Talent Fusion, Heart of Slaughter!

The skill 'Life-Slaying Saber' and the talents 'Killing Intent Perception,' 'Killing Instinct,' and 'Killing Intent Soul-Slaying' could be fused. Fuse them?

At that moment, seeing the prompt flash before his eyes, Gu Yang's pupils constricted and his mind became a tangled mess.

It was not merely the exhaustion after a fierce battle or the lack of oxygen in his brain. More than that, it was the meaning represented by the prompt before him.

The three talents of the Life-Slaying Saber, and even the skill itself, could be fused together. What did that mean?

In that flash of lightning, Gu Yang still restrained the urge to fuse them at once. He raised his head and looked toward the disciples gathering around him, as well as Master Liao, who was slowly withdrawing his stance.

The giant whale above Master Liao's head had vanished, and his skin had returned to its original color.

Around him, the ground had caved in and houses had collapsed. Clearly, the entire village was no longer habitable.

Looking at the scene before him, Gu Yang could not help clicking his tongue inwardly. Such terrifying destructive power was almost comparable to the awakening of the Mountain God of Mang Mountain.

Of course, the Mountain God of Mang Mountain had awakened deep within the mountains. The destruction it caused unintentionally had nearly razed all of Houshan Village to the ground. By that measure, Master Liao was still far inferior to the Mountain God of Mang Mountain.

But to Gu Yang, the Mountain God of Mang Mountain was a terror beyond his comprehension, so it inspired no particular longing. Master Liao, however, was a martial artist—someone he could catch up to step by step through hard work, and even surpass.

Therefore, as he watched Master Liao slowly approach, a fiery glint rose in Gu Yang's eyes. One day, sooner or later, he would be able to do the same.

"Gu Yang, are you all right?"

Master Liao's concerned voice rang out. Gu Yang shook his head and replied, "Thank you, Master Liao. I'm just a little exhausted. I'm not hurt."

With every breath, vitality continuously surged forth within him, nourishing his body.

Without pause, after absorbing a great amount of vitality, Gu Yang gradually began to feel his strength returning.

"It's good that you're fine. Rest where you are for a while. Liu Zhuang, take a few disciples and bring all the surviving villagers here. We'll take them back to Wan City and hand them over to the Government Office for resettlement."

"Yes, Master Liao." Liu Zhuang accepted the order and called several disciples to search for the scattered villagers. The others—or rather, only Gu Yang—immediately rose slowly and walked to the trunk of an ancient willow tree at the village entrance. Leaning against it, he sat down to rest.

Although Master Liao had many things he wanted to say to him, he did not rush to speak.

Seeing that Gu Yang was sitting alone beneath the willow tree, his head resting against the rough bark, he gently closed his eyes.

The earlier situation had not been suitable for studying talent fusion, but now was the time.

A glimmer of starlight lit up before his eyes, followed by two lines of text.

Skill: Blood Nourishing Stance · Major Accomplishment (324/400); Azure Dragon Dance · Minor Accomplishment (938/1000), Life-Slaying Saber · Perfected (800/800)

Talents: Vitality Surge, Power Surge, Mighty Ox Strength, Killing Intent Perception, Killing Instinct, Killing Intent Soul-Slaying.

Looking at the updated proficiency of the two skills, a blank expression appeared on Gu Yang's face.

What was going on?

After just one life-and-death battle, the Azure Dragon Dance's proficiency had increased by nearly five hundred points. The Life-Slaying Saber was even more outrageous, rising by nearly twelve hundred points at once!

Moreover, it was not that the Life-Slaying Saber could only increase by that much. Rather, the saber technique had reached Perfected, a point beyond which there was no further progress, which was why it had only risen by so much!

Although his battle with the Specter had been nothing less than dancing on the edge of a blade, where the slightest carelessness and even a graze from the Specter would have meant grievous injury or death.

Still, he had not expected that a life-and-death battle lasting nearly an hour would bring him such enormous benefits.

The skill 'Life-Slaying Saber' and the talents 'Killing Intent Perception,' 'Killing Instinct,' and 'Killing Intent Soul-Slaying' could be fused. Fuse them?

The familiar line of text appeared again. This time, Gu Yang took a deep breath as thoughts surged through his mind.

The next instant, the text changed.

In the blink of an eye, the perfected Life-Slaying Saber technique and the three talents manifested from it all disappeared. A brand-new 'talent' appeared before Gu Yang.

Heart of Slaughter: When the heart of slaughter rises, all living things perish. When the heart of slaughter does not forget, there will surely be an echo.

The newly appeared text remained before Gu Yang for only two seconds before returning to normal.

Gu Yang knew that this evolution had come to an end.

Recalling the words that had just appeared, he fell into deep thought.

"Heart of Slaughter..."

Was this still a talent? Or was it a skill, or something else entirely?

But regardless of what it was, Gu Yang was certain that this 'talent' born from fusion was anything but ordinary.

At once, he silently said in his heart, "Fuse!"

In an instant, the text changed.

Skill: Blood Nourishing Stance · Major Accomplishment (324/400); Azure Dragon Dance · Minor Accomplishment (938/1000)

Talents: Vitality Surge, Power Surge, Mighty Ox Strength, Heart of Slaughter.

The Life-Slaying Saber technique vanished completely, along with its three talents. In their place stood the new talent, Heart of Slaughter.

Burning with curiosity, Gu Yang did not play the game of guessing first and confirming later. He directly focused his thoughts on this new talent.

As his thoughts shifted, a piece of profoundly mysterious information emerged in his mind.

"This..." As he comprehended the information, Gu Yang's mouth fell open in shock.

This... It was not that Gu Yang lacked composure or let his emotions show too easily. The thing represented by this information was simply too unbelievable!

Heart of Slaughter: A wisp of authority was plucked from the divine artifact 'Life-Slaying Saber,' transformed and remolded through the Power of Creation, then fused with the talents manifested while cultivating the Life-Slaying Saber technique, ultimately forming a new talent.

Heart of Slaughter: You are the darling of slaughter, born with an exceptionally strong Killing Instinct. Your killing intent will inflict tangible damage upon enemies, freezing souls and extinguishing minds. At the same time, you possess absolute control over killing intent and can perceive, condense, restrain, and unleash it.

Heart of Slaughter Profound Meaning—Heart of Slaughter Imprint (transformed from the authority of the divine artifact 'Life-Slaying Saber'): Killing intent that does not forget will surely have an echo. Once you harbor indelible killing intent toward an opponent, so long as they are within a certain range of you, you will be able to sense their location from afar. Note: Once locked onto by a Child of Slaughter, even if the enemy flees to the ends of the earth, they will find it impossible to escape even with wings!

The amount of information was simply too great.

Of the three pieces of information, only the second was something he could calmly accept.

The effects of this new talent were nothing more than a consolidation of all the talents he had previously cultivated, along with the effects carried by the Life-Slaying Saber.

If that were all, then it would merely be a powerful talent.

But what was the divine artifact 'Life-Slaying Saber'? So Hong Tao's words about it having "an extraordinary origin" meant that it was actually a divine artifact!

That was truly far beyond extraordinary!

Of course, what was even more extraordinary was the Dao Seed of Creation that had arrived with him. It could even pluck the authority of a divine artifact. One had to know that plucking was not stealing!

Although he did not know what rank of weapon a so-called divine artifact was, since it could be named with the word 'divine' and possess authority, it was undoubtedly a weapon powerful to the extreme. Yet it was still inferior to the Dao Seed of Creation!

From this, it was clear that the Dao Seed of Creation stood at an absolutely higher level.

After digesting the shock brought by suddenly learning of the divine artifact, Gu Yang was able to calmly face the third piece of information—the Heart of Slaughter Profound Meaning.

It was nothing more than a powerful enemy-locking skill.

Heart of slaughter, killing intent...

At that moment, Gu Yang could not help thinking of the enemies who could stir killing intent within his heart.

Scene after scene surfaced in his mind, finally freezing on the saber strike Master Liao had unleashed.

Thinking of his own humiliation, the innocent deaths of the children, and Master Liao's decisive strike, the killing intent in Gu Yang's eyes erupted completely...