Assassin Dad and His Genius Daughter

After gulping the last drop of the tea, Ren Ye wiped off the excess from his mouth and began to sit down in a lotus posture as he let out a heavy exhale.

He lightly closed his eyes as he pressed his lips together into a straight line.

[Congratulations on advancing to Phase II]

[As a reward, you are rewarded with complete functions of the system!]

Ren Ye's temples twitched as he slowly opened one of his eyes with a confused expression, "That was quicker than I anticipated…"

He had expected to be hit by a strong force of energy for him to attempt to stabilize but he ended up being met with a pleasant surprise.

A burst of knowledge hit his head as his eyes sparkled with knowledge and wisdom shining through them.

What does Phase II mean for his cultivation journey?

Phase II is one step away from completely digesting the knowledge of the elemental energy and grasping the understanding of putting these gifted abilities into reality.

As of now, he didn't have to worry about his system shutting down amidst a battle and Old Yi presumably dying in the process. By complete functions, it meant he had unlocked the last bits of hidden functions.

There were too many functions…

Ren Ye couldn't use his fingers to count the functions it had but at least it gave him Old Yi as evidence that the system was omniscient of all things in this world.

The reason was why it had been rather easy for him to advance and why he drank the tea in one gulp was due to the usual tradition of other Phases being easily accessible for the cultivator compared to Phase I, which is considered the most challenging part.

One might lose control if one does not consider caution at first.

Rubbing his chin, Ren Ye frowned suddenly as he made a humming noise.

"What reward did I get as a reward?"

Ren Ye turned to the systematic windows in front of him, the blue light reflecting in his pupils as excitement slowly filled them.

[You are given two choices!]

[Due to the remaining time and your completion, you are given two choices to choose techniques from neighboring elements!]

Ren Ye's eyebrows shook as he curled his lips into an intrigued smirk.

Neighboring elements? Do we have neighbors?

Old Yi chortled with sarcasm dripping from his laughter, "It is not what you think."

"Neighboring elements means those who are generally compatible with us."

"Oh," Ren Ye uttered indifferently.

As I had expected, isn't this system too overpowered?

Glancing at the systematic screen, a fearful voice sounded inside of his head, and started pitying Ma Zheng's system who appeared to have given him nothing of what he had.

No wonder, it has been suggested for me to do trading business with him…

Money for protection.

Ren Ye shrugged indifferently as he raised a question, "Which element?"

[Time] [Death]

Instead of Ren Ye having a strong reaction, this time Old Yi's eyes shook with surprise and shock. His mouth subconsciously opened agape as he muttered numbingly, "What do you mean?"

"?!?" Ren Ye was confused by Old Yi's reaction as he opened his mouth to say something but Old Yi stopped him from saying his words.

"You are a cheat," Old Yi accused with a funny expression.

"…"

Time has been mentioned many times before, and is one of the most powerful elements to have as a cultivator. The number of people who cultivated can only be counted with one's single palm.

Apparently, there weren't any resources to nurture them and the rarity of Time appearing was almost one in a billion chances.

To stop time even just one second was considered sacred by many cultivators.

Death, too, is a powerful element to have as a grave master or someone who has connections with death alone. The specter worshipped Death and Demon elements.

Most cultivators have given up Death as an option to the stigma surrounding choosing Death. From its name, it was intimidating to those who hears it.

Ren Ye shook his head with coldness in his eyes, "A bunch of imbeciles."

He would have chosen Death as well if he was given the chance. At least, stealing a bunch of corpses to bring them back alive in a ritual sounded extremely heroic and almost out of a film for him.

Old Yi hummed gently and casually uttered, "Something here smells and feels like Death…"

"…"

Ren Ye lowered his eyes calmly before raising them to read the information for each option. As he raised his finger to press the screen, an alarming message popped out of nowhere.

[Are you sure you want to pick Time?]

"…"

I was thinking of trying to get more information on this so-called technique, Ren Ye thought self-deprecatingly with twitching eyes.

"It seems it isn't elaborating any information regarding the techniques," Ren Ye's eyes became increasingly cruel.

To Old Yi's surprise, Ren Ye raised both of his hands and forcefully wrapped them around the system screen in a strange attempt to embrace it.

"…"

Sometimes, Old Yi wondered what happened to Ren Ye after facing the specter at Ma Zheng's office. Perhaps, the damage wasn't physical but mental…

He had been acting strange after the incident.

Old Yi shook his head with a strange expression and asked with a helpless, "What do you think you are doing?"

Ren Ye wasn't intending to embrace it and wanted to grab the system, forcing it to do a backflip. Instead, the system retaliated by sending down five silent but deadly lightning strikes from above.

Ren Ye got struck by lightning as he curled his lips into an exaggerated smile that Old Yi had seen lately, he opened his mouth slowly.

"I was only acting."

Old Yi frowned, "What games are you playing?"

Ren Ye stopped the exaggerated smile as it was quickly replaced with a blissful smile, he raised his arms in a helpless manner.

"I have been trying to see if I was good at acting."

Ren Ye chuckled indifferently, "You seemed to believe I have gone insane after defeating the specter but I have a plan I need to execute."

Ren Ye slowly got up from his seated posture and walked toward Old Yi with tranquil lake eyes, "Before I decide to go forward, I need to hone my acting skill."

Old Yi pursed his lips before breaking into a fit of laughter.

Ren Ye wondered what he was laughing about as he looked at Old Yi with an anticipated expression.

"You don't need to act."

"You only need to use a persona."

Old Yi spoke with intellectual confidence splattered all over his face.

"Persona?"

Ren Ye asked.

"Be it your past self or present self."

Old Yi lowered his eyes with interest, "You bought an identity to assist Ma Zheng in his search for Ye Zhihao."

"You are quite right," Ren Ye nodded his head, confirming Old Yi's guess. He wasn't surprised Old Yi had known about his plans.

"You did it so you don't bring trouble to yourself and your family in the future," Old Yi said calmly as he raised his head, "You are quite scheming."

"But due to my experiences, I could read through your plans even if you don't even say them in your head."

"An advice from this old man."

Old Yi smirked, "Use someone's persona as your new identity."

"Someone else?"

Ren Ye raised one of his eyebrows in confusion as he mumbled silently under his breath.

Although he didn't say it aloud, one person popped up inside his head.

"I can see you have someone in mind," Old Yi chuckled as he observed Ren Ye's expression, "It can be a friend or teammate, or acquaintance."

"But as long as you are sure of knowing their true personalities."

"It sounds easy, doesn't it?" Old Yi pretended to ask.

Ren Ye shook his head in disagreement, "Not true."

"Mm?" Old Yi was intrigued.

"You aren't sure if the persona they show is truly their true selves," Ren Ye replied helplessly, "I had your idea inside my head for a while but I gave up eventually because it is truly hard to understand them."

"You don't have to be able to use their true persona, use the one that you are familiar with the most," Old Yi raised his eyes casually.

Ren Ye nodded his head indiscernibly, "Perhaps so."

He didn't doubt Old Yi's words but to match the image inside his head, he had to find someone strong-headed yet obedient. Someone is outwardly strong and overbearing but obedient and committed inwardly.

Someone who is able to execute a job rightfully and one who is loyal to a fault.

There was only one person who matched this exact image he had fabricated with the identity and occupation he was going to go to.

It was a person whom he felt he hadn't seen or heard of for an extremely long time.

It was none other than, Rein Lang.

The German who shared a deep connection with him from many worlds away and the one whom Ren Ye placed his absolute trust in all those years they were fighting alongside each other.

The very man who killed him.

"Someone occupied this image of mine, it seems."

Ren Ye informed Old Yi with a nostalgic and sad look on his face.