Chapter 130 - 129: Feeling Hollowed Out

Chapter 130: Chapter 129: Feeling Hollowed Out

The lights were on in the lobby of the largest luxury hotel on Huayang Road.

A group of people were all talking at once, recounting their experiences from the day.

After He Xiaotian dealt with the Abyssal Navigator, he went on to eliminate all the red dots on his portable detector one by one, earning 10,000 Experience Points. He then decisively gathered everyone together.

’What if another unlucky pet gets swallowed by the darkness? Am I supposed to run over and hammer it to death again?’

So, he just had everyone on the entire street stay together. Besides, the hotel had a backup generator, enough to last until dawn.

This would prevent people whose phones had died from tearing apart their own cabinets for light and accidentally burning down the whole building.

He Xiaotian sat on a sofa in the lobby. No one dared to come within a dozen meters of him.

His previous form and his hammer had been too brutal, so many people were quite scared of him.

[DING! Over 100,000 Experience Points detected. Would you like to upgrade? (Hint: Upgrading will unlock new functions.)]

This notification had appeared back in Zhou family Village, but unfortunately, he had ignored it at the time to advance his *Fire-refined Golden Body*.

Now, he could finally upgrade again.

’Upgrade.’

The thought crossed his mind, and the notification in the top left of his vision popped up again.

[DING! Deducting 100,000 Experience Points... Upgrading... 2%... 15%... 55%... 89%... 97%... 100%. Upgrade successful.]

[Please choose to either add a new function or upgrade an existing one from the list below.]

[New Function: Simulate]

[New Function: Fuse]

[Existing Function: Scan +1]

[Existing Function: Fortify +1]

[Existing Function: Storage +1]

He Xiaotian put his hand to his forehead. His indecisiveness was acting up again.

He temporarily ruled out Scan. Right now, his focus was on martial arts.

’Besides, who knows how big of an effect +1 would even have?’

Fortify wasn’t needed for now. What he had was more than enough to break through the limits of his martial arts.

Storage was also ignored by He Xiaotian again. The space that could fit a Bentley was plenty.

’Simulate?’

’The information is a bit vague. Simulate what?’

’After picking through the options, it seems like Fuse is the only choice left?’

He Xiaotian focused his mind and gently tapped on [New Function: Fuse].

[Experience Points: 60,000

Functions: Scan, Fortify, Storage, Fuse

Martial Arts: *Fire-refined Golden Body*, *Golden Bell Shield*, *Iron Cloth Shirt*, *Thirteen Grand Protectors’ Cross Training*, *Golden Armor Divine Skill - Giant Stone Chapter*, *Black Tiger’s Tyrannical Gang*, *Bone Shrinking Skill*, *Crossing the River on a Blade of Grass*, *Grasshopper*, *Flying Bird Crossing Skill*, *Eight Steps Chasing Cicada*, *Iron Sand Palm*, *Secret Dream Observation Achievement Method - Dharma Eye Chapter*, *Vajra Lion’s Roar*]

Opening his system interface, He Xiaotian mentally tapped on [Fuse].

A notification popped up in the top left of his vision.

[Please select two martial arts to fuse.]

Immediately below, a long list of martial art names appeared again.

He Xiaotian tried tapping on *Fire-refined Golden Body* and *Grasshopper*.

Who would have thought that a moment later, a notification would appear.

[The martial arts do not belong to the same category and cannot be fused. Please try increasing the Fuse level. There is a chance that a forced fusion will be possible, creating a new martial art.]

He X-ed out *Grasshopper* and replaced it with *Golden Bell Shield*.

[Would you like to use *Fire-refined Golden Body* as the primary art and fuse it with *Golden Bell Shield*?]

’Yes.’

[Would you like to spend 5,000 Experience Points to proceed with the fusion?]

’Yes!’

’This damn system is so long-winded.’

[Fusing martial arts... 2%... 15%... 65%... 78%... 99%... 100%. Fusion successful. Please check the new martial art attributes yourself.]

He Xiaotian looked and saw that, sure enough, *Golden Bell Shield* had disappeared from his martial arts list.

And the attributes of his *Fire-refined Golden Body* had also changed.

[*Fire-refined Golden Body* - ∞: (Perfection: Golden Body No-Shield Realm, Inner Strength +170, Strength +30, Fire Resistance +20, Scorch +20, Hardness +25, Shockwave +15, Special Attributes - Gold-Melting Flame +10, Wood-Slaying Fire Gang +10, Water-Extinguishing Void Flame +10, Fire Control +10, Evil Warding +10, Protective Golden Bell +5.)]

His Inner Strength, Strength, and Shockwave had all been enhanced to varying degrees.

Moreover, *Golden Bell Shield*’s special attribute—Protective Golden Bell—had increased by 4 points.

’It’s not just a simple stacking of attributes. Is it because *Fire-refined Golden Body* is of a higher grade, so fusing it causes a greater boost?’

"Interesting."

He Xiaotian continued to click Fuse, tossing *Fire-refined Golden Body* and *Iron Cloth Shirt* in.

[Would you like to use *Fire-refined Golden Body* as the primary art and fuse it with *Iron Cloth Shirt*?]

’Yes.’

[Would you like to spend 5,000 Experience Points to proceed with the fusion?]

’Yes!’

[Fusing martial arts... 1%... 25%... 55%... 68%... 89%... 100%. Fusion successful. Please check the new martial art attributes yourself.]

[*Fire-refined Golden Body* - ∞: (Perfection: Golden Body No-Shield Realm, Inner Strength +170, Strength +35, Fire Resistance +20, Scorch +20, Hardness +35, Shockwave +15, Special Attributes - Gold-Melting Flame +10, Wood-Slaying Fire Gang +10, Water-Extinguishing Void Flame +10, Fire Control +10, Evil Warding +10, Protective Bronze Shirt +10.)]

The increase to Strength and Hardness wasn’t huge, but Protective Golden Bell and Iron Shirt had actually merged into one, becoming Protective Bronze Shirt.

Two similar special attributes will fuse to create a new special attribute.

This discovery made He Xiaotian’s eyes light up.

Next, he spent 5,000 Experience Points to fuse *Bone Shrinking Skill*.

[Bone Control +10, Joint Strengthening +5, Special Attribute - Pain Sensation -5]

He spent 8,000 Experience Points to fuse *Black Tiger’s Tyrannical Gang*.

[Inner Strength +30, Strength +15, Hardness +15, Protective Gang Qi +10, Special Attribute - Selective Devouring +5]

He spent 15,000 Experience Points to fuse *Thirteen Grand Protectors’ Cross Training*.

[Inner Strength +70, Strength +15, Hardness +15, Explosive Power +10, Bone Hardness +15, Special Attribute - Weakness -10.]

’Weakness -10? Does that refer to the weak spots in my hard-style skills?’

In total, he fused five martial arts, spending a total of 38,000 Experience Points and leaving him with 22,000.

[*Fire-refined Golden Body* - ∞: (Perfection: Golden Body No-Shield Realm, Inner Strength +270, Strength +65, Explosive Power +10, Fire Resistance +20, Scorch +20, Hardness +65, Shockwave +15, Bone Hardness +15, Bone Control +10, Joint Strengthening +5, Protective Gang Qi +10.

Special Attributes - Gold-Melting Flame +10, Wood-Slaying Fire Gang +10, Water-Extinguishing Void Flame +10, Fire Control +10, Evil Warding +10, Protective Golden Shirt +10, Selective Devouring +5, Pain Sensation -5, Weakness -10)]

He then used *Crossing the River on a Blade of Grass* as the primary art, spending 15,000 Experience Points to fuse *Grasshopper*, *Flying Bird Crossing Skill*, and *Eight Steps Chasing Cicada*.

The new attributes were as follows:

[Speed +25, Explosive Power +5, Force Borrowing +10, Lightness +10, Gliding +5, Air Time +5, Special Attribute - Water Walking +5]

Thus, of the fourteen martial arts, only six remained.

And his Experience Points were down to a pitiful 7,000.

He Xiaotian could only describe this with a single phrase—he felt completely drained.

Now, he just had to wait for dawn. When the time came, the darkness would fully recede, and he could collect his 500 Spiritual Energy Crystals from the Cleaners and leave!