Chapter 118: Hell Forge Set, Third-Tier Demons as Subordinates?!

「Bloodsucking Demon Vine, can you dig a pit about 100 meters in length and width, and about 120 meters in depth on the ground? 」

Because the Hell Demon Construct Device is too large in size, placing it on the ground would be too conspicuous.

Moreover, this is also a manufacturing device with no combat capability, and its defensive power cannot be high; if placed on the ground, if it were to be destroyed by someone, it would truly be a loss.

So, Su Hao plans to dig a huge pit underground to serve as a future laboratory for refining Hell Demons, placing the Hell Demon Construct Device inside this underground lab, which would make it less conspicuous.

Furthermore, there is a Bloodsucking Demon Vine, a Third-Tier Supernatural Demon, nearby, so we don't need to worry too much about safety.

「No problem, boss, wait a moment, it will be dug soon. 」

The Bloodsucking Demon Vine used dozens of small vines to form a pleasing expression and nodded heavily.

Then it used the Vine Whip skill, summoning hundreds of vines over two meters in diameter, and quickly began digging on the ground.

Seeing this, the Da Xiong Mao beside it frowned slightly, feeling a strong sense of crisis from the Bloodsucking Demon Vine.

Why do I feel that this big guy wants to compete with me for the thigh?

The Bloodsucking Demon Vine likewise felt a sense of crisis from its own kind coming from the Da Xiong Mao, making it work more diligently.

In less than half an hour, the Bloodsucking Demon Vine, following Su Hao's orders, dug out a huge pit about 100 meters in length and width and about 120 meters in depth.

Furthermore, to ensure the pit's stability, he detached dozens of bloodsucking vines from his own body and attached them to the pit's rock walls, reinforcing its stability.

Finally, the Bloodsucking Demon Vine extended several vines, wrapped them around the Hell Demon Construct Device, and carefully placed it into the pit.

「Well done, from now on the underground construction of the territory will be left to you! 」

Su Hao nodded in praise, then walked along the wall's stairs to the bottom of the pit, leaving the Da Xiong Mao and the Bloodsucking Vine staring at each other on the ground.

After arriving at this crude laboratory at the pit's bottom, due to lacking the key skill of refining Stitching Monsters, Su Hao temporarily could not operate the Hell Demon Construct Device at all.

Moreover, wanting to refine Stitching Monsters, having just one manufacturing device is far from enough; the same principle applies to refining Hell Demons.

Refining Stitching Monsters has a complete set of procedures, and the devices used are not limited to just one manufacturing device.

Initially, the three sets of devices that Su Hao 'picked up' from Andrew Grandpa's home each consisted of nine different items.

Of the remaining eight items, four are for material purification devices, three are for keeping materials active, one is for producing stitching thread, and one is for accelerating energy conversion speed.

Therefore, to refine Hell Demons more efficiently, merely having a Hell Demon Construct Device is insufficient; the other supporting devices also need to be synthesized.

However, this does not mean that all devices need to be synthesized.

Among them, the purification devices are the most useless for Su Hao.

Even the best purification device cannot match Su Hao's Item Refining Technique in its purifying effect.

Any item refined by Su Hao's Item Refining Technique basically has no impurities.

Thus, those four purification devices are of no use to Su Hao.

The other three items that keep materials active are likewise not very useful for Su Hao.

Supernatural items themselves can maintain activity for a relatively long time.

Even just first-rank supernatural flesh, if left in a natural environment for one or two months, will not undergo any deterioration.

Supernatural items refined using the Item Refining Technique have almost no impurities, and their storage time is correspondingly longer.

Furthermore, with the Hell Demon Construct Device enabling mass production of Hell Demons, Su Hao need not worry even more about material deterioration.

Thus, these three devices for keeping materials active are likewise useless for refining Hell Demons.

The remaining Stitching Line Manufacturing Device and Energy Conversion Device have a relatively large impact on the refining of Stitching Monsters.

As the name suggests, the Stitching Line Manufacturing Device is a device used to produce stitching thread.

Regardless of which type of Stitching Monster is being refined, stitching thread is an essential material.

The higher the grade of stitching thread, the stronger the refined Stitching Monster's strength, and the less likely rejection reactions occur.

「Let's synthesize the Stitching Line Device first! 」

Su Hao immediately took three Stitching Line Manufacturing Devices from his Storage Bag and used today's fourth Synthesis Heart.

About half an hour later, accompanied by a dazzling golden light, a meat pot about ten meters tall, composed of dark red flesh, appeared before Su Hao.

「Is the art style this uniform? 」

Su Hao glanced at the Hell Demon Construct Device beside him; it, too, was made of dark red flesh, which, like a living organism, rhythmically expanded and contracted.

Their art styles are almost identical.

Compared to the Stitching Monster Assembly Device, the Hell Demon Construct Device's effect is far superior; therefore, this meat pot with the same art style surely would not be much worse than the Stitching Monster Construct Device.

With anticipation, Su Hao focused his mental power and used the Item Appraisal Technique on the meat pot.

【Hell Forge — Hell Demon Adhesive Manufacturing Device】

Supernatural Grade: Third Tier

Effect: Place fascia or nerves, along with sufficient flesh, into the pot; by consuming energy, refine Hell Demon adhesive.

Using Hell Demon adhesive enables the creation of more special Hell Demons.

……

「Special Hell Demons? I didn't expect these two things to be a matching set! 」

Su Hao blinked slightly, then nodded satisfied.

Although it's still unknown what changes using Hell Demon adhesive will bring to the refined Hell Demons.

But it can be certain that this change is definitely a positive one, and if combined with the Hell Demon Construct Device, their effects should be able to stack.

Perhaps the original formula could only produce first-rank Hell Demons, but after combining them, perhaps second-rank Hell Demons could be produced.

「Let's synthesize the Energy Conversion Device as well! 」

Before learning the 【Stitching Monster Refining】 skill, even if Hell Demon adhesive were refined it couldn't be used; Su Hao then stopped thinking and took out three Energy Conversion Devices from his Storage Bag.

Before the 【Stitching Monster Assembly Device】 and 【Stitching Line Manufacturing Device】 are overloaded, the faster the energy conversion speed, the higher the refining efficiency of Stitching Monsters.

The 【Hell Demon Construct Device】 and 【Hell Demon Adhesive Manufacturing Device】 likewise require energy consumption to operate, and their energy consumption is greater.

If the energy conversion speed could be further increased, perhaps the efficiency of refining the adhesive and Hell Demons could also be further improved.

"Synthesize!"

Without any hesitation, Su Hao used his final synthesis opportunity of the day on the three energy conversion devices.

About half an hour later, as a dazzling golden light flashed, a heart about three meters tall, likewise composed of dark red flesh, appeared before Su Hao's eyes.

Six thick dark-red flesh conduits extend from the top of this heart; the four on the left end empty, not connected to anything.

The two on the right are attached to a box about half a meter high, also made of dark red flesh.

【Hell Furnace—Hell Energy Conversion Device】

Supernatural Grade: Third Tier

Effect: It can convert the energy inside fresh blood and energy crystals into a special energy, used exclusively to power the Hell Furnace's related devices, increasing their operating speed.

……

"As expected, it's also a matching set!"

Su Hao smiled faintly and nodded in understanding.

After seeing the Hell Energy Conversion Device's appearance, he guessed this; there was no way around it—the resemblance was so striking that not guessing would be hard.

What Su Hao didn't expect was that the energy from the energy crystals, after being processed by the Hell Energy Conversion Device, would become a special energy.

This special energy can only be used to operate the Hell Furnace; other items cannot use this energy.

However, from a certain perspective, this isn't a bad thing. The energy of the energy crystals is a universal energy that all items can use.

After converting the universal energy into a dedicated energy source, the energy utilization rate will presumably increase.

Using this energy will definitely greatly boost the operating speed of the Hell Monster Construction Device and the Hell Monster Adhesive Manufacturing Device.

Ding! At that moment, a notification suddenly came from Su Hao's communicator bracelet; upon opening it, he saw a message from Ling Xue'er.

【Ling Xue'er: Boss, we're already outside your territory; when can we come in?】

【Su Hao: Come in.】

After issuing the order to temporarily treat humans as allies to the Withered Ancient Tree, Su Hao sent a message to Lin Xue'er, telling her to come straight in.

At the same time, about ten kilometers from the sanctuary, after receiving Su Hao's reply, the helicopter hovering in the air slowly flew toward the sanctuary.

"Sister Xue'er, are you saying that giant withered tree is a special structure inside Boss's sanctuary?!"

Inside the helicopter, Pu Wenyao gazed at the distant Withered Ancient Tree, a flash of shock and confusion crossing her eyes.

Even in the dark forest, a tree a hundred meters tall is uncommon.

Such a massive withered tree, Pu Wenyao had never even seen.

According to Ling Xue'er's account, this withered tree is a special structure belonging to Su Hao's sanctuary.

This left her both shocked and somewhat puzzled.

In this perilous dark forest, building such a huge structure without any concealment—aren't you afraid of attracting enemies and bringing trouble upon yourself?

But soon after, Pu Wenyao gave a self-deprecating laugh.

For others, this might be a trouble, even a danger, but this person is Su Hao, so it's different.

This is nearly unscathed, a 1v2 double kill of two powerful Supernatural Grade Second Rank beings—who needs to be timid like them? However, Ling Xue'er's following words made her, who had just calmed a little, become even more shocked.

"I'm telling you, if you ever come on your own, you must never rashly enter Boss's territory; otherwise you won't even get to see his face before you're dead."

Recalling the scene she experienced here last time, Ling Xue'er flashed a hint of fear.

"Last time, when I came here with Le Yun and Commander Zhu Ge, I happened to see a group of goblins who had trespassed the territory, among them a heavily armored goblin warrior leading the pack."

"But as soon as they approached that big tree, their bodies quickly withered; even a Supernatural Grade First Rank heavily armored goblin warrior couldn't escape."

"And after the chief heavily armored goblin warrior died, his corpse turned into a dry scarecrow; you might get to see it when you go in later!"

"Gurgle!"

After hearing Ling Xue'er's account, Pu Wenyao involuntarily swallowed, not daring to glance at the Withered Ancient Tree again.

Capable of causing a Supernatural Grade First Rank heavily armored goblin warrior to die without any resistance and turn into a dry scarecrow.

This eerie power can likewise cause her, a Supernatural Grade First Rank priest, to die unknowingly.

Through the previous monastery incident, Pu Wenyao knew Su Hao was a boss with strong individual combat ability.

But she never expected that even his sanctuary's construction would be this abnormal……

Whoosh whoosh whoosh! As Pu Wenyao was in shock, the helicopter slowly flew over the top of the meat mountain.

But just then, countless blood-red vines suddenly shot up from below, tightly wrapping around the helicopter, preventing it from moving an inch.

Seeing this, Pu Wenyao and Ling Xue'er's faces instantly changed, and they clung tightly to each other.

If the helicopter were destroyed, even if these blood-red vines didn't attack them, it would merely be the aftermath of the helicopter's explosion.

And the injury from falling from that height and hitting the ground would leave them with no way out.

But there's one thing they couldn't figure out: why these blood-red vines would appear in Su Hao's territory.

Could it be that Su Hao's enemies are launching an attack on his territory?

If these blood-red vines were Su Hao's enemies, why would they merely entangle the helicopter, preventing it from moving forward, without destroying it?

Just as Ling Xue'er and the two clung together, waiting to die in their confusion,

they suddenly saw a monster composed of a giant vine over a hundred meters long and hundreds of small vines, extending from the ground.

Next, dozens of small vines on that main vine formed a fawning expression, looking toward the ground.

"Boss, boss, I've caught a flying metal monster; should I destroy it?"

Su Hao: ……

I was careless, busy with the Withering Curse matter, and forgot to tell the blood-sucking demon vine about this.

Su Hao gave a self-deprecating laugh and walked out of the crude underground lab.

"They're my guests; let them in."

"Oh oh, okay..."

The bloodsucking demon vine sounded a bit dejected, having thought it could put on a good show when encountering an enemy invasion, but it never expected that this metal-skinned monster would actually be an ally……

Fortunately, fortunately, just now, to be safe, I slightly moderated my force and didn't crush this metal-skinned monster; otherwise it would have been terrible.

After releasing the helicopter, the bloodsucking demon vine felt a bit relieved; if it had crushed the helicopter, not only would there be no merit, but at least avoiding punishment would be good.

At that moment, inside the helicopter, Ling Xue'er and Pu Wenyao clung tightly together, listening to the conversation between Su Hao and the bloodsucking demon vine, and upon seeing the vine's massive body and terrifying aura, they were instantly dumbfounded.

"This huge vine monster, could it be a Transcendent Third Tier monster……"

"Sister Xue'er, I just seemed to hear the vine monster, at a glance, call Su Hao 'big boss'; I didn't mishear, did I?"

"Seems like that……"

"Could it be… this might be a Transcendent Third Tier vine monster, a subordinate of Boss Su Hao?!"

"Don't ask me, I don't know either; the last time I came here, I hadn't even seen this vine monster……"

What Pu Wenyao didn't know was that Ling Xue'er's shock in her heart was even stronger than hers.

Among all the people of the Divine Xia officials, the one who has had the most contact with Su Hao is Ling Xue'er.

During these seventeen days after the uncanny descended, she had come to Su Hao's shelter a total of four times, back and forth.

The first time she came, Ling Xue'er discovered that Su Hao's shelter had a function of automatic color-changing to achieve invisibility, and also had what seemed to be a Transcendent Second Tier panda as a pet.

The second time she came, Ling Xue'er went into Su Hao's shelter to conduct a trade and found that his shelter covered a very large area.

All kinds of supplies were also excessively abundant, completely unlike what one person could gather.

The third time she came, Ling Xue'er first saw a heavy-armored goblin warrior leading a squad of ordinary fallen goblins; having merely trespassed into Su Hao's territory, they turned into a scarecrow and died an uncanny death.

After finishing the supplies trade, she also saw Su Hao construct a special cooling device.

At that point Ling Xue'er realized that Su Hao was not only personally powerful, but even the constructions within his territory differed from those of ordinary people.

This time, she further sensed the greatness of Su Hao's territory; just moments ago, she had almost been crushed by the bloodsucking demon vine.

This was her closest brush with death, and also her most helpless moment! This experience also made her clearer about the gap between these people and Su Hao.

They, in the apocalypse, desperately fend off uncanny monsters, barely surviving.

But Su Hao is different; he already has his own territory, and he also has means to defend it. Without his consent, anyone who dares to excel in his territory faces only a dead end! Others struggle to survive in the new world after the apocalypse, while Su Hao has already planted his feet in this new world, occupying a territory and becoming the sole overlord here.

He even has second- and third-tier Transcendent demon clans as his subordinates!

Every time she comes, Ling Xue'er can clearly see Su Hao's growth—how could she not be shocked? Even if Su Hao told her now, "When you come next time, my territory will have several thousand or even tens of thousands of troops," she would have no doubt.

Because the facts of these days have proven, indeed proven, Su Hao's ability—things others cannot do, he can easily accomplish!!

(End of chapter)