[…]

[Following the guidance of the Disciple Sanctum Seat Pass, you arrive at Council Chamber No. 11…]

[The host dais and the many seats in the chamber are all empty with no one in sight, clearly not yet the time to hold a meeting.]

[You walk alone to the host dais. Upon it lies a stack of blank memos.]

[Do you wish to leave a message on the memo?]

Leaving a memo was a way to bypass the Book of Letters. There was no need to know the other party’s soul imprint. One only needed to know the other party’s codename in the New World to send a private message.

Amos was the Eleventh Disciple. In Council Chamber No. 11 one could privately message all Apostles under his command. Apart from the two parties to the private message, no one else could see the memo’s contents.

However, Lin Xun strongly suspected that as long as a message was left here, Amos would certainly be able to learn the content of the private letter.

He set the designated recipient of the message as his male superior and typed: ‘Lord Amos, I have not disgraced my mission. Your subordinate has successfully cleared the fifth difficulty.’

Not long after the message was left, Amos’s figure appeared in the council chamber.

[Amos: Too fast. Your speed of growth truly surprises me.]

[Blood King: Thanks to the one million Spirit Essence of support from my lord, your subordinate was able to purchase powerful equipment and quickly clear the chapter. I must say my lord is farsighted and well planned.]

[Amos: …]

[Amos: Enough flattery. Rapid advancement is a gamble with your entire stake. Win and you earn a fortune. Lose and you will keep getting stuck and never have another chance to advance.]

[If the Disciple selection were not imminent, I would not have forced the sprouts to grow, pushing you to advance to the fifth difficulty so quickly.]

[In the time ahead, do not advance to the sixth difficulty. Go to the library and properly strengthen your own power. Wait for the Disciple selection to arrive and devote all your thoughts to the selection.]

[You have obtained Invitation to the Easter Egg Chapter (item)!]

[Invitation to the Easter Egg Chapter (item): Holding this item, you will enter the designated Easter Egg Chapter at the designated time, Chapter 326.]

[Time remaining: 8 days 3 hours 52 minutes 19 seconds]

[Please note, this Easter Egg Chapter is in Slaughter Mode. If you wish to refuse to join the Easter Egg Chapter, please destroy this item as soon as possible.]

“So it really is Slaughter Mode. Just from the name it sounds bloody. I wonder what the specific rules are…”

There were many kinds of Slaughter Mode. The Slaughter Mode of each Easter Egg Chapter differed, but all could threaten an Apostle’s life in reality and belonged to one of the most dangerous modes.

Lin Xun sighed that a villain organization truly lived up to the name, not taking human life seriously and treating even their own people the same.

While he was sighing, he suddenly saw the serial number of the Easter Egg Chapter and froze.

In the canonical chapters, Chapters 320 to 329 were a complete set of ten chapters of the Blood Sun world.

This Easter Egg Chapter actually had the same serial number as a canonical chapter.

“Could it be that the Easter Egg Chapters and canonical chapters are also connected?”

[Amos: This Easter Egg Chapter’s Slaughter Mode is extremely dangerous. If your shell dies, you will revive as a wandering soul at a hidden independent respawn point, and a death penalty will persist for a considerable duration.]

[During the death penalty, you cannot use soul strength to reshape a shell.]

[If, during this time, other candidates happen to find your wandering soul, there is no need to say more. Only annihilation of soul awaits, a dead end.]

[Only by going all out will you have a sliver of hope to succeed in the selection.]

[Every Disciple selection is a new partition of power. If you have the chance to eliminate other Apostles, do not be soft.]

[For every competitor you eliminate, the power you take over after becoming the Twelfth Disciple will be that much greater.]

Lin Xun was taken aback.

During the death penalty you could not use soul strength to reshape a shell.

Other Apostles had only one shell. If it was gone, they could only survive as a wandering soul until the death penalty ended.

He was different. He had as many as twelve shells. Just the main shells included the Greedy Wolf Star Lord, Ninja Master, Palace Master of Iya Palace, little dragonkin, Saio Chisoku-hime, Earth Giant, President of the Direct Vision Association, Head of the Ogiwara Clan…

Even if he could not reshape a dead shell during the penalty, he could still possess other main shells.

The death penalty for him was as good as nothing.

“So the broken character was me all along…”

[Amos: I do not look down on you, but those who can take part in the Disciple selection, aside from the mere two or three weak ones, the rest are elite Apostles. There are even those whose strength is already sufficient to advance to the seventh difficulty yet still remain in the sixth, solely to contend for the Disciple seat.]

[This Easter Egg Chapter belongs to a special plot of the Blood Sun world. You can experience plot events that will not appear in the canonical chapters.]

[Perhaps you have not experienced the Blood Sun world. It is a nightmare world far beyond Ordinary difficulty. Even if you can obtain an S rating in an Ordinary chapter, you will not necessarily be able to clear the Blood Sun world.]

[Yes. The Disciple selection is just that arduous and cruel. You must not only deal with monsters far beyond Ordinary difficulty, you must also beware of attacks from competitors. If you are the least bit careless, the only ending awaiting you is death.]

“So the Easter Egg Chapters and canonical chapters are really connected.”

In the Easter Egg Chapter one could experience special plots, and plots that would not appear in the canonical Blood Sun world.

Blood Sun world. That was not only where his journey began, it was also the only chapter in which Lin Xun had obtained an SSS rating.

“This is quite the coincidence. What is called home-field advantage? This is home-field advantage.”

He had not been happy for long when he suddenly remembered that in that chapter he had joined the oath faction of the Golden Blazing Sun, a weaker faction inferior even to the Radiant Crescent.

To his knowledge, the entire faction seemed to have only one powerful plot character remaining: Guardian of the Golden Blazing Sun, Demigod of the Titans, Dan.

There had previously been a hungry old man who liked to eat dung stones, but after fulfilling his wish the old man kicked the bucket.

For a moment his expression was extremely colorful. He did not know whether this could be called home-field advantage.

“Damn. Hope Daddy Blood Sun still loves me dearly…”

Amos was quite unlike before, nagging him incessantly to be careful and cautious. It seemed that the bigwig behind him attached great importance to the last Disciple seat.

Lin Xun suspected that the bigwig behind Amos had surely dispatched other Apostles to compete as well. He might only be one among many alternate choices.

Before leaving, Amos once again gave him one million Spirit Essence, telling him to properly strengthen himself and not die as soon as he entered the Easter Egg Chapter.

Lin Xun left the Disciple Sanctum and returned to the library to continue working.

In the remaining time he focused on forging weapons to earn Spirit Essence.

The Imperial Swordsmith went full throttle, hammering through the night without pause. After several days of continuous struggle, he finally completed all the commissioned orders.

Of the four Legendary pieces, three generated weapon traits, achieving the feat of doubling the forging fee.

He took the four pieces to the Book of Trade for appraisal. Aside from the piece of armor that had no trait and had a relatively low suggested price of only one million four hundred fifty thousand, the other Legendary weapons were all exorbitantly priced.

The worst of the weapons could sell for nearly three million five hundred thousand. The best in quality could even go for just over four million.

According to the rule that generating a trait doubled the forging fee, the three weapons could bring him an income of two million two hundred thousand Spirit Essence.

The remaining piece of armor brought only one hundred forty-five thousand in forging fees.

Lin Xun resolved that he would only accept commissions to forge weapons in the future and would not accept armor forging at all.

After delivering the four Legendary pieces, the other party paid very straightforwardly. Lin Xun received the full forging fee.

His original intention was that of the total two million three hundred forty-five thousand in forging fees, he would take out six hundred thousand, a quarter, to give to the bigwig behind Li Xingyue as a middleman’s fee.

However, the bigwig seemed to have no interest in his small cut at all and asked the female supervisor to tell him that contacting commissions for him was due to valuing his person, not coveting this bit of forging fee.

Lin Xun had no choice but to transfer the middleman fee to his female supervisor.

Who knew the female supervisor did not accept it either, and instead sent him a blueprint and a pile of materials, saying this was the exclusive weapon she herself wanted.

To repay the female supervisor, Lin Xun worked overtime, continuing to swing the hammer, determined to forge a fine Legendary weapon for her.

[…]

[The tier of your shell skill Legendary Forging Art is sufficient. You can forge a Legendary weapon according to the current blueprint!]

[This forging will take a considerable amount of time, estimated at 26 hours 26 minutes 50 seconds…]

[Do you wish to begin forging this weapon?]

He pressed ‘Yes,’ silently praying for a weapon trait to be generated.

The effect of the Imperial Swordsmith’s Hammer did not grant a one hundred percent chance to generate a weapon trait.

Although Li Xingyue also knew this, if he forged a weapon without a trait for his female supervisor, Lin Xun himself would feel embarrassed.

The Sakura Falls Yasaka Curved Jewel in his inventory was a life-changing artifact, but its Luck buff only worked for a short time and could only be used to open blind boxes. The buff duration could not cover the entire forging process.

In earlier forging runs Lin Xun had tested the effect of the fate-altering artifact. Whether he used the item before pressing the forge option, or used it when the weapon was about to complete, neither could change whether the weapon had a trait.

[Weapon forging in progress. Please be patient…]

Time flew by.

After waiting a day and a night, Lin Xun entered the game early to check the weapon that was about to be completed.

[…]

[Equipment forging successful!]

[You have obtained Shadowkiller Fist-Sword (Legendary weapon)!]

Lin Xun’s heart gave a thump. He did not see the hellish game prompt [Due to the special effect of your forging tool Imperial Swordsmith’s Hammer, this weapon has obtained an equipment trait]

[Shadowkiller Fist-Sword (Legendary weapon): A sharp fist-sword forged from many precious materials. Sound-Absorbing Steel has been infused into the guard and blade so the weapon makes no sound during assassination or in a clash.]

[A hidden mechanism lies in the weapon’s guard. Normally it is a single-bladed state. After pressing the mechanism, the blade splits into three, making it not only better at blocking, but also causing a far more violent secondary burst of damage after the fist-sword pierces into the enemy’s body.]

[When using acceleration-type or stealth-type skills, this weapon’s attack power can be greatly increased.]

Unlucky. As expected, no weapon trait was generated…

What he feared came to pass. Lin Xun sighed.

Fortunately, there was a remedy.

A special forging product called Reforge Stone was one of the few items sold by the Book of Craftsmen.

Using a Reforge Stone allowed a weapon to be reforged. Skills such as weapon traits had a chance to regenerate. Note it was a chance to generate, not a certainty.

Reforge Stones were extremely expensive. A Legendary Reforge Stone cost five hundred thousand, and one also had to pay forging fees of several hundred thousand again to have the weapon reforged.

Except for Apostles with more Spirit Essence than they knew what to spend on, most people would not choose to reforge weapons. Of course, ultimate gamblers did not count as people.

Lin Xun did not need to pay forging fees, but the five hundred thousand cost of the Reforge Stone had to be spent.

[…]

[You use a Legendary Reforge Stone to perform a reforging process on the Shadowkiller Fist-Sword.]

[Estimated reforging time: 13 hours 13 minutes 26 seconds…]

[Proceed with reforging?]

[Reforging weapon in progress. Please be patient…]

[…]

[…]

The reforging time was about half of the overall forging time, yet the forging fee charged by the Book of Craftsmen was the same as forging a weapon from scratch.

One had to admit, the hellish game was a true profiteer with a heart black as pitch.

After waiting most of a day, Lin Xun finally received good news.

[Equipment reforging successful!]

[You have obtained Shadowkiller Fist-Sword (Legendary weapon)!]

[Due to the special effect of your forging tool Imperial Swordsmith’s Hammer, this weapon has obtained an equipment trait!]

[Shadowkiller Fist-Sword (Legendary weapon): …]

[…]

[Weapon Trait – Rampant Slaying of the Hidden Dragon: When this skill is released, an Shadowkill mark is placed on a designated enemy without alerting them. You may choose to detonate the mark at any time. When detonating the Shadowkill mark, you will slip into nothingness and take no damage during this period, then instantly appear behind the enemy. Your next attack or skill is guaranteed to deal a critical strike for as high as two hundred and fifty percent damage.]

[This skill can be released at most three times. A maximum of two layers of Shadowkill marks can be stacked on the same enemy. When the shell dies or refreshes, the weapon trait cooldown is reset.]

“Whoa.”

Lin Xun was dumbfounded and asked the Book of Trade to appraise this assassin’s divine weapon.

The Book of Trade gave a suggested price of four million eight hundred thousand Spirit Essence, much higher than his Star-Shifting Celestial Sword.

This was only a suggested price. Taking this weapon to auction, with such an incredible weapon trait, the price could rise even further.

“I finally understand the mentality of those who do not dare hand me materials to forge. If by chance a weapon like this assassin’s divine blade is forged, it is truly a severe test of the human heart.”

Lin Xun sent the Shadowkiller Fist-Sword to his female supervisor.

Before long, a call came in from Li Xingyue.

“Lin Xun, you have worked hard. I really like this weapon.” The female supervisor sounded extremely delighted. “Did you generate a weapon trait in one go?”

“Of course. When it comes to craftsmanship, I have never lost to anyone.”

Li Xingyue said, “Very nice. The value of the weapon trait alone equals the entire weapon. How should I thank you?”

“Team Leader, why be polite with me?”

“That will not do. Let me think…”

“A humble girl has nothing to repay with, so only herself to offer?” Lin Xun could not help teasing.

“In your dreams.” On the other end, Li Xingyue rolled her eyes. “After the Disciple selection, I will give you a surprise.”

Li Xingyue hung up the phone, opened the game inventory, and the more she looked at the weapon description, the more she liked it.

This time, the length of Lin Xun’s forging was far beyond the usual.

Given his temperament, he would certainly send it to her the first moment the weapon was complete. Spending so long must have meant something happened.

Staring blankly at the weapon trait, Li Xingyue seemed to think of something.

“Reforging, right?” She unconsciously lifted the corners of her lips, her eyes curved. “Still playing tough, are we…”

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