Chapter 27: Seizing the Body and Turning the Tables!-From Servant to Saint: The Path to Enlightenment(The mountains rise high beneath a small, distant moon.)

The cycle of life and death is the law of heaven; how could mere human effort hope to reverse it? The voice of the elder from the Azure Lotus Sword Sect carried a note of melancholy.

“I understand, Master. Please rest assured. I will surely pass down the heritage of the Azure Lotus Sword Sect.” Shen Yan continued to feign deference to the old ghost.

The elder sighed, his voice tinged with desolation. Come closer; within our sect lies a secret art to enhance your spiritual foundation. I shall now elevate your innate talent.

Hearing this, Shen Yan’s vigilance soared. The old ghost had finally revealed his true intentions. He stepped forward, fully concentrated, manipulating the Water Control Technique. If the elder tried anything harmful, Shen Yan was prepared to retaliate.

Do not resist—receive my infusion of true energy. Suddenly, the elder, who had been lying in the mud, stirred. His arm shot out more than ten feet, gripping Shen Yan’s shoulder with a deathly hold.

Shen Yan was horrified. He had calculated every possibility, yet failed to anticipate the elder’s arm could extend so far! As he tried to resist, a searing pain tore through him, as if his flesh were being ripped apart, agony so intense he wished for death.

“Damn it! Damn it!” Along with the pain, a terrifying aura assaulted his mind, nearly shattering his consciousness.

“This old ghost wants to seize my body!” ‘Seizing’ referred to devouring another’s consciousness, usurping their flesh, and utterly replacing them.

Shen Yan, terrified, hastily activated the Heavenly Emperor’s Divine Seal, desperately extracting innate purple energy from within to resist. Yet the torment was unbearable, forcing him to grit his teeth and endure.

How does a mere mid-stage Qi Refiner possess so much innate purple energy? The elder’s voice was both astonished and furious.

He had lain hidden at the bottom of the sea for over a hundred years, finally encountering a Qi Refiner with enough fortune to reach these depths. To ensure success, he had lured Shen Yan with gentle words.

But as his soul entered Shen Yan’s body, he was blocked by an endless tide of innate purple energy, unable to penetrate Shen Yan’s sea of consciousness.

Not only that, he found himself unable to retreat. Shen Yan’s body was enveloped inside and out by this purple energy, trapping him, leaving him neither able to advance nor withdraw.

“Ah, old ghost, you can’t get in?” Shen Yan’s consciousness entered his own sea of awareness, where he saw a ball of light imprisoned by the innate purple energy. He taunted:

“Your body is destroyed, leaving only a decaying soul. For one hundred and forty years you’ve been trapped in a puppet at the bottom of the sea, never seeing sunlight, all for this moment. Why don’t you come in?”

Within the sea of consciousness, both parties could freely search each other’s memories. Yet Shen Yan’s mind was protected by the innate purple energy, preventing the elder from accessing his thoughts.

The corpse was indeed that of the Azure Lotus Sword Sect elder, Xu Daoqing. One hundred and forty years ago, disaster struck the sect. As a late-stage Foundation Establishment elder, he escaped by luck but was gravely wounded, fleeing to Jinzhou Bay, and finally falling into the sea.

He tried to save himself, but his injuries were too severe. In desperation, he transferred his soul into a puppet, hoping to escape the depths. Yet he underestimated the pressure of the water; the puppet’s strength was insufficient to leave the seabed, and so he was trapped for one hundred and forty years.

Shen Yan’s arrival brought hope for escape. Now, with his demise approaching, if he could not seize a body soon, he would die even if he managed to leave.

Thus, he began deceiving Shen Yan, pretending to recruit a disciple, all to seize his body. But despite all his planning, he never anticipated Shen Yan would possess the Heavenly Emperor’s Divine Seal, a treasure that thwarted him completely.

“Time to depart.” After reading part of Xu Daoqing’s memory, Shen Yan intensified his extraction of purple energy, grinding the elder’s soul into nothingness.

“Ha… ha…” When it was over, Shen Yan collapsed on the seabed, drenched in cold sweat. The ordeal had been perilous—without the Heavenly Emperor’s Divine Seal, he would have perished.

“But fortune favors the bold. Though Xu Daoqing is dead, he left me many treasures.” Shen Yan approached the corpse, searching it until he found a finely crafted pouch, palm-sized.

“A storage pouch!” Essential for any cultivator, it appeared small but contained a hidden world within.

Shen Yan infused his energy, soon discovering a three-foot-square space inside. The contents were sparse: a dull, finger-length sword, several square jade slips, two beast pelts, three tokens, a pile of luminous jade stones, and various miscellaneous magical tools.

“A low-grade spiritual weapon, the Azure Spirit Sword; four jade slips recording the Azure Lotus Sword Song for cultivation from Qi Refining to Foundation Establishment, plus a second-tier alchemy method, a first-tier artifact refinement method, and a first-tier talisman crafting method.”

“As for the beast pelts—one is a land deed for the Azure Lotus Sword Sect’s market, the other for the Little Lan Mountain market.”

“The tokens: an Azure Lotus Sword Sect elder’s token, a VIP token for Little Lan Mountain market, and a Ghost Market token.”

These details came from Xu Daoqing’s memories, though much had been eroded by the purple energy, leaving Shen Yan only a general understanding.

Little Lan Mountain market was established by several cultivation families in the southern border of Qian Country, within Nanyue. But that was one hundred and forty years ago; its existence was uncertain.

The Azure Spirit Sword, a low-grade spiritual weapon, was Xu Daoqing’s life-bound flying sword.

In the world of cultivation, treasures were divided into magical tools, spiritual weapons, magical treasures, and spiritual treasures. Magical tools were used by Qi Refiners, spiritual weapons by those in Foundation Establishment. Yet many newly advanced cultivators still relied on magical tools. Magical treasures served those at the Core Formation and Nascent Soul stages. As for spiritual treasures, these legendary items were rarely seen, even by most Nascent Soul cultivators.

The jade stones were the standard currency of the cultivation world—spirit stones.

After inspecting everything, Shen Yan’s expression grew thoughtful. One hundred and forty years ago, disaster annihilated the Azure Lotus Sword Sect; its tokens were now worthless. The deed for Little Lan Mountain, however, was worth investigating.

As for the alchemy, artifact refinement, and talisman crafting methods, they were beyond his current reach.

His immediate concern was to cultivate the Azure Lotus Sword Song and acquire the skills of a true cultivator.

“The old ghost certainly left behind a trove of treasures.”