Chương 65: The Difference Between Two Children of Destiny

When he got back home, Ren Qingquan ceased experimenting with his cultivation method and took a break. After reading for half an hour, he asked me, 'System, activate the subsystem's screen observation mode.' I created a screen that lets Ren Qingquan select whom he wants to monitor tonight. As it's nighttime, most of the individuals I anchored with [Scan] are either resting or cultivating. Especially since those higher-ups have just obtained mountains of resources from Gui Ruwen's 'investment'.

Well, I said most of them because there's still the female higher-ups from the Pure Wave Sect who are busy refining weapons using some materials from Gui Ruwen's investment for the Pure Wave Sect; Ren Xuan, the regressor, who focuses on refining pills; and Peak Master Feng Yun, who manages his clones to look after his nocturnal pets. To clarify, when someone attached to my [Scan] employs a cloning technique, the [Scan] only attaches to the main body. Which is honestly a pity.

If my [Scan] can split after my target uses a clone technique, it means [Devour] will be able to do the same. Imagine the amount of points I can farm simply from having Ren QIngquan learn the clone technique and go hunting. What a pity my [Scan] couldn't split and follow the clones too. Perhaps Peak Master Feng Yun's cloning method is too basic. If there exists a clone technique that can divide the user's soul, then the abilities I granted could potentially split and operate in both the main body and the clone.

Certainly, there's also a possibility that the incomplete soul will lead [Anchor] to believe the target is dead, causing the abilities I loaned to them to disconnect from the target. As I lose myself in thought, Ren Qingquan stops observing others and begins cultivating. With Ren Qingquan cultivating, I used [Calculate] and split my attention into three parts.

One small part checked Ren Qingquan's surroundings, and another small part watched one of the Pure Wave Sect's higher-ups while she was busy refining weapons. The woman busy refining weapons is one of the Pure Wave Sect's higher-ups who met Ren Qingquan when he first arrived. She is the woman wearing clothes filled to the brim with extra effects. The clothes look extremely fancy, like a game skin, the kind that's event-limited and requires real money to get.

From what I've learned over these few days, it seems the woman is the Peak Master of the Weapon Refining Peak, one of the peaks in the Pure Wave Sect. She's of equivalent status to Peak Master Feng Yun, who's in charge of the Spirit Beast Peak. With the clanging of metal on metal as a background ASMR, I watched the others to whom I've lent my [Scan]. Soon, I saw the situation on Ren Xuan's side had changed. Over the past few hours, Ren Xuan has been hiding in a cave while practicing alchemy.

Suddenly, he opened his eyes wide and looked toward the cave entrance. Through Ren Xuan's [Scan], I vaguely saw a pair of leopards stealthily observing the cave Ren Xuan is in. When the pair of leopards saw Ren Xuan suddenly look in their direction, they knew they had been caught and could no longer start a sneak attack. Immediately, both leopards dashed from their hiding place toward Ren Xuan.

Because the range of my [Scan] is much shorter when activated through the subsystems rather than through Ren Qingquan, I can only sense the leopards' Qi Refining cultivation after they get closer to Ren Xuan. Ren Xuan, whose alchemy is being disrupted, grows incredibly annoyed.

"Damn unlucky. How come these leopards bypassed the beast-repelling dust I've spread around the cave?" After arriving in the cultivation world, he has been slowly absorbing spirit qi into his body. Although he hasn't reached the Qi Refining realm yet, through a special technique, he can still absorb and utilize a small amount of spirit qi. Right now, he uses the spirit qi he gathered to activate a pill he has refined after arriving at the cultivation world.

Due to some unknown, unscientific reaction, after Ren Xuan imbued his spirit qi into the pill, it shot rapidly toward one of the leopards. The impact caused the pill to pierce into the leopard's body. Still embedded inside, the pill suddenly exploded, releasing a bluish powder that paralyzed the shot leopard while weakening its partner, who also inhaled the powder. Meanwhile, after shooting that pill, Ren Xuan has retreated and eaten a pill that's most likely an antidote.

Still in peak condition, Ren Xuan, empty-handed, punched both leopards to their deaths. As a good System who believes in the rule of reducing waste, I used the [Devour] I lent to Ren Xuan and absorbed the leopards' souls. Just like with my [Scan], the effect of my [Devour] is also weaker when used through Ren Xuan than through Ren Qingquan. Not only is the devouring speed and force a bit weaker than with Ren Qingquan's [Devour], but most importantly, the number of points I gained has also decreased!

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. After thoroughly devouring the two Qi Refining Realm leopards' souls, I only gained 4 points. If devoured through Ren Qingquan's [Devour], two leopards at the Qi Refining Realm can be turned into 40 points. After the 50: 50 split between us, both of us can gain 20 points from it!

This means Ren Xuan, who has been attached to a Level 3 subsystem with [Scan], [Devour], and [Transfer], will have the effectiveness of most functions reduced to only 10% of Ren Qingquan's. Basically, if Ren Qingquan can devour a soul to get 10 points, Ren Xuan can only get 1 point. If Ren Qingquan's [Scan] range has reached a radius of 100 meters, Ren Xuan's [Scan] can only reach a radius of 1 meter. After I finished devouring the leopard's souls, Ren Xuan decided to leave the cave.

Compared to Ren Qingquan, who can cultivate calmly with a peaceful mind, I honestly pity Ren Xuan, who still needs to run all over the place even at night. Soon, Ren Xuan found a suitable tree to rest and began cultivating. Without anything interesting to watch, I spent the night reading while observing others through [Scan]. When the morning arrived, Ren Xuan once again fell into a dangerous situation. Below the tree he rested at, a massive black bear was moving around.

Sensing the bear, Ren Xuan woke up from his meditation while muttering, "Hmm? A bear at Peak Qi Refining Realm? Just in time, I am lacking some bear bile. I can also uses the paw and the brain to craft some pills." Ren Xuan hid himself among the surrounding trees while searching through his inner vest's pocket. After taking a bottle filled with several pills, Ren Xuan picked some of the pills and flicked them toward the bear's head. The pills shattered and turned into dust that the bear inhaled.

Surprised by the sudden attack, the bear roared. But midway through, its roar grew sluggish as it nearly lost balance. It seems the pill Ren Xuan threw just now has a paralytic effect. Seeing Ren Xuan throw a new kind of poison made me speechless. How many poisons does this guy even have? Perhaps for beasts, if fatty Zhang can be likened to an addictive junk food due to his fat and the many seasonings he brought, then Ren Xuan is a venomous food that requires thorough processing before being eaten.

While I am thinking of random things, Ren Xuan's battle against the bear has intensified. Because he tried to ensure the bear's body part wouldn't be damaged, Ren Xuan didn't use a ruthless poison capable of an instant kill like before. The sheer difference in level and Ren Xuan's attempt to be gentle so as not to damage the bear forced him to fight a war of attrition against it.

Midway through Ren Xuan's intense battle, Ren Qingquan has also finished cultivating and decides to pull up the observation mode I created to watch others' daily lives. After I help him check his father Ren Shiluo's [Scan], his uncle Gui Ruwen's [Scan], and a few other [Scan], the scene of Ren Xuan fighting that bear also catches Ren Qingquan's attention. Ren Qingquan paused in thought and asked me, 'System, can you show me their cultivation level?'

When he asked that, I initially thought about fleecing him for some extra points, but then decided not to, given how poor he is at the moment. [Ding! You may check the cultivation of the target within a certain range of the subsystem hosts by clicking on the target or focusing on it in your mind. The detection range will increase as the target's subsystem level increases and your [Scan] range increases. Current range for Ren Xuan: 10-meter radius.] Ren Qingquan focused on Ren Xuan, then on the bear.

[Name: Ren Xuan Cultivation: Upper stage of Body Tempering Realm (Equal to the Eight Stage Martial Grandmaster Realm in the Martial Arts world)] [Name: Unknown Bear Cultivation: Peak Qi Refining. (Equal to Martial Saint in the Martial Arts World)] Although Ren Xuan's leveling speed is already ridiculous, it's still far behind Ren QIngquan's insane cultivation speed. After all, Ren Xuan is busy scheming and concocting pills most of the time.

Although he can cultivate faster with pills, he still couldn't match Ren Qingquan, who directly swallows souls to convert them into refined spirit qi, especially with my help, which greatly reduces the side effects of that method. After Ren Qingquan saw the difference in level between Ren Xuan and that bear, both of us watched Ren Xuan try to exhaust that bear in the Peak Qi Refining realm. The battle dragged on for another half an hour before Ren Xuan finally killed the bear.

While Ren Xuan harvested the bear's materials, I activated his [Devour] and swallowed the bear's soul. Not long after the bear died, I heard Ren Qingquan's inner voice, 'Wait a moment, System. Didn't Ren Xuan's subsystem also have the [Devour] function?' When I heard Ren Qingquan say that, I sighed with pity. It seems I can no longer take the points from Ren Xuan by myself. As I feared, after he realized Ren Xuan also has a [Devour] function, he told me, 'System, use the [Devour] on Ren Xuan's subsystem!' [Ding! You've gained 1 point.]"Huh?" Ren Qingquan was surprised and asked me in his mind, 'System, how did that bear only give me 1 point? Shouldn't a Qi Refining realm creature give me 10 points?' I reminded him of something he might have already forgotten. [Most of the functions in the subsystem are weakened compared to the original function. The lower the subsystem's level, the weaker they'll be.] Ren Qingquan nodded slightly.

'I knew. I recall you mentioned some time ago, when we were stalking my father, that a Level 1 subsystem can only use 1% of [Scan]'s power. It should be the same for Ren Xuan's Level 3 [Scan].' Then Ren Qingquan paused, a flash of inspiration striking him, as he successfully connected the dots.

'Wait a moment. The range of his [Scan] is only 10% of mine, and 1 point is exactly 10% of 10 points, which is the amount of points I usually gained from killing a Qi Refining realm creature. Do the points I get from using [Devour] through a subsystem also get reduced? So instead of only [Scan], do all functions in a subsystem get weakened?' [Correct.] Ren Qingquan fell into thought before asking me, 'System, can you add a function to automatically activate [Devour] whenever Ren Xuan kills a creature?'

Inside the dark space, I tried to check whether it's possible to add that function by upgrading the existing one, but I didn't receive any response from the energy floating around me. Unlike when there's a possible upgrade and the energy around me flies erratically, what answered when I willed for that upgrade was only silence in the dark space. Although the energy didn't respond, which means I can't simply throw points to automatically add the function to activate [Devour], it didn't mean I can't do it.

After thinking about it, I think I can use the existing function to achieve that effect. But it's still only a vague theory, so I can only give Ren Qingquan a vague answer. [System will try to add that function. But it's unknown when it's ready, nor whether it's even possible in the first place.]