Li Xi searched again, and the Assassin's Alliance token that Soros had taken out earlier appeared in Li Xi's hand.
Li Xi took out the other two tokens he had obtained from his spatial ring, thus having three in his hand.
"I have no way to join the Assassin's Alliance. Since you let the olive branch of peace slip from my grasp, I will be the bane of the Assassin's Alliance from now on. Let's see if there are any special benefits to collecting all your tokens."
After putting away the three tokens, he took out a box from his spatial ring and opened it. It was a silver plant with nine branches and leaves.
Li Xi already possessed a strong dragon脉 (dragon vein), and at first glance, he felt the aura of a dragon from this plant. This aura was different from the heat he felt in his body; it exuded a coolness that could calm people's minds.
"This must be the Nine Dragon Grass that Soros was looking for. Eating it can enhance physical defense, which suits fragile professions like Soros, but now it's mine."
Li Xi dared not eat medicinal herbs randomly; if something went wrong, there would be no after-sales service, nor a hotline for reporting issues. Therefore, he needed someone to tell him how to consume it best.
The medicinal master Li Xi knew was naturally Archmage Demanja. That old fellow was an expert in his field. So, Li Xi decided to return to Cado City to have him examine it and see if it could be made into a suitable potion for him. Even a one-tenth increase in his current defense would be invaluable.
Li Xi continued to search in his spatial ring. Besides some daily necessities and weapons and equipment that Li Xi disdained, there was nothing else of great value.
He also found dozens of magic crystals, with level two being the most numerous, level four the least, and none above level five.
After a while, he found several bottles of various colors – blue, purple, black, and red. Li Xi knew without opening them that these were the poisons Soros had used before. These were also rare treasures. He planned to have Archmage Demanja examine them along with the Nine Dragon Grass to identify the poisons.
After basically going through everything, he finally found three locked small boxes at the deepest part of his spatial ring.
The locks looked like they were made of gold, but Li Xi, with a strong heave, crushed the lock that would make a bear goblin cry.
Upon opening it, he found a Dou Qi secret manual. Li Xi casually flipped through it. The cultivation system was different, and he couldn't cultivate it. Besides selling it for money, it was too hard to even use as toilet paper. "As expected, it's not suitable for me."
The second small box was also violently opened. It was a letter. Coupled with Soros's specific mention of the letter before, Li Xi felt he had found a big fish. He opened it. The letter was very brief, but it contained a lot of information.
"Drabant, the Gravekeepers order you to collect another hundred living people and transport them to the usual place. The night is approaching, and we will live forever."
This short sentence revealed that Drabant had been kidnapping people. Because many poor people poured into Cado City every day, no one paid attention to how many died today or how many more there were tomorrow. This was likely why Drabant could operate undetected. As a local, he had ways to keep his dealings secret.
The letter clearly stated "living people." Li Xi guessed that these living people were definitely not being kept alive but were to be sacrificed to evil gods. Only evil gods would use live sacrifices to demonstrate their might.
It also mentioned "the usual place," implying that Drabant and his associates had been doing this for a long time. It was impossible to say how many people had been sacrificed through their hands. In this chaotic era, too many people were dying, so who would care about the actions of a small local earthworm?
The last sentence, "The night is approaching," seemed to imply that their god could descend upon the world after multiple sacrifices and grant them eternal life.
However, Li Xi preferred to speculate that this evil god intended to seize the divinity of the night.
In this异世界 (another world), gods all had their own domains, which were essentially their scope of management.
Just like the Church of Agriculture, where Li Xi had taken quests before, their Goddess of Agriculture managed agricultural matters. Her main followers were farmers, and other matters were outside her purview. If you went to an agricultural temple for marriage and childbirth, it would definitely not be effective, and you might even be kicked out by the priests.
There were hundreds of gods, big and small, on the Continent of Gods. Some were powerful, and some were mediocre. This was mainly evident from their domains. For example, the Church of Light governed light and purified all darkness and evil. This domain was boundless, which was why the God of Light was the most powerful among the gods.
The God of Contracts, his domain was to manage contracts. The number of people who believed in the God of Contracts was pitifully small, consisting only of a few individual merchants, so he was very weak. The God of Light killing the God of Contracts might have been as easy as Li Xi killing an ordinary heretic. Although both were deities, the gap between them was an insurmountable chasm.
Domains were what deities valued most, bar none. They represented their followers and the foundation of their power. If a deity suddenly encroached upon another's domain, it meant snatching followers and declaring war. The outcome would inevitably be a war to the death between gods, with no other path. Peace would only come when one side completely surrendered or died.
Now, the evil god in this letter seemed to be eyeing the domain of darkness, which belonged to the Lady of Darkness, a powerful deity second only to the God of Light. Li Xi couldn't imagine what kind of evil god had the audacity to do such a thing. Wasn't he afraid of being detected by the Lady of Darkness and annihilated, never to be reborn?
Li Xi pondered over the single sentence in the letter for a long time. With no clear conclusions, he put it aside for now and planned to ask Ais about it when he returned. She was an expert on matters between deities, and he would make plans after hearing her advice.
The third box was also violently opened. But when Li Xi was about to see what treasure was inside, he froze. He saw a small hand, like that of a child, placed inside the box. The palm was crystal clear, as if carved from white jade, and was covered with magic runes, so much so that the entire palm emitted no aura. From its appearance, it seemed that the palm was sealed by these magic runes.
Because of the seal, Li Xi couldn't sense its aura and therefore couldn't determine what this object was. However, based on his limited inherited knowledge, he knew that such an object, sealed so tightly, must be extraordinary.
Li Xi dared not touch such a thing lightly. Who knew what it was? If it was an evil object, the price of touching it would be something Li Xi couldn't afford. So, he took a glance, quickly closed the box, and placed it at the very bottom of his spatial ring.
Reflecting on the entire battle, Li Xi performed commendably in all aspects, except for a moment of distraction when he believed victory was assured. His use of a shadow clone to replace his main body was a stroke of genius. At that time, Li Xi hadn't expected Soros to attack. He had only used the shadow clone out of laziness, wanting to slack off a bit, but unexpectedly obtained something beyond his expectations.
Li Xi had controlled most of the remaining battle. In contrast, Soros made mistakes repeatedly. First, he attacked the shadow clone, revealing himself. Then, he tried to coerce the shadow clone to threaten the Dragon-blooded Li Xi. But he didn't know that these two were actually the same person. Finally, he teleported himself to the most disadvantageous lake, directly leading to his death.
Therefore, battle is not about comparing who is more powerful, but about comparing who makes fewer mistakes. If Soros had chosen to engage Li Xi in the forest from the beginning, he would have at least had a few chances of winning and wouldn't have been defeated so quickly. Even if he lost, he could have escaped without much trouble by virtue of his identity as a Night Walker.
If the engagement had dragged on until night, the outcome would have been uncertain.
Within the sealed space, the Two-Tails, Matatabi, lay on the ground with its eyes closed, seemingly idle. Li Xi's figure suddenly appeared. Su Dan Novel Network
"Matatabi, thank you for this time."
"No need. I wasn't doing it for you, but for myself. As you said, if you were in trouble, I couldn't escape either." Matatabi said absentmindedly, without even opening its eyes.
"Regardless, I must thank you. I will immediately go back and loosen the seal a bit, allowing you to transmit more power."
"As you wish."
Li Xi said this because when Matatabi saved him, it had only transmitted a small amount of chakra through the cracks of the seal, scaring Soros with a bluff at a critical moment. The blue flames that erupted from Li Xi's body at that moment had consumed all the chakra that could be transmitted.
Although Matatabi said it didn't matter, its two tails, which had been still, began to wag uncontrollably upon hearing Li Xi's intention to loosen the seal a bit. Li Xi, who had kept cats before, knew that only when cats were happy did their tails wag back and forth. In such a situation, petting them would surely be fine.
Of course, for a giant cat demon like Matatabi, which was as large as a mountain and emitted blue flames all over its body, he would have to wait a while before reaching out to pet it, at least after he could withstand the blue flames.
After Li Xi's spiritual power returned, he did as he promised. He used his spiritual power to grind open the seal on his stomach a little more. When the system had gifted him the seal, it hadn't taught him how to use it, so he could only use his spiritual power to grind it open bit by bit. Soon, the seal was slightly pried open, allowing more chakra from Matatabi's power to be transmitted.
With all matters settled, Li Xi prepared to return. It had taken him ten days to get here, but flying back would only take ten hours.
However, midway through his flight, an urgent message came from his shadow clone in Cado City. Li Xi found a place to land and began to review the memories.
When Li Xi transmitted the news of Soros's death back to his shadow clone in Cado City, the shadow clone went to monitor Beros's merchant caravan's encampment. After only three hours of surveillance, something happened at Beros's merchant caravan's encampment.
Someone discovered a corpse in a stable. Although the corpse had already decomposed, experienced hands found that its true identity was that of Lord Soros, a guest elder of the caravan who had gone out on a mission.
When one identity appeared as two people, one dead for many days and the other alive and well, everyone knew what was going on. Their guest elder had been replaced. This news was like a bomb thrown into the sea, causing immense waves.
Garillo, who was in charge of the caravan, reported the matter to the Mercenary Guild as soon as he received the news. After stating that he and his subordinates were unaware of anything, he hoped the Mercenary Guild would send someone to investigate Soros, who was currently out on a mission.
Before the Mercenary Guild could make a decision, the news reached Ais. Ais immediately felt that something was wrong. When Li Xi took on this mission, she had already felt uneasy, and now it had come true. She informed the Mercenary Guild and obtained intelligence from Garillo before leaving the city alone.
The shadow clone had no choice but to create another shadow clone to follow Ais, protecting her from any accidents, while he himself remained in Cado City to observe further developments.
"It's too coincidental that I just killed the fake Soros, and you found the real Soros's corpse on your end."
Li Xi smiled coldly. "Since you all know I'm not in the city, I have the perfect alibi."
"Shadow Clone Jutsu"
As soon as a shadow clone appeared, it was punched to death by Li Xi. The shadow clone far away in Cado City received Li Xi's instructions.
.........