Chapter 91: Let Me… Kill You
At this moment, the blood qi had compressed Su Xiao's own aura to a size of three meters, and time was running short. He needed to quickly test whether the method he envisioned was feasible.
Of course, even if it failed, with his own aura protecting him, Su Xiao wouldn't be in too much danger—he would just lose some Paradise Coins.
A transparent energy thread connected the simplified Devouring Core to Su Xiao. This thread should not be underestimated; once the Devouring Core successfully absorbed the blood qi, purified it, and refined it, the resulting pure blood qi would be transmitted to Su Xiao along this thread.
This energy thread was crafted by Su Xiao at the cost of nearly 500 Mana Points. Inside, it contained eight ultra-miniature Devouring Cores, which were even simpler and could only perform one function: purification.
From the moment the blood qi entered the simplified Devouring Core to when it was transmitted to Su Xiao, it would undergo nine rounds of purification. If any negative energy remained after that, Su Xiao would have no other recourse.
Taking a deep breath, Su Xiao activated the simplified Devouring Core above his head.
Dozens of small holes opened on the Devouring Core, and like a whale drinking water, it instantly sucked in the blood qi from dozens of meters around. With the blood qi erosion gone, Su Xiao's pressure dropped sharply.
Crack, crack, crack…
Fine cracks appeared on the simplified Devouring Core. Su Xiao was not surprised; this was a simplified version he had made. When he originally crafted the complete Devouring Core, he had been immersed in a pool of Cyan Steel Shadow Energy, consuming an unknown amount of it.
Now, relying solely on his own Cyan Steel Shadow Energy, it was only natural that the simplified Devouring Core was fragile.
A large surge of blood qi was drawn into the simplified Devouring Core, which then began to operate, purifying and refining it.
Soon, a stream of pale red energy emerged from the simplified Devouring Core. By this point, the core was already blood-red, filled with impurities from the blood qi.
The purified blood qi flowed along the energy thread toward Su Xiao. Inside the energy thread, the eight even simpler Devouring Cores began to work, repeatedly purifying this stream of blood qi.
In the end, the blood qi was purified to near transparency, with only a faint trace of red visible.
Su Xiao gathered a clump of his own aura, and the blood qi, purified nine times, merged into it.
His own aura effortlessly devoured and fused with the nine-times-purified blood qi, showing no abnormalities. Seeing this, Su Xiao's face lit up with joy.
The initial experiment was a success. What followed was much simpler: letting the simplified Devouring Core above his head continuously absorb blood qi, filter it, and convert it into absorbable pure blood qi.
Su Xiao's method of upgrading his skills in such a convoluted way was something most contractors would never think of. However, Su Xiao knew he was definitely not the first to do this.
The facilities of Reincarnation Paradise were there for the taking. Su Xiao spent Paradise Coins to use these facilities, but how he used them depended on him—whether to stick to the rules or to achieve greater gains with minimal expense.
What Su Xiao was doing now was likely noticed by Reincarnation Paradise. Yet, he received no warnings, indicating that Reincarnation Paradise tacitly allowed contractors to do this.
Large amounts of blood qi were absorbed by the simplified Devouring Core, underwent several layers of purification, and the resulting pure blood qi was absorbed by Su Xiao.
Absorbing this blood qi in large quantities, Su Xiao felt no abnormalities, only a rapid increase in his own aura. Of course, there was a downside—the smell of blood on him grew stronger, and who knew if it would reduce his Charm Attribute.
Compared to the blood qi floating over the ancient battlefield, what Su Xiao absorbed was but a drop in the ocean. This was an ancient battlefield where dragons, demon goats, ancient beasts, and powerful beings from various races had fallen. How much blood qi would such deaths produce?
After ten minutes, the simplified Devouring Core above Su Xiao's head was covered in cracks, on the verge of shattering. The energy thread had also turned blood-red, filled with blood qi residue that absolutely could not be inhaled, or the consequences would be dire.
Su Xiao let out a long breath. The time he could continue absorbing was running out. Just as he prepared to absorb one last surge of blood qi, he suddenly noticed something was wrong with his surroundings.
The blood qi across the entire ancient battlefield began to converge toward Su Xiao. If the simplified Devouring Core tried to absorb this amount of blood qi, it would shatter instantly, let alone purify and refine it.
Su Xiao knew the situation was dire. He immediately deactivated the simplified Devouring Core and withdrew his own aura, allowing the blood qi to erode him. Only then would he be teleported back to the Skill Enhancement Hall.
Blood-red patterns appeared on Su Xiao's skin.
At the same time, the blood qi above him formed a massive hand that blotted out the sky. This hand was almost solid, with even the palm lines clearly visible.
The blood-red hand slammed down. Su Xiao felt a chill run through his entire body—being hit by this thing would mean certain death, absolutely certain!
Boom!
A thunderous sound echoed across the ancient battlefield. A bottomless, palm-shaped abyss appeared, and Su Xiao had vanished.
Boom.
A sonic boom rang out as a man with long white hair, about three meters tall, and a gaunt face appeared.
The man pointed his finger at the air, and the scene began to reverse. The palm-shaped abyss disappeared, revealing Su Xiao sitting cross-legged on the ground.
"Hmm? A Law Destroyer?"
The white-haired man's pupils contracted, and his face, like withered wood, turned icy cold.
"Appearing again, are you? Since I've encountered you during your growth phase, then become a corpse."
Without any visible movement, the space in front of the white-haired man shattered. He stepped into the void and began tracking Su Xiao.
Two seconds later.
Bang!
Space shattered again. The now twisted and deformed white-haired man flew out of the spatial hole and crashed to the ground.
"What kind of existence is this? What immense power…"
The white-haired man's lips trembled, as if he had seen something terrifying.
Clang!
A crisp slashing sound came. A spatial crack appeared, and a humanoid creature covered in drifting blue smoke, holding a long blade, walked out of the crack.
"Who is this now? No, it's a blade…"
Swish~
The white-haired man's head flew off. The humanoid creature, covered in blue smoke, stared at the white-haired man's corpse. After a long while, it turned and entered the spatial crack.
"Fellow kindred, where are you? Let me… kill you."
The humanoid creature's voice came from within the spatial rift.
A few minutes later, the spatial holes and cracks on the ancient battlefield healed.
…
Inside the Skill Upgrade Pod, Su Xiao lay on the ground, covered in blood, on the verge of unconsciousness.
That blood-red palm hadn't struck him directly, but even so, he had suffered severe injuries. This made him inwardly vigilant—he must never enter that ancient battlefield lightly again; there were too many unknown factors.
[Warning: The Hunter has been eroded by the ancient battlefield's blood qi, suffered multiple fractures, severe internal bleeding, and trace amounts of blood qi residue have mixed into your aura. Pay Paradise Coins to recover?]
Su Xiao squinted. Even after using multiple layers of purification, trace amounts of blood qi residue had still mixed into his aura. Fortunately, he could remove it with Paradise Coins.
"Pay."
As soon as he spoke, Su Xiao felt a pang of pain.
[Prompt: Removing blood qi erosion requires 10,600 Paradise Coins.]
[Prompt: Treating multiple fractures and severe internal bleeding requires 1,300 Paradise Coins.]
[Prompt: Removing blood qi residue from aura requires 47,200 Paradise Coins.]
[Paradise Coins payment complete. Beginning repairs.]
…
An hour later, Su Xiao looked at his remaining 35,800 Paradise Coins and couldn't help but sigh. His Paradise Coins were being spent too quickly. The remaining coins would have to be used to craft No. 1 Potion.
Even though he had spent a lot of Paradise Coins, it was worth it. He immediately opened his skill list to check Aura Release.