Chapter 851: The Most Expensive Evolution, The Most Luxurious Awakening

Xu Xiaoshou had long ago mastered controlling the amount of spiritual energy entering through the Huxi Zhifa.

Aside from that initial breakthrough when he was caught off guard, he hadn't shown any abnormalities afterward.

The Houtian-level Huxi Zhifa only absorbed a minuscule amount of tiandi lingqi, and it was only when taking dan yao that he felt that exhilarating, all-out sensation.

But now, his xinfa had reached the Wangzuo level.

Xu Xiaoshou guessed that even without relying on dan yao, as long as he breathed normally, his cultivation could advance by leaps and bounds.

After all, a Wangzuo-level xinfa meant passive cultivation—essentially, it was like someone working tirelessly, twenty-four hours a day, to devour tiandi lingqi.

Sometimes, overexertion could even count as double cultivation...

This was far more intense than those so-called hard-working geniuses!

How could the speed of cultivation progress not be fast?

Yet Xu Xiaoshou didn't pay excessive attention to his cultivation realm.

Now that he was at Zongshi level, and with the Wangzuo-level daoze insights from his various mastered passive skills, he could say that within the Zongshi Three Borders, breaking through would face no bottlenecks at all.

To quickly reach the Xing Si Jing, he just needed to find divine objects rich in lingyuan and absorb a few breaths' worth.

But Zongshi was the foundation for Wangzuo.

To go further at the Wangzuo level, the best approach was to seize the time while still in Zongshi to comprehend more tiandao rules.

This was also why many disciples from great families, upon reaching Zongshi, desperately suppressed their cultivation.

Because from there, advancing to Wangzuo allowed them to choose from more options and pick the path most suited to themselves for single-minded advancement.

This was the fundamental cultivation method for orthodox Lianling Shi.

Xu Xiaoshou naturally knew all this.

He temporarily set aside the Huxi Zhifa and started selecting other passive skills.

Cultivation was just a matter of time.

To rapidly boost his combat power, the key was to make good use of his passive points during this brief rest.

"Passive points: 1,472,625."

He had used four hundred thousand of the original one million eight hundred thousand passive points to upgrade all his passive skills to Wangzuo level, which had finally cured his slight obsessive-compulsive tendencies.

But he still had plenty of passive points left.

This reminded him of the new function from the system evolution after breaking through to Zongshi.

"Evolution Tree!"

This new module was similar to the Awakening Pool, but it only worked on the special passive skills: "Beidong Zhi Quan" and "Huan Mie Yi Zhi."

To evolve these skills, he needed "Evolution Water" from the shop.

"Evolution Water (Purchase: 1,000,000 passive points)."

When Xu Xiaoshou glanced over and saw that string of zeros, even with his ample reserves, he couldn't help but be stunned.

One million per evolution.

It was too expensive!

But now that all his passive skills were upgraded, when else would he evolve them if not now?

Xu Xiaoshou pondered his choices. "Huan Mie Yi Zhi" and "Beidong Zhi Quan," these two special passive skills, both had great uses.

So, which one to evolve first?

The image of "Beidong Zhi Quan" blasting Gou Tou was still fresh in his mind—this special passive skill was brutally effective, an absolute trump card.

Meanwhile, "Huan Mie Yi Zhi" played a big role in his limited mental defense and counterattacks.

Though he hadn't used it against someone at the Qi Jian Xian level, it was still a soul-based attack.

Xu Xiaoshou estimated that if he built up enough charge, even if Gou Wuyue came, the other person would suffer greatly from taking a direct hit.

If they didn't activate soul defense in time, they might even die on the spot!

After thinking it over, Xu Xiaoshou made his decision.

Evolve "Huan Mie Yi Zhi"!

"Beidong Zhi Quan" was sufficient for now.

Plus, with all his passive skills at Wangzuo level, even against a Tai Xu powerhouse, he could probably hold his own in a fight?

If not, he could always escape!

But in a situation like that with the little girl "Yi" last time, even with "Beidong Zhi Quan," he might be completely locked down and unable to use his skills.

At this stage, Xu Xiaoshou had already put himself on par with the older generation's Zhandao and Tai Xu powerhouses.

What he needed to guard against wasn't geniuses of the same age or level, but the sneaky maneuvers of those wily old foxes.

"Evolution Water!"

Gritting his teeth, Xu Xiaoshou purchased one portion of Evolution Water.

His passive points dropped from one million four hundred thousand to four hundred thousand in an instant.

It pained him terribly.

But equally, he was full of anticipation as he poured this million-worth portion of Evolution Water onto the bare Evolution Tree, which only had two small branches.

Whoosh.

The process of watering the Evolution Tree was utterly ordinary, without any fluctuations.

Xu Xiaoshou thought that using something so precious should at least come with some phenomenon.

So, after imagining a whoosh, he stared intently at the Evolution Tree to see if there were any changes.

—Not a single special phenomenon!

Quite normally, as soon as the Evolution Water was poured on, one of the bare branches trembled slightly and then sprouted new buds.

A hint of fresh green grew vigorously.

The buds turned into flowers, which bore fruit.

Once the fruit dropped, his inventory gained an "Evolution Fruit."

The flower that had borne the fruit began to wither and decay, turning into spring mud to nourish more growth.

It was over.

After the Evolution Tree went through sprouting, flowering, and fruiting, it returned to its original state.

If not for the new Evolution Fruit in his inventory, Xu Xiaoshou might have suspected that his million passive points had gone to waste.

"No wonder it's just a shabby thing from a simple wheel—its phenomena can't even compare to when Yunzhu emerges; how underwhelming!"

Xu Xiaoshou silently grumbled to himself, then used his intent to control the Evolution Fruit, binding it to the "Huan Mie Yi Zhi" skill, and suddenly froze, unsure of the next step.

He frowned, manifested his intent body, and hesitated before swallowing the fruit...

"Is it supposed to be like this?"

Xu Xiaoshou even doubted if he had followed the process correctly.

The fruit had no taste at all; it just dissolved into a special gas that merged into his intent.

Then...

"Huan Mie Yi Zhi, evolution successful!"

A notification popped up.

Xu Xiaoshou was excited—he had guessed right!

He looked at the latest information.

"Huan Mie Yi Zhi: Increases charge value when subjected to mental attacks; each increase of 1 in charge value triggers 'Mental Awakening' to break free from mental control and choose whether to release Huan Mie Yi Zhi. One cannot always be under illusions; sometimes, one must take the initiative, enduring until there's no choice but to strike back!"

"Huan Mie Yi Zhi (Evolved): Increases charge value when subjected to mental attacks; once the charge value starts fluctuating, it triggers 'Mental Awakening' to break free from mental control and choose whether to release Huan Mie Yi Zhi. One cannot always be under illusions; sometimes, one must take the initiative, enduring until there's no choice but to strike back!"

So many words left Xu Xiaoshou baffled.

Notifications were usually concise, probably because typing was tiring.

This was the first time he'd seen one that filled the entire notification box.

And these words looked almost identical...

At first, he thought there was a bug, with the notification popping up twice.

But soon, he noticed the difference.

—The only difference!

Before evolution, "Huan Mie Yi Zhi" required the charge value to increase by 1 to trigger "Mental Awakening" and break free.

After evolution, as long as the charge value increased by even the slightest amount, like 0.000...1, it could trigger "Mental Awakening" and break free from mental control.

After a brief daze, Xu Xiaoshou suddenly realized, overjoyed.

This meant he would never be affected by illusion arrays, illusion techniques, mental control, or soul control—none of those non-physical attacks!

And it was precisely because both notifications appeared that Xu Xiaoshou understood.

Before evolution, his "Huan Mie Yi Zhi" still had a flaw.

If the enemy's mental influence on him wasn't strong enough to increase the charge value by 1, then Xu Xiaoshou would have to continue enduring the control and couldn't break free.

Such techniques were mostly pure control rather than direct mental attacks.

In that case, his charge value might not increase at all, or even if it did, it wouldn't quickly reach 1.

During that time, this seemingly minor flaw could be fatal in a fight!

Because others could figure out his pattern and opt for mental control combined with physical attacks.

The result would be disastrous—game over!

But after evolution...

It was perfect!

Evolved "Huan Mie Yi Zhi" had no flaws!

Ongoing mental control would trigger continuous "Mental Awakening."

A single powerful mental attack could instantly trigger "Mental Awakening" for a counterattack.

The evolved "Huan Mie Yi Zhi" completely filled the gaps in Xu Xiaoshou's mental defense and offense.

Xu Xiaoshou was thrilled.

After the thrill, he couldn't help but feel a bit frustrated.

Why couldn't this flaw have been fixed when the passive skill was first given, instead of wasting a million passive points on evolution?

Yet when he checked the passive skill list, Xu Xiaoshou was stunned.

"Huan Mie Yi Zhi (First Awakening) (Charge Value: 10.65)."

First Awakening?

Did that mean there could be a Second Awakening, Third Awakening, and so on?

He checked the shop again.

Sure enough, "Evolution Water" had become "First-Tier Evolution Water," and a new item appeared.

"Second-Tier Evolution Water (Purchase: 10,000,000 passive points)."

Xu Xiaoshou froze.

He carefully counted the zeros, back and forth, seven times, afraid of miscounting.

But no mistake!

Ten million passive points!

"Damn!"

His mentality collapsed on the spot.

Are you kidding me? I'd rather give my life!

Ten million passive points?

That's outright robbery!

The price of Second-Tier Evolution Water was jaw-dropping; Xu Xiaoshou took a long time to recover, his face turning green.

"Ten million..."

He muttered blankly, feeling he could give up on that idea.

But then he thought, if "Huan Mie Yi Zhi," already at perfect level, underwent a second evolution, what would it do?

Turn a passive skill into an active one?

Probably not...

Xu Xiaoshou admitted he couldn't guess the system's evolution direction anymore.

He let out a heavy sigh, set aside the unrealistic fantasy of a second evolution, but his heart still burned with an involuntary fire.

Passive points!

I need to farm passive points!

A mere one million wasn't enough; his new goal was ten million!

But thinking of all those zeros in ten million...

And that passive points only increased up to a limit of 9,999 at a time...

Xu Xiaoshou truly couldn't imagine how much time it would take to gather ten million in crowded situations.

"Passive points: 472,625."

"Four hundred thousand..."

Xu Xiaoshou looked at his remaining passive points, feeling a bit heartbroken.

Earning four hundred thousand had been tough, but this capitalistic system didn't care about the worker's hardship at all.

Ten million was a nightmare!

"Time to awaken..."

With the remaining four hundred thousand plus passive points, Xu Xiaoshou didn't plan to save them—after all, compared to ten million, they were negligible.

Luckily, Awakening Stones hadn't increased much in price; they were still just three thousand passive points each...

Wait!

Xu Xiaoshou suddenly stopped, almost in tears.

Through dishing out ultimate punches, the subtle price hike had made him think it was no big deal—that was the true evil of capitalism!

Before seeing ten million, he had thought Awakening Stones were expensive.

But now...

"Damn system!"

"That damn thing, always scheming to take my passive points!"

Xu Xiaoshou cursed viciously, then quickly followed with flattery: "Good system, you can raise prices, but please give me something great..."

After all, he was about to start awakening, so cursing the system now would be unwise.

"What to awaken?"

Setting aside the ten million goal, Xu Xiaoshou began thinking about his current passive skills.

Awakening only worked on extended passive skills, and he had just three unawakened ones left.

"Perception, Transformation, Toughness."

Without much thought, Xu Xiaoshou dismissed the additive "Transformation" and "Toughness" skills, focusing on "Perception."

This was a powerful passive skill.

It allowed Xu Xiaoshou, even at Zongshi level, to probe everything within a hundred li radius.

This was something even Wangzuo might not achieve.

Even if they could, using lingnian to probe would trigger a strong response, like a heart palpitation, and the probing wouldn't be clear.

But "Perception" was different—it was like a god's view, able to change and extend in any shape or direction for probing, without anyone noticing.

At least, when Xu Xiaoshou used "Perception" to eavesdrop on the Qi Jian Xian's night talk, they showed no reaction.

If he had used lingnian to eavesdrop, the Qi Jian Xian would have split him in half with a sword.

"It's decided—you!"

Because it was a support passive skill, Xu Xiaoshou had saved it for later since he lacked combat power before.

But now, at the peak of his combat strength, what he needed most was support abilities.

Awakening "Perception" at this time was perfect!

"Awakening Stone."

At three thousand passive points each, after seeing ten million, Xu Xiaoshou truly felt nothing.

He had to marvel at the power of capitalism's blows, but he also hoped his last four hundred thousand plus passive points would bring him the best support-type awakened skill.

Binding the skill, the draw began.

Xu Xiaoshou had expected this; he curled his toes, forced a compliment to the system against his conscience, and started the draw.

Then another compliment.

Followed by a curse.

Xu Xiaoshou was speechless.

But today, even if he burned through all his passive points, he had to awaken "Perception"—no other choice!

The first ten draws didn't succeed.

His mentality cracked a bit; he hadn't expected such bad luck, but he gritted his teeth and persevered.

On the thirteenth try, after spending thirty-nine thousand passive points, his "472,625" passive points dropped to just "82,625," and finally, the notification changed.

What could such a resource-heavy awakening bring?

Xu Xiaoshou stared intently and soon held his breath.

"Awakening successful!"

"Perception (Awakened: Soul Reading)!"