Inside the Changsheng Temple, the bluestone slabs were shattered like a spiderweb, and two figures stood silently facing each other.
One was a tall, thin, and slender old man in a Taoist robe, with a ruddy complexion and an air of otherworldly elegance.
The other was the complete opposite: a stiff-bodied, hunched-over old man with a withered face and an expressionless face like a poker card.
Although he appeared frail and aged, his yellowish eyes gleamed with a sharp, almost blinding light, making him appear extremely mysterious and unfathomable.
Both were calculating their moves. After their brief exchange, they had both roughly grasped the other's true strength.
Jiang Hua, needless to say, had rapidly increased his cultivation after taking Xue Tang's virginity, reaching the "True One" realm, nearing the pinnacle of alchemy.
His cultivation in the "Old Lineage" was unparalleled in the world.
The problem is that he has only recently broken through to this realm, and his understanding of it is not profound… Moreover, in this technology-driven era, most ancient cultivation texts have been lost. If it weren't for Xue Tang's precious virgin blood, he would have had no chance to even glimpse the True One Realm.
Naturally, he is also unable to unleash the true power of this realm.
In fact, after much solitary exploration, Jiang Hua was only able to condense this red witch sword, capable of cutting through almost anything. His limited skills are evident; if he were to fight a few more times, he would likely be exposed.
On the other hand, Zhang Zichen, although now reduced to a lowly exorcist servant without a body of his own, is far inferior to Jiang Hua in absolute strength.
However, he was once a Celestial Master, having honed his skills in the True One Realm for decades, mastering countless extraordinary techniques… If they were to truly fight, the outcome would be uncertain.
"I never imagined that in this era..."
The old servant, the exorcist, stared intently at Jiang Hua, sensing a certain threat emanating from him... He was extremely cautious.
In fact, long before discovering Xiang Anping's bizarre experiences, he had already made two preparations.
The first, naturally, was to possess Xiang Anping according to plan. This person wasn't initially Xiang Anping, but rather the true son of the Queen of Shanghai, though he hadn't appeared since.
He encountered Xiang Anping again, and thus changed his possession target to Xiang Anping... The benefits of this are self-evident. Once the possession was successful, he could not only become the Queen of Shanghai's "son," maintaining a physical relationship with her, but also obtain the rare Eight Yang Body, making his cultivation path virtually unobstructed. The Great Dao of Alchemy, which he had missed in his previous life, would likely no longer be a pipe dream.
The other plan, however, was far more risky and difficult: using the yang-infused essence of blood to restore the vegetative body's abilities. Then, he could slowly work his magic on the Queen of Shanghai. He wondered what expression her beautiful face would have when she saw a "vegetative" body suddenly transform into a vicious wolf.
His initial acquisition of Xiang Anping's essence of blood, deceiving her into using a secret technique to transfer favor, was actually for this very purpose… However, this plan was extremely dangerous, the biggest challenge being how to "conquer" Jiang Yingji.
A single mishap would result in utter annihilation.
Moreover, in practice, Xiang Anping's essence of blood alone was insufficient. To revive this decades-old, withered, living corpse, he would need to obtain pure yin essence from a yin body multiple times.
While essence of blood from a pure yang body would be less troublesome, it was extremely rare and difficult to obtain. Therefore, he could only choose Xiang Anping.
He had been racking his brains over this matter… When he suddenly learned that the Queen of Shanghai intended to have him as her protector, he shrewdly sensed an opportunity. If he could subdue Jiang Hua, he could seize the opportunity to…
Heh heh, you see, while a slave of the exorcist absolutely cannot disobey their master's orders, it's not impossible to find loopholes… Jiang Yingji's orders to him were only that Jiang Hua behave obediently during the removal of the lewd marks, not that anyone else needed to behave obediently.
Moreover, there's a nuance to "be obedient." As long as there's no excessive sexual intercourse… basically anything counts as "being obedient."
If he hadn't been able to cleverly find loopholes, he would never have gotten to where he is now, and would probably have met a tragic end at the hands of the Queen of Shanghai, just like his "predecessors."
So his purpose in infiltrating the Longevity Temple this time was to find out Jiang Hua's background… but he never expected to actually uncover such a big fish!
He had initially thought Jiang Hua was at most at the Core Formation stage, and had even overdrawn his life force, making him no threat whatsoever. However, he hadn't expected Jiang Hua to be so fortunate, obtaining the virgin blood of a Yin-type body and successfully breaking through to the True One realm.
Moreover, he didn't know what Jiang Hua was planning, but his target was definitely Jiang Yingji, so he was naturally extremely wary of him.
He stared intently at Jiang Hua, weighing his options for a moment, then suddenly stopped, standing still, and said with feigned profundity:
"Truly, the younger generation is formidable. However, although you have reached this realm, you are still no match for me."
The old monster's eyes darkened, and he suddenly flashed like a ghost, reappearing behind Jiang Hua.
Jiang Hua tensed in fear, gripping his witch sword tightly. He hadn't even noticed how his opponent had gotten behind him.
His expression became uncertain; the appearance of the old monster was, in fact, a complete surprise to him.
He hadn't expected that even a seemingly insignificant old servant beside Jiang Yingji possessed such unpredictable and treacherous methods. The sudden appearance of the servant so close had truly given him a fright.
Then he recalled the figures that had haunted Yingluo Manor like ghosts…
Seeing Jiang Hua's drastic change in expression, the old servant was secretly pleased. In truth, what he had just used wasn't a particularly sophisticated technique.
It was merely a common practice at the True One Realm, a simple shift between reality and illusion. At the True One Realm, the inner core within the dantian is completely integrated into the body and consciousness, deeply bound to them, and can no longer be taken away by any external force.
The soul also gains a certain degree of immortality, hence the term "True One" realm.
Furthermore, because the inner elixir is inherently "formless," after assimilating with the body and consciousness, both can briefly shift between reality and illusion, making them virtually impervious to worldly weapons…
In ancient times, they were almost indistinguishable from terrestrial immortals, hence the reverence as Celestial Masters.
What he was betting on was that Jiang Hua hadn't mastered this secret… In ancient times, while those at the True One realm weren't exactly numerous, they were certainly not few in number, but that was all from the pre-Qin period.
By the Ming Dynasty, those who could reach this realm were extremely rare, and many ancient texts had long been lost. If he hadn't been a Celestial Master, leading all his disciples to plunder pre-Qin tombs, he probably wouldn't have discovered this secret.
However, this little trick actually has little practical value in combat, because turning the illusory into the real takes time. Even if the time is short, appearing and disappearing like a ghost in the urban jungle, assassination and intimidation would be incredibly effective, but in a battle between experts, it would be utterly useless.
Sure enough, seeing Jiang Hua's uncertain and wary expression, he knew he had made the right bet.
"What exactly do you want?"
Jiang Hua suddenly changed his expression, smiling sweetly, and said, "Whatever she gives you, I can give you even more..."
Jiang Hua was also a shrewd person, and naturally could see the strong selfishness in the old servant's eyes, and that...deep, hidden greed. Therefore, he didn't believe that this old servant was truly completely loyal to Jiang Yingji.
He believed that as long as he could come up with a compelling reason, even turning him against him wouldn't be a problem. However, Jiang Hua truly had nothing that could sway the old servant.
"What I want, you can't give me... I'll get it myself."