Suddenly.

Xu Changshou was plunged into an abyssal darkness. An indescribable agony wracked him, as though an unseen hand gripped his very soul, mercilessly peeling it from his mortal flesh.

His consciousness severed, his limbs refused to obey.

A rampant, clawing sentience violently invaded his sea of consciousness, recklessly staking its claim.

Is this the terror of Body Seizing?

How terrifying!

Body Seizing!

No!

No way, I absolutely cannot be seized.

Xu Changshou clenched his jaw, desperately anchoring his fracturing mind. He had to maintain a sliver of clarity, no matter the cost.

He knew he could not surrender to the dark. The moment he lost consciousness, it would mean eternal damnation.

Damn it, what the hell is this thing?

I cannot lose. I absolutely cannot lose.

You want to eat me? Fine, then I'll eat you!

Ah!

Xu Changshou let out a primal roar, a sudden eruption of willpower.

His terrifying defiance made the Evil Spirit pause. "Boy, cease your useless struggles. Your demise is fated."

Yet, in that singular breath of hesitation, Xu Changshou wrested back a fraction of control over his mortal coil.

Summoning every ounce of his remaining strength, he raised his right hand and viciously slapped the Soul-Capturing Talisman directly onto his own forehead.

Bang!

"Gah! Gah! Gah!"

The Evil Spirit unleashed an agonizing shriek, writhing as if a cruel iron spike had been driven through its ethereal form.

Seizing this fleeting opening, Xu Changshou launched a desperate counterattack. He unhinged his jaw and bit down viciously upon the ethereal entity.

You want to eat me?

I'll bite you to death.

I'll bite you to death.

I'll bite you to death!

Like a starving beast, Xu Changshou tore into the Evil Spirit. With every savage bite, the malevolent presence dimmed, its cold, greasy grip faltering.

Simultaneously, a surge of raw vitality flooded Xu Changshou's soul. He was growing stronger.

Knowing the insidious resilience of an Evil Spirit, he dared not relax his guard for a single breath. He relentlessly ripped away mouthful after mouthful of the entity.

Suddenly.

Fragments of a foreign life surged across his mind's eye.

A ten-year-old youth, awakened with Water, Fire, and Wood spiritual roots, led by his father into the Green Immortal Sect. Three arduous years on Chuxiu Peak, before transferring to the Danxia Sect.

He memorized the Ten Thousand Herbs Chart, delving into the Dao of Alchemy.

Breaking through to the tenth layer of Qi Condensation at seventeen, and the twelfth layer at twenty-nine.

With a Foundation Establishment Pill procured by his father, he attempted to condense his Dao Foundation-only to suffer a tragic failure.

He was unwilling, deeply unwilling.

For the decades that followed, he was reduced to a mere alchemy tool for the sect, toiling until his retirement a century later.

At the age of one hundred and twenty, a Fated Chance granted him a demonic cultivation technique.

At one hundred and forty, standing at the twilight of his lifespan and dreading a mundane death, he embraced the evil arts.

This demonic technique was unspeakably cruel, demanding the living souls of mortal infants to stave off the decay of his spiritual body.

Every full moon night, innocent babes were secretly smuggled into the deep palace courtyards.

"Boy, you court death! This old man will not spare you, even as a vengeful ghost!"

The Evil Spirit wailed in agony, consumed by an unprecedented dread.

It had assumed this Body Seizing would be a trivial matter, yet it never anticipated this lowly ant possessed such a terrifying talisman. A mere slip of paper had completely shackled its soul, rendering it immobile.

"Boy, mercy! I beg of you, spare me! I will grant you whatever your heart desires!"

"Mercy! Spare me!"

The once-arrogant Evil Spirit groveled for its life.

But its pathetic pleas fell on deaf ears. Xu Changshou's eyes were icy pools of pragmatism as he methodically tore the spiritual body apart bite by bite.

Moments later, the ethereal entity was entirely devoured.

Crack!

As the soul was extinguished, a deep fissure spider-webbed across the forehead of the golden statue in the hall.

"Burp~"

Xu Changshou let out a crass belch, feeling his soul uncomfortably bloated from the gluttonous feast.

At the same time, he marvelled at the clarity of his vision. The stubborn bottleneck that had barred him from the tenth layer of Qi Condensation had vanished without a trace.

The absence of a bottleneck meant only one thing: with a brief period of Secluded Cultivation, breaking through was an absolute certainty.

Not just the tenth layer-the barriers to the eleventh and twelfth layers of Qi Condensation had also evaporated.

He could already sense the profound threshold of Foundation Establishment.

This revelation was terrifying in its magnitude.

He was merely at the ninth layer of Qi Condensation, yet the path to Foundation Establishment lay open before him. It defied the heavens.

In essence, his path of cultivation would be unobstructed until he attempted to forge his Dao Foundation.

How did this happen? Could it be...

Xu Changshou fell into deep thought. The answer quickly surfaced in his mind.

His cultivation barriers were obliterated because he had devoured a soul far superior to his own-one that had reached the peak of the twelfth layer and experienced the profound transition of a Foundation Establishment Pill.

These priceless experiences were now deeply branded into Xu Changshou's own soul.

He had walked the razor's edge of death, but the Fated Chance he reaped in return was heaven-defying.

Not only would it shave years off his arduous grind, but it also laid an impregnable foundation for his future breakthrough.

Yet, surviving this crisis only heralded a deadlier storm.

Piecing together the memories, he confirmed the identity of his would-be possessor: Li Zheng's father, the flesh-and-blood son of Li Daotu.

His very assignment to the Huosang Kingdom was orchestrated by Li Daotu. Xu Changshou grimly suspected this entire Body Seizing plot was the Elder's handiwork.

Now, not only had the ritual failed, but he had utterly consumed the Elder's kin.

If Li Daotu caught even a whisper of the truth, he would be ground to dust.

Fleeing? Xu Changshou dismissed the thought immediately.

A Foundation Establishment Patriarch wielded the authority to issue a sect-wide kill order. Fleeing meant a life of endless, blood-soaked pursuit.

He harbored no illusions that a lowly Qi Condensation disciple could survive the Green Immortal Sect's wrath.

What to do?

Perhaps...

Xu Changshou thinned his lips into a ruthless line. Only one path remained: don the skin of his enemy and pretend the Body Seizing had succeeded.

As for deceiving a Patriarch, he could only wager his life against the heavens.

However, one absolute truth worked in his favor.

Had the Evil Spirit succeeded, it would have been forced to live under Xu Changshou's name anyway.

Practicing demonic arts and possessing fellow disciples were capital offenses within the orthodox sects, punishable by immediate soul-eradication.

This made things easier. As long as Li Daotu couldn't see through him, there would be no problem.

While deceiving a Foundation Establishment expert was a perilous gamble, the stolen memories provided a perfect shield. He could muddle through.

Right, there was one piece of spoils he needed to claim.

Remembering a detail from the absorbed memories, Xu Changshou darted behind the golden idol and pried a purple jade pendant from its back.

This was no mundane trinket, but a Soul-Nurturing Jade-a supreme treasure Li Daotu had bled to procure.

It was a sanctuary for a wandering soul stripped of its mortal vessel.

Only by parasiting this jade had the decaying spirit survived the long years; otherwise, it would have dissipated long ago.

Stowing the treasure into his robes, Xu Changshou sat cross-legged in the desolate side hall and began to regulate his breathing.

He could feel the profound transformation within his meridians; commanding the Spiritual Qi in his body was now as effortless as breathing.