Chapter 643 The Burning Sacred Tree (8000, Seeking Monthly Tickets!)

Seaside Capital, December, winter. The great clock in the core city struck sixteen times.

The biting wind and snowflakes fluttered in the city's sky, and the clouds obscured the sunlight, but the massive metropolis was incredibly bright, relying solely on its own lights. A pale mist lingered at the top of the high-rise buildings, but the streets of the city center were ablaze with activity.

The outer and inner districts were filled with hanging lanterns and draperies, which fluttered in the ice and snow, accompanied by the aroma of grilled meat and fine wine. The grand orchestral performances of the public symphony orchestra were being performed for free on the open-air stage, and the heart-stirring music reached straight through the cold wind and above the clouds.

This was part of the custom in the southeastern region of the Aean Continent, the year-end carnival, celebrating the upcoming new year, which would last for two weeks, until the second day of the new year.

In the ancient past, the essence of the carnival was actually that the local residents had harvested all the grain, sown the winter crops, and had nothing to do between the first and second heavy snowfalls, using drinking and eating meat to pass the time, and celebrating the end of a year of hard work.

This celebration time gradually evolved into a festival, and now it has become a culture, a means of promotion. All businesses are shouting about year-end sales and price reductions, and many residents who are incited by the festive atmosphere happen to have surplus grain at this time, so they naturally spend a little more lavishly.

But no matter what, this is a celebration.

And celebrations need to be enjoyed.

"Don't sneak drinks, Seneca. You keep an eye on the other kids. These little ones want to try everything."

In the outer district, in a carnival area bought by the First Light Warship, the tall, white-haired man bent down and rubbed Loya's dispirited face, which was secretly approaching a bottle of fruit wine, until it was deformed. Su Zhou pulled the smiling Seneca over and instructed him, "If it really doesn't work, ask Lady Dawn and Master Flint for help, but before that, you have to learn to adapt to this chaotic situation."

"No problem, Professor!"

Hearing Su Zhou's instructions and trust, Seneca, who had been dispirited, perked up. He responded loudly, and then walked with great momentum towards the place where the children were gathered and playing not far away.

Su Zhou smiled as he watched his back.

Seneca's petrified face had been mostly healed in the recent month of Blazing Ember Flame cultivation. Now, only his expression was a little stiff, and everything else was normal.

Except for Gasha, who had already gotten drunk from secretly drinking fruit wine, all the children were now celebrating the festival in the outer district, and Flint and Dawn were watching these little ones, enjoying this long-lost cheerful atmosphere, in a city where ordinary people and demonized people were equally treated.

Since Dawn also began cultivating the Blazing Ember Flame three weeks ago, her strength had also increased considerably.

Fairies are pure energy beings. Even silver fairies have talents far beyond ordinary people, and their souls have been tempered by a long time. They are also pure and flawless. So, along the way, her cultivation progress has been climbing almost like flying. Among all the children who had cultivated before, only Loya barely managed not to be caught up with his extraordinary talent.

And after coming to the Seaside Capital and waiting for the year-end auction for more than a month, the name of the Radiant Light Society had gradually gained some reputation in the circle of professionals.

All of this was thanks to Master Flint—since Su Zhou purchased a complete set of alchemical equipment and mechanical engineering tools for him, he had manufactured many useful small parts, and after Su Zhou, he would also popularize some alchemical knowledge to all the children.

And with Flint's craftsmanship, some small trinkets he made casually, as well as the handicrafts he tutored the children to make, such as some source energy flashlights, portable food heaters, etc., sold fairly well, and the quality was also very good because of the supervisor.

Seeing this scene, Su Zhou also felt quite emotional, and then selected several from the children, mainly Gasha, to teach them his commonly used martial arts.

Although he was often ridiculed as a second-rate martial artist, in fact, Su Zhou's combat experience had returned to simplicity, at least touching the level of the top of the first-rate, and, he could be said to be super-first-rate, or even outside the scope of comparison, in the means of using Dragon Blood divine power, as well as various strange battle methods!

"—Gasha, watch carefully, you are a Dragonkin bloodline, so you can definitely do it!"

So, Su Zhou spat out a breath, directly burning the metal humanoid that served as a target into metal vapor, causing the golden-red storm to churn endlessly within the restraint field, like a turbulent lava sun.

Looking at this scene with a shocked expression, and hearing Su Zhou's encouragement, Gasha, in addition to being rarely stunned, was also full of confusion in his heart.

—No, Professor, aren't you a dragon, but a devil? Why can you breathe dragon breath?!

And my bloodline is a sea dragon, although it's not impossible to cultivate fire-based source energy, but breathing such dragon breath is really a bit unlikely, right?

Shocked in his heart, Gasha delicately expressed his views to Su Zhou, such as his young age and insufficient talent.

But how could a sea dragon be such an inconvenient thing? For Gasha's confusion, Su Zhou had a bold answer. He immediately demonstrated to Gasha the stunt of decomposing water into hydrogen and oxygen, and then creating an abnormally grand flame storm, making the child completely convinced that it was common sense for sea dragons to breathe fire.

The reason why Su Zhou cared so much about the orphans, in addition to the fact that he was indeed a good person and that his predecessor truly loved them, was also because he wanted the people of this world to gain their own strength.

Candlelight, a sign of revolution—this is certainly not wrong. The soul of a young man who has traveled through the world will indeed bring about great changes as long as he appears.

But what about after the change?

Su Zhou firmly believed that he could save this world that had been dusk-ified, the land that was on the verge of destruction, but… he was only pulling the world out of its predicament.

After the predicament, the thing that needs to be done is the most difficult 'creation'.

After he leaves, the Aean world needs these children as tinder, as seeds, to grow, to become giant trees supporting the world, and then continue to transform this world, making it better.

Inheritance… continuation, and existence.

Naturally, it is also part of the innovation.

"Please come in, Professor Svetloy, this way please!"

Thinking like this, Su Zhou had already bid farewell to the Radiant Light Society group who were happily playing and arrived at the auction house in the core city of the Seaside Capital.

On the ancient streets of the core city, the crowds were surging. Although the atmosphere of the carnival was weakened a lot here, even nobles and big merchants would visit each other at this time to get acquainted. All kinds of luxury cars and mounts emerged one after another. Su Zhou even saw a small mobile airship floating in the air. It was completely a creation of source energy technology, extremely rare.

Under the respectful welcome of the auction house receptionist, Su Zhou entered the auction house. There were not many people here, but each one had a very strong aura. The turbulent source energy fluctuations were as mixed and intertwined as the surface of a lake in a rainstorm. If ordinary people entered this auction house at will, they would probably be suppressed and fainted by the aura before they could even think.

With just a glance, Su Zhou could see Heart Light stage professionals as common as cabbages. Even if some people looked a little ordinary and had ordinary strength, fools would know that it was just a habit of disguise.

"It seems that I'm the only one who is a genuine Spirit Radiance stage."

Muttering to himself like this, the white-haired man, whom no one dared to approach within five meters of his body, shook his head slightly and continued to follow the receptionist forward.

The surface part of the auction house, which was built in the central area of the core city, was just an office and a reception hall. Its main body was located underground. After going hundreds of meters deep into the core city, Su Zhou came to the real gate of this underground auction house, which contained an ancient atmosphere.

At the gate, there were two old men with the true membership status of the Falses family hanging on their chests standing here. They were expressionless, like statues. Even in the face of layers of continuous source energy impact, their standing posture remained motionless.

Source energy, more turbulent and deeper than the sea, lingered around them, even vaguely condensing into almost tangible phantoms, making people feel awe in their hearts.

The strength of these two guards was obviously at the high-stage, or even the peak level of the Heart Light stage. This level of strongman was a guest of honor wherever he went. Even in the Imperial Army, he could be a colonel, leading a division. An ordinary noble family could show off to other families if they had such a guest elder.

It could be seen that the year-end auction of the Seaside Capital was indeed the highest specification in this world.

"The auction house has four gates, Professor. In order to avoid conflicts, the Imperial side, the Northern Group, the Southeast Noble Union, and the Free Party have their own different venues. You are a Free Party member, please follow me to your exclusive box."

After entering the gate, the receptionist changed. Su Zhou recognized the other party. It was the secretary who ran errands for Erumas, and was sent by Erumas to personally receive him.

On the way to the box, he was still introducing some forces that needed attention in this auction to Su Zhou: "Look, over there is the representative of the Third Group Army of the Empire, and also the spokesperson of the royal will. Mr. Aharonov, the general of the Third Group Army, was just a soldier when he and His Majesty, who was just an illegitimate son at the time, trained together on the battlefield. The First Knight of the Empire at that time also fought with them."

"First Knight?"

Hearing the secretary's faint worship, Su Zhou, who knew from the Empire's secret agents that the Seaside Capital was actually quite at odds with the Empire, asked curiously, "The strongest of the Imperial military nobles?"

"No, sir, although many people don't admit it, at least we think that the First Knight, Mr. Ilovitz, is the strongest in the Empire!"

Hearing Su Zhou's question, the secretary shook his head and retorted while leading the way, "Mr. Ilovitz is unwilling to become a noble, nor has he joined the army. He just gives his loyalty to His Majesty and is willing to become a knight guarding him. He is a knight who belongs only to His Majesty."

"At that time, His Majesty had just ascended the throne and wanted to give Mr. Ilovitz a duke's giant city as a fief. Many great nobles opposed it, but His Majesty made all the unwilling nobles willing… but the First Knight Mr. Ilovitz was unwilling."

The secretary was obviously a fan of the First Knight, at least a romantic. Su Zhou listened to him explain for a few minutes about the adventures of the First Knight and Asmodeus XIII, who was still an illegitimate son, and General Aharolov almost traveling around the world, his heart could not help but move slightly: "That's right, no matter what Asmodeus XIII will be like in the future, at least in the past and now, he still has many people supporting him. His vicious treatment of the infected does not necessarily mean that he is not good to the people around him."

What exactly does he want to do? What is the real purpose?

Why does he seem to be able to control the sacred tree, but is also connected to the Twilight dependents?

It was in order to understand this, to understand the true thoughts of this powerful emperor who will most likely destroy the barbarian offensive, defeat the Twilight dependents' invasion, pacify the entire continent, and usher in a new era in the future, that Su Zhou was willing to spend more than a month waiting for this auction, trying to sense that sacred tree core that should be extremely important.

"This is it, Professor Svetloy, your box."

The secretary respectfully led Su Zhou into it. The private box on the third floor had a very good environment. There were both source energy-rich tea and various rare fruits that were beneficial to cultivation. There was also incense burning in the room that could make people calm and clear-headed. Just this set alone would probably cost one or two thousand imperial coins.

Sitting in the seat, the transparent glass could both project a light screen and directly observe the underground square on the first floor used to display the auction items. The auction venue was already full of guests, and each one was probably a great figure in their territory.

No one dared to perceive each other. Everyone was afraid, mentally, and each had their own restraint.

But even so, based on the instinctive aura, the twistedness that was like a giant whirlpool in the ocean enough to swallow islands, Su Zhou could also sense at least four or five 'God Intent stage' professionals in the entire auction house.

Most of these God Intent stage professionals belonged to different blocks, each being the center of a group of followers.

"Wearing military uniforms openly, the representatives of the Imperial Army… a group of hooded robes, gray background and silver patterns, rhombus emblems, the representatives of the Light Chasing Sect."

Narrowing his eyes, Su Zhou's mind flashed with various imperial secrets that Master Flint had explained to him, as well as the characteristics between the big forces: "That banner, is Frostwind City, the Northern Frostguard Army is also here? It really has a murderous aura all over it, and it feels quite familiar."

"White robes and stone crowns, sun emblems, this is the Holy Sun Sect. Wait…"

Seeing the end, Su Zhou suddenly frowned: "Why are the Twilight dependents also here? Isn't that the Northern Barbarian tribe? Can they also cross half the continent to buy things in the Seaside Capital? Aren't they afraid of buying them and not being able to go back?"

"This auction, basically people from all camps are gathered together. Neutral ground is good in this regard, so convenient. No wonder all forces hope that the Seaside Capital exists."

These major forces all have God Intent stage strongmen guarding them, and they are completely different from other forces and individuals in terms of specifications and aura.

"Wait."

At this moment, Yala suddenly spoke. She appeared in Su Zhou's ears and looked at the direction of the Frostguard Army with some confusion: "Those people… have the aura of my dependents on them?"

"Oh?"

Hearing this sentence, Su Zhou could not help but raise his eyebrows. He turned his head and looked at the direction of the Frostguard Army—a group of soldiers carrying banners and wearing armor. He did not see any aura of Chaos dependents: "Really? That's obviously a military formation, right?"

"Speaking of which, the Frostguard Army and the Barbarians should be mortal enemies. It's a bit outrageous that they haven't started fighting yet when they are gathered together."

"What's so strange about that? Don't you also have Perfect dependents, Pioneer dependents, Sacred Tree dependents, and Chaos dependents under your command on Earth? Have you ever fought each other privately? Aren't you all getting along harmoniously?"

Yala flicked her tail. She had become very large, almost two meters long, and wrapped around Su Zhou's arm, like a crimson arm guard.

The Snake Spirit said softly, "The dependent aura on these soldiers is very weak, but it is very pure, proving that they have indeed been in contact with my dependents, and the other party's strength is quite good, so even after a long time, even you cannot sense it, and it still remains on them."

"No, it may not be contact… they were just imprinted by the other party's aura after seeing that dependent of mine."

"…It seems that this world is really quite chaotic."

Su Zhou didn't feel anything. He just muttered 'Chaos is indeed everywhere' and then continued to look at the field.

And just as the man was observing the entire field, a dull and distant bell rang.

The year-end auction began in this way.

There was no opening speech, nor was there any host to warm up the atmosphere—with the strength and status of this group of people on the scene, even the owner of the Seaside Capital, the current head of the Falses family, was not qualified to do so, so they simply and neatly entered the auction link directly.

"Start, the first auction item!"

The person in charge of hosting was an elder of the Falses family. He had the strength of a high-stage God Intent. The source energy surrounding him was about to be converted into another more pure and condensed form. Visible energy fluctuations rippled in reality with his every move.

Su Zhou could sense that, calculated according to the Earth's method, the strength of the Falses family elder in front of him was only one step away from Earth Immortal. He had already stepped on the threshold of the 'Path of Spirit'. As long as he completely converted his source energy into another pure energy and greatly expanded his energy reserves, he could become an Earth Immortal, which was the 'Disaster Realm' in this world, and could protect a mobile city-state, a family for thousands of years.

However, the Disaster Realm itself is pain and disaster. Even though theoretically the lifespan of a Disaster Realm strongman is longer than an empire, the wars of empire change can kill many strongmen who have surpassed natural disasters.

And just after the Falses family elder announced the start, accompanied by a wave of space fluctuations, a giant triangular pyramid source energy mechanical creation with a height of 30 meters appeared among the crowd. Even though this creation was not running, the rich source energy fluctuations that were enough to make ordinary people suffer from demonization spread with it as the center!

"A small urban source energy core, with a certificate of the Southern Border Baron's title. After forming a city, it will automatically become the lord of the Southern Border."

After a simple introduction, the elder did not say much. None of the people present needed him to explain: "The base price is 60 million, or equivalent guiding techniques, secret rituals, and alchemical potions."

The auction hall was quiet for a while. As an opening item, the rights and core of a territory of a real local nobleman were not shabby, or rather, this thing was a real hard currency. No matter what force, who wouldn't want to have one more affiliated city-state in their territory?

Several seconds later, someone began to bid.

Su Zhou was not interested in these, so he did not listen carefully to the bidding process. He just narrowed his eyes and noticed that the person who finally reached the transaction with a same-stage secret ritual seemed to belong to the Northern Barbarians.

"It's not surprising, after all, whether it's the Winter or Sunset tribe, how much they crave to have more of their own cities, and not just simple mobile tribes."

Shaking his head slightly, Su Zhou felt quite wonderful—the enemy of the entire continental civilization actually bought the strategic materials they needed most with money at the continental auction.

It's really not surprising that capitalists will sell the rope to hang themselves. It's no wonder that in Loya's experience in the future, he did not lack alchemical equipment and materials. The giant god soldier that broke through Frostwind Pass was the embodiment of the entire Aean world's top alchemical technology, with the support of the entire world's alchemical technology.

The second auction item was a cultivation manual of a Disaster Realm strongman, a powerful secret method of controlling flames, said to be able to create a Burning Sea Divine Weapon that burns everything, originating from the ancient Montella Federation, which had long disappeared into the dust of history.

This thing was also a hard currency, at least in this world where inheritance was not publicized, there was no national cultivation, and the spread of cultivation methods, it was real wealth—although for Su Zhou, who had never lacked cultivation methods, this seemed a little strange, but in most extraordinary worlds, knowledge and experience could be directly converted into power.

And power itself is the greatest wealth.

Su Zhou was even less interested in this. Isn't his antimatter engine Star-Slaying Sword fragrant? Although most of the time it can only slay stars, it is much more powerful than this nuclear fusion flame sword with a maximum temperature of tens of millions of degrees.

In the following auctions, various wonderful creations and divine objects also emerged one after another, dazzling the eyes.

Powerful guiding techniques that can protect towns and avoid natural disasters.

The secret ritual foundation that can make the dying return to health, and the rare source energy plants that can mass-produce this potion.

Powerful Disaster Realm divine weapons, the ownership of a mine, and various alchemical creations and magic scrolls with powerful effects.

Every auction item, when placed outside, would be enough to cause a stir, or even trigger a war—but here, everyone fairly relied on wealth to solve the problem of ownership.

The problem of money is not a problem.

Even Su Zhou bought a set of processing modules for large mobile warships—this giant warship module can be loaded on the First Light Warship, making it more massive and sturdy, and possessing at least self-sufficient industrial production capacity.

He originally wanted to buy a set of ecological cycle systems for warships, but the value of this module was too low to be bought at the auction, so it seemed that he could only go to the relevant factories in the Seaside Capital to order it later.

"Speaking of which, I let those children cultivate, and I also let them learn alchemy, and now I want them to engage in industrial processing… is it a bit too much like child labor?"

Thinking for a while, Su Zhou shrugged: "I'm really a good person."

And now, he also understood why the year-end auction would be tacitly approved by everyone.

This is essentially an underground meeting where major forces pinch their noses and sit down to conduct a resource integration. They all have their own purposes and thoughts, but in this neutral area, they only use wealth to speak and obtain those rarities that even money cannot buy.

With the smooth completion of the transaction of one auction item after another that was completely considered a divine object outside, time also flew by quickly.

Then, the second-to-last, the finale auction item, was on the stage.

Su Zhou raised his eyebrows.

Because that was the perfect metal he made.

"More perfect than today's standard flawless metal, more than two levels above the standard material, the highest grade of source energy steel, can be used to manufacture giant city-level super source energy core parts, Disaster Realm divine weapons, and city-protecting secret ritual core components."

Still a simple but informative introduction, the elder showed only five boxes of the simplest metal ingots—but even so, the entire auction house was instantly silent.

There was silence.

The credibility of the Falses family was the reason for their existence to this day. No one would suspect that they would lie, so everyone gasped and understood the value of the five boxes of source energy steel in front of them.

Yes, it was not a finished product.

But precisely because it was not a finished product, it was valuable!

For the people who appeared in this auction house, did anyone not know the manufacturing method of the source energy core, the forging technique of the divine weapon, or how to carry out the secret ritual?

Everyone knew, but they lacked materials.

But, if they had these few boxes of flawless source energy steel… whether it was manufacturing the highest level of source energy core, or the calamity weapon that could trigger natural disasters, or the shield that could resist all destruction… as long as they wanted to, they could do it!

It represented infinite possibilities!

"Who is it, how could they manufacture so much flawless metal?!"

"Five boxes, this can make more than a dozen Disaster Realm divine weapons…"

"My God, how many cities lack these… although theoretically, as long as there is a Disaster Realm strongman or a giant source energy factory, they can manufacture it, it's not precious… but who would嫌 flawless metal is not enough, and even take it out for trading?!"

"And its quality is far higher than ordinary flawless metal!"

The elder on the stage looked around the silent auction hall. He smiled slightly—no one knew the significance of flawless metal better than the Arses family, which was also why they would rather pay more money and pay the deposit first to buy the other five boxes.

Especially, recently, although it seemed calm, the wind and clouds were surging…

Although five boxes of flawless metal were not much and could not really affect the real strength of a major force, the benefits and advantages it could bring were even more unclear and could not be measured with money at all.

"The base price is 70 million, or equivalent other curiosities!"

The elder announced this, and at the moment when his voice fell, the representative of the Imperial Army immediately bid: "120 million."

That young voice directly added 50 million, and the voice was extremely calm.

"140 million." And the second voice directly doubled the initial price.

In the hall, within five minutes, the price was bid sixteen times, and it only slowed down after reaching the price of 320 million.

After all, this was just the finale item, not the treasure that these forces really gathered to compete for.

—But to be honest, even so, Su Zhou felt it was exaggerated.

But thinking about it carefully, it was not surprising.

"If the various countries on Earth were to auction an alloy material that is far better than the material of Earth's spacecraft, but not impossible to reverse engineer, they certainly wouldn't be stingy with the price—materials that surpass the times mean creations that surpass the times."

Soon, in the end, these five boxes of flawless metal were obtained by the Light Chasing Sect for 360 million—Su Zhou felt really subtle in his heart, because as a member of the Light Chasing Sect, under the provision of Su Zhou's raw materials, Master Flint's chair legs that he had recently made for himself were of this level of flawless metal.

Good guy, the price of an iron chair starts at 200 million, too luxurious, too luxurious.

Not to mention that the outer layer of the armor of the First Light Warship is entirely flawless metal, that price,啧啧啧.

And Yala was entrenched on Su Zhou's shoulders, and she had been watching this auction.

However, unlike Su Zhou, who was just watching the show and waiting for the sacred tree, the Snake Spirit was flicking her tail and counting softly: "There is the sacred tree, there is the twilight, there is the pioneer, there is mine, and there is even the balance… so many dependents are gathered together."

"Ha, it really deserves to be a world of twilight, there is everything, it can simply open a great existence dependent appreciation guide."

After this auction, Su Zhou could earn more than 600 million imperial coins, or the same level of wonders and divine objects.

Although it sounds like a lot, if you want to build a real force and association, it may just be enough.

But Su Zhou didn't care, he would just sell some more materials.

Under the stage, the real climax of the entire auction was about to come.

"Everyone, this year-end auction of the Seaside Capital is about to come to an end. Please allow me to introduce to you the last treasure, the supreme divine object excavated from the ruins of the ancient era of the gods, possessing strange longevity power, a treasure that is almost coexisting with the world!"

At this moment, even the elder, who had always been concise, bowed slightly to the entire audience. Space fluctuations appeared, and a giant opaque crystal cabinet appeared in the center of the square: "Please watch."

The entire audience was silent, and in the silence, he opened the cabinet door.

A rich, materialized vitality mist overflowed from it and spread to the entire audience—in just an instant, everyone who inhaled this mist felt refreshed, the dark injuries in their bodies began to heal, and even their lifespan faintly increased.

Then, a cyan, flame-like source energy phantom was ignited in the center of the mist.

A tree core, entwined like roots and also in a translucent form, appeared in front of everyone.

"The Longevity Firewood… or, the core of the Burning Sacred Tree."

Seeking monthly tickets!

Everyone can send more comments in this chapter. There are activities that can be used to get some free stuff!