Chapter 4218

Dark, profound.

This place is the deepest part of the Abyss, black liquid slowly drifting upward, various Abyss creatures swimming about, a colossal hall standing here, its massive ancient doors tightly shut.

If one could enter this Abyssal hall, they would find it grand yet with a sense of emptiness, no later decorations inside, the ceiling of this hall composed of numerous eyeballs of varying sizes, emitting faint surging sounds with a viscous, liquid quality.

The only thing standing tall within this hall is the ancient throne that has existed since time immemorial; upon it sits a towering figure clad in dark gold battle armor, the armor imposing yet slightly bloated—this figure on the throne is none other than the Lord of the Abyss.

Crack—

A faint brittle sound appeared, cracks forming on the Abyssal Lord's dark gold arm guards, growing denser until the armor encasing his entire arm shattered, scattering beneath the throne.

After the dark gold battle armor shattered, what was revealed was not skin, but a layer resembling molten black metal poured and cast onto the body, dark power seeping from the armor, overall forming a V-shape, with blood-red eyes opening.

Boom!

The Abyssal Lord's entire dark gold armor shattered, yet his aura rose even further from its current base, causing his blood-red eyes to narrow slightly; in the darkness behind him, overlapping whispers emerged:

"Herlos (Abyssal tongue·this is a phonetic rendering·translated as Elemental Scholar)."

Indeed, it is the Elemental Scholar Herlos, whose whereabouts are unknown, who broke one of the Abyssal Lord's secret treasures; this ambitious Abyssal Lord had not previously revealed his full strength, this dark gold armor of staggering cost having once blocked a powerful probe by the Star Realm forces—otherwise, Herlos could not have succeeded this time.

Layer upon layer of whispers came from behind the throne—these are dark spirits, in a sense parasites of the Abyssal throne, dependent on it for existence, thus serving every Abyssal Lord faithfully; the dark spirits spoke with either gloomy low tones or bone-piercing allure:

"O Supreme Lord of Darkness, do not heed the scholar."

"He only wishes to die—do not, cannot fulfill his desire."

"Who would have thought..."

As one dark spirit spoke these words, it suddenly noticed an eye open on the throne, staring coldly at it; it immediately fell silent.

"Your Majesty, the Annihilator will surely come to fight—why not we..."

"You filthy insect, shut up—I await the Lord's disdain for such base tactics."

The whispers of the dark spirits gradually faded; the figure on the throne paid them no mind, the Abyssal Lord constantly dominating the Abyss's invasion of the Star Realm; as for the coming of the Annihilator, he had long anticipated it.

Previously slumbering, he basically ignored the myriad powerful beings of the Star Realm, as numerous as stars, until sensing that fated throbbing in the dark, he became certain this might be his mortal enemy—though this enemy had always been cautious, even when entering the Abyss, reserving protection from Paradise power.

The Abyssal Lord on the throne gazed upward; this battle concerns not only the victory of Abyss and Star Realm, but also who possesses greater qualification to advance.

In the Abyssal Lord's view, though he had concealed his true strength before, the Annihilator would surely have unexpected preparations; victory or defeat depends on absolute power, a staking-all battle that allows no falsehood.

……

Beneath the black maple tree, Su Xiao ended this meditation, having poured all resources into the supreme attribute; at this level of strength, everything must be steady and solid—charging into the Abyss to death-fight the Abyssal Lord, any half-cleverly gained power would be shattered on the spot; he checked the completed enhancement of "Heavenly Edge Shadow Slash."

【Heavenly Edge Shadow Slash, 390 (Ultimate Boundary Technique·Passive)】

Base Effect: Overall technique ability comprehensive strength increased by 10975% (increased by 2200%).

Skill Effect: Extreme Blade (Exclusive Passive)……

Current Extreme Blade·Foundation Strength: 1179 points (increased by 165 points).

Ultimate Boundary Effect 1: Heavenly Edge Shadow Slash (Ultimate Boundary·Exclusive Passive)……

Ultimate Boundary Effect 2: Boundless Self·My Supremacy (Ultimate Boundary·Exclusive Passive), upon entering the "Boundless Self," locking the enemy's causal existence and entirety, the next strike will be unavoidable; you will temporarily forget all past sword techniques, retaining only the current sword technique used, elevating it to the extreme.

Current Boundless Self Enhancement Limit: 89x technique power (after reaching 80x extreme, further enhancement difficulty will "greatly increase").

……

After this enhancement, combined with the "Extreme·Blade Edge" passive from reaching 300 points in all supreme attributes, it appears as a 35% increase—no several-fold or tenfold surge—but at this level, not to mention a 35% absurd increase, each 1% rise demands vast resources.

As for wearing the "Endless Ring" boosting supreme attributes by 20%, the "Heavenly Edge Shadow Slash" level cap derived from "Extreme Shadow" is not feasible—"Extreme Shadow" must be a permanent supreme attribute increase of one's own to trigger.

At this moment, an email from the Void Tree's affiliation appeared; checking the sender's info, it surprisingly showed Elemental Scholar; opening the email, it contained Herlos the Elemental Scholar's intelligence on the Abyssal Lord's hidden strength.

When the Abyssal War just began, the Abyssal Lord showed his face—the dark gold armor indeed seemed slightly bloated, but all armor is like that; now it appears that armor is actually a special treasure; Su Xiao is certain the Abyssal Lord's move was not anticipating hidden strength in this death battle, but rather avoiding the gaze from above the dome.

It seems the Abyssal Lord also noticed that the current supreme beings have changed, hostility toward the Supreme Boundary gradually intensifying; choosing to hide part of his strength is undoubtedly wise.

Regarding the warning from Elemental Scholar Herlos, Su Xiao takes it seriously; fortunately, he has unexpected enhancements on his side; both sides have trumpets, this battle will be fiercer yet also more anticipated; frankly, the intensity of his fight with Shadow of the Dark Tide·Avirah was still insufficient—Su Xiao's life force (life core count) hasn't dropped below 50%.

Going forward, fighting the Abyssal Lord will be a life-or-death struggle; Su Xiao currently has 2970 life cores, plus the "Endless Ring" boost directly breaking 3600—this formidable vitality is a crucial chip for him to death-fight the Abyssal Lord in the Abyss environment.

Su Xiao took out all accumulated "Soul Energy Crystals," beginning continuous enhancement of "Spirit Awakening"; after consuming about half of the accumulated "Soul Energy Crystals," the remaining enhancement capacity of the crystals is only "Azure Steel Shadow."

【Spirit Awakening,.】

Skill Effect 1: Blade Spirit Strength has reached.

Skill Effect 2: Replacement (Passive), instantly swapping positions with the Blade Spirit, no activation delay or usage process, this trait cannot be interrupted, sealed, or blocked by any means—it will "definitely complete."

Usage Count: -/- (no usage limit).

Annihilator·Bai Ye Exclusive Trait·Instant Recall: within 3 seconds of using "Replacement" to swap with the Spirit, you may choose to swap again with the Spirit, even if the Spirit is in a scattered state, this ability remains usable, and "Instant Recall" has the same level of being uninterruptible, unsealable, unblockable as "Replacement"—it will "definitely complete."

Usage Distance: within the entire Star Realm (maximum distance reachable from Star Realm center to the drifting Abyss).

Skill Effect 3: Power Bestowal (Passive), you may designate one of your current abilities to grant a certain degree to the Spirit, bestowal ratio between 70%~80% (depending on the strength of the granted ability, determining lower~upper limit).

Skill Effect 4: Physique Bestowal (Passive), the Spirit will inherit 50% of your physique strength—i. e., 50% of your supreme strength, supreme agility, supreme stamina, supreme intellect (the Spirit has no life cores; as long as you are not dead and the Dragon-Slaying Flash remains undestroyed, the Spirit cannot be eliminated).

Note: After your death for 38,000 natural days, the Spirit within the Dragon-Slaying Flash will begin to quiet; estimated to enter deep quiet state after 456,000 natural days, until complete annihilation after long ages.

Skill Effect 5: Oath·Soul Prison (Passive), when the Spirit is within 500~50,000 meters of you (controllable), your soul power will exert absolute suppression on its consciousness, placing it in a state of mental chaos; when the Spirit leaves this maximum range, it will gradually gain clear self-judgment and action ability.

……

The Spirit has reached its limit, yet remains firmly suppressed by Su Xiao—not because Su Xiao has any special ability, but because his current soul strength is 64,100 points, nurtured by his 316 points of supreme attribute; this absolute soul suppression makes him barely feel the Spirit's backlash; as for the Spirit completely abandoning backlash, that is impossible.

Su Xiao poured the remaining "Soul Energy Crystals" into the "Azure Steel Shadow" ability; when the crystals still had 65 left, Azure Steel Shadow reached its limit—thus his Azure Steel Shadow system is now fully perfected, or rather, has reached the limit of what this system can achieve; to continue, only he himself must advance further.

As for how to advance, it's not hard to say: Su Xiao's system is now a whole; if he continues to enhance supreme attribute, his various Annihilator Shadow system abilities will rise with his own growth.

Any future enhancement of Annihilator Shadow abilities will see their cores undergo wondrous, natural promotion; Su Xiao's task is to record such promoted Annihilator system abilities onto the Awakening Stele—thus future inheritors will naturally grasp a higher-limit version.

This is why, when mastering Annihilator System abilities, there is that "little bit" of danger—of course, abilities like Azure Steel Shadow and Azure Shadow King, Su Xiao will not tamper with; sometimes a higher upper limit isn't better—one must ensure new Annihilators can master this ability.

【Note: Since your Azure Steel Shadow ability has reached its limit, its "Defensive Form·Arrogant Song" has become a standalone ability, currently as follows:

"Arrogant Song (Passive), can generate crystals of any form to defend against enemy attacks, crystal strength proportional to consumed Azure Shadow King energy, single-use Azure Shadow King energy cap is 10% of current "Azure Shadow King energy cap," possessing one of the highest defensive strengths to date. 」

【Azure Steel Shadow: (Active/Passive Skill·Fully Awakened State)】

Usage Conditions: After activating Azure Steel Shadow ability, consume 1000 points of Azure Shadow King energy per minute.

Active effect: Each melee attack burns 50% of the enemy's maximum mana (or other bodily energy), dealing true damage equal to 25 times the burned mana—meaning at least the damage of 15 command cores—and the enemy suffers "severe pain" and "body/soul imbalance" from the mana burn.

Tip: When the enemy's bodily energy is fully burned, Qinggang Ying energy enters "intense burn" mode, requiring no bodily energy from the enemy to continue energy burn; subsequent strikes carrying Qinggang Ying ability add true damage capable of destroying at least 30 command cores.

……

The Qinggang Ying ability has undergone a qualitative change; setting aside its current formidable power, previously, Qinggang Ying became useless once the enemy's bodily energy was depleted, but now it doubles damage when the enemy's energy is depleted—this makes sense, as activating Qinggang Ying now consumes "Qingying Wang energy."

One trait of the Qingying Wang is that the more the enemy's bodily energy is consumed, the greater the damage inflicted; with Qinggang Ying now doubling true damage after the enemy's energy is depleted, this is entirely natural.

Regarding damage intensity, Su Xiao has always judged enemies based on his own habits; this time facing the Abyssal Lord, using the Abyss's nourishing trait, it's plausible the Abyssal Lord has more command cores than him; thus, 30 command cores of damage per strike isn't exaggerated, though the issue is that his strike isn't limited to just Qinggang Ying's killing effect.

If I'm not mistaken, both Su Xiao and the Abyssal Lord have extremely high attack, thick health and defense, and all abilities maxed out in battle.

One can only say it's fortunate this battle occurs within the Abyss; otherwise, who knows what state the star realm would be shattered into, and although Su Xiao entered the Abyss alone to face the Abyssal Lord, he doesn't fear being surrounded; after the clash, speaking bluntly, peak-tier beings daring to linger in the affected range would likely die after just a few impacts.

Su Xiao took out his communicator; it connected after a few minutes, and the other side transmitted:

"My dear friend, is there any good news?"

"You can act tomorrow morning."

"My dear friend, let's meet at the Void Base."

"Good."

Su Xiao hung up the communicator, took Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Bubu Wang and Benny, left the private room—Benny, who was eating ice cream, hastily finished a few bites, but as transmission began, Benny's small expression donned a pain mask; the ice cream, made from shaved extreme ice into ice shavings, was eaten too quickly, making Benny's head buzz.

When transmission ended, Benny still had cold air rising from her head as she held her pose; Su Xiao surveyed the surroundings—though wounded remained, the base's situation was fine, except the atmosphere was extremely oppressive and tense, and the large countdown above represented the world the legion commander possessed, which was about to collapse.

Speaking of which, since the last Abyss battle ended, the legion commander has accumulated everything besides restoring his supreme combat power into "Past Reenactment" and "Unkillable Realm"; it seems he hasn't moved on from that Abyss battle, in which he lost everything except Telier, and even his surviving comrades who resisted annihilation were turned into blade demons and no longer recognize him.

Su Xiao arrived at the underground second level of the base, where allied combatants had spontaneously formed a trading market; here, it was noisy with voices, as everyone wanted to convert gains into combat power, though most were just resource exchanges, since no one had spacetime power on hand.

Soon, Su Xiao saw at a stall, Caesar bargaining over 199 ounces of spacetime power with a ninth-rank contractor, his smile growing more deceitful the more he haggled.

"Woof."

Xiang Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Bubu Wang barked; Caesar turned toward the sound, stopped bargaining with the ninth-rank contractor, wiped sweat from his forehead, and for some reason, facing this deceitful old man whose combat power was trash, he felt an inexplicable pressure, as if his wallet might vanish at any moment.

"My dear friend, you say, can we succeed this time?"

As Caesar spoke, his smile grew more deceitful.

"Yes."

"Oh? Do you have absolute confidence?"

"Mm."

"What methods? Can you reveal them?"

"If not victorious, then die."

Su Xiao's confidence left Caesar speechless, then he reverted to his former lecherous old-man demeanor, his eyes glowing with murky yellow light, and he said:

"It seems I've lost my way; yes, we both crawled up from obscurity to this height—even if we fall and die, we've seen this height's scenery."

Caesar said this, then lecherously rubbed his hands: "Of course, to me, my life is most important."

Don't be fooled by Caesar saying that; if he truly feared death that much, he wouldn't challenge the "Abyssal Vault," and even someone as greedy for life and afraid of death as Caesar would still have something he'd risk his life for.

As for the wealth level of the "Abyssal Vault," put it this way: it has accumulated countless "Abyssal Vaults" from unknown great eras, plus the Abyss's ultimate wealth, making its financial resources unimaginably vast.

"My dear friend, if I succeed, I support you—I don't want to stay in a star realm watched over by a gradually losing control Observer."

"..."

Su Xiao said nothing, stepped forward, and walked out of the trading market; this meeting with an old friend, for both sides, is very likely their last, so after meeting, there's nothing particularly important to discuss—just as Caesar said, both came from obscurity, and chatting a few times at such moments is purely due to long-standing friendship.

Just returned to the base's first level, Su Xiao faintly felt the pulse of the dragon-slaying flash's inner spirit; he looked right and saw the blade demon approaching—at this moment, the blade demon's eyes, once pitch-black, had faded, and he… had regained himself.

"This time, is it you?"

The blade demon spoke, having regained rationality, carrying a somewhat weathered aura—understandable, given his experiences, who wouldn't be weathered?

"Yes."

"Then good."

The blade demon threw a mechanical structure, its facets sharp and distinct—an alchemical construct, about apple-sized, with an internal extradimensional space.

"It belongs to you now; wish you success."

The blade demon said nothing else, turned, and walked back toward the line he once guarded; having just awakened to a familiar Abyss battle, he nearly mistook it for the previous battle still ongoing, his years of blade demon memory merely being a short-lived delusion after losing consciousness, but upon noticing something off—no peak-tier beings present recognized him—he soon realized he had seamlessly linked two Abyss battles.

Su Xiao tried to activate the alchemical construct in his hand; this item is a very primitive alchemical storage secret treasure, though its storage process is complex, this old antique has one trait: its internal space is extremely stable.

After checking, he found inside a poorly tended but thriving black maple tree—apparently the black maple tree from the bottom of the Black Abyss, belonging to the blade demon.

Su Xiao now has three black maple trees; he's never heard of black maple trees being synthesizable, and current combat power is the final strength to challenge the Abyssal Lord, with the battle continuing in over three hours; judging by the Abyssal Legion's offensive, there's no time to further enhance supreme attributes or complete combat adaptation.

Footsteps approached—it was the dwarf king's disciple previously seen, a little giant blacksmith, panting heavily, respectfully handing over a long wooden box:

"My lord Bai Ye, this is your demon-sealing 【item】."

"..."

Su Xiao said nothing, merely nodded in thanks, which made the little giant blacksmith grin foolishly; wearing artisan overalls, he scratched the back of his head, then suddenly recalled something.

"My lord Bai Ye, this is my handmade; I don't know if you can use it."

The little giant blacksmith handed over a rough crystal, still smiling somewhat hesitantly.

【You obtained a whetstone.】

【Whetstone (Origin-tier Item): Can be used on slashing-type items to temporarily increase sharpness by 5% (can temporarily exceed limits); effect lasts 12 hours.】

……

Su Xiao glanced at the little giant blacksmith; at this point, he finally noticed the other's difference—that faint yet heavy causal feeling, very like the three legendary blacksmiths, though too subtle; this might be the legendary blacksmith of the fourth or fifth era, inheriting not from the dwarf king, with causal sensation resembling fire giants.

However, the little giant blacksmith's causal fluctuations are obscure and dim; this blacksmith will endure many hardships and pains on his future path, but this is also fate.

Su Xiao stepped toward the teleportation platform, walked a few steps, paused, and said: "Your master's achievements—you too cannot fail to attain them."

"My lord Bai Ye, I am so dull…… are you comforting me?"

"……"

Su Xiao didn't speak, just tilted his head slightly to look at the giant blacksmith, and the giant blacksmith immediately felt foolish—how could a slaughter god renowned across the star realms possibly comfort others?

"Then, my lord Bai Ye, I really can."

"Hahaha, what makes you think you can't?"

Bahamut flew in and landed on Su Xiao's shoulder, accompanied by Am, whose current aura was formidable—no need to mention the Abyssal faction; even our own allies felt uneasy seeing it, as a single bite could gravely wound an ancient Abyssal entity, making anyone's scalp tingle.

Su Xiao, Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Bubu Wang, Am, Bahamut, and Benny stepped onto the teleportation array together, destination: the Netherworld.

More than three hours later, a thunderous boom echoed as the team leader's "Realm of No Killing" collapsed, a long horn call rang out, and all our allied fighters abandoned their defensive lines, forming a circular encirclement around the main base.

From above, after the prolonged horn call ended, from within five fully unfolded Abyssal Gates, a black tide-like Abyssal legion surged forth, and even more terrifyingly, all ancient Abyssal entities poured out in full force.

Dozens of "Abyssal Demon Eyes" hovered in the sky—over thirty in total—and destroying one would simply cause another to fill its place; all released special abilities were suppressed by 9%.

Less than five minutes into the battle, the void battlefield entered an extremely brutal phase—let alone ninth-tier, absolute peak, or supreme peak; under these conditions, even peak powerhouses could die at any moment, making one imagine how horrific ninth-tier, absolute peak, and supreme peak fighters must be, as hundreds of teleportation arrays inside the main base began nonstop transmission of reinforcements.

At this moment, in the Netherworld's Extreme South, Dark Lands, the sky was utterly gloomy, filled with dark liquid droplets of various sizes, and the largest Abyssal Gate in this world opened here—from the Netherworld's many Abyssal Gates, one could see that the major powers of the Netherworld had truly suffered greatly at the hands of the Abyssal faction.

Near this Abyssal Gate, which had originally guarded many Abyssal races, now lay scattered corpses everywhere; Su Xiao paused before the gate, having come ahead to clear the area, and gathered the spirit entities he had collected back into the Dragon-Slaying Flash.

"Woof!"

"Meow!"

Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Bubu Wang and Benny agreed, but after Su Xiao stared at them for a few seconds, they wilted, indicating they would return to the Void Main Base via teleportation device later to await final news; as for Am and Bahamut, the two of them entered the Abyss together with Su Xiao.

"Boss, I never thought we'd have this day, ahahaha."

Bahamut laughed heartily, his inner emotions surging as he rested on Su Xiao's shoulder, while Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Bubu Wang and Benny departed using the teleportation device.

Su Xiao stepped forward toward the Abyssal Gate ahead, Am followed behind him, he entered, and a wave of thick, gloomy darkness rushed toward him—he had been climbing ever higher in strength, and now, at last, he could openly set foot in the Abyss.

The original expectation was that after entering the Abyss, he would simply carve a path through by killing, but reality differed: the Abyssal legion was launching a full-force assault on the Void Main Base, which must be the decision of the Abyssal Overseer, Moyam.

He knew the death struggle between the Abyssal Lord and the Law-Destroyer was inevitable, others couldn't even assist—once battle began, they didn't even have the qualification to reach the vicinity—so he simply pressured the Void Main Base with full force, as long as the Void's supreme realm dared to retreat half a step, he would let the Star Realm faction's nest be reduced to ashes.

Once the Void Main Base was breached, the Abyssal faction would win; then, Su Xiao, who was currently locked in a death struggle with the Abyssal Lord, would not only face an inevitable defeat but also the dark, boiling environment of the Abyss.

Beneath his feet lay a dark, bottomless sediment like liquid, Su Xiao walked upon it as if on flat ground, while Bahamut, perched on his shoulder as an intruder, immediately drew many Abyssal creatures to the vicinity—but upon approaching, they either retreated into the darkness or crawled on the ground, fearing the Abyssal Lord, and equally fearing the Star Realm's Heaven's Chosen who had descended upon them.

Amidst the rustling on both sides or fearful low growls, Su Xiao walked along the path cleared by the countless Abyssal creatures; as he advanced, the crowded Abyssal creatures ahead panicked and fled forward through the passage, until a massive hall appeared before him.

Bahamut flew onto Am's shoulder, Am's body flowing with darkness that wrapped Bahamut—thus, as long as Am didn't die, Bahamut wouldn't either; and currently, Am's survivability within the Abyss was very strong, provided he didn't enter the great hall.

Outside the Abyssal Great Hall stood guards clad head to toe in black heavy armor, each with three arms and a single eye on their chest—Abyssal knights, standing in two rows, motionless—clearly acting under the Abyssal Lord's command.

Su Xiao halted before the great hall, placed both hands on the palace doors.

Crack—

The heavy doors were pushed open by him; as the black metal giant doors swung open, dark, flesh-like threads stretched between the door panels, and as the gap widened, those threads snapped apart.

Su Xiao stepped inside, with a thunderous boom, the doors slammed shut behind him; Am stood with his back to the dark giant door, and as long as the Abyssal knights before the hall moved, Am's mouth full of teeth could try to see if he could chew them to pieces and swallow them.

In the dim, vast hall, a murmuring whisper seemed to come from somewhere unknown; Su Xiao paused at the center of the hall, standing on a naturally formed crimson pattern array, gazing at the figure on the elevated throne opposite, his hand pressing the end of his sword's hilt.

The death struggle in the Abyss was about to begin.