Kong Ye was not surprised to see his first disciple marching over to his house purposefully that noon. With the endless twists and turns in Han Xuhan's cultivation journey, treating without active, regular guidance was akin to riding on a tiger's back.

But when he heard Han Xuhan speak, his expectations were overturned again.

 

"Master, I made my third minion activate her fusion glyph an hour ago. I would like you to oversee the fusion process. This is the first time I'll be attempting a threefold fusion, so your observations and teachings would be invaluable. And you can also act as a guardian if something goes amiss..."

 

Kong Ye knew what his disciple was implying. The mental demon possessing Han Xuhan was still inside his dao foundation, biding its time.

 

"No matter, sit down and meditate for a minute while I observe your spiritual form," he said, while ordering his system to scan Xuhan.

 

[ Disciple No.1 : Han Xuhan ]

[ Race: ? ( Cannot process data due to the lack of data ) ]

[ Ancestry: ? (No matches found) ]

[ Cultivation Base: Core Liberation minor realm (unregistered techniques aren't measurable) ]

[ Comprehension: B+ ]

[ Qi quality: D+ ]

[ Dao Heart: C- ]

[ Dao Foundation quality: Can't measure ]

[ Elemental Affinity : D ]

[ Raw Talent : D ]

( Expand this column to see the rest of the key merits )

[ Overall Potential: B ]

 

The system laid his disciple's condition bare, and Kong Ye was flummoxed to see that Han Xuhan's old stats had reappeared. The only indication of his changes was the data on his cultivation level. Han Xuhan, right now, was supposed to have zero cultivation, only possessing the body of a cultivator. The mysterious core liberation realm was something Kong Ye had never heard of in his long life. He suspected that Han Xuhan knew more than he let on, but he didn't want to force the secret out of his disciple.

 

"Some of your potential has gotten worse, disciple. Your qi quality, dao heart, and dao foundation quality are in dire straits."

 

Han Xuhan cracked open an eyelid in response to Kong Ye's observation before replying, "They'll be changing a lot more frequently from here on. Zhanxian, come fuse with me! This will be our first fusion after your breakthrough into the third layer! We have to be careful this time!"

 

The red skeleton sat down beside Han Xuhan and entered meditation as well. Kong Ye kept his eyes on the status panel, hoping to see some anomalies. But the moment Xuhan and Zhanxian completed their fusion glyphs, the panel went dark, showing a new message.

 

[ It has been detected that Disciple Han Xuhan's qualifications have changed to a considerable extent. A renewed scan is needed ]

 

Kong Ye ordered another scan, of course. This time, he saw the familiar stats that he had seen for the first time while trying to subdue Han Xuhan's demonic possession.

 

[ Disciple No. 1: Han Xuhan ]

[ Race: Fused Hybrid ]

[ Ancestry: Endemic to CT-L4-G36-SS11-P8, #$#£¥®¥???.... Security protocols may be breached if further data is traced ]

[ Special Physique: Fusion Seed (Forbidden) ]

[ Self Cultivation: Core Liberation (minor realm) ]

[ Fused Cultivation: 3rd Layer of The Physique Transformation Realm ]

[ Dao Foundation Quality: Can't be measured ]

[ Dao Heart: ??? (fused dao heart is too chaotic for grading) ]

[ Comprehension: B+ ] (fused)

[ Qi Quality: B- ] (fused)

[ Elemental Affinity: Water (B) (fused) ]

[ Overall Potential: A ]

 

Not only did Xuhan's fused form have a specific, partially traceable race and ancestry, but he also now displayed the qualification of having a special physique. Kong Ye didn't know what most of them meant except for the coordinates provided in the ancestry bracket.

The code CT-L4-G36-SS11-P8 was not difficult to analyze. CT referred to the Territory under the Celestials' active domain, short for Celestial Territory; L-4 meant that the location was situated within the 4th Layer of the Celestial Territory, one of the middle layers of the macrocosm of man; G-36, indicating the serial of a galaxy, was a slightly puzzling data, because the logical jump from a Layer to a Galaxy would involve the coordinates of a Life Sector, which usually spanned a handful of galaxies.... unless the life in that sector has been wiped off thoroughly!

 

Kong Ye's gaze flickered towards the remaining two minions of his disciples. Han Xuhan himself didn't have a recognizable ancestry, but when he fused with his minions, he suddenly showed one, that too from such a faraway place of the macrocosm. These ancestry links were obviously formed because of the minions.

From what Kong Ye knew about Han Xuhan's cultivation technique, it involved gathering souls from a strange burning planet. Since the remaining parts of the coordinates- SS11-P8 referred to the 8th Planet of the 11th Solar System of the 36th Galaxy...

 

Kong Ye felt like he had accidentally stumbled upon an information he was better off not knowing. To wipe off an entire Life Sector and twist its laws so heavily that no souls in any of its galaxies could reincarnate, burning for an eternity in spiritual agony, it would require more than a powerful expert. No, it would require the cooperation of the Celestials overseeing that domain!

 

And when he connected the fusion technique's [ Forbidden ] tag in the system with this theory, Kong Ye's palms began to sweat for the first time since he had been banished to the edge of the macrocosm.

 

"...Teacher? Is something wrong?" Han Xuhan asked in a concerned tone upon noticing his stiff face. Kong Ye shook off the fear from his countenance and gestured at him to wait a while longer.

 

Han Xuhan's self-cultivation was still in the minor realm of Core Liberation. But the fusion had added Zhanxian's cultivation to the equation, which was at the early 3rd Layer of the Physique Transformation realm. Combining Zhanxian's cultivation with Han Xuhan's body had created a decent rookie with a foundation between the third and the fourth layer, perhaps even stronger.

 

Before fusing, his dao heart quality was graded C-, a downgrade from his old position; probably a result of having his mind, body, and soul constantly being influenced and damaged. It wouldn't be long before he became too unfit to be Kong Ye's official disciple according to the system if the downgrades kept happening.

But the fusion had made it impossible for the system to measure the quality of his dao heart. Kong Ye was pretty sure that the system wouldn't make a fuss if Han Xuhan cheated this way to maintain his apprenticeship status. To the system, anything that it could not measure or sense was precious beyond value!

 

The biggest changes were in the next three stats. Xuhan's qi quality had skyrocketed from D+ to B- grade. He now even had an elemental affinity stat at grade B. His potential as a disciple in this form could make any Elder of the Sect move, as mirrored by Kong Ye's system. It had renewed Han Xuhan's overall potential from Grade B to Grade A, skipping two large levels in the leap.

 

"Disciple, your... potential has improved by a significant margin upon fusing with Zhanxian. Many of your old, unsolvable problems have been erased, but I fear that newer, scarier problems are in store for you in the future."

 

Han Xuhan didn't even look surprised, or even disturbed by the revelation.

"Is there anything I should know that sect master Zi hasn't told me that day?" he asked.

 

"....You know what, you're in a heap of stress already, and it's even affecting your dao heart. Let's not worry about the distant future, Xuhan," Kong Ye said with a heavy sigh.

Han Xuhan was convinced easily, a tad too easily. He simply changed the topic and looked to his side.

"As you say, teacher. Tun Shi Tian, come fuse with me now! Let's see how your breakthrough affects the fusion!"