Chapter 4— 　

Yang Jing's heart calmed down a little—if the strength of the top extraordinary beings in this world far exceeded that of the top cultivators in the Cloud Immortal Realm, then he would have to find another body to possess. After all, the father of the white-haired little girl in front of him was one of those top extraordinary beings.

"Since that's the case, then I won't stand on ceremony."

Yang Jing chuckled, about to swiftly and painlessly annihilate Emily's spiritual body on the spot. But at that moment, a sudden change occurred in Emily's spiritual body—the spiritual power in the spirit stone in her hand was being rapidly absorbed into her dantian, transforming into strands of scarlet light that completely merged into her body.

Having witnessed countless cultivators embarking on the path of immortality for the first time, how could Yang Jing not recognize the anomaly occurring in Emily's body? He immediately stopped his actions, inwardly astonished:

"This little girl has actually... awakened a spiritual root of considerable quality? Absorbing unfamiliar spiritual power without exploding and dying, she has instead turned misfortune into a blessing, awakening a special spiritual root unlike any other cultivator in the Cloud Immortal Realm?"

Emily Marlene's spiritual root was scarlet, a type of spiritual root Yang Jing had never seen before—perhaps it stemmed from her identity as a vampire, leading her to awaken such a spiritual root by accident.

"Let's call it the Blood Spiritual Root for now."

Yang Jing's gaze was intensely fixed on Emily, who sat cross-legged on the bed. The wisps of scarlet light, like living things, coursed through her meridians, gradually condensing into a crystalline blood bead suspended above her dantian.

The awakening of spiritual roots was originally a privilege reserved for humans of the Cloud Immortal Realm, yet this vampire from another world had managed to achieve this in her spiritual form using the spiritual power of a high-grade spirit stone—if Yang Jing hadn't witnessed it firsthand, he would have thought it was a fantasy.

"Interesting. This little girl can absorb both elemental energy and spiritual power simultaneously, perhaps even convert them into each other. I wonder if I could do that..." Thinking this, Yang Jing separated a wisp of elemental energy from Emily's spiritual form to try and absorb it.

"Uh! Such a strong repulsive ****... Is it incompatible with lower levels?" Yang Jing's expression turned somewhat grim. Perhaps because the energy level of elemental energy was far lower than that of spiritual power, that wisp of elemental energy was instinctively rejected by her primordial spirit.

He guessed that if low-level elemental energy entered his primordial spirit, which had been tempered by spiritual power, it would likely have an irreversible negative impact—like using low-quality diesel fuel in a high-performance engine; it might work, but its durability would be permanently affected.

For a moment, Yang Jing was caught in a deep dilemma.

"This is troublesome... Destroying her soul and spirit would allow me to easily possess her, but the spiritual root that relied on this spiritual body for awakening would likely collapse as well."

After a moment's thought, he made a decision: "The spiritual root is the foundation of a cultivator; destroying it is like severing the foundation. How can I sacrifice the greater for the lesser? Fine, since Heaven has sent me here, this girl is my opportunity—I might as well try the soul fusion method, forcibly merging her complete soul with my primordial spirit."

"My divine sense is incredibly powerful; after fusion, this girl's original memories and personality will have no effect on me. Even if both my soul and body become a woman's, I will still be me!"

Yang Jing's mind raced, his hands forming hand seals, and his spiritual power surged like a tide. In just a few breaths, his primordial spirit became as transparent as a wandering soul.

Then, he pointed a finger, following Emily's spiritual link, pulling her entire soul out of her body and into his storage ring.

Emily's spirit body was immersed in the baptism of spiritual energy when she suddenly felt an undeniable, powerful **** pull her soul from her body and into the storage ring.

"What's going on?!"

She was jolted awake from the pleasure of gaining new power, and when she opened her eyes, she saw a strange man with black hair and purple eyes staring maliciously at the empty soul that looked exactly like her spirit body. She immediately became wary:

"Who are you? Why are you in the space of this ring, and why did you forcibly pull my soul in as well?"

Yang Jing smiled and generously introduced himself and his purpose: "My name is Yang Jing, and I am the owner of this storage ring. It is reasonable for me to be here. As for why I pulled your soul in... it's because I have taken a liking to your talent and body, and I want to use your body to embark on the path of immortality again."

This wasn't foolishness, but rather his absolute confidence in his own strength.

"If you're willing to voluntarily surrender your body and soul, I'll try my best to fulfill your last wish."

If possible, he still wanted to handle this matter with a relatively gentle approach—as for whether the other party would interpret this gentleness as hypocrisy of a benefactor… frankly, he didn't care much.

Because of Li Tianhua's protection, he was much more benevolent than other cultivators in the Cloud Immortal Realm, even taking time out of his cultivation to use his knowledge from Earth to benefit ordinary people—but if you were to say he was a completely good person, he would be the first to disagree.

"'Returning to the Immortal Path'… it seems this guy really is from another world. However, he actually revealed his information and purpose so openly? Is it absolute confidence in his own strength…?"

Emily's astonishment only lasted a moment; thinking of Yang Jing's method of forcibly extracting her soul, her heart sank.

“Senior,” Emily began, addressing Yang Jing as “Senior” as she spoke, trying to build rapport.

“I didn’t know this ring belonged to you, so I killed Feihe and touched your things without permission. I’m so sorry! I can compensate you for this, just please don’t take my body! If you’re willing, the body of the other girl outside is yours now—don’t be fooled by her current withered state; a single drop of my blood will restore her to her original form!”

Emily rattled off a string of words, her knees sliding down her knees with incredible speed. But Yang Jing wasn’t about to let her off the hook with these sweet words. “I’ve reviewed your memories. Putting aside her talent, the little girl lying on the ground—while she committed a minor offense, it doesn’t warrant ****. I can punish her afterward.”

Yang Jing waved his hand, completely unconcerned about Emily’s offer. Regarding the matter of possession, his targets were only those who had committed heinous crimes:

"But you are different. Before coming to the Nine Provinces Continent, you began buying slaves of various races and drinking their blood until they died. After arriving in the Nine Provinces, you went even further, openly violating the laws of this place to hunt and kill humans—if it weren't for Jiang Fengye's deliberate concealment and your identity as a vampire princess, even a hundred lives wouldn't be enough to settle this matter!"

"Senior, I am a vampire, born to feed on blood. If we don't drink the blood of other races, are we supposed to starve to ****?"

Yang Jing glanced at Zhao Leyun lying on the ground through his ring, her body completely shriveled except for her head. He then recalled the number of humans she had illegally hunted and killed in her memory, and couldn't help but smack his lips, thinking:

"A gentle and powerful person like me doesn't even refer to myself as 'this one' when speaking to others. The fact that I'm willing to explain the reasons for possession to you is already giving you face, especially since the reasons are extremely sufficient and reasonable—look at the murderous aura you exude, don't you have any self-awareness?"

“Sigh, with no one to protect me, my procrastinating and kind nature will eventually kill me.” Yang Jing sighed, deciding to say one last thing:

“I have no right to judge the right or wrong of a creature’s instinct to hunt, but—if you accept the law of the jungle, then today you are the weaker party, with no right to beg for the mercy of the strong; if you don’t accept the law of the jungle, then when you illegally preyed on humans, you should at least have left them a chance to live, instead of cruelly draining them dry.”

After hearing what Yang Jing said, Emily stood there stunned, opening her mouth but ultimately saying nothing, only lowering her head in despair.

“Don’t worry, I will erase your consciousness as quickly as possible, without any pain. Moreover, afterwards I will take Jiang Fengye as my disciple and guide him on the path of immortality, so you can go in peace.”

Seeing Emily resignedly bowing her head in silence, Yang Jing stepped forward, his hands beginning to gather spiritual power.

“No, I don’t want to…” As Yang Jing drew closer, Emily muttered a few words under her breath before suddenly lunging at him, screaming hysterically,

“You disgusting beast from another world! Do you think you can take my body and replace my name and identity just because you’re waving the banner of so-called 'justice'? I, Emily Marlene, am a vampire princess with my own ambitions and my own lover. You have no right to judge me! Die!”

However, Emily’s seemingly insane appearance was nothing more than the last struggle of an ant before its **** in Yang Jing’s eyes.

“I never said I represented 'justice,' nor do I consider myself to be justice. Since you are so stubborn, then… your path ends here!”

Yang Jing easily dodged to the side, lightly striking her back with his palm, sending her flying towards her own soul.

Following the momentum, Emily had no way to avoid it, colliding head-on with her empty soul, merging seamlessly into a complete soul, and then staggering and falling to the ground.

"Two become one, huh? Perfect, take them all in one go." Before Emily could recover from the daze of merging, Yang Jing's voice came from beside her ear.

She instinctively wanted to turn around and continue attacking, but Yang Jing suddenly reached out and grabbed her head with his five fingers spread wide—"You evil beast, die now—uh!...mmm..."

Under Yang Jing's methods, Emily's screams stopped abruptly, and her movements seemed to be paused.

Looking down her arm, one could see that Yang Jing's entire left arm had mysteriously disappeared into her left arm, as if he were putting on a glove, aligning each finger to "pierce" her soul's left arm.

“In your memory, you seem to be quite fond of turning other creatures into skins to wear, then using their identities to toy with their loved ones, and then… draining them dry when they're off guard.”

Yang Jing's tone was slightly mocking, then he tentatively clenched his left fist. As soon as Yang Jing clenched his fist, Emily's soul's left arm instantly stiffened. The originally blood-red elemental claws involuntarily retracted under Yang Jing's will, turning into a harmless wisp of mist.

“Ah! No… what is this… my hand… my body, why am I out of control!”

Emily's scream echoed in her storage ring. She could clearly feel a cold and powerful **** spreading from her left arm, as if countless tiny threads were drilling into her skin, gradually stripping away her control over her soul. Just like… the feeling she had when she wore those skins she had turned into!

“Get away! Get away! Get away!”

Emily thrashed wildly, trying to break free from this intrusion, but her uncontrollable left arm jolted her awake: under Yang Jing's slight mental command, it slowly rose and reached towards her face, its fingertips gently touching her cheek. The touch was real and warm, yet tinged with a strange numbness, as if it were no longer her own hand, but being used by an outsider.

“Stop! You monster… get out of my soul! Ahhh—” Her cries were laced with **** sobs, Yang Jing's indifferent face reflected in her crimson pupils.

As a vampire princess, she had used secret techniques many times to turn her prey into withered shells, watching them crumble into empty shells in futile struggles. That thrill of controlling life and **** had deeply intoxicated her—but now, it was her turn to become that “empty shell.” The powerlessness and fear surging from the depths of her soul made her truly taste the bitterness of being hunted for the first time.

Yang Jing did not respond to her shouts, but simply shook his head slightly—he was unwilling to be so rough, but this little girl was stubborn and insisted on fighting a losing battle.

“Fine, since you refuse to leave peacefully, then let you witness your ‘rebirth’ in your final struggle.”

With a thought, his primordial spirit’s right arm rose and moved forward slightly, silently and slowly disappearing into Emily’s right shoulder, taking control of her right arm.

Emily’s soul convulsed as if struck by lightning. She tried to get up and struggle, but her hands, under Yang Jing’s control, pressed down on her waist, fixing her in place. Seeing that resistance was hopeless, she could only use her lips to deliver one last insult as “Emily Marlene.”

"Instead of settling your affairs, you choose to hurl insults to increase the other's anger? Although I don't care about your insults, they're quite degrading for you... To be honest, you're being a bit noisy right now. Let's end this unpleasant fusion quickly!"

"You, what are you going to do?!" "Of course, I'm going to merge with it directly to save time."

With that, Yang Jing lifted Emily from the ground into the air, and behind her, he manipulated her two hands to slowly and forcefully press the two souls of similar size together...

"Uh, oh! Oh oh oh oh oh—" In the blink of an eye, Emily's insults turned into a **** invasion of her mind, her entire soul entering a climax due to the baptism of spiritual power.

"Invaded by such a powerful soul, your soul not only didn't reject it, but actually actively absorbed my spiritual power? Fine, then I'll grant your wish..."