:
The complete form of 'Demon Spirit Awakening,' 'Demon Spirit Fury.'
[Demon Spirit Awakening: X (Unique Skill)]
Passive Effect: Fully release the Blade Demon Spirit within Dragon-Slaying Flash. For the subsequent 30 seconds, the Blade Demon Spirit will enter a 'Frenzied Devouring State.' During this time, if it attacks an Abyss Spawn with an 'Immortal' characteristic whose health is below 30%, the Blade Demon Spirit will completely devour the Abyss Spawn's source power, sealing it within Dragon-Slaying Flash.
And 'Demon Spirit Fury' is an enhanced version of 'Demon Spirit Awakening,' but its intensity isn't much higher than 'Demon Spirit Awakening,' roughly 15% higher. It just goes to show that the ancestral Law Destroyer who improved 'Demon Spirit Fury' into 'Demon Spirit Awakening' was indeed absurdly powerful.
There was another Extreme Realm Law-Destruction ability that Su Xiao also wanted to master. However, this ability required a secret treasure called 'Resonance Seal' as a prerequisite for mastery. He had no place to look for it for now and could only try using [Eye of Omniscience] later.
Having just upgraded various abilities, Su Xiao meditated for a few hours before heading straight to the training ground, the Land of All Beings, Tenth Layer.
Five days later, Su Xiao dragged his exhausted body back to his Exclusive Room. He took the Void daily newspaper handed over by Baha. The headline was still the news he had the Feather Race spread three days ago: The Law Destroyer, Kukulin Bai Ye, would destroy Arcane Eternal Star in a few days.
The reason for this was to clearly warn all forces in the Star Realm of one thing: in a few days, anyone who dared to remain on Arcane Eternal Star, whether a Spellcaster or not, would be an enemy and would become a corpse under his blade.
Moreover, this was definitely not a sneak attack. He was going to openly attack their doorstep. This would overwhelm the enemy in terms of momentum. Coupled with the appearance of a large number of 'Bounty Missions,' it would kill two birds with one stone.
Currently, the attention of all major forces in the Star Realm was focused on Arcane Eternal Star. Arcane Eternal Star, however, was strangely silent, because this Void overlord knew that the Law Destroyer was truly coming.
Putting down the Void daily newspaper, Su Xiao went to the bed and fell asleep. When he woke up and washed up, his condition was at its peak. As usual, he had breakfast with Bubu Wang, Baha, and Beini. After finishing his breakfast calmly, he went to the Alchemy Laboratory. The 'Realm-Level Teleportation Array' there was ready.
It was time to settle old scores with Arcane Eternal Star. In the past, he never thought he could single-handedly challenge the entire Arcane Eternal Star. Now, Su Xiao truly had this strength. This was the charm of continuously climbing towards the peak.