Chapter 2864

Su Xiao didn't quite know what the gurgling sounds were, but he guessed they weren't from this world, but from the outside—perhaps another primordial world, or perhaps some more hidden place.

When the barren village was scorched by the sun and on the brink of despair, they wouldn't sit and wait for death, so through unknown means they summoned the gurgling sounds.

Trading too much with the gurgling sounds would bring misfortune, but when facing utter desperation, the villagers of the barren village couldn't care less, which led to this scene: the barren village met its end in relative peace, unlike other places where monsters ran rampant.

The Ganglu Dynasty wasn't destroyed; they truly built the Sun Ladder and arrived at the Holy Land, and they even created a 'sun' there—since they couldn't get the real sun, they manufactured one.

At first, the Holy Land's 'sun' brought beneficial effects, making the Ganglu Dynasty even more prosperous, but for some unknown reason, the 'sun' began to scorch them—this became the Ganglu Dynasty's greatest sorrow: they hadn't perished, yet they were worse off than if they had vanished in the river of history.

Su Xiao reflected on his previous path: he had gone from the edge of the Holy Land → Warm Forest → Barren Village.

Upon reaching the barren village, he had two options: climb the wall behind the great stone house, or go deep into the underground passage inside the great stone house.

Climbing the wall would clearly get him to the central area faster, but Su Xiao still didn't know what was on the wall.

Since there was a shortcut, of course he'd take it—after crafting the sun potion, he'd check what dangers lay on the wall.

Less than three hours later, dragging sounds came from outside the great stone house; Su Xiao looked out and saw the priest returning.

At this moment, the priest was dragging a massive beast with two wings growing from its back; the beast somewhat resembled a dragon species, its entire body covered in dark gold exoskeleton.

"What you wanted."

The priest placed a glass pillar on the ground, inside which was golden powder; after setting it down, he began processing the beast's corpse.

A few minutes later, Su Xiao sat at the workbench mixing; he couldn't find the original ingredients for the sun potion, but he could substitute them, and moreover, his mixing technique was something the Healing Church lacked.

The relationship between the Healing Church and the Ganglu Dynasty was not ordinary—it seemed they had once depended on the Ganglu Dynasty, or rather, the four forces of the Magic Association, the Healing Divine Church, the Steam Alliance, and the Fate Church had all once obeyed the Ganglu Dynasty, only later becoming independent and forming a climate.

Among them, the predecessor of the Magic Association was the Holy Seal School—this wasn't Su Xiao's guess; the core power of the occultists was precisely the Holy Seal.

Not long after, Su Xiao mixed a bottle of sun potion.

【Sun Potion (Perfect)】

Origin: Spirit Beast Star

Quality: Spirit Lord Grade

Type: Functional Potion

Effect: After drinking, exempt from the 'sun's' scorching for 6 hours.

Perfect Grade Bonus: The exemption time from the 'sun's' scorching increases by 6 hours, i. e., the exempt effect lasts 12 hours.

……

Su Xiao began mixing bottle after bottle of 【Sun Potion】; shortly after, he had mixed 21 bottles of 【Sun Potion】, of which 18 were perfect quality and 3 were ordinary.

Mixing this wasn't difficult—not because the Healing Divine Church's knowledge reserves were weak, but because they couldn't compare to the alchemical civilization of the Second Era.

Materials exhausted, Su Xiao stored the 18 bottles of 【Sun Potion (Perfect)】; with these potions, he, Bubu Wang, and Bahah could move freely within the Holy Land for three days.

The remaining 3 bottles of ordinary 【Sun Potion】, Su Xiao remixed them, turning them into 5 bottles, each granting a 3-hour benefit.

"With my potion-making level, this is the limit."

Su Xiao threw 2 bottles of 【Sun Potion】 to the priest; this potion could resist 3 hours of the 'sun's' scorching, totaling 6 hours.

The priest looked at Su Xiao's remaining 3 bottles of 【Sun Potion】 and said nothing.

"The trade continues—I want to know what's on the wall; the reward is 1 bottle of sun potion."

"Deal achieved,"

The priest suddenly spoke, smiling as he continued: "Just now I scouted the situation above—absolutely cannot climb the wall; even if it's you and me, once we reach a certain height, we'll die; whatever's up there is not to be provoked, and throwing explosives up there is also ineffective."

"Is that so."

Su Xiao threw a bottle of sun potion to the priest; the ordinary, castrated-version sun potion still had 2 bottles left.

"Bai Ye, we'll go around the edge of the wall and enter through the main gate—though there are 23 Sun Warriors guarding there, it's still safer than climbing the wall."

"..."

Su Xiao rose and came to the left wall, tapped it with his scholar's wooden staff, and a hidden door opened.

"This way."

Su Xiao drank a bottle of perfect-quality sun potion, threw another to Bahah, and then walked into the underground passage.

The priest inside the great stone house pondered for a moment, then also entered the underground passage; his current sun potion would last 9 hours, but the time was still too short—unless absolutely necessary, he wouldn't use his trump card.

The underground passage was pitch black; relying on perception to probe ahead, Su Xiao advanced for over half an hour before feeling himself gradually descending deeper underground.

An arched stone gate appeared ahead; in this damp, dark environment, beyond the gate came firelight.

Pa!

A crisp sound came from behind the arched gate; Su Xiao approached the gate, leaned against the wall, and peered inside.

On both sides of a narrow passage overgrown with black moss stood iron-barred doors, with rusted iron chains hanging down from above.

A Sun Warrior gripped an iron whip; before him were several ragged, emaciated laborers wearing hoods, forming a circle and dragging wooden poles connected to a large stone mill, which looked like a ship's rudder.

【Hint: You have reached the Prison of Suffering.】

Su Xiao walked slowly forward, not drawing Dragon-Slaying Flash, for the terrain was too narrow—the entire passage was less than two meters wide, and the ahead recess wasn't spacious either; the Soul's Whisper dagger appeared in his hand.

Su Xiao slowly approached the Sun Warrior ahead; his breath was completely restrained, there were no other enemies nearby, only this one blocking the path ahead.

Silently arriving behind the Sun Warrior, Su Xiao slashed his short blade toward the warrior's neck.

With a swish, the Sun Warrior, whose body was inlaid with armor plates, had his throat cut—right in the gap between the plates—and blood spurted several meters away.

This slash taught Su Xiao about the Sun Warrior's bodily defense; the enemy's body was extremely tough, and the Soul's Whisper dagger, after cutting one-fifth into the neck, was blocked by the enemy's flesh and blood.

Having his throat slit, the Sun Warrior's eyes widened; he showed no panic, but instead tensed the muscles at his neck, crossed his arms in front of his body, and then swung his elbows backward to strike.

"Roar! "

The Sun Warrior let out a battle cry, and scorching pale gold energy erupted from him as the center point.

With a crack, Su Xiao's left hand, wrapped in a crystalline layer, five fingers pierced into the wall beside him, bracing against the incoming impact, and he stabbed his blade toward the Sun Warrior's hind heart.

The short blade sank into flesh and blood, even producing a sizzling sound as it split muscle, but this stab was nevertheless sidestepped by the Sun Warrior, who caught it with his side rib.

Pulling out the short blade, it flipped in Su Xiao's hand; he lowered his head to dodge the Sun Warrior's rear-swinging arm, then stabbed the short blade toward the warrior's lower jaw—first piercing the tongue, then entering the upper mouth, and finally lodging there.

Boom.

The Sun Warrior swung down with one side, shattering the stone wall beside him; his eyes seemed to burn with golden flames, sparks flickering across his armor plates as he lunged straight at Su Xiao.

Su Xiao's pupils gradually narrowed as he lowered his body, delivering a downward-angled straight kick.

Crack!

The Sun Warrior's right shin bone facing him snapped into a V-shape, his body lurching forward as Su Xiao braced with his right hand—don't forget, the Soul Whisper Short Blade was still embedded in the Sun Warrior's chin.

Su Xiao pressed his palm against the hilt's end; with a swish, the short blade pierced the Sun Warrior's skull, the bloodied tip bursting from his crown—yet even so, the Sun Warrior remained fierce.

Click!

Su Xiao shoved the short blade upward, cleaving more than half of the Sun Warrior's skull; his massive hand reaching for Su Xiao froze midair before finally dropping.

The priest witnessed the entire scene, his cheeks twitching slightly—not because of Su Xiao's ruthless strike, but because the Sun Warrior was just as formidable in single combat.

Su Xiao drew the short blade, cleaved the iron cell door beside him, and hurled the Sun Warrior's corpse inside; he half-crouched on the ground, left hand pressed to the floor, closed his eyes to sense, and after a moment confirmed no one else had been alerted.

【Prompt: You have slain Sun Warrior·Klesh.】

【You have obtained 4.2% of the World's Source.】

【You have obtained 107 Soul Coins (high-region bonus, unexplored-region bonus).】

【You have obtained 'Holy Spirit-tier Chest·Warrior' (since this chest is produced by the Holy Land·Chiliad, opening it will likely yield Holy Spirit-tier items, with a small chance of Immortal-tier items).】

【Prompt: Opening this chest has a chance to yield this world-exclusive Holy Spirit-tier set, the Sun Warrior Set (8/8).】

……

The reward for slaying the Sun Warrior is extremely high, but this enemy is hard to kill—three strikes to vital points, plus heavy true damage from Qing Steel Shadow, along with the Sword Master's bonus to short blades, and that downward kick; even the final head-piercing blow didn't kill him, only cleaving half his brain brought him down.

Su Xiao continued forward, having taken only a few steps before stopping before an iron cell door; within this prison, a skeleton emitting white fluorescence leaned against the wall.

After observing for a moment, Su Xiao suspected this was the 'Soul Skeleton' mentioned in the Soul Shop—activating it would refresh the Soul Shop, allowing high-value items to appear.