Possession, the Prince's Residence Guard

At the Prince of Xiushan's Residence, in the study.

A fine Duan inkstone was smashed viciously against the floor, shattering into pieces and splattering ink everywhere.

Zheng Xian, the Prince of Xiushan, a high-ranking official governing a vast territory, paced back and forth across the study like a raging lion.

"Useless! You're all useless!"

His eyes scarlet, he roared at the aides and steward kneeling before him.

"A secret manual! Stolen right under my nose! What are all of you even good for?!"

The steward bowed his head even lower, his body trembling like a sieve.

"Please calm your anger, Your Highness... the assassin... the assassin was an expert from the White Lotus Sect. The guards in the residence were no match at all..."

"The White Lotus Sect!" Li Xian kicked over the incense burner beside him. The bronze vessel tumbled to the floor, scattering ash everywhere. "The White Lotus Sect again!"

He stopped abruptly, and another face he hated flashed through his mind.

The bandit chief, Black Wind Baleful Intent.

The princess consort had been abducted and the library tower robbed on the same night.

The two incidents had to be connected!

This was a provocation, a naked slap in the face of the Prince of Xiushan's Residence!

His woman, Zheng Xian's woman, had been defiled by a filthy bandit. The Zheng imperial family's secret manual had vanished without a trace from his own residence.

If word got out, he would become the greatest laughingstock in the entire Great Shang Imperial Dynasty!

As for whether the princess consort had truly lost her chastity, it no longer mattered.

What mattered was that everyone believed she had.

At the thought that he might be wearing a bright green hat, Li Xian could no longer suppress the killing intent in his heart.

He had no energy to deal with the princess consort who had already lost her chastity, but he could kill that bandit chief first!

"Guards!"

A guard strode in through the doorway and dropped to one knee.

"What are your orders, Your Highness?"

Without so much as glancing at him, Zheng Xian squeezed out a few words through clenched teeth.

"Go to the dungeon and kill that bandit chief called Black Wind Baleful Intent for me!"

He paused, then added, his voice full of boundless disgust.

"Don't use a blade from the residence. He'll dirty it."

"Yes, Your Highness!"

The guard accepted his orders, rose, and withdrew.

In a secluded loft in the rear courtyard of the prince's residence.

Li Rong'er sat before the cold dressing table, looking at the haggard, pale face in the bronze mirror.

She had heard the faint roars coming from outside.

She had been confined here under house arrest for the past few days. Apart from the mute maid who brought her meals, she had seen no one.

The prince had not come to see her once.

She knew she was finished.

In this world, a woman's chastity was more important than her life.

No matter how she explained or defended herself, it was no use.

She had been found on the bandit chief's bed, her clothes in disarray.

That was her original sin.

Li Rong'er's fingertips brushed across the cold mirror. A single clear tear slid down her cheek and spread into a small damp patch on the table.

She suddenly felt that she would have been better off dying on Black Wind Mountain.

The dungeon.

The heavy iron door was opened from outside with an ear-piercing scrape.

A beam of light illuminated the dark cell.

Chen Fan opened his eyes on the pile of straw and looked toward the entrance.

An unfamiliar guard stood there against the light, an ordinary waist saber in his hand.

"Get up," the guard said without a trace of emotion. "Your time to die has come."

Chen Fan swayed as he got to his feet, his chest wound slowing his movements.

The guard roughly hauled him out of the cell, his chains clattering as they dragged along the ground.

The guard did not take him to an execution ground. Instead, he dragged him to a secluded corner outside the dungeon, overgrown with weeds. It looked like a place where unimportant prisoners were executed.

"Do it." Chen Fan leaned against the wall and looked calmly at the guard.

The guard was taken aback by how calmly he faced death.

But Chen Fan spoke again, asking him a question he found inconceivable.

"Before you kill me, let me ask you something."

The guard frowned, growing impatient.

"What's your position? How strong are you?"

The guard was utterly baffled. He wondered whether confinement had driven the bandit chief stupid.

On the verge of death, he neither begged for mercy nor cursed, but asked about his executioner's credentials instead?

With a trace of mockery, he let out a cold laugh.

"I'm one of the prince's personal guards, a Ninth Grade martial artist. What, afraid dying at the hands of a nobody will tarnish your name, Black Wind Baleful Intent?"

Ninth Grade.

Chen Fan sighed inwardly.

What a... huge loss.

He had dropped straight from Li Zhong, a Subordinate Seventh Rank, to a nameless Ninth Grade guard.

That stock had taken quite a tumble.

Still, it was better than nothing.

The identity of one of the prince's personal guards was better than an executioner's. At least he could remain at the center of the vortex that was the prince's residence and have a chance to approach higher-value targets.

Forget it. I won't be picky.

"Do it." Chen Fan closed his eyes, looking resigned to his fate.

This completely bewildered the guard.

Looking at the strange bandit chief before him, he could only think there was something wrong with his head.

Without another word, the guard raised his saber.

He wanted to complete the task the prince had given him as quickly as possible.

In the dim light, the cold blade traced an arc of death.

[Host's murder detected]

[Target locked: Lin Shou, guard of the prince's residence]

[Priority assessment: direct murder, highest priority.]

[Death-Substitution Rebirth... activated!]

[Beginning possession...]

[Possession in progress... 1%...]

[15%...]

[58%...]

[99%...]

[100%!]

[Congratulations, host: possession successful!]

The guard's vision blurred, and an irresistible wave of exhaustion swept over his mind.

The saber in his hand fell to the ground with a clang.

He wanted to see what was happening to him, but his eyelids weighed a thousand pounds.

At last, his body swayed, then toppled straight forward.

A moment later.

A finger of the "guard" lying on the ground twitched.

Chen Fan slowly opened his eyes.

He looked down at the somewhat unfamiliar hands and felt the feeble Ninth Grade internal power within him, somewhat helpless.

Then he stood up and dusted himself off.

He picked up the saber from the ground and returned it to his waist.

Next, he bent down and gave the corpse of "Black Wind Baleful Intent" on the ground a cursory disposal.

He hastily covered these things, along with the blood on the ground, with the dirt at his feet.

Once he had done all that, he straightened his guard's uniform and strode away from the dungeon.

From today onward, he was an ordinary guard of the Prince of Xiushan's Residence.

A new life had begun.

He had just stepped out of the gloomy corner when he came face-to-face with someone.

The newcomer was also dressed as a guard and visibly relaxed at the sight of him.

"Lin Shou, where have you been? The prince wants to question you in the rear courtyard!"

Lin Shou?

So that was this body's name.

Before Chen Fan could speak, the guard grabbed him by the arm and hurriedly dragged him along.

"Quick! Her Highness the princess consort... it looks like she's going to kill herself!"