A Mortal's Journey to Immortality: Wang Yu Transmigrates into a Book, the Dao Ancestor of Rein

Chapter 74 The Theory of Possession

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Despite being angry, the necessary seriousness remained intact.

After all, what attacked was a top-tier level 1 monster.

Its skin was covered with a layer of yellow light, which was a basic level of the Stone Skin Technique, making its body even tougher and thicker. The fleeting glint of refined iron on its fangs meant that this monster had cast a basic-to-advanced Tempering Technique on itself.

Both techniques are innate talents of the hyena boar, and they are used with even greater skill than cultivators.

Furthermore, the speed of the charging hyena was clearly abnormal; it felt almost as fast as a typical Qi Refining Elite flying on a sword.

This is unusual no matter how you look at it.

Surely the hyena boar doesn't possess magic like lightness or wind manipulation to increase movement speed, right? (Coincidentally, the man was half right.)
The whole thing happened in the blink of an eye, leaving no time for the barefoot giant to analyze the subtle details. There was no time. The hyena had already closed in to within a dozen feet.

The question now is: to fight or to retreat?

If they continue the pursuit, there's still a good chance they'll catch up with the brother and sister from Spirit Beast Mountain. If they retreat, the brother and sister will surely escape with the Foundation Establishment Pill they almost got their hands on.

"I should have agreed to use a Foundation Establishment Pill to turn hostility into friendship."

While secretly regretting his decision, he made his final decision after only half a second of thought:
"Chase…"

"Keep chasing!"

The siblings held a finished Foundation Establishment Pill.

That's a Foundation Establishment Pill.

then.

He charged straight at the hyena boar without flinching or dodging.

A man and a beast, in a flash, covered more than ten feet.

"Zzz..."

The silver sword emitted a sword cry, as if it wanted to drink blood, and its ten-foot-long sword light went straight ahead with the posture of "piercing through all obstacles in its path".

He had complete confidence in the Silver Radiance Sword, which he had refined using a special secret method.

This sword is made of materials comparable to ordinary magic weapons; how could a mere level 1 demon beast destroy it?

With a dull thud, the exquisite silver sword, infused with a significant amount of silver essence, clashed heavily with one of the two tusks of the mongoose.

In terms of strength, the tusks of the hyena boar are certainly far inferior to those of the silver sword, but in terms of power, how can the flying sword controlled by the big man compare to the hyena boar charging at such a fast pace?

The immense force struck, and the sword, unable to withstand the power, spun away.

However, due to the angle, the sword energy managed to slash a deep, long gash across the left side of the hyena's face, where it had used the Stone Skin technique. Instantly, pig's blood splattered, creating a vivid, crimson landscape.

With a single blow, the hyena suffered damage that made its appearance even more ferocious.

Fortunately, the injuries were not too serious.

It's just a healable superficial injury and disfigurement.

"That beast, doesn't he have a death wish?"

The burly man frowned.

Logically, a wild, top-tier level 1 demonic beast would sense the danger emanating from the Silver Radiance Sword's aura and automatically retreat. This would allow him to chase the Silver Radiance Sword, avoiding the monstrous boar, and first pursue the brother and sister at Spirit Beast Mountain before dealing with the beast.

But the hyena boar neither dodged nor retreated, charging straight ahead with extreme stubbornness, which made his preparations seem insufficient.

"hiss…"

Even a tough-skinned monster like the shrewd boar suffered a great loss in that attack, so how could the barefoot giant possibly fare any better?

For the burly man, the magical artifact connected to his mind and spirit was struck by a tremendous force. Although it remained undamaged due to its magic treasure-level material, the man controlling it felt a slight stinging pain in his head. It turned out that the magical power and divine sense attached to the Silver Radiance Sword had been rapidly depleted by the impact, losing more than half in the blink of an eye. This made his control over the sword slightly sluggish.

Then, he watched helplessly as the brother and sister disappeared into the mist of the crater, which made him even more furious.

The duck that was almost in our mouth just flew away like that?
"You beast, I'm going to skin you alive, pull out your tendons, and tear you to pieces."

With his hands outstretched, a silver sword beam appeared on each of them, identical to that on the Silver Radiance Sword.

He hated the spiky who suddenly appeared and ruined his plans.

However, before he could recall his Silver Glow Sword and achieve perfect harmony with it, two figures that had been hidden for a long time suddenly burst out of the ground from the same spot and flew towards him from the side.

One of the petite figures wielded two swords, the jade-green color flashing on the blades.

That's a jade mantis.

As another figure rapidly approached, it opened its right hand.

This figure was none other than Han Li.

There seemed to be nothing on his right hand, but the next moment, a sword tip appeared out of nowhere at the tip of his palm.

This is a small gray sword, a gray sword talisman.

Moreover, it was a gray sword talisman treasure that was deliberately concealed with fragments of a silk handkerchief magic treasure to mask the fluctuations in magical power.

The fragment of the silk handkerchief magic artifact can not only conceal the external appearance of things, but also the fluctuations of spiritual energy. Just before he fully activated the gray sword talisman, he had it wrapped in the silk handkerchief magic artifact fragment.

This move was even more subtle than Feng Yue's sneak attack on Duobao Nu with his talismanic flying knife.

After the gray sword talisman was activated, the sword appeared, quickly extending beyond the edge of the silk scarf artifact fragment, revealing its sharp tip and blade…

"go with!"

Before Han Li passed the burly man, he unleashed his talismanic sword.

"Enemy attack?"

The barefoot man's brain was initially unable to process what was happening.

He originally thought the spiky was a wild, forbidden-area monster, but now that he thinks about it, it's probably just one of the other party's spirit beasts. Otherwise, how could it be so fearless?
Who is this person from Spirit Beast Mountain?

Zhongwu?

When did that guy get such a top-tier spirit pet?
The two passed each other.

The Jade Mantis slashed at the giant's left side with both of its bladed legs! The force was immense!

Han Li then controlled the gray sword talisman to slash horizontally from the right side of the barefoot giant! The force wasn't heavy, but it was even more sharp.

Then only two sounds were heard:

"Ding ding..."

"Pfft..."

The Jade Mantis's bladed legs left two deep slash marks on the light barrier formed by the barefoot giant's low-level high-grade defensive talisman, almost breaking through it in one strike.

Unfortunately, a basic high-level defensive talisman is still a high-level talisman, and its defensive hardness and strength are still very well guaranteed. Even though the Jade Mantis accelerated and used special innate spells to greatly increase the sharpness of its blade legs, it still couldn't completely break through the defense in an instant.

But the Gray Sword is different.

The moment it touched the light shield of the high-level defensive rune, the shield was easily sliced ​​open as if it were tofu with a knife.

The sharpness of the talisman sword is evident from this.

Of course, only a talisman activated by a Qi Refining thirteenth level cultivator can possess such power.

If activated at the eleventh level of Qi Refining, it would at most unleash the power of a top-tier magic weapon like the Azure Dragon Banner, and it would be impossible to achieve at least four or five times the current power.

The more abundant and purer the magical power, the more formidable the power of the talismanic artifacts it unleashes.

"Talisman?"

It’s actually a talisman?
"But why didn't any spiritual energy fluctuations show up beforehand?"

The barefoot man, suddenly overcome with fear, broke out in a cold sweat. He muttered to himself, his teeth still chattering slightly.

Very risky.

Just now, if his body hadn't instinctively dodged, or if his conditioned reflex had been even half a beat slower in making the spontaneous evasive action, he would have already been decapitated and killed instantly.

Coming to his senses, he was enraged again:

"Who is it? Who ambushed Yan?"

The man, both surprised and angry, turned around to search for the person in question.

He spotted Han Li flying away into the distance at a glance.

At this moment, Han Li, having missed his attack, immediately fled into the distance.

"Huh? This person is wearing... why does it look like the clothing of a Yellow Maple Valley disciple?"

"Is this person a trial participant from Yellow Maple Valley?"

"But why do this guy's methods seem more like those of the Spirit Beast Mountain people?"

They are even more like the people of Spirit Beast Mountain than the people of Spirit Beast Mountain themselves.

His tactics are exactly the same as Zhong Wu's, and even more insidious.

A dozen or so feet away, Han Li seemed to sense something, turned around and said calmly:
"You shouldn't have turned around."

"Besides, you're overthinking things and getting excited too soon."

What do you mean?
not good!

An extremely powerful spiritual force surged up behind him instantly, and an unprecedented sense of crisis made his whole body tremble!

Then it suddenly erupted again, giving no one time to react:

"Puff puff puff puff...!"

Ice needles, countless ice needles, rained down like a storm of pear blossoms, rapidly covering the area around a single talisman in the direction of Han Li and the barefoot giant.

Intermediate-level lower-tier talisman: Ice Needle Talisman.

It turned out that just as Han Li was manipulating the gray sword talisman to pass by the barefoot giant, Han Li dropped this intermediate-level attack talisman, which was also concealed by the fragment of the silk handkerchief magic weapon and activated in advance.

The activation order even precedes that of the Gray Sword Talisman.

Clearly, Han Li never expected that the sneak attacks from the Gray Sword Talisman and the Jade Mantis would be enough to instantly kill a seed-level existence like the Barefoot Giant. The Gray Sword Talisman was never his ultimate weapon; it was merely one of the means he used to break through the high-level light shield covering the Barefoot Giant's body. The true killing blow was the Intermediate Ice Needle Talisman.

This is a series of interconnected steps.

The offensive was never-ending.

"Ugh...ugh..."

The man, dressed up like a giant hedgehog, was instantly pierced by countless ice needles.
He struggled to open his mouth as if to say something, but the flame of life was rapidly extinguished. The incident happened so suddenly that there wasn't even time to cast a spell to separate his primordial spirit from his body.

And the gray sword talisman flashed: "Pfft..."

Finish off the enemy.

Beheading.

Heads fell to the ground.

In the blink of an eye, the big man's eyes widened, and he died with his eyes wide open, unable to close them in peace.

Looking at this person's back, it was as if countless ice needles had pierced it. His front body was riddled with holes. Moreover, all his warm blood was frozen, unable to flow out.

Even more regrettable was that the Yan family man's top-grade silver sword, infused with a significant amount of silver essence, was only two or three zhang away from him. In other words, if the Yan family man had held on for just a little longer, just a little longer, the highly spiritual top-grade flying sword would have returned to his side, providing a unique form of protection. Once the top-grade flying sword started spinning and acted as a shield in front, the ice needles from the ice needle talisman would have posed no threat whatsoever.

Such ambushes and sneak attacks are naturally difficult to succeed. Unfortunately, that final two zhang or so distance was destined to become the most difficult regret for the barefoot man surnamed Yan to let go of.

"Having great dynamic vision but not being able to keep up with brain thinking can sometimes not be a good thing."

Han Li thought to himself.

Those with good dynamic vision tend to keep their eyes glued to the enemy.

At that moment, he anticipated that during their brief encounter, the burly man from the Giant Sword Sect would likely keep his gaze fixed on him, the Jade Mantis, and the Husky, in case of another attack.

But this seemingly minor detail is actually a major flaw.

Han Li then tried it out.

As expected, the burly man from the Yan family was indeed paying too much attention to him. He overlooked the danger lurking behind him after he turned around.

Furthermore, they failed to replenish the second and third defensive runes in time.

The barefooted giant, without any defenses, may look big and burly, but he's actually quite fragile.

Under the combined attack of "Gale and Rain" and "Rain on Banana Leaves" within a two-zhang range of the intermediate-level ice needle talisman, he died a truly unsettling death.

"receive."

Han Li, who had originally dodged thirty feet away to avoid being affected, flew back and, after making a hand seal, began to collect the ice needle talismans that the monster was still shooting countless ice needles in mid-air.

However, only three or four breaths had passed in total, and the retrieved ice needle talismans had already consumed half of their energy.

Fortunately, the outcome was decided in time, and he collected the talisman quickly enough; otherwise, this intermediate-level talisman could have ended his talisman-making career prematurely.

"receive."

The gray sword talisman fell back into his hand.

"Receive, receive..."

What he was collecting this time was the top-grade Silver Radiance Sword and the storage bag left behind by the barefoot giant.

After collecting these items, he cast a fireball spell, then immediately mounted his ice-fire wolf and disappeared into the mist at the edge of the crater, leaving the area far behind.

The commotion just now wasn't too loud, but it wasn't too quiet either; it might have attracted a swarm of annoying flies.

Therefore, it's best to leave first.

...

The mist in the crater is quite interesting. It has little effect on the forbidden land's demonic beasts, but it has a natural restraint on cultivators. Even cultivators cannot extend their divine sense very far into the mountain mist. On the other hand, the Icefire Wolves, as top-tier demonic beasts native to the forbidden land, are like fish returning to the sea, becoming much more active upon returning here.

Once inside the edge of the fog, not only will you not lose your way, but you can also use the fog to avoid being seen by outsiders.

He discovered it after he arrived here and began studying the fog.

Talk about it.

What exactly happened with his actions?

If you wanted to save Han Yunzhi and her brother, why didn't you take action to rescue them earlier?
The reasoning is actually quite simple. If he had intervened earlier to help Han Yunzhi and her brother deal with the Yan family man, it would have been easier for the three of them to work together. But how would they divide the spoils afterward? The brother and sister had also contributed, so it would be unethical not to share the spoils, but sharing them would only cause them internal harm.

After much thought, he decided against getting bogged down in internal strife and decided to keep the food to himself.

Furthermore, if the brother and sister weren't driven to a desperate situation, how could the Yan family man have gotten so confident in their abilities and then single-mindedly pursue them? If he didn't pursue them, how could he get close to their hiding place and launch a sneak attack?
Fighting a top-tier player head-on versus launching a sneak attack is a completely different level of difficulty.

To put it bluntly, given his current condition, if he were to engage in a direct confrontation with the barefoot giant, while he would likely win, he would also suffer heavy losses, significantly impacting his plans to explore the central area. This would be a net loss. The brute boar is a prime example; it was injured in a single exchange by the Silver Sword's penetration, half its face severed by the sword's energy. If the Jade Mantis and the Icefire Wolf were to face the Silver Sword directly, would they certainly not be injured?
He had no intention of reimbursing any top-tier spirit beasts.

Moreover, without the Han siblings severely depleting the mana and spiritual power of the Yan family men from the Giant Sword Sect, his series of sneak attacks would not have been so easy to succeed.

Although the Han siblings were defeated in their previous battle, it still caused trouble for the Yan family man. His magical power and spiritual energy were significantly depleted.

In short, if they act sooner, the siblings' losses will be much smaller, but his losses will be much greater.

His principle has always been: one can cultivate immortality with kindness, but one cannot have excessive compassion.

Kindness is achieved without harming one's own interests or reducing one's own gains.

His bottom line is that he doesn't provoke anyone.

Ultimately, it was also a kind of helplessness on his part to try to be a good person.

Considering that the barefoot man surnamed Yan was a promising talent favored by the Giant Sword Sect's leader at the Core Formation stage, and also had a powerful cultivation family behind him, killing him in front of Han Yunzhi and her brother would be creating a future problem for him. Therefore, the best outcome would be for the siblings to be defeated and flee, ideally into the misty area of ​​the crater where they would lose sight of their rear. Only then could he appear to cover their retreat and conveniently eliminate the man surnamed Yan.

Otherwise, regardless of whether it was him or the Han siblings who killed the Yan family man, they would both be suspicious and wary of each other.

Although doing good deeds anonymously may seem a bit less meaningful, it avoids a major hidden danger, doesn't it?
I checked the storage bag.

As expected:
"I'm a bit poor...!"

Inside the opponent's storage bag were four mid-grade spirit stones, over two hundred low-grade spirit stones, two spare high-grade magic weapons, and six mid-to-low-grade magic weapons. Most of these spoils were likely the haul from the man surnamed Yan's hunt down of cultivators from his sect.

Considering this person has a bad habit: he likes to use his Silversword to weigh his opponents' magical artifacts, and forcibly destroys any that are substandard with his Silversword. In addition, this person only loves the Silversword as a flying sword artifact for combat and doesn't like to equip himself with other magical artifacts.

"Besides the Silver Radiance Sword, I have no other magical artifacts..."

"And she loves destroying other people's magical artifacts..."

Collecting even a few mid-to-low-tier magic weapons from opponents as spoils of war is already quite an achievement.

Fortunately, the best Silver Glow Sword can be reforged and tempered.

Although the large amount of silver essence mixed in it cannot be used to strengthen magic weapons or for any other purpose, it can be reshaped by a Core Formation cultivator into another exclusive silver-glowing sword belonging to him.

"The original owner did not do that because he needed to keep a low profile for various reasons."

"As for me, being a little high-profile is fine..."

The final and most important gain was a [Silver Page].

The silver page was merely a disguise created by the barefoot man; hidden within was a gold page crafted from special materials. This was the Xuanjian Sect's most treasured heirloom, containing the complete "Qingyuan Sword Manual," the secret technique "Three Revolutions of Rejuvenation" aiding in Core Formation, as well as methods for cultivating sword energy and more subtle techniques for controlling flying swords.

It is a pair with the other gold page that Li Huayuan has.

The other gold page records the crafting method of the top-tier magic weapon "Azure Bamboo Bee Cloud Sword" and information such as the "Great Geng Sword Formation".

Inside a tree hollow, Han Li packed his things and began to ponder his future path.

...

"The Azure Origin Sword Technique, Third Reincarnation, once mastered, grants a cultivator more than twice the maximum mana of other cultivators of the same level..."

"The key is that it can greatly increase the chances of successfully forming the Core Formation!"

This technique was tailor-made for him.

If he were to switch to cultivating other top-tier techniques, he would never be able to form a golden core in his lifetime. This is because the purity of the magical power he gains from cultivating other techniques with his pseudo-spiritual root would never reach the level required to condense a golden core.

Even if he spends a hundred years refining it, it won't make a difference.

The reason why cultivators with Heavenly Spiritual Roots do not face the bottleneck of Core Formation is that they only cultivate one attribute, thus avoiding interference from the spiritual energy of other attributes. Their early-stage cultivation results in extremely high purity of mana. After reaching the late Foundation Establishment stage, their mana can quickly reach the purity required for Golden Core condensation.

They've essentially reached the finish line of the third stage of cultivation.

The more spiritual roots a cultivator has, the slower their cultivation speed and the more difficult it is for them to form their core. This is the reason why.

Because the magical power cultivated by cultivators with multiple spiritual roots, even in the late Foundation Establishment stage or the peak Foundation Establishment stage, does not meet the standard in terms of the purity of their magical power and true essence. This is the origin of the bottleneck.

And he.

Four types of pseudo-spiritual roots.

Once you reach the Foundation Establishment stage, the liquid mana you cultivate will never show any signs of condensing into a pill.

In this situation, it is necessary to continuously compress and purify the magical essence within the body.

The combination of "Qingyuan Sword Technique" and "Three Revolutions of Rejuvenation" perfectly solved this fundamental problem of his body.

Furthermore, the Third Rebirth has another hidden benefit: it helps cultivators break through the bottleneck of the early to mid-stage Core Formation. The Third Rebirth allows their magical power to surpass that of ordinary cultivators in purity, rivaling those with Heavenly Spiritual Roots. The reason why Heavenly Spiritual Roots can almost smoothly reach the Pseudo-Nascent Soul stage lies in this.

If he wanted to have an easier time after forming his core, and not be stuck at each bottleneck for decades or even centuries, then the Azure Origin Sword Technique and the Three Revolutions of Rejuvenation were his only options.

Once you get past the Core Formation stage, the bottlenecks in the early and middle stages of Core Formation will be much easier.

The three cycles of cultivation involve first reaching the peak of Foundation Establishment, then dispersing the cultivation to return to the early stage of Foundation Establishment. This process of compression and purification of mana three times in a row allows the mana essence within the body to approach the level of a Core Formation cultivator. At that point, condensing the core will be a natural and effortless process.

However, while the idea was good, another equally thorny problem has emerged.

That means the third level of the Rebirth stage is extremely resource-intensive.

Where would he find so many resources to complete his three transformations?
The Foundation Establishment stage resources within the forbidden area are insufficient for him to advance to the second or third stage; even completing the first stage would be difficult.

It's important to know that the original owner possessed the Heavenly Bottle, along with hundreds of level-five and six demon cores obtained from hunting in the outer seas. This allowed the original owner to complete three rounds of dispersing cultivation at the second-tier multi-stage rebirth at the age of 131. Subsequently, he formed his core around the age of 136.

Being able to form a core at the age of 136 is only possible with the support of the Heavenly Bottle and abundant resources.

"I can't go down that path..."

"Without the Heavenly Bottle, I simply don't have enough resources to squander, so I have to find another way."

He understood the principle that those who learn from me will live, while those who imitate me will die.

After looking at this ordinary-looking body, he closed his eyes.

It seems we need to consider another plan.

Should we possess the body of someone with exceptional talent and change their physical form?

Through his in-depth understanding of the matter of possession over the years, he came to know some other major taboos related to possession.

Of the three ironclad rules, only the first two are truly ironclad laws:

1. One cannot possess the body of a mortal.

2. One can only possess another body once in a lifetime.

3. Those with stronger magic power devour those with weaker magic power.

The third point here is actually unexpected.

When a higher-level being possesses a lower-level being, or a stronger being possesses a weaker one, there is also the risk of failure.

Therefore, a more accurate statement is: those with higher magical power have a higher success rate in possessing bodies of those with lower magical power, but there is still a possibility of failure. Those with lower magical power who possess bodies of those with higher magical power will definitely fail.

In addition to the three ironclad rules, there are some details:
Firstly, before reaching the Nascent Soul stage, the difficulty for a cultivator to form a Nascent Soul increases several times over.

After all, forming a nascent soul involves the unity of essence, energy, and spirit; it's the condensation of a broken elixir into a nascent soul. However, a body that isn't original is ultimately not original, and there are hidden dangers at the stage of unifying essence, energy, and spirit.

Secondly, when a spirit with inferior spiritual roots possesses a body with superior spiritual roots, the spiritual roots of that body remain unchanged, but an additional layer of impure energy will be added. This impure energy will significantly increase the intensity of any bottlenecks encountered during future cultivation. In other words, possessing a body with a heavenly spiritual root will obscure that root, turning it into a slightly inferior, heterogenous spiritual root. Possessing a body with dual spiritual roots, or most special constitutions, will result in a body with the cultivation efficiency of a body with three spiritual roots.

Thirdly, to ensure that one's cultivation talent is not damaged after possession, it is best to choose a body with the exact same spiritual root. For example, a high-level cultivator with a wind spiritual root should possess a body with a wind spiritual root, as this will prevent the generation of that impure energy.

Fourth, when a high-level cultivator possesses a low-level cultivator, it requires a significant loss of vital energy to allow the primordial spirit to gradually integrate with the body, a process that inevitably consumes some of their lifespan.

In summary, this is the main reason why Heavenly Spiritual Roots are rarely found among independent cultivators, but are mostly found within families and sects.

Because once the Heavenly Spiritual Root appears, it disappears.

This is also why people with dual spiritual roots and special physiques are not often noticed.

Because if you, with three spiritual roots, possess a body that has the cultivation effects of two spiritual roots, you will still get a body that only has the effects of three spiritual roots, so what's the point of possessing another body?

In short, defying fate is not unacceptable, but it also has many limitations and unforeseen circumstances.

(End of this chapter)