Chapter 3767: Meeting

Blood smoke rose from the ruins. Everywhere he looked, there were broken walls and ruins. The originally magnificent Crimson Sanctuary had now become dilapidated.

Su Xiao's location was in the backyard of the Crimson Sanctuary. Walking backward was the ancient bonfire, and continuing backward was the Blood Altar, as well as the blood-patterned disc on it.

The underground world originally permeated with a fishy and sweet smell, which was caused by the blood-patterned disc. But now, a smell of decay permeated, although it didn't reach the point of being fishy and smelly, it also made people feel uncomfortable.

After scanning the surroundings, Su Xiao decided to go to the ancient bonfire and the Blood Altar to take a look. Walking along the way, he arrived at the ancient bonfire in a few minutes.

The originally extinguished bonfire had been re-ignited, and blood flames were burning on this ten-plus-meter-wide bonfire. Just as Su Xiao approached within a few dozen meters, his health began to drop at a rate of over 6000 points per second.

This high amount of damage, even for Su Xiao, could only be withstood for three-plus minutes. After observing for a while, he discovered a withered corpse beside the bonfire. This corpse definitely didn't die from the scorching of the bonfire; it was more like all its fundamental life force had been absorbed, and it died because of this.

Su Xiao walked quickly to the bonfire and kicked open the hidden door, walking into the space inside the giant bonfire.

This place was like being composed of blood-colored crystals, only a few square meters in size. Strands of blood-colored crystal quality like roots spread from the surroundings to the center and converged. At this center, there was a blood-red gelatinous object that was bright to the eyes. It looked like a plump flower, and the juice accumulated on the edge of the petals was mouth-watering. A kind of intoxicating exotic fragrance permeated the surroundings.

Seeing this item, Su Xiao, as a pharmacist, stopped his steps immediately. He took out a charcoal box, ignored the scorching pain of his health continuously dropping with willpower, and placed a spirit shadow thread on each of his ten fingers.

Ka ba, ka ba~

Strands of spirit shadow threads gradually tore off the blood-colored crystal roots around the blood-colored flower, until only the last root was left, hanging it up above. He used three spirit shadow threads to fix the charcoal box below the blood-colored flower. It is worth noting that inside this charcoal box, it was coated with white grease, forming a protective layer.

Ka ba~

The last crystal root hanging the blood-colored flower broke, and this blood-colored flower fell into the charcoal box. Juice emerged on this plump flower, and the exotic fragrance in the surroundings became even more intense. Fortunately, the grease in the charcoal box quickly wrapped the blood-colored flower, keeping it in the best state.

If handled improperly, after this thing left the root system, it would wither in no more than 5 seconds. Subsequently, its value would decrease by 10%~15% per second. If it didn't get effective treatment within 10 seconds in total, this exotic treasure would wither and lose all value.

【You have obtained Sun Blood Flower (Eternal Level · Rare Material).】

【Sun Blood Flower】

Origin: Eternal Light World · Underground.

Quality: Eternal Level.

Category: Rare Material.

Effect: Eating directly can permanently increase 10 points of true physical attribute, as well as 50000~56000 points of health, and treat "Deep Damage."

Score: 5860 points (Eternal level item score is 3000~6000 points).

Introduction: A rare plant that only grows in places where heat and blood are abundant, requiring several hundred years of slow growth to reach this degree.

……

As an apothecary, Su Xiao naturally knew of the 【Sun Blood Flower】. Otherwise, he wouldn't have known how to harvest it. As for how to use it, eating it directly was out of the question—that would be too wasteful. Refining it into a potion would maximize the value of this item.

The seeds of this thing were rare enough, the growth environment was harsh, and finally, it was the slow growth speed. This 【Sun Blood Flower】 had already grown for several hundred years. Although it hadn't reached the perfect maturity period, it was already quite good. If it waited until it reached the perfect maturity period, the score might reach 6000 points.

This item must have been cultivated by the Crimson faction. Its purpose could also be guessed. Nine times out of ten, it was known that the Crimson Monarch, who was imprisoned in the Nightmare Land, was injured in his fundamental source when fighting to the death with the Law-Extinguishing Shadow back then, so he needed this item to pave the way for returning to the peak.

Speaking of which, this thing was hidden truly secretly. Last time passing by the ancient bonfire, he really didn't discover the fluctuations of this thing, and even the 【Greed Pearl】 he was wearing didn't react. This was not worth being strange. The 【Greed Pearl】 was not omnipotent.

The barrier at the ancient bonfire was exceptionally wonderful. When this giant bonfire was extinguished, no one could discover the 【Sun Blood Flower】 hidden in the center of the ash pile. Only when this giant bonfire was ignited by special blood flames would this barrier open.

The situation just now was clearly that this giant bonfire was ignited, and the barrier successfully opened. As a result, before this person could open the secret door, he was sucked dry of all fundamental life force by the Nightmare Blood Shadow's ability from afar. If his guess was correct, that large-scale ability to absorb fundamental life force was nine times out of ten the nightmare version of the Devouring Core.

The person who opened this barrier died suddenly, leading to the situation in front of him. After Su Xiao put away the charcoal box containing the 【Sun Blood Flower】, he left the area shrouded by the giant bonfire at the fastest speed. The scorching feeling quickly receded. He took out a bottle of recovery potion and drank it, and his health began to climb gradually.

Su Xiao looked at the blood-colored hole in the distance. That huge hole like a leak in the sky was the Nightmare Blood Shadow breaking through the space of the underground world and going to the outside world. He could confirm that the Nightmare Blood Shadow was not in this place, because before, when he was more than ten kilometers away from the Nightmare Blood Shadow, he could vaguely perceive the general direction of the other party.

This seemed to be an advantage, but there were also risks, which was whether the Nightmare Blood Shadow could also perceive Su Xiao's position within a certain distance.

Not considering this point for the time being, getting the hidden gains that might appear in the underground world first was the key at the moment. Su Xiao discovered one point: when the Nightmare Blood Shadow killed members of the Crimson faction, besides ingesting fundamental life force and soul energy, the Nightmare Blood Shadow only took secret treasures that could be seen on the surface and could be directly absorbed, while some secret treasures that had value but needed to be sold to be transformed into resources were ignored by the Nightmare Blood Shadow.

This was not difficult to understand. The Nightmare Blood Shadow was powerful, yes, but it hadn't been long since it rushed out from the nightmare, and its understanding of the material world was very low. Strong combat power didn't mean omniscient and omnipotent.

When Su Xiao arrived at the Blood Altar, the blood smoke in this place had completely dissipated. The broken stone disc floated in mid-air. It could be seen that this giant disc had been slashed to pieces.

Searching for a while, besides the withered corpses scattered everywhere, no valuable things were found. Su Xiao walked down the altar along the steps and walked toward the Crimson Sanctuary. Not long after, he arrived among the ruins of the sanctuary.

The entire sanctuary collapsed by at least two-thirds. The blood-eyed sculpture originally located at the top crashed to the ground, and a withered corpse was embedded in it. Looking at the build, this withered corpse had a height of at least four meters before death, dressed in dark gold armor, with a vertical pupil in the center of the chest, and a crimson mark in the shape of a scepter on the brow.

No matter how one looked at it, this was one of the heads of the Crimson faction. But after encountering the Nightmare Blood Shadow, the weapon in his hand was damaged with one slash, the second slash pierced through the throat, and then he was picked up. The fundamental life force followed the blood blade and was drained by the Nightmare Blood Shadow, and finally, he was thrown away by the Nightmare Blood Shadow like garbage, the blood blade swung, and he crashed into this blood-eyed sculpture.

This place was not the death battle area between the Crimson faction and the Nightmare Blood Shadow. The courtyard in front of the sanctuary was. There was a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood piled up by the Crimson faction members. The vast courtyard couldn't even see the stone ground, and the blood stains on the ground could only be described as blood flowing and drifting.

The Crimson faction, which had always been arrogant and cruel, was killed into submission by the Nightmare Blood Shadow this time. After being scared out of their wits by the Nightmare Blood Shadow, the corpses of the Crimson faction members began to disperse. This was caused by fleeing.

Although Su Xiao couldn't obtain kill rewards through the Nightmare Blood Shadow, the gains obtained now were not low. He walked into the main hall along the empty door hole and found that the hall door was embedded in the wall opposite.

The main hall was in a mess. Su Xiao let Xiang Bubu Wang and Amu be a team, and Baha be a team alone, to search this still relatively complete sanctuary. He himself walked toward the inside of the main hall.

The inside of the main hall was steps going upward. The steps were divided into left and right at the buffer. However, both steps collapsed. Looking upward, most of the building above disappeared. That feeling was like being slashed down by a blade.

Located on the right side of the main steps, there was an archway. Su Xiao walked into the archway. Not long after walking, he entered a gallery. Arriving at this place, he discovered that the aura here changed drastically, starting to become dark and deep.

At the end of the gallery was a half-open door. Walking into it, this was an indoor altar. Rings of steps went upward, and the area above the altar was about a hundred square meters. At this moment, the rings of steps around were full of the Priest who was running upward but suddenly stopped.

Observing the faces of these Priests carefully, one would find that they were still a bit different from the Priest's face, slightly retaining some former facial features.

This scene reminded Su Xiao of a picture: the Priest stood on the altar at the top, his goal was about to be achieved, and the spiral arrows shooting at him all turned into deathly gray powder the moment they touched him. Therefore, the red-eyed knights around all rushed toward the Priest.

When the heavy sword in the hand of the first red-eyed knight slashed at the Priest, this weapon was assimilated by the Priest, and this assimilation spread to the red-eyed knight holding the sword along the weapon. Subsequently, this assimilation spread at a faster speed, and the scene in front of him appeared.

With a snap, cracks appeared on a withered white corpse, and then it gradually collapsed into gray dregs and scattered on the ground. Subsequently, the corpses on the ring-shaped steps around were all like this. This was the Priest's ability, which was bizarre to the extreme.

Although the Nightmare Blood Shadow appeared suddenly before, judging from the current situation, the Priest's purpose had been achieved. Su Xiao returned along the original path. When arriving at the stairs, this time he walked along the archway on the left. Not long after walking, he saw a damaged metal door.

Walking into it from a few-meter-high break, this place should be a warehouse. The various weapons inside still maintained their original shapes, but they had already withered and were covered in cracks. It seemed that the nightmare version of the Devouring Core could not only absorb life force but also absorb the supernatural power within these treasures.

For this ability of the Nightmare version · Devouring Core, Su Xiao didn't envy it. His Devouring Core was better at filtering and purifying, otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to absorb blood aura in large quantities in dangerous places like the ancient battlefield. If he couldn't do this, he wouldn't have such a strong blood aura system now.

Su Xiao was just about to turn around and leave when he suddenly felt a faint aura behind the wall diagonally opposite. He went up to check, and after pushing a shelf, a secret door opened.

This was a secret room a few square meters in size, but this secret room had been completely filled by one person. The other party was tall and big, plus fat to the point that the fat on his body was layered. It was the Crimson Eldest Son he had met once in the Crimson Castle.

Seeming to be because of Su Xiao's arrival, the Crimson Eldest Son, who was on the verge of death, opened his eyes with difficulty. After seeing Su Xiao, he said with difficulty:

"The Crimson Monarch has escaped. I saw this legendary terrifying existence with my own eyes."

"..."

Su Xiao didn't speak. Seeing Su Xiao so calm, the Crimson Eldest Son became even more anxious and said: "I know the weakness of the Crimson Monarch, so, save me quickly."

"..."

Su Xiao still didn't speak. This Crimson Eldest Son could be said to be full of lies. Last time he said he knew the Sundries Brother · Thorns and was cooperating with the other party, and even took out half of the monitor ring. Looking at the Sundries Brother's face, Su Xiao let the Crimson Eldest Son go. Subsequently, after mentioning this person to the Sundries Brother, the Sundries Brother was somewhat surprised.

The real situation was that one time the Sundries Brother encountered the Crimson Eldest Son by chance, and seeing that the other party was using crimson power, he prepared to eliminate this member of the Crimson faction. Finally, the Crimson Eldest Son begged crying, and indicated that he was from the Crimson Castle and had nothing to do with the Crimson faction in the underground world, and promised to be willing to watch over the monsters in the Crimson Castle and not let those monsters escape. The Sundries Brother then spared his life.

Not to mention anything else, the Crimson Eldest Son's ability to beg for mercy in a desperate situation was quite strong. At the critical moment, he would also use the lie of not forming a grudge to save his own life. Just like meeting in the Crimson Castle last time, the Crimson Eldest Son did lie. He was not the Sundries Brother's little brother, but this guy, under limited conditions, successfully survived in the hands of a Law-Extinguishing Shadow with red light in his eyes and murderous intent in his eyes. This was also a kind of talent and ability.

Ka ka ka~

During the process of Su Xiao sitting down, a crystal chair with a backrest formed under him. In his view, this Crimson Eldest Son had some utilization value. As for whether to let the other party live, it depended on the other party's performance in the last few minutes. Judging from the degree of the other party's life force depletion, in no more than ten minutes, the other party would definitely die.

"I... I, sorry, I lied just now. That shouldn't be the Crimson Monarch, it's more like a nightmare."

"..."

Su Xiao still didn't say a word. The Crimson Eldest Son, who was sitting in the secret room and almost filled the secret room, had thoughts turning rapidly in his brain. But when the words reached his lips, they suddenly stopped, because from the eyes of the Law-Extinguishing Shadow sitting opposite, which faintly revealed red light in the center of the pupils, he saw that as long as he said one more nonsense word, the next second would be his death date. The Law-Extinguishing Shadow sitting opposite was definitely not a friendly faction person, and killing him wouldn't have the slightest hesitation.

Su Xiao took out a pocket watch sent by Saintess Seat. He didn't know where Saintess Seat got this thing, but it had quite a bit of steampunk style. He pressed the countdown, and this pocket watch began a ten-second countdown. The precise structures inside, such as gears, forks, and wheel rings, made a gradually urgent mechanical operation sound.

This sound of ka ka ka becoming increasingly urgent gave the Crimson Eldest Son huge mental pressure. He seemed to feel his life passing away at a faster speed, and death was about to invade. This made the teeth in his mouth bite until they made a ka ka sound, light yellow saliva flowed from the corners of his mouth, his breathing became rapid, and finally he panted like a cow.

In the last few seconds of his life, the brain cells of the Crimson Eldest Son were running at full speed. This was absolutely the highest-light moment of his IQ in his life.

"I... saw that the Astral Devourer was severely injured by that nightmare. The Astral Devourer must have suffered a very serious injury, definitely!"

Ka~!

Su Xiao pressed the pause bolt of the pocket watch. The air around him, which was about to condense into a solid because of his aura, gradually recovered, which made the Crimson Eldest Son in the secret room pant more greedily.

Su Xiao still didn't say a word, adjusted the pocket watch back to ten seconds ago, and pressed the countdown bolt again. The countdown ka ka sound that made the Crimson Eldest Son feel fear appeared again.

"I can help you deal with this strong enemy."

"..."

Su Xiao's index finger pressed the pause bolt again, and then took out a bottle of potion and threw it to the Crimson Eldest Son in

Seeing this, Su Xiao used Spirit Shadow Threads to pull a shelf to the side, which triggered a mechanism. The secret door in front slammed shut with a boom. Shortly after, miserable wails and sounds of impact echoed from within the secret chamber.

A moment later, Su Xiao opened the secret door with the mechanism. The chamber was already covered in blood. Although the Scarlet Eldest Son was covered in wounds, a type of blood smoke was slowly rising from within them. This was caused by the nightmare invasion; without dealing with this nightmare invasion, it was impossible to treat the injuries.

Su Xiao tossed in another bottle of potion. This time, the Scarlet Eldest Son hesitated before drinking it. A few seconds later, the pain on his face gradually eased, and he opened his mouth to let out a long sigh of relief.

A pill appeared in Su Xiao's hand. With a flick of his thumb, the pill went into the Scarlet Eldest Son's mouth. Before the Scarlet Eldest Son could react, the pill had already been swallowed.

"Is this also... a healing medicine?"

"No, this is a potent poison."

After Su Xiao finished speaking, he signaled Amu, who had just returned, to use the terminal to show the Scarlet Eldest Son what happens after this potent poison erupts.

After watching the short video, the Scarlet Eldest Son gulped. From beginning to end, he never doubted the potency of this poison. The reason was that just half a minute ago, the Exiled Law-Maker opposite him had saved him from the brink of death with a potion. How could an apothecary master skilled in formulating healing potions not be skilled in formulating potent poisons?

Perhaps the Scarlet Eldest Son would never figure out that what he had just swallowed was actually a vitamin pill. Doing this had two benefits: first, no matter which apothecary the Scarlet Eldest Son found, they wouldn't be able to detect that he was poisoned—this was the most terrifying part. Second, the production cost was low; truly effective potent poisons were too expensive, costing more than permanent buff potions, and they had a very short shelf life.

"You can go now."

Su Xiao spoke, which made the Scarlet Eldest Son breathe a long sigh of relief, because when the Exiled Law-Maker opposite him was silent, the pressure was truly too intense.

"I... can go anywhere?"

"Of course..."

Just as Su Xiao said "of course," a smile gradually bloomed on the Scarlet Eldest Son's face.

"Not really."

Su Xiao's second half of the sentence made the Scarlet Eldest Son's facial expression management go a bit haywire.

"Go to the Sanctuary City, find a place to hide there, and keep a low profile while recovering. A famous doctor will heal you; he is stationed in Black Iron City..."

Hearing Su Xiao's words, although the Scarlet Eldest Son was suspicious, he chose to comply. After getting up, he walked out of the storehouse with slow steps.

Why did Su Xiao let the Scarlet Eldest Son go to the Sanctuary City? The overall plan was complex, but it was quite simple to explain.

First, the Scarlet Eldest Son had just provided intelligence that the Astral Devourer had been wounded by the Nightmare Blood Shadow. Considering this was the Scarlet Eldest Son's final struggle, the credibility of this intelligence was over ninety percent.

Added to the terrifying combat power of the Nightmare Blood Shadow, and the fact that the Astral Devourer had previously been besieged by the Scarlet Faction and the Priest, it was perfectly logical that it would be severely wounded if it encountered the Nightmare Blood Shadow.

The Astral Devourer naturally possessed the immortal and indestructible abilities of a top-tier world-ending existence. But now, its immortal and indestructible abilities were exhausted; it couldn't recover until it devoured Star Power. Based on this, it could be inferred that the Astral Devourer's recovery ability was certainly not what it was in its prime.

Being wounded by the Nightmare Blood Shadow was most troublesome not just because of the injuries, but also because of the invasion of nightmare power.

This also meant that the severely wounded Astral Devourer could not recover its injuries in the short term. Under such circumstances, it would definitely return to the Sanctuary City immediately. After all, that was the lair of the four giants of the Lightless Temple, and it must have some powerful means of attack. That black stone giant tree covering the entire Sanctuary City shouldn't be simple.

With the Astral Devourer hiding in the Sanctuary City to recover, and under the premise that the Scarlet Eldest Son—who still carried the aura of nightmares but had recovered over sixty percent of his injuries—fled to the Sanctuary City and hid to recover, what would happen?

The Sanctuary City was the territory of the four giants of the Lightless Temple. As soon as the Scarlet Eldest Son arrived there, he would be targeted. Plus, with the nightmare aura on him, yet having recovered quite a bit, would the Astral Devourer let this guy be?

The situation would definitely be that the Astral Devourer sent people to drag the Scarlet Eldest Son out. On someone else's turf, the Scarlet Eldest Son would certainly not dare to be arrogant. After being honestly dragged out, he would explain the situation in detail.

Don't forget the situation the Astral Devourer was facing: a great enemy who had killed the Progenitor was at hand, and it was severely wounded. Upon learning that a famous doctor could treat these injuries, it would definitely not let the opportunity pass. As for who that famous doctor was, it was naturally Caesar in disguise.

If the plan went smoothly, this would be the perfect opportunity to kill the Astral Devourer.

Su Xiao turned and walked out of the storehouse. Just as he exited, he noticed a notification appear. This notification didn't pop up directly; after opening it to check, it was an anonymous contractor contacting him, preparing to sell a nine-star title.

Anonymous: "Are you there?"

Bai Ye: "Hmm."

Anonymous: "May I ask, how much Space-Time Power are you prepared to pay for a nine-star title?"

Bai Ye: "The seller sets the price."

Anonymous: "1000 ounces for one nine-star title, is that okay?"

Bai Ye: "100 ounces per title at most."

Anonymous: "Deal. How many do you want?"

Seeing this message, Su Xiao's first feeling was that this might be a trap. A nine-star title, even if it was a non-attribute title that could only be used for sub-title burning, shouldn't be at this price.

However, Su Xiao had fallen into a misconception: except for him, no one in this world progress would use Space-Time Power to buy titles. This also meant that high-star titles available for trade were not easy to sell. If the price was low, the seller was unwilling; if the price was high, the buyer felt cheated.

Trading with Space-Time Power was different. This stuff was hard to get normally, and being able to exchange it for titles was simply a huge profit.

Su Xiao's situation was the opposite. With the 【Hunting List: Blood Pact】, he could stably obtain Space-Time Power, but high-star titles were entirely a matter of luck. Others got them just by killing strong enemies and completing missions. He had killed the Progenitor before—that enemy was strong enough, right? Let alone a high-star title, he hadn't even seen a one-star title.

Su Xiao weighed it for a moment and replied to the other party:

Bai Ye: "How many do you have? I'll take them all."

Anonymous: "Really? I synthesized a total of 12 non-attribute nine-star titles. If you want more later, I have more."

Perhaps because they had been hit by Su Xiao's wealth, the other party replied very quickly, and the text message inevitably revealed a bit of excitement and shock.

After seeing this message, it would be a lie to say Su Xiao wasn't surprised. This person actually had over a dozen non-attribute nine-star titles; it was simply ridiculously wealthy.

Clearly, both sides were shocked by each other's wealth; the seller was shocked, and the buyer was surprised.

Bai Ye: "We'll talk when we meet later."

Anonymous: "Can we... trade in another way? I am a person who is... relatively cautious."

Bai Ye: "Then forget it."

Anonymous: "No, no, no. How about we meet in Black Iron City? Give me a few hours to consider the location."

Seeing the last message, Su Xiao suddenly felt that this didn't seem like a trap. The other party seemed to really be prepared to sell a nine-star title for 100 ounces of Space-Time Power.

You have to know, a nine-star title requires obtaining 390,625 reputation points to exchange for a title chest to synthesize...

Su Xiao's thought stopped abruptly because this calculation method was based on the assumption that only one-star non-attribute titles could be opened from title chests. He had opened hundreds of thousands of title chests before, and they were all like that, so he almost forgot the original attributes of the title chests.

【Title Chest】

Usage effect: After opening, you can obtain a ★～★★★★★★★★★ title.

Inventory quantity: -- (No limit on exchange quantity).

Exchange price: 1 World Reputation point.

Su Xiao chose to ignore the title acquisition probability of the 【Title Chest】, which made his mood significantly better. Furthermore, although the difficulty of obtaining titles for him was extremely high, he had plenty of Space-Time Power and could buy them from other contractors.

"Boss, over here."

Baha flew back, clearly having made a discovery. Guided by Baha, after walking through several long corridors and winding around, Su Xiao arrived in front of an underground entrance. Following the downward stairs, after reaching the end, an archway sealed by scarlet mist appeared in front of him.

Su Xiao put on the 【Scarlet Ring (Fake)】 and opened a passage in the scarlet mist. Walking through the passage, the scene that met his eyes made him stop in his tracks.

This was a room similar to a study. The furniture was luxurious but old. A wooden chair was placed in the center of the room. On the wall behind it hung a huge picture frame several meters high. The painting depicted the Blood Monarch. At this moment, the Priest was sitting on the wooden chair, looking at Su Xiao with a kind smile on his face.