The Chase

"What am I doing? Obviously, taking over your body!" The black-robed elder's voice turned cold. His eyes remained tightly shut, and his once-gaunt body, already gravely wounded, had no life left in it.

Lu Xiaotian's mind exploded with a boom, and darkness swallowed his vision.

When his sight cleared again, he found himself in a vast expanse of whitish mist. Bare sand and soil covered the ground. In the distance, a hazy stretch of space disappeared into the fog; he couldn't make out what lay there or where it ended.

Why was he back in this strange place? Lu Xiaotian was baffled, but soon he remembered the black-robed elder. He shouted, "What does it mean to take over someone's body?"

"Taking over someone's body means devouring your Primordial Spirit and claiming your body. Come to your master's mouth, good disciple. This time, I've taken a Soul-Binding Fruit. Once I devour you, I'll be able to retain a considerable amount of the spiritual power in your soul. After I swallow you, we'll become one. With your body, it won't take long for me to achieve Foundation Establishment, and I'll have plenty of time to pursue the Great Dao of the Golden Core."

A sinister, unrestrained voice drifted through the air. If other cultivators had heard of the Soul-Binding Fruit, they would have been astonished. This fruit had vanished from the cultivation world many years ago; even Golden Core Patriarchs could hardly obtain one. Yet this black-robed elder, a mere cultivator at the peak of Qi Refining, had managed to get his hands on one. His fortunes were truly extraordinary.

Ordinary body-snatching forcibly devoured the other person's Primordial Spirit and left some aftereffects. But taking this fruit could minimize those side effects and allow the user to absorb as much of the other person's Primordial Spirit as possible.

The effect worked both ways, however: the other person could absorb his Primordial Spirit and make its power their own. Of course, the black-robed elder didn't think that was possible. How could a little nobody at the First Layer of Qi Refining possibly be his match?

"Old bastard! You damned turtle! I knew you were up to no good. May you die a horrible death!"

At once, Lu Xiaotian flew into a rage. The old monster had harbored such vile intentions—he'd lured Lu Xiaotian back to his cave dwelling, and Lu Xiaotian had even foolishly helped him get everything ready. What an idiot, pushing himself straight into a pit of fire.

"Hmph. You don't even know what kind of Spirit Root you have. If I hadn't taught you the Primordial Unity Scripture, you'd still be a servant in some third-rate worldly sect, spending your whole life fetching water and chopping wood. If I had any other choice, I wouldn't even look twice at a wretched Spirit Root like yours! You should be grateful I chose you. Come here quietly and let me swallow you in one bite. I'll give you a quick death. Make me angry, and I'll tear your soul apart and refine it until you've tasted every ounce of agony and regret being born into this world." The black-robed elder spoke in a vicious tone.

"Old bastard, save your threats. If you've got the guts, come here yourself. I'm not afraid of you." Lu Xiaotian had once been terrified of the black-robed elder, but now that death was all but certain, what was stopping him from cursing the old monster, even if he couldn't beat him?

"Nothing but a sharp tongue. Insolent fool! You thought the water I had you soak in was bathwater? It was Soul-Locking Soup. Once you got in, your divine sense couldn't leave your body. Let's see how long you can hide." The black-robed elder burst into triumphant laughter as his Primordial Spirit searched for him, step by step.

The black-robed elder had plotted this all along—he was truly sinister. Lu Xiaotian was shocked and furious, yet helpless against him. The old monster had so many tricks up his sleeve, all beyond Lu Xiaotian's imagination. No wonder he had refused to teach him anything before: he'd been afraid Lu Xiaotian might learn enough to threaten him.

Escape. Even if he died, he couldn't let the black-robed elder have things all his own way. He struggled to fly farther away.

"Hey? What sort of bizarre place is this? Why does it look a little like a canyon?"

Lu Xiaotian felt as light as a feather, drifting through the air. With a mere thought, he could float several yards—or even dozens of yards—away. He had barely had time to marvel at it before the black-robed elder's shrill laughter rang in his ears. "Good disciple, where do you think you're going?"

"That old beast!" Lu Xiaotian focused his gaze. A faint, indistinct figure came into view. Its gloomy features were identical to the black-robed elder's. Who else could it be? It looked rather like the ghosts from the country folk's tales, its body drifting through the air.

What terrible luck, Lu Xiaotian groaned inwardly. But he wasn't about to lie down and wait for death. From their conversation, he could tell this was the black-robed elder's soul—or, in a cultivator's terms, more precisely, his Primordial Spirit.

Lu Xiaotian fled with all his strength while the black-robed elder pursued him, confident of victory. He had no idea why he'd ended up in this baffling place, but the boy had soaked in his Soul-Locking Soup. With the pitiful strength of the First Layer of Qi Refining, there was no way he could escape the elder's grasp.

"Brat, stop! Keep running and don't blame me for what happens!"

After chasing through the mist for a while, the black-robed elder shouted in exasperation.

"Old bastard, I'm not going to stand here and wait for you to kill me. If you've got the guts, catch me!" Lu Xiaotian shot back without backing down. Their chase had given him a little confidence. The black-robed elder's Primordial Spirit didn't seem much faster than his. If he just kept running, the old monster might not catch him.

"Looks like I'll have to teach you a lesson before you understand how powerful I am!" The black-robed elder roared in fury. If he used a powerful spell, he might accidentally blast Lu Xiaotian's Primordial Spirit to smithereens; all he needed was to stop the brat. The black-robed elder began chanting, and his Primordial Spirit grew slightly fainter.

Lu Xiaotian was fleeing with all his might when a yellow earthen shield suddenly appeared in front of him. He jolted in alarm, but couldn't change direction in time and slammed headlong into it. His head spun, and his ears rang.

A triumphant, guttural cackle rang out—much closer than before.

Lu Xiaotian's heart lurched. He forced down his discomfort and veered around the earthen shield, fleeing as hard as he could. The black-robed elder had far more tricks than he could have imagined. His only chance of survival lay in putting as much distance as possible between himself and that terrifying man.

The black-robed elder crowed, "You can't escape, little fellow. If I weren't afraid of destroying your Primordial Spirit, one Fireball Technique would reduce you to nothing. Even so, I only need to cast two more Earth Shield Techniques to catch you. Stay where you are and let me devour your Primordial Spirit. You'll spare yourself a great deal of needless pain."

"Bullshit!"

He was the one trying to kill Lu Xiaotian, and he still had the gall to dress it up as if he were doing him a favor. What shamelessness. Lu Xiaotian was furious, but there was nothing he could do against the black-robed elder. The other man was far too powerful.

Though Lu Xiaotian kept fleeing with all his might, despair filled his heart. The gap between them was steadily shrinking. The black-robed elder cast another Earth Shield Technique, and the larger and smaller Primordial Spirits were now only several yards apart.

Lu Xiaotian fled onward, fueled by nothing but anger and the determination not to let the old monster have his way. In his haste, he failed to notice a wisp of mist, fine as a thread, floating toward his Primordial Spirit through the surrounding haze.

"Heh heh, I'm about to catch you. Ow!"

A cry of pain rang out behind him. Startled, Lu Xiaotian looked back. The black-robed elder's hideous face was right behind him, his mouth opening to bite down. Lu Xiaotian jumped in fright—but then he saw that the black-robed elder seemed to have struck a barrier, and he was startled all over again. Only then did he notice that a protective screen, seemingly condensed from mist, had appeared between them. More precisely, he was now wrapped inside the misty barrier, cut off from the black-robed elder.

"What the hell is this misty barrier? Why can you control it?" The black-robed elder was furious, yet disbelieving. Despite years of roaming the cultivation world, he'd never heard of anyone's sea of consciousness looking so strange. He had even studied other cultivators' experiences with body-snatching and made preparations accordingly. Why had none of them ever mentioned anything like this?

"I can control it, so what? Come on, old bastard—come bite me!" Seeing that the black-robed elder had tried several times and still couldn't get through, Lu Xiaotian's confidence soared. He taunted the elder with scorn and derision.