“I am Jiang Wuming.”
Upon hearing this, Jiang Wuming was first stunned. He then remembered Caroline had previously heard him talk about the extraterrestrial enemy’s soul possession of her grandfather, the Underworld King, and he explained again.
“Do you think I’m an idiot? First, you demon possessed my grandfather, keeping everyone in the dark, and now you’ve possessed Jiang Wuming and still want to deceive me?!”
Caroline refused to believe him. She glared at Jiang Wuming, furiously channeling her true qi, wanting to fight him desperately.
“Caroline, don’t get agitated. I am indeed Jiang Wuming. That extraterrestrial enemy is called Nitian. He failed when he tried to possess me…”
Jiang Wuming continued to explain.
However—
Before Jiang Wuming could finish his explanation, Caroline roared furiously and interrupted him, “Liar, demon, shut up! You could possess my grandfather, let alone Jiang Wuming?!”
“——”
Jiang Wuming was speechless for a moment. Then, he gritted his teeth and said, “Caroline, I can prove I am Jiang Wuming with one thing.”
“What?!”
Hearing Jiang Wuming speak again and seeing his helpless yet sincere expression, Caroline regained some rationality, but she didn’t believe him. She just looked at Jiang Wuming suspiciously.
“In the soul possession technique of the mental power domain, after a successful possession, while the possessor obtains the soul memories of the possessed, these are primarily major memories. In other words, the possessor directly shields some unimportant memories. For example, some memories between you and me.”
Jiang Wuming spoke rapidly. Seeing Caroline’s eyes widen, he continued before she could interrupt, “You like me, don’t you?”
“——”
This time.
Caroline’s eyes widened, and she stared intently at Jiang Wuming, her gaze a mix of suspicion, shock, and a hint of undisguised panic.
This was her secret, something she hadn’t even told Jiang Wuming!
“After the Global Martial Arts Convention ended, you came to find me to exchange mental power cultivation techniques. At that time, the way you looked at me was unusual. Only when one likes someone do they have such a look. Later, you looked at me the same way every time you saw me, and even more so!” Jiang Wuming further explained.
“You… you really are Jiang Wuming?” Caroline began to waver.
“Do you think that evil, damned extraterrestrial scum would bother to preserve these insignificant memories?” Jiang Wuming retorted.
“Since you know I like you, why have you been acting foolish? And, what did you just say? That my love for you is insignificant?”
Caroline screamed again, appearing even more agitated than before. “Qitian was right. He pursued me, and I lost everything. If I pursued you, would it be the same result? Is that it?!”
“???”
Jiang Wuming.
…
Caroline eventually believed that Jiang Wuming had not been possessed by Nitian.
This was not only because Jiang Wuming used their ‘love,’ which was stifled before it could even begin, as proof, but also because Jiang Wuming said that Qi Changyun and Shen Zui had both been subjected to Nitian’s puppet technique and had become Nitian’s puppets. He promised to restore them to normal in front of Caroline.
After all, if Nitian had successfully possessed Jiang Wuming and wanted to keep it a secret, he could have simply turned Caroline into a puppet. There would be no need for explanations, let alone restoring Qi Changyun and Shen Zui—it was illogical!
When Caroline led Jiang Wuming to a courtyard in the underground ancient city, they met Qi Tian at the entrance of the courtyard.
Qi Tian, unaware of what had transpired, saw Caroline and Jiang Wuming walking together and felt a surge of jealousy. “Caroline, have you successfully persuaded him to join the Underworld Hall?”
“What are you doing here?”
Caroline didn’t answer, instead asking him back with a cold, proud demeanor.
“My grandfather exhibited abnormal energy fluctuations just now, very intense ones. I was worried he might have a qi deviation during cultivation, so I came to check on him.”
Qi Tian, who was filled with jealousy and anger, ‘honestly’ replied to Caroline, then weakly asked, “Why did you bring him here?”
“Your grandfather has encountered some issues, and I’m here to save him.”
This time, before Caroline could speak, Jiang Wuming answered.
He knew that Qi Tian’s grandfather, Qi Changyun, had experienced energy fluctuations earlier because of Nitian.
After Nitian’s soul exploded, it would affect the two mental power seeds left in the mental worlds of Qi Changyun and Shen Zui.
And if Jiang Wuming hadn’t merged with Nitian’s pure soul, causing Nitian to completely dissipate, the two mental power seeds left by Nitian would have vanished.
“My grandfather has problems? How could my grandfather have problems? What nonsense are you talking about?”
Qi Tian immediately glared at Jiang Wuming in annoyance. Then, sensing Caroline’s gaze, he immediately backed down. “Caroline, does the Underworld King know you brought him here?”
“Bang—”
A muffled thud was the response to Qi Tian.
A white light flashed in Jiang Wuming’s eyes, and a ripple of mental power swept towards Qi Tian like a wave. Qi Tian instantly fell unconscious and collapsed onto the ground.
“He talks too much nonsense.”
Jiang Wuming explained to Caroline, then flashed into the courtyard.
“I think so too.”
Caroline nodded, stepped over Qi Tian, and followed closely behind Jiang Wuming.
The unconscious Qi Tian felt a million alpacas stampeding through his mind!
Jiang Wuming quickly arrived at the room where Qi Changyun was in seclusion.
Qi Changyun bore a slight resemblance to Qi Wufu, but their temperaments were vastly different.
Qi Wufu had the demeanor of a brute, while Qi Changyun possessed a refined and scholarly aura, the kind of scholar one might find in ancient times.
In the room, Qi Changyun sat cross-legged on the ground, his eyes closed, his aura fluctuating unstably.
Whoosh!
Sensing the approach of Jiang Wuming and Caroline, he abruptly opened his eyes and scanned them.
Simultaneously, Jiang Wuming wasted no words. A white light flashed in his eyes, and a surge of powerful mental energy poured out, entering Qi Changyun’s mental world.
Within the mental world, the figure of Qi Changyun, as he appeared, sat cross-legged. A black mark was present on his forehead—that mark was the mental power seed left by Nitian.
Jiang Wuming’s mental energy manifested into his own figure. He made a hand seal, and the black mark detached from Qi Changyun’s forehead, falling into Jiang Wuming’s hand and disappearing.
Having completed this, Jiang Wuming withdrew from Qi Changyun’s mental world.
In the real world, Qi Changyun’s body trembled violently. His previously cloudy gaze became much clearer.
“You… you removed the puppet shackles in my mental world? How did you do it?!”
Qi Changyun, as if greatly stimulated, looked at Jiang Wuming with an expression of excitement and disbelief.
The puppet technique was an evil and profound mental power secret art. It allowed the controller to govern their puppets, while preserving the puppet’s original personality and thoughts, by setting many rules that the puppet could not violate.
Qi Changyun knew he had become the Underworld King’s puppet and even deduced that the Underworld King had been possessed by an extraterrestrial enemy. However, he was unable to say anything, forced to obey Nitian’s control.
Just now, he had sensed that with the disappearance of that black mark, the shackles binding his mental world were gone!
“It’s a long story.”
Jiang Wuming pondered for a moment. “Caroline, you stay here and tell him. I’m going to help my senior brother remove his puppet shackles.”
“Okay.”
Having witnessed Jiang Wuming restoring Qi Changyun to normal, Caroline had no lingering doubts about Jiang Wuming being possessed. She immediately nodded, agreeing to Jiang Wuming’s arrangement.
Jiang Wuming wasted no further time and left Qi Changyun’s room, heading towards his senior brother Shen Zui’s room.
Like Qi Changyun, his senior brother Shen Zui had also been affected by the explosion of Nitian’s soul.
However—
When Jiang Wuming helped Shen Zui eliminate the puppet shackles in his mental world, Shen Zui showed no excitement, not even a hint of surprise.
Instead, he said with a smile, “Junior Brother, you’re finally here.”
“Se… Senior Brother, you guessed I was coming?” Jiang Wuming’s eyes widened.
“You must have successfully counter-possessed that extraterrestrial old bastard.” Senior Brother Shen Zui answered out of the blue, continuing to drop bombshells.
“???”
Jiang Wuming was completely bewildered.
“Junior Brother, from the first day I joined the Underworld Hall, I was a bait, meant to trap that extraterrestrial old bastard for you to deal with.” Shen Zui saw Jiang Wuming’s stunned expression and further explained, “This was the only mission Master gave me. And before that day, Master had already predicted that the Underworld King had been possessed by the extraterrestrial old bastard, and his mental power cultivation was at the Half-step Heavenly God realm!”
“Holy cow!!”
Jiang Wuming exclaimed in shock, uttering a national expletive. At the same time, the image of the old man flashed in his mind, and he couldn’t help but silently ask himself: Are there any things in this world that old man cannot predict?
“As for how you, Junior Brother, counter-possessed the extraterrestrial old bastard, Master didn’t say. I’m very curious—can you tell me?” Shen Zui, unconcerned by Jiang Wuming’s shock, looked at him curiously.
“Senior Brother, my soul is somewhat abnormal; I fear no possession.” Jiang Wuming explained vaguely. This was a reminder from Daoist Tian Long never to reveal the secret of his spatial realm to a second person.
Not even Shen Zui or Zhu Yong!
“Alright.” Shen Zui sighed, then put aside his curiosity, looking at Jiang Wuming expectantly. “So, Junior Brother, since you successfully counter-possessed the extraterrestrial old bastard, do you now possess mental power cultivation close to the Heavenly God realm?”
“Mhm.” Jiang Wuming nodded.
“Master is awesome!” Shen Zui exclaimed.
“Indeed awesome!” Jiang Wuming agreed.
“Junior Brother, next, are you going to seek revenge on those two old dogs, Anthony @ Roman and Saint Lun @ Roman?” Shen Zui asked after his exclamation.
“No rush. Although I gained the extraterrestrial old bastard’s mental power cultivation by counter-possessing him, I need to consolidate my strength and familiarize myself with this domain.” Jiang Wuming shook his head. “Besides, I’ve assessed that Anthony @ Roman, that cunning old fox, is far more powerful than the outside world imagines.
Therefore, I want to go into seclusion here for a while to consolidate and familiarize myself with my mental power cultivation, and simultaneously raise my martial arts cultivation to the fifth-star War God tenth stage, and begin to comprehend the laws of heaven and earth.”
“Alright, can I go out and have some fun then?” Shen Zui asked, the image of the Black Widow appearing in his mind.
“Senior Brother, I know what you want to do. Bear with it a little longer; give me some time.” Jiang Wuming hesitated.
“Reason?” Shen Zui felt a bit awkward; he certainly wanted to.
“Let the bullets fly for a while.” Jiang Wuming’s eyes sparkled. This would be his most important period of seclusion.
When he emerged from seclusion, it would be the beginning of a shift in this world!
…