My skills have mutated again!

Chapter 345 Eternal Dark Night, not the protagonist!
[You are about to enter the racially significant Ember Zone: Eternal Night!]

[Note: This is your fourth assessment in the Ember Zone. Most of the rewards you receive will be converted into ranking battle points.]

When the system notification sounded in the Ash Zone, Xia Lin opened her eyes in the pre-battle preparation space.

Then, the notification sound rang again.

[Unstable mutation activated!]

Currently, Xia Lin is in a state of great fortune, enjoying immense luck, and the mutation effect is also very pleasing.

However, after a quick review, Xia Lin still chose not to retain the mutation—his skill set was already perfect enough.

At the same time, there was no notification that the permission card had been activated.

The two sides' permission cards canceled each other out, resulting in a completely random situation in the Ember Zone this time, which was not under human control and depended entirely on the Ember Zone system.

After waiting for a minute, Xia Lin felt a blur before her eyes again.

When he opened his eyes again, he was already in the Ashes Zone.

All that could be seen was darkness. The red moon cast a dim light in the sky, and the stars, though shining, were sparse and barely perceptible.

For ordinary people, the environment here is almost impossible to see, but a powerhouse like Xia Lin does not have this problem.

Xia Lin glanced around briefly, then began to breathe.

The eerie ghostly aura surged into his mouth and nose, only to be quickly analyzed by Xia Lin.

Under the effect of energy conversion, the spiritual power in his body is transformed into spiritual energy. With a thought, Xia Lin sends the spiritual energy out of his body. However, the circulation of the spiritual energy after leaving his body is quite sluggish. It is no longer light and agile, but rather like cement.

This made Xia Lin breathe a sigh of relief.

"The semi-absolute environment gives me an advantage in terms of the venue."

Spiritual energy is the foundation of cultivators.

A strong spiritual energy environment can greatly enhance the power of a cultivator's skills.

However, the current Eternal Night, the Ash Zone, is not a completely spirit-free environment. There is free spiritual energy in the air, and spiritual energy can be used in this realm.

But for some reason, the flow of spiritual energy here is exceptionally sluggish—enough to significantly weaken the combat power of cultivators.

The next second, Xia Lin immediately took off and looked around.

Xia Lin's observation skills greatly improved his eyesight, and the surrounding environment came into view, but it made Xia Lin slowly frown.

"After the good news comes the bad news."

"There seem to be fewer natives in this ash-covered area..."

Xia Lin could not underestimate the fourth-order human race, Luo Zhidao said.

His strongest form, the Dark Source Overlord form, requires a sufficient number of Dark Source Infected to unleash its full power.

The scarcity of natives in the Ashlands means that Xia Lin can receive less of a boost. From this perspective, Deception.Luck brought Xia Lin some luck, but it did not demonstrate the strength it had before.

Notes on the Six-Pillar Level Item: Fate-Predicting Star Chart.

Xia Lin was finally able to confirm that Luo Zhidao's horoscope also had the effect of influencing luck.

……

At the same time, in the Eternal Night Ashes, on another planet in another star system.

Luo Zhidao sat cross-legged in the void, the Fate-Destroying Star Chart behind him shining like a blazing sun with seven-colored light.

The light dispelled the darkness and even illuminated the surrounding area for thousands of miles.

At this moment, Luo Zhidao was like a celestial being descending to earth, as if a deity had descended to earth.

【Destiny Chart (Level 6 Item): Predicts fate and destiny, knows everything!】

[Function 1: Luck Enhancement: The Destiny Chart can significantly improve the holder's fortune and luck. This effect can be activated manually; once activated, you will receive a stronger blessing of good fortune! This effect lasts for one day, with a three-day cooldown!]

Just considering the first function of the horoscope chart, it is already quite remarkable.

Judging from its performance, this function is almost as effective as fraudulent schemes! Moreover, it lasts longer and has no negative effects!

It can be considered a superior alternative to fraud and deception!
But just as Xia Lin couldn't fathom Luo Zhidao's wealth, Luo Zhidao couldn't possibly know everything about Xia Lin.

The current Luo Zhidao has fallen into such a misconception.

Or rather, his personality dictates that he will inevitably overthink things.

"A semi-absolute spiritual environment, this kind of environment has a certain suppressive effect on me."

"From this perspective, Xia Lin clearly also has the means to change his luck, which may even be a sixth-pillar level technique."

The Fate-Determining Star Chart is a six-pillar level item, and anything that can suppress it must also be a six-pillar level item!

Of course, Luo Zhidao misunderstood this point.

In this battle of luck, Xia Lin gained a certain advantage in terms of venue, but lost the advantage in terms of personnel.

It is difficult to say which advantage is stronger or weaker, and therefore it is also difficult to determine whether the horoscope or the spirit book has a greater influence on luck.

In short, at this moment, Luo Zhidao slightly overestimated the power of the Spirit World Book.

Looking back at the horoscope behind him, Luo Zhidao stared at the 108 bright stars on the horoscope, as if he were peeking into the secrets of heaven.

[Function Two: Destiny Gleaning: The astrological chart can reveal the owner's destiny, using different colors and starlight to indicate changes in their fate!]

[Note: No one can know everything, not even the Six Pillars of Destiny, and certainly not the natal chart! Therefore, any hints from divination should only be used as a reference and should not be taken as absolute truth.]

The professional system is rigorous.

It will indicate the intensity in numerical form.

However, for certain special cases or special things, even numerical values ​​cannot describe them specifically—for example, things like fate and destiny.

Therefore, a saying circulates within the professional system:
The more general the description of a skill, the stronger it is.

This statement is of course wrong; a typical example is the life-or-death battle (the inferior one).

However, following his master's teachings, Luo Zhidao knew that this sentence should be expressed in this way:
The more general the skill description, the greater the gap between its upper and lower limits.

The ability to divination is such a function.

The vague and ambiguous description means that the effectiveness of this function depends entirely on how the user uses it.

Luo Zhidao has not had the Fate-Cutting Star Chart for long, but he has gained some, though not a full, understanding of its abilities.

He had previously used his ability to spy on Xia Lin to learn that Xia Lin would inevitably become his enemy at some point in the future, and might even harm him. That's why Luo Zhidao simply activated the tracking card.

Then, Kui Ming gave Luo Zhidao a hint about the outcome of this game: it was a mixed bag, and the odds of winning were hard to predict.

This explains why Luo Zhidao's apparent farewell to Lingbao Immortal Venerable was actually for the purpose of seeking treasure.

Right now, he has activated his divination technique again to explore his destiny, and soon he understands the clues provided by the astrological chart.

The hint, however, made Luo Zhidao frown.

"Strange, external intervention leading to a win-win situation? What kind of logic is that!?"

Just as Luo Zhidao was muttering to himself, a cold wind suddenly swept in.

Amidst the eerie, ghostly aura, lines of text were formed.

This is exactly the opening hint for the Ashes Zone!
However, in addition to this, a gilded invitation descended from the sky and landed precisely in front of Luo Zhidao.

……

Xia Lin reached out and took the gilded invitation, while looking up at the characters composed of ghostly energy.

Welcome to the fourth preliminary round: Eternal Night.

[Note: This is a real Ember Zone.]

[The Ash Zone will be open for one month.]

A month... is too short, far too short...

Luo Zhidao's pursuit did indeed affect Xia Lin's growth progress and disrupt her strengthening plan.

But soon, Xia Lin shook his head and continued looking down.

After all, he couldn't control the logic behind his enemies' behavior.

The main quest has been released.

[Main Quest: The Forest King's Birthday Banquet!]

[The Forest King's Birthday Banquet: Attend the Forest King's birthday banquet and survive until the embers expire!]

[Penalty for mission failure: None. 】

[Reward for successful mission: 10 Ranked Match Points.]

The mission to complete the level has not been triggered.

The side quest has not been triggered.

Xia Lin suddenly frowned.

"This Ember Zone is way too difficult!"

The main quest, "King Sen's Birthday Banquet," is essentially a disguised survival quest.

As we all know, survival missions are actually one of the more difficult mission modes in the Ember Zone!

Because survival missions demonstrate this logic: the strength of the Ashlands Walkers is far weaker than that of the Ashlands Natives!
But putting aside Xia Lin's own strength, let's talk about the Hunter Luo Zhidao, who is a fourth-level human! His combat power is even comparable to that of an 11th-level expert!
This level of Ashwalker was assigned to survival-type missions.

The information revealed in it is quite intriguing.

……

"King Sen..."

On the other side, Luo Zhidao also let out a long sigh of relief.

When the words "King of the Forest" appeared in his eyes, he finally understood why the Fate-Determining Star Chart gave the prompt "External intervention, cooperation and win-win", and why the Ash Zone System issued a survival-related main quest.

The reason lies in the name "King of the Forest"!
This Ember Zone is a real Ember Zone, and all the natives in this real Ember Zone are actual people who exist in the main universe.

And the Forest King is even more famous!
Senwang, level 11, ghost cultivator.

They appear to belong to the cultivator system, but they do not belong to the Heavenly Dao Creator camp.

Because there is a branch called Ghost Warrior below the Martial Path, Ghost Cultivators have always been wavering and like weather vanes in the struggle between Immortal and Martial Arts.

Sen-o is a prime example of this!
It created its own eighteen layers of hell, secluded itself in a remote corner of the main universe, and did not participate in the great struggle between immortals and martial arts. It can be considered a neutral party between the two major camps of Super Star and Heavenly Dao Creator.

However, in this current Ash Zone, the Ash Zone system directly threw Xia Lin and Luo Zhidao in front of this person.

Thinking of this, Luo Zhidao reached out and took the invitation, glanced at it briefly, and sighed again. "Bad luck, it seems like we're being targeted by the Ash Zone system."

An interesting fact:

Sen Wang was a respectable man in his lifetime, an eleventh-level Immortal King. The reason he became a ghost cultivator was because he died tragically at the hands of Lingbao Immortal Venerable.

Yes, the Forest King and Luo Zhidao's master, the Immortal Venerable Lingbao, are mortal enemies!
……

Xia Lin took the invitation and opened it.

Distorted text came into view.

Seven days later, in the ancient city of Senluo.

[King Sen hosted a banquet, inviting many heroes to discuss important matters.]

We cordially invite you, unknown traveler of the Ashlands, to attend our banquet. We hope you will be punctual.

The words "Unknown Ashes Walker" made Xia Lin narrow his eyes.

This Forest King seems to have some strength...

Just after Xia Lin finished reading the simple invitation, the invitation immediately turned into light and disappeared. However, a strange and troublesome energy seeped out from it. Instead of forcibly entering Xia Lin's body, it simply imprinted a faint ghost head pattern on Xia Lin's skin.

If Xia Lin wanted, he could easily remove this mark.

But he also knew that doing so would inevitably bring negative consequences—the hostility of the Forest King.

Shaking his head, Xia Lin let the unique tattoo remain on his skin, closed his eyes, and recalled the hints from the Ash Zone and the words on the invitation.

"In this round, things didn't go as planned."

"Whether it is my wish or Luo Zhidao's wish."

Luo Zhidao pursued Xia Lin, forcing Xia Lin to passively engage in combat.

Regardless of whether it was proactive or reactive, Xia Lin did indeed have the idea of ​​killing Luo Zhidao in this Ash Zone.

Murder is something Xia Lin is quite good at.

However, the current situation is that the Ash Zone system clearly told Xia Lin and Luo Zhi:

In this game, you two are not the main characters. There are beings in the Ember Zone who are even stronger than you two.

This left Xia Lin somewhat amused and exasperated.

"What's this? This is a fight between two tigers, and the Ashes District snatched the peach!"

If it weren't for that previous battle over access cards, with Xia Lin and Luo Zhidao's wealth and strength, the Ash District dungeon would have been their backyard, a very comfortable growth environment, and a field of leeks they could harvest at will.

As a result, the two fought to the death, which was witnessed by the Ember faction.

Hey, since that's the case, you two stop messing around and obediently get into the high-difficulty Ember Zone to complete the high-difficulty mission!
So, if my Ash Zone system doesn't unleash its power, have you all forgotten that I also have the title of Gu Gu?!

Shaking his head and sighing, Xia Lin muttered to himself.

"In that case, we need to change our approach."

With a more powerful third party by his side, Xia Lin would never directly draw his sword and fight Luo Zhidao to the death.

How to get through this Ash Zone, and how to kill Luo Zhidao in this Ash Zone, are things that Xia Lin needs to carefully weigh and think about.

But the primary task is still to break free from the three realms.

Xia Lin dared not allow herself to fall into a predicament of bad luck in this scorched area.

Before the good fortune disappeared, a flash of light appeared, and Xia Lin immediately disengaged from the battle.

……

Even so, even though the horoscope indicated "win-win cooperation," Luo Zhidao still did not want to cooperate with Xia Lin.

There's really no basis for cooperation.

Therefore, in this area of ​​ashes, the problems and troubles he faces are even greater than those faced by Xia Lin.

Xia Lin's growth rate was simply slowed down.

Luo Zhidao has run straight into the hands of a formidable enemy...

This also seems to indicate that, during the effective period, the intensity of the fraudulent luck appears to be greater than the gathering luck of the natal chart.

Without hesitation, Luo Zhidao put away the gleaming Star Chart and descended from the sky, concealing his aura.

The light of skills and items flashed continuously, and when Luo Zhidao landed, he had completely changed his appearance!

Not only their appearance and physique, but even their aura and the karmic connections in the unseen world have changed.

This is the most ingenious disguise, enough to fool even a level 11 powerhouse like the Forest King!

"But that's all."

Luo Zhidao looked worried and frowned.

Indeed, the Forest King was no ordinary level eleven, and he, as a human race sequence four, was far from being a match for the Forest King.

It is true that the top five in the human race all possess the combat power to contend with level eleven experts.

But confrontation is confrontation, and victory is victory; there is a difference between the two.

Even among level eleven experts, there are differences in strength.

As for the Forest King, he is indeed one of the most powerful among the eleven levels, and is by no means an easy opponent.

This naturally disrupted Luo Zhidao's plans before entering the Ashes Zone.

Killing Xia Lin was his wish and his primary objective this time.

But given the current situation, survival has become Luo Zhidao's primary task.

With that thought, Luo Zhidao lifted his leg and walked towards the dark and desolate distance.

……

After three days of seclusion, I finally emerged from my isolation.

Xia Lin finally began exploring the Eternal Night Ashes.

Compared to Luo Zhidao, this was undoubtedly three days slower, but there was nothing that could be done about it.

In what should be the second wave of the clash of fortunes, Xia Lin theoretically had the upper hand. However, it must be admitted that there is some justification for the Spirit World Book not being rated as a sixth-pillar level item.

Fraudulent activities can sometimes have serious negative consequences and lead to serious problems.

In comparison, the luck-gathering effect of the Destiny Chart is simpler, more direct, and more powerful.

Donning a bizarre mask and disguising his appearance, aura, and even personal information, Xia Lin began exploring the surrounding area at a moderate pace. Soon, he gained a rudimentary understanding of the environment and this ash-filled area.

“This Ember Zone is very large, affecting several nearby star systems. The planet I am on should only be a small part of the Eternal Night Ember Zone.”

"The planet beneath my feet was originally a life-bearing planet, and it was even highly likely that it originally possessed spiritual energy. However, it was polluted by ghost energy, which caused the spiritual energy to disappear and all living beings to become extinct."

Muttering to herself, Xia Lin released her hand.

And so a strange, shadowy figure escaped from Xia Lin's fingertips, fleeing for its life into the distance.

Its perception spread far and wide, quickly enveloping the entire planet.

In Xia Lin's perception, there was no trace of Luo Zhidao—the two had not been sent to the same planet by the Ash Zone System.

There was no sign of life.

There are no living people on this planet.

There were only all sorts of ghosts and monsters, a veritable parade of a hundred demons!

To avoid trouble, Xia Lin had already used a bizarre mask to adjust his aura to resemble that of a ghost, successfully blending in with local characteristics.

Through analyzing these "plot natives," Xia Lin also realized something like this.

"The Black Source. The End of This World. It probably doesn't have much prestige left in this Ash Zone..."

The power of the Dark Source is effective against flesh and blood creatures and mechanical creatures.

However, ghosts are essentially a type of energy wave, and the power of the dark source has no effect on them.

"Besides, the Ash Zone only has a one-month time limit, so what conditions are there to activate the Dark Source: The End of This World..."

He shook his head, no longer thinking about the Dark Source Overlord's form.

Even without his Black Source Overlord form, Xia Lin's current strength might not be enough to defeat Luo Zhidao.

"In short, this planet is ruined, and there's no useful information to be found here."

Muttering to himself, Xia Lin raised his hand and looked at the ghost head brand on it.

"To learn more, we'll probably have to rely on this..."

I must attend the King's birthday banquet.

This is a requirement of the main quest.

Therefore, Xia Lin cannot use the method of transcending the Three Realms to avoid risks and cleverly complete the main quest. Using this method will not complete the main quest either; on the contrary, it will most likely result in backlash and punishment from the Ashes.

This is also the reason why Xia Lin couldn't find a moment to unleash an incredible brush combo under the current circumstances.

The seven-day time limit has already passed three-quarters.

With only four days left, Xia Lin still hadn't figured out the worldview of this Ash District.

"This is the only way..."

With a thought, Xia Lin used his mental power to actively connect with the ghost head brand.

A faint glow emanated from the brand of the demon head.

Soon, amidst the flickering ghostly energy and the subtle tremors of space before Xia Lin, a small, black-awning boat appeared out of nowhere, floating in mid-air.

With a whoosh, the red paper umbrella opened with a crisp sound.

A beautiful woman, dressed in gorgeous palace attire but with a pale face, gave Xia Lin a deep bow.

"Young master, please board the ship. I, Xiao An, will take you to the ancient city of Senluo."

The invitation, which had transformed into a demon's head brand, was not only a ticket to the birthday banquet, but also a ticket to the ancient city of Senluo.

Xia Lin smiled, calmly stepped onto the boat, and gave Xiao An a traditional bow.

"Then I'll have to trouble you, Miss Xiao An."

(End of this chapter)