A Pawn's Passage

Some worms continued to writhe even after death, just as some fallen Immortals might still cling to a sliver of life. Daoist texts were filled with such records. The most notable examples were the Ancient Immortals.

In recent years, there has been a growing phenomenon of body-snatching. These takeovers were strange, leaving no trace, as even mystical abilities like Seer Eyes or Divine Observation Technique failed to detect them. One could only determine possession through drastic changes in behavior.

For example, if someone long considered a fool suddenly became eloquent and well-versed in artisan skills, or if a shy boy who used to blush in front of girls suddenly became a charismatic flirt juggling multiple women, these would be deemed signs of suspected possession. Once discovered, these individuals would be taken away, never to be seen again. The Daoist Order encouraged commoners, gentry, and fellow Daoists to actively report such cases, with verified reports earning monetary rewards based on the accuracy and severity of the impact.

This policy was meant to prevent Ancient Immortals from reincarnating through borrowed bodies, as the goal was to keep their numbers below three.

As the end of the era approached, more of these Immortals who survived death would be surfacing in a last-ditch effort to escape ruin. Otherwise, they would go down with the ship and remain trapped forever.

These were fallen Immortals, like fallen nobles. The downside was that they had lost most of their cultivation, so they were sometimes weaker than Pseudo-Immortals or Zaohua-stage Heavenly Beings. The upside was that they could exploit a loophole in the heavenly laws. Since they had once achieved immortality, they were immune to the Three Corpses plague. But being a fallen Immortal, they were no longer subject to the 100-year lifespan limit, allowing them to linger in the mortal realm for centuries.

But even their dragged-out lives were reaching the final chapter. They had to face the threat of the end of the era—a sweeping purge from the heavens meant to fix all corruption once and for all.

The only solution was to find a way to restore their former cultivation level and ascend from the mortal realm before the end of the era.

Oftentimes, their original bodies were too damaged for reuse. Thus, the priority was to find a suitable new host. They could attach themselves to personal relics from their lifetimes and wait for a “fated person” to appear. These objects, having once been in the hands of an Immortal, were extraordinary, often mistaken for divine gifts from heaven. But people forget that there was no such thing as a free lunch.

Having once ascended, their body-snatching methods were incredibly refined. Most hosts remained unaware. Even Heavenly Beings could not detect them. Those less skilled in possession might pretend to be some ancient master who lost his body and now had to rely on the host to survive. They posed as mentors, teaching cultivation and boosting the host’s strength, while secretly preparing for takeover. Sometimes, they would ask for help to rebuild a body or avenge old grudges. By the time they struck, they would usually be strong enough to hold their ground against their host.

These hosts viewed their experiences as fortuitous encounters or heavenly gifts. Some even believed they were destined to make a splash in this turbulent era. Like the Western saying, they were selling their soul to the devil.