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Chapter 217: Xifan's Ambition
Chapter 217: Xifan's Ambition
Xifan's control over the princess and his bid for power are not whimsical acts; they are not for the sake of trivial authority. Every move Xifan makes is driven by a single, overarching goal: to ascend to the eighth stage and become the most powerful being within the world's rules.
To achieve this ascension, Xifan has been planning for nearly a century. During this time, he has scoured the world's greatest secret realms and even delved into the abyss to gather treasures that can help him break through his current bottleneck.
Within the empire, apart from the recently ascended seventh-stage Sarah, the other three seventh-stage powerhouses—Roland, Andrew, and Charles Plantagenet—maintain close ties with Xifan.
Three years ago, Xifan finally gathered all the necessary treasures, confident that he could ascend. However, these treasures require a special crystal called a "Madness Fragment" to unleash their full potential.
Madness Fragments can only be obtained from large numbers of commoners. Approximately one fragment can be harvested from 100 commoners after a special ritual, and Xifan needs at least 3,000 fragments to activate all his treasures. This means he needs 300,000 commoners to participate in the ritual to collect enough fragments.
Madness Fragments cannot be stored; they dissipate on their own within a week. Therefore, Xifan cannot stockpile them over a long period. This led him to devise his plan:
Xifan contacted the three seventh-stage powerhouses to seize control of the empire. Using the authority of the throne, he planned to gather the hundreds of thousands of residents of Forest City to participate in the ritual, thus collecting the necessary Madness Fragments.
The three seventh-stage powerhouses supported Xifan's plan. If Xifan successfully ascends, the threat from the northern rebels would be eliminated, and they would also benefit greatly, aligning with their interests.
However, the Guardian, Kevin Plantagenet, staunchly opposed Xifan's ascension.
Kevin Plantagenet believed that Xifan's ascension process would result in the deaths of countless commoners, which would not serve the empire's best interests. More importantly, Xifan's ascension would threaten Kevin's position.
Thus, Kevin Plantagenet repeatedly threatened Xifan, ordering him not to ascend.
Under the immense pressure from Kevin Plantagenet, Xifan had to outwardly comply while secretly collecting the necessary treasures. This is why his original plan, which could have been completed in a few decades, took nearly a century.
Xifan had always shown outward respect to Kevin Plantagenet, but he harbored deep-seated hatred. Now, the opportunity has finally arrived!
Kevin Plantagenet's main body is trapped in the "Radiant New World" and cannot escape, making it the perfect time for Xifan to ascend. He must seize this window to break through his bottleneck.
This is why a series of events have unfolded in Forest City.
In the imperial palace, the leaders of various factions followed Xifan's orders to gather the commoners. Xifan stood beside the emperor, shrouded in black mist, using "Mind Steal" to read his memories. Su Yu carefully considered the events leading up to this moment, gaining a better grasp of the main plot ahead.
After reading the emperor's memories, Xifan stood in deep thought for a moment. Then, he walked over to Su Yu, looking at him with interest. "Counter, what did that old man, Kevin Plantagenet, say?"
Su Yu's lips twitched slightly as he replied, "The Guardian did not give me any response."
Su Yu was not lying; he had no way to communicate with the Guardian, and the Guardian naturally did not respond to him.
"Hmph! I hope that old man dies of anger in the new world." Xifan flicked his sleeve and transformed into black mist, preparing to leave the palace.
But Su Yu called out to him, "Hold on, Xivan! I've delivered so many messages for you. Aren't you going to give me something in return? You can't be thinking of using me for free labor, can you?"
Hearing Su Yu's words, the black mist once again transformed into a human form.
Xivan looked at Su Yu with a hint of surprise. This kid actually had the nerve to ask for a reward?
The others in the grand hall, including the Seventh-Rank powerhouse Sara, all looked at Su Yu in astonishment.
At this critical moment, instead of showing submission to Xivan, Su Yu was still speaking up so loudly?
Xivan thought for a moment, then tossed a bottle of blue potion with a golden glow from his sleeve toward Su Yu.
"Ding, [Glory of the Goldfinch Empire (30/100)] completed. Congratulations, you have gained 20,000 experience points."
"Congratulations, you have received an additional reward: [Advanced Azure Wisdom Potion (Golden Rare)] x1."
[Advanced Azure Wisdom Potion (Golden Rare)]: Increases your intelligence by 200 points for 60 seconds. Cooldown time: 5 minutes.
This potion was quite good and could be brought back to the real world, significantly boosting his power.
But Su Yu disdainfully curled his lip. "For a Seventh-Rank Legendary Peak powerhouse, is that all you can offer? You're being awfully stingy, aren't you?"
"Stingy?!"
Sara and the leaders of the major factions who hadn't left yet all looked at Su Yu as if he were an idiot. Was this kid asking for a death sentence?
Well, interdimensional adventurers weren't afraid of death. They would revive after six hours.
But Xivan was a Seventh-Rank Legendary Peak powerhouse. Was Su Yu not afraid that Xivan might permanently imprison his soul?
Xivan's face darkened, and he formed a large hand out of black mist, intending to crush the insect in front of him.
But Su Yu remained unperturbed and continued, "Xivan, actually, we have something to work together on. You need [Madness Fragments], right? I have a way to help you obtain a large number of them."
At the mention of "Madness Fragments," the black mist hand halted just inches from Su Yu.
In the face of such a significant advancement, Su Yu's minor insolence seemed less important.
"What do you have in mind?" Xivan's tone was slightly harsh.
Su Yu placed his hands behind his back and calmly replied, "The biggest challenge in collecting [Madness Fragments] is that the city's residents don't cooperate, making it harder as you go along, right?"
Xivan needed to set up a Shadow Madness Array and activate the [Madness Ritual]. Civilians entering the magic array would behave like rabid animals, attacking and tearing each other apart until everyone nearby was dead.
A single [Madness Ritual] could involve up to 10,000 civilians.
After the ritual, half of the civilians would die, a quarter would be critically injured, and the remaining quarter would survive but with lifelong psychological trauma.
Initially, the civilians didn't know how terrifying the ritual was, so the first few [Madness Rituals] were completed successfully.
But the civilians weren't fools.
They noticed that those who went to the ritual never returned, and the number of people around them was dwindling. They began to resist and flee on their own, causing the collection of fragments to slow down.
"What? Do you have a solution?" Xivan looked at him coldly.
"Of course," Su Yu answered. "With my influence, I can gather a million interdimensional adventurers for you to collect the fragments. How does that sound?"
(End of Chapter)
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