My skills have mutated again!

Chapter 306 Intertwined Fates, Converging Protagonists

Tao Jing's dying words were filled with vulgarities, so there's no need to go into detail.

Five minutes later, the cursing gradually subsided and eventually disappeared without a trace.

[You have defeated an Alien Ember Walker. You may randomly acquire one of the opponent's non-class skills and two items from their personal inventory.]

After killing Tao Jing, Xia Lin triggered the Alien Walker mutual kill rule.

The system notification sound for the Ash Zone plays again.

[You have acquired the skill: Nine Defeats Rebirth!]

Tao Jing only possesses this one skill, which is neither a professional skill nor a race-specific skill, so Xia Lin can only obtain this skill.

But to be fair, the skill's strength is definitely top-notch.

[You have no available skill slots. Nine Defeats Rebirth can be converted into skill crystals.]

As the light surged, the Nine-Defeat Nirvana was thus placed into Xia Lin's hands.

Xia Lin, however, was in no hurry to use it.

Because the logic behind this thing is the same as that of the Heavenly Gift Source... When used under the effect of deceiving fate and altering destiny, combined with unstable mutations, the effect is even better.

There is one last chance to defy fate, so I will put it away for now and use it again when the time is right.

As for when to launch this final act of deceiving fate, Xia Lin had a rough plan.

"Trading cards for cards, exchanging one instance of deceiving fate for more instances of deceiving fate."

Muttering this to himself, the light before him flashed again.

After the items were drawn, they turned out to be two pills.

One pill is called the Rejuvenation Pill, used to replenish immortal power; the other is called the Nine-Turn Golden Pill, used for healing injuries.

In short, it was not a successful lottery draw.

……

A bomb-wielding boy held Tao Jing's corpse between two fingers and placed it in front of Xia Lin.

Xia Lin looked down at his battle results to assess the combat capabilities of the black and red form.

Tao Jing had countless sword marks on his body, but the traces of the explosion were not very obvious.

This means that, with the assistance of the Xuan Tian Sword Domain, Xia Lin's black and red twin swords are even more lethal than the Dongfeng missile.

But thinking about it, it makes sense.

Dongfeng Dominator is a skill that targets multiple enemies at once; single-target damage has never been its strong point. On the other hand, Ghost Five Elements Black Blade is stronger in single-target damage.

Furthermore, with the added speed and destructive power of the Xuan Tian Sword Domain, the damage from a normal attack in its black and red form surpasses that of a Dongfeng missile bombardment, which is perfectly reasonable.

Looking at the destructive effects of the Black Source Power and the Crimson Power, Xia Lin couldn't help but click his tongue in admiration.

That's awesome!

The corruption of the Black Source Power caused Tao Jing's body to twist and mutate. Now that he is dead, he cannot mobilize his demonic power to resist the Black Source Power. As a result, a large number of rusty and metal parts have grown out of Tao Jing's corpse. The speed and the bizarre appearance are truly terrifying.

At the same time, Xia Lin could also sense that the crimson power was also flowing through Tao Jing's corpse.

This energy is corroding Tao Jing's body and immortal soul, and its direct destructive power is even greater than that of the Black Source Power!

"The red sword works well, but the black sword is a bit weak in terms of lethality, so there is still room for improvement."

How to optimize?

Instead of using the power of the Dark Source, why not use other energy sources...? But Xia Lin hasn't found a suitable target yet, so this idea will have to be put on hold for now.

Reaching out to touch Tao Jing's corpse, Xia Lin absorbed the Black Source and Crimson Power within Tao Jing's body, and then stopped the decay of Tao Jing's corpse. Only then did Xia Lin activate the Hidden Soldier Cave, collect Tao Jing's corpse, and the Bomb Boys and Scarlett sisters.

Xia Lin only grinned after the overwhelming number of bomb-wielding boys had completely disappeared.

"It was worth all the effort I put in; it really is a great help."

In a head-on battle against Tao Jing, the Bomb Boys are merely easy prey; their sheer numbers cannot compensate for the difference in quality.

However, the Bomb Boys performed well in cleaning up the mess, proving to be quite effective in crucial moments.

That way, your efforts won't be in vain.

With a flick of his fingers, the Xuan Tian Sword Domain collapsed instantly. Xia Lin's vision blurred, and he reappeared in the Primal Secret Realm, the Ten Thousand Plant Garden.

The surrounding vegetation remained unchanged, and the battle was fought silently and unknown to anyone.

The next second, Xia Lin flipped his hand again, took out a communicator from his personal space, dialed a number, and the clown's voice came through.

"I have arrived."

"Pull me over there." As soon as Xia Lin said this, a ray of light shone from all around.

The scroll of sages, activated by the arrival of a friend from afar, dragged Xia Lin a thousand miles in an instant, appearing in another area within the Wanzhi Garden.

Meanwhile, the clown had been waiting alone for a long time.

This is another way out that Xia Lin has left for himself.

—If the difference in strength between him and Tao Jing is too great, he can contact the clown to activate the "Friends from Afar" skill at a critical moment, allowing Xia Lin to escape the battle.

Of course, this backup plan isn't foolproof; who knows if the Joker will be able to arrive at the original secret realm at the right time?

This place is a closed space; Xia Lin is inside the secret realm while the clown is outside. The "Friends from Afar" message may not work.

However, there is no opportunity to use this escape route at present, so there is no need to discuss it further.

After reuniting with the clown, Xia Lin activated the hidden soldier cave again and retrieved Tao Jing's corpse from it.

The clown wouldn't be surprised if a mangled corpse were placed in front of him.

He only went forward to check for a moment, then nodded slightly to Xia Lin.

"Available."

……

Xia Lin didn't have the kind of mindset to plan ten steps ahead, but she did understand the principle that those who lack foresight will face immediate troubles.

Leaving everything to luck and improvisation is too much of a gamble... Xia Lin used to like doing that, but after experiencing a lot and suffering many losses, Xia Lin has indeed changed.

For example, make a proper plan in advance.

The battle with Tao Jing was not a spur-of-the-moment decision, nor was it to assess the combat power in the black and red form or to test the strength of the racial sequence.

These are secondary.

The key lies in intelligence.

The clown stepped forward and came to Tao Jing's corpse.

He raised his hand and snapped his fingers, and a red balloon appeared out of thin air in front of him, flew to Tao Jing's corpse, and burst with a bang.

A hazy, illusory light floated out from Tao Jing's corpse and slowly condensed into another red balloon.

The Joker used this technique before in the Black Flag instance; it's an extremely efficient way to gather intelligence, and this ability is also applicable to recently deceased corpses.

The clown handed the balloon to Xia Lin, and without Xia Lin having to do anything, the balloon automatically merged into Xia Lin's body.

A flood of memories surged through Xia Lin's mind like a tidal wave.

With a quick search, Xia Lin soon found what she wanted.

……

First, there's the secret code used by Lin Xiantian's team, as well as various anti-counterfeiting measures.

The secret code was just one of the ways Lin Xiantian's team guarded against the bizarre and mysterious aspects of the situation.

In addition, there are also pre-planted items such as the Heart-to-Heart Gu, Phoenix Soul Incense, and Heavenly Oath.

The various methods dazzled Xia Lin, and also gave him a chill down his spine.

Good heavens, you guys really go to any lengths to target my bizarre and grotesque appearance!
Joker: The grotesque mask is mine!
This is not important...

In short, after communicating with the Joker, he gave a clear answer.

"The bizarre and grotesque appearance can't prevent these things, and I don't have the ability to let you infiltrate Lin Xiantian's team under the identity of Tao Jing..."

The Joker specializes in infiltration and assassination, employing unpredictable and varied methods.

Unfortunately, it's not a magic wish-granting machine.

With everyone on high alert, even the clown racked his brains but couldn't find a perfect way to infiltrate, let alone Xia Lin.

He had never heard of half of those anti-counterfeiting measures...

It can only be said that Lin Xiantian's team is indeed not someone to be trifled with.

"Then we'll have to find another way."

If one plan fails, there are always follow-ups.

The key also lies in Tao Jing's mind.

The second gain was detailed information about the primordial secret realm.

Xia Lin has some general information about the Primal Secret Realm, but it's only the records from the Xuan Tian Sect.

But Lin Xiantian is different.

First, the history of the Seeking Dao Sect is far longer than that of the Profound Heaven Sect. It is a sect that has been passed down from ancient times, and their records of the original secret realm must be much more extensive than those of the Profound Heaven Sect.

Second, there is a walkthrough for the virtual realm of "The Legend of the Outer Gods and Immortals"...

That's right, given the nature of virtual ember zones, duplicate virtual ember zones can occur.

The essence of "The Legend of the Outer Gods and Immortals" is not just a novel for critics, but more like a farming dungeon tailor-made for the Ashen Walkers under the Heavenly Dao Creator faction.

—Experiencing the power of a level 12 Immortal Venerable in advance... Wouldn't it be a waste to only take such a benefit once?
Within the Heavenly Dao Creator faction, this Ash Zone is considered their own backyard.

Legend has it that the current Human Race's number one, and also the strongest Ember Walker on the Creator's side, reaped immense benefits in this instance, and the exploration of the Primal Secret Realm there could fill several guidebooks.

All these strategies were hidden in Tao Jing's mind and were obtained by Xia Lin.

"That's fine, at least it eliminates the information gap..."

Xia Lin was somewhat disappointed, but quickly rallied her spirits.

His original plan was to disguise himself as Tao Jing and follow Lin Xiantian to find an opportunity to kill Lin Xiantian or seize the Primal Heavenly Heart.

Although this method didn't work, we obtained a lot of information about the original secret realm, so the battle with Tao Jing wasn't a complete waste.

……

Wanzhi Garden was originally a medicinal garden in an ancient celestial palace, where many opportunities should have arisen. However, due to unknown reasons, it mutated, causing the herbs to turn into man-eating, ferocious plants.

The cause of the anomaly was not recorded by the five major immortal sects, but Lin Xiantian knew it perfectly well.

After all, he had a strategy guide.

"Because Wanzhi Garden is the burial place of the ancient Shennong Emperor. The eleventh-level Immortal King died here, and his resentment before his death polluted Wanzhi Garden, which led to the current changes in Wanzhi Garden."

As they walked, Lin Xiantian slowly began to speak, recounting things that were common knowledge within the team.

It wasn't that he was bored; rather, it was to ease the tense atmosphere of the impending great battle.

"And this remains of Emperor Shennong is our goal for the first stage."

Because of the civil war in the ancient Heavenly Court, the rules of the entire Celestial Palace were distorted. The original paths were no longer paths, but instead, paths leading to the depths of the Celestial Palace were opened up where there were no paths before.

The passageway from Wanzhi Garden to the interior of the Celestial Palace is located right under the buttocks of the remains of Emperor Shennong.

In the original story, Lin Fan ventured deep into the Immortal Palace, taking this very path.

His method of dealing with the remains of Emperor Shennong was simple and brutal—he defeated the remains of Emperor Shennong.

After all, this part of the story takes place in the middle and later stages of the original work. At that time, Lin Fan was already a level 10 Golden Immortal. With the help of many magical treasures and the protagonist's halo, it is reasonable for him to defeat the remains of an Immortal King.

But Lin Xiantian doesn't have that ability now.

Lin Xiantian, however, still decided to follow the established route.

Although he didn't have Lin Fan's skills in the original story, he had more than ten helpers.

Even if all these quasi-sequence level helpers were combined, they probably still couldn't defeat a Celestial King... but the opponent wasn't a proper Celestial King either, just a Celestial King's corpse.

With some props and prior preparation, even if we can't kill the remains of Shennong Emperor, we can at least get Shennong Emperor to move aside and make way.

"Our combat strength is insufficient... far from sufficient, otherwise, why would we need to go through all this trouble!?"

Unfortunately, the issue of combat strength cannot be resolved.

"So we need to be quick!"

Lin Xiantian spoke in a deep voice.

"I have a feeling this won't go so smoothly."

The protagonist's destiny grants him extraordinary spiritual awareness, making Lin Xiantian realize that something unexpected will happen along the way. However, he cannot find the source of this unexpected event.

He was unaware that Xu Haonan and the others had followed him into the Primal Secret Realm, nor did he know that Xia Lin had already killed Tao Jing and obtained Tao Jing's memories.

I just instinctively realized that the faster things go and the fewer variables there are, the greater the chance of success.

With this in mind, Lin Xiantian and his group immediately quickened their pace.

……

"Lin Xiantian's route is very clear; his goal is the location of the remains of Shennong Emperor."

In Wanzhi Garden, in another direction.

Xiao Feng and Xu Haonan stood together, and as they walked, Xu Haonan spoke.

"Those who have read the original work know that the passageway to Wanzhi Garden is right under the buttocks of Shennong Emperor's remains, but I guess you probably don't know the exact location of Shennong Emperor."

Xiao Feng nodded: "There's no map in the original story, but you should know that."

Xu Haonan nodded: "Of course I know."

As the strategist on the side of the Creator of Heaven, Xu Haonan knows more strategies than Tao Jing, if not less.

He knew the layout of Wanzhi Garden inside the book.

Thinking of this, Xu Haonan let out a strange laugh and sighed.

"It's a pity that Lao Bao and Xin Zhan were sent somewhere by the spatial turbulence. If we had all the manpower, Bao could have prevented Lin Xiantian from leaving Wanzhi Garden."

“Right now, it’s just you…” Xiao Feng said, glancing at Human Race Sequence Eight, “The success rate is probably less than 80%.”

Xiao Feng sighed softly, too lazy to say anything more to Xu Haonan...

He's become quite the character, so what's wrong with me giving in to him?

……

The Primal Secret Realm, within the Hall of Criminal Justice.

The battle of level 11 is about to begin!
The interplay of immortal and demonic energies caused the entire space of the Criminal Hall to twist and fold!
The two people fighting were none other than Qu Yiyi and Zheng Li, two level eleven natives from this Ash Zone!

At this moment, the two sides clashed. Qu Yiyi held the Kuntian Mirror, and the mirror light flashed and turned into light flowing onto her body to stabilize her condition and repair her injuries. However, her pale face undoubtedly told the story of the difference between a celestial being and a celestial king.

On the other side, Zheng Li was filled with overwhelming demonic energy, and his eyes had turned pure black.

The Bone-Separating Sword, the Myriad Immortal Banner, and the Prison-Suppressing Flag—three magical treasures of the Immortal King—radiated boundless light, continuously compressing Qu Yiyi's living space.

It's unclear what method Zheng Li used to pinpoint Qu Yiyi's location.

All that is known is that not long after Xia Lin and Tao Jing started their battle, Zheng Li found Qu Yiyi all by himself.

With both old and new grudges combined, there was naturally no possibility for the two to coexist peacefully.

Now, Xia Lin has already killed Tao Jing with his sword, and Qu Yiyi is about to reach the end of her life.

However, as the destined heroine and the number one female demon of this Ash District, Qu Yiyi is by no means a person who accepts her fate.

As she watched Zheng Li swing the Bone-Separating Sword again, a ruthless glint flashed in Qu Yiyi's eyes.

"burst!"

Inside the storage bag, all the immortal treasures except for the Kuntian Mirror, which was his natal magic weapon, exploded with a roar under this single word.

The power of the immortal treasure's self-destruction was even greater than Qu Yiyi's full-force attack!

This attack stirred up space and even disrupted the inherent rules of the primordial secret realm.

For a time, no matter where you were in the primeval wilderness, you could feel the tremors—the only difference being the magnitude.

At the epicenter of the explosion, the force of the explosion distorted the rules of space, causing spatial instability and a spatial rift to suddenly open.

A bright light flashed again in the Kuntian Mirror, and Qu Yiyi plunged into the spatial rift, disappearing without a trace.

Zheng Li, who witnessed all of this, twitched his eyebrow.

The power of the Immortal King vaguely sensed several wills, no less powerful than his own but rather rigid and inflexible, spreading from the depths of the Immortal Palace and vaguely locking onto him.

This made Zheng Li realize that his battle with Qu Yiyi had alerted some mysterious beings in the Primal Secret Realm, and if he dared to make another move, he would surely suffer a backlash.

"Fine, you've dodged another bullet!"

Zheng Li gritted his teeth, suppressed his aura, and turned to leave.

……

Lin Xiantian and his party, who were on their way, suddenly stopped.

Because they sensed the tremors of the primordial secret realm.

The tremor came suddenly and went quickly, with no follow-up after the initial shock, leaving Lin Xiantian and his group looking at each other in bewilderment, somewhat alarmed.

"To recite from the book" is a derogatory term.

Using past strategies in the current situation is simply copying from a textbook.

The plot changes in the Ashes area this time were too great, causing most of the strategies Lin Xiantian had to become inapplicable. For example, the current shock was not recorded in the strategy guide.

Not long after, before Lin Xiantian could give the order to continue, a spatial rift suddenly opened up not far in front of them, and a beautiful woman in red emerged from the rift and fell to the ground.

Did a Lin Daiyu fall from the sky?

No, not Lin Daiyu, but Qu Daiyu...

Lin Xiantian initially thought the visitor had ill intentions, but when he saw Qu Yiyi's appearance, he was suddenly overjoyed!
Isn't this the female lead in the story?

As he quickly walked up to Qu Yiyi, Lin Xiantian marveled at the strangeness of fate.

The plot is currently in chaos, and the original storyline no longer exists.

However, fate still led the male protagonist to encounter the female protagonist, who would only appear later in the story, at this very moment.

Although it's unclear why Qu Yiyi would appear in the Primal Realm at this particular time...

Just like he didn't know that Qu Yiyi already had a child with Xia Lin...

But none of this matters!
Importantly, the male and female protagonists reunited at this crucial moment when Lin Xiantian desperately needed combat power.

What is this called?
This is what they call falling asleep – the protagonist's destiny has delivered the pillow!
A series of thoughts flashed through his mind, but Lin Xiantian's hands did not move slowly.

He carefully placed a pill into Qu Yiyi's mouth. As Qu Yiyi's eyelashes trembled slightly, she quickly opened her eyes.

Their eyes met, and Lin Xiantian revealed a charming smile as he met those bright eyes.

"Are you okay, miss?"

Qu Yiyi was also taken aback when she looked at Lin Fan.

She didn't know Lin Fan's name, nor did she know about the grudges between Lin Xiantian and Xia Lin. She just felt that the person in front of her had an extraordinary temperament, which made her feel good about him.

Qu Yiyi is currently seriously injured, and feelings are developing between her and everyone who comes to her rescue. Originally, with the help of the main characters' halo, things should have progressed smoothly. However, alas, I was born before you were born, and you were born after I had become a mother...

With difficulty, Qu Yiyi gave Lin Xiantian a charming smile.

"Thank you for your help, young master, but I wonder where this place is?"

……

The road to where Xia Lin was located was fraught with danger.

This is due to a person's tendency to be overly demanding.

The journey was fraught with trouble, including not only the threat of malevolent plants but also encounters with several groups of people.

Xia Lin had fellow disciples from the five major immortal sects, and for the sake of convenience, he made up an excuse to avoid having much contact with them.

There were also people from the demonic path and members of the Black Martial Alliance.

After several overwhelming battles, Xia Lin easily resolved the issue, but also learned that the Demonic Sect and the Black Martial Alliance had already entered the fray.

Thinking of the Demonic Sect brings to mind Qu Yiyi, whose whereabouts are unknown, and the baby girl named Qu Tianhe in the Hidden Soldier Cave.

In the current situation, Xia Lin's forces are not strong enough. If Qu Yiyi can spare some time to help Xia Lin, then Xia Lin will have a better chance of winning this battle between the real and fake protagonists.

Unfortunately, Xia Lin didn't see Qu Yiyi; instead, she met several other acquaintances first.

Wenrou, Xingfanwu, Kong Youwu, Li Yuan, Xiao Feng.

And Xu Haonan.

……

The time is three days later.

The location is within Wanzhi Garden, not far from the remains of Shennong Dijun.

Xu Haonan and Xia Lin, who should have drawn their swords against each other, sat together, looking at each other, neither daring to speak first.

Under Xiao Feng's watchful gaze, after a moment, Xu Haonan spoke first.

"Thank you so much, the buff you gave me was amazing! It helped me find the true meaning of life!"

Xia Lin was completely speechless.

Returning to the true meaning of life...

Is finding joy the true meaning of your life?
Hmm... thinking about it, it doesn't seem wrong. If a person who enjoys life doesn't seek out fun, then what kind of person would they be?
For a moment, Xia Lin didn't know how to respond to Xu Haonan's words, and could only say speechlessly, "I'm glad you're satisfied."

What else could he say?

"But there's another problem... Compared to this skill, the other skill isn't very useful... Could you perhaps put away the supernatural power so I can have more fun?"

Xu Haonan was referring to the king of weaklings.

Xia Lin said there was nothing he could do about it.

The constant state is the effect of the Kuntian Mirror. Without Qu Yiyi's nod, Xia Lin couldn't shake this effect at all.

If you want to reclaim the skills "Blooming Debut" and "King of Soft-legged Shrimp," you can only wait until this Ember Zone ends if you don't seek out Qu Yiyi.

Seeing Xia Lin shake his head, Xu Haonan didn't press the matter. Just then, Kong Youwu walked over from the side and came to Xiao Feng.

"problem occurs."

"The existence of Shennong Emperor has become common knowledge."

These words startled Xiao Feng, and Xu Haonan was also puzzled.

"That shouldn't be the case. Only the Ash District Walkers know about Shennong Emperor. Neither we nor Lin Xiantian could possibly inform the natives of the storyline."

"Lin Xiantian's side doesn't have enough combat power. To avoid any unexpected events, we must act as quickly as possible, while also keeping the news under wraps to prevent the natives from finding out and causing unforeseen changes."

"We're here specifically for Lin Xiantian, and we don't want the natives to cause trouble..."

Xia Lin exclaimed, "Good heavens!"

We've all used it...

Although I don't know what big thing Xu Haonan did before—I didn't have time to ask—it seems that this "funny guy" debuff really has some strength and explanation.

It wasn't until Xu Haonan spoke again that he muttered in confusion.

"Could it be that Lin Xiantian has gotten another trump card from somewhere?"

Completely baffled, I decided to wait and see.

……

Qu Yiyi's appearance was like a timely help to Lin Xiantian, and even changed Lin Xiantian's established strategic thinking.

Now he's not in a hurry anymore...

Firstly, Qu Yiyi is seriously injured and needs to recuperate.

Lin Xiantian had many ways to deal with this—as a human of the tenth rank, Lin Xiantian naturally had a lot of healing items in reserve, some of which were so precious that they could even be effective against level eleven. However, he gave them all to Qu Yiyi and received gratitude from the female protagonist of the story.

Secondly, seeing that he had already "subdued" Qu Yiyi, Lin Xiantian naturally became much bolder.

With an eleventh-level celestial being by my side, why would I joke with you?
He even wanted to lure out Xia Lin, and even Xu Haonan, Xiao Feng and others who might be involved, using Qu Yiyi as his trump card to send all these opponents to their doom!

With this in mind, Lin Xiantian was not in a hurry to deal with the remains of the Farmer Emperor, but instead made the matter known to everyone.

Lure them out of their hole, then catch them all in one fell swoop.

Little did they know that Qu Yiyi was already planning to run away.

If you make such a big fuss, what if Zheng Li comes knocking on your door? Won't you explode?
What does Lin Xiantian represent in terms of positive separation?
Yes, Qu Yiyi didn't tell Lin Xiantian that she was being hunted down by Zheng Li.

The injury was used as an excuse.

The more beautiful a woman is, the more likely she is to lie...

Looking at the spirited Lin Xiantian beside her, Qu Yiyi sighed inwardly and decided to stay by his side for a few more days.

There was no other reason than that the pills in Lin Xiantian's hand were indeed fragrant.

(End of this chapter)