Chapter 3773: Scroll

Su Xiao detached the 【Old Hunter】 title from the center of the Burning Disc. The shape of this title was different from most others; while titles were generally circular, the 【Old Hunter】 title was a ring, with a badge in the shape of a sharp sword in the center.

Furthermore, it felt heavier in the hand and faintly emitted a blood-colored shimmer. After all, it was a hunting-type title, so having such an aura was only natural.

Although he had long guessed that the strength of the 【Old Hunter】 title would be astonishing, even after completing the upgrade, its power still exceeded his expectations.

Title Effect 1: The tracking effect of the Hunting Mark was far stronger than anticipated. The main reason was that as a "medium" for tracking, the range was too broad; even the trace amounts of physical energy left in the air could serve as a "medium" for tracking.

In practical combat, this meant that as long as he arrived at a place where the enemy had fought, and the battle had ended within the last 12 hours, there would be trace amounts of energy and aura remaining. Even high-tier sensory types wouldn't dare claim they could continuously track an enemy based on such residues, but this title could.

Title Effect 2: Ruthless Hunter was even more formidable. It required no medium; as long as he determined who he was tracking and was in the same world as the target, he could forcibly track them. However, this was not without a price. Once a hunt failed, a heavy price had to be paid, and the cooldown for this ability was exceptionally long—it could effectively only be used once per world progression. Unless necessary, using the Hunting Mark was safer.

As for Title Effect 3, this was the essence of the title, granting it growth potential. However, in contrast, not all enemies could activate this ability; he needed to hunt sufficiently difficult enemies to trigger this effect.

The interesting thing about this characteristic was that it didn't necessarily require high combat power to meet the standard. This standard judged comprehensive survival ability; whether the enemy was skilled in concealment or proficient in speed, as long as they were difficult to hunt, this title effect could be triggered.

Putting away the 【Old Hunter】 title, Su Xiao was certain this would be a divine artifact for dealing with rule-breakers in the future. He felt that absolute-tier rule-breakers shouldn't be rare, after all, there were six paradise factions, and rule-breakers who reached the absolute tier were all exceptionally difficult to kill.

After Su Xiao meditated for a moment, his state was adjusted to its peak. It was time to head to the Shelter City. Just as he walked out of the bedroom, he found the door next to him was already open. Looking inside, the room was set up as a small library; besides a single bed in the corner, every other space was occupied by books and scrolls, with only one workbench appearing tidy.

There was no one in the room. Su Xiao looked toward the diagonally opposite side at a stone door that had previously been locked; it was now also open. He walked into the stone room and found that this was also a workshop, though slightly smaller than the forging workshop, with many scrolls piled on shelves and in the corners.

In front of a natural-wood-colored workbench sat an elderly man with a slight hunch. He had a mechanical monocle embedded in his left eye, which completely replaced the function of the eye. Although his face and skin were full of wrinkles, his mastery of knowledge kept his mental power from aging. His four arms indicated he was likely not human. His gray, somewhat messy hair was tied into a thick braid, and the long shawl he wore was slightly tattered, sometimes obstructing his four arms.

Previously, the junk dealer, Thorns, had mentioned to Su Xiao that the Scroll Master of the Gray Sanctuary had been out for several months.

The person before him was likely the Scroll Master the junk dealer had spoken of, Su Xiao thought. When he was in the underground world, he had seen a scroll with a circular spell formation. Not only that, the place where he met the priest's clone was a study, and there were many semi-finished scrolls on the desk in that study, but not a single one of those scrolls was usable.

Thinking about it now, a few months ago, the Scroll Master must have accidentally entered the underground world and was intercepted and captured by members of the Scarlet Faction. Even though the Scarlet Faction was known for being arrogant and cruel, after capturing the Scroll Master alive, they only kept him under house arrest, which was clearly out of greed for the spell formations the Scroll Master possessed.

Noticing Su Xiao walking into the workshop, the Scroll Master's hand paused. He put down his spell pen, sized Su Xiao up for a moment, and said with a hint of surprise:

"Thorns told me there was still a Law-Breaker left. I didn't really believe it at first, but now, seeing is believing."

The Scroll Master's expression was kind, but for some reason, Su Xiao suddenly felt something was wrong.

"Law-Breaker, whose disciple are you? If it's not a master-disciple relationship, who acted as your mentor to guide you in mastering Law-Breaker abilities? Perhaps your mentor is an old friend of mine."

Hearing the Scroll Master say this, Su Xiao felt even more that something was wrong. The other party seemed to be trying to build rapport to avoid awkwardness, but Su Xiao had a wealth of experience in being tricked by previous Law-Breakers and immediately felt this question wasn't simple.

Marvin Waltz, the Old Law-Breaker, Grimm Gillian, Saiman Archid, Star-Swallowing Arcas—Su Xiao recalled these previous Law-Breakers. Although his guide was Marvin Waltz, given that unscrupulous old guy's character, he might have left behind some "surprises." As for Grimm Gillian being his guide, that was even less likely.

"Arcas."

"Is it the remnant soul of Star-Swallowing Arcas that guided you to master Law-Breaker abilities? Hmm, he is a reliable person, one of the few reliable people among you Law-Breakers."

The Scroll Master sighed with emotion, seemingly also a bit disappointed.

"Sigh~, if only you were Marvin Waltz's disciple."

"The reason?"

"That scoundrel owes me over 6 million Soul Coins."

When he said this, the Scroll Master's gaze became a bit sharper, showing just how much he "missed" his old friend Marvin Waltz.

"Are you familiar with Grimm Gillian?"

"Not familiar."

"What a pity, she still owes me over 2 million Soul Coins."

"..."

Su Xiao made a move to turn and leave, when the Scroll Master suddenly asked: "That's your Nightmare Avatar, right?"

Hearing this, Su Xiao paused his steps at the door and replied: "Yes."

"I don't know why you released your own Nightmare Avatar, but that avatar caused massive destruction in the Scarlet Temple, indirectly helping me escape. I am a person who hates owing favors. This scroll is a token of gratitude."

The Scroll Master tossed over a golden scroll. After Su Xiao caught it with one hand, a prompt appeared.

【You have obtained the Purification Scroll.】

【Purification Scroll】

Origin: Eternal Light World · Scroll Master.

Quality: World-Class.

Category: One-time use scroll.

Equipment Effect: After use, immediately remove any Abyss Erosion being suffered.

Rating: 6000 points (World-class item ratings are 10–6000 points).

Introduction: A spell scroll drawn using pure natural elements as pigment.

This scroll looked plain and unadorned but was exceptionally practical. Su Xiao looked at the Scroll Master and found that the old man with four withered arms had returned to his scroll drawing.

After leaving the scroll workshop, Su Xiao arrived at the teleportation array, attempting to use it to reach the high tower near the Shelter City. However, he found that while the array had been usable ten-plus hours ago, it was now defunct. It seemed the elemental power there was too abundant, interfering with spatial teleportation.

Activating the teleportation array, as the spatial mist dissipated, Su Xiao had arrived at Black Iron City. Arriving at the main station, he boarded the Beast Train to head to Station No. 4 near the Shelter City.

Meanwhile, Shelter City, Lower District.

The damp and dark streets bred corruption and crime, and with the cruel rule of the Lightless Temple, the lives of the residents here were even more hopeless.

A figure draped in a black robe walked along these dim streets. The object she held was wrapped in black cloth, looking like a weapon in its sheath. That's right, it was the Dark Maiden.

The Dark Maiden was not familiar with the Shelter City, but her goal was clear. She didn't stop until she reached a two-story building in the innermost Dark Street of the Lower District.

Just as the Dark Maiden was about to raise her hand to knock, the door opened on its own, causing her hand to pause in mid-air. A few seconds later, she walked into the dim porch ahead, stopping in a grand hall.

In the darkness, a figure draped in a dark green robe sat on a wooden chair by the window. The faint light reflecting through the window allowed one to vaguely see her facial contours; just from that, one could guess she was a beauty. However, she was not accustomed to revealing her stunning appearance, instead wearing a very low hood.

"Oh? Why come to me instead of following your Law-Breaker, Bai Ye? Let me make it clear first: even if I hold the key, I won't listen to a single word from that Law-Breaker."

The green-robed woman spoke, her voice as cold as moonlight. As she spoke, her eyes began to reveal a silvery-blue hue like moonlight.

"It is time to break the seal."

The Dark Maiden's voice remained calm and soft, but this soft voice instantly enraged the green-robed woman.

"Why? Because of that Law-Breaker who isn't even a Supreme yet? Do you really think he can defeat the Scarlet Monarch? Don't dream; it's not time yet."

The silvery-blue hue in the green-robed woman's eyes became more pronounced, and her aura gradually spread out.

"Losna, it is time to break the seal. I can sense that the Scarlet Seed is not in your body. Where is it?"

As the Dark Maiden spoke, her index finger hooked open the knot of the black cloth on the hilt, revealing the end of the sharp sword.

"Where it is has nothing to do with you."

Losna stomped her heel on the floor, and a hidden compartment instantly opened, popping out a Wolf Sword.

"..."

The Dark Maiden said no more, instead directly taking out the 【Scarlet Awakening Stone】. Seeing this, Losna gripped the hilt of the Wolf Sword with one hand. As she rose from her seat, the loose green robe she wore fell away, and along with her hood slipping off, her full head of silver hair cascaded down behind her.

"You have indeed lost the qualification to continue sealing the Scarlet Seed, but you must know who it is sealed within."

The black cloth fell from the sharp sword, and the Dark Maiden gripped the hilt, the blade gradually unsheathing.

"I won't let you find her, let alone awaken her Scarlet Power. She is my daughter; when to awaken the Scarlet Power is for her to decide."

Losna, holding the Wolf Sword, stood with her back to the window. Her long silver hair flew, and although there was no moon in the sky above the Shelter City, moonlight shone in through the window.

The Beast Train sped along. Inside the train, Su Xiao was meditating, with the irritable little sprite, Diagu, hanging in front of him. He had summoned the irritable little sprite this time to entrust it with tracking the Nightmare Blood Shadow. Although Su Xiao could track through the Old Hunter title, hunting and tracking were different.

Hunting would inevitably expose oneself and was a straightforward pursuit, while the irritable little sprite's tracking was silent. As long as it wasn't discovered, it could continuously follow the target.

As for why the irritable little sprite was hung up, it was because this guy not only muttered and spouted profanities but also wouldn't stop talking, making it far too noisy.

The Beast Train stopped at Station No. 2. After the doors opened, Su Xiao released the Spirit Shadow Threads, and the irritable little sprite scurried out. After leaving the train, its demeanor gradually became arrogant, especially as the train doors were closing.

Su Xiao ignored the irritable little sprite; this guy had as many flaws as he had strengths. Just as he was about to continue closing his eyes to rest, the communicator in his pocket suddenly rang, and almost simultaneously, several team messages popped up.

Checking the frequency of the communicator, it was actually a contact from the priest. Su Xiao chose to connect, and the priest on the other end asked:

"Where are you?"

"On the road."

"Come to the Shelter City as soon as possible."

"Urgent?"

"I suppose so..."

Just as the priest on the other end said this, a roar came through the communicator, followed by hissing sounds.

Su Xiao hung up the communication. He already had a preliminary understanding of what was happening there. Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang had sent a photo in the adventure team channel; it was the Dark Maiden and a female swordswoman fighting. Neither of them wanted to affect the residents of the Shelter City, so they were clashing in the Upper District.

Regarding the reason for their clash, Su Xiao already knew. The female swordswoman in the photo was named Losna, who mastered the power of moonlight and Wolf Sword Arts, but she couldn't be considered a successor of the Moon Wolf because she was originally responsible for sealing the Scarlet Seed, so she was destined not to have wolf blood.

Some of this intelligence was found by Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang and Baja in the Shelter City, and some was known through the junk dealer, Thorns, who was in the Shelter City.

The so-called Scarlet Seed involved the Scarlet Monarch's seal, located in the deepest part of the Sand Sea. In fact, there were three layers of seals, and the keys to the three seals were kept by the Law-Breaker, the Moon Wolf, and the Abyss Watcher, respectively.

The first layer of the seal was opened through the 【Scarlet Eye】. This item was previously kept by the Mechanical Maker. After the other party met Su Xiao, he returned this seal key to Su Xiao, who was the Shadow of the Law.

The key to the second seal was kept by the Moon Wolves. However, the Moon Wolves had perished. But before the last Moon Wolf died, it gave the key to the second seal—a mutated version of the Scarlet Power—to Losna to keep. As a token of gratitude, it gave Losna the method to control moonlight and the Wolf Sword Arts.

Why did the Moon Wolf choose Losna? This was because Losna was a descendant of an Eternal Light Watcher.

The key to the third seal was now kept by the Dark Maiden. This was also the reason the Dark Maiden went to the Shelter City to find Losna. As long as the second key was found, the Scarlet Seed could successfully open the Scarlet Monarch's seal, allowing for a life-or-death battle with the other party.

For some reason, Losna was unwilling to tell the Dark Maiden the location of the Scarlet Seed. Furthermore, given Losna's temper, as long as she didn't want to say, if the Dark Maiden asked one more word, it would inevitably lead to a clash.

Su Xiao was not in a hurry to obtain the Scarlet Seed. He would only fight the Scarlet Monarch to the death after dealing with the Nightmare Blood Shadow and the World-Eater. Besides, he had already roughly guessed where the Scarlet Seed was.

From the message sent by Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang, it was clear that the Dark Maiden was holding back, and Losna on the other side was doing the same. The purpose of both sides was not to fight to the death; Losna wanted to repel the Dark Maiden, while the Dark Maiden seemed a bit lost. She couldn't kill Losna, nor could she turn and leave, otherwise, the trip would have been in vain, so she fell into lost contemplation.

The train gradually stopped. After Su Xiao walked out of the carriage, a roar came from afar. He looked in the direction of the roar; it was indeed the Shelter City.

When Su Xiao arrived near the Shelter City, the roar from the top area of the Shelter City had disappeared. He walked into the city through the giant gate at the entrance and found that there weren't many residents left. After the four giants of the Lightless Temple were destroyed, the high-level officials of Black Iron City took away many of the civilians here with their subordinates. This should have been instructed by the Mechanical Maker.

Among all the world-destroying existences Su Xiao had seen, the Mechanical Maker was the one most friendly to intelligent groups. As for the Dark-Eater, don't look at this guy as a bit silly, but for intelligent beings, the Dark-Eater was also very dangerous.

Following the elevator in the center of the city, Su Xiao first arrived at the Middle District, then came to the Upper District.

"Woof."

Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang's bark came. Su Xiao looked in the direction of the sound and found Xiang Bubu running out of a grand hall. As a result, because of a stone pit on the road, the happy Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang stepped into the air and then slammed his head into it, whimpering.

"..."

Su Xiao didn't speak. He was already used to the scene before him. Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang could be said to have kept his original intention; from the first tier to now, he could always be unexpected. For example, running and suddenly turning to hit a tree. Initially, when Su Xiao occasionally used Xiang Bubu as a mount to travel, he thought Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang was deliberately hitting the tree because he didn't want to be a mount. Later, he found that this was not the case; the other party would also hit the tree while running by himself.

Thinking about it, Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang liked to appreciate the surrounding scenery while running. Sometimes he was attracted by the scenery on the side, and while running, he completely forgot to look at what was happening in front.

"Where is the Dark Maiden?"

"Woof."

"Hmm, she will decide for herself. Indeed, no need to follow. What's the situation with the priest?"

"Woof, woof, woof, woof."

"Hmm, we are going there now. The priest must have been waiting for a long time."

"Woof."

Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang led the way in front. After entering the Supreme Temple ahead, and then entering a council hall in the innermost part of the first floor, Su Xiao saw Amu and Baja waiting here.

Su Xiao sat down in the main seat of the council hall. Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baja all entered the different space, hiding temporarily. In a while, they would be responsible for blocking the door and sealing other exits.

Not long after, the door of the council hall was pushed open. The priest led the way, bringing several red-robed priests and a dozen blue-robed warlocks, walking into the council hall one after another. It could be seen that these red-robed priests and blue-robed warlocks were either full of anger or their eyes were drifting, as if they were thinking about something.

Until the priest closed the door, one of the red-robed priests suddenly realized that the person sitting at the head of the council table looked familiar. This bald priest recalled for 0.5 seconds and suddenly thought, isn't this their Lightless Temple's number one enemy, the Shadow of the Law, Bai Ye?

The bald priest was about to say something, but the words stopped abruptly. He retreated behind the crowd without a sound.

"So, you are the ones who don't agree with the Scarlet Monarch sealing the Supreme Throne of the Temple?"

Su Xiao spoke. Almost simultaneously, Amu and Baja detached from the different space, one blocking the door and the other using spatial ability to seal all windows.

Such a situation made a group of red-robed priests and blue-robed warlocks look at the priest, who was the Chief Priest of the Temple, but the priest seemed to be thinking about something and didn't intend to ignore them at all.

Seeing this, a one-eyed red-robed priest spoke: "Shadow of the Law, don't you think..."

Before this red-robed priest could finish, Su Xiao pulled out the Dead Silence Extinguisher from the surging dead silence energy.

Bang!

The Extinguisher bullet pierced the head of this red-robed priest, blasting his head into scattered withered residue. Subsequently, this corpse, which continued to decay into ash from the neck, fell down with a thud.

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

Four consecutive Extinguisher bullets, a total of twenty red-robed priests and blue-robed warlocks, more than half fell in an instant. The remaining two red-robed priests and six blue-robed warlocks all forcibly suppressed the instinct to fight back, because they saw that the strong enemy opposite had already made a move to grip the hilt of his blade with one hand.

"Gentlemen, do you have any different opinions on my previous proposal?"

The priest spoke at this time. Hearing this, several red-robed priests and blue-robed warlocks looked at each other, and finally, they all shook their heads, indicating that they had always supported the priest, and previously it was the dozen or so guys who died who were causing trouble.

Under Su Xiao's negotiation, the relationship between the priest and a group of red-robed priests and blue-robed warlocks improved at a speed visible to the naked eye, almost to the point of signing a contract directly.

Seeing this, Su Xiao knew that the matter was half successful. To make the Scarlet Monarch the new four giants, it was not enough to have the support of the high-level officials of the Lightless Temple; other operations were needed, and this was where Caesar came in.

Just as Su Xiao was thinking about how to set up a higher success rate, a prompt appeared.

【The War Lord title has completed this extreme burning and refining.】

【War Lord】

Origin: Reincarnation Paradise

Quality: ★★★★★★★★★

Category: Rare · Title

Title Effect 1: Lord's Authority (Passive), when the number of combat-type units under the hunter reaches 500, 3000, 10000, 50000, 100000, and 300000, the following six types of buff effects can be triggered.

1. Morale +90 points (500 combat-type units can trigger this bonus).

2. Maximum health increased by 75%, physical defense +50 points (3000 combat-type units can trigger this bonus).

3. All real attributes +50 points, no bonus to luck attribute (10000 combat-type units can trigger this bonus, this effect only increases real attributes, no improvement effect on conventional physical attributes).

4. All ability levels increased by lv. 15 (50000 combat-type units can trigger this bonus).

5. Blood · Soul Power (Passive. lv. 70+15): Gain Burning Soul Power, adding 180 points of real damage when attacking, and has a 2–3% probability of causing the enemy to appear in states such as physical numbness, body stiffness, etc. (100000 combat-type units can trigger this bonus).

6. Extreme Power (Passive. lv. 80+15): After activating this ability, all combat-type units under your command will be granted level-type notarization and can obtain combat experience through combat. When combat experience accumulates to 100%, this unit can obtain a comprehensive improvement (300000 combat-type units can trigger this bonus).

Prompt: This level-type notarization has a total of lv. 1 to lv. 3. When reaching lv. 3 full level, this unit will additionally obtain the "Life Flourishing" passive ability. This ability can significantly increase current health, increasing by about 15000–65000 points (varies depending on the target being improved).

Prompt: After the above six types of buff effects are triggered, they can be stacked.

Prompt: For each of the above six effects triggered, 1 layer of "Lord's Pride" effect can be stacked, and the marching speed of all soldier-type units under command is increased by 15% (after the Lord's Pride effect is stacked to 6 layers, the marching speed of all soldier-type units is increased by 90%).

Title Effect 2: Anger Burning (Active), all combat-type units on your side enter an angry state, burning 1% of maximum health per second, gaining 45% total damage increase.

Prompt: This ability can last for up to 50 seconds, or when current health is lower than 10%, this ability will automatically lift.

Prompt: This ability can be activated once per natural day.

Title Effect 3: Ancient War Beast (Active), when the morale of your side reaches the peak of 100 points, you can summon an Ancient War Beast on the battlefield (the type of Ancient War Beast summoned is determined according to the situation of the world you are in).

Prompt: Currently commanding 1 million combat-type units, can make the comprehensive combat power of the Ancient War Beast reach the limit of this world.

Prompt: The Ancient War Beast will exist for 60–??? seconds, can be summoned once every 5 natural days (if the Ancient War Beast is too strong, there will be a risk of losing control).

Warning: When in this world, please do not activate this ability!

Warning: When in this world, please do not activate this ability!

Warning: When in this world, please do not activate this ability!

Introduction: Wherever the army goes, not a blade of grass grows, and all enemies are vulnerable.

Price: Cannot be sold.

... ===== CHAPTER 3774 =====