My skills have mutated again!

Chapter 366: Final Meeting

The meeting place is on the 999th floor of the Demon Palace.

This is the highest point of the Demon Palace.

There are teleportation channels between different levels of the Demon Palace, so there is no need to worry about the size of the Demon Palace, and traveling there will only take an hour.

After the light and shadows flashed by, what appeared before Xia Lin was a spacious, open-air passageway.

The passageway leads directly to the Demon Emperor's residence, guarded by terracotta warriors on both sides.

When they saw Xia Lin and Donald, these strange creatures, which resembled gold and jade but were definitely not human, turned their heads to look at the two of them, their eyes flashing with a scarlet light.

A faint aura of power emanated from him, comparable in strength to the golden-armored warriors he encountered when Xia Lin met the King of Kings.

Previously, Xia Lin was too weak to sense the power of these six-pillar guards.

Things are different now than they used to be, which made Xia Lin gasp in surprise.

"Not under the influence of error..."

"Whether it's these puppets or the warriors around the King of Kings, their individual strength is no less than that of the enemy."

That is, the level between level 11 and level 12.

After examining it for a moment, the puppet slowly turned its head back to its original position and remained motionless once more.

Donald then led Xia Lin deeper into the passageway.

He had also vaguely heard Xia Lin muttering something earlier, and spoke slowly.

"The King of Kings' golden-armored guards are called the Golden Guards. But this is not the sharpest blade in the King of Kings' hands; the Blood God Guards are..."

"Don't overthink or ask too many questions about numbers and strength."

"For the Six Pillars, levels eleven and twelve are meaningless..."

"For example, these soul puppets were created by the Demon Emperor using the Soul Creation Technique. Their strength is as you can see, and they can be as numerous as you want. It's even simpler than creating those damn little East Wind puppets you make!"

Mass-produced pseudo-level 12...

But this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the power of the six pillars.

They walked quickly into the mansion.

The mansion appears to be three stories from the outside, resembling a magnificent villa. The interior utilizes spatial technology to greatly expand the area of ​​the site.

However, the architectural and decorative styles of each part are quite disjointed.

But Donald quickly explained the source of this sense of separation.

"The Demon Emperor is a Soul Master and possesses thirteen Soul Pets."

"The first soul is a soul beast, which is inseparable from the master's life and always stays by the master's side."

"The other twelve souls are all stationed in various places, but they will still come back from time to time to keep you company. They also have rooms and places here."

Passing through a futuristic-looking door, Xia Lin stopped and looked up at the dog head statue hanging on the door.

The statue, half flesh and half metal, seemed to sense Xia Lin's gaze, its head slightly lowered as it looked at him.

"Woof! What are you looking at!?"

Xia Lin quickly looked away.

This is the room of the Demon Emperor's second soul, the one-eyed Lord of Greed.

Continuing forward, a star-studded gate comes into view.

The dragon head on the door is lifelike, and although it is majestic and ferocious, it also gives people a sense of honesty and simplicity.

"Star Lord, Star's room."

Without Donald's introduction, Xia Lin already recognized the owner of the room.

The Demon Emperor's third soul, Star Lord, Star.

In the current main universe, the three Demon Emperor Soul Pets, Lord of Greed, Lord of Stars, and Lord of Dreams, are the most renowned. Xia Lin has personally seen the clones of Lord of Dreams and Lord of Greed. Although he has never seen Lord of Stars, he has learned of Lord of Stars' great name from casual conversations with others.

The next room ahead was one that Xia Lin did not recognize.

The door to this room is elusive and ever-changing, and there are no obvious markings on the door.

Donald was unwilling to explain to Xia Lin, but suddenly the sound of a door opening rang out.

The door to the fifth room was open, and the black ghost cat slowly walked in, then leaped up and landed on Xia Lin's shoulder.

The intimate gesture made Xia Lin tense up, and she quickly greeted him.

"Greetings, Lord Dream Master."

"Don't be nervous... I'm here right now, I'll give you a ride."

Dream Master, your true form is here!
On the other hand, this place is probably where the likes of the Dream Lord, the Greed Lord, and the Star Lord most often appear.

Before Xia Lin could take another step, the dream master Victor had already slowly spoken.

"The fourth soul, Faceless."

"Ever-changing and capable of imitating anything... In a sense, He should be considered the ancestor of your Unseen Shadows... The inspiration for the Boss to create the Unseen Shadows also came from the Faceless."

"And the Faceless One's strength..."

As he said this, the dreamer stuck out his tongue and licked his cat's paw.

"Although I hate to admit it, He is probably the strongest among us."

Xia Lin was taken aback and looked at Victor.

The most famous of the three masters of Dream Star are not actually the strongest; the fourth soul, Faceless, is the strongest.

Xia Lin didn't quite understand this principle, but he didn't dare to ask further.

They simply continued forward, past the fifth room, which belonged to the dream master, and arrived at the sixth room.

The door to the room was pitch black, but as Xia Lin approached, the door suddenly creaked open, startling her.

Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that the door was actually made up of countless ants, each the size of a little finger. The sheer number of them triggered Xia Lin's trypophobia...

Instead, Donald chuckled and said, "Don't be afraid, they won't hurt you. These are all Sister Lolo's offspring."

The Demon Emperor's Sixth Soul, the Mother of the Swarm, Lolo.

In fact, there are three main beings in the Dream Star in the main universe, which is not the case that the Demon Emperor is the strongest pet.

The reason lies not in the fourth soul, Faceless, but in the sixth soul, Lolo.

The Mother of the Swarm, the ruler of all armies among the Zerg!
However, as long as it is associated with the title of "Lord of Ten Thousand Armies," its strength will inevitably exceed the limits—this is an inevitable problem caused by the class mechanism.

After passing the sixth room, we arrived at the seventh room.

The door was ordinary, but a crystal ball on it was sparkling.

"The Seventh Soul, Atom."

Victor gave a brief introduction, then sighed.

"The original seventh soul of the boss had already died in the old universe. After the new universe was formed, the old universe was no more due to the overturning of the rules. There was no way to find the original. So we could only rebuild something similar to the original as a consolation and named it Atom."

Xia Lin nodded in agreement, then asked, "Are there things that the Six Pillars can't do?"

Victor slapped Xia Lin across the face with his paw.

"Nonsense! Who has six all-rounders?!"

"Especially when it comes to the old universe... so much was lost there, so much regret..."

"You don't understand now... When you reach a higher level and become stronger, you'll realize that every position has its own difficulties. What's even more illogical is that the difficulties don't lessen with increased strength; on the contrary, they become stronger."

Victor sighed deeply, and Donald also sighed heavily, but Xia Lin couldn't understand and didn't dare to ask any more questions. She just continued walking and came to the door of the eighth room.

The eight giant snakes on the door hissed strangely, as if trying to intimidate and threaten, but they shrank back after being glared at by Victor's beaded eyes.

"The Eighth Soul, Yamata no Ibira."

"And the most hopeless one!"

The projection of Ibira on the door immediately emitted a chaotic sound.

"You're bullying me again! I'm going to tell the boss you're bullying me again!"

Victor: "Get out!"

With a flurry of cat-like punches, Xia Lin was stunned as he slammed Ibila's projection into the wall.

Donald, standing to the side, laughed and said, "Brother Ibira is a very nice person. He may look fierce, but he's not a bad person at heart."

*Beep*, friend card...

You're both a good guy and a doormat, brother, you're having a tough time.

Continue forward to the ninth room.

The door was bloody and fleshy, constantly writhing as if it were rapidly splitting and reforming.

Above the door, the phantom of an eyeless lizard head came into Xia Lin's view, making it easy for him to recognize the identity of the room's owner.

"King of Balu".

Balomon is a member of the demon race.

However, compared to normal demons, this race generally has lower intelligence.

It's inappropriate to call them demons; they should be called magical beasts!

The reason they were included in the ranks of the Demon Palace Demon Clan is because the ancestor of the Balu Clan was the ninth soul of the Demon Emperor!
Furthermore, because the Balmon is adept at asexual reproduction, they can easily combine.

So it can actually be said that all the Balo monsters are the ninth soul of the Demon Emperor!
Stepping forward, I arrived at the tenth door.

The door is arched, with a rat's head protruding from it, making it look like a large rat hole.

Victor spoke up: "The Heavenly Rat, the boss's tenth soul... It's not good at combat, so it's not well-known, but it's the boss's best helper in research."

According to rumors circulating outside, the Demon Emperor possesses certain scholarly qualities.

His understanding of the Soul Path, skills, professions, and talents is the most profound.

At this moment, it seems that this tenth soul-binding Heavenly Rat is probably the Demon Emperor's research assistant.

After nodding in understanding, Xia Lin lifted his leg and continued walking forward, but suddenly a soft cough sounded from an unknown place.

This made Victor laugh.

"The boss has finished his work and is waiting for you... I'll introduce the remaining three souls to you when there's a chance in the future."

Just as he uttered those words, a staircase materialized out of thin air and appeared in front of Xia Lin.

Victor jumped off Charlin's shoulder, and Donald also stopped in his tracks.

The two made their meaning very clear: they would no longer follow them to their next meeting.

Xia Lin turned back to bow to the dream master, then nodded to Donald before taking a deep breath and climbing the steps.

At first, the view was narrow, but as you climb the building, the view becomes wider.

What came into view was a laboratory that was not small in size, but the lighting was dim and it faintly exuded the smell of blood.

In front of the experimental table at the very center of the laboratory.

The gaunt man in a long black robe gently wiped the blood from his hands and slowly turned to look at Xia Lin.

"meet again."

It was the Demon Emperor himself!

……

An invisible aura emanated from him, making Xia Lin feel pressured.

It wasn't that the Demon Emperor did it intentionally; it was just that the environment here, the inexplicable stench of blood, combined with the Demon Emperor's reputation and his expressionless face, created a psychological suggestion.

Xia Lin was briefly dazed before bowing respectfully.

"Greetings, Your Excellency." The Demon Emperor nodded slightly: "Hmm."

"sit."

Xia Lin looked around and found a reasonably clean chair to sit down. She then looked up at Demon Emperor Wen Yu, unsure how to start a conversation.

I really do feel immense pressure...

And it truly lives up to its reputation!

Unlike the King of Kings, the Demon Emperor is cold and indifferent!

This is not an insult or slander; it is simply a fair commentary.

The Demon Emperor is cold-hearted.

The meager warmth is reserved only for those closest to them, making this person extremely difficult to get along with.

Actually, it's not surprising at all that Donald was being suppressed by Wu Xin.

Leaving aside issues of closeness and distance, just considering the Demon Emperor's personality alone, it's impossible for him to care about Donald more than the Creator of Heaven cares about Wuxin!
The Demon Emperor simply couldn't be bothered to cultivate any juniors or descendants of old friends.

Xia Lin even speculated that the Demon Emperor's investment in Donald was most likely not the Demon Emperor's doing, but rather something that the Dream Lord and the Greed Lord did under the Demon Emperor's name.

—They want to create a persona for the Demon Emperor.

"You're mistaken, it was my idea."

The Demon Emperor spoke first, but what he said startled Xia Lin.

Xia Lin met those icy, cool eyes and saw the Demon Emperor nod and speak again.

"Donald has good potential and is a good fit for my revamped Battle of Life and Death. We are indeed old friends, but tens of thousands of generations have passed, and our feelings have faded."

"However, as experimental material, he is not bad, that's all."

Xia Lin's face twitched.

This Six Pillars is probably colder and more terrifying than the rumors suggest.

"Back to your question."

With a wave of his hand, the Demon Emperor conjured a sofa and a coffee table out of thin air.

The drinks naturally appeared in front of him and Xia Lin. Only after seeing Xia Lin pick up her cup did the Demon Emperor speak again.

"The reason I agreed to meet you is because you are a better experimental subject than Donald."

The Ash Zone system was created by the Six Pillars.

It is the Six Pillars that supersede the Ash Zone system, not the other way around.

Therefore, the Demon Emperor is fully entitled to ignore the Ash Zone System and whether or not he sees Xia Lin is entirely up to his own will.

At this moment, He chose to meet, regardless of goodwill or malice, or any other considerations.

It was simply that He suddenly became interested.

Xia Lin had no answer and could only nod silently.

What could he say?

I dared not say anything.

The Demon Emperor is a pure egoist, a fact that the King of Kings had already mentioned.

Xia Lin had actually anticipated this meeting...

He couldn't curry favor with the Demon Emperor, because the Demon Emperor wouldn't let anyone else cling to his coattails.

The so-called Demon Emperor's faction is actually led by the three masters of Menglan Star. The Demon Emperor is fundamentally someone who doesn't care about external affairs.

He was too lazy to say a word or make even a glance to those in lower positions or those who were irrelevant.

He didn't even bother to act or pretend to be a caring superior or a normal person.

But soon, Xia Lin laughed.

"It doesn't matter. Experimental materials are fine as long as the results are good. I agree to it."

Upon hearing this, the Demon Emperor's lips twitched slightly, as if he were smiling: "That's exactly what I wanted to hear."

Xia Lin: "But the premise is that the advantages and disadvantages are clear, and there are no hidden tricks or conspiracies."

Xia Lin had also realized that there was no point in pretending with the Demon Emperor.

Speaking frankly is the best way to communicate.

This person would not give up any benefits because Xia Lin flattered him, nor would he be enraged by Xia Lin's straightforwardness.

As expected, these words did not anger the Demon Emperor; they only earned him a nod.

"Of course."

Keeping promises is one of the few remaining virtues of the Demon Emperor.

……

Once the prerequisites are agreed upon and the foundation is laid, the necessary groundwork will be established.

The Demon Emperor finally started talking more.

"What piqued my interest was what happened to you in the last Ash District. Wrong, right?"

Xia Lin nodded: "Yes, that's wrong. This is also the twelfth level path that Qingjue researched."

During the final stages of the Eternal Night Ashes region, the Creator of Heaven and the Super Star faction arrived, but the Demon Emperor's people did not appear.

The Demon Emperor did not have firsthand information, but given the power of the Six Pillars, it was not surprising that he knew everything that happened in the Ashes Zone.

The Demon Emperor continued, "I am neither a cultivator nor a martial artist, but my greatest adversaries are the immortals, and my allies are martial artists. I have a deep understanding of both of these fields, certainly deeper than you."

"But the fact that bugs arise after the fusion of immortal and martial arts is quite novel to me, and that's where my interest comes from."

"Look beyond the surface to see the essence."

"Two completely conflicting systems can create a cosmic bug, which is obviously not limited to the immortal path and martial arts, but can also be extended to other systems."

"I'm really curious to know what kind of bugs these two completely conflicting systems, neither immortal nor martial, can create. Is it a second mistake? Or will they collide and produce other more interesting phenomena, things, or people?"

The six pillars are not omniscient or omnipotent.

The Six Pillars are also very curious about the unknown.

You could even say that what they pursue is the unknown!
It is the unknown that can break the current deadlock!

"Just when I had this idea, I received a letter from the Ember District saying that I wanted to pursue a dual-class career."

At this point, the Demon Emperor finally smiled.

That was an expectant smile, a smile of curiosity about the unknown.

That was one of the few joys in a long life.

After saying this, the Demon Emperor leaned forward and looked at Xia Lin.

"The Shadow of the Uncertain is my creation, you know that."

"The uncertain shadow represents chaos and the unknown... This profession itself has strong characteristics and symbolic meaning."

"And its opposite is certainty and the known!"

"Now, I want to help you design a career with this concept to help you embark on the path of dual careers. When you have reached the level eleventh peak of both completely opposing systems, you will face the same problem that Qingjue faced in the past."

"But unlike him, you have references, lessons from the past, and the skill of the Bridge to the Reverse Source. By combining the two, this is your path to level twelve. But what the consequences will be, whether you can advance to level twelve with this, I don't know, and I can't give an answer right now."

"Is my plan clear enough?"

It's clear enough, of course.

To put it bluntly, what the Demon Emperor wanted was to use Xia Lin as a vessel to create a second Qing Jue who was neither immortal nor martial.

Then, let's see what unexpected and interesting things happen.

The idea is clear, and given the Demon Emperor's abilities, the method certainly isn't difficult.

The problem is that even the Demon Emperor himself doesn't know what the consequences of this action will be—and Xia Lin will have to bear those consequences himself!
The advantage is that Liu Zhu personally took action and tailored a dual-class system for Xia Lin!

The downside is that the outcome is uncertain, whether it will be good or bad.

In the Demon Emperor's eyes, Xia Lin was nothing more than a guinea pig for testing medicine.

"If you don't want to, you can leave."

Either agree to this plan.

Alternatively, you can go back to the Ashes District and discuss compensation with them.

The Demon Emperor's way of doing things is that simple and direct.

After a brief moment of thought, Xia Lin suddenly changed the subject.

"The plan is generally fine, I trust you."

You're talking nonsense.

Of the six pillars, only the King of Kings is credible.

Saying this now is just laying the groundwork.

After saying that, Xia Lin sighed softly.

"The only problem is that this process is very, very long, and I'm worried that I won't be able to reach level twelve before..."

"Let's not talk about anything else, just the closed-door disciple cultivated by the Creator of Heaven: Wuxin."

"I'll probably be targeted by this guy in the Sequence Battle. Donald showed me Wuxin's strength. That guy is a pure second-generation Six Pillars, and his cheat is so great that he doesn't even need to pretend... If I can't even get past this hurdle, then your plan will naturally fall apart halfway."

In short: I'm your guinea pig, shouldn't you lend me a hand when the time is right?
For example, can you give me some methods and confidence to combat unintentional actions?
After speaking, Xia Lin looked at the Demon Emperor again, only to find that the Demon Emperor was somewhat dazed.

He quickly gasped and asked, "Who is Wuxin?"

Xia Lin: ...

"That's okay."

Suddenly, a squeaking sound echoed in the void.

The Demon Emperor listened intently and quickly understood.

"Oh, oh, oh, the last disciple of the Creator of Heaven... It seems he's also related to the old thief's usurpation plan."

"In that case, it is necessary to get involved."

The Demon Emperor fell into thought.

Xia Lin waited quietly.

Soon, the Demon Emperor looked up and then at Xia Lin.

“Originally, this matter concerning you shouldn’t warrant my much attention… There are many experimental samples and many uncertainties, so one more or one less wouldn’t make a difference.”

"Your arrival was merely a coincidence, something that happened by chance."

The Demon Emperor's true feelings were genuine; he wasn't even pretending.

"But that 'unintentional' thing seems rather interesting... Hmm, we could add some more elements to this representation of a confirmed and known profession, thereby creating a systemic relationship of restraint..."

Muttering to himself, the Demon Emperor once again fell into deep thought.

Xia Lin waited for a long time but the Demon Emperor did not come back to his senses. Suddenly, a voice rang out from the void, which was vaguely the voice of a young boy.

"You may leave now and go find Donald."

"Once the Demon Emperor has sorted out his thoughts, he will summon you again."

Xia Lin realized that the speaker was most likely the Demon Emperor's tenth soul, the Heavenly Mystery Rat.

He then stood up, bowed respectfully, and politely withdrew.

(End of this chapter)