Zu An was stunned. How could you fight an opponent who was so fast that you couldn’t see him clearly?

His only option was to retreat as fast as he could. He employed his modified Sunflower Phantasm, and then mixed in Grandgale as well, worried that Old Mi would see through his movements. He even swung the Tai’e Sword about him, trying to intimidate his opponent.

Even though he knew that he wouldn’t hit anything, he had no other choice. He could only resign himself to fate and continue swinging it about.

A crisp, clear note rang out as Old Mi’s finger struck the Tai’e Sword.

Zu An felt an enormous force pass through the Tai’e Sword. He lost his grip on the Tai’e Sword. His body flew backwards, his feet left large gouges in the ground as he tried desperately to neutralize the tremendous force.

He looked at his hand. Blood poured from the webbing between his thumb and forefinger. That single strike had severely injured his hand.

Sigh, the gap between us is just too big.

Old Mi occupied the place where he’d been standing just a moment earlier, the Tai’e Sword in his hand. He gently flicked the blade with his finger, and the Tai’e Sword emitted a clear, ringing note. He sighed with praise. “An excellent sword! As expected, a fine sword indeed!”

He wasn’t in a hurry to attack. He wanted to draw out the rest of Zu An’s trump cards.

After all, Zu An had already brought out way too many pleasant surprises for him today. He wanted Zu An to empty out his bag of tricks. That way, it would be much easier for him to possess him afterwards.

“You accuse me of being vulgar? You’re the one who’s vulgar! Your entire family is vulgar!” Zu An snorted.[1] He immediately activated the Tai’e Sword’s domain.

The Tai’e Sword is a Sword of Kingship. Even though it was sealed, its innate power still existed.

Zu An had never used it before. He still had other trump cards, and he usually used other methods to achieve his objective.

However, his life truly hung in the balance right now, and this was no time to be saving any of his trump cards. He whipped them all out at once.

The Tai’e Sword had already acknowledged its owner, and established a soul connection with him. It didn’t matter if it was in Old Mi’s hands right now.

A sudden cry burst forth from the Tai’e Sword, and it trembled violently, sending out a terrible pressure that spread out in all directions.

Some vicious beasts began to whimper in the distance. They were clearly frightened by this terrifying power. They fell to the ground and began to shudder.

Old Mi bore the brunt of this pressure, and he naturally felt its effects more keenly.

His whole body shook uncontrollably, and his mind was filled with fear. His vision slowly darkened.

He saw the emperor standing before him, berating him for coveting his Phoenix Nirvana Sutra. Vengeful spirits flew around him, bearing the faces of his past companions, tearing at his body and demanding his life.

Zu An concentrated his attention on bringing the Tai’e Sword towards Old Mi’s neck.

He knew that the difference between their cultivations was too great. This pressure could only tie Old Mi down momentarily. It would not last long.

Just as the tip of the sword tip was about to sever his neck, Old Mi’s eyes snapped open, and he shook himself out of his daze instantly. He quickly dodged to the side.

Unfortunately, he was still within the Tai’e Sword’s domain, and was suffering the physical effects of the pressure. His movements had become much more sluggish. Even though he managed to prevent his head from being lopped off, blood still splattered everywhere. The blow severed his right hand from the elbow down.

“AHH!!” He let out a wretched scream. The intense pain, coupled with his instinctive desire to live, finally wrestled him free of the Tai’e Sword’s control.

He leapt back several dozen zhang. He looked at the Tai’e Sword, his expression overcome with fear. The sword had clearly left a significant shadow over his heart.

Zu An felt a burst of regret. Old Mi would’ve been finished if he’d taken just a second longer to recover his wits!

There was no time to waste. Now that his opponent had willingly backed away from him, he seized the opportunity to run.

“You damned bastard, I will definitely make you wish you were dead!” Seeing Zu An running away, Old Mi realized straight away that the sword’s power couldn’t be used continuously. The last of his misgivings went away.

He’d somehow almost lost his head to this brat whom he had always looked down upon! Old Mi was absolutely furious. He wanted nothing more than to hack Zu An’s corpse into a thousand pieces.

Then again, there was no way for him to harm Zu An’s body, not if he wanted to possess it himself. This made him even angrier.

You have successfully trolled Old Mi for 1024 Rage points!

Zu An was rapidly disappearing into the distance, which threw him into a panic. He quickly employed the Steps of the Rising Lotus.

Lotuses appeared with each step he took. He closed the gap in an instant, and moved in front of Zu An to block him.

Zu An frowned. He raised the Tai’e Sword and prepared his Snowflake Sword technique.

Old Mi didn’t dare let down his guard. He was focused a hundred and twenty percent.

He treated Zu An as a real opponent this time. In just a few moves, he lashed out with a foot, and the Tai’e Sword was sent flying.

He’d learned from his previous mistake. Instead of picking up the Tai’e Sword, he kicked it far into the forest. Only then did he focus his attention back to Zu An.

Zu An acted decisively as well. He immediately raised a pitch-black dagger to his own neck.

Old Mi was alarmed. He needed Zu An’s body, so he couldn’t let him die.

He pushed off frantically with his toes, rushing forward to stop him.

Zu An took advantage of this to suddenly point the dagger towards Old Mi. This was his last hope. He prayed that the Poisonous Prick could nick even the slightest bit of skin, and that its effects would be enough to take out Old Mi.

Old Mi wasn’t expecting him to resist this stubbornly even at such a juncture. This completely threw him off.

Unfortunately, in the face of absolute strength, all schemes and plots were useless.

There was a flurry of exchanges, and Zu An’s wrist grew numb. He lost his grip on the Poisonous Prick.

Old Mi used this chance to seal up all of his acupoints. Then, he brought that pitch-black dagger up to his eyes. “Brat, you’ve truly brought me countless surprises. The material of this dagger is extraordinary! It even rivals that sword of yours.”

Zu An’s eyes widened when he saw Old Mi gently brush the edge of the dagger. He prayed and prayed. “Why don’t you test it out on yourself? Better yet, give it a lick!”

“Are you hoping that this dagger will cut through my skin?” Old Mi sneered.

A chill ran through Zu An’s body. However, he still forced a laugh and said, “I’m not that dumb. Your cultivation is so high. What can a shallow cut like that do to you?”

Old Mi snorted. “A little demon like you is full of tricks. Do you take me for a fool? This dagger is pitch black, and is radiating a bone-piercing chill. It’s probably coated in some heavy poison. Even though I don’t think someone with your level of cultivation can poison me, I don’t want any more mishaps, not after what just happened. It’s better to be safe.”

All of Zu An’s hope seemed to have turned to dust. He didn’t expect his final trump card to be completely useless as well.

He called out to Mi Li again, but there was still no reply.

“This game is over.” Old Mi let out a sinister laugh.

Zu An’s vision went black, and he lost all perception.

A final thought flashed across his mind. I’m finished. I’m really going to be possessed by this old eunuch…

He really wanted to kill himself rather than let Old Mi possess him. Unfortunately, he no longer had the opportunity to do so.

Old Mi snorted when he saw Zu An faint. “I was almost done in by this brat’s tricks. But this brat really has so many treasures on him! It’ll be that much easier for me to rise to the top once I take over!”

He was about to have a brand new life. And one as a complete man, at that. He wouldn’t ever have to worry about being pursued by the imperial palace either! He was so excited, his heart so joyful, that he almost burst out laughing.

He didn’t want to waste another second. He raised his remaining hand, and a resplendent sunflower condensed on his fingertip again.

He pressed the sunflower imprint against Zu An’s forehead, and a wave of purple energy spread out from the space between his brows.

His consciousness quickly occupied the other party, and he poured all of his cultivation into Zu An.

An hour later, Old Mi’s body had shriveled up like a mummy’s. It fell limply to the ground.

Zu An suddenly opened his eyes. A purple sunflower glowed within the depths of each of his eyes.

“Hahaha! I’ve succeeded! I’ve succeeded!” ‘Zu An’ stood up. His unrestrained laughter boomed out towards the heavens. In the distant forest, countless startled birds took wing, and many vicious beasts fled in alarm.

The exceptional appearance of the Chu clan’s first miss appeared in his mind, as well as the cute and innocent second miss. Then there was the voluptuous and mature Madam Chu… All of them were his!

Awash in a sea of excitement, ‘Zu An’ suddenly felt that something was wrong. He lowered his head and looked at his crotch, where a bulging tent had formed. His eyes narrowed. “No! Impossible!”

A powerful yang force spread outward from his navel and burned up his fragile soul, which had just taken possession of this body. He screamed and howled in agony.

1. This is a play on words. The character for ‘sword’ (劍) is pronounced the same as the character for ‘vulgar’ or ‘cheap’ (賤). Old Mi was praising the sword (好劍) but Zu An is accusing him of offending him by calling him vulgar (好賤).