Chapter Sixteen: Seizing the Body

Wang Meng let out a heavy sigh and said, "Junior Brother, you're right. I did want to use you to steal spiritual herbs from the medicine garden and profit from it, but the idea wasn't mine—it was Lu Xin who incited me. At most, I was just an accomplice; Lu Xin is the true mastermind. If you seek revenge, he's the one you should go after. I've told you everything—please, Junior Brother, let me go back."

He thought to himself, Senior Brother Lu Xin is already a late-stage Qi Absorption cultivator. Any schemes you hatch against him are simply courting death. The difference between late stage and my just-advanced mid stage is as great as between a wolf and a tiger.

Ge Qian nodded and said, "I wondered how you even found the time to pay attention to a good-for-nothing like me. So it was Lu Xin who ordered such a vicious plan. Even though I'm not his match yet, these things take time—one day, I'll deal with him just as I'm dealing with you."

"Of course," Wang Meng replied eagerly, "With your intelligence, dealing with Lu Xin will be a breeze. If not for his instigation, I wouldn't be in this state! Junior Brother, you mustn't show mercy to people like him. I've told you all I know. My dantian is broken, I can no longer cultivate, and my injuries are severe. Please, let me go. I'll live honestly as a commoner and take tonight's events with me to the grave." Tears welled in Wang Meng's eyes as he spoke sincerely.

Ge Qian blinked a few times. "Very well. Since you were used by someone, I'll let you go."

Wang Meng thanked him gratefully. "Thank you for sparing my life, Junior Brother!" But inwardly he seethed: You bastard, you ruined me. Just you wait.

He struggled to his feet, enduring intense pain, and leaned against the wall, dragging his bloodied foot, hopping out one step at a time. Each movement sent a stabbing pain through his groin, making him howl like a wounded dog. It's over, my manhood is probably finished.

He cursed under his breath, wishing every misfortune upon that damned dog.

On the seventh step, a sharp pain twisted through his belly, a metallic taste filled his mouth, and he spat out a mouthful of blood. Looking down, he saw his hands had turned purple—he was poisoned.

He whipped around and pointed at Ge Qian. "You didn't just use anesthesia, you poisoned me too?"

Ge Qian nodded. "That's right. I only added a little Seven-Step Heartbreak Grass."

"You shameless scoundrel," Wang Meng stammered, "You swore an oath against inner demons—doing this breaks your vow, heaven will punish you!"

Ge Qian walked over elegantly. "I said I'd let you go if your answer satisfied me. But your answer did not. Killing you doesn't violate my oath."

Wang Meng spat out blood in fury. "So, satisfaction is yours to decide?"

"Exactly. Killing a fellow disciple is a capital crime. I have neither background nor strength—my only choice is to silence you. Only the dead keep secrets." Ge Qian's gaze grew cold.

Wang Meng suddenly sneered. "You forced me to this, don't blame me."

He fell back, face to the sky, and a ball of dark red soul light flashed into Ge Qian's brow.

Ge Qian felt a stabbing pain in his head as, within his sea of consciousness, a thumb-sized dark red ball of light confronted a jade-green one. The dark red soul was Wang Meng's nascent spirit. Cultivators, through their arts, reshape their spirits—the nascent spirit grows stronger with their realm. Even if a cultivator's body is destroyed, as long as the nascent spirit survives, he can seize another's body.

But one cannot possess a mortal's body—they cannot endure the spiritual burden and will wither and die. Moreover, a cultivator can only possess another once in their life, and the fusion is fraught with peril; one misstep and all is lost. This is a law of heaven and earth, immutable.

Wang Meng had planned to return and recover, even though his dantian was destroyed and his power gone. He wanted to possess a talented but low-level junior brother, then flee the Heavenly Star Sect to cultivate elsewhere. Little did he expect Ge Qian's ruthlessness—he had poisoned him with Seven-Step Heartbreak Grass. If he didn't possess a body soon, his nascent spirit would dissipate. Survival mattered more than the quality of the host.

As long as he devoured Ge Qian's spirit and merged with this body, at least his life would be spared.

To his surprise, Ge Qian's nascent spirit was three times the size of an ordinary first-level Qi Absorption spirit, almost equal to a second-level cultivator. With his own fourth-level spirit, devouring Ge Qian should have been easy. But his eyes were now blind, his spiritual sense corroded by demonic energy, a shadow of his former self. Ge Qian's spirit, on the other hand, was vigorous—wolfish, even.

Steeling himself, Wang Meng lunged at Ge Qian's spirit—at this point, there was no turning back.

Ge Qian was completely unprepared for the invasion of his sea of consciousness. He knew little of body possession, but clearly sensed Wang Meng's hostile intent and fled, racking his brain for a solution as he ran.

Seeing this, Wang Meng felt confident. "Junior Brother, you forced my hand. You never imagined cultivators could possess bodies. Once I devour your spirit and seize your body, I will cultivate again. Useless as you are, wits mean nothing. You let me into your sea of consciousness through a moment's carelessness. With your mere first-level spirit, you can only wait for death!"

Wang Meng closed in, laughing coldly as he pursued.

Ge Qian regretted his ignorance—he truly was like a frog in a well regarding possession. Now, he was at a severe disadvantage: his spirit was clearly smaller than Wang Meng's, no match at all.

What to do? I can't panic. Calm the mind first, then seek a solution. As he fled, he began to recite the Nameless Heart Sutra.

Passages of scripture poured orderly from Ge Qian's spirit. Wang Meng noticed Ge Qian slowing and sped up, saying, "Give it up already." With that, he pounced.

Desperate, Ge Qian halted the recitation and sprinted forward.

The sudden break in the Nameless Heart Sutra had a profound effect on its listener. The peaceful mind it induced was abruptly thrown into chaos; the orderly flow of scripture shattered and exploded.

Wang Meng's nascent spirit let out a soul-piercing shriek, wracked with excruciating pain. Its glow flickered violently and shrank by more than half.

The sea of consciousness was not large; as Ge Qian ran, he soon found Wang Meng ahead of him, howling in agony. He didn't know why, but it was undoubtedly to his advantage.

Wang Meng eventually quieted and said, "Junior Brother, finish me and end my suffering. Just devour me."

From his words, Ge Qian sensed Wang Meng had just endured tremendous torment. Reflecting, he realized the Nameless Heart Sutra not only calmed the mind, but abruptly interrupting its recitation inflicted side effects.

He began chanting again, then suddenly stopped. Once more, Wang Meng's spirit howled in pain, exploded, its light flickering wildly, and shrank by half again.

This time, Wang Meng lacked the strength to plead. Ge Qian repeated the process—reciting, then abruptly stopping.

Wang Meng's nascent spirit no longer screamed; it simply burst apart, shrinking again by half. Now, it was less than a fifth the size of Ge Qian's spirit.

Determined to eliminate the threat, Ge Qian continued: recite, stop, recite, stop—over and over.

At last, only a single thread of Wang Meng's spirit remained, as thin as a hair, incapable of shrinking further.

Ge Qian lunged and devoured the wisp, and immediately felt his own spirit grow much stronger. Normally, devouring another's nascent spirit could not be directly assimilated. Wang Meng, for instance, would only have wiped out Ge Qian's will to control the body. But the Nameless Heart Sutra had refined all impurities, leaving only pure nascent spirit—a great tonic for any cultivator.

This time, Ge Qian had profited greatly.

Mortal Path to Immortality, Chapter 16: Seizing the Body, completed!