Chapter 181: Heavenly Devil Possession
"Now that you've verified the authenticity of my token, I believe it's time that you told me exactly what needs to be done for this mission," Han Li said in a direct and straightforward manner.
"Before that, there's one more thing that I must examine before I decide whether I'm going to entrust this mission to you," the portly manager said.
"What is it?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"I need to examine your cultivation base to see if you truly possess the ability to complete the mission," the portly manager said.
Han Li didn't suppress his aura any longer upon hearing this, releasing his early-True Immortal Stage aura in a completely unconcealed form.
Even though he had only released a hint of his aura, the portly manager still swayed unsteadily as an unnatural flush appeared on his face, and he appeared to have been struggling to breathe.
Han Li hurriedly withdrew his aura upon seeing this, and a hint of befuddlement flashed through his eyes.
The portly manager's appearance was clearly also a disguise manifested by a mask from the Transient Guild, and it had concealed his aura as well, so even with Han Li's immense spiritual sense, he was unable to glean the man's cultivation base.
He had only released a tiny hint of his aura, so he was rather taken aback by the strong reaction displayed by the portly manager.
The portly manager's complexion was still a little pale, but some color had returned to his cheeks after a few deep breaths, and he asked, "If I'm not mistaken, you're an early-True Immortal cultivator, right, Fellow Daoist?"
Han Li merely nodded in response.
A hint of disappointment flashed through the portly manager's face as he sighed, "In that case, I advise you not to take on this mission."
"Why is that?" Han Li asked with a perplexed expression. "The mission description stated that any True Immortal cultivator could take on the mission, "
"To tell you the truth, the mission that I released will require you to kill someone. According to my knowledge, that person is also at the True Immortal Stage, but he possesses certain powers that make him far more formidable than other cultivators of the same caliber. I'm concerned that you'll be no match for him and end up losing your life here," the portly manager explained with a shake of his head.
"If it's another early-True Immortal cultivator, then I'm fairly confident that I can take him on. Even if I can't defeat him, I'll definitely be able to at least ensure that I'll survive the encounter, so rest assured and give me the mission debriefing, Fellow Daoist. I've already made up my mind, and I'm not going to back down," Han Li insisted with a smile
The portly manager could see that Han Li was quite determined, so he could only comply with Han Li's request.
"Alright. The person that I want to kill is a man by the name of Bai Songshi, and he currently serves as the imperial preceptor of the Hundred Blessings Nation. If you can kill him, then you'll receive the promised reward."
Han Li was rather taken aback by this request, and he asked, "You want me to kill the imperial preceptor of a mortal nation? Aren't cultivators prohibited from meddlings in the affairs of the mortal world while in the territory of the Blaze Dragon Dao? Also, if that man really is a True Immortal cultivator, then how did he end up becoming the imperial preceptor of a mortal nation?"
Instead of answering Han Li's question, the portly manager raised one of his own. "I'm assuming you're not from our Ancient Cloud Continent, right, Fellow Daoist?"
"That's right," Han Li admitted in a forthright manner.
"That explains it. The thing is that there are trillions of mortals on the Ancient Cloud Continent, and as a result, there are millions of mortal nations. Some nations like the Hundred Blessings Nation appear to be run by the mortal imperial family on the surface, but in reality, they're being presided over by one or two cultivating clans in the shadows. They are the ones pulling the strings behind the scenes," the portly manager explained.
A contemplative look appeared on Han Li's face as he asked, "So what you're saying is that the clan that Bai Songshi belongs to is the actual ruler of the Hundred Blessings Nation?"
"That's right. These cultivating clans are supported by some powerful cultivating sects as well, but due to certain unspoken rules, unless a nation is facing complete annihilation, these cultivating clans generally won't interfere with the nation's affairs. Hence, the mortals residing in those nations don't feel the influence of these cultivating clans at all," the portly manager explained.
"In that case, if I kill Bai Songshi, won't I be making an enemy out of his clan and the cultivating sects that support his clan? In fact, wouldn't that make me a target of the Blaze Dragon Dao as well?" Han Li asked with a puzzled expression.
"You can rest assured on that front, Fellow Daoist. The man that I'm asking you to kill is not the true Bai Songshi," the portly manager replied with a wave of his hand.
Han Li was becoming more befuddled by the second, and he was just about to ask what all of this meant when the portly manager continued, "The one that I want you to kill is actually an Extrarealm Heavenly Devil. While transcending his ascension tribulation, the true Bai Songshi was possessed by that heavenly devil.
“In order to avoid attracting attention to itself, the heavenly devil has been suppressing its cultivation base to the Grand Ascension Stage this entire time, even though it's actual cultivation base is at the early-True Immortal Stage..."
Han Li raised an eyebrow as he interjected, "That makes sense, but I have one question: if a heavenly devil really did possess Bai Songshi's body, they would've been sure to act in a secretive manner to avoid attention, so how do you know so much about all of this?"
A hesitant look appeared on the portly manager's face, and it seemed that he was unsure of how to respond.
"What you've just described to me is truly rather bewildering. If you're unable or unwilling to explain the situation to me in further detail, then I'm afraid I can't believe you," Han Li said.
The portly manager lowered his head and fell into deep thought upon hearing this.
Han Li also fell silent and waited patiently for a response.
After a long silence, the portly manager slowly raised his head, and there was a determined look in his eyes, indicating that he had just arrived at an important decision.
He raised his hands and placed them on his cheeks, then made a gentle lifting motion, and an azure rabbit mask that was riddled with spirit patterns was removed amid a flash of rippling azure light.
As soon as the mask was removed, azure light surged over the portly manager's entire body, and he began to rapidly shrink, while his waist was also quickly compressing.
It didn't take long for the portly manager to completely disappear, replaced by a young woman who appeared to have been around 17 to 18 years of age.
The woman had a pair of almond eyes and thin lips, coupled with a pair of fine eyebrows and a delicate nose. There was still some baby fat lingering on her cheeks, and she was wearing a tight-fitting pink lotus flower dress, giving her a gorgeous and refreshing appearance.
However, there was a slight wrinkle between her brows, striking the beholder with a hint of sympathy.
Han Li's expression remained unchanged, but he finally understood why the woman had displayed such a strong reaction to the release of his aura from earlier.
As it turned out, she was only a Deity Transformation cultivator, and upon detecting this, Han Li couldn't help but wonder how someone of such a lowly cultivation base had managed to join the Transient Guild.
However, after some closer inspection, he noticed that there seemed to be something out of the ordinary about the woman, but he couldn't pinpoint exactly what was different about her.
"I'm sure you're aware that members of the Transient Guild are prohibited from enquiring about the true identities of other members, so the fact that I'm revealing my true appearance to you should be a sufficient show of my sincerity, right, Fellow Daoist?" the young woman asked, and her voice was very pleasant on the ears.
Despite the fact that she was facing a True Immortal whose cultivation base far exceeded hers, she remained quite calm and collected.
Han Li remained unmoved by this gesture, and he said, "Please answer my question from earlier."
The young woman took a deep breath, then said, "To tell you the truth, my name is Bai Suyuan, and I am the granddaughter of Bai Songshi. At the time..."
Thanks to her description of the events that unfolded at the time, Han Li was able to get a rough grasp on the timeline.
As it turned out, Bai Suyuna's parents had unfortunately passed away during an outing when she was still at a very young age. Due to her cleverness and her exceptional cultivation aptitude, Bai Songshi was very fond of Bai Suyuan and always kept her by his side, constantly showering her with doting affection.
During Bai Songshi's ascension tribulation, he was possessed by an Extrarealm Heavenly Devil, but no one was able to tell. She was the first one to have noticed, but no one in her clan believed her when she told them, not even her own grandfather.
In the beginning, the heavenly devil was quite restrained and didn't step out of line. However, once it had completely integrated itself with Bai Songshi's memories, it gradually began to control the entire Bai Clan, then set his sights on the Hundred Blessings Nation's imperial court, aiming to seize more power with his status as imperial preceptor.
After that, strange happenings began to occur frequently in the Hundred Blessings Nation, with entire cities or towns of people disappearing overnight. As the cultivating power presiding over the Hundred Blessings Nation, the Bai Clan had naturally sent people to investigate these strange occurrences, but all to no avail.
"Eventually, the heavenly devil's behavior became more and more brazen, and some of the members of my clan finally caught on to the fact that something was wrong, so they began to investigate the matter, but they were all taken out by the heavenly devil before they could uncover the truth.
“My cultivation aptitude caught the heavenly devil's eye, and it wanted to develop me into a cultivation cauldron, so it had me imprisoned in a restricted area in our clan, and my grandfather was killed by the heavenly devil while rescuing me."
Bai Suyuan's voice trailed off here, and a hint of pain and grief flashed through her eyes.
"My condolences, Fellow Daoist Bai," Han Li consoled.
Bai Suyuan was silent for a moment longer, then continued, "After my grandfather rescued me, he entrusted me with this mask and the token of our ancestor, both of which had been passed down for generations in our clan.
“He told me to take this token to the Blaze Dragon Dao and cultivate there until I attained the power to avenge our clan, but I'm only at the Deity Transformation Stage, who knows how long it'll take before I can contend against that heavenly devil?"
"So that's why you released this mission in the Transient Guild to find someone to help you kill him?" Han Li asked.
Han Li could understand why Bai Suyuan was so disheartened. For a Deity Transformation cultivator, even the Spatial Tempering Stage would've seemed impossibly far away, let alone the True Immortal Stage. Having progressed arduously through the ranks himself, Han Li knew just how difficult and perilous this process could be.
At this point, Bai Suyuan had already regained her composure, and she replied, "That's right. I discovered the existence of the Transient Guild by chance through this mask, and I decided to release this mission.
“The heavenly devil has been constantly searching for me ever since I escaped, and it was only thanks to this mask that I've been able to avoid capture all this time. If I don't find someone to kill that heavenly devil, then I'm afraid I won't be able to get away from it for much longer."
New novel chapt𝒆rs are published on free(w)ebnovel(.)com