Chapter 170  : Control and Changes

Some time passed.

Snowden who had fallen on the ground slowly opened his eyes. His red eyes suddenly turned pale yellow, and then the pale yellow light gradually returned to red.

After the last ray of yellow light entered his eyes, Snowden slowly stood up and bowed to Chen Rui, “Master.”

Chen Rui nodded with satisfaction. He could clearly feel Snowden’s absolute obedience. This was different from a master-slave contract. Within effective distance, Chen Rui could even control Snowden’s words and actions in his consciousness, or even completely destroy his consciousness to the point of death. A regular mind control skill could not control someone with the same level of power. Even if it succeeded, the time was limited. However, the control of the “God-Eating Mask” was always effective. Without the master’s deliberate control, Snowden could use his own memory and consciousness like ordinary people. Of course, this consciousness had been completely “brainwashed”. He was unconditionally obedient to the master.

The only flaw was that this control was irreversible. Unless he killed Snow or even Chen Rui himself, there was no way for the puppet to regain consciousness.

“Where are those miners now?”

“Master, they are all in Mountain Walan. They were under the control of my men. Soon, it will be mine submission time to Dark Moon. I initially planned to order the miners to deal with this routine submission and then I will dispose of them.”

Chen Rui nodded. “Just do as you plan, and maintain the status quo for the time being. Don’t alarm anyone. As for the Red Spirit Estate, you should know how to handle it.”

“I understand. Please rest assured, master.”

After turning Snowden into a puppet, not only the mines, but the entire west passage of Dark Moon was now in his control. When necessary, you could start to change the situation at any time. For now, he didn’t want to alert the enemy.

Chen Rui’s mind was set. He thought of something and asked, “Snowden, do you know where the Obsidian Heart and requiem fruit are?”

Snowden recalled for a while and said, “The Obsidian Heart is a rare crystallization of the Fire Power. I remember for Lord Josh’s birthday a decade ago, Joseph gave him an Obsidian Heart as a gift, and he received Josh’s praise for that. As for the requiem fruit, I only know it is a rare fruit in legends. There is no other relevant information.”

Joseph? It truly is where you least expect it to be! Chen Rui’s eyes brightened. He asked, “Is Joseph still at the Red Spirit Estate?”

Snowden shook his head. “Before I was ordered to come to Mountain Xilang, he had already returned to Dark Moon.”

Chen Rui suddenly thought of something else. He had agreed with Shea at the beginning to contact her after half a month when the relevant matters were settled, then Dark Moon would send troops to eliminate the bandits. The situation had changed now. The bandits had been completely controlled, and the plan needed to be changed at the last minute. It had been more than half a month now, but fortunately, he left some leeway at the time and said that she should wait for his liaison before sending troops.

It seemed that he had to go back to Dark Moon this time. In addition to fulfilling the agreement to meet Joseph using “Aguile’s” identity, he still needed to contact Shea again. The most important thing was to obtain the Obsidian Heart!

Snowden left with the fainted Ivan. The four wyverns and Chen Rui reunited after a long time; they seemed very intimate. Chen Rui found out from the wyverns that while a wyvern was hunting, it heard Kegu’s cry. When it rushed over, it discovered that Snowden was using magic to entrap a wyvern cub. It was infuriated as it immediately launched an attack to rescue Kegu, and it retaliated against the enemy Snowden until it met Chen Rui whom it didn’t see for a long time.

Speaking of Kegu, Chen Rui thought about Mengda who was still hiding nearby Town Leia. He immediately dispatched one of the most powerful later stage Demon King level wyvern to follow him to Dark Moon City while the rest went to Town Leia to find Mengda, then they temporarily resided in the original Mountain Xilang range and wait for him to return from Dark Moon before reuniting.

Although a living environment without hypertoxicity was not very suitable for wyverns, a toxic environment was more useful for nurturing the next generation. In other environments, short-term survival should not be a problem.

Chen Rui rode the wyvern day and night and arrived near Dark Moon in the afternoon. Having a mask that couldn’t be removed on his face was really troublesome, but fortunately, the function of the storage warehouse was very wondrous. It could deliver food directly to his mouth, otherwise he would be powerless even if he didn’t starve to death.

After leaving the wyverns in the outskirts, Chen Rui didn’t alarm the gate guard. He followed a familiar road and rushed to the arena as quickly as possible.

In the arena’s lobby room, Arux was resting with his eyes closed. He suddenly sensed something and opened his eyes. He saw another person appeared in front of him.

Arux was taken aback. After taking the devil fruit and surviving that toxicity, his powers had further increased. He was closer to becoming a Demon King.

If he returned to the battle with Chen Rui that day, he was confident he could win. However, he did not expect this person to appear silently in front of him without any warning in advance!

“Arux! Don’t attack, it’s me!”

Arux was stunned. He gradually relaxed the power he suddenly charged: the voice turns out to be Chen Rui!

“Master Chen Rui, did you already break through to the Demon King level?”Arux couldn’t change his previous statement in time. He was more surprised.

“Yes.”

This answer completed shocked Arux. When he learned that Aguile’s true identity was actually that weak human next to Princess Royal, Arux was really surprised, but not as surprised as he was today.

Arux smiled bitterly. He initially thought that his powers could steadily defeat his former opponent, but he was unexpectedly surpassed by Chen Rui! And a few months ago, this human was just a powerless weakling.

“Master,” the Demon Realm respected the powerful being. Arux’s address on him came completely from his heart. “Why did you come back from Mountain Xilang this time?”

“There are a few important matters to settle.” Chen Rui asked the most important questions directly, “Arux, does Joseph have an Obsidian Heart?”

Arux thought for a moment and replied, “I remember that Joseph gifted Josh an Obsidian Heart for his birthday. Oh right, Joseph has already returned to Dark Moon a while ago. It seems that he brought Royce and Vassar alone this morning. I don’t know if he’s back yet.”

“When you try to contact Royce later, say that I especially rushed back from training outside and I want to meet Joseph tomorrow morning. Also, ask Didi of the Cloak Gang to personally give this letter to Princess Royal Shea. I have no plans to show up at the Cloak Gang for now.”

The content of the letter was of course to ask Shea to suspend the plan to send troops to Mountain Xilang to wait for a better time. Because the “God-Eating Mask” could not be removed, Chen Rui did not plan to meet Shea face-to-face. Although the seven artifacts of Demon Realm did not look extraordinary, whether it was the mask or the Dark Shadow Cape that he saw on Christina, they all seemed very ordinary. However, Shea was of the Lucifer Royal Family’s descendant. He could not rule out the possibility that she could recognize the artifact. It would be troublesome if any misunderstandings were to happen.

Arux nodded and accepted the letter. Chen Rui asked again, “How is the Cloak Gang doing?”

“The power of the Cloak Gang has grown stronger. At present, only Gorefiend Gang in the city can compete with it. The Mellon Family is the supporter behind Gorefiend Gang. Recently, they have several conflicts with the Cloak Gang. Two days ago, I injured the head of the Gorefiend Gang, Wick. They should have no major movements in the short term.”

“Mellon Family?” Chen Rui snorted coldly. This obstacle must be removed. At present, the most important thing was the Obsidian Heart. The rest would have to wait until Athena woke up.

“I broke your weapon last time; this should be your compensation.” Chen Rui materialized a two-headed scythe in his hands and threw it at Arux.

Arux reached out and caught it. He felt that the weapon looked ordinary, but the weight was beyond his imagination. He had a peculiar feeling holding it in his hand. After he examined for a while, he exclaimed, “Could this be the dark star iron?”

Chen Rui nodded. “You have good eyes. This is the same as your two-headed scythe, and it can be divided into two in the middle.”

After Glorfin’s consciousness dissipated, the crystals in the underground world gradually disappeared. All the minerals returned to normal, even the minerals in the waste ores room. The only regret was that Chen Rui lost a source of aura. After bearing the cost of exchanging two bottles of black potion, he only had over one million auras left, which can be described as a gain and a loss.

This two-headed scythe was one of the dark star iron weapons created by the taurens. There were not many dark star iron weapons. The most were the ordinary iron weapons. The quality of the iron ore in Mountain Xilang was one of the best in the Demon Realm. Together with the taurens’ forging skills, the quality of these weapons was said to be first-class in the Demon Realm.

“I can tell that you are quite close to the Demon King level. Since my realm of power is different from demons, I can’t give you much inspiration, but I heard from the dragon companion that power division in the Demon Realm is divided into upper, middle and lower levels.

Lesser Demon, Intermediate Demon, and Higher Demon are the lowest. Demon King and Great Demon King belong to the middle level. Demon Overlord and Demon Emperor belong to the upper level. To reach the middle level, you must realize the “rules” of certain power. Maybe this will help you to break through to Demon King level.”

“Thank you, master!” For the first time, Arux bowed to Chen Rui with heartfelt admiration. Royce was right. Chen Rui was completely different from Joseph. Perhaps, he was truly a master worth following and being loyal to.

After Arux left, Chen Rui rested in a small house in the Arena. He planned to see Paglio at Blue Lake at night.

Some time ago, he was busy refining the dust that the Earth Elemental King desperately needed to protect Athena. He had a hard time rushing all the way, so he didn’t have the time to study the new features of the Super System. Now, he could finally calm down and carefully examine it again.

In the Star Garden, after the pivotal fairy paid the corresponding refined magic dust lv2, she rose to level two. After leveling up, the area of the Star Garden had been further expanded, and the output of all plants had increased. The number of plants doubled and the maturity time was shortened a lot.

Since the trolls in the underground world had become extinct, the remaining fountain of life belonged to Chen Rui. The Earth Elemental King gave him the Earth Source after receiving refined magic dust lv3.

At present, the “crops” in the Star Garden were: 1 devil fruit tree which matured in 48 days, and it was expected to yield 8 fruits. There were 6 in the storage warehouse currently (after the upgrade, the maturity time was shortened).

devil pomeg trees which matured in 8 days, and it was expected to yield 15 fruits for each tree. There were 105 in the storage warehouse currently.

hallucinating trees which matured in 4 days, and it was expected to yield 20 fruits for each tree. There were 223 in the storage warehouse currently.

auras fruit trees which matured in 5 days, and was expected to yield of 15 fruits for each tree. There were 302 in the storage warehouse currently.

Fountain of life, 200/200 capacity.

Earth Sources and the current growth progress was 3/10. 1 unit was added every 10 days.

The benefits of the pivotal fairy upgrade were not just those. Chen Rui tested it. An aura fruit could initially increase 2000 auras. Now it could increase by three thousand. 200 fruits would increase 600,000 auras. The devil pomeg could increase 1500 auras. 100 fruits would give 150,000 auras.

New items had also been added to the exchange center. The highest-level black potions finally appeared in the potion category: resurrection potion and longevity potion, which had become the key to saving Athena.

There was a new exchange item under the plant category: aura gathering flower. Attribute: never withers. Matured in 1 day. After maturation, the rate of automatic absorption of aura was greatly increased. 10,000 auras would be provided every day. The higher the level, the greater the aura gained increase. Cost 1000 auras per flower.

A bottle of the highest-level resurrection potion required a million auras. For Chen Rui, who only had over a million auras remaining, after the disappearance of “waste ores crystals”, the source of aura appeared a lot tighter. The improvement of Star Garden’s production quality and the emergence of the aura gathering flower had solved this problem.

In addition to plants, a new type of exchange had appeared: Royal Spirits.

Gluttonous vine. Large offensive creature. Attributes: entangling, spreading, devouring. After releasing the aura seed, it will be quickly formed within ten seconds. It needs 100 auras to be triggered. It can be sown in any soil quality and automatically attack any hostile creatures. The degree of hostile attack can be adjusted. It loses effectiveness when aura is depleted or when it is destroyed. Cost 1000 auras each.

Stridebug. Attributes: Sprinting. Equip them beneath the feet to greatly accelerate movement speed. It can be exchanged repeatedly. Cosh 1000 auras per pair.

Strictly speaking, gluttonous vines was also a type of plant, but the biggest difference between Royal Spirits and plants was that they were not used in the Star Garden, but outside!

Stridebug was equivalent to shoes with buffs. They played an important role in both offense, defense or escape. Gluttonous vine was already an offensive plant that was used directly in the Demon Realm outside the Star Garden. The ten seconds it took to form was quite fast. Its power must not be small.

Whether it was the black potion or the aura gathering flower or the two newly added types of exchangeable items, Chen Rui was quite satisfied with them.

He quickly planted ten aura gathering flower seeds in the galaxy garden. After one day, they would mature and begin to function. As for other things, there would be opportunities to test their power in the future.

Chen Rui calculated the time, and it was almost dark; it was time to go to Paglio. He immediately quit the Super System.

As he exited the Super System, somehow, he suddenly felt a strange power that seemed to be calling him. This call was not heard using his ears, but a sensing in his heart, as if he was resonating with something.

He felt strange. After he calmed down, he increased his perception with all his strength. Sure enough, the resonance became clearer. The resonance actually came from the “God-Eating Mask” on his face! This situation had never happened in the underground world or Mountain Xilang!

What was calling for the mask? Was it someone of the Beezlebub Royal Family or something?