Chapter 773: Special Passive Skill, Illusion Extinction Finger

Master!

Tianxiang!

Empowered by the Shengxiang Zhili.

Xu Xiaoshou's breakthrough to the Zongshi Tianxiang realm in the midst of battle had thoroughly crushed the aura of those like Taixu and Jianxian figures.

However, the onlookers didn't have much time to be shocked before they saw the Dadao Guizong momentum around Xu Xiaoshou suddenly vanish, as if it had been devoured by some mysterious force.

It was gone!

There was no trace of Dao rhythm around him anymore.

At that moment, Xu Xiaoshou seemed even more like an ordinary person who had returned to simplicity than when he was in the innate realm under the effect of "concealment."

"Passive Value: 2,861,180."

This was the total passive value stockpile for Xu Xiaoshou after gaining tens of thousands more in front of all the Lingshi in Dongtian Wangcheng.

What outsiders didn't know was why his Dao rhythm aura disappeared after the breakthrough.

Xu Xiaoshou knew full well!

It all stemmed from that damned passive system.

Sure enough, the passive system that had stifled his breakthrough momentum activated in the information panel.

"Passive system upgrading, please do not disturb!"

"Under observation, Passive Value +4,233."

"Under awe, Passive Value +864."

"Congratulations, passive system upgraded successfully!"

"New module unlocked: Evolution Tree!"

"Acquired special passive skill: Huanmie Yizhi!"

"Under surprise, Passive Value +6,211."

"Under observation, Passive Value +1,152."

"Passive Value: 1,867,446."

The sharply reduced passive value left Xu Xiaoshou stunned for a moment.

Just a second ago, he had been reveling in the joy of the passive system finally upgrading again.

He recalled that the last upgrade was months ago.

This time, after the upgrade, something similar to the "Awakening Pool" and "Passive Fist" had appeared.

But then,

The next second, glancing at the passive value number at the bottom of the information panel, Xu Xiaoshou went mad!

From over two million eight hundred thousand down to one million eight hundred thousand?

Damn it, the last system upgrade had randomly taken three innate attribute powers from him.

This time was even worse.

He, Xu Xiaoshou, had accumulated so many passive values just to max out all his passive skills to the Wangzuo level right after breaking through.

But this broken system had outright swallowed a million passive values!

"A million..."

Xu Xiaoshou staggered in mid-air.

His breakthrough momentum, combined with the Shengxiang, was enough to suppress Taixu's extraordinary presence, but he hadn't even had time to leave a deep impression on the people in the city before nearly falling to the ground because of this crappy system.

Insane!

Without innate attribute powers to devour, it started messing with passive values?

A million...

That was a number he had earned through life-and-death struggles and extreme showmanship!

The battle was intense, and the situation critical.

Xu Xiaoshou didn't have time to dwell on his complaints; he quickly turned his attention to the newly appeared special passive skill that interested him most.

"Huanmie Yizhi: Mental counterattack."

"Huanmie Yizhi: When subjected to mental attacks, it builds up charge value. For every 1 point of charge value gained, it triggers 'Mental Awakening' to break free from mental control and allows the choice to release Huanmie Yizhi. People can't always be under illusions; sometimes you need to strike back—when you can bear it no longer, endure no more!"

"Huanmie Yizhi (Charge Value: 0.00) (Evolvable)."

Seeing this, Xu Xiaoshou fell into deep silence.

After a long while, he cursed in his mind.

"What a great skill, damn it!"

"But, couldn't you have shown up earlier?"

"Do you know how much I've suffered from mental attacks by those enlightened powerhouses during the time you were absent? Waaah..."

The special passive skill, Huanmie Yizhi.

And the previous one, Passive Fist.

Xu Xiaoshou was starting to understand.

One counters physical attacks, the other counters mental ones.

The passive system truly embodied the path of passivity: either die in passivity or grow, resist, and kill through it.

It was just like his name, "Xu Xiaoshou."

All forced!

Only after enduring comes the counterattack!

"Damn it..."

Without getting tangled in these minor details, acquiring a mental counterattack-type special passive skill brought Xu Xiaoshou immense joy.

Entering Wangcheng and directly clashing with powerhouses above Wangzuo level, he had begun to realize that for these guys who comprehended the Heavenly Dao, their mental attacks were often just casual manifestations of Dao control.

Xu Xiaoshou couldn't withstand them because he was only at the innate level; he hadn't comprehended the Dao yet, and he was far from mastering mental output and defense.

But now, things were different!

Huanmie Yizhi...

Xu Xiaoshou pondered, noticing a small detail.

"Huanmie Yizhi (Charge Value: 0.00) (Evolvable)."

The passive system shamefully hadn't counted his previous illusion attacks, deceptions, and controls, but that didn't matter.

What mattered was that this special passive skill, Huanmie Yizhi, had a new suffix at the end—Evolvable.

Xu Xiaoshou shifted his focus to another special passive skill:

"Passive Fist (Charge Value: 8.82) (Evolvable)."

Indeed...

This evolvable feature applied to all special passive skills.

It was probably the new thing brought by this system awakening—the Evolution Tree.

However...

Xu Xiaoshou stared at the charge value of Passive Fist and fell into thought.

He remembered that his Passive Fist, which hadn't had much charge before, had been reset.

Then, he had only taken one hit from Teng Shanhai's Xiao Shen Spear...

Just one strike!

Back then, with Shengli protecting him and Shengdao enlightenment, he had used Wuxiu·Chijiao Hand to block the Xiao Shen Spear.

Yet, his body had been completely shattered by that single strike.

The pain vanished the instant his body disintegrated.

The next second, he was fully restored by the Shengli.

So, Xu Xiaoshou had no idea how terrifying that Xiao Shen Spear attack truly was!

If he hadn't had Shengli protection at the time, he probably would have been blasted to dust by that War Department leader.

Taixu...

Truly disgusting!

His thoughts shifted back to the new Evolution Tree module.

Xu Xiaoshou glanced at his other passive skills, but none of them had the "Evolvable" suffix.

He suddenly realized:

Last time, only extended passive skills could be awakened in the Awakening Pool.

This time, with the Evolution Tree, only special passive skills could likely be evolved.

And he only had two special passive skills...

Was it a loss?

Xu Xiaoshou didn't think so.

He had already experienced the terror of Passive Fist.

He hadn't used Huanmie Yizhi yet, but from its description, he understood its fearsomeness.

Even before evolving, these two were incredibly powerful. Once evolved, who knew what devastating might they would unleash?

Xu Xiaoshou couldn't even imagine what evolution paths the Evolution Tree might offer for special passive skills.

So, he looked toward another section of the passive system.

There, besides the foggy, probability-hidden gacha wheel and the detestable Awakening Pool that cost ten thousand passive values per use and might still yield nothing, a new tree had appeared.

A very bare tree with two branches.

Xu Xiaoshou checked the mall.

A new item had been added.

"Evolution Water (Purchase: 1,000,000 Passive Values)."

Xu Xiaoshou: ???

He froze.

Then, he used his spiritual sense to manifest a hand, rubbed his eyes, and looked again.

"Evolution Water (Purchase: 1,000,000 Passive Values)."

Xu Xiaoshou: !!!

What the hell...

At that moment, he nearly swore out loud!

Watering a tree once costs a million?

In that instant, Xu Xiaoshou's worldview shattered.

He felt this crappy system had redefined his understanding of "greed."

This wasn't just greedy—it was downright divine greed!

So, the Greedy God, that little white cat, must be the physical form of this passive system, right?

For a moment, Xu Xiaoshou even considered grabbing the Greedy God cat and giving it a good beating, until he realized he was just venting his anger unfairly...

"Water the Evolution Tree once, and it bears fruit; the evolution fruit can be used to evolve special passive skills?"

Xu Xiaoshou figured out the mechanics of the Evolution Tree in his mind.

Then, he sighed, looking at his remaining 1.8 million passive values, and once again channeled his inner frustration, cursing this exploitative passive system.

It ate up a million of my passive values!

With the 1.8 million left, he couldn't even evolve both special passive skills on the spot!

What else could this be but a rip-off?

Oh, right, and skill points, passive keys...

Thinking about these bottomless pits that devour passive values without a trace and could wipe them out in an instant, Xu Xiaoshou's heart skipped a beat. He carefully checked the other items in the mall.

"First-tier Skill Point: 1,000 Passive Values."

"Second-tier Skill Point: 5,000 Passive Values."

"Third-tier Skill Point: 10,000 Passive Values."

"Passive Key: 10,000 Passive Values."

"Awakening Stone: 30,000 Passive Values."

Pfft...

Physically, mindful of the audience and his image, Xu Xiaoshou held it together.

But mentally, the moment he saw that string of numbers, he started spewing blood—copious, unending blood.

Price hikes!

Everything had gone up!

The appearance of third-tier skill points was the only thing that didn't surprise Xu Xiaoshou; in fact, he thought it was underpriced for the system's style.

The passive key had also increased, now to ten thousand.

Though he wasn't prepared, since the system had upgraded before and the key had risen once, Xu Xiaoshou could accept it.

But Awakening Stone???

What the hell does the system upgrade have to do with your Awakening Pool? Why raise the price?

It was already murderous at ten thousand per stone before.

Now at thirty thousand, you're not just killing—you're toying with people's hearts!

Breaking through to Zongshi.

At that moment, Xu Xiaoshou regretted it deeply.

He truly realized his mistake.

Perhaps he shouldn't have saved up passive values from the start; he should have spent them all at the innate level.

At most, leave a million for the system to swallow and mess with...

At least, in the end, it gave back something like "Huanmie Yizhi."

A million for Huanmie Yizhi wasn't a bad deal for Xu Xiaoshou.

But the Awakening Stone price hike really got to him, making his scalp tingle.

Disgusting, life-ruining!

You crappy system!

In the Zhongchengqu battlefield.

All the spectators watched as the most eye-catching young man in the sky, with an aura of unmatched elegance, forcefully broke through to Zongshi under Jianxian Rao Yao Yao's sword.

The crowd marveled.

Yet, this marvel didn't last even three breaths.

They saw the young man's face in the void suddenly turn pale, then green, then purple...

Finally, it settled into a deeply immersed black expression.

It didn't take long—just a few breaths.

But when the young man in the air opened his eyes again and looked at the world, everyone felt that his demeanor had changed!

It was a greedy, selfish aura, as if he wanted everything for himself.

What exactly did he want? Maybe money, spirit crystals?

But it didn't matter.

What mattered was that this strange aura was mixed with a terrifying desire, like being struck by the Red Dust Sword, breaking free from the situation in rage, and needing to kill a few people to vent his fury.

Furious!

Insane!

Vent, vent, and vent some more!

That was all everyone could see in Xu Xiaoshou from that moment.

Yu Zhiwen rushed from Nanchengqu, even using Tianji Technique.

But she stopped at the edge of the battlefield.

Because by then, Xu Xiaoshou didn't need her help at all; he had even broken through to Zongshi.

However...

"Why would he show this side of himself to everyone?" Yu Zhiwen wondered.

In her memory, Xu Xiaoshou did turn into someone like this sometimes, but only when he was alone.

Was it because of a forced breakthrough to Zongshi, causing issues with no way to vent?

Yu Zhiwen quickly dismissed that idea.

No one knew better than her how formidable Xu Xiaoshou's foundation was.

If he hadn't suppressed his cultivation, he probably wouldn't be just at Zongshi Tianxiang now.

"He must have had an accident during the breakthrough!"

Nearby, Situ Yongren caught up and stated firmly.

At that moment, seeing Xu Xiaoshou's unnatural reaction, Situ Yongren felt secretly pleased and continued mocking:

"No Zongshi Dao rhythm... How ridiculous. Is this even Zongshi?"

"If he hadn't broken through to Zongshi Tianxiang in front of everyone, even a Taixu arriving would think he's at most innate."

"And, forcing a breakthrough to Zongshi, losing the ability to touch the Heavenly Dao..."

"He's done for life."

Turning to Yu Zhiwen, even with his steady temperament, Situ Yongren couldn't hide his excitement: "Xu Xiaoshou has no future!"

"Shut up."

Yu Zhiwen couldn't take it anymore and snapped back.

Situ Yongren: ???

His face turned green.

Yu Zhiwen realized she had been too harsh and added, "I've sparred with Xu Xiaoshou before; he's very powerful. It's unlikely things are as you described. If you see him as a rival, you'd better not underestimate him."

Situ Yongren's expression improved slightly, though it was still ugly.

The word "shut up" echoed in his mind.

He realized that Xu Xiaoshou had probably taken root deeply in his junior sister's heart.

Despite his careful wording, he had accidentally touched a sore spot.

To uproot it, he needed to start from the sides...

Situ Yongren composed himself and nodded casually: "Of course, I understand that well, Senior Sister."