Once upon a time there was a greedy snake.

Chapter 371 Those who are not afraid to die are the most useful.
Upo Salas, a notorious schemer and infamous collector in the Starsea, but no one can deny his power.

This is simply because no one has ever seen the collector personally take action.

This directly led to the fact that, among numerous rumors, the mysterious Upo Salas became a rare powerhouse. It is said that all those who witnessed his power died, and no one could stand alive in front of him. His power was more terrifying than that of a god who controlled many planets, a power capable of changing the world.

Upo Salas only acknowledged some of these rumors.

He does possess the power to change the world, but this power varies in level. For example, changing the world wouldn't take much effort for some barbaric native planets, but if he were to change the central planets of some powerful forces, it would be too much of a challenge for him. After all, if he were to actually do it, or even just have the idea, those higher beings could accurately locate him and teach him a lesson.

As for combat strength, he certainly does possess it. Although the Star Sea has not yet established a universal standard for calculating combat strength, if we use the native gods who cannot leave the planet itself as the unit of measurement, then he is roughly equivalent to the level of fifteen to twenty native gods.

Simply put, on some wild planets, without using his own collection, he could fight an entire pantheon and even escape unscathed relying solely on his own combat power.

To roam freely in the stars, this level of combat power is relatively basic. After all, if you could get stuck on some native planet, you really can't say you can roam freely in the stars.

As for the fact that no one has ever seen him make a move...

"But there's no need."

While Upo Salas could understand those bloodthirsty maniacs who measured everything by combat strength, he couldn't really empathize with them.

After all, fighting is only a part of life. There are many other things to do besides fighting, especially for someone like him who owns several museums, has countless collections, and is very wealthy. He is even less likely to risk his life.

Only fools need to fight for themselves. The minimum standard for an intelligent race is knowing how to make and use tools.

And beings like Upo Salas need to know how to utilize those intelligent races.

Sometimes, Upo Salas would wonder what wisdom really is. Before wisdom, all living beings have the instinct to seek advantage and avoid harm, but after wisdom is born, they become willing to face death calmly. Of course, those who face death calmly may have all sorts of reasons. They feel that they have no regrets about dying, or even that they died a worthy death.

But in Upo Salas's view, death is death, and once he's dead, everything is over. He absolutely does not want to die.

Since one is willing to die and the other is not, they can naturally each get what they need.

Ubo Salas didn't want to die, so he simply never fought personally. As for those ordinary beings who wanted to die, or even those who were ready to die, Ubo Salas was happy to give them his collection, so that they could have better weapons and equipment, stronger techniques and power—and of course, most importantly, to arrange a good way for them to die.

Since these mortal beings are already prepared to die, letting them experience a death without regrets before they die is naturally a good deed.

Most of the time, Upo Salas gets what he deserves. The mortal beings who are willing to die kill his enemies, and those mortal beings lose their lives in return. He gets his collection back, and even gets a few more souvenirs—clearly, no matter how you look at it, he wins.

Upo Salas spared no praise for these valiant warriors, calling them strong, for such strength was extremely beneficial to him.

However, sometimes he also encounters some weak people.

Just like now. The wolf-headed swordsman he chose should have been qualified to become a strongman. He had made everything so clear, just so that this promising warrior could truly be fearless in the face of death. However, unfortunately, this mortal creature ultimately failed to understand his good intentions and even went mad on the spot.

In Upo Salas's view, this was undoubtedly the behavior of the weak. Because of their weakness, they were greedy, wanted to keep their power in their hands, and were afraid of death.

This was incomprehensible to Upo Salas.

If you want to be strong, you must have the courage to face death. After all, only with such courage can you have a chance to win in battle. After all, that's what battle is all about: it's either life or death. If you don't take that step, how will you know if you're alive or dead?

Of course, Upo Salas himself would never take that step, and he also admitted that there are indeed weak people in this world who do not want to fight.

Therefore, one weakling who doesn't want to fight is enough.

"It's time to find another strong person willing to take that step."

"Otherwise, there might be some other troubles."

A fearless warrior in one's own hands is a very useful weapon, but if such a fearless creature targets one, it is an extremely disgusting thing—especially since the minds of those native animal gods are different from those of normal intelligent beings. The fearlessness of normal intelligent beings is often for some grand goal or firm belief.

But what about the indigenous animal gods...?

No one knows what these behemoths are thinking.

The unknown means variables, especially for an indigenous animal god with extremely powerful soul power. A giant beast that should have been seeking advantage and avoiding harm suddenly became fearless of death. Heaven knows what that giant beast was thinking. And after that enormous soul power was aroused by consciousness, it may cause some unpredictable consequences.

Perhaps we shouldn't have touched that giant snake; it's a terrible problem.

Upo Salas thought to himself.

But when he recalled his conversation with the giant snake, he was still determined to nip the danger in the bud.

"Perhaps... it's time to utilize some of our old collection."

With a flicker of Upo Salas's consciousness, a three-person squad landed on the ground.

However, compared to normal people, they are significantly taller, with fair skin and handsome faces, but what is most striking is their unusually long ears.

This is a race called Elves from a distant planet.

And now, these three are the best of the elves, who once personally slew the demon king who controlled thousands of undead.

(End of this chapter)