Chapter 2376: The Opponent You Can Never Defeat

After concluding the trade with the gem merchant, Su Xiao left Luo Street. He had some thoughts of going to the ancient battlefield to absorb blood energy, but it was too dangerous there; it was located within the Void, and if he wasn't careful, he might run into a spellcaster.

Su Xiao certainly had confidence in dealing with spellcasters of the same tier, but if their rank was far higher than his, there was nothing he could do. Su Xiao never challenged opponents he was destined to be unable to defeat. He didn't believe in things like escaping from a desperate situation; if the enemy was that much stronger than him, would their tracking methods be weak? Absolutely impossible. He wasn't Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang, who could blend into the environment.

Against such enemies, they would crush him in every aspect. If he encountered one, there was a 99.9% chance he would die. Su Xiao wouldn't gamble on that 0.1%; he chose to accumulate strength gradually and would only go to fight such enemies once he could win.

It was more reliable to nourish his blood energy slowly. He could feel that it wouldn't be long before his aura projection ability recovered.

After circling the trading market a few times, Su Xiao arrived at the stall where Beni was located. Beni had already received two epic-grade recovery potions, and counting what was obtained from opening treasure chests earlier, there were three in total.

This was far from enough. The breakthrough of the 150-point attribute barrier would surely be fraught with difficulties; it would be safe only with at least eight or more recovery potions.

Leaving Beni to continue the acquisitions, Su Xiao returned to his exclusive room. After pushing open the door, he saw Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang with half its body burrowed under the bed, not knowing what it was doing, its tail wagging quite happily.

Su Xiao squatted behind Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang. After about ten seconds, Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang felt something was wrong. It backed out from under the bed and slowly turned its head. When it saw Su Xiao, it shivered in fright.

"What are you hiding?"

"Gulu~"

Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang stretched its head and widened its eyes, gulping down the thing in its mouth with a 'gulu' sound, choking until its eyes rolled back.

Su Xiao looked under the bed and found no signs of it being dismantled, then turned his gaze back to Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang.

Xiang Bubu stole a glance at the slippers by the head of the bed, its little eyes revealing a trace of final stubbornness amidst the worry.

Finding nothing, Su Xiao began to inlay the final gem into Checking Zhan Long Shan.

【To perform this inlay, a total of 350,000 Paradise Coins must be paid.】

Gem inlaying was not something he had done only once or twice; Su Xiao completed the inlay skillfully. The Shadow Moon Gem turned to the size of a rice grain and was inlaid into the groove at the end of Checking Zhan Long Shan's hilt, symmetrical with the other two gems.

With the combat power upgrade complete, Su Xiao felt much more relaxed. He entered the alchemy laboratory and took out the 【Alchemy Codex】, flipping through this thick metal book.

Su Xiao could only open the first page. Only after deciphering the 275 imprints on the first page could he open the second page and view the alchemy recipes on the back of the first page.

Su Xiao's finger pointed at the 32nd imprint on the first page. Last time, he had felt mental fatigue after deciphering up to this point, and he hadn't had time to decipher it while in the war world.

Just as his mental energy was about to be injected into the 32nd imprint, Su Xiao heard retching sounds from outside the door. He ignored it, his thoughts gradually concentrating.

The flow of time seemed to slow down. In his perception, the surroundings gradually darkened, and countless array diagrams appeared. These array diagrams rapidly shrank, forming a new array diagram, and then this cycled.

Not knowing if it was an illusion, Su Xiao felt that his mental energy seemed to have become tougher—not an increase in total quantity, but a change in quality.

Various types of alchemy knowledge appeared in Su Xiao's mind. He became immersed in it, even forgetting the passage of time.

Unknowingly, Su Xiao felt mental fatigue. This feeling was trying to push him out of the Alchemy Codex. The more he persisted, the stronger this repulsive force became.

Perhaps it was a few seconds, perhaps just an instant, Su Xiao's mental energy was pushed out of the Alchemy Codex. The blue light on the first page's imprints gradually dimmed.

Removing his finger, Su Xiao looked at the Alchemy Codex. 93 imprints on the first page had lit up, presenting a pale blue color, while the imprints further back were gray.

This time, Su Xiao had deciphered 61 imprints, nearly double compared to the 32 from last time. Now he could be certain that every time he deciphered the Alchemy Codex, his mental energy would become tougher.

Su Xiao rubbed his brow with one hand and began to organize the knowledge in his mind. After nearly an hour and a half, he had straightened out the knowledge in his mind. After two hours, he had mastered this knowledge preliminarily; mastering it completely was just a matter of time, which he could do in a few days at most.

【Alchemy Bomb Manufacturing has been upgraded to lv. 29 (upgraded by lv. 6).】

【Alchemy Potion Manufacturing has been upgraded to lv. 29 (upgraded by lv. 6).】

【Alchemy Creature Manufacturing has been upgraded to lv. 29 (upgraded by lv. 6).】

【Plant Harmonization Chapter has been upgraded to lv. 44 (upgraded by lv. 7).】

All branches of alchemy had been upgraded. If other alchemists in the Void knew about this, they would definitely form groups and hire people to come to his door, fighting to the death to snatch the Alchemy Codex.

Su Xiao rested for a moment, and his fatigued mind eased a lot. It was impossible to decipher the Alchemy Codex again within the next few days; that would cause permanent damage to his mental energy.

With his current alchemy level, it was enough to do one thing: the third development of Apollo.

He had already decided to temporarily sacrifice Apollo's activation time to develop an Apollo with a slower activation speed but powerful destructive force.

As for the range, two kilometers was enough for now, but the power was far from enough. The strong enemies he encountered now all had health points as high as tens of thousands, such as the Alien King, who could withstand 2 to 3 Apollos without any problem.

What Su Xiao wanted to do was to make strong people like the Alien King unable to bear it after enduring one Apollo, or simply not be able to dodge it. Once hit, even if they didn't turn into ashes, they would have to be severely injured—the kind where ordinary strong people would be wiped out in one blast.

With the development idea in mind, Su Xiao took out a large piece of fire gold and 10 soul crystals (large), plus a few small pieces of sun wreckage, and began to experiment.

The fact that few materials were needed didn't mean the production was simple; developing it was even harder, after all, there were only three types of materials for Apollo.

Time passed quickly during the development. When the timer rang, Su Xiao had already placed the semi-finished Apollo in the cooling liquid. This was an Apollo in transition, and it would take more than 170 hours to get the result. Developing Apollo was not a simple matter.

There were 16 hours of stay time left. He had to leave 10 hours to go to the Land of All Living Things to develop sword techniques, and then return to the real world.

For the remaining 6 hours, Su Xiao had nothing important to do. The arena couldn't be fought; he was currently in first place, and the top five had all blocked him. Going to match opponents again would result in 9 out of the top ten blocking him, and Su Xiao didn't have much interest in bullying the weak.

The arena couldn't be fought, but there was an opponent waiting for Su Xiao at any time. That's right, the Butcher of Living Beings, the only opponent so far who had hacked Su Xiao to the point of feeling somewhat helpless.

Su Xiao's Sword Technique Master had reached lv. 46, and he now had the qualifications to defeat the Butcher of Living Beings.

Taking out the 【Chapter of Greed】, as mana was consumed, he felt a suction force. The next moment, his consciousness entered the 【Chapter of Greed】.

The four sides were still misty walls, the stone slabs on the ground were black, and a long sword was inserted in front of Su Xiao, with blue flames rising from the hilt.

Su Xiao grasped the hilt of the Blue-Devouring long sword and stood up with the sword. This sword was named Blue-Devouring.

Gray mist surged, and a tall figure walked out from the gray mist. He held a long-handled broadsword. This weapon was nearly three meters long in total, the hilt alone was one meter, the blade was nearly two meters, and the edge was about four fingers wide. The whole thing didn't look clumsy; instead, it appeared sharp and unstoppable.

The Butcher of Living Beings had arrived. His skin was dark red, and cracks could still be vaguely seen. The tattered clothes hung down in strips, and there were fragments of broken armor on his skin in some places.

"Butcher of Living Beings · Punishment."

Blue flames formed these five words, which then dissipated.

Being killed 76 times made Su Xiao very familiar with the Butcher of Living Beings. He lowered his body slightly, red light flashing in his eyes.

With a boom, Su Xiao and the Butcher of Living Beings lunged at each other simultaneously. The Blue-Devouring long sword and the Decapitating broadsword slashed at each other's necks at the same time.

Su Xiao really wanted to know what he could obtain after defeating the Butcher of Living Beings, who the next opponent would be, and how strong they would be. Referring to the combat power of the Old Saint Monk and the Butcher of Living Beings, and the number of times Su Xiao had been "hacked to death" by these two, the third soul manifestation should also be outrageously strong, he just didn't know to what extent. ===== CHAPTER 2377 =====