[Analysis Complete.]

[System Variation: J276E…K0C98]

[Instance Type(s): Resolving…]

[Author(s):]

[Tian Guo, Ruler of Heavens, Shard: Z7D35…T87A5]

[Co-Author(s):]

[Li Huai, Path of Order, Shard: Z7D35…T87A5]

[License: - ]

[Copyright: - ]

[Cross-connection: - ]

[Quality: Above Average]

[Current Users: 4]

[Maximum CU Record: 5102]

[Total Records: 1.68964 million]

[Version: 7.1.6]

[Update Count: 62]

[Last Release: 9.44839 billion years ago]

[Uptime: 57.79041 cycles]

[Warning: The detected System has a newer incompatible version.]

[Warning: Template for Unrivaled Master System not found.]

[Warning: The detected System power is below expected parameters.]

[Notes: Absorption will add 0 Standard Points.]

[Do you wish to absorb?]

* * *

Far, far away, on the seat of Heavens, Tian Guo sensed that his life was hanging on a thread!

{You dare?!}

He didn’t know who, but someone was definitely targeting him! Him! The ruler of heavens! Was being targeted!!

{Impudent!!}

Tian Guo’s rage exploded in a spectacular fashion. Heavens became charged with killing intent.

* * *

Han De stared at the statue-like Li Ling. At this arm’s length distance, she was truly breathtakingly beautiful. Distractingly so.

‘System, what do you mean when you say absorb?’

Naturally, there was no response.

In Han De’s mind, the answer was a yes. He definitely wanted to absorb whatever the System was talking about! Usually these events would upgrade the System in some way. But of course, these upgrades would also require maintenance. Han De was already familiar with his own System’s maintenance from various upgrades he had in the past.

Meanwhile, thanks to Long Ai’s intervention, the disciples were protected from their master’s fury. Otherwise they would’ve passed out long ago. The spectacle created a variety of different reactions from them.

Yao Qing didn’t know how Li Ling managed to offend their master to this degree. According to her judgment, it was already too late for the princess. But Yao Qing had to try to appease her master, even if it was a futile effort.

‘F#$%...’

Han De didn’t doubt Yao Qing, because he already had an idea of this woman’s importance. Long Ai had intervened personally, that was proof enough.

[Do you wish to absorb?]

‘...’

Considering the System’s warnings about being inseparable from the host’s soul, Han De guessed that the absorption process would end up killing the princess. That was a no-no for obvious reasons.

Han De still had to do the awakening quest. What if absorption were to start a 10-day maintenance period? Would the quest wait for that? Absolutely not. Han De had no faith in the System in that regard.

But unfortunately, this woman was a System user. It was obvious from her behavior that she was either aware or was suspecting Han De of being a System user too.

‘She must know about my System, right? Why would she try to approach me out of the blue otherwise? When did she discover it?’

The answer was painfully obvious. Didn’t she ask about the events of that day in the Silent Silhouette sect?

‘So she knew, and planned this since that day? F#$%, how did I miss something so obvious?!’

Han De’s face turned unsightly. The more he thought about it, the more dangerous the woman became in his eyes.

Long Ai was surprised at Han De’s extreme distaste. When did this Li Ling offend him? If this was about before, why didn’t he react then? Long Ai intuitively understood; Li Ling had received that elusive legacy of the Li family, and Han De detected it with his keen insight. As expected from her descendent!

She wasn’t the only one watching either. Through the virtue of being a higher being, Song Nuan could also keep an eye on Han De without spending any effort. A higher being’s senses were simply too vast. Which was why the banquet was spread so wide in the first place. The vast distances between the tiers was there so they could relax more easily.

Long Juan too, was also watching. Though in her case, it was completely coincidental. Wen Jiayi had arrived just a few minutes ago and officially agreed to the engagement. She got curious as to where Han De was, and accidentally caught him looking at Li Ling with disgust.

The gears in Han De’s mind kept turning. This was an MC with a System. Those were usually the most unpredictable and dangerous types. The powers of a System could not be underestimated! If he let her leave right now, what would happen in the future? She could reappear at the worst time possible and extract his System! She was a timebomb! Ready to blow when Han De’s guard was at his lowest!

Clearly, she was too dangerous to be kept alive.

When Han De’s panic was at its highest, he remembered a particular pair of eyes.

‘No. No! Calm down. Calm people live. Tense people die. Calm people live. Tense people die.’

Han De closed his eyes took deep breaths. Though this MC with a System was dangerous, he wanted to avoid creating a new cockroach incident.

‘Nothing will happen to me. Long Ai is watching. I’m at the Long family world. My family is here, my disciples are here. Everything is fine…’

The ideal scenario of killing her was made impossible due to the Li family. Han De couldn’t afford to create more enemies at a galactic scale. Shen Guo was already giving him enough anxiety.

Crippling an MC was a non-solution from the start. That would only piss them off more and give them a power boost instead.

Containing her was an option, but considering there was a System involved, Han De assumed that plan would fail almost immediately.

Through the process of elimination, he arrived at his only viable option. Negotiation.

The moment Li Ling heard Han De’s voice transmission, the control of her body slowly started to return. Her heartbeat went through the roof due to anger, fear, and shame. Even so, she didn’t let those emotions affect her mind.

Han De assumed that she had the worst possible intentions from the beginning. This defense mechanism was almost instinctual at this point. But of course, he couldn’t show his intentions during a negotiation. He had to fake ignorance to probe and confirm his suspicions.

‘Were you trying to absorb my System?’

Han De didn’t know how he would react if she answered yes to his unspoken question.

Li Ling’s thoughts went to her aunt Li Qingzhou. Why was she so afraid of Long Ai? Both Li and Long families were powerful, and neither would want to offend the other. Long Ai wouldn’t kill a junior without reason, nor would she deign to threaten one. Intuitively, Li Ling thought it must’ve been something to do with the Li family legacy.

The last person to die with the legacy was killed by Song Nuan, a known associate of Long Ai. Li Ling thought this wasn’t a coincidence. Especially in the light of what happened in the last few seconds.

Extrapolating from that point was easy. Li Ling was already warned that the System wasn’t infallible, otherwise there wouldn’t be only 3 users left!

Somehow, Han De detected her status check attempts. Perhaps he had received something from the Long family that was on par with the Li family legacy. Maybe, a long time ago, Li Qingzhou also attempted to status check Long Ai. Maybe history was repeating itself.

Though this was very rude, no harm was done, or could be done with this sort of information. Ancient families knew countless cultivation techniques. And any higher being could discern more from a single glance than a secret technique from an Immortal Realm initiate ever could.

‘So you are going to play ignorant too? And you won’t even apologize on top of that?’

Han De realized the more he stared at her, the closer he got to losing all reason. If this went on, he was going to say yes to the System and absorb that sliver, killing her in the process. No matter how much he was trying to convince himself, panic was only one step away.

‘I need to reset the situation, fast, before I do something stupid.’

After a deep breath, Han De sent another voice transmission.

Li Ling regained full control of her body, then stared at Han De with a blank expression.

All disciples guessed that their master and the mysterious beauty were conversing through voice transmissions. All disciples except Liang Cuifen. The situation seemed… suspicious… from her perspective.

Yu Xian had already identified the newcomer as a Han De’s side woman and lost interest in her. At the moment, he was trying to figure out if the technique he saw really did have a complete essence.

Did higher beings really pass down their knowledge to a Nascent Soul boy? Were they that free? Weren’t they afraid of heavenly punishment? Was there some taboo technique that hid Han De from the heavens? Wouldn’t that eventually cause his soul to dissipate?

No matter how Yu Xian looked at it, Han De’s technique didn’t make any sense! He had seen the same technique a few hours after his transmigration. Back then, the slash Han De left as a warning to the Qiu family wasn’t this freakish!

Li Ling’s expression return to normal.

How could the princess of the Li family accept this humiliation? Of course she didn’t!

One of Li Ling’s biggest strengths was her ability to stay calm under pressure. Even inside the Li family, she had the Cold-Princess nickname for this very reason.

Li Ling gave a half-bow to Han De, then glanced at the disciples behind him. If she couldn’t status check Han De, she was going to status check his disciples!

The Long family obviously couldn’t kill her. Li Ling wasn’t seeking death, but giving them a warning! She won’t play by their rules. She doesn’t have to!

Naturally, Han De didn’t miss the movement of her eyes. This woman… definitely status checked his disciples! Her eyes lingered for a few moments towards Yu Xian’s direction!

At that moment, Li Ling felt as if time was slowing down. The flow of blood and spiritual energy in her body came to a halt. Her mind was trapped inside an unmoving universe and a voice reverberated in his mind.

|I will not interfere with the matters of juniors.|

The owner of that voice, was Long Ai. The ancestor of the Long family. Her message was short, but the threat was clear.

Long Ai didn’t care if Li Ling died today. Neither did she care if the Li family started a war over revenge. The arrogance of the message conveyed Long Ai’s inner thoughts towards the Li family. Han De could touch them, but they weren’t allowed to touch him!

This brazen declaration was for the whole Li family, not just Li Ling. There was nothing else to do but bow her head and report this to the Li family head. If she couldn’t handle the situation right now, she was certain that she would die today. Han De’s expression made it obvious that he did detect the status check of the disciples.

Once Li Ling felt the time started flowing again, she immediately initiated a deep bow.

Though Li Ling spoke fluently, she couldn’t help but feel vexed deep inside. Did she spend too much time with aboriginals and ended up becoming inherently arrogant? Was there a need to provoke the Long family? Status checking Han De, or the disciples, these were completely useless endeavors!

Li Ling decided she needed to do a self-introspection after this ordeal was over. Right now, she couldn’t afford to have her judgment colored by feelings of hatred, and humiliation.

Han De kept staring at Li Ling and her bowing posture. The sweet whisperings of panic were constantly in the back of his head, desperately trying to erode his better judgment.

If he killed Li Ling right now, all of his future problems would be solved! Imagine that! Not having to live in fear due to the System hunters! So what if the Li family declared war? The cockroach’s father also declared war, Long Ai wasn’t fazed at all. Wouldn’t she stop Han De if she were worried about the Li family in the first place?

The more he thought about it, the more he became convinced. However, he also remembered Shen Guo’s confrontation with Long Ai.

Han De blurted out a single word while he still could.

“Leave!”

Keeping an enemy alive was less dangerous than making a blood enemy out of their family. At least for now!

Li Ling gave Han De one last look, and left without wasting any time. Her mind was in turmoil, despite her best attempts at maintaining her rationality.

Han De’s mind was also in turmoil.

‘F#$%, maybe I should’ve killed her. Not by absorbing the sliver, but by destroying her soul. No, wait, what if she transmigrated to another body through the System? I still don’t know what kind of System she has…’

Ning Bi sensed her master’s hesitation. Her eyes eventually met Jin Shu’s, then they both stared at Yao Qing. Unfortunately, all they got from her was a subtle shrug, meaning that she didn’t know anything either.

The woman tried to approach their master, but he showed hostility. After intensely gazing at each other, their master sent her away with only a single word. Their master, who did not hesitate to destroy the souls of demonic cultivators, let that woman go. Their master, who didn’t show any interest in the matters of man and woman, had to take deep breaths as he gazed at her eyes.

While Jin Shu and Yao Qing didn’t know how to bring the matter up, Ning Bi wasn’t as concerned as them.

“Was that master’s concubine?”

‘The F#$%?’

Han De’s head immediately snapped in the direction of Ning Bi. Did she really say concubine? Did she think that he had gone insane? The thought was so ridiculous, Han De couldn’t help but chuckle.

‘Of course, if I were an MC, the jade beauty would become curious towards me, the first person that dared to treat her so badly…’

Then her curiosity would develop into interest. Han De was familiar with the mechanics.

‘Unfortunately, even if she is a jade beauty, this is real life. Not a Xianxia novel…’

On second thought, maybe that was fortunate. Even the thought of having jade beauty as his spouse was enough to induce a headache.

“I don’t even know her; how could she be my wife?”

Han De smiled and nodded towards Ning Bi. He could see that this was her way of cheering him up, the question wasn’t an accident. Ning Bi shyly nodded back in response.

[Variation Analysis Complete.]

‘Ok, give it to me straight doc.’

Since his panic had subsided quite a bit, Han De entered salvaging mode at once.

[Name: Assimilation System]

[Instance Type(s): Assimilation]

[Subtype(s): - ]

[Instance Count: 1]

[Instance Record: 1]

[Key Skills: (Privilege Level 6 Required)]

[Evaluation: (Privilege Level 6 Required)]

[Source: (Privilege Level 10 Required)]

[Summary: Assimilate a sword, become a sword. Assimilate a demon, become a demon. Assimilate Buddha, become Buddha. Assimilate Heavens, become Heavens.]

‘Assimilation?... Absorption?!’

Han De suddenly felt regret for letting the woman go.