Chapter 28: The Taotie’s Possession
Chapter 28: The Taotie’s Possession
Inside the ruins.
Chu Fan stared at the beast-headed artifact that had just acknowledged him as its master, his face contorted with ecstasy.
In that brief moment, he had learned the name and function of this magical treasure.
“Taotie Devouring Spirit—it can convert and refine any spiritual energy for its wielder. What an incredible treasure!”
Chu Fan raised it toward the surrounding flames.
With a thought, the tightly shut beast’s maw suddenly gaped open. In the blink of an eye, all the flames before him were completely devoured by the Taotie Devouring Spirit.
Immediately afterward, Chu Fan clearly felt spiritual energy flowing into his body. In just ten breaths’ time, it equaled half a month of his usual arduous cultivation.
And this was only after receiving thirty percent of the refined energy.
Without hesitation, Chu Fan began wandering through the ruins with the artifact, absorbing every last flame in sight.
By the time he finished, his cultivation had smoothly advanced to the fifth layer of the Longevity Realm.
“Hahaha! With a treasure like this, Su Ming, how could you ever hope to catch up to me now?”
His maniacal laughter echoed recklessly through the ancient ruins.
But as the saying goes: Pride comes before a fall.
Just as Chu Fan was reveling in his rapid advancement, the remnant soul of the Taotie suddenly invaded his consciousness and seized control of his body.
“What the hell are you?! Get out of my body!”
Within his mental sea, Chu Fan roared furiously, desperately trying to expel the Taotie’s remnant soul.
The only response was a scornful sneer.
“Human, didn’t that spiritual energy absorption feel wonderful? I should thank you—without your help, my remnant soul wouldn’t have awakened so quickly!”
In the original timeline, this remnant soul should have dissipated. But after the system spent a massive amount of Destiny Points to alter fate, it had now returned—and successfully possessed Chu Fan’s body.
The Taotie’s voice sent Chu Fan’s heart plunging into an abyss.
He never could have imagined that after so many eons, the Taotie’s remnant soul still hadn’t dissipated.
“I’ll be taking this body now.”
Infinite darkness instantly enveloped Chu Fan’s consciousness.
“Hmm? Why can’t I completely erase his soul?”
Just as the Taotie was puzzling over this anomaly, it suddenly sensed something and hastily withdrew its consciousness from the mental sea.
Reacting swiftly, it raised the Taotie Devouring Spirit to block an incoming attack.
Thanks to the artifact’s grade and unique properties, it successfully intercepted the assault.
“Oh?” Jiang Wang was mildly surprised by his failed strike.
There was no way a greenhorn like Chu Fan should have detected his attack.
“Humans—after all this time, you’re still just as despicable!” the Taotie bellowed at Jiang Wang.
This outburst instantly made Jiang Wang realize the truth—the remnant soul within the artifact hadn’t dissipated after all, and had now taken over Chu Fan’s body.
“How intriguing. An artifact whose remnant soul hasn’t dispersed is exceedingly rare.”
As he spoke, Jiang Wang’s fingers twitched slightly, instantly completing a spell formula that he launched toward the Taotie.
The gap in their power levels was too vast for experience to bridge.
Yet the Taotie refused to retreat. It mobilized all the spiritual energy it had just refined and unleashed a counterattack against Jiang Wang.
“Devour the Heavens and Earth!”
When the two waves of spiritual energy collided, the entire ruin began trembling on the verge of collapse.
The Taotie Devouring Spirit—originally forged from the Taotie’s own flesh and soul—now displayed its full might in its creator’s hands. Combined with the accumulated spiritual energy, this “Devour the Heavens and Earth” technique actually managed to match Jiang Wang’s attack.
But only for a single exchange.
Without that stockpiled energy, the Taotie wouldn’t have stood a chance against a Star Realm expert.
The shockwaves from their clash sent the Taotie flying unconscious, buried beneath the collapsing ruins.
Jiang Wang emerged unscathed and began methodically clearing the debris.
Some demonic cultivators, sensing the violent spiritual fluctuations, came to investigate.
But the moment they saw Jiang Wang, they turned tail without a word.
After clearing the rubble, Jiang Wang easily located Chu Fan—still clutching the Taotie Devouring Spirit.
However, upon closer inspection, Jiang Wang frowned.
The Taotie’s possession and their subsequent battle had caused the artifact to form an even deeper bond with its host.
Now, unless Chu Fan willingly relinquished it, any forced attempt to break the connection would damage the artifact.
And once damaged, a treasure of this caliber would be nearly impossible to repair.
What had attracted Jiang Wang was precisely its half-step Void Realm power.
If it degraded to Star Realm peak, its value would plummet.
But if the artifact itself couldn’t be utilized, its owner might still prove useful.
Jiang Wang could sense the remnant soul’s control over Chu Fan’s body had faded. It would only take moments for Chu Fan’s consciousness to regain dominance.
The boy wouldn’t remember what had happened, which meant Jiang Wang could still play the role of his “big brother.”
As if on cue, Chu Fan’s eyes fluttered open.
“Brother Jiang Wang? Where… what happened?”
Seeing Chu Fan’s complete bewilderment, Jiang Wang explained the situation—with some creative adjustments.
He claimed the remnant soul in the artifact had possessed Chu Fan’s body and gone on a rampage, destroying the entire ruin.
And how he’d expended great effort to suppress the remnant soul, allowing Chu Fan to regain control.
In Jiang Wang’s version, he’d become Chu Fan’s savior.
Remembering the terrifying sensation of being possessed, Chu Fan felt even more grateful toward Jiang Wang.
“Chu Fan, tell me exactly what happened. How did things end up like this…”
“Your situation is rather complicated. Only by understanding everything can we properly address it.”
Touched by Jiang Wang’s apparent concern, Chu Fan poured out the entire story.
Upon learning the Taotie Devouring Spirit’s true function, Jiang Wang immediately lost interest.
An artifact that merely converted spiritual energy held no value for someone at his level.
Clearly, continuing to manipulate Chu Fan would yield greater benefits than possessing this artifact.
After all, a disciple of the Three Saints Sect—the foremost orthodox sect on the Heaven Primordial Continent—still had plenty of exploitable value.
…
“Congratulations on your breakthrough, Holy Son!”
On the flying vessel, fellow sect members clasped their fists in salute to Su Ming’s advancement.
Right before their eyes, Su Ming had suddenly broken through to the third layer of the Longevity Realm.
Knowing the truth but saying nothing, Su Ming simply announced that due to insufficient elixirs, he would gift a bottle of Qi Condensing Pills to every disciple who had sparred with him after they returned to the Three Saints Sect.
Naturally, this earned him even more goodwill from his peers.
[Host has broken through using spiritual energy transferred from the Destiny’s Chosen, Destiny Points obtained]
[Host has gained complete recognition from some fellow disciples, Destiny Points obtained]
“Holy Son, we’ve arrived at the Canghai Sword Sect…”