Half an hour earlier.
In a secret location within Yuanshan City.
Rakshasa's expression was grave.
The surrounding Underworld cultivators were silent as cicadas in winter, terrified of provoking Lord Rakshasa's ire.
Cry Soul True Person, who had taken the Heavenly Mystery Mirror Fragment, had yet to return. They too had begun to harbor vague, ominous forebodings.
"Everyone, withdraw from Yuanshan City. Abandon every arrangement we have in Yuanshan City," Rakshasa suddenly rose and ordered.
The hearts of the Underworld cultivators present instantly sank to the bottom.
—Cry Soul True Person had carried the Heavenly Mystery Mirror Fragment. There was no way they would withdraw without waiting for him, unless...
Rakshasa's face darkened like still water.
Because just moments ago, he had sensed that the Heart Demon Gu within Cry Soul True Person had died.
After years of planning, after exposing his long-maintained identity as the lord of Yuanshan City, after deploying War Beasts, and even having Void Demon Child take a risk and act personally once—
They had gained nothing.
A crushing defeat!
He could already imagine how the other Underworld members would view the Yuanshan City branch of the Underworld after this battle.
Everything had clearly gone according to plan.
Yet the final outcome had become this.
It seemed that things had begun to go wrong after Blood Corpse True Person was captured.
Could Zhishou Tower truly have interrogated some intelligence from Blood Corpse True Person?
Rakshasa found it hard to believe.
But he had no time to consider such matters now.
The most urgent task was to cut their losses in time. He had to withdraw every remaining Underworld member from Yuanshan City.
—This operation had been too large. The traces they had left would be difficult to conceal. If they did not withdraw, they would simply be waiting to die.
Under Rakshasa's orders, Underworld cultivators swiftly sent out one spiritual message after another, notifying the rest of their members.
One Underworld cultivator took out a round disk entirely black and gold.
It was an array disk, used to activate formations.
The Underworld cultivator placed spirit stones into the array disk.
Soon, lines of patterns lit up across the ground beneath their feet, stretching and interweaving into a six-pointed star formation.
A small teleportation formation.
"Go!" The Underworld cultivators present, along with Rakshasa, stepped into the six-pointed star formation.
Very soon, the light blazed brightly.
When the light faded, everyone within the formation had vanished without a trace.
Zhenjiang City.
Within a secluded estate.
The teleportation formation flared with light.
The Underworld cultivators who had just been in Yuanshan City appeared within the formation.
Through the teleportation formation, Rakshasa's group had instantly traveled from Yuanshan City to Zhenjiang City, a thousand miles away.
"Dismantle the teleportation formation," Rakshasa ordered.
Underworld cultivators quickly accepted the command and stepped forward to dismantle the teleportation formation.
That way, even if Yuanshan Tower discovered the teleportation formation in Yuanshan City, it would have no way of knowing where their destination had been.
Within Yuanshan Tower.
Jiang Rong looked at Tantai Qingrun, whose face had remained frosty ever since she returned from Lu Qingshan's place, and found it immensely amusing. "Could it be that brat Lu Qingshan offended our Tower Lord Tantai?"
Tantai Qingrun rolled her eyes at Jiang Rong and said irritably, "Uncle Rong, you seem rather free. You even have the leisure to tease me?"
Jiang Rong replied unhurriedly, "I truly am quite free right now. In this battle, the Underworld's forces in Yuanshan City have been reduced by eighty or ninety percent. It is the greatest victory Yuanshan Tower has ever achieved.
"If the Underworld is not foolish, it has likely already withdrawn completely from Yuanshan City by now. At this rate, not only am I free at present, I will probably have nothing to do for quite some time to come."
Tantai Qingrun felt rather helpless about Jiang Rong's words. No longer concealing it, she laid her cards on the table. "You still call Lu Qingshan a brat? In my view, even calling him an old monster is being generous. Two days ago, Lu Qingshan was still a Qi Refining Second Layer cultivator. Do you know what realm he was in when I saw him today?"
Tantai Qingrun paused, her voice rising slightly. "Qi Refining Eighth Layer. In two days, his cultivation surged by so much. I dare say that Lu Qingshan must have been someone who underwent Body Seizure. Otherwise, how could there be something so absurd in this world?"
Jiang Rong was also taken aback upon hearing this. He pondered for a moment. "We had suspected as much before. Now, it seems to have been confirmed."
Tantai Qingrun said indignantly, "But when I questioned him, he offered every kind of excuse, insisting all along that he was Lu Qingshan of the Lu Family."
Tantai Qingrun spat lightly. "Who knows how ancient that old monster is, and yet he is still so shameless."
"Perhaps there is another hidden reason?" Jiang Rong pondered for a while and spoke meaningfully.
"Another hidden reason?"
Jiang Rong nodded and explained, "Think about it. After Body Seizure, everything must begin anew. Even with one's previous experience, returning to one's former realm through recultivation is by no means easy. Unless one were truly driven into a corner with no path left, what cultivator would casually choose Body Seizure?"
Though Body Seizure appeared to offer many benefits, it actually came with many restrictions.
There were two iron laws governing the method of Body Seizure.
First, the cultivation restriction: only cultivators who had reached the Nascent Soul Realm or above could perform Body Seizure. Moreover, regardless of cultivation level, a cultivator could only undergo Body Seizure once in their entire life. This was decreed by the Heavenly Dao.
Without this iron law, would not high-level cultivators be able to escape the limits of lifespan and continuously recultivate through Body Seizure? The entire world would be thrown into chaos.
Second, Body Seizure could only possibly succeed when someone with higher cultivation seized the body of someone with lower cultivation. The greater the gap in cultivation, the safer it was.
Yes, Body Seizure did not have a one hundred percent success rate. In fact, its chance of failure was extremely high.
To successfully undergo Body Seizure, cultivators generally had to prepare suitable auxiliary formations and medicinal pills to increase the odds of success.
Because once Body Seizure failed, it meant body and soul destroyed, spirit scattered to the winds, with no entry even into the Yellow Springs.
Thus, many cultivators would rather die and seek a chance at reincarnation than gamble on the so-called method of Body Seizure.
Tantai Qingrun quickly understood. "You mean Lu Qingshan was forced by an enemy cultivator into undergoing Body Seizure and recultivating. The reason he refuses to admit it is because he fears exposing his identity and having his enemies come knocking."
Jiang Rong nodded. "And his enemy is very likely an Underworld Demon Cultivator!"
"First, he knows so much intelligence about the Underworld that even Zhishou Tower does not know.
"Second, you and I have both seen his hatred toward Underworld cultivators. For intelligence as important as the Underworld's plot against Overseer Qi, he merely asked us for Blood Corpse True Person and made no further demands. How is that any different from giving it away for free?
"If he did not bear a deep and bloody hatred toward the Underworld, how could he be so generous?"
Tantai Qingrun agreed. "Indeed. Though we do not know the true identity of this 'Lu Qingshan,' the enemy of our enemy is our friend.
"Since that is the case, we should try our best to befriend 'Lu Qingshan.' Leaving everything else aside, befriending a Nascent Soul Cultivator—even one whose cultivation has been completely lost—would absolutely not be a loss for us!"
Jiang Rong laughed heartily. "Tower Lord Tantai, what you should be most concerned with now is what reward Zhishou Tower will grant you this time.
"You have nearly uprooted the Underworld's arrangements in Yuanshan City. With such heaven-shaking merit, I fear you will not remain in Yuanshan City for much longer."
Zhishou Tower had never been a decayed organization that ranked people by seniority.
Within Zhishou Tower, promotion depended entirely on one word: ability.
Though Tantai Qingrun had only held the position of Yuanshan Tower Lord for three years, the results of this battle were so brilliant that her next promotion likely was not far away.
Before you continue