Monsters Are Coming

That is: Possession.

Read his memories, seize his body, and inherit everything he has.

As for the risk of possible memory loss, it no longer cared.

The soul fire stopped speaking. The ghostly blue fiery flames shrouding it suddenly collapsed inward and burst into a blinding light.

After condensing all its Strength and consciousness into a single point, it turned into a streak of Liu Guang and slammed hard toward the Sea of Consciousness at the spot between Xia Sheng’s brows.

There was no violent collision as anticipated. The soul fire found that it easily broke through the frail consciousness barrier.

A faint trace of disdain had just risen in its heart when it suddenly sank.

Something’s wrong!

This Sea of Consciousness at the brow... why is it so empty?

It was shocked to discover that there was no Sea of Consciousness structure at the brow at all.

Could it be that his consciousness core isn’t at the brow?

It thought of the countless races in Monster World, and how differences in life structure might cause the Sea of Consciousness to be located elsewhere.

Assuming it had simply gone the wrong way, the soul fire’s consciousness immediately surged downward along this body’s Energy meridians, trying to find Xia Sheng’s Sea of Consciousness Source.

Passing through neural pathways, gliding over the surging Qi-Blood, it traveled unhindered, yet it still couldn’t find the core of the Sea of Consciousness.

This bizarre situation made the soul fire feel a faint unease.

But it did not give up and continued searching inside Xia Sheng’s body.

Until its consciousness reached the spine of this body.

Then it saw a resplendent Star River seemingly spanning the Void.

Countless "Stars" shining with various colors were embedded along a silver band of pure Energy, turning slowly.

Each "Star" emitted a unique Rule fluctuation. They were independent, yet linked in a subtle way by the band of light, together forming a complete Energy circulation system.

The entire Spinal Star River was his Source of Strength.

Impossible!

The soul fire’s consciousness let out an incredulous "Roar."

It had never seen—had never even imagined—that such a Rule-shaped Star River landscape could exist inside a living creature.

This body seemed to be carrying a miniature world.

Facing the vast Star River within Xia Sheng’s body, the soul fire felt as small as a speck of dust.

A fear born from Life instinct devoured it in an instant.

The soul fire’s consciousness "trembled" as it stared at this unbelievable Star River.

It had thought that this being used Rules the same way most powers in the outside world did—merely treating itself as a medium to borrow carried Rule Power, like a craftsman using tools.

And those tools could be used by anyone.

The only difference was proficiency.

But now, horrified, it realized it had been wrong.

The Rules had already fused with this body, becoming an inseparable part of it.

Using Rules for this body was as natural as breathing.

Even that Golden Battleaxe this guy often used was just a manifestation of his own Qi-Blood being released.

He had never "used" Rules—he was mobilizing his own Strength, naturally generating Rule-level effects.

The impact of this realization was far more shocking than merely seeing the Spinal Star River.

Since descending into Monster World, it had seen quite a few Rule-derived beings.

Such beings are born alongside Rules—or rather, they are Intelligent Creatures evolved from externalized Rule Power.

But Rules themselves giving birth to consciousness? That was only the Primordial Monsters spread throughout Monster World.

It had never expected to see, today, a Rule-level Spiritual Body that had fused multiple Rules and made them part of its own Life composition.

This seemingly weak body possessed potential and status so high it made the soul fire feel suffocated.

But after the ultimate shock came an even more frenzied greed.

If it could seize this perfect Rule Body, the Soul Clan would not merely be revived; they could completely surpass their former Peak and set foot on an unprecedented supreme path.

It must have him!

That thought crushed all others.

The soul fire gathered all remaining Soul Power and shaped it into a drill of consciousness.

It tried to forcibly break through the Star River’s barrier, find the consciousness hidden within, and complete the Possession.

But no matter how it rammed, the seemingly luminous Star River felt as though it was separated by a barrier that could never be crossed.

The Strength it released was like a clay ox entering the sea, unable to stir up even the slightest ripple.

This Rule-formed Star River was of a level far beyond its Soul Power tier, Solid to the point of despair.

Forcing a breakthrough was already impossible.

Yet with the supreme path right before it, how could it resign itself to giving up?

Since it couldn’t break in from the inside, then it would change tactics.

An even more insane thought surfaced in its heart.

It decided to seal this Star River.

Using its remaining Soul Power and the clan fire seeds stored within the soul balls as the foundation, it would forcibly open up a Pseudo-Conscious Sea of its own.

Then it would connect the Pseudo-Conscious Sea to the Spinal Star River, attempting to indirectly mobilize this body’s Strength via an external link.

This plan carried immense risk.

Setting aside the difficulty of creating a Pseudo-Conscious Sea, the mere process of interfacing with this Rule Star River was full of unknown hazards.

If it failed, its remaining consciousness might be assimilated and devoured by the Star River, utterly wiped out.

But faced with a heaven-defying opportunity, its choice was: fight to the death.

"The Soul Clan will never perish, the fire seed will forever burn!"

The soul fire let out a Roar in its heart. The soul balls floated out from its body, surging from within with pure Soul Power Source.

The soul fire used Control over Soul Power, spreading it along the edge of the Star River, drawing a massive Sealing Barrier.

Soul Power turned into countless fine, ancient Runes, woven into a cage that wrapped and isolated the entire Spinal Star River.

At the same time, outside the cage, a Sea of Consciousness Space constructed of Soul Power slowly took shape. The process was excruciating for the soul fire.

It needed to transplant its own Sea of Consciousness into this brand-new body and build a new Sea of Consciousness with that as the core.

Half an hour later, after完成 the Sealing and the Sea of Consciousness construction, it extended tendrils of consciousness, attempting to touch the Rule Star River just before it.

Success or failure would be decided in this instant!

...

The outside world.

Although his body couldn’t move, Xia Sheng knew through Guidance what the soul fire was doing right now.

At this moment he asked curiously:

"Brother Guide, can it pull this off?"

[The chance of successful Possession is 0, but external Control has some feasibility. It’s like installing an external operating system that it controls onto a piece of precision machinery so it can indirectly mobilize and drive your body... You can think of it as a puppet-on-strings mode. The Control won’t be smooth, and it doesn’t have the Life Soul usage method. If it wants to use your body’s Strength, it’ll have to fumble around.]

After hearing Guidance’s explanation, Xia Sheng suddenly understood.

The team chat channel exploded at the same time.

"Nerves, the second that old geezer manages to link up and thinks he can Control you, we’ll just show him a special move: self-dismantle and return to town. Let him experience a sudden crash at the peak of his life. Just imagining it is exciting." The Sports System’s voice sounded in the team channel, sounding rather excited.

"Heh heh, that’s a nasty idea... but I like it." The Digestive System immediately chimed in:

"We pull the plug on him when he’s happiest, give him the deepest despair. Hope he doesn’t mentally collapse."

"I raise all four limbs in favor. If we’re going to play dirty, then let’s end the game altogether—we flip the table and go back to town."

Listening to the brothers chatter about the "return-to-town critical hit" plan, Xia Sheng was laughing too.

He was about to agree to this mind-breaking scheme when a thought suddenly flashed through his mind like lightning.

He abruptly cut off the brothers’ discussion, his tone carrying a barely suppressed excitement:

"Wait, brothers, why do I have to go back to town?"

"Think about it. That soul fire is burning Soul Power and constructing a Pseudo-Conscious Sea. That’s a lot of hard work... If I just return to town, wouldn’t I be wasting all its effort?"

Hearing this, the team chat channel was instantly filled with question marks.

Nobody could figure out what exactly Xia Sheng was thinking.

Xia Sheng then explained:

"Since the soul fire wants to Control my body and turn me into a puppet on strings, then why don’t I just lie flat and enjoy this free full-auto substitute play mode?"

The channel went completely An Jing for a second.

Then a burst of enthusiastic replies erupted.

Sports System: Damn, that’s clever. Let it grind while you lie there refreshing the forum and watching streams?

Digestive System: Let it fight Monsters, let it explore. You leech the sacrificial power gains for free. That’s so evil—but I like it. Let’s do it.

Urinary System: I’m dying of laughter. It actually sounds workable. The soul fire Controls your body for Hunting, and all the gains can be directly converted into your attributes and sacrificial power. It doesn’t get a single point. Or it’ll think that by Hunting it’s getting stronger and then work even harder... This corporate-slave controller is ridiculously useful.

...

Listening to their comments, the corner of Xia Sheng’s mouth curled up.

Yeah. Why run?

This full-auto power leveling delivered to his doorstep—why not use it?

This body... let’s give it to him!