【While you were inwardly cursing your little bastard for being so inhuman, a sound of unwilling rage erupted from a certain secluded cave in Sanshan Sect, echoing far and wide, resonating through heaven and earth!】
【After sending away the Foundation Establishment elder who came to inquire, the little bastard led you toward the source of the voice. You immediately recognized the owner of this secluded cave—Gong Shuexue.】
【The only First Rank among your peers, she had broken through Foundation Establishment decades ago and become a powerful elder within the sect. Ten years ago, she apparently encountered some opportunity outside and gained potential for Golden Core, remaining in seclusion until now.】
【The little bastard led you into the cave】
The cave was plain and simple, with no excessive decoration. There was none of the floral or arboreal hobbies favored by female cultivators. It was utterly empty except for a jade bed. On the jade bed sat a woman in a green robe, cross-legged.
Her features were exquisitely elegant and refined, her skin like congealed cream, her temperament serene and graceful, dressed in a teal Daoist robe.
“Elder Gong?” Su Bai tentatively spoke.
“It’s no use, Master. She’s already dead,” the little black-clad boy shook his head.
“Her soul shattered, dantian collapsed, Dao foundation thoroughly broken, no chance of survival… Huh? What’s this—”
At that moment, the jade bed’s occupant, Gong Shuexue, who had been completely lifeless, suddenly snapped her eyes open.
Her eyes were devoid of any spirit, hollow and cold, like a puppet without feeling.
Su Bai was startled, about to ask, when suddenly a Golden Core aura surged like a tidal wave, instantly filling the entire cave. The powerful spiritual fluctuations roared like a storm, crashing toward the two of them with overwhelming force.
Golden Core?
Su Bai’s expression shifted slightly.
The next second, “Gong Shuexue” flashed like lightning and appeared abruptly in front of Su Bai, slapping a palm toward her. The palm wind howled, the force surged like a tidal wave!
Finished!
No! Finally, freedom!!
Able to get rid of this damned rebellious disciple! Next time in simulation, I must thrash his ass!!
Hmm?
Wait, why hasn’t the attack arrived yet?
Just as Su Bai wondered why the attack hadn’t landed, he painfully opened his eyes. A tiny figure stood before him, a jade hand piercing through his chest, fresh blood flowing profusely, pooling into a glaringly red puddle on the ground.
Su Xiaohei stared at the zombie woman who had almost killed him with one strike, a strange smile curling at the corner of his mouth.
“Interesting.”
Behind him, in the pitch-black shadows, a long banner’s phantom flickered slightly. Wailing souls swirled in the blood-soaked space-time. The entire world suddenly fell into a profound silence.
“Gong Qianxue” was frozen in the [space] like a tiny bug trapped in amber for thousands of years, stuck rigidly in the posture of reaching forward with her arm, like a bizarre painting.
A figure slowly emerged from the shadows behind Su Xiaohei, dressed in a golden-patterned long robe, extraordinarily handsome, like a deity descending. He reached out, his long fingers clamping onto the jade neck of the corpse, effortlessly lifting her up.
A majestic Realman Exalted. Before him, this corpse looked like a powerless little chick waiting to be slaughtered.
“This is… Jiuling Demonic Transformation Technique?”
The man in white frowned, then plunged a hand into the corpse’s lower abdomen. With a harsh stirring, he pulled out two golden, glowing Golden Cores—one ancient and withered, heavy with the weight of countless years; the other vibrant but covered with cracks, nearly shattered.
Then, as if remembering something, he turned to look at Su Bai, who was clutching the little boy’s corpse with a wary expression. He smiled gently.
“Master… don’t be afraid. Your husband is here.”
Su Bai: ???
“What happened to her?”
Su Bai glanced at the corpse lifted by the man in white, especially at the two blood-soaked Golden Cores in his hand, her confusion deepening.
The man toyed with the Golden Cores between his slender fingers, a teasing smile tugging at his lips: “Jiuling Demonic Transformation Technique, a Divine Transformation-level skill, requires First Rank aptitude. It involves body usurpation. After the Golden Core forms, you choose another First Rank candidate and repeat. After nine Golden Cores are formed, then after the ninth-nine return to one, one can ascend to the rank of Divine Transformation Heavenly Lord.”
“Simply put, an old Golden Core wasn’t willing to pass away so easily. It possessed this First Rank girl, attempting to cultivate this forbidden technique. But luck was poor and Heaven’s will cannot be defied; the first Golden Core formation resulted in both core and host’s destruction.”
Old Golden Core? Possession?
A bolt of lightning struck through Su Bai’s mind. Suddenly, she recalled something.
When she participated in the Immortal Alliance mission, the sect’s leader faction and the elders’ faction were fighting fiercely. The leader faction seemed to have the upper hand, but just days later, the leader faction suddenly and unexpectedly collapsed without warning.
Otherwise, if she had formed her Golden Core and overturned the situation, Sanshan Sect would have ceased to exist by now.
“By the way, why is the wife so far from her husband?” A faint male voice sounded. Su Bai, who was steadily retreating, looked up to meet a pair of deep black eyes, half-smiling.
“Do you suspect your husband is also a possessed old monster? Possessing you, his foolish disciple, using your name and body to carry out those treacherous acts, betraying master and sect?”
Su Bai fell silent at his words, her gaze growing more wary and suspicious.
“Hehe~ Wife, you guessed right. I am that possessed old monster.”
“In that case, it seems you’ve invited your own death. Your husband cannot keep you anymore!”
The man took a step forward, closing in.
Yet Su Bai’s heart strangely relaxed.
A possessed old monster.
Well, that’s good~
The little pet wasn’t truly rebellious or disloyal.
Her teaching skills were still intact.
I knew it, how could I have raised such a “perverse rebellious bastard” myself? Turns out he was possessed.
Phew~
Dying this time doesn’t matter; she can always restart.
“Wife doesn’t seem afraid to die.” The faint male voice sounded again, with a teasing tone. “How about I change the punishment? First, I tattoo you with demonic runes all over your body, then use pills to accelerate your flesh’s ripening, then cast a soul-entangling spell to fabricate memories of ‘loving me,’ turning you into an eternally hungry, unsatisfied female beast, always crouching at my feet.”
Su Bai’s face paled drastically.
If it really came to that, she’d rather die. That kind of life—unable to survive or die, like ascending to paradise but never tasting any sweetness, desire crushing reason, craving breaking boundaries—she never wanted to experience again.
Originally ready to face death head-on, she now involuntarily retreated several steps.
“Ahahaha~ Didn’t expect even Master to be scared sometimes.” The faint male laughter rang out. The man in white laughed heartily, losing all his previous cold demeanor. He looked more like a child still clinging to innocence, pure and unrestrained.
After laughing, he reached out and pinched her delicate chin, eyes full of mischief: “I’ve wanted to scare Master once for a long time, just like when you used to scare me with the ‘Wolf Granny’ story when I was little.”
“Little bastard!” Su Bai hissed, raising her hand to slap away his teasing fingers.
The man in white easily dodged the strike, smoothly snatched the little boy’s corpse from Su Bai’s arms, and stuffed it into the inky shadow behind him.
The shadow writhed, like a giant, greedy maw, instantly swallowing the boy’s corpse, the sound of chewing sounding particularly eerie and horrifying.