Possession

"Since you possess such cunning, Senior Sister Shen, and have obtained Senior Brother Yang's jade plaques, why insist on dragging me along?" Qin Sang wore a contemplative expression, but he was actually stalling for time, relentlessly absorbing the spiritual power from his spirit stones. Since Shen Jing did not want to leave, then she wouldn't be leaving at all! He would never cooperate with Shen Jing again. How could anyone constantly guard against a thief every single day? He had to admit that facing this ruthless woman with her superb acting skills sent waves of chills through his heart. "To tell you the truth, Junior Brother Qin, my original set of needle-shaped magic tools was completely destroyed by Yang Yuanzang with his Chilong Sword. The Gold-Casting Ring, the Soul-Bewildering Mirror, the Void-Traversing Wind, and even the Sand Phantom Incantation I cultivate are enough to keep me alive, but fall short when it comes to killing enemies. I had no other choice, which was why I wanted to attach myself to you and Senior Brother Yang." As Shen Jing spoke, she glanced at the ground between them, where the Chilong Sword lay quietly with the ebony sword hovering above it. Seeing that Qin Sang ignored her, Shen Jing opened Yang Yuanzang's mustard seed bag and took out four jade plaques to show him. "Junior Brother Qin, of these four jade plaques, I'll give you two and keep two for myself. Adding the two on me, we only need to join forces to seize one more, and then we will hold them together. And that bottle of century-old stalactite milk—once we join the Yuanzhao Sect, I will definitely give you half. What do you think?" Without waiting for Qin Sang to reply, Shen Jing decisively tossed two of the jade plaques toward him, quietly awaiting his decision. Qin Sang hesitated for a long time. Because the distance was too great to examine them with spiritual sense, he condensed an avatar out of spiritual power, which walked over and picked up the jade plaques. Nothing seemed amiss. The avatar swept back in front of Qin Sang. He raised his hand as if to take the jade plaques, but abruptly stopped halfway. A sharp gleam flashed in his eyes, and he barked: "Strike!" Without warning, the ebony sword hovering in midair shot out like lightning. Unexpectedly, Shen Jing showed no panic at all. Facing the ebony sword, she neither dodged nor hid, giggling repeatedly. "I knew all along you wouldn't agree!" Before her voice faded, the golden ring above her head abruptly took flight, releasing dazzling golden light and accurately intercepting the incoming path of the ebony sword. With a clang, the golden ring caught the ebony sword. Brilliant golden light erupted, pressing inward, making it impossible for the ebony sword to break free for a moment. *Bang, bang, bang...* Under the ceaseless battering of the ebony sword, fissures rapidly appeared across the golden ring. Shen Jing was actually willing to ruin this defensive magic tool just to trap the ebony sword for a single instant! At the same time, Qin Sang's startled, furious roar rang out in the middle of the valley. Just as Qin Sang was fully focused on driving the ebony sword, a glowing blue orb suddenly drifted out from the two jade plaques in his avatar's hands. Fast as lightning, it lunged right at his face in the blink of an eye. Yang Yuanzang's origin soul! If a cultivator's origin soul failed to escape in time upon the death of their physical body, it would perish along with it. However, Yang Yuanzang had died at Shen Jing's hands, and before killing him, Shen Jing had pulled off a deception, extracting and bringing out his origin soul. Seeing her plot succeed, Shen Jing was overjoyed. Wind arose beneath her feet, and she swept in front of Qin Sang in an instant. A vicious look flashed in her eyes as she raised her sword and thrust it straight toward his head. At the very moment of success, the smile on Shen Jing's face suddenly froze. She saw Qin Sang open his eyes—his gaze clear, even holding a hint of mockery. Where was there any trace of the panic or agony of someone about to be possessed? "You!" Deep unease welled up in Shen Jing's heart. From the corner of her eye, she caught red light flickering in one of Qin Sang's hands as he raised it and flung a stack of paper talismans at her. *Whoosh!* In an instant, all the talismans shattered, filling the space between them with swirling fragments that transformed into a boundless expanse of fiery feathers. The fire feathers blotted out the sky, translucent and glistening like the plumes of a fire phoenix, each feather burning with ethereal flame. Like a sea of fire, a searing, violent aura swept in all directions, rolling waves of heat soaring into the heights, causing the valley's vegetation to wither and yellow in a flash. Every fire feather pointed directly at Shen Jing. Her hair stood on end, and terrified, she shrieked, "No—" Qin Sang sneered. Without the slightest hesitation, he waved his hand forcefully. All the fire feathers trembled slightly and instantly shot forth in a volley. *Puff, puff, puff...* At such close range, Shen Jing had nowhere to run. When the smoke cleared, a charred corpse lay on the ground. Her head, receiving Qin Sang's deliberate attention, had been completely blown away by the dense cluster of fire feathers, and her body was scorched beyond recognition by their flames, her fragrant soul snuffed out. In that moment, with the crisis resolved, though the pain inside Qin Sang was agonizing, he felt more relaxed than ever before. With a complicated look, he glanced at Shen Jing's corpse. This woman had truly taught him quite a lesson. Fortunately, he had never let down his guard, keeping the Fire Feather Talismans concealed in his palm. When Yang Yuanzang's origin soul appeared, he could have cast them, but held back in the end, choosing instead to trust the jade Buddha and beat her at her own game. Sure enough, Shen Jing had fallen right into the trap. Unleashing twelve Fire Feather Talismans at once seemed somewhat wasteful, but Qin Sang had not known whether this lying woman still had other protective magic tools. "There's still one more..." Qin Sang muttered to himself and drew his consciousness inward into his sea of consciousness, where he saw Yang Yuanzang circling his origin soul, launching futile attacks with spiritual sense, while the jade Buddha's golden light remained steadfast and immovable. Qin Sang immediately launched a counterattack. As one waned, the other waxed; Yang Yuanzang's origin soul grew weaker and weaker, and in sheer terror, he dared not linger any longer, scurrying out of Qin Sang's sea of consciousness. "Junior Brother Qin, spare my life! I can help you... Argh!" Yang Yuanzang's pleading voice resonated in Qin Sang's mind, but Qin Sang ignored it, promptly maneuvering the ebony sword waiting outside to ruthlessly slash his origin soul to pieces. *Thud!* Just as Qin Sang was about to stand up from the ground, tidal waves of excruciating pain suddenly racked his whole body. His legs buckled, and he crashed heavily to the ground, letting out a cry of agony. During the clash just now, his mind had been under immense tension, allowing him to endure it. Now that he had relaxed, he felt as if his entire body were a rag riddled with holes, aching everywhere—especially his sea of qi and meridians, which felt as though someone had churned them with a knife. After all, he had absorbed four spirit stones in succession; it was already a great fortune that his meridians hadn't burst from being overfilled with spiritual power. With a series of bitter smiles, Qin Sang retrieved several jade bottles from his mustard seed bag. These bottles had been taken from the conical-hat swordsman's mustard seed bag. Qin Sang did not recognize most of them, but one contained Water Dew Pills, which he had seen before. There were eight Water Dew Pills in the bottle in total. Qin Sang took out two and swallowed them. A cool medicinal power seeped into his body, easing the pain considerably. Qin Sang forced himself to stand and staggered over to loot everything from Yang Yuanzang and Shen Jing's remains. He burned the corpses, not daring to draw the ebony sword back into his body, and endured the agony to execute an escape technique with the remaining spiritual power in his body, fleeing this perilous ground as quickly as possible. After crossing several mountain ranges in succession, he finally hid himself in a stone cave. Qin Sang was in no mood to even tally his spoils. He set up the Soul-Bewildering Mirror at the cave entrance and hurriedly circulated the Nether Scripture to enter secluded meditation. He had no idea how much time passed before he quietly woke. A faint ache still lingered in his meridians and sea of qi, but time would not allow him to remain in seclusion forever.