Chapter 15: The Guardians
Above, the super-massive vortex had ceased its rotation. The scene was one of utter desolation, yet miraculously, the Eternal Light World had not completely collapsed. The stump of the Star Realm's great tree, still scattering embers, and the remaining one-fifth of the world's area clearly indicated that this realm could continue its collapse for some time longer.
If left unchecked, the Eternal Light World's destruction was inevitable. It was hard to imagine how the Great Lords of the Eternal Light World had originally forged this Transcendent realm, giving it such a solid foundation.
[Prompt (Void Tree): You have applied for teleportation permission. Teleportation location: Wind Sea Continent.]
[Verification confirms you as the reinforcement squad leader. This teleportation application is approved.]
Arriving here via a world-level teleportation array was not difficult, but leaving through the original method was impossible. This was akin to entering a tornado and trying to rush out of it. This was precisely why Su Xiao chose this location as the battlefield, to prevent the five clan leaders from escaping.
He pressed his single hand onto the [Origin Clan Emblem · Rune], storing it in the team storage space. The teleportation permission descended.
At that moment, on the Wind Sea battlefield, a pillar of light descended from above, crashing to the ground with a thunderous roar. When the teleportation ended, the surrounding Yepu Clan, Black Knights, Serpentfolk, Dark Giants, and others prepared to surround and kill the newcomer. But the one who had just slain the Abyss Avatar possessed a killing karma that caused hesitation and fear among these Abyssal races.
A roar from a Black Knight leader dispelled the hesitation of the surrounding Abyssal races, and they charged forward ferociously.
Wind Sea Base Camp, Main Gate 1. This area was defended by Apocalypse Paradise contractors. The fifteen-meter-wide main gate had become a hellish battlefield. Black and red blood submerged the metal ground. Both sides fought standing in blood that reached their calves. The fungal carpet naturally did not absorb this blood; it was the best cover.
Main Gate 1 was a fifteen-meter-wide, ten-meter-long metal passageway. At the innermost part of the passage stood Iron Blood Rose · Betansina. Dark red missiles never ceased firing. Enemies entering her domain rapidly became "explosive," and being hit by her missiles triggered detonation.
This explosion caused high true fire damage while also making the hit target "explosive," creating a chain reaction. If an enemy died within Iron Blood Rose · Betansina's "War Domain," their remaining "Primordial Life Force" would condense into missiles that automatically homed in on other nearby enemies. Often, she would fire one life missile, and the subsequent automatically formed life missiles would continue exploding for a long time.
Iron Blood Rose · Betansina's firepower was formidable, especially in large-scale wars. Before the battle began, she was ambitious, determined to wash away the reputation that Apocalypse contractors couldn't fight.
However, during the campaign, after nine "Ancient Abyss Entities" once drifted into her "War Domain," her mental state changed. This was unreasonable. How could an emergency distress signal have a cooldown time as a fair setting? That was too unreasonable. And the cooldown time for the emergency distress signal was really long.
Currently, Iron Blood Rose · Betansina dared to use her domain ability so openly because the domain was compressed to a small area, and she was surrounded by other peak powerhouses: Jushan, Fei · Kaxiu, Soul Mage, Luoluoka, Tiandi, and Heiqixing. A total of seven peak domains overlapped and activated. The other six domains were in a semi-dormant state, only ensuring the domain power was strong enough to prevent those bizarre "Ancient Abyss Entities" from sneaking in.
Before Soul Mage, Luoluoka, and Tiandi came to reinforce the Wind Sea battlefield, they thought that the Apocalypse peak contractors' domains weren't strong enough, and with instant activation and deactivation, they could always find a way. After experiencing it firsthand, haha, as you say, I'm not a "Domain System" at all. I chose the "Extreme Realm System." Hmm? Very few people choose the "Extreme Realm System" in this era. Yes, I am one of those very few.
Instant domain activation and deactivation? Don't joke. After an "Ancient Abyss Entity" burrows into the domain, if you dare to deactivate it, those things will follow the karma and transfer into your body. It's better to keep the domain open and fight these beings that once drifted in the distant reaches of the Abyss to the death.
Currently, the most troublesome "Ancient Abyss Entity" is called "Shadow Phantom." This thing has only one characteristic: it burrows into someone's domain, takes on their form, and then walks straight towards the person. If the "Shadow Phantom" is killed, the person it mimicked also dies. The "Shadow Phantom" then emerges from that person's corpse, reborn.
As Iron Blood Rose · Betansina thought of this, a black shadow appeared before her, causing her pupils to constrict. She was about to retract her domain.
With a bang, a mass of deformed heavy armor and flesh slammed into the outer wall of the base camp, making a loud noise. A wave of blood surged forward, instantly clearing a large area of Abyssal races in front of the main gate. However, the Abyss Legion's numbers were too staggering, and they surged forward again from the distance like a dark tide.
A Serpentfolk shadow detached from a Serpentfolk corpse, shifting its gaze to the figure walking through the blood wave channel. The next second, the "Shadow Phantom" completed its mimicry.
Zheng~
The blade reached the "Shadow Phantom's" throat.
"Wait..."
Iron Blood Rose · Betansina's words had just left her mouth when the newcomer had already severed the "Shadow Phantom's" head. This karmic death, which even top-tier life-saving items couldn't withstand, made Betansina extremely wary.
The decapitated "Shadow Phantom" turned into a stream of dark blue smoke. Almost simultaneously, dark blue smoke began to rise from Su Xiao's body. He was very familiar with the "Shadow Phantom's" karmic death-imposing ability, as the Demon Spirit's beheading was also a "karmic-level annihilation."
Twenty of Su Xiao's Life Cores shattered simultaneously. The dark blue smoke clinging to his body trembled, transforming back into the "Shadow Phantom's" initial form. It collapsed weakly to the ground like a pool of black sludge. Layers upon layers of faces it had mimicked and killed piled up, and finally, the "Shadow Phantom" exploded with a bang and dissipated.
During the four days of being besieged by the Abyss Legion, Su Xiao had already killed a "Shadow Phantom." He knew this thing was not easy to deal with. But as long as he had a way to kill it in one strike and had more than twenty Life Cores remaining, he could eliminate it.
[Abyssology, Lv.EX (Passive)]
Skill Effect: You have achieved a comprehensive understanding of the Abyss. You have a more intuitive judgment and clearer understanding of the dangers that Abyssal power can cause. You have learned the karmic origins of many "Ancient Abyss Entities" and have the possibility of completely killing them.
Su Xiao was able to fight alone under the siege of the Abyss Legion, along with an unpredictable number and variety of "Ancient Abyss Entities," for four days, while still retaining the leverage for a decisive battle with the Abyss Avatar. Apart from the Extreme Realm System's powerful physique and technique abilities, it was also knowledge.
Before dealing with "Ancient Abyss Entities," one couldn't imagine how important "Abyssology" was. The "Shadow Phantom," which seemed troublesome and bizarre to the Apocalypse contractors, was not actually in the most difficult tier.
Su Xiao had recently 'made' a new friend named "Imaginary Demon Scorpion." This 'new friend' was located within the Abyss, but it could overlap tiny areas of imagination, nightmares, dreams, and the material world. It only needed an apple-sized overlap area, and then it would sting from that overlap!
The ferocious scar on Su Xiao's left shoulder, slightly behind, was a sting from the "Imaginary Demon Scorpion." If these "Ancient Abyss Entities" weren't extremely averse to natural elemental power and wouldn't come near the Star Realm without the Lord of the Abyss's command, the Star Realm's structure would certainly be different.
Su Xiao walked into the metal passageway. Seeing his return, the usually assertive Iron Blood Rose · Betansina felt a sense of relief.
Nearby, Jushan, Fei · Kaxiu, Soul Mage, Luoluoka, Tiandi, Heiqixing, and others also showed a hint of relaxation. The Reincarnation Paradise's Tuanzhang was reliable, but that was a big shot in the core war zone, unreachable from Wind Sea. However, the Reincarnation Paradise's Hunter, Bai Ye, was equally reliable in the eyes of the Wind Sea battlefield's peak powerhouses. This big shot would truly save them from danger.
Taking advantage of the lull before the enemy's next assault, Iron Blood Rose · Betansina asked, "Did you drive back the leaders of the Abyss clans?"
"Killed them."
"Which clan's leader was killed?"
Soul Mage's eyes lit up. As a peak powerhouse, he knew how difficult the Abyss clan leaders were to deal with.
"All of them."
"Hmm?"
Luoluoka, a Holy Light Paradise peak powerhouse with a slightly chubby face, looked confused. She understood the words, but the meaning didn't quite sink in.
"..."
Su Xiao walked towards the interior of the base camp. Seeing this, the peak powerhouses present didn't ask further and continued to hold the line against the Abyss Legion. The most critical issue now was to break out; otherwise, the base camp would eventually be breached. When that happened, the Wind Sea war zone would be lost.
The base camp was filled with the smell of blood. Injured contractors or Star Realm powerhouses were everywhere. A dying Haige Clan member on the ground flailed his arms, splattering fluorescent green blood everywhere. An Apocalypse Paradise healer ran over, injected an expensive healing potion, and began treating the Haige.
The Haige, whose rough appearance was rare for his clan's five-tone-deficient members, regained some clarity in his vision.
"Dubuya (Haige Clan dialect, meaning thank you, gratitude)."
As he finished speaking, the Haige's hand fell limply. The healer treating him didn't stop, continuing for a few more seconds to confirm the Haige wasn't in a state of false life force stasis, then took out a body bag and skillfully placed the Haige inside.
There was no sadness, only skilled treatment and cleanup. Was this sweet-looking little healer naturally emotionally indifferent? No. Experiencing this hundreds of times a day, one becomes numb after a few days. Compared to collecting the bodies of teammates who had journeyed from the First Rank to Absolute Strength, this was nothing.
The little healer remembered back in the Second Rank world. The team was resting in the wilderness, and that bastard sneaked into her tent in the middle of the night. She was so nervous her head was about to explode. And in the Fourth Rank, when the team leader discovered their relationship, strictly forbidding public displays of affection to maintain the team's serious atmosphere.
As a healer, she had saved many people, but she couldn't save her beloved, nor her team leader who was like a brother, nor her best friend and teammate, the witch.
The little healer quickly moved to a wounded person's side. Numbly and skillfully, she used her healing abilities. After a moment, the dying tank recovered, lying on the ground unconscious but breathing steadily.
The little healer stood up and looked around the vast, multi-layered base camp that seemed to stretch endlessly. She raised her hand, looking at the four Apocalypse Paradise imprints on her pale forearm. This was, of course, not a violation. She had only preserved her teammates' imprints, not their functions.
The little healer's gaze gradually became determined. She would continue to live, to save more people. Just like that bastard had joked after their intimate moments at his home, that crow's mouth of his: "If one day you can't save me, then go save ten thousand, no, a million people to make up for this regret."
Was it a joke? Perhaps not. As a contractor, how could one not have thought of the day they might die? Leaving a keepsake for a loved one is always a motivation to keep living.
Yes, this was the beginning of the story of the strongest combat healer of the Fourth Era, the Smiling Angel of Death, Aileiya. However, this healer was still grieving the death of her beloved.
Su Xiao walked towards the insect nest at the center of the base camp. When he reached the bottom of the insect race's mother nest, he found it was about a hundred meters high. He checked the current race data of the Elemental Insect Race:
[Elemental Insect Race]
Dominator (Jila), Lv.EX.
Insect Nest: Lv.EX (Max level at Lv.120).
Insect Race Buildings: Lv.EX (Max level at Lv.110).
Gene Library (New): Lv.EX (Max level at Lv.120).
Fungal Carpet: Lv.EX (Max level at Lv.130).
The insect race had developed. The only thing lacking now was a large reserve of "Secondary Elemental Energy." He checked the insect nest's attributes:
Secondary Elemental Energy: 3,196,000 points.
Elemental Crystals: 0 (One crystal equals 1,000,000 points of Secondary Elemental Energy).
Elite Worker Scorpion · Breeding Cost: 1 point of Elemental Energy / 5,000 units.
Killing Spire · Breeding Cost: 20 points of Elemental Energy (each).
Soul Jellyfish · Breeding Cost: 5 points of Elemental Energy (each).
Frenzied Beast · Breeding Cost: 1 point of Elemental Energy.
Guardian · Breeding Cost: 5 points of Elemental Energy.
Black Flame Demon Dragon · Breeding Cost: 80 points of Elemental Energy.
Titan Giant Beast · Breeding Cost: 300 points of Elemental Energy.
This was the current state of the insect race's gene library. The strongest unit was still the "Titan Giant Beast." It wasn't that they couldn't collect more insect race genes; it was that insect race units should be refined rather than numerous.
For example, with enough "Titan Giant Beasts," they could form a dense barrage of plasma cannon fire. Combined with a massive number of Black Flame Demon Dragons, this was the classic overwhelming force formation. As for the Demon Beast's evolved form, the "Frenzied Beast," it could only be used as cannon fodder now.
The problem was, compared to the Abyss faction in terms of cannon fodder quantity, even the insect race couldn't hold out. The insect race ultimately needed a process of mass production. The dark creatures within the Abyss were countless. The Abyss was too vast, and with its nurturing properties, the Lord of the Abyss could manipulate the darkness at the Abyss's bottom to endlessly spawn dark creatures.
To repel the Abyss Legion, they needed sufficiently high-quality insect race units. The good news was that the Elemental Insect Race had a very high ceiling. Although the Gene Library was maxed out, it didn't mean all these insect race genes were maxed out.
Whether it was the Frenzied Beast, Guardian, Black Flame Demon Dragon, or Titan Giant Beast, they could all be further improved, provided they consumed "Elemental Crystals." Subsequent mass production also required a massive amount of "Elemental Crystals." Storing only "Secondary Elemental Energy" wouldn't work; it required too many insect nest energy storage organs.
Although combat units still needed improvement, that didn't mean they couldn't counterattack. Previously, the fungal carpet had collected tens of thousands of combat genes, successfully converting over 6,000 into insect race genes. The Guardian was a carefully selected one from these 6,000.
For accumulating "Elemental Crystals" in the future, they would rely on the Guardian. They couldn't compete with the Abyss Legion in endless mass production. Instead, they should use their strengths to attack the enemy's weaknesses. The Abyss Legion was indeed endless, but there was only one Abyss Gate. Moreover, it was a projected gate opened using the Void's Abyss Gate as the main body, which limited the rate at which the Abyss Legion could pour into this world.
What they needed to do was accumulate a large number of "Elemental Crystals," upgrade 1-3 insect race units to their limits, and then rapidly mass-produce them in a short time. They might even need to establish 5-10 secondary mother nests that were constantly destroyed and rebuilt, to maximize the production rate within a certain period. Using this explosive, one-wave tactic, they could push back the Abyss Legion, quickly suppress the Abyss invasion level in this world, and then destroy the Abyss Gate here.
Su Xiao applied to the Void Tree for permission to use the underground area. After some deliberation, he successfully obtained the relevant permissions. The next step was simple: have the insect race mother nest start developing into the underground area. Soon, all sorts of underground devices in the fortress were enveloped by the insect race mother nest. The max-level insect nest was enormous, but currently, less than a third of its volume had been constructed, and the underground area was already out of space.
The changes in the insect nest naturally attracted the attention of nearby contractors. A tank veteran, smoking a cigar with a battered shield beside his leg, saw the hundred-meter-high insect nest pulse with life energy, shifting from its original dark gold to a fiery gold.
After a moment, the tank veteran saw a translucent, light black, slime-like creature surging out. These creatures were transported out of the insect nest passage by insect race worker scorpions, with many finger-thick tentacles extending from them. Suddenly, this unknown creature seemed to find its target and shot towards the tank veteran.
The tank veteran's reaction speed was very fast, but as a tank, he was used to reacting but being unable to dodge. He immediately raised his arm to block. Just as he was about to instinctively use a knockback, this unknown creature attached itself to his right arm like a bracer, then wrapped around his torso and arms, finally stopping at his ankles.
After attaching to the tank veteran, this insect race individual, named Guardian, displayed the thickness of a biological combat armor. The joints were flexible, but vital areas like the chest and back were over a finger's thickness. At the heart's location, a fist-sized, glowing red ring appeared, pulsing with life in sync with the tank veteran's heartbeat.
After the Guardian attached, the tank veteran's health dropped to 85.95%. Because he was standing on the fungal carpet, his health began to recover visibly. This was noteworthy because he was currently in a state of extremely low recovery due to Abyss erosion. What made the tank veteran's eyes widen even more was that the Guardian was actually absorbing his current Abyss erosion level and transferring it to itself.
Soon, two Abyss erosion bars appeared in the tank veteran's vision. One was his own, having reached a healthy state of 3.5%. The other was the Guardian's, which had reached 86.59%, a very dangerous state.
After checking the relevant information, the tank veteran stood up with a whoosh. Not only did the Guardian increase health recovery speed, but with the Guardian present, when its Abyss erosion bar reached 100%, the Guardian would shatter and die immediately.
More importantly, the Guardian and the tank veteran were two separate life entities. When some bizarre ability brought a curse or unavoidable death, only the Guardian would die. The Guardian and the tank veteran were two separate life entities. Even if it were beheaded, it had nothing to do with the tank veteran. In short, as long as the Guardian was alive, the tank veteran couldn't die.
Currently, with only 3 million points of Secondary Elemental Energy, they could breed a total of 600,000 Guardians. So, in just a short while, a large number of Guardians began to emerge from the insect nest. They pounced on any combatant they encountered, including healers and support units.
A few minutes later, at the main gate, Iron Blood Rose · Betansina, with a grave expression, was considering how to deal with the increasingly numerous Ancient Abyss Entities gathering around. Suddenly, something shot towards her back. She immediately sensed it was a friendly buff and didn't block it. But the next second, the Guardian attached to her. After completing the attachment and protection, Betansina's eyes showed a hint of surprise:
"Hmm? This is... an individual entity protecting outside my life karma?"
Iron Blood Rose · Betansina weighed the situation for a moment, then told Jushan, Fei · Kaxiu, Soul Mage, and others to retract their domains first. She had a bold idea. After all, the Guardian's characteristics were too tempting. With so many peak allies around, she had to try.
Iron Blood Rose · Betansina's domain spread. A few seconds later, a feeling of erosion hit her. It was the "Ancient Abyss Entity" that could pollute peak domains. Although this "Ancient Abyss Entity's" ability wasn't fatal, it was exceptionally disgusting.
Iron Blood Rose · Betansina had already retracted her domain. As soon as she did, she noticed the Guardian on her body began to writhe painfully, turning black-green, and finally shattered with a pop, successfully blocking the attack for her.
Iron Blood Rose · Betansina sighed inwardly. This ability was very useful, but too fragile. It could only block once. For the overall battle situation, it was meaningless...
Just as this thought appeared, another Guardian had already pounced onto Iron Blood Rose · Betansina. This surprised her. Such a practical and powerful ability, even capable of blocking Abyss erosion, had no cooldown?
Of course not. The Guardian wasn't an ability. As for why it could block Abyss energy erosion, no, why couldn't it? It was an Elemental Insect Race unit. In terms of power rank, it was on par with Abyss power, both being the same rank. Saying the Guardian could suppress Abyss power was nonsense, but just blocking it, preventing it from eroding the protected person, was certainly possible.
Iron Blood Rose · Betansina turned her head and saw that Jushan, Fei · Kaxiu, Soul Mage, Luoluoka, Tiandi, and Heiqixing behind her all had Guardians attached to them. Her first thought was that this was a multi-target ability. Not bad. Until Betansina looked around and saw that all visible friendly combatants had Guardians attached to them.
Betansina immediately understood. The time for a counterattack had come. Now, immediately, they had to break out of the Wind Sea Base Camp.
Of course, Betansina wasn't the only one thinking this. Jushan, Fei · Kaxiu, Soul Mage, Luoluoka, Tiandi, Heiqixing, and other domain peak powerhouses, who had been frustrated since the battle began, all shared the same thought. They had to make the Abyss Legion taste the power of their peak domains.
Half an hour later, viewed from above, the originally defensive Wind Sea Base Camp had opened its four main entrances to a total of sixteen. They pushed outward against the surging Abyss Legion. They advanced to about the Twelfth Defense Line before slowing down. After pushing to the Tenth Defense Line, they only held for a short while before their defense line retreated back to the Twelfth Defense Line area, relying on the semi-destroyed high walls to gradually stabilize their defense.
With the Guardian's protection, it was like having an extra life. Moreover, Apocalypse contractors never lacked attack power. Their main issue was not facing enough life-and-death situations. They were different from Reincarnation and Death Paradise contractors who crawled out of piles of corpses.
But saying Apocalypse was weak wasn't quite accurate either. They just weren't that strong. Coupled with the 70% mortality rate from the past few days of defense, the Apocalypse contractors were terrified. Especially since they kept sending in replacements after each wave of deaths. This wasn't Apocalypse Paradise's usual style. When had Apocalypse Paradise ever been this fierce? The invisible pressure weighed on everyone's hearts.
This was the difference in mentality. When the Apocalypse faction sent in replacements after a wave of deaths, the Apocalypse contractors were terrified by the brutality of the battlefield. When the Reincarnation faction sent in replacements after a wave of deaths, the Reincarnation contractors thought, "This time it's stable, we can win."
Now, with an extra life, the Apocalypse contractors returned to their usual combat mode. The fact that life-saving items were basically ineffective against the Abyss faction gave them a feeling of emptiness and vulnerability, like forgetting to wear underwear when going out.
Viewed from above, the surrounding defense line was about ten meters from the base camp. Although attacks often hit the base camp's outer armor, the armor durability began to slowly recover since it was no longer under constant attack. As long as the armor value didn't keep dropping, that was good.
After successfully forming a defensive circle, the fungal carpet spread more smoothly, and the efficiency of converting and absorbing "Secondary Elemental Energy" increased. Soon, their stored "Secondary Elemental Energy" reached 2,685,000 points.
Beside the insect nest, Su Xiao instructed Jila in the mother nest to condense this "Secondary Elemental Energy" into "Elemental Crystals" and use them to upgrade the "Guardian." The upgrade process wasn't slow. The insect race was known for speed, whether in mass production or improving individual strength. After just half an hour, the "Guardian" had undergone two rounds of upgrades.
Before the upgrade, the Guardian's comprehensive score among insect race individuals was: ★☆ (☆ is half a star).
Among the current insect race individuals, the Guardian was only 1.5★. This was because the Elemental Insect Race's ceiling had been raised significantly. Even the former strongest unit, the Titan Giant Beast, was only ★★★☆.
After two consecutive upgrades, the Guardian reached ★★★.
When the new batch of Guardians was bred and appeared on the front line, Heiqixing, a lean but formidable man in black, punched a ten-thousand-meter-tall Dark Giant to death. He immediately leaped back into the defense line. The Guardian on him had just been pecked through by an "Ancient Abyss Entity," turning into corrosive black water.
Seeing this, Heiqixing's eyelid twitched. If he had taken that hit, although he could withstand it, it would have been very painful and costly. This "Ancient Abyss Entity" was probably a bit stronger than him.
This was the most troublesome aspect of "Ancient Abyss Entities": it was impossible to judge their strength. Some "Ancient Abyss Entities" could kill Absolute Strength powerhouses, some could threaten Supreme powerhouses, and the top-tier "Ancient Abyss Entities" were on the same rank as peak powerhouses. Moreover, most of them weren't living beings, and couldn't even be considered alive in the conventional sense.
Heiqixing waited with full perception, alert. Without a Guardian, he didn't want to activate his "Power Domain" for even a second. As for the fact that the Guardian's controller would take 20% of the kill rewards, Heiqixing only wanted to say, they could take even more.
Just then, a Guardian with a faint golden hue shot towards Heiqixing's back and began to attach. When the enhancement was complete, Heiqixing noticed the Guardian was different.
The current Guardian actually increased his physical defense by 20%. Besides its own base health, the Guardian also gained additional health based on the attached person's stamina attribute. This meant the Guardian could withstand more damage.
The Guardian on the nearby tank veteran showed a different, dark red, robust appearance. The Guardian on the healers in the back row emitted a faint fluorescent green light. Whenever a healer used a recovery ability, this type of Guardian would consume some of the fluorescent green light to enhance the healing.
Moreover, strength-type contractors not only became slightly stronger but also increased in size. However, the Guardian couldn't enhance Supreme attributes. At most, it could enhance True Attributes, and the enhancement characteristics were similar to equipment enhancements.
The most exaggerated was a shieldless tank, a five-meter-tall scientific freak whose skin and muscles had turned purple-black due to technological modification. His size had now reached nearly seven meters. The Guardian on him showed a life-like fluorescent green, providing an absurdly high health recovery rate.
With a thud, this scientific freak collided head-on with a charging Abyss Giant Beast. Before the opposing Abyss Giant Beast could get up, he climbed up first, incredibly tough.
Inside the base camp, Su Xiao saw that their defense line was stable. He took out a communicator and dialed. After a moment, the other party answered. Neither spoke.
"Killed them."
Su Xiao broke the silence. The other party was silent for a moment before saying, "When you need it, I will repay."
This was exactly what Su Xiao wanted. The Contract Parchment he pressed his hand on shimmered with contract text. The entire parchment turned pitch black, representing the other party's Abyss system identity.
As for who this person was, it was an 'old friend.' The former Sea King of the Wind Sea Continent, from the Azguk family, the Fish family's former Fourth Seat, now exiled by the Azguk family. They had managed to get in touch through that old Haige who provided paid interrogation services.
Due to the constant barrage of merit gain prompts, to the point where his vision was filled with them, Su Xiao temporarily muted them. The rewards from killing the Abyss Avatar and the five clan leaders were enormous. He planned to return to Reincarnation Paradise, further improve his strength, and prepare for his ascension to the Supreme Realm.
Just then, a prompt appeared.
[Prompt: The "Dawn Ring" has completed its karmic adaptation. You can now equip this item.]