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An hour passed swiftly, and once everyone’s Spiritual Talent had recovered, they couldn’t help but feel calmer. Then, looking at the expressions of the others, they all burst into laughter; it was just a short period of suppression after all.
"It seems the enemy isn’t that strong," Chen Xi said, observing that everyone had easily recovered their composure. For a grand-scale war, the layout of things made an hour’s interference not a big deal.
"Not necessarily, not necessarily. How can Zichuan be sure that the enemy isn’t misleading us?" Jia Xu said with a laugh. However, his expression revealed that he didn’t fully share this sentiment; it was his consistent caution that made him contemplate calmly.
"Alright, Ziyang, Wen He, this matter is up to you," Chen Xi clapped his hands to gather everyone’s attention and continued, "As for your duties, leave them to Wen Ru and Xiaoo Zhi to handle. First, find that troublemaker. Then, either recruit him or..." A fierce glint flashed in Chen Xi’s eyes.
"Don’t worry, I’ll handle it well," Liu Ye said with a smile. Yet, his gentle gaze reflected a hint of killing intent. For him, how could such a dangerous element be allowed to join them, to hold their lives in his grasp? One careless move, a betrayal, and he would block everyone’s Talent—that would be like inviting a wolf into the house.
Liu Ye and Jia Xu exchanged a glance, understanding each other’s thoughts, and shared a slight smile. Suddenly, they felt a kinship of like minds—partnership is solidified through jointly doing mischief, and after conspiring together a few times, they had found common ground.
Jia Xu’s thoughts were similar to Liu Ye’s. He was typically one to avoid standing under a shaky wall; how could he allow someone who could embarrass him at any time, or even accidentally lead him into a trap, to join without having a way to counteract? Trusting his safety to someone else was not Jia Xu’s style.
"You can use the Enforcement Brigade as you wish, just don’t let them roam too far," Chen Xi told Liu Ye. "I’ll have the paperwork ready for you in a bit."
After making arrangements, Chen Xi seized the opportunity when Lub Su was not paying attention to slip away. Ever since the Veteran Soldiers of at least Elite Rank, led by a Centurion in groups of twenty, formed the Enforcement Brigade, donning armor, carrying Great Swords, and armed with the Great Yellow Crossbows for patrols, the security and living environment in Fenggao had greatly improved.
Such squads composed of veterans who had survived dozens of battles without disabilities were clearly discernible by the blood-red Cloud Qi above the heads of the twenty men—their Elite Rank made it obvious during patrols, and when they enforced the law according to the regulations, who would dare to challenge them? That would be tantamount to seeking death!
These veterans were essentially butchers who had killed so much that they wouldn’t know how to farm if their lives depended on it. To tell the truth, these people exuded Killing Intent even in their glares. Whenever they passed through the commercial district, everyone automatically made way; such overwhelming deterrence absolutely delighted Mann Chong, who led a team for law enforcement. It didn’t matter who was behind the scenes; the sight alone was enough to intimidate. Authority was precisely what a law enforcement team needed.
Meanwhile, Xi Zhicai silently waited for the ten-day cooldown period to end and then prepared to switch to the Talent he had captured earlier, to confirm its precise abilities. After all, having directly erased his own use of Xun Yu’s Talent previously, he naturally knew that the Spiritual Talent involved erasure, but he needed to verify the exact Attribute by using the Talent himself.
Zhicai did not sense an extremely dangerous aura from this Talent, much like those of Xun Yu and others. There was just an unpleasant sense of rejection, not like the sensation with Guo Jia’s Talent, which upon first use gave the feeling that using it might lead to death.
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As the hour arrived, Xi Zhicai immediately switched to Sima Yi’s Spiritual Talent, and in the next moment, the talent of Xun Yu, which was stored within him, was instantly erased, followed by his own talent that carried Sima Yi’s, beginning to erase itself as Sima Yi’s talent activated.
In just three seconds, Sima Yi’s talent disappeared along with Xun Yu’s, and Xi Zhicai’s own talent began to autonomously erase itself by consuming his spiritual power. Hmm, it was being generated and erased at the same time…
[…] Xi Zhicai twitched facially, having used talents for so many years, it was the first time he encountered such a situation. He could understand the inability to use Guo Jia’s talent upon activation, but this talent, upon copying and activation, immediately erased the part of his Spiritual Talent related to storage, and the next moment it began to erase himself. Xi Zhicai ended up getting nothing, and even lost the talents he had stored. Fortunately, Xun Yu was still alive; otherwise, the loss would have been great...
[This talent can only store, not activate!] Xi Zhicai was surprised, [But luckily, in just those few breaths of time, I basically obtained all the attributes of this Spiritual Talent. By comparing the attributes, I should be able to understand what’s going on.]
Xi Zhicai closed his eyes and silently analyzed, then opened them after a long while with a bitter smile, [The talent was successfully copied, but once activated, the essence was still my own talent, just with the attributes of this talent. Perhaps simply storing does not involve erasing talent, but if I initiate this talent within myself, the first one to be eliminated would definitely be me. This talent is truly treacherous! It mindlessly wipes out the talents of both friends and foes.]
In simple terms, Xi Zhicai resembled a system’s copy function, while Sima Yi resembled the system’s delete function. For Xi Zhicai, the issue of Sima Yi deleting him did not exist. However, if he foolishly copied Sima Yi’s talent, it would be like copying a blank slate, which sure can be copied, but upon pasting it amounts to deleting oneself. The poor Xi Zhicai ended up having his stored contents deleted.
Similarly, Zhuge Liang’s talent is akin to pasting, capable of appending anything. Theoretically, as long as the pasting is fast enough, the effects of deletion cannot be seen. Indeed, if both Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi were in their prime winning phases, it would merely be a contest of Spiritual Capacity to see whether Zhuge Liang’s activation is faster or Sima Yi’s suppression. If Zhuge Liang’s activation speed was already greater than his own speed to initiate Sima Yi’s erasure, then Zhuge Liang activating Sima Yi’s talent might be possible...
Unfortunately, Zhuge Liang’s pasting skill was a remnant ability, because premature awakening of his talent led to incomplete development. Not to mention activating Sima Yi’s talent, he couldn’t even do it like Xi Zhicai who erased his own in-use Spiritual Talent and still managed to use his Copy Talent.
Similarly, if Xi Zhicai’s Copy Talent could withstand the erasure brought by transforming into Sima Yi’s talent, he would also be able to continually activate Sima Yi’s talent.
[It’s a pity to have such a good talent.] Xi Zhicai said with a bitter smile; he now understood the issue with activating this Spiritual Talent wasn’t with himself, [But it’s good that there’s no loss, otherwise, it really would be painful.]
Xi Zhicai’s talent was resilient, but it still couldn’t withstand the self-destruction program he had created. After One Incense Stick’s Time, Xi Zhicai suddenly felt dizzy, his face flashed an abnormal shade of crimson, [In the future, I can’t directly activate someone else’s talent like this again. Copy it and slowly analyze it, determine whether it’s dangerous or not, then use it. The feeling transmitted by the talent may not be correct…]
As this thought had just arisen, a wave of intense dizziness surged, and Xi Zhicai blacked out, falling in the direction where Chen Qun was sitting, [ If I experience a few more episodes that almost deplete my spiritual power, I will die…] (To be continued. If you like this work, please go to qidian.com to cast your recommendation votes and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)
