Chapter 1113: Hello, Xu Xiaoshou, My Name Is Xu Xiaoshou

In a short while, the Teardrop in his arms had completely transformed.

Her silver hair reverted to black, her long legs disappeared into her skirt, and her voluptuous figure returned to the slender, child-like build she had as Mu Zixi.

"No way!" Xu Xiaoshou exclaimed, clutching his head in shock. If he hadn't witnessed his junior sister's growth process before, and if he didn't possess the ability to "transform" himself, he would never have believed that a human body could undergo such a drastic change while unconscious!

The cool and alluring Teardrop had genuinely reverted to her previous loli appearance after a baffling and utterly nonsensical fight.

"Is it because of the Flower of Life?" Xu Xiaoshou felt he had pinpointed a blind spot.

His junior sister possessed the All-Living Demonic Physique! Ordinarily, she continuously de-aged due to absorbing too much life force, preventing normal growth. During her Teardrop phase, it was because the vast amount of life force she had absorbed in the past was dispelled by the anomaly, causing her to "return" as a different person. According to Teardrop's own words at the time, his junior sister's normal state should be her Teardrop appearance. Therefore, this current situation must be due to the holy medicine, the "Flower of Life," providing too much life force. It not only healed his junior sister's injuries but also caused the excessive life force to push Teardrop back within, releasing the de-aged version of Teardrop—Mu Zixi.

"This has to be a joke!" Xu Xiaoshou suddenly found the whole situation absurd. Was this how the All-Living Demonic Physique was supposed to work? It felt like everything had gone off the rails. It was supposed to be a simple combat test, so why did it end with someone suddenly shrinking?

"Still, her final move, 'Heaven's Retribution: Heartbreak Path,' was incredibly powerful," he mused. "If I hadn't had 'Acala,' I might have genuinely been in trouble here. Why did she suddenly use such a heavy hand? Did she assume I was immune to all mental damage?" He sighed. "Well, yes, I did think that, and I said as much. It's my fault, really. But once a fight truly begins, it's hard to control the intensity." He concluded, "This is a lesson. From now on, I must only test moves with Mr. Jiren; no more reckless sparring with her!"

Xu Xiaoshou pondered with a furrowed brow. The fight had been utterly preposterous. The mistake lay in the fact that he himself hadn't anticipated that even after 'Acala's' defense was broken, it would reflect equivalent damage back to the caster. It was perfectly normal for Teardrop to be unable to withstand it. Judging by how 'Heaven's Retribution: Heartbreak Path' shattered 'Acala's' defense, it seemed that anyone below the Semi-Saint realm, without a supremely powerful defense like 'Acala,' would struggle to withstand Teardrop, who, despite being only at the Sovereign Dao Realm, wielded the power of the Divine-Demonic Pupils.

"She was that strong?" As Xu Xiaoshou pondered, his gaze fell, and his hand instinctively pinched his junior sister's face in his arms. Her face had returned to its familiar appearance, and the feel was the same. He wondered whether Teardrop's will or Mu Zixi's will would be dominant when she woke up.

"The All-Living Demonic Physique..." He scanned the changes in his junior sister's body again, still finding it incredible. "During the battle against the anomaly, when she was near death, she transformed from the powerless Mu Zixi into Teardrop. Now, after being struck by 'Acala's' counterattack, she began de-aging from Teardrop." He murmured, "Does this mean the true power of the All-Living Demonic Physique lies in the fact that as long as these seemingly 'two wills'—but actually 'one will'—are not simultaneously destroyed, my junior sister is essentially immortal?" He concluded, "From the perspective of tenacious life force, the All-Living Demonic Physique is indeed terrifying and impossible to guard against!"

"And then there's the Teardrop Family's Pupils..." Xu Xiaoshou recalled the 'Heaven's Retribution: Heart Tribulation' move, which perfectly blended holy power with divine-demonic force. It was clearly a form of "punishment power" – the power of heavenly tribulation – once controlled by the Teardrop Family. He suddenly understood better why the Teardrop Family was annihilated. With just a pair of Divine-Demonic Pupils, one could achieve such feats, even shattering 'Acala's' defense. So, a family where the highest-ranked Spirit Master was only at the Grand Void stage, even if they could contend with Semi-Saints, and whose lower-ranked Spirit Masters each wielded power at the Sovereign Dao Realm capable of eliminating ordinary Grand Voids or even rivaling Semi-Saint power... if such a family wasn't annihilated, who would be? He mused, "The saying 'an innocent man is doomed by his treasure' is merely a description; it should not be a principle or an excuse for human greed."

"It's truly difficult..." With a silent sigh, Xu Xiaoshou dismissed all thoughts about his junior sister's past. He held her and settled beneath the Life Spirit Seal, allowing the power of the holy medicine and the seal to nourish her body, anticipating her return.

This wait lasted for most of the day. In Shennong's Herb Garden, the spiritual and holy herbs swayed gently in the wind. By the Ten Thousand Pill Cauldrons, the Greedy God stealthily consumed Dragon Apricots while feigning alchemy, his gaze constantly fixed on his two masters. Xu Xiaoshou's mind was blank; he himself didn't know what he had been thinking about for the past half-day.

Finally... "Mmm." As the girl in his arms let out a soft groan, Xu Xiaoshou's mind snapped back to his body.

"Junior sister?" He patted her face, but there was no response. He then placed her on his lap, pinched the flesh of her cheeks with both hands, and pulled outward. "Awake now?"

The Flower of Life was a holy medicine, supplemented by the life energy infusion from the Life Spirit Seal. As the All-Living Demonic Physique, under such a vast amount of life energy nourishment, his junior sister's injuries should have been almost completely healed by now. It was impossible for her not to be awake; she must be feigning unconsciousness! "Hiss!"

As expected, a tug on her chubby cheeks was more than the loli lying on his lap could bear. "Ow... Xu Xiaoshou, that hurts!" "Received curse, passive points, 1, 1, 1, 1..."

His junior sister's voice! And the curse that appeared whenever her flesh was pulled! Xu Xiaoshou's eyes immediately lit up. He cupped his junior sister's face in his hands, lifted her high, and asked excitedly, "You're back?"

"Hmph!" Mu Zixi opened her eyes. The Divine-Demonic Pupils were gone, leaving only two bright, agile eyes that darted around before she grumbled, "What, you don't like it?"

"Haha!" Xu Xiaoshou was overjoyed; she really was back! He gave her a tight hug, then pushed her away slightly, asking, "Where is she?"

"She," of course, referred to Teardrop. Surely she hadn't died; she must have retreated. "When I woke up, she naturally went to sleep," Mu Zixi said, a flicker of indignation in her eyes. She put her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest. "What, are you reluctant?"

"Received curse, passive points, 1, 1, 1, 1..." "Tsk, tsk." Xu Xiaoshou's gaze dropped to the information bar, and he shook his head with a sigh.

This was a real transformation. She actually returned? He should have tested the move earlier... No, wait, that was a bad thought! But... he wasn't used to it! How could a beautiful woman with such a graceful figure just shrink back?

"Can't your will return without your body shrinking back?" Xu Xiaoshou asked with a strange expression.

"You..." Mu Zixi was furious. She clenched her small fists, ready to strike, but as soon as she took a step, she let out a small "Ouch!" and stumbled, nearly falling, as if still unaccustomed to her body.

This was too weak... Xu Xiaoshou stared in a daze, quickly steadying her. He thought, when Teardrop emerged, there was no ridiculous "adapting to the body" process.

"Where are your Divine-Demonic Pupils? Can you still use them?" Xu Xiaoshou fixed his gaze on his junior sister's eyes. He had a thought: surely her combat power hadn't reverted to her previous Innate stage, right? She was at the Sovereign Dao Realm now.

"Of course I can use them!" The little girl was clearly offended by the implied disdain. She lowered her head and squinted for a moment, then turned her face and blinked fiercely several times. But after all that squinting and blinking, the Divine-Demonic Pupils still hadn't appeared! Seeing Xu Xiaoshou staring at her with a shocked expression, her face flushed red with anger as she said, "Wait a moment, I need to get used to it..."

No sooner had she finished speaking than a powerful surge of spiritual energy was mobilized. Mu Zixi's eyes flashed, and black and white mist emanated from each, clearly summoning the Divine-Demonic Pupils. "Look!" the little girl immediately declared, putting her hands on her hips, her small face beaming. "Me, Divine-Demonic Pupils, invincible under heaven!"

You're so boastful. In a real fight, with all that squinting and blinking, people would have died multiple times over... Xu Xiaoshou was speechless. She had indeed returned, but her combat power wasn't just reduced by a small percentage; it was down to merely a few superficial moves!

Mu Zixi clearly realized this too. She sheepishly drew back her head, her cheeks slightly flushed, and said, "I just emerged, so I need to re-adapt to my body..." She scratched at her loose black hair, frowned, and then looked down to pinch her black skirt, pouting in frustration. Clearly, everything about her current state made her feel very unaccustomed.

Disregarding even her newly reunited senior brother, Mu Zixi stumbled a few steps, then flew up and departed, leaving only a single sentence: "I'll go adapt for a bit."

Xu Xiaoshou silently watched the black-skirted loli disappear into the distance. He felt that from the back, aside from her height, figure, and hair color, she genuinely still looked like Teardrop.

He didn't stop her, simply watching his junior sister leave.

"She really came back..." Completely unexpectedly, the greatest surprise brought by the awakening of 'Acala' was the return of his junior sister. Xu Xiaoshou felt as if he were dreaming, gaining a new understanding of the All-Living Demonic Physique.

Perhaps, in the future, whenever his junior sister faces a life-or-death crisis and can't win, Teardrop can emerge to help? What kind of situation was this? Was it a medical condition? How could it be cured?!

Xu Xiaoshou searched through 'Culinary Mastery' but couldn't find a solution. After all, this was 'Culinary Mastery,' not 'Medical Mastery'; alchemy was merely a byproduct of this passive skill.

"Fine, things will work themselves out," Xu Xiaoshou finally had to tell himself. His junior sister wasn't worried herself; she returned as if nothing had happened, like waking up after a long, carefree sleep, having forgotten nothing from before, still the same person. Why should he worry needlessly?

The Yuan Mansion world suddenly brightened, and Xu Xiaoshou's mood inexplicably improved. He felt he needed to get back to business. No matter how silly his junior sister might seem, given some time to adapt, her Sovereign Dao Realm cultivation combined with her 'Divine-Demonic Pupils,' if she could master them, she could easily defeat his pre-'Acala' self. If he didn't upgrade his own abilities soon, that girl would truly surpass him!

"Everyone's cheating; each one is more outrageous than the last..." He silently grumbled, then focused his mind on the extended passive skill section of the passive system's red interface in his mind.

There, only one last skill remained unawakened: "Transformation"! "What could it be?" Xu Xiaoshou's eyes grew fervent. None of his awakened skills had disappointed him, especially 'Acala,' so he placed high hopes on this final point allocation.

"Here we go!" With a swipe of thirty thousand passive points, the Awakening Stone was successfully exchanged, the skill bound, and the gambling began... "Awakening failed!" "Awakening failed!" "Awakening failed!" A starting record of six consecutive failures cast dark clouds over Xu Xiaoshou's formerly bright mood, making his face darken slightly.

Fortunately, this round wasn't a complete disaster; it was merely average. When the seventh attempt was made and the Awakening Stone sank to the bottom of the pond, a different message popped up. "Awakening successful!" "Transformation (Awakened: Second True Body)!"

It was done! Xu Xiaoshou's eyes immediately lit up, a psychological satisfaction akin to late-stage OCD being perfectly cured. The awakened skill for the final extended passive skill had finally arrived!

"Second True Body?" "Semi-Saint Avatar?" Xu Xiaoshou immediately connected the two, and the corners of his mouth involuntarily curled into a grin.

"Let's try it." Without a moment's thought, he acted. With a single thought, Xu Xiaoshou was about to summon this brand-new awakened skill. "Second True Body, activate!"

However, with that command, the anticipated "Semi-Saint Avatar" did not directly emerge. Instead, Xu Xiaoshou himself felt an intense, tearing pain throughout his body, mind, and soul.

"Ah—" He couldn't help but contort his face in agony, screaming heartbreakingly.

Within him, "Endless Life," "Full of Vitality," and "Conversion" began to operate frantically, as if channeling some highly energy-consuming spiritual technique, pushing all three passive skills to their limits simultaneously.

Amidst the pain, from the God's-eye view provided by his 'Perception,' Xu Xiaoshou clearly saw his body undergoing an abnormal transformation. Using the midline of his chest as a boundary, half of his body was being drawn outwards, and along with it, his mind and soul began to split, converging towards that other part of his form. Yet, this "splitting" was more than just division. The half of his body, mind, and soul that split off rapidly coalesced the other half of itself, at the cost of intensely consuming his various powers. Meanwhile, the missing half of Xu Xiaoshou's original body was also quickly repairing itself.

Aside from his nearly shattered mind, no blood was shed during this "fission." In just a few breaths, the pain ceased. The exhaustion in his body was quickly restored by his passive skills. But Xu Xiaoshou was stunned.

He stared blankly at the other him, a mirror-like copy that had torn away half of his clothes the moment it appeared. Everything felt so unreal, like an illusion.

"Hello...?" Xu Xiaoshou greeted, covering his crotch... What was with half his underwear being ripped off? Couldn't it just conjure its own? This was absurd!

Yet, from his own mental will, he felt as if he was talking to himself, a conversation within his mind. Strangely, he hadn't given any commands to his "Second True Body," unlike how he would issue thoughts to his painting clones. This Second True Body actually smiled, one hand bashfully covering its crotch, while the other lifted and waved twice before speaking to Xu Xiaoshou in Xu Xiaoshou's own voice: "Hello, Xu Xiaoshou. My name is Xu Xiaoshou. Nice to meet you. Please guide me."