My skills have mutated again!

Chapter 438 Interweaving
The successful hunt for the fake Demon Emperor was entirely expected.

In Xia Lin's opinion, the process should have been simpler and easier.

Ultimately, the fake Immortal and Demon Emperors were just fake...

This fake isn't even as fake as the avatars of the Immortal and Demon Emperors.

Their essence was actually created from the primordial dark side.

Thinking from a higher-dimensional perspective, the Primordial Ruler is currently plundering the power and status of the Primordial Dark Side, causing a shortage of the absolute power that the Primordial Dark Side relies on for its fame—Xia Lin does not believe that the two false immortal and demon emperors will not be affected if there is a problem at the source.

Then Yang Zhe stirred things up, and the two fake immortals and demons killed each other.

—When Xia Lin entered the arena to face Wen Yu, all twelve of his assassins had already died.

The Twelve Dead Apostles symbolize the power of the Demon Emperor and are even closely related to the Demon Emperor's soul pets. This means that the fake Demon Emperor in reality has long been seriously injured and crippled, and only has a superficial glory.

Xia Lin did not mean to look down on the Demon Emperor.

He was merely a fake Demon Emperor who had fought a fierce battle with the Celestial Emperor...

Stop joking. I, Xia Lin, have received investment from three pillars. If I can't handle the real thing, how could I not handle your fake one?
If I can't even do this, I might as well just wash my neck and go home to be slaughtered.

A few minutes later, the Immortal Emperor, whose soul had already been shattered by the Demon Emperor, was also completely devoured by Xia Lin.

With a flick of his wrist, Xia Lin tossed aside the Immortal Emperor's body and opened his skill bar to take stock of his gains from this round.

The gains are nothing more than skills.

Xia Lin finally got the Absolute Balance skill she had been longing for, but to her disappointment, the skill wasn't particularly outstanding or exaggerated in the current version.

—At least Xia Lin felt that this version of absolute balance was inferior to the Heavenly Equation and the Descent of the Old Ones.

Of course, as the number one in the Soul Path, one of the Demon Emperor's greatest strengths is adjusting, creating, and enhancing skills.

Having gone through the arms race of the Destruction Era and billions of years of sedimentation in the new universe, Xia Lin clearly has no idea what kind of splendor the Absolute Balance now holds in the hands of the Demon Emperor.

He doesn't need to know.

Judging solely from the version of Absolute Balance that Xia Lin obtained, its single burst power is definitely not low... It can be regarded as a trump card.

As for the cooldown time, which Xia Lin criticized the most, Xia Lin felt that fair trade could probably solve the problem.

But Xia Lin dared not try it at the moment...

If fair trading fails to eliminate the absolutely balanced CD, all this work will be for nothing, so let's just treat it as a backup plan.

Aside from absolute balance, Xia Lin briefly examined the various skills of the two emperors, the immortal and the demon, and then scanned them all into his recipe book for later study.

Let's talk about significance, not intensity.

These skills all contain the Dao of the Immortal and Demon Emperors. If you carefully analyze and ponder them, you will always gain something.

Of course, now is definitely not a good time to disassemble and analyze it.

Wang Laoqi (Wang Yanqing) will most likely have a premonition about Yang Zhe's death.

This fragment of subconsciousness was no longer a good place. Xia Lin quickly tidied it up, activated "I am above all laws" again, and left the fragment of subconsciousness directly.

As soon as Xia Lin emerged from the fragments of his subconscious, he discovered that his surroundings were already filled with countless unmanned starships.

These unmanned starships, which should belong to Yang Zhe, have fallen into a state of silence following their master's death, but the occasional flashes of eerie light seem to indicate that they still possess a certain degree of surveillance capabilities.

Originally, with these things, even if Yang Zhe died, they could still help Wang Yanqing locate Xia Lin's position.

However, I am above all laws and can specifically restrain these fancy tricks.

Xia Lin was too lazy to disturb these electronic eyes, and didn't care about their functions or effects.

Instead, he stayed where he was, focusing intently on something else.

Reach out and touch the Book of Spirits.

The power of the Spirit World Book merged with Xia Lin's, and his senses spread rapidly, soon reaching the boundary of the overlapping illusionary realm.

Then, Xia Lin suddenly narrowed his eyes.

"This is too fast!"

……

For some reason that Xia Lin was unaware of, Xia Lin activated the Descent of the Old Ones in the Dark Realm. Not only did it not require consuming the completion rate of the Dark Side of the Old Ones in the Spirit World Book, it could even increase the completion rate of the Dark Side of the Old Ones in reverse.

Furthermore, the overlapping realms of illusions that descended from the past can expand autonomously and spread automatically.

The entire process of dealing with Yang Zhe and the fake Immortal and Demon Emperors took a long time in the shadows, but not long in reality—it only took about a day.

Because he was too busy, Xia Lin didn't pay attention to the expansion speed of the Illusionary Overlapping Realm.

Now that he has left the fragments of his subconscious, Xia Lin is surprised to find that the expansion speed of this domain far exceeds his expectations. Like ink dripping into a pond, it has spread to a large area in a short period of time.

Clearly, there's a problem here.

Xia Lin inexplicably thought of Thunder Technology's current shareholders: the World Government and...?
In reality, this corresponds to the primordial dark side (or the primordial ruler) and the King of Kings.

The seemingly self-expansion of the overlapping illusory realms is hard to connect with the two Six Pillars, but Xia Lin has a feeling that this abnormal situation is definitely related to these two!

Of course, without evidence, baseless speculation will not allow us to delve into the truth.

Just as perception, aided by the overlapping of illusions, spread to the farthest boundaries of the realm.

Xia Lin suddenly raised an eyebrow.

"This is again..."

……

In the far distance, Wang Yanshan seemed to sense something, looked up inexplicably, then looked away and gently dusted off the dust on his collar.

Beside him, Cheng Lin strode forward.

The great war is over.

Cheng Lin witnessed a major battle at the top of level twelve.

However, the battle itself was nothing more than a monotonous one-sided crushing defeat.

The infamous level twelve evil god, Primordial Hunger, couldn't even stand firm under the command of the Great Prince Wang Yanshan.

The entire battle was completely one-sided. Wang Yanshan sacrificed tens of thousands of troops to easily deal with the Primal Hunger, which Cheng Lin considered invincible.

As Cheng Lin took a step, a black crystal bead appeared in his hand.

Even though the original starvation appeared to have completely lost its life and its body had withered, Cheng Lin still dared not get too close.

Standing closer to Wang Yanshan, Cheng Lin flicked his finger, sending the crystal bead into Yuan Chu's hungry body.

The next second, space, anchored by primal hunger, briefly folded, like a chrysanthemum in bloom.

Soon, as the spatial folds stabilized, a humanoid creature, entirely black, naked, but with an enormous belly, crawled out of the anchor point and slowly approached Cheng Lin.

Does it have a name?

Cheng Lin spoke up, asking the black man a question.

The man was dazed for a moment before replying in a hoarse voice, "Hungry...hungry..."

"My lord has given me the name Hunger..."

As hunger spoke, his voice gradually became steady, and his enunciation became clearer.

Occasionally, energy fluctuations would flash through his body, their intensity astonishing, no less than that of his predecessor: Primal Hunger!

However, his power was not enough to frighten Wang Yanshan. Even though the Primal Hunger had transformed its life form through the unknown means of the Primal Overlord, in Wang Yanshan's eyes it was still Little Karami.

A level 12 summit?

Hunger is, without a doubt.

However, there is still a gap even at the 12th level peak!
The focus of their gaze fell on the black force field emanating from Hunger.

The force field had just taken shape when it suddenly erupted under Wang Yanshan's watchful gaze, spreading outwards from its center in the form of hunger.

The ripples swept over Wang Yanshan, but only elicited a soft hum from him.

"This must be the infamous dark side of the universe, right?"

Cheng Lin, who was neither quick-witted nor eloquent, chimed in when he was hungry: "Exactly."

This also means that hunger has taken over the reins of this operation from Cheng Lin.

Wang Yanshan sensed it carefully and shook his head: "So what you are doing is nothing more than using the evil god as an anchor point, on the one hand creating usable subordinates for the Primordial Ruler, and on the other hand setting up a central hub in the Dark Realm to spread the Primordial Ruler's dark side of the universe to this place."

Hunger nodded and then said, "Yes."

Then, he looked at Wang Yanshan.

At that moment, the hungry man's left and right eyes shone with a black and white light.

Amidst the surging light, another world, the world known as the Dark Side, slowly unfolded before the hungry eyes.

Cause and effect begin to intersect, and symbols begin to correspond.

Strangely, even with the Dark Side's control over Hunger, which is second only to the Primal Ruler, no corresponding symbol for Wang Yanshan could be found in the Dark Side.

He has been incorporated into the realm of overlapping illusions and has been permanently marked by the dark side of the universe.

But his symbolism is not presented in the shadows, as if it never existed.

The Dark Side of the Universe is ineffective against Wang Yanshan...

It's strange, but it makes perfect sense.

As the son of the Six Pillars, and given that the Dark Side of the Universe is already known, and since he is still venturing into the Dark Realm, the King of Kings will surely prepare means for his sons, adopted sons, and generals to resist the Dark Side of the Universe.

It was like a gentle breeze, yet it made a crisp "snap" sound.

Hunger made him tilt his head to the side, as if he had been slapped in the face.

Ahead, Wang Yanshan slowly rotated his wrist and laughed, "This is your punishment for peeking into my dark symbolism. There won't be a next time."

Hunger bowed his head respectfully and said, "I understand."

The slightly tense atmosphere immediately eased after Hunger uttered those words.

He was no longer a mindless evil god, but had become a reliable subordinate of the primordial ruler!
Wang Yanshan turned and left, with hunger and Cheng Lin following closely behind.

As the three continued deeper into the area, Wang Yanshan spoke slowly.

"The method to resist the dark side of the universe has already been bestowed by Father."

"But this method is very expensive... the servants certainly can't afford it."

“We eight brothers, my sworn brothers, and the generals all have them, but our subordinates do not.”

"So your ability to access the dark side of the universe is a good thing for me, as it gives me another means of defeating my enemies."

Originally, Wang Yanshan thought he could obtain a batch of top-tier level 12 combatants.

But once hunger demonstrated its ability to unlock the dark side, its value undoubtedly increased—the King of Kings' understanding of the dark side must be far deeper than Xia Lin's.

Even the question of whether Wang Yanshan or Xia Lin possesses more intelligence about the underworld is worth discussing.

In Wang Yanshan's view, the dark side is a deadly weapon against the vulnerable who are left unprotected!
A level 12 being who can control the dark side is worth more than a thousand troops!

At this point, Wang Yanshan suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Thinking of the inexplicable feeling of being watched just now, Wang Yanshan frowned and pondered for a moment, then suddenly relaxed his brows. "Lord Hungry, I am very curious about this matter."

"Your Highness, please speak."

"By the way, do you know Xia Lin?"

"I know that from the moment I was born, I received the consciousness of the Primordial Ruler and knew about Xia Lin."

"Okay, that makes things simpler. You should also know that Xia Lin has an item called the Spirit World Book, right?"

"Yes I know."

This time, without Wang Yanshan needing to say anything more, Hunger added, "Your Highness, you guessed correctly. The gaze you just sensed was most likely Xia Lin's gaze from the shadows. The Spirit World Book does indeed possess the power to open the shadows."

Wang Yanshan nodded knowingly: "No wonder I felt like I was being watched earlier, but I couldn't find the source. I see... I'm curious, what is the connection between the dark side of the Spirit World Book and the dark side created by the Primordial Ruler?"

Hunger thought for a moment, then smiled, revealing a mouthful of serrated teeth, and gave a definitive answer: "There can only be one dark side in the world, and the master of the dark side must be the primordial... The dark side is born from the primordial and is influenced by the primordial state, but the current state of the two primordial beings is actually abnormal, and this will inevitably be reflected in the dark side."

Without needing to experience hunger, Wang Yanshan already understood the meaning behind those words.

The two primordial entities represent the primordial ruler and the primordial dark side.

Essentially, the two can be considered as one entity, but in reality they are two different units—one has intelligence but no six pillars, and the other has six pillars but no intelligence.

The two are still mortal enemies.

After saying this, Hunger thought for a moment and then said, "My dark side and the dark side of the current main universe were born from the Primordial Ruler and were created by the Primordial Ruler."

"But the abilities in the Spirit World Book are born from the primordial dark side, and are equivalent to the power of the primordial dark side."

Hunger refers to the primordial ruler as "the great one," but has no such title for the primordial dark side.

This already demonstrates the stance of hunger.

After waiting for Wang Yanshan to digest the information, Hungry continued, "But because the two forces share the same origin, and the only thing on the dark side is the same underlying law of the universe, the two dark sides have actually been one from the beginning. What they are competing for is nothing more than the issue of dominance over the dark side."

Wang Yanshan asked curiously, "Is this good or bad for us? And is it good or bad for Xia Lin?"

"It's good for us, but bad for Xia Lin..." Hunger calmly replied, "After all, we are far stronger than him. And the law of the jungle is a truth in any worldview."

"When I was born, the power of the Primordial Ruler was projected into the Dark Realm, which meant that the Dark Realm's structure had changed. I think that now, corresponding symbols have appeared in the Dark Realm."

As he spoke, Hunger waved his hand, and a radiant glow flowed from his fingertips—this was the manifestation of Xia Lin's Dark Realm!
Turning to look at Wang Yanshan, Hungry said softly, "His current Illusionary Overlapping Domain is only fit to serve me and us. I will strip this power from its source and transform it into something belonging to the Primordial Sovereign, spreading the glory of the Dark Side throughout the entire Dark Realm."

"Of course, all of this will be done in the shadows and will not interfere with your plans in the real world. We would never dare to delay your important matters."

Upon hearing these words, Wang Yanshan simply smiled.

The goal is a six-pillar grid.

There's no such thing as you sharing half and me sharing half.

Wang Yanshan has reason to believe that the struggle in the shadows is part of a design by the primordial ruler.

Acts of starvation are unlikely to be in one's best interest...

But so what?

Alliances with the weak against the strong are a strategy in themselves.

Now is definitely not the time to turn against each other.

Wang Yanshan let out a long, feigned sigh.

"What a pity, I actually quite like Xia Lin."

Hunger whispered, "But his death will increase our chances of winning."

Wang Yanshan shrugged slightly: "I didn't say I was asking you to let him off the hook..."

He patted Hungry's shoulder and said, "Just go for it. The King of Kings and the Primordial Ruler are protecting us."

During their conversation, the group stopped several times.

As they ventured deeper, the number of evil gods they encountered increased—Wang Yanshan and Cheng Lin were among the first to enter the second level of the Dark Realm, and their progress was relatively fast, thus they also had to bear greater risks.

In the current situation of the second level of the Dark Realm, this manifests as the wandering evil gods.

However, once hunger emerged, the logic of the matter changed fundamentally!

Hunger means you don't have to do anything.

However, the overlapping illusionary domain around it rippled slightly, and all the evil gods that came into view—whether level eleven or level twelve—were drawn into the overlapping illusionary domain and disappeared.

He was like a greedy glutton, devouring his former kind.

Soon, several strangely shaped colleagues appeared around Hunger—these were all manifestations of the twelfth-level evil gods.

But the level eleven evil god vanished without a trace.

……

Xia Lin, far away, witnessed the birth of hunger.

As hunger unfolded, creating overlapping illusions of the same nature, Xia Lin decisively withdrew his gaze, no longer daring to look.

It wasn't that I had a premonition of anything.

Actually, there's no need to anticipate anything...

A "kind" that shares the same origin but is more powerful is inherently an enemy.

Instinctively wanting to retract the Ancient Descent skill, Xia Lin stopped when he reached out and touched the Spirit World Book.

After a brief hesitation, Xia Lin shook his head and withdrew his hand.

The old days have come, and we must not stop them!

Even if it does involve huge risks.

Do you still remember Xia Lin's true purpose in venturing into the Dark Realm?
Achieve Level 11, gather the power of the Six Pillars, and... tentatively compete for the Six Pillar positions of the Primordial Dark Side!
Absolute balance is merely a prerequisite for these goals... just a stage, or even a means, to achieve the ultimate objective.

Even with the acquisition of absolute balance, Xia Lin's chances of securing a sixth-pillar position are still extremely slim.

It could even be said that Xia Lin relies more on the arrival of the Old Ones than on absolute balance!

The strength of the dual-sided synergy has already been demonstrated, and the strength of the return of the old need not be mentioned further.

For Xia Lin, closing the Descent of the Old Ones out of fear of manipulation by the Primordial Ruler would be tantamount to handing over his only remaining opportunity to others!

Xia Lin, there's no reason why you shouldn't even give it a try...

The Spirit World Book around his neck glowed faintly, and with Xia Lin's deliberate adjustments, its function was more focused on refining the power of the six pillars.

In reality, Xia Lin continued to maintain his position above all laws and accelerated his advance into the deeper layers of the abyss—the closer he got to the bottom of the abyss, the closer he was to the original dark side, and the more efficient he was in refining the power of the six pillars.

In the dark side of the world.

Xia Lin woke up with a start and slowly opened her eyes.

It was already morning, and the sky was overcast and somewhat gloomy.

A sense of oppression settled over Xia Lin, but she couldn't pinpoint the source of it.

Until the phone rang, and WeChat flashed.

Wang Siyuan: Return to your unit as soon as possible.

Xia Lin: Sir, I haven't finished my annual leave yet.

I have two days left of my seven-day annual leave.

Wang Siyuan: Okay, you can continue your break, but if I don't see you at work before 10 o'clock, you definitely won't get a promotion or a raise.

Xia Lin: ...

In previous conversations, Wang Siyuan had revealed that she had a new assignment and that she was considering a promotion and a raise.

It seems that this matter has been brought forward.

Xia Lin could easily figure out what this change symbolized, so there was no need to elaborate.

I quickly washed up, got dressed, and drove to the company.

—Thanks to Yang Zhe's gift, Xia Lin no longer has to take taxis or squeeze onto buses to and from work...

Upon arriving at the company building and entering, while waiting for the elevator, Xia Lin took out her phone, opened the local news website, and saw the expected headline news.

The Xianze Machinery Processing Plant was destroyed in a gas explosion, resulting in heavy casualties.

The city's mayor expressed his deepest condolences on the sudden and unexpected deaths of the two business leaders.

[The Xianze Group and Wenyu Group's related industries were all nationalized following the unexpected deaths of their leaders.]

"Ding~~"

The elevator arrived at the first floor, and Xia Lin followed the crowd into the elevator, pressing the button for the 15th floor, which was the office area of ​​Thunder Technology.

The elevator started going up, and Xia Lin was scrolling through her phone.

Suddenly, a strange sound came from behind.

This made Xia Lin look to his right rear, and then he frowned sharply.

It's right in the corner of the elevator.

A smartly dressed, slender urban woman, her eyes sparkling with desire, her face flushed, was making a low, strange sound as her lips parted slightly...

Xia Lin's gaze, like a switch on a toy, sent a jolt through this fairly pretty woman.

However, she failed to control her expression.

His complexion became even redder and more distorted.

In front of Xia Lin, she put her hand inside her skirt...

The space, being small to begin with, makes it easier for sound to travel.

Xia Lin swallowed hard, pulling her gaze away and daring not to look again.

The woman pushed through the crowd and staggered toward the eleventh-floor office as the elevator came to a stop on the eleventh floor.

Around Xia Lin, the sighs of disappointment from men and women quickly filled the air.

The enchanting atmosphere did not disappear; instead, it became even more intense.

Xia Lin felt extremely uncomfortable all over.

Soon, the elevator arrived at the fifteenth floor. Xia Lin fled the elevator as if escaping and entered Thunder Technology.

The receptionist, who is extremely strict about her figure, didn't greet me with the familiar "Good morning." Instead, she buried her head in her lunchbox and ate voraciously.

Xia Lin stared at the receptionist wolfing down her food, then slowly narrowed her eyes.

Before Xia Lin could conduct further observation and verification, he was suddenly patted on the shoulder.

Xia Lin turned around and looked behind her, where she saw the serious face of the beautiful manager, Wang Siyuan.

She glanced at the stage in front of her before turning to look at Xia Lin.

"Come with me, hurry up."

(End of this chapter)