Chapter 3179

Su Xiao put away the 【Abyss Stone】, having already decided on the item's purpose in his heart: to feed it to Zhila. He left his exclusive room and headed to Reed's smithy.

Just arriving at the smithy, Su Xiao discovered the atmosphere was wrong. Reed lowered his eyelids, and Wowo stood in the corner, sniffling. Looking at that little expression, it was clear she had done something wrong again.

"What are you looking at? Go face the wall. I'm telling you, if you commit today's mistake again, I'll hang you up and beat you."

"Wo, Wowo, know, wrong, *sniff* (sniffing snot), wrong."

"Get to the back room. Don't cry and wail for me. When you hold it back and stop crying, that's when you can eat."

Reed let out a roar. Wowo walked into the back room while crying. Just as she entered the back room, an enticing fragrance drifted into Wowo's nasal cavity. The slightly dazed Wowo didn't notice that today's meal was more sumptuous than usual, and it was all things she liked to eat. Wowo stopped crying—truly delicious!

As soon as Wowo left, Reed's expression became very ugly. He said:

"A few Tier 3 Qiyuezhe cheated Wowo out of more than 400,000 Paradise Coins. That's not important; it's just small money. Afterward, they mocked Wowo for having a problem with her brain. Wowo might have discovered she isn't smart herself. The daughter I adopted—I can scold her, but those people can't."

"Oh."

"Bai Ye, lend me 5 ounces of Space-Time Power."

"Hmm."

Su Xiao took out a very small bottle and tossed it to Reed.

"Just so happens I'm bored lately. Go play with them."

Reed put away the Space-Time Power. His meaning was that he wouldn't go to deal with those people himself. As a forging master, he would place a bounty on those people with equipment—20 pieces of Gold-quality equipment per instance. For Tier 3 Qiyuezhe, this is an extremely terrifying bounty.

With Reed's current strength, if he enters a Tier 3 world, his strength will inevitably be restricted, suppressed to the peak of Tier 3. If the opponents are smart and gather people to surround Reed, Reed might even encounter the bloody scene of being counter-killed.

Therefore, Reed would never go to a world that would suppress his strength, but instead hire many people and provide the Space-Time Power needed to enter the designated world.

Or rather, it is not just Reed who is like this. The Mage Sage Sefilia, who has a deep hatred for Su Xiao, never enters mission worlds to find Su Xiao. Being counter-killed after having one's strength suppressed is the most stifling way to die.

Su Xiao put on the well-repaired 【Night of the Wild Hunt】 and left the smithy. While walking slowly, Su Xiao sensed his own state. The state was very good; he could go and improve his blood Qi.

This time Su Xiao didn't improve the King of Green Shadows, so the physical burden wasn't that great. Such a good opportunity, of course, cannot be missed.

Traveling at high speed, Su Xiao arrived at the Skill Upgrade Hall and entered the skill upgrade chamber on the inner side. After the chamber door closed, it locked.

【If you need to improve 'Breath Release Lv. 16', you need to pay 510 Soul Coins. Yes/No to pay.】

The cost of improving blood Qi is very expensive, which is related to Su Xiao's current blood Qi intensity. He didn't care about this expensive improvement cost, treating it as an admission fee.

Paying 510 Soul Coins, spatial fluctuations appeared around Su Xiao. He felt relieved in his heart; as long as it was teleportation, his goal was the Ancient Battlefield.

The sensation of teleportation struck. When Su Xiao's vision recovered, he had successfully arrived at the Ancient Battlefield.

The ground of the Ancient Battlefield was dark red, as if soaked in blood. The corpse of a giant dragon lay prone on a low hill, and not far away was the corpse of a giant wearing red armor, with its chest cavity completely empty.

The sky was overcast red, and scarlet mist drifted over the Ancient Battlefield. This was the blood Qi of who knows how many powerhouses gathered here before their deaths, and it was also the purpose of Su Xiao coming here.

Su Xiao stood on the dark red ground, and the surrounding Ancient Battlefield blood Qi surged toward him. This blood Qi had extremely strong erosive properties and could not be absorbed directly; instead, one had to use one's own breath to resist it, thereby improving one's own breath. The normal process is just like this.

Su Xiao released his blood Qi, leaped up, and jumped onto a giant's ribcage, sitting cross-legged on it. Coming to absorb blood Qi this time was different from the past; his Devouring Core ability had reached 【that point】. Thinking of this, even on Su Xiao's face, a slight smile appeared.

Time is precious. On this Ancient Battlefield, there is a Sleeper. What's fatal is that this Sleeper is transformed from the corpse of a Shadow of Law-Breaker, strong to an unreasonable degree.

Su Xiao converted 35,000 points of mana into Green Steel Shadow energy and released it outside his body, constructing a simplified version of the Devouring Core above his head.

Coming to absorb blood Qi this time was to play a battle of wits with that Sleeper. The process had to be steady, and the escape had to be fast.

A moment later, a simplified version of the Devouring Core appeared in Su Xiao's hand. Although it was a simplified version, this Devouring Core was incomparable to the previous few times. This time, the Devouring Core ability had undergone earth-shaking changes.

After constructing the simplified Devouring Core, an energy line the thickness of a little finger linked the simplified Devouring Core and Su Xiao.

Within this energy line, there were 107 small, simplified Devouring Cores. The large, simplified Devouring Core was responsible for absorbing more Ancient Battlefield blood Qi and completing the first filtration, purification, and refinement of the Ancient Battlefield blood Qi, then entering the little-finger-thick energy line to undergo 107 more precise purifications and refinements through the small Devouring Cores inside.

The simplified Devouring Core floated above Su Xiao. Following his control, dozens of small holes on the simplified Devouring Core opened, absorbing the blood Qi within the Ancient Battlefield like a whale drinking water.

Boom—!

A huge blood Qi vortex suddenly appeared above Su Xiao, with astonishing momentum. One-third of the blood Qi of the entire Ancient Battlefield began to gather toward this side. This was something even Su Xiao hadn't expected. In order to avoid the Sleeper, he had opened the Devouring Core fully, not expecting this scene to appear.

Massive amounts of blood Qi were sucked into the simplified Devouring Core, and the simplified Devouring Core began to operate, purifying and refining this blood Qi.

Soon, a large surge of red energy poured out from the simplified Devouring Core, conducting toward Su Xiao along the energy line. The 107 small Devouring Cores within the energy line began to operate, purifying this blood Qi time and time again.

In the end, the blood Qi was purified to transparency, but there was simply too much blood Qi. Even if the purification intensity was increased, it could not completely filter out the blood Qi residue inside. Actually, this was intentional by Su Xiao. He wanted a quick battle, and he didn't mind even if his body absorbed some blood Qi impurities. As long as he didn't lose his mind on the Ancient Battlefield, after returning to Reincarnation Paradise, paying Soul Coins could 100% remove the blood Qi impurities in his body.

The blood Qi, purified through multiple times, merged into Su Xiao's breath. He closed his eyes to sense himself; his breath was increasing rapidly, and no unremovable side effects appeared.

Confirming this point, Su Xiao increased the absorption power of the Devouring Core. He was almost swallowed by the blood Qi.

A few minutes later, a loud explosion struck from afar. In the blood Qi, Su Xiao's eyes opened. He gripped the hilt of the blade at his waist with one hand. In the next instant, his reason forcibly suppressed the boiling killing intent in his heart. Fighting that Sleeper now would mean certain death.

Su Xiao suddenly disappeared from where he was. The simplified Devouring Core he left behind was already blood-red. With a bang, it exploded, and blood Qi residue splashed everywhere.

Looking down from above, one would find that in a large area of the Ancient Battlefield, the blood Qi had thinned. Blood Qi drifted out from the ground, and it wouldn't take long for the thinned blood Qi area to recover somewhat.

Su Xiao appeared in the skill upgrade chamber. He pressed one hand against the chamber wall. In his scarlet eyes, there was only a trace of blue light. On his face and neck, dark red cracks were spread, and thick blood Qi was constantly drifting upward from his body, which made him look extremely fierce and dangerous enough to make one's hair stand on end.

【Warning: The Hunter has been eroded by the blood Qi of the Ancient Battlefield, the body is mildly damaged, and blood Qi residue is mixed into the breath. Yes/No to pay Soul Coins for recovery and removal.】

"Pay."

As soon as Su Xiao's words fell, a very unique fluctuation appeared.

【Notification: Removing the Ancient Battlefield blood Qi erosion requires consuming 107 Soul Coins.】

【Notification: Removing the blood Qi residue in the breath requires consuming 379 Paradise Coins.】

It can be said that this is the most expensive recovery function Su Xiao has ever used. With the consumption of Soul Coins, he felt relaxed all over, his mind quickly cleared, and the boiling killing intent in his heart collapsed without being attacked.

【Notification: Breath Release has been improved to Lv. 32 (improved by 16 levels).】

【Because your breath (blood Qi) leans toward slaughter, malice, etc., and has received a significant improvement, your Charm attribute is permanently -2 points.】

【Warning: Your Charm attribute is -9 points! The effect of the Exemption Badge is about to reach its limit.】