As someone in sequence 001, I also want to give up today.

The following afternoon, Li Xian did indeed go to the "market" that was further away, just as planned. (He couldn't get up in the morning...)

The area southwest of Jiangcheng, bordering a neighboring province, is an undeveloped mountainous region known as the "Misty Forest."

This place has a complex energy field and varied terrain, making it a paradise for many mid- to high-level exotic beasts.

But this is also a place where Li Xian occasionally comes to "improve his meals".

He concealed his form (distorting light and his own aura with [Consciousness Slicing]), moving through the forest like a silent shadow.

My luck seems to be so-so today.

After wandering around for most of the hour, we only encountered a few B-grade beasts whose meat was rated as "tough" or "sour".

He even passed by a nest of C-grade "Spotted Venom Spiders" with overly developed venom glands, which he disdainfully avoided.

"Tsk, things aren't going well at the 'vegetable market' today."

Li Xian was pondering whether to venture deeper into the area or simply try his luck in another direction.

An unusual spatial fluctuation caught his attention.

The fluctuations were not the wild and chaotic energy leakage typical of strange beasts.

Instead, it carries a sense of... skillful, artificially controlled, but clearly somewhat awkward and unstable.

It's as if someone is trying to manipulate space from a short distance away, but it's like a child who has just received a new toy.

The force varies in strength and direction.

Driven by curiosity (and an instinctive attraction to "samples of new abilities"), Li Xian quietly moved closer.

In a relatively open clearing in the woods, he saw two figures.

A young man wearing a rather flashy bright purple retro-style fitted long trench coat, with his hair dyed silver-purple and styled with hair gel in a slightly exaggerated way.

He was leaning against a tree with his arms crossed, a cynical smile on his face, and a blade of grass dangling from his mouth.

He was surrounded by an extremely subtle yet subtly powerful force that caused Li Xian's [All-Encompassing Power] to tremble slightly.

It wasn't a direct energy shock, but rather a sense of disturbance that was closer to the level of "rules," "connections," and "possibilities."

Above his head, a clear symbol, visible only to Li Xian's perspective, appeared:

【Sequence 008 - Causal Substitution (Original Sequence 005)】

"Cause substitution?"

Li Xian became interested.

This sequence is quite early in the sequence and involves the level of causality.

In the era of the "Sequence of All Spirits", those who could rank in the top ten were all monsters.

Judging from his appearance, it seems he's... working as an instructor?

Standing opposite Lin Mo was a boy who looked to be about sixteen or seventeen years old.

He was wearing ordinary sportswear and his face was somewhat pale.

The boy's eyes were tightly closed, and fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. His hands were clenched loosely in front of him, as if he was trying to control something.

The space around him appeared abnormally distorted and folded, like refraction beneath the surface of water, where light was strangely deflected.

The symbol above the boy's head reads:

【Sequence 011 - Spatial Folding】

His sequence is also incredibly high, but his mental strength doesn't seem high, only at the C-level.

"Xiao Lu, don't be nervous, relax."

Lin Mo spat out the grass stem, his tone languid.

But his eyes were sharp, observing every subtle change in the space around the boy.

"Your sequence is very high, and your talent is extremely strong, but your mental strength and control are weaknesses. 'Spatial Folding' is not about folding space like paper; that's too much effort. You need to feel the 'texture' of space, find its naturally curving 'nodes,' and then... gently 'push' or 'pull' it."

He casually picked up a small stone from the ground and tossed it around.

"For example, try to 'send' this stone in my hand to your feet without any physical contact. It's not teleportation, but rather creating a 'connection' between the stone and that small space next to your feet, and then letting the stone 'slide' along that connection. Feel the weaving of causal lines, Xiao Lu, your ability also involves the reconstruction of causality at the spatial level."

The boy named Xiao Lu bit his lip, trying even harder to concentrate.

The air around him emitted a faint "humming" sound, and the distortion of space increased.

The stone in Lin Mo's hand began to tremble violently, as if it were being pulled by an invisible hand.

However, in the next instant, something unexpected happened!

Perhaps it was due to excessive tension, or perhaps it was a misunderstanding of "spatial folding" and "causal relationship".

Xiao Lu's mental energy output experienced a violent fluctuation!

Centered on him, the space within a five-meter radius suddenly appeared like crumpled cellophane, with several irregular spatial folds flashing with dangerous black light!

These folds are extremely unstable, and even tiny, seemingly tearing spatial cracks have appeared at the edges!

"Not good! Energy backlash! Stop!"

Lin Mo's expression changed instantly, his usual nonchalant attitude vanished, and he moved to step forward.

His ability, [causal substitution], is better suited for "modifying the outcome" or intervening at the conceptual level after a problem has occurred.

Directly suppressing this rampaging spatial energy is not our forte, and rash intervention could trigger even more complex causal disorder.

Xiao Lu was also stunned. He felt that his strength was like a wild horse that had broken free of its reins, and he couldn't hold it back at all.

The surrounding air became thick and dangerous, and his body felt like it was about to be shredded by those spatial folds! Fear made him almost scream.

At this critical moment—

A vast, gentle yet undeniably powerful spiritual force descended simultaneously, like the most precise scalpel and the most resilient anchor.

[Consciousness Segmentation & Precise Intervention Mode]!

[All-encompassing Power: Rule Analysis and Stable Field]!

Those dangerous spatial folds seemed to be gently smoothed out by an invisible hand.

The unstable energy within the folds is precisely extracted, channeled, and neutralized, bit by bit.

The spatial rift that was about to be created was directly closed by powerful mental force in its nascent stage.

The whole process was silent and so fast it was almost an illusion.

One second they were in grave danger, the next the forest clearing was calm again. Only the faint spatial ripples in the air and the pale-faced, still-shaken Xiao Lu proved what had just happened.

Lin Mo's movements froze halfway, his violet pupils suddenly contracted, and his sharp gaze swept across his surroundings like lightning!

His ability to "displace cause and effect" makes him extremely sensitive to "connection" and "intervention".

He clearly sensed that just now, a higher-level force had intervened.

And in a way that he could hardly comprehend, he defused the crisis with nonchalance.

Who is it? Who else is hiding here? Other experts from the Supernatural Abilities Bureau? Or...?

He found nothing.

His mental energy swept across the forest like a radar, but he only sensed the ordinary sounds of wind and insects in the woods, as well as the aura of a few low-level beasts in the distance.

The intervener acted as if he had never existed.

Meanwhile, Li Xian, hiding in the shadows, had his eyes slightly closed, and his [Universal Power] was in operation.

While intervening to stabilize the chaotic space, his power, like the most greedy seeker of knowledge, had firmly "stared" at the two targets in the arena.

First is Lin Mo.

His power, which involved causality, was like a series of intricate threads, shimmering with the light of fate, which were rapidly dismantled, analyzed, and understood in Li Xian's "eyes"...

【Cause-effect substitution】is not just about exchanging results, but also about the ability to re-edit, graft, or even temporarily separate the connection between "cause" and "effect" within a certain range.

It has many limitations (especially in terms of mental energy consumption and causal backlash), but if used properly, it can be considered a bug.

Next up is Xiao Lu's [Space Folding].

This ability to locally bend, fold, and connect spatial dimensions is full of imagination.

Li Xian can "see" how the boy's immature mental strength clumsily prys open the "membrane" of space, and the underlying principle of interference with the macroscopic dimensional structure.

[High-level sequence energy fluctuations detected...]

[Analyzing... Replicating... Optimizing...]

[...Reproduction complete.]

[Replicated Superpower: Causal Displacement (Optimized Version)]

[Optimization Effects: Mental energy consumption reduced by 70%, causal line capture accuracy and range improved by 200%, added 'Limited Causality Preview' (allows for a vague perception of short-term causal trends) and 'Minor Causality Tampering' (allows for fine-tuning established facts without triggering significant backlash). Replacement activation delay reduced by 50%.]

Current level of mastery: Perfect

[Note: Now you can confidently say, "It's all the world's fault." Maybe you can even make your instant noodles cook three seconds faster?]

[Replicated Ability: Spatial Folding (Optimized Version)]

[Optimization effects: Folding accuracy and controllability improved by 300%, energy consumption reduced by 80%, maximum foldable space volume increased by 500%, and new features added: 'Subspace Storage' (creating stable micro-auxiliary spaces), 'Spatial Coordinate Anchoring and Short-Range Folding Jumps'.]

Current level of mastery: Perfect

[Note: Congratulations! Your portable "refrigerator" and "snack cabinet" have been infinitely expanded. Your commute to work (if you have a job) may be reduced to just one step.]

"What a bumper harvest!"

Li Xian opened his eyes, a barely perceptible smile curving his lips.

The combination of causality and spatial manipulation, when optimized, offers remarkable practicality and potential.

This is especially true for lazy people like him who crave "effortlessness" and "convenience".

He took one last look at the empty space.

Lin Mo had already supported the exhausted Xiao Lu, giving him some kind of supplement, while his expression remained serious as he vigilantly surveyed his surroundings.

Xiao Lu looked terrified and guilty.

"It seems to be a newcomer trained by the government, with an expert mentoring him."

Li Xian lost interest in continuing to observe.

"Never mind, as long as there's no danger. I've disturbed their teaching, I'm outta here."

He quietly withdrew to continue his unfinished "procurement" task, keeping his achievements and fame hidden.

In my mind, I've already started unconsciously planning out "everyday" applications for this new ability:

[Causal Substitution (Optimized Version)] – Could we directly substitute the "cause" of Lingdang voluntarily doing her homework into the "effect" of her completing it? Or could we make the dirty bowl clean itself? This seems to involve the complex will of living beings and changes in the nature of matter, and the causal backlash might be quite significant…

Try replacing nearly spoiled food with food in its original condition when it was first bought? That seems feasible!

【Space Folding (Optimized Version)】—This is even more practical! Instantly expand your home's storage space! You can even fold the space between the sofa and the kitchen to achieve "one-step access to the dining table"? Or create your own dedicated "game sub-space" where you can do whatever you want without affecting the outside...

perfect!

The more I think about it, the more I feel that this trip was worthwhile. Although I didn't find the target ingredient, I did get some even rarer "ability ingredients".

As for that showy Lin Mo, the cause and effect maker, and his high-sequence space system apprentice?

It was just an interesting little episode in his long career as a salted fisherman.

Li Xian hummed an off-key song as his figure disappeared into the depths of the woods, continuing to search for suitable "ingredients" for tonight's dinner table (and future convenient living).