Unfilial disciple, do not ruin your master's dream of ascension and peaceful life.

Half an hour ago—

[Qianjing! Your apprentice has disappeared!]

Lin Zhiyu's phone call interrupted the pleasant live stream, and the chat was filled with comments like "Someone is looking for you?", "Whose call is it?", and "Is the old man going all out?". Qian Jing had no choice but to end the broadcast early.

"What are you doing? What are you doing? I'm live streaming right now..."

"Your apprentice! She slipped away in the blink of an eye!"

"Some birds can't be caged."

[Seriously! I thought about it, and it might be... it might be because she asked me and Ruozhi in the car how second-type ascendants could quickly awaken their superpowers!]

"...What did you say?"

[A token of affection and a test of life and death... I told the truth, without thinking much at the time... I'm sorry!!]

"I see... I guess she must have gone to get the sword that was confiscated. After all, it was a gift from me, and she has always cherished it."

[So that means she's likely gone out alone to get the sword? Oh no, she might be attacked if she's alone!]

"This must be the life-or-death trial she wanted."

[I'll erase her from existence first, let the enemy forget about her!]

"No, don't interfere, let her be."

【ah??】

"In my hometown, it's standard practice for peerless geniuses to trespass into forbidden areas to undergo trials. Strong people grow by courting death. I did the same when I was young. Her thinking is perfectly reasonable from the perspective of the values ​​in my hometown."

Are you serious?

"She is Ye Yinqiu, the acting sect leader of the Sword Inquiry Sect. She is no longer a child and should be responsible for her own life and death. Anyway, with me around, it would be difficult for her to die... Of course, it would be best if she met with a setback and gave up, so as not to bother me again in the future."

Alright, since you've put it that way... but about the enemy...

"Don't worry, I'll go check it out. I promised to help you catch the culprit."

--------

Let's go back to the present—

"You're here to rescue that little girl?"

Zhong Wei asked coldly, considering the feasibility of having Zhou Rong take Ye Yinqiu hostage.

"Huh? You've misunderstood. Why would I save her?"

"……what?"

"It is rather impolite for elders to interfere with the cultivation of younger generations."

"Then what are you doing here?"

"My friend shamelessly begged me to arrest you, but I'm a staunch non-overtime advocate, so... if you obediently kneel down and surrender, I won't have to work overtime~"

Qianjing spoke in a light and cheerful tone.

Was he just putting on an act, or did he genuinely have no concern for Ye Yinqiu? Zhong Wei tried to judge Qian Jing's true feelings through his eyes and micro-expressions, but found that he couldn't see through him at all.

"But first I need to ask, what's the point of you stealing a broken box from a museum? What is that thing?"

"I had another question for you all..."

While Zhong Wei was making conversation, her gaze was actually fixed elsewhere.

Under his precise control, pale red bubbles emerged from the cracks in the ground beneath Qian Jing's feet, just like soap bubbles, silent and harmless.

"Your companion went to steal the box, so they must have known its importance. We just wanted to know more information; we meant no harm."

"Hiring a sniper to take us out wasn't out of any malicious intent, was it?"

"That was his unauthorized action, not my instruction..."

More and more bubbles appeared, silently clinging to Qianjing's trouser legs, with a few floating to his back. Just as Qianjing's attention was drawn to the conversation—

"burst!!"

All the bubbles exploded instantly, bursting forth in a raging crimson flame, with blood-red smoke billowing everywhere, leaving a huge crater in the ground! The deadly radius of this explosion was nearly 100 meters, and the shockwave shattered the glass of a road sign 200 meters away, with an effect comparable to a ton of TNT!

(Is he dead...?)

Just as Zhong Wei was thinking, he saw Qian Jing, covered in blood, rush out of the blood-red smoke, making a gun shape with his hand and aiming at him!

boom! ! !

Gunshots rang out even though there were no pistols at the scene. In the next instant, dozens of bullets, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, hit Zhong Wei simultaneously! However, bloody bubbles seeped from his skin, forming a dense protective layer that shielded him from the attacks.

(His skills are mainly ranged attacks, which means...)

Bubbles gathered at Zhong Wei's feet, and the thrust generated by the small explosions propelled him into explosive acceleration. His hands were covered in foam, capable of destroying everything in their path!

"Close combat is to my advantage!"

The distance between him and Qianjing suddenly closed, and he threw a standard long punch at Qianjing. The blood foam on his fist exploded at the same time, and the released flames engulfed Qianjing!

However, Qian Jing dodged behind Zhong Wei like a ghost, almost tripping him with a sweeping leg! Zhong Wei used the foam explosion at his joints to accelerate his punches, throwing ten punches in an instant, but Qian Jing used the force against him to deflect them all, and the bubbles exploded!

The two engaged in a close-quarters combat so fast it was almost impossible to see clearly. Every move Zhong Wei made caused an explosion, but Qian Jing always managed to dodge and counter every attack! Zhong Wei's homeland was a martial arts world, and his martial arts skills remained formidable even in the upper realm, yet he could not defeat Qian Jing!

"Impressive skills! So your superpower is physical enhancement?!"

"If that were the case, I would have beaten you to a pulp long ago—take this!"

Qian Jing's jab landed squarely on Zhong Wei's face. No one knew how he did it; the protective foam that could stop bullets was torn apart by his bare hands, and the fist hit him squarely in the face!

Zhong Wei's face was quickly covered in bubbles to cushion the impact, so he only suffered a bruise on his face. On the contrary, Qian Jing's hands were covered in a lot of foam!

"burst!!!"

Qian Jing was blasted away, half of his body was engulfed in fierce flames, but when he landed—his body had returned to normal, and the flames had disappeared.

"This is... super-fast healing?"

Zhong Wei's eyes widened, but he immediately retaliated, a large bubble condensing in his hand, ready to bombard Qian Jing—

Crack! ! ! ! !

A blinding white light illuminated the dimly lit road, and a bright white bolt of lightning suddenly shot out from Qian Jing's hand, striking Zhong Wei in an instant! The enormous impact sent him flying dozens of meters before landing. Had it not been for the protective bubble around his body, he would have been electrocuted on the spot!

He struggled to his feet and looked at Qianjing in disbelief.

"What's going on... The abilities you've displayed include... long-range gunfire? Physical enhancement? Super-fast healing? And the ability to generate electricity? What kind of superpower do you have? Could it be...?"

Zhong Wei suddenly realized something and exclaimed:

"You can replicate other people's superpowers!?"

"Haha, you guessed wrong. Copying is such a lame idea."

"That's imitation!?"

Is there a difference between imitation and copying?

"What on earth is that!?"

Instead of worrying about that, why don't you focus on how your face looks?

"…………ah?"

Zhong Wei touched her face in confusion, then froze.

His face, centered on the spot where Qian Jing's jab had struck, swelled into a huge mass of mangled flesh! The swollen flesh instantly blocked his eyes, mouth, and nose, and in just a few seconds, his entire upper body turned into a massive, ever-growing lump of flesh!