Beyond The Primordials - Chapter 4 Shaking Down A Swindler

Outside the tablet’s hidden domain, Tang Li, Tang Jiao, and Tao Shou were inspecting the ancestral tablet, trying to find out where Yin Hui went.

“Yin Hui get out here! I’m not leaving until I see your corpse at my feet!” Tao Shou shouted, kicking the tablet in frustration.

Tang Li let out a breath of relief, but still felt worried. Based on what he saw, Yin Hui seemed to be transported somewhere by the Yin Clan’s ancestral tablet. Teleportation spells were one of the most dangerous spells a mortal could be exposed to. The immense speed their bodies are subject to during transport could easily reduce them to a pile of flesh and blood before they even reach their destination.

While the thought of Yin Hui dying to failed teleportation worried Tang Li, he was even more fearful of what would happen if he came back. Tao Shou had recovered his spiritual energy and was still bloodlusted. If Yin Hui returned without some kind of hidden ace, he would stand no chance. On top of that, there was also Tang Jiao, who stood next to him with a sinister smile on his face.

“What are you so happy about?”

Tang Jiao turned his head towards his younger brother, still wearing the same wicked grin.

“If that slave returns, rest assured I will not let Tao Shou kill him. After all, he’s the first one to ever get a reaction from the jade pillar. I just wonder what father will do to that slave once I tell him of this. Perhaps I will bring him back to the palace and present him myself.”
for visiting.

“You dare?!” Tang Li drew his sword and swung at Tang Jiao.

“Young master Tang Jiao!” Tao Shou cried. While Tao Shou was concerned for Tang Jiao, he knew that there was nothing he could do to stop Tang Li. Even if he charged the Wind Bullet to its maximum power, it would do little more than make Tang Li take a few steps back.

When Tang Li’s sword was mere centimeters away from Tang Jiao, an ethereal arm emerged from behind Tang Jiao’s shadow and grabbed it. Tang Li attempted to withdraw his sword, but it didn’t budge under the grip of the arm’s hand.

“The ethereal spirit of a Spirit Manifestation cultivator” Tao Shou stared in awe.

“Seems like I can afford to teach you a lesson after all little brother. I’m sure father won’t mind a little scuffle once I inform him that Yin Hui has the ability to access the pillar. With father’s personality, I bet he will refine that boy’s soul into a puppet. Of course, not before torturing him for the method to unlock the pillar and taking whatever inheritance he might have received.

“Tang Jiao don’t you dare tell father about this!” Tang Li shouted, while trying to move his sword.

“If you can beat me, I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll even make things easier for you and fight on equal terms.” The ethereal hand holding Tang Li’s sword dissipated and Tang Jiao took a giant leap back. He tapped his own bag of holding attached to his waist and took out a decorated short sword similar to Tang Li’s.

“Last time we fought you were grovelling after 30 moves. Hopefully, now you can last at least 40!”

Tang Jiao brandished his sword and dashed forward towards Tang Li, that sinister smile never left his face.

—————————————————————————————————————

“All right! All right! I apologise! This old man was wrong. Just please stop!”

Back in the spatial realm within the pillar, Yin Hui was taking out his anger on Yin Tou’s statue. The statue was Yin Tou’s current vessel, so if it was harmed so was he.

“This is for stealing my body you damned geezer.” Yin Hui threw a barrage of hard punches towards the statues nose. Yin Tou was rolling on the ground in pain, covering his face with both of his ghostly hands as each punch was reflected back onto him. Under the assault of Yin Hui’s punches, the nose of the statue started to crack, which meant Yin Tou’s nose had cracked as well. These cracks were only temporary as Yin Tou would simply use the rich spiritual energy around them to heal the cracks and himself. Unfortunately for him, this just allowed Yin Hui to repeatedly break the same parts as many times as he wanted, leading to an endless cycle of torment.

“Argh! That’s the 4th time you broke my nose!”

“Shut up.” Yin Hui moved down to the statues neck and threw a straight jab right to the statues throat.

Yin Tou wrapped his hands around his throat and began to cough. If he wasn’t a ghost right now he would have already coughed out a pool of blood.

“That’s it brat you’ve finally pushed it! I’m forcibly sending you back!” Yin Tou pointed to the ground beneath Yin Hui and the portal to the shrine began to open once more.

“If I am then your coming with me!” Yin Hui climbed to the top of the statue and quickly broke off some pieces, throwing them into the emerging portal.

“Wait stop!” Yin Tou quickly closed the portal. As he did, Yin Hui threw a hard punch to the top of his head.

“Either you give me a method to cultivate, or this is going to continue for eternity!”

“I can’t! Your a crip— Ahh!!” Yin Hui climbed down the statue and sent a strong kick towards Yin Tou’s two most prized possessions.

“Call me a cripple again and I’ll break these pieces off at least 10 times. Your supposed to be an all powerful cultivator right? I’m sure you have something.”

Yin Tou looked down with a face of pain and embarrassment, letting out the same shameless smile he had when he first appeared.

“About that You see, most of my memories are sealed away inside this tablet. The only reason I awakened is because you inherited my eyes and unlocked one of the seals.” Yin Tou explained while covering his two most prized possessions.

“Each of the seals corresponds to a part of me that contains some of my power. Right now I only have the eyes unlocked, so I can only utilize techniques I have physically seen that don’t require any hard comprehension or a high cultivation base.”

Yin Hui’s face turned red with anger, he could not take more of this old man’s shameless and disappointing character. He turned towards the statue once more, lifting his leg up in the air.

“Wait wait! Just because I don’t have my former cultivation base or my arsenal of spells doesn’t mean I haven’t seen anything in the past that could help!” Yin Tou said hastily.

Yin Hui put his leg down and turned around, this time with a wide smile on his face. Yin Tou gulped when he saw this smile.

“With just my eyes, I can reproduce most body reconstruction rituals since those are purely done through physical step-by-step instructions.”

“And can any of those techniques reform my body so I can cultivate even with a cursed soul?” Yin Hui asked with an endearing expression.

Yin Tou looked at Yin Hui’s ‘endearing’ face and shuddered with fear. He closed his eyes and carefully recalled all the body reformation rituals he had in his visual memory, making sure to find the right one for Yin Hui. After a few minutes, Yin Tou started to sweat. While he had seen multiple rituals throughout his life, most required special materials which he didn’t have access to. Eventually, he found one that was suitable, but it was a demonic technique with a very low success rate that could kill the target if it failed.

“The success rate of this technique is abysmal, but it’s the only one I can replicate with these limiting circumstances”

Yin You turned towards Yin Hui, almost afraid to give him the news that he only found one possible method that could potentially even kill him.

“Uhh, kid, I mean, my beloved descendant Yin Hui. I have found a method, but it’s success rate is low. It’s a demonic technique, and if it fails there’s a chance you might even die.”

Yin Hui sighed, he knew that with his current restrictions and Yin Tou’s incomplete knowledge that the solution would not be easy. However, if he didn’t obtain some kind of method to cultivate, he would get slaughtered as soon as he left by Tao Shou and Tang Jiao who were waiting outside.

“I don’t care if it’s a demonic technique, the heaven’s themselves have already made it clear they reject me. Even if the success rate is low, are the chances lower than what was done to me at birth? Let’s do it.” Yin Hui declared solemnly.

Yin Tou was slightly moved by Yin Hui’s declaration, but it quickly passed as another scheming thought popped up in his mind.

“Wait a minute. If this brat dies, then he won’t be able to bother me anymore. If he lives, then he’ll stop bothering me and owe me a favor! It’s a win-win situation! Haha! Even as just a portion of my true self this old man is simply too clever.”

Yin Tou drifted closer to Yin Hui with a new demeanor full of life and enthusiasm.

“I admire your courage Yin Hui! As your ancestor, I am pleased that my chosen descendant has been born with such a tenacious personality!”

Yin Hui scoffed at his ancestors praises.

“Cut the bullsh*t you old swindler. I know that whether this method succeeds or not you benefit. Regardless, if we succeed I will still repay you despite your malicious intentions.”

Yin Tou let out a wry smile. Turns out the brat wasn’t as foolish as he initially thought.

“Well, erm, I guess we can start right away then. The name of this technique is called the Evil Fiend Devouring Technique.”

“Evil Fiend Devouring Technique?” Yin Hui narrowed his eyes.

“Based on what I’ve seen, it involves reconstructing your body into that of a fiend. Doing so will also rid your body of the curse done to it by the heaven’s. Once that is done, you can use the Evil Fiend Devouring Technique to consume other cultivators souls and cultivation making them your own. Since you cannot integrate spiritual energy with your own soul, you will instead be using the souls stored in your body by the technique!”

“Are there any drawbacks?” Yin Hui asked.

“Since your effectively consuming another’s soul, you will have full control over it as if it were an empty husk. However, doing so also means that it cannot get stronger either due to being only a subsidiary soul. So whatever cultivation the owner had before being consumed would be the maximum cultivation you can utilize from it.”

“That is fine, there are plenty of ways to get around that. All I need is the ability to interact with spirit energy. We can start whenever you’re ready.”

“About that” Yin Tou cupped his hands together and a sly, bashful smile appeared on his face.

“What is it now” Yin Hui rolled his eyes.

“For the entire process, I’ll need to be in control of your body again…”