Chapter 3761: Soul Strength

Space mist dispersed around. After entering the space door leading to the Monarch's Treasure, Su Xiao had been in this thick space mist.

The space mist here was different from the light gray and light golden space mist he had seen in the past; it presented a somewhat ominous scarlet feeling and also had a bit of erosive power.

Waiting for a full dozen seconds, the teleportation still hadn't ended. Su Xiao looked around, determined that this was located in a space gap, and didn't act rashly.

A few seconds later, a human shape made of space mist gradually appeared in front. As if causing a chain reaction, a dozen mist human shapes appeared in front. These figures were either carrying massive weapons or were fully armored, and some even had tentacles that twisted wantonly.

What was even more puzzling was that these mist figures all knelt on one knee toward Su Xiao and lowered their heads. The leading mist figure even held up a ring with both hands to offer it.

Observing for a few seconds, Su Xiao wrapped his right hand in a crystal layer and picked up the ring in the mist figure's hands. The moment he picked up the ring, the mist figures kneeling on one knee dissipated, and the surrounding space fluctuations became violent.

When the scene before his eyes recovered, Su Xiao was already in a forest of gray-white mist. The trees within sight were all dead and blackened. Several scarlet lines were distributed on the pitch-black tree trunks. Careful observation revealed that it looked very much like the trees had ingested the scarlet from underground while growing, and then died in this appearance.

The scene before his eyes was dim and drifting with thin mist. Among the dead trees, there were many black puddles, in which suspicious and dangerous tiny creatures swam. As these tiny creatures swam, the scarlet on their bodies was particularly obvious in the black water.

Su Xiao examined the ring in his hand. This ring was about 1 cm wide. Wearing it on his index finger would still look several sizes too big, which showed that the original owner's physique might be four meters, or even five meters or more.

【You have obtained Scarlet Ring (Fake).】

【Scarlet Ring (Fake)】

Origin: Gloom Continent · Dead Silence City · Gray Smoke Workshop.

Category: Ring.

Durability: 20/390 points.

Equipment Prerequisite: Willpower attribute 300 points or more, Scarlet Resistance 30 points or more (Scarlet Resistance is insufficient, but because the Willpower attribute is sufficient, it can be worn temporarily while bearing the erosion of scarlet).

Equipment Effect: After wearing, it can control the power of scarlet to a certain extent.

Introduction: Due to the Tyrant's fanatical worship of the Scarlet Monarch, he entrusted the Gray Smoke Workshop of the Gloom Continent to imitate the Scarlet Monarch's ring. Although it is an imitation, it also has the characteristic of being able to control the power of scarlet to some extent. However, the imitation is ultimately flawed. The Tyrant eventually died under the erosion of scarlet. Even though the Tyrant had strong scarlet adaptability, he forgot where the root of scarlet came from.

Price: 1,200 Soul Coins (lower durability leads to a significant reduction in the selling price of this equipment).

This ring had a lot of information. First was the Tyrant's identity. This Tyrant should be the owner of this Monarch's Treasure. As for the Scarlet Monarch he fanatically worshipped, that was unknown.

Su Xiao had a conjecture. When he was in Black Iron City before, the Mechanical Maker gave him an item. This item was named 【Scarlet Eye】, which was entrusted to the Mechanical Maker by a previous Law-Breaker for safekeeping. This time, when the other party saw Su Xiao, he naturally handed this item to Su Xiao, the last Law-Breaker of Shadow.

【Scarlet Eye】

Origin: Eternal Light World · Law-Breaker Faction.

Quality: World-level.

Durability: 1180/1500 points (as time passes, the durability of this item will gradually decrease. When the durability is cleared, the seal of Purgatory Nightmare will fail).

Item Effect: Can open the seal of Purgatory Nightmare and enter the interior of this place, into the Scarlet Nightmare.

Introduction: The root of scarlet is right here. Law-Breakers sealed it in the nightmare at the innermost side of the Sea of Sand.

Among the several major areas of this world, the Sea of Sand was located in the north. Su Xiao's initial location when entering this world was the outskirts of the Sea of Sand, and the very center of the Sea of Sand was the Purgatory Nightmare.

Many natives of this world believed that the Purgatory Nightmare was a dangerous place. In fact, it was more like a layer of seal, sealing the Scarlet Nightmare inside, which was the truly terrifying existence.

The introduction of 【Scarlet Eye】 said that the root of scarlet was located in the Scarlet Nightmare. Understanding it in another way, could the Scarlet Monarch mentioned by 【Scarlet Ring (Fake)】 be the root of scarlet?

Thinking about it this way, rather than saying the Tyrant who imitated 【Scarlet Ring (Fake)】 was worshipping the Scarlet Monarch, it was more like he wanted to replace him.

There was another point. Su Xiao never thought he would have good luck, and entering the area where the Monarch's Treasure was located this time and obtaining 【Scarlet Ring (Fake)】 for no reason was very likely to have a reason.

Don't forget how this Tyrant rose. The other party put on the original sin item "Soul Crown" to become a disaster-like existence, and through the Disaster Legion under his command, he plundered this wealth. Eventually, the other party brought this wealth to the Eternal Light World to hide it, which led to the Monarch's Treasure.

The reason why Su Xiao was able to obtain 【Scarlet Ring (Fake)】 after entering this place was because he was carrying the "Soul Crown." The mist figures he saw just now should be the residual thoughts of the backbone under the Tyrant. Because too much time had passed, these residual thoughts could no longer distinguish the appearance and aura of the visitor, and only used whether the other party possessed the "Soul Crown" as a standard to judge who came here.

It was those residual thoughts that mistook the person, thinking that the owner of this Monarch's Treasure had returned, so they respectfully offered 【Scarlet Ring (Fake)】.

The rumor was that this Tyrant offended the Witch World, and in addition, he accidentally obtained the key to the Eternal Light World, 【Moon Glow】, so he hid here and eventually died here.

But now it seemed that the facts were different from the rumors, especially the existence of 【Scarlet Ring (Fake)】. No matter how you looked at it, it was the Tyrant's craving for scarlet power that led him to bring all his family wealth to this world that sealed the Scarlet Monarch.

The Tyrant's goal was definitely not to rescue the Scarlet Monarch and honor him as king, but to replace him, seize the Scarlet Source power, and become the new Scarlet Monarch himself.

Especially, when fighting the Witch World, the Tyrant wearing the "Soul Crown" was still not a match for the Witch World. This was clearly rejected by the "Soul Crown," which determined that this Tyrant was no longer qualified to continue holding it.

Under such circumstances, it was normal for this Tyrant to madly crave scarlet power. Eventually, although the Tyrant created 【Scarlet Ring (Fake)】, he was also abandoned by the "Soul Crown."

The Tyrant who lost the "Soul Crown" was immediately beaten back to his original form. Eventually, let alone going to the depths of the Sea of Sand to open the nightmare land that sealed the Scarlet Monarch, this guy didn't even see the Scarlet Monarch before being eroded to death by the power of scarlet.

Mentioning the power of scarlet, Su Xiao remembered the father and son of the Dark Blood City Lord in the Scarlet Castle. That father and son were preparing to open an Abyss channel in this world. As a result, the channel was opened, but what emerged was the power of scarlet, which made people suspect whether the power of scarlet was twisted out of Abyss energy.

Being boosted by Abyss energy and being twisted out of Abyss energy were two different things. Being extremely boosted by Abyss energy belonged to secondary Abyss characteristics, while being twisted out was almost on the same level as Abyss energy. Even if it was lower, it was only one level lower—it was the gap between 100 points and 95 points.

Abyss and Element were the two strongest source qualities. If the power of scarlet was really twisted out of Abyss energy, then this power would be quite terrifying.

Thinking about it this way, the Scarlet Monarch sealed in the depths of the Sea of Sand would be a very terrifying existence. The reason why the other party didn't break free from the seal like the Four Giants was likely because the seal set by the Law-Breaker faction over there was the strongest.

There was another point. In fact, the seals of the Progenitor and the Astral Devourer were opened by the Lord of Eternal Darkness, who was the first to break free from the seal. Even today, the Four Giants of the No-Light Temple hadn't gone to open the seal of the Scarlet Monarch. There was a possibility that the Four Giants of the No-Light Temple were also wary of the Scarlet Monarch and didn't dare to let him out.

This was very likely the most terrifying existence sealed by the previous Law-Breakers in the Eternal Light World, so terrifying that even the unscrupulous mentor and the old Law-Breaker didn't mention this existence, let alone tell Su Xiao the method to open that seal, to avoid Su Xiao going to challenge it.

Thinking about it this way, the father and son of the Dark Blood City Lord opening the Abyss channel and releasing the power of scarlet was not a coincidence, but that the Scarlet Monarch was brewing means to break through the seal.

Temporarily not considering the Sea of Sand and the Scarlet Monarch, Su Xiao was more interested in one thing at the moment, which was the 【Scarlet Ring (Fake)】 in his hand. The origin of this thing was truly intriguing. As a Super-Native World, the Gloom Continent, even if it declined in the later stage, the craftsmanship of the workshop would not decline much.

The Tyrant also saw this point and went to Dead Silence City to create 【Scarlet Ring (Fake)】. What was intriguing was that one of the strongest weapons on the Gloom Continent, Dead Silence Ash, was lost for some reason.

When he first entered this world, Sin Aiya mentioned that he was looking for a weapon that could pierce any defense. Whether obtaining this weapon was the point for Sin Aiya was not the point; the important thing was not to let the opponent obtain it.

With the Tyrant's character, it was very possible that he had his subordinates steal Dead Silence Ash from the workshop in Dead Silence City. Thinking about it this way, Dead Silence Ash had a high probability of being in the treasure left by the Tyrant after his death.

To be safe, Su Xiao walked forward with his aura completely restrained. He hadn't walked far before he saw the Dark Eater hiding behind a tree, poking its head out to look. He walked up silently, and when he was less than two meters away, the Dark Eater shivered in shock.

The Dark Eater lowered its voice and said fiercely: "You, what are you doing!"

"..."

Su Xiao didn't speak and looked forward. A giant came into view. This giant had no head and appeared withered after rotting. In the center of its torso was a single eye. The vertical pupil of this single eye was scarlet. Located around this scarlet pupil were black threadworms swimming in the eyeball.

At this time, this rotting giant was wandering around aimlessly. Seeing this enemy for the first time, Su Xiao didn't have the idea of clashing with it. Not to mention that the enemy's strength was astonishing and couldn't be handled in a few moves, even if he killed it, it wouldn't be worth the price paid compared to the gain. More importantly, this might attract other strong enemies.

Su Xiao activated the team function and found that Ignoring Xiang Bubu Wang and Baha were both in the distance. Looking into the distance, in the blurry mist, there seemed to be a small town. Ignoring Xiang Bubu Wang and Baha were both over there.

"What to do?"

The Dark Eater behind the tree spoke. It stared at the rotting giant, clearly feeling that this enemy was not easy to provoke, so it didn't act rashly.

"You lure it away."

"Why should I go?!"

"..."

Su Xiao didn't speak and took out a black crystal, throwing it into the distance. A few seconds later, the rotting giant twitched its nose, and the single eye on its torso became even more scarlet. It was confused for a moment in place, then walked toward the direction of the black crystal.

"What is this? So easy to use."

"Scrap material produced by the Black Maple Tree."

"?"

The Dark Eater's fair little face was full of confusion, and there was great doubt in its eyes. It sneered and muttered: "You are really wasteful. Even if you get a large amount of Black Maple Tree production, there is no need to be so extravagant. However, how much of your Black Maple Tree production is left? Can you... can you sell me some."

"Don't know."

Su Xiao looked around while speaking, and after confirming that there were no enemies in the thin mist around, he walked toward a small town in the distance.

"What?"

The Dark Eater didn't understand what Su Xiao said, and instead said a bit angrily: "How can you not know how much Black Maple Tree production you have left? If it were me, I could be accurate to the gram."

Hearing this, Su Xiao's footsteps paused, looked at the Dark Eater beside him, and said truthfully: "Because I have a Black Maple Tree."

"?"

The Dark Eater was even more confused, so confused that it stopped walking, looked at Su Xiao's back for a moment, and then followed quickly.

After walking a hundred meters, the Dark Eater finally couldn't help but ask: "Do you really have a Black Maple Tree?"

"Hmm."

"Then can I buy Black Maple Tree production from you?"

"Yes."

"Then... thank you, but why did you suddenly enter the tree hole? Eh~"

The Dark Eater suddenly found something wrong, not only because the Law-Breaker beside him was standing in a tree hole with his aura completely restrained to hide, but also because the atmosphere around him began to be wrong.

Before the Dark Eater could find a place to hide, a scarlet blur flashed by, which made the Dark Eater's aura fully open, and black tentacles surged all over its body. As a result, half a minute passed, and the enemy seemed to have disappeared.

However, soon, the Dark Eater found something wrong. It had come here before, and because the environment here was special, there would be no shadow on the ground. At this moment, it had a scarlet shadow.

The Dark Eater's black tentacles pierced into the scarlet shadow. The next second, it felt a sharp pain all over its body. Holes appeared out of thin air on its shoulders, arms, etc., and black blood flowed out from inside.

This situation made the Dark Eater both angry and helpless. If it were a head-on clash, it wouldn't fear a strong enemy, but this kind of enemy with weird abilities made the Dark Eater very annoyed.

Su Xiao observed for a moment. Because the information he had now was too little, he really didn't know what this scarlet shadow was. In addition, this thing was not a living being, and it wasn't even a hostile target, so it couldn't be detected with detection equipment. This seemed to be the ability of some existence.

Su Xiao continued to walk toward the small town. Regarding this place, he had some understanding. Compared to the Scarlet Castle where scarlet spread everywhere, there was more scarlet power here. However, the scarlet power here was absorbed by the living beings or weird existences here, and there wasn't much dispersed in the environment.

As he approached the small town, Su Xiao vaguely heard laughter coming from the small town. This laughter was no different from when he passed by the Crazy Laugh Town outside. As he got closer, he confirmed that this was the Crazy Laugh Town.

Compared to the illusory and weird Crazy Laugh Town outside, the Crazy Laugh Town here was more solid. This made people suspect whether the Crazy Laugh Town in the Wet Salt Zone outside was a phantom projected by this Crazy Laugh Town. Because of this, after entering the Crazy Laugh Town at night, no one could walk out, because at night, some characteristic of that phantom Crazy Laugh Town would be activated, teleporting the intruder into this real Crazy Laugh Town.

The closer he got to the small town in front, the clearer the various laughter became. But when he was dozens of meters away from the small town, the various laughter stopped abruptly, and the surroundings became quiet.

The small town in front had about hundreds of buildings, mostly two-story or three-story structures, with a gravel-paved street in the middle. Walking on the street, Su Xiao found that in the buildings on both sides, many were lit with candlelight, and various laughter came from inside.

But there were exceptions. In some windows lit with light golden candlelight, there was no crazy laughter. Su Xiao stopped in front of one such building and knocked on the door, but who knew, the person inside extinguished the candle the next second.

*Knock, knock, knock. *

Su Xiao knocked on the door again. The breathing of the person inside suddenly became heavy and irritable. A middle-aged male voice, deliberately lowered and with a bit of hoarseness, came from inside the door: "Go away! There is nothing you want here!"

"..."

Su Xiao didn't speak. Just as he was about to turn and walk deeper into the small town, the middle-aged man inside whispered: "Put away the greed in your heart, you might still be able to leave here."

After saying this, the man inside the door fell completely silent. Vaguely, he could hear that he seemed to be suppressing his crazy laughter. That was a state of being about to lose his mind.

Continuing to go deep into the small town, not long after walking, Su Xiao heard Ignoring Xiang Bubu Wang's barking in a narrow alley nearby. Looking for the sound, Ignoring Xiang Bubu Wang and Baha were both hiding in the narrow alley.

Arriving in the narrow alley, after asking, he learned that the reason Ignoring Xiang Bubu Wang and Baha were hiding here was that Sin Aiya, who was with them just now, was suddenly swallowed by a bloody mouth. This bloody mouth appeared without warning and seemed to be extremely fast.

"Swallowed suddenly by a giant mouth? That tentacle guy's reaction speed isn't fast enough. If it were me..."

Before the Dark Eater finished speaking, he found Baha pointing at its scarlet shadow with its wings.

"Before Sin Aiya was swallowed, he was also entangled by this thing."

Hearing this, the Dark Eater's gaze became serious, and it asked: "Then how was that tentacle guy..."

*Pfft—*

A bloody mouth appeared, fast to the point of absurdity. When he saw this thing clearly, the Dark Eater had already been swallowed.

Su Xiao formed a slash mark around Ignoring Xiang Bubu Wang and Baha to avoid accidental injury, and at the same time pressed his hand on the hilt.

"Extreme Blade..."

Before Extreme Blade · World could be used, the hideous giant mouth that appeared had dissipated, as if it had never appeared, and the scarlet shadow on the ground also disappeared.

Su Xiao checked the team information and found that both Sin Aiya and the Dark Eater were in a normal state, which meant that being swallowed by that giant mouth was not dangerous. At least this process was not very dangerous. Where these two guys went specifically was unknown.

The style of the "Good Teammate" team was that everyone completed the aspect they were responsible for. During this period, safety depended entirely on personal ability. Therefore, Su Xiao walked out of the alley with Ignoring Xiang Bubu Wang and Baha and arrived at the innermost side of the small town, inside the only building with an open door.

Just walking into this building, an old man in a black robe, leaning on a cane, walked toward him.

"Young man, are you here to find those treasures?"

The old man, who was the old mayor of this place, had a kind smile on his face. The wrinkles on his face made him look even more kind and benevolent.

"Yes."

"Follow me."

The old mayor walked toward the inside of the building. When he reached a wall, he pointed at the wall with his cane, and a rock secret door rose, appearing with stairs leading obliquely underground.

Following the stairs downward, after walking for at least a few minutes, the stairs came to an end. A pair of silver-gray metal doors blocked the way. The old mayor twisted the lock dial on the door, and finally, after a crisp *click*, the metal door opened.

The scene before his eyes was a ruined hall. The four walls of the hall had signs of melting candles. In the center of this ruined hall, there was a throne, and on the throne sat a skeleton. The skeleton wore an iron-black crown on its head, and a dozen 【Primal Fragments】 were inlaid on the crown.

Not only that, located around this throne and skeleton, it was piled with 【Soul Crystal Essence】, Eternal-level weapons, Soul Coins, etc., especially Soul Coins, which were piled up in a layer, submerging to the skeleton's knees.

Four tall skeleton guards were guarding the sides and back of the throne. However, these guards no longer had any aura. This place was clearly underground, but the ceiling shone with faint light, illuminating this place.

Su Xiao looked at the old mayor who was still on the side just now, but the other party had disappeared. What was puzzling was that these treasures before his eyes were all genuine. This was indeed the Monarch's Treasure, but the process of coming to this place was too simple, simple enough to make people feel uneasy.

After thinking for a moment, Su Xiao wrapped his hand in a crystal layer and picked up a Soul Coin. A prompt appeared immediately.

【Warning: You are attempting to obtain a cursed soul secret treasure. If you choose to obtain this Soul Coin, you will accumulate 1 point of Soul Curse.】

【Each point of Soul Curse intensity needs to be offset by 1 point of Soul Strength. When the accumulated Soul Curse intensity exceeds your own Soul Strength, this Soul Curse will take effect, leading to the gradual exhaustion of the soul.】

It was just a Soul Coin, and it carried this degree of Soul Curse effect. If he were greedy to take the Eternal-level weapon not far away, this Soul Curse would take effect immediately. With Su Xiao's 860 points of Soul Strength, he could only withstand this Soul Curse for a few hours. One could imagine the intensity of this Soul Curse.

As long as you entered the area where the Monarch's Treasure was located, finding these treasures was not difficult. What was difficult was how to take away these secret treasures. Looking at the large number of secret treasures in front, Su Xiao opened the team channel to contact Caesar. ===== CHAPTER 3762 =====