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Chapter 99 Mysterious Abilities

Chen Xuan couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Who says negative passive abilities count as abilities? In a sense, even without the blessing of the Holy Maiden, he could be immune to all curses, provided he could connect to Wi-Fi.

As for the Thousand Thoughts Sword and the Divine Eye Technique that were replaced, they did not simply disappear. Chen Xuan retrieved these two abilities from his inventory.

"What's wrong? Did something good happen?" Lin Qing asked, sitting on the sofa and playing with her phone. Liu Shuyue wasn't in the shop; she'd probably already gone back to Mala Village.

"No, a guest died."

Chen Xuan opened the Ability Manager APP, and sure enough, he could no longer find Gillespie's name in the Invite Back Visit option.

He looked up and suddenly found Lin Qing staring at him in shock.

Chen Xuan immediately realized that his expression just now was quite ambiguous—he had gone out for a walk at the customer's invitation, then the customer died, and when he returned, he didn't say a word, but walked to the bar and started laughing loudly, which was quite terrifying in Lin Qing's eyes.

Because she was both a shop assistant and a customer.

"What do you take me for? How could I possibly laugh out loud because of a guest's death!" Chen Xuan glared at her fiercely and briefly recounted his horrifying experience over there.

“I see… an intrusion point, leading to a world on the verge of collapse.” Lin Qing’s expression turned serious, as if she were empathizing with the situation. “Although I don’t know how they perished, it doesn’t sound like they were destroyed by the nanobots.”

"Are there many such worlds?"

“Who knows?” she sighed softly. “A world that hasn’t been discovered is as good as non-existent to us. But statistically speaking, there must be countless worlds that were completely destroyed before they were discovered. After all, even the birth of life is an extremely low-probability event, let alone the possibility of it developing into a vast civilization without any problems.”

"At first, I thought that only our world would be invaded by other worlds," Chen Xuan sighed.

"That's because this is our home, so we unconsciously treat it differently. In reality, our world is not fundamentally different from other worlds. If we're talking about something in common, it's that we're all on Earth," Lin Qing said.

After thinking for a moment, Chen Xuan decided to reveal a little more about his abilities.

"Are these worlds of erosion and being eroded completely without any rules? I think the actual situation may be different from what the Dimensional Authority says."

"Hmm? Why do you ask that?"

“I obtained an ability from over there, and its description is a bit unusual.” Chen Xuan raised the barcode scanner and pointed it at Lin Qing. He wasn’t interested in making a deal, but this explanation was more intuitive. “The app would only show it as forbidden. I’ve encountered two similar abilities before.”

The first is black magic, from Gildre. It was later revealed that the book originated from that dying world.

The second one is a coin toss, from Fei Wu Niang. He didn't enter Fei Wu Niang's world through the intrusion point because he was worried about being detected by the mechanisms. However, judging from fragments of her life, it was a time similar to ancient times.

The third is the recently obtained fragmentation and remelting, which shares the same origin as black magic.

This is clearly a series of capabilities from the same line.

"This... I'm not quite sure either." Lin Qing racked her brains but couldn't figure out the connection between them, so she simply lay down on the sofa. "Information that's not in the database is the same as non-existent to me. Besides, are there really any patterns in the world? If molecular diffusion is random and disordered, then all the worlds should be the same."

"I remember when we intercepted Fei Wuniang, there was a number below her picture, right?"

Chen Xuan checked his phone and found the record: SC-104-C1. "Does this number have any special significance?"

“SC represents gravitational wave characteristics, 104 is the sequential number, C1 refers to the hazard level, and S is the highest,” Lin Qing replied instantly.

"Gravitational fluctuation characteristics?" Chen Xuan immediately scanned through the intelligence on the intrusion points sent by the other party, finding that almost none of them overlapped. For example, the quack in the botanical garden, whose number was ATB-110-D2, "How exactly does it correspond?"

"I'm sure I don't know that, because the organization only has one machine that can accurately measure gravitational fluctuations. It's installed in a super submarine and is one of the organization's most valued assets."

Such valuable assets would be completely out of reach of the rebel groups that emerged from the split.

As for the current limited agencies, let alone super submarines, they can't even accurately measure gravitational fluctuations. They can only rely on a huge database to record every fluctuation and then hand it over to a computer for matching.

In other words, the technological revolution that is about to erupt within the organization also includes the technology for detecting intrusion points.

If only he could get that information.

"By the way, your new ability... is it any good?" Lin Qing sat up from the sofa again, staring at Chen Xuan with some concern. "Won't it turn you into one of those... monsters with legs growing out of your stomach?"

"I haven't tried it yet, let me experience it first."

Although its description only contains the word "forbidden," Chen Xuan knows how to use it once it's placed in the ability box.

And "fracture and remelting" is indeed quite a twisted concept.

It can actually use its own body as a sacrifice to fuse with a designated living being, and the object of fusion does not necessarily have to be itself, or even a living being.

The key lies in the cost.

"wait for me a while."

Chen Xuan walked out of the shop, searched around the green belt of the community, and soon returned to Lin Qing's side with an autumn grasshopper. Then he pinched the grasshopper together with a piece of freshly broken twig.

The moment he activated his power, an incredible thing happened—the grasshopper's body seemed to melt and seep into the branch. When he released his grip, the grasshopper had become one with the branch, its wings and head intact, while its abdomen and powerful legs had completely disappeared into the branch.

Even in this state, the grasshopper was still alive. It looked around in panic, occasionally flapping its wings as if trying to fly. However, it was too weak to drag the entire branch and could only flutter aimlessly in place.

Seeing this, Lin Qing couldn't help but gasp.

"Disgusting……"

“Right? That’s what I thought when I saw the monster,” Chen Xuan said, holding up a branch.

At first glance, it looks like a grasshopper's head growing from the top of a tree branch.

The price he paid was a hair follicle on his arm.

That's right, the hair follicle has completely disappeared, as if it had never existed.

"As you can see, I don't need to absorb grasshoppers, and the same goes for humans... I just need to designate a living creature to perform the fusion, and the target can be chosen arbitrarily. As long as you are willing to pay the price, its effect is quite terrifying."

This ability has no wind-up at all, making it even harder to defend against than attack spells like the Thousand Thoughts Sword or Coin Toss.

"Are you sure you only gave up one hair follicle?" Lin Qing circled around Chen Xuan suspiciously. "You didn't lose any other organs, did you?"

"That's true for grasshoppers, I guess it's because they're small enough. It would be different if it were a person."

In fact, Chen Xuan had already tried it.

He randomly picked a resident passing by and discovered that merging with that person required at least one finger or a muscle. If the target was Lin Qing, then most of her body would be needed.

Of course, he didn't actually put his ability into practice; he merely used it to weigh things in his mind.

"I think this ability is pretty weird. It's unique even among the group of wanderers whose files were leaked. You'd better use it sparingly," Lin Qing said, clicking her tongue.

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing," Chen Xuan nodded in reply.

Actually, this ability could be quite beneficial to humanity from another perspective. When using it, Chen Xuan could clearly feel it scanning every part of his body; as long as the thought was made, the ability would take effect immediately. So what if it were used on a cancer patient? Couldn't it be used as a non-invasive surgical scalpel?
For example, by using animals as the target of fusion and repeatedly applying the ability, the cost is those uncontrolled cancerous tissues. In this way, cancer can be precisely removed with minimal harm to the body. This effect undoubtedly surpasses all current treatment methods.

Unfortunately, the ability cannot be traded multiple times.

Otherwise, surgeons could really make a mess of things by using pyrolysis and remelting.

……

A week after settling in Chang'an, the manor unexpectedly welcomed several visitors from the Immortal Alliance, the leader of whom was none other than the Turbid Wine Hermit Xu Yuanqing.

After receiving the delegation's notification, Chen Xuan hosted them in the main hall.

"Have you encountered any difficulties?" he asked bluntly.

Chen Xuan's heart skipped a beat. Could the other party be referring to the massacre of the entire family in Feng County?
"Why does Your Excellency ask such a question?"

"Because I haven't received your application to establish a sect yet," Xu Yuanqing said with a hint of urgency. "Considering that the sect competition is about to open for registration, I came here specifically to check on the situation."

"Do we need to apply to establish a sect?" Chen Xuan asked in surprise. "I thought that once we determined the name and the sect's location, it was all done."

Xu Yuanqing seemed slightly shocked by his statement, "...Even if you are a rogue cultivator, you should apply to the Immortal Alliance when establishing a sect. Only after registration can you be officially recognized as a sect. If you skip this process, what right do you have to recruit disciples?"

Uh... he never intended to recruit disciples from outside.

The brother and sister pair were purely accidental.

“It was my oversight that I didn’t arrange for someone to explain the rules for establishing a sect to you.” Xu Yuanqing pointed to a person next to him. “This is Hongli, the Grand Historian of the Immortal Alliance, who is in charge of sect registration. I brought him here today. Let’s apply now.”

Is this considered door-to-door government service? What an advanced concept.

The imperial historian smiled and cupped his hands in greeting, "You are truly valued by the governor. There are so many people outside who want to establish their own sect, and they have to wait in line for several years. Your case is a special one."

Chen Xuan returned the greeting, saying, "Thank you, Lord Xu. I am truly honored."

The other party took out a roll of paper and spread it out on the table. A servant immediately handed over an ink brush. "So, what is the name of the sect you want to build?"

He uttered the name he had already chosen: "I am the only one who reigns supreme in heaven and on earth."

There was a sudden silence.

(End of this chapter)