My skills have mutated again!

Chapter 309 Xia Lin, There's Always a Way
Xia Lin admitted that he underestimated the power of the protagonist's destiny and troublesome nature.

The combination of the two directly resulted in Xia Lin helping Lin Xiantian avert disaster.

So the question he now faces is: should he make a move in this round?

The answer is definitely yes.

Without any personal feelings involved, he had no personal feelings for Qu Yiyi, this female devil. The title of "father" and "mother" of the child was just a joke and should not be taken seriously.

The key point is that this matter involves both side quests and main quests.

In other words, driven by various coincidences, Xia Lin either helps the real protagonist Lin Fan and the female protagonist Qu Yiyi avoid this calamity, or he has to bear the consequences of the female protagonist's death, mission failure, and the huge negative impact on the struggle between the real and fake protagonists.

He made his move right above his head.

Even though the might of the Celestial King was somewhat weakened by the Primal Secret Realm, it was still terrifying.

Even without any deliberate targeting, the clown and Xing Fanwu could not withstand the pressure emanating from the eleventh-level Immortal King.

The two moved stiffly toward the passage.

As for the others who were still far from the passage, such as the Golden Immortal from the Xuantian Sect who brought Xia Lin here, they also fled to the outer perimeter for their lives, unable to enter the passage, and dared not stay here for long!
"Run! If you're too slow, it's all over!"

Seeing that Xia Lin was still standing there motionless, the clown hurriedly called out to her.

But then they saw Xia Lin's brows furrowing deeper and deeper, his gaze fixed on Qu Yiyi's location in the sky.

This greatly alarmed the clown.

"Dude, you can't be trying to save her, can you... How are we supposed to save her?!"

Xia Lin rolled her eyes at this.

"Dude, which ear of yours heard me say I wanted to save her?!"

The clown was taken aback.

"Didn't you say that you need to deal with a problem first?"

Xia Lin was speechless: "I have a problem to deal with, but it's not about saving Qu Yiyi's life."

At this point, Xia Lin's expression suddenly hardened: "I just need to deal with the issues of completing the mission and Lin Xiantian's protagonist halo first."

These two things have bound Xia Lin's hands and feet, and have become obstacles in his path.

At this moment, Xia Lin had already come up with a solution that would satisfy both sides.

Of course, he will definitely take action.

But how to make that move is another matter.

Thinking of this, Xia Lin turned his head and looked at everyone who was fleeing in a sorry state under the pressure of the Immortal King. Soon, Xia Lin locked onto his target.

That was Xu Haonan, who was hiding in the corner with a look of amusement on his face.

……

The Joker said something wrong.

Xia Lin might actually have the ability to protect Qu Yiyi.

However, if Xia Lin were to follow the normal methods, he would inevitably have to pay a heavy price.

The final act of deceiving fate is a must.

In addition, they may have to use the backup plan they laid out earlier—the county magistrate.

However, Xia Lin had already planned for this last act of deceiving fate; he intended to use it to deceive the evil god.

The county magistrate's activation now is ill-timed—the effects of this world's end are far from reaching their peak, and activating it now will not achieve the best results.

So if things proceed as expected, this would mean that Xia Lin protecting Qu Yiyi would cause all his previous plans to fall apart, and might even have a huge impact on the future.

In particular, by using these methods, the essence was still to help his rival, Lin Xiantian, solve his problem.

This is something Xia Lin absolutely cannot accept.

The Celestial King's oppressive aura swept in, and the great battle in the sky resumed.

Qu Yiyi deliberately fled far away from this place, leading Zheng Li to give chase.

Black Star hesitated for a moment, making a simple choice between Qu Yiyi and Lin Xiantian. In the end, he tried to rush into the passage to continue chasing Lin Xiantian, but was blocked by the remains of the Immortal King.

Amidst the chaos, Xia Lin seized the opportunity to alter her appearance and aura, quietly making her way to Xu Haonan's vicinity.

Xia Lin slapped Xu Haonan on the shoulder and whispered in his own voice.

"Don't be afraid, it's me."

Xu Haonan was startled, and only breathed a sigh of relief after recognizing the voice.

He lay prone in the grass, his equipment concealing his presence and isolating him from the aftershocks of the battle. Xia Lin sidled up beside Xu Haonan as well.

Then Xu Haonan asked in confusion, "Why aren't you leaving? What are you waiting for?"

Xia Lin rolled her eyes: "Then what are you waiting for if you're not leaving?"

Xu Haonan grinned: "This is going to be fun! I'm waiting to see some fun!"

"Look, if Qu Yiyi dies here, and the female lead dies a little over a year into the story, wouldn't that be hilarious?"

He's waiting to see the female lead die...

But there's nothing wrong with it.

People who enjoy themselves should watch entertainment.

This answer was exactly what Xia Lin had expected.

He also raised the corners of his mouth and said with a smile, "Then I have something even more interesting to share. Do you want to see it?"

Xu Haonan nodded readily: "Of course I want to, how could I not?"

"But I need your help to have this fun."

"As long as it's fun, that's fine. Tell me what you want me to do for you."

Xia Lin said with a smile, "I heard from Xiao Feng that you seem to have a big plan..."

Upon hearing Xia Lin's words, Xu Haonan immediately shut up.

Xia Lin has no right to know about this plan.

Xia Lin wasn't surprised, but said quietly, "Actually, I can roughly guess what this so-called grand plan is all about..."

"I don't care about your fancy tricks, the key is that I need your methods..."

Xia Lin began to explain in detail.

Xu Haonan's eyes widened more and more.

Just as Xia Lin finished speaking, Xu Haonan suddenly slapped himself hard across the face.

"Damn it, why didn't I think of this fun!"

Xia Lin chuckled: "Maybe it's the effect of the King of Squid"...

……

Qu Yiyi didn't seem to be pinning her hopes for breaking the deadlock on Xia Lin.

That "deeply affectionate gaze" he gave earlier was definitely not directed at Xia Lin, but at his own daughter, Qu Tianhe.

This can be seen from the fact that she deliberately distanced herself from the battlefield.

She didn't want to involve Xia Lin in this, after all, he was her daughter's guardian.

"He's a good person, and good-looking too... he just chose the wrong side."

Xia Lin spoke with a hint of regret, commenting on Qu Yiyi's performance in this round.

Qu Yiyi most likely heard Xia Lin and Lin Xiantian spitting at each other earlier.

Even so, she still chose to repay the debt of gratitude and helped Lin Xiantian block the Black Star, which may just be a matter of character...

A demonic witch, yet acting with righteous principles.

All I can say is, she truly lives up to her role as the female lead...

It could also be said that she was unaware of the sordid affair between Xia Lin and Lin Xiantian, let alone their true identities and mission details, and therefore felt that involving Lin Xiantian was not a big problem.

But a mistake is a mistake, choosing the wrong side is choosing the wrong side, and ruining Xia Lin's good deed is ruining Xia Lin's good deed.

There's no such thing as good intentions gone wrong; the outcome-based approach has its own logic.

Seeing that Qu Yiyi was no match for Zheng Li in a short period of time, Xia Lin remained unmoved.

She has to bear the troubles of being divorced herself.

With an eleventh-level Immortal King making a move, Xia Lin has no chance of interfering...

There are only two possible outcomes.

First, the female lead's destiny erupts again, and Qu Yiyi escapes danger once more.

This is good for Xia Lin; it means he doesn't have to do anything to resolve this crisis.

Second, respecting the facts and laws, Qu Yiyi passed away tragically.

This also aligns with Xia Lin's plan.

In a short while, the mystery was solved.

Perhaps the protagonist's fate must also respect objective facts, or perhaps the female lead's aura is ultimately not as powerful as the male lead's.

Despite employing countless methods, he could not escape Zheng Li's pursuit, and Black Star even unleashed a deadly strike with a single finger.

Blood splattered across the sky, and the immortal soul crumbled.

Amidst the resonance of the Great Dao, the fall of a celestial being was announced, and heaven and earth grieved together.

Zheng Li laughed loudly.

"The Demonic Maiden Sect, utterly annihilated!"

The Ancient Demon Sect and the Charming Maiden Demon Sect have a long-standing feud, which is the reason why Zheng Li is relentlessly pursuing Qu Yiyi.

With a wave of his hand, he condensed demonic energy, grabbed Qu Yiyi's corpse, and prepared to take it away to refine it into a corpse puppet.

But then I suddenly heard a soft cough.

"But I wonder if the true master would be willing to part with it?"

A layered, reverberating sound arose.

However, Black Star said this to Zheng Li while resisting the celestial transformation of Emperor Shennong.

With Zheng Li's cultivation level, he could naturally see that the person in front of him was not the real Xing Jie, but a projection of Black Star's consciousness.

Without much hesitation, Zheng Li nodded: "If Your Excellency desires it, then I will gladly part with it."

As mentioned before, Zheng Li's attitude towards Black Star and the Extraterrestrial Demons is quite ambiguous, and the two may have already reached some private deals.

In other words, Zheng Li was practically Black Star's subordinate, so how could he refuse when his boss spoke up?

This prompted Black Star to nod slightly.

Amidst the swirling black light, he had already taken Qu Yiyi's corpse from Zheng Li's hands. Then, with a flick of his finger, Qu Yiyi's body fell to a spot below.

That was right next to Xu Haonan and Xia Lin!
"hey-hey."

Xu Haonan was still grinning from ear to ear.

Xia Lin's eyes flashed as he glanced at Xu Haonan before looking back at Qu Yiyi's corpse.

Her immortal soul collapsed, but her physical body remained intact. Even in death, she was still stunningly beautiful, the most beautiful woman Xia Lin had ever seen.

However, the mission failure notification tone did not sound.

Qu Yiyi's request for this mission was only to ask Xia Lin to protect Qu Tianhe's life, not to ask Xia Lin to protect Qu Yiyi's life.

But when Xia Lin opened the "Deceive the Heavens and Cross the Sea" quest, he still sighed.

The mission progress has dropped to 23.8%.

What's even more infuriating is that my troublesome nature hasn't disappeared either.

Is this perhaps a different kind of punishment?

In short, Qu Yiyi's death did indeed have a negative impact on Xia Lin.

Xia Lin was not in a hurry, but simply turned her head to glance at Xu Haonan.

"let's start."

With a raised hand, the east wind howled, and the Xuan Tian Sword Domain was activated, isolating the inside from the outside.

"be quick."

After he finished speaking to Xu Haonan, Xu Haonan stepped forward and came to Qu Yiyi's side.

The light from the hidden soldier's cave flashed briefly on Xia Lin's finger.

Three-Headed Bomb Boy and Scarlett have appeared beside Xia Lin.

Turning to look at Scarlett, he saw that Scarlett looked nervous, but her gaze was firm.

This made Xia Lin sigh softly.

"Actually, you didn't need to go yourself. Bomb Boy could have done it... right?"

Scarlett laughed after hearing this, "Look, even you have your doubts... The Bomb Boys aren't very bright, so it definitely won't work. Only Eileen and I can help you with your plan."

Xia Lin sighed again, but said nothing more, only nodding to Scarlett. "Thank you."

Nothing you say is as straightforward and direct as these two words.

As mentioned before, Xia Lin was wary of the Scarlett sisters. Even though the two were the most suitable to become the Dark Source Overlord, Xia Lin insisted on using Bomb Boy instead.

With Scarlett offering herself to him, Xia Lin also let down her guard against these two native characters from the story.

"Alright, alright, hurry up! It's not a matter of life and death."

Xu Haonan interjected, then added, "And I feel like I'm starting to feel off... We really don't have much time left."

You're not in a bad state, you're in a great state, your condition is improving...

Qu Yiyi's death also brought another negative impact.

—The effects of the Kuntian Mirror are gradually fading.

Without the power of the Kuntian Mirror, Xu Haonan's state of being a "playful person" cannot last long, and once Xu Haonan breaks free from the "playful person" debuff, things may change.

This made Xia Lin ignore everything else and simply take Scarlett's hand, leading her to Qu Yiyi's body.

"let's start."

"Possession, soul swapping."

……

Possession, soul swapping.

That's Xia Lin's solution!

Saving Qu Yiyi is highly unlikely.

Without sufficient strength, how could Xia Lin possibly rescue Qu Yiyi from Zheng Li's clutches?

But there is never just one way to deal with a problem.

Since the female lead in the storyline is out of control, Xia Lin will devise a way to bring her under his control!

This method involves possessing another's body and exchanging souls!
Let Scarlett possess Qu Yiyi's body and become Qu Yiyi!
The benefits of doing this are self-evident; if successful, the rewards will be immense.

Of course, that's the logic, but reality is quite different.

Some people asked: "You're making Scarlett possess Qu Yiyi, isn't that ridiculous?"

Qu Yiyi is an eleventh-level celestial being, so what level is Scarlett?
The strength of the souls is different, so is possession useful?
That's definitely useless...

But the problem is, isn't Qu Yiyi dead now?
Some might ask: "Death doesn't make sense either. If the dead can be possessed at will, then what's the point of corpse refining? You can find the remains of an immortal and possess them to become an immortal without needing to cultivate anymore. But where in the world is there such a good thing?"

That makes sense too.

But just because Xia Lin can't do something doesn't mean Xu Haonan can't...

During the few days Xia Lin spent with Xiao Feng and his group, he first learned from Wen Rou that Xu Haonan and Xiao Feng had joined forces, but Wen Rou was unaware of the details or their purpose in doing so.

Xia Lin subtly inquired and learned some things from Xiao Feng, and also roughly guessed what kind of ruthless thing Xu Haonan was planning.

He wants to bring Black Star into reality!

This matter was beyond Xia Lin's comprehension.

He was thinking, "Is this okay?"

But seeing Xu Haonan and Xiao Feng's confident demeanor, they realized that this matter might actually work.

Following this, Xu Haonan, Xiao Feng, and even Hei Xing relentlessly pursued Lin Xiantian.

This made Xia Lin realize that Xu Haonan had such a method: he seemed to be able to help Black Star possess Lin Xiantian's body and take over Lin Xiantian's identity!

This conjecture is not a wild guess, but is based on facts.

The basis for this is: the manipulation of Vera by the Deceptive God in the January Dream Calamity Ashes.

—Under certain specific conditions, it is possible for the natives to take over the body of the Ember Walker and become the Ember Walker themselves.

This naturally involves possession or soul swapping.

Since Xu Haonan has the ability to put Black Star's level 12 soul into Lin Xiantian's level 9 body, there's no reason why he can't put Scarlett's level 10 soul into Qu Yiyi's level 11 body.

From a data perspective, the former is even more difficult than the latter!
Then, when Xia Lin realized that Lin Xiantian's protagonist destiny and troublesome nature had caused him trouble, an idea popped into Xia Lin's mind.

What is truly important to me, and what is relevant to my mission, is not Qu Yiyi herself, but Qu Yiyi's identity as the female lead of the story and an eleventh-level celestial being!

She and Xia Lin weren't very close, and she was even willing to trick Xia Lin to repay his kindness with the innate pill. This was a very unstable factor for Xia Lin.

Then let's try a different approach and turn "Qu Yiyi, the female lead of the story," into one of our own!

Based on everything mentioned above, the plan has now taken shape!

But then someone said: "If Qu Yiyi hadn't died, wouldn't you have blown it up?"
It's fine if she doesn't die... If her protagonist aura kicks in and she survives this ordeal, then Xia Lin won't have to lift a finger.

After that, just follow the normal strategy and deepen the bond between the child's parents. With Qu Tianhe in Xia Lin's hands, this advantage is not much worse than Lin Xiantian's protagonist halo.

Then someone asked: How can you be sure that Xu Haonan will definitely help you?

Switching the female lead's soul—such a huge joke! How could anyone refuse such a joke?
In short, it's simply a matter of changing your mindset.

The dilemma suddenly became clear and smooth.

As I said before: every problem in the Ashes has multiple solutions.

Xu Haonan spoke slowly from the side.

"My method requires some preliminary steps..."

After saying that, he looked at Qu Yiyi's corpse: "One of her closest blood relatives."

Xia Lin didn't know about this, but it's a fact.

Otherwise, why would Xing Jie and the others have taken Lin Xiantian's child?
But you know what, it's just a coincidence.

Qu Tianhe is in the hidden soldier's cave...

Xia Lin flipped his hand over and carried Qu Tianhe out of the hidden soldier cave.

Xia Lin pinched Qu Tianhe's little face, and suddenly felt a little reluctant.

"What we're saying is, this child is innocent..."

Xu Haonan curled his lip.

"It's just a channel, there's no need to harm her."

"That's okay..."

Xia Lin still has a soft side.

Suddenly, I realized something else.

"That child, Lin Xiantian, doesn't seem to be Lin Xiantian's child either. You couldn't have overlooked this possibility, could you?"

Xu Haonan chuckled.

“That child really is Lin Xiantian’s child; we’ve done genetic testing.”

Xia Lin: "Huh!?"

Then he realized the logic behind possessing the Six Heavenly Soldiers.

It's true that it's possible for someone to get pregnant out of thin air.

But you can also use sperm donors, which is even better!
On the night of Lin Xiantian's wedding, Xia Lin, a celestial soldier carrying six children, descended to earth. However, his logic was not to make Wang Xiaorou conceive in the void, but to help others achieve their goal and allow the seed to blossom and bear fruit.

The skill of possessing six heavenly soldiers is purely a conceptual skill.

But it would be even better if we could combine it with facts.

Xia Lin said no more.

He could only watch as Xu Haonan took Qu Tianhe from him.

Xu Haonan took out a large number of props. Xia Lin glanced at them and saw that they were all foundational props, and all of them were related to the immortal possession method.

After everything was prepared, an ominous purple light suddenly emanated from Xu Haonan's body.

"Soul transfer!"

A profound skill: Soul Transference!

It's not just a method of possession; it can also help others exchange souls!

However, there are many limitations: for example, the difference in strength cannot be too great, and it requires the consent of both parties.

The limitations are significant, resulting in a limited range of applications for this skill.

However, Xu Haonan, being a cultivator, was particularly skilled in weapon crafting.

The various limitations of skills can be bypassed by using equipment and magical artifacts.

Following Xu Haonan's instructions, Scarlett had already lay down next to Qu Yiyi's body.

As the skill was activated, Scarlett's body trembled, and suddenly light emerged from Scarlett's head, faintly transforming into Scarlett's appearance.

This is Scarlett's soul.

Following the skill's guidance, the soul slowly merged into Qu Tianhe's body. Xu Haonan explained from the side, "This is to weaken the rejection reaction between the two sides, especially when the difference in strength is too great. This is almost the only way to resolve the rejection reaction."

He explained, and in the blink of an eye, Scarlett's soul once again drifted out of Qu Tianhe's body, her appearance vaguely resembling that of Qu Tianhe and Qu Yiyi.

Following the guidance of the skill, the soul fell into Qu Yiyi's body again.

"The process is complete; the rest is up to fate."

Xu Haonan spoke like this, but he didn't realize that the smile on his face was getting fainter and fainter.

About a minute later, Xu Haonan suddenly froze, as if he had come back to his senses from a long nightmare.

He looked at Qu Tianhe in his hand with a puzzled expression, then turned to look at Xia Lin.

Xia Lin was looking at him at that moment.

Their eyes met, Xu Haonan's lips moved, and he suddenly spoke in a trembling voice.

"I...what have I done...I..."

He is about to break free from the "funny guy" debuff and the "king of weaklings".

But this time, the female lead's halo kicked in again.

The target was no longer Xia Lin...

Just as Xu Haonan uttered these words, Xia Lin heard a massive number of system notifications from the Ash Zone.

Along with it, there was also the dazzling brilliance of the mirror!

The mirror's shimmering light fell upon Xu Haonan, instantly extinguishing his expression.

Soon, his eyes lit up, and he answered his own question: "Just having some fun, what's the big deal?"

"I, Lao Xu, have worked hard all my life, can't I even have a little fun?"

Xia Lin: "No problem!"

However, he looked towards "Qu Yiyi" not far away.

Then they saw that "Qu Yiyi" had slowly opened her eyes and revealed a breathtaking smile to Xia Lin.

This prompted Xia Lin to step forward and pull up Qu Yiyi, who was lying on the ground.

As Xia Lin took out a wet wipe and began wiping the blood off Qu Yiyi's face, he spoke.

"Thanks for your hard work."

A beautiful voice and an even more captivating smile are displayed simultaneously.

"It's just what I should do, sir."

The plot needs a female lead.

Lin Fan also needs a female lead.

Then I, Xia Lin, will protect the female lead.

"As for the slight additions during the process..."

After speaking, Xia Lin looked at the fake Qu Yiyi, the real Scarlett, and then at the ecstatic Xu Haonan.

"If you don't tell me, and I don't tell him, and he doesn't tell me, who will know?"

Xu Haonan laughed so hard he could barely stand up straight, but he still managed to speak.

"Zheng Li and Hei Xing know..."

That makes sense...

"But who would believe the villain's words?"

"The key is that Lin Xiantian doesn't know... and that's enough."

Lin Xiantian had already passed through the passage long before anything happened.

The subsequent battles between Immortal Kings and Celestial Immortals were so large that very few people watched.

Lin Xiantian is most likely unaware of Qu Yiyi's death.

"Then it's up to you now, Scarlett."

(End of this chapter)