Chapter 731 - 424: Path of Rebirth

This was Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect territory, after all. The risk Ink Ash Abyss was taking was immense. At any moment, his plan could backfire, causing him to lose more than he stood to gain.

Thus, with every passing moment he was delayed, he inevitably grew more anxious.

But when Zou Feng learned that this man had also used an Outer Body Incarnation, his fear subsided.

After all, judging by the reaction from the List of Gods, the one closing in on him was not Ink Ash Abyss’s true self.

He might be no match for a Nascent Soul Old Monster at his current level, but if it was just an incarnation, that was a completely different story.

At this thought, Zou Feng stopped focusing solely on escape. Instead, he secretly prepared to test his strength against Ink Ash Abyss’s incarnation.

He would be caught soon enough, after all. He had no choice but to fight.

Sure enough, just as Zou Feng finished gathering his strength, a fierce wind howled behind him.

It sounded as if a small mountain was hurtling toward him from behind at immense speed.

Zou Feng took a deep breath, stopped dead in his tracks, and spun around, unleashing a tempest of poisonous gas.

Simultaneously, black dragon tattoos materialized all over his body as he gathered strength for the Evil King’s Fiery Black Dragon Wave.

Zou Feng had expected to see a fearsome Nascent Soul incarnation when he turned, but to his surprise, there was nothing there at all. It was as if the howling wind had been a figment of his imagination.

The poisonous gas he had unleashed with a swing of his palm, of course, struck nothing but air.

KEKEKE...

Before Zou Feng could even process what was happening, a sinister gust of wind swept over him.

He instantly sensed something was wrong and realized that Ink Ash Abyss hadn’t deployed an Outer Body Incarnation at all—he had split his Divine Soul into several strands!

This was a technique far beyond the capabilities of a Golden Core Realm Cultivator.

Having one’s Divine Soul leave the body was incredibly dangerous; after all, a Divine Soul is an exceptionally fragile thing.

But Nascent Soul Cultivators, especially those who practiced Skills that fortified the Divine Soul, had no such worries. They could let their Divine Soul leave their body to slay an enemy a thousand miles away.

Once its inherent weaknesses were overcome, a Divine Soul attack was truly impossible to defend against.

’No physical form, arriving in an instant, capable of infinite transformations... How can anyone defend against that?’

Zou Feng reacted with incredible speed. The moment he sensed the anomaly, he formed a Dharma Seal and enveloped himself in a shield of spinning Golden Lotuses.

But it was too late. Accompanied by another strange cackle from Ink Ash Abyss, that strand of his Divine Soul had already invaded Zou Feng’s Sea of Consciousness.

Believing victory was his, Ink Ash Abyss laughed in triumph.

’Success!!’

’No matter how cunning this brat is, he couldn’t escape my grasp in the end.’

’And this kid’s body... It truly is worthy of a prodigy from the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect. Calling it a once-in-a-century vessel is an understatement; once-in-five-centuries wouldn’t be an exaggeration!’

The reason Ink Ash Abyss had risked venturing deep into the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect’s domain was not merely to eliminate Zou Feng.

What he truly coveted was Zou Feng’s body!

If he could successfully possess such a prodigy, the resulting benefits would be beyond even his own imagination.

The moment Ink Ash Abyss’s Divine Soul invaded, Zou Feng understood the fiend’s true purpose.

’No wonder he was willing to take such a huge risk. Ink Ash Abyss cultivates the Path of Rebirth, one of the Nine Immortal Ascension Skills.’

Zou Feng had already learned eight of the Ninefold Celestial Court’s Nine Immortal Ascension Skills. Only the final one, the Path of Rebirth, had remained out of his reach.

The threshold for cultivating the Path of Rebirth was extremely high. Even in the Ninefold Celestial Court, it was the Ascension Skill with the fewest practitioners.

’This Ink Ash Abyss is clearly an expert in the Path of Rebirth. He must have also cultivated the Divine Soul Dao to strengthen his Divine Soul.’

’That’s why he dares to split his Divine Soul so recklessly and have the parts act independently.’

Having pieced this together, Zou Feng didn’t panic. Instead, he simply sat down cross-legged and focused his entire Divine Sense within his Sea of Consciousness.

The reason he wasn’t particularly worried was simple: the strand of Ink Ash Abyss’s Divine Soul that had invaded his Sea of Consciousness was, ultimately, incomplete.

’No matter how powerful a Nascent Soul Old Monster’s Divine Soul is, how much power can one piece have after being forcibly split into several?’

’My Great Universal Hand uses countless Visualizations and has long been able to withstand all sorts of corruption. I might not actually have anything to fear from this mere strand of Ink Ash Abyss’s Divine Soul.’

Besides, hidden within his Sea of Consciousness was the greatest trump card he had relied on for his Cultivation all this time!

’Although I can’t use it to attack offensively, this is my home turf. And since he came knocking on my door... it’s bound to have some effect...’

"Brat, stop your futile struggles! The gap between our Divine Souls is as vast as the heavens and the earth. Don’t think for a second that you have a chance to escape just because this is only an incomplete strand of my soul!"

Ink Ash Abyss’s smug voice echoed through Zou Feng’s Sea of Consciousness.

The man was certainly skilled. Even though this was his own Sea of Consciousness, Zou Feng couldn’t sense where he was hiding. It meant that even if he wanted to contend with Ink Ash Abyss’s Divine Soul, he had no target to direct his power at.

As Ink Ash Abyss’s taunts continued, Zou Feng’s Sea of Consciousness began to tremble violently, showing signs of imminent collapse.

Yet Zou Feng remained unperturbed. He continuously generated Golden Lotuses within his mind, letting them drift outward to suppress the disturbances.

"Oh-ho! You’ve got a few tricks!"

The tremors within the Sea of Consciousness were actually being suppressed by the Golden Lotuses, which surprised Ink Ash Abyss.

"But it’s useless. The Ninefold Celestial Court’s Path of Rebirth is no ordinary possession technique. It allows one to... Huh!?"

Before Ink Ash Abyss could finish, he sensed a strange anomaly.

"What... What is this..."

His voice had lost all its earlier confidence and smugness, replaced by a tone of utter, overwhelming shock.

The reason for his reaction was simple: something that had absolutely no business being in a Sea of Consciousness had suddenly appeared within Zou Feng’s.

A massive Golden List... one that nearly spanned the entire Sea of Consciousness!

Merely gazing at the Golden List, which radiated a vast and mysterious aura, caused an involuntary fear to rise within him, despite his Nascent Soul Realm Cultivation.

Since breaking through to the Nascent Soul Realm, Ink Ash Abyss had only ever felt such fear once before, and it had been very recent...

Earlier, in his pursuit of Zou Feng, Ink Ash Abyss had split his Divine Soul into nine strands.

One of those strands had nearly blundered into the signal range of the Celestial Dao Cauldron.

Fortunately, he had stopped just in time, preventing that strand of his Divine Soul from being destroyed for nothing.

But it was a Nascent Soul’s Divine Soul, after all, and its senses were astonishing. As if compelled by some unseen force, he had remotely gazed toward the Celestial Dao Cauldron’s location.

That single glance had nearly blinded him, and his Divine Soul felt instantly as if it had been seared by fire.

Terrified, Ink Ash Abyss hadn’t dared to look a second time, immediately commanding that strand of his Divine Soul to flee as far and as fast as it could.

He never imagined that after such a short time, he would once again experience that same, uncontrollable terror.

Beyond the fear and shock, Ink Ash Abyss was overwhelmed by disbelief.

’Why does a cultivator who just broke through to the Golden Core Realm have something so terrifying in his Sea of Consciousness?’

Then, something even more terrifying happened: Ink Ash Abyss saw his own name on the Golden List!

"You... see it?"

This time, it was Zou Feng’s turn to be smug.

’I was right. There was no way this List of Gods would remain idle while a foreign entity invaded my Sea of Consciousness.’

He just hadn’t expected the effect to be this dramatic. The moment the List of Gods appeared, it terrified Ink Ash Abyss’s Divine Soul into complete paralysis, stripping him of all the dignity befitting a Nascent Soul Old Monster.

"What in the world is this..."

It wasn’t that Ink Ash Abyss didn’t want to resist; he had simply lost all ability to do so.

His question held the resigned air of someone who just wanted to know what was killing him before he died.

Of course, even if this strand of his Divine Soul was extinguished, Ink Ash Abyss’s true self wouldn’t perish with it. However, he would inevitably suffer a severe backlash, one that would require a long time to heal.

The reason Ink Ash Abyss was so desperate to use the Path of Rebirth for possession was because his current physical body was failing him. He had to find a new one as soon as possible.

Powerful as the Path of Rebirth might be, if the possessed body wasn’t of the highest quality, one could only continue to advance their Cultivation and strength through frequent reincarnations.