Chapter 35: Annihilation
Due to the promise that this would be the last divination, the "Malicious Prophet" treated this divination with exceptional caution, and the result was a failed divination.
Of course it would fail. The "Merchant Alliance" was currently the wealthiest force in the Star Realm. The "Goblin Merchant Guild" and the "Gilurius Family" indeed had a bright future ahead. In the subsequent few epochs, as long as neither side had internal problems and they didn't encounter a leader who made one's eyes darken, they would surely be among the major powers of those epochs.
The problem was that this Abyss campaign had emptied both sides' coffers. The "Merchant Alliance," jointly formed by the "Underworld Bank" and the "Giant Bank," naturally ranked first.
For Su Xiao, this was good news. If he wanted to go further, he would inevitably need massive resources. Letting the "Malicious Prophet" continue divining, he took out his communicator and first contacted the Goblin Merchant Guild, then the Gilurius Family.
This time, dealing with the "Merchant Alliance," killing them all was simple, but wanting to completely swallow their wealth was dozens of times harder than destroying the force itself. The wealth composition of the "Merchant Alliance" was extremely complex, ranging from banking businesses that spanned the entire Star Realm down to commercial street real estate in some second and third-rank worlds.
Moreover, the "Merchant Alliance" wasn't a treasury. All their wealth was certified by the Void Tree. Over eighty percent of the "Merchant Alliance's" wealth was in a non-Void Tree certified state, so conspiring with Kaiser on this matter wasn't appropriate.
Therefore, it was necessary to ally with the Goblin Merchant Guild and the Gilurius Family. The former had enormous influence in commercial channels, while the latter was involved in many types of businesses. To put it bluntly, one of the backers behind White Bull's forces back then was the Gilurius Family.
In this cooperation, the three parties had clear goals. Su Xiao was responsible for exterminating the high-ranking members of the "Merchant Alliance," while the Goblin Merchant Guild and the Gilurius Family were responsible for swallowing the "Merchant Alliance's" assets across various industries.
Among them, the Gilurius Family was also responsible for handling the treasuries of the Giant Bank and the Underworld Bank. It was worth mentioning that one of the Gilurius Family's main businesses was investment, so this family held shares in both the Giant Bank and the Underworld Bank, shares certified by the Void Tree—3.95% in one and 4.558% in the other. For banks of such massive scale, these shares were already considerable.
Ending the communication with Gilurius·Olding, Su Xiao picked up the "Malicious Prophet" on the table. He activated the teleportation, weighed his options, and chose to go to the Void.
When the faint light of the teleportation dissipated, Su Xiao, Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha had arrived in the Void battlefield area. Beini was busy with other matters. For a while afterward, Beini would be incredibly busy, as they had entered the resource preparation phase.
This place had turned into a dark red land. The sights before them were all corpses of varying sizes—some were the bones of giant demon dragons, others were black knights with raised front hooves and oddly shaped glaives held high.
Looking into the distance, there were the Abyssal Scale Clan, half-buried in the ground yet still ten thousand meters tall, resembling deep-sea giant manta rays, inspiring awe. Beyond them, dark giants tens of thousands of meters tall, kneeling on one knee in death, were even more shocking. How had such enormous and terrifying dark beings died?
In reality, these seemingly spectacular bones were merely elite monsters of the Abyss campaign. Those small boss-level existences had already turned into unstable dark matter, brewing and transforming.
The vast dark power mixed with various top-tier transcendent forces caused this area to separate from the outside world. In just a few decades, this place would become a dangerous zone or forbidden area—extremely perilous while certainly containing all kinds of top-tier opportunities.
Not to mention anything else, the number of Power Source Bloods here was already countless. Those Power Source Bloods that weren't strong enough couldn't even be preserved, having long been devoured by the dark things drifting across the Abyss battlefield.
A few hundred years later, when several major powers that rose in the Star Realm gathered all their strength to explore the "Abyss Battlefield," would they return defeated? This wasn't mere speculation; there was over a ninety percent probability of it happening.
As for the Power Source Bloods here, they meant nothing to Su Xiao. They were all in an uncertified state. Unless he could bring the "Resource Conversion Device," the risk and reward weren't proportional. Whether he could gain the strength to fight the Supreme Being in subsequent accumulations depended heavily on the "Resource Conversion Device."
The danger here had already shown its first signs. Sensing that living beings had intruded, these dangers showed signs of malice. But soon, all these dark spawns fell silent, because the person who came here was one of the main participants in this Abyss campaign. To put it bluntly, a large part of the hellish scene on this battlefield was directly or indirectly caused by Su Xiao.
Su Xiao once again had the "Malicious Prophet" perform a divination. The "Malicious Prophet," which had failed several divinations in a row, was displeased, but considering that refusal would mean being formatted, it performed the divination once more.
The moment the "Malicious Prophet" began divining the traces of the "Merchant Alliance," a hint of blood light appeared in Su Xiao's pupils. He suddenly slashed out with his blade.
With a crisp crack, it was as if something had been shattered. Several cracks appeared on the "Malicious Prophet."
"Here, how is it?"
Su Xiao spoke. The "Malicious Prophet" in his hand emitted an inexplicable fluctuation. Actually, there was one point easily misunderstood: the "Malicious Prophet" was actually a dangerous object. In the certification classification of the Reincarnation Paradise, it was listed under "Abyss Curiosities."
"Malicious Prophet (Abyss Curiosity): Can consume current luck for divination. There is a 50% probability of absolute accuracy and a 50% probability of definite error. The result will depend on this item's 'mood.' A 'happy' prophet will give an accurate divination; a 'bad-tempered' prophet will give a wrong answer."
This was the information Su Xiao saw. Below was a line: "View this item's specific attributes through branch attributes." Because if someone else checked, the certified attributes of the "Malicious Prophet" would show various debuffs, risks, curses, etc.
Why didn't the "Malicious Prophet" harm Su Xiao? Because the "Malicious Prophet" was extremely afraid of Su Xiao. It was merely a "weak and helpless" dangerous object.
Therefore, the "Malicious Prophet," which was never a good thing anyway, found the current Abyss battlefield very suitable for further enhancement—a dream place for it.
The next second, Su Xiao disappeared from his spot and reappeared on the corpse of a super-giant ancient Abyss existence. He casually flicked his hand, and the divination card-like "Malicious Prophet" half-embedded itself into the flesh of this Abyss existence, beginning to merge inward. If this peak-rank dark corpse wasn't taken away, then within a few years, the "Malicious Prophet" would advance several steps further.
By the time the "Malicious Prophet" left the Abyss battlefield, it would no longer be the minor dangerous object it once was in the Star Realm. Given its nature, it would definitely find a World Child in a high-rank world and torment them to the point of ecstasy and questioning life.
Su Xiao jumped down from the giant Abyss existence's corpse. As for the traces of the "Merchant Alliance," he already knew. Just now, when the "Malicious Prophet" divined the traces of the "Merchant Alliance," it was interfered with by multiple causal forces.
What Su Xiao did was slash through these causal interferences with one strike while letting the destructive force spread to the source they protected—that was where the "Merchant Alliance" was located.
...
Forgotten Spirit Realm.
This was a fifth-rank world, a medium-to-large world ruled by plants and insects. These insects didn't call themselves the Insect Race but the Insect Descendants. The Insect Descendants had three major kingdoms and six large tribes, while the plants were more united, forming a single alliance kingdom occupying one-third of the world's territory.
The Insect Descendants were warlike, so they frequently launched campaigns against the plant clans. Even though the two sides would cease hostilities every few decades due to the redistribution of interests, the Insect Descendant forces were also plagued by internal conflicts.
What this world was most famous for wasn't its two warring races but the "Eternal Ice Crystal," which was produced exclusively here in the entire Star Realm. This resource was controlled by the "Giant Bank," so the major forces of the Star Realm naturally gave up any thoughts about it.
Currently, the Forgotten Spirit Realm was in a special situation, undergoing the highest rank certification of the Void Tree. To enter this realm, one's peak combat power would be suppressed to the fifth-rank limit. This was the sanctuary created by the "Merchant Alliance."
At this moment, in the Commercial Capital of the Southern Continent, one of the three foreign cities in this world. Besides these three foreign cities recognized by the Insect Descendants and the surrounding wilderness areas, once the Insect Descendants discovered any foreign race stepping into their territory without permission, they would immediately launch a fierce attack.
Because this world originally had a combat power limit certification, just not at such a high rank, the conflicts between the Insect Descendants and foreign races during this period had been smoothed over by various interests.
Commercial Capital, Central District. A towering skyscraper, 278 floors. The top floor, Shareholder Meeting Hall. Dozens of high-ranking members of the Merchant Alliance were present. Having developed for so many years, the shareholders of the Giant Bank and the Underworld Bank already included members from all races.
The current chairman of the Underworld Bank was a man with pale skin, resembling a vampire from films and TV shows. In reality, this was a Demon Race member, specifically a rare Blood Vassal Clan. The chairman of the Giant Bank was a seemingly smiling, obese middle-aged man weighing at least 800 kilograms. His name was Bola·Ba, while the Demon Race chairman beside him was named Amore.
Amore and Bola·Ba, seated at the head, remained silent. The shareholders below looked as if their entire clans had died—some with deathly pale faces, some restless and anxious, others muttering under their breath.
"Everyone, shut up."
Amore spoke in a deep voice. Between the two leaders, Amore was usually more ruthless, while Bola·Ba was a smiling tiger—once targeted by him, there was no good outcome.
"Two lords, we should now..."
A Feather Race shareholder spoke. As one of the shareholders of the "Merchant Alliance," he didn't even dare to return to his family's territory now. After all, during the Abyss campaign, he had completely sided with the "Merchant Alliance," even ignoring his clan leader's summons.
"Shut up."
Bola·Ba rarely showed a dark expression, but then he put on a slight smile and asked those present:
"Everyone, do you think the Supreme Being is powerful?"
"Well..."
"Of course. Some even speculate that he might be above the Supreme Realm."
"Whether he's above the Supreme Realm is just a rumor, but there's no doubt he's the strongest."
Receiving unanimous agreement from the shareholders present, Bola·Ba continued:
"Then tell me, how will the conflict between the Supreme Being and that Law Destroyer ultimately end?"
At these words, the shareholders' expressions changed. They began discussing animatedly, and soon the atmosphere in the meeting hall relaxed a bit.
"I think," Bola·Ba looked around at everyone present and continued, "None of you here are fools, otherwise you wouldn't have climbed to this position. We just need to wait. As long as the Supreme Being is here, those two Supreme Realm existences won't dare to appear casually. In fact, their deaths at the Supreme Being's hands are only a matter of time. We just need to wait. As for the hostility from other major powers toward us, it's just about dividing interests. If they get enough benefits, they'll be very willing to forget this memory."
Bola·Ba's words calmed the shareholders' hearts somewhat. They could all tell that Bola·Ba wasn't speaking nonsense.
"Then why don't we try to speed up this process?"
Bang!
The large ashtray that had been holding half a cigar beside Bola·Ba's hand smashed into the head of the shareholder who had spoken. The shareholder grunted from the impact and was about to slam the table and stand up, but after meeting Bola·Ba's gaze, he sat back down somewhat sheepishly.
"Everyone, stop making foolish choices. If it weren't for your foolish choices one after another, we wouldn't have been pushed to the edge of the cliff."
As Bola·Ba spoke, he looked around at everyone present. Given the large ashtray still beside his hand, the other shareholders didn't meet his gaze.
"Alright, we'll leave this world within half an hour at the latest. Don't look at me like that. Just now, the secret treasures used to conceal our causal traces shattered one after another. If not for the three that haven't shattered yet, meaning our causal traces haven't been penetrated, we would have to leave immediately."
Bola·Ba's words made the shareholders' expressions turn ugly again. This kind of fugitive life—they would have to endure it for a while longer. When had they ever been so embarrassed before?
"I know everyone has a fire in their hearts. We two feel the same."
Amore dropped the document in his hand and was about to continue speaking when he suddenly noticed a figure standing on the twenty-meter-long luxurious meeting table.
"You!"
The expression on Amore's face shifted from surprise to terror. The man standing on the meeting table cast his gaze toward him.
Bang!
All the shareholders present turned into fragments of flesh and blood, scattering outward. But after flying a short distance, their blood reversed and converged, gradually forming blood contracts that were imprinted on contract parchment.
Rustle~
One by one, the contract parchments fell into the hands of the Law Destroyer who had come to "visit." After roughly flipping through them, he crouched on the table, looking down slightly at Amore and Bola·Ba, and said:
"Will you sign yourselves, or... should I find a way?"
Under Su Xiao's gaze with a friendly smile, Amore's teeth chattered uncontrollably. Beside him, Bola·Ba's entire fat face was somewhat twisted.
"If we sign, we don't have to die?"
Bola·Ba spoke with a twitching cheek. Although he felt the question was ridiculous, at this point, who wouldn't harbor a bit of hope?
Hearing this, Baha, who was formed of dark blue smoke on Su Xiao's shoulder, let out a sinister laugh and said, "Sign, and you die immediately. Don't sign, and you can only die after you do. Don't say you've never temporarily hired that group of Sea Race. In this regard, they are indeed the most professional."
Bola·Ba swallowed hard. He struggled for a moment, then turned to smash through the floor-to-ceiling window and jump out. Unfortunately, as soon as he made the move to turn, his body came to an abrupt halt. Moments later, Su Xiao had two more contract parchments in his hands.
Giving these contract parchments to the Gilurius Family members who had come to receive them, Su Xiao felt the world around him beginning to show signs of collapse. He couldn't stay in this realm long. Without being suppressed by the Void Tree's power, once this world region shattered, his power and causality would crush this world, causing irreversible destruction.
As for how Su Xiao came to this realm—crack—Su Xiao's body showed crystal cracks. This Aoge Crystal Avatar of his was indeed at the fifth-rank limit of combat power, suppressed by the Void Tree's certification of this realm. The problem was that when he was at the fifth rank, he had few rivals among his peers, let alone now.
In the exclusive room of the Reincarnation Paradise, Su Xiao opened his eyes and dispelled the crystal avatar. Baha on his shoulder also opened his eyes and said:
"Boss, I'll handle the follow-up on this matter. I'll go hand it over to Beini."
"Mm."
Su Xiao still had many things to do. The "Merchant Alliance" haul was certainly important, but among several resource incomes, this definitely wasn't the biggest.
Checking the time, Su Xiao got up and left the planting area. He took the reluctant Bubu Wang out. Before leaving, Bubu Wang called Amu, who thought they were going out to eat, so he decisively followed.
Amu was somewhat directionally challenged in the Reincarnation Paradise, but he remembered the routes to the food street and the Summer Restaurant clearly. However, when he noticed the forging atmosphere of the surrounding shops growing stronger, Amu's pace unconsciously slowed.
Over twenty minutes later, Amu stood in front of Lide's forging shop. After hesitating, this simpleton actually took a metal helmet from his follower storage space and put it on his head.
Bang bang bang~
Amu knocked on the heavy metal door, producing a dull sound. The security in the Reincarnation Paradise was definitely maxed out, yet the door to Lide's forging shop was frequently upgraded, which was puzzling.
The small window on the door slid open. Lide and Amu locked eyes. After a moment, the door opened, and Amu walked into the forging shop carrying a wooden box.
In the neighboring street, in front of a cold drink shop, Su Xiao and Bubu Wang each held a cup of fruit drink. Seeing Amu successfully enter, Bubu Wang made a gesture to clink cups with Su Xiao. Su Xiao glanced at Bubu Wang and casually clinked cups. Man and dog continued waiting for the result.
Before long, a bang came from inside the forging shop, as if a heavy object had struck a metal helmet. After a while, Amu walked out of the forging shop looking dejected. And Lide, who was usually somewhat gloomy and steady, actually came out to see him off, then stood in front of the forging shop laughing uproariously at the sky.
Seeing this, Su Xiao knew—disaster. The "Wild Hunt Night" had indeed taken that fatal blow as its last. Moreover, the "Wild Hunt Night's" indestructibility mainly came from the "Abyss Embers," and that attack was the ultimate "Abyss Embers" power.
At that time, Su Xiao and the Lord of the Abyss had just exchanged a round of ultimate techniques. Having fought to the end, whoever took a hit at this stage would immediately become the disadvantaged party. The Lord of the Abyss's robust physique of 400 points of supreme stamina allowed it to strike first. It should have used this "Abyss Embers" bombardment to gain the advantage at the final moment, even tilting the scales of victory heavily in its favor.
Unfortunately, this "Abyss Embers" bombardment was perfectly blocked by the "Wild Hunt Night." The moment it was hit, the ember power within the "Wild Hunt Night" fully ignited, eventually burning out completely.
This damned, godforsaken, hair-pulling, beard-trimming hateful armor was finally completely destroyed. Lide was overjoyed, but after laughing heartily and returning to the forging shop, he habitually sat down by the workbench. Seeing all kinds of repair tools, he felt a sudden sense of loss.
Su Xiao didn't stay long on Forging Street. After buying several super-sized delicacies for Amu, he activated his mark authority and went to the Void near the Void Platform. Heading south for a short distance, he saw the mist wall of the "Starry Sky Seat" towering into the sky.
The "Starry Sky Seat" wasn't here before; it was near the "Green Shade Wetlands," which was the center of the Abyss battlefield.
Passing through the mist wall, Su Xiao saw two figures—the Tuanzhang and the Daomo. After arriving, he sat down but didn't speak. After all, he and the Daomo were both familiar and unfamiliar. The current Daomo had completely awakened and found himself. And the outcome of the Daomo finding himself...
The Daomo looked at Su Xiao, stared for a moment, smiled, and said, "In a one-on-one fight, I have a sixty percent chance of winning."
Hearing this, the Tuanzhang didn't speak. His old friend was like this—good in every way, except that when encountering someone who was definitely not his match, he would still insist on sixty percent. Fortunately, they were all friends now, so they wouldn't actually test whether it was really sixty percent.
Completely different from the expected silent and indifferent Daomo, before his Daomo transformation, this Law Destruction Shadow had a very hot temper. Moreover, as he was from the last generation of Law Destroyers, unlike Su Xiao's one-generation-apart inheritance, it could only be said that this one's temperament was very much that of the Second Era's Law Destruction Shadow.
"What bad luck. I was sleeping before the Abyss campaign, and I wake up to continue fighting. Forget it, I'm going back to sleep."
The Daomo leaned back in his seat, seemingly grumbling and cursing about waking up to fight the Abyss campaign. But after a moment, he fell silent as if truly asleep, and a wisp of black-blue demon spirit embers drifted up.
"..."
Su Xiao didn't speak and stood up. The Tuanzhang, in seat number one of the Starry Sky Seat, just looked at the misty dome above. In such a scene, no words were needed.
When the Daomo found himself, that was the time of his demise.
After leaving the Starry Sky Seat, Su Xiao went to the Void Platform. This was an endless expanse of rock surface with obvious signs of weathering. Continuing forward, one could see a bottomless abyss. In the Second Era, the Void Platform had flourished for a time, but now it had completely declined, even becoming desolate and rarely visited.
Arriving at the edge of the Void Platform, Su Xiao sat cross-legged, looking at the rolling sea of clouds before him, and began to meditate here. Unconsciously, he immersed himself in it, and his meditation level rapidly increased, almost rising by one level every few seconds.
The reason was that as the holder of the "Origin Stone: World," he had fulfilled his chosen duty—defeating the Lord of the Abyss. Now, the "Origin Stone: World's" boost to meditation had reached its peak, but this was also the last time the "Origin Stone: World" would enhance meditation.
When Su Xiao woke from his meditation, it was already early the next morning. Opening his eyes, he saw the beautiful sunrise on the horizon. This was the most beautiful sunrise he had ever seen. It wasn't an illusion; it was a manifestation of the Star Realm's environment improving after the Abyss/Element reached perfect balance.
[Prompt: Your Meditation ability has reached Lv.EX.]
Su Xiao didn't check the Meditation ability. He had a clear feeling that even if Meditation reached Lv.EX, as long as he continued meditating with daily persistence, this ability would still improve, albeit over a long time.
"Kid, it seems you've been persisting in meditation. Good habit."
Mawen Hua'erzi, in his residual soul state, spoke. Behind him was a tall Black Maple Tree with an aura completely different from other Black Maple Trees. This was the "Black Maple Mother Tree." Su Xiao had seen this thing a few times before. The small missing patch of bark on the trunk was torn off by him, but that missing mark was about to grow back.
"I don't have much time. There's something I must tell you..."
Mawen Hua'erzi's words were only half spoken when he saw Su Xiao take out a brilliant soul stone. He shook his head and said with a smile:
"I already know of their existence. There's no way to escape..."
Zheng!
A flash of blade light passed by. Su Xiao asked, "Know what?"
"Know..."
Mawen Hua'erzi narrowed his eyes in recollection. The memories of some strange unknown existences suddenly became blurry—no, they disappeared from a certain point, as if severed.
Mawen Hua'erzi immediately chose not to delve deeper. He grasped the brilliant soul stone with one hand and said with emotion:
"My master and Green could no longer maintain their residual souls. I didn't expect that I would be the one to last until the end."
"..."
Su Xiao didn't speak. He simply released the "Awakening Stele" from his storage space. Giving this to Mawen Hua'erzi, who could continue existing as a soul entity, was clearly the better choice.
At this, the ancestral Law Destroyers had things to say, but when their gazes turned to this "disciple of Mawen Hua'erzi," they had nothing to say. For a moment, a mass of suppressed complaints filled their chests, making them want to speak out.
"What were you about to say?"
"Nothing."
Mawen Hua'erzi left the "Black Maple Mother Tree" and turned to leave. It seemed that the thing he was about to say relied on the mindset of "I'm about to perish anyway, so let's be awkward." Now that he didn't have to perish, of course he couldn't say it.
"..."
Su Xiao chose to return to the Reincarnation Paradise. He took out his communicator and dialed. Soon, Kaiser's voice came from the communicator:
"My dear friend, it seems we both won."
"..."
"If Kaiser isn't mistaken, you'll soon go to challenge the Supreme Being?"
"Yes."
"Kaiser thinks that between you and the Supreme, I should invest in one. As your friend, of course I invest in you. Coincidentally, in the Abyss treasury, there are resources enough to shock both you and me. But, my dear friend, if you win, don't forget to give Kaiser some returns."
Kaiser's sly laughter came from the communicator. After a moment, his tone shifted, and he asked, "My dear friend, what did you contact Kaiser about this time?"
"I have, on hand, 10.547 billion Void Tree-certified merit points."
Hearing this, Kaiser on the other end let out a "What?" of surprised distortion. Although the two had agreed earlier to manipulate the merit points gained this time in the end, they indeed hadn't expected so many.
From a certain perspective, after the Abyss faction's crushing defeat, the next danger was actually the Void Tree's resource treasury.