Seizing the Body

With his spiritual power freed, Fang Xiao continued driving the Great White Sword Pellet to destroy the silk cocoon. Having suffered a loss just now, he had hidden a large number of passively triggered Sword Qi outside his Sea of Consciousness as a precaution. If the enemy truly dared to enter, he would turn him into a hornet's nest.

While Fang Xiao was busy, the person opposite him was busy as well.

Fang Xiao had not guessed wrong. This man was from the Gold Vein of Five Elements Sect. His name was Wang Zhongping, and he was an elder of the Gold Vein at the early Golden Core stage.

Wang Zhongping had been carrying out a mission elsewhere when, on his way back to the Gold Vein, he was ambushed by two Seventh Order demon beasts comparable to late Golden Core stage cultivators. Had his strength not been considerable, he would have nearly perished on the spot. The instant he reacted, he activated a third-grade Teleportation Talisman he had obtained through a fortuitous encounter. By the time he teleported here, his body was already on the verge of collapse and could not leave at all. His Golden Core had also suffered grievous damage and was covered in cracks. Even if he survived, his path of cultivation would be hopeless.

Moreover, the restriction he had placed on his Fifth Order spirit beast, the Water Cloud Spider, was not one that forced it to die with him. As his soul weakened, his control over the Water Cloud Spider had likewise fallen to rock bottom.

That was why it had swiftly distanced itself from its master. It was merely waiting for him to die so it could regain its freedom.

Though he could still exert a little control over it, the Water Cloud Spider refused to approach him no matter what. That was why, after Fang Xiao was captured and brought here, it promptly left. Aside from Wang Zhongping himself, the other dark figures were cultivators captured in the same manner.

Unfortunately, they were all trash with Four Spiritual Roots or Five Spiritual Roots. The only somewhat better one, Yu Mengsheng, possessed merely Three Spiritual Roots—and Wood, Water, Fire Spiritual Roots that were incompatible with his own. Wang Zhongping had originally intended to grit his teeth and choose Yu Mengsheng as the target of his body seizure once his soul could no longer endure.

But Fang Xiao's appearance gave him hope. Wang Zhongping himself had originally possessed Gold, Earth Spiritual Roots, then used the sect's Secret Art to elevate them into a Gold attribute Heavenly Spiritual Root. Now that he had encountered someone with a Gold-Earth Dual Spirit Root, he felt that Heaven had given him another chance. Fang Xiao had to be his target for body seizure.

At this moment, he was also doing his utmost to stabilize his soul. It had already been exceedingly weak; the expenditure of controlling his spirit beast while capturing cultivators, coupled with the turmoil Fang Xiao's words had stirred in his state of mind, had shown signs of causing his soul to dissipate. Yet after considerable effort, his soul gradually stabilized. To guard against unforeseen developments, he decided to seize a body as soon as possible.

By now, Fang Xiao's Great White Sword Pellet had already broken free and lay hidden beneath his feet. Within the Storage Bag he had long since opened, the Spirit Bewildering Bell was also poised to strike.

He did not understand Wang Zhongping's circumstances and could only assess his own situation. For the time being, his body could not escape the cocoon, so he could not use Body Integration with Sword. Even if he escaped while dragging the silk cocoon along, he could not evade the Water Cloud Spider's pursuit. If he were captured again, he might not be as fortunate as he was now.

He did not have to wait long. A white light approached from afar—a soul resembling white flame, wrapped around a pure white Golden Core covered in cracks. It seemed as though it might shatter at any moment. It was Wang Zhongping's soul and Golden Core.

Neither spoke. When Wang Zhongping came within roughly ten meters of Fang Xiao, Fang Xiao immediately activated the Spirit Bewildering Bell. Its chimes rang out madly. Whether it would work or not, the Great White Sword Pellet beneath his feet transformed into a streak of white light and shot directly at the soul.

Wang Zhongping had also believed that, with the Water Cloud Spider's silk cocoon and his own restriction in place, Fang Xiao's Spiritual Sense at the Foundation Establishment Early Stage could accomplish nothing. It should have been foolproof. Who could have expected Fang Xiao to have already removed the restriction? Though the Spirit Bewildering Bell was only a Top-grade magic tool, Wang Zhongping's soul was currently weak and powerless, and he had been completely unprepared. It sent him into a momentary daze. By the time he regained his senses, a white light was already right before him and struck his Golden Core head-on.

He made a prompt decision, immediately abandoning his Golden Core and part of his soul. The separated soul charged toward Fang Xiao's brow without a care for anything else.

The struck Golden Core burst apart. Though Wang Zhongping had not deliberately detonated it, it still unleashed horrifying destruction. Countless streams of white spiritual power shot in every direction, severing Fang Xiao's connection with the Great White Sword Pellet at the center.

Wang Zhongping's soul and the terrifying white light behind it came one after the other. Fang Xiao only had time to raise the Spirit Bewildering Bell before himself.

The Spirit Bewildering Bell seemed useless against souls. Wang Zhongping's soul passed directly through it and was about to bore into Fang Xiao's brow. The white light behind it also struck the bell. It held for only an instant before, with a crack, shattering into countless fragments.

Just as the soul entering Fang Xiao's brow was about to enter his Sea of Consciousness, countless streaks of Sword Qi shot forth, riddling it like a hornet's nest. Yet it still persisted in entering the Sea of Consciousness.

Inside the Sea of Consciousness, Wang Zhongping's soul immediately began searching for Fang Xiao's soul. In the vast Sea of Consciousness, he saw no other soul—only a gourd hanging in the air.

Just as he intended to probe into the gourd, the Soul Nurturing Gourd activated its soul-stimulating effect. Wang Zhongping's soul, already suffering layer upon layer of grievous injuries, began to tremble and shudder. Collapse was right before his eyes.

But Fang Xiao did not wait. Countless ordinary flying-sword-like streams of Spiritual Sense flew from the gourd. His soul was now like a target, and ten thousand swords rained down upon it wildly until it vanished without a trace.

Outside the Sea of Consciousness, before Fang Xiao's body, during the instant the Spirit Bewildering Bell held on, he had already activated the Profound Heavy Seal Talisman Treasure that had been stored in his Storage Bag for so long. A deep blue dharma seal stood before Fang Xiao.

The white light slammed into it as well. The dharma seal held for several breaths before beginning to flicker erratically. In the end, it became a talisman and burned away completely. However, the white light had also spent its force. Fang Xiao unleashed Spitting Breath into Sword, offsetting the white light that had been aimed at his vital point, while the remaining white lights grazed past his face and left wounds of varying depth across it.

Though the silk cocoon wrapped around him was exceedingly resilient, it was now tattered beyond recognition. Green light flashed within the cocoon, followed by a streak of green sword light that cleaved a huge hole through what little silk cocoon remained. The sword light wrapped around Fang Xiao and carried him out. Seeing that the Great White Sword Pellet was somewhat dim but otherwise intact, he recalled it into his Dantian to nurture it.

He did not dare delay. Once the Water Cloud Spider sensed its master's death, it would certainly rush back at once. He gathered everything he could see, immediately activated the Wind Riding Boat, tossed the several cultivators still wrapped in silk cocoons onto it, then controlled the Wind Riding Boat himself and flew toward the cave entrance.

Green light suddenly flashed at the cave mouth, and the entire entrance exploded. The Wind Riding Boat transformed into a streak of green light and shot into the clouds. After adjusting its direction, it flew off like an arrow and vanished beyond the horizon.

The late-arriving Water Cloud Spider flew into a rage out of humiliation, madly destroying everything in sight within the cave and releasing piercing screeches.

Fang Xiao had originally planned that, if the Water Cloud Spider caught up to them, he would abandon these people and use Body Integration with Sword to flee as a rainbow streak. But it seemed that while the Fifth Order Water Cloud Spider was first-rate at trapping enemies, it did not excel in speed.

The group had been lucky as well. When the Golden Core exploded, none of them had been affected in the slightest where they lay. Sensing the auras of the several people inside the silk cocoons, Fang Xiao found them somewhat weak but all still alive, so he left them alone for the moment. He would deal with them after returning to Linyuan City.

In short, although he had obtained a Golden Core cultivator's legacy this time, had the other party not been weakened to the extreme, along with so many fortunate coincidences, he likely would have found it difficult to escape the danger of death.

Five Elements Sect caused me all this trouble, and I even saved one of your Five Elements Sect formation masters. You had better compensate me properly.