The job change is a bizarre and calamity; the nation begs me to tone it down.

Su Qiong paused slightly, her brows twitching imperceptibly.

Jiang Shu, on the other hand, reacted much more directly.

"The legion commander?"

Jiang Shu's voice carried a hint of "I knew it" helplessness: "You're not... going again, are you?"

Gu Xu almost lost his composure upon hearing this.

He turned to look at Jiang Shu, a rare relaxed smile appearing on his face that evening.

"That's natural."

He shrugged, his tone slightly sarcastic: "With great power comes great responsibility."

Jiang Shu's lips twitched again.

She really wanted to say, "You can't be so shameless."

But after glancing at the two ministers standing beside him, he swallowed his words.

However, Gu Xu's attention was no longer on Jiang Shu.

His gaze shifted to Su Qiong, who was standing next to Jiang Shu.

Su Qiong stood there, her expression unchanged.

But if you look closely, you can see a very subtle fluctuation in the depths of her eyes.

That was a concern.

Although it was well hidden, Gu Xu still noticed.

However, he didn't point it out, but instead changed the subject.

"Sister Qiong, you've arrived just in time."

Gu Xu took two steps toward Su Qiong and casually asked, "I have a question for you."

Su Qiong raised an eyebrow slightly: "What's the problem?"

"What do you need to advance from Quasi-Saint to Saint?"

Upon hearing this question, Su Qiong's brow furrowed slightly in surprise.

It wasn't surprise, it was unexpected.

She didn't expect Gu Xu to ask this question at this time.

Jiang Shu, standing next to her, immediately brightened up.

She remembered that Gu Xu had said something on the phone earlier.

"Tell Sister Qiong I have a surprise for her."

So... this is the surprise?

Jiang Shu's gaze swept back and forth between Gu Xu and Su Qiong twice, and the corners of her mouth unconsciously curled up.

Su Qiong paused for two seconds, then spoke: "Essence of Hellblood!"

Although, the voice was very calm.

But if you listen carefully, you can detect a slight tremor beneath that calm.

After all, she had waited far too long for this advancement.

It went on for so long that she almost gave up hope.

As I said before, the hurdle between a quasi-saint and a saint cannot be overcome simply by hard work.

It requires specific advanced materials, and those materials are extremely scarce.

It can be described as one of the most difficult resources to obtain on the entire planet Earth.

She searched for many years.

They even risked their lives to venture into several high-risk secret realms.

But it was never found.

This thing has not even been recorded in any known secret realms or planets.

So, you could basically say she gave up.

"Oh"

Gu Xu nodded after listening, and then he took something out of his pocket.

A crystal.

It is deep red all over, with fine light patterns flowing inside.

It was as if a river of blood was sealed inside, and within the river of blood, one could vaguely see the remnants of souls floating and sinking.

But just as the crystal was pulled from Gu Xu's arms...

Su Qiong's expression suddenly changed.

His body stiffened abruptly, his pupils contracted sharply, his lips parted slightly, and his breath caught in his throat for a moment.

At the same time, an extremely strange feeling welled up from her body.

How can I describe that feeling?

It was like an iron door with a rusted lock that had been stuck for who knows how many years. At this moment, the lock cylinder suddenly clicked and loosened.

It wasn't fully opened, but it was definitely loose.

Su Qiong could clearly sense that the bottleneck in her advancement, which was like an impenetrable wall, loosened slightly the moment the crystal appeared.

That feeling was so long ago.

It had been so long that she had almost forgotten what this feeling was like.

It's worth noting that she had tried to cross the threshold from Quasi-Saint to Saint before.

She tried many times, used many methods, and even risked her life.

But each time, it was like punching cotton, making no sound at all.

And now, just by glancing at that crystal, the bottleneck has been broken?

What does this tell us?

This means that what's in front of her is the answer she's been searching for for who knows how many years.

That aura, that resonance, that deep-seated professional connection—there's absolutely no mistake.

Essence of Hell Blood.

that's it.

One hundred percent, one thousandth, that's it.

For a moment, Su Qiong raised her head and looked at Gu Xu.

Her lips moved, her voice trembling slightly: "Commander...where did you get this?"

"The Mysterious Realm of Izumo?"

When she asked that question, she already had the answer in her heart.

The reason she hadn't found it after so many years wasn't because she hadn't tried hard enough, nor because she was unlucky.

Rather, the place where this thing is produced is completely outside their reach.

Gu Xu had just emerged from the Mysterious Realm of Chuyun tonight...

The fact that they were able to produce the Essence of Hellblood at this juncture makes the answer pretty obvious.

Looking at Su Qiong's expression, Gu Xu immediately understood what was going on.

That's it.

Judging from the reaction, it matches up.

To be honest, when he found this thing in the Cloud Realm, he wasn't 100% sure that this was exactly what Su Qiong needed.

But judging from Su Qiong's expression at this moment, this trip to the Cloud Realm was not in vain.

Without further ado, Gu Xu flicked his wrist and tossed the crystal towards Su Qiong.

The movements were so casual, like tossing a bag of spicy strips.

Su Qiong reacted quickly and caught it.

The moment she held the crystal, a warm energy surged into her body through her fingertips. It felt like drinking a bowl of piping hot ginger soup in the dead of winter, warming her from her internal organs to her limbs.

The bottleneck in my body has loosened a bit more.

Now...

Su Qiong's fingers unconsciously tightened slightly.

The heart rate is getting faster and faster.

"Sister Qiong, no wonder you couldn't find it for so long."

Gu Xu crossed his arms, his tone tinged with emotion: "This thing was previously produced in Japan."

"You could say that whatever you need, our dimension has it!"

"But those bastards in Japan can't even get past the gatekeepers, let alone get into the core area to get the resources. You tell me, they're sitting on a gold mine and starving to death. It's unbelievable."

Upon hearing this, Li Weiguo and Zhang Daoxuan exchanged a glance.

The corners of their mouths twitched simultaneously.

"so……"

Su Qiong glanced down at the crystal in her hand, her voice slightly hoarse: "This thing, you took it from the core area of ​​the Cloud Realm."

It's not a question, it's an affirmative sentence.

"Um."

Gu Xu responded without further explanation.

After all, what's there to say about this?

In order to advance to the Cloud Realm, I happened to clear it out and accidentally discovered the production of Hell Blood Essence.

Then, I happened to remember that Su Qiong had been stuck at the bottleneck of becoming a Quasi-Saint.

I just grabbed it.

What's the big deal?