Possession

Falling. Gazing at that speck of light receding farther and farther overhead, Xu Yuan’s consciousness plummeted continuously into the pitch-black abyss. It felt like lying on a beach at sunset. As the tide rose, cool seawater lapped up from his feet, wave upon wave, washing toward his neck. Something was slowly submerging him. Yet judging by Xu Yuan’s past experience with death, he was not dead yet. Death was utter insensibility, a cold, desolate nothingness. To still be able to think meant he was alive. This sensation was likely an abstract manifestation of the devouring struggle between him and Mu Nuo. Perhaps the moment he was completely submerged by the tide would be the moment Mu Nuo completely devoured him. Though it could also be the other way around. After all, this devouring process was uncharted territory for both him and Mu Nuo. Xu Yuan didn't know what he should do, nor could he do anything at all. Right now, he couldn't even lift a single finger; he could only passively experience everything around him. If this were an action game, his current experience was undeniably a piece of trash. He felt that a contest of devouring like this ought to be decided by a battle in the mental realm to determine who got swallowed. Like in that manga from his past life where the crown prince fought Kurama. Whoever lost got controlled. Having him sit here like a camera watching the light at the ceiling recede into the distance was really a bit too abstract. The descent seemed endless, and his thoughts drifted along with it. Until at a certain moment, Xu Yuan abruptly realized something was off. He was too calm. In fact, he was relaxed to an absurd degree. This made no sense. When facing the White Emperor, he had remained calm, yet his mind had raced with urgency as he racked his brains for a way out. But now, in an identical life-or-death crisis, instead of trying to save himself, he was calmly pondering these random thoughts. Just as he had feared, some shift during the devouring process had warped his thinking. He just didn't know whether this influence was intentionally orchestrated by Mu Nuo or an objective phenomenon that occurred during the devouring process. The moment the thought flashed through his mind, a mute sense of amusement rose within him. If Mu Nuo possessed the brains to manipulate his mind like that, the brat wouldn't have been pummeled into such a sorry state by the White Emperor despite having such powerful hardware. The warping of his thoughts was likely a normal phenomenon of the devouring process. In that case, Mu Nuo was probably experiencing a similar change on his end. How unfair. Becoming calm and detached was a debuff for Xu Yuan, but for an emotional brat like Mu Nuo, losing his emotions was an absolute buff. Grumbling internally, Xu Yuan began searching for a way to save himself. The sensation of the fungal carpet turning into red silk and pouring into Mu Nuo's body was still fresh in his memory. This devouring struggle wouldn't be fully automated—at least not entirely. He needed to do something. Though Mu Nuo was currently crippled, the gap in their cultivation was simply too vast. If he continued being passive like this, Xu Yuan was certain he would be the one to die in the end. Rustle, rustle... The instant the thought arose, Xu Yuan noticed the surrounding environment shifting. His body was still falling, but along the pitch-black inner walls of this abyss, flickers of light and shadow began to emerge, coalescing around him into enormous portraits and silhouettes. The fall continued. When Xu Yuan tried to look at the contents of those colossal silhouettes, it was as if someone had pressed play: the figures within slowly began to move. In these images, Xu Yuan saw a frail yin ghost born from the ghost mist, and an infant newly brought into the world. Confusion. What were these things? A revolving lantern of memories? Judging from these unfamiliar scenes, that newborn baby clearly wasn't him, Xu Changtian. These were the memories of Mu Xingyi and Wan. Mu Nuo really might be a perfect life-form. No living creature in this world was ever born with innate knowledge. Even the human race in the present day needed study and practice to inherit the knowledge left behind by predecessors. Yet Mu Nuo could inherit the memories of others through devouring. The descent continued. At the same time, Xu Yuan noticed the sensation of being drowned by the tide intensified, yet he could only endure it passively in freefall. He watched the two grow up in vastly different environments until, at a certain moment, their paths intersected and overlapped. Then, Xu Yuan watched as Mu Xingyi and Wan became acquainted, grew close, and fell in love. He saw the scene of them entering the bridal chamber. He watched as he slowly undid her garments. As if feeling the joy and affection between the two in the projection, Xu Yuan let out a soft smile as well. Yet right at that moment, an unexpected change suddenly occurred. Both memories began to flicker and blur in unison. Wait, seriously? Even a dying flashback gets censored? As the wisecrack crossed his mind, Xu Yuan discovered that the two memory streams split into three after that night—Mu Nuo had been conceived then. Meanwhile, the surrounding images suddenly accelerated, just like speeding up a movie in his past life. First two times speed, then four, eight, sixteen... until it accelerated to a point where Xu Yuan couldn't see clearly at all. As his body fell endlessly and the projections shifted like fleeting shadows, Xu Yuan could somehow innately comprehend what was taking place in those scenes. It was their everyday life as a family of three. When Wan told her husband about the child in her womb, the nervous delight in Mu Xingyi's eyes was exceptionally clear. Yet once Mu Nuo was fully born into the world, one of the projections rapidly went dark. Before it plunged into darkness, the last thing Xu Yuan saw from it was the aloof, indifferent gaze of a young man in extravagant robes looking down from above. Inexplicably, Xu Yuan felt a surge of hatred toward that familiar face. And it was precisely the emergence of this emotion that made Xu Yuan realize what was currently happening. What kind of nonsense was it to hate himself? It seemed all his deductions earlier had been wrong. This space appeared to have been created because Mu Nuo was attempting to possess him. This brat's idea was genuinely intriguing. Its very existence hovered between soul and physical body. Possessing him was indeed far more efficient than devouring him... Unfortunately for it, Xu Yuan was immune to possession. Gazing up at that cluster of light at the ceiling, Xu Yuan let out a listless sigh. He had no idea how much time had passed outside, but he finally understood what that giant glowing sphere above was. The Heavenly Yan divine soul. Even though it was already unimaginably distant, the aura radiating from that orb had been helping him strip away these emotions all along. It was just that the hatred born the moment Wan died was too intense—so intense that it had caused even the Heavenly Yan divine soul to reveal a sliver of an opening. But it was only a sliver. As the foundational technique of the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion, the Heavenly Yan Art was simply too tyrannical. The memories concluded, the projections vanished, and the falling tunnel plunged into darkness once more. Only this time, what Xu Yuan sensed within this darkness was no longer empty void. Something transformed into wisps of smoky silk, merging into the glowing orb overhead. Afterward, he felt a wondrous sensation of fullness circulating within his body. The Blood Yuan Heart Calamity Art began to circulate. It severed and refined this residual portion of Mu Nuo's possessing soul power, devouring it and integrating it into the Heavenly Yan divine soul above. One wisp, a hundred wisps, a thousand wisps... When everything came to an end, Xu Yuan slowly closed his eyes. When he opened them again, a youth wreathed in black smoke had appeared out of thin air. Looking at Mu Nuo close at hand, and then around at the boundless, bleak white space, Xu Yuan gave a slight twitch of his mouth. In the end, it still comes down to a boss fight? Wait, why was this brat's manifested body covered head to toe in sword wounds? Tsk tsk. Looks like the value of the Heavenly Gate sword intent is still climbing. With that thought, Xu Yuan slowly raised a hand to press against his brow, a wry, exasperated smile tugging at the corners of his lips. Then, he raised his eyes once more to look at Mu Nuo before him. At the Mu Nuo before him, whose body was now as towering as a mountain.