At the same time, he thought about how the Celestial Demon only feared the cultivation of one’s state of mind, and wondered if his panacea, the Light of the True God, could suppress it.
He felt uncertain! This thing was too sinister; hadn’t he seen countless Great Cultivators and Grand Celestial Masters fall prey to it directly?
"How should I warn the noble lady?" Zhang Chen pondered swiftly, then suddenly felt a surge in his heart: "Got it!"
Zhang Chen had just come up with an idea when he heard Xie Lingyun beside him say, "I can give you my flesh, and also my soul, allowing you to live under my identity, but you must promise me, you must treat my family well and not secretly harm them."
"Rest assured, once I’ve taken over your identity, your parents are my parents, your siblings are my siblings—break through quickly!" The Celestial Demon agreed eagerly.
Upon hearing this, Xie Lingyun took a deep breath and just as she was about to break through the realm of Possession, a sound suddenly came from the altar, causing Zhang Chen’s offering in front of him to fall to the ground, startling him to hurriedly pick it up, pausing Xie Lingyun’s actions.
"How could you be so careless?" Xiaodouding stopped wiping the sculpture and ran over to help.
"I was just thinking about winning the big competition and accidentally knocked the offering down. Suddenly, a vague premonition arose in my heart; I’m afraid the results of the competition will leave us disappointed, and I may return empty-handed." Zhang Chen said while picking up the offering.
"What you say makes no sense, how could the result of winning the competition be related to knocking over a fruit tray?" Xiaodouding chuckled.
"According to what we say back home, it’s called a response, or Ying," Zhang Chen said seriously, not at all appearing to be joking.
"What is Ying?" Xiaodouding asked with curiousity in his voice.
"What they call Ying is when you’re making a decision, suddenly something bad happens, like breaking a tray or choking on water—it’s heaven’s way of warning you there’s a change," Zhang Chen explained slowly: "It’s the heavens subtly warning you that what you’re doing is wrong."
As Zhang Chen’s words ended, both the Celestial Demon and Xie Lingyun’s expressions changed. The Celestial Demon’s face grew vicious as it gave Zhang Chen a glance, then turned to Xie Lingyun: "You didn’t really buy his nonsense, did you? What Ying, absolute gibberish."
Upon hearing this, Xie Lingyun smiled, but the smile seemed a bit pale: "It is indeed nonsense."
"Since it’s nonsense, then go ahead and break through, don’t waste time," the Celestial Demon urged impatiently at Xie Lingyun: "Don’t waste your time, nor mine."
"Breaking through always takes time, what’s the hurry," Xie Lingyun said, slowly sitting cross-legged, posturing to break through.
Seeing that Xie Lingyun didn’t seem to understand his hint, Zhang Chen couldn’t help but sigh inwardly, but there was nothing he could do. That Celestial Demon was truly strange, and he couldn’t make his reminder too obvious to avoid getting himself involved.
As time slowly passed, an hour, two hours... five hours passed, and Xie Lingyun’s aura grew weaker and weaker, until she was about to die from starvation. The Celestial Demon finally sensed something amiss: "You wretched woman, how dare you fool me! Though you verbally said you’d give me your soul and body, in reality, you were buying time, waiting to starve yourself, weren’t you?"
Upon seeing her plan exposed, Xie Lingyun no longer hid it and responded with a weak smile: "Yes, and so what? I have only one breath left, you’re doomed! You’ll never get my body."
Upon hearing Xie Lingyun’s words, the black skull laughed coldly, its voice full of mockery:
"In front of me, you thought I’d let you starve? You haven’t seen my abilities! I can absorb the Essence, Qi, and Spirit of all beings, and once I transfer that essence to you, you’ll find starving to death is impossible."
"I’ll eat a disciple of Huangli Temple right before your eyes, make you completely lose hope, let you see there’s no one in the world who can save you, and you will obediently become my puppet in the future."
With those words, the skull’s gaze shifted, scanning the people in the hall, settling on Zhang Chen who was wiping the statue: "This kid ruined my plans and his Qi Blood is quite sweet and delicious, worthy of a bite from this ancestor! I’ll drain his Essence, Qi, and Spirit, then use them to replenish yours, let’s see how you die then."
With those words, the skull lunged directly at Zhang Chen.
Although five hours had already passed, due to being in the Illusion Realm, people couldn’t sense the passage of time, and although Zhang Chen’s Light of the True God saw through the Illusion Technique, he didn’t dare reveal it, instead pretending to be trapped in the Illusion Realm, wiping the hall repeatedly.
"Damn it!"
Zhang Chen saw the Celestial Demon targeting and lunging at him, a tightness formed in his chest. Simultaneously, a wave of anger surged within Zhang Chen: Why?
The hall was filled with people, why did this guy think he was an easy target?
"I wonder if my Light of the True God will be effective this time."
As the skull lunged at him, Zhang Chen acted as if he didn’t see it. The moment the Celestial Demon touched Zhang Chen’s skin, the Light of the True God erupted from his body. Then, a piercing scream echoed in the air as the skull was blasted into mist, scrambling back into Xie Lingyun’s body like a mouse encountering a cat.