Chapter 3621: Contention

Outside the Alliance borders, in the Great Swamp region, Ghost City.

Ghost City in the dead of night inevitably felt a bit eerie. In this atmosphere, a young girl wearing a hooded cloak pulled low walked quickly down the street. She clutched a flat wooden box to her chest, the fluctuations of soul stones within it appearing and disappearing, and the girl glanced left and right in occasional panic.

For a young girl to be walking quickly through the backstreets of Ghost City, a lawless place, at midnight while clutching a wooden box full of soul stones was very dangerous.

Sure enough, after the girl walked past, several figures appeared and disappeared in the darkness behind her and in the narrow alleys on both sides of the street, following her.

Seeming to notice the multiple evildoers trailing her, the girl's pace grew faster and faster, eventually breaking into a run. In the end, as she ran with all her might, helpless tears streamed from her eyes. Worse yet, in her panic, she rushed into a pitch-black alley—it was a dead end.

The evildoers following behind immediately quickened their pace, rushing into the dark alley like hyenas snatching food. Soul stones were rare and precious items in Ghost City; naturally, they could not let this opportunity pass.

Only after the evildoers rushed into the alley did they see the situation clearly. The young girl who had been running in a panic was now sitting on an old wooden crate at the very back of the alley with her legs crossed. Beside her was a young man with a short ponytail, wearing a twisted cross.

"Black A, let's stop here for today. I'm sleepy and really want to go back and get some sleep. Besides, you've almost devoured all the gang members in the city. Now, whenever they see a young girl walking at night, they look like they've seen a ghost."

The young girl named Vivi yawned as she spoke. The young man beside her didn't speak; he suddenly vanished from where he stood and appeared behind the few evildoers who were preparing to retreat. He draped his arms over the shoulders of the two men on either side and grinned, revealing a mouthful of sharp teeth.

The next second, a series of miserable screams and pleas for mercy, filled with sobbing and trembling, echoed through the alley.

In the alley, the Dark Saint—no, it should be Black A—flicked a soul stone into the air, tilted his head, and caught it in his mouth, chewing with a *crunch, crunch* sound. This symbiosis was the most perfect one Black A had ever conducted; it had completely taken over this body.

As for the Dark Saint, when Black A took over the body, the Dark Saint was already near death due to the battle with his nemesis, even though he had won at the last moment. Furthermore, the compatibility between the Dark Saint and Black A was extremely high, which led to Black A devouring the majority of the Dark Saint's soul while he was on his deathbed.

Overall, this was the greatest improvement Black A had ever received. In these dozen or so hours, Black A had gained things he never had before, transforming from a parasite with some thinking ability into an independent devourer with complete cognitive faculties.

The biggest change in Black A was that, previously, he would never have let a young girl he saved from the underground arena follow him. Now, although he still didn't care about her life or death, he felt that having this bait follow him wasn't bad—or rather, it was neither good nor bad.

"Black A, why are you standing there in a daze again? Where are we going next? Are we going back to rest?"

"No, we are going to... the Alliance."

Black A did not speak often, so his speech was not very coherent.

"The Alliance? Why go there? Calm down. Even though we have a bit of a reputation in Ghost City, if we dare to act recklessly in the Alliance, we'll be dealt with in less than a day."

There was a hint of anxiety in Vivi's tone, though she knew she couldn't change Black A's decision.

"No, our creator... is there. My 'younger brothers and sisters'... are also there."

Hearing Black A's words, Vivi was shocked. She asked urgently, "Your creator? You have younger brothers and sisters?"

"Yes, but my creator... is powerful. I still... cannot defy him. He... created... us."

Hearing Black A say this, Vivi gulped. She asked tentatively, "Then how do they compare to the Abyss Leader of Ghost City, Silvis?"

"The creator is stronger, and more... terrifying."

"Hiss—"

Vivi's heart had already begun to panic. She gulped again and asked, "Then what is your relationship?"

"One day, I will... devour the creator."

"!"

The smile Vivi managed to squeeze out was already bitter. She let out a long sigh and asked, "Are we going to the Alliance this time to confront your creator?"

"Of course not," Black A looked at Vivi with a somewhat strange gaze. He continued, "We are going to deal with my 'younger brothers and sisters.' They are very strong. The most dangerous one right now is Boiling Red. We must determine the final winner."

Hearing this, a different look appeared in Vivi's eyes: "So, your creator treats you all the same?"

"No, he... favors Boiling Red more."

"Why? That's not fair!"

"Because Boiling Red... used to follow the creator's instructions more."

"Oh, then I would favor Boiling Red more too. By the way, about the address—what does your creator usually call you? Black A? Or something else? You can roughly tell the creator's impression of you from the address. What does he usually call you?"

Vivi felt quite clever saying this.

"Rebellious son."

Hearing Black A say these two words, Vivi nearly lost her balance and fell off the wooden crate. She looked at Black A and suddenly felt that this trip to the Alliance would be even more dangerous than she had imagined.

Meanwhile, in the Alliance's Sotto City.

A night owl flew over the city and into a guest room on the top floor of a luxury hotel. The top few floors of this hotel had been booked by a distinguished guest for an entire month.

Inside the guest room, the North Territory Princess, wearing a bathrobe, walked out of the bathroom. Water droplets still clung to the tips of her long hair, which was white with a faint hint of light blue. The night owl that had flown in landed on her shoulder, its beak holding a letter.

After the North Territory Princess opened the letter, her brows gradually furrowed. The journey was long; the reinforcements she had requested would not arrive until at least the day after tomorrow.

*Crack, crack, crack—*

The letter in the North Territory Princess's hand crystallized and finally shattered with a *snap*. Just then, a whistling sound came from afar, growing closer and closer. The North Territory Princess looked toward the source of the sound.

*Boom! *

A figure leaped from afar and slammed into the outside of the floor-to-ceiling window of the guest room. The nearly 10-centimeter-thick reinforced glass was already covered in cracks.

Outside, a strong man with a bare upper body and wild, disheveled hair was staring at Crystal Ji. This strong man was nearly 4 meters tall, his entire body covered in sharp, well-defined muscle lines.

"Do you really think I'm easy to bully, Dark Sun!"

The North Territory Princess's long hair fluttered upward, and crystals appeared around her, enveloping her within them.

With a *boom*, crystals and flames erupted on the top floor of the hotel.

On the street below the luxury hotel, a man wearing sunglasses late at night with his hair combed back was looking up with a smile at the battle on the top floor of the hotel.

"Boiling Red—no, or should I call you Alisa? Are you planning to kill me now? As the first one to enter the third stage, you can certainly defeat me and devour me. But, are you really a match for Black A?"

The sunglasses-wearing man's words made Alisa's hand stop in front of his neck.

"Black A is the first-generation devourer. His growth speed is a weakness, it's true, but if he reaches the fifth stage, even if you devour me, Dark Sun, and Crystal Ji, you still wouldn't be a match for Black A."

At this point, the sunglasses-wearing man took out a photo. On it were clearly Black A and Vivi, with the high walls of Ghost City in the background.

"Black A is devouring Abyss energy to become powerful rapidly. If the four of us fight here and waste too much time, even if you win in the end, can you really defeat a fifth-stage Black A? Don't forget one thing: seizing the 【Life Essence Aggregation Crystal】 is what makes one the final winner, not killing all the other devourers..."

Before the sunglasses-wearing man could finish, Boiling Red's host, Alisa, interrupted: "You talk too much."

After saying this, Alisa prepared to strike.

*Puchi—*

Blood splattered everywhere. Alisa leaped backward in response, dodging the splashing blood droplets.

"You..."

Alisa's slender brows furrowed tightly. A few meters away, the sunglasses-wearing man had stabbed one hand into his own chest and pulled out his heart.

"Cooperation requires sincerity. This is a part of me and my host. Take it and let Boiling Red devour it. Reach the late third stage as soon as possible to achieve a temporary advantage against Black A. My host and I have always believed that if you win, we might not necessarily die, but if Black A wins, none of the other devourers will survive."

After saying this, the sunglasses-wearing man—the Sun Apostle—tossed the still-beating heart in his hand to Alisa. Alisa was slightly stunned; she really hadn't expected the other party to be so sincere.

The Sun Apostle turned and walked toward the street corner, keeping his back to Boiling Red's host, Alisa, the entire time. This made Alisa, holding the still-beating heart, hesitate slightly. But it was only for a very short time before she decided to act; the sincerity the other party showed seemed more like a trap.

Just as Alisa was preparing to strike, the Sun Apostle, who had already walked a dozen steps with his back to her, seemed to remember something and stopped to say:

"Oh, right, there's one thing I forgot to tell you. Recently, those people from the Dark God Sect are planning to retaliate against your sister, the leader of the Hunter Squad, Tessa, and your other family members. The assassination by the Dark God Sect will probably come tomorrow night. Your sister is, of course, not afraid of this, but whether your other family members will be safe, no one knows. I need a little more time for more specific intelligence. Probably tomorrow morning, I will give you the information on this. See you later."

The Sun Apostle, who had tossed over a miniature recording device, walked away. After listening to the contents, Alisa could only suppress the thought of dealing with the Sun Apostle first.

When the Sun Apostle walked to a place where no one was around, a smile gradually appeared on his face. However, the next second, he exploded into a large mass of flesh and blood with a *snap*, splattering onto the surroundings. In turn, these flesh fragments began to evaporate. This was not the Sun Apostle's true body; he would not give Alisa the chance to find his true body. As for the heart he had pulled out, it was indeed real, containing a part of the Sun Apostle as a devourer.

In the different dimension, Baja squatted on Amu's shoulder, witnessing everything that had just happened.

"I thought it was the true body. This disguise is high-level. Amu, do you feel like it has a bit of that Priest-ability flavor? But it's normal; the Priest took the Sun Apostle away for a period of time."

"Moo."

Amu hung the Dragon Heart Axe back on his back.

"Let's go back. Four have entered the arena now, and Black A should be arriving soon too."

Baja spread its wings, and it and Amu gradually faded away in the different dimension.

On the third floor of the Asylum, in the Dean's office.

A muffled *boom* came from the bedroom; it was the sound of a teleportation array being activated. A few seconds later, Amu and Baja came out of the bedroom.

"Boss, the progress is going quite smoothly."

Hearing Baja's words, Su Xiao, behind the office desk, did not speak. He was staring at the 【Golden Can】 on the table. After obtaining this thing, he had thought of many ways to open it, but the lid of this thing seemed to have fused with the can body; there wasn't even a gap.

Su Xiao put away the 【Golden Can】. There was no rush for this; he just needed to open it before leaving this world. Currently, there were two pieces of good news. The first was that, after asking the Platinum Bishop, Su Xiao learned one thing.

Located on the west side of the Desert Kingdom was a scorching desert. It was called that because the temperature during the day could reach 4500–5000 degrees—a temperature sufficient to vaporize metal. To be precise, that desert was not composed of sand, but formed by sand-like crystalline particles that remained after high temperatures.

The reason there was such a terrifying high temperature there was because, at the center of that scorching desert, there was a giant crater where solar flames burned year-round.

Some had tried to explore the center of that desert, but even the fastest people could only fly to the vicinity of the giant crater before hurriedly turning back. Once the sun rose, the temperature of that desert would rise to 4500–5000 degrees, but when the sun set, the temperature there would plummet to normal levels in a short time.

Su Xiao was very interested in this place—or rather, he was very interested in places with massive amounts of solar flames. However, there were too many unknowns about that desert, and the risk of going deep into it was very high. Even with Su Xiao's current strength, he could not stay for long in 4500–5000 degree conditions.

Su Xiao's idea was that after dealing with the Black Rose of the Saint Lan Kingdom and before going to the Desert Kingdom to find the Sand King, he could make a trip to that scorching desert. If there really were massive amounts of solar flames at the center of that desert, he could use the 【Solar Disk】 to absorb them and see if he could activate the 【Solar Disk】.

Furthermore, maintaining such massive amounts of solar flames for a long time—perhaps there was something good inside that giant crater.

Besides this, there was another piece of good news: a few minutes ago, the 【Azure Furnace】 completed its fusion, fusing the world set of three items + Blood of Fate + Precipitated Glaze + World Ink into one piece of equipment.

【Prompt: This fusion is complete.】

【You have obtained the World Ring.】

【World Ring】

Origin: Reincarnation Paradise / Apocalypse Paradise.

Quality: World-class.

Category: Ring.

Durability: 150/150 points.

Basic Bonus: After wearing this equipment, you will temporarily become a Child of the World (Pseudo), equivalent to 85% of the luck bonus of a normal Child of the World, as well as the World Affection status.

Prompt: This bonus has priority.

Equipment Requirement: Willpower 50 points, Luck attribute 10 points, Charisma attribute 15 points (Hunter does not meet the wearing requirements, but can force it).

Prompt: Because the Hunter's Charisma attribute does not meet the equipment requirements of this item, being at -16 points, if you force the wearing of this equipment, it will lead to irreversible attribute changes to this equipment, as well as a significant reduction in durability, rating, etc.

Equipment Effect 1: Sheltered One (Passive), after wearing this ring, your Luck attribute will be increased based on 35% of your own Charisma attribute (maximum increase of 35 points).

Equipment Effect 2: Hunting (Passive), after killing someone who affects the safety of the world, you can obtain a certain amount of World Power and store it in this ring (the amount obtained will be determined based on the enemy's comprehensive strength and danger level).

Stored: 0 ounces of World Power.

Equipment Effect 3: World Power (Core/Passive), when the World Power stored in this equipment reaches the maximum value, this ability will be activated, causing the wearer of the equipment to receive a phased comprehensive strength improvement (including all attributes +10 points including Luck, and all ability levels increased by Lv. 9–Lv. 12).

Prompt: This improvement can be triggered multiple times.

Warning: This improvement has limitations. After leaving the world where the improvement was received, the improvement effect brought by this ability will be significantly reduced.

Rating: 3280 points.

Su Xiao looked at the ring pinched between his fingers. The strength of this thing was quite astonishing. Not only did it provide a high Luck attribute increase and a cheat-like way to become strong quickly, but the fact that one could become a Child of the World (Pseudo) just by wearing it was even more jaw-dropping.

However, this thing was not without drawbacks. It looked like a cheat-like way to become strong quickly, but once one left this world and reached other worlds, the power obtained would be less than one-tenth. But conversely, the greater the limitation, the higher its strength in the current world.

Of course, if Su Xiao entered other worlds, the characteristics of this thing would remain the same; it was just that after the wearer became strong in that world, they could not leave that world. It was not that the ring was bound to the current world, but rather that whichever mission world the ring entered, it would be temporarily bound to that world.

After Su Xiao put away the 【World Ring】, a prompt appeared.

【Prompt: The notarization right you applied for has been approved, but you need to provide a sufficient amount of Space-Time Power yourself to complete this notarization.】

【Notarization Content: Devourer Contention Battle.】

【Notarization Function: Contact Platform, Material Deployment Permission, Temporary Brand (after the Hunter leaves this world, these nine temporary brands will be reclaimed).】

【Brands are as follows: Creator Brand (mastering all permissions of the Devourer Contention Battle), Supplier Brand (exclusive to Bubutney), Arbiter Brand (exclusive to Baja), Executor Brand (exclusive to Amu), Devourer Brand x5 (information reception and designated material positioning function).】

【To constitute a temporary contact platform, 85 ounces of Space-Time Power must be paid; material deployment rights require 18.6 ounces of Space-Time Power; temporary brands have no cost (the Hunter's current permissions allow for free borrowing, and they will be reclaimed after use).】

【You need to pay a total of 103.6 ounces of Space-Time Power to conduct this notarization.】

【It is detected that during the course of this notarization, if the Hunter sets a part of the contention battle as seizing the "Ancient Emblem," and any Devourer successfully seizes it and hands this item to the Hunter, the Hunter can finally earn 270 ounces of Space-Time Power from this contention battle, and the Hunter's permission level cap will be increased by Lv. 2.】

【According to your plan, this Devourer Contention Battle will be divided into the following four stages.】

Stage 1: Growth Period. During this period, all Devourers will grow their comprehensive combat power to the second to third tiers (there are five growth tiers for Devourers in total). The Hunter will use material deployment rights to deploy 【Concentrated Vitality Potions】 to various regions of this world; this is the resource needed for the rapid growth of Devourers.

Stage 2: Contention for the 【World Ring】.

Stage 3: Contention for the 【Ancient Emblem】.

Stage 4: The winner takes the 【Ancient Emblem】 to the Hunter to exchange for the unique resource you provide, 【Life Essence Aggregation Crystal】.

【Prompt: After completing the above stages, the Hunter can choose to keep or sell the obtained "Ancient Emblem." If sold, you will obtain 103.6 ounces + 270 ounces of Space-Time Power, and the Hunter's permission level cap will be increased by Lv. 2.】

Seeing these prompts, Su Xiao felt that this 103.6-ounce notarization fee was very necessary. After notarization, the perfection of the Devourer Contention Battle immediately rose by several grades.

【You have paid 103.6 ounces of Space-Time Power.】

【You have obtained the Creator Brand (reclaimed upon leaving this world).】

【Bubutney has obtained the Supplier Brand (reclaimed upon leaving this world).】

【Baja has obtained the Arbiter Brand (reclaimed upon leaving this world).】

【Amu has obtained the Executor Brand (reclaimed upon leaving this world).】

【The five Devourers have already obtained their corresponding Devourer Brands.】

【Material deployment rights have been activated. Using the Creator Brand, you can deploy designated materials to most regions of this world. After deployment, all Devourers and their hosts will know the time, location, and material information of this material deployment based on their respective brands.】

After this prompt appeared, Su Xiao's brand temporarily gained a new function. He activated it and took out a bottle of 【Concentrated Vitality Potion】. After letting go, this 【Concentrated Vitality Potion】 was sucked into the material deployment column. Immediately after, a list appeared, allowing for the selection of deployment time, location, and more detailed positions, etc.

【Prompt: The temporary contact platform has been activated.】

【Bubutney (Supplier) has entered the contact platform and obtained corresponding permissions.】

【Baja (Arbiter) has entered the contact platform and obtained corresponding permissions.】

【Amu (Executor) has entered the contact platform and obtained tracking and killing permissions.】

【Beni has entered the contact platform and obtained speaking and partial permissions.】

【Black A has been added to the contact platform, Alisa (Boiling Red) has been added to the contact platform, Dark Sun has been added to the contact platform, Sun Apostle has been added to the contact platform, North Territory Princess (Crystal Ji) has been added to the contact platform.】

【The contact platform has been fully activated.】

Seeing these prompts, Su Xiao opened the contact platform and immediately saw someone speaking inside.

Alisa (Boiling Red): "What is this?"

Sun Apostle: "More convenient intelligence gathering."

North Territory Princess (Crystal Ji): "In the end, you still remembered me."

【Prompt: North Territory Princess (Crystal Ji) has been muted by the Creator for 12 hours.】

Alisa (Boiling Red): "Hahahahaha..."

Arbiter: "As expected of you, Crystal Ji."

Su Xiao closed the contact platform. Currently, the Devourers were still in the first stage of their confrontation; there was no need to pay attention to them for at least a few days, just let them play freely.

After Su Xiao left the Asylum, he headed to the wilderness. The suburbs at night were desolate. A black shadow flew past from above, carrying a sense of pressure that made people panic. Finally, this black shadow with a wingspan of over 10 meters flew down and landed behind Su Xiao.

"Roar!!"

A dragon roar tore through the night sky. It was the Storm Flame Dragon that had completed its metamorphosis. On its body were not rough dragon skin or dragon scales, but black-blue large feathers. Those vertical dragon eyes had both the majesty of a flying dragon and a sharp, cold arrogance.

Initially, this Storm Flame Dragon was prepared to break free from the soul brand. As a Tier 9 Overlord-level creature, even if it was in the newly promoted Overlord stage, it did not want to be bound, let alone be ridden.

After discovering this, Su Xiao used the 【Spirit of Thunder】 to draw down world lightning to train the Storm Flame Dragon's resistance to world lightning. After this improvement, the Storm Flame Dragon was significantly more obedient.

Su Xiao leaped onto the dragon's back. After a dragon roar, the Storm Flame Dragon spread its wings and flew up. The night wind whistled past Su Xiao's ears. He controlled the Storm Flame Dragon to fly at full speed. With a *boom*, the Storm Flame Dragon swept out layers of air explosions, flying at high speed within the clouds.

On the dragon's back, Su Xiao's clothes were blown until they rustled. After he controlled the Storm Flame Dragon to slow down, he sat cross-legged on the dragon's back. It could only be said that a flying dragon with feathers was more suitable for riding. In the past, when riding the Demon Flame Dragon, Barbato, the dragon skin was hard, which was fine, but the key was that the Demon Flame Dragon, Barbato, had many bone spurs on its back.

Now sitting cross-legged on the Storm Flame Dragon's back, although the feathers were extremely tough, the texture was quite good. Furthermore, the Storm Flame Dragon belonged to the medium-to-large dragon category. This body size made it more convenient for Su Xiao on the dragon's back to attack enemies with thunder spears.

Tomorrow morning, Su Xiao planned to head to the Saint Lan Kingdom to deal with the Black Rose. But there was a problem: that was the Black Rose's territory. Once there, he would have to deal with three forces simultaneously: the Wang Zu of the Saint Lan Kingdom, the secret forces under the Black Rose, and the Dawn God Sect.

As soon as Su Xiao arrived in the Saint Lan Kingdom, the Wang Zu, the secret forces, and the Dawn God Sect would definitely swarm him to fight to the death.

Su Xiao could be certain that if this situation occurred, he would definitely lose. That was the enemy's territory. Facing the Wang Zu, the secret forces, and the Dawn God Sect there simultaneously—even if he won, it would be a miserable victory after successive strokes of luck. This was not the result Su Xiao wanted.

This made Su Xiao change his thinking. His purpose in going to the Saint Lan Kingdom was never to eliminate the three major forces there, but to kill the Black Rose. The Black Rose, who was hostile to him, certainly knew this. After the Deceiver and the Informant both died, it was certain that many powerful people must have gathered around the Black Rose right now, just waiting for Su Xiao to go.

Among these powerful people, some came from the Wang Zu, but more should come from the Dawn God Sect. Su Xiao's idea was: since he couldn't beat one against three when facing the Wang Zu, the secret forces, and the Dawn God Sect simultaneously, then he would deal with them one by one. First, he would deal with the most troublesome Dawn God Sect.

According to the general process, he would start by arranging things from the priests of the Dawn God Sect, then the High Priest, and finally turn the Dawn God Sect into a muddy mess. But the problem was, the Black Rose was unlikely to let this happen.

Thinking of this, Su Xiao had a reverse way of thinking: instead of fighting the Dawn God Sect head-on, wouldn't it be faster to solve the problem by hunting the God of Radiance, whom the Dawn God Sect worshipped? As a god, the God of Radiance was also the strongest combat power of the Saint Lan Kingdom, and it was impossible for him to have protectors by his side.

Su Xiao looked at the Nine-Star Title "God Hunter" in his title list and felt that this plan was highly feasible. ===== CHAPTER 3622 =====