Chapter 4056

The sound of rain outside the window pattered incessantly. Inside the office, after Su Xiao finished reviewing the necessary documents, he glanced at the time; it was time to head to the Soul Bell Tower.

He brought Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baja along. Just as they stepped out, they encountered the Deputy Minister, Tu'enta, walking toward them with an anxious expression.

"Lord Bai Ye, His Majesty the King requests an audience with you. We shall meet at the Royal Palace at eight o'clock tonight."

"..."

Su Xiao paused his steps. He did not believe this was a coincidence; the old King requested a meeting just as he had reached a preliminary alliance with the three old immortals.

Since entering this world and meeting the old King for the first time, this monarch had shown great goodwill. However, in Su Xiao's view, although the old King was an ordinary man in the twilight of his years, in a certain sense, his level of danger was no lower than that of the three old immortals.

The Empire was merely a tool for the three old immortals to control this world, and only after that did it serve as a source of various interests for the Empire.

The three, who were originally "Supreme Peaks" of the First or Second Era, had little demand for the various resources produced by this world. They had only one goal: to break the "Causal Lock Ring." Once that was done, it wouldn't be long before they could return to the "Supreme Peak."

Based on this, the fact that the old King had achieved today's situation less than fifty years after ascending the throne was truly remarkable. In terms of a monarch's political maneuvering and balancing abilities, looking across the entire Star Realm, the old King was one of the few unique figures above the T0 tier.

In fact, Su Xiao had known from the very beginning what this monarch intended to do. This man was ruthless; his ultimate goal was to clear the Soul Bell Tower and the Rune family out of this world. Yet, the old King's attitude toward the gods was very subtle—he didn't seem prepared to drive them away, but he didn't intend to let them live, either.

There was only one possibility: usurpation. He might even be using some desperate method to further amplify this power. In this way, this world would truly have a day where it welcomed transcendence, becoming the first transcendent world of the Third Era.

That was the ideal result, but Su Xiao was not optimistic. It wasn't that he underestimated the old King's methods, but the time the other party had spent plotting was too short—merely a few decades. Usurping the power of the gods alone could not be achieved in such a short time.

Because of this, the old King's layout was even more unknown, and the unknown was equivalent to danger. Su Xiao truly did not believe the old King would have any unique regard for him. He was certain that a max-level monarch like the old King could sacrifice everything; the man could even place his own life on the chessboard, let alone someone else's.

Even more terrifying was that those under the old King were all willing to pay with their lives for his layout. They were content to hand their lives over to the old King to be used like currency, and they had no regrets about it.

"Understood. Go back and tell His Majesty that I will be there."

Su Xiao looked at Deputy Minister Tu'enta. From the moment they first met, Tu'enta had always appeared steady yet slick. Now, as he looked Su Xiao directly in the eye, his gaze had never been as firm as it was at this moment.

Was the current situation of this world a matter of letting all parties lay their plans, and then formally clashing after secret struggles? No, from this moment on, the chaotic brawl between all factions and major camps in this world had officially begun.

"Very well, Lord Bai Ye."

Tu'enta bowed slightly and walked toward the stairs. Just as he turned the corner, his expression management nearly failed. The pressure from meeting the gaze of the person just now was ridiculously strong; he felt his heart spasming and trembling.

He went down to the second floor. In the evening sunset, he watched the Minister's car drive out of the forest path of the headquarters. He took out his communicator from his pocket, hesitated for a long time, but ultimately did not dial, tucking it back into his pocket instead.

"Minister, the demon you sealed has been released. Who could have imagined that you, the one most likely to ascend to the Supreme Peak, would die in such an absurd manner."

The sunset's afterglow shone on Tu'enta's face. He looked at the sky covered in fire clouds and muttered to himself: "Your Majesty, in the confrontation with these mad demons, can we... really win?"

West City District, Soul Bell Tower Headquarters.

Unlike the madness displayed by the Ascension Warlocks, their headquarters was actually surrounded by a large academic district. The Soul Bell Tower provided resource support to all schools of the soul system. This was perhaps the reason the Soul Bell Tower had been able to develop to this day: it never stopped its pursuit of soul knowledge.

The academic atmosphere here was very thick, with a large academic district located nearby. Soul-system ability users of various races walked on the streets. A very strange sight was that many translucent blue soul jellyfish floated above the buildings or high up on the streets.

These soul jellyfish were of various sizes, and some were even perched on the tops of buildings, resting temporarily. The residents were long accustomed to this.

The vehicle driven by Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang proceeded smoothly and parked in the plaza in front of the main Soul Bell Tower. As soon as Su Xiao stepped out of the car, he faintly sensed the traces of a rule-breaker in the area.

"Who is it?"

Su Xiao spoke, asking Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang. Regarding the tracking of rule-breakers, Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang's olfactory memory was more accurate.

Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang sniffed for a long time but didn't sense anything. It took out a muzzle-like metal device and put it over its mouth and nose. After this device was activated, Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang took a deep breath.

"Woof!"

Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang barked, meaning it smelled like a Soul Master, but it was very faint. The other party had only stayed here for a very short time, and the source of the scent was spreading toward the main tower ahead.

A Soul Master?

Su Xiao felt puzzled. The Soul Master had just obtained the ability to trick others into joining the Dawn Paradise. At this time, he should be going to those Supreme-tier worlds with the lowest danger levels, such as the "Ice Sea World," "Summit of the Dome," "Tar Mystical Realm," "Eternal Soul Realm," or "Dreamland Kingdom."

These were the worlds most frequently and preferred by "newly promoted Supremes" to "veteran Supremes." The recognized path of Supreme growth was: after promotion, mindlessly enter the "Eternal Soul Realm." One would enter as many times as one could. Some even experienced the "Eternal Soul Realm" seven or eight times in a row before considering going to other Supreme-tier worlds.

Regardless of the gains, risks, or the Soul Master's style of conduct, the other party shouldn't have come to the God Realm. So, did the other party come for the "Soul Bell Tower"? Stop joking. The Soul Master had two souls in one body; the soul beast inside his body was already hard enough to seal—was he still going to open a hole in his head?

As for the current "Soul Talent," the strongest in the Star Realm, which the Soul Master had devoured using "Soul Marks," if the Bell Tower Master, Silgefo, sensed it, he would be tied up and taken back in a minute, instantly becoming a beloved disciple. Don't think this is a good thing; for a soul-system body, the body itself was never the most important thing.

And, every generation of the Bell Tower Master of the Soul Bell Tower was this same old immortal. Where did those brilliant successors go?

In fact, viewing the "Soul Bell Tower" as a faction was sometimes a mistake. It was indeed a high-tier power inheritance, but from the First Era to now, the "Soul Bell Tower" likely represented only one person: the current Bell Tower Master, Silgefo.

Having determined that the Soul Master wouldn't be brain-dead enough to come to the Soul Bell Tower to deliver himself as a snack, there was only one possibility left: the Soul Master didn't want to come either, but he had to. He entered this world not to seek gains, but to share the risks.

Who was he looking for to share the risks? Su Xiao didn't believe the Soul Master would have acquaintances here. So, who was he tracking into this world? Furthermore, in the previous world, he had had some interaction with the other party. Was he tracking himself into this world?

Tracking the Hunter, Bai Ye, was impossible, as it would trigger the Reincarnation Paradise's anti-tracking mechanism for Hunters. However, tracking the Law-Breaker, Kuku Lin Bai Ye, was very possible.

In summary, what risks could the Soul Master have that would lead him to seek Su Xiao to share them? There was only one left: an old friend was coveting the Soul Master's ability to pull people into the Dawn Paradise and then gain massive profits from it. For a certain charlatan, this was an ability that was perfectly suited to him.

The Soul Master's choice to come to this world was too incongruous, so the scope for subsequent speculation was very narrow. Su Xiao's eyes narrowed slightly. If this conjecture were true, then how could he not share this cooperation with the three old immortals with this old friend who had a "life-and-death friendship"?

As for how to get the three old immortals to let this old friend join the team, Su Xiao only needed one sentence: "This person's ability is bizarre, and his strength is not below mine."

Now, the three old immortals were all driven mad by the "Causal Lock Ring." By then, it wouldn't be a matter of whether that old charlatan was willing to join the team; it would be Su Xiao and the three old immortals inviting him together. If that old charlatan refused, these three old immortals + the Law-Breaker all knew a thing or two about fighting.

Su Xiao walked into the main tower. The moment he stepped into this place, he felt himself penetrate a layer of invisible film, which made him press one hand on the hilt of his blade, maintaining the ability to use "Extreme Realm: Star Realm" at any time. This was also why he had Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baja wait outside.

Even if all the clues indicated that the three old immortals wouldn't turn against him now, if one believed them completely, that wasn't bravery—it was stupidity.

The surroundings were gradually shrouded in fog, leaving only the upward staircase passage. Su Xiao stepped forward, and invisible pressure fell upon his entire body, but his expression remained unchanged. Even when he stopped in front of the two open giant metal doors, he remained composed.

Walking into the foggy hall, the surroundings were all fog; only a black stone round table and four high seats were not submerged by the fog.

Standing 1.4 meters tall, wearing a loose black robe, with a large head and a thin, withered body, and 11 "soul holes" on his bald head, was none other than the Bell Tower Master, Silgefo.

At this moment, the Bell Tower Master, Silgefo, made no effort to hide his aura, which was like that of a soul demon—greedy, tyrannical, and the cruel devouring of souls was already his instinct.

To re-introduce him solemnly: he was the founder of the Soul Bell Tower, the first Ascension Warlock in the history of the Star Realm, and a top-tier soul scholar who developed "Soul Sublimation," also known as the "Soul Hole Secret Art."

Looking at the Star Realm, there seemed to be only three known soul-system "Supreme Peaks."

1. Great Library: Soul Elder (highly suspected to be a Supreme Peak).

2. Bell Tower Master: Silgefo (who possessed multiple names, but in this era when the Star Realm was about to face a catastrophe, he chose to use the name he had when he first became an Ascension Warlock: Silgefo).

3. Arcane Eternal Star: Lord Soul.

Apart from these three, it was unclear whether there were other soul-system "Supreme Peaks." At the very least, these were the three still present in the world.

Located on the seat to the right of the Bell Tower Master, Silgefo, was a figure at least eight meters tall, draped in a cloak of dark red that looked like flowing metal. The figure was humanoid, with six arms. The body surface was not skin, but living outer armor, precision conduits, and mechanical structures.

Its head was embedded with only a single large mechanical eye, occupying the entire face. Its true core was the massive, throbbing dark red heart within the living metal components of its chest.

This was the God Leader: Origin of Myriad Phenomena, Harota. As one of the original gods, its aura could be imagined. Furthermore, this was not its true body, but a part differentiated from its true body.

Even more powerful was that after the Origin of Myriad Phenomena, Harota, differentiated a sufficiently large part, this divine shell was equivalent to one of its true bodies and could exert its full power. If this part of its true body were destroyed, its core true body would be injured but could recover in a short time.

This also meant that the Origin of Myriad Phenomena, Harota, would not easily leave its lair.

The one in the neighboring seat was five meters tall, with messy, wood-like horns on its head, dark golden vertical pupils, and a bare upper body, draped only in a black cloak behind it. Those strong arms were covered in various scars, and the backs of its fingers had a very thick layer of keratin. A feeling that this person could smash anything if they clenched their fist came rushing forward.

This was the patriarch of the Rune family, known as the Ancient Patriarch, Hatu. He was also the twenty-seventh patriarch of the Rune family. One thing to know: in the mid-to-late First Era, the patriarch of the Rune family had already changed to the twenty-seventh generation, because as long as one lost in the beast-fighting arena, one would no longer be the patriarch of the Rune family. And Hatu had never lost.

"Alright, everyone is here. Everyone, state your position regarding this matter of joining forces with Bai Ye."

The Bell Tower Master, Silgefo, spoke first. He then added: "I agree to this cooperation."

After a brief silence, a dull mechanical sound issued from the chest of the God Leader, Harota:

"Agreed."

"Agreeing or opposing is not the point. The point is, Bai Ye, can you still use alchemy in this world?"

The Ancient Patriarch, Hatu, spoke, his voice so loud that it made people's internal organs ache faintly.

"No."

"The same as what we have been testing all along," the Ancient Patriarch, Hatu, said, turning his gaze toward Su Xiao:

"Since you were able to come, it means you have a way to solve it, or at least you have some certainty."

"Yes."

"Do you have a twenty percent chance of success?"

The Ancient Patriarch, Hatu's dark golden vertical pupils narrowed slightly. He actually had a secret he had never revealed to the other two old immortals: he and the Abyss Lord actually had a very poor relationship. If the Star Realm faced an Abyssal doomsday, the Ancient Patriarch, Hatu, would certainly not have a good ending.

"Approximately seventy percent."

"Good!"

The Ancient Patriarch, Hatu, spoke heroically. He was very satisfied with this result.

"I don't... know you, but I... know... the Law-Breaker."

The God Leader, Harota, spoke in a hollow mechanical voice.

Seeing that a consensus had been reached, the Bell Tower Master, Silgefo, immediately made the decision: "From this moment on, our alliance..."

"Wait."

Su Xiao spoke suddenly, causing the gazes of the other three to turn toward him.

"I would like to introduce someone."

"Bai Ye, we three can trust your ability now, but the person you are introducing..."

"He... he has merged with the Original Death."

Hearing this, the auras of the three present eased somewhat. In that case, he indeed had some qualifications.

"He used a high-level mark to completely master the Original Death."

"Hmm? Mastered?"

Even the Bell Tower Master, Silgefo, felt surprised. In his long life, he had never considered that the Original Death could be mastered.

"His comprehensive strength is not below mine."

Once Su Xiao said this, the three present actually became less willing to pull the Priest into the team. The reason was that if this Law-Breaker and the Original Death were friends, if they really solved the "Causal Lock Ring," the final situation would be 3 against 2.

"However, there is a small problem."

Su Xiao's hand rested on the "Book of Original Sin" on the table. Otherwise, why would the three present be negotiating with him so calmly?

"Tell us."

The Bell Tower Master, Silgefo, glanced at the "Book of Original Sin," his eyelid twitching imperceptibly.

"He and I have some... small conflicts."

"Small conflicts? To what extent?"

"I've killed him a few times."

"This..."

The Bell Tower Master, Silgefo, was somewhat amused. He understood what was going on. This Law-Breaker and that Original Death were not collaborators at all; he was preparing to drag the other party onto this pirate ship as well.

The other two old immortals also guessed this point, which cleared the obstacles for the Priest to join the team. He had strength, his ability was bizarre, and he was in a hostile relationship with the Law-Breaker in the team, with whom they would certainly be hostile later on.

As for the authenticity of this news, that wouldn't stump the three old immortals; they could confirm it later.

Just then, Su Xiao spoke: "To invite him to join the team, we must show sincerity."

"Sincerity?"

The Ancient Patriarch, Hatu, looked somewhat amused.

"Yes, the four of us going to invite him together—that would be very sincere."

"You Law-Breaker, your heart is quite wicked, but I like this invitation."

The Ancient Patriarch, Hatu, grinned, revealing a mouthful of white, sharp teeth.

"Since Bai Ye has already joined the team, you also need to know these secrets..."

The Bell Tower Master, Silgefo, began to narrate the deepest secrets of this world.

Su Xiao's previous guess was correct: the three major factions were indeed trapped here by the "Second Era: Alchemy Civilization." As for the reason, the Bell Tower Master didn't go into detail. After all, being lured by the bait of a semi-transcendent world, while not shameful, was not something pleasant to talk about.

That was not the point. The point was that after entering this world, no one else was affected. This "Causal Lock Ring" only targeted "Supreme Peaks." This had to be said to be the wisdom and foresight of the "Second Era: Alchemy Civilization."

One thing was certain: the broader the target, the more energy it consumed. Alchemy was not constructed out of thin air. Just like every time Su Xiao used an alchemical spell, he was accustomed to using soul stones as the core nodes of the spell.

The "Causal Lock Ring" was the same. It was deeply linked to this world and maintained by consuming world power. As a semi-transcendent world, this world's world power was massive. Furthermore, the "Causal Lock Ring" only targeted "Supreme Peaks."

As for destroying this world, that was certainly not possible. First of all, the reason the "Causal Lock Ring" could trap the three old immortals in this world was that the "Causal Lock Ring" connected the three old immortals' causality with it... no, it fused them together, and the "Causal Lock Ring" was fused with the world causality of this world.

That is to say, the collapse of this world would certainly be accompanied by the fall of the three old immortals. In fact, the first condition for wanting to destroy this world was to first completely kill these three old immortals.

A perfect cycle was thus born. The three old immortals gave this semi-transcendent world a larger volume of world causality. In contrast, this world produced more world power, and the "Causal Lock Ring" that consumed world power became more stable.

The only point of breakthrough was the "Causal Lock Ring." The three old immortals had had their subordinates or had personally searched for years in this world. Although this world was vast and boundless, after more than two thousand years of searching, there was finally a clue.

There was an over eighty percent probability that the "Causal Lock Ring" was located at the southernmost side of this world, which was the end of the "Sea of Life" in the south.

And the only way to cross the "Sea of Life" was to take a specially made giant ship. This world was a semi-transcendent world, and the bad thing was this "semi" part, which left parts of this world in the initial chaos. The space there was chaotic, and the world system was bizarre. Daring to teleport directly there—heaven knows what evil spirits or alien species one would be fused with due to the high-intensity compression of space.

Or perhaps one would be contaminated by distortion, the root of alien existence, original sin, etc. From the fact that these three old immortals of the pure evil camp didn't choose to do so, one could see the risks.

As for why one had to take a ship, the things in the Sea of Life were truly no less restless than those in that space rift. Some giant objects from the drifting zone, disaster insect descendants from the rotten zone of the Star Realm, and various bizarre things from the Void Dead Sea were all attracted by the "Sea of Life" spawned by this world's transformation into a transcendent world.

Killing all these poisonous demons and fierce monsters would require too much effort. Among them, more than sixty percent were not "alive" in the true sense. Fighting to the death with a pile of existences that were rotting and evil after death was time-consuming and had no gains.

This led to the final plan: take a modified giant ship with its bottom embedded with the remains of various poisonous demons and fierce monsters.

Everything was ready, waiting only for the "Dark Tide" to appear in three days. Only when the dark tide surged could it disperse the fog zone at the southernmost side of this world and enter the range of the "Sea of Life." This fog zone was simply a part of this world; attacking the fog zone was no different in essence from attacking this world.

Once one became completely hostile to the world consciousness of this world, which had already begun to be abnormal, one would be crazily rejected by this world. This semi-transcendent world consciousness was very unstable.

After listening to the Bell Tower Master, Silgefo's narration, Su Xiao received a prompt from the Reincarnation Paradise.

【Your Main Quest: Heart of Stars is in a completed state. Submit? Yes/No.】

【Main Quest submitted.】

【You have obtained Reincarnation Badge × 1.】

【You have discerned the truth of this world and have met the conditions to open the real stage of the Main Quest. Open? Yes/No.】

【Warning: The "Real Stage of the Main Quest" of this world is extremely dangerous. Correspondingly, the reward gains will be significantly increased.】

【Hint: If you choose to accept the Main Quest of this world, the upper limit of the "World Source" you obtain in this world will increase from 300% to 350%.】

Seeing this prompt, Su Xiao did not immediately trigger the real stage of the Main Quest, but instead found the "Apocalypse Reward Badge," "Death Feather Badge," "Reincarnation Glory Medal," "Apocalypse Authority: IX," "Reincarnation Authority: V," and "Holy Light Badge" in his storage space.

For these things, one either went all in or didn't use any of them. Now, the situation in this world was worth Su Xiao going all in.

【You have used the Apocalypse Reward Badge. Your World Source acquisition in this world will increase by 30%.】

【You have used Reincarnation Authority: V.】

【If the World Source obtained reaches 350%, your evaluation upper limit for the world settlement in this world +0.7.】

【You have used Apocalypse Authority: IX.】

【If the World Source obtained reaches 300%, your evaluation upper limit for the world settlement in this world +0.3.】

【Hint: Because the bonuses of the above two do not have complete incrementality, your current evaluation upper limit for the world settlement is +0.853.】

Seeing this, Su Xiao was not surprised. He chose to use the 【Reincarnation Glory Medal】.

【You have used the Reincarnation Glory Medal.】

【Your World Source acquisition upper limit in this world has increased from 300% to 350%.】

After doing this, Su Xiao checked the prompt that had just appeared again. The content of the last prompt had slowly dissolved and then re-formed. The content was:

【Hint: If you choose to accept the Main Quest of this world, the World Source acquisition upper limit you obtain in this world will increase from the current 350% to 400%.】

【You have chosen to accept the "Real Stage: Main Quest" of this world.】

【Because the "World Source" acquisition upper limit only has a probability of reaching 400% in very few cases, you can obtain the following gains.】

Gain 1: Highly rare resources (such as Primal Core, Initial Source Matter, Power Source Matter, etc.).

Gain 2: Supreme Passive Scroll Treasure Chest (★★★).

Hint: Opening this treasure chest will certainly obtain a Supreme Passive corresponding to a random body attribute, and the quality of this Supreme Passive is ★★★ (top-tier).

Gain 3: Targeted Application (Because this upper-limit level of World Source only appears in very few cases, in order to perform high-judgment notarization for this type of reward, this application is: the Hunter can apply for formulation according to their own needs. After the formulation is completed, it can be submitted to the Reincarnation Paradise. After the judgment is passed, this application formulation content will become the gain content for this time).

The appearance of the third type of reward, "Targeted Application," did not surprise Su Xiao. In fact, he was waiting for this reward to appear. Speaking of which, he had to thank the Leader. During a chat at the Empty Seat Banquet, the Leader mentioned "Reincarnation-level World Evaluation" and related experience.

Otherwise, Su Xiao would not have thrown in more than a hundred "Soul Crystals" to buy such a pile of investment-type "Gain Increase Authorities/Badges."

Of course, the main reason for all this was the "God Realm" of the "Origin Codex," as well as the Abyssal Catastrophe and Lord Soul who might strike at any time. All of this forced Su Xiao to make this choice.

Judging from the current situation, the Leader's intelligence was not very accurate. According to the Leader, after the World Source acquisition upper limit reached 400%, the "Targeted Application" reward would appear.

Su Xiao could be certain that this was due to the different worlds. Although this world appeared to be a "semi-transcendent world," its danger level could rank in the top ten of Supreme-tier worlds, or even higher.

However, the strategy given by the Leader was still feasible. Su Xiao did not choose how much "world settlement evaluation upper limit" increase he would get when the World Source reached 400%, but submitted an application with the same category but very different content. A moment later, the Reincarnation Paradise's judgment review was completed.

【The review content has been passed.】

【Your Gain 3 for this time has been changed to the following:】

Gain 3: World settlement evaluation upper limit in this world +0.1～1.7 (depending on the overflow situation of the World Source obtained).

【You have used the Death Feather Badge.】

【You have used the Holy Light Badge.】

【You have obtained 45.5% World Source.】

【Current total amount of World Source possessed: 95.83%.】