Chapter 3065: Monster

After Su Xiao took his seat, he did not make a choice immediately. In reality, he hadn't decided which one to pick. Any contractor capable of joining the Phantom Troupe possessed decent personal ability; any of these three would suffice.

"Mr. Bai Ye, I have a suggestion."

An spoke, a smile—or rather, a fake smile—permanently fixed on his face.

Su Xiao looked at An without speaking. After being stared at by Su Xiao for a moment, the fake smile on An's face stiffened. He lowered his head slightly, muttered an apology, and stopped smiling.

"State your suggestion."

Su Xiao tossed a Soul Crystal (Small) into his mouth and chewed slowly. The expressions of An, Wumei, and Youyouan all stiffened. With their current strength, obtaining a Soul Crystal (Small) was difficult, and even if they did, it would be used to upgrade their primary abilities.

"We understand the requirements you've set. The Wolf Spider bloodline is powerful, but it depends on the user. Why don't the three of us have a fight, and the survivor trades with you?"

That An could make such a suggestion clearly meant he didn't fear Wumei, who was at the Second Tier.

"What era is this to be dueling? Save your energy."

Baham spoke. Naturally, he and Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang were present for such an interesting event. Benny actually wanted to come too, but for certain reasons, she couldn't show herself.

"I have an idea. You guys... draw lots."

The Witch spoke suddenly, her gaze meaningful.

"Draw lots?"

An didn't react for a moment, Wumei was completely confused, and Youyouan was even more bewildered. She/he felt that the situation was unfolding in an increasingly bizarre way.

"Good suggestion. A prior warning: whoever dares to cheat in the drawing will be killed. Of course, anyone is free to withdraw. We have the right to choose, and so do you."

Baham took out a piece of white paper, drew on it, and showed it to the three. The paper was marked, and he tore it into three pieces, folding them all.

"Whoever draws the piece with the mark, we trade with."

Baham placed the three paper slips on the table, his perception fully unleashed, and said, "You can try to deceive my perception. It's only Eighth Tier perception, but if you work hard, maybe you'll manage to fool me."

Hearing this, not to mention An, Wumei, and Youyouan, even the Witch on the side felt speechless. "Only Eighth Tier perception"—the phrasing sounded awkward.

Almost simultaneously, Su Xiao and Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang released their perception. The room became so quiet a needle drop could be heard. The three people across the table felt immense pressure, fine beads of sweat seeping onto their foreheads.

"Begin."

Baham's eagle talons blurred into afterimages as he shuffled the three slips and pushed them forward.

The three exchanged glances. Wumei chose first, followed by An, and finally Youyouan.

Wumei opened her slip, gave a light scoff, and placed the blank slip on the table. An, beside her, took a deep breath—this was a chance to change his fate. He opened his slip, remained expressionless for a moment, and finally gave a bitter laugh.

"I... I think I drew it."

Youyouan timidly displayed his slip; it had a mark on it.

"You're Youyouan, right? I hope our future cooperation is pleasant."

"Mm."

Youyouan's gaze darted away. Seeing this, Baham smiled even more "kindly."

An and Wumei left. Youyouan sat obediently across from them, head down, playing with his fingers.

Was Youyouan a timid, honest contractor? Of course not. The three slips Baham had made were all blank. The reason for doing this was that obtaining low-tier unique resources sometimes required facing unimaginable risks; having the courage to bear that risk was the key.

Don't be fooled by Youyouan's current appearance; he was actually wickedly cunning—timid in daily life, but striking with a heavy fist at critical moments.

After Su Xiao drafted a contract, Youyouan across from him didn't hesitate and signed it directly. He knew very well that an Eighth Tier contractor had no need to trick him with such troublesome methods. Besides, within the Reincarnation Paradise, the punishment for tampering with a contract was brutal.

Su Xiao placed a scroll on the table. It was covered in blood-red patterns that vaguely formed the shape of a wolf spider—it was the Wolf Spider bloodline.

"This... do you need it?"

Youyouan also took out a scroll and placed it on the table, his gaze darting away.

【Prompt: You have obtained Basic Passive · Spirit Thought.】

【Basic Passive · Spirit Thought, Lv. 1.】

Type: Basic · Passive Scroll

Prerequisite: Intelligence attribute 5 points.

Skill Effect 1: Mental strength +1 point, mental resilience +1 point, mental extensibility +1 point.

Skill Effect 2: When using mental, magic, or similar abilities, consumption is reduced by 1%.

Su Xiao put away 【Basic Passive · Spirit Thought】. The trader he chose this time was quite good and worth long-term development. Although he had already mastered basic abilities with intelligence characteristics, this scroll could be used to trade for other types of Basic · Passive scrolls.

"Follow us."

As Baham spoke, Su Xiao and Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang were already walking out. The Witch didn't follow; she was still racking her brain over what price to pay to obtain the "Despair Set."

Ten-plus minutes later, Su Xiao returned to Reid's blacksmith shop. Reid was already waiting.

"Reid, this is Youyouan. He will be having equipment forged here from now on."

"Mm."

Reid looked Youyouan up and down, seemingly muttering something about what kind of trash equipment he was using.

"Are you male or female?"

"Female—male... cough, I am a boy."

Youyouan wasn't lying on purpose; his brain had suffered irreversible damage, often leading to cognitive/memory errors. For example, he sometimes had to manually confirm his own gender.

"Come back in half an hour. I'll forge you a full set of Blue-quality equipment. Pay the forging costs within three worlds. Come find me again when you reach the Second Tier."

After Reid finished speaking, he picked up an ancient book again and read it carefully. Note that he didn't say a piece, but a full set. Youyouan's heart was excited, but he was trying hard to restrain it.

Before long, a cat walked into the blacksmith shop, looked Youyouan up and down, and left.

"Youyouan, find her if you need potions in the future. Just in time, the Black Merchant is here too."

Before Baham finished speaking, a member of the Black Sail Merchant Group wearing a black mask walked into the forge. He continued:

"Find the Black Merchant for purchasing items in the future. That's basically it. You can go now. After obtaining the items we need, send them to Reid."

After arranging everything for Youyouan, Su Xiao left the forge. If nothing went wrong, the chance of him seeing Youyouan again was low. The reason he had Reid, Benny, and the Black Merchant provide the other party with a certain degree of convenience was mainly to facilitate "free-range" raising. That's right, he intended to completely free-range this contractor named Youyouan.

Unless necessary, he would never meet again. Maintaining sufficient distance would prevent the other party from understanding him. The strongest emotion is fear, and the greatest fear comes from the unknown. Maintaining this relationship was best; it could save a lot of trouble.

Tool-man Youyouan was successfully free-ranged. Even if he died, the loss wouldn't be unacceptable; consider it accumulating free-range experience.

Returning to his exclusive room, Su Xiao felt completely relaxed. Most of the resources obtained this time had been converted into combat power. 【Honor Crystal x3】 and 【Star Fall Furnace】 were temporarily kept. The former was for strengthening Zhan Long Shan, but since he had too few 【Refined Immortal Stones】, he wasn't in a hurry to strengthen Zhan Long Shan.

The mining shovel obtained from opening the treasure chest had been sold, and 【Burning Desire (Immortal Grade)】 had also been sold just now for 14,950 Soul Coins. After deducting the 10% auction fee, he received 13,455 Soul Coins.

Su Xiao's Soul Coins reached 28,676. He could try setting up the "Eye Ritual" in a corner of the alchemy lab. The cost of setting up this ritual was extremely high, but the benefit was that as long as sufficient resources were invested, the ritual would remain effective, allowing for the cultivation of various "Eyes" through it.

First was exchanging for materials. Su Xiao spent nearly 16,000 Soul Coins before gathering the materials needed for the Eye Ritual. The ritual blood, evil-characteristic marrow fluid, and the soul of gestation bred by the hotbed were all ridiculously expensive.

Fortunately, Su Xiao was an alchemist, and he was confident he could complete the setup in one go.

Su Xiao opened a half-meter-thick sealed bottle and used mental power to draw out the ritual blood inside. A lot of ritual blood was needed; it was the base of the ritual.

Five hours later, Su Xiao wiped the sweat from his nose. In the corner in front of him was a large mass of tangled tentacles, all dark red, with a base underneath.

The eye ritual is complete. What follows is simple: just add the main ingredient for cultivating the 'Eye', along with a few auxiliary materials with specified properties, and you can attempt to cultivate the 'Eye'.

Su Xiao took out a finger-thick metal bottle; inside was dark matter. He was going to cultivate a "Dark Eye."

First, he added several auxiliary materials, and the dark red tentacles below became active. Su Xiao opened the small bottle containing the dark matter and poured out the highly compressed dark matter inside.

The dark red tentacles below immediately turned black and tangled together, leaving a circular hole in the center. The "Dark Eye" would grow there.

While waiting for the Dark Eye to cultivate, Su Xiao set about creating a Devourer. Having created one before, he was familiar with the process this time. He could only say, thanks to Sweet Orange; her cells were truly easy to use, and they could still reproduce even when almost used up.

A long time later, a new Devourer was cultivated. Its initial form was still a black-green semi-fluid. Su Xiao anesthetized the Devourer with inert gas; this was the Devourer's weakness, and it was unlikely for outsiders to know.

After completing the anesthesia, Su Xiao came to the Eye Ritual. The Dark Eye had just finished cultivating. After checking its attributes, Su Xiao's eye corner twitched. He then came to the front of the Devourer and began the Dark Eye transplant.

The transplant process wasn't smooth, but fortunately, no rejection occurred. By the time the transplant was complete, Su Xiao was very tired. He had been busy since returning to the Reincarnation Paradise and hadn't rested yet. He placed the Devourer in a high-strength glass column, left the alchemy lab, and fell asleep on the bed.

In a daze, Su Xiao heard a shout beside his ear. He got up, his gaze blank.

Thud!

A muffled sound came from the alchemy lab. Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang, Amu, Baham, and Benny were all surrounding the door of the alchemy lab, looking like they were ready for battle.

Su Xiao's gaze sharpened. He came to the door and looked into the alchemy lab. He saw the Devourer, which had a single eye and still had no fixed form. At this moment, the Devourer's aura was twisted and hungry, surrounded by nearly viscous darkness.

The effect of the "Dark Eye" was far stronger than imagined. Su Xiao didn't expect that he had actually created the monster in front of him.