Chapter 682 - 667: The People of Black Heaven Castle

Hearing Shui Ningxin’s all-or-nothing declaration, Shen Lang was at a loss for words. "You’re overthinking this. I’m not interested in your soul or your body."

"..." Shui Ningxin’s eyes went wide, and she was left speechless.

You Yue couldn’t suppress a chuckle and turned her head away slightly.

Shen Lang then continued, "Matters involving the soul are no small thing. Even I can’t say for sure what my chances of success are."

"That person has occupied the Third Prince’s body for over a year now. For the Third Prince’s soul to still be able to awaken and help you escape means it hasn’t been completely devoured..."

Shui Ningxin immediately cried out, "Exactly! The Third Prince’s soul hasn’t dissipated, so if you take action, there must be a chance!"

Shen Lang rolled his eyes. "You’re oversimplifying things... I take it you don’t know much about Possession, do you?"

"I don’t." Shui Ningxin shook her head decisively.

You Yue’s expression also grew attentive.

Shen Lang slowly explained, "When experts at or above the King Martial Realm have their physical bodies destroyed, they are usually left with only three paths."

"The first is to continue their Cultivation in a soul form while waiting for a fortuitous opportunity to reconstruct their physical body. But this path is incredibly difficult. It’s not something that can be achieved simply through more effort. Without the right opportunity, they can only become a Ghost Cultivator and completely lose the chance to ever have a physical body again."

"The second path is rebirth through Possession. This is a little better than the first, but while Possession is easy, rebirth is difficult."

Shui Ningxin was taken aback. "Isn’t it easy for an expert to perform Possession? Why do you say rebirth is difficult?"

Shen Lang said faintly, "A King Martial Realm expert has a lifespan of over fifteen hundred years. But if he loses his physical body and possesses a Xuanwu Realm Martial Artist, not only will his Cultivation be drastically reduced and the difficulty of future Cultivation multiply, but his lifespan will also be severely shortened, dragged down to a very low level by the new body."

"If they can’t achieve a perfect compatibility with the possessed body, they’ll need to switch bodies again within a few years. Otherwise, they will face the tribulation of the Celestial Human Five Declines and be reduced to ash."

"And every time they switch bodies, their Soul Power suffers significant damage... Soul Power is far, far more important than one’s own Cultivation. A true expert would never be willing to frequently switch bodies and inflict such self-harm."

"That person’s Cultivation has reached the King Martial Realm. Devouring the soul of a Xuanwu Realm Martial Artist should be as easy as flipping his hand. Why would he leave the Third Prince’s soul intact until now?"

"The reason he’s left it until now is that he wants to completely merge with the Third Prince’s soul and become the absolute master of this body."

"Only by doing so can he ensure his future Cultivation is without obstruction, allowing him to cultivate and grow like a normal person."

"But because of this, his and the Third Prince’s souls are not like your situation in Cousin Jianfeng’s body, where you’ve merely suppressed one soul and occupied the body. Instead, the two have become tightly fused and are difficult to separate."

"Now, do you understand?"

After saying all this, Shen Lang watched Shui Ningxin quietly and sighed.

Shui Ningxin’s face turned ashen. She staggered back three steps, muttering, "Fused together? They can’t be separated...? Is the Third Prince really beyond saving?" A sob escaped her lips.

She slowly sank to the ground, covering her mouth with both hands to keep from crying out loud.

But tears streamed down her face uncontrollably.

Shen Lang glanced at You Yue. With a slight nod, You Yue stepped forward and helped Shui Ningxin up.

"For the time being, just stay inside Jianfeng’s body. Your soul is too weak. If you leave his body, you’ll quickly dissipate into the void."

"But remember, you cannot control his body for more than four hours a day. Otherwise, you will cause immense damage to his body and inflict irreversible harm on his Cultivation."

Shen Lang closed his eyes and said with a light wave of his hand, "The person occupying the Third Prince’s body has threatened my family, so I can’t let him live for long. But as for whether I can save the Third Prince, I have no confidence at all. Therefore, I can’t make any promises. We can only leave it to fate."

"Thank you, Shen Lang!" Shui Ningxin stopped crying and bowed deeply to Shen Lang, filled with gratitude.

...

「Western Wilderness Dragon Scale Forbidden Land.」

Yellow sand stretched for thousands of miles.

Here, there once existed an ancient kingdom with a history stretching back thousands of years.

Though not large, it had produced many experts who stunned the world.

Unfortunately, a hundred thousand years ago, during the final invasion of the Demon Race, their power caused this mysterious ancient kingdom to vanish completely from the world.

What was once a Peach Blossom Spring of towering trees was now nothing but yellow sand that blotted out the sun, with not a single living creature to be seen.

Occasionally, a few rocks, polished smooth by the wind and sand, would peek out from the desert, telling tales of that glorious history.

A full month had passed since the selection trials for the Yumu Cave Blessed Land.

Members of the various Major Sects, after passing through multiple Teleportation Arrays, were continuously gathering at the sole oasis deep within the Dragon Scale Forbidden Land.

The Yumu Cave Blessed Land was hidden within this strange Divine Sealed Canyon.

The reason the canyon was called strange wasn’t because the banks of the Divine Sealed Canyon were lined with steep mountains, perilous cliffs, and ancient Stone Forests, or because its streams had deep pools and rapid currents, strange rocks scattered about, and plunging waterfalls.

Rather, it was because in a place that looked so much like a Peach Blossom Spring, there were no birds or beasts whatsoever!

Not even the slightest trace of life could be felt!

This situation made the disciples from every Sect feel their hair stand on end, a chill running down their spines.

Thousands of people were gathered here, yet it was completely silent. The atmosphere was incredibly eerie.

FZZT! FZZT! FZZT!

On the Teleportation Array, lights continued to flash.

Group after group of people kept appearing.

Under the arrangements of the Imperial Dragon Sect, a floating platform had been constructed around the Great Lake at the bottom of the canyon, giving these Martial Artists a place to stand.

On those platforms were more than a dozen White Jade Pillows, each emitting waves of Spirit Light.

A few elders, ancient in appearance yet possessing a transcendent, immortal-like air, sat cross-legged on the White Jade Pillows in meditation, seeming utterly uninterested in the scene before them.

At the Profound Dao Sect’s position, Shen Lang’s eyes were tightly shut. His entire consciousness was focused within the Tai Chi Diagram, beside the World Tree, constantly comprehending the aura of the Great Dao emanating from it.

At the Imperial Dragon Sect’s position, a woman whose face was mostly hidden by her long hair peeked out from the crowd and shot a quick glance at Shen Lang.

Then, like a startled fawn, she quickly averted her gaze.

Although her face was mostly obscured by her hair, anyone from Celestial Phoenix City would likely recognize her upon closer inspection.

This was none other than the daughter of the former Celestial Phoenix City Lord, Ye Xue!

Back then, the Ye Family of the Celestial Phoenix City Lord’s Mansion had been plotted against by Xu Daolin, and the entire Celestial Phoenix City had nearly fallen into the hands of the Xu Family.

During that great upheaval in Celestial Phoenix City, the City Lord, Ye Xiao Zheng, had colluded with the Demon Dao. Having committed a great taboo, he took all the blame upon himself and was ultimately executed by the Imperial Dragon Sect. Only then was the Ye Family spared, and they left Celestial Phoenix City.

And Ye Xue, the main culprit who had caused Shen Lang’s father to suffer from corpse poison for three years, had not only escaped harm but was even taken in by the Imperial Dragon Sect, all thanks to Chu Qingcheng’s intervention...

The Xu Family, on the other hand, was completely shattered. Its members were either captured or fled, their fate far more miserable than that of the Ye Family.

Fate truly plays tricks on people. The three parties, once like fire and water, had now appeared at the entrance of the Yumu Cave Blessed Land at the same time...

Ye Xue, Xu Daolin, and Shen Lang.

The only difference was that Ye Xue was doing quite well, Shen Lang was even more free and unfettered, while Xu Daolin, after the disintegration of the Xu Family, had reappeared under the guise of the Third Prince...

In the crowd, the Third Prince, who stood with his hands behind his back and an extraordinary bearing, swept a faint glance over Ye Xue, a cruel, cold glint flashing in his eyes.

At that very moment, Shen Lang seemed to sense several ill-intentioned gazes and suddenly opened his eyes.

Following the gazes, he saw a group of grim-faced people reeking of Killing Intent. They were wiping their Spiritual Artifacts while their sinister, vicious eyes swept over the disciples of the Profound Dao Sect and a few other Sects.

It was as if the people from these Sects were nothing more than lambs to the slaughter!

Many of them let their lewd gazes roam up and down the female disciples of the Xiu Hua Sect, refusing to look away and even making obscene gestures, leaving the people from the Xiu Hua Sect infuriated.

’Courting death!’

Shen Lang’s eyes turned cold. A boundless wave of Divine Thought blasted wantonly toward that group!

Before the few old-timers in that area could even raise their defenses, a group of disciples was already clutching their heads and screaming in agony.

More than a dozen of them fell headfirst into the lake, creating quite a spectacular scene.

While the surrounding crowd was still bewildered, an elder from the group stood up and shouted in exasperation, "Shen Lang, what do you think you’re doing? When did our Black Heaven Castle offend you!"

Black Heaven Castle of the Celestial Defying Demon Realm was the most powerful influence under the White Bone Hall.

Although it was still a Profound Iron Level Influence, its strength far surpassed that of an ordinary one.

Since the White Bone Hall wanted to deal with the Profound Dao Sect, the people from Black Heaven Castle were naturally eager to claim credit, rubbing their hands together in anticipation of completely eradicating the Profound Dao Sect’s members.

Who would have expected that they, who were accustomed to being domineering, would run into someone even more domineering than them—Shen Lang!

His disciples had merely glanced a few times at the people from the Profound Dao Sect, and Shen Lang, without a second word, had brought the hammer down on every one of them!

This was the Divine Thought of a King Martial Realm expert!

Right before they were about to enter the Yumu Cave Blessed Land, if this group of Spirit Martial Realm disciples was blasted into idiots by Shen Lang’s powerful Divine Thought, it would be the biggest joke in the world!

"Hmph!" Shen Lang snorted coldly. "Instead of wasting time huffing and puffing, you’d be better off disciplining your disciples. If you force my hand again, it won’t be this simple."

As Shen Lang spoke these domineering words, several unsettling auras immediately rose into the air.

In any case, after entering the Yumu Cave Blessed Land, Black Heaven Castle and the other Demonic Dao Sects were going to move against the Profound Dao Sect anyway. The two sides were bound to have many vicious battles, and Shen Lang had no intention of reasoning with them softly.

If they pissed him off, he would just eradicate them completely, right here outside the Yumu Cave Blessed Land!

’Let’s see who can stop me!’