Chapter 4124

The death of the Scaleless Sea King, Nezmo, meant that only one "Peak Source Blood" was needed to complete the "Eye of the Abyss Ritual." Once that happened, the "Heart of the Abyss" would appear, and a brutal struggle would begin.

Su Xiao hung up the communication. He wasn't worried about the Priest breaking his word; the operation the other party was conducting had huge stakes. Otherwise, he wouldn't be so calm. One must know that for the Priest, the Meteor Star was very special, much like Su Xiao going to the "Eternal Light World."

Opening the squad's communication channel, Su Xiao saw the exciting content inside. Lin Gillian had previously said she would teach Aina the "Glin Family Secret Arts." After meeting, she did indeed teach her, and even shared her experience and insights.

It made Aina so embarrassed that she didn't know what to say, considering they had been exchanging "greetings" earlier—and she had been quite foul-mouthed. To this, Lin Gillian indicated that it was all trivial; that was just how the Glin surname greeted people.

This made Aina even more embarrassed. Seeing the younger generation so well-behaved, Lin Gillian simply used the surplus materials from setting up the "Elemental Ritual" to help her set up the enlightenment formation for the "Glin Secret Arts." Aina was moved to tears at the time.

Aina successfully mastered the "Glin Family Secret Arts," but naturally, she was weak after mastering them. Fortunately, this was the Sanctuary City, which was safe enough. The problem was that the danger came from her side: Lin Gillian's smile gradually became friendly, she gave Aina a sound beating, and then locked her in a cage that had been prepared long ago.

Aina's personality was indeed a bit nasty, but compared to the most vicious female Law-Breaker in history, there was still a huge gap. At this moment, Aina was calling for help in the squad channel, Lin Gillian was laughing crazily, and everyone else had a speechless, "I've seen it all now" look on their faces.

What was even funnier was Aina's split-personality-like speech. She would "greet" Lin Gillian, then suddenly stop, and after a moment, begin to apologize sincerely. After a while, she would start "greeting" her again, repeating the cycle.

Interestingly, the "Glin Secret Arts" were real, and Lin Gillian's experience and insights on the Glin Secret Arts were also real. She hadn't passed these secret traditions to the Glin family, but had only taught them to Aina.

To put it simply, the comprehensive strength of the "Glin Secret Arts" was 50. After Lin Gillian's improvements, its strength reached the 180–200 range. Her talent was truly strong, and her nasty personality was also 100% genuine.

The "Elemental Awakening Formation" set up by Lin Gillian had entered its final stages. Su Xiao prepared to go take a look. It was in a sealed building in the south of the Sanctuary City. Amu and Xiang Bubu Wang had both gone there to prevent any enemies from sneaking in.

Just as Su Xiao stood up to leave, Baha flew in through the window and said, "Boss, White Bull is here."

During their previous call with the Leader, White Bull had said he wanted to come and have a drink with Su Xiao. In the past, this would have been normal, but Su Xiao was currently participating in the struggle for the "Heart of the Abyss." Under such circumstances, coming to have a drink with him was unreasonable. This clearly meant that White Bull had something important to discuss, but at the time, there were others present besides the Leader, making it inconvenient to speak.

Looking at it now, it must have been the Wandering Hunter, Ross, who was beside the Leader at the time.

Speaking of which, Hunters, Battle Angels, Death Rangers, and Pioneers who had ascended to the peak of the supreme tier rarely entered mission worlds. Once they entered a mission world, they would inevitably trigger a main quest. Compared to this risk, accepting long-term missions was a lower-risk and more stable way to acquire resources.

These types of long-term missions were not actively issued; Contractors/Hunters had to accept them. After ascending to the supreme tier, they could accept them at the mission terminal in the Guild Hall. Some time-sensitive emergency missions would also be prioritized for Hunters whose current "long-term mission" status was stable.

These were usually issued to several Hunters at the same time; whoever accepted first would execute it. These missions would disappear as soon as they were posted because the rewards were exceptionally high.

Furthermore, after completing the first "long-term mission" from the mission terminal, one could choose to postpone entering mission worlds. As a result, some Contractors whose potential was judged to be exhausted, unless they received a summons mission, would basically not passively trigger world progress.

Therefore, in the very late stages, the probability of encountering a Paradise-faction supreme peak powerhouse in a mission world was not high. If you went to the Guild Hall and found those guys who looked very idle, they might just be supreme peak powerhouses of the Paradise faction.

A more curious situation was that nearly half of the supreme peak seats in the Third Era of the Astral Realm were occupied by the Void Tree's justice mechanism, which then allocated these seats based on the comprehensive situation of the major Paradises. Reincarnation Paradise occupied the most, followed by Death Paradise, and then Apocalypse Paradise.

Don't look at how Apocalypse Paradise was often beaten by Reincarnation Paradise and Death Paradise in previous world conquest battles; their comprehensive strength was truly not weak.

Very interestingly, Su Xiao did not occupy the peak seats allocated to Reincarnation Paradise, but instead occupied the remaining half of the seats in the Astral Realm. He belonged to the group that contended with the powerhouses of the Astral Realm and sat firmly in one of the seats.

To put it more bluntly, those like Su Xiao who had the ability to ascend steadily would go and fight for their own seats, leaving these directly allocatable seats to those who might or might not make it, providing them with support. Every supreme peak powerhouse was a very important individual unit in the justice judgment.

Was it unfair for the Void Tree to directly occupy half of the peak seats of the Third Era? The Paradise-faction powerhouses who ascended to the supreme peak using these seats could not refuse summons related to the life and death of the Astral Realm. When they were needed, they truly had to risk their lives.

Conversely, when facing the life and death of the Astral Realm, if they had a choice, 70% of the Astral Realm's powerhouses would not be willing to be the first batch to confront these dangers.

"Bai Ye, I heard you slaughtered Lady Spider."

A burly figure draped in pure black animal skin, wearing a beast skull on his head with two bull horns on the bone, walked into the room and sat on the oversized sofa that had been prepared when the Deer God and Di Luo last visited.

"Came to have a drink with you."

After White Bull finished speaking, he grinned. Coming to find someone to drink with without bringing any alcohol clearly meant he was craving his old friend's liquor.

"..."

Su Xiao tossed over a wooden barrel of elemental fine wine. White Bull pried open the top seal and gulped down several large mouthfuls, saying happily:

"To be able to drink this before I die, it's worth it."

"..."

"Just kidding. My injuries have healed; I won't die so easily."

White Bull laughed heroically, seemingly not caring at all if he were to die the very next moment. For an emperor of the dark world, this was normal. From the moment White Bull stepped into the dark world, from the time he became that unknown, strong little gang leader on the street, he was destined to have today but no tomorrow.

White Bull and his few confidants all had one tenet: they could die, but they must have been glorious at some point, even if it was only a brief moment at the peak.

Actually, if it weren't for the "damaged cells" caused by the Abyss Dragon's attack, White Bull would definitely not have lived until today. Given his extreme and arrogant way of reaching the peak, it would have been unreasonable for him not to have died at the peak of his power due to the collapse of the "Ten Thousand Beast Power" within his body.

The interesting part was that White Bull, who was already beginning to decline in strength, was injured by the Abyss Dragon and fell to the early-to-mid supreme tier. Subsequently, under the erosion of the "damaged cells," he fell directly to the limit of the absolute tier. And this wasn't a slide in strength; it was a permanent loss. The two were fundamentally different. This was the price—the price of being betrayed by his own power—but it was also the retribution he deserved.

The backlash of the "Ten Thousand Beast Power" at the absolute tier was far less than it had been. White Bull was, after all, someone who had ascended to the peak; his body had been nourished by peak-level power. For a time, White Bull, suffering from the backlash of his own power, really wouldn't die.

The "damaged cells" and the "Ten Thousand Beast Power" were continuously eroding each other, which allowed White Bull to live longer despite continuously losing health. This was also why, no matter how many famous doctors in the Astral Realm White Bull visited, they couldn't cure his injuries; the structure of these injuries was too complex.

Under Su Xiao's super-level repairs, White Bull miraculously recovered. Of course, this was inseparable from various top-tier potions.

White Bull suddenly said in a deep voice, "On the causal level, is it safe here?"

"With this, it is definitely safe."

Su Xiao took out the "Origin Stone: World." Seeing this, the slightly tipsy smile on White Bull's face completely vanished. He stared at Su Xiao with dangerous eyes and asked:

"Bai Ye, can I trust you?"

"No."

"Uh~"

White Bull was so choked up he almost couldn't respond. Then, he shook his head with a smile and said, "Yeah, the only person you can rely on is yourself. By the way, Ni Lin is dead."

White Bull said this in a casual tone, as if the person who died wasn't his sister, one of his most cherished close relatives.

"Oh."

Su Xiao's reply was also very calm; he had seen too much life and death.

"I once climbed to the peak, making those old immortals wary for so many years. But the enemies my 'dear' subordinates have helped me provoke over these years have made my death date draw closer and closer. Actually, this is fair. Those who come to risk their lives for me aren't good people. Powerhouses who don't cause trouble and have strength are snatched up by serious major factions; how could they possibly join my ranks? You know me; I would never be content to wait for death. Plus, with my situation, I could only pursue the 'Elemental Magic Core'."

As White Bull spoke, he smiled while gritting his teeth. This was the greatest risk of being an underground emperor. His subordinates were indeed willing to help him go through fire and water, but each and every one of them was also a villain with a base nature.

At the last Empty Seat Banquet, the item White Bull requested was the 【Elemental Magic Core】. The reason it left such a deep impression was that after hearing this request, the Leader said:

"White Bull, calm down. You shouldn't crave it."

"The Leader said I shouldn't crave it, but I did crave it. After that damn Elemental Scholar, Heros, let me see the power of the 'Elemental Magic Core,' I... couldn't refuse."

White Bull paused here and continued: "I really obtained it, but I also lost it very quickly. But I got... something that could lead to my demise. I went to find the Leader before to hand this thing over to him, but he said, 'Only you need it now.'"

White Bull drew a short blade from beside his lower leg and partially removed his upper garment, revealing his strong left arm and half of his chest. With the sharp short blade in his hand, he cut open his left arm, deep to the bone. Then, he pulled a half-unfolded scroll that looked like leather from inside his arm. Because the flesh and blood had already grown and attached to the material of the scroll, the sound of flesh and blood being torn apart rang out one after another.

A scroll stained with fresh blood reached White Bull's hand. White Bull asked tentatively: "Bai Ye, are you familiar with the Elemental Scholar, Heros?"

"Met him twice."

"Oh?"

"Once I almost slaughtered him, and the other time, he became an Elemental Scholar."

"Is that so?" White Bull looked at the scroll in his hand and said, "I was schemed against by this Elemental Scholar."

"..."

"It belongs to you now."

White Bull handed the scroll in his hand to Su Xiao. Su Xiao glanced at White Bull and raised his hand to take it. White Bull stood up and left without a hint of hesitation. All decisions had been made before he arrived; such hesitation was not his style.

Watching White Bull disappear into the pedestrians on the distant street, Su Xiao didn't give the other party any reward. The reason was that this was White Bull's choice, not a transaction.

【Prompt: You have obtained "Path to the Peak."】

Seeing this prompt, Su Xiao finally knew why White Bull was so cautious this time. He went to the Lord Train nearby, sat in front of the mixing station, took out a large bottle of inert solution, unfolded the scroll in his hand and placed it in a shallow container, and poured in the inert solution. Before long, the content on the scroll began to become clear.

This was a type of text Su Xiao had never seen before. It wasn't from this era, and it didn't seem to be from the ancient times either; it was from an even more distant era—the primordial period? He wasn't sure. He activated his Reincarnation Brand to apply for permission.

【You have chosen to interpret permission.】

【Because the knowledge content required for interpretation has become extinct, you can complete this interpretation through the following two methods.】

1. Only interpret the content corresponding to this scroll (requires payment of 85,000 ounces of Space-Time Power).

2. Master the knowledge sufficient to interpret this scroll (requires payment of 886,000 ounces of Space-Time Power).

After viewing the branch information for the two choices, Su Xiao chose the first one. The reason was that he could interpret the content of this unknown scroll into the following types of text:

1. Void Language (interpretation degree can reach up to 82.955%).

2. Demon Language (interpretation degree can reach up to 73.59%).

3. Common Language of the current era (interpretation degree can reach up to 52.61%).

4. Abyss Language (interpretation degree can reach 100%).

Su Xiao believed that it was the incompatibility of knowledge and text systems that led to this situation. For example, when interpreting this scroll with Void Language, some special symbols simply didn't exist in Void Language, and one couldn't even find a substitute.

Conversely, Abyss Language didn't have this problem. It was estimated that Abyss Language and this unknown ancient language were knowledge of the same tier, and naturally, they could perfectly convert into each other.

【You have paid 85,000 ounces of Space-Time Power; this interpretation has begun.】

The content on the ancient scroll began to gradually change, turning into Abyss Language and various representative symbols from Abyss knowledge. Correspondingly, the surface of this scroll took on a bit of dark aura.

After the interpretation was completed, Su Xiao examined this ancient scroll. He determined after reading the first paragraph that this was a secret art for ascending from the supreme peak to the supreme realm. Good stuff.

But the more he read, the deeper his frown became. The reason was that this ascension ritual actually had two cores: one core was the "Heart of the Abyss," and the other... was shockingly the "Eye of the Elements"!

This was fundamentally a secret art for ascending to the supreme realm using both the "Heart of the Abyss" and the "Eye of the Elements" simultaneously. And, this thing had been verified by Reincarnation Paradise as a truly effective method. By completing the interpretation verification and viewing its attributes, one could see this point.

Su Xiao felt that White Bull had been schemed against by the Elemental Scholar, Heros. The Elemental Scholar knew that the current White Bull couldn't refuse the "Elemental Magic Core." In addition, the strongest thing in the dark world was the intelligence channel. The probability of White Bull finding the "Elemental Magic Core" was not low, and the probability of obtaining this scroll with the "Elemental Magic Core" was also not low.

Besides this, Marvin Waltz suddenly proposing to come to this world to help summon the "Eye of the Elements" was also a sudden idea. Su Xiao took out his communicator and dialed Marvin Waltz. After a long while, Marvin Waltz finally answered, and there was a hissing signal interference sound on the other end.

In a version with no errors at all!

To prevent the communication from being suddenly interrupted, Su Xiao asked directly: "Is it the Elemental Scholar, Heros?"

Marvin Waltz on the other side seemed to be stunned for a moment, then instantly understood what had happened. Also worried about the communication being interrupted, he said concisely: "It's him. I hadn't reacted before. Be careful when you summon the Eye of the Elements; he has a scheme..."

The communication was suddenly interrupted here. Su Xiao didn't dial again because he already knew the purpose of everything Elemental Scholar Heros had done. From their current respective stances, Elemental Scholar Heros could be considered half a friend.

Su Xiao had already seen the situation of Elemental Scholar Heros. To say that the other party was living a life worse than death was not an exaggeration at all. The feeling of being backlashed by fate was terrifying and painful.

And, at that time, Su Xiao was entangled by the Abyss causality. Elemental Scholar Heros had given a clear time limit: it absolutely could not exceed 30 days. Within this time limit, the problem had to be solved.

Elemental Scholar Heros was actually no longer the Heros of the past. The consciousnesses of past Elemental Scholars were mixed and stirred together. To say it came from the primordial period was not an exaggeration. He was simultaneously an existence of the primordial period, the ancient times, the current era, and even more major eras.

The fate of every major era wanted to merge with him, but couldn't, which caused endless fate backlash and also brought endless pain.

What was the purpose of the Elemental Scholar? The other party had also stated it bluntly; the general meaning was:

"If one day, you can become the strongest, at that time, kill me. Let me sink into the darkness, far away from the pain of constantly dying and being reborn."

At this moment, Sanctuary City, South Street.

A man draped in loose, coarse black cloth clothing with graying hair stood in a small alley. His gaze was listless, and his expression was full of fatigue. He walked out of the alley and happened to run into White Bull, who had arrived there.

"Mr. White Bull, what a coincidence."

The Elemental Scholar spoke in a hoarse voice. Hearing this voice, White Bull threw a punch backhanded.

Boom!

The fist wind was fierce, stopping right in front of the Elemental Scholar's nose. The reason was that an activated "Elemental Magic Core" was being held in the Elemental Scholar's hand.

White Bull had gambled everything before just to activate that "Elemental Magic Core." For this matter, only he could go personally, at most bringing his sister along as support.

The result was that after going deep into the dangerous area, his sister died, and he ultimately obtained a scroll. The instinct of a supreme powerhouse told White Bull that the causality corresponding to this item was very dangerous. After taking it to the Leader for help with identification, this point was further confirmed.

"You..."

White Bull's gaze was extremely dangerous. A moment later, his clenched hand opened. The Elemental Scholar placed the activated "Elemental Magic Core" into his hand. As for why it was given here, it was because any further away, it would exceed the causal range that the "Origin Stone: World" could passively cover. In other words, there was a possibility of being perceived by the causal system, but now, no one would know that this scene had occurred.

Pedestrians in the surrounding area would subconsciously stay away from this place. It was White Bull's dangerous aura that made all living beings in the vicinity subconsciously avoid harm and stay away from this place.

On the deserted street, White Bull looked at the activated "Elemental Magic Core" in his hand and then looked at the Elemental Scholar, who was gradually drifting away. He was somewhat hesitant about whether to go back and ask Bai Ye how to resolve this matter. After all, this old friend had always been recognized in his heart for his level of cunning.

Ultimately, White Bull tossed the "Elemental Magic Core" into his mouth. After swallowing this supreme treasure, a raging fire of ambition began to rise in his heart. He strode forward. Not long after walking, the surrounding pedestrians gradually increased, restoring the bustle that the Sanctuary City pedestrian street should have.

Sanctuary City, South District, inside a building with no doors or windows, completely sealed and only accessible through specific frequency space teleportation.

Su Xiao had just arrived here when he heard a thumping sound coming from the upper floor. Following the spiral staircase up to the second floor, the second floor occupied most of the area of this building, having opened up the second through fifth floors, with only the sixth floor left at the top as a defensive buffer zone.

Just arriving at this place, the rich elemental aura made Su Xiao immediately construct a thin layer of Aoge crystal in front of him. Sure enough, enthusiastic fire elements flew over and were blocked by the Aoge crystal. The Aoge crystal gathered into a sphere and was tossed by Su Xiao to an area on the opposite side where the elements were richer. After being released, the fire elements were adsorbed by other elements and couldn't fly over for the time being.

Thump, thump, thump!

Inside a metal cage 1.3 meters in length, width, and height, Aina sat inside, kicking the cage door with her feet. Seeing Su Xiao arrive, her eyes lit up. She was just about to call for help when she suddenly thought of something and said:

"Bai Ye, let me out, and I'll pay you 10,000 Soul Coins! It's just a small favor."

"..."

Who would refuse free Soul Coins? But before Su Xiao could express his stance, a 【Soul Energy Crystal】 flew over, and he raised his hand to catch it.

"I'll give you seven of these things; just pretend you didn't see that little girl."

"..."

Su Xiao caught the seven 【Soul Energy Crystals】 that flew over one after another, took out his communicator, and dialed Marvin Waltz. The result was that it couldn't be dialed. He marked a text message, the content of which was thanking the other party for the seven 【Soul Energy Crystals】 sent.

"Who are you contacting?"

Lin Gillian asked as if making casual conversation.

"Marvin Waltz."

"Tsk~, how did you know?"

"..."

Su Xiao didn't speak, which made Lin Gillian even more annoyed. She began to mutter to herself. Don't ever think that just because Lin Gillian wasn't Su Xiao's match, she wouldn't spew foul language. She would treat everyone with equal nastiness, regardless of whether she could beat them or not. Therefore, among the Law-Breakers of the Second Era, Lin Gillian's survivability was second to none.

"How long will it take? Also, my elemental affinity has improved a lot recently."

Su Xiao looked at the large formation in front of him, which was over 50 meters in diameter. This was the elemental formation for summoning the "Eye of the Elements."

Compared to the "Heart of the Abyss," the summoning method for the "Eye of the Elements" was both simple and difficult. The simple part was that there was no need to sacrifice "Peak Blood." Sacrifice was a characteristic of the Abyss, while the characteristic of natural elements was affinity. So, to summon the "Eye of the Elements," one needed sufficiently strong elemental affinity.

Actually, whether it was the "Heart of the Abyss" or the "Eye of the Elements," fundamentally, they were both a type of special energy. The Abyss or the elements had nourished this power in the core area.

How each era was divided depended on the changes of the times. The changes of the times affected all living beings in the Astral Realm, and the causality of all living beings caused the overall causality of the Astral Realm to change, which was the beginning of a new era.

When a new era began, the Abyss and the Astral Realm would nourish the "Heart of the Abyss" and the "Eye of the Elements" in their respective core areas. It wasn't that they couldn't be nourished again later; it was that the "Heart of the Abyss/Eye of the Elements" of each era possessed unique characteristics.

When a powerful person achieved the supreme realm by relying on this "Heart of the Abyss/Eye of the Elements," it was equivalent to occupying this uniqueness. Unless the next era arrived and the overall causality of the Astral Realm changed, it would not nourish a "Heart of the Abyss/Eye of the Elements" that looked completely identical but was actually slightly different each time.

"We can start tonight, provided you are all ready."

Lin Gillian answered casually. As for what Su Xiao said about his elemental affinity improving a lot, she ignored it directly. For this ritual, the higher the elemental affinity, the better.

"Of course we're ready."

Wandering Hunter Ross walked over. This was a gentle man of medium build, carrying a leather shoulder bag, with a temperament like a passerby, around 35 years old. It could be said that Wandering Hunter Ross's master, that old Wandering Hunter, had quite an eye. Such a passerby appearance and temperament, combined with the super-high talent of the Wandering Hunter system, made him a natural-born schemer.

"This looks like a natural-born Wandering Hunter."

Lin Gillian spoke. In this regard, she had too much say, because she had offended Wandering Hunters many times. Once, she was retaliated against and was almost kicked into a C-shape by a Wandering Hunter walking toward her. Before taking that kick, Lin Gillian had thought the other party was a beggar passing by; there really wasn't a single flaw.

Hearing Lin Gillian's words, Wandering Hunter Ross just smiled.

Everything was prepared. That evening, the Priest, Caesar, and Gulu all arrived. Gulu wasn't wearing a gothic dress today, but a white dress, and was wearing a fox-face mask on her face.

It seemed that the No. 2 member of the Phantom Troupe, the Puppeteer, had changed her taste recently and was a bit tired of gothic dresses. As for why Gulu was willing to wear it, the clothes chosen by the Puppeteer were simply too generous.

Everyone had arrived. The Priest came to Aina's side, and the power of existence gradually added to Aina, which made Aina click her tongue in wonder.

Lin Gillian glanced at the Priest and actually sighed. She thought the Second Era was crazy enough, but she didn't expect the Third Era to be even crazier, where even the initial death could be developed into a type of power, even though the price was huge.

Aina was the first to stand on the elemental formation. Because of her elemental affinity, with a hum, a fantastic elemental shimmer lit up on the formation, and the entire formation was beautiful.

Seeing this, Wandering Hunter Ross stepped onto the elemental formation. His elemental affinity was over 3,000 points, twice that of Aina. So after he stepped onto the elemental formation, the elemental shimmer on the formation gradually rose to an elemental glow, which was even more beautiful.

Only Su Xiao was missing. Lin Gillian raised her chin, indicating that everything was ready and they were just waiting for him.

Su Xiao stepped onto the elemental formation. Suddenly, the elemental formation under the three of them went out, which made everyone present feel a thud in their hearts, subconsciously thinking it was an enemy attack that had interrupted the ritual.

Suddenly, the light of the elemental formation under the three of them flared up. With a boom, elemental power surged up from the formation below, blasting upward in a cylindrical shape with a diameter of 50 meters. Aina's hairstyle immediately stood straight up, and her lips and facial expressions were all blown upward, swaying in a funny, wanton way.

With a loud boom, the roof of the building, which had been reinforced layer by layer, was immediately blown off, spiraling away outside the Sanctuary City.

At this moment, outside the city, in a very short time, the peak powerhouses of this world arrived one after another. The "Heart of the Abyss" had not yet appeared, but the "Eye of the Elements" was about to appear. World affairs were just so unpredictable. The peak-level free-for-all was about to begin.

(End of chapter)