"Is that so?"
Fang Wang smiled but did not boast. Zhou Xue meant that if he ever found himself in dire straits, she would have to save him.
Zhou Xue walked over to the campfire and sat down directly, ignoring Little Purple beside her. Little Purple, meanwhile, darted in fright to Fang Wang's side and whispered, "Young Master, she has a powerful Ghost Artifact on her. I felt this sensation once before in a secret realm."
It did not know Fang Wang and Zhou Xue's history, but it did not want Fang Wang to die here.
Zhou Xue looked at it with a half-smile. "Perhaps it is precisely the Ghost Artifact you are thinking of."
"Y-you..."
Little Purple trembled all over and instinctively edged closer to Fang Wang.
Zhou Xue looked at Fang Wang and said, "What? You want to raise a snake demon? Serpents are naturally lustful, and many cultivators enjoy keeping snake demons. Do not let that ruin your cultivation."
"What nonsense are you talking about?"
Fang Wang glared at Zhou Xue. Why was this woman so unrestrained with her words?
Little Purple blinked and said nothing more.
Zhou Xue loved seeing Fang Wang get flustered. Covering her mouth, she laughed. "I can teach you a method to control souls, so this snake demon can never betray you. Do you want it?"
Fang Wang's eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this. "Fine, tell me!"
Little Purple panicked, yet it did not dare argue. It knew it could not defeat either of them.
Zhou Xue immediately began teaching the incantation formula, and Fang Wang listened intently.
Little Purple sank into a painful dilemma, unsure whether it should flee.
The formula Zhou Xue taught was called the Soul Seizing Curse. Once this curse was branded upon someone's soul, even if they were separated by the ends of the earth, merely reciting the curse would ensure their soul scattered and spirit dispersed. It did not even need to be spoken aloud; silently reciting it in one's heart would suffice.
As Fang Wang listened, he was astonished. This had already gone beyond the scope of ordinary spells, had it not?
"Wait! Give me a moment!"
Fang Wang suddenly stopped Zhou Xue, then picked up pen and paper and rapidly drew a map.
Zhou Xue asked curiously, "What map are you drawing?"
Fang Wang answered, "The Heavenly Dipper Sacred Body True Scripture. Want to learn it? Once I find it, I'll teach you!"
Zhou Xue's gaze turned strange. "You really have set your heart on that cultivation technique. I do not need any cultivation techniques or spells. In truth, neither do you. Cultivating only the Mysterious Sun Scripture is enough for you to stand atop the mortal world."
"It may be enough, but if I can learn more, won't I become even stronger?" Fang Wang replied.
He was not Zhou Xue. Her mind was filled with all kinds of supreme arts. At the very least, he wanted to learn the Heavenly Dipper Sacred Body True Scripture, and he suspected that combining it with the Nine Dragon Divine Transformation Art would unleash even greater power.
After quickly finishing the map, Fang Wang put it into his Storage Bag and had Zhou Xue continue explaining the Soul Seizing Curse.
Only after quite a while did Zhou Xue finally finish.
Little Purple had also heard the cultivation method for the Soul Seizing Curse, but it could not understand a word. It only felt that it was profoundly mysterious, and inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.
Such a complicated curse should be very difficult for Fang Wang to learn.
Zhou Xue raised her eyes toward Fang Wang and asked, "How was it? Did you understand?"
Under the moonlight, Fang Wang lowered his head slightly. He drew a deep breath and said, "I understood it. I learned it too."
"Hm?"
"What?"
Zhou Xue and Little Purple spoke at the same time. The former was puzzled, while the latter was terrified.
Fang Wang had already gone numb.
Damn it, good thing he had drawn the map in advance!
This Soul Seizing Curse had actually taken him one hundred and eighty years to master!
After returning to reality, his spiritual sense surged, and his senses began to sharpen as well. But he needed a moment of peace.
Cultivating the Soul Seizing Curse had been far more tedious than cultivating the Nine Dragon Divine Transformation Art or the Startling Swan Divine Sword Art. At least those techniques allowed Fang Wang to move; the Soul Seizing Curse was nothing but sitting still.
Sitting still for one hundred and eighty years!
Fang Wang needed to settle his emotions. He spread his arms and felt the air around him, finding his entire body indescribably comfortable.
"Did you truly learn it?" Zhou Xue asked. Her gaze was complicated, carrying both anticipation and a trace of unease.
Fang Wang twisted his neck, then seized Little Purple's snake head with his left hand.
"Ah! Young Master! Please, no! Little Purple will never betray you!"
Little Purple let out a mournful scream and begged bitterly.
Fang Wang brought it before his eyes and stared at it. "Sorry, but you are indeed a certain threat to me. As long as you behave well, once we leave the Great Sage's Grotto-Heaven, I will undo the Soul Seizing Curse and set you free."
With that, his right hand began forming hand seals, while a ghostly light burst from his eyes.
Little Purple wept but did not dare resist.
The moment Zhou Xue saw him forming the hand seals, she knew he had truly learned it, and her gaze became subtle.
He learned it after hearing it once... Such talent... Could he also be a Person of Destiny? But the Person of Destiny in my previous life clearly was not him. Could it be that he died too early, causing his fate to transfer to another? By reckoning, he and that person were born in the same year...
Zhou Xue's eyes flickered as she kept her gaze fixed on Fang Wang.
Fang Wang had already cultivated the Soul Seizing Curse to Great Perfection. He swiftly branded the curse seal onto Little Purple's soul.
Any living being that developed intelligence would develop a soul. Though Little Purple had not taken human form, it still possessed a soul.
Little Purple soon ceased moving, as though it had fainted. Its mouth hung open, and its tongue dangled from the edge of its jaws.
The Soul Seizing Curse was a soul's suppression over another soul. Aside from consuming spiritual energy, it also consumed soul power. Moreover, the curse could seize no more than five souls at once. Any more than that would cause backlash to the caster's soul and weaken its suppressive force.
After a while.
Fang Wang placed the unconscious Little Purple beside him. This was his first time using the Soul Seizing Curse, and even at Great Perfection, it left him somewhat dizzy.
"You truly learned it. But try not to use it in the future, because your cultivation is still too low. The reason I came to find you this time was to help you break through to the Spirit Pill Realm," Zhou Xue said. She had regained her composure, making it impossible to tell what she was thinking.
Fang Wang nodded, then asked, "After I break through to the Spirit Pill Realm, should we deal with Lu Yuanjun within the Great Sage's Grotto-Heaven? If you and I join forces, we should be able to take him down, right? His cultivation is below the fifth level of the Mysterious Heart Realm."
The fifth level of the Mysterious Heart Realm was the limit for entering the Great Sage's Grotto-Heaven, so Lu Yuanjun's cultivation could be inferred from that.
The Night of the Clan Annihilation at Fang Manor might have been Zhao Zhen's choice, but Zhao Zhen served Lu Yuanjun. Everything had begun because Lu Yuanjun wanted to absorb souls. Zhao Zhen had merely taken advantage of the situation to include Fang Manor. Lu Yuanjun appeared kind and warmhearted, yet he had secretly caused the deaths of millions of commoners. Fang Wang felt no burden whatsoever at the thought of killing him.
Zhou Xue raised a hand and pointed at Little Purple from afar before answering.
"No. Lu Yuanjun's strength is not so simple. I have yet to determine what exactly that Ghost Artifact, which absorbed millions of souls, is. In my previous life, he never used a Ghost Artifact—at least, I never saw one. Besides, killing Lu Yuanjun would cause far too much trouble. Guang Qiuxian and Yang Yuanzi would both become your mortal enemies."
Zhou Xue's words made Fang Wang frown.
He could understand Guang Qiuxian supporting Lu Yuanjun, but why would his master support Lu Yuanjun too?
Zhou Xue continued, "Lu Yuanjun's biological parents came from the Demonic Path. They died when he was three, and Yang Yuanzi was the one who brought him back to the Taiyuan Sect. Both Guang Qiuxian and Yang Yuanzi had once been close friends of Lu Yuanjun's mother. Yang Yuanzi even charged alone into Green Cicada Valley for Lu Yuanjun's mother. This is a buried past of the Taiyuan Sect. It was only many years later, when Yang Yuanzi suffered cultivation deviation and wreaked havoc in the Taiyuan Sect, that this matter was exposed."
"Then why did you have me join the Third Vein?" Fang Wang felt speechless.
Zhou Xue snorted. "Joining any other vein would be useless, since it is the sect master who supports Lu Yuanjun. The reason I had you join the Third Vein was because I wanted you to meet Yang Yuanzi sooner. Yang Yuanzi is extremely protective of his own. His relationship with Lu Yuanjun is not good. As long as you do not kill Lu Yuanjun, he may even help you seize Lu Yuanjun's position as Senior Disciple, provided he does not know that the two of you are mortal enemies."
Fang Wang's brow furrowed even deeper. Zhou Xue was plotting against Yang Yuanzi.
"Lu Yuanjun cannot die, at least not yet, because we need him to push Great Qi into becoming an Immortal Cultivation dynasty. Lu Yuanjun's background is special. The people behind him can help bring together the righteous and demonic paths. Once Great Qi successfully becomes an Immortal Cultivation dynasty, a great opportunity will arrive. That is also what the Nine Great Sects are jointly pursuing. Once we obtain that opportunity, we can kill Lu Yuanjun and depart in triumph, even if Guang Qiuxian and Yang Yuanzi try to stop us."
"Most importantly, the Fang Family needs time to grow. You and I can flee after killing Lu Yuanjun now, but the Fang Family cannot. Do you understand? Endure it for now!"
Zhou Xue spoke earnestly. Hearing this, Fang Wang also felt that he could not act rashly.
He sighed and said, "Why did you not tell me this earlier?"
Zhou Xue said, "If you knew all this, how could you still face Yang Yuanzi?"
Fang Wang fell silent.
Zhou Xue said nothing more and let him think it over slowly.
Fang Wang raised his eyes and asked, "What about Zhao Zhen?"
Zhou Xue said calmly, "Once he leaves the Taiyuan Sect, I will kill him. After he dies, the Taiyuan Sect will support one of his descendants as emperor. His purpose will have been fulfilled. The reason I did not kill him before was merely because we needed Zhao Zhen to help bring about Great Qi's transformation into an Immortal Cultivation dynasty, since this matter involves the various powerful Aristocratic Clans of both the Immortal Cultivation world and the mortal world."
"Alright. Next, we should prepare to help you break through to the Spirit Pill Realm. I have already prepared the Heavenly Treasures you need. What remains is to find a suitable place for your breakthrough."
Before you continue