Chapter 3955: Good Luck Continues

【The Combat Avatar will complete cultivation in 1 hour. Please do not exceed 5 kilometers from the terminal to avoid mental synchronization interruption.】

The terminal device Su Xiao was in began to run with a rumble. He opened his eyes, got up from the terminal chair, and came to the door to try to open it. The bedroom door that couldn't be opened just now opened easily at this time.

Fanny, Bubu Wang, and Bahar didn't have as strong mental power as Su Xiao, so they couldn't leave the control terminal when forming the combat avatar. He took Amu and Benny out. He walked out of the residence and found that this was a building located in the back street area, crowded with other buildings at intervals of half a meter. Fortunately, these buildings were not tall, mostly two-story structures, and only the church in the distance was very high.

Walking in the dirty and damp alley on the ground, Su Xiao looked up at the sky. In the gray night, he could vaguely see the stars all over the sky. This was the visual feeling brought by the giant barrier. Confirming that the sky was not a full moon, he continued to move forward.

The notification given by the Tree of the Void clearly pointed out "Do not go out at night when there is a full moon." Su Xiao had always been relatively willing to listen to advice. Regardless of what consequences the full moon would lead to, it was always right to observe first.

The area of Ash Town was far larger than a normal town, much larger than Muyu City, and the population was conservatively estimated to be hundreds of thousands, which also led to the feeling that this town was crowded.

Ash Town had three floors in total: ground floor buildings, underground first floor buildings, and underground second floor buildings. What was completely different from the Lord Continent was that adventurers, middle-aged, and elderly people lived on the ground, young people lived on the first floor of the underground city, and the royal family lived on the second floor of the underground city.

Don't think that the deeper you go underground, the safer it is. The deep underground had long been soaked by curses. Living on the second floor of the underground city, the curse concentration faced was higher than that on the surface. The royal family was generally stronger and could resist it.

More than 80% of those living on the surface were middle-aged and elderly, or outsiders. Su Xiao, the Priest, and other contractors belonged to the outsiders.

What was truly safe was the first floor of the underground city, which was sheltered by residential floors above and below. The curse concentration here was so low that it was almost non-existent, so those living here were all residents aged 1 to 35. They could ensure that the population of Ash Town would not wither. This was not because the rulers of Ash Town had a long-term perspective, but a survival problem that was imminent.

Once the newly born population was insufficient, it would inevitably lead to a decrease in the number of teenagers and girls aged 10 to 15 in more than a decade. This age group was the golden age for stimulating the Array Realm talent and learning Array Realm studies. When the number of Array Realm masters was insufficient, the giant Array Realm of Ash Town would inevitably have problems. By then, the curse would erode, and everything would be over.

It is worth noting that the royal family of Ash Town was not the ruler of this town. They were people who possessed powerful strength but whose bloodlines were cursed. Logically speaking, they should be expelled from the town, but many years ago, the town residents and the royal family shared adversity at the most difficult time, and later both sides tacitly chose to coexist.

Don't look at the fact that the power of Ash Town was not large, but it was very lively inside. There were five factions in total: the Array Realm Master Guild, the Temple of Mercy, the Hunting Church, the Dark God Sect, and the Pilgrims.

The grievances between these five forces made people's expressions complicated. First, the Array Realm Master Guild, which was like an older brother, was worried every day, and the expression on their faces seemed to be saying, can you guys stop for a day, even for one day.

The main duty of the Array Realm Master Guild was to train Array Realm masters and maintain the large Array Realm of Ash Town.

The Temple of Mercy could clearly tell this older brother that it was impossible. They hadn't converted the heretics yet, so how could they be quiet? It was not terrible to have the body eroded by the curse, but what was terrible was to have the soul eroded. For example, those idiots in the Hunting Church were stupid people whose souls had been eroded by the curse. As for the evidence? How could people with normal thinking constantly form combat avatars and run out of the town? These guys were heretics and must immediately disband the Hunting Church.

The Temple of Mercy was in charge of the treatment, curse erosion relief, funeral ceremonies, etc., of Ash Town.

The attitude of the Hunting Church was that there must be something wrong with the cultivation secret method of the Temple of Mercy, otherwise these guys wouldn't generally have water in their brains. Don't bother us, get lost!

The Hunting Church was mainly responsible for exploring outside and investigating the source of the curse. During this period, they had gained a lot. At present, the third-generation large Array Realm used by Ash Town was the initial version they found outside, which was later improved by the Array Realm Master Guild before it could be applied.

Compared with the above three forces, the Dark God Sect, which was notorious in other worlds, was surprisingly doing serious business in this world.

Their attitude here was, guys, compared to the Array Realm, heretics, and exploring outside, shouldn't we pay more attention to the royal family on the second floor of the underground city? They seem to be getting more and more abnormal. Is there really no problem? And, even if you don't believe in darkness, can you not believe in the curse? You three should manage those pilgrims.

That's right, the fifth force in Ash Town, the Pilgrims, was relatively peculiar. They firmly believed that only the "Eternal Bell" located in the center of this world could save everyone, so going on a pilgrimage to the "Eternal Bell" was a must.

Many batches of pilgrims had left Ash Town one after another, but 99% of the people in the town believed that these pilgrims would not be able to walk far before being eroded by the curse into wood.

In addition to the intricate forces, the town residents also had simple folk customs. Su Xiao had encountered worlds where extraordinary people were likely to lose control, but here, anything could lose control and deform, sometimes because of emotional excitement, and some because of the continuous erosion of the curse.

Compared with the deformed town residents who had lost control, those guys who were on the verge of losing control were actually more dangerous. They still had the appearance of human beings, but their spirits and souls were crazy to the extreme.

This was also why the Temple of Mercy could never do anything to the Hunting Church. In addition to exploring outside, the Hunting Church had a more important duty to hunt in the city. Rather than saying Ash Town was a town, it was more appropriate to call it Ash City given the population and building scale here.

Su Xiao walked on the street. Although it was 10 o'clock in the evening, there were many pedestrians on the street. This was because it was pitch black during the day, but there was moonlight at night, which was more convenient for travel. This also led to the fact that the dark day was the time when deformed people appeared, and it was also the best time for church hunters to hunt. After all, after the deformed people passed the initial stage, their disguise ability was particularly strong.

The whole Ash City could be said to be troubled internally and externally. It could be stable until now because the five major forces in the city were all very capable, although except for the Array Realm Master Guild, the thinking of the other four forces was not very normal.

Ash City was certainly not a safe zone. The safe zone referred to in the notification was relative, and the residence where Su Xiao was just now was the 100% "safe zone" notarized by the Tree of the Void. Others, let alone attacking inside, without Su Xiao's authorization, it was impossible for others to enter it by any means.

Thinking that he would have to mentally connect to the combat avatar through the "terminal" later, it was normal to provide such a safe environment. As for prohibiting contractors from using force in the town, this was obviously to avoid contractors coming here to affect the indigenous people. Except for Ash City, other places in this world were under the erosion of the curse. With the ability of contractors to cause trouble, if not restricted, after this round of battle for supremacy, Ash City might no longer exist.

"Meow."

Benny called and jumped onto Su Xiao's shoulder.

"Meow."

Benny pointed to the narrow alley on the side with her cat claws.

"Are you sure?"

"Meow meow, meow meow meow~"

"Hmm."

Su Xiao walked into the narrow alley. This narrow alley was winding and had many misleading formulas. If the mental power was not strong enough, one would definitely be affected by these formulas and return to the original path to walk out of this alley.

When he reached the end, there was a three-story building, and a thick wooden door blocked the way. There was an observation port on the upper part of the wooden door. Su Xiao knocked on the door. After a moment of silence, footsteps came from inside. With a "swish," the observation port was pulled open, revealing a face full of fat.

"Let me see your goods."

The burly man with a face full of fat spoke impatiently through the observation port.

"..."

Su Xiao didn't speak. He didn't know what the burly man was referring to. The reason he came here was because Benny judged that this place should be an exchange or a trading market.

"If you don't have goods, don't talk."

The burly man was about to close the observation port when Su Xiao said: "I was robbed on the way."

"Heh, if you have the ability to find cursed curios outside the city, you should have the means to protect them and bring them here intact. Only then do you have the qualification to enter. For a fresh face like you, to put it bluntly, who knows if you are a member of the Dark God Sect."

After saying that, the burly man inside closed the observation port.

Black market, cursed curios, the combination of these two was very interesting.

Dong dong~

Su Xiao knocked on the door again. The observation port was pulled open angrily, and the burly man inside said angrily: "You!"

The anger stopped there, because a money bag was thrown into the observation port. The burly man inside squeezed the money bag, and the crisp sound of soul coins rubbing against each other made the anger on his face fade away, gradually replaced by a smile.

The burly man observed Su Xiao for a few more seconds and said: "Hmm, at first glance, you are... you are a person who won't cause trouble. Come in."

The burly man originally wanted to say, at first glance, you are a good person, but he couldn't say it no matter what. Even if it was him, facing this stranger made him feel terrified in his heart. The faint blood energy must not be a good kind, but this had nothing to do with the burly man. There were no good people in the black market.

Walking into the dim building, led by the burly man, he went all the way inside, passed through the building, and arrived at a sealed dark street. It was about five meters wide. The windows of the buildings on both sides were sealed with wooden boards and formulas. The top was sealed with a black metal structure, and fire lamps the size of millstones were hung.

The warm fire light illuminated the black market on the dark street. Small stalls were set up against the walls on both sides, and behind them sat stall owners in black robes, wearing hoods and masks.

Among these people, some were explorers controlling combat avatars, some were extraordinary people on the verge of losing control. At this stage, they didn't care about the erosion of the curse. Others were members of the Hunting Church. The relationship between the Hunting Church and the Temple of Mercy was too bad, and the richest in the city was the Temple of Mercy. Other parties were short of money, as long as they put down their faces and asked for some funds, the Temple of Mercy was easy to talk to.

If the Hunting Church came, the elders of the Temple of Mercy couldn't help but laugh. They would definitely give the funds without missing a cent. After all, the deformed people in the city still had to rely on these guys to clean up, but after giving the money, they must be sarcastic from the inside out.

It is said that a few years ago, the Hunting Church was really unable to open the pot for a month, so the Archbishop took the chief priest to the Temple of Mercy, wanting to borrow some funds temporarily. The result was that the funds were not missing a cent, no, the other party also took out an extra 20%. At that time, the Archbishop naively thought that the Temple of Mercy wanted to ease the relationship between the two sides, but the subsequent experience made the Archbishop's lips tremble with anger when he walked out of the temple.

The Archbishop learned from the pain and decided that they couldn't continue like this. They decided to make some investments in the city. The result was that the Hunting Church almost lost its bottom line, and during the period, it was also cheated by a merchant swindler.

This matter was crazily mocked by the elders of the Temple of Mercy at the council at the end of that year. The high-level officials of the Array Realm Master Guild and the Dark God Sect who were present barely held back and didn't laugh.

The next day, the elder of the temple who mocked the most encountered robbers when he went home in the evening. This group of robbers was particularly cruel. They pressed the old man face down on the ground and then shaved his hair, and shaved a groove in the middle. As luck would have it, a reporter from the city morning newspaper passed by and took a picture of this cruel scene.

Because of this, the headline on the front page of the morning newspaper the next day was the photo of this elder of the temple, as well as his trendy hairstyle that was seven or eight versions ahead of the times.

Walking among the stalls, Su Xiao found that the things on the stalls were all strange things. If Caesar came, he would definitely like them. These cursed curios were basically in an unidentified state. Just as he was about to leave, a cursed curio caught his attention. Looking at the stall owner behind the stall, the aura was dark and revealed a bit of violence, but it was stable enough. Nine times out of ten, it was a member of the Hunting Church.

Squatting down, he picked up the cursed curio on the stall. This was a vow object in the shape of a badge, and the attributes were:

【Ancient Hatred】

Origin: Cursed Land: Rotten Blood Sea: Skeleton Island: Smile Town.

Category: Vow Object/Cursed Object/Bad Luck Object.

Vow Effect: Power of Hatred (Passive): When your maximum health is instantly lost by more than 50%, your "Physical Defense" and "All Abnormal Resistance" will increase by 300%. This state can last for 5 seconds.

Vow Cost: Hatred Erosion (Vow Cost, Unique Passive): You will suffer the mental torture of the will of hatred. Every 24 hours, you will suffer a mental frenzy, and the duration will be randomly long. During this period, your sanity value will continue to decrease until you get out of this state.

Notification: Because of the mental exemption derived from your Sword Art Master Lv. 95, this cost is invalid for you.

Curse Cost: Near-Death Curse (Curse Cost, Unique Passive): The near-death health limit is increased from 10% to 25% (that is, when your health is lower than 25%, you will enter a near-death state).

Bad Luck Cost: Bad Luck Has Arrived (Bad Luck Cost, Unique Passive): Your luck -300.

Notification: Your current luck lowest point is -42,000, so this negative effect is invalid for you.

Introduction: Hatred, curse, bad luck, and... vow.

Price: Cannot be sold after being equipped.

This thing was quite good and could replace the 【Vow Object: Life Reversal】 that Su Xiao was currently equipped with.

"Make an offer."

Su Xiao put down the 【Ancient Hatred】 with a unique aura. The man behind the stall thought for a while and said in a low and hoarse voice: "Use, cursed curio, to exchange. It is a first-tier curio. If there is a first-tier curio we need, you can come... to exchange."

The hoarse man should have damaged language ability. It didn't look like physical damage, but curse erosion.

There were five tiers of cursed curios in this world. The notarization of the Tree of the Void was S~D grade cursed curios. 【Ancient Hatred】 belonged to S-grade curios.

"Keep it for a few days first."

Hearing Su Xiao's words, the hoarse man stared at Su Xiao for a few seconds. He felt in his heart that Su Xiao didn't look like a person who would break his promise, so he nodded.

Putting down 【Ancient Hatred】, Su Xiao checked the items on the stall. A "metal core" the size of a dragon's eye caught his attention. He picked it up and observed it for a few seconds. He seemed to be a bit interested and asked:

"For this thing, make an offer."

"Ten pieces... first-tier... cursed curios."

"..."

Su Xiao put down the "metal core" and didn't say much, getting up to leave.

"This one too, need to help you, keep it temporarily?"

The hoarse man picked up the "metal core."

"No need, too expensive."

Hearing Su Xiao say this, the hoarse man still wanted to explain how rare this thing was. They obtained it in an alchemy laboratory, and a whole team was almost left there forever because of this "metal core."

"Actually, it can be cheaper."

The hoarse man began to waver. After all, the "metal core" hadn't been sold for a long time, and they now needed several key cursed curios to complete the plan that had been prepared for decades.

The hoarse man's words made Su Xiao's footsteps pause. He looked at the "metal core" again: "Then keep it for a few days. I feel this is a rare treasure, but I don't know its specific function."

The value of this "metal core" was beyond doubt. However, even if he wanted to lower the price, there was no need to keep belittling it, which would only make it seem more urgent to buy this thing.

"That's good, help you, keep it for a few days."

The hoarse man picked up the "metal core" and put it into a wooden box together with 【Ancient Hatred】.

Seeing this, Su Xiao walked out of the black market. His expression was as usual, but his mood was very sunny. Coming to this dark street black market this time was really worth it. 【Ancient Hatred】 could only be regarded as an unexpected joy, and that "metal core" was the highlight. If his judgment was not wrong, there was a 90% probability that this thing was the lost core of the "Mysterious Eye."

As one of the highest works of the alchemy faction, once the "Mysterious Eye" was restored to completeness, there might be unexpected improvements.

As for how to obtain "cursed curios," there was no need to worry. Later, using the combat avatar to explore outside the city, there was a high probability of obtaining this type of item.

After Su Xiao returned to the safe house, he went up to the third floor. The combat avatar still needed more than ten minutes to finish cultivation. Taking this time, he controlled the blood energy and condensed it into summoning lines. After a short wait, the Evil Heart drilled out from inside.

This time, the Evil Heart was beaming with joy as soon as it appeared, very flattering: "Master of Law-Breaking, it seems you have successfully defeated the Scarlet Lord. I am really happy for you."

The Evil Heart laughed even more wantonly. The Scarlet Lord was once its vow master. It was unknown what happened during that period, but the Evil Heart betrayed its vow master. And in the last world, when it knew its vow master was still there, it was hysterical after being terrified. In order to get rid of its vow master, it predicted the condition of "Supreme Life Source: Unique," which could not be refused.

"Pity."

"What?"

The smile on the Evil Heart's face froze.

"I did defeat the Scarlet Lord, but I failed to kill him."

Su Xiao didn't explain why the Scarlet Lord was still alive. Explaining this kind of thing seemed like a cover-up. In his view, although the Evil Heart knew the function of "Supreme Life Source: Unique," it was 90% unaware that the prerequisite for using "Supreme Life Source: Unique" was that one had to have 5.5 million points of health.

This led to the fact that Su Xiao had not yet absorbed "Supreme Life Source: Unique," which in the eyes of the Evil Heart was a symbol of failing to kill the Scarlet Lord. Otherwise, in such a dangerous battle for supremacy, how could he choose to keep the opportunity to increase health by 2 million points.

The Evil Heart, who figured this out, had a somewhat distorted expression. It tentatively asked: "Then... just let it go?"

"Of course not. I am determined to get the 'Supreme Life Source.' I called you out to have you predict the whereabouts of the Scarlet Lord."

"This..."

The Evil Heart looked embarrassed. It obviously couldn't do this. It thought for a while with vicious and cunning eyes and said: "Why don't we find the life-type secret treasure of this world first?"

"..."

Su Xiao didn't speak. The Evil Heart closed its eyes and began to predict. A moment later.

【You have completed this prediction transaction.】

【You have obtained the current location of "Old Dragon Essence": Land of Ashes.】

【You have paid the Evil Heart "Dark Blood Potion" x 1 bottle.】

In this prediction transaction, the Evil Heart didn't try to collect "Fate." With this guy's personality, it wouldn't give up completely just because the previous few collections failed. This was clearly because it hadn't gotten rid of the Scarlet Lord through Su Xiao's hands, so it was honest. This was exactly the result Su Xiao wanted to see.

The Evil Heart left somewhat unwillingly. Su Xiao came to the control terminal, opened the valve, and lay on the terminal chair. A notification appeared.

【Combat Avatar cultivation completed. Your Combat Avatar professional characteristic is: Soul Master.】

【Mental transmission in progress...】

【Transmission completed】

Su Xiao felt dark for a while. When everything recovered, he felt weak, but after careful feeling, it was not the case. It was that his own body was too strong, and his spirit suddenly came to this combat avatar, so he naturally felt that this physique was not strong enough. After initial adaptation, the weakness disappeared.

Su Xiao got up from the metal tank full of culture medium. He opened his eyes and found through the reflection of the metal opposite that this combat avatar had the same appearance as him, or rather, it was cultivated using his cell samples and was 100% compatible with his mental power.

Raising his hand to move his five fingers, the adaptation speed was not bad. He tried to check the situation of this combat avatar.

【Notification (Tree of the Void): The ability isolation between your main body and the avatar has been completed. Any of your own abilities (except combat experience or knowledge-type abilities) cannot bring bonuses to the combat avatar. Conversely, your luck (good luck/bad luck) cannot be shared with the combat avatar. The combat avatar will have an independent luck judgment.】

【Warning: This isolation of your Law-Breaking luck consumes more than the conventional value.】

【Constant in progress...】

【Constant completed. This is a necessary process for this round of the battle for supremacy, so you don't need to pay extra resources.】

【Hunter: Kukuline Bai Ye (Combat Avatar).】

Profession: Soul Master.

Health: 100%.

Soul Energy: 500%.

Strength: E (Can be improved, maximum A).

Agility: E (Can be improved, maximum A).

Stamina: E (Can be improved, maximum A).

Luck: E (Can be improved, maximum A).

Soul: E (Can be improved, maximum S).

Professional Core Passive: Soul Master: All soul-type skills you cause have a 50% probability of causing double damage, a 20% probability of causing triple damage, and a 5% probability of causing five times damage (Luck characteristic will affect the triggering of this probability).

Skill 1, Soul Weapon: Loss (Passive, Lv. EX): You can form a "Soul Crystal Bow" and consume 0.5%~50% soul energy to form soul arrows. The soul arrows you shoot will carry a short "Soul Paralysis" effect after hitting.

Notification: Your soul arrows can be fired instantly, or you can consume soul energy to charge. After charging, the attack power, flight speed, penetration, maximum range, etc., will continue to increase with the degree of charging, with a maximum charging time of 10 seconds.

Attack speed of this weapon: Extremely fast.

Skill 2, Soul Weapon: Hammer (Passive, Lv. EX): Form a "Soul Crystal Great Hammer." When attacking, it causes high damage while also causing at least 2 seconds of "Soul Paralysis" effect.

Attack speed of this weapon: Slow.

Skill 3, Soul Weapon: Blade (Passive, Lv. EX): Form a "Soul Crystal Heavy Long Blade." The attack intensity of this heavy long blade is increased by 1000%, and the attack speed is -500%.

Attack speed of this weapon: Extremely slow.

Skill 4, Soul Lock Net (Passive, Lv. EX): Consume 5% soul energy to form a 5x5 meter "Absolute Concealment" soul trap. After the enemy steps on it, they will be trapped and hung by the soul lock net, and then the final duration of imprisonment and hanging will be determined based on the enemy's Strength attribute and the level of this ability and your Soul attribute.

Notification: If the enemy's strength is not strong enough, the struggle time will be extended, or even completely unable to struggle.

The maximum number of soul traps is: Soul Energy Upper Limit x 0.06 = 30.

PS: (Recommend a book by a good friend, book title "Part-time Artist.") ===== CHAPTER 3956 =====