Chapter 1679: So Simple

If Su Xiao hadn't guessed wrong, the crows definitely held a high status among the winged tribe, and if the winged tribe managed to seize the soul fruit, the ultimate beneficiary would certainly be the crow.

"Unrelated people, retreat."

Can Yu's gaze shifted toward Su Xiao and Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Bubu Wang.

"Hmm?"

As Su Xiao spoke, he pulled out an Apollo from his backpack; upon seeing Apollo, Can Yu's gaze shifted to Ulysses, as if Su Xiao didn't exist—in fact, Su Xiao holding Apollo was not to be trifled with, so she could only pretend Su Xiao didn't exist.

"We're quite fated, huh."

The crow blinked at Su Xiao, then turned a provocative gaze toward Lilith.

"Woof."

Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Bubu Wang barked, meaning to tell Lilith not to be provoked by this little red bird; as long as one isn't an idiot, they wouldn't drag their injured body into a duel with her.

However, Lilith resolutely stood up, causing Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Bubu Wang to roll his eyes, his face full of utter despair.

Although Lilith was somewhat straightforward, she wasn't so straightforward as to be foolish; she first whispered a few words to Ulysses, then swallowed a black candy bean.

Thick demonic power surged from within Lilith's body.

"You, come out."

Lilith, holding a war scythe, pointed directly at the crow; they were the beneficiaries of both sides seizing the soul fruit, and now they were about to fight for themselves—this was fair.

After greeting Su Xiao and Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Bubu Wang, the two leaned back against the soul vines and began to rest with eyes closed, as Su Xiao had little interest in such combat; it would be better to sleep a while and recover energy.

In a daze, Su Xiao felt Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Bubu Wang pushing him; when he opened his eyes, he saw Lilith pressing the crow to the ground and pounding him—indeed, punch after punch.

It proved that intelligence plays no key role in combat; moreover, although Lilith was usually a bit silly and cute, her combat intelligence was very high.

The crow was ridden by Lilith beneath her; although she used both hands to shield her head, Lilith's successive straight punches left her barely able to hold on.

"Damn it, wuu~"

The crow's eyes were full of resentment; the script didn't match what she had imagined—she had proposed a duel to the death upon seeing Lilith severely injured, but in the end, she was the one pressed to the ground and pounded—this was typical of a mind full of devious tricks.

"Stop! We… lost."

After uttering those words, Can Yu felt only humiliation; at this moment, her feeling was not much better than being dead.

"Lilith."

Ulysses grabbed Lilith's arm; Lilith looked at him doubtfully, meaning, why not seize the chance to pound this guy to death.

"The idea isn't bad, but not now."

Ulysses exerted slight force, pulling Lilith up; the somewhat bruised and swollen crow leapt away.

"So ruthless…… only hitting the face, I've remembered it."

The crow obviously felt some resentment, but losing is losing; moreover, Ulysses spared her life, while Lilith clearly wanted to pound her to death.

The winged tribe members soon withdrew; after both sides suffered over two hundred casualties, the soul fruit belonged to the demon tribe.

"I am Ulysses."

Ulysses, his whole body emitting black smoke, slowly approached Su Xiao, raising his right hand still stained with a few drops of blood.

"Su Xiao."

In the void, Su Xiao had no intention of concealing his name from the demon tribe; the alias Bai Ye was mostly used in derived or original worlds, and Sha, Reid, Lilith, Lilimu, etc., all knew Su Xiao's true name.

"I've long heard of you; I didn't expect to meet under these circumstances—frankly, it's…… sharp."

Ulysses had actually spoken quite tactfully; Su Xiao had only recently absorbed blood qi on the ancient battlefield, and merely being near him, Ulysses, with his keen senses, could faintly smell the bloodiness, which made him secretly startled—this ally of his was no longer simply someone who kills without blinking; at the very least, this level of blood qi comes from slaughtering tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of living beings.

After exchanging pleasantries, Ulysses walked toward the vine bearing the soul fruit, which was about to ripen, though it already belonged to the demon tribe.

"Ulysses, I'm very interested in the soul fruit."

Su Xiao spoke, a smile gradually appearing on his face.

"This……"

Ulysses also smiled slightly, somewhat awkwardly.

"Of course, this thing was obtained by your demon tribe at considerable cost; even as allies, I won't get something for nothing—fair trade only. If you agree, we each take what we need; if not, at most the deal falls through."

Upon hearing Su Xiao's words, Ulysses secretly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart; the alliance between the demon tribe and the Extinguishers was not something a single demon leader could decide.

"If it's a trade, then of course no problem—just what to trade with, that……"

"Black maple branches and leaves."

"Black maple?"

Ulysses took a few steps forward, his gaze blazing as he stared at Su Xiao; Su Xiao couldn't help but lean back, while Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Bubu Wang beside him also retreated, meaning: "What are you trying to do? We're not into that."

Black maple, due to its near-perfect conductivity and biological compatibility, only three black maples remain known in the void: one occupied by the Abyss Dragon, with no possibility of seizure; another protected by the Eternal Star of Arcana, utterly unable to flow outward, internal distribution insufficient; the last grows in the sea of living souls in the deepest layer of the Abyss—this black maple is the tallest known, about 27.54 meters.

That black maple in the sea of living souls—if a strong one were to risk life and limb, there would still be a chance to obtain some branches and leaves; but after the Blade Demon sat upon that black maple, hope of completely eradicating it was dashed.

It can be said that black maple is a nearly extinct resource in the void; demons also need it, for its excellent conductivity and biological compatibility—specially processed black maple leaves can be used to generate the core of demonic power, thereby achieving enhancement and tempering of demonic power, thus boosting combat strength; of course, compared to black maple leaves, the trunk and bark of the black maple perform better, though they are even rarer and more expensive.

Moreover, due to the black maple's near-zero rejection, this substance will gradually become part of the user's body through postnatal organization, even generating blood vessels, nerves, and similar tissues, allowing the user to more intuitively feel the energy within.

In the void, at least over a thousand races could use black maple to optimize internal energy conduction, yet this resource is nearly extinct; Su Xiao feels he could cultivate black maple not because of environment, but because that mother tree is very special.

Su Xiao took out a black maple leaf from his backpack; to him, this is homegrown resource—given enough time, this broken leaf could produce tens of thousands of black maple leaves from the tree, no problem; of course, since the black maple is still young, he only has twenty black maple leaves in his pack, plus three large pieces of bark; having been long separated from the black maple, the leaves haven't changed much, but that bark has actually turned transparent, with a relatively soft texture, utterly unlike bark.

Seeing the black maple leaf in Su Xiao's hand, Ulysses showed a difficult expression; if black maple leaves were used to form the core of demonic power, at least two or more would be needed, and moreover, this stuff is hard to allocate……

Indeed, if the soul fruit were exchanged for black maple leaves, would this be used on Lilith? Then it wouldn't be certain—some old demons also need black maple leaves, for the demonic power core is not only formable during growth; it's a technology, generating artificial organs specifically for combat, or rather, an imprint.

More importantly, although the soul fruit is rare, its yield is at most rare, while black maple leaves, to the demon tribe, are already an extinct resource—unless they wage war to seize the Eternal Star of Arcana, but that's basically impossible, as the cost would far exceed the return.

"As allies, I'll pay you twenty black maple leaves."

"Cough cough cough……"

"What's this?"

"Nothing, I just sustained some internal injuries from fighting that woman earlier," Ulysses took a deep breath, nodded to Su Xiao: "Deal!"

Ulysses agreed so simply that Su Xiao was somewhat surprised; originally he had planned to trade using black maple bark.