These two hearts were the Vampire Heart and the Heart of Pangu.
Each possessed its own talent skill tree: one for the vampire and one for Pangu.
Whichever heart was not beating would store the nutrients Yu Xian absorbed.
For example, right now Yu Xian's Vampire Heart was beating while the Heart of Pangu remained still, so the energy he accumulated was stored in the Heart of Pangu.
Once enough energy had built up, this heart would beat.
However, unlike the Vampire Heart, which awakened a talent every ten beats, the Heart of Pangu required thirty-six beats to activate an ability belonging to Pangu.
Yu Xian could now freely choose which heart beat and which remained still.
Furthermore, while he had previously only been able to gauge when a talent would awaken by counting heartbeats, he could now sense the energy stored within the heart to tell when an awakening was imminent.
At present, for instance, the Heart of Pangu held enough energy for about thirty-four beats.
It was likely the leftover energy from modifying his body with Pangu's Blood, meaning the Heart of Pangu only needed to beat two more times before he could awaken one of Pangu's skills.
"I wonder what kinds of abilities Pangu has?"
Perched atop a bubble, Yu Xian took out his phone to check whether there were any records in the Qilin app.
Qilin's research into Pangu went back a long time. Many of Pangu's abilities had already manifested in people who had consumed Pangu's Blood, so they had all been cataloged.
Originally, Yu Xian's clearance level wouldn't have been high enough to view such classified files.
However, with a First-Class Merit Medal badge now adorning his account, a great deal of information had been unlocked for him. After submitting a request, he received access to the files in mere moments.
Tapping open the file, he read through it carefully.
Pangu's abilities were called "divine abilities." To Pangu, they were innate powers that required no external conditions to use.
For ordinary humans, however, these abilities were excessively potent. Most demanded a considerable toll, requiring caution when wielded.
Below were the divine abilities obtained by those who had consumed Pangu's Blood:
[Pangu Herculean Divine Ability: Those who obtain this divine ability possess a colossal strength of a hundred tons even at Sparrow rank, and their bodies become virtually indestructible, capable of overcoming all technique with sheer might. Among all of Pangu's divine abilities, this ranks as the foremost.]
[Pangu Void-Rending Divine Ability: Those who obtain this divine ability can tear through space at Sparrow rank, generating blades of space to strike enemies. However, for ordinary humans, the drain is tremendous, making it a high-consumption, high-offense ability.]
[Pangu Transmutation Divine Ability: Those who obtain this divine ability can transform different living creatures into other forms at Sparrow rank—such as turning a human into a sheep, a dog into a human, an animal into a plant, or fungi into animals. Most terrifyingly, the effects produced by this ability are permanent.]
[Pangu Immortality Divine Ability: Those who obtain this divine ability possess an unimaginably boundless vitality. Even at Sparrow rank, they can survive with only a severed head, and losing half their brain results in nothing more than temporary amnesia. In later stages, they become practically impossible to destroy; regenerating from a drop of blood or resurrecting with a single breath are merely standard fare.]
[Pangu Solar Pupil Divine Ability: Those who obtain this divine ability can turn their eyes into blazing suns, emitting solar radiance imbued with True Solar Fire.]
[Pangu Spirit Orb Divine Ability: Those who obtain this divine ability can condense a spatial-attribute spirit orb in their dantian, granting fifty thousand cubic meters of storage space at Sparrow rank.]
...
...
Pangu's abilities were extraordinarily numerous, practically encompassing everything under the heavens.
Yu Xian suddenly found vampire talents far less appealing. Pangu's abilities were simply overwhelmingly powerful—especially the Pangu Immortality Divine Ability, which he craved above all else.
For someone as deathly afraid of dying as him, the Pangu Immortality Divine Ability was nothing short of his dream ultimate power.
What was more, as a vampire, his innate self-healing was already formidable. Layering the Pangu Immortality Divine Ability on top of it would be a double insurance policy.
If he had this ability, no matter how dangerous a place was, he would dare to run wild and cause a ruckus.
In truth, human personality mattered very little. Whether someone was reckless or cautious, what mattered most was capability, not temperament.
What dictated a person's behavior was their capability, not their personality.
It was just like someone with hundreds of millions in wealth: no matter how cautious they were, they would still dare to dine at high-end restaurants. If someone had only a few dimes in their pocket, even the most reckless person wouldn't waltz into a luxury venue for a meal.
By the same token, with sufficient capability, even a coward like Yu Xian would have the courage to take wild risks and fight for his life; without capability, a single dog could frighten him into retreating three full leagues.
Yu Xian put his phone away. He had made up his mind: for the foreseeable future, he would double down entirely on the Heart of Pangu. Until he pulled the Pangu Immortality Divine Ability, he wouldn't switch back to the vampire skill tree.
In fact, after learning about the abilities of both hearts, he had realized something: the bloodline abilities of vampires were not infinite, but limited.
The two abilities he had awakened earlier confirmed as much.
The first ability, Silver Blood, was something Jin Sheng had told him Nora's father also possessed, proving that it clearly belonged on the vampire skill tree.
The second ability, Blood Energy, was likewise an ability on the vampire skill tree.
Therefore, aside from "Light Eater," the abilities he had awakened were all powers any vampire might potentially obtain, not unique to him alone.
As for Light Eater, it was likely tied to Nora's mutation.
After all, Nora was the first half-vampire who did not fear sunlight, and he was the first wild vampire Nora had turned without an Embrace, but by blood injection instead.
If Nora was a mutated half-vampire, then he was a mutation atop a mutation, an anomaly among anomalies, making it completely natural for his talent abilities to mutate.
Having thoroughly assessed his condition, he stood up and left the room.
When he stepped out, the sky was just barely graying with dawn. To his surprise, a soldier stood guard outside his door. The soldier snapped a salute upon seeing him emerge and barked, "Reporting, sir! Colonel Jin instructed me to relay that the operation has begun! You are to join the operation immediately upon waking. The entry cipher can be collected from the operation squad. Report complete!"
"Understood, thank you," Yu Xian replied, quickly returning the salute with thanks.
He then unlocked his phone, entered the Evil Purging Squad interface, and retrieved the cipher for entering the containment zone.
Taking a Bluetooth earpiece from his pants pocket, he put it on and tapped into the squad's voice channel.
"Captain, code name Salty Fish, requesting permission to rejoin the squad," Yu Xian said.
Jin Sheng answered, "Mm. Since you're awake, permission granted. Head to the coordinates I've marked for you as quickly as possible. You'll be in charge of that sector. I'll dispatch Qingniao to support you."
"Understood!" Yu Xian wasted no words.
Under the soldier's astonished gaze, he conjured a bubble, stepped inside, and maneuvered it rapidly up into the sky.
The cipher was already active on his phone.
His phone would be automatically identified and tracked by satellite, ensuring he wouldn't be shot down by friendly missiles as he flew into the containment zone.
Chapter 35