Chapter 1961: Chapter Fifty-Five: Spirit Devouring and Preparation

With Su Xiao's consecutive victories, after defeating the 12th-ranked opponent, his rank directly took over the original 11th place, pushing that opponent down to 12th.

That older brother clearly felt resentful; he hadn't even fought his opponent yet and already dropped to 12th place—this rank was achieved after spanning 13 worlds, and anyone in his position would feel unwilling.

Su Xiao chose to refuse the challenge, causing his rank to slip to 12th, and he also received a notarized email from the arena, the content of which follows:

"Wanna fight one round, friend? Rest up, let's spar."

This email came from a contractor of the Tianqi Paradise; after Su Xiao replied "Busy," he left the arena.

Walking along a stone path in the Reincarnation Paradise, Su Xiao roughly assessed his own strength.

If he were in peak condition, taking on the top three in the arena would be no problem, after all, the former 12th-ranked fighter's strength was evident, and although those above him would be stronger, the gap wouldn't be too large.

As for whether he could defeat the strongest in the fifth-tier arena, Haishen·Gushengyi, Su Xiao currently doesn't know, but his current strength is definitely among the top echelon of the fifth tier.

The rewards from the War World were so abundant that they lifted Su Xiao from the strength of a fifth-tier first-echelon fighter directly to the top tier.

Without the gains from the War World, he could at most reach ranks 20–30 in the arena, after which he would hit a plateau.

Su Xiao did not temporarily return to his private room but instead headed straight to Li De's forge to maintain his weapons and equipment, and incidentally have Li De reforge the 【Meteor Fire Blade】.

When Su Xiao arrived at the door of Li De's forge, several charm-system contractors were stationed there, all trying to win Li De over.

Dong, dong, dong……

Su Xiao knocked on the forge's door, and the hammering inside stopped.

"Who?"

"It's me."

Hearing Su Xiao's voice, Li De inside the forge opened the door.

As Su Xiao just stepped into the forge, he noticed Li De's attire had changed—this guy was bare-chested, his muscles like forged iron, and wearing gray-black shorts below.

What Li De lacked least was forging equipment to practice on; with many contractors begging him to forge gear, his forging skill had rapidly improved, now capable of crafting epic-grade equipment, but he was stuck at this epic-grade bottleneck, unable to advance further.

Ding, dang……

Li De wasn't forging equipment, yet the sound of hammering came from within the blacksmith shop.

"Come in and sit."

Li De slammed the door shut with a bang, ignoring those few charm-system contractors.

Su Xiao surveyed the forge's interior, which was noticeably cleaner, then looked at Li De—this guy's head fractures had fully healed; aside from being short, he now looked more solid and powerful.

"This little thing is Wang Wang; I picked her up half a month ago in the Void, feeling sorry for her, so I brought her home to raise."

Li De tossed Su Xiao a can of ice beer; Li De loves beer deeply and has superb brewing skills.

Su Xiao looked at the Wang Wang Li De mentioned—she is about one meter tall, her entire body covered in bluish-green skin, a subhuman race; she appears somewhat frail, and every time she swings an iron hammer, she must exert all her strength.

"Silin Tesi clan? I recall they were already exterminated."

Su Xiao's knowledge of the Void surpasses Li De's, so he immediately recognized Wang Wang's origin.

"Never mind what clan she is; if she looks pleasing, I just picked her up."

Li De shrugged indifferently.

"Really? One of the few races the Void excels at creating—your luck isn't bad."

"Is it dangerous?"

"Spellcasters want them extinct."

"!"

Li De this time was not calm—spellcasters are indeed not to be provoked, unless he no longer wishes to go to the Void.

"That was centuries ago; as long as she doesn't go to the Arcane Eternal Star, there won't be major issues, but…… you picked up this Silin Tesi clan member, and she looks somewhat……"

Su Xiao stared at Wang Wang, who returned his gaze with her big, watery eyes, utterly adorable and silly.

"Cough, on the return trip, her head got squeezed by the spaceship's pressure door."

"Oh?"

Su Xiao looked at Li De with a smile; Li De gave two dry coughs, signaling Wang Wang to go to the back room first.

Wang Wang put down her iron hammer and happily ran to the back room.

"She was snatched; on the return trip, she wasn't obedient, so…… well."

Li De didn't explain clearly, but his answer resolved Su Xiao's doubt—he had previously wondered when Li De became so kind-hearted, what this guy was like in the Xiya World, which Su Xiao knew.

Besides doing good deeds, Su Xiao wouldn't be surprised by anything this guy did.

Or rather, anyone able to work with Su Xiao basically has no good people; Li De was originally the great villain boss of the Xiya World—Sha appears cheerful on the surface, but in reality, once someone annoys her, she instantly transforms into a demon queen.

The only truly good person is Xia; compared to Li De and Sha, Xia's conduct is practically angelic.

"Any issues with the spellcasters' side?"

"Old scores."

"Then treat this little one better from now on, and let her call me father."

"..."

Su Xiao took out the Meteor Fire Blade from his storage space; Li De's expression gradually changed.

"This is…… carved from which baboon?"

Li De stared at the Meteor Fire Blade with utter astonishment, truly unable to comprehend how anyone would use such precious material to carve a knife.

"Can it be reforged?"

"Yes."

Li De took the Meteor Fire Blade, seemingly pondering something.

"What other materials are needed."

"I'll handle it."

Li De suddenly became generous.

"Oh?"

Su Xiao knows that although Reid isn't stingy, he isn't this generous either.

"There's also something I need you to help with—I have a friend in the Void Realm, we get along well, just like you and me. He has a daughter who's crazy about studying swordsmanship. The only swordsmanship master I know is you, so consider this a favor: teach her some swordsmanship knowledge. Once is enough, but as for those swordsmanship techniques, well, I won't say more."

Reid is clearly in debt to someone in the Void Realm, and by offering Su Xiao free sword forging, he hopes Su Xiao will help him repay that favor.

"If I get a chance to go to the Void Realm, no problem."

Su Xiao drew the Dragon-Slaying Flash, Reid put on his mechanical arm under his rib, took the Dragon-Slaying Flash through that mechanical arm, and began carefully maintaining it.

After several hours, Su Xiao, having finished maintaining his equipment, left. As for reforging the Blade of the Fallen Star, that would take some time.

After returning to his private room, Su Xiao began preparing the 【Radiant Elixir】, a potion effective for those with 150 or fewer real attribute points—truly a universal remedy for contractors from rank 1 to 6, with no issue of unsold stock.

The 【Radiant Elixir】 materials are limited to 20 portions, each costing 250,000 Paradise Coins, selling for 600,000 Paradise Coins. However, unless the hand feel is very good, the success rate is only 50%.

Su Xiao handles the preparation, Bubu Wang provides the recovery halo, and Benny is in charge of sales, boosting the reputation of the Holy Flame Alchemist, working together with remarkable默契.

When the 20 portions of materials were used up, Su Xiao successfully prepared 11 bottles of 【Radiant Elixir】. After deducting costs, the net profit was 1,600,000 Paradise Coins—extremely lucrative.

After resting for a few hours, Su Xiao entered the alchemy lab again, attempting to modify Apollo.

……

On the grassland, a gentle breeze blew. Su Xiao sat cross-legged on a stone pillar. At this moment, he was in the Realm of All Beings·Layer Three, consuming 300,000 Paradise Coins per hour, which he could easily afford.

If he hadn't entered the Realm of All Beings, Su Xiao couldn't possibly have developed so many sword techniques in such a short time—such as the Blade Path·Time, Blade Path·Blue Ghost, etc. —all of which could be called divine techniques: fast strikes, immense power, and no openings.

【Hint: The time limit for using the Realm of All Beings·Layer Three has been reached.】

【The Reaper will return to the real world in one hour.】

After receiving the prompt from the Samsara Paradise, Su Xiao left the Realm of All Beings and chose to enter Sha's private room—this time not to find her for sparring.

Su Xiao had just appeared in a living room when Sha, in an inverted hanging posture, opened her eyes.

"You've got guts!"

"Take it off."

"..."

Sha's expression twisted for a moment, then finally she pulled over a blanket, stripped off her upper clothing, and lay face down on the blanket. Her internal hidden illness still requires 5–6 treatments to heal, and Su Xiao, this alchemist, is her greatest hope for recovery.

After helping Sha clear part of her internal hidden illness, Su Xiao returned to the real world.

……

Peaceful life in the real world began. One day later, Su Xiao sat on the sofa on the first floor of the jewelry store, preparing to second-awaken his talent ability—Soul Eater.

According to Su Xiao's known information, the difficulty of second-awakening talent is nightmare-level.

Su Xiao very much wants to know what changes Soul Eater will undergo after second-awakening. When he saw the soul crystal fragments inside the 【Soul Lock Lamp】, that inner longing arose again—what is it?

If his guess is confirmed, then after second-awakening, Soul Eater will become extremely powerful, possibly even affecting some ability of the Extinction Law Shadow.. m.