It is often said that one should not pursue a cornered enemy, and even less so when the fleeing foe is a tiger. Ren Yuanhao was no fool; he understood the wisdom of knowing when to stop.
Just then, the faint sound of footsteps could be heard from the end of the stone bridge. The wild grass on both sides swayed gently in the breeze, and amidst the scent of decay, a faint floral fragrance wafted through.
Ren Yuanhao turned to see Shen Lanniu and the other two appear at the bridge's end. Yang Lingxue, less physically capable, was already panting, her chest heaving, sweat pouring down her face.
"Why are you here?"
As Ren Yuanhao spoke, he immediately guessed the answer. Only Ye Lan could have orchestrated something as high-tech as tracking their location.
"I'd like to ask you the same thing, why are you here?"
Shen Lanniu looked up and saw several corpses lying on the scorched riverbank, their deaths gruesome. Ren Yuanhao was about to answer when he suddenly lost his strength and toppled into the water, his vision blurring into fragments.
...
When he awoke, dusk had fallen. The dim, golden light streamed in through the window, refracting into a spectrum of colors on the thick glass, creating a dreamlike, ethereal scene.
The room was filled with the scent of sandalwood, known for its calming properties. Wisps of smoke, as thin as mist, curled upwards from the vents of the purple sandalwood burner, causing the faint dust particles in the room to dance. It was as if time itself had slowed.
"Di di, congratulations, you brat."
"Congratulations for what? I can barely stand after being beaten."
"Hey, hey, hey, an ownerless ability core! That's something ordinary people only dream of, more alluring than money or power!"
"It's also a deadly weapon that can kill. What's there to be happy about?"
"Yes, yes, yes, you're a saint, a gentleman, unstained by the mud. But once you have something, you wouldn't want to put a 'lost and found' tag on it, waiting for someone destined to claim it, would you?"
At this, Ren Yuanhao suddenly remembered the second ability he had absorbed from Ma Ruixi. He then asked,
"By the way, does Miss know what's going on with my second ability now? I can't seem to sense its presence."
The system knew, of course, but it couldn't exactly say, "Hey, man, your second ability is called Dissociative Identity Disorder, meaning you'll turn into another person when you activate it. Oh, it basically means you'll be split."
"That ability has been activated, but you can't use it. Hmm~ you can just understand it as if you don't have it."
"That's quite dismissive."
Ren Yuanhao stretched out his legs and looked up at the ceiling, which was as white as a milkshake. A similarly milky white ceiling fan hung from it. A sudden wave of fatigue washed over him, and he felt himself drifting back to sleep.
"Hey, kid, you can't sleep. You need to handle the ability core first, before the cooked duck flies away."
"Aren't you afraid I'll burst?"
Ren Yuanhao actually wanted to remind the system to recall the dead bodies lying on the riverbank. If anyone thought they had nothing to do with this ownerless ability core, they'd be a fool.
"Dying from a full stomach is better than dying from hunger. I know what you're worried about, but don't worry, the malevolent energy on this ability core has been completely dispelled by those few innocent lives. However, if the ability core regains its consciousness and the malevolent energy recovers, a few more lives might be lost. If you think about it, by consuming it, you're saving people. What's not to like?"
Ren Yuanhao sighed, sat up from the bed with some effort, first stumbled to lock the door, and then sat back down on the bed.
"Alright, you're always right. How do I do it?"
"It's simple. Circulate your energy, release your true qi externally. It's pretty much the same feeling as when you were fighting with the dry branches."
Ren Yuanhao took out the ability core, which emitted a faint white glow. He crossed his legs, placed his hands on the core, took two deep breaths of the sandalwood-scented air, and slowly circulated his energy.
At first, he could clearly feel the white ability core exerting an outward repulsive force, as if a living thing was pushing his hands away. As his true qi gradually accumulated, this force slowly dissipated and then transformed into a vortex-like suction, madly drawing his true qi into itself, much like a newborn child constantly drawing nutrients from its mother. At the same time, a soothing warmth spread through him.
Combined with the sunlight, Ren Yuanhao felt as if he were enveloped in a warm breeze, gradually sinking into a peculiar meditative state. He slowly closed his eyes.
Though his eyes were closed, he could clearly see his surroundings filled with thin, ethereal spiraling gas currents, like the aurora borealis stretching across the sky above the poles. Clouds drifted, and the light curtain shifted continuously with strange particles. Seven-colored beams of light slowly merged and permeated, transforming the entire space into a brilliantly colorful world.
And he, like a speck of dust floating in the vast universe, drifted and spun with the force that had existed since the universe’s birth...
After an unknown period, Ren Yuanhao awoke from this state of void-like meditation. When he opened his eyes, the ability core in his hand had vanished. Aside from feeling a sense of fatigue, he felt nothing else.
"Congratulations, Host, on acquiring your third ability. This is a new chapter, worthy of remembrance."
"Get real. I didn't expect consuming an ability core to be so draining. Now I remember fighting that masked man before, my hands were shaking."
"Indeed. Aren't you glad you fought him after he had already consumed two ability cores?"
"Exactly. If he had been at his peak, with my strength, let alone gaining an advantage, being able to escape him safely would have been a blessing from heaven."
Ren Yuanhao was not a reckless person. This analysis made him realize even more how unwise it was to go to the Chixiao Sect alone.
"It seems I should have listened to you and spent some points to steal his sword techniques. Even if I didn't have a weapon, I could have snatched one from them. Alas, I feel like I've lost a hundred million."
At this moment, the system sister suddenly let out a melodious, tinkling laugh. As her laughter echoed, a brand new sheepskin scroll of a secret manual suddenly appeared in Ren Yuanhao's hand.
"This, this is?"
"I knew you would regret it, so I executed the mandatory consumption option."
"Holy cow, there's such a move?"
Ren Yuanhao immediately clutched his wallet.
"Don't worry, I'm not interested in your meager savings. Study it well, and besides~"
The system sister paused for a moment, then said meaningfully.
"You're not without a weapon."
Ren Yuanhao thought to himself, Miss, I once had an extremely sharp long sword called 'Cun Xue', but ever since it was broken, didn't Liu Fuqu carry it away?