My skills have mutated again!

Chapter 467 The Final Mission (Part 2)
When their figures and vision stabilized again, Donald and Shadow both exhaled a breath of relief.

That represents relaxation, it represents fulfillment, it represents the reward of long-term perseverance.

What comes into view is the pre-battle preparation space of the Ember Zone system.

There was hardly any joy in it.

Only the urgency to get closer to the answer.

After a quick glance, it was discovered that the Ash Zone system, which had been closed for five years, was no different from what it used to be. Only then did Ying reopen the Chosen One system's mission panel and find that the mission objectives had been updated.

The original text "Search for traces of the Ash Zone System" has disappeared, leaving only the text "Investigate the current state of the Ash Zone System".

Ying relaxed and smiled, "It seems that person has already confirmed the authenticity of this place for us."

The question of authenticity naturally refers to the authenticity of the Ash Zone system.

And that person refers to Xia Lin!

Donald and Shadow have both reached level twelve, and theoretically their rank is the same as Xia Lin's, so there shouldn't be any difference in their levels.

However, over the past five years, as they have had more and more contact with Xia Lin, become stronger and stronger, and received more and more baptism from the Chosen System, they have unknowingly elevated Xia Lin's status, and now they even unconsciously refer to Xia Lin as "that person".

Subtly, these level twelve chosen ones have elevated Xia Lin to the level of the former six pillars!
Donald didn't think there was anything wrong with the shadow.

He nodded slightly, then took out a crystal-clear blood bead from his personal space.

The Blood Bead is made from Donald's blood essence and refined through the Chosen System, reaching a level of six pillars.

But the effect is quite simple—it only serves to locate people who are related by blood.

Donald took out this item at this moment in order to locate his parents and ancestors!
Five years ago, Ibira led the Demon Palace on an expedition.

Within the Demon Palace's forces, almost all the trustworthy Level 12 individuals followed the Demon Palace to the Ashes Zone—after all, without the Six Pillars personally wielding the treasures, for treasures like those from the Demon Palace to unleash their power, Level 12 powerhouses must act as control nodes.

This also means that those who went missing that day were not only Faceless and Ibira, but also Donald's relatives and the Demon Emperor's friends and acquaintances.

Donald, having just left the Ash Zone and being only a level 10 professional, did not go on the expedition with the Demon Temple.

Five years is not a long time; for Donald's lifespan, five years is just a blink of an eye.

The problem is that he has experienced more in the past five years than in the entire first half of his life...

Thinking of the changes and turmoil that had taken place in the Demon Temple over the past five years, Donald took a deep breath and suppressed his frustration.

He closed his eyes again to sense the surroundings, and suddenly his brows furrowed.

"strangeness."

"The direction pointed to by the Bloodline Bead completely overlaps with the source of my perception as a Limit Breaker..."

Donald remains a limit-breaker.

However, with the Demon Palace protecting them initially, and later with Xia Lin protecting them, they were not significantly affected by the cost of power.

This led Donald himself to almost forget that those who break limits also have a price to pay for their power.

Just as he returned to the Ashes Zone, the power of the force suddenly appeared. It was neither strong nor weak, but it caught Donald off guard, causing him to lose control of his temper and his eyes to bulge with bloodshot veins.

"This way."

A low voice came out of Donald's mouth.

Following the target's location, he punched through the void, creating a spatial tunnel, and then plunged inside.

The shadow followed closely behind.

……

The interplay of light and shadow in the spatial passageway presents countless virtual ash zones with different styles.

Even though the Ember Zone system has been shut down to the public, some of its functions are still working on their own. At this moment, Donald and Shadow, who were observing from the sidelines, actually had the feeling that "there seem to be more virtual Ember Zone instances than before".

Without exploring the hidden secrets within, Donald and Shadow have a clear objective.

After traveling at breakneck speed for an unknown amount of time, Donald suddenly stopped in front of a virtual Ash Zone instance.

The endpoint of the sensing lies here.

Without even needing to explore inside, the sight that came into view proved the accuracy of Donald's intuition.

—Across the barriers of the world, the first thing Donald saw was an endless wasteland.

On the wasteland, a flesh-colored giant cocoon, nearly a hundred meters in diameter, was slowly wriggling, as if it were nurturing something.

Around the giant cocoon, five figures sat cross-legged, forming a pentagram.

One of the nodes of the pentagram is the Demon Temple and Ibira!
As if sensing the arrival of Donald and Shadow, the five people at the pentagram node immediately looked up at the two.

Soon, Ibila's voice rang out.

"Oh, it's Xiao Tang. What brings you in? Come, come, let's chat."

One of Ibira's heads spewed out spatial power, tearing apart the world barrier.

Donald and Shadow exchanged a glance, but in the end, the doubts in their hearts outweighed their worries and wariness about the situation.

The two entered one after the other and soon arrived at Ibira's side.

Only after examining it closely did Donald breathe a sigh of relief.

The situation here is real, and this Ibira is real too.

Even the four elders at the other four corners of the pentagram—Zhang Hai and Zhou Xinglin of the Three Phases Gang, and Lu Bu and Zhao Yun under the King of Kings—are real!
There was at least one person... no, there were two!

Faceless Ones and the Ancient Rulers!
As if sensing Donald's confusion, Ibira leaned closer and whispered.

"The Faceless One has other important matters to attend to and is currently in another location, as for the Old Ones..."

The snake's head arched and pointed towards the fleshy cocoon.

"That's it."

Donald, however, looked down at his bloodline bead.

At this moment, the direction of the Bloodline Bead still overlaps with the source of the Limit Breaker, both pointing towards the flesh cocoon in the center of the pentagram array.

After a brief moment of thought, Donald suddenly had a bad feeling.

"My ancestors, could it be..."

Donald didn't say what followed, as it was too cruel.

Ibira was taken aback, pondered for a long time, and then decisively said, "What are you thinking, brat!? Faceless and I aren't the bosses, how could we be so cold-blooded!?"

The Demon Emperor might actually be capable of some cruel acts, as long as the profit is great enough.

But the faceless and Ibira are more human.

Ibira sighed deeply, and all eight heads turned to look at the fleshy cocoon. After a moment of contemplation, he slowly spoke.

"It's just that a portion of your Tang family bloodline was extracted and integrated into the false soul of your ancestor created by the Faceless Brother, thus setting a trap for the Old Ruler."

Donald couldn't understand this sentence at all.

Meeting Donald's questioning gaze, Ibira did not hide anything and spoke frankly.

"Five years ago, we ventured deep into the Ember Zone, partly for the six matrices of the Ember Zone, and partly to suppress the ancient overlords."

"But how should I put it... it's very difficult, very difficult in every aspect."

"With our strength, the progress in comprehending the authority left by the Six Pillars is extremely slow. Although there are gains, there are more obstacles than gains."

"After the Old Overlord obtained the Limit Breakthrough Matrix in a certain virtual Ember Zone, his strength increased by leaps and bounds! After all, the Limit Breakthrough Matrix was originally a part of the Old Overlord."

"Our progress cannot be as fast as his, which makes it increasingly difficult not only to achieve the Six Pillars before him, but also to suppress this fiend."

Donald carefully digested the information and, combined with the subtle hints Xia Lin had given him earlier, roughly pieced together the course of events in this region over the past five years.

Ibira waited for Donald to process what he had said before continuing.

“Until more than three years ago, the situation finally developed to the point where we had no choice but to seek change.”

"Therefore, the six of us discussed it and made a decision."

"The Faceless Elder, who has the fastest progress in comprehending the Matrix of Ember, will continue to comprehend the Matrix of Ember to achieve the Six Pillars. The remaining five people you see will focus on suppressing the Old Ruler, slowing down his breakthrough progress and the speed of his strength growth."

Faceless was the strongest among the former six pillars. He possessed the ability to transform into anyone, even any pillar—therefore, when he transformed into a pillar, he could get closer to the relevant authority, making it easier for him to comprehend the Ember Matrix.

While their efficiency was not as good as that of the former rulers, it far surpassed that of Lü Zhao and the other four.

Upon hearing this, Donald took a deep breath, then turned to look at Lü Zhao, Zhou Zhang, and the other two, and solemnly bowed with his hands clasped in front of him!

It is unknown whether these six people had a dispute over this matter, or what kind of exchange of benefits was involved.

But they did make concessions, and as someone from the Demon Emperor's faction, Donald had no choice but to thank them.

Lu, Zhao, Zhang, and Zhou simply smiled at Donald.

"It's better to be cheap and shameless than to let the old ruler return to the six pillars."

"His Majesty entrusted us with the primary task before his departure: to suppress the old rulers and the original dark consciousness. This task takes precedence over our achievement of the Six Pillars."

"The time is not right, and the strength is insufficient. Rather than gaining nothing, it is better to achieve nothing."

Donald bowed again, and then Ibila's voice rang out again.

"As for how to suppress the old rulers... we have a lot of preparations to make."

The former ruler and the creator of the Heavenly Dao, these are the old rivals of the Soul-Controlling Demon Emperor.

The Demon Emperor's plans for the two of them could fill an entire library.

Ibira chose the method of soul replacement!

"The Faceless Elder Brother imitated the Boss and created a fake soul of your ancestor. Your ancestor had a deep connection with the Ancient Ruler in the past. Combined with the power of the Tang family bloodline and the connection between those who break limits, he interfered with the Ancient Ruler's soul and breakthrough speed."

"Then the five of us will find another opportunity to set up a pentagram array and increase the stakes again."

"And that's how things turned out, as you see them now."

This is both a detailed explanation of the current situation and the reason for the overlap between the Bloodline Bead and the Limit Breaker.

"To put it bluntly, they're racing against time. The Faceless Ones and the Ancient Rulers are racing against each other; whoever is faster will become one of the Six Pillars."

The voice suddenly rang out, but it didn't come from anyone present.

Ibira, Lü Zhao, Zhang Zhou, and the others were all taken aback and looked at the shadow beside Donald.

Ying panicked and waved her hands repeatedly, saying, "I didn't say that."

"it's me."

The voice rang out again from within the shadow's body.

Suddenly, a colorful stream of light emerged from Ying's body. The light floated in mid-air and quickly solidified, transforming into Xia Lin's figure in the blink of an eye.

He smiled and said again, "It was me who said it."

After speaking, he bowed to Ibira and the other four.

"I have met five seniors."

……

Xia Lin's attitude was very respectful and full of gratitude.

This comes from the heart.

Without these individuals blocking and suppressing the former Overlord in the Ash Zone, who knows how much trouble this former Six Pillars would have caused, and Xia Lin would not have had this peaceful five-year development period.

Compared to the chaos that the former rulers could cause, the current war at the heavens is really just a minor skirmish.

Instead, Ibira and his group of five stared at Xia Lin, their gazes growing increasingly serious.

After a long while, Zhou Xinglin, who was closest to Xia Lin, jokingly said with a smile, "Xia Lin, you've made great progress! This time when you see me, you don't call me 'Big Brother' anymore, you call me 'Senior' instead."

Zhou Xinglin's words may seem like a joke, but they contain a profound meaning.

Because even with the strength of these five pseudo-six pillars or those close to pseudo-six pillars, they were unable to see through Xia Lin's methods just now, and they couldn't even discern Xia Lin's current strength or whether he was genuine or not.

Xia Lin chuckled: "I'm just not being formal with you, Brother Zhou..."

Xia Lin briefly mentioned it and then stopped talking about it, instead strolling over to the flesh cocoon that the former ruler had transformed into.

He examined it closely and then touched it.

The cocoon trembled, and the contents inside seemed to respond.

This made Xia Lin withdraw his hand, a cryptic smile playing on his lips.

"interesting."

"That's interesting, but what does that mean?"

Lu Bu, known for his fiery temper, asked directly, and Xia Lin replied slowly, "What's interesting is that the thing inside is very close to the Six Pillars. However, when it emerges from its cocoon, whether it will be the ancient ruler or the fake soul you put in, I can't tell right now."

Xia Lin's words caused everyone's faces to turn ugly.

By assisting the Faceless One in ascending to the position, they can naturally get a general idea of ​​when the Faceless One will be promoted.

At this moment, the Faceless One is still some distance from the Six Pillars, but Xia Lin is saying that the Old Ruler is very close to the Six Pillars.

In terms of timing, Wumian was clearly several steps behind.

Xia Lin remained silent, but after scanning everyone's expressions, he had a general idea of ​​the progress of the Faceless One.

Without pointing it out, and without saying anything else.

He was only multitasking, and his left eye was seeing Fang Xiang Gu Hua's perspective.

Within the Ash Zone system, the Faceless One and the Ancient Overlords are locked in a race against time.

In the real universe, the primordial dark side consciousness and Wang Yanlin are also on the path to ascending to power.

One spot, four competitors.

The two final tasks issued by Xia Lin seem unrelated, but in fact they influence each other.

However, from beginning to end, Xia Lin did not show any anxious or embarrassed expression. Instead, she quietly watched the evolution and changes of everything like an observer.

……

Thanks to Wang Yanhai's letter, Fang Xiang Gu Hua was able to see the starving man who had been imprisoned for several years without any trouble.

Wang Yanhai had no habit of abusing prisoners, and therefore his state of hunger was quite good—he ate until he was plump and looked more and more like a human.

However, once Fang Xiang Gu Hua arrived, their fate of starvation was already sealed.

Without bothering with pleasantries, Fang Xiang Gu Hua, with the warden's help, immediately got to work.

The so-called "getting started" is actually just interrogation... No harsh punishment is needed. As the Heavenly Soldier God Lord, Fang Xiang has plenty of ways to search souls.

Moreover, Fang Xiang's abilities are not limited to this.

Currently, in the main universe, there are only two publicly known Immortal Venerables—the one from the Three Phases Gang and Scarlett, Xia Lin's subordinate.

The Heavenly Soldier God Lord profession is a fusion of the Lord of Ten Thousand Armies and the Immortal Cultivator. Scarlett's experience in the Immortal Path provided Fang Xiang with considerable help.

For this mission, Xia Lin had previously bestowed upon Fang Xiang a new ability—causal entanglement.

While searching for memories of hunger, Fang Xiang activated the causal entanglement to search for traces of the original dark side consciousness.

After several attempts, Fang Xiang realized that directly locating the original dark side consciousness was too difficult, so he decisively changed his approach, using hunger as a medium and leveraging the derivative ability of causal entanglement: Heavenly Dao Deduction, to predict the future.

The immortal power surged back and forth in the small dungeon.

The screams of hunger were incessant.

As the hunger pangs grew weaker, Fang Xiang seemed to have a premonition of something...

Suddenly, a grand, far stronger than Fang Xiang's, but not quite reaching the Six Pillars, thought crossed the void with precision and instantly severed Fang Xiang's connection with hunger.

This caused Fang Xiang to spit out a mouthful of blood, and then he gasped for breath.

"Sacrifice!"

He turned to look at Gu Hua, panting as he stated definitively, "Use the sacrificial ritual to recast the dark dimension and open the path to the Six Pillars!"

(End of this chapter)