“Control the most powerful heir in the country?! Hahahaha! Last I remember, the System wasn’t going to capture any cultivators because the hassle wasn’t worth it. It would be oddly funny if they were, though. Instead of customers, they would be like ’employees’ who were sending tributes to me.” Jin replied as he laughed hysterically and shook his head at that possibility.
“Are you sure that isn’t already happening?” Ming asked in a quiet, tame voice. He went forward towards Jin and his body language indicated that there was something deeper, something more sinister at work.
“No, no… that can’t be.” Jin would lie if he pretended he had never considered the possibility. It would be quite convenient to have Xiong Da and the others at his beck and call similar to Claire as their latest addition.
“The System told me it’s part of its law to not enslave people from our world…”
However, the more Jin said it out loud, the more doubts started to flow in Ming’s words. Was the ‘hassle’ really the only thing limiting it? Was there actually a ‘law’ that prevented the System from using the capture system on the cultivators of his world? These thoughts that were once locked away because he believed that the law of the System was absolute started to crumble.
Acting just and moral might be nice for a human, but despite its origins, the System did not behave like one anymore. Unless that method happened to result in the best efficiency the System would not hesitate to resort to more dubious means. It prioritised its own growth and subsequently fulfilled its own desires.
In essence, Jin was just the current generation’s User, a person who the System decided to compromise with to have the best manageable outcome in long term benefits rather than straight out efficiency as it had done previously, like the harvesting of souls from the Dungeon World’s adventurers.
“So does that mean…most of my customers are in a way part of the System, part of the minions that I could control? They are there because of it and not because they liked my dungeon instances?” Jin suddenly felt like there was an existential crisis ongoing in his life if it’s true.
“Hahahahha! That issue woke you up real good, right? You think the System had the best intentions for you? If anything, it is self-serving. Who was behind all of these? None other than the System itself. It took me some time to realise it by myself, so I thought it would be best to save you all the troubles.” Ming grinned widely at Jin.
Out of a sudden, a blade was placed at Ming’s neck without any hesitation.
“Who are you?” Jin questioned as he started to apply some pressure on Ming’s neck, demanding an answer.
“Ah Jin, you disappoint me… Were you not ready for this truth? Are you content staying a puppet of the System? I do not remember raising you to raise a blade against me. Put this bla-” Before Ming could finish his sentence, Jin used his other hand to stab Boo into Ming’s stomach, but his ‘grandfather’ was already holding onto the wakizashi’s blade with his bare hands.
Ming kicked him away and put some distance between them before Jin could slash his neck off. Nonetheless, it had grazed Ming, and there was some blood coming out.
“Tsk, and here I thought that I could control you. A magnificent subject like you with the powers of the System is worthy to receive the glory of the Banned Emperor.” ‘Ming’ revealed as he believed it was useless to retain the form he was portraying.
“You killing my precious Loopa Ooofpa was certainly outside our expectations, but for you to have this unique plane of subconsciousness and that power backing you might make it a worthwhile trade.” Elder Wang Ba Tan greeted Jin formally by calling his name out. Jin, however, remained on alert and held his weapons tightly.
“How did you even manage to come in here?” Jin asked calmly.
“Well, since we will be sharing much of our time together from now on, I might as well tell you. I would much rather have you as a companion to our cause than our enemy. Think about it. The thing your System wants and what we want is not so different. We both want justice for what those traitorous Zodiacs have done!” Elder Wang explained.
With a snap, suddenly everything within the plane of Jin’s subconsciousness started to collapse and subsequently reconstruct itself to a dead quiet inner hall filled with black concrete.
The only light source was plates of oil lit with candles on top of them. They were placed all over the area and their illumination brought out the abyss within the dark corners of the inner hall instead of hope and visibility.
“Since I plan to be honest with you, I hope you can extend the same courtesy to me. How exactly did you discover that my impersonation of your Grandpa was fake?” Elder Wang Ba Tan asked courteously. He was dying to know the reason why this young chap without mental barriers was able to see through his disguise. He also did not expect the lie he made up about the System using the customers could be caught that quickly after looking through Jin’s memories.
While waiting for Jin’s answer, Wang Ba Tan remembered his last moments when the Loopa Ooofpa was getting banished and managed to have the control of his consciousness returned to him. There was still a small part of him surviving within the colossal manifestation.
It was then he noticed an unconscious body nearby, one that his spirit could enter with ease before the ritual threw him and his manifestation to wherever it came from.
While he had never heard about a Banishment Spell powerful enough to get rid of such a monster, it was a lucky break for him to be able to jump from one body to another. In fact, it was how he had been surviving for a long time and learnt about the forbidden creation of the Unceasing Hunger.
With his Epic Arts, Soul Jump of the Parasitic Worm, he had been through many bodies to learn of their secrets and Jin would merely be his latest victim. Should he choose to cooperate, it would only be a matter of time until he would dominate Jin’s spirit and take control over his body.
While it was unfortunate that he had failed in quietly manipulating Jin from behind the scenes, he had learnt a lot about this ‘System’ and the other worlds by browsing through his host’s memories. If anything, Wang Ba Tan believed he had found the holy grail which could revive the Banned Emperor faction. What’s more he could use Jin as the vessel for the rise of their almighty Banned Emperor.
All these memories of Jin having such powerful allies… If he could get this System entity into his hands. The whole world would kneel before him in no time!
Then, his ambitions grew even stronger. Why limit himself to conquering just this one pathetic world when there were others out there? The eternal glory of him serving the Banned Emperor was overwhelming!
His urges to get his hands on this System entity caused Wang Ba Tan to speed through the memories and grab whatever he deemed important to fake Jin’s closest relative.
It was a total coincidence that he decided to use Ming since he had seen vague repetitions of the elderly man in this particular plane. And since he could get Jin to talk so easily, he continued to use whatever knowledge he had acquired from his position as a Banned Emperor Elder to coerce Jin into his command.
This was not his usual modus operandi, but the prize of the System was too tempting, and the flashbacks showed that Jin might have allies which could be trouble for him if he did not control Jin from within quick enough. But for the real host to find out that Elder Wang was an invader was truly an unforeseen surprise. Had he been a tad too hasty that he messed up somewhere?
Yet there was no time to worry about it. As long as he could subjugate Jin right here and now, he too could have the whole body to himself. It would only be a little more challenging to control with his subconscious constantly rebelling as Wang Ba Tan took over, but it was nothing new to him.
“I had my doubts from the start. If you think your acting was superb, think again!” Jin did not need to know anything right now. When Wang Ba Tan revealed his true form, Jin had affirmed that this was not just another of Ming’s test or anything. It was truly an intruder… no matter how ‘friendly’ they suddenly pretended to be.
“Of all the times for someone to launch an attack on my mind, it just had to be when Pei is busy with the health policies reformation of the Demon Metropolis!” Jin thought to himself as he tried to exert some Maqi. It was not strong, but he would have to do with it.
At the same time, there were too many questions in his head. While he was aware that this fake had tried to unsettle him, he did manage to conjure some doubts which Jin had buried. And yet the Astral Panda Cultivator would have to ignore them for now as Jin did not doubt that he was facing a formidable foe.
“Perhaps, Gramps was preparing me for this day in case of an intrusion of the mind.” Jin thought to himself as the black-robed elder Wang Ba Tan started to laugh hysterically.
