Chapter 15: The Chase

"What am I doing? Naturally, I am performing a soul possession!" The black-robed elder's voice turned cold. His eyes were tightly shut, and his originally emaciated, heavily injured body showed no signs of life.

Lu Xiaotian's mind exploded, and his vision plunged into total darkness.

When his vision cleared again, he found himself in a vast expanse of white mist. The ground consisted of bare sand and stones. In the distance lay a misty space, indistinct and seemingly endless.

*How did I end up in this strange place again?* Lu Xiaotian was bewildered, but he quickly thought of the black-robed elder. He shouted loudly, "What is soul possession?"

"Soul possession is swallowing your primordial spirit to occupy your body. Good disciple, come quickly into your master's mouth. This time, I have consumed a Soul-Binding Fruit. Once I swallow you, I can retain a significant amount of the spiritual power within your soul. Once I have devoured you, you and I shall become one. By occupying your body, it won't take me long to succeed in Foundation Establishment, giving me plenty of time to verify the Great Dao of the Golden Core."

A sinister and insolent voice drifted toward him. If any other cultivator had heard the name of the Soul-Binding Fruit, they would have been terrified. This fruit had been extinct in the cultivation world for many years; even Golden Core ancestors found it difficult to obtain easily, yet it was being held by a mere Qi Refinement peak expert like this black-robed elder. This man's luck was truly extraordinary.

In an ordinary soul possession, the forced devouring of the opponent's primordial spirit would inevitably leave some aftereffects. However, after consuming this fruit, those side effects could be minimized while maximizing the absorption of the opponent's primordial spirit power.

Yet, this effect worked both ways; the opponent could also absorb his primordial spirit for their own use. Of course, such a possibility did not exist in the black-robed elder's mind. How could a little fellow at only the first layer of Qi Refinement possibly be his match?

"You old bastard! You turtle-hearted scoundrel! You really had no good intentions. May you die a horrible death!"

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiaotian flew into a rage. This old monster was so sinister; he had tricked him back to the cave dwelling, and he had been foolish enough to help the old monster prepare everything. He had been incredibly stupid, pushing himself straight into a fire pit.

"Hmph, you brat, you don't even know which spiritual root lineage you possess. If I hadn't taught you the *Primordial Chaos Sutra*, you would still be a mere handyman in a third-rate secular sect, spending your whole life fetching water and chopping wood. If I didn't have no other choice right now, I truly wouldn't deign to look at such inferior spiritual roots! To be favored by me is your blessing. Come here obediently and let me swallow you in one gulp; I might even grant you a quick death. But if you provoke me, I will extract your soul and refine your spirit, making you taste such agony that you will regret ever being born into this world," the black-robed elder said harshly.

"Old man, there's no need for such empty threats. If you have the guts, come here yourself. This young master isn't afraid of you!" Lu Xiaotian had been terrified of the black-robed elder before, but now that death was inevitable, if he couldn't fight, could he at least not curse?

"Using mere words to show strength—how arrogant! Do you think the water I had you soak in was for bathing? That was Soul-Locking Soup. Once you soaked in it, your divine sense would be unable to escape your body. I want to see how long you can hide!" The black-robed elder laughed triumphantly as his primordial spirit searched for him step by step.

This black-robed elder was truly calculating and extremely insidious, having planned everything in advance. Lu Xiaotian was both shocked and furious, feeling utterly helpless against him. The old monster possessed far more methods than he had ever imagined. No wonder he had refused to teach him real skills before; it was because he feared Lu Xiaotian would become a threat once he learned them.

*Run. Even if it means death, I cannot let this black-robed elder succeed so easily.* He struggled to fly away as far as possible.

"Eh? What kind of ghost place is this? It looks somewhat like a canyon."

Lu Xiaotian felt his body was very light, drifting aimlessly. With a single thought, he could float several yards, even dozens of yards away. Before he could fully process his surprise, the black-robed elder's piercing laughter reached his ears: "Good disciple, where do you think you're going?"

"It's that old beast." Lu Xiaotian focused his gaze and saw a faint, translucent phantom. It was not solid and looked exactly like the sinister visage of the black-robed elder; it could be no one else. This appearance was somewhat similar to the ghostly state described in the folklore of commoners, with a body that drifted aimlessly.

*What bad luck,* Lu Xiaotian cursed inwardly, but he would never sit idly by to wait for death. From their previous conversation, he knew this was the black-robed elder's divine soul—or, from a cultivator's perspective, it was more accurate to call it a primordial spirit.

Lu Xiaotian fled with all his might, while the black-robed elder pursued him with absolute confidence. Although he didn't know why he had arrived in this inexplicable place, he knew that since this kid had soaked in his Soul-Locking Soup, someone with a lowly cultivation of the first layer of Qi Refinement could never escape his grasp.

"Brat, stop! If you keep running, don't blame me for being ruthless!"

After a period of chasing through the mist, the black-robed elder spoke, sounding exasperated.

"Old man, this young master isn't going to stop here just to wait for you to kill him. If you have the ability, catch up yourself!" Lu Xiaotian retorted without backing down. The chase had given him some confidence; the black-robed elder's primordial spirit didn't seem much faster than him. As long as he kept running, the opponent might not be able to catch up.

"It seems if I don't give you a little suffering, you won't know my strength!" The black-robed elder was enraged. Using a powerful spell might accidentally cause Lu Xiaotian's primordial spirit to vanish into nothingness, so he only needed to obstruct him. The black-robed elder muttered incantations, and his primordial spirit grew slightly thinner.

As Lu Xiaotian was fleeing at full speed, an earthen-yellow shield suddenly appeared before his eyes. Startled, he had no time to turn and slammed headlong into the earthen shield. Instantly, he felt a wave of dizziness and tinnitus.

"Jie jie..." A burst of triumphant, eerie laughter drifted over, much closer than before.

Lu Xiaotian's heart jolted. He suppressed the discomfort in his divine sense and tried to bypass the earthen shield to flee further. The sheer number of methods this black-robed elder possessed was beyond his imagination; his only chance of survival was to stay as far away from this terrifying man as possible.

The black-robed elder said triumphantly, "Little fellow, you can't run anymore. If I weren't afraid of destroying your primordial spirit, a single fireball spell would be enough to make you perish in both body and soul. Even so, if I cast just two more Earth Shield spells, I can catch up to you. Stay put obediently and let me swallow your primordial spirit; it will save you a lot of unnecessary pain."

"Bullsh*t!"

Even though he was the one trying to harm him, he had the audacity to speak so grandiosely. It was utterly shameless. Lu Xiaotian was furious, yet he remained helpless against the black-robed elder, who was far too powerful.

Though he continued to flee with all his strength, his heart was filled with despair as the distance between them closed. The black-robed elder cast another Earth Shield spell, and the large and small primordial spirits were now only a few yards apart.

Lu Xiaotian was fleeing solely on a surge of indignation and the refusal to let the old monster succeed easily. In his haste, he failed to notice a wisp of light mist, thin as a thread, drifting toward his primordial spirit amidst the hazy fog.

"Hehe, I'm about to catch you. Ow!"

A cry of pain sounded from behind. Surprised, Lu Xiaotian looked back. The black-robed elder's hideous face was already inches away, his mouth wide open as he prepared to bite. Lu Xiaotian was terrified, but then he saw that the black-robed elder seemed to have hit a wall, which startled him even more. He realized that between himself and the black-robed elder, there was now a protective barrier that looked like condensed mist. To be precise, he was currently encased within this mist shroud, which separated him from the black-robed elder.

"What kind of devilish thing is this mist shroud? How can you control this?" The black-robed elder was both exasperated and incredulous. In all his years of wandering the cultivation world, he had never heard of a person's sea of consciousness manifesting such a strange phenomenon. He had studied the experiences of others regarding soul possession and made preparations, so why had no predecessor ever mentioned such an anomaly?

"I just can! What are you going to do about it, old man? Come and bite me!" Seeing that the black-robed elder failed several times to reach him, Lu Xiaotian felt a surge of confidence and began to mock him.