Soul Possession

Roar!

Old Ancestor Tai Yin let out a corpse-like roar.

The four Bronze Armored Corpses obediently came over and set the coffin on the ground.

Living people needed to use secret arts to fuse their vital blood into refined corpses, then combine hand seals and corpse-controlling magical artifacts to command them.

After Old Ancestor Tai Yin had reincarnated as a Silver Armored Corpse, he could control low-level zombies at will, as if it were an innate instinct.

He lifted the coffin lid, revealing Zhou Yi hidden inside.

Zhou Yi looked vividly alive. If not for the absence of breath and heartbeat, he would truly have seemed like a living person.

"Cackle, cackle, cackle!"

Old Ancestor Tai Yin laughed like dead wood grinding together. "As expected of a prodigy of our Daoist lineage. His bones and sinews are in no way inferior to the Buddhist Sect's golden body!"

"Our Daoist lineage's Innate spiritual bodies accord with the Great Dao. Even after death, they can absorb spiritual energy for tempering. They will not rot for a hundred years or decay for a thousand. Compared to those bald donkeys' golden-body acupoint-sealing method, this is superior by far!"

Tai Yin greedily glanced at Zhou Yi, picked up the coffin, and walked into the room.

The wooden coffin weighed several hundred pounds, yet in the Silver Armored Corpse's hands, it seemed weightless.

The windows and door cracks had all been sealed tightly, leaving not the slightest trace of light.

Though it was broad daylight outside, the room was pitch-black, and nothing could be seen.

With his zombie body, Old Ancestor Tai Yin could see at night. He set down the coffin and took out a fist-sized piece of Purple Jade.

A low, murmured chant began to sound. A pale blue ball of light appeared on the Silver Armored Corpse's forehead, drifting into the Purple Jade like ghostfire.

The purple jade rose into the air and landed on Zhou Yi's forehead.

Purple radiance bloomed, illuminating Zhou Yi's body. Old Ancestor Tai Yin's soul followed the purple light and entered Zhou Yi's body.

Old Ancestor Tai Yin floated within the Sea of Consciousness, assuming his original appearance: white hair, a youthful face, and ancient, dignified features. He looked like an enlightened master.

"Hahaha! This venerable one still has at least five hundred years of lifespan left. Perhaps I may yet glimpse the realm of the Primordial Spirit..."

"Something's wrong... How could a dead person have a Sea of Consciousness?"

Old Ancestor Tai Yin's expression changed. Just as he tried to flee the Sea of Consciousness, an immeasurable force suddenly suppressed him, leaving him utterly unable to move.

"You weren't completely foolish after all!"

Zhou Yi's voice echoed through the Sea of Consciousness. "This Sword Saint was in secluded cultivation, yet someone dug me up and tried to possess my body. Tell me, does that person deserve to die?"

"Spare my life, Fellow Daoist!"

Old Ancestor Tai Yin's expression shifted as he desperately wanted to put on a brave front.

However, when a soul entered another person's Sea of Consciousness, unless its Soul Power was a hundred or even a thousand times stronger than the other party's, it could only submit obediently.

"I have a tremendous secret related to the Great Dao of the Primordial Spirit. As long as Fellow Daoist spares my life..."

"Sorry, I'm not interested!"

After Zhou Yi spoke, the power of both his soul and flesh descended in suppression.

A storm rose within the Sea of Consciousness, sweeping over Old Ancestor Tai Yin's soul and continuously tearing it apart.

Strands of pure Soul Power merged into the Sea of Consciousness, rapidly expanding its boundaries.

A moment later, Old Ancestor Tai Yin vanished completely, leaving behind only Zhou Yi's sigh.

Old Ancestor Tai Yin could be called a true tyrant. To extend his lifespan, he had forcibly turned himself into a zombie. Yet one careless misstep had reduced him to ashes.

The immortal path was long. One must be cautious from beginning to end.

Inside the coffin.

Zhou Yi slowly opened his eyes.

A gleam flashed through them, and everything within a radius of ten feet appeared clearly in his mind.

His Divine Sense had increased greatly. Its range had gone from two or three feet to a full ten feet.

With a thought, a True Yuan Flying Sword left his body and flew thirty feet away, darting swiftly through the air like a living creature.

"Back then, Senior Brother could control a sword from ten feet away, and I thought him heaven-sent. In the blink of an eye, decades have passed, and I too have reached this step. I truly have to thank Fellow Daoist Tai Yin for delivering his soul from so far away."

A head delivered from a thousand miles away—small gift, weighty sentiment!

Zhou Yi climbed out of the coffin and searched the room.

As the patriarch of a sect, Old Ancestor Tai Yin had lived for at least a hundred and fifty years. He was bound to possess quite a few good things.

Yet, to Zhou Yi's surprise, there was nothing valuable in the room.

"Could they be in..."

Zhou Yi opened the door. Outside, the sky was filled with stars.

The battle of Divine Sense had seemed easy to win, but erasing Old Ancestor Tai Yin's soul had actually taken several hours.

Old Ancestor Tai Yin had lived long enough. His Soul Power was several times greater than Zhou Yi's, and it was exceptionally resilient.

He wailed for hours and begged for mercy for hours, only cursing Zhou Yi to die without a burial place when his soul was about to disperse.

The Black Coffin stood in the night, eerie and terrifying.

Zhou Yi lifted the coffin lid and discovered that the lid alone weighed several thousand pounds. It was definitely not made of iron or stone.

Inside was a Five-Layer Brocade Box. Upon opening it, he found a scroll of Bamboo Slips, an Eight Trigrams mirror, a Three-Inch Gold Sword, five pitch-black Darkstones, and a scroll of Corpse Refining Notes.

The Corpse Refining Notes had been written by Old Ancestor Tai Yin. Zhou Yi set them aside immediately; they were nearly useless to him.

Darkstone contained pure yin-fiend energy and counted as a special type of Spirit Stone, though unfortunately, it could not be used for cultivation.

Spirit Stones were formed from condensed Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy. The spiritual energy in one Spirit Stone was enough for an Innate Grandmaster to cultivate for a month. Unfortunately, Zhou Yi had only heard Yan Chixia speak of them and had never seen one himself.

Legend had it that ancient Qi Practitioners refined spiritual energy primarily through Spirit Stones. The spiritual energy within them was not only abundant, but also pure.

The instant Zhou Yi picked up the golden flying sword, information appeared in the equipment section of his attribute panel.

Magical Artifact: Dark Gold Flying Sword

Rank: Tier 1

Description: Gold refined a hundred times becomes red gold; red gold refined a hundred times becomes dark gold. It contains three Earth Fiend Restraints.

"Dark Gold Flying Sword... Could Tai Yin's zombie body actually wield a sword?"

Zhou Yi carefully extended his Divine Sense into the flying sword and found no lingering spiritual imprint. It was clearly only part of Old Ancestor Tai Yin's collection, perhaps acquired after killing some enemy.

It happened to benefit Zhou Yi. This was a genuine magical flying sword, worth as much as the Purple Sun Sword Qi Scripture.

"Armor-piercing, swiftness, and heavy strike—the three Forbidden Seals are all killing techniques. Combined with dark gold's inherent sharpness, even a Silver Armored Corpse could not withstand it!"

Zhou Yi briefly refined the flying sword, then picked up the final item: the Bamboo Slips.

Spell: Soul Possession

Rank: Tier 1

Description: A soul possession technique. The Soul-Reflecting Stone is required to perform possession. After possession, cultivation can no longer advance.

"This wasn't the Soul Transfer Great Method at all. It was clearly a soul possession spell Tai Yin had obtained from somewhere."

Zhou Yi recorded the soul possession spell, but he had no intention of cultivating it. The fact that one's cultivation could no longer advance after possession greatly reduced the technique's value.

"This Black Coffin is a treasure. It can actually absorb Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy and convert it into yin energy."

Zhou Yi placed the Silver Armored Corpse inside the Black Coffin, then returned to the room to sit in meditation and cultivate.

Ten days passed in the blink of an eye.

Knock, knock, knock!

A knock sounded at the door.

Heavenly Corpse Sect Master Li Pan reported, "Old Ancestor, tomorrow is Dragon Raises Head. Do you have any instructions?"

"Come in!" Zhou Yi's voice became hoarse and aged.

Li Pan and the others filed inside. All of them were elders of the Heavenly Corpse Sect.

"This venerable one has obtained a new body, a truly joyous occasion. Yet it reminded me of my years cultivating within the sect. Did you bring the sect's scriptures? This venerable one wishes to recite them and settle my mind in preparation for tomorrow's battle!"

After considering it carefully, Zhou Yi finally came up with a fairly plausible excuse.

Li Pan frowned and looked up at the Old Ancestor in confusion. "Reporting to Old Ancestor, you personally instructed us that this matter was of great importance and that we must not sever the sect's inheritance. You specifically ordered us not to bring the scriptures..."

Zhou Yi was stunned. He had not expected this complication. Tai Yin truly had been cunning.

"Hahaha, this venerable one remembers now. There was indeed such a matter. Then write out the scriptures from memory and present them to this venerable one."

Li Pan suddenly straightened his back and stared at Zhou Yi.

"Old Ancestor, you never gave such an order..."