Chapter 790: Awakening Feast

"Painting Mastery is just too powerful!"

Xu Xiaoshou had anticipated earlier that a mastery-type passive skill would completely overhaul his combat system. Yet, he never imagined that this particular mastery-type passive skill would disrupt things so thoroughly.

"It's an entirely new path, through and through..."

Xu Xiaoshou thought about his identity as a semi-saint successor. This "Xu De Ye" identity had only been used a handful of times. A big reason for that was the sheer number of aliases he had under "Xu Xiaoshou." Once he made a move, it was easy for people to pin down his true identity. For instance, he'd used the Grandmaster body and Grandmaster Sword Intent before, which allowed the Night Guardians to lock onto him directly. Never mind distinctive things like Bai Yan or Bing Lian.

So, "Xu Shao" had always kept a low profile. Either he'd offend people with his words and crush them with his background, or he'd send newly recruited subordinates to do the fighting for him. Like Xiao Wanfeng, and... well, Xiao Wanfeng again.

But one Xiao Wanfeng wasn't enough. In the Tianluo War, Xiao Wanfeng could stand in for him because Xu Xiaoshou had a firm grip on Xiao Wanfeng's lifeline and used a little scheme to push his agile movement to the limit. Still, there were limitations. For example, if they faced a real expert, Xiao Wanfeng could only dodge—or keep dodging. Just like in the later stages of the Tianluo War, when Xu Xiaoshou had to step in personally and take down the Holy Body, Luo Yin.

The emergence of "Painting Mastery" perfectly solved this problem. Xu Xiaoshou felt that as long as he expanded his thinking on this new combat system, he could basically hold his own against peers. The Wangcheng Trial was just a bunch of little Xiantian fighters squabbling—surely there wasn't an enemy "Painting Mastery" couldn't handle? If there was, he could just summon an Eight Venerables An at random. Heck, that alone would scare those green rookies witless!

Coming back to his senses,

"Passive Value: 399,467."

With the remaining passive value dwindling, Xu Xiaoshou decided not to draw any more lots and use it all for awakenings instead. Because now, each awakening stone cost 30,000 passive values. That was roughly enough for ten awakenings.

"Hope I get something good."

Xu Xiaoshou prayed earnestly. Last time, he'd done a ten-draw awakening and got "Zhijie Force Field," with two awakening stones left over. It was a little trick he'd pulled. He thought that if he didn't mention it or pay attention, the passive system might overlook the bug and not notice.

But after the system upgraded this time, those two secretly stashed awakening stones were still sacrificed!

"Damn it..."

That meant his plan of stockpiling passive values at low cultivation levels, buying awakening stones and passive keys cheap, and saving them for after a breakthrough or system upgrade—was a dead end! The system's logic was too airtight; it didn't give any openings.

Xu Xiaoshou had no choice but to give up his scheming and stop fighting it.

"Bring it on!"

With nearly 390,000 passive values, Xu Xiaoshou refused to believe he couldn't awaken at least one... wait, no, no—knock on wood, knock on wood.

"What to awaken?"

Pushing aside distractions, he pondered deeply. Xu Xiaoshou had already awakened all the powerful passive skills he could think of. Now, only "Ganzhi," "Bianhua," "Rengxing," and "Zhuanhua" remained unawakened.

It wasn't that they were weak; he just couldn't picture what their awakened effects would be like.

Soon, after some thought, he ruled out "Bianhua" and "Rengxing" first. Because those two were sufficient for now. They were the kind he'd max out right away if he had extra passive values, or tuck away at the back of his upgrade queue if values were scarce.

But "Ganzhi" and "Zhuanhua" were different. They were strong! Practical and effective in real combat! Xu Xiaoshou hesitated endlessly. "Ganzhi" had been with him longer, so he wanted to awaken it, but he had no idea what direction it would go. He couldn't predict it at all!

"Foresee the future?""Danger prediction?""Expand the perception range?"

Probably not... Even if it was, Xu Xiaoshou felt he could develop something like "Tian Zhi Zhi Yan" on his own. "Ganzhi" already had hunches and a decent current range, so it was enough. If possible, he'd prefer other abilities.

But "Zhuanhua" was different. It was incredible. It gave him the feeling that once awakened, it would be even more helpful in battles.

Xu Xiaoshou wavered for a while, then stopped hesitating.

"What's there to fear?""Kids make choices; adults take it all!"

Regaining his confidence, he figured his nearly 400,000 passive values could awaken about four skills back in the day. Why hesitate?

"Fei Gan, wait for me. After I favor Zhuan Fei, I'll head straight to your palace! Definitely!"

Xu Xiaoshou locked in his target and turned to buy awakening stones from the shop. Since his little tricks were useless, he skipped the ten-pack and bought them one by one. He bound each to "Zhuanhua" and threw it into the awakening pool.

"Awakening failed!"

As expected... totally wasted.

Xu Xiaoshou's mouth twitched, but he didn't get discouraged and went for the next one.

"Awakening failed!"

Again.

"Awakening failed!"

"Dammit..." Now Xu Xiaoshou couldn't hold back. He slammed a fist into the ground, shattering it into pieces. He felt the ground should be renamed after the passive system. In just a few breaths, 90,000 passive values were gone? This wasn't just wasting; it was heart-wrenching!

Nearly 100,000 passive values— if he'd used them for upgrades, that'd be another Sovereign-level passive skill... Xu Xiaoshou had to weigh if it was worth it. Watching these pure passive values get sacrificed by his own hand...

Were those even passive values?They were like his kids!

"Huff, huff, calm down. The upgrade window's passed. If I pull out an awakened skill, the combat boost would far outstrip any leftover Sovereign passive. So what if 400,000 go to waste?""This time, I'll take on you, you dog of a system... uh, Dad."

Xu Xiaoshou exchanged another awakening stone with a blank expression, bound it to "Zhuanhua," and tossed it into the pool.

"Awakening successful!""Zhuanhua (Awakened: Kuai Duo Yi)!"

Holy crap...It worked! Calling you Dad does the trick!

Xu Xiaoshou's eyes nearly bulged out of his head as he stared at the info panel, fixated on the new "Kuai Duo Yi" text. His heart almost leaped out of his chest.

"Calm down, calm down. It's just a measly awakened skill; not worth getting excited to death.""Kuai Duo Yi—what does it do? Some kind of eating skill?"

Though the name was unexpected, Xu Xiaoshou didn't think it was really for meals. If it was, he could still twist it for combat—like eating people.

"Let's try it?"

Composed, he stood straight. Xu Xiaoshou glanced around, saw no one, then spread his legs wide, eyes wide with fury, one finger pointing to the sky and one to the ground, yelling in a dramatic voice:

"Kuai Duo Yi!"

Oh man, so embarrassing...This name isn't fit for intimidating enemies.

Xu Xiaoshou realized, then sensed with his spiritual mind and activated the skill.

A low, muffled roar came from behind him. Xu Xiaoshou froze—his "Ganzhi" clearly showed a ferocious beast head on his back, like that of a raging giant.

But they only shared the energy form. The difference was, this Taotie beast head was only the size of a millstone. Though big compared to his head, it was just a backdrop hanging behind him.

The Taotie beast head was entirely crimson, glowing with a hungry red light. It had a massive maw, with a tongue lolling out, drooling profusely. But the drool turned into energy and vanished as it dripped from the beast's mouth.

"Is this really for eating?"

Xu Xiaoshou's face stiffened. He sharply noticed that after summoning the beast head, his spiritual energy inside was plummeting wildly. Even at Sovereign level, "Shengsheng Buxi" could barely keep up.

"What the hell is this?"

Xu Xiaoshou was shocked. His Sovereign-level "Shengsheng Buxi" was enough to let him chain "Yibu Dengtian" moves with just a bit of recovery time in between.

This Taotie beast head consumed so much? It couldn't just be for eating; the massive energy drain meant its effect had to be terrifying!

Xu Xiaoshou pondered, then directed the beast head to lunge forward and swallow.

With a roar, the crimson Taotie beast head couldn't stray too far, but with no target ahead, it just snapped at the void.

A gulp sounded as the massive maw swallowed up the surrounding elemental energy and life spiritual qi. In that instant, Xu Xiaoshou felt his spiritual sea energy rise a bit, but it still couldn't keep up with the consumption.

After this test, Xu Xiaoshou fully grasped how "Kuai Duo Yi" worked.

"Zhuanhua!""This is straight-up conversion!"

He trembled with excitement. The Taotie beast head could devour anything and turn it into the energy he needed, instantly replenishing his body.

"But only energy?"

Xu Xiaoshou didn't think so. He pulled out a handful of pills and tossed them back.

This time, without even thinking, the Taotie beast head automatically lunged forward, chomped down, and swallowed.

A gulp, and the pills turned directly into pure spiritual energy, infusing his spiritual sea.

"Energy works, physical stuff works too!" Xu Xiaoshou's eyes lit up. "And it's passive attack—no need to command it?"

He understood "Kuai Duo Yi" now. No wonder it consumed so much—it was meant for battle, to devour attacks from all directions or hidden enemies.

"Xu Xiaojiji!"

The thought made Xu Xiaoshou dash over to Xu Xiaojiji.

Xu Xiaojiji had returned to normal by then. The Yuanfu World still had various world-class peak figures strolling around, but he didn't bother with them and was just routinely tallying and organizing the Red Gold Liquid.

Hearing the call, he turned around and nearly fainted, his eyes rolling back at the sight of the ferocious beast head behind Xu the Demon King.

Was the Demon King done hiding his identity as the God of Death? Even something this sinister was out in the open?

"Shou Ye?"

Xu Xiaojiji suppressed his racing heart. He felt like the thing behind Xu the Demon King was radiating an intense desire toward him.

Desire for what? Xu Xiaojiji didn't know, but he guessed it wanted everything—including his body and soul!

"Hit me." Xu Xiaoshou said excitedly.

"Again?" Xu Xiaojiji wanted to cry. I don't dare...

"This time, don't use physical attacks—hit me with energy." Xu Xiaoshou said.

"Energy?"

Xu Xiaojiji stared at the crimson beast head behind the Demon King, deep in thought.

So, testing a new move again? Where do you get all these weird skills?

He steadied himself and threw a punch. The void's spiritual qi churned, forming a black, ultra-sharp cutting force that sliced out— no flashy momentum, but its power was deeply contained.

Xu Xiaoshou raised an eyebrow. This attack style was unexpected...

He didn't react. As the sword-like black cutting energy approached, sure enough, the Taotie beast head behind him thrust forward and swallowed it whole.

A burp.

Xu Xiaoshou suddenly burped, stunned to his core. It really converted directly! His spiritual sea energy, which had dropped to fifty percent, jumped back to seventy!

Remember, he was only at Grandmaster level. A Sovereign strike's energy far exceeded what a Grandmaster spiritual sea could hold. And similarly, a Sovereign attack would be devastating to a Grandmaster spiritual sea.

But after the Taotie beast head converted it, there was no damage at all. Plus, the attack turned into pure energy—though some was lost, the replenishment was still ridiculously high.

"Is this the ultimate... Zhuanhua?" Xu Xiaoshou was in awe.

The extended passive "Zhuanhua" could only balance internal energy and absorb attack energy. But "Kuai Duo Yi" could devour all heavenly energies and convert them for his own use?

"What's its limit?"

Xu Xiaoshou keenly spotted the issue. If it could swallow even a Taixu attack...

Whoa.

His mind went blank for a second. Xu Xiaoshou realized the key point: either the Taotie beast head swallows the attack and he bursts from the energy overload, or it can't handle it and he's crushed by the Taixu strike.

Either way, the attack power would definitely be reduced!

"A Sovereign-level attack got swallowed whole and turned into pure power— no harm felt at all.""Even if I can't take a Taixu attack, it should at least weaken it, right?""This is basically a defensive god-tier skill!"

Xu Xiaoshou figured "Kuai Duo Yi" might not be intended as a defense skill, but he'd unlocked that crucial aspect.

And finally, the real use...

Xu Xiaoshou chose to deactivate "Kuai Duo Yi," then had Xu Xiaojiji attack again. At the last moment, he instantly activated and then deactivated it.

Xu Xiaojiji was baffled. He threw a strike, and as it flew, a red light flashed behind the Demon King—the attack energy vanished into thin air.

Then, the Demon King started burping...

"Dude, he really wants to eat me!" Xu Xiaojiji's mind exploded, and he fled in panic.

"Glitching again..."

Xu Xiaoshou silently felt everything happening inside him. He only needed a tiny bit of spiritual energy to activate "Kuai Duo Yi," and it replenished a massive amount.

Keeping such a passive awakened skill active was terrifyingly draining, but the activation cost alone wasn't even enough to stir "Yuanqi Manman."

Because as soon as his energy dropped, "Kuai Duo Yi" refilled it completely.

"I'm done for."

Xu Xiaoshou looked up at the sky. He thought his endurance was strong enough already. Who knew it could get even better!

But...

"What about my enemies now?""Attacks that just disappear— what's that about?""Their hearts are fragile too; they need care!"