"Thank you, Brother Mu," Li Yun said, glancing at Mu Tianque.
Strictly speaking, he had not needed to be rescued, since he had already prepared his own response. Still, Mu Tianque had acted without hesitation, and Li Yun naturally appreciated the gesture.
"There’s no need to thank me," Mu Tianque said with a smile.
Then something about that smile changed. The warmth drained out of it, and his expression slowly turned eerie.
Li Yun’s eyes narrowed.
Mu Tianque suddenly burst out laughing.
"Hahaha! Li Yun, if I had let that Glacier Titan kill you, how would I go on with the rest of my plan?"
Li Yun’s expression turned cold at once, and Mu Tianque laughed even louder.
"You really are smart. Unfortunately, no matter how smart you are, you still walked into my trap of your own free will."
He moved his wrist, and the dark emerald vine that had pulled Li Yun away from the Glacier Titan suddenly tightened. Before Li Yun could move, several more vines shot out and wrapped tightly around his arms, waist, and legs.
"Hm?"
Li Yun’s gaze turned sharp. What he felt first was confusion rather than fear. Mu Tianque had sworn on his Martial Dao Heart that he would not deliberately scheme against him, and breaking such an oath should have destroyed his martial heart.
Li Yun could not understand why there was no backlash.
Mu Tianque noticed his expression immediately.
"You must be wondering how I can still attack you after swearing on my Martial Dao Heart," he said, and a sinister smile spread across his face. "You’re probably also wondering how someone as despicable as me could ever command a Plant Spirit Lifeform."
The excitement in his eyes kept growing.
"Since you’re about to die anyway, there’s no harm in letting you know the truth." His expression twisted. "I am not Mu Tianque."
Li Yun’s pupils shrank slightly.
"My real name is Mo Yuanxiu."
"Mo Yuanxiu?"
Li Yun’s expression changed as the name suddenly connected with something he had heard before.
"Old Man Yuanxiu?"
Mu Tianque’s smile widened, or rather, Mo Yuanxiu’s smile did.
Li Yun finally understood. According to what he had heard in the past, Mu Tianque was a wandering cultivator who had never formally taken a master.
During his cultivation journey, he had supposedly met a mysterious old expert who gave him a few pieces of guidance. That old man had been known as Old Man Yuanxiu, and his name was Mo Yuanxiu.
The truth was completely different. Mu Tianque had not reached his current level through monstrous comprehension alone. His body had been seized long ago, and the man standing in front of Li Yun was no longer the original Mu Tianque.
"Body Seizure," Li Yun said, and his expression turned grave.
This was the detail he had missed. Once a cultivator reached the higher levels of the Spirit Manifestation Realm, his soul became tremendously powerful.
Experts at the 7th level of Spirit Manifestation Realm or above could even let their souls exist outside their bodies for a time.
Body Seizure was a desperate method that experts at that level sometimes used when death could no longer be avoided. The cultivator would abandon his dying body and try to force his soul into another person. If he succeeded, he could go on living in the stolen body.
The risks, however, were enormous. The invading soul could fall apart during the process, the victim’s consciousness might fight back, or the body and the new soul might reject each other. Perhaps only one in ten people who attempted Body Seizure truly succeeded.
Even the successful cases came with serious drawbacks. Because the stolen body and the soul were not naturally compatible, later cultivation often became extremely hard. For that reason, most powerful cultivators only attempted Body Seizure as a last resort.
Li Yun had been suspicious of Mu Tianque for a long time, yet he had never expected this.
"From the look on your face, you’ve finally figured it out," Mo Yuanxiu said with a laugh. "You really are clever. I almost feel reluctant to kill you."
His eyes swept over Li Yun’s body with open greed.
"But the body I’m using now has already started to show its limits. When I first seized Mu Tianque, I thought his potential was excellent. Now I know I overestimated him. At best, this body might let me cultivate to the 4th level of Spirit Manifestation Realm, or perhaps the 5th."
Contempt showed in his eyes.
"I, Mo Yuanxiu, was once an expert at the 8th level of Spirit Manifestation Realm. Spending the rest of my life stuck at the 4th or 5th level would be unbearable."
Then his expression turned fanatical.
"But then you showed up. Li Yun, when you were only at the 6th level of Heavenly Core Realm, you could already defeat Han Juefeng, who had the strength of the 3rd level of Spirit Manifestation Realm. Your body is almost perfect, your foundation is terrifying, and your comprehension is monstrous. The potential hidden in your flesh is greater than anything I have ever come across."
His breathing grew heavier.
"Even if my soul can’t fuse perfectly with your body, I should still be able to regain the cultivation of my previous life. I might even surpass it. This body might carry me all the way to the perfection stage of the 9th level of Spirit Manifestation Realm."
Mo Yuanxiu laughed wildly.
"How could I possibly resist a temptation like that? I’ve already succeeded at Body Seizure once, and I’m willing to gamble again."
His eyes locked onto Li Yun.
"Don’t worry. Once you’re dead, I’ll put your body to good use. I’ll make the name Li Yun ring out across the whole world. You can think of that as my final gift to you."
The vine around Li Yun suddenly changed. Countless sharp thorns sprouted from it, pierced his clothes, and sank into his flesh. A powerful suction force erupted immediately, and Li Yun felt his essence qi draining away fast. Within just a few moments, nearly thirty percent of it was gone.
The vines trembled with excitement, like living predators tasting fresh blood, and they began to absorb even faster.
Li Yun’s gaze turned cold.
"You corrupted the Plant Spirit Lifeform too."
Plant Spirit Lifeforms were pure beings by nature, but some Demonic Dao cultivators had methods of corrupting them by force.
By wiping out their original spiritual nature and feeding them blood, resentment, and impure essence over and over, they could turn a once-pure Plant Spirit Lifeform into a Bloodvine Spirit. Mo Yuanxiu had clearly done exactly that.
The vines kept draining Li Yun. After about ten breaths, almost half of his available chaos qi had been consumed.

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