Soul Possession

Zhang Tie's heart suddenly tightened. Without another word, he hurriedly tossed aside the branches and firewood in his hands and sprinted toward the cave.

However, just as he neared the cave, another earth-shattering boom rang out, like a bolt from the blue, echoing endlessly through the valley.

Immediately afterward, an incomparably scorching gale howled past, like a furious fire dragon sweeping toward him in an instant.

Zhang Tie's body was violently lifted by the surging heatwave. Like a weightless fallen leaf, he was hurled through the air and slammed into a thick tree nearby.

With a dull bang, Zhang Tie felt his blood and qi churn. A sweet, fishy taste surged up his throat, and he spat out a mouthful of blood. Then he collapsed to the ground like a pile of mud, instantly losing consciousness.

He had no idea how much time had passed. Cold rain mercilessly poured down, relentlessly battering Zhang Tie's body.

The biting chill gradually awakened Zhang Tie. He abruptly opened his eyes and stared at the gloomy sky pouring with rain. His thoughts were instantly dragged back to the terrifying scene from before, and a wave of overwhelming fear surged through his heart.

After all, he had cultivated the Elephant Armor Technique to the third level. Though he might still be far inferior to the true top-tier masters, he was certainly no insignificant nobody.

Moreover, he had been so far from the battlefield, yet the aftermath of their clash alone had left him completely unable to resist. It was simply unbelievable.

Zhang Tie steadied himself and checked his condition. Finding that he had recovered at least a little strength, he gritted his teeth and struggled to his feet.

His body swayed like a candle flame in the wind as he slowly and painfully made his way toward the cave.

Zhang Tie walked in fits and starts, remaining extremely cautious.

After all, anyone capable of causing such a heaven-shaking battle had to be a master among masters. Before such unknown and overwhelming power, it was better to be cautious than sorry.

When Zhang Tie finally reached the cave entrance, the horrific sight before him left him frozen in shock.

The once-solid cave had completely collapsed. Rocks of every size were scattered all around, leaving a scene of utter devastation.

Many trees around the cave had been scorched black by raging flames, and some had even been reduced to ashes. The entire area looked as though it had suffered a great calamity.

Zhang Tie cautiously drew closer. Looking at the rain-soaked ground, he discovered that a small amount of white ash was floating in the rainwater.

The people who had originally been inside the cave had all vanished without a trace. He had no idea whether they had fled amid the chaos.

Zhang Tie slowly approached the collapsed cave and cautiously called out, "Is anyone in there?"

He shouted several times in a row, but only the howling wind and the patter of rain answered him. No one responded. It seemed that, at the very least, there were no living people inside the collapsed cave now.

Even now, Zhang Tie's heart was still pounding wildly.

Yet at the same time, a trace of relief rose within him. He silently rejoiced that he had somehow survived the shocking calamity from earlier.

Otherwise, faced with such a terrifying battle, he would surely have died beyond all doubt. There would not have been the slightest chance of survival.

While Zhang Tie's thoughts were in complete disarray, a faint ball of white light suddenly flashed out from the pile of rubble and shot toward his head with lightning speed.

Before Zhang Tie could react, the white light instantly entered his glabella and vanished without a trace.

At the same time, an incomparably ecstatic voice suddenly rang out in Zhang Tie's mind. "Heaven has not abandoned me! I never thought that in a place inhabited by mortals, I would encounter a little cultivator at the Qi Gathering second layer. Truly, ah!"

The voice seemed not to have finished speaking before an extremely terrified scream rang out. Then the voice abruptly stopped, disappearing as though it had never existed.

Zhang Tie was instantly bewildered, completely at a loss.

Just then, a piercing pain suddenly exploded in his head, as though countless ants were gnawing at him. Zhang Tie's whole body convulsed, his vision went black, and he collapsed to the ground once more, completely unconscious.

He did not know how long he remained in that chaos. Threads of icy coldness, like countless feelers, slowly seeped through Zhang Tie's body and into his mind. His consciousness gradually became clear.

Zhang Tie braced himself against the ground with difficulty and slowly sat up. Just as he was about to stand, a fragment of memory that did not belong to him suddenly began appearing in his mind in disjointed pieces.

The memories came crashing in and lasted for more than half an hour. Only then did Zhang Tie finally steady himself, like a small boat struggling through raging wind and waves, and gradually recover.

His expression was numb, and his eyes were vacant. He could no longer remember how many shocks and upheavals he had suffered today.

Now, he only felt that his mind had reached the brink of numbness. His entire being was trapped in a hazy, dreamlike state.

It turned out that the white light had been the soul of an Immortal Cultivator named Song Xingzhi.

Immortal Cultivators were people born with Spiritual Roots who could absorb the Spiritual Qi of heaven and earth to cultivate.

Once they cultivated to a profound realm, they could fly through the sky and burrow through the earth, move mountains and overturn seas, even live forever and endure as long as heaven and earth. However, mortals with Spiritual Roots who could embark on the path of Immortal Cultivation were one in ten thousand, exceedingly rare.

Song Xingzhi was an independent cultivator.

An independent cultivator was an Immortal Cultivator with no sect, no school, and no family to support them.

Such people either stumbled onto the path of Immortal Cultivation through an extraordinarily fortuitous chance, or their original family or sect had declined and fallen, leaving them adrift.

Speaking of Song Xingzhi, one had to mention another independent cultivator, Fu Zeyu. Like Song Xingzhi, Fu Zeyu had similar cultivation. Both were at Qi Refining completion, and both were independent cultivators.

At first, Fu Zeyu heard that a low-grade magical artifact was being transported from the Great Capital Kingdom to Phoenix Crown City, the capital of the Black Phoenix Kingdom.

Fu Zeyu then sought out Song Xingzhi, whom he had worked with several times before, and told him about it. After making their plans, the two came to this valley and quietly waited for the right moment.

At first, everything proceeded normally, step by step, without any accidents.

However, after they struck and killed all those mortals, what they found in the chest inside the cave was not the low-grade magical artifact they had expected, but a high-grade magical artifact.

The two were instantly overjoyed, their excitement impossible to conceal.

At that moment of wild delight, Fu Zeyu suddenly harbored evil intentions. He launched a sneak attack and drove a sharp blade directly into Song Xingzhi's back.

Caught off guard by the attack, Song Xingzhi knew that he was doomed.

At that critical moment between life and death, he chose to self-destruct his Dantian. Seeing this, Fu Zeyu grabbed the high-grade magical artifact, turned around, and slapped on a talisman as he prepared to flee.

A heaven-shaking boom rang out, and Fu Zeyu was instantly blown apart by the immense force, leaving not even a corpse behind.

Song Xingzhi only barely managed to escape with his soul.

For Immortal Cultivators in the Qi Refining stage, once their souls left their bodies for more than two hours, they would gradually dissipate between heaven and earth.

And at that moment, the surrounding area was desolate and utterly devoid of human presence.

As time passed bit by bit, Song Xingzhi's soul grew weaker and weaker. Just as he fell into despair, a young man at the Qi Gathering second layer—Zhang Tie—appeared before the collapsed cave.

Song Xingzhi was immediately ecstatic, as though he had seen a glimmer of dawn in the darkness. Although the success rate of Soul Possession at the Qi Refining stage was less than one percent, it was still better than having his soul scattered, so he decided to give it a try.

His soul swiftly flew to the entrance of the collapsed cave. The moment Zhang Tie approached, it charged without hesitation into his Sea of Consciousness, attempting Soul Possession.

Just as Song Xingzhi believed that the Soul Possession was about to succeed, he unexpectedly discovered a mysterious green pearl within the Sea of Consciousness.

The pearl turned slightly, instantly generating a powerful suction force and pulling him into it.

Zhang Tie slowly digested the information that had suddenly flooded into his mind. Aside from learning the cause and outcome of this harrowing incident, he had also obtained memories containing some common knowledge of the Immortal Cultivation World.

For example, he learned that above Qi Refining were even more profound realms such as Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, and Nascent Soul. He also learned the locations of several small market towns where Immortal Cultivators frequently traded. Most importantly, he had obtained fragments of Song Xingzhi's Cultivation Method and Spells.

Only later did Zhang Tie learn that what he had just experienced was the extremely dangerous process of Soul Possession in the Immortal Cultivation World.

Generally speaking, Soul Possession followed three major rules.

First, cultivators could not possess mortals, or they would certainly die.

Second, the lower one's realm, the lower the success rate of Soul Possession. For Foundation Establishment and below, the success rate was less than one percent.

Third, even if those below the Divine Transformation realm succeeded in Soul Possession, their lifespan would remain their original lifespan. They would only have changed bodies, and their cultivation would never advance again.

However, Zhang Tie knew nothing of this at the moment. The most important thing now was to leave this dangerous place first and find somewhere safe and comfortable to rest properly. Once his strength and mental state recovered, he could slowly sort through and digest the memory fragments he had just gained.

Zhang Tie had originally wanted to search the rubble for the high-grade magical artifact as well, but after thinking it over carefully, he gave up. His strength was too low. If the artifact had been tampered with or marked for tracking in advance, it would only bring danger upon himself.

Having made up his mind, Zhang Tie took a deep breath. Enduring the pain in his body and the exhaustion in his mind, he slowly rose to his feet and began walking forward.

At this time, the thick dark clouds in the sky also gradually dispersed like receding seawater.

The rain, too, gradually weakened from a torrential downpour into a light drizzle.

Zhang Tie walked slowly onward, his mind filled with countless thoughts. He knew that from this moment on, his fate had undergone an earth-shaking change.