C7 Jiao Mujiao

Bang!

Despite employing every trick in the book, Yang Xiu was no match for the hidden adversary, who blasted him away.

Tattered cloth fluttered down.

Yang Xiu, severely wounded, coughed up blood, his strength to continue the fight utterly drained.

"Quite the clever lad. Why go down this path to certain doom?"

Dust swirled as the mysterious figure approached. To Yang Xiu's surprise, the man wasn't the white-haired elder he had anticipated, but a young man roughly his own age.

"Look who's talking."

"You're obviously a Blood Master Expert, yet you recklessly chose a path that led to this sorry state."

Yang Xiu sneered, wiping the blood from his mouth.

"How could ants understand... *cough cough*... the true intentions of the heavens?"

The young man, clad in a blood-red robe with an unnaturally flushed face and contemptuous eyes, looked down at Yang Xiu as if he were nothing more than an insect.

"You seem to be quite seriously injured."

"I won't even need to lift a finger to finish you off."

No sooner had he spoken than a Ghost Shadow emerged from behind the blood-robed youth, drifting aimlessly, its visage resembling that of a muscular brute.

Moments later,

Another Ghost Shadow slinked out, this one resembling the lean, triangular-eyed bandit.

One after another, more Ghost Shadows emerged, densely packing the courtyard, creating an atmosphere of chilling terror that was suffocating.

Then,

The Ghost Shadows opened their gaping maws, greedily drawing in Yang Xiu's Life Essence, and the air grew increasingly frigid.

His life hung by a thread!

"You still haven't pieced it all together. I'm not just here to heal; I'm here for this powerful technique that I've painstakingly acquired.

Subduing Tiger Shocking Ghost Picture!

I've absorbed the souls of thousands to reach the initial stage, and I was just about to leave this place.

But you, you blundered in, as if fate itself had ordained it."

The blood-robed youth cackled eerily, surrounded by a multitude of Ghost Shadows, resembling a true specter from the netherworld.

"Really now?"

"That's quite the coincidence!"

Yang Xiu looked up, his eyes shifting from a stark black and white to a luminous green, more sinister than any Ghost Shadow.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

A formidable aura erupted around him like a tornado.

The Ghost Shadows that had been draining his Life Essence were caught in the fierce wind, emitting silent screams as they were torn apart by his overwhelming power, becoming the cornerstone of Yang Xiu's rapid surge in strength.

"What!"

"How can this be?"

"My Subduing Tiger Shocking Ghost Picture is only at the initial stage, and I don't need any special techniques. Just these Ghosts alone should have been enough to drain you to a husk. How could you possibly break free?"

The disbelief was palpable in the blood-robed youth's eyes.

In an instant, Yang Xiu had cleared the courtyard of all the Ghost Shadows. The air was fresh and the sky clear, a stark contrast to the previous eerie atmosphere.

"Nothing is impossible. If it seems so, it's merely because you're unaware."

With his eyes now green, Yang Xiu's presence underwent a dramatic transformation, becoming chillingly formidable.

His canines slightly protruded, his figure tall and commanding, exuding an untamed beauty that was hard to articulate. His power kept climbing, quickly matching that of the blood-robed youth.

Blood Master Expert!

A cultivator of the Beginning Sea Stage!

"Who are you working for, Subduing Devil Hall or Righteous Pure Dao?"

The blood-robed youth's complexion was stormy.

Boom!

His answer came in the form of Yang Xiu's fearless punch.

Now at the Beginning Sea Stage, Yang Xiu had no fear of the blood-robed youth. He launched a bold punch, causing the youth's expression to shift dramatically as thousands of Ghost Shadows emerged behind him.

They were a mix of ages and attire, clearly the souls of the thousands from Tang Family Castle who had been slaughtered.

The Ghost Shadows coalesced into a towering, pot-bellied, fanged specter, lifting a mace to smash down viciously on Yang Xiu.

Rumble!

The collision sent shockwaves through the area, flattening the small courtyard.

"This sensation... it's exhilarating!"

"Green Wood Heavenly Dragon, obliterate the malevolent spirits!"

Yang Xiu, transformed as if he were another person entirely, let out a sinister laugh. Star Power churned around him like an unending torrential river. To those who could peer into the microscopic realm, it would appear that his Star Power had become a myriad of tiny, sharply pointed shuttles, relentlessly pushing forward.

Boom!

A burst of green radiance erupted from Yang Xiu's hand, morphing into the form of the Green Wood Heavenly Dragon and brutally striking the chest of the blood-robed youth.

"Blood..."

The grievously wounded blood-robed youth stood no chance against Yang Xiu.

He was blasted away, his chest caving in, his complexion ashen like faded gold leaf, his breath as thin as a thread.

He was the very picture of a dying man!

"Wait for me... I will return... to exact my revenge."

The blood-robed youth, cursing his fate, transformed into a beam of light and fled. He had never anticipated encountering someone like Yang Xiu, who feigned weakness to ensnare the strong.

A moment's carelessness had nearly cost him his life.

Yang Xiu was not about to let the blood-robed youth slip away. He intended to pursue, but a sudden, piercing pain in his head stopped him.

"Ah!"

He could barely make out that the blood-robed youth had dropped something.

"My head is throbbing..."

"The Fate Star I had forged in my past life, Jiao Mujiao, has not vanished. Instead, it has accompanied me to this world and seems to have developed its own consciousness."

Yang Xiu regained his composure, the green glow in his eyes dimming as his face took on a grave and somber cast.

Moments ago, he had seemed to wield divine might, driving off the blood-robed youth. Yet, he had been teetering on the brink of death, nearly overtaken by his Fate Star, nearly forfeiting his chance at a new beginning.

If word of this near-possession by his Fate Star were to spread throughout the Mountain Sea Immortal Cultivation Realm, Yang Xiu could well become the butt of jokes for centuries to come. The reason was simple: the Fate Star was a crystallization of magic, a reflection of the Cultivator's own will, and it should never escape their control. Yet, it had nearly happened to Yang Xiu.

It was unclear whether it was due to the soul's transmigration.

In his previous life, Yang Xiu had honed his Fate Star, Jiao Mujiao, which astonishingly developed its own consciousness in this life. At a critical juncture, it had managed to suppress Yang Xiu's own consciousness.

It had engaged in a fierce battle with the Blood Master Expert.

Had it not been for Yang Xiu's Star Power being depleted and the ghosts being incinerated, the consciousness of Jiao Mujiao would not have vanished.

Though the immediate danger had passed,

Yang Xiu couldn't shake a certain premonition.

Should his power and level continue to increase at this sluggish rate, the will of Jiao Mujiao was bound to overpower him once more.

And when that day comes...

It certainly won't be too far off. Yang Xiu knew he had to urgently bolster his own strength.

There was no time to waste!

...

"Boss, there's definitely a treasure in there. You saw that flash of green light. I suspect it's a high-quality green jade gemstone."

"If we get our hands on that green gemstone, forget being bandits. We could go straight to the city and live like lords."

Laughter, lewd and laden with ill intent, drifted from outside the fortress.

"Look at the small ambitions you harbor."

"Whoever finds the gemstone will be my second-in-command. You have my word," declared Kui Hu.

A burly, middle-aged man with a scarred face strode toward the fortress. Since Yang Xiu had toppled many of the courtyard walls, he easily pushed open the gates of Tang Family Castle.

Inside, he found Yang Xiu standing resolute against the biting wind!