Redeeming a Spiritual Core

For the next while.

Because of Kingpin's death, coupled with Sauron and the others stirring things up, Hell's Kitchen descended into chaos.

Day and night, gunfire and police sirens rang out intermittently throughout the area.

However, the government took no measures in response.

After all, the ones dying were nothing more than gang members from Hell's Kitchen.

They practically wished those scum would all die off.

One morning.

Inside the manor villa.

Xu Mo stumbled out of the bedroom, still half-asleep.

In the living room.

Wanda, dressed in pajamas, was busy in the kitchen.

Hearing him behind her, she turned around. When she saw Xu Mo emerge, a sweet smile appeared on her face.

"You're awake!"

Xu Mo stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her from behind.

"Why are you cooking yourself today? You could just leave this to the servants!"

"But I wanted to make it myself!"

She moved Xu Mo's wandering hand away, then shot him a reproachful glance.

"Alright, go wash up first. Breakfast will be ready soon!"

"Alright!"

Xu Mo could only leave the kitchen and head toward the bathroom.

Ever since he had saved Pietro last time, their relationship had progressed by leaps and bounds.

Wanda seemed to have completely accepted him as well.

It had to be said that women like Wanda, who had lacked love since childhood, were especially easy to move. Give her one part kindness, and she would want to repay it tenfold.

What was more, in her eyes, Xu Mo had risked his life to save Pietro.

By the time Xu Mo returned to the dining room, breakfast had already been laid out on the table.

Seeing the steamed buns and rice porridge on the table, Xu Mo looked as though he had seen a ghost.

"This... you made this?"

"Of course!"

Wanda tucked back her hair.

"I heard the servants say that you only liked Chinese food, so I tried making some!"

"It was my first time making it, so I don't know how it tastes!"

"It looks great!"

Xu Mo praised her as he looked at her sweet smile.

Sure enough, even setting aside the system rewards, if he had to pick the most suitable wife from Marvel, it would undoubtedly be Wanda.

After all, her lifelong dream was simply to have two children.

Then find a peaceful little town where the family could live a quiet, stable life.

That fit the Chinese definition of a virtuous wife and loving mother rather well.

Most importantly, she was so impressively endowed.

Sitting at the dining table, he picked up a steamed bun and took a bite.

Beef filling.

It tasted surprisingly good.

"By the way, why haven't I seen Pietro lately?"

At those words, a helpless expression appeared on Wanda's face.

"He found a job in Queens and rented a place. He goes to work during the day now, then studies that manual you taught him at night. He hasn't come back in a long time. If I hadn't gone to see him a couple of days ago, I would have thought he'd been kidnapped again!"

Xu Mo was rather helpless about this as well.

Whether it was the money he had given him or the house and job he had arranged, Pietro had firmly refused to accept any of it.

After being rescued, Pietro had resolutely returned the money to Xu Mo.

According to him, he had accepted the money before because he did not know Xu Mo well and wanted to leave Wanda some security.

However, after what had happened last time, he completely trusted Xu Mo's character.

Naturally, there was no longer any need for that safety net.

Besides, he felt fully capable of supporting himself and had no need to rely on Xu Mo's help.

All Xu Mo could do was sigh. His brother-in-law was a decent man, after all.

Admiring Pietro's dedication to martial arts.

Xu Mo gave him the [Genetic Origin Energy Cultivation Method] and let him study it first.

After all, many of the China-specific terms in it would take time for him to understand.

He also gave Pietro a large supply of ferocious beast meat, allowing him to gradually improve his physical fitness by eating it.

Once Pietro's strength reached the level of a Prospective Martial Warrior, he could begin cultivating directly.

However, these were only backup plans.

By comparison, Xu Mo still preferred for Wanda and Pietro to awaken their abilities according to the original trajectory.

With Chaos Magic and Super Speed, the two of them would be more than capable of protecting themselves.

Inside the gym.

Xu Mo looked through a document in his hand.

It contained information Sauron had gathered over this period about the various forces in Hell's Kitchen.

With the nine of them stirring things up, nearly every gang had now been severely weakened. The larger gangs had lost at least half their members, while some smaller gangs had been wiped out entirely. Hell's Kitchen had also entered its safest period in more than a decade.

He opened the system panel.

He looked at the points section.

31960 points!

These were the points he had accumulated during this period.

Over a thousand gang members in Hell's Kitchen had gradually died in the chaos.

Because their deaths had only been indirectly caused by him, the points he received had been greatly reduced.

Over the past two days, his points had practically stopped increasing.

Still, this was enough to raise his strength by a great deal.

He opened the exchange list in the store.

The various mutant abilities left Xu Mo dazzled.

[Storm: Gain the ability to control weather phenomena. Points required: 30000.]

[Teleportation: Instantly move to any location previously visited. Points required: 30000.]

[Sandification: Freely control yellow sand. The user can also turn into sand, becoming immune to a certain degree of physical attacks. Points required: 30000.]

[Clones: Create up to one hundred clones. The clones are controlled by the original body, and damage suffered by the original body can be transferred to the clones. Points required: 30000.]

[Overwhelming Confidence: Gain extreme confidence. Above and below heaven, I alone am supreme. Side effect: spikes will grow from the body. Points required: 100000.]

The various abilities were certainly good, but mutant abilities came from the X-gene and were far too easily countered.

Even someone as powerful as Magneto would instantly become an ordinary person after being hit by the Mutant Cure.

The power gained through cultivation, however, was different from mutant abilities.

There was no need to fear being countered, and its upper limit was much higher than those mutant abilities.

After browsing for a moment, Xu Mo's gaze shifted.

[Spiritual Core: Can be fused into the mind, autonomously releasing spiritual power and advancing the user into a Spirit Reader. The spiritual power contained within can raise the host to the peak of Warlord level. Points required: 30000.]

"That one!"

Xu Mo made his decision in an instant.

After thirty thousand points were deducted, a dark golden sphere appeared in his hand.

The sphere was the size of a soybean and looked almost illusory.

Following the system's instructions, Xu Mo touched the sphere to the center of his brow.

In an instant, the sphere vanished from his hand.

Xu Mo suddenly felt a piercing pain in his mind.

His vision swam.

When Xu Mo appeared again, he was already standing in a vast white space.

Not far in front of him, a palm-sized black tower slowly rotated. It was the Astral Tower he had obtained before.