Chapter 3658

Drip, drip~

Dark green water droplets fell. Su Xiao opened his eyes. He raised his hands, looking at his hands and arms that appeared translucent in his phantom grip. This was clearly a spiritual body, which meant he was either in an illusion or a dream right now.

Having finished upgrading a series of abilities, Su Xiao, who felt extremely fatigued, had been resting in his exclusive room about a few hours ago. He could be certain that he was not in an illusion; as a Blade Master, being dragged into an illusion while asleep was too absurd. In other words, this place was closer to a dream or a nightmare.

Su Xiao tried to wake up, but found he could not, trapped in this nightmare.

Looking around, Su Xiao discovered that he was on the edge of an island. The sky was pitch black, and the endless sea behind him was also pitch black. He could vaguely see tattered warships anchored in the near-shore area. Judging by the scale of these warships, they must have once had their own glory.

Su Xiao turned his gaze to the island he was on. This island should be very large, permeated with dark green thick fog. He faintly felt that in this dark green fog, phantoms of wandering souls were gathering, only to vanish in an instant. This was an island shrouded in death and curses.

Su Xiao crouched down halfway, thrusting one hand into the soft, pitch-black soil of the ground. A chill that reached his soul came through. He scooped up some soil and smelled it; a stench of decay and ruin entered his nasal cavity.

He raised his hand toward the dark green fog in front of him. The dark green mist stained his fingertips. As soon as this fog touched his fingertips, it turned into a deep dark green, carrying a hint of fluorescent white. Power, endless power, was within reach, and endless power—as long as Su Xiao was willing to accept it now, he could immediately obtain this power without any cost.

Hiss, hiss~

The fluorescent dark green evaporated at Su Xiao's fingertips. This was the "Nether Bone Ring." As long as one wore it, they could obtain endless Nether power.

It was not the false temptation of the "Soul Crown"; the "Nether Bone Ring" truly gave the wearer power permanently, until the wearer reached the limit of strength their potential could achieve, at which point they would be devoured by the "Nether Bone Ring."

One might ask, where did the power given to the wearer by the "Nether Bone Ring" come from? The answer is that this power was accumulated by the previous holders of the bone ring after they were devoured by it. Choosing to wear this bone ring would ultimately lead to only one outcome: being devoured by it. This was unsolvable.

After wearing this bone ring, to obtain power, one must accept the Nether power, which is a branch of Abyss energy. And choosing to accept the Nether power meant one's consciousness would be inadvertently eroded by the Nether. By the time this person was swallowed by the bone ring, they wouldn't resist at all, because in the mind of the bone ring wearer, this was fate—a fate to be accepted as a matter of course.

What was truly terrifying was that after the wearer was devoured by the Nether Bone Ring, a large area around where they died would sprout Nether Fog.

As long as living beings were shrouded in the Nether Fog, they would quickly turn into wandering souls, evil ghosts, vengeful spirits, undead, or frenzied beasts. The Nether Fog would continue to spread by eroding the world until the entire world was shrouded in it. By then, the fog would be full of wandering souls, frenzied beasts, and so on.

These wandering souls would gather and use the Nether power to construct a "World-Tier" teleportation array to transmit the world's core, the "Nether Bone Ring," to a world not yet covered by Nether Fog.

Is it fine as long as one doesn't wear the "Nether Bone Ring"? Of course not. Those wandering souls and frenzied beasts within the Nether Fog would, before long, be drawn by the "Nether Bone Ring" to kill the holder who refused to wear it, leaving the bone ring behind, either to remain silent or to be discovered by a new holder.

Most Original Sin items are like this. As long as they are in an ownerless state, the danger level is at its lowest, but once discovered and held, the danger level immediately maxes out.

Su Xiao opened his eyes and looked around; he was still in his exclusive room. He took the "Abyss Box" that Seferia had 'given' him out of his storage space. Sure enough, the "Abyss Box" was covered in cracks at this time.

Go find Seferia to make a new one? That was impossible. At the moment, only by improving his own sealing level could he solve it once and for all. As long as his sealing technique was strong enough, temporarily curbing the "Nether Bone Ring" was no problem.

Furthermore, after knowing the traits of the "Nether Bone Ring," Su Xiao had a hypothesis: what if the Nether invaded the Eternal Light World? A large number of wandering souls, evil ghosts, vengeful spirits, undead, and frenzied beasts would surge everywhere in the Eternal Light World. This would undoubtedly attract the attention of many World-Ending-tier groups and Abyss-spawned creatures.

As for whether the Nether Fog could surge into the Eternal Light World, others might not be able to confirm this, but as a Law Breaker, Su Xiao could guarantee 100% that the Nether Fog surging into the Eternal Light World would not be blocked. He was a Law Breaker holding the "Blade of Sealing," after all. The real question to consider was whether those wandering souls and frenzied beasts were strong enough.

He glanced at the time; he had been asleep for almost seven hours. Although he was affected by the Nether Bone Ring, overall, the quality of this sleep was quite good.

There were still about ten hours left before attending the Empty Seat Banquet. Su Xiao didn't plan to go too early. He contacted Benny, who was still at the Great Gathering Place, and received news that the aura-type ability he needed had already been bought, costing a total of over 40,000 Soul Coins.

What these 40,000 Soul Coins bought were three skill scrolls: "Blood Energy Condensation," "Lord's Deterrence," and "Aura: Heart Core," all of which were basic aura abilities.

Regarding the acquired aura abilities, Su Xiao didn't care much about their specific attributes, but they had to satisfy two points: 1. Good adaptability—after he mastered them, these aura abilities would transform into the blood energy type; 2. Massive aura volume.

After his Blood Gun Master reached Lv. 60, it condensed into a divine skill called Blood Soul Resonance:

"Lv. 60 Ultimate Ability: Blood Soul Resonance (Passive): Can fuse aura-type abilities (requires the aura-type ability 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, total blood energy, etc. Completing this fusion will bring a certain degree of improvement to Blood Gun Master and further increase the quality of your blood energy."

After meditating for a moment, Su Xiao chose to activate the "Blood Soul Resonance" trait of Blood Gun Master. The next second, he felt his blood energy split into two streams: one could be controlled by Blood Gun Master, and the other by "Aura Release, Lv. MAX."

After about a few seconds, all the blood energy controlled by the Aura Release ability surged into the control ranks of Blood Gun Master, and the "Aura Release" ability in the skill list also disappeared.

Su Xiao felt quite good about this blood energy fusion. Previously, when he released blood energy, there was always a subtle sense of obstruction, but he could never figure out exactly why.

Now he finally understood why. Assuming his blood energy was 100 points, before, Blood Gun Master could control 80 of them, and the remaining 20 were controlled by the Aura Release ability. Now, it had become that these 100 points of blood energy were completely categorized under the Blood Gun Master ability, making it, of course, more handy and comfortable to control.

【Blood Gun Master has been upgraded to Lv. 71.】

【Blood Gun Master: Lv. 71 (Passive)】

Skill Effect: Blood energy attack power increased by 602% (increased by 25%), body energy control degree significantly increased (Green Qing Qing Gang Ying/Blood Energy).

Blood Energy Intensity: 163 points (increased by 28 points).

Lv. 10 Ultimate Ability: Killing Gun Blade (Passive)...

Lv. 20 Ultimate Ability: Ruthless Gun Blade (Passive)...

Lv. 30 Ultimate Ability: Iron Blood Gun Blade (Passive)...

Lv. 40 Ultimate Ability: Life After Death (Passive)...

Lv. 50 Ultimate Ability: Blood Passing (Passive)...

Lv. 60 Ultimate Ability: Blood Soul Resonance (Passive)...

Lv. 70 Ultimate Ability: Blood Soul: Condensation (Passive/Active),...

Seeing the increase in blood energy intensity, Su Xiao decided that from now on, he would use this method to upgrade his Blood Gun Master ability.

Not only that, fusing the aura abilities this time also increased the controllability of his blood energy by a large margin. Su Xiao estimated that his current speed of forming a Blood Beast had increased from 0.27 seconds to about 0.12 seconds. This was such an exaggerated improvement; after all, it changed from activating blood energy with a divided focus to being able to instantly trigger blood energy relying solely on Blood Gun Master.

This gave Su Xiao a new combat tactic: a straight kick, followed by a slash, and finally a pounce by the Blood Beast—a smooth and powerful three-hit combo.

With the three aura-type ability scrolls in hand, Su Xiao left his exclusive room and headed to the Skill Upgrade Hall again. Half an hour later, he activated the skill upgrade chamber he was in and simultaneously crushed the skill scrolls in his hand. A colorless energy flowed along his arm and into his body.

【Hint: You have mastered "Lord's Deterrence, Lv. 1."】

【According to the Hunter's personal aura characteristics, "Lord's Deterrence, Lv. 1" has transformed into a blood energy-type aura ability.】

【To upgrade "Lord's Deterrence, Lv. 1," you need to pay 120 Soul Coins. Pay or not?】

As expected of a high-tier aura ability, the upgrade cost for Lv. 1 was 120 Soul Coins. But for Su Xiao, this was a huge profit; he was very clear about the improvement of blood energy-type aura abilities.

Following the payment of 120 Soul Coins, a teleportation sensation appeared, and his surroundings became blurry, then clear again.

The ground was dark red, as if soaked in blood. In the distance, the corpses of giants lay prone on the ground, the oak shields in their hands already tattered. The corpses of strong individuals from various races were scattered across the ancient battlefield. Because there were corpses of the Demon race, the ancient battlefield was filled with a smell of sulfur.

Scarlet mist drifted across the ancient battlefield. This was the blood energy of countless strong individuals during their lifetimes. As a form of energy, aura naturally does not decay due to the passage of time, but even so, no one would actively absorb this ancient battlefield blood energy.

In fact, being teleported to the ancient battlefield to upgrade blood energy-type abilities was not to absorb blood energy, but to sit quietly and resist the erosion of the ancient battlefield blood energy, thereby strengthening one's own blood energy. It was resistance, not active absorption.

Su Xiao did not absorb blood energy immediately upon arriving this time. There were many dangerous existences here. Fortunately, apart from the relatively tricky Sleepers, he feared nothing else on the ancient battlefield. To be precise, it was these things that should fear Su Xiao.

He took five elite Demon Beast embryo eggs out of his storage space. After activating them, Su Xiao began to wait. In just a few minutes, five slightly underdeveloped elite Demon Beasts crawled out of their hardened eggshells.

This was not the end. Su Xiao took out five crystals and threw them out. Each of the five elite Demon Beasts swallowed one, and then, following mental commands, they sprinted in five different directions.

Time ticked by. After about half an hour, a blue pillar of light in the distance shot straight into the sky. The aura released there actually felt somewhat like the energy within the Awakening Monument.

And indeed, that was the case. This was a crystal Su Xiao had made by taking some energy from the Awakening Monument, mixing it with a large amount of Green Qing Qing Gang Ying energy, and finally compressing it by condensing it with "Proud Song: Passive."

The reason for doing this was to lure away the Sleepers of the ancient battlefield. Those were Sleepers transformed from the corpses of Law Breakers, and they would likely be attracted to this energy explosion.

The mental link of one elite Demon Beast was severed, representing that the elite Demon Beast had been killed. Regardless of whether the Sleeper had been lured, it was time to start absorbing blood energy.

Su Xiao took out the 【Ancient Dragon Heart Core】 and activated it. This thing could store a "massive" amount of blood energy.

【Ancient Dragon Heart Core】

Origin: Second Era, Alchemy Era.

Durability: 630/1200 points.

Equipment Effect 1: Absorption (Active). This equipment can absorb and store "massive" amounts of Dragon-type, Dark-type, and Blood-type energy.

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

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

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

Su Xiao only knew that this thing had a large storage capacity; as for the absorption speed, it could only be determined through practice...

Boom!

A muffled sound spread from Su Xiao's hand. Under the suction of the 【Ancient Dragon Heart Core】, a vortex quickly appeared in the blood energy above, and a massive amount of blood energy surged toward this side.

Seeing this, pale blue energy emerged in Su Xiao's palm. He converted 20,000 mana points into Green Qing Qing Gang Ying energy, thereby forming a simplified version of the Devouring Core.

A moment later, a temporary Devouring Core appeared in Su Xiao's hand. This thing reached half a meter in diameter. An energy line the thickness of a thumb linked the simplified Devouring Core and Su Xiao, wrapping around his arm. Do not underestimate this energy line; it contained over 300 small Devouring Cores inside.

The Devouring Core floated above Su Xiao. Following his control, the hundred-plus holes on the Devouring Core opened, and like a long whale drinking water, it instantly sucked the ancient battlefield blood energy within a hundred meters into it.

After a large amount of blood energy was sucked into the simplified Devouring Core, the Devouring Core began to operate, purifying, filtering, and refining this blood energy.

The pure blood energy was transmitted to Su Xiao along the energy line. The 300-plus small Devouring Cores inside the energy line began to operate, filtering this blood energy time and again. In the end, the blood energy had been filtered until it was transparent, with only a faint red color visible. Undoubtedly, Su Xiao had filtered and refined the purest blood energy.

The pure blood energy merged into Su Xiao's aura without any obstruction, which caused the newly mastered "Lord's Deterrence, Lv. 1" to improve at an astonishing speed.

15 minutes later, the absorption of blood energy came to an abrupt halt. The reason was that the blood energy in the surrounding area had been absorbed. Su Xiao checked the 【Ancient Dragon Heart Core】; this thing hadn't even been filled, with the blood energy storage only reaching 58.2%.

【Your Lord's Deterrence has been upgraded to Lv. MAX.】

Seeing this scene, Su Xiao immediately chose to return to the Skill Upgrade Chamber.

Spatial fluctuations appeared. After Su Xiao returned to the Skill Upgrade Chamber, he felt a bit dizzy from absorbing too much blood energy and placed one hand on the chamber wall.

With a bang, a blood-red crystal claw pressed against the chamber wall. At this moment, Su Xiao's pupils were blood-red. Fortunately, long-term meditation allowed him to maintain his sanity.

【Hint: Removing the erosion of ancient battlefield blood energy requires consuming 4,250 Soul Coins.】

【Hint: Removing the blood energy residue within the aura requires paying 5,870 Soul Coins.】

【Restoring body damage requires paying 602 Soul Coins.】

Su Xiao chose to pay for everything. The blood-colored crystals on his arm shattered, and the blood-red in his pupils gradually faded.

Sitting in meditation for a moment, Su Xiao used his Blood Gun Master ability to fuse the "Lord's Deterrence, Lv. MAX." Half an hour later, the fusion was complete, and the "Lord's Deterrence" ability disappeared from the skill list.

【Blood Gun Master has been upgraded to Lv. 72.】

Through two upgrades, Su Xiao roughly figured out the pattern: if he fused a Lv. MAX aura ability, Blood Gun Master could be upgraded by 1 level; if he fused a Lv. EX aura ability, Blood Gun Master would likely upgrade by 2–3 levels. Calculated this way, the former was still more suitable. If he had to upgrade Blood Gun Master and still consume Golden Skill Points, it would be better to upgrade it relying on Soul Crystals.

Su Xiao estimated that the cost of upgrading Blood Gun Master by 1 level was around 24,000 Soul Coins. No matter how one looked at it, this was much cheaper than using Soul Crystals to upgrade, and the improvement effect was the same.

Crushing the "Aura: Heart Core" skill scroll, Su Xiao headed to the ancient battlefield again after mastering this ability. The Skill Upgrade Chamber became quiet.

5 minutes.

10 minutes.

20 minutes passed. Spatial ripples appeared, and Su Xiao suddenly appeared, crashing into the chamber wall with a bang. His left forearm, wrapped in a crystal layer, blocked a long blade. Although it was pierced, the tip of the long blade stopped a few centimeters from his neck.

Su Xiao tilted his head to look into the spatial ripples at the Sleeper with a full head of gray-white hair and pitch-black eyes. The other party was also looking at him. Until the spatial ripples were about to disappear, the Sleeper on that side withdrew the long blade.

Compared to before, when he would die instantly without the protection of the Samsara Paradise, the current Su Xiao would not be easily hammered to death by the Sleeper. He estimated that the next time they met, he could try to have a battle with the other party. The refreshing part of becoming stronger lies in this: a strong individual he once had absolutely no possibility of defeating is getting closer and closer to him, and finally, he defeats them.

Consuming Soul Coins to remove the erosion of ancient battlefield blood energy, removing the blood energy residue within the aura, and treating his own injuries, finally fusing the "Aura: Heart Core" ability with Blood Gun Master—Su Xiao had become increasingly proficient with the entire process.

【Blood Gun Master has been upgraded to Lv. 73.】

Although there was still one "Blood Energy Condensation" skill scroll left unused, after this round of upgrades, Su Xiao only had 518 Soul Coins left. A few hours ago, he had 410,000 Soul Coins, but now, the Soul Coins had slipped into the triple digits.

This didn't matter; Su Xiao still had the 【Death Gem】. This thing was worth 450,000 to 500,000 Soul Coins. He had previously prepared to contact Solomon and the Undead Girl, but both were still in mission worlds and hadn't come out. Now Solomon had come out, but the Undead Girl was still in a mission world.

Su Xiao contacted Solomon. Unexpectedly, the other party replied a few minutes later. In fact, this was normal. In Solomon's Samsara Brand Friend List, there were only three people in total: one was Su Xiao, another was dead, and the last one would never have the possibility of contacting him again. As for contacts like merchants, they were all in the temporary contact list.

Bai Ye: "There?"

Solomon: "."

Bai Ye: "【Death Gem (Origin-Tier Gem, Unique, Undead-type Exclusive, Highly Rare)】."

Solomon: "Need Soul Coins now. Can come up with 450,000. When the next world progress ends, can come up with 530,000."

Bai Ye: "Pay a 100,000 deposit. You take the gem and use it first. After the next world progress ends, settle the remaining 430,000."

Solomon: "I'll notarize the contract in a while. If I die during the period, I will notarize and mortgage equivalents worth 430,000 to you: 【Soul Greenhouse (World-Tier, Building)】, 【Primordial Fire Seed】..."

The collateral notarized by Solomon was clearly worth more than 430,000 Soul Coins. Su Xiao had obtained secret treasures like the Eternal Spring, and Solomon, whose strength was similar to his, naturally also had good things at the bottom of his box.

Solomon needed some time to raise the 100,000 Soul Coins. Regarding this, Su Xiao was not in a hurry. He returned to his exclusive room. Baham and Benny had been waiting there for a long time. This time they were going to the Empty Seat Banquet with Su Xiao. Bubu Wang was fast asleep, and Amu had no interest in going to the Empty Seat Banquet.

With a click, the crystal card in Su Xiao's hand shattered. Spatial fluctuations appeared. When the teleportation ended, he was already standing on an old platform. The sky was a dim yellow, and the wind was howling over the dim yellow Gobi. The sand and gravel blown up by the wind rattled against the nearby metal station sign.

The location of this Empty Seat Banquet was the same as the last time, so naturally, he had to take the Demon race's train.

Ding, ding, ding~

The urgent ringing of the bell indicating the train was arriving came. As the stones on the ground shook, an all-metal, iron-black ram-horned train sped over. This steel beast stopped accompanied by a screeching sound of brakes that made one's eardrums ache. Steam sprayed from the bottom of the carriage doors, which then opened.

After Su Xiao boarded the train, he heard the same broadcast as last time:

"Welcome to the 'Newgate Express Train.' I wish you a pleasant journey."

Su Xiao glanced at the ticket in his hand and went to seat B2-55 to sit down. Most of the time, this train ran every two days; sometimes it took half a month, or even a month, for one trip. The reason for choosing the old location for the Empty Seat Banquet this time was because the Leader had somehow managed to get many tickets, which were then used to convene the Empty Seat Banquet.

Dang, dang, dang~

The sound of a copper bell came. A withered old woman with a severe hunchback walked over. She carried a bamboo basket on her right arm and wore an old copper bell tied with a thick rope around her neck. Her gray-white hair was dry and split, and the eyes that seemed to be filled with magma inside indicated that this old woman was a Demon. To be more precise, she was the strongest of the Demon race. But the Demon old woman only protected the Demon race; if the high-level members of the Demon race had something they wanted to find the Demon old woman for, it depended on her mood.

This person was someone who could go head-to-head with the Lord of the Old Days. In the end, it was only after both sides reached a reconciliation that the matter was quelled.

With the appearance of the Demon old woman, the perception within the carriage was completely suppressed, which also meant that one could not harbor malice or attack each other here.

Before long, the Demon old woman reached the aisle next to Su Xiao. He put the ticket in his hand into the bamboo basket carried by the Demon old woman.

The Demon old woman tilted her head to look at Su Xiao, staring at him for more than ten seconds before moving her gaze away and walking forward slowly with her hunched back.

Clearly, the Demon old woman had never seen someone carrying three Original Sin items at the same time. Seeing it today, she naturally stopped to watch for a moment.

Su Xiao closed his eyes to rest. Baham, beside him, yawned and put on an eye mask, while Benny squatted on the special seat—that is, on Su Xiao's head—curiously observing the surroundings.

The train started, occasionally traveling through space. About every half hour, the train would stop, and a few passengers would board one after another.

An hour later, when the train stopped again, a few passengers boarded. Two of them walked past Su Xiao. The somewhat familiar faint lingering fragrance made Su Xiao open his eyes.

Two figures came into view. They were not only the source of the faint lingering fragrance but also Green Wei and her master, Mage Sage Seferia.

Their eyes met. Seferia's pupils immediately turned into the gold of the Li element. It was to be expected; previously, Seferia had acted as a representative to invite the Saint Flame Pharmacist to the Arcane Eternal Star. As it turned out, Saint Flame was the Law Breaker Bai Ye, and before leaving, he had also blown up two of the Arcane Eternal Star's resource planets.

Seferia, opposite him, was just about to speak when Baham laughed exceptionally brightly. Seeing Baham, Seferia remembered that they had also met on the Demon train last time, and she had been talked to the point of almost breaking down by this noisy flat-feathered beast. The other party didn't really curse people directly, but every sentence was more ruthless than cursing, each word piercing the heart.

Seferia narrowed her eyes. She looked at the Demon old woman at the ticket collection point in front. Taking action on this train would not only gain no advantage but would definitely delay subsequent important matters.

Seferia and Green Wei sat down in the seats opposite. As for Green, she didn't even dare to breathe loudly.

The last encounter was a coincidence, but this time, Su Xiao guessed it wasn't. The three tickets the Leader gave him 'coincidentally' met Seferia. It could only be said that the Leader was also 'very bad.' Discovering that Seferia had also booked this train, he decisively arranged a ticket for Su Xiao in the opposite seat.

Su Xiao closed his eyes to rest, but he always felt that someone was staring at him. After opening his eyes, he saw Seferia opposite staring at him. If looks could kill, he would have already died at least dozens of times by now.

Being stared at by someone sitting opposite, especially when the other party was full of murderous intent, was very uncomfortable. Therefore, Su Xiao said:

"Seferia, last time you saw me, you were still smiling and inviting me to dinner. This time, you look like you want to swallow me alive. I didn't realize you were so fickle."

Su Xiao looked at Seferia opposite with a calm demeanor. Hearing this, Seferia opposite took a deep breath and didn't speak, changing her gaze to look out the window. With an enemy in front, she couldn't win an argument, nor could she take action. This was clearly a case of her having already broken down inside.