Chapter 388: Sly Fox
Vincent Nightrose stretched his new limbs with satisfying clicks and groaned in relief.
He'd planned to craft a new body from scratch with the body parts he had harvested, but his current situation didn't afford him the time for fleshcraft. So he had to use something he had prepared long ago: Valandor. A cultivator with potential that he had taken under his wing and raised, all while deeply weaving his threads of control into his body. He had given Valandor everything. A position of great power, responsibility, and resources. He had been his most dependable pawn for years, a true backbone of the sect.
But even Valandor likely knew his true purpose deep down as he began feeling a deep sense of detachment between his body and soul. After all, Vincent had never been after Valandor's soul, as achieving utter Soul Dominion over another was a power in the realm of the gods, and he had no use for aether affinity.
No, what Vincent had always been after was a fresh body ready for use at any time.
Vincent looked inside himself and was quite content with how the transition had gone. He had washed out Valandor's soul by burning it in his soul flames. Leaving an empty husk behind that was strong enough to handle his soul without breaking. If Valandor had been in the Nascent Soul Realm, this process would have been far more messy, if not outright impossible. It was one of the reasons Vincent had such a strict policy of keeping his sect members below the Nascent Soul Realm, as the easiest way to escape his methods of control was by creating an infant soul and escaping to a new body.
"I will need to spend some time widening the spirit roots and altering the body to better utilize some of my bloodlines—" Vincent paused his mutterings, surprised by his own voice. No matter how many times he swapped bodies, it always took a while to get used to hearing a different voice when he spoke. "I heard Valandor giving me reports with this voice so many times, but it sounds so different inside my own head."
Vincent had to admit he was slightly saddened at having to overtake Valandor. It was a true waste of such a good pawn, but the man had been compromised, so his fate had been sealed.
Not to mention, this body won't last long. Vincent thought as he ran young fingers along the quickly healing cavity in his chest where he had bitten a chunk out to create a pathway for his soul to invade. This is a temporary solution. My soul is still damaged and nearing the end of its lifespan, so I need to get my infant soul into a new, specially-made body soon. But for now, this will have to do. I can't afford to be weakened to the extent that swapping souls would entail right now—huh?
The sound of cracking wood drew Vincent's attention. Looking over his shoulder, he saw his old body slumped in the chair with an unhinged jaw caked in blood and soulless eyes looking down at the floor.