Chapter 258 Core Demand

Chapter 258 Core Demand

Chapter 258 Core Demand
【The Great Demon Wasteland.】

Four big words flashed before Jiang Cheng's eyes.

When they opened the map, they found that this was an area that had never been explored, except for their location.

Other areas were shrouded in fog.

In the distance is an endless desert, with snowfields stretching behind.

From here, the snow on the ground thins, revealing the gray-brown permafrost underneath.

The wind was still cold, but it no longer brought dense snowflakes. There were only a few scattered ice particles floating around, which melted away before they hit the ground.

Further ahead, the ground was bare of gravel and gravel, and the snow disappeared.

The environment here is harsh. The land is cracked and dried up by the sun. A few clumps of dry, hard grass grow out of the cracks, rustling in the wind.

The chill in the air is still there, but it is also mixed with a hint of heat.

We continued walking for a while, and the wind here blew up fine sand and brought waves of heat.

The changes in the environment were not gradual and orderly, just like in the game when you passed through an air wall and suddenly arrived in another world.

Jiang Cheng was also very puzzled by this.

In order to pursue authenticity in Monster World, the environmental changes in each area should be gradual.

I asked for guidance out of curiosity and got the explanation:

The territories of the monster world are pieced together with different nodes as the core, just like a huge world puzzle, in which there are also a large number of territories stuffed in by the descending forces.

This also leads to different regions of the monster world having completely different environments and climates.

Jiang Cheng’s understanding of the guidelines is: game settings.

"Bajian, where is the blood storage cauldron you mentioned?" Xia Sheng on the side asked at this time.

"It's at the end of the desert, and there's still some way to go."

As he said this, Ba Jian's heart was bleeding.

Now it is running out of fuel and has no ability to act on its own.

Although it was very satisfied with the situation of this host, it could not produce any energy at all, and it had no idea where the problem lay.

The only thing you can do is to go to the resource library and directly drink the stored qi and blood energy.

This resource library was also left behind by the previous host. After the host's death, it was used as an energy transfer station.

Before it grows to its full form, the artifact's rules and characteristics mean that it can only exert its full power when held by a host.

Without a host, its power would be greatly suppressed.

So it needs to keep changing hosts.

This is the double-edged sword of rules. If you want to gain the power of rules, you must abide by the logic of the rules.

It is said that there are no restrictions on the top rules, but at least it has not been seen with my own eyes.

This time when we go to the resource library, we can imagine that everything inside will be taken out and used.

It doesn't care about the junk.

The only sad thing is that almost all the power earned by the previous host was consumed by this host.

It only hopes that there will be a rich reward later so that it can enjoy a feast of negative emotions.

While on the road, Ba Jian was also thinking about a question.

What exactly went wrong that caused its body to be unable to absorb qi and blood energy, and even to be unable to absorb negative emotional energy.

This kind of incident had never happened before.

If you really can't find the reason, perhaps you can only return to the tribe and seek help from the elders of the tribe.

After another half day of traveling, until sunset, Jiang Cheng and Xia Sheng arrived at their destination according to Ba Jian's instructions.

In the distance, a square building made of black stone stands abruptly among the sand dunes.

As the view zooms in, the wind-eroded and sand-eroded exterior wall is covered with honeycomb-like holes, which make a whimpering sound in the wind and sand.

From the outside, there's nothing special about this place.

It looks more like the dilapidated remains left behind by a certain ethnic group before migration.

When you get closer, you will see a statue of a headless sword-wielding warrior at the entrance of the building.

The sword in its hand is exactly the same shape as the Ba Jian.

"Right here, stab me into the hole in front of the gate." Jiang Cheng heard it, without hesitation, he stretched out his hand and summoned the Overlord Sword to his right hand.

Holding the hilt of the sword, he inserted the blade of the Overlord Sword into the groove in the center of the stone door. Suddenly, a muffled sound like the turning of gears was heard from inside.

The heavy black stone door slowly sank, raising a cloud of yellow sand mist.

Behind the door was a staircase leading downwards. It was pitch black inside and I couldn't see the end.

Drawing out the Overlord Sword and putting it on his back, Jiang Cheng took the lead and entered, followed immediately by Xia Sheng.

This passage was like the esophagus of some giant beast, and the air was filled with the smell of stale blood mixed with the scent of oxidized metal.

A dark red halo was faintly visible at the end of the stairs, like a ball of solidified blood mist suspended in the darkness.

Walking down, the bronze lamps hanging around the rock walls lit up one by one.

In the light of the fire, dense carvings appeared on the wall.

With automatic analysis and translation, the information in the text description can be understood at a glance.

【Pain is strength, and I am willing to endure it.】

The first thing that catches your eye is a piece of text that has been repeatedly traced seven times on the rock wall of the passage.

Black blood scabs formed on the edges of the writing, and the last stroke left a long tail hook, as if the swordsman was still enduring some kind of severe pain when writing it at the last moment.

Continue walking downwards.

[What if I'm skinned and boned? I just want strength! ]

[The pain in my body is not even one ten-thousandth of the hatred in my heart. ]

There were five clear fingerprints left below the words. The rock was cracked by scratches and there were several broken nails embedded between the fingers.

At the corner of the passage, written in blood:

【kill! kill! kill! kill! kill! 】

Below the dried blood words, the word "kill" was densely engraved, each one of which penetrated the rock wall, as if to nail all the hatred into the cold rock wall.

[I vow to kill all the Cang Yan people! 】

As we walked along, all the words were filled with murderous intent.

Jiang Cheng could imagine the hatred in the heart of Ba Jian's host at that time.

But as the text becomes more in-depth, it gradually becomes milder.

Jiang Cheng stopped until he came to a piece of text:

【Mother, my heart aches.】

The sentence was roughly scratched out with a sharp weapon, but the original strokes could still be seen between the scratches, like an unhealable wound.

These words made Jiang Cheng suddenly realize that the avenger's initial hatred was not that strong.

It was obvious that he was constantly bewitched and transformed by Ba Jian, and eventually turned into a killing machine filled with hatred.

A few minutes later, they came to the end of the passage and saw a bronze door in front of them.

The blade of the Overlord Sword cut through the crack in the door, blood flashed on its surface, and the heavy door slowly opened inward.

"Who can be stopped by this broken door? Why make it so complicated to get in?" Xia Sheng couldn't help but complain in the team voice channel.

"Stupid, the gate is not to prevent thieves, but to prevent the spiritual energy of the things inside from leaking out and attracting external forces. Secondly, it is also to prevent specific resources from deteriorating during storage... You can think of it as a refrigerator. Go to the forum to learn more knowledge."

"That makes sense!" After listening to Jiang Cheng's explanation, Xia Sheng nodded suddenly.

At this time, the two of them walked through the heavy door.

The area inside the door is not large, it is a hemispherical stone chamber, over a hundred square meters. The uneven rock walls are covered with fine sword marks, and the ground is covered with a layer of dark red dust, like the powder generated after blood coagulation.

Three layers of stone niches were carved out of the rock wall on the left. The top layer was piled with yellowed bone tablets tied with faded red ropes.

There were a dozen small porcelain bottles arranged on the middle level, half of which were broken.

On the lower level were scattered several rusted weapons, one of which had a dagger with a half-rotten leather rope hanging on the hilt.

A skeleton can be seen curled up in the corner. The surface of the skeleton is covered with cracks and there are a lot of red marks left on it. The finger bones are deeply dug into the ground, and the head is looking up at the dome at a twisted angle, as if it was enduring extreme pain before its death.

After analyzing and scanning, relevant information emerges:
【Sword Heart (Death)】:
Target analysis: When the cultivation reached the critical stage, Ba Jian forcibly drained all the blood and essence in the body, causing the body to disintegrate. Ba Jian deliberately delayed the death process and converted the extreme pain of dying into his own energy. The pain lasted for three days before he died.

……

"Tsk, this broken sword is so vicious, it kills people if they are of no use to you."

After reading the analysis, the origin of this stone chamber becomes clear.

It can be concluded that it was left behind by the previous host of Ba Jian. It had practiced and grown here and vowed to avenge its people.

But in the end, under the deception and instigation of Ba Jian, he went to a dead end for power and eventually became Ba Jian's nourishment.

Turn your eyes forward.

In the center of the stone chamber stood a black square tripod, covered with spider-web-like cracks, and rich energy and blood fluctuations emanated from the tripod.

The Overlord Sword automatically detached and flew to hover above the cauldron.

The sword body vibrated slightly and made a low humming sound.

The solidified black substance in the cauldron suddenly began to wriggle, and a strand of sticky plasma rose from the cauldron and wrapped around the sword like a living thing.

The cracks on the sword's spine greedily absorbed energy, and the spider-web-like cracks on the sword body healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Blood veins flowed on the sword, as if life was injected into it again, and the originally dull sword edge gradually emitted a cold light.

As the absorption continued, the blood clots in the cauldron quickly dried up and cracked, turning into dark red dust that fell down. At the sword guard of the Tyrant Sword, the vertical pupils that had been tightly closed suddenly opened.

The red pupil shrank to the size of a needle tip, and several blood threads extended from the end of the hilt, piercing into the cauldron like roots, squeezing out every last bit of essence.

When the last drop of blood was absorbed, the Overlord Sword suddenly burst out with a dazzling blood light.

But Jiang Cheng, who used analytical observation, discovered that Ba Jian's hunting level had not been restored.

From this, it can be judged that Ba Jian used his own original power to assist it in its cultivation.

This part of power cannot be repaired by absorbing external energy at all, and can only grow according to the logical requirements of the rules.

The Qi and blood energy in the cauldron is similar to the blood recovery potion in the player system, and the growth of the Overlord Sword itself can only be obtained through hunting after being "held by the sword" and even through painful emotions.

If it was before the plan of "seizing the rules of the artifact" was launched, Jiang Cheng would definitely not give Ba Jian the opportunity to absorb the blood and energy.

After Ba Jian's strength is restored, he will be completely out of their control.

Rather than risking losing control, it is better to directly deal real damage and kill the target to gain hunting benefits.

But now they have bigger goals.

Before we get the coordinates of the clan behind the Overlord Sword, the Overlord Sword still has some value.

At this time, the Ba Jian, which had recovered some of its power, automatically returned to Jiang Cheng's hands.

Looking around, Jiang Cheng decided to take away everything in the stone chamber.

But there doesn’t seem to be anything good here. It is not a real treasure trove of resources, but more like a gas station where Ba Jian cheats people on his way.

Store qi and blood in different areas for emergency use.

"Bajian, can I take away the pills and items refined here?" Jiang Cheng asked before leaving.

"Of course." Ba Jian agreed without hesitation.

In fact, everything in the stone chamber was left by the third host and has no meaning.

The only valuable thing is the qi and blood energy in the stone tripod.

This was what it asked the host to create back then, with the purpose of assisting the host in practicing a method that would have extremely strong side effects.

After it sucked the host dry, the remaining blood in the cauldron was used as a transit station. It was thinking that it would be active in the Pale Continent area. If it encountered a crisis in the future, it would build a few more resource rooms that could be used for healing and hiding.

But I didn't expect that it would actually be used this time.

Hearing Ba Jian's agreement, Jiang Cheng took decisive action.

Turn on the analysis and scan, and put the things on the three-story stone niche into the space bag.

Even if you can't use it yourself, you can put it on the trading house, and at the very least you can sacrifice Brother Di Zhao in exchange for sacrificial power.

According to preliminary estimates, the things here are worth about 1 sacrificial power. Compared with the blood pool treasure house discovered by the little wizard, and even the dark space treasure house discovered by the director, the difference is not a little bit.

But it is also a considerable extra income.

Seeing Jiang Cheng taking away the items on the shrine, Ba Jian asked curiously:
"You have space-related items?"

Facing the question, Jiang Cheng, who had already packed all his things into his space bag, nodded:
"This is the only remaining treasure of my Tianhuo clan. It can be used to store items."

As he spoke, Jiang Cheng pointed to the ring in his hand, which was actually a rune resonance weapon.

Ba Jian's perception swept towards the ring, and he was shocked to find that there was a substance that seemed to be regular energy left on it.

But what exactly it is, it cannot be analyzed through perception.

This immediately caused greed to emerge in its heart.

He had made up his mind that after killing Jiang Cheng, he would take the ring with some power of rules into his pocket.

After leaving the resource library, Ba Jian once again had the idea of ​​hunting.

It wanted to test whether it could gain strength through hunting after recovering some of its strength.

If success still fails, perhaps the only way to find a solution to the hidden danger is to return to the tribe.

"Since senior wants, let's continue hunting." Jiang Cheng nodded respectfully and agreed.

Although he agreed verbally, he still had no intention of letting Ba Jian absorb any energy from his blood.

The goal now is very clear, which is to find the specific coordinates of Ba Jian’s clan territory.

When faced with unsolvable problems, the normal thinking is to seek help from elders, relatives, and friends.

Even for their players, it is the same.

If you encounter a problem that you cannot solve, the first thing that comes to mind is to post on the forum and ask for help.

So he would not let Ba Jian succeed and had to continue to create difficulties.

This made Ba Jian completely despair. He gave up the idea of ​​continuing to try and turned to seek help from his tribe members.

At that time, he will have the opportunity to come into contact with the artifact clan.

With the specific coordinates, it is only a matter of time to obtain the artifact rules.

Soon, they found their hunting target in the desert.

A giant scorpion at hunter level 28.

When the Overlord Sword pierced the first Dune Scorpion, the corpse exploded instantly, and the essence of its flesh and blood automatically turned into blood mist and was absorbed by Jiang Cheng.

But in Ba Jian's eyes, it was a completely different scene. The scorpion seemed to be crushed by some invisible force, turning into powder and flying away with the yellow sand, disappearing in the hot wind.

strange!
There was a hint of anxiety in Ba Jian's emotional fluctuations.

Now it has recovered 15% of its strength and thought that this hunt would go smoothly.

But I didn't expect that the problem has not been solved yet.

It's not even clear how to solve the problem.

What is clear is that it can still absorb qi and blood energy to restore its own strength.

The only problems are with hunting and negative emotion intake.

Thinking about it this way, the problem is most likely with the artifact derivative rule imprint.

Perhaps the "derivative rule imprint" in the body underwent some unexpected changes due to the purple-skinned evil demon's palm, causing the derivative rule imprint to malfunction.

Perhaps the only way to solve this problem is to return to the tribe's land.

Jiang Cheng, who had completed the killing, pretended to be concerned and asked:
"Senior, is your recovery going smoothly?"

"try again."

"it is good."

Jiang Cheng agreed decisively.

Since Ba Jian wanted to try, he would let Ba Jian try to his heart's content.

When he tried the Overlord Sword, he began to doubt whether he was useless.

The most desperate thing is not the lack of opportunity to try, but the failure after countless attempts.

The proof is not that there are no opportunities, but that even if you are given opportunities, you cannot grasp them.

Thinking of this, Jiang Cheng continued hunting.

Killed the second and third prey...

During every hunt, Jiang Cheng would release the characteristics of his soul, causing the energy that should have been absorbed by the Overlord Sword to strangely "evaporate" the moment it touched the sword.

During this period, he sped up the pace of hunting, giving Ba Jian ample opportunities to feel the despair of every fruitless effort.

When the seventh desert giant lizard also turned into ashes, the sword of the Overlord Sword began to emit an unstable buzzing sound.

The cracks that had just been repaired reappeared, and Jiang Cheng and Xia Sheng could clearly sense the chaotic emotions emanating from Ba Jian.

Confusion, anger, and... a hint of despair.

This made Jiang Cheng and Xia Sheng happy.

This broken sword still wants to cheat the players, without even asking whether the players' portable analysis capabilities allow it.

There is a set of rules system behind these players.

If you want to cheat the players, you're far from it.

Ba Jian obviously didn't know that the prey in his eyes was beyond his understanding at all.

What is a player? A monster with unlimited expansion talent that can even accommodate the original monsters that represent the basic rules of the world.

It is a hidden natural disaster that can rely on the "resurrection mechanism" to fight against the black tide and the insect tide.

Ba Jian's bewitching methods might be useful to ordinary NPCs in the monster world, but not to them, the players.

Sorry, they don’t like plot-related killings.

In Jiang Cheng and Xia Sheng's eyes, all of Ba Jian's bewitching lines were just plot content that could be skipped.

In essence, Ba Jian is not even qualified to be an opponent.

From beginning to end, it was all a game of pretending to be a pig and eating the tiger.

If the Overlord Sword had not been of any use, it would have died in despair from the extreme pain inflicted by the "Touch of Pain".

Maybe the materials have already been put on the trading floor and bought by a player at a high price.

After repeated attempts and failures, Ba Jian, who was completely desperate, said the words that Jiang Cheng and Xia Sheng had been waiting for for a long time:
"Tianhuo, I have something to ask of you."

"Senior, tell me."

"I have been sleeping for three thousand years, and my body seems to have undergone some unexpected changes. Now I may need to go to the tribe for recuperation, but the journey is quite long. Are you willing to escort me there?"

"No problem." Jiang Cheng nodded and agreed without hesitation, but he was actually very happy.

They have wasted a lot of time accompanying Ba Jian, and this is their core demand.

Find the nest, and then wait for the opportunity to blow it up!
It is impossible to buy it, the only way to solve the problem is to grab it.

(End of this chapter)