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

Xu Xiaoshou had long ago learned how to control the intake of spiritual energy through his Breathing Method. Aside from that recent breakthrough where he was affected, he didn't exhibit any abnormalities afterward. The Acquired-level "Breathing Method" provided a negligible intake of natural spiritual energy; only when absorbing pills did he experience that exhilarating sensation.

But now, his cultivation method had reached the Sovereign level. Xu Xiaoshou guessed that even without relying on pills, as long as he breathed normally, his cultivation could advance by leaps and bounds. After all, a Sovereign-level cultivation method was passive cultivation—equivalent to someone continuously absorbing natural spiritual energy 24 hours a day without stopping. Sometimes, over-exercising even counted as double cultivation. This was far more arduous than what those so-called hardworking geniuses put in! How could the speed of his cultivation advancement not be fast?

However, Xu Xiaoshou didn't pay excessive attention to his cultivation realm. He was currently a Grandmaster, and thanks to his various master-level passive abilities, he possessed Sovereign-level insights into the Great Dao. It could be said that within the three Grandmaster realms, he faced no bottlenecks if he wished to break through. To quickly reach the Star Worship realm, he only needed to find divine objects rich in spiritual essence and absorb a few breaths.

However, the Grandmaster realm was the root of the Sovereign realm. To progress further at the Sovereign level, the best approach was to comprehend more Heavenly Dao rules while still in the Grandmaster realm. This was also why many disciples from prominent families painstakingly suppressed their cultivation after reaching the Grandmaster realm. Because by doing so, upon advancing to the Sovereign realm, they could choose the path best suited for them from a wider array of options and focus solely on advancing along that path. This was the fundamental cultivation method for orthodox spiritual refiners. Xu Xiaoshou naturally knew all of this.

He temporarily set aside the "Breathing Method" and began choosing other passive abilities. Cultivation, among other things, was merely a matter of time. To quickly enhance his combat power, he could only make good use of his Passive Points during this brief resting period.

Passive Points: 1,472,625.

Of the 1.8 million Passive Points, he had used 400,000 to elevate all his passive abilities to the Sovereign level, effectively curing his slight obsessive-compulsive tendencies. However, he still had many Passive Points left. He couldn't help but recall the new functions brought by the system's evolution after he broke through to the Grandmaster realm.

"Evolution Tree!"

This new module was similar to the Awakening Pool, but it only affected the special passive abilities: "Passive Fist" and "Extinguishing Finger." To evolve these two skills, he needed to use "Evolution Water" from the shop.

Evolution Water (Purchase: 1,000,000 Passive Points).

Xu Xiaoshou shifted his gaze, and upon seeing the long string of zeros, he couldn't help but gasp in amazement, even with his abundant inventory. One million for a single evolution. That was too expensive! But now that all his passive abilities had been upgraded, when else would he evolve them?

Xu Xiaoshou pondered his choice. Both "Extinguishing Finger" and "Passive Fist," his two special passive abilities, had excellent uses. So, which one would be better to evolve first? The image of "Passive Fist" blowing up Gou Tou was still vivid in his mind; this special passive ability was truly formidable, an absolute trump card. "Extinguishing Finger," however, could play a significant role in his limited mental defense and counter-attacks.

Although the latter move had not been used on a Seven Swordsman-level target, it was, after all, soul damage. Xu Xiaoshou estimated that as long as the charge value increased, even if Gou Wuyue were to face it, taking a direct hit from the finger would likely be unbearable. If the opponent didn't activate soul defense in time, they might even perish!

After a moment of thought, Xu Xiaoshou made a decision. Evolve "Extinguishing Finger"!

Passive Fist was already sufficient for the time being. Moreover, with all his passive abilities fully formed and at the Sovereign level, he might even be able to contend with a Void realm expert? If he couldn't contend, he could at least outrun them! However, if he encountered a situation like with that little girl "Yi" last time, even with Passive Fist, he would likely be firmly controlled and unable to use any skills.

At his current level, Xu Xiaoshou already equated himself with the older generation of Path Cutting and Void realm experts. What he needed to guard against were not geniuses of the same age or level, but the covert maneuvers of those old foxes with strange methods.

"Evolution Water!"

Gritting his teeth, Xu Xiaoshou purchased a portion of Evolution Water. His Passive Point inventory instantly dropped from 1.4 million to 400,000. Xu Xiaoshou felt immense heartache. But at the same time, filled with anticipation, he poured this million-valued Evolution Water onto the completely bare Evolution Tree, which only had two branched roots.

"Whoosh!"

The process of pouring Evolution Water onto the Evolution Tree was unremarkable, without a single ripple. Xu Xiaoshou felt that using such a valuable item should at least produce some phenomenon. So, after imagining a "whoosh" sound, he stared intently at the Evolution Tree, eager to see if there were any changes.

—There was no special phenomenon whatsoever!

Very ordinarily, as soon as the Evolution Water was poured, one of the bare tree's branches trembled, and then a tender bud sprouted. A touch of new green grew vigorously. The bud became a flower, then bore fruit. After the fruit fell off, an "Evolution Fruit" appeared in his inventory. And the flower that had borne fruit began to wither and die, turning into spring mud to nourish future blossoms.

It was over. After the Evolution Tree completed the process of sprouting green, blooming, and bearing fruit, it returned to its original state. If not for the additional Evolution Fruit in his inventory, Xu Xiaoshou would have even suspected that his million Passive Points had gone to waste.

"As expected from something that came from a simple roulette wheel," he muttered, "it can't even compare to the phenomena when Yunzhu unearthed; it's too shabby!"

Xu Xiaoshou silently complained. Using his mind to control the Evolution Fruit, he bound it to the "Extinguishing Finger" skill, then suddenly froze, unsure of the next step. He frowned, then materialized his spiritual body, and somewhat hesitantly consumed the fruit.

"Is this how it's done?"

Xu Xiaoshou even doubted whether his procedure was correct. When the fruit was eaten, he couldn't taste anything at all; it simply transformed into a special gas and merged into his mind.

And then...

"Extinguishing Finger, evolution successful!"

The information bar suddenly popped up. Xu Xiaoshou was excited; he had guessed correctly! He looked at the latest information.

"Extinguishing Finger: When receiving mental attacks, charge value increases. For every 1 unit increase in charge value, 'Mental Awakening' can be triggered to escape mental control, and you can choose whether to release Extinguishing Finger. One cannot always be hallucinated; sometimes, one needs to take the initiative. When it is unbearable, there is no need to endure further!"

"Extinguishing Finger (Evolved): When receiving mental attacks, charge value increases. As soon as the charge value begins to fluctuate, 'Mental Awakening' can be triggered to escape mental control, and you can choose whether to release Extinguishing Finger. One cannot always be hallucinated; sometimes, one needs to take the initiative. When it is unbearable, there is no need to endure further!"

Xu Xiaoshou was bewildered by so many words. The information bar's prompts were usually very concise, probably because typing was tiring. This was the first time Xu Xiaoshou had seen a prompt that could fill the entire information bar. The key was that these words looked almost identical... He initially thought the information bar had a bug and had popped up twice. But soon, he noticed the difference.

—The only difference!

Before evolution, Extinguishing Finger required the charge value to increase by 1 to trigger "Mental Awakening" and escape control. After evolution, however, Extinguishing Finger could be triggered as long as the charge value increased by even a tiny bit—even 0.000...1—allowing him to escape mental control and choose to cast the skill.

After a brief moment of stunned silence, Xu Xiaoshou suddenly realized, overjoyed. This meant he would never again be affected by non-physical attacks such as illusion arrays, illusions, mental control, or soul control! It was precisely the simultaneous appearance of these two pieces of information that made Xu Xiaoshou understand. Before evolution, his "Extinguishing Finger" indeed had a flaw. As long as the enemy's mental influence on him wasn't strong enough to increase the charge value by 1, Xu Xiaoshou would have to continue accepting control and couldn't escape the opponent's mental influence. Such moves mostly manifested as pure control rather than mental attacks. Because of this, his charge value might not increase, and even if it did, it wouldn't quickly exceed 1. During this period, this seemingly small but practically significant flaw in combat could be fatal! Because others could fully understand his routine and then choose to use mental control combined with physical attacks. The result of this would be equivalent to two words.

Game over!

But after evolution... It was perfect! Extinguishing Finger had no flaws whatsoever! Continuous mental control could trigger continuous mental awakening. Overly powerful single mental attacks could also immediately trigger mental awakening, allowing for counterattacks. The evolved Extinguishing Finger, with a single move, compensated for all Xu Xiaoshou's deficiencies in mental defense and attack.

Xu Xiaoshou was overjoyed. After his great joy, he couldn't help but feel a pang of frustration. Why couldn't this small bug have been perfected when the passive ability was first granted, instead of forcing him to waste a million Passive Points on evolution? However, upon looking at the passive skill bar again, Xu Xiaoshou froze.

"Extinguishing Finger (First Awakening) (Charge Value: 10.65)."

First Awakening? Did this mean there would be second and third awakenings? He checked the shop again. Sure enough, the "Evolution Water" had become "Tier 1 Evolution Water," but something else had been added.

"Tier 2 Evolution Water (Purchase: 10,000,000 Passive Points)."

Xu Xiaoshou froze. He carefully counted seven times, back and forth, afraid he had miscounted the zeros. But! He hadn't miscounted! Ten million Passive Points!

"Damn it!"

His mindset instantly crumbled. Xu Xiaoshou almost exploded on the spot. Shall I give you my life for it? Ten million Passive Points? You're robbing me! The price of Tier 2 Evolution Water was so astonishing that it took Xu Xiaoshou a long time to recover his senses, his face turning green.

"Ten million..." he murmured blankly, feeling he could give up on this idea. But then he thought again: "Extinguishing Finger is already at a perfect level, and it can still undergo a second evolution. What effect would that have?" A passive skill turning into an active skill? It couldn't be... Xu Xiaoshou admitted he could no longer guess the evolution direction of this shoddy system.

After letting out a heavy sigh, he let go of the unrealistic fantasy of "second evolution," but a burning fire still ignited in his heart. Passive Points! I'm going to farm Passive Points! A mere million was nowhere near enough; his future goal was ten million! But... Thinking of the many zeros in ten million, and that the maximum Passive Point increase per instance was "9999," Xu Xiaoshou truly couldn't imagine how much time he would need to accumulate ten million Passive Points in crowded situations.

"Passive Points: 472,625."

"Four hundred thousand..." Xu Xiaoshou looked at his remaining Passive Points, feeling a little melancholic. It was already difficult enough to earn 400,000, yet the system, with its capitalist nature, exploited him without considering the hard work of its "worker." Ten million—that was a nightmare!

"Awaken it..."

With the remaining over 400,000 Passive Points, Xu Xiaoshou didn't plan to save them anymore; after all, compared to ten million, it wasn't even pocket change. Fortunately, the Awakening Stone hadn't increased much in price, currently only 30,000 Passive Points per stone... Wait! Xu Xiaoshou suddenly stopped thinking, almost in tears. By delivering such a crushing blow, making people feel that a small price increase was insignificant—this, then, was the true sin of capitalism! Before the ten million appeared, he had clearly thought the Awakening Stone was very expensive. But now...

"Damn system!"

"Damn it, it just wants to scam my Passive Points!" Xu Xiaoshou cursed fiercely, then suddenly spoke a string of conciliatory words: "Good system, price increases are fine, but you have to give me something good..." After all, he was about to start awakening, and cursing the system again would seem a bit irrational.

"What should I awaken?"

Setting aside the lofty goal of ten million, Xu Xiaoshou began to ponder his current passive abilities. Awakening could only be applied to extended passive abilities, and he only had three unawakened extended passive abilities left: "Perception, Transformation, Tenacity."

Almost without thinking, Xu Xiaoshou discarded "Transformation" and "Tenacity"—skills that were merely icing on the cake—and focused his attention on "Perception." This was a very powerful passive ability. It allowed Xu Xiaoshou, even in the Grandmaster realm, to detect everything within a hundred-mile radius. This, perhaps even a Sovereign might not be able to do. Even if they could, spiritual sense probing would trigger a strong reaction or premonition from powerful individuals, and the probing itself wouldn't be clear. The most formidable aspect of "Perception" was that it viewed things from a god's-eye perspective, and could change and extend into any shape to detect various directions, all without being detected by others. At least, when Xu Xiaoshou used "Perception" to eavesdrop on the Seven Swordsmen's night talks, they clearly showed no reaction. But if one used spiritual sense to eavesdrop on others' conversations, the Seven Swordsmen could cleave them in two with a single sword strike.

"You're the one!"

Because it was a supportive passive ability, and Xu Xiaoshou previously lacked combat power, he had saved it for awakening now. But now that he was at the peak of his combat power, what he lacked most were supportive abilities. Awakening "Perception" at this moment was the best timing!

"Awakening Stone."

The Awakening Stone, at 30,000 per piece, no matter how much heartache it used to cause, now truly felt insignificant to Xu Xiaoshou after he had seen the price of ten million. He couldn't help but sigh at the powerful force of capitalism's heavy blows, but he also hoped that his last over 400,000 Passive Points could bring him the best supportive awakening skill.

Binding the skill, the ritual of wasting money began. Xu Xiaoshou had already expected it. Curling his toes, he secretly praised the system against his conscience, then continued to waste his points. More praise. Then curses. Xu Xiaoshou was speechless. But even if he used up all his Passive Points today, he would still awaken "Perception"; there was no other option!

For the first time, Xu Xiaoshou's ten consecutive awakenings were unsuccessful. His mindset was somewhat broken; he didn't expect himself to be so unlucky, but he gritted his teeth and persevered. It wasn't until the thirteenth attempt, after consuming a total of 390,000 Passive Points and reducing his 472,625 Passive Point inventory to just 82,625, that the pop-up message in the information bar finally changed. What could such a resource-consuming awakening skill bring?

Xu Xiaoshou opened his eyes wide, and his breathing quickly hitched.

"Awakening successful!"

"Perception (Awakened: Soul Reading)!"