Chapter 4008: Possession

Lu Yin was ecstatic. He had just found a way to expose the Netherfiends. There was no hesitation as he shot towards the closest orb of light. It was not dim at all and looked quite promising.

His mind immediately merged with it.

Cold. A biting cold. He opened his eyes to see a group of people kneeling before him.

The eyes of his current body shifted as he looked downward.

“Ancestor, please wake up! If you don’t, this fool will completely ruin our clan!” someone cried out, desperation causing their voice to break.

Across from the first man, another shouted, “How ridiculous! Be clear and tell Ancestor the truth. How exactly am I ruining the clan?”

“You still won’t admit it? I really want Ancestor to wake up and see your disgraceful face.”

“I’m the current patriarch, the face of our clan! You’re nothing more than the head of a branch family. Stop wasting my time and get out.”

“This is Ancestor’s domain! What right do you have to drive me out?”

“I’m the patriarch.”

“I am also one of Ancestor’s descendants...”

Lu Yin silently observed the bickering. There were far more than just the two men on their knees before him. An entire crowd was filling the hall. The two who were arguing were the ones with the highest standing, and both possessed quite decent cultivations as sequence powerhouses. Clearly, this was a notable family.

As for the one that Lu Yin had Possessed, the man was an Ortuser.

The man’s descendants had no idea that their Ancestor was a Netherfiend. They could not be blamed; he had slumbered for far too long, and none alive had ever seen him wake up. To them, their ancestor was nothing more than a block of ice.

The ice was intensely cold, and it reached all the way to the marrow of the man’s bones, sealing their Ancestor.

Memories started to surge in. Lu Yin saw the man’s past, how he had led his clan in battle, been besieged by enemies, and how he had encountered the Netherfiends. Lu Yin saw how the man had become a Netherfiend himself, defeated his enemies, and then worked for his new masters.

Within those memories, Lu Yin even saw Yong Heng.

That man had enjoyed an exceedingly high position among the Netherfiends. According to memories that Lu Yin was seeing, no one had outranked Yong Heng. So why had he betrayed them? Lu Yin could not help but wonder.

The old man that Lu Yin was Possessing had only had a little contact with Yong Heng and knew nothing of his betrayal. He had simply been ordered to sleep in cryostasis, and his orders had not changed since Qi Xu’s death.

That was why he was still in cryostasis.

“Ancestor, please open your eyes and look at this wastrel’s ugly face.”

“Ancestor, this man is about to betray our clan! Please wake and see for yourself! Your descendents are too incompetent to even rein in a branch of the family.”

“So what if we’re a branch family? Did I take the clan’s spirit seeds?”

“Even the clothes on your back belong to the clan.”

“Then I’ll take them off and give them to you.”

“You shameless old coot!”

The others in the hall could only helplessly listen. They had heard this same argument countless times before and had grown numb to it.

Still, it was better than the endless rumbling that filled the sky.

Crack.

“If you’ve got the guts, take those clothes off, you shameless old bat!”

“Fine! I’ll strip right here in front of Ancestor to show him your disgraceful face, wastrel.”

“You’re shameless!”

“You’re the one leading our clan to ruin!”

Crack.

“Y-you... Wait!” Slowly, every head in the hall rose up and looked upwards.

They looked at the human-shaped block of ice that was splitting open before their eyes.

Mouths fell open as people stared in stupefaction.

Crack.

A huge crack spread open across the ice. As people watched, the ice fell away to reveal an old man clad in simple, archaic garb.

Everyone in the hall dropped back to their knees in a daze. “Ancestor!”

Boom!

A thunderous blast of energy ripped the roof away as blood spattered the floor. Lu Yin had forced the old man to self-detonate. He had been a Netherfiend, so what use could there be in allowing him to live?

There had been nothing of value to be gleaned from the old man’s memories. He had been in cryostasis for much too long.

Inside the ruined hall, the leader of the branch family roared, “Ancestor was killed by his anger towards you!”

No one in the hall had any response to that.

Back where Lu Yin had fought against Zhi, he opened his eyes and let out a breath, excitement blazing in his eyes.

His die had not let him down. As long as Possession worked, it was enough.

Unless a Netherfiend controlled a mirebound artifact, none would be able to escape his detection. He would continue. Wait!

He suddenly thought of something and reached out to Greater Sancte Awe Gate.

Just a short while later, red energy twined around his palm. With a flick of his finger, he spun the die.

It spun slowly, ultimately stopping on four pips: Timestop.

He spent almost a year in the Timestop Space, resting and studying the red energy. When he emerged, he immediately rolled the die again. Three pips: Enhance. Again. Two pips: Blackhole Disassembly. Again. One pip: Pilfer. Something useless fell out.

He then needed to rest for ten days before he could continue.

Ten days later, Lu Yin tapped the die with a finger, rolling it again. Four pips: Timestop. Five pips: Gift Copy. Six pips: Possession.

He had succeeded.

His mind entered the dark space once more, and he saw a few balls of light, though what he could see were dim, very dim.

He chose one at random and merged with it. His vision shifted, and he found himself in a dark chamber. There was nothing in any direction.

Memories surged in. So that’s the situation.

He had Possessed someone who was known to be as strong as a Semi-Progenitor, but who was actually a Spirit Ancestor, which was the same as a Progenitor. He was waiting for someone to deliver some plundered spirit seeds.

In the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, the Netherfiends plundered more cultivated spirit seeds than any other group. Lu Yin had learned that from Deathmound, but he had never known why they wanted so many. It was only at this moment that he understood: they were fusing spirit seeds.

After joining the Netherfiends, Zhi had been able to cultivate three spirit seeds, and Jie Zun had possessed two. The two men’s success had been born of trial and error. There had been many, many others who had failed.

A tremendous number of the plundered spirit seeds were wasted on such failures.

The Netherfiends never stopped plundering cultivated spirit seeds. This was but one of the reasons why Deathmound sought to annihilate them.

Lu Yin also remembered that the Autumnspring Slip had possessed a box with the Heaven character (天) etched on it. That box had been able to block even Deathmound’s Spirit Search technique. That character was related to the Netherfiends, which meant that the Autumnspring Slip had colluded with the Netherfiends. How many other clans, sects, and independent cultivators in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse had done the same? There had to be far, far too many.

As more memories flooded in, Lu Yin realized that he was Possessing someone who was in a city. The Netherfiend was waiting for a powerful local to deliver some stolen cultivated spirit seeds. There were many suppliers, and the current city was just one stop of many.

The reason why the suppliers had gone unnoticed for so long was that there was usually a great deal of time between each plundering of spirit seeds.

In a cultivator city, a few deaths meant nothing. They were simply too common.

The Netherfiend’s supplier was an influential figure and would concoct various excuses to keep their killings hidden, concealing the murders so that the cultivated spirit seeds could be stolen.

Such a theft would occur only once a year in each city, and sometimes even less frequently. In a single city, it seemed like very few deaths, but the Netherfiends controlled far more than just one city.

In fact, the truth was closer to the Netherfiends having a supplier in almost every cultivator city in the entire Nine Odysseys Megaverse.

When everything was combined, a truly staggering number of cultivated spirit seeds were gathered each year. All of this was done without the Netherfiends ever personally appearing. Even if someone was caught by Deathmound, it would look like a solitary criminal’s activities.

The Netherfiends had long ago prepared excuses for their plundering efforts, precisely to avoid being detected by Deathmound.

The Netherfiends had done everything possible, and when those efforts were combined with the Heaven (天) character that blocked Spirit Search, their stockpile of cultivated spirit seeds only continued to grow.

They possessed a simply absurd number.

A knock came at the door.

Lu Yin said nothing. The man outside was allowed to enter.

The door creaked open to reveal a scarred, burly man with a beard who stepped in the room. Everything about his appearance was brutish, and yet he behaved with perfect deference towards the Netherfiend that Lu Yin was Possessing.

“Lord, it’s secured,” the bearded man reported while handing over a cosmic ring.

Lu Yin accepted it without a word and left.

The bearded man bowed low. Only after he was alone did he let out a breath.

Every time the bearded man encountered his contact, he was overcome with pure terror. He had no idea who the man was or where he came from, only that any form of disobedience meant death.

Whether or not Deathmound eventually learned that the spirit seeds were being plundered was a matter for later. The bearded man just wanted to live a bit longer.

Lu Yin left the city and arrived in a secluded location, where he then used the man’s communication device to contact Greater Sancte Awe Gate.

A gate soon appeared before him, and he stepped through it to arrive at where he had fought against Zhi. He stood in front of his own body.

Once he was within five meters, Lu Yin opened his eyes. In front of him, the Netherfiend stirred awake. The moment the man saw Lu Yin, his pupils shrank, and his eyes turned into scarlet slits as they blazed with killing intent. However, that bloodlust was instantly suppressed. Instead, a red energy spread across the man’s body to melt it away.

As the man melted and died, Lu Yin ripped away a few strands of red energy to replenish the halo around his star of divine energy.

Each time he used Possession, some energy was consumed. It was necessary for him to replenish whatever energy he used.

A pity about that Ortuser. I could have gotten a lot from him.

“Many thanks, Senior.” Lu Yin pulled out his communication device to reach out to Greater Sancte Awe Gate again.

In her Frightened Sparrow Terrace, Greater Sancte Awe Gate was amazed. “Does such a mirebound artifact really exist? How remarkable. Why didn’t you keep it a secret?”

Lu Yin’s expression did not so much as flicker. “Before you, Senior, what do I need to keep hidden?”

The truth was that Yong Heng had learned about the die’s Possession ability long ago, and so had the High Seraph and others when Lu Yin had been in the Consciousness Megaverse. The reality was that he could achieve nothing by keeping Possession a secret.

Lu Yin did not know if Greater Sancte Awe Gate knew about the ability, but that did not matter. The way that he had handled the matter left everyone feeling satisfied.

Greater Sancte Awe Gate smiled. “So is this how you acquired the Netherfiends’ power? It seems that we might finally be able to be rid of them.”

Lu Yin wrote down a list. “These are the cultivators who stole spirit seeds for the one that just died. They rarely take action, which makes them believe that they are safe.”

Greater Sancte Awe Gate’s expression instantly grew cold. “Anyone who plunders a cultivated spirit seed will die, even if they only do so once. You have my thanks.”

Lu Yin put away his communication device. It was time to continue.

He had no fear that the Netherfiends would learn that their own people had died. As soon as they cultivated that red power, they belonged to him. The only exceptions were if they were protected by a mirebound artifact or if they deliberately dissipated all of their red energy. However, the moment the red energy was dispersed, Greater Sancte Awe Gate would sense it.

The Greater Sancti had failed to root out the Netherfiends, but the moment anyone used that red power, the Immortals would find them, and death would be their only outcome. It was the same result as when Lu Yin found a Netherfiend himself.

All that awaited them was death.

In addition to the list of people who had plundered cultivated spirit seeds, Lu Yin also shared the location of the Netherfiends’ stolen spirit seeds with Greater Sancte Awe Gate.

Lu Yin had only learned the locations of where the most recently Possessed Netherfiend had stored his spirit seeds. They were saved for later when the man would rendezvous with other Netherfiends and everything that they had gathered would be turned over. Unfortunately, the man never knew who he would meet in advance, nor where they would meet.

That meant that Lu Yin would simply have to find the Netherfiends one by one. The man that he had just Possessed had only been a Spirit Ancestor. With a bit of luck, Lu Yin could Possess a stronger Netherfiend, and with that, he would be able to learn about everything.

Very rarely were the Netherfiends discovered when gathering spirit seeds. This was due to the secrecy that they employed. They did not even maintain contact between one another. This ensured their safety. Even if one of them was caught, it would only be one. However, this also worked in Lu Yin’s favor. Whenever he eliminated a Netherfiend, none of the others would know about it.

But he did not actually care whether they knew or not. No matter what, none of them could escape from his grasp.

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