I Outworked the Entire Cultivation World

Chapter 96: Chapter 84: Possession

The night ban sinks into silence, clouds covering the moon.

Jiang Yuebai patrolled and returned, heading straight for Song Pei’er’s house. As she reached the village entrance, she saw Lv Ying leaning against the wall of an empty house, her face pale and her eyes vacant.

”Lv Ying, what’s wrong with you?”

Jiang Yuebai walked over, and Lv Ying trembled all over, retreating as if frightened.

”Don’t come over!”

Jiang Yuebai stopped, standing at a distance, watching Lv Ying. ”What on earth happened? Why can’t you just tell me directly? I can help you, Lv Ying.”

Tears welled up in Lv Ying’s lowered eyes, unable to meet Jiang Yuebai’s gaze. ”Help me? Even gods can’t help me, so what do you count for? So self-righteous. Just because you’re an Inner Sect Disciple, you think you’re something special? Help me? How laughable!”

Jiang Yuebai frowned. ”Lv Ying, you’ve provoked me with words over and over just to make me leave, but I’m not the impulsive and easily angered Jiang Yuebai I used to be. If you have some unspeakable troubles, you only need to give me a look.”

Lv Ying clenched her fists tightly, her nails digging into her flesh, struggling internally.

Ultimately, she still didn’t raise her head.

”Fine, if you won’t say, I’ll go ask Song Pei’er.”

Jiang Yuebai was resolute, lifting her foot to walk past Lv Ying.

”She’s dying soon!”

Lv Ying turned to stop Jiang Yuebai, slowly raising her head.

Their eyes met, and tears surged in Lv Ying’s eyes. Beneath the surge was nothing but struggle and fear. Her face became even paler, and she trembled uncontrollably.

Jiang Yuebai looked at her, her lips trembling, struggling to squeeze out a pleading tone from her throat.

”Don’t go...”

Jiang Yuebai’s eyes flickered, avoiding Lv Ying’s gaze first, lowering her eyes to scan the ground, chuckling lightly.

”So you don’t want me to see her in her wretched state before death, to save her a bit of dignity, is that it? It doesn’t matter, I’ll go see her. Maybe I can cure her.”

Lv Ying shook her head vigorously, but Jiang Yuebai didn’t look at her, turning around and walking away.

Lv Ying took two steps forward, watching as Jiang Yuebai walked toward Song Pei’er’s courtyard. Her heart was filled with complex emotions. She wanted to call her back but couldn’t muster the courage.

Instead, a sense of relief washed over her.

”Lv Ying, you’re such a bastard, you are a bastard...”

Lv Ying collapsed to the ground, her shoulders shaking violently, crying with her mouth covered.

*

Pushing open the courtyard gate, Jiang Yuebai walked in, surveying the courtyard walls.

She recalled the year she and Lv Ying played with mud, covering their faces and heads as they played and built walls.

Song Pei’er, like a mother in an ordinary household, scolded them for dirtying their clothes and made egg custard for them to eat.

Before leaving, Song Pei’er gave her a basket of eggs to take back for her grandfather to nourish his body.

The past was vivid, yet the wall cracks were now in disrepair, with no one to fix them.

”Is it Yuebai girl? Come inside and talk, cough, cough, cough.”

Inside came the voice of Song Pei’er, old and weary. Jiang Yuebai walked in, not seeing Song Pei’er, and passed through the front house to the backyard where she found the cellar door ajar.

”Ying’er’s birthday is coming, cough, cough. She loves drinking my brewed fruit wine, but the cellar is too dark. Yuebai girl, help me carry the wine jars down, cough, cough, cough, would you?”

”On my way.”

Jiang Yuebai took off the Cold Jade Pendant, tucked an Elixir into her sleeve, and stepped into the cellar.

Bang!

The cellar door slammed shut, the pitch-black room unlit, Song Pei’er still in a cherry blossom pink long dress, dressed as a young woman, seated in the center on a Taishi Chair, below which lay an extremely complex blood-red Great Array.

Faint glimmers flitted across the room, mingling with the stench of decay and a hint of wine.

Jiang Yuebai covered her mouth and nose with her sleeve, her throat moving slightly, and walked towards Song Pei’er.

”Senior Sister Song, what do you mean by this?”

The cellar was sealed by the Great Array, smoke wafting from the incense burner beside her, also no simple matter.

”Cough, cough, cough, as you can see, I’m dying.”

Jiang Yuebai stood at a distance opposite her, ”So you’ve called me here to leave your last words?”

”Ha~” Song Pei’er sneered, ”Perhaps you are the one who needs to leave their last words. My incense burner contains Immortal Dream; even as a Foundation Establishment Cultivator you can hardly resist. Ordinary Detoxification Pills won’t do much.”

Jiang Yuebai frowned, sensing for a moment, then nodded slightly, saying, ”Truly impressive, I can no longer mobilize Spiritual Energy, my body feels weak.”

”You’re not afraid?” Song Pei’er was surprised, Jiang Yuebai seemed very calm, with no sign of fear.

”If I were afraid, I wouldn’t have come in.”

Song Pei’er squinted, ”So you knew what I was going to do but still willingly walked in? Ying’er found herself a friend indeed!”

Jiang Yuebai’s legs softened, stepping back a few paces to lean against a wine jar, ”Lv Ying is very good to me, of course, I must repay her, she is worth it.”

”Worth it enough for you to disregard your own life? Tao Fengnian truly raised a child who knows gratitude!”

”Don’t mention my grandfather. His name from your mouth makes me nauseous!” Jiang Yuebai retorted coldly.

”I never understood why grandfather was always seventy percent wary and thirty percent indifferent to you, why he wouldn’t accept even the eggs you gave. Now it seems, grandfather had keen insight all along, knowing your sinister heart!”

Song Pei’er scoffed disdainfully. She had always suspected whether Tao Fengnian knew her true identity, trying repeatedly to test him, yet he left no gaps.

”What’s the use of saying all this? Now he’s dead and I’m alive!”

Jiang Yuebai sat on the ground, her body limp and powerless, ”My grandfather was naturally different from you! Lv Ying has taken care of you all these years, do you truly have no gratitude, no real feelings toward her?”

”She takes care of me? I’ve always been the one taking care of her! Eating my food, using my things, her cultivation relied on my guidance; without me, how would she have today? Of course, even keeping a dog by your side would develop some feelings.”

”If it weren’t for Xiao Ankuo gravely injuring me, leaving me with little time and no other choice, I naturally wouldn’t have possessed her. After all, it’s all because of Tao Fengnian, he owed me. I just want to live, what’s wrong with that!”

Jiang Yuebai looked up, ”Alright, if it’s my grandfather who owes you, then today I will repay it. No matter how you threaten Lv Ying, release her, and I will let you possess me.”

Song Pei’er eyed her warily, ”Are you really that kind-hearted?”

”How could your kind of beast understand the minds of people like my grandfather and me?”

Song Pei’er coughed violently, ”Cough, cough, in fact, you’re not even my best choice, cough, cough, cough.”

”What else do you want?” Jiang Yuebai was on guard.

Song Pei’er looked at Jiang Yuebai, her eyes and tone filled with temptation.

”Your Five Spirit Roots aptitude, lucked into becoming an Inner Sect Disciple, and have come this far with great difficulty, are you truly willing to let me replace you?”

Song Pei’er propped herself closer, ”I heard you and Lu Nanzhi are close friends. If you lure her here and help me possess her, I’ll let you go.”

”Then, if you don’t want to see me, I’ll leave the Heavenly Interence Sect; if you can accept, I can stay as the Lu Family’s pride, becoming your support in the future.”

Jiang Yuebai felt sick to her core, ”You’re greedy beyond measure! Delusional!”

Song Pei’er narrowed her eyes dangerously, ”Seems you’re unwilling. In that case, don’t blame me for giving you no chance. Your Spirit Root may be inferior, but your cultivation speed is no less than the likes of Lu Nanzhi. You must harbor secrets. Once I possess you, everything you have will be mine.”

As soon as the words fell, Song Pei’er deemed the timing right; Jiang Yuebai no longer had the strength to struggle, and immediately activated the possession array prepared in the cellar long ago.

Red light lit up beneath Song Pei’er’s feet, swiftly weaving across the ground to form mysterious Runic designs.

Song Pei’er slowly stood up, her face twisted and monstrous in the red light; she had prepared in this sunless cellar for years for this moment of rebirth!

The Runes took shape, and the red light converged at a point, shooting towards Jiang Yuebai.

Jiang Yuebai suddenly raised her head, allowing the red light to pierce her forehead, a brilliant gleam in her eyes.

”You wish for death, so I shall fulfill it!”

Song Pei’er’s soul left her body, crashing into Jiang Yuebai’s Sea of Consciousness, where thunder raged across the sky, snow raged fiercely, a green lantern hung above ripe wheat, ghostly flames flickered, watching sharply!

”No!!!”

Her shrill screams, filled with regret and remorse, echoed beautifully and profoundly within the Sea of Consciousness.