Extraordinary Pedigree.

Chapter 728 The Dark Lord and the Naga Ring (IV)

Xia Xiu sat in the dim stick-making shop, smiling slightly, his golden eyes revealing an irresistible gentle light. The look was neither sharp nor aggressive, but it carried an irresistible persuasiveness that made people feel invisible pressure.

"I came here to talk to you about only three things."

He said it lightly, without any threat in his tone, instead it sounded like he was chatting with an old friend.

"These things are not evil deeds that would destroy one's conscience. On the contrary, if they are accomplished, they can be said to be great things that benefit the Hundred Layers World. The entire Naga Ring and even more planes will benefit from it."

Although his voice was calm, it carried a calm confidence, as if this was supposed to happen and was destined to happen.

Satis felt a little uneasy in his heart, for he knew that he couldn't refuse.

The other party's seemingly casual posture and nonchalant tone made him realize that even if he wanted to resist, it would be futile.

At this moment, he could only whisper to himself in his heart:

"Ah, yes, yes... you are right... What can I do? I dare not resist anyway."

The old craftsman had a complicated expression on his face. He carefully stroked the table beside him with his fingers, his fingertips close to the wooden surface. Although his heart was full of doubts, in front of the Dark Lord, he could only force out a faint smile and nodded slightly.

And when Xia Xiu looked at Satis's expression, he obviously saw the old craftsman's inner struggle and fear.

However, he did not continue to embarrass the old man. After all, the old man was not young anymore and was also an extremely useful staff-making master.

If we push him too hard, it might backfire.

After all, I'm already old. If I get a heart attack from being scared, how can I work like a slave for the students of the Third Hospital in the future... Oh no, I'll be a craftsman.

On the other side, the old craftsman carefully considered each word, with a hint of uncertainty in his tone:

"So...what exactly do you mean by cooperation?"

"I've said this before..." Xia Xiu started, his tone still relaxed and natural, with a hint of a smile.

His eyes fell on the nameplate with the store manager's name engraved on it, and he said to the old man:
"Before cooperating with you, I have to confirm whether you, Satis Elosak, are really the best staff maker in this city, or even in the entire Naga Ring."

After listening to Xia Xiu's question, Satis Elosak straightened his back, and his eyes rekindled the pride and confidence of a master staff maker.

Although he had just been under tremendous pressure, now, when he talked about the career he loved all his life, his voice became steady and full of power:

“The name of Elosauk has been passed down in Arkadian City for seven generations, and I, Satis Elosauk, am the seventh generation of the family’s master staff maker.

I inherited hundreds of years of family skills, but I didn't stop there. I also combined the snake magic and the elemental spells of the Naga Ring to create a more perfect wand. "

He paused for a moment, his fingers gently stroking a wand that was being repaired beside him, his tone filled with unshakable confidence:
“Every magic wand I make is more than just a tool for casting spells; they are something that resonates with the wizard’s soul.

For each wand, I carefully select the most perfect materials based on its owner's magical talents, personality and needs.

Snake bones, lightning snake scales, poisonous fog python fangs... these materials become alive in my hands, they merge with the wizard's soul, allowing each staff to burst out with the most powerful power in the hands of its owner. "

There was a fanatical light in his eyes, and he was obviously full of confidence and enthusiasm for his skills:

“I have extremely discerning standards, and only the most perfect materials and the most complex craftsmanship can meet my requirements.

For every customer who comes to my shop, I can identify at a glance the staff that suits them, because the staff is not only an extension of the wizard, it is also a guide to the wizard's destiny."

He smiled lightly, his tone becoming slightly softer, but his confidence remained the same. He recited the motto of his family's century-old tradition of making staffs:

"Wizards guide power, and wands choose fate; only when souls are in harmony can the wand ignite true magic!"

While answering Xia Xiu's questions, he picked up several wands from the counter and displayed them one by one.

As for his behavior of taking the magic wand, Xia Xiu did not try to stop him, allowing him to do it freely.

"This wand," Satis held a slightly bent wand in his hand and gently wiped the dust off it, his voice filled with his usual rigor and pride.

"Its core material is the scales of a lightning snake, and the body of the staff is made of storm fir. This type of wood is light but tough, and can accurately guide the magical power of wind and lightning. It is especially suitable for wizards who are good at combat spells."

He gently raised the wand, and there was a faint electric current flickering at the handle. Every inch of wood and scales was brewing some potential power.

"You can see that the staff is slightly curved, and the design imitates the shape of a coiled snake. This is not only for aesthetics, but also helps the user focus the flow of magic when casting a spell. And these lightning patterns," he gently ran his fingers over the handle of the staff, "can further enhance the power of the spell. When using it, you can also feel a slight pulse of electricity, as if the magic itself is resonating with the user."

Xia Xiu just glanced at it indifferently and made up his mind.

The magic circuit at the core of this wand is very straight and perfect, and the flow rate of the EVE particles inside is as high as over 85%, which is absolutely a good grade.

He smiled slightly, raised his hands and let out crisp applause.

clap clap-

"good, very good."

He nodded with satisfaction to the old craftsman, with a hint of relaxed approval in his eyes.

As the applause stopped, Xia Xiu stood up from the table and approached the old man.

He gently adjusted his hat and looked at Satis with a barely perceptible smile on his face:

"Since you are here, I should also tell you the real purpose of my coming here and the matters of cooperation."

As he spoke, he raised his right hand and extended an index finger:
“First of all, the first thing is: I want you to sign a contract with me and become a special operator of the Heavenly Kingdom stationed in the Terra Collapse Administration, and also serve as a professor in the Mysticism Group and the Magic Knowledge Group.

Oh, and I also need you to provide some basic information about wand making and principles.

Of course, I only need the basics, and will not involve your family's core technology - but the contract must be signed now."

Xia Xiu's tone was relaxed and calm, as if this was just a daily business negotiation rather than an irresistible order.

However, as soon as he finished speaking, Satis's face suddenly turned pale.

His breathing hitched, and his eyes instantly changed from slight surprise to uncontrollable panic.

Heaven, Administration...

These names flashed through his mind, carrying with them a terrifying implication that could not be ignored.

The smiling golden-haired creature in front of him, the so-called "Dark Lord" in the prophecy, has already been clearly revealed as to his identity in Terra.

He was not an ordinary visitor at all, but a...

Lord of the Abyss!!!

Damn it, why am I so unlucky?!
Satis was roaring in his heart, but he dared not show it on his face. He could only suppress the trembling in his heart.

Xia Xiu paid no attention to the old man's inner turmoil and continued talking on his own.

He stretched out the middle finger of his right hand, turned it slightly, and raised it up alongside his index finger. He continued to speak lightly:

“The second condition is that I need books about the Naga Ring and the Hundred Layer World.

The closed-door policy you have here is really speechless. Any news about the Hundred Layer World can hardly leak out of Terra.

The outgoing information is either encrypted and blocked, or contaminated by the Memu element and directly cleaned up by the Kingdom of Heaven.

I finally managed to squeeze in once, so I have to seize the opportunity to get to know the local customs and people better."

Before he finished speaking, Satis almost collapsed.

The Dark Lord actually admitted his identity so bluntly!

For a moment, the old man's heart was filled with despair and helplessness - if he agreed to this cooperation, wouldn't he become a 'traitor' of the entire Naga Ring?
The fate of a "traitor" will only be to be despised by everyone and will never be able to gain a foothold in the wizarding community!

But even if he was full of resistance in his heart, how could he dare to disobey? Facing Xia Xiu's seemingly peaceful but oppressive smile, Satis could only curse himself in his heart and did not dare to resist out loud.

Xia Xiu obviously didn't care about the old man's inner struggle. He changed the subject, raised his ring finger, and put forward the last condition:
"The third condition. If what you said before that you are the best wand maker in this city is not an exaggeration, then tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, students from the Deer Academy and people from the Green Robe Wizard Association from another Hundred Layers World should come here to customize wands. I need you to quietly give them something when you customize wands for them."

Satis' heart sank and cold sweat broke out on his forehead involuntarily.

"besides……"

Xia Xiu continued, his eyes still as relaxed and natural as before, as if these requests were just ordinary things.

"I also need you to take the opportunity to infiltrate the magic academy in this city and serve as a professor before you go to Terra with me. What you need to do is very simple. Find out all the situations inside the academy, especially everything related to the Auror family. As for how to infiltrate and become a professor, and how to collect intelligence, these things are up to you."

When Satis heard Xia Xiu's words, the despair in his heart seemed to increase.

The whole person fell into an endless abyss, completely trapped in inescapable fear and powerlessness.

He was already feeling desperate, and now, with Xia Xiu's irresistible request, the despair in his heart finally reached its peak.

His body trembled slightly involuntarily, and an urge to sacrifice himself surged in his heart.

gas! shake! cold!
What a joke! This is not cooperation at all; it is clearly a unilateral overbearing treaty and a devil's contract!
If this was the end of his career as a staff-maker, perhaps he could only accept his fate.

However, just as Satis was feeling mixed emotions and the courage to sacrifice himself was gradually growing, Xia Xiu's gentle voice once again reached his ears.

"For you wizards, I always know what you are looking for."

Xia Xiu's voice seemed to have some kind of irresistible charm, full of an irresistible temptation.

“You know a lot, yet you still want to know it all.

For you wizards, the soul is like a blank scroll that can carry magic, and your mission is to use the pen of truth to write endless mysteries on this scroll.

If the scroll is torn as a result, it is a small price to pay for a greater destiny."

Satis' heart trembled, he could not deny the accuracy of this sentence. Just as he was still digesting Xia Xiu's words, a silver magic wand suddenly flew towards him from the air.

Satis subconsciously reached out his hand and caught the wand. But when his fingers touched the wand, a strong tremor spread from his fingertips to his whole body. His pupils suddenly contracted, his hands trembled uncontrollably, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

His face turned pale instantly, and he murmured in disbelief:
"This... this is... a great creation... the Deathly Hallows..."

A terrifying aura emanated from the tip of the wand, as if even his soul was trembling.

This feeling was something he had never experienced before, and the energy flowing in the wand almost made him feel like he would be swallowed up at any moment.

At this time, Xia Xiu had quietly come to his side, and a figure taller than him loomed over his head.

He leaned down slightly, placed his right hand lightly on Satis's shoulder, and spoke in a low but seductive tone, just like Mephistopheles in the poem tempting Faust to fall.

“Whatever you ask for must be replaced, whatever you gain must be lost, and whatever you give must be repaid.”

The blond young man's voice was low and rhythmic, and it penetrated into Satis' heart with some irresistible law.

Satis felt that he was almost suffocating, and he was completely immersed in the Dark Lord's words, unable to extricate himself.

The gentle smile of the blond young man was covered with the glory of an angel, but his words were like a devil that bewitched Satis' soul.

"How can I let people do something that does not bring them any benefits?"

Xia Xiu spoke softly, as if comforting a child shaken by fear.

"Demons know that they have to give power to complete a contract, so how can angels be inferior to demons?"

He patted Satis's shoulder gently, his tone was soothing and warm, but it made Satis' heart tremble even more.

"During the time you serve as a professor," Xia Xiu continued, "you can hold this Deathly Hallows, study it, and even use it. I have liberated three permissions for you, and you can release three authority spells from it. Even if you no longer hold this holy artifact in the future, the principles of these three spells will be engraved in your body, and you can still release weakened versions of them."

The Dark Lord's voice was gentle but extremely attractive. Every word he said was depriving Satis of his will, forcing him to fall into this endless temptation.

"I can tell you these three spells."

Xia Xiu generously shared the contents of his reward with the old man in advance:
"The first one is a death spell that can shatter a person into spirit particles; the second one is a restriction spell that makes the target suffer great pain but will not kill them; and the third one is a control spell that controls the surrounding gravity and restricts the actions of others.

These three spells are at least level eight. You have the wand privileges I have given you, so you can use each spell three times a day.

And every time you use them, you can sense and engrave their mysteries deep in your soul."

"And as a staff maker, would you give up the opportunity to study the Deathly Hallows that only appear in legends?"

"The culmination of your life is already visible to the naked eye, but now you have the opportunity to touch it?"

"Are you really going to give up?"

Satis's hand involuntarily clenched the magic wand, feeling the power surging in the wand, his heart was already engulfed by an almost crazy temptation.

"of course."

Xia Xiu suddenly changed the subject, his tone still gentle. This was his last warm reminder to Satis.

"You can refuse. As an angel, I certainly won't kill anyone to silence them."

"I will keep you silent about what happened today - after all, death is not the only way to keep someone silent; there are many types of thaumaturgy and memes in this land."

The old man listened to Xia Xiu's seductive whispers, the words that struck his soul like a spell lingering in his ears.

He was trembling all over, his hands tightly grasping the heavy silver wand, as if he was holding on to the last bit of sanity and self-respect.

Finally, he looked up at the blond young man, his eyes filled with fear and helplessness, with irrepressible submissiveness and compromise.

"I...sign a contract with you."

He uttered these words with difficulty in a hoarse voice, and these words exhausted all his courage and will.

Upon hearing this, Xia Xiu's lips blossomed into a brilliant and calm smile. He spread his hands, and his tone was filled with relief and appreciation, like a mentor who saw his disciple attain enlightenment.

"That's right. Every pursuit has its price. You want to control everything, but you forget that truth is never a generous giver. If you want to glimpse the end of truth, you must be prepared to pay the price of your soul."

He paused, looking directly at Satis, his tone chillingly calm.

"But I'm not a demon, so I don't need your soul."

"You're lucky because no one would be more generous than me."

After saying that, Xia Xiu raised his right hand and gently pointed his index finger at the back of the old man's right hand.

As he moved, a chill rushed up the old man's spine to the top of his head, and he subconsciously stared at his right hand.

"Since you agreed, the contract will be signed now."

Xia Xiu said calmly, there was no threat in his tone, he was just doing his job.

"This is a mark. When you complete the task, the mark will disappear naturally."

Before he finished speaking, Satis felt a burning pain coming from the back of his hand, and it felt like a red-hot iron was burning directly into his flesh.

The pain made him raise his right hand involuntarily, and he felt horrified.

He saw an Ouroboros-like [∞] symbol appear on the back of his hand. The symbol slowly rotated, bringing with it an indescribable sense of fear.

His breathing became more rapid. The symbol was resonating with his soul and was deeply engraved into his own existence.

"Remember my request."

Xia Xiu interrupted Satis's thoughts, then he took out a small round mirror from his windbreaker and handed it to the old man.

"You hold this mirror. If the person I mentioned comes, you just need to hand this thing to them."

Satis took the mirror carefully.

He looked at the mirror with confused eyes, feeling a sense of powerlessness as if he was being clamped.

Xia Xiu patted his hat lightly, adjusted his collar, and then gave the old man a meaningful smile.

"Wish us happy cooperation."

Following a slight ripple in space, his figure was gradually enveloped by a distorted light and shadow, as if being swallowed by the [∞] symbol, gradually fading until he completely disappeared in the store, as if he had never existed.

After a moment's silence, Satis came back to his senses as if awakened from a dream.

He subconsciously looked down at the mirror in his hand, his eyes sweeping over the silver wand, as if everything that had just happened was just a strange dream.

However, when his eyes once again fell on the Ouroboros symbol on the back of his hand, the cruel reality pulled him back from his dream.

His legs went weak and he almost fell.

"The Dark Lord... The Dark Lord... The Dark Lord..."

He whispered.

*
*
the other side.

On a dark street in the city of Arcadia, the night covered the earth like a veil, and the buildings on both sides of the alley cast distorted shadows in the moonlight.

Xia Xiu strolled leisurely on the street, aimlessly enjoying the night view of this ancient city.

The figure of Vashak flashed past him, which once again caused a commotion in the city.

He looked relaxed, with a faint smile on his lips, and he didn't care at all about the chaos he had caused in the city behind him.

On the clock tower not far away, the wizards in the city fell into panic again because of the brief appearance of [Vashak], and the fluctuations of magic spread like ripples. The wizards in several observation towers rushed through the air in a panic, scanning everywhere with magic instruments in their hands, trying to capture the fleeting abnormal fluctuations.

But Xia Xiu didn't care about it at all, and even hummed a cheerful tune.

In his right hand, he slowly turned a fifteen-inch silver wand, which glowed faintly in the moonlight, as if it contained some unspeakable power.

This magic wand was exactly the one that Satis Elosauk originally held in his hand - or rather, it was that magic wand.

In fact, from the very beginning, the wand in Xia Xiu's hand had never left him.

To him, the wand can be real or fake, depending on his decision.

The power of alternating reality and illusion had long been mastered by him to perfection, and the boundary between fact and illusion became blurred in his hands.

However, he did not completely deceive the old man. Although what the other party held in his hand was a partial virtual image of the [Time Slot-Interactive Historical Projection], it was indeed a great creation, the Deathly Hallows.

It is absolutely impossible for two identical [miracles] to appear in the world, and it is also absolutely impossible for them to appear on the same timeline or in the same space zone.

To know.

Even though the other fragments of the [Lever of Heaven] are not exactly the same, the lever in Xia Xiu's hand has now been assimilated by him into a [Miracle Wedge] with a very personal touch.

Therefore, if the other party uses the "projection that is allowed to exist", he, as the master, must indeed relax some restrictions and at the same time, not use leverage himself.

However, there is only one real core here.

"The question is never whether it's true or not," Xia Xiu muttered to himself, with a meaningful glint in his eyes, "but whether... I want to do it or not."

……

……