Chapter 3541: Old Monster

Deep World, Vadi Family Sacrificial Hall.

The entire sacrificial hall was about seven meters high, with scales and velvet tentacles hanging down from above, giving this solemn scene a sense of filthy eeriness.

On the stone seat at the very back of the sacrificial hall, the Vadi family's first head, Vadi Treich, sat there. This old monster seemed to be smiling, but those completely gray-black eyes and the bottom of his eyes made one feel a chill in their heart.

The feeling this old monster gave was no longer human. His aura was clearly dead and silent, yet it didn't reveal a sense of twilight.

"So, you are the Chosen One selected by those two? Those two in the cathedral actually haven't given up yet."

The old monster seemed to smile, but this smile fully embodied the phrase "smiling but not laughing."

"You came here because of the orders of my two old friends? Or are you here to seize immortality from me?"

While the old monster was speaking, an eye suddenly opened on his face. The gaze of this eye was desperate, and the pupil trembled. Clearly, it had independent consciousness. If there were anyone present familiar with the contemporary head of the Vadi family, Vadi Lifake, they would definitely be shocked, because the owner of this eye was Vadi Lifake. That special pupil could not be found anywhere else in High Wall City.

The old monster calmly raised his hand, plucked out the eyeball that had grown on his face, and put it in his mouth to chew.

"..."

Su Xiao didn't speak. He came here neither because of the Archbishop and the Holy Priest, nor to seize any immortality. Or rather, all along, his attitude toward immortality was indifference. In a limited life, pursuing infinite possibilities—only then is it wonderful.

Su Xiao's purpose in coming here was very straightforward. He upheld the fine tradition of the Shadow of Law-Extermination: either don't offend the enemy, or once hostile, wipe them out completely.

For some reason, after seeing this old monster, Su Xiao felt a slight familiarity. The unclear fluctuation on the opponent was somewhat similar to the Archbishop and the Holy Priest.

Or rather, the special aura on the old monster was very turbid, not as pure as the Archbishop and the Holy Priest.

This made Su Xiao wonder if this old monster was from the same era as the Archbishop and the Holy Priest.

However, this was just a guess. Su Xiao hadn't forgotten the world introduction: Vadi Treich was born in Wall Era 147 and subsequently founded the Vadi Commercial Alliance.

The reason Su Xiao guessed that this old monster was from the same era as the Archbishop and the Holy Priest was both because of that unique aura fluctuation and also suspicion that this old monster was Vadi Treich, but also not.

Assuming this old monster lived from the God Era to the Wall Era, then he could completely have seized Vadi Treich's body and soul, devoured his consciousness, and replaced him, becoming the new Vadi Treich.

In this way, the world introduction made sense. The Vadi Treich born in Wall Era 147 was a normal person. Until he reached adulthood and middle age, he was still a normal person with a business mind, until he founded the Commercial Alliance in High Wall City, which was when the old monster found him.

What the old monster's true body was, this was temporarily unknown, because the opponent's situation at this time was extremely special. Having seized immortality from the Daughter of Pain not long ago, the data detected by the God's Eye, apart from the name and the like, was a pile of chaotic symbols that couldn't be understood. This was the first time Su Xiao had encountered such a situation.

Why the old monster's true body was what it was, Su Xiao wouldn't delve into it for now. He suspected this old monster came from the God Era for another reason.

On the 12th floor of the cathedral, there were a total of five stone seats. On the back of each stone seat, there was a symbol. The rock chair back of the Archbishop had the "Hunting Mark," the Holy Priest had the "Moon Mark," and the remaining three represented "Infinite Snake," "Ten Thousand Insects," and "Steel Heart."

Hunter, Moon, Snake, Insect, Steel—these were clearly five big figures from the God Era. Among them, the Archbishop and the Holy Priest could live until now; why couldn't the others?

At this moment, on the rock chair back behind the old monster, a mark representing "Ten Thousand Insects" was clearly carved there. This was also the main reason Su Xiao suspected the old monster came from the God Era.

Or rather, the ones who built High Wall City were these five people. Among the five, the Hunter (Archbishop) and the Moon (Holy Priest) jointly founded the Healing Church.

And Ten Thousand Insects (old monster) seized the Vadi family. The remaining Infinite Snake and Steel were even more obvious. The representative of Steel must be the first leader of the Steam God Sect.

As for the last Infinite Snake, did one even need to think? Of the four major forces, only the High Wall Council remained. It was highly likely that this person single-handedly created the High Wall Council.

Looking at it this way, the five masters of the five stone seats spanned the entire history of the Wall Era. No, they themselves were part of history. The recorded history within the walls didn't last as long as they lived. Some major events not recorded in history books had been personally experienced by them.

Assuming a possibility, that these five people all had a certain connection with the Eternal God, then it was not surprising that they could live until now.

Before, when Su Xiao saw the Archbishop, he clearly felt that the opponent seemed to have some problems. That sense of twilight could be felt even without opening his perception.

Not only the Archbishop, but the Holy Priest was in a similar situation. When the opponent gave Su Xiao that bag of ancient gold coins, he said himself: 'I shouldn't have long to live, it's your gain.'

Following this line of thought, the situation became clear. The five people of the God Era, because of their connection with the Eternal God, possessed a near-immortal constitution.

But not long ago, the Eternal God had some problems, which directly affected the five people of the God Era. They all lost their immortal constitution and were about to reach the end of their lives.

The Archbishop and the Holy Priest both chose to accept it. They no longer coveted anything in this world and were prepared to welcome eternal sleep. For the two of them, this was a relief.

The old monster was different. His obsession with life and immortality was terrifyingly strong. Having lost the immortality fed back from the Eternal God, he began to think of ways.

This old monster's plan was to use the special day of the God Sacrifice Day to steal a small portion of the Eternal God's divine power, and then use this divine power to attract existences with the same characteristics.

The old monster succeeded. The Daughter of Pain, who possessed an immortal body, was attracted, while Little Flower, the Goat-Headed Demon, and the Messenger from Beyond were all "bonus gifts" that arrived by accident.

Actually, the old monster had only two goals: 1. The Daughter of Pain, to seize her immortality; 2. The Dark Walker, to let this existence corrode all the bloodlines of the Vadi family.

The old monster's second goal succeeded first. For so many years, others in the Vadi family had long felt something was wrong and, through secret inheritance generation after generation, tried their best to hide it from the old monster, secretly cultivating hunter teams outside.

This hunter team had only one goal: to kill the old monster and let the Vadi family break free from their shackles. Unfortunately, the old monster had long known this, so he summoned the Dark Walker and, through a deal with the Dark Walker, let the Dark Walker follow the bloodline as a guide to corrode the souls of everyone in the Vadi family.

After the Vadi family perished, the hunter team naturally became eyeless beasts, posing no threat to the old monster.

The Dark Walker succeeded, but hadn't received the old monster's reward when the "Sun Pillar" fell on its head. This existence with terrifying abilities was burned into gas on the spot.

The current situation was that the old monster had solved the hidden dangers and continued his immortality—a typical winner. But heaven has unexpected storms; the old monster had just become a winner when a Law-Exterminator came to visit.

The old monster still sat on the stone chair dozens of meters away, not rushing to attack. Having lived from the God Era until now, when he first saw Su Xiao, he felt something was wrong in his heart. He seemed to have seen someone with a similar aura, only the time was too long ago, and the relevant memories had been eroded by time until they were blurred.

A small silver knife made of energy appeared in Su Xiao's hand. He used it to cut across his palm. There was no blood splashing, but stars of moonlight scattered. The triple temporary buff effects of "Moon Oath" + "Moon Blade" + "Spirit Blade" were applied simultaneously.

Seeing Su Xiao's hand press onto the hilt, the old monster, who was smiling but not laughing, suddenly turned cold, but then, he laughed again.

"It's been a long time since I used the Insect Sword."

The old monster raised his hand, and with a click, a hilt popped out from the armrest of the stone chair. As he stood up, he drew a holy white sword.

Hiss!!

A corrosive sound came from the old monster's hand. This Holy Insect Sword, which had accompanied him for many years and even traveled to the Root of the Dead City, was now corroding him.

The old monster seemed stunned for a moment, then accepted it all. He let go of the Holy Insect Sword in his hand and kicked it to the side. The Holy Insect Sword stabbed into the wall with a clang, revealing only the hilt. Perhaps in the eyes of this holy sword, its master had long since died—died in that disastrous defeat deep in the Dead City.

Click—

A black spike 1.2 meters long popped out from the stone chair armrest on the old monster's left side. He grasped the hilt and drew it out. His right hand held the "Holy Insect Sword," and his left hand held the "Dark Insect Cone." Now, only the "Dark Insect Cone" remained.

To deal with this old monster, Su Xiao naturally wouldn't underestimate the enemy. He had clearly perceived the strength of the Holy Priest before. If this old monster was a powerhouse of the same era as the Holy Priest, even if their strengths weren't on par, they wouldn't be much weaker.

Zing—

The long blade left its sheath. Since entering this world, Su Xiao hadn't fought a full-out battle. The last clash with the Dragon God was too hasty, and the Duke simply wouldn't fight him.

Su Xiao's eyes revealed a light blue color. This was the manifestation of switching the Soul-Severing Shadow ability to "Rapid: Soul Core." Rapid: Soul Core + Abyss Shadow title allowed his speed to reach its peak in history.

With a boom, the stone floor under Su Xiao's feet collapsed. He disappeared from where he stood. On the path between him and the old monster, gravel splashed, and he raided to the front of the old monster.

Clang!!

The long blade slashed onto the insect cone with great force, causing the old monster's expression to change slightly. He had originally thought Su Xiao was a speed type, but after one exchange, he found he wasn't.

Zila—

The long blade pressed down and slashed, sparks flying on the pitch-black insect cone. Then, the blade edge entered the old monster's shoulder.

At this moment, Su Xiao's soul energy erupted. "Rapid: Soul Core" switched to "Soul-Severing: Soul Core." Since the flesh couldn't die, then sever the soul.

Puchi!

The long blade slashed open the old monster's shoulder, slashed diagonally down along the shoulder, and slashed out at the waist on the other side. The old monster was slashed into two sections.

The old monster's upper body flew backward, blood splashing everywhere. He seemed to be shocked by Su Xiao's soul-severing ability, not expecting Su Xiao to be able to sever the soul with blade technique under the combat power cap of this world.

In fact, the old monster misunderstood. Su Xiao's blade technique could indeed hurt the soul, but it hadn't reached the level of severing the soul. It was because of the Soul-Severing Shadow ability that he crossed to this step.

Don't forget one thing: once blade technique reaches a certain level, it can also sever the soul. By then, blade technique soul-severing + Soul-Severing Shadow soul-severing overlap—Gelin Jilian expressed that the joy in this was very commendable.

The long blade slashed past with large beads of blood. The old monster, whose upper body was flying backward, became serious. After fighting Su Xiao, the parts of his memory eroded by time suddenly became clear.

"Law-Exterminator!"

The old monster's gaze suddenly became fierce. His whole body exploded into black-red blood with a snap. The blood formed spikes covered in barbs and attacked Su Xiao.

A fierce wind rushed toward him. Su Xiao's pupils constricted slightly. His perception was warning him frantically. This move seemed like nothing, but it was likely one of the old monster's trump cards. This guy was also a pragmatist; as long as the ability was strong, he didn't care if it was flashy or looked fierce.

Su Xiao entered the space penetration state. After the Dragon Shadow Flash was upgraded to Lv. EX, he could maintain space penetration for 0.2 to 3 seconds. During this period, he could not only avoid physical and energy attacks but even mental and soul attacks. Cough—the time he was beaten out by the Old Knight didn't count.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Hundreds of blood spikes pierced through the air, passing through Su Xiao's body. The next instant, the black-red blood gathered and transformed back into the old monster holding the Dark Insect Cone.

Just as the old monster appeared, the insect cone in his hand headed straight for Su Xiao's neck.

Clang!

The long blade blocked horizontally. Su Xiao only felt a giant force transmitted from the blade to his hands. This old monster had been hiding his strength just now. The power he erupted with at this moment was astonishing.

Boom!

Su Xiao smashed into the ground in a half-squatting posture, gravel splashing under his feet. When he stopped, he stood up with a normal expression.

Drip, drip—

Blood dripped down Su Xiao's left hand. He unbuttoned the 【Wild Hunt Night】, and the long windbreaker draped down, blocking his legs.

After baring his upper body, Su Xiao looked at his left upper arm. Red-black insects like centipedes were clinging to it, surging with blood, but there was no pain, only a bit of coldness.

With a snap, crystal layer fragments blasted out from the wound on Su Xiao's left upper arm, scattering the centipede insects clinging to it. The old monster was strong. This blow just now caused Su Xiao to lose 2.73% of his health.

Such a small area of insect-biting had this damage intensity. If the area were larger, Su Xiao's health would slide down like flowing water.

The old monster's expression on the opposite side was clearly much more solemn. Su Xiao felt his killing methods were strong, while he suspected whether Su Xiao was even of human constitution. If he was, this physique was too strong. Enduring the biting of his filthy insects, he was like a normal person, blasting them away just by materializing body energy.

'Blade Path Blade: Blue Ghost.'

Zing!

The blue-green slash tore through the air. Due to Blue Ghost's occasional embarrassing performance, Su Xiao treated it as a charge skill. After slashing out Blue Ghost, he rushed toward the old monster.

Clang!

The old monster's Dark Insect Cone scattered Blue Ghost, which made the old monster pause, thinking Blue Ghost had some follow-up. However, there was none.

'Blade Path Blade: Flow.'

An elegant wind trace cut through the air, slashing out a crisp sound. Because he was misled by Blue Ghost, the old monster only had time to lower his head, resulting in a small part of his skull being slashed off.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The long blade and the Dark Insect Cone clashed one after another, sparks flying. Su Xiao had already discovered that the old monster's giant force just now was explosive. Every time it was used, there should be no small price.

Clang!!

Su Xiao slashed heavily, causing the Dark Insect Cone in the old monster's hand to tilt to the side.

A flaw.

Su Xiao kicked straight out. On the opposite side, the old monster's eyes suddenly widened. Being kicked by this foot was no joke.

Boom!!

The old monster broke through a layer of air waves, flew straight backward after being kicked, and smashed into the wall.

"Hehehehehe..."

The old monster stood up in the giant pit on the wall. His ribs, flesh, and shattered spine that had been kicked open all quickly gathered and recovered to their original state.

Seeing this scene, Su Xiao narrowed his eyes. From just now, he had always been unable to figure out one thing: he slashed the soul with his blade. Although he could hurt the old monster, the damage was very touching, and it could only cause soul-severing + true damage. Adding these two types of damage together, one slash was only 500–700 points of damage intensity, which was very low.

But just now, this kick directly caused the old monster to lose a chunk of health. Although compared to fighting other powerhouses, this couldn't be called explosive damage, it was much better than the slash.

This was very strange. The soul-severing that was originally most useful against the old monster now performed normally. If he didn't figure this out, he wouldn't win this fight.

An enemy like the old monster was completely different from the Old Knight or the Nether Emperor. Those two had to be fought hard, all relying on hard strength. Without hard strength, any clever plan would be useless.

And to deal with the old monster, one had to find the correct method. Once found, Su Xiao could end the battle in a short time. But if he couldn't find it, with the old monster's various means, if they fought a war of attrition, the one who would lose was definitely Su Xiao. The old monster's health recovery was faster than Su Xiao drinking potions.

To put it simply, because the old monster had pursued immortality for a long time, his physique had long since mutated. He belonged to the type with average health caps but extremely fast health recovery. Either kill him in one set, or you could never kill this old monster.

'Ten Thousand Insects.'

The old monster's entire upper body exploded, turning into giant bright red centipedes the size of arms.

"Roar!!!"

Giant centipedes roared, roaring out layers of sound waves.

'Blade Path Blade: Blue Ghost.'

The blue-green slash flew past, slashing all those dozen giant centipedes in half. But in the next instant, these centipedes, which only had half their bodies left, completed regeneration at a terrifying speed.

A dozen giant centipedes replaced the old monster's upper body. Cracks split open under their abdomens, and cross-shaped sharp vertical eyes opened one by one, emitting a scarlet light, intending to shroud Su Xiao within.

Su Xiao, who was raiding forward, stopped suddenly. He blocked with his left arm in front of him. The crystal layer formed an arm shield and let the arm shield expand rapidly. Even so, his arms and legs were illuminated by the scarlet light for a moment, only having time to block his torso and head.

The arm shield expanded, and the incoming scarlet light was even stronger.

Click, click—

The crisp sound of centipede biting came from the crystal arm shield, lasting for a few seconds before ending. If he had been illuminated by this scarlet light continuously, he would definitely have been bitten until not even bones were left.

With a snap, the crystal arm shield shattered. On the opposite side, the old monster, whose upper body was a dozen giant centipedes, recovered to his original appearance. He looked at Su Xiao with a smile that wasn't a smile.

'Break Pupa.'

The old monster's eyes were scarlet. Seeing this, Su Xiao on the opposite side leaped backward subconsciously.

Just as Su Xiao landed, he felt severe pain inside his hands and feet, as if living things had appeared inside. It was... a kind of tiny transparent insect. These small insects invaded the blood vessels of his hands and feet, their numbers increasing sharply, and then these small insects followed the blood straight to his heart.

The old monster exhaled. The battle had ended here, but he didn't relax his vigilance, still staring at Su Xiao. After he used "Ten Thousand Insects," his state was also not good, and he needed a few seconds to recover.

On the opposite side, in less than a second, numerous small insects rushed from Su Xiao's limbs along the blood vessels toward his heart. In such a desperate situation, he didn't give up.

Crack, crack, crack—

Green Qing Qing Gang Ying energy crystallized inside Su Xiao's body, as if freezing all the blood vessels in his torso. He had already figured out what these small insects were. They were not biological but part of his own muscle tissue. Because they were affected by that scarlet light just now, they were manipulated by the old monster like small insects. If real foreign insect creatures had invaded, they would have been devoured and destroyed by Green Qing Qing Gang Ying energy in the first instance.

The old monster's move was ruthless. Whose body energy would destroy their own muscle tissue? Part of the muscle tissue turned into small insects to attack the heart and brain—this was a sure kill.

The small insects in the body were sealed, but how to exclude them?

Su Xiao held the blade with one hand, his gaze meeting the old monster's. He was multitasking. After clearly perceiving how many small insects were in his body, he pressed his left hand on his chest, and countless spiritual shadow threads entered his body. These spiritual shadow threads were all micron-level.

The crystallized Green Qing Qing Gang Ying energy in the body reversed, turning back into Green Qing Qing Gang Ying energy. This caused the small insects in the blood vessels to be freed, but immediately, micron-level spiritual shadow threads wrapped around them.

Su Xiao pulled his left hand hard.

Puchi—

Drops of needle-sized blood beads flew out from Su Xiao's chest. The spiritual shadow threads on his left hand hung down, with hundreds of twisting red small insects tied to the tips.

Su Xiao looked at these small insects. All the small insects were beginning to evaporate because of the old monster's ability, but it was too late. Su Xiao finally knew why this old guy was fearless of soul-severing.

This old guy was not only fearless of soul marks but also fearless of excessively high true damage, as well as execution, etc.

Why? Because this old monster seemed to be a whole, but in fact, he had long turned himself into a pile of insects, dividing his soul into millions of parts, each insect body having a small part of his soul.

This was also the reason why soul-severing damage was low. One slash down, what was hurt was a line, just killing the insect bodies on that line. Even if he could sever the soul, the health cap of one insect body was only 10 points. No matter how he severed the soul or caused true damage, at most it was just letting this insect body die. Killing one insect body couldn't slash out a damage intensity higher than 10 points.

So, the old monster was fearless of slash damage. Conversely, the straight kick just now, although not soul damage and no true damage, won by having a large attack area, so the old monster naturally suffered more severe injuries.

If Su Xiao fought the old monster when High Wall City was just established, then at this time, it would be two technique masters in a life-and-death moment. But now, the old monster was no longer a technique master. Composed of thousands of insects, let alone technique abilities, even his sword was resisting him.

Within 10 seconds, slaughter this collection of filthy insects.

On the opposite side, the old monster lowered his eyelids, looking at Su Xiao. He wasn't surprised by the scene of Su Xiao pulling out a hundred insects just now. This was a Law-Exterminator. Being ten times or a hundred times more ruthless than this wasn't worth being surprised about.

With a whoosh, Su Xiao disappeared from where he stood. When he appeared again, he was already in front of the old monster.

'Blade Path Blade: Deep Silence...'

Bang!

A white thread insect pierced Su Xiao's left shoulder, interrupting his blade technique move. The old monster on the opposite side instantly turned into tens of thousands of centipedes, surrounding Su Xiao and biting him.

This scene was exactly what Su Xiao wanted to see. Since the opponent wasn't a technique master, he took the initiative to show a flaw, and the opponent didn't even see it.

'Blade Path Blade: Time.'

Thud—

The impact spread, and the centipedes biting around Su Xiao slowed down.

'Blade Domain!'

With Su Xiao as the center, a semicircular domain appeared around him, with a diameter of 100 meters. Pale blue slashes appeared everywhere in the domain, all flashing and disappearing, leaving only black marks gradually dissipating in the air. This was caused by space being slashed open, making the Blade Domain look exceptionally spectacular.

It is worth mentioning that among Su Xiao's many abilities, the Blade Domain was definitely the peak of aesthetics.

Zing, zing, zing!

The crisp sound of slashing continued incessantly. The centipedes around Su Xiao were slashed to pieces. When fighting the Old Knight and the Nether Emperor, the Blade Domain was indeed a bit "scraping," but against the old monster, this kind of dense and sufficiently intense slashing would be a natural counter.

Three seconds passed, and the Blade Domain closed. Su Xiao stood in place with his blade, the tip pointing diagonally at the ground. In the air around him, black marks were gradually disappearing.

Centipede debris fell like rain. Some that were about to fall on Su Xiao were repelled by his aura.

Su Xiao looked around. He could be certain that the old monster wasn't dead yet. An enemy with immortal characteristics wasn't so easy to kill.

Hum—

A group of flying insects flew out from the pile of centipede corpses, preparing to scatter.

'Blade Path Blade: Time.'

Su Xiao expanded the range of Time to the limit. The long blade in his hand returned to its sheath, assuming a draw-slash posture.

Black-blue smoke appeared on the scabbard. After a super-short accumulation of power.

'Magic Blade: Kill!'

With a whoosh! A black-red slash streak slashed out. Although this move sounded fierce, it was basically useless in normal times. This was an ability that combined "Magic Blade" and "Blade Path Blade: Kill," a wide-range killing ability.

Against the old monster, to kill him, he had to kill every one of his insect bodies. Of course, the old monster wasn't without restrictions. With his soul divided like this, once the distance between his insect bodies exceeded ten meters, one of them would wither and die in a short time. This was the price of dividing the soul into millions of parts.

The black-red slash streak slashed out diagonally, affecting all the flying insects. These flying insects suddenly froze in mid-air.

"Squeak!!"

An insect hiss that seemed to come from the nine netherworlds of the underground came. All the flying insects in mid-air gathered rapidly, turning into the old monster, and fell to the ground with a thud.

"How, possible."

The old monster raised his hands and looked down at his body. He felt death approaching. He had never been so close to death.

The old monster's arms turned into insects first, then melted, followed by his torso, legs, and head.

"I cannot die yet. Dead City, Dead City is still waiting for me to break it. I am one of the first five Chosen Ones, and I have also... also bathed in the radiance of God."

After saying this, the old monster completely dissolved into insects. In a large pool of liquid on the ground, only one scarlet centipede insect remained, twisting in its death throes.

Seeing this scene, Su Xiao stepped forward a few steps. After stopping, he stepped forward with his left foot and stepped on it with a snap. He also used the sole of his forefoot to grind it left and right, ensuring the centipede insect was crushed into minced meat. The last insect crushed to death like this was named the Supreme Insect.

The old monster, already crushed to death.

PS: (Recommend a friend's book, title "Hello, 1983.") ===== CHAPTER 3542 =====