"Favour?... What kind of favour?" Yi Chen asked with hesitation apparent in his voice.

However, internally, a wave of relief swept through him when he heard those words. Everything was happening too smoothly, so a part of him had grown a little suspicious.

He hadn’t done anything for the other party, so to see him willing to pass down all his knowledge and remaining power felt too good to be true.

Therefore, to see that there was a condition attached to this aid somewhat calmed his nerves.

Revenge...Become my successor, inherit my cultivation, and get revenge on my behalf...

The voice’s tone turned frigid that very moment, making both Yi Chen and Gao Zhen hold their breath.

However, internally, the last bits of doubt still plaguing Yi Chen’s mind completely vanished as he sensed the anger laced in the being’s voice.

Though this didn’t mean he would readily agree.

"B-But how...How will I be able to take this particular individual’s life with my meagre cultivation level when even you were unable to kill that person at your peak?"

The moment those words left Yi Chen’s mouth, Gao Zhen immediately turned towards him, fear taking over her eyes.

Just like how she had anticipated in her mind, an immediate response came from the other side.

Preposterous! You dare doubt my strength!

As the voice roared, the entire hall began to shake, and feeling this, Yi Chen’s heart stopped for a second.

Gao Zhen firmly grabbed onto his hand the next second and exclaimed, "Apologise! Quickly!"

Looking into her fearful eyes, Yi Chen immediately nodded and directed his eyes towards the sarcophagus, shouting at the top of his lungs.

"You misunderstand! Great Elder, you misunderstand! What I doubt is not your strength, but my weakness to live up to your expectations. It’s for that reason I asked you that question!" 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Hearing Yi Chen’s words, the voice finally calmed down as the shaking began to settle.

Then there’s no need for you to worry at all. He took me down using deceit. Using my weakness against me!

However, this time, something like that won’t happen. This time, I know his weakness!...so with that knowledge, you’ll be able to take him down.

It was only when the voice neared the last sentence that its tone calmed down, making Yi Chen feel tense.

’He must really hate this person to the core...’ Yi Chen thought to himself, and after a moment of thought, nodded and said.

"Then I’ll accept. So what’s the identity of this individual? What is his cultivation level?" Yi Chen asked to have a better understanding of the person he was supposed to take down.

That’s something you’ll naturally know after absorbing my remnant soul. Let’s not waste any more time and open the tomb’s cover so that we can begin.

"Ah...yes."

Hearing this, Yi Chen immediately walked towards the sarcophagus after exchanging a glance with Gao Zhen.

Climbing onto a couple of steps, he soon arrived on top of the platform on which the sarcophagus rested.

Looking at the stone slab covering the top, Yi Chen grabbed its edges with both his hands and pushed it aside.

Grrrrrrrrrr

A grating sound echoed in the room for a moment, soon followed by a loud crash as the slab fell on the ground.

THUD!

With the cover removed, Yi Chen’s eyes immediately went inside the sarcophagus.

Unlike what Gao Zhen had told him, the inside wasn’t filled with treasured artefacts or special inheritances.

What lay inside was a skeleton draped in robes that were in a worse condition than used-up rags.

However, it wasn’t the robes that attracted Yi Chen’s attention but the skeleton itself. Unlike normal skeletons, it was jet black in colour, its bones much wider and denser than those of an average human.

What stood out even more was the skull. Two white fangs protruded from its upper jaw. As for the rest of its teeth, they all had a much sharper edge to them.

Even more eye-catching were the two black horns that projected out from the side of the skull.

’So this is how a demon’s remains look...’ Yi Chen thought to himself while glancing at the black skull.

Only a couple of seconds had passed, and the next instant, the entire skeleton collapsed into nothingness, leaving a dense cloud of grey floating above it.

A second later, a face formed on that cloud as it opened its mouth and said a few words in a voice he had become familiar with by now.

Don’t resist.

The next instant, the grey cloud darted towards Yi Chen’s face and, under his surprised expression, entered his mouth and nostrils.

UKH!

Feeling a choking sensation, Yi Chen’s eyes teared up, making him fall to his knees the next second as he began coughing violently.

"Yi Chen!" Gao Zhen exclaimed and was about to rush towards him when he lifted a palm at her to indicate that he was fine, while his head was still facing the ground.

Meanwhile, using his spiritual energy, he could somewhat sense the movement of the grey fog.

It had been divided into two parts.

One part had gone towards his Qi pool, while the other rushed towards his head through the head meridians in order to transfer all its knowledge to him... at least that’s what Yi Chen had believed until then.

However, his belief didn’t last long.

The moment the grey fog entered his headspace, it went berserk, colliding with the boundaries of his spiritual sea.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Break! Hahaha, break for me!

A sadistic voice, completely different from the previous voice, echoed in his head the next instant.

Yi Chen tightly gritted his teeth and, using his spiritual energy, tried to block the attacks.

What’s the point of putting up resistance now, brat?! The moment you allowed me to enter your body, I had already won!

Bang!! Bang!!

Hahaha! Now, like an obedient successor, give me your body. A human trash should already be grateful that someone like me has taken an interest in you.

"F-Fuck off!"

Yi Chen roared with gritted teeth, but the voice only seemed to gain additional pleasure from his outburst as it kept banging on the walls of his spiritual sea, pushing him to the brink of losing consciousness.

’No...I can’t...’ Yi Chen could sense that the opponent was slowly gaining an edge over his defences with each passing second as his vision started to turn dark.

It was then that he sensed the other part of the grey cloud rush all the way from his Qi pool to the head to join the main body.

WHAT?!