Chapter 232: Triumphant Eden

Bruce was now the only one who could find the Triumphant Eden.

Others had been able to find it before, but they were all dead now.

"The key." Bruce tossed a First-Order Fire Seed to Qi Suian.

This wasn’t from a First-Order Sanctuary they had destroyed, but from one that had perished long ago.

It was called the Mammoth Kings Fire Seed. Not that the name mattered—once it was in his hands, it was his. Qi Suian had no intention of ever giving it back.

’Another piece of high-quality fuel,’ Qi Suian thought gleefully.

There were only twenty-four First-Order Fire Seeds in total. In Qi Suian’s hands, there was no way to recycle them. Once you burned one, it was gone for good.

But Qi Suian also understood why he hadn’t been able to scrounge up any other First-Order Fire Seeds from the First-Order Sanctuaries. It seemed they had all fallen into Bruce’s hands.

The man had been playing the pig to eat the tiger, using direct and indirect means to force the Grand Elders of the First-Order Sanctuaries into the Triumphant Eden to retrieve the Fire Seed Source Fragments for him—which were, in fact, his own skeletal remains.

However, this group of Grand Elders were old foxes themselves; they stubbornly resisted the pressure and refused to go.

Refusing to go meant a chance at survival, albeit under greater pressure. But if they actually went...

Their fate would be the same as Fos, the former Grand Elder of the Frost Queen’s Sanctuary and Corpse Eater Pope.

Not only did Fos lose the Fire Seed Source Fragment he had acquired, but he also became Bruce’s puppet, and was ultimately shoved into the Melting Furnace by Qi Suian to be burned as fuel.

"You’re telling me you have other First-Order Fire Seeds? Name your price. I’ll buy them all," Qi Suian said bluntly.

’I’ll get the goods first. As for the payment... that’s not urgent. If it comes down to it, I’ll just kill the creditor. Then I won’t have to pay a thing.’

Bruce saw right through Qi Suian’s intentions. "After you kill the leader of the Wasteland Kings and help me collect the remaining ten Fire Seed Source Fragments, I’ll give you the items."

Making empty promises was a game Bruce could play, too.

Once he truly reclaimed everything that was his, Bruce had the exact same thought as Qi Suian: just kill him, and there would be no need to pay the remaining reward.

Besides, Qi Suian had always been a threat to him, having tried to kill him in multiple sneak attacks.

By all rights, Qi Suian had to die.

It was just that Qi Suian was currently useful, and Bruce’s own power hadn’t fully recovered, so he could only endure it for the time being.

A little impatience can spoil a great plan.

"No problem, but you have to pay a deposit first. I’m not asking for much, just ten more," Qi Suian demanded, his price outrageous.

’I’ll squeeze him for all he’s worth,’ he thought. ’He’s not going to pay the final balance anyway, so I might as well get a bigger deposit out of him.’

"The Mammoth Kings Fire Seed I gave you *was* the deposit." There was no way Bruce would give him more; he knew it would be like tossing a meat bun to a dog—it would never return.

Qi Suian wanted to keep pressing the issue. He finally had Bruce by the balls; he wasn’t about to give up so easily.

It would be a waste of a golden opportunity if he couldn’t squeeze a little more out of him.

But just as he was about to speak again, he saw a strange fluctuation appear in the space around them.

It gave him a strange sense of déjà vu, reminding him of facing enemies in the Profound World who used spatial transport and jumps.

Soon, however, a multitude of black crystals began to slowly creep out from the fluctuation.

At the same time, his AI issued a warning: the black crystals possessed extremely high levels of radiation.

Thankfully, the Tai Sui God was equipped with two modules: a heavy radiation-resistant metallic coating and the Verdant Silk Jade Crystal.

The black crystals forced open a passage, and an even more violent surge of radiation poured out.

"Your armor’s radiation resistance really is quite good."

"A reward from the Apocalypse Game?" Bruce glanced at Qi Suian and asked, probing.

"Yep, from the last world event," Qi Suian lied effortlessly. It didn’t cost anything to fool people, after all. He then asked, "So? What’s this thing for?"

He held up the Mammoth Kings Fire Seed, looking puzzled.

The passage was already open, but the Fire Seed hadn’t been used at all.

"You’ll find out in a minute. Let’s go, it’s time to head in." Bruce didn’t answer, instead striding purposefully into the passage.

Qi Suian didn’t follow, instead asking his AI, "Did you record the opening method? Can we open it on our own?"

[Yes. By using the Fire Seed in the Kindling Module to perform a frequency simulation, a departure passage can be opened.]

It was important to note that Qi Suian himself possessed no power capable of traversing space. Perhaps he could manage some sort of breakthrough using the Subspace Stable Pocket and the strategic-grade Dimensional Folding Space.

But those two modules weren’t meant for spatial transport or offensive use; they were storage-type modules.

Relying on them for such a task was truly asking too much.

Therefore, if Qi Suian had gone in without a way to get back out, he would have unhesitatingly used his Floating Cannons to attack the passage, letting Bruce perish in the ensuing spatial turbulence.

But since he had a way out, he might as well go in and hit the jackpot.

The place was crawling with Wasteland Kings, and there was even a leader.

For Qi Suian, it was practically a holy land of fuel.

Bruce noticed that Qi Suian hadn’t followed, so he stopped and looked back at him.

"I’m coming, what’s the rush? I just thought this crystal looked pretty nice and wanted to break off a piece to take with me," Qi Suian said dismissively, before stepping into the passage.

The moment he did, the absorption efficiency of the Verdant Silk Jade Crystal shot up to a whole new level.

The radiation concentration had spiked again.

This was just the passage. He couldn’t imagine how intense the radiation concentration would be inside the actual Triumphant Eden.

"If you’re holding a Fire Seed, you’re considered a hero in this territory. Not only will you not be attacked, but you should also receive a corresponding bo...ost?"

"Why aren’t you getting the effect?" Bruce had started to explain, only to realize something was wrong.

"Isn’t that obvious? My armor is holding the Fire Seed, not me," Qi Suian retorted. "What kind of effect would I get?"

Of course, there had been an effect. The Tai Sui God had gained bonus armor equal to ten percent of its base armor value, and its radiation resistance had increased by ten percent as well.

Qi Suian himself had also gained the corresponding attributes and resistances; they were shared from the Tai Sui God’s status through his Viral Bloodline Implant module.

"That shouldn’t... Never mind. As long as your armor has it, that’s good enough. It’s not like you ever get out of it anyway." Bruce pondered this for a moment before dropping the subject.

He chalked it up to some incompatibility between the Era of Lords and the Apocalypse Game.

The two of them soon stepped out of the passage. The tunnel of black crystal slowly receded, with all the crystals withdrawing back into the Triumphant Eden.

As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but a dense forest of black, radiation-emitting crystals. There were also buildings, modern facilities, and so on, but they had all been turned into black crystal.

"What’s the origin of these black crystals? Is there a source?" Qi Suian asked, his interest piqued.

’If I could mine a piece of this and make it into a module, wouldn’t the Tai Sui God gain the ability to radiate? It’d be like carrying around a personal radiation aura.’

Before Bruce could answer, the Tai Sui God launched an attack.

The attack wasn’t to defend against Bruce, nor was it a sneak attack on him. Instead, a large number of crystalline roots had launched a strangling assault against them.

The attacking crystalline roots were not black, so they were very conspicuous.

In fact, they weren’t a single color, but a whole myriad of them.

Each color of crystalline root represented a different Wasteland King.

"There are this many of them?" Qi Suian was incredulous. This place truly was a holy land of fuel.

Under the Tai Sui God’s assault, all of the attacking crystalline roots were shattered.

However, it was no use; more and more crystalline roots surged toward them from all directions.

At the same time, one behemoth after another erupted from the ground.

These were clearly the true forms of the Wasteland Kings.

Meanwhile, Bruce hadn’t been attacked at all. Instead, he was walking away unhurriedly.

"I’ll be waiting for you in Central City. Don’t die," Bruce’s voice drifted back.

Qi Suian glanced at the man’s departing figure and paid him no more mind.

It was obvious the man had set him up, but he didn’t care. Since he was already here, after farming all these Wasteland Kings, the number of times the Tai Sui God could evolve would increase from an estimated three to five.

’The power of a First-Order Fire Seed is nothing compared to my Ultimate Fire Seed.’

With Bruce around, Qi Suian naturally had to consider a sneak attack, which meant he couldn’t let Bruce see the Tai Sui God’s full power.

Now that Bruce was gone, and a good distance away, it was time to let loose and go on a killing spree.

As for the possibility that Bruce might have some way of spying on him, he didn’t care.

The way Bruce had just abandoned him was as good as them officially turning on each other; there was no longer any need to hold back.

Besides, Bruce already had his suspicions about the true extent of Qi Suian’s power anyway.

Cloaked in the Martial Dao will of the Evil Dragon and Evil Tiger, the Tai Sui God weaved between the massive Wasteland Kings.

Each attack, combined with modules like "Greedy One’s Gluttonous Feast" and "Newbie Player’s Armor Pierce," could instantly rob a Wasteland King of its ability to move.

A one-hit kill was difficult; first, they were massive; second, they had incredible vitality; and third, they were so resilient they had no fatal weak points.

So, Qi Suian attacked the weak points in their bodies that defied the normal principles of physics and biology—the kind of weak points defined by the Martial Dao.

While he couldn’t one-shot them, this method made it very convenient for Qi Suian to stuff them into the Melting Furnace.

"It feels so good to just steamroll for once!" Qi Suian mused. He’d been fighting in the big leagues for so long, always getting thrashed by his enemies, that he was starting to develop a complex.

"Given my track record, I might as well call myself Jiu Mozhi."

There were only so many experts in any given world, and Qi Suian had managed to encounter them all.

"’After all, I’m a rule-breaker with protagonist plot armor. I guess running into this sort of thing is to be expected.’"

Qi Suian wasn’t really complaining. True, he took a lot of beatings, but his growth was also ridiculously fast.

If there were no pressure at all, wouldn’t he be invincible?

"’But speaking of which, what exactly was Bruce’s scheme? To use me as cannon fodder to stall these Wasteland Kings?’"

"’It seems the problem is with the Fire Seed he gave me.’ Qi Suian gazed into the distance. More and more Wasteland Kings were converging on his position.

It was as if every Wasteland King in the entire Triumphant Sanctuary was being drawn to him.

"’So he went off to fight the boss himself? Wait, is he really that clueless about what’s good for him?’"

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