Chapter 4055: Stars

Of the four types of resources obtained, Su Xiao sold the first, "Initial State Precipitated Glaze," directly to the Tree of Void, netting a total of 105,600 units of Precipitated Glaze.

The 【Ancient Skeleton】 was useless, so Su Xiao sealed it and had Tu, Enta send people to deliver these sealed objects to the Abyss Spreading Zone where the "Imperial Squad" was located, casting them into the Abyss passage.

As for the "Unknown Abyss Creature Corpse," Su Xiao observed this five-meter-tall, three-armed, one-eyed Abyss creature. Its lower body was composed of tentacle-like structures, and a simple weapon made of long fangs was embedded in its chest.

Click, click, click—

A crystal layer climbed onto Su Xiao's hand, forming a crystal dagger. He attempted to pierce the abdomen of this unknown Abyss entity, but failed; a strange, resistive force prevented the crystal dagger from penetrating further.

After a moment of contemplation, Su Xiao retrieved a condensation device from his team storage space. This was a tool created by combining his Devourer Core ability with Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang's tech-side capabilities, designed to collect energy that was highly precious yet difficult to gather and store.

After connecting the device, he attempted to activate it. At first, the device merely hummed with no reaction, but after a few minutes, black smoke began to diffuse from the corpse of the unknown Abyss entity, which was then absorbed into the storage device for crystallization.

Half an hour later, the corpse of the unknown Abyss entity became withered, resembling rotten wood weathered for years; it crumbled at a touch, turning into gray powder. A pitch-black heart lay within the black dust, beating slowly.

Su Xiao chose to seal and store the "Pitch-Black Heart." Conservatively estimating, this unknown Abyss entity had been dead for many years, yet its heart was still beating, a testament to its former power.

He picked up the 【Magic Scythe Eye】 nearby. This was a good item that could be sold to Magic Scythe Aina, though he would need to be wary of any tricks during the trade, given that her surname was Green.

Overall, the "Abyss Sacrifice" carried significant risk. As for the rewards, one could only say that it might result in nothing at all, or an instant fortune.

He opened the team communication list to check the messages sent by Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang. Before Su Xiao promoted his "Soul Strength," he had sent Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang to track the location of the "Star Heart," or rather, to track any one of the three Children of the World.

……

Southwest of "Royal Capital · Star Brilliance City · Inserton."

This area was under the jurisdiction of "Anfeng City." "Lugang City," as a directly administered trade city of Anfeng City, had a level of prosperity second only to the Empire's three directly administered cities.

Because "Lugang City" was a coastal city of the "Guyte Sea," one of its four major ports was known as "Blood Port." In earlier years, when trade was not well-developed, the residents here relied on hunting sea beasts for a living.

Not all sea beasts could be killed at sea; some that produced rare materials required slaughtering in specific environments using special methods. This caused the port, originally named Moonlight Port, to frequently have its seawater dyed red. Over time, it became known as Blood Port.

Because this was a source of extraordinary marine materials, the prices of such materials were 30%–40% cheaper than elsewhere, or even lower. This naturally attracted many extraordinary individuals, and over time, they began to settle here, making public security a top priority.

Prosperous yet chaotic, people lived and worked in peace during the day, but at night, extraordinary individuals often clashed due to various interests, leading to fights. Leaving corpses on the street became a common occurrence.

Vinish, male, 25, unmarried, was currently in a top-floor guest room of the only platinum-level hotel in Blood Port. Generally, a small place like Blood Port shouldn't have such a luxurious hotel, but this place was too special; merchants coming to acquire extraordinary materials were endless, and demand brought the market.

If there were such a thing as a "winner in life," Vinish was half of one. He was born with power that others pursued for half a lifetime with a 99% chance of failure. Even more enviable was that he only needed to continuously use various rare treasures to complete his bloodline power to become even stronger.

As for why he was only half a winner, it was because Vinish's luck with women was not just weak—it was basically non-existent. Of course, this was directly related to the fact that after age 12, he had been crazily trained by his old man and was only released half a year ago.

Among his three partners, except for Ms. Sajin, the other two already had companions. Even Bulman, the oldest in the squad, already had his own family and a cute daughter.

Thinking about how recently, that kid Di often unintentionally invited his girlfriend over to show off their affection during rest periods, and that the girl had some intention of joining the squad, Vinish felt his perfect life was gradually starting to become less than wonderful.

"Ms. Sajin, what exactly is she thinking? Why is she always so distant yet close?"

Vinish was very troubled. He scratched his medium-length gray hair and chose to cast these thoughts aside, starting to consider the invitation from the mysterious black-robed person and what exactly this thing called the "Star Heart" was.

The identity of the mysterious black-robed person had been preliminarily investigated; they were a subordinate of the Three Ministers. This made Vinish feel uneasy. This was a top-tier power group of the Empire; once involved in the clashes between major factions, his strength as an Absolute-tier was truly not enough to look at.

Achieving such immense strength at 25 is, one could say, astonishing; yet, if one considers the combination of "Son of the World" + "Beast-Fighting Bloodline" + "Growth Environment of a Semi-Transcendent World," it no longer feels surprising.

The Beast-Fighting bloodline was indeed like this; it improved rapidly in the early stages. This was even in the early Second Era, where the roots of the Beast-Fighting bloodline had been damaged; otherwise, it would be a formidable race that could reach Tier 9 to Absolute-tier combat power upon reaching adulthood. Conversely, the higher it was before reaching Supreme-tier, the lower the probability of promoting to Supreme-tier.

Everything had a price, and the extremely high failure rate of promoting to Supreme-tier was the price the Beast-Fighting race had to pay.

Vinish certainly knew this. Although he wasn't in a hurry and couldn't attempt to promote to Supreme-tier in the coming decades, the promise given by the person sent by the Three Ministers made it hard for Vinish not to be tempted.

The problem was that this opponent could not be underestimated; it was the lone wolf Tamatoa, who had fought him over a dozen times. Although the opponent was alone and their strength level hadn't reached the peak of Absolute-tier, when they really fought, this guy who was gradually becoming Abyss-corrupted was very tricky.

And every time he fought the lone wolf Tamatoa, Vinish, the winner in life, had a feeling that this might be his lifelong nemesis.

"Phew—those are all small problems. Let's fill my stomach first!"

Vinish sat up from the bed. Just as he was about to call room service, the communication device inside his jacket rang. He picked up the jacket, fumbled a few times, and took out the incessantly ringing device with some irritation. After connecting, Ms. Sajin's voice came through, which immediately replaced Vinish's initial impatience with a smile:

"What are your orders, my beautiful lady?"

Hearing this, Ms. Sajin on the other end was silent for two seconds, once again doubting her life choices regarding her decision to join the squad.

"There are clues about the 'Star Heart'."

"Where?!"

"On a deserted island in the Guyte Sea."

……

Guyte Sea, two days' sailing distance away, on a medium-sized island with lush vegetation. Looking down from above, one could see that the central area of the island had abandoned stone buildings. It was said that an Imperial grand noble, tired of power struggles, had come to this island to settle.

The result was that an unknown, eerie entity had been sealed at the bottom of the island. The fate of that Imperial grand noble could be imagined. Because of their prominent status, after the whole family died in this huge castle, the relevant Imperial departments came to investigate and finally chose to banish the unknown eerie entity from this world.

The Astral World was just like this; there were too many unknowns and dangers. If one fought to the death whenever they encountered something, such a faction would surely not last long. The procedure was: first probe, if it could be dealt with, clean it up; if it couldn't be dealt with, banish it from this world; if it couldn't be banished, call for help; if calling for help still didn't work, call more people. After that, it was no longer the person's concern, nor was it something they could manage.

A cooled space array was located in the courtyard in front of the abandoned castle. It could be seen that the positioning of Di, the space-type in the squad, was still quite accurate. Of course, this time his girlfriend also participated in the adventure, giving Di more desire to perform.

However, the plan was completely different from what Vinish's squad had expected.

At this moment, in the seemingly endless underground palace corridor, that Imperial grand noble from back then had a very death-seeking spirit to build such an underground palace. It could also be that their weariness of fighting was just an excuse.

Their true purpose was to build the underground palace to study that unknown eerie entity, wanting to save their own dwindling life by relying on the fact that the entity had been sealed for over 800 years and was still alive? For this, they didn't hesitate to move their family to the island, maximizing the avoidance of suspicion from others.

At this moment, in this seemingly endless corridor, Vinish, covered in blood, strode forward. He was also pulling the shoulder of the person beside him to prevent them from suddenly falling to the ground due to severe injuries. Vinish would never have imagined that he would one day be fleeing with his nemesis, the lone wolf Tamatoa.

Beside Vinish were the others fleeing for their lives. Among them was the giant Bulman, who had a wife and daughter; the light-blonde beauty was Ms. Sajin, who had almost hooked Vinish like a sharp-mouthed fish; and further aside was the space-type little yellow-hair Di, and his girlfriend Bebes, who wore round glasses and had a gentle temperament.

The few people fleeing had bloodstains on them to varying degrees. Because they had just fought intensely, the sound of their panting while running was like a symphony of several broken bellows combined.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

The lone wolf Tamatoa, who had started to stagger, spat out several mouthfuls of blood while fleeing. He shook off his arm, preparing to push Vinish away, and said weakly but firmly:

"Don't worry about me. Our feud is wiped clean. You guys, go first. I'll cover the rear!"

"Cover the rear my ass. The space here is sealed, and only you know how to get to the exit. You cover the rear?"

Vinish grabbed the lone wolf Tamatoa's shoulder and was about to keep running. Di and Bebes, the couple, leaned against the wall, their two pale little faces already telling them that they, who had just fought with full effort—no, fought with super-stamina load—couldn't move a step now.

"If we don't escape, we'll die. Continue!"

Ms. Sajin gritted her teeth and spoke. She didn't want to die here; she surely still had a more wonderful life ahead.

Tap, tap, tap—

The sound of metallic footsteps came from the darkness behind. A figure wearing a cleric's robe, with hedgehog-like hair standing on end, and eyes replaced by mechanical prosthetics like inch-mirrors appeared. He was wrapped tightly, wearing black leather gloves on his hands, and carrying a lantern in his left hand. Even more shockingly, with every step he took, the surrounding walls, ceiling, ground, etc., would turn into wriggling flesh.

This was one of the Archbishops of the Mechanical God Cult, Archbishop Mike, more commonly known as Flesh Archbishop Mike, or Flesh Fortress Mike. Even among the Imperial high-ups, he was a formidable character.

In the eyes of Vinish, the winner in life, and the lone wolf Tamatoa and others, the appearance of Flesh Archbishop Mike was no different from a catastrophe. In fact, from the moment the opponent appeared until now, they hadn't truly attacked, only using their own presence to influence the surrounding environment.

But even so, the two Children of the World and their teammates were nearly killed. Being able to escape until now could be called a miracle.

Seeing Flesh Archbishop Mike walking over, Vinish continued to drag the lone wolf Tamatoa to escape. Di and Bebes, the little couple, gritted their teeth and followed suit.

The giant Bulman remained silent, regretting the expedition in his heart. As for Ms. Sajin, she gave a miserable laugh and continued to flee, thinking: "Those bastards at the Soul Bell Tower, why haven't they come yet!"

Vinish strode forward, and finally, this seemingly endless corridor reached its end. Vinish only felt a sudden sense of openness. The scene before his eyes was a vast underground space, fully dozens of meters high, with no sense of underground stuffiness. Cables climbed the surrounding walls, and the dome at the top illuminated the place brightly.

This place was like a gladiator arena. In the center was an open space with a diameter of over a hundred meters, and further out were rings of upward-leading steps. On this central ground, there were several stone pillars less than ten meters high. It looked like this was a ritual site that had been half-constructed.

"Young people, your stamina is truly abundant."

Flesh Archbishop Mike walked out from the corridor passage behind. He raised his right hand, loosened his palm, and a chain watch dangled down. He glanced at the time.

"Hmm, it's about time."

Hearing Flesh Archbishop Mike say this, Vinish, the winner in life, felt a thud in his heart. He thought of a possibility: when he first got his hands on this "Star Heart" that had a warm sensation, it had a faint sense of danger, but now, that sense of danger had dissipated by eight or nine tenths. He finally knew why Flesh Archbishop Mike hadn't attacked all along.

"After so much nonsense, your fortunes have finally been temporarily sealed. This way, you can be killed."

Inside the lantern held in the left hand of the Flesh Bishop, Mieke, a faint golden-red light flickered.

Flesh Archbishop Mike raised his right hand, which was wearing a black glove, toward Vinish and the others. At this moment, whether it was Vinish, the lone wolf Tamatoa, or Ms. Sajin and the others, despair welled up in their hearts. This feeling of death approaching head-on truly left no room for hope or struggle.

Suddenly! The flesh aura exuded by Flesh Archbishop Mike paused. He seemed to have sensed something, began to look around in a somewhat disheveled manner, and even took several large steps back. Finally, his gaze fixed on the top of a stone pillar diagonally in front.

On top of this stone pillar, which was over two meters in diameter, sat a figure. This person was wearing a very common black shirt. Because the temperature in the underground palace was high, only the bottom few buttons were fastened. The sitting posture was casual. In his right hand, he held a half-bottle of fine wine, and this arm was resting on his knee. In his other hand, which was wearing a crimson metal gauntlet, he was holding a piece of "Soul Crystal Essence" that had been eaten down to a small fragment.

This person tossed the last small piece of "Soul Crystal Essence" into his mouth, chewing with a faint blood-red click-click sound in his pupils, and finally drank a large gulp of fine wine, as if finishing his dinner.

At this moment, Flesh Archbishop Mike no longer had the composure he had just now. His lips trembled slightly, and he tried hard to suppress the urge to turn and flee. Just then, the man sitting on top of the stone pillar spoke:

"I'll give you 3 seconds to disappear."

Su Xiao spoke. After all, he had to talk to the Leader of the Gods, Origin of All Things, Harota, about joining forces in the evening. Directly attacking the opponent's subordinate was somewhat inappropriate.

"I obey the oracle of the God Lord to retrieve..."

Before Flesh Archbishop Mike could finish his sentence, with a boom, the blood energy of Su Xiao, who was sitting on top of the stone pillar, erupted. This bright red blood energy did not spread but formed a Blood Beast above him.

At this instant, seeing this huge Blood Beast, Vinish had only one feeling: he was so terrified that his heart went numb. With a thud, Di, the space-type, hit his head heavily on the ground. From his pupils, which were starting to dilate, it could be seen that the situation was very grim. His little girlfriend was already slumped on the ground, eyes wide open, and a strange smell spread. Her eyes were about to crack, and she seemed to want to scream, but didn't make a sound.

The moment the huge Blood Beast appeared, Flesh Archbishop Mike turned to flee, but the huge, materialized Blood Beast's half-human, half-beast claws were already in a virtual grip, causing Flesh Archbishop Mike's footsteps to come to an abrupt halt, and his whole body emitted a terrifying click-click sound.

"Wait, wait..."

Just as Flesh Archbishop Mike said this, his limbs began to twist and break. As the huge, grinning Blood Beast gradually tightened its claws, Flesh Archbishop Mike's whole body began to click, constantly being squeezed and shrunk. After he let out a final miserable howl, his head was squeezed into his abdominal cavity.

When the huge Blood Beast completely tightened its claws, Flesh Archbishop Mike had turned into a flesh ball the size of a marble. As the huge Blood Beast dissipated, the flesh ball fell, and with a crisp sound like a marble hitting the ground, it shattered into pieces.

Flesh Archbishop Mike was a Supreme-tier, but there was a huge difference between Supreme-tiers. Su Xiao, whose three techniques had all reached Lv. EX and who had mastered "Heavenly Blade Slashing Shadow," had a comprehensive strength that was already "Super-Peak Supreme-tier," not to mention that his exclusive Supreme-tier passive "Source of Power" had been activated.

Originally, Su Xiao thought he was "Super-Peak Supreme-tier," but now it seemed his judgment was inaccurate. This "Senior Supreme-tier" Archbishop seemed a bit weak.

Jumping down from the stone pillar, Su Xiao looked at Vinish. After being stared at by him for 2 seconds, Vinish chose to throw out the "Star Heart" in his hand.

Click, click, click—

A crystal layer formed a teleportation array under Su Xiao's feet, and the array instantly spread to the feet of Vinish and the others.

Thud!

After a muffled thud, everyone vanished.

Inside the garrison fortress of the 24th Abyss Spreading Zone, a muffled sound spread. The soldiers stationed there immediately became alert. Just as the squad leader was about to shout and question, the newcomer said:

"Hand them over to Reshma."

"Who are you?"

"Reshma's superior."

"Understood."

The squad leader almost gasped. Reshma's superior? Wasn't that the Minister of the "Imperial Special Affairs Department"!

Thud!

Space fragments splashed, and the Law-Extinguishing teleportation array activated again.

In the backyard of the "Imperial Special Affairs Department" headquarters, the teleportation array mark on the open ground had already stood up. This reinforced stone material was very good; every teleportation back to headquarters had a very solid and steady feeling.

Handing the protagonist squad to Reshma was just a casual act. As for whether the protagonist squad would die, that depended on the protagonist squad's own capabilities.

Just as he walked into the first floor, Su Xiao saw the Gray Dog brothers. His footsteps paused, thinking of the correct appointment method for these two brothers.

"You two, come find me in the office tomorrow morning."

"Yes, sir!"

The elder of the Gray Dog brothers immediately slapped his chest with one hand, while the younger brother beside him grinned foolishly, a beat behind.

Su Xiao pondered for a moment. Considering that like attracts like, he asked: "I am in urgent need of people recently. Do you have any recommendations?"

"Yes, my lord."

The Gray Dog elder was full of excitement, his ears, which were originally one bent and one upright, all stood up.

"Oh? Who?"

"My younger brother."

The Gray Dog elder was especially proud, forcefully slapping his brother's back, making him stagger half a step forward, to show how sturdy his brother's physique was.

"……"

Su Xiao suddenly knew why, in the situation where "Imperial Special Affairs Department" was extremely short of Supreme-tiers, these two guys were still kept at home.

These two guys could promote to Supreme-tier because they could eat anything. As long as it wasn't Abyss-type, the two of them wouldn't refuse anything.

Because of this, after the two brothers ate enough "Divine Flesh" to supply 35 people for transplantation, they had their current power. It was said that before eating such a terrifying amount of "Divine Flesh," their brains weren't this pure; this seemed to be one of the side effects of eating too much "Divine Flesh."

"My lord, we are actually very good at fighting," the Gray Dog elder said, his voice lowering, and continued: "If there were more Divine Flesh, we could actually be stronger."

"Follow me."

Su Xiao went up to the third floor of the office, sat behind the desk, and searched for a moment, finding an approval slip. After writing the content, he stamped it with the Minister's seal.

"Take this and go find Tu, Enta. You can have as much 'Divine Flesh' as you want."

"Really, my lord?"

"Don't eat yourself to death. Get lost."

"Yes, yes, yes, my lord, I thank you, I thank your grandfather and grandmother, I thank your ancestors, I thank your..."

The Gray Dog elder said this, but suddenly felt his lower back being fiercely poked by his younger brother. Only then did he realize that the White Night lord opposite the desk seemed to have killing intent rising. The Gray Dog brothers quickly fell to the ground and curled up, and then... they really rolled out.

After this small interlude, Su Xiao came to the conference room on the second floor. This place had been completely renovated and became his lounge. The array in the room had been cleared, replaced by various furniture and beds, and short-pile carpets were laid on the floor. More importantly, the defensive spells of this room had been heavily reinforced.

Opening the closed barrier of this room, Su Xiao sat cross-legged on the ground and took out the "Star Heart" obtained this time.

【Star Heart】

Origin: Astral World Peak · Land of Origin and End.

Quality: -- (Not notarized)

Effect 1: If this item is used when promoting to "Supreme Peak," the success rate of promotion increases by 19.85%.

Effect 2 (This is for the hunter personally; this characteristic will change according to different holders): If this wonder is used immediately, one can choose to improve the current Blade Technique Master/Melee/Blood Gun Master (choose one of the three abilities, or balanced improvement).

Hint: If balanced improvement is chosen, Blade Technique Master increases by 20%, Melee Master increases by 20%, and Blood Gun Master increases by 20%.

Hint: If improving a single technique master ability is chosen, its overall strength will increase by 50%.

Warning: For individuals at the "Supreme Peak" level, the effect of this item will decrease significantly, and there may even be no gain.

Rating: -- (Not notarized)

Introduction: This is a choice of "bravery" or "cowardice."

……

Su Xiao didn't plan to keep the 【Star Heart】. The reason was that his success rate for promoting to "Supreme Peak" could be gradually stacked to 100% by increasing the level of "Heavenly Blade Slashing Shadow" and using "Source of Power" to devour Supreme-tier passives. Conversely, the opportunity to significantly improve Lv. EX technique abilities was truly rare.

Snap!

Su Xiao crushed the 【Star Heart】 using the method on the detailed attributes. His few drops of blood merged into the crystalline energy transformed from the 【Star Heart】. This crystalline energy sank into his body, and a feeling like mastering the "Law-Extinguishing Shadow System" ability emerged. The next second, he was sent into a dream.

When Su Xiao woke up, it was already three hours later. The reason he dared to improve his abilities like this in the mission world was that the three old immortals behind the Empire wouldn't let him die now. If a hidden strong enemy from outside the Imperial forces really attacked, these three old immortals might even take action to help Su Xiao block for a period of time.

Of course, once the "Causality Lock Ring" was resolved, these three old immortals would be the enemies who most wanted Su Xiao to die.

After meditating for a moment to calm down, Su Xiao felt that his Blade Technique Master ability had reached a peak he had never reached before. That's right, he used this 【Star Heart】 entirely to improve Blade Technique Master.

【Blade Technique Master: Lv. EX (Technique Core · Passive)】

Skill Effect: Blade weapon damage tier +1300 (increased by 300), blade weapon slashing power judgment tier +1300 (increased by 300), blade weapon armor-breaking judgment tier +1300 (increased by 300).

Soul-Slashing Strength: 80 points (increased by 20 points).

Heart of the Blade: 8/8 pieces.

Lv. EX Ultimate Ability: Extreme Realm · Astral World (Transcendence-level · Passive), you completely release your technique master prestige, influencing the operation of the Astral World within a 500-meter radius (increased by 200 meters), letting it enter the "Astral World Stasis" state for 5 seconds (increased by 2 seconds). During this period, you can move within this range at 50% of your own speed (increased by 20%) and perform slashes at non-damaging speed.

Hint: If encountering other "Astral World Stasis" abilities, this ability will determine the final strength based on the duration, either canceling each other out, being suppressed, or successfully suppressing.

Warning: Every 3 natural days (reduced by 2 natural days), this ability can only be used once.

……