Chapter 3637: Strongest Healing Skill

The bounty for the defector on the Hunter List had jumped from 800 ounces of Space-Time Power to 1300 ounces. This bounty was closely related to the strength of the corresponding traitor. No matter how one looked at it, the Soul Crown had made the Sand King stronger and more difficult to deal with.

Was that really the case? Of course not. The Sand King's individual combat power had increased, but overall, the Sand King was easier to deal with than before because the Sand King had not only killed his Minister of the Left and Minister of the Right, but even the royal guards around him were almost all devoured. This Mad King was completely intoxicated by the power brought by devouring the Life Source of others.

In just two days, the Sand King had broken through the step he hadn't been able to advance for a hundred years. Not only that, after devouring the Minister of the Right to take this step, the Sand King had taken another big step forward after devouring hundreds of elite royal guards, which was why the bounty reached 1300 ounces of Space-Time Power.

All of this came at a price. In the current Holy Sand Castle, except for servants not worth devouring, one could basically not find any guards with even a little strength. And the ministers of the Desert Kingdom, after the Minister of the Left and Minister of the Right were killed for no reason, began to run away overnight. Anyone would run; although it was said that serving a king was like serving a tiger, it wasn't as dangerous as assisting the Sand King.

First, the ministers and nobles fled, then the wealthy merchants ran away. By noon today, some civilians in Fengshui Capital had the posture of leaving this central royal capital.

Judging from the current situation, the risk of fighting the Sand King now was much lower than before. Now, facing the Sand King, whose strength had greatly increased, was certainly dangerous, but there was a possibility of winning. Before, facing all the ministers, nobles, and the Desert Legion of Fengshui Capital, Su Xiao had no chance of winning at all.

The forces the Sand King had accumulated over many years had fallen apart in less than two days under the erosion of the Soul Crown, which showed the danger of this "Original Sin Object."

To a certain extent, the Sand King's cognition was actually not wrong; the Soul Crown was indeed highly compatible with him. However, it was not compatible for him to use, but highly compatible for dealing with him. This crown's lethality against monarchs was simply a 1000% bonus.

【Prompt: The fourth ring of your main mission has been locked.】

The prompt appeared. Su Xiao paused in the act of opening the envelope and decided to check the content of the prompt first.

【Main Mission: Kill the Mad King (Fully Activated).】

【Main Mission: Kill the Mad King (Fourth Ring)】

Difficulty Level: Lv. 84～Lv. 86.

Trigger Condition: Must hold the Soul Crown to trigger this mission.

Mission Information: Kill the Mad King.

Mission Deadline: 3 natural days.

Mission Reward: Origin Stone x15 (9 basic, 6 additional added due to the Mad King's combat power overflowing the mission judgment threshold).

Prompt: After being promoted to Tier 9, the main mission reward for the first world will definitely be Origin Stones. The specific quantity will be comprehensively judged based on mission difficulty, mission completion, and other factors.

Mission Penalty: Random physical attribute permanently -10 points.

Su Xiao, who had been sitting cross-legged on the single sofa, sat up straight subconsciously after seeing the content of this mission, his gaze becoming a bit more solemn. No matter how one looked at it, this mission was full of risks.

A mission difficulty of Lv. 86 was enough to make many Tier 9 contractors' hearts jump. What's more, Su Xiao had just been promoted to Tier 9. This was the first mission world he had experienced after being promoted to Tier 9. Looking at it this way, it was very possible that the second world progress would be thrown into a Transcendent Native World.

Continuing to look down at the mission summary, the existence of this mission information really had no meaning. The content was exactly the same as the mission name. No, this mission information was shorter than the mission name; at the very least, the mission name also showed which ring of the main mission this was.

As for the mission reward further down, at first glance, 15 Origin Stones was a high return—5000 Soul Coins each, which could sell for 75,000 Soul Coins. But high returns also meant bearing high risks.

As for the final mission penalty, for some reason, compared to this "Random physical attribute permanently -10 points," a forced execution looked more reassuring. Generally, when such a not-so-harsh penalty appeared in a main mission, there was usually nothing good.

What was even more worrying was that the Sand King with a 1300-ounce bounty was already this strong; how strong would the traitor with a 1500-ounce bounty be?

Su Xiao materialized the "Hunter List: Blood Contract." He felt more and more that this thing was not very reliable. At the beginning, when dealing with the Deceiver, he didn't feel anything. The Deceiver was a Reincarnator with a strength cap. When he finally killed the opponent, Su Xiao received a total gain of 250 ounces of Space-Time Power, and everything looked very normal.

Among the six traitors, the Thief was killed by the Betrayer many years ago. He could only obtain the corresponding bounty on the "Hunter List: Blood Contract" by finding the opponent's soul fragments.

The two traitors mentioned above didn't cause any trouble. But when Su Xiao went to deal with the Informant, who had a bounty of 400 ounces, the situation began to go wrong. As the Nightmare King on Nightmare Island, the Informant's bounty soared directly to 1500 ounces when he was on Nightmare Island.

Su Xiao chose not to fight him to the death and invited the Candle Woman to "visit" this Nightmare King. Su Xiao didn't know how the Nightmare King died; when he saw him again, only a head remained.

With the soaring bounty of the Nightmare King, Su Xiao was exceptionally vigilant when dealing with the Mysterious One, that is, Black Rose. As expected, this time Black Rose's abyss twin body became a "Supreme Power" by devouring disaster. In the end, it could only be banished to the Eternal Light World. I don't know how the Pain Queen is "training" over there, or if she has met her good sister, the Silver Queen.

Finally crossing the hurdle of Black Rose, Su Xiao came to the Desert Kingdom to deal with the Sand King. After arriving in Fengshui Capital and understanding the situation here, it wasn't that Su Xiao wanted to use an Original Sin Object, but that he had to. Besides using the Soul Crown to deal with the Sand King, there was really no other way. The Sand King himself was the fourth strongest in this world, and having developed here for so many years, he was simply too difficult to deal with.

After weighing for a moment, Su Xiao was not prepared to go to Holy Sand Castle to deal with the Sand King immediately. The reason was that the opponent should have just absorbed a large amount of Life Source to improve his strength. Based on his accumulated knowledge, he judged that after absorbing a large amount of Life Source, the Sand King's health recovery speed would be quite strong for a period of time. Avoiding his edge and waiting until evening to go to Holy Sand Castle was the safest. If he went late, the Sand King might start a third Life Source devouring.

Su Xiao opened the envelope in his hand. This was left by the Ghost Prophet before he died. Just as the Ghost Prophet promised when they were on Skull Island, as the diviner in the team, he would tell Su Xiao where the Thief's burial ground was before he died.

After opening the envelope, inside was a map of Fengshui Capital. There was a very conspicuous red circle on the map. Looking closely, the location of this red circle was actually the farm estate where Su Xiao was currently located.

This made Su Xiao recall that before they wanted to come to the Desert Kingdom, the initial candidate to fish out the quartermaster, Gabuchi, was not the farm owner, Kerba, but a wealthy merchant in Fengshui Capital. But the Ghost Prophet insisted on changing this target to the farm owner, Kerba.

As long as one wasn't stupid, no one would contradict the diviner in the team on such a choice. Looking at it now, the Ghost Prophet choosing the farm owner, Kerba, as the target had another meaning: the burial ground of the Thief, one of the six traitors, was in the woods behind the farm.

The Ghost Prophet did not specify the exact location of the Thief's burial ground. Thinking about it, that was a scene that could only be glimpsed through a divination at a greater cost.

Su Xiao tried to activate the "Hunter List: Blood Contract" and erase the name of the Thief on the list by condensing soul fragments. He had just activated this permission when the Hunter List emitted a blood-colored faint light. Thinking about it, the location of the Thief's burial ground was closer to this estate than expected.

Not long after, a few strands of ash-like fragments drifted over. Using this as paint, he wiped away the name of the Thief.

【You have successfully erased the name of the Thief.】

【Because the Hunter entered the world at the beginning, the Thief was already dead, so this bounty is reduced by 30%.】

【Because of the multi-bounty of the "Hunter List: Blood Contract," you will receive a bounty with a total value of 500 ounces of Space-Time Power.】

【Because the bounty is reduced by 30%, you can receive a total of 350 ounces of Space-Time Power.】

【You obtain Space-Time Stone Fragment x15 (this is an equivalent, selling it to the Reincarnation Paradise can obtain 150 ounces of Space-Time Power).】

【Checking the type of materials needed by the Hunter...】

【You obtain Ancient Dragon Heart Core (Special Equipment). This item is selected based on the Hunter's personal situation. In this judgment, this item is equivalent to 200 ounces of Space-Time Power in materials.】

【Ancient Dragon Heart Core】

Origin: Second Era, Alchemy Era.

Quality: Special Equipment

Durability: 630/1200 points.

Equipment Requirement: Real Stamina attribute 260 points or more.

Equipment Effect 1: Absorb (Active), this equipment can absorb and store "massive" dragon-type, dark-type, and blood-type energy.

Prompt: This equipment can stably store high-tier energy.

Equipment Effect 2: Capacity Amplification (Core, Passive), increases this equipment's energy storage capacity by 35%.

Equipment Effect 2: Capacity Secondary Amplification (Core, Passive), increases this equipment's energy storage capacity by 50%.

Equipment Effect 3: Capacity Tertiary Amplification (Core, Passive), increases this equipment's energy storage capacity by 70%.

Equipment Effect 4: Capacity Quaternary Amplification (Core, Passive), increases this equipment's energy storage capacity by 95%.

Introduction: This item was manufactured by the Alchemy Faction commissioned by the Ancient Dragon Faction. Until the Ancient Dragon Faction declined, this treasure was hidden in a secret place and later discovered by a worker and sold to the Reincarnation Paradise.

A thick shell that looked somewhat like a dragon's heart appeared and landed in Su Xiao's hand. The hollow interior of this object gave a feeling of being incomparably vast. Thinking about it, the capacity of this item was notarized by the Reincarnation Paradise as "massive."

From the introduction of the 【Ancient Dragon Heart Core】, Su Xiao discovered one point: workers seemed to have different benefits. That was, when selling items to the Reincarnation Paradise, the selling price should be higher than that of contractors and hunters. As for why the price for contractors and hunters selling items to the Reincarnation Paradise was on the low side, it was estimated to be some kind of notarization mechanism, allowing contractors and hunters to know how to weigh the pros and cons when selling items, rather than selling everything to the Reincarnation Paradise in one go.

This benefit for workers was likely limited. For example, only resources obtained by workers during the execution of missions could be sold directly like this. As for wanting to use this benefit for workers to fleece the system, high-level hunters' "kind persuasion" should be understood.

Su Xiao weighed the 【Ancient Dragon Heart Core】 in his hand. This thing felt heavy. As for what this thing was used for, he actually knew of its existence before obtaining it.

This related matter was learned by Su Xiao when he was reading biographies in the Void Great Library. That was during the prosperous period of the Ancient Dragon Faction. The ancient dragons had always wanted to obtain a secret treasure that could be swallowed into the body to store massive amounts of dragon energy. After some discussion, they decided to find alchemists to manufacture it.

When the two sides first negotiated this matter, although the relationship was not good, it was just a nodding acquaintance of not provoking each other. However, during the production of this item, the two sides began to turn hostile because of their respective allies, and in the end, they almost became hostile factions. However, both sides were very restrained and did not fight each other.

The situation was deadlocked like this. The Alchemy Faction had already accepted the commission, so they continued to manufacture this secret treasure. It was not easy to explain to their allies. Under these circumstances, an alchemist genius proposed that since they were now hostile to the Ancient Dragon Faction and it was not easy to breach the contract, they should do as the other side requested. This secret treasure had a large capacity and absorbed energy quickly. Finally, the 【Ancient Dragon Heart Core】 was produced.

When they first received the 【Ancient Dragon Heart Core】, the ancient dragons were both surprised and delighted, and also suspicious. But after using it, a group of ancient dragons were not happy. The 【Ancient Dragon Heart Core】 absorbed energy at an astonishing speed, and its storage capacity was also terrifying, but the way this thing released energy made the ancient dragons grind their dragon teeth until they creaked.

This thing had to be activated with mental power and full concentration to continuously release energy. To use a metaphor, small things like an itchy nose during the process could cause the energy release to be interrupted. It should be known that the ancient dragons were prepared to use this secret treasure as a body energy storage device to significantly increase the body energy available during combat.

This was also why the ancient dragons stored this item in a secret place rather than keeping it in the Ancient Dragon Kingdom, Eberias.

The notarization of the Reincarnation Paradise just now should have been checking Su Xiao's alchemy, which was why it gave this reward. If it were related to pharmacology, it would be very useful to Su Xiao. As for alchemical artifacts, until now, Su Xiao still hadn't figured out the principle of the Mysterious Eye. The more perfect this thing was, the more unexpected effects it would have.

Su Xiao put away the 【Ancient Dragon Heart Core】. In his view, this thing had only one use: go to the ancient battlefield to absorb blood energy, store the ancient battlefield blood energy inside, and in this way, he could improve his aura ability for a long time. It not only allowed aura-type abilities to improve steadily but also didn't require him to take risks to go to the ancient battlefield frequently.

The Sleeper, which turned into after the Law-Breaker died on the ancient battlefield, was simply too strong. Su Xiao estimated that the opponent's strength should be between "Supreme Power" and "Supreme Power." If it weren't for the protective notarization of the Reincarnation Paradise every time he went to the ancient battlefield, he would have been in danger the first time he encountered the Sleeper.

If he could return to the Reincarnation Paradise alive this time, Su Xiao was prepared to start using aura-type abilities to improve the level of Blood Spear Master.

【Blood Spear Master Lv. 60 Ultimate Ability: Blood Soul Resonance (Passive): Can fuse aura-type abilities (requires aura-type abilities to reach Lv. MAX, or higher Lv. EX). After fusion, the aura ability will be removed from the skill list, but it will not reduce your existing blood energy intensity, blood energy total, etc. After completing this fusion, it will bring a certain degree of improvement to Blood Spear Master and further improve the quality of your blood energy.】

Currently, Su Xiao's "Aura Release" ability had reached Lv. MAX and could be fused through Blood Spear Master, then he could master a new blood energy-type aura ability, and then use the ancient battlefield blood energy to improve its level. In this way, not only was the cost of improving Blood Spear Master lower, but it was also constantly stacking the basic strength of the blood energy system, so that the blood energy system would not reach a cap because the aura ability reached its limit.

The Green Steel Shadow ability could use the 【First Generation Finger Bone】 to increase its cap level, while the blood energy system could constantly replace aura abilities to stack the blood energy cap. I don't know which of these two abilities had a higher cap.

During meditation, time passed quickly. Suddenly, Su Xiao opened his eyes and looked at the corner of the banquet hall. Immediately after, the Platinum Bishop, the High Priest, Dre, Amu, Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang, Veronica, and the Red-Eyed Girl all looked at the corner of the banquet hall.

In the corner, an uninvited guest in an invisible state stood there. This was a thin boy who had once been called the strongest stealth user in Fengshui Capital. At this moment, he was hit to the point of doubting his life. He had infiltrated here, but everyone in the banquet hall had discovered him. He had never been stared at by so many people at the same time while in an invisible state.

"You could have just run in; you didn't need to be timid and hide two kilometers away to slowly sneak over. You made me wait for so long. I opened the window specifically for you so you could be faster."

Baha spoke. Hearing this, the invisible boy was even more hit. After he lifted his stealth state, he made a gesture to kneel on one knee a few meters away from Su Xiao. Seeing this, Baha stopped him: "Don't do these fake things. If you have something to say, just say it."

"All... right."

The invisible boy took out a secret letter and handed it to Su Xiao, then sat on a chair without saying a word. Experiencing that there were people beyond people was actually acceptable, but experiencing that there was a group of people beyond people was not very acceptable.

Su Xiao opened the secret letter in his hand and found that this was Caesar's recommendation. The person who wrote this secret letter was named Sowa, the captain of the royal guards of Holy Sand Castle. The content of this secret letter was very simple: Captain Sowa was prepared to defect to Su Xiao's side. As for which faction Su Xiao's side was, Captain Sowa no longer cared. At the moment, besides the Sand King's faction, the captain of the guards could go to any faction.

As a condition for defection, Su Xiao had to send someone to rescue Captain Sowa's parents, as well as his wife and two children. As long as he agreed to this condition, Captain Sowa was willing to risk his life to assassinate the Sand King.

"Xiang Bubu, Baha, Veronica, you three go to the back city district and rescue this captain's family."

"Alright."

Baha flew out of the window, Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang merged into the environment, and Veronica yawned, looking lazy. However, after Su Xiao looked at her "kindly" for a few seconds, Veronica stopped being lazy, climbed out of the window, and left the banquet hall.

Half an hour later, Baha returned first and said, "Boss, the people have been brought back. The guard strength over there is not strong."

"Hmm."

Su Xiao continued to meditate. It was just the family of a captain of the guards; it was unlikely that the Sand King would send too strong a guard force. Furthermore, the strong people around the Sand King had all been devoured by him. Even if he wanted to send them, he couldn't. He hadn't devoured this captain of the guards because he needed someone to run errands.

When Su Xiao finished his meditation, the sky was already like blood in the setting sun. He stood up and walked out of the banquet hall. Among the crowd, the High Priest, the Red-Eyed Girl, and Dre stayed behind. The High Priest didn't need to go to Holy Sand Castle to exert his abilities, and the Red-Eyed Girl stayed behind because of the Platinum Bishop's arrangement; the specific reason was unclear.

As for Dre, although it was said that he was to guard the temporary base, it was mainly to prevent the causality-type curse targeting the protected object and items from taking effect in this deathmatch, which might cost the lives of teammates.

When Su Xiao stopped at the steps under the main entrance of Holy Sand Castle, he found that this royal palace, which used to be heavily guarded, was now unguarded, and the towering double metal doors were not even closed tightly.

Walking into Holy Sand Castle from the main entrance, the courtyard was a stone path several meters wide, with fountain pools on both sides, which made the scorching Fengshui Capital become cool here.

Walking smoothly all the way to the palace door, Su Xiao ended his contact with Caesar. He had confirmed that the Sand King was in the palace.

Su Xiao pushed open the palace doors with both hands. As the doors were pushed open, dozens of meters away, the towering black iron throne at the innermost part of the palace first caught Su Xiao's eyes. On the throne, a man over 3.5 meters tall with pitch-black eyes sat casually, and a long sword at least 2.3 meters long was stuck beside the throne.

The first two-thirds of this long sword was the blade, and the last third was the handle. The guards on both sides were very long, and there was a downward bend. Looking at the guard and handle of the whole sword upside down, it looked like a trident. This battle sword combined sharpness, blade-breaking, and strong thrusting armor-piercing means. Its most terrifying point was that this battle sword was very heavy, one of the three heaviest weapons in the Void.

"Oh? The Law-Breaker has come."

The Sand King on the throne spoke, his demeanor calm, but his right hand, which had already grabbed a handprint on the armrest of the throne, represented that he was actually not calm in his heart.

"Soul-Severing Shadow? A disciple of Grimm Gillian? That madwoman actually had a disciple; it's really surprising. But, your Devouring Core..."

The calm smile on the Sand King's face froze. Even if the unique fluctuation of the Devouring Core wasn't activated, he felt incomparably familiar with it. This made him stop talking to Su Xiao and instead turned his gaze and said:

"Everyone chose to betray me, but you three chose to stay. Very good, kill the Law-Breaker with me."

The Sand King looked at the three people standing a few meters away. These three were Caesar, Saint Poetry, and Captain Sowa.

Caesar smiled treacherously without speaking, while Captain Sowa bowed and saluted, but he was actually prepared to backstab the Sand King with a spear as soon as the fight started.

Saint Poetry didn't speak or express her stance, which made the Sand King frown, somewhat dissatisfied. Seeing this, Saint Poetry said in a firm and sincere tone: "I will definitely do my best to heal you during the battle."

At this moment, no one present expected that the healer with the highest single-ability damage intensity in history was about to appear.

【Saint Poetry Ability: Soul Rage (Ultimate Ability Lv. 42): Can be used on self or a single friendly target. After use, the target will recover 20% of maximum health per second for 15 seconds and remove all debuffs currently suffered.】 ===== CHAPTER 3638 =====