"Y-You are truly a celestial? The Immortal Celestial?" Lu Yang's entire body trembled, his hands fidgeting with nowhere to rest, the corners of his mouth twitching uncontrollably upward in immense excitement.
"Child, do not be excited. This celestial is right here." The Immortal Celestial's expression was gentle. "You took first place in this competition. While the top performance in the Qi Refinement division had its merits, it could not compare to yours. You are the undisputed champion.
"As a reward, this celestial shall grant you a wish."
"A wish? Are there any requirements?"
"Ask for whatever you please. This celestial is omnipotent."
"I wish for eternal world peace."
"...How about another one?" the Immortal Celestial ventured tentatively, secretly admitting he had exaggerated a bit just now.
Seizing Lu Yang's body required obliterating his soul, but Lu Yang's soul was rooted in his physical flesh. Even if uprooted by force, residual roots would remain, leaving the body seizure incomplete and hindering his future cultivation.
The best method was to fulfill his deepest wish; that way, the roots of the soul would naturally detach, allowing for a flawless seizure.
He figured that Lu Yang was merely at the Foundation Establishment stage and a rogue cultivator to boot—what kind of wish could he possibly have? At most, he might ask for an immortal treasure. Give it to him, then; he would take it back after seizing the body anyway.
"I wish for everyone to become a celestial."
"......"
That was even worse than the first one.
"I wish for productivity to develop so greatly that people can obtain resources without labor and freely choose whatever they love to do."
"......Pick another."
*Did you join a demonic cult, brat, or are you planning to overthrow the Great Xia Dynasty and found a new dynasty?*
Lu Yang looked at the Immortal Celestial with slight disappointment. Was this celestial really capable or what? He talked bigger than Huang Doudou, yet couldn't grant a single one of the three wishes.
The Immortal Celestial was stung by Lu Yang's look, but he knew this matter could not be rushed.
"Child, the wishes you make all concern the world. Do you not have a wish of your own?" the Immortal Celestial coaxed patiently. As long as Lu Yang answered that he wanted to become a celestial, he would have an excuse to take his body.
*Using your body to become a celestial counts as granting your wish!*
"I do! I wish to cultivate to the realm of opening the heavens and earth and reshaping the universe."
"......"
*Could your wish be any smaller?*
*If I had that kind of power, would I be standing here painstakingly trying to hoodwink you?*
Seeing that the Immortal Celestial didn't seem capable of much, Lu Yang settled for the next best thing.
"I have an Eldest Senior Sister with peerless cultivation. I wish to defeat her."
"Hahaha, a simple matter! I can suppress her with a flip of my palm!" The Immortal Celestial roared with laughter, thinking that at long last, a simple wish had arrived.
She was merely the senior sister of someone in the Foundation Establishment stage—how high could her cultivation possibly be? For a dignified Immortal Celestial like him, suppressing a little slip of a girl would be as easy as turning his hand.
"Once this celestial seizes your body, I will naturally suppress that little girl for you!"
"Seize my body?!" Lu Yang's pupils contracted. Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine that a promised celestial blessing would turn into a celestial body seizure! He spun on his heel and bolted, desperate to flee this den of monsters.
"Give up! If you could flee before this celestial, where would my dignity lie!"
Lu Yang felt a mountain-crushing, terrifying pressure radiating from the Immortal Celestial, and despair welled within his heart.
If he hadn't won, would the outcome have been different?
If he hadn't won, would the outcome have been different?
If he hadn't made a wish, would the outcome have been different? If he hadn't joined the Immortal Cult, would the outcome have been different?
Panic, regret, terror... A barrage of emotions flooded his mind, but alas, it was too late.
Seeing Lu Yang wear such an expression, the Immortal Celestial sneered coldly, dissolved back into dense smoke, and plunged straight into Lu Yang's spiritual space.
And the moment he arrived, a slap struck him across the face.
*Smack!*—
A crisp slap rang out, sending the Immortal Celestial flying.
"You're the grandson posing as this fairy?" A willful young woman stepped up and immediately began raining punches and kicks upon him. To an uninformed outsider, it would have looked like a delinquent girl brutally beating a hundred-year-old grandfather.
"Let me tell you, back in ancient times, even Ying Tian and the other four didn't dare do this! Who do you think you are?!"
"Posing as this fairy—did you pay your respects at the dock? Did you offer up tributes? Did this fairy give you the nod?!"
"Who goes there!" The Immortal Celestial was utterly bewildered. Before he could even grasp what was happening, he had been slapped across the face. Why was there someone else inside this spiritual space? Was this kid so popular that people had to wait in line to seize his body?
"You don't even recognize your grandmother, yet you have the nerve to fool around outside?" The Immortal Fairy had long found him an eyesore. He ran around under the banner of "Immortal" to swindle and deceive, while she, the genuine article, was either scorned by Lu Yang or bullied by Yun Zhi, living an utterly wretched life.
She had finally waited for this Immortal Celestial to come inside, and now she could thoroughly teach him a lesson!
She had never seen his face before; he was not someone she knew.
"Fairy Boxing!" The Immortal Fairy made up a name on the spot, her delicate fists falling like a torrential downpour, pummeling the Immortal Celestial with a flurry of crackling blows.
The boxing technique seemed completely wild and reckless, yet it was extraordinarily profound, every strike utterly unpredictable.
The Immortal Celestial felt as though every single blow landed squarely on his vitals and weaknesses. Even though he was in soul form, he felt the urge to vomit blood and collapse to his knees, his soul threatening to shatter into nothingness.
Just where had this terrifying monster come from?!
"You go too far!" the Immortal Celestial roared in fury. He wielded an Immortal Dao fruit, and ever since his revival, he had been revered like an ancestor by the Immortal Cult, granted whatever he desired and having everything go his way. When had he ever suffered such humiliation?
"Eternal Immortality!"
The Immortal Celestial bellowed, and a cluster of golden radiance manifested in his palm. Misty celestial qi swirled around it, brilliant enough to dazzle the eyes. This golden radiance was neither physical matter nor a soul, but something far beyond both.
It possessed a bizarre power, giving the impression of being indestructible and immune to all arts; any attack that landed on the Immortal Celestial would be reduced to nothingness.
"A rudimentary Immortal Dao fruit?" The Immortal Fairy looked astonished, finally understanding where that faint, familiar scent on the Cult Master had originated.
This fellow impersonating her actually had a little skill after all.
"You have some eyesight, woman! Before this Immortal Dao fruit, this celestial is immortal, ageless, deathless, and imperishable—the sole existence across eternity! All destinies return to nothingness, and all attacks come to naught. What can your strikes possibly do to me!"
Having summoned the Dao fruit, the Immortal Celestial regained his confidence.
Huang Doudou curled her lips in a scornful sneer. "Nothing more than a clumsy imitation of me. What is there to be proud of?"
"Fairy Boxing!"
Huang Doudou threw her delicate fist once more, shattering the barrier the Immortal Celestial took such pride in with a single punch. Her fist lost none of its momentum and struck him square in the face.
"This rudimentary Dao fruit is somewhat interesting, though." The Immortal Fairy snatched the rudimentary Dao fruit in passing. The golden substance appeared in her hand, and she examined it with keen interest.
Within the golden substance, countless runes and laws surfaced and collapsed, appearing and vanishing as if recounting the myriad shifts of eternity, explaining the true meaning of immortality.
Lu Yang peered over curiously, only to be shoved aside by the Immortal Fairy. "Shoo, shoo, shoo. Your realm isn't high enough right now; you're not allowed to look at this kind of thing."
"W-What did you do?!" The Immortal Celestial was struck with terror. Originally, the rudimentary Immortal Dao fruit was intimately linked to him, bound even tighter than a soul fusion; logically speaking, no power should have been able to sever it.
Yet now, he couldn't feel his connection to the rudimentary Immortal Dao fruit at all! It was completely out of his control!
Just who was she?! How had she done this?!
"Showing off a Dao fruit before this fairy—you're teaching your grandmother how to suck eggs," the Immortal Fairy chuckled smugly.
Right then, another ethereal, celestial voice drifted over, echoing in the Immortal Celestial's ears.
"I hear... you wish to suppress me?"
Only then did the Immortal Celestial notice that, aside from Lu Yang and the mysterious woman who had stolen his Dao fruit, there was a third person in the spiritual space!
*Just how many people are inside your spiritual space?! Do people really have to queue up to seize a body nowadays?!*
Chapter 195