Origin Paradise!

The Ashes Duchess's attitude was solemn. If this was truly the case, then the other party was a strategic figure, and their importance to the Empire was self-evident.

"What does your Excellency want?"

“Five hundred thousand tons of gold, or five million tons of silver, in a ratio of one to ten, as long as the total amount is reached, there is no requirement for the percentage,” Jiang He said. “In addition, fifty thousand complete silver bodies of fallen demons in the wild. I will summon nobles and officers later. I will repair the Crimson Theater first. Once the payment is received, the extraction tower will be restored immediately.”

Jiang He plans to create five thousand Fiend Guards. The original estimate was that fifty million complete corpses would be needed, but using Silver Bodies instead can significantly reduce the number and even improve the results.

The Ashes Duchess hesitated, as if she wanted to say something but then stopped herself.

As a player and leader of a secret force, the old priest knew a great deal. Faced with someone's request, he could only respond with a bitter smile, "Amber, even before the Ashes Era, the world's gold and silver reserves were only 20% of what you requested."

"That's none of my business." Jiang He remained unmoved and said, "Whether it's mining on the spot, using mineral-type Abyss Ghosts, or asking an alchemy master, my price is non-negotiable."

"This……"

"Difficulties can be overcome, but facts are hard to change. Restoring the extraction tower and collecting gold and silver are not on the same level of difficulty."

The old priest remained silent. He was glad that the other party hadn't made an exorbitant demand for a huge amount of Abomination Crystals; otherwise, the nobles and officers might not have been willing to back down.

After a moment, Duchess Ash stood up and said, "I will take care of your request, but please restore the Crimson Theater by tomorrow morning."

“Okay.” Jiang He nodded.

The aftermath meeting has now concluded.

[Obsidian History (Revised Edition): On January 1st, 130th year of the Ash Calendar, the day after the Bone Bell Festival, the End Times launched an attack on the Crimson Theater in Carmel City, causing over 497000 casualties.]

[Special Abyss Demon - The Birth of the Ash Emperor]

[The First Angel, a human assassin, intercepted the special task force, resulting in the deaths of 33 A-level cadets and 1 combat instructor.]

[Under the command of Special Envoy Sylvia, the Ash Emperor finally vanished, the Academy successfully imprisoned the Ninth Angel, who is now under the custody of XXXX, and Cardinal Deborah confirmed her fall.]

That night, Carmel-by-the-Sea returned to order.

Chapter 403 Night

At midnight.

Jiang He rested in the open air in the church ruins for fifteen minutes, and the title of the Sleepless One quickly restored his energy.

Under the gloomy night sky, kites made of hollowed-out skeletons and skin soared high in the air.

Despite the war, the people of Carmel have not forgotten the important New Year festival – the Bone Kite Festival.

Making kites from the bones and skin of close relatives and flying them symbolizes the farewell between loved ones. The Bone Kite Festival and the Bone Bell Festival echo each other. If the string of the kite or bell breaks, it symbolizes that the family will encounter misfortune in the new year.

Jiang He leaned against the ruins of the building, arms crossed. He always felt that the festival in the world of ashes was a bit like hell, and it was obvious that the times and environment had distorted people's values.

The little girl in white sat to the side, a cold wind blowing by, causing her to fall into deep thought. After a while, her pair of fair and tender legs transformed into a snake tail, and the snake skin shed off as it rubbed against the ground.

Zhuang Ya picked up the snake skin, shook it carefully twice, and then thoughtfully covered it with someone's clothes.

"The giant snake is cold."

Jiang He tilted her head, puzzled, and asked, "Who taught you that?"

Zhuang Ya pondered for a moment, then shook her head. "I don't know her name. She's a palace maid in the capital."

As soon as she finished speaking, she pulled an ancient book out of her mouth. Her body was a thousand meters long, and the space inside her belly was naturally enormous.

—The Essentials of Palace Secrets

Jiang He casually picked it up and flipped through a few pages. It was basically a book compiled by the palace maids of the imperial city through generations of survival experience, and it imitated the style of martial arts. In the backyard where fighting and drowning were commonplace, this thing could not be said to be without value.

However, some of the content is based on assumptions, such as how one should serve the emperor when he visits one's bedchamber, and how to appease the empress and other concubines afterward. Since there are few actual examples, the narrative remains theoretical for now.

"What have you been reading lately?" Jiang He tore off a few pages of overly obscene illustrations, but kept some that touched on basic topics. He didn't intend to be blunt about education on reproduction, but there was some knowledge that the other person should indeed know.

Zhuang Ya then produced several more books, one of which was the most exquisite and as thick as a millstone.

—A Brief Analysis of Food

Jiang He was impressed but didn't understand. Generally speaking, using the word "shallow" is a humble way for big shots in the relevant field.

After flipping through a few pages, the content was well-narrated. This brief analysis came from the president of the Gourmet Guild. As a Twilight player, the other party would not be executed, but the intensity of that battle was not low, and no non-powerful player had an absolute chance of survival.

"Besides the Abomination Mushroom, are there any other things you like to eat?" Jiang He returned the book and immediately issued an order to Dawn Intelligence, entrusting the collection and cultivation of the Abomination Mushroom to A-Da. With his status as an earl, this small matter could be easily resolved.

"some."

Zhuang Ya picked up her snake tail and bit the tip of it. As the bloody tooth mark was carved on it, her face immediately showed pain, but then a hint of relish appeared on her face.

Jiang He stroked his chin and said, "It's still dragon meat, right?"

Zhuang Ya nodded.

Raising dragons has always been something only powerful forces of the time could afford, and killing and eating them was an unparalleled luxury.

Even for Jiang He, having hunted a golden dragon at this stage, it's impossible to let the little guy simply indulge in his appetite; keeping him for blood hunting is practically the only option.

Jiang He pondered for a long time before summoning the Eternal Regret Dragon Spear.

"Take it to grind your teeth."

Zhuang Ya's eyes lit up. To her, the dragon spear did indeed have a fragrance, and its epic-grade sturdiness meant she didn't have to worry about it getting damaged.

Roar!

Amidst the ruins of the church, the faint, mournful roar of the dragon's soul echoed.

Jiang He ignored it. He and Long Qiang were not master and servant or close friends. It was just that the dragon was unwilling to be buried by mortals and insisted on witnessing the future together.

It is a disgrace for a half-silver being to be killed by a mortal.

But if the dragon claims that it fought a bloody battle at sea all night and was ultimately killed by a god, and that there was a gap of more than half an era between them, onlookers would inevitably give it a thumbs up. Such strength and bravery would surely make it a legendary overlord.

The premise is that someone can truly reach the point of becoming a god.

For this lofty goal, the Dragon Soul fought with all its might and without hesitation. Even when it was severed by the vampire marquis, it remained silent and continued to give its all after recovering.

Jiang He knew that occasionally acting as a chew toy was still within the limits of the Dragon Soul's ability to endure humiliation.

Click!

Roar!

Not long after, the Indian man and Officer Green returned.

"Master, I've found out the news." The Indian man gave an elegant greeting. "There are a total of ten immortal weapons in the world. They are all solidified mental images of the strongest weapons after their fall."

Jiang He tossed over a pot of dragon blood wine.

Ah San took the wine jug, straightened his appearance, took a few sips, and continued, "Among them, the War Shield and the Emperor's Armor are rare in effect, but their durability is epic."

"The Emperor's Armor is currently on the body of Elijah, the commander of the Imperial Army. The Shield of War is not yet in a definite location. In addition, the Imperial Sword of the First Emperor also has good sturdiness, but it does not meet your requirements."

"The Imperial Sword contains a Sword Abyss Demon as its spirit, which has been placed on the Holy City's altar for over a hundred years, waiting to recognize its master."

Jiang He gestured for the other person to find a place to sit down. He wanted to take advantage of the remaining two opportunities to upgrade the Long-Hate Dragon Spear to the Immortal level when it was promoted to Epic.

Perfection and immortality correspond to the golden age.

Epic and immortal correspond to the Age of Heroes.

Of course, the power of items and skills depends on the user. The comprehensive improvement of the Silver and Gold bodies also includes these two aspects. In addition, many other factors such as energy density, control strength, and mysterious rank also affect the actual effect.

Even if a Silver-ranking being obtains mythical abilities and items, challenging a god is absolutely suicidal.

Jiang He escaped from the legendary Ji You by relying on divine thinking, which was actually due to the unexpectedness of the situation. If it were an attack, after being weakened by the layers of time and status, it would be questionable whether it could even break through the opponent's defenses.

The next time they meet, the other party, relying solely on its legendary perception range, will be able to preemptively strike before he even realizes the situation, thus easily completing the hunt.

"Commander Elijah."

Jiang He pondered how to hunt down his opponent.

Whether from the perspective of the final plan or the current increase in strength, the other party has been added to the kill list. As for the fact that this guy actually had no prior grudge against him, that's completely irrelevant.

"The fact that others don't harm me is not a reason for me not to harm others."

Jiang He was very frank about this. From childhood to adulthood in the world of hunters, there has never been a rule of "I will not offend others unless they offend me." This is a privilege of the civilized world and does not fully apply to the era of the rise of the extraordinary and the jungle regions on the former border.

"A major event is necessary to divert the attention of all parties; otherwise, killing a Gold Elite in the Holy City would be extremely difficult."

Not far away, Ah San and Green whispered to each other. The latter wondered if someone's appearance had improved again, since only a day or two had passed. The former said that this was perfectly normal.

Chapter 404 The Art of Immortality and S-Rank

The next morning.

Ah Er returned to the church from the legion's camp.

Due to the "disappearance" of the legion commander, the Iron Burning Legion fell into chaos and a power struggle. He took the opportunity to kill his adjutant who was at odds with him, and then haphazardly gathered a large amount of top-secret information on his person. Although he couldn't understand a single word of it, he couldn't just go to his boss empty-handed.

"The surgery on the wailing patient, that's interesting."

Among the pile of papers, Jiang He found several useful but incomplete technical records, including the Iron Burning Suit, the Malicious Detector, and the Corrupted Warhorse Breeding Technique, all of which were of considerable value.

The Howler Surgery is the most noteworthy of all. This technique can transplant the flesh and blood of materialized Abyssal Demons into Iron Soldiers, thereby enabling trained Silver Humans to acquire elite-level comprehensive combat power.

It should be noted that this type of howler can only be used for three to five years. The flesh and blood of the Abyss Demon will continuously erode the soldier's spirit, and once the critical point is exceeded, it will trigger irreversible corruption.

The good news is that the evil legion consists entirely of unruly civilians, and their spirits are not available for the flesh and blood of the abyssal demons to consume.

For Jiang He, this kind of biological surgery is far from being a masterpiece filled with the painstaking efforts of a master. He can deduce the general outline through the overall concept and some experimental data. What he lacks now is simply the material of the Abyss Ghost.

"Ah Er, Ah San," Jiang He turned his head and ordered, "You two follow Ah Da. He only has the aura of gold right now, but not the corresponding strength. Help him out when you need to take action."

"clear."

"As ordered."

Ah Er and Ah San left the church arm in arm. The three brothers, who were born around the same time, formed a small group in private. As for the Dao soldiers starting with Ah Si, they now serve as mid-level commanders in the Evil Fiend Legion and have gradually faded from the core of the group's view.

As dawn broke, the streets were utterly desolate.

A small white snake crawled up to someone's collar and neck, coiled tightly, and then began to rest.

Jiang He and the old priest went to the original site of the Scarlet Theater. After waiting overnight, the nobles and officers of all ranks of the state arrived in Carmel City at the summons of the Ashes Duchess.

The collapse of the extraction tower was a major event that affected everyone.

When Jiang He arrived at the theater, there were many makeshift palaces built around it, with exquisite white bricks piled together, which looked out of place in the dilapidated city.

Duchess Ash stood in the center of the crowd, responding politely and skillfully to the compliments from the nobles, appearing completely at ease.

Seeing this, the old priest whispered, "This duchess's father was once the strongest and the leader of the nobles, the only marquis in the empire. Later, he began to degenerate due to the excessive use of his power and had to be sealed away in Ash Academy. Since he did not perish, the title could not be inherited. Given the marquis's special status, the Obsidian Council specially conferred the title of duchess upon Miss Sylvia."

Jiang He remained silent. In fact, nobility was not just a simple title. It involved a great deal of rights, such as exemption from blood tax, recruitment of soldiers, interception of taxes, and keeping servants. Once a direct descendant entered the Iron Legion, he would start as a squad commander.

Upon their arrival, Duchess Ash turned and nodded.

Hundreds of nobles and officers exchanged greetings and military salutes with perfect understanding.

In the empire's overall concept, gold is a clear dividing line. Above it are the undisputed upper echelons of the empire, while below it, even those who hold real power are merely one of the masses, who can be replaced, sacrificed, or abandoned at any time.

As the Golden Governor of the Eye of Ash, the old priest may seem a bit timid around someone, but he actually holds a very high position, both in the previous Ember World and in the current Ash World.

Under these circumstances, the young man standing next to the old priest was immediately categorized as someone not to be trifled with. While some nobles and officers might lack ability, the ability to read people and act accordingly was almost an innate talent.

"This is Amber, Your Excellency." The Ash Duchess emphasized, then said loudly, "He possesses the ability to restore the theater and the extraction tower, but such incredible power naturally comes at a price. As we discussed before, you all need to gather 500,000 Abomination Crystals."

A silence fell over the room.

The brief meeting just now did not specify the exact amount, but 500,000 crystals are equivalent to the total output of this state for five years, and can supply the full military expenditure of the 30,000-strong Iron Legion for a full ten years. It is an astronomical price.

Among the nobles and officers, an elderly man with white hair and beard walked out leaning on a cane. He was Count Felix's father-in-law and the legion commander's father. His status, position, and seniority were all impeccable.

"Duchess," the old man said sincerely, "this is an impossible request. I believe none of you here would want to join the End Society. Regarding the specific number, could you perhaps be a little more accommodating?"

The Ashes Duchess stared at the other party for a long time before coldly saying, "Then it's five hundred thousand tons of gold, or five million tons of silver. I'll simply back down completely. I'll take half of it and go find the Silver Sin Sorcerer to resolve it, and the other half is yours."

"Or, we'll all suffer together, but I probably won't lose my title anyway."

The old man clicked his tongue in amazement. The Silver Sorcerer was not a golden being; to create such a large quantity of silver stones, he would inevitably fall into corruption. The other party's determination was extraordinary.

After a long pause, the old man asked in confusion, "But why is it fifty percent?"

Since the fall is inevitable, the Silver Sin Sorcerer has a 60% chance of success if he tries his best.

The Ashes Duchess ignored it, because half of everything equals fifty percent, a principle she didn't want to explain to the other party.

The old man pondered for a moment and said, "I wonder if it's possible..."