Chapter 3722

Blood smoke filled the king's hall, large sparks drifting upward; Su Xiao stared at the blood smoke ahead, feeling a scorching heat wave of blazing vitality rushing toward him.

This differed from the sensation of facing high-temperature flames—it was a more powerful high heat, and as such, the metal fittings on the hall's ceiling melted into molten iron that dripped down.

A blazing-red war blade swept across, dispersing the drifting blood smoke; the blade's intense heat even scorched a fiery-red trace in midair, and in the next instant, scorching heat surged toward him.

Clang—

Large sparks shot toward the surroundings; Su Xiao gripped his long blade against the scorching war blade, not yet able to withstand this sudden surge of power when a faint beast roar came from ahead; focusing his gaze, he saw at the shattered shoulder of the old beast king, root-like structures emerging, forming a thick, long arm covered in sparks that swung down at Su Xiao.

Boom!

As the giant hand fell, a fire ring expanded from its center; this strike did not hit Su Xiao because, at the critical moment, he swapped positions with the magic spirit.

Due to the fourth position swap, the magic spirit turned into black-blue smoke and entered the Dragon-Slaying Flash; aside from using the magic blade, it could not be unleashed for a short time.

After Su Xiao landed, a scorching sensation rose from his feet; at this moment, the entire king's hall burned with flames; fortunately, Bahamut dragged Am out through the hole in the wall, otherwise the severely wounded Am might have been ignited by this crimson-gold flame.

Su Xiao raised his hand; faint flames appeared on his palm—this flame could ignite vitality, the stronger the vitality, the slower it ignited; conversely, once ignited, the stronger the vitality, the more fiercely it burned...

The hall's space gradually warped due to high temperature; the old beast king's massive left arm slowly contracted, returning to its original size.

"If you can defeat me, this power is yours; I have sealed this power for many years—I never expected I would weaken to the point of relying on it to fight enemies."

The old beast king spoke; his voice remained aged, but his aura was clearly stronger than before.

"..."

Su Xiao said nothing; this time, coming to fight the beast king to the death, he had prepared himself for any situation.

Wind pressure and heat wave surged toward him, accompanied by that blazing-red war blade.

War blade and long blade clashed—boom! A fire explosion erupted, causing fire sparks to appear on Su Xiao's long leather coat, along with several fine cracks.

A surging force came from the blade; at this moment, Su Xiao personally felt the oppressive power of the Overbearing Body—previously, when fighting the old knight, the opponent used Overbearing Body Slash, activating Overbearing Body only during the slash; now facing the beast king, the opponent maintained a continuous Overbearing Body state until death.

With a sizzle, the war blade swept across the Dragon-Slaying Flash; the accompanying force flung Su Xiao backward.

Midair, Su Xiao pointed at the old beast king.

"Blood Smoke Cannon."

After a muffled boom, the Blood Smoke Cannon struck the old beast king's chest, but this only caused the beast king's posture to pause slightly; the blasted crack on his chest healed at a visible speed.

After Su Xiao landed, he immediately rolled sideways; a vertical red flame slash came down; he had just rolled to dodge when a cylindrical impact surged upward from beneath him.

Su Xiao entered spatial penetration via Dragon Shadow Flash and moved this way to behind the old beast king; after entering Overbearing Body state, the beast king's speed noticeably decreased—this is a side effect of Overbearing Body.

Dozens of light-blue slash marks crisscrossed; in under a second, Su Xiao delivered dozens of slashes—this is not difficult; the difficulty lies in maintaining slash power at such speed.

Then Su Xiao realized he seemed to have just given the phase-two beast king a scraping massage; even with multiple passive enhancements on the slashes, they at most damaged external flesh and blood, unable to penetrate deeply to cause serious injury.

Su Xiao immediately switched to, causing the blood glow in his eyes to retreat, revealing a faint blue of Qing Qing Qing Gang Ying energy.

Chime—

Su Xiao's long blade, having slashed across the beast king's spine, was the most satisfying among the dozens of slashes; he even felt this blade was so perfect.

After he delivered this slash, everything around suddenly slowed—including the beast king's rotating slash and the red flame raised by his war blade.

, in this area, you will ignore, maintain normal speed, and attack enemies.

Tip: Each technique-type ability will derive attack judgments, and each technique-type's derived judgments differ; your discernible flaws are: Power Flaw, Body Flaw, Breath Flaw.

Tip: Under this ability's enhancement, attacking the enemy's flaw will cause base attack +8.5% of the enemy's maximum HP as piercing damage.

Tip: Due to your Melee Master trait, your straight kick, as long as it hits the enemy's torso, will definitely trigger the flaw effect."

Before entering this world, Su Xiao had mastered this ability, yet this was his first time triggering it—whether fighting the Soul Reaper or battling the Wolf God, he had never triggered it, leading him to once doubt whether he had mastered its prerequisite trigger.

Now it seems otherwise; previously not triggering it was because, after mastering this ability, he failed to timely "digest" it—"digestion" being the necessary process after mastering an ability, more precisely, the ability fully integrating into oneself, becoming instinct.

Normally, this ability is not hard to digest, but the problem is, Su Xiao obtained the Awakening Stele only after reaching the ninth rank; before entering this world, he had successively mastered,,,,.

These six abilities, taken individually, are all impressive; and abilities like and were prioritized for "digestion," gradually integrating into himself.

This is also why it remained untriggered—it was scheduled for last "digestion"; moreover, in fact, before the world's end, this ability might not necessarily complete "digestion," but the old beast king ignited Su Xiao with Life Flame; these Life Flames caused him to gradually lose HP while temporarily lowering his HP cap, and simultaneously accelerated his "digestion" of the ability.

Everything in Su Xiao's eyes slowed down; this feeling was far more intuitive and intense than "Blade Dao Blade · Time."

Precisely speaking, "Time" slows the speed of everything around, including Su Xiao himself; whereas, slows everything else within 10 meters of Su Xiao, excluding Su Xiao—namely, time.

Even if time lasts only 0.2–0.5 seconds, it is enough; the exact duration depends on the opponent's strength—facing the old beast king, time lasts 0.2 seconds, which is unsurprising.

Moreover, upon switching to, Su Xiao's speed suddenly increased; don't forget, he has four passive abilities that boost body speed:

Fourfold speed boost, all passive, not temporary states; combined with Su Xiao activating, this makes his senses perceive everything around him in 0.2-second slow motion.

The war blade came with flames, but due to overwhelming pressure and being locked onto by the beast king's aura, there was no chance to dodge.

Su Xiao slashed a blade at the incoming long blade.

Clang!

One slash—he did not deflect the clashing war blade; instead, due to the enemy's immense force, his blade rebounded—but this was exactly what Su Xiao wanted; he used the rebound to widen the weapon distance, then slashed again.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Sparks flew; after three consecutive slashes, the disappeared around him, and Su Xiao's aura surged.

"Blade Dao Blade · Ultimate!"

With a muffled boom, the old beast king's powerful slash was actually blocked head-on by Su Xiao; moreover, Su Xiao exerted force, literally holding the Overbearing Body beast king in place; from the beast king's gaze, one could see how startled he was.

Did Su Xiao grow stronger in battle against the beast king? No—Su Xiao has no talent for growing stronger in battle; rather, he was beaten into understanding by the beast king's Overbearing Body state; before entering this world, Su Xiao's power had increased significantly, and he had mastered various abilities, yet he always felt a sense of stagnation.

He had mastered too many powerful abilities in a short time; these abilities, he only used to eight-tenths of their potential; the remaining two-tenths of power settled down, and this settlement caused stagnation, which led to blockage.

Previously, when facing the Wolf God, he was not beaten into understanding because the power gap with the Wolf God was too great; facing the Wolf God, Su Xiao only needed to do two things: 1. find a way to survive, 2. find a way to survive while slaying the Wolf God; that battle, though dangerous, was not as intense as this.

Facing the old beast king, he met an evenly matched opponent—the opponent had high technique but weak physique; Su Xiao had youthful, vibrant physique with abundant stamina, but his technique experience fell short by a notch compared to the beast king.

"Roar!"

Su Xiao's blood energy formed a blood beast, which then lunged—this move, though instant-cast, was also slashed apart by the old beast king's blade.

A problem is, the old beast king lacks this kind of technique; this also caused, after the blood beast exploded, a burst of Time·Dominator's to erupt.

While everything around slowed down, Su Xiao had already lunged forward through the blood smoke toward the old beast king.

"Blade Dao Knife... clang!"

The Blade Dao Knife·Extreme No Slash came out, but was repelled by the old beast king's slash; Su Xiao slammed heavily into the metal palace gate behind him, leaving a bloodstain on it, then landed in a semi-crouch, relatively steady.

Amid the crimson beast flames, the old beast king's white, disheveled hair floated without wind; his heart had already beaten to a scorching red, and at his chest, one could see the strong heart as if burned red; at this moment, the old beast king's blood was about to boil—he had not felt this in many years, and this cleared the turbidity from his eyes completely.

"Annihilation Law."

The old beast king suddenly released his Tyrant Body state, greatly restoring his speed; without any visible movement, he appeared before Su Xiao, holding a plain, unadorned war blade, yet his slash descended with immense force and weight.

"Perfect Block."

After a crisp metallic clash, the scattered wind pressure shattered the palace, and broken rocks flew in all directions.

With a thunderous boom, the heavenly thunder rumbled; as the palace collapsed, a torrential downpour fell.

The lonely, ruined old royal capital, the torrential rain, the swirling storm clouds in the sky, and—beneath the vortex's center—two figures locked in a death struggle.

After again blocking the old beast king's blade head-on, Su Xiao's entire body fell into brief numbness, yet in this dangerous situation, the formidable enemy across from him swung another blade.

Hiss~

The blood droplets on Su Xiao's chin evaporated into blood qi; an explosion came from the old beast king's side neck, disrupting his attack rhythm—these were the few drops of Su Xiao's blood that had splattered onto the beast king's neck during the earlier blood beast explosion, now vaporized by his Blood Spear Sect Master ability and detonated.

A crystal short dagger formed in Su Xiao's hand; he flung it forward with one hand, straight for the beast king's left eye, but before it could reach halfway, the old beast king slashed and exploded it.

Crystal fragments scattered; within them, a drop of blood, carrying immense kinetic energy, kept changing shape, then vaporized into blood qi, forming a blood beast the size of a fingernail.

Su Xiao clenched his fist in midair; in the downpour, the red light in his eyes flared greatly; as a blood soul rapidly shrank and vanished in his left hand, the miniature blood beast—no larger than a fingernail—suddenly expanded to over ten meters in size and lunged ferociously at the old beast king.

Blood smoke spread; before Su Xiao could lunge forward, a figure within the Tyrant Body emerged from the smoke, war blade descending.

Clang!!

Su Xiao was flung backward by the impact, flying between falling raindrops; he drew a deep breath, his senses overloaded in a short time, while releasing part of his internal cyan steel shadow energy, using each falling raindrop as a carrier.

All raindrops around Su Xiao crystallized; pointing at the old beast king mid-flight, these crystallized raindrops became crystalline cones, assaulting the old beast king.

Amid the crackling sounds, the old beast king ignored all attacks, exited Tyrant Body for acceleration, appeared before the descending Su Xiao, then reactivated Tyrant Body and slashed down with full force.

Clang!!

After blocking the slash, Su Xiao's long leather coat tore in large strips, the lower half hanging in tatters; his body, too, bore cracks from the blow, with blood continuously seeping from flesh wounds; this slash reduced his HP below 25%.

"Increase your physical defense."

A solid sense of security surged from within and without, filling Su Xiao's entire body; even his seemingly wailing bones and tear-filled organs no longer felt pain.

Su Xiao tilted his head and shifted his body, successfully dodging the old beast king's blade—ripping sound! —several slash marks appeared on him; he finally understood why his senses kept frantically warning him: he couldn't dodge the old beast king's attacks, but had to block them.

Because every slash from the old beast king tears through the struck area and nearby space, and the spatial blades from the torn space wound those trying to evade the slash.

"Blood Smoke Cannon."

Kneeling on one knee, Su Xiao fired a Blood Smoke Cannon, which only blasted the old beast king back a bit—but it was enough; Su Xiao seized the moment to stand and meet the old beast king's powerful slash head-on.

"Perfect Block."

Clang!!

The weapon collision's shockwave caused the rain curtain falling over ten-plus kilometers around to scatter in all directions.

After successfully blocking the slash, Su Xiao did not retreat as before; gripping his blade with one hand, he prepared to step forward.

"Perfect Counter."

The force rebound caused a crack to appear on the old beast king's war blade with a snap; normally, given his slash power, Su Xiao absolutely could not withstand it—it would neither harm the enemy nor avoid serious self-injury—but after entering phase two, his gained 599 points of physical defense granted him the qualification.

The old beast king in Tyrant Body was shaken by this sudden force and retreated half a step; a fleeting look of surprise crossed his face, for in his lifetime of battle, this was the first time he had been pushed back by an opponent under such circumstances.

The Tyrant Body old beast king and phase-two Su Xiao charged at each other simultaneously, war blade and long blade clashing with maximum force.

"Furious Beast!"

"Blade Dao Knife·Extreme!"

The two weapons clashed silently at first, then with a thunderous boom, the space within several kilometers around shattered like broken glass; the torrential rain ceased abruptly, and the vast storm cloud vortex in the sky split down the middle.

The war blade and long blade pressed together, edges slicing against each other, emitting a sharp, grating screech.

"Heaven's Wrath·Surging Thunder."

Su Xiao's long blade flashed with a golden arc; the next moment, a world-shaking thunderbolt crashed down—not drawn by elemental affinity, but this being the transcendent·primordial world, the intensity of world thunder can be imagined.

Su Xiao's HP immediately dropped below 20%, entering phase three; his aura surged, and the pressure he exerted was in no way inferior to the old beast king's.

However, the old beast king was now abnormal—black smoke drifted from his body; if one observed his HP, it had already fallen below 30%.

At this moment, heaven and earth darkened; an endless, oppressive blackness suddenly pressed down on Su Xiao; black energy poured from above, and anyone caught in this dark torrent could only move forward slowly—slower than a normal person's walk, by several times; attempting to escape via Dragon Shadow Flash would be no different from seeking death.

The world seemed to faintly tremble; beside the old beast king, a deep abyss vortex appeared, and at its center was the tip of a long spear.

Do not forget: the old beast king's Blade Dao mastery is only level 78, but the Abyss War Spear is level 85—techniques above level 80 constitute another tier entirely.

The old beast king gripped the hook-sickle spear's shaft with one hand; as everything around violently trembled, he began drawing the spear from the abyss vortex—this was his former main weapon, but due to his advanced age, he could no longer wield it effectively, so he had sealed it within the abyss vortex; though this avoided the weapon's dangers, each use now requires drawing it from the vortex.

The old beast king must not be allowed to draw the spear successfully! Otherwise, he could enter phase three; his unknown condition for entering phase three is simply drawing the spear, drawing this Abyss War Spear.

With a whoosh, a dark-blue streak shot forth—it was Bahamut, long waiting for an opportunity; having just lunged near the old beast king, it erupted in blood, suffering immense dark damage every second.

Drawing the spear with one hand was strenuous for the old beast king, so he switched to both hands; Bahamut's lunge slowed his drawing speed somewhat.

In the dark torrent a hundred meters away, Su Xiao retrieved 【Dark Undulation】 from his storage space; he had confirmed that the descending dark torrent was actually abyssal energy, so he unhesitatingly crushed the 【Dark Undulation】 containing vast abyssal power—no rule forbids using this in battle.

Bahamut's delay in the old beast king's spear-drawing bought Su Xiao the brief chance to crush 【Dark Undulation】.

With a bang, high-density abyssal energy erupted; Su Xiao's left hand and forearm, which crushed 【Dark Undulation】, were eroded by the abyssal energy—fortunately, he had 20 points of abyssal resistance.

The erupting abyssal energy slowed the falling dark torrent; seizing the opportunity, Su Xiao formed a blood qi phantom behind him; one blood soul entered his spine, another entered the blood qi phantom.

"Super·Blood Smoke Cannon."

The thick-as-a-water-bucket Super·Blood Smoke Cannon blasted the old beast king; the darkness around him twisted momentarily, the abyss vortex began to run wild, the half-drawn Abyss War Spear was dragged along, and finally the abyss vortex dissipated.

The surrounding darkness faded; the old beast king vomited a large mouthful of blood with a wail, raised his hand, and the war blade flew back to him, which he grasped.

Clang!

The warblade blocked the incoming long blade, and the old beast king, whose attempt to draw his gun had failed, did not extinguish his fighting spirit; instead, he slashed Su Xiao back with a single strike.

Deathly stillness rippled through the surroundings, and Su Xiao drew his blade from empty space, firing five consecutive shots at the old beast king.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The first three shots were all shattered by the old beast king, but by the fourth shot, he could no longer withstand it, and a shot of annihilation struck his shoulder; the fifth was blocked by him using the hilt of his blade.

The old beast king's originally blazing vitality suddenly showed signs of wilting, or rather, it came from the Deathly Still City, which could be called the nemesis of vitality.

As the Blade Domain opened, Su Xiao had already surged forward, delivering a heavy downward slash.

After the double blades clashed, with a crackling sound, Su Xiao crushed the glass pillar in his hand, and the liquid Apollo inside scattered downward, clinging to his crystalline calves and feet.

Su Xiao kicked straight forward, and the old beast king opposite felt death rushing upon him; at the critical moment, he entered the Tyrant Body state.

Boom!!

The force of the straight kick erupted, and the concentrated solar flame simultaneously pierced through the old beast king's torso, blasting away the half of his cloak behind him.

The explosion came from behind the old beast king, shattering the bell tower, and the great bell of the old capital fell to the ground with a tremendous roar.

Time appeared around Su Xiao, amidst the drifting sparks in the vicinity, he surged forward to the front of the old beast king, leaning his body to dodge the incoming warblade; though he dodged it, this caused several deep gashes, down to the bone, to appear on his shoulder.

Everything around became slower, black-blue smoke rose from the long blade in Su Xiao's hand, he slashed downward, diagonally cutting across the old beast king's entire chest; almost simultaneously, the old beast king's warblade also slashed down with force.

Blood spattered outward, Su Xiao and the old beast king brushed past each other, his entire left arm, even his entire left shoulder, and even half of his torso were severed, causing him to plop down with a thud, blood rapidly spreading beneath him, turning the rainwater below into a large pool of blood.

Crack crack crack~

Translucent blue crystals clung to and spread across the wound; Su Xiao's crystalline arm braced against the ground as he rose to his feet again; just as he stood up, the old beast king collapsed with a thunderous crash.

"Bai Ye, if one day the beast clan does something foolish, spare them once."

"Hmm."

Su Xiao's cooperation with the beast clan could be described as deceitful from the very beginning, but this deathmatch with the old beast king was utterly pure; moreover, relying solely on the old beast king's hook-sickle gun, Su Xiao would not refuse this promise, that hook-sickle gun, he had seen it once.

Upon receiving Su Xiao's response, the old beast king's eyes lost their luster.

Su Xiao flung the blood off his flying knife, and sheathed his long blade.

Beast King, slain.

Su Xiao glanced at the overcast sky filled with gloomy rain, drank a bottle of recovery potion, then sat on a shattered palace fragment; after a moment, Am recovered somewhat from the ground, stood up, and Su Xiao had Am dig a grave nearby.

Su Xiao took out the Lord's Ring, tossed it in his hand, glanced at the old beast king, and ultimately chose not to discard it; at the outset of this cooperation with the beast clan, the Grand Marshal Cain's intention was very clear: to make Su Xiao a lord without real power, thereby restraining spellcasters; more precisely, to make Su Xiao draw the hatred of spellcasters toward him, so that spellcasters would temporarily lack the energy to deal with the beast clan.

Clearly, Grand Marshal Cain had miscalculated; he never dreamed that, after making Su Xiao draw the firepower of spellcasters and then casting him into the Frozen Winter fief, Su Xiao could develop there, on that fief where civilians barely had enough grain to survive the winter.

However, speaking of it, the beast king also made a mistake: when the beast clan was at a full disadvantage on the main battlefield, the beast king could not refuse the fungal carpet, which was the beast clan's sole chance to turn defeat into victory; conversely, this required letting Su Xiao develop the insect clan, otherwise it would be equivalent to Su Xiao freeloading on the fungal carpet; the old beast king certainly did not expect that Su Xiao could enable the insect clan to break through the population's strength limit.

If Jiera were the insect clan queen, then naturally the beast clan would fear nothing, but when breaking through limits to insect clan dominance, the old beast king suddenly realized something was wrong; however, these matters are no longer important, for Su Xiao does not seek revenge for every slight; after defeating the old beast king and then going to war with the beast clan again, he and the old beast king had each achieved their goals, and both sides preserving a modicum of dignity is a very good outcome.

Speaking of which, the old beast king's successor, the captain of the knights, is also a winner; after Su Xiao leaves this world, he cannot possibly take it with him, at which point the beast clan will have crystal fat production.

【Hint: You have slain Beast King ·？？.】

【You obtained 7200 Soul Coins.】

【You obtained 10.5% of the World's Origin.】

【You obtained an Eternal-level Chest.】

【You obtained the Ember of Ashes.】

【You obtained Extremely Pure · Abyssal Blood.】

【You obtained the Core of Original Sin.】

……

Su Xiao stared at the black round core before him; this was one of the purposes of the old beast king's duel with him; for others, this high-risk Original Sin trait item is practically a life-taking object; the beast king, aged to this degree, is eighty or ninety percent likely connected to this object; while for others it is an extremely dangerous item, for Su Xiao it is a treasure he very much desires.

When initially learning that Su Xiao possessed three Original Sin items, the astonished old beast king thought of this point; of course, the most crucial aspect of this duel, which the old beast king would not directly state, is that as a War King, he does not wish to die on a sickbed.

At some unknown time, the sky gradually cleared, a strand of post-rain sunlight pierced through the clouds and shone upon the center of the old capital; this place, due to a deathmatch, carries an indescribable sense of shock; and at the original location of the old throne, there is a newly buried grave.

A long blade is planted before the grave, the end of its hilt still tied to a half-piece with iron feathers, and on this blade's edge, there is a most conspicuous notch; a breeze blows by, and the steel feathers tied to the hilt jingle.

Su Xiao turned and walked toward the outside of the old capital; due to the intensity of the deathmatch, he now feels pain all over his body, which makes him want to find a healing system to grant him slow recovery; healing wounds is secondary, mainly to alleviate pain; in this regard, slow recovery is second to none.

Suddenly, Su Xiao thought of a problem: namely, that he came to this world together with a healing system, and where did the Holy Scripture he came with go?

At the same time, on the boundless sea of the Wind Sea Continent, a small boat floats on the sea surface, with Holy Scripture and Benny on board; Holy Scripture stands at the bow, Benny sits on her head.

At this moment, Benny realizes a problem: namely, that a very long time ago, in some ancient ruin, she obtained a certain kind of eternal blessing named, which seems to have an issue.

"What in the world is this place!!"

Holy Scripture shouted aloud, and the Benny on her head could not hold back, tears welling in her eyes.

"Meow meow!!"