Chapter 4011: Unexpected Erosion

Ehao's expression grew increasingly unnatural, truly uncomfortable from being stared at by Su Xiao and Burgil. It said in a muffled voice:

"You two, what do you mean."

Su Xiao didn't answer, just returned to the formulation table and continued to be immersed in potion formulation. Burgil walked up with a smile and began to persuade:

"If this Law-Breaker doesn't continue to formulate potions, we'll be the ones in trouble."

"Then I won't go to the Warmth Twins to 'pre-pay destiny'."

"This is for the Empress."

Hearing Burgil say this, Ehao's expression was intensely conflicted, but suddenly, it seemed to figure something out and retorted: "Since it's for the Empress, why don't you go."

"Hmm?"

Burgil was clearly stunned. He was mainly surprised at when Ehao had become so smart, actually giving such a powerful counter-attack as 'why don't you go'.

"I am the Empress's direct subordinate, the most loyal running dog and hawk of the Empress. If I perform destiny pre-payment, the 'price' paid might implicate the Empress."

By the end, Burgil was righteous and stern. Hearing this, Ehao's large hand touched its chin, which was fat enough to be a ball. Its pitch-black eyes narrowed in thought, nodding while thinking, and muttered:

"Yeah, it might implicate the Empress. This really can't be risked. Then it really should be me..."

Ehao said this, its eyes suddenly widened, and it said angrily: "That's not right. I am also the Empress's loyal direct running dog."

"No, I am more loyal."

"You're farting! Obviously, I am more loyal!"

Ehao glared angrily, and Burgil also looked unkind. At this moment, in Lady Scorpion's sleeping palace, Lady Scorpion, leaning on a giant bed, saw all this through the Soul Twilight. She was almost speechless to the point of covering her forehead with one hand. Beside her, the Abyssal Daughter closed her eyes and tilted her head slightly. From her lips, it could be seen that she had been holding back to the limit to keep from laughing out loud.

"Little girl, go to Ayesha and 'pre-pay destiny' to see if you can get a fragment of the Awakening Monument."

Lady Scorpion's lazy words made the Abyssal Daughter's smile vanish. She shrugged helplessly: "I can't. We are all children of the Warmth Mother. I cannot make a wish to my sister."

"Is that so? Then is the destiny of a supreme-tier enough to complete this overdraft?"

The Abyssal Daughter didn't answer this question but asked instead: "What is the Awakening Monument?"

"The supreme treasure of the Law-Breakers."

"Then a normal supreme-tier definitely won't do. The Law-Breaker faction involves the causality and destiny of an era. Their supreme treasure has a terrifying magnitude of causality. To complete the overdraft for this matter, perhaps only you Abyssal race members can do it by paying a sufficient price."

Hearing this, Lady Scorpion looked at the Abyssal Daughter with a smile that wasn't a smile for a while. The Abyssal Daughter retreated slightly in fear. One must never be deceived by this lady's gentleness; what she was best at was bringing others soul-crushing pain to the limit.

"Is that so? Then I will bear the price this time."

Lady Scorpion stood up gently. Hearing this, the worm-man who was guarding walked silently out of the sleeping palace.

One hour later, Empress City · Main City District, i. e., District 1, South of the City, Rain Street · No. 809, a seemingly ordinary slaughterhouse.

This was a large slaughterhouse with thousands of workers and numerous workshops. On the innermost side of Workshop 6 was an old-fashioned elevator leading to a thousand meters underground. This elevator was located at the bottom, indicating that someone had just entered this underground prison.

This nameless prison had a dozen single rooms, each about fifty square meters. The front was a 30-centimeter-thick special transparent crystal layer. The cells were very clean, looked to be cleaned frequently, and each had a large bed, even bookshelves, various smart appliances, etc. Except for losing freedom, the living conditions of being imprisoned here didn't seem bad.

At this moment, standing in front of Cell 3 were Su Xiao, Burgil, and Ehao, among whom Burgil's expression was resolute:

"I cannot let the Empress pay the 'destiny price', so I will."

Having said that, Burgil also glanced at Ehao. That look was as good as saying, you are not loyal enough to the Empress.

"Get lost."

Ehao pushed Burgil away. Burgil, with his little old man physique, was directly pushed into the transparent crystal wall diagonally opposite with a 'bang'. And in this cage, Amu scratched its head in confusion.

As for why Amu was here, Amu's initial teleportation point was District 10 of Empress City. After using a 【Follower Promotion Badge】 in the Reincarnation Paradise, Amu's combat power could be said to have undergone a qualitative change. In this situation, when Amu entered the 'Outlier State', it was the true Iron-Blooded Battle Bull.

A group of strong individuals in Lady Scorpion's hands besieged Amu. Although only one was severely injured, they truly couldn't move this bull-headed man. This guy caught a secondary descendant, grabbed the other's neck tightly, and then hammered with heavy punches.

A very classic scene appeared. A group of secondary descendants besieged Amu. Amu didn't pay attention to anyone else, just beat the secondary descendant it had caught to death, almost giving that secondary descendant a trauma.

In the end, the secondary descendants besieging it found something wrong and wanted to pull Amu away, but the result was that Amu grabbed the neck of that unlucky secondary descendant with one hand, opened its mouth to the maximum to bite the other's head, and stabbed its other hand into the secondary descendant's ribs.

No matter how others attacked Amu, Amu neither let go nor loosened its mouth. It was said that the unlucky secondary descendant's cry for help even carried a sobbing tone by the end.

It wasn't until Burgil arrived that Amu was put to sleep. The subsequent torture and interrogation of Amu saw Amu start to catch up on sleep, sleeping very soundly. It wasn't that it had no pain sensation; compared to being repaired, torture and interrogation were simply a drizzle.

Su Xiao was somewhat surprised by Lady Scorpion's attitude earlier, but after seeing Amu, he knew what was going on. With this trump card obtained by luck, coupled with prior preparation, he was naturally confident, and naturally calm when negotiating.

One of the goals this time changed from rescuing Ayesha to rescuing Ayesha while letting Amu escape. This matter was left to Baha. After promoting to supreme-tier, Baha had always wanted an opportunity to perform.

However, Su Xiao discovered one thing: Amu's expression wasn't right. Looking at it, it often pressed its hand on its chest and abdomen, as if... it had a stomachache?

It was hard to imagine what Amu had eaten to make its stomach, which could swallow heaven and gnaw earth, feel uncomfortable. Not to mention anything else, it had eaten quite a bit of raw flesh of evil gods. At first, it was a bit uncomfortable, but later, it got used to it.

Looking at Amu's current appearance, quite a few black threads appeared in the corners of its eyes. Looking at it, it had swallowed the flesh of an Abyssal-type creature? With Amu's Abyssal resistance, this was still quite dangerous. However, they were now in the enemy camp, and Amu looked like it just had a stomachache, its vital signs were stable, and it was only mildly eroded, so it was fine overall.

Let Amu ache. When it was hungry, it would swallow everything. In the past, it ate plates and tableware, later it gnawed trees when hungry. In low-to-mid tiers, it often ate the flesh of various monsters. In mid-to-high tiers, it had even eaten sashimi of ocean-type gods.

In short, because of Su Xiao's warning, as long as it wasn't completely humanoid, Amu would taste the saltiness. Therefore, now that it had swallowed the flesh of an Abyssal-type creature, its stomach could also hold out for a few days, or even longer.

"Why, do you know this bull warrior?"

Burgil smiled meaningfully.

"This is my follower."

Su Xiao's words made the smile on Burgil's face stiffen. He coughed dryly and said: "It seems there is some misunderstanding between us."

"No misunderstanding. Release it, and its help in my subsequent potion formulation will increase efficiency by one-third."

"This..."

Burgil was rendered speechless. He had originally intended to secretly warn that if he dared to play tricks in potion formulation, he would let this bull-headed man die miserably here, but instead, he was held hostage by this.

Release the person? Lose a trump card obtained by luck.

Don't release? Potion production efficiency drops by one-third.

One had to know that letting this Law-Breaker formulate potions was very unstable; no one knew what changes would happen tomorrow.

Burgil didn't give an answer directly. The meaning was obvious: he couldn't decide this matter without authorization and had to report to the Empress and obey the Empress's orders.

Ehao pressed one hand toward the crystal layer in front. Ripples appeared above like a water curtain, and Ehao walked into it.

Ayesha—no, it was Delona. First of all, Ayesha wouldn't sit on a swing, swinging her calves in boredom, and the current appearance of this body was silver hair and a black dress, while Ayesha had black hair, a white dress, and pitch-black eyes.

"Little one, I want to 'pre-pay' for a fragment of a supreme treasure."

Ehao looked down at Delona. Given the size difference between the two, saying Ehao could eat Delona in one bite wasn't an exaggeration.

"No."

Delona answered firmly and revealed her dislike for Ehao, just like stepping on a fleshy, fat worm in the park, the disgust on her face being visible to the naked eye.

"Heh~, then I'll go eat your sister."

Ehao squatted down, grinning to reveal a mouth full of thick, flat teeth. Sometimes, compared to sharp teeth, this kind of huge, neat flat teeth had a greater sense of horror.

"Bad guy."

Delona was swinging on the swing. She turned her head inadvertently and saw Su Xiao outside the transparent crystal layer. Her expression didn't change at all, but she was very happy inside. Her brother's friend had come, so she believed in her brother's judgment of people, so she was certain that she would be able to leave this place in the near future.

"You cannot hurt my sister. I will help you 'pre-pay'."

By the end, the corners of Delona's mouth curled into a curve that could be called a little devil. Seeing this expression, Ehao's expression stiffened.

Delona closed her eyes. After a while, her eyes opened, already turned into pitch black.

"Speak, your, wish."

Delona's voice became dull and stiff, as if from a terrifying existence in an unknown realm.

"I want the Awakening Monument... no, I want a fragment of the Awakening Monument, the one that is best to get."

Ehao was rarely smart for once, not saying directly 'I want a fragment of the Awakening Monument', because that might bring all the missing fragments of the Awakening Monument, but the 'price' paid would be many times higher. This last sentence, 'the one that is best to get', was Ehao's peak of wisdom.

"Good~"

Delona lowered her head, and a dark energy arm protruded from behind her neck. The dense Abyssal darkness exploded, making one suspect whether this dark arm of Delona had reached into the Abyss.

A few minutes later, the dark arm retracted. When it withdrew from the darkness, it was holding an 【Awakening Monument (Fragment)】 the size of an apple.

The dark arm seemed to have its own independent consciousness, placing this 'Awakening Monument (Fragment)' in Delona's hand, then dissipated. A few seconds later, Delona opened her eyes a bit blankly, observed the 'Awakening Monument (Fragment)' in her hand for a while, and gave this item to Ehao.

"That's it?"

Ehao touched its fat body, but didn't feel any changes. But the next second, it discovered that the girl in front of it had quietly changed her appearance. Pitch-black hair, a clean white dress, and those completely dark eyes, like dark hollows, were looking at Ehao without any emotional fluctuation. It was Ayesha who had come.

Ayesha raised her white hand, making a gesture of extending her index finger. Ehao opposite her felt its body go out of control. Its large hand raised, extending its index finger to touch Ayesha's fingertip.

Boom!

A muffled sound came from Ehao's body. Immediately after, an even more terrifying scene appeared. It was as if an invisible giant hand was squeezing and kneading Ehao, finally twisting it into a twist shape cruelly. Ehao, whose body was tough to the extreme, screamed and sprayed blood from its seven orifices.

When everything ended, Ehao had turned into a pile of black rotten meat on the ground. The black rotten meat squirmed for a long time before Ehao was reconstituted. Its short hair, originally like steel needles, had partially turned gray-white, its face was waxen and black, and more importantly, the part of destiny and causality it had lost—if it weren't an Abyssal race member, it definitely wouldn't have been able to bear it.

This was also why Su Xiao had never thought of using 'Destiny Pre-payment' in the Sun Star.

Ehao, holding the 'Awakening Monument (Fragment)' in one hand, hunched its body and gasped for breath. It looked at Ayesha with extreme unkindness, but what met it were Ayesha's indifferent dark eyes.

Ehao looked at Su Xiao and said with teeth gnashing: "The thing you want is here. What about what we want."

"According to the amount of potion materials you said, 15 days to complete."

Su Xiao's words made Ehao snort coldly. It pointed to Amu in the cell diagonally opposite: "10 days. You said it could help you increase efficiency by one-third."

"Can."

Having said that, Su Xiao walked out of the underground prison. This time, Baha's goal changed from rescuing Amu and Delona to only rescuing Delona.

When Su Xiao returned to the pharmacist workshop, it was already evening. The reason he had to drag it out until now was to buy time for Caesar. He opened the team channel and took a look. Caesar had already spoken in the team channel, the content being 'success', representing that Su Xiao's potion formulation could officially begin.

"Moo."

On the small bed behind, Amu was lying half-dead, occasionally hiccuping. Before seeing Su Xiao, even if Amu was in excruciating pain, it didn't have any expression. But after seeing Su Xiao, it was like an 1850kg child returning home after being wronged—it couldn't be more aggrieved.

Su Xiao glanced at Amu. This silly bull that ate everything was sometimes more foolish than Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang. However, after entering the Outlier State, it was indeed fierce. It didn't know which Abyssal-type it had bitten a large piece of flesh from, which was very fierce in the style of the Dawn-Breaking Team.

After completing the catalysis of the medicinal materials, Su Xiao began to formulate. Before long, he formulated a large jar of potion, letting Amu drink a few large mouthfuls every half hour. This was enough to drink for a few days.

Normally, the Abyssal energy in Amu's body should be removed. The problem was that the digestive power of Amu's stomach was too strong, and it actually began to try to digest the Abyssal energy. Abyssal energy was naturally not something Amu's current stomach could digest, which naturally led to deeper erosion, deep enough that it was no longer possible to remove.

Su Xiao's plan was to let Amu's stomach continue to be eroded by Abyssal energy. When it reached a certain degree, it would enter a violent erosion stage, causing the other Abyssal energy that had eroded most of Amu's body to rapidly gather toward the stomach, appearing as a comprehensive, thorough erosion.

By then, the source of the Abyssal energy erosion could be solved by removing Amu's stomach, and the subsequent removal of Abyssal energy and darkness wouldn't be difficult.

The secret medicine Su Xiao formulated for Amu was a type that could significantly enhance cell activity, ensuring that Amu's stomach continued to grow strong, so as not to become wooden before being thoroughly eroded.

Su Xiao told Amu to drink a few large mouthfuls every half hour or when it felt excruciating pain in its stomach. But in less than five minutes, Amu had already gulped down more than a dozen mouthfuls. These secret medicines were clearly not enough to drink for a few days. Now that materials were so sufficient, and he didn't have to buy them himself, he naturally formulated a few more large jars.

Ehao, who was responsible for guarding Su Xiao, naturally saw that this wasn't 'Star Spirit Liquid'. It was just about to question him when its nose twitched, and it walked to a jar of super-active potion and took a large gulp. This made its gray-white hair turn red-black again, as stiff as wild boar bristles.

Ehao gulped down a few more large mouthfuls, and its eyes brightened a bit. The situation of being uncomfortable all over due to paying the 'price' was clearly alleviated. It simply pretended not to see Su Xiao using potion materials to formulate other secret medicines. Anyway, it didn't use many materials.

After meditating for a while to find the formulation state, Su Xiao began to formulate 'Star Spirit Liquid'. Without realizing it, he became immersed in the formulation of the potion. Time passed quietly like this.

When Su Xiao wanted to take another portion of materials, he grabbed empty air and discovered that the mountain of potion materials in the pharmacist workshop had been consumed. Only a few remained, not enough to make up a portion of 'Star Spirit Liquid'.

Ehao was sitting there, nodding off in sleep, while Amu was holding a metal jar, occasionally gulping down a few mouthfuls. It could only be said that only the follower of a pharmacist master could be so generous.

Su Xiao summoned a servant, and before long, the servant found Burgil.

"Materials are not enough."

"No rush, no rush. Why don't you rest for a day? You have been formulating potions for three days, and the materials are temporarily used up. Next, we need to change to another secret medicine. This secret medicine is very difficult, and we also hope you can improve it."

Burgil's smile came from the heart. In these three days, he sold batches of 'permanent gain secret medicine' to the Goblin Chamber of Commerce, and batches of general currency were obtained. He was already close to the Empress's expected goal. If it weren't for the Empress's early instructions to surround and kill this Law-Breaker after completion, Burgil really wanted to have such a pharmacist master for a long time.

He also understood why major forces treated pharmacist masters as honored guests. The potion business was truly too profitable.

"..."

Su Xiao stood up and walked out of the pharmacist workshop. Amu followed. Just out of the pharmacist workshop, Su Xiao felt a sense of dizziness. He didn't even know that three days had passed; he only felt that a dozen hours had passed. Equipping the 【Peak Work】 title to formulate potions was indeed a kind of enjoyment.

Led by the servant, Su Xiao arrived at a three-story small building nearby. The environment here was quiet, and there were frog calls in the small pond in the courtyard, which could be called a wonder in this world.

Going up to the second floor, although there was a smell of potion on his body, Su Xiao just wanted to sleep. With Amu guarding on the side, he quickly fell asleep. Moreover, a few minutes later, Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang arrived nearby. Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang, who had integrated into the environment, lost its usual joy and jumpiness, looking around calmly. Although it would occasionally yawn, it was still quite serious.

When Su Xiao woke up, it was already 4:00 AM the next day. He sat up from the bed and opened the prompt list for the first time. Yesterday, he formulated potions until his head was dizzy and he just wanted to sleep.

As for whether there was danger during this period, this was Empress City. Before receiving information from Caesar's side, who would dare to attack Su Xiao? All the strong individuals in Empress City would swarm up and fight them to the death. Even if it were an 'experience card', it was a 'pharmacist master experience card'. Before the experience card expired, whoever dared to reveal malice would die.

Su Xiao checked the prompts:

【Hint: Peak Work · Title Effect 2: Transcend Self (Passive), triggered.】

【Your Pharmacy level has increased to Lv. 96.】

【Your Pharmacy level has increased to Lv. 97.】

Pharmacy increased by two levels. It looked a bit exaggerated, but the problem was that in these three days, Su Xiao formulated a total of over 10,000 bottles of 'Star Spirit Liquid', causing the main material needed for 'Star Spirit Liquid' to rise in price by 3 times.

Each time he successfully formulated an Eternal-grade 'Peak' grade potion, pharmacy had a 6.85% probability of permanently increasing by Lv. 1. But Su Xiao felt that this probability seemed to be 0.685% more reasonable, otherwise how could it trigger only twice in over 10,000 times.

When Su Xiao returned to the pharmacist workshop, Burgil had been waiting here for a long time.

"Mr. Saint Flame, this is the new potion formula, please take a look..."

Su Xiao took the potion formula. This was a permanent gain potion called 'Water God's Gift'. The effect was that after drinking it, it could slowly but stably increase HP, physical strength, real strength attribute, and real stamina attribute within the following year.

The characteristic of this potion was that it had a long effective cycle but a powerful effect. Su Xiao didn't improve this secret medicine; the person who developed this formula was definitely a potion master, and it had been improved several times subsequently. To improve this kind of formula again, the time required would have to be measured in years.

Although he couldn't improve the formula, Su Xiao could formulate a 'Peak grade' 'Water God's Gift', which was to additionally increase its effect by 95%, which was also an outrageously strong enhancement.

Su Xiao became immersed in potion formulation again. Time passed quietly. This time, he formulated continuously for five days. He stood up to go to the temporary residence to rest, leaving about one-fifth of the materials.

Burgil meant that the buyers of this batch of potions were urging, asking Su Xiao to finish formulating as soon as possible. The main materials needed for the next potion formula had already been purchased in large quantities from the Goblin Chamber of Commerce.

Su Xiao knew this was nonsense. He could be certain that when he finished formulating the last batch of 'Water God's Gift', Lady Scorpion would lead her subordinates to surround and kill him, so he had to ensure that his state was good after formulating the last batch of 'Water God's Gift'.

Returning to the bedroom, Su Xiao still fell asleep quickly. When he woke up, he checked the prompts.

【Your Pharmacy level has increased to Lv. 98.】

【Your Pharmacy level has increased to Lv. 99.】

It looked simple, but it really wasn't too difficult. Su Xiao had been immersed in potion formulation. Pharmacy was different from Blade Technique Grandmaster; it required a process of insight and accumulation. Pharmacy was just one 'Peak' formulation after another, thereby gaining further interpretation of pharmacy.

What was important was the 【Peak Work】 title + massive formulation times. The biggest obstacle to improving pharmacy was upgrading this title to 'Limit Refining · Four Times'. Su Xiao, who had long done this, naturally achieved it as a matter of course.

A more intuitive metaphor was that other pharmacist masters might have one 'Peak quality' experience in a month, while Su Xiao, wearing 【Peak Work】, had a 'Peak quality' experience every time.

As for wanting to increase pharmacy to Lv. 100, Su Xiao was certain that even if he formulated tens of thousands more bottles of potion, it would be impossible. He needed an extremely special and cumbersome potion formula and to formulate it. More accurately, it was a sublimation of the pharmacy knowledge he had already mastered.

Su Xiao only thought of one major force that would have this kind of potion formula: the Alchemy faction of the Second Era. Now, he could only go to the Soul Library to ask the Ancient One.

Returning to the pharmacist workshop, Su Xiao began the formulation of the last few batches of 'Water God's Gift'. A day later, he placed the last bottle of 'Water God's Gift' in the potion refrigeration device. Burgil, who had been waiting for a long time, respectfully stepped forward and handed over a potion formula:

"Mr. Saint Flame, this is the formula for the next potion, please take a look to see if there is any room for improvement."

"Yes."

"Then I will trouble you."

Burgil smiled even more respectfully.

"Give me a quiet environment."

Su Xiao took the parchment paper. Seeing this, Burgil looked at Ehao and walked out of the pharmacist workshop. Ehao was still sitting there, yawning in boredom, looking as usual, but in fact, it was ready to take action. Otherwise, there would be no way to explain it to the Council Head old immortal, after all, this Law-Breaker had slashed and killed the Beast Lord.

Su Xiao's index finger tapped on the blank parchment paper one by one. In these few days, Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang had figured out the locations of several heavily guarded treasuries in Empress City. However, Su Xiao knew that Lady Scorpion hadn't put the resources obtained this time in any treasury; those treasuries were all empty.

Lady Scorpion had adopted an extremely secure method this time: she used the identity notarized by the Void Tree obtained many years ago to store all the resources obtained this time in a personal storage device notarized by the Void Tree. In this way, even if Su Xiao and Caesar joined forces, they wouldn't be able to stock up from Lady Scorpion's faction store.

Those resources weren't in the semi-public faction store but belonged exclusively to Lady Scorpion's personal storage device.

This was clearly because she knew about the Beast Lord faction's treasury being looted, and Lady Scorpion also had shares in the 'Star Realm Gambling City'. Before holding Su Xiao hostage, she knew that this Law-Breaker had a high lethality to treasuries or vaults, so she had long guarded against this hand.

However, Lady Scorpion never dreamed that the problem would be with the representative of the Goblin Chamber of Commerce sent to this world, one of the goblin general managers, Jin Guwo, who had collaborated with her for hundreds of years.

More accurately, the current Jin Guwo was no longer the goblin general manager from a few days ago. If Lady Scorpion had stored her assets in a personal storage vault notarized by the Void Tree under other circumstances, Su Xiao and Caesar would indeed have had no way. But her collaborator was the Goblin Chamber of Commerce, and this word 'goblin' was the biggest flaw.

One might ask, what was Caesar's background? Caesar had one-third human blood, one-third goblin blood, and one-third dwarf blood. Later, becoming a job-holder was the current wretched little old man image.

Caesar, who had one-third goblin blood, was quite professional in dealing with goblins.

In the past, Caesar had even tricked the chairman of the Goblin Chamber of Commerce out of his underwear. This time, dealing with Jin Guwo, Caesar, out of ethnic camaraderie, put him into the 'Abyssal Jar', and then used the 'Abyssal Jar' to cover his head forcefully—to the extent that the jar completely covered his head—and Caesar became the goblin general manager · Jin Guwo.

Lady Scorpion's assets were safe because they were in the Void Tree's personal vault? Don't forget, in the last few days, these assets... had all passed through Caesar's hands. It was time to start a new operation. ===== CHAPTER 4012 =====