Chapter 3553: The Four Strongest

Gray, flocculent matter drifted down from the sky, like snowflakes.

Su Xiao looked at the Black Maple Tree in the center of the Gray Rock Plaza. He truly hadn't expected that there would actually be a Black Maple Tree inside the Dead Silence City, and one so tall at that.

The tallest Black Maple Tree he had ever seen was the one in the "Land of Beginnings and Endings." That one had once belonged to the Law-Elimination Faction and was currently guarded by an old Law-Eliminator, but it was a mother tree that no longer belonged to anyone.

It was said that that Black Maple Tree was planted by the Law-Eliminators. Back then, the Law-Elimination Faction had spent a massive fortune to open an Abyss passage, obtaining a Black Maple Tree seed, which they used to plant it.

There was a theory that whether it was the Black Maple Tree at the Arcane Eternal Star or the two in the Black Abyss and the Abyss Dragon's Bottom, these three Black Maple Trees all belonged to the second generation of Black Maple Trees, cultivated from the branches of the mother tree.

This was also why Su Xiao believed the Black Maple Tree in the "Land of Beginnings and Endings" was the mother tree—not only because that tree was exceptionally tall, but also because he had cultivated his own Black Maple Tree from the branches of that mother tree. Currently, his Black Maple Tree was already 6.95 meters tall.

At this moment, the Black Maple Tree seen in the Gray Rock Plaza gave Su Xiao a sense of déjà vu. This tree was very similar to the mother tree in the "Land of Beginnings and Endings" and was highly likely to have also been planted from a primitive tree seed.

Unfortunately, this tall Black Maple Tree had already withered. Seeing it, one couldn't help but feel a sense of regret. The Gloom Continent had once been so glorious and prosperous, yet now it was a scene of such dead silence and decay; even the mother tree it was once proud of had withered away.

From the dense bone arrows on the open ground beneath the tree, one could tell how long the Pale Hunters had been guarding this place. They weren't actually monsters, but the final guards of the Dead Silence City. They guarded the main street, preventing this pilgrimage road from being desecrated by outsiders, and they also guarded the Black Maple Tree in the inner city, even though this mother tree had already withered, weathered, and lost its value.

"Brother Bai Ye, have you ever considered developing the ability of prophecy?"

Wood's high emotional intelligence meant he obviously wouldn't say something like, "Holy crap, you actually guessed it right."

"..."

Su Xiao glanced at Wood and didn't speak. Although he had stumbled upon the fact that there was a Black Maple Tree in the Dead Silence City, this tree had been withered for too long, was constantly eroded by the dead silence, and hadn't been properly stored, so its actual value was far lower than its commemorative value.

Su Xiao owned a Black Maple Tree, so he naturally knew how delicate the output of a Black Maple Tree was. If stored improperly, its value would drop significantly, let alone being exposed to the Power of Dead Silence like this.

Even so, Su Xiao still wanted to take a look near this Black Maple Tree. He vaguely felt that there was something inside this tree.

At first, he thought it was a psychological illusion, but after noticing the look in Wood's eyes, he became certain that there must be something good inside this Black Maple Tree.

When it came to treasure hunting, Su Xiao and Zayas combined were no match for Wood. The Devil race frequently traded with others, and their ability to identify items and the number of mystical treasures they had seen were unmatched by other races.

Zayas, standing to the side, couldn't even sense that there was a mystical treasure in the tree, but he trusted Su Xiao and Wood. In Zayas's view, if there wasn't something good inside this Black Maple Tree, these two "good teammates" would have left long ago. On the hundred-meter-high wall behind them, it was densely packed with Pale Hunters, and one could sense that those Pale Hunters were on the verge of being provoked.

Su Xiao looked at the withered Black Maple Tree and the dozens of skeletons pinned under the tree by bone arrows, then turned to look at the high wall. Before knowing what mystical treasure was in the tree, it wasn't worth taking such a big risk.

On both sides of the Gray Rock Plaza, there was a path. Su Xiao's destination was the one on the left; according to the resonance direction of the 【Covenant Item】, the Demon Blacksmith was on this side.

Su Xiao took Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang and Baja and walked toward the path on the left. Seeing this, Wood walked toward the gravel road on the right, where mist permeated, giving off a cold, eerie feeling. As for Zayas, this guy wasn't planning to leave yet; instead, he wanted to test if there was any way to get under the Black Maple Tree.

After bypassing the Gray Rock Plaza along the small path, Su Xiao arrived at another cluster of buildings. It was still the unique architectural style of the Dead Silence City, though the buildings here were significantly sparser, yet taller and covered a wider area.

Su Xiao walked on the street, his feet stepping on a layer of brittle stone skin. Compared to the outer city, this place was more dangerous, but he wouldn't be hunted by large groups of the Dead, making it possible for him to explore this area.

The top priority right now was to find Amu's location. However, being in a dangerous area, the permission to lock onto the adventure group's position had been significantly reduced, and he could only detect members within a half-kilometer radius.

As for relying on perception, anyone with a shred of sanity wouldn't release their perception in the inner city of the Dead Silence City. This wouldn't just attract a group of the Dead; it might even attract several boss-level units within the Dead Silence City simultaneously.

Not to mention anything else, in such a dangerous environment, Amu's survivability wasn't weak. Interestingly, for such a long time, not only had Amu's tanking abilities continued to improve, but its expertise in playing dead was something no one else in Su Xiao's team could rival.

The reason for this was that every time Su Xiao fought a strong enemy, Amu, as the tank, would naturally block in front of Su Xiao. Coupled with the strong deceleration effect of Amu's ice ability, every final boss they encountered would prioritize dealing with Amu first.

Many times, the situation was that Amu would just rush up, preparing to use its ice ability to slow down the final boss, and the opponent would directly unleash an ultimate move.

Logically speaking, with Amu's survivability, fighting an enemy of the same level, tanking one ultimate move shouldn't be a problem. However, the strong enemies that Su Xiao had to take seriously were true strong enemies, so strong that even a moment of carelessness could lead to Su Xiao dying on the spot.

When such a strong enemy's ultimate move landed, even with Amu's strong survivability, it would be nearly finished. So, every battle started with: Amu rushes up -> Amu is about to slow the enemy -> Amu is blasted away -> Amu lies in the distance, motionless.

Getting back up and rushing in a near-death state wasn't the style of Su Xiao's team. Therefore, Amu would always lie there motionless, taking the opportunity to drink a potion while the enemy wasn't paying attention, continuing to play dead, and then gradually recovering health with Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang's aura ability. Once its condition improved and Su Xiao was fighting the enemy to the final moment, Amu would then suddenly rise and rush over to take a beating.

Amu's ability to play dead wasn't just a result of practice and high-intensity combat; it had an ability called "Elemental Constitution," which possessed an extremely strong affinity for natural elements, allowing it to form a good cycle with natural elements and thereby strengthen itself.

This ability didn't involve abusing elemental power, nor was it devouring natural elements; it was more like breathing—inhaling natural elements and then exhaling them. If natural elements didn't have an affinity for Amu, it couldn't do this.

This ability gave Amu a hobby: pretending to be a big tree. Obviously, playing dead was much simpler than pretending to be a big tree.

Although Amu was a bit of a blockhead, after entering the Dead Silence City, this blockheaded cow didn't even dare to breathe loudly, clearly aware of how dangerous the source, the Dead Silence City, was.

If he wasn't mistaken, Amu was likely pretending to be a big tree deep in the Dead Silence City right now. It was worth mentioning that this ability was fundamentally different from Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang's environmental integration.

Su Xiao checked the team channel; Amu's status was good. Rushing deep into the Dead Silence City to find Amu right now wasn't a good strategy; instead, it would lead to a team wipe due to reckless advancement.

While pondering, Su Xiao followed the street and arrived in front of a magnificent courtyard. The courtyard gate was wide open, and a gravel path extended inside. In the center of the courtyard was a circular pool, the water inside had dried up, leaving only dry, hard moss.

Su Xiao walked into the courtyard along the gravel path. The trees planted on both sides had withered. On these withered trees, many skeletons were hanging, and the severely weathered clothing on the skeletons made them look like members of the clergy.

Continuing forward, Su Xiao saw corpses everywhere. Many of the skeletons had mutated into deformities, while some were still wearing heavy armor, holding heavy shields and greatswords.

On these armors, heavy shields, and greatswords, Su Xiao saw the ring-shaped emblem representing the Healing Church. In front of this vast expanse of skeletons was an ancient and magnificent cathedral.

This cathedral was exactly the same as the one in the High Wall City. No, it was the High Wall City's cathedral that had imitated this one; this was the place where the Healing Church was founded and rose to prominence.

The main street that extended all the way to the inner city did not lead to this cathedral. In other words, in the Age of Gods, the people did not go on a pilgrimage to the Healing Church, but rather worshipped and went on a pilgrimage to an existence higher than the Healing Church.

Su Xiao had never been able to figure out what role the Healing Church played during the Age of Gods and the subsequent Age of Disaster when the Dead Silence descended.

The information known right now was that the old Healing Church at that time was not founded by the Archbishop and the Holy Priest; they were both members of the old church.

After the Dead Silence descended, the old church seemed both glorious and inglorious. However, there was one point: no members of the old church's clergy had been found transformed into monsters of the Dead Silence City. By the final moment, they had either left this place or committed suicide. Many of the clergy hanging on the surrounding trees were powerful individuals, and many of the skeletons still contained extraordinary power to this day. If they had transformed into monsters while alive, they would have certainly been very powerful.

【Prompt: You have arrived at the Courtyard of Slumber.】

Su Xiao took out the 【Covenant Item】. This badge-like item had become warm, and a sense of mutual resonance came from the cathedral ahead.

After crossing the gravel path, Su Xiao stepped up a dozen steps and arrived in front of the main entrance of the cathedral.

The tall, double-leaf metal doors stood towering, and one could vaguely hear the sound of metal being hammered inside. There was no mistake; the Demon Blacksmith was inside the cathedral.

Compared to entering the cathedral immediately, Su Xiao was more interested in a dark sphere floating in front of him. This thing was about the size of a marble, as if a dark hole had been opened in mid-air, slowly churning.

Seeing this thing, Su Xiao felt a sense of familiarity. He raised his hand to touch it; naturally, he couldn't miss out on such a good thing.

As Su Xiao touched the dark sphere, it immediately sank into his fingertip, only to be absorbed by his Samsara Mark.

【Prompt: You have obtained 1% Source of Darkness.】

【Source of Darkness: After the Hunter obtains more than 5% of the Source of Darkness, they can go to the "Sacrificial Altar" to perform a ritual to enhance existing talent abilities.】

【Prompt: Each talent can be enhanced up to 4 times. Current enhancement count: 8/12. The intensity of the enhancement depends on the talent's potential.】

As for the Source of Darkness, the more the better. Su Xiao's unique Law-Elimination talent, Shadow Hunter, still needed enhancement. He didn't know what kind of qualitative change Shadow Hunter would undergo after being enhanced four times.

Su Xiao pushed the metal doors with both hands. Accompanied by a rumbling muffled sound, the cathedral doors opened, and a wave of heat surged out from the door gap.

Clang, clang, clang...

A rhythmic hammering sound came from within. Su Xiao walked into the cathedral and found that although it was dozens of meters high, it only had one floor. It had indeed had many floors in the past, but the ceilings between each floor had been broken through. Now, looking up, one could see the stained glass embedded in the dome.

The entire cathedral covered an area of over a thousand square meters, but it wasn't empty; instead, it was divided by high platforms and spiral staircases. It could be seen that this place had once been used as a defensive structure, using the courtyard outside and this building to resist the onslaught of monsters.

From these exaggeratedly thick metal doors and the uneven dents on them, one could catch a glimpse of the ferocity of the battles that had once taken place.

Su Xiao looked in the direction of the hammering sound. It was a semi-open room with no doors, only an archway. A forging table and furnace were placed here, and there was a workbench against the inner wall, with many weapons hanging on the wall, mostly semi-finished products.

A burly blacksmith stood in front of the forging table, hammering the glowing red iron bar on it. The blacksmith's skin was dark red and rough, his thick beard was braided into coarse braids, and curved ram horns grew from the top of his head. He turned his head to meet Su Xiao's gaze, and Su Xiao saw a pair of eyes that seemed to have magma burning inside them. It was the Demon Blacksmith.

"You Law-Eliminators are all so good at choosing meeting places."

The Demon Blacksmith spoke, his voice low and heavy. Standing there, he was like an ancient but angry volcano, giving off immense pressure.

The reason the Demon Blacksmith said this was because many years ago, another Law-Eliminator had also arranged to meet him using a 【Covenant Item】. It was just that the location of that meeting was at the "Bottom of the World," the place where Abyss-derived creatures and alien existences wandered. And the person who had arranged to meet the Demon Blacksmith that time was named Marwen Waltz.

If Su Xiao were to say now that Marwen Waltz was his guide and mentor, the hammer the Demon Blacksmith was using to hammer the glowing red iron bar would certainly be swung toward Su Xiao's head.

"Have you heard of Marwen Waltz?"

The Demon Blacksmith spoke coldly again.

"I have."

"Hmm? What is your relationship with him?"

The Demon Blacksmith stopped hammering and turned his gaze toward Su Xiao.

"We're not close."

Although Su Xiao didn't know the details of the situation, he had a feeling in his heart that if he said Marwen Waltz was his guide and mentor, there was an eight or nine out of ten chance he would get hit by a hammer today.

"It's good that you're not close."

The forging hammer in the Demon Blacksmith's hand slammed back onto the glowing red iron bar.

"..."

Su Xiao placed the badge-like 【Covenant Item】 on the forging table. Seeing this item, the Demon Blacksmith frowned and said, "The furnace capable of smelting divine souls has been lost for many years. Without that smelting furnace..."

The Demon Blacksmith was only halfway through his sentence when Su Xiao took out the 【Smelting Furnace】 from his storage space. Ever since he had obtained this thing, he could finally use it today.

Seeing this familiar 【Smelting Furnace】, the Demon Blacksmith's frown deepened. For some reason, this blacksmith seemed unwilling to forge equipment with divine characteristics.

"Even if you found the furnace, without the soul of an Evil God, it would still..."

Halfway through his sentence, Su Xiao had already taken out two Evil God souls, which were 【Soul of a God: Holy Oak】 and 【Soul of a God: Progenitor】.

Without waiting for the Demon Blacksmith to speak, Su Xiao manifested 10,000 Soul Coins. A large pile of Soul Coins was stacked on the forging table, with the two Evil God souls placed on top.

The Demon Blacksmith fell silent. After sizing Su Xiao up again, he asked, "Kid, where did you get the Evil God souls?"

"I fished them."

Hearing this, the Demon Blacksmith seemed stunned for a moment, then looked relieved and nodded, saying, "It's not surprising that you Law-Eliminators can do such things."

The Demon Blacksmith picked up the two Evil God souls, seemingly satisfied, and said, "Take these Soul Coins back. I don't charge for forging for you Law-Eliminators."

Hearing this, Su Xiao didn't engage in polite pleasantries but directly put away the Soul Coins. When dealing with a strong, cold, and taciturn person like the Demon Blacksmith, there was no need for useless pleasantries.

Not only were the Soul Coins returned, but the 【Covenant Item】 was also tossed back, while the 【Smelting Furnace】 was kept by the Demon Blacksmith. From the Demon Blacksmith's few words, it was revealed that this was something he had created on the Moon God Continent, but it had been lost ten thousand years ago. Later, it had ended up with the Ancient God faction, and an Ancient God had intended to repair it, only to end up repairing it until it was even more severely damaged.

【Smelting Furnace】

Origin: Moon God Continent

Quality: Unique characteristic item.

Category: Special

Material: Fragment of the Burning Blood Moon, Bone of the Molten Ancient God, Primordial Burning Iron, Extremely Dark Soul, World Core (Complete state).

Durability: 1232/1500 (Damaged state, maximum durability significantly reduced)

Activation effect: Melt (Passive), uses the fire within to melt equipment, props, etc.

Introduction: Ah~, look, that infinite greatness and glory, that person who places everything in the furnace to forge—even the ancient gods covet what he created. But, does he really love what he created?

The Demon Blacksmith examined the 【Smelting Furnace】, his frown deepening. He pondered for a moment, as if he had finally recalled how to repair this thing.

After the Demon Blacksmith set up the 【Smelting Furnace】, he gave Su Xiao two choices: the two Evil God souls could be used to forge two new pieces of equipment, or to improve two existing pieces of equipment.

However, if only Evil God souls were used to forge new equipment, the forged equipment would be relatively ethereal, meaning equipment without a physical form.

The Demon Blacksmith's forging technique was incomparable to other blacksmiths. He didn't need specific materials, meaning that as long as it was equipment or artifacts with extraordinary characteristics, they could be used as materials.

Su Xiao pondered for a moment and decided how to use the two Evil God souls. First, he would forge a new piece of equipment, namely a scabbard. Up until now, the scabbard he had been using was 【Gem Covenant】, and this Epic-grade scabbard was just too damn expensive to maintain with gems.

There was no need to mention how expensive gems were. Using the Epic-grade scabbard 【Gem Covenant】 to enhance the Immortal-grade +14 Dragon Flash required consuming even more gems, and the bonus it brought wasn't actually ideal.

Scabbards were relatively rare. Su Xiao had tried to acquire them, but the Immortal-grade scabbards he encountered weren't very suitable. Entrusting the Demon Blacksmith to help forge one now was a good choice.

Besides forging a new scabbard, Su Xiao planned to use the remaining Evil God soul to enhance the Overlord-grade equipment 【Blood Feather】.

After advancing to the Eighth Tier, Su Xiao had a further understanding of Overlord-grade equipment. Overlord-grade equipment might seem to be distinguished by rating, but that wasn't entirely the case. Overlord-grade equipment also had a larger quality distinction, divided into Three-Essence, Five-Essence, and Ten-Essence.

This wasn't a quality classification certified by the Paradise, but a classification made by the contractors themselves, so it was particularly simple and crude.

The so-called Three-Essence meant Overlord equipment exchanged with three Overlord Essences, while Five-Essence was naturally five Overlord Essences. Ten-Essence couldn't be exchanged for yet.

Exchanging for Overlord equipment was actually very profitable. Even in the Samsara Paradise, the number of Overlord equipment was limited. Under such circumstances, it was destined that for every piece exchanged, the Samsara Paradise's inventory would decrease by one.

Therefore, there was a rule that after advancing to the Eighth Tier, one could not only exchange for Overlord-grade equipment but also sell Overlord-grade equipment at the exchange price, but there was a limit to such sales.

For Su Xiao, Overlord equipment with Three-Essence strength was clearly no longer enough. Precisely because of this, he hadn't exchanged for new Overlord equipment even after saving up 3 Overlord Souls—that is, the third-tier Overlord equipment—but was waiting until he saved up 5 to exchange for a second-tier Overlord equipment.

Wanting to save up 10 to exchange for the first-tier, which was the highest-tier Overlord equipment, wasn't very realistic at the current stage.

Su Xiao's existing three pieces of Overlord equipment were 【Golden Scale】, 【Blood Feather】, and 【Silver Moon Blade】. The former two were both third-tier Overlord equipment, and only 【Silver Moon Blade】 was a second-tier Overlord worth 5 Overlord Essences.

After the Demon Blacksmith took 【Blood Feather】, his gaze changed slightly, and he glanced at Su Xiao, seemingly muttering in a low voice that the temperament was a perfect match.

This piece of equipment that made numerous great healers collapse internally, weep in anger, and dig their nails into their palms was about to receive a huge upgrade.

This came at a price. In addition to the two Evil God souls, Su Xiao also needed to take out some equipment or artifacts he couldn't use. He actually had quite a few of these, totaling:

【Skywalker (Saint-grade accessory)】, 【Jaunty Demon +11 (Immortal-grade sniper cannon)】, 【Soul Whisper (Saint-grade short blade)】, 【Cruel Crush +12 (Saint-grade combat boots)】, 【100 ounces of Space-Time Power.】

Seeing Su Xiao even take out Space-Time Power, the Demon Blacksmith pushed these things to the back of the forging table, meaning that if there was nothing else, he should leave and not disturb his forging.

"Have you heard of the Choir?"

Su Xiao spoke; his next step was to find the Choir.

"Never heard of it. I only saw a Wolf Grave on the way."

The Demon Blacksmith looked sullen, as if he didn't want to talk much anymore. He hadn't spoken this much in several hundred years.

"Moon Wolf?"

"Right, those big dogs that used to follow you Law-Eliminators. The direction is over there, go find it yourself."

After saying this, the Demon Blacksmith pulled the bellows. Whoosh! The furnace burst into flames, and the heat wave was something even Su Xiao couldn't quite handle. Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang behind him even let out an "Awoo" and jumped up, its tail catching fire as it ran backward.

Just as Su Xiao exited the semi-open workshop, a stone door in front of him slammed down. Although it blocked the scorching heat, the stone door was roasted red within seconds.

The "Wolf Grave" being in the Dead Silence City was undoubtedly good news, and it was even near the cathedral.

"Come over here."

An old and weak voice came. Su Xiao heard the sound and looked over. The voice came from a landing on the second floor. He followed the spiral staircase to the second floor and found that the landing on the second floor was about a dozen meters wide, with tall stone seats placed against the wall.

Su Xiao had seen this kind of stone seat on the top floor of the cathedral in the High Wall City. There were only five there, but here there were 12, and each stone chair had its own representative emblem.

Among them, Su Xiao saw the "Hunter Emblem" representing the Archbishop, the "Moon Emblem" representing the Holy Priest, the "Ten Thousand Snakes Emblem" of Lady Snake, the "Filth Insect Emblem" of the Old Monster, and finally the "Steel Emblem" of the Steel Apostle.

Undoubtedly, the five who founded the High Wall City were originally five of the twelve members of the old church.

Of the remaining seven emblems, Su Xiao only recognized three: the Choir Emblem (representing the Choir), the Saintess Emblem (suspected to represent the first-generation Saintess), and finally the most easily recognizable Wolf Emblem, which was clearly the inherited power representing the Silver Moon Wolf.

For a powerful existence like the Silver Moon Wolf, it was very normal for the Healing Church to have its inheritance. Numerous signs indicated that the Healing Church had a friendly, and even a certain degree of worship, relationship with the Silver Moon Wolf.

Su Xiao could recognize the Choir Emblem and the Saintess Emblem because when the Noble Son, Krank, ran away earlier, he had left behind his most valuable mystical treasure, attempting to use it to keep Su Xiao from hunting him down.

Krank had left behind the 【Choir Badge】, which functioned to open specific areas within the Dead Silence City. By comparing the emblem on the 【Choir Badge】, he could naturally recognize the Choir Emblem.

As for the Saintess Emblem, he recognized it even more easily. The current generation's Holy Maiden had been tied up by Su Xiao, and she had this emblem on her back and the back of her right hand.

Su Xiao stopped in front of the stone chair engraved with the Hunter Emblem. At this moment, the Archbishop was sitting on it. Weak and frail, he was covered with an old, faded blanket, and he looked aged to the extreme.

"Since you've arrived here, some things can be told to you."

The Archbishop spoke in his low, hoarse voice, recounting the current situation. In general, Su Xiao being able to arrive at the old church's cathedral was actually just the beginning; the real difficulties were still ahead.

After the 【Initial Source Stone】 was divided into five, it was initially kept by five strong individuals of the Healing Church, one of whom naturally included the Archbishop.

Su Xiao had already obtained the Source Stone belonging to the Archbishop before coming to the Dead Silence City. The remaining four were not so easy to get. As time passed, these four Source Stones were currently in the hands of the following four strong individuals:

First was the Choir, which kept one Source Stone. But saying they were enemies wasn't entirely accurate; the Choir was more like a test. Only by defeating them would one have the qualifications to obtain the Source Stone they guarded and earn their respect.

Do not misunderstand one thing: the Choir was not gentle at all. If one dared to challenge them, one had to be prepared to die if defeated. Of course, if one killed members of the Choir during the battle, the Choir wouldn't hold a grudge; this was their mission and duty.

Besides the Choir, the remaining three strong individuals were: the last Wolf Knight, the first-generation Saintess, and the Sin Collection.

These three strong individuals each possessed a Source Stone. Hearing the Archbishop mention the last Wolf Knight, Su Xiao knew that this one would certainly be difficult to deal with. And even if this old brother didn't have a giant wolf partner by his side, he was a greatsword user, after all, due to the Moon Wolf inheritance.

As for the location of the last Wolf Knight, one didn't even need to think about it; one would encounter this person by going to the "Wolf Grave."

As for the subsequent first-generation Saintess and the Sin Collection, Su Xiao had heard of both. The former was the daughter of the Holy Priest and the founder of the Saintess lineage.

As for the latter, the Old Monster's confidence had been shattered by the Sin Collection, which was why he had eventually fallen into that state.

After weighing the options, Su Xiao abandoned the idea of going to the "Wolf Grave" first, changing his plan to go to the "Saint Ten Cathedral" to find the Choir first, then go to the "Wolf Grave," then go to the underground "Filthy Land" to fight the first-generation Saintess, and finally go to the "Hall of Atonement" to seize the last Source Stone from the Sin Collection.

After understanding the map of the inner city of the Dead Silence City, Su Xiao took Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang and Baja and left the cathedral, heading toward the "Saint Ten Cathedral" on the north side to find the Choir.

At the same time, beneath the high wall of the inner city.

This was a damp, dark palace. The flickering candlelight brought a hint of warmth to this place.

Drip, drip~

Blood dripped from the fingers of a corpse hanging upside down. The expression on the corpse was one of extreme pain, and there were spiral-shaped black holes on its torso, as if someone had reached in with their bare hands and gouged out one of its organs.

Tap, tap, tap, tap...

A steady, rhythmic sound came. In the dim light, a "beautiful figure" stood in front of the kitchen counter. Her entire body was covered in dark purple fine scales, but she wasn't ugly; instead, she gave off a unique sense of beauty and fear. That's right, this was Fish Sister, whom even Zayas wanted to avoid.

At this moment, Fish Sister was holding a kitchen knife, tap-tap-tapping away as she cut ingredients on the cutting board. The ingredients were naturally not Gulu. Gulu, who had been caught, was sitting at a small table with a metal collar locked around her neck, her face full of doubt about life.

Fish Sister was cooking in front of the cutting board. No one knew why she did this. What was gratifying was that although her ingredients were all kinds of monsters, none were humanoid; they were basically beast-shaped. As for their appearance, it was better not to mention it.

"What should we do? Think of a way. Aren't you Bai Ye's daughter? Will he come to save you?"

The mouth on Gulu's left palm spoke; it was Saintess Poetry speaking.

"You believe anything anyone says. I just called him 'Father' once when my brain short-circuited."

"Then what should we do? Save yourself?"

"You must have lost your mind. Even if three of me were added together, I might not be able to beat Fish Sister, let alone the fact that this is her territory."

Gulu became angrier the more she spoke. This time, it was Saintess Poetry who had implicated her. Logically speaking, Fish Sister should have caught Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang, but she discovered that catching Gulu was a "buy one, get one free" deal, which was why she changed her target.

Just as Gulu was continuing to consume brain cells, conceiving an escape strategy, Fish Sister in front of the kitchen counter finished cooking. She poured the indescribable, unnameable food, soup and all, into a clay basin. Then, holding it with one hand, she came to the small table where Gulu was sitting.

Fish Sister squatted down, raised her hand to stroke Gulu's head in a doting manner, then placed the clay basin, which was large enough to serve as a bathtub for Gulu, on the table. She then used her sharp-nailed fingers to point at the unnameable "delicacy" in the clay basin, meaning: Eat, don't be polite, and don't leave any behind. If even a drop was left, she would be unhappy, and if she were unhappy, she would gouge out Gulu's little heart, liver, and lungs.

Gulu picked up the spoon in the clay basin, which was several sizes larger than her head. Looking at this spoon, at this moment, she completely understood the hospitality of the Dead Silence City.

PS: Click on the chapter notes for this chapter to view the Dead Silence City map (self-made by Feiwen). ===== CHAPTER 3554 =====