Fortunately for Su Mo, the Mastermind was not only aware of the Heavenly Demon Clan’s existence but also knew that the Heavenly Demon Eye was capable of soul transference—he’d just been unable to find it himself, which was why he’d resorted to his current method.
This was an unexpected stroke of luck, saving Su Mo a great deal of unnecessary explanation.
“Fine. I’ll let them go. But I’ve placed marks on all of them. If you try any tricks, I can tear through space and drag them back here one by one—there’s nothing on Earth that can stop me.”
With that, he opened a spatial passage and sent the others through, one by one.
Su Mo flashed Ye Qingyi a grin, telling her not to worry.
How could she not worry, though!
Still, Ye Qingyi didn’t cling or insist on staying by his side. She knew she’d be useless there, and would only distract him.
Better to trust him unconditionally.
They’d survived a catastrophe of that scale on Shikoku Island. This was just one S-rank—what was there to be afraid of?
Watching them all safely sent out, Su Mo finally let out a breath of relief.
Meanwhile, Yuan Tianxiu looked like a wilted plant, completely deflated.
“Master… are you… really going to possess me?” he asked, his voice trembling with unease.
“That’s right.” The Mastermind didn’t care in the slightest about the consequences of admitting it—that was the confidence born of absolute power, just like when he’d let the other seven go.
Yuan Tianxiu was thunderstruck. “Impossible!”
He repeated those three words over and over, growing more frantic each time: “Master has been so good to me—how could he possibly want to possess me?!”
Watching him spiral into madness, talking to himself, even Su Mo found it cruel. But the Mastermind’s expression remained utterly placid.
Ignoring Yuan Tianxiu entirely, he turned to Su Mo and urged: “Hurry it up.”
Su Mo was covered in injuries, but the pain didn’t hinder his movements.
In theory, a person without desire would find it difficult to cultivate the Heavenly Demon Eye—and here, “desire” specifically referred to carnal desire. But to Su Mo’s surprise, the old man at his age…
He took to the Heavenly Demon Eye quickly. And to aid his cultivation, he even had people bring in many young, beautiful women, using them as nothing more than furnaces for his practice.
Su Mo couldn’t stop him. All he could do was keep his distance, a chill running down his spine.
This process dragged on for over a month. The old man left a few times—probably to deal with trouble—but he always returned quickly, clearly not having broken a sweat against his opponents.
To prevent Su Mo from tampering with the cultivation method, he brought in several Divine Envoys as test subjects, and even demanded that Su Mo himself reach the third level—Soul Transference—within a set timeframe.
If not for the vast amount of desire-energy already stored within the snow mountains, Su Mo dreaded that the old man might force him into doing things he wasn’t willing to do.
But as they say: “Misfortune may be fortune in disguise, and fortune may harbor misfortune.” Who knew how many heavenly treasures Su Mo had consumed during this time? His sixth snow mountain had been built entirely through this forced feeding.
The Mountain of Fear—Thief-Swallower—and the technique corresponding to it was exactly the Fear-Character Art he’d obtained within.
On top of that, the fourth jade seed—an Earth-attribute jade seed—had been planted in his spleen. He was now only missing the final Metal-attribute jade seed to complete the Jade-Seeding Art.
One day, just as Su Mo finished his cultivation session, the Mastermind appeared before him.
“Today, you’ll teach me the third level.”
Putting everything else aside, the old man was definitely a model student—his drive to learn far exceeded the average person’s.
And he was diligent in his studies, never rushing. Only after thoroughly mastering the first two levels did he move on to the critical third.
“Conveniently enough, I’ve just mastered the third level myself.”
Thanks to the test subjects the old man had provided, Su Mo had grasped the essence of Soul Transference half a month ago. Whether it was possession or trapping the target’s soul inside their original body, he was now thoroughly familiar with all the operations.
As usual, the Divine Envoys went first. Only after they’d performed the operation flawlessly did the old man cautiously begin his own practice.
This process was extremely time-consuming. By the time he’d learned it, another half-month had passed.
At last, he’d gotten what he wanted. But the old man never practiced in front of Su Mo—because that was when he was most vulnerable, the easiest moment to stab him in the back.
“Two whole months, from start to finish. You’ve rendered outstanding service.” The old man’s smile didn’t reach his eyes.
Su Mo knew his usefulness had run out—it was time to put the donkey to death after it had finished grinding the grain.
But he remained remarkably calm. “I wasn’t the only one with outstanding service. Those Divine Envoys tested the method for you, Senior—they’re the ones who truly served you.”
They were all dead.
The old man shot him a glance, then ordered someone to bring in Yuan Tianxiu, whose eyes were now hollow and empty.
Seeing that, Su Mo said preemptively: “Right. You should have me demonstrate it first.”
“Hold on. Who knows if you’re just trying to sabotage me? I’ll do it directly.” The old man sneered, planning to perform the final possession ritual right in front of Su Mo.
Before that, however, the old man first sealed Su Mo’s cultivation and confiscated his spatial artifacts. Su Mo cooperated fully the entire time.
The ritual began. The old man and Yuan Tianxiu sat facing each other—everything proceeded according to standard procedure.
Before Su Mo’s very eyes, he completed the possession of his disciple. When “Yuan Tianxiu” opened his eyes again, those once-vacant gazes were not only sharp and focused—they were filled with a deep, weathered world-weariness.
“Hahahaha… To be young again—what a feeling!” The old man couldn’t help but burst into laughter, a sound so exuberant it seemed out of place with his usual sinister, brooding nature.
Taking advantage of the old man’s good mood, Su Mo tried his luck: “Senior, now that you’ve succeeded, could you maybe spare my life?”
The old man ignored him, walking instead to his own original body, staring at it in silence.
After a long pause, he suddenly let out a cold laugh. “If I’m not mistaken, your original plan was to attack me right after the possession succeeded. After all, my new body is only B-rank right now—you weren’t entirely without a chance.”
Su Mo put on an innocent look. “Senior, I genuinely wanted your possession to succeed. I’ve benefited greatly from this process myself.”
As if he hadn’t heard the explanation at all, the old man continued: “Too bad for you. I had the foresight to seal your cultivation first. And without me, no one can enter this temple’s secret realm. I can simply stay here until I’ve recovered to S-rank again. When that time comes, I’ll still be invincible.”
He laughed maniacally, clearly relishing the feeling of having seen through everything and leaving his opponent utterly helpless.
“Oh, and to thank you for teaching me the Heavenly Demon Eye, I’ve prepared a grand gift for you.” He clapped his hands, and several Divine Envoys appeared—dragging along Ye Qingyi and the others.
“You…” Su Mo’s eyes blazed with fury. “An esteemed Temple Mastermind, an S-rank powerhouse—and you have absolutely no integrity! You’d stoop to underhanded tricks against a bunch of juniors like us?”
The old man, in an excellent mood, wasn’t angered by the insults. Pointing at his original body with a shameless grin, he said: “The one who made that deal with you was him. What does that have to do with me? I’m just afraid you might get lonely on your own, so I brought them here to keep you company.”
