They had been walking for a while.
Leading the way was the man, his tall stature and muscular physique equipped to navigate even the densest jungles with ease. Trailing behind him was an orange fox, its small size paling in comparison to the imposing figure ahead.
As they moved forward, the fox was assessing the situation it faced.
Whoever the man walking in front of him was, one thing was for sure: it had nothing to do with him. The way he handled himself, the aura around him, the way he acted—it was all completely foreign to the fox. Whoever was in control of that body was clearly someone else.
At the very least, it didn't seem to be one of those situations where his soul had been split in two, with one half remaining in his old body and the other taking over the fox. Had that been the case, he would have felt some sort of connection to the man in front of him, but he felt nothing of the sort.
The body was completely foreign to him. That man was a complete stranger.
Given this, there were a few options to consider.
Maybe his body turned into a zombie after his death. Perhaps it was some sort of shapeshifter beast that copied his previous appearance for some reason. Or maybe it was just some sort of illusion affecting his mind.
Initially, all of these were possibilities for the fox. However, at this moment, he could firmly deny all of them. None of them fit the situation in front of him. The time he had spent following the man on this walk had dispelled any belief he might have had in any of them.
This left only one option: someone had clearly possessed his old body.
"But why?" was the question floating in his mind right now.
Out of all the bodies out there, why choose his specifically?
As much as it hurt him to say, he was clearly nothing special in the eyes of the cultivator world. His body was damaged beyond repair after all he had gone through. Coupled with the multiple years he had wasted roaming without advancing his cultivation level, he had no real chance at ever achieving respectable power in the future.
He had no connections or social status. He had no family, no friends, no fame. At this point, he doubted anyone even remembered who he was at all.
He was also poor beyond reason. A mortal farmer probably had more value to his person than he did. Anything he might have had worth a damn was already long gone.
No matter how you looked at it, he was at the absolute bottom of the cultivator society. You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone in a worse position than him. As much as he didn't want to admit it, that was the truth.
And yet, why did that man choose his body to possess?
Since he was capable of possessing another body with his soul, that meant he was really strong, at least a Nascent Soul Level expert.
The possession technique was only possible for experts of the Nascent Soul Level due to the incredible strain it caused to the caster's soul. The soul was extremely fragile, and when in contact with the outside world, it would immediately start getting attacked by all the impurities that exist in the atmosphere.
For anyone with a lower cultivation, if they tried to use the possession technique, they would find their soul extinguished in the process of trying to leave their body.
Only after reaching the Nascent Soul Realm would the soul become strong enough to endure the strain of such travel outside of the host's body.
An expert of the Nascent Soul Realm. That was something Lao couldn't even begin to imagine. That was the level of strength his father sat at. Before, while he was still known as the young prodigy of his sect and enjoyed his father's protection, he viewed that realm as nothing more than a formality.
Him achieving it was already a given. His eyes lay much, much further than that.
Yet looking at it now, it feels like an impenetrable wall. A goal so lofty that he would never be able to reach it even if he spent his whole life trying.
Noticing he had gotten sidetracked, the fox forcefully shuts down all the depressive thoughts running through his head. He had more important things to think about.
Like, why did an expert of such a high level choose his body specifically to possess?
Shouldn't he have access to far more talented bodies to take over? Why go after him specifically? Wasn't he just making things harder for himself by choosing the worst possible candidate he could find?
Speaking of finding, how in the world had his body been found in the first place?
On the day of his death, he was hiding away at...
That's when it hit him.
"The green light," he lightly murmurs.
Yes, that green light. It was something that would never go unnoticed. It covered the entire night sky. Anyone nearby would have noticed it.
This changed everything. While, yes, he was indeed at the bottom of the barrel in the cultivation world, that green light changed everything. He had gained incredible power from it, power capable of offsetting any downsides he had prior.
Everything was starting to click now.
The only thing left unknown at this point was the identity of the man. Who was he?
Still lost in his own thoughts, the fox did not notice the words that had escaped his mouth earlier.
However, this does not go unnoticed by everyone.
The man in front of him stops walking and turns around.
The smile on his face hadn't moved an inch. It was as if it was carved into his face, incapable of being removed.
However, his smile did little to diminish the dangerous aura emanating from every pore of his being. His eyes gleamed with a perilous glint, their green orbs resembling an endless void.
He stared back at the fox.
Neither said a thing, both trying to evaluate the being in front of them.
The deadlock persisted, the atmosphere growing increasingly tense, akin to the edge of a sharp knife.
The fox began to feel overwhelmed. If it had the capacity to sweat, it would likely be drenched at that very moment. For the first time, it was grateful for its beastly form.
Just as the tension was about to become too unbearable, the young man opens his mouth.
"I've been thinking hard about this situation. I think we can both agree on how unusual it all is, right?" He lightly laughs. "So, how about hearing your thoughts on the matter?"
Though that was supposed to be a question, he didn't leave any room for refusal.
Before the fox even had time to respond, he was already voicing his thoughts.
"You know, my little furry friend, fate is a curious thing. As I was taking a walk through these woods, I found something that piqued my interest. Back then, I didn't think much of it, letting it play out to satiate my curiosity. It was akin to the innocent curiosity a child might have towards something they have never seen before," he says.
"However, contrary to my original expectations, there was something far more interesting hiding beneath the surface," he smiles as he looks at the fox.
"It's quite curious. If, at any point, I had decided to simply move on and stop wasting my time with such superfluous things, I might never have learned about the secret you had been hiding under that unassuming form.
We might have simply moved on with our lives, our paths never crossing again. Perhaps that would have been for the better. Perhaps it would've been less painful not to open Pandora's Box in this manner.
But alas, fate is cruel indeed."
He stops for a while.
The fox's heart starts beating faster and faster.
"To be quite honest, I wasn't quite sure what to think when I heard you talking. You caught me completely off guard. My brain was working overtime for a while then.
Eventually, I reached the conclusion that you were something similar to me. That was the only logical explanation I could find. That you were an error in the fabric of reality, just as I was.
And with that, I decided to bring you with me. I decided that keeping you close and learning more about your condition might help me learn more about my own.
That was it. I thought that was as far as our connection went.
But it seems like I ended up underestimating how whimsical fate really is. Not even a storybook would be this convenient in its developments. It's quite creepy if I'm being totally honest."
The grin on his face widens.
"Don't you agree, former Mr. Lao Jiaming?"