Chapter One Hundred: Seizing the Soul and Spirit, Part Two

“Good, then. Go ahead.”

The old man lowered his gaze and fixed his attention on the tea in his hands. He spoke of such a soul-stripping, spirit-seizing matter with utter composure, as though it were nothing more than a passing breeze and drifting clouds. If Jimo were awake at this moment, she would surely have sprung to her feet and cursed him to his face.

“Teacher, I understand that all of this is for my own good, but back then... the Sovereign left a final decree. Without his command, and without the proper chance, no one of my clan may cultivate the Demon Refinement Body Tempering Art...” Mo Yong’s expression still carried some hesitation.

“Hmph. Chance, chance. The Sovereign did not give us the Demon Refinement Body Tempering Art because he was forced to compromise under pressure from the powers of the upper realms. He chose not to give it, but if we obtain the Demon Refinement Body Tempering Art through other channels, then that means the chance of our Fire-Blooded Clan has already arrived. If we fail to seize a chance that has come knocking at our door, then we will truly have betrayed the Sovereign’s intentions. As the head of the Mo family generation, if you do not even have this much nerve, then I suggest the position of patriarch be given to someone else.”

The gray-clad elder raised his eyes to look at him and gave a displeased snort.

“I, Mo Yong, respectfully accept the teacher’s instruction!” Mo Yong was startled and hurriedly replied.

“In that case, do it.” The gray-clad elder gave him a faint glance and gently lowered his eyelids.

Mo Yong said nothing more. He released his divine sense and plunged it into Jimo’s sea of consciousness. To him, extracting Jimo’s soul was no more than a trivial matter. No matter how monstrous Jimo might be, she was still only a minor cultivator. In front of Mo Yong, she posed no threat or obstacle whatsoever.

Thus, when Mo Yong’s divine sense entered Jimo’s sea of consciousness, he felt no guard in his heart at all. But the instant he went in, his soul sense suddenly split with pain; his vision went dark, and his body nearly toppled over. Fortunately, he was not an ordinary man. In his shock, he immediately severed the connection with that strand of soul sense, yet a cold sweat had already broken out all over him.

“What happened?” the gray-clad elder asked gravely.

“Teacher, there is a very formidable soul body in her sea of consciousness. The moment my soul sense went in, a portion of it was immediately devoured. If I had not cut off that strand at once, I am afraid I would have been severely injured.” Mo Yong said, his face ashen.

Setting aside Mo Yong’s reaction, within Jimo’s sea of consciousness, the Peony Immortal’s fury and shock were even greater than his. Though she had driven Mo Yong back, she felt no satisfaction in it whatsoever. She had long heard of the fame of the Fire Domain while in the heavenly realm, but she had never encountered the cultivators of this world and thus did not know their true strength.

In her understanding, no matter how powerful the people of the Fire Domain might be, they were still only earthbound cultivators. As for herself, she was an immortal maiden of the heavenly realm. Though only a wisp of soul body remained, and though in terms of overall strength she might not be able to defeat them by force, when it came to soul-sense power, she refused to believe that anyone in the mortal world could be her match. Yet here, that belief had been utterly overturned.

This fellow called Mo Yong—if she had not caught him off guard and shocked him back with a sudden strike, then if they were to clash with all her soul-sense power, the Peony Immortal believed she would at most be able to fight him to a draw. And the gray-clad elder standing opposite him had not revealed even a trace of his strength, yet the Peony Immortal knew that she was absolutely no match for him.

Looking again at his manner, it was clear he would not spare Jimo. Could it be that today was the day the Peony Immortal would be reduced to ashes and vanish into nothing? She thought this with overwhelming grief and indignation.

Just as the Peony Immortal’s thoughts surged and roiled, the gray-clad elder, after hearing Mo Yong’s report, had a gleam flash in his eyes. He reached out a hand, and Jimo, who had been lying beside the tea table, flew straight toward him and hovered about two feet before his body. The cloudy old eyes that had always been half-lowered suddenly opened wide, and in an instant the pupils turned a gray-white color.

Under these eyes, Jimo’s body no longer held any secret. The old man studied her in silence for a long while before finally unable to suppress a startled exclamation: “To think it is a Five-Element Spirit Body? Hmm? And that silver whip in her sea of consciousness—if I am not mistaken, it should be the White Jade Flood-Dragon Whip, yes? What exactly is this child’s background?”

As for the Peony’s soul sense, it was simply ignored by the old man.

The Peony Immortal shrank within Jimo’s sea of consciousness, staring at the gray-clad elder with a face full of grief and fury. If she had not known for certain that she was indeed no match for him, she might have rushed out and fought him then and there. To think that she, a dignified immortal maiden of the heavenly realm, would be treated by a cultivator of the mortal world as though she were nothing at all. Such humiliation could not be washed away even with the waters of the three rivers and four seas.

“What? She is actually a Five-Element Spirit Body? White Jade Flood-Dragon Whip? Yes, I remember now. The child’s natal divine weapon is precisely the White Jade Flood-Dragon Whip. When I saw her using that whip on the stage before, it seemed familiar, but the power it displayed was too weak, so I did not think in that direction. Teacher, what should we do now...?” Mo Yong was also greatly shocked.

But the old man seemed not to have heard him at all. His eyes remained fixed on Jimo without blinking, while a violent struggle raged within him.

A Five-Element Spirit Body, the Demon Refinement Body Tempering Art, and the White Jade Flood-Dragon Whip in her sea of consciousness—everything, all of it, made the old man recall a great incident that had taken place in the Fire Domain thousands of years ago. Though he was the most authoritative figure in the Fire Domain, and in the entire mortal world there were almost none who could pose a threat to him, what if this child...

His gaze kept shifting, clearly revealing the fierce battle within his heart. In the end, the hesitation in his eyes turned into a trace of ruthless cruelty. A vicious light emerged in those gray-white pupils, and an incomparably powerful soul sense suddenly surged toward Jimo’s sea of consciousness...

“Hmph! Ever since the Fire-Blooded Clan produced that Nine Mysterious Demon Emperor, the clan’s fortune seems to have been exhausted. Now even the grand elder of the Witchfire Temple has become such a greedy, insatiable creature. I think your Fire-Blooded Clan’s days are nearly over!”

At that moment, a change struck suddenly. A cold snort seemed to descend from the highest heavens.

The gray-clad elder was blasted by that snort with a bang, slamming into the ancient tree behind him before crashing heavily to the ground. With a pfft, he coughed up a great mouthful of blood. Jimo, who had been lying flat before his eyes, vanished into thin air.

“Teacher, you?” Mo Yong was greatly shocked. In one leap he arrived beside the gray-clad elder, reaching out as if to support the old man’s body.

“Mo Yong, your hesitation and your thoughts were right. I was indeed guilty of greed and taboo. That girl is a Five-Element Spirit Body and also cultivates the Demon Refinement Body Tempering Art. Heh... how could she possibly be casually taken advantage of by anyone? Ridiculous, ridiculous. I actually... first wanted to strip her soul and refine her spirit, and in the end even thought to seize her body. Heh, I am old, I am old, yet my greed has only grown greater and greater. This is the karmic consequence I should bear. You may go back.”

The old man let out a desolate sigh, gently closed his eyes, and said no more.