Chapter 2922: Rampage of Overgrowth

Su Xiao confirmed that the Cursed One had entered the sea and stepped toward the castle. The dangers in this castle had basically been cleared, except for a secret room in the third basement, where the dangers there couldn't be cleared through the Cursed Ones.

Su Xiao still had many things to do. The heirloom of the Byrne family required for the main mission hadn't been found yet. Baja had searched Baron Byrne's body but didn't find anything too special.

Besides the heirloom of the Byrne family, there was also the hidden mission "Evil Object" just received. The requirement of this mission was simple and crude: just destroy the evil object in the castle. The mission reward was 【Overflowing Soul Box】.

After walking into the main gate of the castle, Su Xiao closed the Reincarnation Paradise prompt. After the Cursed Ones attacked the castle just now, the prompts he received were all screen-filling, all prompts of obtaining Soul Coins.

Through killing the Parasitic Guards in the castle, Su Xiao obtained a total of 895 Soul Coins. As for the treasure chest drops, ignore them for now.

Su Xiao had already discovered that as long as it was a fully open native world notarized by the Tree of Void, once a large number of temporary summons were created, the treasure chest drop rate after killing enemies would drop to an extremely touching degree.

Remember the last time he summoned the Zerg in the Primitive Continent and developed in large numbers, Su Xiao was warned by the Tree of Void many times. At that time, unless he killed lord-level or overlord-level enemies, don't even think about having treasure chest rewards.

Su Xiao suspected that even if he got the "key" to enter the Primitive Continent, and his own strength was temporarily suppressed to the seventh tier, he might not necessarily be able to enter the Primitive Continent.

Zerg sister Jila was still eating and drinking in the Primitive Continent. If Su Xiao entered that trial-natured world, starting with hundreds of thousands of seventh-tier Zerg, the psychological shadow area of the trialers in the same batch as him would be very large.

In the dim castle, Su Xiao walked in a long corridor. The walls on both sides were covered with bloodstains. One could imagine how tragic the battle just now was.

【Prompt: You have cleared the Byrne family on Shipwreck Island.】

【You have obtained 10.5% World's Source.】

【Legend increased by 470 points.】

Glancing at the prompt, Su Xiao continued to go deep into the castle. Soon, he arrived at the first basement of the castle, and a foul odor permeated here. 【2922

The surrounding walls were lined with wooden shelves, upon which sat several large rows of specimen jars, filled with brownish-yellow liquid, inside which one could vaguely see what was being preserved.

Despair, oppression, and blood—this was the first basement level of the Byrne family castle. Seeing those iron cages stained with mottled blood, one could almost still hear the wails of the victims.

Su Xiao followed the stone steps down to the second basement level. Baron Byrne's headless corpse lay on the ground. Ignoring the body, Su Xiao continued downward from the stairs not far away.

Winnie, following behind, stopped. When Amu and Baha also walked down the stairs, Winnie mimicked Baha's gesture and gave Baron Byrne the middle finger. Back on the first basement level, she had nearly vomited; now, the feeling of oppression in her heart had dissipated significantly, and she trotted toward the stairs.

Inside the third basement level of the castle, it was like a labyrinth. The carvings on the walls looked like countless wriggling, tiny insects crawling all over them.

Su Xiao walked into the labyrinth. The method for the Cursed Ones to break through this maze was simple: the walls were too hard, so they relied on numbers. Over a hundred Cursed Ones entered the labyrinth, and after a chaotic exploration and hacking wildly at the walls, they found the secret chamber on the other side.

At every turn, Su Xiao could see a Cursed One. With the guidance of the Cursed Ones, the path was unobstructed all the way to the inner side of the labyrinth.

This was a wall covered in twisted patterns, with a secret door half-open, from which energy drifted out.

Once one entered this secret door, the Cursed Ones' HP would drop at a rate of 10% per second, with a check performed every second. Once a check failed, they would suffer a permanent debuff effect called 'Insect Mutation'.

Su Xiao's hand reached into the energy drifting from the secret door. A stinging sensation spread across his skin. Qing Gang Ying energy surged over his hand, and the stinging sensation receded.

Releasing the Qing Gang Ying energy, Su Xiao had it clinging to his entire body. This state consumed 500 points of Qing Gang Ying energy per second, meaning he could maintain it for about 1 minute.

Su Xiao walked into the secret chamber. It was about 30 square meters in size. On the inner wall, there was a stone-like protrusion, upon which sat half a statue. This statue was about 20 centimeters tall, its upper half shattered, leaving only the lower half. The shape was abstract, with a plump, short tail like a worm, which left a deep impression.

This statue was likely the evil object that needed to be destroyed for the hidden quest.

Su Xiao drew the Zhan Long Shan from his waist and slashed out. The blade stopped just 1 centimeter away from the statue; his perception was warning him, and a stinging sensation of perception appeared all over his body.

Su Xiao frowned. Destroying this evil object with brute force was not impossible, but the cost would be high. This statue resembled a living thing.

Sheathing his long blade, Su Xiao looked at the statue in front of him. He had plenty of experience dealing with such things; after all, he frequently hunted Ancient Gods and fought various rule-breakers.

To deal with the evil object before him, he just needed to use something more bizarre, more evil, and more malicious. Su Xiao had such things in his storage space.

Searching his storage space for a moment, Su Xiao's furrowed brow relaxed. He took out a translucent tentacle and tossed it toward the statue.

As soon as the translucent tentacle touched the statue, tiny insects crawled out from within. These insects wriggled their bodies, each with a mouth full of sharp teeth, and in an instant, they gnawed away most of the translucent tentacle, eventually devouring it completely.

"Mortal, I forgive your disrespect toward me. Kneel, and I shall grant you power."

A deep voice emanated from within the statue. Su Xiao stepped back a few paces, pondered for a moment, and feeling that this distance was still not safe, retreated to the door of the secret chamber. If the situation went wrong, he would withdraw immediately. The danger did not come from the statue, but from the thing that was about to be drawn here.

The translucent tentacle Su Xiao had just thrown was called 【Wriggling Tentacle】. He had encountered an unruly 'Void Alien Existence' during a trade using the Book of Doors.

That 'Void Alien Existence' had appeared 376 years ago and was known as the Fallen Apostle. To other Void Alien Existences, the Fallen Apostle was merely at an infant level—no, it should be at the level of a fertilized egg.

Those powerful Void Alien Existences had lifespans calculated in tens of thousands of years. They drifted in the cracks of space, and attempting to listen to their voices was a very dangerous affair. The knowledge contained in these voices was too vast and chaotic for any living being to bear, unless they had reached a very high level.

In reality, the danger level of Void Alien Existences was on par with Ancient Gods, only the former were more indifferent. After encountering a Void Alien Existence, as long as one did not actively attack them, they were too lazy to bother with the living beings they happened to meet.

But there was one point: if one presented something that satisfied a Void Alien Existence, they would pay with knowledge of equal value—at least most Void Alien Existences were like this. However, if one ate their own kind...

Su Xiao looked at the statue in front of him. He could feel that everything around him showed signs of withering. The Void Alien Existence drawn here this time was a bit too strong. Su Xiao had come into contact with that existence once before; the other party had traded with him. That alien existence was known as:

Frenzy of Overgrowth!

With a crisp 'crack', a sound came from behind the statue. A fissure appeared in the air, like glass cracking. The space of the Eighth Tier world had split open. This world was repelling something, but that existence was still arriving.

Crack! Crack!

Space fissures appeared around the statue. Sensing danger, more tiny insects crawled out from within the statue, wriggling incessantly.

Several tree roots reached out from the space fissure, and one of them touched the statue—it was only the slightest of touches.

"Screech!!"

A piercing wail spread out. Just from the slight touch of the Frenzy of Overgrowth, the statue revealed its true form. A large number of tiny insects formed a humanoid shape; this humanoid had only an upper body. It tilted its head back, its mouth opened to the maximum, pale yellow saliva flowing down the corners of its mouth, and the dozen or so eyeballs on its face were about to pop out. This thing was expressing an exceptionally strong emotion: fear, a fear that could not be expressed in words.

The evil object turned into dust like sand blown by the wind. Seemingly satisfied with this meal, the tree root of the Frenzy of Overgrowth flicked, and a small segment of the root fell off, flying toward Su Xiao.

A sound appeared in Su Xiao's ears. This was more like a single fragment of a musical note, so it expressed very little meaning, roughly: 'Do not touch, untouchable, must not touch directly, etc.'

Because the information was chaotic, once Su Xiao initially understood the meaning of this 'note fragment', he stopped trying to interpret it and instead took out a charcoal box. This was a small box he had pressed from charcoal obtained by burning the bark shed by the Black Maple Tree, specifically used for storing dangerous items.

A small segment of the tree root landed in the charcoal box. With a 'snap', Su Xiao closed the charcoal box tightly. What use this thing had was not yet clear; if its function could be discovered, it would be a huge gain.

If its function could not be discovered, he could consider giving this small segment of tree root to a 'fated person' just like today, letting the Frenzy of Overgrowth 'greet' the other party.

【Hint: You have completed the hidden quest: Evil Object.】

【You have obtained the Overflowing Soul Box.】

Su Xiao looked at the Frenzy of Overgrowth, which had not yet left. This was the most ancient type of Void Alien Existence. It would be a pity not to ask something after drawing it here. Although there was significant risk involved, this encounter was actually very rare.

A long time ago, Su Xiao had traded with this entity and obtained the Alchemy Codex. The two could barely be considered old friends; otherwise, the other party would not have gifted him a small segment of 'tree root'.

"Overgrowth, I have a question I want to ask you."

As Su Xiao spoke, he took out a 【Divine Energy Condensate】. He had 4 of these, obtained in the Source God Village.

Su Xiao tossed out the 【Divine Energy Condensate】. The roots of the Frenzy of Overgrowth wrapped around it but did not absorb it immediately. This was also the reason Su Xiao chose to negotiate with the Frenzy of Overgrowth; although this Void Alien Existence was powerful, it was a decent trading partner.

"What is the function of the First Generation Law-Breaker's finger bone, or rather, how should I use it?"

Hearing Su Xiao's words, the roots of the Frenzy of Overgrowth absorbed the 【Divine Energy Condensate】. A mass of black energy surged on the roots, which quickly condensed into a stone-like substance, then detached and remained suspended in mid-air.

This crystal-like black sphere was about the size of a marble. Su Xiao stepped forward and, after hesitating for a moment, grabbed the small sphere.

【You have obtained the 'Frenzy of Overgrowth's' gift. This gift contains a large amount of information and knowledge, part of which is the method for using the First Generation Law-Breaker's remains.】