A Twist In Fate

"What deal?" Fang Yun looked at his chest that seemed show no signs of being wounded while he was asking.

"I want half your control over this body and wasn't control whenever you're attacking another. In return, I'll complete these messy techniques you made." Alex spoke while looking at the Chimerical Sun of Aura hidden within a Crystal Moon of Psion beneath their frozen sea of consciousness.

With a flick of his wrist, the Chimerical Sun and Crystal Moon ascended upwards and escaped out of their sea of consciousness' waters. He then waved his hand and removed the Dao of Yin and Dao of Space within them, making them more pure than they were before.

"I don't need your help. Look at how not integrating with a Dao has got me so far... You think a mortal who doesn't sacrifice anything can become stronger than a Cultivator?" Fang Yun mocked in derision but he didn't stop Alex from doing what he wanted with the cultivation techniques he made. He knew quite well that Alex wasn't the type to destroy anything that is useful.

"Your perspective of martial arts is too much like a doctors. While you did well in ensuring the essence of Health melded into our Psion and the essence of Survival melded into our Primal Instincts, you neglected the essence of Killing and Self-Control. This is why your Aura is so inferior to that woman named Bai Lingyun. You're techniques aren't fit to be used in combat." Alex spoke clearly as he looked at the giant stone sword sword he held in his hand.

"Bigger is always better is what most people would think, but you shouldn't have thought that merely this unrefined stone sword would've been enough to beat her." He continued before shattering the giant stone sword to pieces, revealing a metallic sword made of concentrated killing intent hidden within. Fang Yun's eyes widened as he felt that the sword even had the potential to kill immortals!

Alex didn't stop there as he looked at the Chimerical Sun behind him and stabbed it with the sword he held. Fang Yun stood in shock as the sword seemed to drain the part of the Chimerical Sun that contained his Dao of Yin, leaving only half the Aura within it left. The sword in Alex's hand went through many changes as the Dao of Yin merged into it, a ghostly Aura formed around it along with along with tattoos that copied his animal styles.

"The reason you're unable to fuse Dao enlightenments into your Heart Force or Mind Force is because you don't believe them to be part of you. You spent so much time healing others in this life to the point you started to view the human body as an object. You are your own person and these Dao enlightenments aren't mine, they're yours." Alex lectured as he handed Fang Yun a refined version of his Combat Instincts. These words resonated within Fang Yun as he saw Alex in a new light. The wariness he felt decreased due to Alex's selflessness.

This one action of Alex's and the words he said to Fang Yun showed that he wasn't trying to lie to him. He truly wished for their partnership and was even willing to gift Fang Yun his own Combat Instincts to make up for not originally having any in the first place.

Although Fang Yun knew he'd have to trade many things in return, the benefits of having sharpened Combat Instincts made it so he didn't need dedicate himself towards improving his Aura like Heart Force Martial Artists on Earth. There was a reason Dao Seeking Martial Artists spent nearly their entire lives sharpening their Heart Force to pass down legacies.

As he grabbed the hilt of the sword, he felt that his body had somehow become more complete. However, with this feeling of wholeness came the intuitive understanding that he had just lost half of his Aura. This wasn't something he felt regretful about though since the metallic sword altered by his Dao of Yin assimilated into his Astral Body.

His outer-appearance didn't change at all after assimilating his Combat Instincts and Primal Instincts into his body but the atmosphere he gave off made him seem a lot more mysterious than he was before. A sapphire light glowed in his eyes as he found Alex was ripping out the Dao of Space from the Crystal Moon before shaping it into the form of a bow. The same actions repeated themselves as Fang Yun assimilated the bow which made entirely out of Spacial Psion circuitry and merged into his Astral Body.

"What are your plans regarding the vial of Colourless Blood?" Fang Yun asked as he sat down to stabilise his power.

"It'll be easier to show it to you rather than explaining it." A rare smile formed on Alex's face as a blob of tangible darkness fell onto his sea of consciousness out of nowhere. Fang Yun didn't know what was going on and almost reflexively attacked it.

"Don't bother. Your 'servant' fed that vial of Colourless Blood to you so you can wake up quicker. Oh how ignorance is a bliss~ Looks like there will be a change of plans." A sinister smile formed on Alex's face as turned on Fang Yun the first chance he got.

Using the other half of the Aura and Psion that was left in Fang Yun's broken Chimerical Sun and Crystal Moon, he merged them into his Astral Body and launched himself towards him before he had the time to react!

Ever since Alex awakened the same day Fang Yun almost died from an assassination, he had been patiently biding his time and waiting for the right opportunity to take over his new incarnation's body. He didn't exactly hate Fang Yun or anything but there was no way he wanted to become a slave to his new incarnation's will. He wanted to truly live and not become a puppet of Fang Yun's that trembled in fear at the thought of being erased.

To Alex, the Fang Yun that became his new incarnation was just a plucky teenager that didn't know much of the world. Even though he saw all of Alex's memories, Fang Yun's perspective on his life was like an observer rather than someone who truly experienced the danger life or death situations. This is why Alex told him that Fang Yun was his own person: Alex's words were meant for his new incarnation to understand why he'd do anything for his own selfish desires rather than become a mere puppet. This was why he decided to do all he could to gain Fang Yun's favour, all so he could complete his plan to 'assassinate' him.

Alex's whole Astral Body seemed to turn into a blur as he threw Fang Yun onto the Colourless Blood that formed into a pitch-black orb in their sea of consciousness. His new incarnation struggled violently as he used the Dao of Yin that fused with his Aura to resist the absorption of the Colourless Blood he was being forcefully assimilated into. Alex wasn't bothered by this though as the Aura within his Astral Body sharpened and fused with a Dao that only he was able to gain enlightenments of, the Devilish Dao!

Although the Dao of Yin and Devilish Dao both had aspects of Heart Force within them, what separated them apart was that the Devilish Dao didn't lean towards the aspects of Soul Force.

The Devilish Dao was one of the two Dao that purely relied on the aspects of Heart Force, which therefore made it more suitable for battles between opposing Auras. Alex had fulfilled the strict requirements for gaining profound enlightenments on the Devilish Dao, which was by killing someone he saw as his loved one. This was why he wasn't worried about Fang Yun's retaliating with his Yin Aura.

"Don't you know that actors must leave the stage once their role ends? Just do me a favour and obediently get in there!" Alex's eyes were filled with viciousness as he stepped on Fang Yun's body and pushed him deeper into it. The eyes of his new incarnation had a tenacious spirit that wouldn't give up no matter what and with all his power.

"Like hell I will! You can get the hell out of my body instead!" Fang Yun roared in response while extracting himself from the Colourless Blood using everything he had. A flash of lightning appeared in his sea of consciousness and struck the Colourless Blood trying to absorb Fang Yun, threatening to destroy the foreign substance trying to bring harm to him.

"Oh no you don't!" Alex reacted quickly and voluntarily reached out his hand to catch the lightning falling towards them. A searing pain ran through his hand as the Spirit Seed that had integrated with Fang Yun's Dao of Lightning struggled within it.

He allowed the hand that was holding the Spirit Seed to be absorbed into Colourless Blood and used it to suck out Fang Yun's Dao of Lightning. Then he used the same method he used to split their Heart Force and Mind Force in order to acquire his own Spirit Seed.

Since the Spirit Seed he held had already been absorbed into the Colourless Blood, he found himself in a bind since he could only fight Fang Yun with one of his hands. The Dao of Time he was enlightened of due to the endless solitude of the void appeared in Alex's other hand used it to resist the Spacial Psion Fang Yun suddenly started to release outwards to escape.

Fang Yun couldn't comprehend what it was like for Alex to stay for an eternity in the void between realms just to earn his reincarnation. Alex believed he was more deserving of life than anyone else because of everything he went through.

The Dao of Space and Dao of Time cancelled each other out while Devilish Dao and Dao of Yin were also evenly matched due to the fact Alex had to focus on not being absorbed by the Colourless Blood spiritual medicine Fang Yun real body had swallowed.

"You really are tenacious, aren't you? I somehow dislike that part of you. The original you was more interesting..." A glint of madness appeared in Alex's eyes as he spoke to him lightheartedly.

"Ha! The previous me was just a weakling. I am not the same person I was before, and you are merely a phantom without a soul. I am the true owner of this body, I am the true ruler of this sea of consciousness! Let's see if you can take this away from me." Fang Yun's power increased by a fold as their sea of consciousness started to quake.

"Either way, that 'weakling' was the one your little lover truly admired. It's really laughable that you think only changing your surface traits will make you a monster. After all, you were already considered trash when you let that ice woman fight by herself. It's not him who is the weakling, it's you. You are the traumatised idiot who's covering his weakness, not him. If it was the previous Fang Yun faced with such a decision, I'm sure he would have bravely protected a woman in need without making excuses." Alex harshly spoke to Fang Yun with sinister intentions. He wanted to break Fang Yun's confidence through messing with his mentality. As someone who was adept at finding opening in the fighting style of others, he was good at using words as weapons to manipulate foes.

"Excuses! Lies! You're just trying to get into my head. It will never work!" Fang Yun instantly figured out Alex's scheme and focused more on destroying him before he could say anything else, but things didn't go as planned as his previous incarnation grabbed his head and showed him illusions of grandeur.

He was shown nightmares of Chu Rinyu rejecting him even after he toiled for years to get to her sect. Images of how Chu Rinyu moved on and left Fang Yun behind as ancient history. The cruelest things about these illusions were that they were based on his current reality. Even if he was to become a dragon among men, would life even be worth living as an ant?

Alex scorned the fact that his new incarnation was so easily influenced by these illusions because he didn't understand Fang Yun's obsession. He couldn't believe that one woman was all it took for Fang Yun to feel like his life was worthless. Was this the so-called 'true love' he heard about on Earth? No! This was just obsession! As a man who never knew what it was like to be romantically involved with a woman, he believed that Fang Yun was a fool to feel such strong depression.