Chapter 3867: A Wonderful Small Team

Outside Dusk City, in a town beneath the city walls.

In a small, abandoned plaza, Su Xiao looked at the map in his hand. Baha had bought it from an antique shop in the town. According to the Dark Bishop Berhewa, most antique shops in the Southern Continent bought and sold stolen goods. Baha had purchased this map of Dusk City for 5 Sun Gold Coins.

Given the strength of Su Xiao's team, they could certainly have just taken it by force, but it wasn't worth losing their dignity in this world over a mere 5 Sun Gold Coins.

In fact, every world has a hidden "Reputation Value"—simply put, one's fame. Unless one could wipe out every witness without leaving a trace, plundering would inevitably lower one's reputation in a given area, which might affect future plans. After all, he didn't know who the antique shop owner's backer was.

Looking down from above, beneath the thousand-meter-high walls surrounding Dusk City, there were small towns of varying sizes every few kilometers. These were collectively known as "Under-City Towns," while those located more than five kilometers away from Dusk City were called "Far-City Towns."

The blood moon at night turned the world outside the high walls of Dusk City into a purgatory. Even during the day, with the dim sun hanging high, the Under-City Towns were still not safe; monsters would appear during the day as well, just not in the same numbers as at night.

As for the more distant Far-City Towns, those towns either had underground shelters in every household, or the towns themselves were "Eerie Towns." For outsiders who stumbled into an Eerie Town, the best outcome was to be assimilated by the eeriness; the worse outcome was to be devoured completely.

Compared to the past, Dusk City had indeed declined and decayed somewhat; it was no longer the peak royal city of the former Transcendent World, Sun City. Even so, every inch of land in Dusk City was worth its weight in gold. This world didn't lack fertile land, but it lacked safe, fertile land. Therefore, although Dusk City was large, most of its land had to be used for food production.

Looking across the entire Outer City District, the outer rings were mostly farming and breeding zones. The residents of the Outer City lived as close to the high walls of the Inner City as possible.

He had just agreed with the Dark Bishop Berhewa to meet in the Outer City. Now it seemed they would have to pass through vast planting areas before reaching the Outer City.

Su Xiao, Grin Gillian, and Xiao set off toward the city gate. For some reason, Xiao deliberately walked on Su Xiao's right, keeping Su Xiao between him and Grin Gillian. It seemed Grin Gillian's increasingly malicious gaze had made Xiao feel something was wrong.

"Who are you?"

On the way, Xiao suddenly spoke. Hearing this, a playful expression appeared on Grin Gillian's face. Baha, full of mischief, asked from the side, "Can we say it?"

"Of course. This kind of thing will be exposed sooner or later. Besides, Xiao is already on the pirate ship; she actually also has a grudge against the Arcane Eternal Star."

Hearing this, Baha coughed lightly and introduced her grandly: "Actually, this is the renowned predecessor female Law-Extinguisher, Ms. Grin Gillian!"

As soon as these words were spoken, Xiao suddenly stopped in his tracks, staring at Grin Gillian in astonishment. The next second, her figure vanished, as if she had never existed.

"Hey! Don't go! I just wanted to make a friend!"

Grin Gillian was clearly a bit annoyed and embarrassed. Baha whistled mischievously, admiring the surrounding scenery.

"Tsk, the ideal 'big wife' in this world is gone. I'll have to scout for another one."

Grin Gillian began to mutter to herself. Su Xiao ignored her. If an outsider saw this scene, they certainly wouldn't feel that Grin Gillian was someone from an era as distant as the predecessor Law-Extinguisher. In such a short time, she had adapted to the current era, with various catchphrases and trendy language emerging one after another.

By the time the group reached the city gate, it was already noon. Su Xiao took out a permit from a high noble of the Inner City, and the city guards let them pass quickly. This was perhaps the strongest elite legion Su Xiao had ever seen. The total of over 100 members of the main gate guard were all of Absolute-Tier combat strength. However, they felt different from normal Absolute-Tier individuals; while their aura was sharp and bloodthirsty, it lacked the heavy, dense feeling of Absolute-Tier power.

If he wasn't mistaken, these soldiers were pseudo-Absolute-Tier individuals created by "Monster Hearts." To resist the daily "Nightfall," it was conservatively estimated that their peak combat stage would not exceed 5 years, and their average lifespan was likely under 40. It seemed that in order to hold Dusk City, both the nobles and the ordinary residents had paid a great price.

If besieged by tens of thousands of such soldiers, let alone an Absolute-Tier, even the top echelon of Supreme-Tiers would likely not be able to hold out and would have to avoid their edge.

If the Outer City guards were like this, the Sun Warriors in the Inner City must be even more powerful. The "Old Day Guardians" composed of them were undoubtedly the peak combat power among the major factions in this world.

After passing through the somewhat cold and damp gate tunnel, which was hundreds of meters long, the air that greeted them had a hint of the freshness of grass and trees. This was a train station. Looking into the distance, the rice fields were endless, the breeze blowing through the full rice ears, making a rustling sound like an endless golden ocean.

Boarding the train, the scene before their eyes made one doubt: was this really the former Transcendent World that was dangerous to the extreme?

"Law-Extinguisher."

A whisper like nothingness appeared beside Su Xiao's ear. He opened his eyes and found that Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang, Amu, Baha, and even Grin Gillian beside him all looked normal.

Was it an auditory hallucination? Su Xiao didn't think that with his soul strength, he would suddenly have auditory hallucinations. He closed his eyes and listened carefully. At first, it was very quiet, but after a while, a sound like a candle slowly burning came from the air. He entered a meditative state.

"Don't be deceived by the falsehoods constructed by the God Race, Law-Extinguisher."

Su Xiao opened his eyes. This time it was definitely not an auditory hallucination; someone was trying to communicate with him from a distance. Facing this situation, he took out a large bowl-like ritual vessel, had Amu stand in front and hold it with both hands, and then poured a liquid silver-like solution into it.

The other party clearly didn't expect Su Xiao to be so knowledgeable. After hesitating for a few seconds, writing appeared on the solution. Seemingly worried that Su Xiao wouldn't understand the local script, the other party wrote "25, 1350" in Void numerals.

He had Baha fetch the train manual. After flipping to District 25 and checking downward, he found: 1350 Gray Stone Road, Old Friend Grocery Store.

The location here was a bit remote, on the very edge of the Outer City, almost bordering the large slums on the north side. The public security and hygiene here were terrible, and it was marked as "No civilians allowed at night."

The last sentence contained a lot of information. The night in Dusk City was definitely not a curfew, which meant the defense method here was not like the Underground City, which relied on human lives to fill the gaps. It was clearly protected by a large-scale barrier that protected the entire Dusk City at night.

Otherwise, given the length of the high walls surrounding Dusk City, even if there were tens of millions of troops in the city, it wouldn't be enough to guard the walls.

For such an invitation from an unknown source, Su Xiao should have ignored it, but the mark left by the other party was to prevent this. This mark came from an old friend, the Scroll Master. After leaving the Eternal Light World, he didn't know why he had come here.

"Are you sure this is an invitation from the Scroll Master? If it is, I'll avoid it for now."

When Grin Gillian said this, her tone was uncharacteristically guilty, which made Baha ask curiously, "What wicked thing did you do to that old man?"

"Actually, it's nothing. I just sold all the rare scrolls he had accumulated for decades once."

"Were you in a hurry to get stronger at the time?"

"No, I was already at the Supreme-Tier peak then."

"Then what were you?"

"During that time, wasn't I flirting with Anna, the owner of the Death House? I was short on cash, so I borrowed some from the old guy."

After saying this, Grin Gillian opened the train window and leaped onto the roof. Before long, she disappeared from his perception. It seemed that after hitching a ride to Dusk City, she didn't intend to continue traveling with Su Xiao.

The scenery outside the train window flew by. Half an hour later, a burning wooden house came into view. Near the wooden house were several bloodstains and clothing fragments. Such traces only appeared when particularly ferocious beasts devoured even the bones. It was evident that Dusk City was not as safe as it looked.

When the train gradually stopped, a distant bell rang. Looking in the direction of the sound, one could see the slightly glaring sun at noon. Every day, the Inner City of Dusk City would ring a large bell, representing that it was 12:00 noon.

There weren't many passengers in the station. On a bench on one side of the platform, several half-grown teenagers were squatting or sitting. They wore ill-fitting clothes, and because they hadn't bathed for a long time, their skin had a wrinkled, dirty feeling. Their eyes, looking around, were searching for pickpocketing targets.

The Outer City of Dusk City had a characteristic: the closer to the Inner City high walls, the better the security. Conversely, in the outermost area of the Outer City, the security was no better than the slums on the north side.

There were many pedestrians on the street. Because of the heavy rain in the morning, the weather had turned cool, and pedestrians had added coats. The vehicles on the street were like a museum of eras, from gorgeous carriages to steam-driven cars and bold vehicles burning diesel—everything was there.

The entire city district had perfect electricity and drainage systems, but steam and gas pipes crawled all over the walls. This feeling clearly suggested that this world had a technology tree, but it was very unevenly popularized. The Inner City was one level of technology, the inner ring of the Outer City was another, and the outermost Outer City presented a mixed situation.

Boarding the bus train and traveling four stops, they arrived at 1350 Gray Stone Road, Old Friend Grocery Store. This grocery store was located at a crossroads and had three floors. The windows on the second and third floors were sealed with wooden boards from the inside. Because this neighborhood was so chaotic that even the police didn't want to come, naturally no one doubted this.

The situation inside was unknown. Su Xiao let Amu and Baha stay outside, while Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang followed him in.

Ding-a-ling~

The copper bell hanging on the door clattered. The entire grocery store was about 60 square meters. There were wall-cabinet-style shelves on both sides. A semi-circular wooden counter leaned against the inner corner, and on the other side was a door leading to the inner room and stairs leading to the second floor.

A round table was placed in front of the stairs. The triplet brothers, dressed as grocery workers, were surrounding the wooden table, eating fried round flour food on the table while drinking strong tea. All three pairs of eyes were looking at Su Xiao. Although they didn't look malicious, based on Su Xiao's experience, he immediately judged that the three had some ability. It would probably take 10 seconds—no, considering the triplets were of one mind, it would probably take 12 seconds to kill them all.

Arriving at the bar, the girl with a single ponytail behind the bar was sleeping soundly, drool even flowing out. In her tight-fitting shirt-like clothing, one could vaguely see the muscle contours on her back. She looked like a youthful and beautiful girl, but she definitely had no weak close-combat power.

Dong dong~

Su Xiao knocked on the bar. The girl, who had long since woken up, got up somewhat reluctantly. She yawned, stretched, and said, "Dad, the guest you're waiting for is here."

A moment later, the door leading to the inner room opened. Inside was darkness to the extreme. An aged figure, draped in a dark green robe and carrying an oil lamp, stood in this darkness, as if he had merged with it.

"Our common old friend has something to do and has left temporarily. Perhaps we can talk."

The old man in the darkness spoke. The candle flame in the lamp he held was very special, exceptionally dim and yellow.

"..."

Su Xiao walked into the inner room shrouded in darkness. This feeling was like a layer of black liquid substance covering the floor, walls, and ceiling of this place, and these black liquids would also devour the light source. Only the candlelight from the lamp held by the dark old man would not be devoured by it.

After sitting opposite each other by the wooden table, the dark old man placed the lamp on the table and said, "I have known the Scroll Master for many years. Inviting him here this time was a last resort. If we don't get rid of that Undead, we have no possibility of entering the center of Dusk City, let alone letting the Sun God Race end their lingering existence. The God Race of the past has now become a poor wretch that cannot even continue to inherit the Blood of the Sun."

The dark old man's face, half-lit and half-dark under the candlelight, showed a mocking yet somewhat sorrowful smile.

"The only passage from the Inner City to the Central City District is guarded by that Undead watchdog. No one can pass, so I found an old friend to conceive a solution. The method has been found. Originally, I wanted our disciples to take the opportunity to deal with that Undead, but now there is a better candidate."

The dark old man's pair of turbid eyes stared directly at Su Xiao, clearly wanting Su Xiao to deal with the Undead he spoke of.

Su Xiao had no interest in the dark old man's enemy, but he was very interested in the method the Scroll Master had found to kill the Undead. Among his future enemies, there might be Undead. It should be known that when an Undead was in this world, even his killing ability could not kill it.

"The Sun God Race must be eradicated. They..."

The dark old man had just said this when his left eye suddenly expanded several times. After that, starting from this point, various parts of his body swelled up one after another. His violently trembling pupils made his right eye covered in bloodshot veins. He squeezed out from between his teeth: "Old Day..."

Bang!

The dark old man exploded, blood and flesh splattering everywhere. And in front of Su Xiao, on a crystal thin wall that had just been formed, flesh and bone fragments flowed down. Across this crystal wall, an eyeball composed of soul energy appeared on the opposite side.

This soul eye stared at Su Xiao, and after remaining still in mid-air for a few seconds, it shattered with a pop, not choosing to attack Su Xiao with it.

Just by looking at it, Su Xiao knew this was a method of the Soul Academy. This twisted, deformed soul power, except for the soul branch that opened the brain, no other soul branch could have it.

Short and dull fighting sounds came from the grocery store outside. Half a minute later, the fighting outside subsided. The wooden door was pushed open, and a burly figure wearing a tattered robe with dark gold armor inside stood outside the door. With a plop, the single-ponytail girl who had been sleeping soundly on the bar was thrown in, her body twisted. Her dim, lusterless pupils meant she was already dead.

The person outside the door didn't say anything and turned to leave. A moment later, a raging fire started, and the dark liquid substance in the inner room gradually dissolved because the dark old man had died.

Su Xiao sat on the wooden chair, not caring about the flames spreading around. Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang beside him detached from the environment and brought a notebook in his mouth. This notebook did not come from the dark old man or the single-ponytail girl, but from a man named Nizanie.

The main content of this diary was not important, but in the scattered mentions, it revealed that besides the Old Day Guardians, the Great Library, and the Old Nobles, Dusk City had a fourth faction. This faction was named the Night Guild, which had risen years ago with the support of the Great Library.

The philosophy of the Night Guild was different from the neutrality of the Old Nobles and the Great Library's idea that all strong people in this world should participate in the inheritance of the Blood of the Sun. The Night Guild firmly believed that all disasters in this world were actually caused by the Sun God Race, and the Blood of the Sun should not be inherited anymore. Moreover, even if the Blood of the Sun was not inherited, the sun in the sky would not fall, and the blood moon would disappear accordingly.

In short, it was one sentence: destroy the Sun God Race. After this view was exposed, the Great Library, which had been providing resources behind the scenes to let them rise, hurriedly expressed their stance that they were not familiar with the Night Guild.

The result was obvious: the Night Guild was destroyed. This grocery store should be the last stronghold of the Night Guild. Previously, the high-level officials of Dusk City were too lazy to ignore these few people, after all, this side had an unusual relationship with the Great Library. But now, these few members of the Night Guild actually attempted to unite with the Law-Extinguisher, so the situation was different.

As for why the Soul Academy wanted to take action, this was unknown. It should be because they had an old grudge with the Night Guild, and now they took the opportunity to wipe them out, and they could also sell a favor to the Sun God Race, that is, the Royal Family of Dusk City.

But whether it was the Royal Family or the Soul Academy, they didn't choose to clash with Su Xiao. Given the number of Absolute-Tier individuals in this world, saying they would be afraid of a strong person was somewhat unreasonable. Thus, it could only be because of one point: Dusk City and the Soul Academy were both imprisoning Undying Abyss-Borns, and they had to consume huge resources for this.

Actually, provoking an Undying Abyss-Born was a particularly painful thing. One could neither destroy this thing nor let it go free, otherwise, it wouldn't be long before this thing might strike again, making the major faction that once sealed it pay the price.

But if it was sealed for a long time, it required constant investment of resources to reinforce the seal, and the more one sealed this Undying Abyss-Born, the deeper the grudge accumulated.

Considering that the Underground City was the only major city in the Northern Continent, Dusk City, the Soul Academy, and the God Religion naturally planted eyes there to prevent this faction, which was not under their control, from doing things that harmed their interests. Thinking about it this way, the scene where Su Xiao completely eliminated the Undying Abyss-Born in the Underground City was naturally quickly known by the high-level officials of the three major factions.

The Southern Continent would have a blood night descent about once a month. Considering that the Sun Star was known as the world closest to the Abyss, the number of Undying Abyss-Borns here should not be small, perhaps to the extent of a dozen or so.

Inferring this, the three major factions of Dusk City, the Soul Academy, and the God Religion might have each sealed 2-3 Undying Abyss-Borns, and these Abyss-Borns brought them great resource pressure.

In this way, when Dusk City and the Soul Academy took action to completely destroy the Night Guild, not provoking or even not offending Su Xiao in attitude was completely understandable.

Regarding the invitation from the three factions to deal with the Undying Abyss-Born, Su Xiao would certainly agree. Eliminating these Abyss-Borns would not only allow him to obtain the completion of the "Abyss Mission" but also allow the Magic Spirit to devour the source energy of the Undying Abyss-Born, thereby improving his "All Potential Upper Limit Tier" and "Abyss Resistance," as well as the "Magic Spirit Strength" of the Blade Magic Spirit.

Although this was the case, directly agreeing to the invitation of the three major factions was actually still a bit of a loss. He could completely open a high price, and the three major factions would certainly not refuse this high price. Compared with the cost of maintaining the seal of the Abyss-Born, this reward was within an acceptable range.

Su Xiao walked out of the burning grocery store. Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang beside him began to search for the aura of the Scroll Master in the air. A moment later, led by Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang, Su Xiao, Amu, and Baha arrived at a barbecue restaurant. Amu looked quite happy, while Su Xiao and Baha looked at Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang.

"Woof."

Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang barked, indicating that the aura tracking would definitely not be lost, and it was better to eat first to distract the enemy's attention. After all, there were three groups of people watching them in the dark.

After a little thought, Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang, who was usually foolish, did this very well. At this moment, the three groups of people monitoring Su Xiao in the dark almost laughed out loud. Just now, they saw Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang sniffing in the air and thought this dog-star person had discovered something, but it turned out he was tracking to a barbecue restaurant.

During lunch, Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang suddenly disappeared. This was to track the location of the Scroll Master. Time passed minute by minute. Su Xiao ate barbecue and tasted the wine he brewed as if he were a customer with nothing to do. When an hour passed, Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang sent back information that he had found the trace of the Scroll Master.

The Scroll Master was in a tightly guarded building in the Inner City District. This was clearly pitted by his unreliable old friend from the Night Guild, but there was no need to worry about the safety of the Scroll Master.

After any faction captured the Scroll Master, their attitude change was basically: murderous intent -> cold interrogation -> learning identity -> ecstatic -> attitude gradually became kind -> treated as an honored guest -> except for not being able to leave the faction's territory, Master, you can go anywhere, Master, have you had lunch, was lunch good, are you used to the food here? If you have any requirements, just mention them.

The strongest Scroll Master in the worlds, the top world painter—these two identities alone were enough for any faction to treat the Scroll Master as an honored guest.

Thinking about it this way, there was no need to rescue the Scroll Master at this stage. No matter what, Su Xiao was a lone hunter. Compared to acting with him, the Scroll Master would be safer staying in Dusk City.

Although this was the case, he still had to meet the Scroll Master as soon as possible. The method the other party thought of to kill the Undead was what Su Xiao needed. If he encountered an Undead later and couldn't deal with it, it would be ominous.

Besides this, the progress of the Dark Bishop Berhewa and the former noble Albers was good. They had already established a relationship with the Old Nobles through several buff potions that Dusk City didn't have. As long as they operated properly, it wouldn't be long before Albers could have certain authority in the Inner City District.

Waiting in the restaurant for another half hour, two figures walked in. It was Sin-Ais and Wood. After sitting down, Wood didn't say a word. Although this guy didn't talk much usually, he was different from Su Xiao's silence. Baha, who saw this, asked:

"Wood, what's with that expression of yours as if you lost a million soul coins?"

"He came for nothing this time."

As a "good teammate," Sin-Ais said with a smile. That's how good teammates were: they worked together against the enemy before the final boss died, but it didn't delay the strange friendship between "good teammates": "What unhappy thing do you have? Say it out to make me happy."

"He brought that Original Sin Object of the Devil Race. After arriving in this world, he originally wanted to give that Original Sin Object to Dusk City, but he didn't expect that the Central City District of Dusk City actually already had an Original Sin Object, which caused his 'gift' of the Original Sin Object to almost be exposed."

Hearing Sin-Ais's words, Su Xiao's gaze became a bit solemn, and he decided to avoid the very center of Dusk City as much as possible later.

Besides this, the qualification as the representative team of Dusk City had already been taken by Sin-Ais and Wood. After the two arrived in Dusk City, they really chose to find a captain of the Imperial Guard at the city gate and told the other party that they wanted to fight on behalf of Dusk City to win back the "Sun Source Stones" one by one.

The captain of the Imperial Guard heard this and immediately invited Sin-Ais and Wood into the city. Not long after, a high noble met the two. After learning that the team had one more member and confirming that Su Xiao was also an Absolute-Tier, he immediately agreed. Su Xiao, Sin-Ais, and Wood would form a team as representatives of Dusk City to win back the "Sun Source Stones" one by one.

There was a prerequisite for this, which was that the Dusk City team had to have a total of four people. Besides Su Xiao, Sin-Ais, and Wood, they had to add a mysterious lady. This lady was an Absolute-Tier from the Arcane Eternal Star, the Daughter of Nature, Erucle.

The original situation should have been that, led by Lord Soul, a group of spellcasters from the Arcane Eternal Star would come to surround and kill Su Xiao, but it was unknown what means Marvin Waltz, the old Law-Extinguisher, and the black mist figure used to block Lord Soul and the group of spellcasters outside this world.

The current situation was that Su Xiao and the Daughter of Nature, Erucle, were both members of the Dusk City team. If they fought openly, it wouldn't just be a slap in the face to Dusk City, but kicking it down and stepping on its face.

Perhaps the high-level officials of Dusk City also felt that the Law-Extinguisher and the spellcaster happening to form a team was unreliable no matter how they looked at it. The problem was that the time limit they agreed on with the other two factions was approaching, and they had to put together a team with an average combat power of Absolute-Tier.

The high-level officials of Dusk City had to face a choice: either let the excellent members of their families come to die, or let the Law-Extinguisher and the spellcaster form a team and then pretend not to know about it. Clearly, the high-level officials of Dusk City chose the latter.

It might be that Dusk City really felt that this matter was not quite right, so before the four set off, they had to go to the Council Hall in the Inner City District, and all four had to sign a contract to ensure that the team would not have internal strife.

Hearing Sin-Ais's description, Baha was stunned. It pressed its two wings on both sides of its head like hands. Because the Sun Star almost had no contact with other worlds in the worlds, the high-level officials of Dusk City didn't know about the events in recent years. Their cognition of Su Xiao, Sin-Ais, and Wood was limited to the extent that they were Law-Extinguisher, Devil Race, and Ancient God System, and they didn't know that two of them were Contract Masters.

Therefore, the high-level officials of Dusk City made two shocking decisions: 1. Let the Law-Extinguisher and the spellcaster form a team; 2. They were about to sign a contract with two Contract Masters at the same time. ===== CHAPTER 3868 =====