Free Web NovelChapter 449: Chapter 248: Huangfu Ren’s Possession Attempt
After watching Li Xuejin fall unconscious, Cheng Zongyang opened Huangfu Ren’s Copper Coffin.
The moment he opened it, a beam of light shot out from the Copper Coffin and instantly sank into the space between Cheng Zongyang’s eyebrows.
Cheng Zongyang was completely unprepared for this sudden development. His expression changed drastically, and without a second thought, he entered the Wilderness World, appearing in the marketplace hut!
Only then did he let out a small sigh of relief, a lingering fear washing over him.
He had no idea what had just entered his forehead. If it had been a killing blow, it would have struck his brain, and his fate would have been sealed.
He seared this profound lesson into his memory.
The instant he appeared in the marketplace hut, a voice echoed in Cheng Zongyang’s mind:
"After waiting for so long, someone has finally opened my coffin. Which branch of the Huangfu Family are you from? What is your Cultivation level?"
Hearing this, Cheng Zongyang relaxed slightly. ’This means it wasn’t Li Xuejin’s scheme,’ he thought. ’Otherwise, that guy would be truly terrifying.’ He then said, "Huangfu Ren, I’m no member of your Huangfu Family."
As he spoke, with a mere thought, the foreign presence was instantly ripped from his body.
Out in the real world, or even elsewhere in the Wilderness World, he might have been helpless. But inside the marketplace hut, he had absolute control. He could expel anything that wasn’t a part of him—and even use it against his enemies!
"How is this possible! You..."
He watched the thumb-sized ball of white light he now controlled in mid-air, ignoring its frantic roars, and said coolly:
"Huangfu Ren, think carefully. Are you going to tell me how you ambushed your friend and stole his things?"
With that, he imprisoned the soul in the hut and then departed.
Huangfu Ren fell silent, stunned by Cheng Zongyang’s words.
Back in the ancestral hall, Cheng Zongyang hadn’t expected Huangfu Ren’s Soul to still exist. ’But is he truly dead or not?’
Reappearing in the ancestral hall, Cheng Zongyang immediately inspected the Copper Coffin.
Huangfu Ren’s corpse was indeed lying inside. However, his Cultivation had reached Innate Great Perfection. Tempered inside and out, his body was no longer that of an ordinary person. It would be nearly impossible for it to decay; even if it could, the process would take a very, very long time.
He quickly searched the body but found nothing.
Cheng Zongyang’s brow furrowed. ’No burial goods at all? Could he have really just stumbled upon that Demon Beast Bone?’
Eventually, he found a booklet sealed with oil paper and wax inside one of the stone pillars.
Seeing nothing else, a disappointed Cheng Zongyang moved Li Xuejin into the marketplace hut, then left the Huangfu Family’s ancestral grounds.
Using a Body Technique, he swiftly ascended from the Ghost Abyss. Standing at its edge, however, Cheng Zongyang peered down into it again.
Based on what had just happened, he knew something was down there at the bottom of the Ghost Abyss—and it was massive. Nothing else could have spewed out such a powerful current of air.
’I never would have thought this small County Town would hide so many secrets.’
He boarded the carriage and personally drove it back to Tiantuan Village instead of returning to the County Town.
After having someone take care of Li Xuejin, Cheng Zongyang went to his room and sent his consciousness into the Wilderness World.
Inside the marketplace hut, Huangfu Ren’s Soul remained imprisoned.
As if sensing Cheng Zongyang’s presence, Huangfu Ren grew agitated and exclaimed, "You’re a Cultivator!"
Cheng Zongyang didn’t answer. Instead, he asked, "Back then, you took a stone carving and its translation from your friend, as well as the Divine Weapon Refining Technique. What else did you get?"
Huangfu Ren fell silent once more.
But Cheng Zongyang continued, "After obtaining the Innate Qi Technique from the stone carving, you cultivated to Innate Great Perfection. But when you tried to comprehend the final step, Breaking Innate to enter the Extraordinary realm, you failed. Of course, the story that you died of old age was just a rumor you deliberately spread.
"In truth, judging by your current state, it seems you both succeeded and failed in your breakthrough. That’s how you preserved your Soul. After that, you were just waiting for someone to open the Copper Coffin so you could possess their body, weren’t you?"
"Who are you?" Huangfu Ren finally spoke, his tone laced with malice.
’The events he spoke of happened more than a hundred years ago; it’s impossible for anyone to know about them. And this person before me is far too young to know the details so clearly.’
Cheng Zongyang scoffed and continued, "Of course, there’s another possibility. You didn’t enter the Extraordinary realm through the normal method of self-refinement. Instead, you used a second, or perhaps even a third, method to break through.
"Both of those methods have one thing in common: they require an Extraordinary creature. You likely couldn’t obtain a Demon Beast Core or a Cultivator’s Golden Core. So, you used a Demon Beast for Spiritual Soul Seed Dao to achieve your breakthrough. In the end, you succeeded, but you also suffered a backlash."
"Who are you?!" Huangfu Ren roared again.
Cheng Zongyang materialized the ball of light that was Huangfu Ren’s Soul in his hand and chuckled. "Tell me what else you took, and I’ll answer your question. I might even be able to give you a new life. How does that sound?"
Huangfu Ren fell silent for a long moment before finally speaking:
"It was the egg of a small, dog-like Demon Beast. I hatched it, and it followed me everywhere. It was very smart and very powerful. But in the end, when I needed to break through, I couldn’t do it through self-refinement and couldn’t find a Demon Beast Core, so I had no choice but to strip it of its Spiritual Soul. I used its Spiritual Soul for my Cultivation.
"What happened next is more or less as you described. I broke through, but I suffered a backlash. I barely clung to life for five years before only my Divine Soul remained."
A furious rage suddenly erupted within Cheng Zongyang.
’Damn it all!’ he seethed. ’A Demon Beast from the system’s starter-pack reward... how could that possibly be an ordinary Demon Beast?’
