Industrial Cthulhu doesn't believe in the end times.

Chapter 248 Broken Sword
Just when everyone was at a loss, at the end of another meeting, Su Xun sensed an unusual aura.

Still at the entrance of the tree hollow, he looked in a certain direction where a peculiar fluctuation of spiritual energy appeared.

It was extremely simple, yet extremely sharp, as if it had the ability to pierce through everything. This fluctuation gave Su Xun a familiar feeling, and he quickly remembered where he had seen it before.

"Have you met him?"

Su Xun looked at the tree spirit beside him.

"It seems familiar, but it's not the same."

The tree spirit's expression was slightly thoughtful, but it ultimately shook its head. Just as it had said before, it had been in a daze and had no clear memories while in its seed state.

In the distance, the aura seemed slow but was actually fast, and in a moment it arrived in front of them; it was Yin Danyi.

At this moment, he was holding half of a broken sword tip in his hand, and an extremely sharp aura was emanating from the sword tip, giving people the feeling that it was no different from the superpower he had previously possessed.

"Is this thing related to your superpower?"

When Su Xun saw it, he was reminded of the oracle bone in Tao Yue's hand, which Fuxi had transformed into a kind of superpower using methods that they could not yet understand.

Similar to Tao Yue's precognition, Yin Danyi's seemingly simple 'sharp' ability is actually quite unique. Su Xun had never seen anyone else possess such an ability in his previous life.

It is neither a physical enhancement type nor an elemental affinity type. Like Xiao Zhenru's telekinesis, Xu Huan's plant catalysis, even the Sentinel's intimidation, and even Su Xun's own elemental control, they can all be fundamentally classified into these two categories.

However, there are too many differences between this life and the previous life. Many people and things that Su Xun had never seen before have appeared. Some particularly strange and unusual abilities have also been recorded by the Legion, so Su Xun has never taken them seriously.

Now it seems that there might be something else special behind Yin Danyi's superpower?

Or perhaps, superpowers are inherently special.

“You could say that,” Yin Danyi replied casually. He gazed at the tree spirit, then looked up at the towering canopy, his expression slightly complicated.

Su Xun had already spoken with the other party once before and knew that if the other party didn't tell him, there would be no result no matter how much he asked. So he simply stopped wasting words and asked directly, "So you brought it here for?"

Yin Danyi withdrew his gaze, his expression returning to normal. He walked closer and handed the sword tip to Su Xun.

"This is……"

Su Xun took it in his hand and frowned immediately. This thing was extremely strange. Even though he had it in his hand, when he tried to sense it with his spiritual power, he found that it seemed to be non-existent. For a moment, Su Xun, who was used to observing from the perspective of spiritual power, even felt that his hands were empty and that he was experiencing a certain degree of hallucination.

Only when you hold it in your hand can you feel its terrifying sharpness. Su Xun has no doubt that even he, who was already at the ninth level in his previous life, would have his defenses pierced by this sword tip.

He sensed something and carefully held the broken sword blade. Then he activated his supernatural ability, trying to use metal or some other material to reconnect the broken part or install a hilt. As expected, all his attempts failed. It seemed to exist, yet it also seemed not to exist. No material could be connected to it.

It was as if... what he was holding was just a projection, not a real object at all. The oracle bone that Tao Yue had back then didn't have this characteristic... although that oracle bone could open a passage deep within Mount Tai and guide them to find Fuxi, it wasn't a simple thing in itself.

Yin Danyi let Su Xun try various things and said, "I think this thing should be able to solve the predicament you are facing now."

Su Xun stopped what he was doing and handed the sword tip back to the other person: "How do we resolve this?"

"I can help others establish a connection with this thing, whether deep or shallow, and put it into the heart of a tree in Taodu. Under certain conditions, it can instantly destroy the tree."

Su Xun glanced at the tree spirit beside him, who still had that "whatever you say is none of my business" look on its face.

"...So, this is the mission that the tenth-ranked being behind you brought you here?"

Upon hearing this question, Yin Danyi smiled and said, "Perhaps. Actually, I don't know what my so-called mission is, but since they gave me this opportunity, they must have already considered this."

“I thought about it for a long time in Daizong and felt that this might be the place where I could use it, so I brought it with me.”

"So, what's the price?"

"There's no cost, right?" Yin Danyi smiled. "It's quite easy to operate. It's... how should I put it, it's quite technically advanced. It's not rigid in its use, and it doesn't consume any extra spiritual energy. We can set up a relatively reliable insurance mechanism around it. As long as it's properly controlled, the possibility of accidents is almost negligible."

"When it is activated, it can destroy the target from another level. In this case, the trunk of the tree in the real world can even be preserved... but the premise is that it has already broken through the seventh level at that time, otherwise the gale may destroy its crown."

Su Xun raised his hand to stop the other person from speaking: "I mean, what is the price for you personally?"

Yin Danyi paused, her smile widening slightly: "Hey, if I said I would disappear because of this, would you not have implemented this plan?"

Su Xun remained silent for a moment, but ultimately could not give a definite answer. He simply said, "If that's the case, we may need to consider it more carefully."

"Tsk, after careful consideration, you've decided to use 'right,' right? No need to be so subtle." Yin Danyi sighed, "You actually answered seriously. No fun, I was just kidding."

"The biggest cost is probably that I can't go too far away from this thing... But if we're in Taodu, I should be able to move around within its coverage area with the help of its spatial abilities... The area is already quite large, so there's nothing else to worry about."

Su Xun breathed a slight sigh of relief.

In fact, what he said just now wasn't entirely euphemistic.

If we're looking for a way to destroy Taodu, there's actually more than one, but each one comes with some other costs.

As for Yin Danyi, he is clearly a superhuman with extremely high talent, but he also has many secrets. Whether it is worthwhile to use him to advance this plan is debatable.

If the other party can grow to the ninth level or even further in the future, then the value he can generate may not be much less than that of Tao Du.

(End of this chapter)