Chapter 2199

The blue crystal on Su Xiao's fingertip shattered with a crack, which meant that given enough time, he could silently destroy the seal at the bottom of the Source Pool.

That is to say, Su Xiao could complete the sixth ring of the main quest at any time.

For a task with an eight-day time limit, Su Xiao found the method to complete it in just seventeen minutes and twenty-five seconds, and at most one hour, he could destroy the seal at the bottom of the Source Pool.

One can imagine that completing an eight-day time-limited task in about an hour would yield a very high mission evaluation, and moreover, the reward for the sixth ring task is still based on completion degree; finishing within one hour means the reward is not simply doubled.

Su Xiao did not intend to complete the sixth ring task within one hour; from a profit perspective, what he needed to do afterward would yield far more than the mission reward, and what he needed was time—time being more precious—and the eight-day time limit of the task was exactly what he wanted.

Su Xiao had not forgotten that the Kingdom of God has regional rewards, which can be exchanged for rewards using soul coins (seventh tier), among which 【God's Judgment】 and 【Heaven's Walk】 are both very powerful equipment, with 【Heaven's Walk】 being of Holy Spirit tier, rarer than 'Special Equipment' as an accessory.

As for 【God's Judgment】, it goes without saying—it is growth-type equipment; Su Xiao has obtained two growth-type items before: 【Holy Traveler】 and 【Watcher】, worn by Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Bubu Wang and Amu respectively.

These two growth-type preparations both have a major flaw: unclear growth conditions; 【God's Judgment】 is different—simply wearing it and killing an evil spirit suffices, simple and straightforward.

To obtain 【Heaven's Walk】 and 【God's Judgment】, Su Xiao needs a total of 234 seventh-tier soul coins.

Currently, Su Xiao only has 21 seventh-tier soul coins, plus a soul coin pouch.

Killing a Tianba warrior has a high chance of dropping a soul coin pouch, with a probability of at least over 90%, and each soul coin pouch can yield 1 to 10 seventh-tier soul coins.

The Abyssal Serpent Manor has many Tianba warriors, but killing them is very difficult; these Tianba warriors have been eroded by the Source to the point of impaired consciousness, and although they mostly maintain rationality, they are all extreme shut-ins who rarely leave their pavilions.

As for a frontal assault on the Abyssal Serpent Manor, don't joke—even if a seventh-tier adventurer group arrived, a volley from over a hundred water-affinity Tianba warriors would cause them to shut down just the same.

Using Apollo bombs is also unreliable; the terrain of the Abyssal Serpent Manor is unsuitable for Apollo, and even if Bahamut timed the throw perfectly from above, the Apollo might not even land inside before being pierced by arrows in midair; Apollo is better suited for dealing with enemies in sealed terrain or those unable to leave a certain area.

Frontal assault offers no hope, stealth assassination is impossible, and Apollo purification is out of the question—no matter how you look at it, Su Xiao cannot kill Tianba warriors inside the Abyssal Serpent Manor.

Su Xiao's plan is to kill openly; as for how this plan will be executed, it is actually not too difficult.

When frontal assault fails, of course one must use one's brain; knowing one cannot win yet still charging straight into the Abyssal Serpent Manor is not bravery, but stupidity.

Bursting with power at the critical moment of battle to turn danger into safety and greatly increase strength—such things, I'm sorry, Su Xiao does not have this talent, nor similar experience; his victories against strong foes come from technique, combat intelligence, combat experience, and equipment accumulation, plus the will to never give up even at death's door—as long as he can still swing his blade, it is not total defeat; this is Su Xiao's belief in battle: even if his hands and feet are cut off, it's fine as long as he can behead the enemy.

Su Xiao sat on the stone pillar; his plan was as follows: first, he must consume the demonic power within the Demon Vessel, at least over ten percent of the total.

Second, he must find a way to control a Tianba warrior, who must be of the Melee (Close Combat) trait, and then remodel this Tianba warrior into an alchemical creature, requiring the ability to remotely control its actions.

Bahamut has advanced to Servant in the previous world, so Su Xiao has freed a summon slot, which happens to be usable for controlling a Tianba warrior.

When the summoned creature kills enemies, Su Xiao can similarly gain rewards; he plans to use this to obtain soul coin pouches.

Su Xiao does not intend to let the Tianba warrior he controls assassinate other Tianba warriors inside the Abyssal Serpent Manor, for that would eventually be exposed, causing massive losses—a one-for-one exchange is already a super loss, and even one-for-three may not profit.

After mastering the Tianba language, Su Xiao learned that before the Tianba warriors of the Abyssal Serpent Manor fully turn into monsters, they will have their kin eliminate them, and most Tianba warriors do not wish to become monsters.

This can be exploited: Su Xiao can control a Tianba warrior to seek out those about to turn into monsters, negotiate, and then openly eliminate them; this way, even if other Tianba warriors are alarmed, it poses no problem.

Over a thousand Tianba warriors reside in the Abyssal Serpent Manor; Su Xiao does not believe so many Tianba warriors lack those about to turn into monsters—after drinking the Source Water, frequent combat shortens the interval to monster transformation, especially for Melee-trait Tianba warriors; the so-called Melee trait actually means being soaked by the Source in the organs.

In this plan, how to control a Melee-trait Tianba warrior is the most crucial; failure here renders everything else empty talk.

After learning this plan, Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Bubu Wang quickly ran out of the Stone Forest, heading to the rear region of the Abyssal Serpent Manor to find a suitable Melee-trait Tianba warrior for executing the plan; most Tianba warriors wearing melee weapons are Melee-trait, easy to identify.

The prerequisite for achieving all this is to first create chaos; Su Xiao has an item very suitable for this purpose.

【Old God Ashes】

Origin: Wizard World

Effect: After use, it can summon an Old God (random); the Old God requires 1.7 seconds to build its body, and after successful construction, the Old God will exist for 30 to 45 minutes.

……

Su Xiao exerted force in his hand; the silver round bottle shattered, and white powder scattered, floating in midair.

Threads swiftly traced out, outlining a figure wearing a bone mask, under 1.4 meters tall, drawn in the air; he wore a red robe inlaid with silver patterns.

"Time, place, who do you want me to kill."

The short-statured Old God spoke in a deep voice.

"Charge over there, delay as much as possible."

Su Xiao pointed toward the direction of the Abyssal Serpent Manor.

"Draw the enemy army's attention? That ominous aura—is it a gathering place of Ancient God believers?"

The short-statured Old God's arm flicked, and a blade shot out from his sleeve.

"You may consider it so."

"Understood; I hope you succeed."

The short-statured Old God rushed out, leaping a few times before vanishing into the Stone Forest; a few minutes later.

"Light!"

With a boom, the sky above the Abyssal Serpent Manor exploded into brightness, strong light surging forth.

"Dark!"

The light suddenly vanished, and the sky above the Abyssal Serpent Manor turned pitch black.

"Gather!"

Light and darkness converged in the sky, arrows raining toward the heavens; the entire Abyssal Serpent Manor was like a hornet's nest viciously stabbed, and the hatred drawn by the short-statured Old God was absolutely full marks.

At this moment, Su Xiao half-crouched on a pavilion behind the Abyssal Serpent Manor, while Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Bubu Wang was positioned before the rear window of that pavilion.

With a thud, Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Bubu Wang rammed headfirst into the rear window, then turned and fled.

A figure with light blue skin, wearing a loose green robe, rushed out from the attic; when he was in midair, he scanned his surroundings and immediately locked onto the fleeing Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Bubu Wang.

Just as this Tianba warrior prepared to give chase, a breaking wind sound suddenly came from behind and above him.

Pfft!

A long blade slipped past the Tianba warrior's neck and pierced through, directly penetrating his torso, the blade tip stabbing out from his flank.

The long blade was pitch black, but as it just entered the Tianba warrior's torso, the blackness on the blade quickly faded.

"Crack~"

The Tianba warrior whose torso was pierced made a strange sound from his mouth, his ten fingers curled like claws, eyes wide open, and he rolled his eyes upward.

Su Xiao grabbed the Tianba warrior's nape; just as he seized it, he felt something was wrong—the 10% demonic power in the Demon Vessel might be wasted.

【You have obtained Soul Money Pouch x1.】

The Taba tribesman pierced through the torso collapsed, a single strike would certainly not directly take his life, but the corrosive nature of demonic power was too strong, he could not withstand it, and died from the erosion of demonic power.

Nothing will ever go as smoothly as imagined; although losing demonic power is painful, Su Xiao immediately sent Xiang Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Bubu Wang to search for candidate targets, for failing to control a Taba tribesman before the old god is scattered would be a loss.

A dense volley of arrows flew toward the sky; the diminutive old god did not disappoint Su Xiao, he maneuvered for nearly two minutes before being scattered, turning back into ashes—knowing that being able to maneuver against so many Taba tribesmen for two minutes is already an astonishing feat.

……

In a pavilion behind the Abyssal Serpent Manor, Su Xiao gazed ahead at a Taba tribesman wearing a purple long robe; this tribesman is named Sang Leng, 'Sang Leng' being the phonetic transliteration of the Taba pronunciation, meaning respect and reverence.

Black light flickered on Su Xiao's hand; the Taba tribesman·Sang Leng slowly rose from the ground, his movements stiff—this is sufficient control without alchemical transformation.

As for how many Soul Money Pouches can be obtained through Sang Leng, it remains unknown for now; Su Xiao looks forward to it.