My skills have mutated again!

Chapter 333 Xia Lin: I seem to be trapped in a time loop

The main universe is vast and boundless, and it is constantly expanding.

Furthermore, the six-pillar structure means that no single pillar can reveal the full picture of the main universe.

If something is omniscient and omnipotent, then it must be unique.

If something is not unique, then it cannot be omniscient or omnipotent.

In a remote corner of the main universe, a giant lay dead amidst the vast cosmos.

His entire body was comparable in size to a star, and even though he had been dead for a long time, his physical body still remained active.

Upon closer inspection, one can discover that this person's appearance is exactly the same as that of Di Yun, who appeared before Xia Lin.

Suddenly, a black torrent burst forth from the distance, like a vast black ocean.

This black ocean, composed of countless snowflake-like spots, fell beside the giant, immersing him completely within it.

A sudden burst of mixed, noisy audio.

[The main body is commanded; its eleventh-level physical body cannot be lost.]

[Strange, the matter of Di Yun should have been settled, only needing to be brought to a close, so why did this suddenly change?]

[I don't know, the node here suddenly disappeared, I don't know what happened.]

The sound gradually faded away.

……

And inside Di Yun's body, in the heart area.

Xia Lin looked troubled: "Don't blame me for not handling things well, here's the situation."

"My identity is hidden in the shadows within the Eight Guardians World, and it's not good for me to show myself in public."

“When I returned to the Eight Guardian World with the Blood Essence, I found that the body you needed belonged to the eldest son of the first family of the Eight Guardian Sword Clan. My strength is too weak to force it, and I have been thinking about it for a long time but I have no way to do it, so I came to you again.”

"I do need some help."

Xia Lin made things up without thinking.

However, there are two considerations involved.

Firstly, the Eight Guardian Worlds seem to be a blind spot in the monitoring of the deceitful evil god, who cannot see what is happening within the Eight Guardian Worlds.

And secondly...

Suddenly, a light flashed from ahead, and a faint black light fell onto Xia Lin's body.

After scanning the area, the black light dissipated, and Di Yun, standing before him, spoke slowly.

"Your strength is indeed a bit weak..."

It failed to discern Xia Lin's true strength!
First, because the Spirit World Book ignores the eleventh level of deception.

The second one, however, is the effect of the identity replacement card (high)!

The system in the Ash Zone has clearly provided the following notification:
[No being (regardless of rank) can see through the disguise provided by the identity substitution card!]

Even though Xia Lin has regained all his strength, his physical body is still that of Xia Lin (the original character in the story).

This allows the Deceitful God to only see Xia Lin's fake information panel—that is, the martial arts information panel he cultivated in this Ash Zone—and prevents him from seeing Xia Lin's true form!

"So what kind of help do you need?"

You know what, it seems like it's pretty easy to be fooled by scammers.

Of course, there is a logic behind this: it cannot see through Xia Lin's disguise, does not know that Xia Lin is a Walker of the Ashes, and only thinks that Xia Lin is a native of the Eight Guardian World.

What I saw was another fake information panel, revealing their weak and insignificant strength.

If it is a god, then Xia Lin is an ant.

Without any other considerations, the gods really have no reason to play tricks or deceptions on ants.

Xia Lin's face fell: "Hey buddy, what I need depends on what you have... I don't even know what you can give me, how can I make demands?"

After a moment's thought, Di Yun realized that this made sense.

Then he spoke again: "Power, I can give you power."

Strength...

Xia Lin was initially somewhat disappointed.

He wanted more deceptive power...

However, upon further reflection, Xia Lin's heart skipped a beat.

In what way can you give me strength?

He asked with anticipation, and then "Di Yun" slowly spoke: "I will teach you the true path of martial arts..."

This won't work... because Xia Lin really understands, perhaps even better than fraud.

However, the fraudulent talk wasn't over yet.

"Furthermore, I will provide you with the inner world and realm core required for a true martial arts path, and even find someone to transfer your skills to you, raising your strength to an unimaginable level as quickly as possible!"

Xia Lin felt a sense of relief.

That's more like it...

After all, it's not me, Xia Lin, who's in a hurry, but you, the one who deceived the evil god.

The sooner we take over and transform Di Yun, the better.

Even if the fraudsters were unaware of Xia Lin's actions, they would still have realized that they had lost a portion of their power in that last wave.

To avoid complications arising from delay, it must intensify its efforts!
Considering that Xia Lin is the only Eight Guardians of the World who has appeared before him for the second time, if he doesn't place his bets heavily on Xia Lin, who else can he place his bets heavily on?
As for whether Xia Lin was involved in the sudden disappearance of his power...

Didn't the fraudsters just probe Xia Lin's background?
If nothing unusual was found, then it had nothing to do with Xia Lin; it guessed it was the work of Di Yun's remnant soul.

In front of Xia Lin, "Di Yun" slowly raised his hand, and then clenched his fist tightly.

Amidst the pounding of his heart and the roar of his flesh, Di Yun's body tissues automatically separated, revealing a broad road leading to the unknown.

At the end of the passage, a dark, swirling portal emanated an ominous aura.

But soon, the acupoint suddenly accelerated its operation, and two figures emerged from it, quickly appearing in front of Xia Lin in a flash!

Xia Lin gazed intently at the man and woman in front of her.

Both were dressed in ancient costumes, a handsome man and a beautiful woman, but their eyes were dull and gleaming with black light, clearly indicating that they had been controlled by the deceitful evil god.

At the same time, they exuded powerful blood energy fluctuations, demonstrating their strength: Level 10 professional, Rank 1 martial artist!
Under the Super Star Martial Arts, Di Yun, being at level eleven, is undoubtedly a Super Grade.

It's not an exaggeration for the people of his inner world to have a first-grade martial artist; on the contrary, it's quite normal.

Xia Lin immediately thought of the painting her older brother Xia Tian had drawn and realized the identities of the two people in front of her.

It's highly likely that they are the people of the Inner World who betrayed Di Yun.

But he pretended not to understand and looked at "Di Yun".

"What does this mean?"

The fake Di Yun spoke softly: "These two will be your teachers for the next few days."

"At the same time, it is also the inner world and boundary core that I promised to you."

Just as "Di Yun" uttered these words, the man and woman in front of Xia Lin all emitted light from their seventy-two orifices.

The afterimages of the inner world flowed through the acupoints. Male martial artists possessed five inner worlds, while female martial artists possessed three.

Now, with just a command from the master, these eight inner worlds can be separated and become ownerless!
These people are really unlucky.

As citizens of the realm, they are not in control of their own lives; their fate depends entirely on the whims of their masters.

As a result, he was tricked by the evil god of deception and turned into the puppet shape he has now.

Xia Lin felt a slight pang of emotion, but quickly suppressed these feelings of melancholy.

None of this matters.

What's truly significant is that the deceptive promises, along with the appearance of these two individuals, have brought new opportunities to the martial arts attribute panel!

With these abilities, Xia Lin can reach new heights in martial arts cultivation and gain even more benefits when the Ash Zone ends!

……

After explaining some other trivial matters, "Di Yun" returned to the heart.

Two martial artists, a man and a woman, came to Xia Lin's side and began to teach him martial arts.

Xia Lin pretended to listen attentively, but in reality, her mind was wandering.

—Can you understand me as well as I do?!

After two whole days, this part, which was even more tedious than reviewing, finally came to an end.

After confirming that Xia Lin had thoroughly grasped the subsequent martial arts logic, the male and female martial artists immediately stood up and bowed to Di Yun's heart.

As the blood and qi circulated, the fake Di Yun reappeared.

The black light swept across Xia Lin, and the fake Di Yun nodded slightly.

"Would this help you succeed?"

Xia Lin: "Of course!"

The words had barely left his lips when blood and flesh splattered everywhere.

The male and female warriors instantly self-destructed, leaving behind only eight boundary cores shimmering with multicolored light.

After a brief wait, all eight boundary cores flew into Xia Lin's hand.

This is not merely a boundary core; it contains abundant inner world power, and even the blood and qi of male and female martial artists.

"Di Yun" spoke again: "With this item, you can cultivate to the first rank in a short time."

Xia Lin nodded.

It does.

"Then, I hope to see you again soon."

As soon as he finished speaking, "Di Yun" shrank back into his heart.

Xia Lin also turned and left.

……

Once completely away from Di Yun's heart, Xia Lin finally couldn't suppress a smile.

The greatest joy in life is having your enemy work for you for free!
This time, Xia Lin understood Di Yun's state of mind regarding fraud, and the general situation at present.

Thus, the plan was fully formed.

When Xia Lin arrived at the entrance to the Eight Guardian World, he looked back but saw no reaction from Zhen Di Yun.

After a moment's thought, Xia Lin shook his head: "The only variable is probably the remnant soul of Zhen Di Yun... but no matter how you look at it, he should be on my side."

As Xia Lin walked into the entrance of the acupoint, he muttered to himself, "In that case, there shouldn't be any problems."

……

Upon returning to the world of Eight Guardians, the first thing to do is go home to check on Summer's condition.

The fissioner's heroic sacrifice had a certain impact on summer—a normal manifestation of a damaged soul.

Dizziness, blurred vision, nausea, dry heaving...

But with the Fission Divine Skill in hand, he only needs a few days of rest and recuperation to fully recover by summer.

Ultimately, it's still a matter of insufficient strength.

"If you, elder brother, were to condense a third-grade golden body, even a slight injury to your soul would be no problem for the Fission Divine Art."

As he spoke, Xia Lin took out some medicine to heal Xia Tian's injuries.

At the same time, the Hundred Damage Demon Art was rapidly activated within his body, and the ancestral aperture between his eyebrows suddenly went out. Xia Lin's face turned pale, and he directly destroyed his third-grade cultivation.

Achieving the third rank with the Heaven and Earth Nourishing Soul Pill is imperfect and flawed, effectively cutting off one's martial path and preventing further advancement.

Now that he has obtained the Boundary Core, Xia Lin naturally chooses to rebuild his third-grade cultivation and follow the normal path of martial arts.

This was not difficult for Xia Lin.

Take medicine to repair acupoints.

After resting quietly for a few hours in the summer and recovering from the damage to his soul, Xia Lin was fully recovered and took out a boundary core and swallowed it in one gulp.

The flow of blood and qi transferred this object to the ancestral aperture between the eyebrows—the dark golden light shone once more, and the golden body solidified again, far stronger than the previous evil version. The change naturally reflected in the attribute panel.

Name: Xia Lin

【Level: 8】

[Occupation: Martial Artist]

[Martial Arts Cultivation: Third Grade Golden Body Realm]

【Professional Talent 1: Martial Arts Foundation (S-level): You have achieved the third-grade Golden Body Realm and have already condensed the third-grade Golden Body.

At the same time, your blood energy has increased your racial stats, current increase: 31.2!

【Professional Talent 2: Grade 3 Golden Body, Hundred-Damage Blood Demon Body (Racial Heritage Level): Your Grade 3 Golden Body is the Hundred-Damage Blood Demon Body!】

You can activate your Golden Body anytime, anywhere, transforming into the Hundred-Damage Blood Demon form. In this form, the power of your Hundred-Damage Demonic Arts is greatly increased! Simultaneously, your base attributes receive a massive boost!

[Base stat total: 31.2 (originally 17.5)!]

[Base stats: 7.6 (originally 3.5)!]

Change, a complete upheaval!
The emasculated version of the third-rank golden body can never compare to the original.

Within the ancestral aperture between the eyebrows, the emanating light from the male martial artist's boundary core spontaneously activated the Hundred Damage Demon Art.

At the same time, blood and qi, along with the power of the inner world, seeped out and merged into Xia Lin's meridians, nourishing his body and the seventy-two acupoints.

This is equivalent to Xia Lin receiving a continuous supply of external energy, which is exactly what the Hundred Losses Demon Art needs most!
He doesn't need to overeat, nor does he need to kill; Xia Lin is currently in this state every moment.

"In that case, the second rank doesn't seem to be far off."

The boundary core is tempered with blood and qi, and the boundary core in turn nourishes the blood and qi. When the blood and qi transform into the power of heaven and earth, the martial arts will enter the second rank, and one can try to condense the inner world.

If one successfully condenses their inner world, their martial arts will reach the first rank.

Xia Lin, who currently possesses these resources, can complete this process in a short time—after all, what he obtained from the Deceitful Evil God was the entirety of two first-rank martial artists.

Even Xia Lin herself doesn't need that many.

"Give it to you."

He raised his hand, took out a Boundary Core, and handed it to Xia Tian.

Meeting Xia Lin's bewildered gaze, Xia Lin chuckled.

"The foundation of the third rank. With this, you're not far from breaking through to the third rank."

"And after reaching the third rank..."

Having said that, Xia Lin didn't continue, but left everyone in suspense.

However, the brothers understood each other perfectly, and Xia Tian vaguely guessed Xia Lin's plan.

Xia Tian shook his head with a smile, but a glint of light suddenly flashed in his eyes, unnoticed by Xia Lin and Scarlett.

……

Half a month later.

Xia Lin led Xia Tian out of the Eight Guardian Ashes Zone once again and arrived in front of Di Yun's heart.

"Fortunately, I live up to my fate!"

Xia Lin spoke loudly, his expression proud!

A glimmer of light flashed in his heart and fell upon Xia Lin and Xia Tian.

Soon, the fake Di Yun reappeared, looking at Xia Tian and laughing heartily.

"Good! This is the one, this is the one!"

Before Xia Lin and Xia Tian could say or do anything, it had already impatiently transformed into a black torrent and swept towards Xia Tian.

The words "generous rewards await" echoed in their ears once more... However, the fraudsters soon learned what the wickedness of the world truly meant...

Summer's chest, the Book of Spirits once again unleashed its power.

The black light was instantly absorbed by the Spirit World Book, and Xia Lin even felt that the absorption speed was even faster than last time!
Perhaps the Book of Spirits has also become familiar with the power of deception...

A brief burst of light, which then vanished in an instant.

Xia Lin pretended to be stunned as Xia Tian's rift body fell to the ground, then pounced on him again, slapping Xia Tian's cheeks hard.

"What's going on? Where's my reward?!"

Although Xia Lin also knew that some things could only be done once and not twice...

Xia Lin had done this once before, and if he did it again now, he would most likely be exposed.

But when it's time to act, you should still act. It's not much trouble, and what if something happens?
No one responded to Xia Lin for a long time.

Xia Lin then stood up, pulled down the Spirit Realm Book, and glanced at it.

[Current deception power: 861 points.]

It rose from 256 to 861.

Fraudulent investments are on the rise.

Raising his hand, Xia Lin destroyed the body and disposed of the evidence, then waited quietly.

……

And the outside world.

The black ocean that enveloped Di Yun's body quickly disappeared, absorbed by the Spirit World Book.

But then a black torrent broke free from Di Yun's corpse and fled rapidly into the distance.

Just as Xia Lin had predicted, some things can only be done once.

This time, the fraudulent clone actually got a brain...

It deliberately preserved a sliver of its strength, intending to transmit the situation here.

However, the space collapsed in an instant.

With a flick of his finger, Di Yun's corpse, amidst a surge of blood energy, completely shattered the last vestige of deceptive power.

Everything was as if nothing had happened.

After an unknown period of time, space was torn open again, and three figures traversed the space and appeared in front of Di Yun's corpse.

A figure, a thousand meters tall, resembling a Transformer, radiating black light, was a silicon-based life form.

He exuded the aura of a high-ranking professional, and his level was clearly eleven!
A short figure, a member of the dwarf race, with jet-black eyes, was also at level eleven!
The last one was the Qilin demon clan, whose true form was a hundred meters tall and its power was astonishing, but its eyes were also pitch black.

Without a doubt, all three of these visitors were deception clones.

The sounds were like synthesized mechanical voices coming from the mouths of these three people, with identical tones and no difference.

[Strange, the node has disappeared again.]

The contingency plans we had prepared in advance didn't work; I don't know what happened.

What should we do now?

[Let's try one more time, so we can see exactly what's wrong with Di Yun's corpse.]

Three figures suddenly unleashed streams of black energy.

A far stronger deceptive power than before surged from the three of them and fell back into Di Yun's body.

Unfortunately, without eliminating Di Yun's lingering soul, the transformation was destined to fail.

Therefore, in this game between fraud and Di Yun, how much fraud is involved is not important—it's a cat-and-mouse game, and it's a test of patience.

……

Inside Di Yun's body, in front of his heart.

Xia Lin waited for most of the day, and when the black light surged again, Xia Lin finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He waited for it again.

"So, you came here because you found a suitable body?"

Xia Lin: I feel like I've heard that phrase before...

One thing was also confirmed.

Fraud, and what happened before is still unclear.

Xia Lin had doubts.

Even if the evil god is mindless, the intelligence of this fraudster seems far too low.

Can you really make the same mistake twice?

Unable to recall the cause and effect even after a brief moment of thought, Xia Lin stopped thinking and looked troubled.

"I need help..."

The fake Di Yun paused briefly, then nodded knowingly: "Alright."

……

Three days later, when Xia Lin returned to the Eight Guardian World, he brought back seven more World Cores...

This is still equivalent to the lives of two first-rank martial artists.

Another half month later, Xia Lin reappeared in front of Di Yun's heart with Xia Tian's Fission variant.

At this moment, Xia Tian's cultivation level had successfully broken through to the fourth rank.

The same scenario has played out again...

—The fraudsters were eager to possess Di Yun's reincarnation, but then they were tricked by the Spirit World Book...

[Current deception power: 1656 points.]

Xia Lin began her performance again, but inwardly she muttered, "This time, you should have learned your lesson, right?"

Unbeknownst to him, at the very moment the Spirit World Book took effect, outside, Di Yun's physical body suddenly trembled, attracting the attention of the three deceptive clones.

As the blood and qi circulated on their own, they temporarily severed the three deceptive clones' perception of their own power.

This meant that they still hadn't realized what was happening inside Di Yun's body.

[But one thing is certain: it is Di Yun's remnant soul causing trouble.]

It is normal for a strong person to die but have an immortal soul; there is nothing strange about it.

[From what we can see right now, the power of Di Yun's remnant soul seems to be stronger than we anticipated.]

What should we do now?

Increase investment and maintain vigilance.

The power once again flowed into Di Yun's body.

The fake Di Yun reappeared in front of Xia Lin.

"So, you came here because you found a suitable body?"

Xia Lin: "..."

This matter completely baffled Xia Lin.

No, could it be that there are hidden rules in this Ash Zone?
Why do I feel like I'm stuck in a time loop?
But he instinctively blurted out, "I need help..."

……

Three days later, Xia Lin returned to the Eight Guardian Ashes District once again.

He looked at the six boundary cores in his hand and fell into deep thought.

On the way back home, they found that Xia Tian was not in the meditation room, but was sitting in the garden, playing the violin.

The melodious sound of the piano echoed in the garden, and the skill level was that of a master.

Only after the song ended did Xia Tian look up at Xia Lin.

Do you know the name of this piece of music?

Xia Lin shook his head blankly, then Xia Tian laughed loudly: "This piece was created by Master Orus."

"Its name is: Rebirth".

(End of this chapter)