Chapter 2515: Clues

In the dark passage, one couldn't even hear the sound of breathing. The quiet atmosphere was suffocating, and two auras were confronting each other.

A wisp of dust fell from the bamboo cracks above. Before the dust could land, two sounds of wind breaking appeared.

Clang, clang, clang!

The two long blades clashed. After three consecutive slashes, Su Xiao retreated half a step.

"Blade Dao Blade: Time."

"Secret: Flow."

Like a wind slash, an elegant semi-circular slash mark swept past Su Xiao's side, eventually dissipating into the air. The person clearly didn't want to destroy this underground passage, so they held back appropriately.

The fluctuation of 'Time' spread, and the person leaped backward almost simultaneously, but was a split second too slow.

Bang!

Su Xiao kicked straight out. He didn't kick the person's torso or lower abdomen, but instead struck their arm.

After a muffled groan, a sense of crisis suddenly appeared in front of Su Xiao's neck.

"Blade Dao Blade: Extreme."

The long blade tore through an afterimage, and a wisp of blood splashed. The person stopped attacking, and blood dripped down their left hand.

A bloodstain also appeared on Su Xiao's shoulder. The opponent's blade was very sharp; the 【Night of Wild Hunt】 long leather coat he wore had almost no defensive power under the opponent's blade.

The person didn't speak, and neither did Su Xiao. They just stood there in a standoff. A moment later, the long blade in the person's hand returned to its sheath, and they turned and walked into the darkness behind them.

Su Xiao didn't pursue; it was meaningless. A life-and-death battle here would only result in being buried a hundred meters underground. As long as they fought with full force, this underground passage would collapse within two rounds.

After waiting for a moment, Su Xiao took out a lighting device and continued forward along the passage. Before long, a fork in the road appeared ahead.

"Xiang Bubu."

"Woof."

"Which way did they go?"

"Woof (Left)."

Su Xiao took Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang and Baja forward. It was worth mentioning that after Baja couldn't fly, it ran very awkwardly—that swaying pace made it easy to get beaten up just by going out.

Walking into the left fork, after about a hundred meters, a rock layer appeared ahead with chiseling marks, clearly blocked by the ultra-high-density rock underground after they had opened the path to here.

After checking, Su Xiao confirmed it was a dead end. He returned along the original path to the fork and headed right this time.

The right passage continued downward. After traveling for a full half-hour, the passage reached its end, and an underground space appeared ahead.

It was no longer dark here; vines emitting blue light grew above. The underground space was three hundred square meters in size. On the ground was a pile of charcoal ash—traces of someone having lived here. Judging by the color of the ash, it was a long time ago.

Besides these, a dead tree was the most conspicuous. There were several blue meridians on this tree, and it was about a dozen meters tall.

Su Xiao knocked on the dead tree; the inside was already hollow. When he pressed his hand on it, a force erupted along his hand.

With a crack, the dead tree shattered, and several light blue crystals mixed with wood chips fell. After Su Xiao picked up one of them, a prompt appeared.

【You have obtained Withered Moon Tree Seed (Epic Grade).】

【Withered Moon Tree Seed】

Origin: World of Origin (Unique)

Quality: Epic Grade (Originally Saint Spirit Grade)

Type: Buff Consumable

Usage Effect 1: After crushing this seed in battle, it will restore 230 Mana points per second for the next 20 seconds (can restore all except for certain special energies; total restoration is 4600 points).

Usage Effect 2: After eating this seed, it will permanently increase 1 point of True Strength and permanently decrease 1 point of True Stamina (up to three seeds can be eaten).

Rating: 700+ (Epic Grade item rating is 530–700 points.)

Introduction: A product of a failed attempt to cultivate a Moon Tree.

Selling Price: 18 Soul Coins.

There were five 【Withered Moon Tree Seeds】 in total. These were good things. Mana-restoring potions were very rare. Su Xiao had been roaming the Reincarnation Paradise for so long, and apart from the Honor Potions exchanged in the Honor Shop, he had seen very few recovery items that could restore Mana. One had to know that he had fought his way from the first tier to the seventh tier.

Restoring Mana was different from restoring Health. Health corresponded to vitality, and the tolerance of vitality was strong; even if the potion's nature was rough, it could be accepted.

Mana was different; it concerned the brain and mental power. Once, a contractor developed a Mana-restoring potion himself and ignored the warnings on the item attributes, drinking a bottle during battle. As a result, that guy became mentally disabled. To this day, that guy's battle video still circulated, and one even had to pay to watch it. This was a typical negative example.

Compared to the 【Withered Moon Tree Seed】's Mana-restoring effect, its second characteristic was very interesting: after eating it, it permanently increased 1 point of Strength and permanently reduced 1 point of Stamina. This was using Stamina attribute to trade for Strength attribute.

Su Xiao wouldn't eat it. Not to mention the damage to the body during the replacement process, using Stamina attribute to 'trade' for Strength attribute had no meaning for him.

Su Xiao wouldn't trade, but that didn't mean other contractors wouldn't be willing to trade. Plus, with the Mana-restoring characteristic, selling each one for 50 Soul Coins would definitely not be a problem.

Putting away the 【Withered Moon Tree Seed】, he had to keep these. Su Xiao sometimes encountered situations where his Green Qing Qing Gang Ying energy was insufficient. In some battles, he would release a large amount of Green Qing Qing Gang Ying energy, and Green Qing Qing Gang Ying energy was converted from Mana.

With this harvest, Su Xiao began to search around. Before long, he found half a wooden ornament on the ground with the character 'Ba' written on it. The other half had been burned to charcoal by fire.

The two original characters on this should have been 'Tianba,' and the Tianba race was transformed by drinking the Water of Origin. Without a doubt, Bamboo Village was related to the Tianba race. A Tianba had once lived underground near Bamboo Village and was cultivating a tree called 【Moon Tree】, but the other party eventually failed.

Tianba was supreme honor in this world. Why would a Tianba hide? This should be related to the Moon Tree.

Su Xiao could feel that he had already grasped a clue. Following this line, the Water of Origin wouldn't be too far away.

Su Xiao hadn't forgotten that the Origin God Village was somewhere in this world. As long as he reached that place, he could find the ancient Gods.

Many signs indicated that the ancient Gods weren't good things. What bad things they had done, Su Xiao wouldn't care; that had nothing to do with him. He never killed enemies under the banner of upholding justice.

The fact that ancient Gods weren't good things was something Su Xiao cared about, because he had a piece of equipment called 【God Judgment】. After he killed an extremely evil God, this equipment could grow.

The reason he had been killing Old Gods to upgrade 【God Judgment】 was because Old Gods basically met the growth requirements of 【God Judgment】, not that he had to kill Old Gods.

Ancient Gods should also be able to satisfy the growth conditions of 【God Judgment】. 【God Judgment】 was simply too suitable for Su Xiao; it could increase Health and nerve reflex speed through Soul Strength.

The current 【God Judgment】 was Epic Grade, increasing Health by 26,000 points and nerve reflex speed by 156%. After 【God Judgment】 was upgraded to Saint Spirit Grade, one could imagine how strong the buff effect would be.

The resources of the Origin God Village were definitely more abundant. Su Xiao entered the World of Origin mainly to find the location of the Origin God Village.

For now, he would complete the main mission first and find the Origin God Village through the clues obtained during the period. After making up his mind, Su Xiao walked toward the inside of the underground space. There was a passage less than two meters wide here.

Walking into the passage, Su Xiao discovered it was a winding staircase leading upward. Following the stone steps, he turned left and right along the way, turning himself until he lost his sense of direction.

At the end of the stone stairs was a metal ladder embedded in the wall, straight upward, at least dozens of meters high. Climbing up the metal ladder, a few minutes later, a small platform appeared ahead. Inside the platform was a hidden door.

Pushing the hidden door—the hidden door was somewhat huge, rotating on a central axis. After the dull sound of rock friction, the room behind the hidden door came into view.

Looking at the room ahead, Su Xiao discovered that this was the room where he had dinner with Chief Qingzhang earlier. On the left side of the room was a screen, on the right hung a dozen bamboo plaques, and connected to the hidden door was the altar and the wall in front of the altar.

Walking into the room, he pushed the altar to close the hidden door. The 'Ba' character on the wall above the altar emitted a faint blue light in the darkness.

After closing the hidden door and simply handling the footprints, Su Xiao took Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang and Baja and left the room, entering the guest room on the right side of the courtyard.

Returning to the guest room, Su Xiao took off his clothes and began to treat the wound on his shoulder. He could feel that this wound was very troublesome. For some reason, the wound healed very slowly. It wasn't affected by energy, otherwise the Green Qing Qing Gang Ying energy would have solved this problem long ago.

Taking out a bandage to wrap the wound, the bleeding was barely stopped. To let this shallow wound heal, it would take at least 3 days or more.

Su Xiao confirmed one thing: the strange things happening near Bamboo Village shouldn't be related to the subsequent encounter last night. The thing that gnawed on the door should be the source of the strange things.

Thinking of these, Su Xiao lay on the bed for a nap. He was waiting for nightfall. Strange things would happen on moonless nights. He was prepared to see what these strange things were, enough to make Chief Qingzhang feel wary. ===== CHAPTER 2516 =====

It was quiet outside the door, and Su Xiao slept lightly until the next morning.

Sitting up from the bed, Su Xiao felt dazed for a moment; the wound on his shoulder still ached somewhat. He walked out of the room, preparing to get some water to wash up.

Su Xiao pushed open the door, and the door to the room opposite happened to open as well. The Chieftain, Qing Zhang, walked out and paused upon seeing Su Xiao.

The Chieftain's left hand was wrapped in white cloth, while Su Xiao's shoulder had a noticeable bulge under his clothing due to the several layers of bandages wrapped around it.

"The weather is nice."

The Chieftain gave a light cough.

"It's alright."

Su Xiao walked past the Chieftain sideways; the sky was overcast with rain.