Chapter 3720

Towering sapphire crystal trees rose high, their dense branches bearing needle-like leaves resembling pine needles; constant feeding on these crystal leaves had caused the insects' bodies to glow with a fluorescent blue as they fluttered about, making the place breathtakingly beautiful—indeed, this was the "Crystal Forest," one of the world's two major sources of extraordinary resources.

Yet now, deep within the Crystal Forest, the scene resembled purgatory, as the elite forces of the Beast Tribe and Sea Tribe had just concluded their clash here this morning; the Beast Tribe had seized this resource zone at the cost of over half their casualties, leaving the Sea Tribe unable to covet its resources for at least several years.

Drip, drip~

Blood droplets, still uncongealed, fell along the crystal needle-leaves onto a broad-bladed battle axe; its owner, enjoying lunch, noticed the scene and wiped away the blood with a large hand—this axe was forged by the world's most legendary blacksmith.

"Big brother, do you still have the heart to eat lunch? Second brother's fate is unknown—if he dies, none of us will have anything good to eat."

The worry-ridden viper spoke, clad in silver-black battle armor, giving off a feeling of smiles hiding daggers, sinister and cunning.

"If Harvey died, wouldn't that be better?"

Egeyin sucked the fragrant, oily residue from his blood-stained index finger, still somewhat unsatisfied, then picked up a small knife and poked at the sea beast meat roasting over the fire.

"Good? How good? Is it good to be beaten with sticks? Or good to lose your head?"

Upon hearing the viper say the words "stick beat," Egeyin's originally pleasant mood suddenly turned overcast, accompanied by a faint ache in his waist and legs...

"Viper, did we really win? Did we really drive the Sea Tribe out of the Crystal Forest?"

"You... what do you mean?"

The viper narrowed his upright serpent pupils slightly; though he understood Egeyin's meaning, there were some things he dared not say aloud.

"In my view, although the Sea Tribe has been repelled, the situation in the Crystal Forest remains perilous; we must garrison here, garrison here for a long time."

Upon hearing Egeyin's words, the viper asked hesitantly: "If the lord summons us back, what then?"

"Viper, you must know: the lord's decisions are not always entirely correct; I believe that as long as our persistence is right, the lord will not blame us—you say... right?"

By the end of his words, Egeyin gazed at the viper with a smiling look; if the viper dared utter even half a "no" now, Egeyin would not let him leave the Crystal Forest.

"Yes, yes, yes—the lord will consider our difficulties."

The viper, this weathercock, was instantly opportunistic, immediately echoing Egeyin; just then, a messenger ran up briskly, reporting to Egeyin and the viper that Harvey had been rescued and, after taking the secret medicine, would recover fully in ten days or half a month.

Upon hearing this, Egeyin's eyes narrowed slightly; he had seen Harvey's wounds, and to the medics' level in the legion, such injuries were nearly fatal—but the kneeling messenger soon answered Egeyin's doubt: it was Harvey's confidant who had rushed to Midsummer City at top speed to fetch a secret medicine with only a few hours' shelf life, which he gave Harvey to drink, thus saving his life.

Moreover, that confidant had brought something from the lord's manor; the person who sent it had instructed that this item must be delivered into Egeyin's hands.

With some doubt, Egeyin opened the envelope; he actually guessed the letter's contents—nothing more than some leverage he had deliberately exposed.

Having painstakingly built his position to this point, he finally no longer needed to be dominated by that man who was like his nightmare; though the man had shown him kindness, he was also Egeyin's greatest fear—and now, that fear could only be countered by the deliberate flaws Egeyin had left behind; truly, it brought forth a smile he could barely control, as he opened the envelope and tipped it out—only to find not a letter, but a photograph.

This made Egeyin doubt for a moment; he pulled the photo outward, but having drawn it halfway, he shoved it back in.

The viper beside him sensed something unusual and probed: "What is this?"

"This good news of our taking the Crystal Forest—I should personally return to report to the lord."

"Huh? You just said..."

"I said nothing just now—no, as someone the lord personally promoted, his most loyal subordinate, I must now go see him."

"?"

The viper and everyone else were dazed; before he could speak, Egeyin had already strode off toward the nearest teleportation array to return to Midsummer City.

……

In the study, the gas lamp flickered dimly; Su Xiao lowered the battle report in his hand, glanced across at Egeyin, and said: "You've worked hard this time—what do you want?"

"My lord, I actually want nothing; being able to follow you already fills my heart with contentment."

Egeyin's face was stern, showing no trace of the previous rebellious fervor.

Ask why Egeyin returned in such haste? The reason: the photograph previously sent showed an aerial view of Frost Snow City, whose meaning was clear—the position of city lord of Frost Snow City.

Though Egeyin now led the Winter Legion and seemed to hold real power, in truth he was merely a nominal commander; besides, his legion consumed terrifying amounts of supplies daily—this also meant that even if his rebellious ambitions grew, he dared not defy the Beast King.

The lord is a first-tier ruler, directly under the Beast King; city lords are second-tier; as for commanders, they are third-tier—Egeyin, obsessed with power, naturally craved the city lord's position; if he, commanding several elite legions, became lord of the Winter fief, his influence would rival that of the lord himself.

"I spoke with the old city lord of Frost Snow City—he is aged and infirm, unable to continue serving as city lord, so I decided..."

Upon hearing this, Egeyin's face broke into an uncontrollable smile; he had captured White Hoof Port, then attacked Floating Light Island—was it not all for this moment? Now, he finally had his wish fulfilled, stepping from a battlefield commander fighting for his life into the ranks of the Beast Tribe's rulers.

"So I decided: let the viper serve as city lord of Frost Snow City."

"Cough cough cough!"

The viper, who had been gulping tea loudly in the back, choked, spraying tea from his nostrils; he stared in disbelief at himself, pointing and asking: "My lord, are you saying... me?"

"Yes."

Having received a clear answer, the viper perfectly replicated the smile Egeyin had just shown.

Egeyin's smile froze; he felt a sudden loneliness, then smiled faintly, lowered his eyelids without speaking further, his gaze dim.

"Also, recently the lord of the Horned Seal fief died after years of secretly colluding with the Sea Tribe's elders—ordered executed by the old Beast King; since it borders our Winter fief, I sent people to handle it, but the situation there remains unstable; as grand commander, I ought to go myself, but I've been busy lately."

Su Xiao opened the drawer, took out the lord's ring from the Horned Seal fief, played with it on his fingertip, as if thinking of something, and asked: "Egeyin, I heard the situation in the Crystal Forest is unstable—you're also busy?"

Upon hearing this, cold sweat trickled down Egeyin's back—these were his own earlier words.

"Absolutely not; my subordinates estimate that in recent years, the Sea Tribe dare not even glance toward the Crystal Forest."

"Oh, is that so."

Su Xiao gazed kindly at Egeyin—just this gaze, which had made him startle awake in countless nightmares, dominated by this look.

This made Egeyin feel that even if he someday again became grand commander and came under this gaze, he would still tremble inside—this shadow had already become inescapable.

"Then let you first serve as this lord."

Su Xiao tossed the lord's ring onto the table; Egeyin hesitated two seconds, confirmed it was not a test, then took up the ring—this dispelled his loneliness, replaced by blazing ambition.

After everyone left, Su Xiao sat alone leaning in his chair; the fief's evaluation had already reached S-rank—maintaining this state was fine; the Reincarnation Paradise was not occupying this fief, which meant nothing to the Paradise faction; what mattered was establishing a stable world coordinate to transmit workers to this world.

Though the main quest was settled, another problem remained, a thorn in Su Xiao's throat: within this world, he still had a nemesis; if he did not deal with him, he dared not face the old Beast King in life-or-death combat.

As Su Xiao weighed whether to pay a price to settle this, a contract parchment suddenly appeared nearby; on the marked sheepskin, contract text began to scorch like fire brands—this was the Violation·Bevelli side initiating action.

After Su Xiao seized the 8.75% "Initial Mark," he had no intention of further dealing with the violator—but seeing now, having lost the "Initial Mark," the violator grew angrier the more he thought, and thus, using the contract medium he had left behind, launched retaliation.

This suddenly appearing contract parchment is Su Xiao's contract defense measure, somewhat like a firewall: when someone attempts to remotely contract with Su Xiao, this defense contract appears first to block it.

More precisely, it is somewhat like a contract substitute or a contract shield.

Su Xiao looked at the sudden appearance of the defense contract, then took out a blank contract parchment. Since Bevelli wanted to duel, Su Xiao helped her find a place where she could fully display her abilities.

After a moment, a contract was drafted. The content was: the violator Bevelli would pay 100 soul coins as compensation to go to the Eternal Light World. After drafting these contents, Su Xiao looked at the contract beside him.

On this contract, contract text quickly appeared. From these contract clauses, Bevelli's method of drafting the contract was harsh, requiring her to kill the opponent in one go. This calls for criticism of Bevelli's immaturity in contract matters: the harsher the clauses, the harder they are to finalize; instead, one should gradually achieve the goal through the number of clauses.

After waiting a long time, Bevelli finally drafted various clauses on the contract. Only one step remained: signing Su Xiao's and Bevelli's names at the bottom of the contract, after which the contract would take effect.

As a result, Su Xiao waited a long time before the white characters of "Bai Ye" appeared hesitantly on the contract. Seeing this, Su Xiao manifested the contract pen and, in a subtle way, helped Bevelli write the contract properly.

Next came Bevelli's signature. Su Xiao peeled off the signature area, moved it to above the signature line of the Eternal Light contract, pasted it there, and then made the contract parchment intangible.

This resulted in Bevelli, who was supposed to sign her name on the trap contract, signing her name on the Eternal Light contract instead. The content was simple: she was willing to pay 100 soul coins as a ticket to enter the Eternal Light World.

After Bevelli's signature appeared on the Eternal Light contract, Su Xiao attempted to use this contract to initiate notarization with the Void Tree. Since it was personally signed by her, the notarization success rate was very high.

As expected, the contract was notarized shortly after. One can only say that those who pay to go to the Eternal Light World are truly seeing it for the first time.

At the same time, in a second-floor guest room of a small inn in the backstreet of the Bottom City, the main city of the Sea Clan, Bevelli let out a long sigh and said in a slightly boastful tone: "Little Ge, it's still your older sister's contract methods that are reliable, huh."

With a slap, Bevelli flicked the contract parchment. Little Ge, who was playing a handheld console, pouted. This made Bevelli, sitting at the wooden table, stand up immediately. Little Ge's eyes instantly showed a hint of fear—not from fear or terror, but from bloodline suppression. Outsiders don't know that Bevelli is actually Little Ge's biological older sister, but this secret has not been revealed by either sibling.

This also means Little Ge is not a violator of the Holy Domain Paradise; he is actually a violator of the Reincarnation Paradise, though he bears the mark of a Holy Domain Paradise violator. No need to think—it's clear Little Ge once cooperated with the Gray Gentleman.

At this moment, the bloodline suppression from his older sister made Little Ge feel very anxious. Since childhood, he has been rebellious, unafraid of his parents, but afraid of his sister, because he knows his parents would show mercy when beating him, whereas his sister would beat him to death.

It seems this brother and sister deliberately hid their relationship. The reason is that in the Paradise factions, having a completely trustworthy teammate is extremely rare. Precisely for this reason, this sibling duo has teamed up to trap and kill many contractors and violators.

"The beheading night, nothing more than that."

Bevelli's index finger stroked the contract. The fine texture of the contract parchment cleared her pent-up frustration, but at that moment, the characters on the parchment, as if ignited, dissipated, and a scarlet contract text appeared above.

As an expert in contracts, Bevelli could naturally understand this contract text. After looking at it for a moment, her gaze gradually grew solemn. Eternal Light World? She seemed to… have a slight impression. Suddenly, she remembered where the Eternal Light World was.

"So you failed, then?"

The priest's figure came from the darkness. Bevelli grew angrier the more she thought about Su Xiao taking away the "Initial Mark," and seventy percent of that anger was due to the priest's words.

"No, very successful."

While speaking, Bevelli took out a thumb-thick small sealed bottle, poured the few drops of Ancient God Source Blood inside onto the signature line of the Eternal Light contract.

……

Su Xiao watched the Eternal Light contract in his hand gradually burn out, knowing the contract had succeeded. As for how to deal with Bevelli afterward, the answer is: no need to deal with it. First, don't mention that the probability of her dying in the Eternal Light World is extremely high; even if she luckily survives, she wouldn't dare come looking for him afterward.

Moreover, encountering how to handle things in the Eternal Light World is even better—having more violator enemies there is purely beneficial. Enough violator enemies, from a certain angle, could help him share the firepower from apocalyptic-level existences.

The enemies Su Xiao needs to handle are naturally not Bevelli—she is far less dangerous than the other. He came to the alchemy room, checked the available temporal-spatial power, and excluding temporal-spatial stone fragments, he still had 1237.5 ounces of temporal-spatial power.

He separated 237.5 ounces from the large container. Though somewhat reluctant, his rival had recently been loitering near his lord's manor every few days, indicating the rival was waiting for an opportunity.

Therefore, before going to fight the Old Beast King to the death, he must first deal with this rival.

Su Xiao took out the several dozen【World Core (Fragments)】he had. These are used to nourish the Black Maple Tree, though he had already inserted over ten near the tree. To avoid over-nourishment, he placed the remaining ones into the team's storage space.

Su Xiao selected from these several dozen【World Core (Fragments)】and finally found a few fragments with residual world information. So-called world information is actually the soon-to-dissipate world consciousness. Although these are from low-level worlds, they still meet Su Xiao's needs.

After setting aside the selected【World Core (Fragments)】, Su Xiao took out the【Seal Blade】, pierced it into a piece of divine flesh and blood, which slowly turned pale blue and eventually crystallized.

After a moment, Su Xiao shattered the crystal shell, took out the seed inside, and planted it in the soil.

The seed sprouted and bore fruit at a visible speed, finally producing a blood-red fruit emitting an enticing strange fragrance, covered with the same patterns as those on the【Seal Blade】.

……

Southernmost part of the tribe, the Abyss Erosion Zone.

Black mist permeates this place, the sky is completely dark, and the visible desolation and decay cause mental pressure to gradually rise.

At the innermost part of this erosion zone, a piece of black flesh is growing and swelling. When large enough, an arm like black iron sand extends from within.

With a puff-little sound, a dark spirit slipped out from the black flesh. It had just been born, gasping with great effort, and staggered forward.

Wave~

A ripple spread, sweeping over the dark spirit. As time passed second by second, ten or so minutes later, a figure suddenly appeared. It had the appearance of a child, which would make people lower their guard, but its pair of pitch-black eyes made people feel eerie—it was the Dark Eater.

The Dark Eater closed its eyes and sniffed. Though puzzled, its pleased breath could not be hidden. It had been a long time since it last devoured a dark spirit, but now, finally, a new dark spirit had been born.

After precise tracking, the Dark Eater caught up with the staggering newborn dark spirit. Seeing this weak specimen, the Dark Eater's doubts were dispelled. It still wondered how, after so many years of Abyss Invasion, new dark spirits could still appear, but such weak specimens do occasionally appear in the Abyss Erosion Zone.

The Dark Eater's pleased mood took a sharp downturn. In the next instant, it lunged forward and devoured the newborn weak dark spirit. Since the opponent was somewhat weak, the Dark Eater was not satisfied and clicked its tongue in displeasure.

Where did this newborn dark spirit come from? First, one must know what a dark spirit is: the so-called dark spirit is an independent entity formed when part of the world's consciousness is enhanced by the Abyss after the world is invaded by the Abyss, resulting in mutation.

With Su Xiao's luck, he naturally couldn't catch such a coincidence, so he created conditions himself, using the【World Core (Fragments)】as a starting point, obtaining high-purity Abyss energy from Kaiser through the Abyss Jar.

With these two, he had certain conditions for dark spirit birth, but the luck factor was still too great. Su Xiao used 237.5 ounces of temporal-spatial power to generate the newborn dark spirit? No, he would never deeply use temporal-spatial power, but he chose to give this temporal-spatial power to Kaiser, setting the condition: as long as Kaiser could produce a newborn dark spirit, no matter how weak, this temporal-spatial power would belong to Kaiser.

As for Kaiser's ability upper limit, it depends on how much benefit he can receive. After taking out these 237.5 ounces of temporal-spatial power, Kaiser stared wide-eyed.

As for why he created the newborn dark spirit, it was naturally to test this time's bait-type exile method.

From the cost perspective, this attempt to deal with the Dark Eater was not profitable—it was a loss. That's why Su Xiao previously had no intention of dealing with the Dark Eater, but the problem is that the Dark Eater has recently been loitering and scouting near the lord's manor in Midsummer City.

Regarding the Dark Eater's attention, Su Xiao didn't care. Although his enemies are few, they are all strong. What he truly worries about is that during his upcoming confrontation with the Old Beast King, even if he wins with all his strength, if the Dark Eater appears afterward, he would have no way to respond.

To prevent such a situation from occurring, it is worth paying a certain cost now.

In the black mist, after the Dark Eater devoured the newborn dark spirit, it searched nearby for a loop, found no signs of other dark spirits being born, and felt somewhat uninterested as it walked toward the outside of the Abyss Erosion Zone. But at that moment, it spotted a figure a hundred meters away—the Shadow of Law Destruction!

The Dark Eater immediately became alert, stubbornly enduring the Abyss mist's perception of the surroundings. After confirming there were no exile spell formations, it suppressed its irritability and gradually revealed its cruelty. It could deal with a Law Destroyer who had not yet reached peak strength and had not set up exile spell formations.

With a puff-little sound, thin, long black arms burst out from both sides of the Dark Eater's spine. Overall, these arms looked like it had grown a pair of deformed black wings.

With a whoosh! Wind pressure surged toward the face. As it approached Su Xiao—or rather, approached Su Xiao's【Seal Blade】—the bait-type exile formation swallowed along with the dark spirit during the Dark Eater's consumption took effect.

Hum!

The Dark Eater suddenly lost weight, floating in midair. Its sharp claw tips were within half a meter of Su Xiao's face, yet this half-meter distance was impossible to cross. The cruelty in its eyes retreated, and fear gradually surged in those black eye sockets. The exile formation activated completely, starting from the Dark Eater's torso center.

"Roar!"

With a boom! A blue spatial vortex appeared behind the Dark Eater, blue chains wrapped around its body, dragging it toward the massive spatial vortex behind.

"Law Destroyer!!"

The Dark Eater spoke in human words, being pulled backward. Its claws scratched wildly in the surrounding air, even piercing into space, attempting to use this to break free from the blue chains' drag, but to no avail. Although the blue chains' speed is slow, they are stable beyond doubt.

"No!!"

The Dark Eater howled, accompanied by the clattering of chains, its body covered in ceramic-like cracks, it began to struggle to maintain its current disguise, wretched to the point of nearly revealing its true form.

Boom!

A tremendous sound spread, the massive spatial vortex closed, the Dark Eater was banished to the Eternal Light World, a black claw severed by the spatial vortex had not yet landed, but in midair it turned to ash and dissipated.

Seeing this, Su Xiao walked toward the outside of the Abyssal Corrosion Zone, just stepping out of this darkness-shrouded area, he saw a figure, casually sitting on a tree fork, holding an empty wine bottle, it was the Ruthless Brother.

"You left the Eternal Seal Ice Plains without trouble?"

Su Xiao tossed a bottle of Elemental Fine Brew, the Ruthless Brother was about to politely decline, but the lingering faint fragrance from the cork made his refusal die on his lips, after pulling the cork and taking a sip, the Ruthless Brother rinsed his mouth with the wine, letting this fragrant brew touch every corner of his mouth before swallowing.

"That side is fine, my partner is watching."

"Oh, that priest is entrusted to you, before sunset today, don't let the priest have leisure to come find me."

Leaving these words, Su Xiao leapt onto the Storm Flame Dragon's back, as the wind by his ears intensified, he rode the dragon into the high skies.

Among the clouds and mist, Su Xiao sat cross-legged on the dragon's back meditating, gradually adjusting his state to optimal, this time's opponent the Old Beast King, though already aged and frail, the fire of life nearing extinction, yet this War King had once climbed to the peak level.

The most renowned powerhouse of the Wind Sea Continent is the Spider Lady, she had already been sealed at the peak level many years ago, now even stronger, while the Old Beast King, had once been sealed at the peak level, but not long after, being a War King, he had suffered too much damage along the way, after reaching the peak level, he soon began to decline, plus subsequent aging, causing his strength to wane repeatedly.

However, no matter how it is said, even if the current Old Beast King has reached the point where the fire of life is about to extinguish, after all he is a king who once sealed at the peak level, if he shows even slight leniency in a death battle, he will be instantly slain.

At some point, Su Xiao felt he could try clashing with the weakened, aged state of the peak-level Extinction Law User, the result was being hammered to the point of doubting life, that was after countless death battles along the way, the first time he was knocked senseless in a death battle, it was no longer a matter of odds, but being beaten to the point of not knowing how to win, however, due to various reasons, later the opponent held back… cough, held back heavily, Su Xiao became the survivor of that battle.

But this time facing the strong opponent, though his fire of life is about to extinguish, he will not hold back in the slightest, because according to Su Xiao's knowledge, the Old Beast King, before heading to the Beast Clan's Old Capital, injected the Beast Clan's stored 【Extremely Pure·Abyssal Blood】 into his heart.

This is not borrowing power from the Abyss, because before injecting the 【Extremely Pure·Abyssal Blood】, the Beast King had multiple sealers perform layered power seals on his heart, the reason for injecting the Abyssal Blood is to use this intense Abyss to sever causality.

Put another way, even if the Beast King slays Su Xiao, the three Sin Objects Su Xiao holds will not seek the Beast Clan according to causality, this is the attitude the Old Beast King has shown, there will be no holding back, both sides hold their chips, then push everything into a death battle, the victor takes all.

This battle against the Abyssal Shadow·Seat·Man·Achide is different, when the Old Beast King was at his peak, he was not as strong as the opponent, and his aged, weakened state is even more severe than Achide's, no, it should be much more severe, so facing the Old Beast King, Su Xiao has roughly a forty percent chance of victory.

When the sunset on the horizon turned dim yellow, the Storm Flame Dragon lowered its flight altitude, looking down, the Beast Clan's Old Capital came into Su Xiao's view, here already a scene of ruin, recalling when the Old Beast King ascended the throne, the Beast Clan's capital was still this place, it was the Old Beast King leading the Beast Clan, step by step establishing today's glorious Eternal Ring City.

But at the end of his life, the Old Beast King chose to return here, to that hall where he was crowned with the royal crown.

In the sky, white clouds were dense, the dim yellow sunlight shone through gaps in the clouds, illuminating the main street of the Beast Clan's Old Capital, Su Xiao walked along the main street, the stone slabs on the street were mostly cracked, wild grass stubbornly pushed out from within, finally at the end of the main street, after climbing over a hundred steps of platforms, he stopped before the main gate of the palace.

Originally the grand and tall palace gates, now rust spots could be seen, Su Xiao pushed with both hands on each palace gate, accompanied by the creaking of opening, the spacious but ruined palace appeared before his eyes.

On the rocky high seat at the innermost side, a figure though thin, but his innate large frame supported a sense of grandeur, even if thin to the point of nearly skin and bone, his arms still felt strong, the steel feather cloak casually draped down, a battle blade nearly two meters long leaned beside the throne.

With a boom, the palace closed, the lingering sunlight shone through a row of holes on the canopy, falling on the Blade-Wielder standing firm, and on the Old Beast King majestically seated on the throne.

(End of Chapter)