Chapter 471: Do You Dare?
Translator: StarveCleric Editor: Millman97
Peng peng peng peng!
With his cultivation sealed, how could the old man withstand Zhang Xuan’s attacks. In just a few moments, he was reduced to a pig head.
“I want to kill you…”
The reason why he brought the Soulless Metal Humanoid here was so that he could be cured of his affliction. Yet, he was beaten up like that instead. Unable to hold himself back anymore, the old man clenched his teeth in anger and his eyes turned bloodshot.
“Kill me? I thought you wanted to use my hand to kill him? Why do you want to kill me?”
Smiling faintly, Zhang Xuan looked at the old man with a look of leisure.
“W-What are you saying? I don’t know what you are getting at!”
Hearing those words, the old man panicked for a moment. However, he concealed it swiftly.
“You don’t know? Coming over here to possess another person’s body and going to the extent of trying to eradicate his soul… and you tell me that you don’t know anything at all?”
Zhang Xuan’s lips curled him in disdain.
“Possess?”
Jin Conghai, Hall Master Sai, and the others were taken aback. They glanced at the old man once more, but this time, with wariness.
Possession was the means of a soul oracle, and it was also known as ‘borrowing a body to reanimate a soul’. Just as the name hinted at, a soul oracle whose lifespan was coming to an end could forcefully suppress or a destroy a person’s soul and make use of their body to come alive again.
This was an extremely mysterious and vile process.
“Don’t worry, he hasn’t succeeded yet!” Seeing the wariness in everyone’s eyes, Zhang Xuan chuckled. “If he had succeeded already, there’d be nothing I could do about the matter anymore.”
Zhang Xuan had previously said that he couldn’t do anything if the old man was plagued by an evil spirit, and these words had left everyone stumped. However, it seemed that instead of being plagued by an evil spirit, this fellow was possessed instead.
“You… Don’t spout nonsense! I am myself, and I’ve only been plagued by an evil spirit…” The old man clenched his jaws.
“You’ve been plagued by an evil spirit?”
Zhang Xuan shook his head. Circling around the old man with his hands behind his back, Zhang Xuan said, “I don’t know what method you used to suppress the original host’s soul, but I can still roughly tell what happened.
“Despite coming to the auction hall to sell the Soulless Metal Humanoid, you refused to say what you wanted and kept everyone guessing… If I’m not wrong, at that moment, the original host’s soul is still in control of the body. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to say anything but that you were exerting a pressure on him to prevent him from speaking up!
“Under the pressure from everyone else, he grew agitated and this created an opening for you to strike… Then, you said that you’d take the person who managed to buy the Soulless Metal Humanoid to the tomb of the soul oracle. If I’m not mistaken, you probably intended to lure someone there and activate some traps so as to claim the bodies of a few more experts!”
Zhang Xuan harrumphed. “Otherwise, how could a person who is on the verge of death due to being plagued by an evil spirit in the soul oracle tomb propose to head there a second time? Unless he’s masochistic and eager to die, there’s no way a rational person would do so!”
“This…”
Jin Conghai and Hall Master Sai shuddered in shock.
Previously, back in the auction hall, under the intense questioning of the crowd, the old man did seem to intend to say something, but his body simply shook and he fell silent. Afterward, he immediately mentioned the issue regarding the soul oracle tomb.
Thinking back, it did seem slightly bizarre.
Even though the old man managed to obtain the invaluable Soulless Metal Humanoid in the soul oracle tomb, he was possessed as well, putting him on the verge of death. It didn’t make any sense for him to want to return back to such a dangerous place.
It was clearly a huge flaw in logic.
It was a pity that everyone had been blinded by the heritage of the soul oracle and the treasures contained within the tomb and failed to consider this logic lapse.
“I only intended to hike up the prices…” the old man said.
“Hike up the prices? Alright!”
Zhang Xuan chuckled softly. “Elder Jin and Hall Master Sai, may I trouble you two to release the seal on him?”
“Release the seal?”
The duo was taken aback.
Even though Zhang Xuan seemed to have struck the old man viciously, they were actually just superficial wounds. Once the seal was released, the other party would regain the cultivation level of a Transcendent Mortal 2-dan. If so, Zhang Xuan surely wouldn’t be a match for the other party.
“Don’t worry!” Knowing what the duo was worried about, Zhang Xuan shot them a reassuring gaze.
“Alright!”
Even though Zhang shi was still young, he never did anything he wasn’t certain of. Thus, the duo let go simultaneously.
Hu!
The seal suppressing the old man’s cultivation vanished and strength returned to his body.
“Humph, since you all aren’t capable of expelling the evil spirit at all, I’ll be taking my leave. Farewell!”
After the seal was released, the old man heaved a sigh of relief and prepared to leave.
However, barely after he took two steps, a young man blocked his path.
“Hah, with just your cultivation, do you think that you can stop me?” the old man sneered coldly.
Even though he couldn’t tell the exact strength of the young man before him, from the fact that he got others to fight in his place, he could deduce that the other party’s strength was inferior to his.
“Give it a try then!” Zhang Xuan didn’t bother saying anything unnecessary. Lifting his leg, he sent a kick toward the other party.
“Humph!”
The old man’s complexion darkened. His palm immediately struck forward.
However, before he could strike anything, he felt an ache at his chest.
Peng!
He was sent flying, and he crashed heavily to the ground.
“You…”
The old man narrowed his eyes.
“Are you very surprised?” Zhang Xuan stepped forward and lifting his hands, he struck the other party.
Pah!
The shape of a palm was printed on the face of the old man as he fell back down to the ground.
“This…”
The crowd stared at one another.
“A Transcendent Mortal 2-dan pinnacle cultivator isn’t able to match a Half-Transcension cultivator. Wha- what… is going on?”
“I don’t understand either…”
The old man clearly possessed the cultivation of a Transcendent Mortal 2-dan. When he was sealed, everyone had witnessed the immense strength that he possessed. How in the world did he get subdued so easily? It was as if he couldn’t retaliate against a Half-Trancension cultivator at all!
Even though Zhang shi possessed the strength beyond that of his cultivation realm, dealing with a Transcendent Mortal 1-dan primary stage cultivator would already be tough. Smashing a Transcendent Mortal 2-dan pinnacle cultivator like that so easily was completely out of the question.
“Could it be that teacher has grown stronger again?”
In contrast to everyone’s shock, Zhao Ya and the others looked excited.
Their teacher’s ability to achieve breakthroughs as easily as drinking water had left a lasting impression in their mind. Seeing the Transcendent Mortal 2-dan pinnacle cultivator being crushed so easily made them think that Zhang Xuan had achieved a huge breakthrough once more.
“No, that’s not it… It’s the old man who has become weaker! His current fighting prowess is only that of a Transcendent Mortal 1-dan primary stage cultivator!” Zhao Feiwu said.
Due to the limitations of her physical body, she had never cultivated before. Even so, having read through innumerable books, her knowledge and eye of discernment were extraordinary.
“Un, gongzi is right. His current fighting prowess is at most Transcendent Mortal 1-dan primary stage only. Just that… for some reason, I can certainly feel the strength of a Transcendent Mortal 2-dan pinnacle flowing within him!” Jin Conghai said.
“Despite having the cultivation of a Transcendent Mortal 2-dan pinnacle, his fighting prowess is only that of a Transcendent Mortal 1-dan primary stage. This…”
Hearing those words, Zhao Ya and the others were baffled.
Luo Qin was also bewildered.
“Did you hear that? I’m not the only one who has noticed it. Everyone can tell as much too. What else do you have to say?”
Halting his attack, Zhang Xuan smiled at the old man whom he had just beaten up.
“It’s because… I’m injured. That’s why I can’t display my full strength…”
The old man gritted his teeth.
Having predicted that the other party would surely bring up such an argument, Zhang Xuan refuted, “Even if you’re injured, it’s impossible for your strength to fall by two realms!”
“Zhang shi, what’s going on?”
Seeing that the old man was unable to explain himself, Hall Master Sai couldn’t hold back his curiosity anymore and asked.
“Simple. The strength of the soul possessing and the person being possessed are of different cultivation! If I’m not mistaken, the one possessed has the cultivation of Transcendent Mortal 2-dan pinnacle whereas the soul possessing only has the cultivation of Transcendent Mortal 1-dan primary stage!”
Zhang Xuan continued, “Even though he has taken over the body already, he hasn’t adapted fully to it yet. On top of that, my pummeling has made it harder for his physical body and soul to harmonize with one another. As such, even though he is able to move the body easily, he isn’t able to move the Origin Energy in the other party’s body, thus resulting in his weakness!”
When Zhang Xuan first saw the old man on the stage of the auction hall, he managed to see numerous flaws through the Eye of Insight. This, in itself, had created doubts in his mind.
Under normal circumstances, given his current cultivation, he would only be able to peer into the flaws of a Transcendent Mortal 1-dan primary stage cultivator at most… Yet, he was able to see the problems of a Transcendent Mortal 2-dan pinnacle. Thinking about it now, it was probably due to the soul that had possessed this body being of Transcendent Mortal 1-dan primary stage.
From the very start, it was extremely rare for a soul to have high affinity with the body possessed. The trauma caused to the body under such a state would result in the body rejecting the soul of the possessor… And thus, even though the old man clearly had the cultivation of Transcendent Mortal 2-dan pinnacle, he was unable to display it at all.
“Y-you…”
The old man’s face paled.
He could have come up with a logical excuse for it if he had sufficient time. However, now that everything was explained so rationally, even if he were to explain now, it would already be too late.
After all, the injuries dealt to him previously were just superficial wounds. To a Transcendent Mortal 2-dan pinnacle cultivator, those were negligible.
“There’s no need for you to be so surprised. The reason why I said that an evil soul is plaguing you is so as to lower your guard. This way, you’ll think that this is a good opportunity to get rid of the other soul competing with you over the body through my hands… Am I right?”
Zhang Xuan pushed on.
Even though the other party had managed to take over the old man’s body, he had yet to eradicate the original host’s soul. In fact, the original host’s soul was still on the upper hand just a moment ago.
Otherwise, the old man wouldn’t have been able to bring the Soulless Metal Humanoid here and auction it for a way to suppress him.
The plan of the possessing soul was indeed brilliant. If it was anyone else, they would have surely fallen for the trick and killed the original host’s soul, thus completing the possession. But… it was a pity that he met with Zhang Xuan.
There was nothing that could conceal itself from the heavens. Putting aside a soul, even a speck of dust couldn’t escape from its sight.
“You… Since you’ve managed to see through it, there’s no need for me to hide any longer. That’s right, I possessed this fellow!”
Seeing that there was no way to hide anymore, the old man stood up and harrumphed coldly.
“To think that it is really true!”
“A Transcendent Mortal 1-dan soul possessing a Transcendent Mortal 2-dan pinnacle cultivator’s body…”
Hearing the other party agree to it, everyone’s faces turned pale.
There were almost two realms of difference between Transcendent Mortal 1-dan primary and Transcendent Mortal 2-dan pinnacle. That was an entire world of difference in terms of fighting prowess. It was a gap that was impossible to breach. Yet, the soul still managed to possess the body successfully…
How in the world did it succeed?
That was way too fearsome!
“It’s good that you’ve admitted to it! In truth… all those that I said before are just my conjectures. If you didn’t admit to it, I would have no way of proving the matter…” Zhang Xuan said.
What Zhang Xuan said was the truth.
The Library of Heaven’s Path only reflected flaws. It wouldn’t analyze a situation or provide answers for Zhang Xuan.
He only deduced the entire situation by stringing all of the flaws reflected together through logic. He also didn’t expect that… he would be spot-on.
“You…”
The old man’s face reddened and he nearly spewed blood.
If only he’d known that it was a conjecture, he would have never admitted to it.
Now, it would be hopeless even if he tried to deny it…
“There’s no need for you to act so gleefully!”
Narrowing his eyes, the old man tossed aside his dismal and sneered coldly, “My soul is in control now. Even if you know that I’ve possessed the body, what can you do? Do you intend to kill me? Or rather, I should ask…
“Do you dare?”
