Cthulhu Gonfalon

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

As he watched the two Legendary Masters use transmission magic to leave, Sui Xiong shook his head and went back to fake-sleeping.

Only this time, he was actually planning to sleep.

But while he could sleep, news wouldn't. On the contrary, this piece of news traveled so fast it almost seemed to have sprouted wings; it spread out in barely two days.

Those two old farts from the Mifata Federation who never paid attention to anything that didn't involve extending their own lives had met a flood of good fortune. Somehow, they managed to obtain a real piece of a god's flesh from the Void Mask and were currently concocting the Wine of Eternal Life!

This news couldn't be called unsurprising, especially with Wine of Eternal Life being involved. Many people in the know were shocked when they heard about this, and a good number of their eyes lit up with excitement, wanting to plan a way to steal it.

You really couldn't blame them for being greedy. Keep in mind that this Wine of Eternal Life was a legendary divine object, and though it didn't give strength, it could allow mortals to obtain everlasting life like the gods themselves. There were countless people in the world who had power, influence, money, and strength, but how many could say they were able to live forever?

If a mortal really wanted to live forever, the only way was to become a Demigod Master. Other methods to eternal life all had this or that problem, but aside from those relying on a god's support, there might not even be a single Demigod Master in 1000 years who could manage it on their own power alone!

The immortality gained from the Wine of Eternal Life naturally wasn't perfect, and there were rumors of it having a few side effects. But whatever you might say about it, immortality was immortality. Even if there were side effects, living was still better than dying!

This was particularly relevant to those important figures who were already very old, many of them already at death's door. Among them were those who believed they'd already experienced all they could in their lives, and they had enjoyed all that was available. They readied themselves a place in their God's Kingdom, so they didn't particularly fear dying. But still, others either hoped they could continue enjoying life in the mortal realm or had great aspirations they'd yet to realize. But either way, they couldn't bear to die.

But no matter how much you hated dying, when the time came, you'd still have to die. However, right before their eyes, a chance had appeared that could allow them to avoid that!

So in the span of only three days, over 1000 people had flooded into the Highest Tower. Some of them were emissaries who'd rushed here to represent the head of their families, some were spies who'd snuck in on orders, and still others were those impatient important figures themselves.

Either they had strong connections or had excellent skills because it didn't take much investigation for them to discover the exact location of those two lucky Legendary Masters.

And then they were struck dumb.

This pair of Legendary Masters were currently renting out the hidden chamber on the lowest level of the Highest Tower and locked it up entirely. They locked themselves inside as they focused on creating this legendary panacea.

Before entering, they'd even announced that either they'd come out having drunk the Wine of Eternal Life, or they'd die inside; there was no third result.

What… what were they all supposed to do now!?

The hidden chamber in the lowest level of the Highest Tower was the safest place in all of the Mifata Federation. Back then, the Demigod Master, Ymirjar Le-Peyroux went into seclusion for multiple centuries to temper his divinity, adjust his spirit, and finally obtain godhood to become the great God of Spellcaster. All of this had all been done in this exact same hidden chamber.

At the time, there had also been six Legendary Masters keeping year-round guard outside the chamber. But truthfully, even if you managed to break through six Legendary Masters, you'd have no chance of breaking into that hidden chamber.

According to legend, Le-Peyroux had gone to other planes of the Ring of the World, shedding endless blood, sweat, and tears to find the unique and priceless materials used to make this hidden chamber. Then when building the chamber, he'd spent who knows how much more of his heart's blood and rare materials. Its level of stability was beyond imagination. Forget insignificant mortals, even a real god who overlooked mortals would find it hard to break in to.

As stable as it was, and with a background like that, this hidden chamber obviously wasn't a place your average person could use. But those two Legendary Masters were characters from the same time period as Le-Peyroux, and the current leaders of the Mifata Federation could all pretty much be counted as their juniors. After obtaining the divine blood Sui Xiong bestowed upon them, they immediately returned to the Federation. They abandoned all shame in brazenly demanding that they borrow the hidden chamber, and the leaders were hard-pressed to deny them.

By the time they came back to their senses, it was too late to stop those two.

"Is there really nothing we can do?" After hearing the particulars, a Legendary Master who had particularly good relations with the Mifata Federation couldn't help asking. "I just want to say a few words to them, just a short conversation! Are you saying there are no magic arrays we can use to communicate with those inside the hidden chamber?"

The Legendary Master who'd given him the news showed a pained smile. "After entering, they left us a few matters to work on, and then they destroyed the summoning array…"

That Legendary Master stared blankly for a moment, then couldn't resist loudly asking, "Isn't that hidden chamber supposed to be very stable? Why would the summoning array inside it be so easy to break?"

"They were the ones who created that summoning array to begin with."

That Legendary Master was dumbfounded by the answer, only then remembering that the two old men holed up in that hidden chamber were fossils even older than the Mifata Federation itself.

With age came wisdom, and these two had been traitorous all their lives. They might have been well-behaved in front of Sui Xiong, but they were actually quite shrewd!

Why had they shamelessly insisted on using that hidden chamber? Obviously, it was because the room had the setup they'd originally created! A setup left behind thousands of years ago still being usable today would probably be considered a happy surprise.

Seeing that the situation was already beyond saving, the group all separately admitted defeat. Most of them went home grumbling and complaining, but a few still refused to lose hope. They stayed at the Highest Tower, thinking that once the two Legendary Masters left the chamber they could ask if perhaps there was any extra Wine of Eternal Life left. Even if there wasn't enough to give them eternal life, a few hundred more years would be good too!

Even if the worst-case scenario happened and the two masters drank every last drop of the Wine of Eternal Life, at the very least, there'd still be a recipe and a few leftover materials. Even if they couldn't find some blood from a real, living god and were unable to create a genuine Wine of Eternal Life, if they took their time working on it, they could probably manage a counterfeit at least.

The real Wine of Eternal Life could allow someone to live forever, so a counterfeit should at least be a panacea capable of lengthening your life, right?

As for what sort of price they'd need to pay for this research and imitation or how many innocents they'd need to sacrifice, none of these big-name characters even bothered to consider it.

A good majority of this information all managed to make it to Sui Xiong's ears.

Actually, he'd straight-up created a clone, changed it into a human form, and sent it to infiltrate the Highest Tower.

Leaning on his clone's investigation, as well as borrowing official channels and information obtained from the Adventurers' Association, he more or less already understood what had gone on these past few days.

There might still be a few unusual secrets he'd yet to find out, but he didn't really care. He knew that most of it was good enough.

In short, the situation's development was all within his expectations.

"Hehe, it feels great to have everything in my grasp!" Sui Xiong lay on the mountainside pretending to sleep, but inwardly he was loudly laughing. "Just wait 'til they come out of seclusion. I'll be able to show up and pretend I'm really angry, then try some extortion means on the Mifata Federation and the Kingdom of Thousands of Springs!"

"These guys all think they're so clever. Do they really think I don't know where that recipe came from!?"