I will eventually become a god through sheer hard work.

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"Xue Jing, you really... have no intention of joining the sect?"

"I think if it were you, your mother would probably love you even more than your sister..."

Xue Jing glanced at her, took the dark red seed, walked to the sofa and sat down, saying indifferently, "You really are persistent."

Aqin shook her head: "I cherish talent... You must be an ambitious person who is unwilling to be mediocre, to have such great strength at such a young age."

"Practicing martial arts... is such a waste."

Xue Jing shook his head: "It's that same old thing again. I'm tired of hearing it."

"Whether martial arts is a viable path or not, I know better than anyone... On the contrary, you, whether you are cyborgs with implants, new martial arts practitioners taking banned drugs, or you who believe you are blessed by the gods..."

At this point, Xue Jing paused for a moment, "Never mind, although I really want to argue with you, I'm probably the least suitable person in the world to say these things to you."

He waved his hand: "You should leave now."

Ah Qin tilted her head, looking somewhat puzzled.

She had expected Xue Jing to say some old clichés like, "What you are using is not a power that truly belongs to you," "Inhuman power will eventually come at a price," and "Martial arts is the only path that belongs to humanity."

They were prepared for a debate, but Xue Jing simply brushed it off.

Aqin nodded, and seeing that Xue Jing had no intention of continuing the discussion, she could only say, "Alright, if you change your mind, you can contact us through your sister at any time."

After she left, Xue Jing lay down on the sofa, holding a dark red seed in his hand and twirling it in front of his eyes.

He shook his head and muttered to himself, "Old Wu really is hated by everyone..."

To be honest, it wouldn't be accurate to say that he particularly likes the old martial arts novels.

He always knew that the old martial arts were just a means for him to develop his skill panel. His true strength never lay in his martial arts skills, but in his skill panel.

The reason he felt uncomfortable being looked down upon by others was not because he had any sense of identification with the old martial arts.

Instead, it's more like someone who chose a major they really liked in college, but then goes to everyone they meet and shakes their head in disapproval, saying, "Your major is really not good..."

Xue Jing was somewhat upset about this, but he found it difficult to refute what others said.

He couldn't even say something as simple as, "Can't I just say I want to?" with conviction.

Because he possesses something that others don't, he can walk the path of old martial arts with ease and without any worries. He is very clear that he is different from others.

If he didn't have a skill panel, could he really refuse the alien body, the forbidden drugs, and the divine grace without hesitation, and insist on following the path of the old martial arts? He couldn't be sure.

And as long as he cannot be certain of this, he cannot refute others with a clear conscience.

Shaking his head, Xue Jing stopped thinking about these pointless matters and instead pondered:

"Judging from what that woman said, the mutation rate of the Holy Mark has indeed decreased after I extracted its divinity."

The reason he so readily returned the eyeballs to Aqin was precisely to confirm this.

He realized this after learning that his sister Xue Wan had become a recipient of the gift and was at risk of being corrupted and alienated.

"Now it seems that the true nature of the so-called 'divinity' has been revealed."

Xue Jing's eyes flickered.

From the moment he touched the [Cat Tail Ring] and came into contact with divinity until now, the power possessed by any object or person whose divinity he absorbed has not been affected in any way.

The divine relic's functions remain intact. After merging with Bastet, the cat still possesses the abilities of a different god. Even after the Flower Goddess had her divine essence absorbed by him, she still used her ability to control plants without any hindrance.

Now, he has finally discovered the anomaly that occurred after his divinity was drained.

Differentiation rate...

The permeation of divine power pollutes the mind and consciousness, causing people to become alienated. However, extracting divinity will reduce the rate of alienation without affecting the abilities it brings.

In other words, the so-called 'divinity' is not the power of God itself, but something that comes with that power.

"We can't be 100% sure yet. We'll go find my sister to confirm later. She's a recipient of the Gift and also has a Holy Mark. We'll absorb some divinity from her and see if her mutation rate will decrease."

"If that's the case, then there's not much to worry about regarding her alienation."

“In addition…” Xue Jing stroked his chin.

If absorbing divinity is truly like this—reducing the rate of alienation without affecting anything else—then wouldn't he be the...father of all those who receive the gift?

If it were made public, he would probably be chased by a bunch of people calling him godfather.

Wouldn't they be able to absorb so much divinity that their hands would be sore?

Thinking about the potential gains, Xue Jing's mouth watered.

But reason forcefully punched away the overwhelming desire, jumping out and telling him that he couldn't do that.

"There are definitely many people who call him 'godfather,' but there are certainly quite a few of them who are like Lü Bu..."

Although he did not know how many recipients there were in the world, he was certain that there were definitely many.

This world is incredibly complex, and among those who have received the gift, there must be some terrifyingly powerful monsters who are beyond his current comprehension.

If he could solve the alienation rate issue without any side effects and it were exposed... what enormous interests would be involved?

What will happen then is completely unpredictable.

He may have indeed profited from this, but this uncontrollable situation is definitely not what he wanted.

With the skill panel, he will eventually become a true god among men. No rush, no rush.

Suppressing his desire for divinity, Xue Jing opened the panel and glanced at it.

"Hmm? Why is there no sign of recovery?"

He looked at the [Plant Pact] skill in the Divine Skills panel with some confusion.

Ever since I made a contract with that spider plant, the name of the plant contract has always been dull.

The color is blue, and when it's dull, it's just empty blue. But after Twin and Shadowflame use it, the dull color will gradually brighten over time until it turns back to light gold.

However, Zhiqi showed no signs of recovery, even though almost an hour had passed.

"Is it possible..."

Xue Jing took out the seed that the spider plant had transformed into from his pocket.

With a thought, the contract mark engraved on the spider plant seed vanished instantly.

At this moment, the [Plant Contract] on the panel lit up and turned into a pale gold color.

"As expected..."

Xue Jing's eyes revealed understanding.

"The limitation is the number of contracts... I still can't play with an infinite army of plants." He sighed.

"Lv1, can only contract one plant?"

Xue Jing reached out and placed the spider plant seeds on the table, then picked up the dark red 'oxygen-absorbing tree' seeds.

With a thought, a circular contract pattern appeared on the dark red seed's body.

Upon opening the panel again, the color of the [Plant Contract] had dimmed, and it was much dimmer than when the spider plant was contracted; it had almost turned completely black.

Does a more powerful plant consume more resources?

"So it seems that the problem isn't the number of contracts that's limited, but rather the energy consumption of the contracts. The total is 100, with the Spider Plant consuming 30 and the 'Oxygen-absorbing Tree' consuming 99... something like that."

Xue Jing threw the dark red seed that had completed the contract onto the ground.

A clicking, wriggling sound rang out, and immediately more than a dozen small green roots sprouted from various parts of the seed, growing thicker and longer. All the roots kept wriggling, looking like an octopus waving its tentacles.

The rhizomes gradually grew to over ten meters long, wriggling and expanding within the hotel room, eventually filling half of the entire room.

At the same time, Xue Jing also felt that the root was breathing, and the surrounding oxygen was being continuously absorbed by it at an almost frenzied speed.

The air became thin, and Xue Jing began to feel some difficulty breathing.

With a thought, the breathing of all the roots and stems suddenly stopped, forcibly halted.

As the outside air flowed back in, the oxygen density quickly returned to normal.

"Not bad." Xue Jing nodded, quite satisfied.

This plant, called something like Nagucha, still has plenty of room to grow, but it just doesn't fit in the hotel room. It's much better than a spider plant.

"Let's try again another time."

He controlled all the roots to shrink and grow backwards. The dozen or so thick tentacles retracted in no time and transformed back into a dark red seed.

Xue Jing put the seeds in his pocket, took out his phone, opened the dial pad, entered his sister's number, and dialed.

……

At the entrance of Fengcheng University, Xue Wan held her cat and looked at the mess in front of her, the ground riddled with huge cracks. Her usually gentle and easygoing face was now expressionless and almost cold.

The sirens of fire trucks and police cars blared incessantly, and a large crowd of onlookers stood around, all curious about what had happened and why the place looked like it had just been hit by a major earthquake.

Several classmates who were familiar with Xue Wan wanted to greet her, but when they saw her expressionless face, the words that were on the tip of their tongues just wouldn't come out.

"What happened to Wanwan? She seems so scary."

"Wasn't she just called away by Professor Lü? She probably got scolded by the professor..."

"She seems to be in a bad mood, let's not bother her for now..."

The cat nestled in Xue Wan's arms, its face displaying a thoughtful, almost anthropomorphic expression.

It had just gone with Xue Wan to meet Professor Lü and learned a secret.

I was just wondering whether I should report this to Xue Jing immediately...

Just then, Xue Wan's cell phone rang in her pocket.

She took out her phone expressionlessly, saw the nickname "My Stupid Little Brother" on the screen, blinked, and her icy expression melted away.

"sister."

The voice of his younger brother, Xue Jing, came through the receiver.

Xue Wan took a deep breath to calm her anxious heart and said as calmly as possible:

"Ah Jing...where are you now?"