When the picture is exhausted, the dagger is revealed.

The two of them sat around the small tea table in the bedroom. The old Master Zhao spoke, “Pour me a cup of tea. My mouth is a bit dry.”

Butler Lu had already prepared a pot of tea and set it on the table in advance. Xiao Yao picked it up and poured a cup for both Master Zhao and himself.

Master Zhao lifted his cup, took a gentle sip, and said, “Aside from the assets I’ve set aside for you, there are also some connections and resources you should be aware of.”

“You must have many old friends abroad. I don’t speak French, and my English isn’t very good either. I wonder if I’ll even be able to communicate with them?” As he spoke, Xiao Yao brought his own cup to his lips and took a small sip.

Master Zhao didn’t answer him right away. Instead, he said, “This is a century-old aged pu-erh tea, exceptionally rich and mellow. A cup after a meal aids digestion and settles the stomach—it’s the perfect drink. Savor it well. I have four or five more cakes of this tea, I can give you one.”

Xiao Yao had never tasted pu-erh before, but this cup was indeed deeply fragrant and mellow. He’d never been fond of tea, but now he realized it wasn’t tea he disliked—it was just that the teas he’d tried before were too poor. Tasting such exquisite tea for the first time, he felt unable to stop. He drank three small sips in succession before pausing.

Setting the cup down, he looked up and was suddenly aware of a heavy dizziness clouding his mind.

He forced himself to stay alert, glancing at Master Zhao, and caught sight of those icy, emotionless eyes.

He had seen those eyes before—barely remembered them from the nightmare that had woken him that morning. The same cold, unfeeling gaze as now!

Could it be that the person who’d brought him that sense of terror and danger was none other than the seemingly kind and gentle Master Zhao?

Xiao Yao had no idea what he was about to face, but he was unwilling to resign himself to it. He tried to reach for the high-voltage stun gun at his waist.

Yet, he suddenly realized he had no strength at all. Never mind grabbing the stun gun—he could barely move a finger.

That was the last moment he remained conscious, seeing Master Zhao’s cold, pitiless eyes. Immediately after, he fell into darkness.

He had no idea how long he remained unconscious, only that he awoke to searing pain in his mind.

He should not have woken at all, but he was the exception—something Master Zhao had not anticipated in the slightest.

Master Zhao was originally a qi cultivator from the Western Zhou period, three thousand years ago. His real name was Pan Wu. By chance, he obtained a secret soul cultivation technique known as the Sacred Soul Art and a wondrous artifact called the Sacred Soul Ring.

It was said that, when mastered, the Sacred Soul Art allowed one’s soul to live forever, achieving immortality and freedom in the mortal world.

But the technique was incredibly arduous to cultivate. Even the introductory stage required a grueling three thousand years.

He needed, in his present life, to refine his soul to the True Soul stage, then, with the help of the Sacred Soul Ring, complete his first soul transference and rebirth.

After rebirth, his soul’s foundation would strengthen. Succeed three times in a row, and the foundation would reach the Heavenly Soul stage. Succeed six more times, and the foundation would reach the undying Sacred Soul realm.

Though assisted by the Sacred Soul Ring, each soul transference—an act defying the natural order—was perilous in the extreme. The slightest misstep would mean utter failure.

Three thousand long years passed, and Pan Wu had managed to successfully reincarnate eight times. This was due both to his extraordinary talent and a measure of luck.

The final transference was the most dangerous and difficult of all.

First, the vessel for his soul—the host to be possessed—was nearly impossible to find. With his soul reaching the True Soul stage, the mind-sea of an ordinary person couldn’t possibly withstand it.

Although he could use the soul fire to recast the vessel’s mind-sea, if the vessel’s foundation was too weak, he would still ultimately fail.

He had searched endlessly, and just as he was about to despair, he discovered Xiao Yao—a vessel that met all his requirements.

By then, only a few days remained before the end of his lifespan, leaving him no choice but to hasten his final plan.

He drugged Xiao Yao into unconsciousness, then informed the butler that he would pass on all his life’s teachings to Xiao Yao and was not to be disturbed under any circumstances. Then, he began the last soul transference.

This final soul transference differed from the previous ones. First, he had to ignite the soul fire to recast the vessel’s mind-sea; only once it was sufficiently tempered could he attempt the final soul takeover.

Igniting the soul fire was a method only available upon reaching the Sacred Soul realm. Pan Wu, still at the Heavenly Soul stage, could barely manage it and dared not be careless, lest the soul fire backfire and destroy him.

Despite being prepared for the worst, the difficulty of using the soul fire to temper the vessel’s mind-sea exceeded all his expectations.

Originally, he thought half an hour would suffice. But Xiao Yao’s mind-sea turned out to be astonishingly vast. It took six full hours before he could even begin the ninth soul forging.

To ensure success, Pan Wu chose the most arduous method: ninefold soul forging. Once this final tempering was complete, the last transference in three thousand years was certain to succeed. There would be no risk of failure due to an insufficiently tempered mind-sea.

After three millennia of cultivation, Pan Wu’s soul power was immense. Yet, sustaining the process had drained him. Only sheer, indomitable will kept him going now.

All his soul power was focused on the mind-sea, leaving him oblivious to the outside world.

When Xiao Yao regained consciousness, the agony from his soul being tempered was nearly unbearable.

Struggling to open his eyes, he saw himself seated face to face with Master Zhao, whose finger was pressed against his pineal gland.

Having first been drugged into unconsciousness, he now found himself in a living hell. He still didn’t know why Master Zhao was doing this, but he couldn’t forget the old man’s cold, merciless eyes before he’d lost consciousness.

No wonder he’d woken in terror from a nightmare that morning. In this world, good fortune never simply falls from the sky—if it does, it’s surely bait laid by someone else.

At this critical juncture between life and death, the instinct to survive exploded within him!

With the last remnants of his strength, Xiao Yao managed to tear the powerful stun gun from his belt, pressed the activation button, and thrust it forward. Pan Wu’s body convulsed violently.