Chapter 32: Claiming the body, the remaining soul collapsing, and making the Emperor's sword bow down

"Who dares?! "

The angry roar of the Emperor of the Feihua Sword echoed in the psychoscape. His ghostly body half-immersed into the sea of the subconscious of the young man standing in front of him vibrated as an elusive force kept holding back the other half of his ghostly form. In his futile attempts to advance, he was unable to completely occupy the body.

Xian Zhan gazed up, his face deathly pale and dripping with cold sweat. His entire being was torn from the inside as this Feihua Sword Emperor's malice tried to invade and consume his soul. Amidst the turmoil, a figure suddenly appeared.

Tribal leader? Xian Zhan's voice shook with a whirlwind of hope and incredulity as he watched the man who seemed to come out of nowhere. His savior, Xian Yue, stood calmly, his eyes shining bright with a steely glint.

Meanwhile, on the same side, Mei Rong, who had been standing by the front door outside, was equally baffled. He had been on vigil throughout – no one entered through the front. "Is there some other entrance here?" he murmured to himself, utterly bewildered.

Meanwhile, Feihua Sword Emperor tried his best. His voice, a combination of rage and incredulity, thundered out loudly. "Who stops my path? For hundreds of years, I won't be thwarted!" He hurled himself at Xian Yue in a wild swing of his spirit energy. It was no use. The secret hand, no matter how strong he was, held fast. Xian Yue had grabbed him by the leg. The sword emperor, enraged, was restrained from plunging all the way into Xian Zhan's subconscious.

"You dare try to take one of my own?" Xian Yue's voice was low and deadly, his fingers white-knuckled as he grasped the leg of the Feihua Sword Emperor, refusing to let go. His eyes drilled into the apparition standing before him, lacking any trace of fear, and instead, filled with disdain.

The Sword Emperor's eyes narrowed with fury and desperation. He had waited for hundreds of thousands of years for a vessel as good as this one, and now, when his chance was near, this interference was unbearable. "You can't stop me! I've waited millennia for this moment!" he spat. "I will not be denied my rebirth!"

Deep inside Xian Zhan's ocean of awareness, the battle was heating up to its fullest potential. The Feihua Sword Emperor's aura blazed out with terrifying might and intent on tearing apart those bindings around Xian Yue's leg. But it was all in vain. No matter how much more power he managed to pour into his attack, his leg remained firmly anchored to Xian Yue's grasp.

The eyes of the Feihua Sword Emperor opened, and his shock was now coupled with a tinge of amazement, for he felt the power of his opponent. This warrior was no ordinary warrior. But the emperor's survival instincts were over eons honed. With a loud crack, the leg Xian Yue held exploded in a burst of energy, severing the Sword Emperor's connection. The next instant, his soul shot forward, diving into Xian Zhan's sea of consciousness.

"Hahaha!" laughed out the Feihua Sword Emperor, filling the mental space with madness and triumph. "You think you can stop me? No one can! I will rise again, and this universe shall once more bow beneath the edge of my blade!"

He was giddy with excitement as he rushed deeper into Xian Zhan's soul to devour. His method was not a simple soul possession. It was a technique from the ancient Immortal Era, an intricate ritual that allowed him to not just seize a body but consume the very essence of the soul, ensuring his own immortality for another lifetime. Xian Zhan's soul would be perfect; it was young, vibrant, and full of potential.

"I will reach heights I never thought possible!" The Sword Emperor's eyes gleamed with the lust of a soul-thief as he stepped forward, mouth agape to swallow Xian Zhan's soul whole.

Xian Zhan's heart was filled with despair. He thought that a while ago, he could have sworn that his clan leader came to save him, but now, this Xian Yue, who had alone defeated thousands of strong warriors, seemed to be helpless in this invasion. He could feel that in him was the Sword Emperor of the Feihua, waiting for the treasure of devouring his soul.

But just as the Emperor's jaws closed to envelop him, something bizarre happened. His teeth came together in nothing but air. The Emperor's eyes flung wide in astonishment.

"What… what's happening?!."

he exclaimed wildly, looking around him. One moment he was hanging there on the point of thrusting himself through the body of Xian Zhan, and the next, impossibly, he found himself outside again—and not merely outside but expelled from the young man's great sea of consciousness.

Xian Zhan blinked. Just a moment before, the Feihua Sword Emperor had been within him, on the verge of destroying him completely, and now it has been expelled, and he was looking into the face of Xian Yue, who stood unruffled and steady before him.

Xian Yue raised but one finger, lightly stroked Xian Zhan's forehead, and out that soul remnant of the Feihua Sword Emperor was ejected. No dramaticity and splashing of power—just that one touch.

"Wh... What just happened?" The Feihua Sword Emperor stuttered, his voice barely above a whisper as it shook with incredulity. His soul fluttered uneasily as he stared at Xian Yue. That man. he was no ordinary mortal.

Xian Yue's face had turned icy cold as he spoke to the Emperor: "You all so-called emperors are always arrogant. You think you could trample the heavens, defeat worlds, and tread upon all that lies under your feet. Let's see how well your arrogance serves you now. You said you would make the universe crawl under your sword? Interested to see how you plan on making me kneel."

The Feihua Sword Emperor's eyes snapped to Xian Yue. He looked at him intently, trying to feel a level or even a hint of his cultivation, but to his horror, there was nothing. No fluctuation, no energy signature—just nothing that hinted at any power at all. "Impossible," he muttered under his breath. "Are you truly a mortal?

His suspicion worsened and, for a moment, fear crept into his mind. Could this man be disguising his strength?

"Never mind!" The Emperor spat, forcing the doubt from his mind. "You are no Emperor and that's all counts. Be it mortal or non-mortal, you'll die all the same"

With a swift draw of his Emperor Weapon, Feihua Sword Emperor chopped out a sword as red as blood over tens of thousands of years of forging. He vanished behind Xian Zhan's back and appeared above Xian Yue's head, ready to strike.

"Gongzi, watch out!" Xian Zhan shouted in warning.

But just before the sword could fall, the impossible happened. Xian Yue reached out nonchalantly, and the Emperor Weapon—the blood-red sword that had once sent terror across entire realms—was somehow in his hand.

Shaking his head and not able to possibly comprehend what was happening. "What… how is this possible?!" He shouted, his face contorted in horror. "That's an Emperor Weapon! It's supposed to be bound to my soul, under my absolute control! How… how did you.".

Xian Yue examined the weapon like it was little more than a trinket. "Impressive," he said calmly, running his fingers along the blade. "A weapon of this caliber… you must have spent ages forging it. The sword array of nine Emperor Weapons—formidable, I'm sure.".

His eyes went ice-calculating, and the impact of what he said was as if a thunderclap had struck. "But if you think I'm going to save you after you tried to possess one of my people, you're sadly mistaken."

With a casual wave of his wrist, Xian Yue wielded the Emperor Weapon. A blinding arc of blood-red light cleaved through the air and struck the Feihua Sword Emperor's soul. The spectral form was sliced in half at once, his once-potent essence now reduced to flickering fragments.

"You… " The Feihua Sword Emperor's voice trembled with terror as his soul began to dissipate. "Who… are you?"

But there was no reaction. Xian Yue only watched in silence as the traces of the once-highly noble Emperor dispersed into nothingness. His face did not shift, as unmoving as the silent waters.

Xian Zhan stood there, frozen with awe. He had never seen such complete dominance. It wasn't just that his clan leader could eject Feihua Sword Emperor from the sea of consciousness with such a light touch, but also that he could take control of the Emperor Weapon as if nothing.

"Clan leader…" Xian Zhan spoke still with a quivering voice. "What is your true strength?"

Xian Yue smiled faintly, though the answer was vague. "Me? I'm invincible."

Though Xian Zhan suspected there was more to it, he understood that his clan leader had no intention of revealing the full extent of his power.

Xian Yue's eyes came back to the Emperor Weapon in his grasp. He spoke to the spirit in the sword with a coldness as if he came from the void. "I'll give you a choice: submit to my people and serve them, or meet destruction and be completely wiped out.".

The sword spirit trembled with the ultimatum. It had no debate that Xian Yue had the power to annihilate it without resistance. "I… I will submit! It is my privilege to serve your race!" the sword spirit wailed, despised to be destroyed.

Pleased, Xian Yue nodded his head. The Emperor Weapon, now tamed and obedient, would be an asset of great power for his clan.