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Her singing was gentle and passionate.

Su Chen waved his hand in front of her, but Zheng Bashan didn’t react at all.

She continued to sway back and forth as she muttered to herself, occasionally letting out a shallow laugh.

No matter what Su Chen tried, she wouldn’t respond.

“Has she been like this since she woke up?” Su Chen asked.

“Yes. No matter what I said, she wouldn’t listen. Master, could she have been knocked silly by Uncle Eleven?” Iron Cliff asked.

“It doesn’t seem like it. This is also my first time seeing a situation like this.” Su Chen flipped open Zheng Bashan’s eyelids.

He activated his Origin Energy-seeing eye and saw a bizarre, multicolored, and vast microcosm behind her. However, this microcosm was incredibly complex, and Su Chen felt dizzy simply just from looking at it.

The only thing he could confirm was that Zheng Bashan’s situation was uncommon.

“How strange. What exactly is going on?” Su Chen muttered.

“It’s Soul Sinking,” a voice said from behind him.

It was Zhu Xianyao.

Because they were still operating under the guise of cooperation, Zhu Xianyao hadn’t been confined. She was allowed to walk around the Origin Energy Tower as she pleased as long as she didn’t enter the areas that Su Chen had designated as restricted. Her living conditions could be considered pretty good.

Su Chen gazed at her and then said, “Why are you here?”

Then he asked, “You said this condition is called Soul Sinking? What is that?”

Zhu Xianyao walked over and said, “It’s called Soul Sinking because even though her physical body is awake, her consciousness is still in deep sleep because of her injuries. She has sunk into a deep layer of dreams, unable to wake up. Most likely, her consciousness received a serious blow. Right now, she is probably within a dream of her own creation with no way of waking up.”

“How can I wake her up?”

“Only consciousness-type techniques can deal with consciousness injuries. Her Soul Sinking condition appears to be particularly severe, and perhaps only an extremely powerful consciousness-type Origin Skill would be able to wake her up now.”

“So that’s how it is. How do you know so much about this?”

“You know that the Zhu Clan is particularly skilled in the art of mesmer techniques, which are consciousness-type Origin Skills in the first place. The Zhu Clan has been studying this subject from the very beginning, hoping to break through some of the restraints of our bloodline in order to stop mesmer techniques from being restricted by gender.”

“To allow males to use mesmer techniques as well?”

“No, so that females can also be affected by mesmer techniques.”

“...... I knew that you people couldn’t possibly be that generous,” Su Chen laughed and then said, “I want to learn it.”

“That’s not covered by the terms of our agreement,” Zhu Xianyao rejected him bluntly.

Su Chen didn’t try to force the issue. He thought for a moment before he stood up and said, “Fine. Tell me what I need to do to learn.”

“Give me more freedom. At the very least, I want to be able to walk within the Hidden Dragon Institute. I simply feel too confined within the Origin Energy Tower.”

“You know that won’t be possible.”

“If you don’t trust me, then you can come with me,” Zhu Xianyao said, agitated. “Half an hour every day is enough; I just want to get some fresh air! If you still don’t trust me, you can even put restrictive spells on me and feed me medicine. Aren’t you an alchemist? You can use any tactic you want!”

Su Chen breathed in a long breath.

After a long time, he finally nodded. “Fine, half an hour every day, but you need to swear that what you teach me will be valuable.”

Zhu Xianyao sighed, “I don’t know if it will be valuable or not. My clan has been studying this subject for quite some time, but we have never made any concrete breakthroughs. The knowledge hasn’t been organized either, and it will take me some time to recount it to you. What about this? You can ask me questions every time we go out, and I’ll answer them to the best of my ability.”

“That’s fine,” Su Chen agreed.

If one day Zhu Xianyao was unable to answer his questions, then there was no need to allow her to get fresh air anymore.

From that day onwards, Su Chen accompanied Zhu Xianyao out of the tower during the early evening.

Zhu Xianyao kept her promise and didn’t give Su Chen any trouble. She also didn’t try to contact anyone from the outside.

They slowly walked under the setting sun. Su Chen would ask questions, while Zhu Xianyao would reply.

Outsiders didn’t know what was going on. They just thought that Su Chen had become friends with a beautiful woman, inciting jealousy and envy. As the days went on, there were even rumors that Su Chen had curried favor with a beauty from a nobility clan, granting him some good fortune.

In some sense, that wasn’t incorrect. At the very least, Su Chen had that opportunity in the past.

Even Wang Doushan heard of this and ran over to ask what was happening.

Upon seeing Zhu Xianyao, the fatty’s eyes went straight.

Although he had seen Yue Longsha a few times and was extremely confused by their relationship, he didn’t ask anything in the end.

Su Chen had always wanted to meet with Gu Qingluo, but in the end he had never encountered her – he had gone to find Gu Qingluo twice, but she had avoided him both times.

He did not know that Gu Qingluo had been observing him from some hidden corner many times.

————————————

Su Chen’s knowledge about the human consciousness greatly increased while he conversed and walked with Zhu Xianyao.

The Zhu Clan’s understanding of the human consciousness was extremely impressive. Many things that Su Chen didn’t understand had been discovered by the Zhu Clan ages ago.

Under Zhu Xianyao’s guidance, Su Chen’s understanding of this subject continued to increase, and his horizons were also greatly broadened.

Su Chen simultaneously discovered that the pursuit of bloodlines, Origin Skills, and knowledge was not something that was unique to him. Many people, including nobility clans, were also striving for the same things.

When one hit a dead end, one could gain flashes of new inspiration by looking at the research and techniques of others.

On the twenty-second day of their strolls around the Hidden Dragon Institute, Su Chen’s research on the Slyheart Bloodline finally had a breakthrough – he had successfully mastered a portion of the Slyheart Bloodline’s principles.

After mastering this portion, Su Chen borrowed the Origin Energy Talisman Formation to form twelve unique Origin Energy Talismans in an attempt to generate a portion of the Slyheart Bloodline’s strength.

By using this method, Su Chen’s power output when using the Slyheart Bloodline’s Origin Skills received a significant boost.

However, Su Chen was not yet satisfied. What he needed was a bloodline-less Origin Skill that could still be on par with other skills from high-tier bloodlines. Simply learning a few new Origin Skills or strengthening some Origin Skill by a small amount was not that important to him.

Because deducing the operational principles of the Slyheart Bloodline was primarily related to a person’s consciousness, Su Chen focused most of his mental power on consciousness-type Origin Skills.

The consciousness-type Origin Skills that Su Chen had learned were primarily separated into two halves.

The Soul Eye and Soul-Fixation Technique were one half, while the other half was the bewitching techniques that Jin Ling’er had taught him. Because of their pitiful usage conditions, however, there wasn’t much point in considering them.

The Soul Eye and Soul-Fixation technique were both relatively low-tier techniques. They were somewhat effective against opponents who were relatively low-tier, but they were not very useful against opponents with strong souls and high cultivation bases.

In comparison, the Slyheart Demonic Emperor Bloodline was of a much higher tier.

Because the Soul Eye and Soul-Fixation Technique were Improved Ancient Arcana Techniques, they primarily consisted of Origin Patterns supplemented with Origin Talismans, so Su Chen tried to incorporate the Origin Talismans that he had derived from the Slyheart Bloodline.

This was originally just a simple test that Su Chen wanted to run, but he had actually succeeded.

He first used the Origin Energy Talisman Formation to calculate the composition of the Origin Talisman component and then used Brooke’s Formula to rearrange the Origin Pattern. Finally, he combined the two using the new knowledge he had obtained from the Zhu Clan and tested out the technique on Zheng Bashan. Zheng Bashan, who was affected by Soul Sinking, was a great test target.

In the end, he really had completed quite a unique Origin Skill.

Unlike his previous consciousness-type Origin Skills, this new skill could not turn enemies into servants or fixate his opponent’s soul. Su Chen’s improved technique could not be used to control a person’s heart, but it could cause his opponents to fall into a deep sleep.

Although it sounded similar to the Soul Eye, the only difference was that it could be activated for a long time.