Chapter 162

"You have nothing you want to say to me?" The old man looked at He Pingsheng and asked calmly.

He Pingsheng had now regained his composure; he gave a cold smile: "A mere ant fights for its life until death—what's there to say?"

"You won, I lost. That's all there is to it!"

"Kill me or cut me up—do as you please!"

Pah…

Pah!

Pah!

The elder extended his hand and clapped a few times, the sound sharp and loud.

"Good! A true hero, upright and honorable!" The frail body of Tai Xu straightened again; he slowly paced twice around He Pingsheng and said: "So now, am I the victor, and you the loser?"

He Pingsheng said nothing.

Tai Xu continued: "Then, you, the loser, can you tell me why you tried to flee?"

"Have I ever wronged you?"

He Pingsheng said: "Why play dumb, Master?"

Tai Xu said: "I insist on playing dumb—please, Young Master He, enlighten me?"

He Pingsheng pointed behind him: "The entire Grand Void Gate won't let me leave, confines me here—what are your intentions? Don't you know?"

"And this?"

He turned his arm and pointed to the unfinished array on the ground: "This is clearly a soul-replacement array!"

"You're going to steal my body—do you really think I won't run?"

Tai Xu was stunned: "Soul… soul-replacement?"

He looked at himself, then at the array beneath his feet, and nodded: "You think this is a soul-replacement array?"

He Pingsheng shot back: "Isn't it?"

"Yes, yes, yes…" Tai Xu nodded wearily: "If you think it is, then it is. After all, you're the loser now, and I'm the victor!"

"In a single thought, I can crush your spiritual sense!"

"There's no escaping now!"

"Interested in making a deal with me?" The Grand Elder Tai Xu smiled, turned his back to He Pingsheng, and slowly walked toward the large and small circular arrays.

With a few quick claps, array flags landed precisely in their positions.

The soul-replacement array grew more complete.

He Pingsheng asked: "Kill me or cut me up—do as you please. Why make a deal with me now?"

"Boring, boring…" The old man shook his head like a rattle: "How much do you know about soul-replacement?"

He Pingsheng said: "Not much."

Grand Elder Tai Xu asked: "Do you know the success rate of soul-replacement?"

Success rate?

He Pingsheng froze—he truly didn't know.

But before he could answer, the old man arranging the array muttered to himself: "Soul-replacement defies the Dao of heaven and earth—its success rate is extremely low. Even with my Nascent Soul cultivation, overpowering you, a mere beginner, my success rate is less than one percent!"

"So my deal is this: trade one percent chance of death for a future of smooth cultivation. What do you say?"

He Pingsheng said: "I don't understand."

"Heh…" Tai Xu smiled: "When this array is complete, I will initiate soul-replacement. Of course, my chance of success is only one percent. If I succeed, you vanish from this world—I take your body and continue cultivating."

"If I fail, my life ends—and I give you… this…"

He pointed behind him: "The entire Grand Void Gate. How?"

"All the resources in the left hall are prepared for you!"

"And the Grand Void Gate itself—I give it to you… you'll be its new master!"

He Pingsheng felt no temptation.

His own life—even a one-in-a-hundred chance of death—he wouldn't gamble.

He could gamble on the Dao, on fate—but never on his own life.

"Can I refuse?" He Pingsheng asked.

The old man shook his head: "No. A loser cannot refuse the victor's terms."

"Sit here. Calm your soul. Restore your spiritual sense."

"That way, your chance of winning increases."

After speaking, Grand Elder Tai Xu lay back down and resumed arranging the array.

Not long after—about half an hour—the Grand Void Hall revealed two emerald-green light membranes.

Cold winds swept in, as if rising from the deepest netherworld.

The boundless yin energy surged from the array, drifting through the hall, then violently scattered by the Nine Yang Array already set up around the hall's perimeter.

"So it is!"

He Pingsheng's eyes narrowed: everything before him matched his earlier suspicions.

The Nine Yang Array was meant to suppress yin energy.

"Begin!"

Grand Elder Tai Xu spoke calmly—and He Pingsheng felt his body lose control.

He was entirely manipulated by Tai Xu's spiritual sense, forced into the soul-replacement array.

The soul-replacement array had two circles.

One large, one small.

The large circle represented the primary position; the small circle, the guest position.

He Pingsheng landed in the primary position.

Grand Elder Tai Xu stood in the guest position.

Soul-replacement was a forbidden art that reversed guest and master.

"Master… Master…" He Pingsheng panicked, pleading: "Don't do this… I beg you… I'll do anything—just don't steal my body!"

"Enough!"

Grand Elder Tai Xu's gaze darkened: "Don't speak now, or your death rate rises."

Boom…

Tai Xu's spiritual sense erupted, engulfing He Pingsheng.

Under this overwhelming spiritual control, He Pingsheng could no longer move his body, could not even circulate his internal energy or speak.

He could only watch helplessly as Tai Xu's spiritual sense slowly, inch by inch, invaded his body.

With overwhelming soul-force, he offered no resistance.

"Excellent… you possess such a miraculous fortune… heh heh… I didn't choose wrong!"

"You even have the Treasure Basin?"

"Hahahaha… truly a child of heaven—your future will surpass mine!"

…

He Pingsheng's vision suddenly went black—he lost all awareness.

He drifted in darkness for an unknown time, then woke again.

A flash of light pierced endless black.

In the pitch-black night, rain poured relentlessly, a torrential downpour.

Thunder rolled across the sky; lightning occasionally split the darkness, illuminating the deep valley.

On a slightly elevated spot in the valley stood a three-story wooden pavilion.

Inside, lights glowed brightly; a tall man in a white Daoist robe stood at the railing, his face heavy with sorrow.

He Pingsheng shuddered.

He recognized this man.

Wasn't this Tai Xu?

No… this must be young Tai Xu.

A young woman in a greenish Daoist robe stepped quietly from the pavilion—her beauty unmatched, yet her face bore the same faint sorrow as Tai Xu's.

At last, He Pingsheng understood why he was seeing this.

Soul-replacement.

During soul fusion, each soul contains the other's memories—they can both see each other's past.

This… is Tai Xu's memory?