The Geared Immortal

Chapter 550 - In Despair (2)

Chapter 550

(Unedited)

…

Jubilation and glee, these two things should be a rare feeling for such a creature as itself, but the Shadow Being is feeling this way as of right now. It felt that the young mortal is already in its palms and with just a couple of push it can already obtain the young mortal's fleshly body.

For a long time, it has spread its influence throughout the land. However, due to the imprisonment of the deity soul which has consumed it and its companions in that war thousands of years ago, it could not fully display its strength and power.

Luckily, a part of the soul of that deity jumped out from its influence and escaped its main immortal soul. This is the reason why it now able to influence at least a part of the forest.

But no matter what it does it can only do so much. Hence it decided to get a pawn, someone gullible and easy to trick. Hence for many years, it tried to tempt people to enter the valley. For all of it was for naught, until it found a particular person.

A young man named Shin Jiao who was desperate for power. Either by luck or happenstance, the young man wondered inside the valley.

When that fragment of the deity's soul which poses as an old man helped the young man, the Shadow Being saw a potential plan.

He heard the story through the eyes of the Hermit and learned everything. Then with a simple influence and a little temptation through dreams and whispers, that young man entered the valley.

The Shadow Being then learned of a story through the young man's memories which made it feel a bit amused.

But then the person has already died, which is such a disappointment.

Hence it pinned its hope to this young man who seems to look exactly like that so-called hero. And after many years its disappointment just grew. Although the young man works really hard after obtaining a part of its legacy, he is unable to progress further. He can't even reach the nascent realm after more than 5 years. Hence the Shadow Bing felt disappointed.

But it didn't consider that in this world, one could not easily get to the nascent realm without many years of cultivation. Only those few extraordinary beings are able to reach such a level. Well, knowledge and understanding are factors that can truly separate the ordinary from the extraordinary.

If one has the knowledge and easily understand their own path then, their progress would be stable and rarely reach bottlenecks. Hence their progression would be unhindered. Those who were born in the heavenly plane have this condition, plus the knowledge is open in that place, hence reaching the nascent realm is as easy as pie.

But it didn't consider that this world lacks that same condition.

However, it then discovers a few weeks ago that the person which many has considered as already dead suddenly appear in this world once again. This piece of news immediately piques its interest. And so, it planned this intricate scene acting in front of the young man's eyes for the sole purpose of the Shadow Being obtaining his fleshly body.

And so with a contented grin, the Shadow Being suddenly closes the portal and it can now feel the desperation in the heart of the young man.

It is now expecting the victory it waited for a long time. It waited for that sweat chaotic emotion to erupt from Shin Jiao's body so that it could absorb it and savor its victory.

It closes its eyes and waited… and waited… and waited.

After a minute has passed it still did not feel anything. The expected chaotic reaction from the young man did not appear.

It immediately felt worried. With its experience, it knew that there is something wrong immediately. And with a glance at the figure kneeling on the ground it immediately discovers the changes at one glance. It actually felt danger which is something that should not be possible. This is because that feeling is coming from the mortal that is currently kneeling on the ground.

Shin Jiao on the other hand had a smile as he slowly lifted his face.

The expression from the Shadow Being changes from a sinister expression into something strange. He has a look of confidence as if his plan has already succeeded a while ago. So this reversal of the situation is something it didn't expect. 

Unknown to the Shadow Being, Shin Jiao has already actually discovered that there is something wrong with the woman inside the carriage.

Although at first he dare not scan the woman as he didn't want to see the truth. But then after confirming that she was okay, he immediately scanned her body. And what shocked him is the discovery that the woman may look like Susan Tang but she is not her.

That was a normal mortal woman wearing a mask that looks like Susan Tang. The mask was exquisitely crafted that if he only uses his spiritual sense, he could not even see the truth. But with his now combined spiritual sense and absolute sense, he can already deduce the truth from that woman's figure.

And so Shin Jiao immediately began to plan his next move. He knew that there is a deeper conspiracy in this event and if he needed to fight against that thing to get it, he would not hesitate to do so.

Hence when the other Shin Jiao attacked him, he already started his plan to get to the bottom of this.

With that in mind, he conditioned himself and his emotions to conform to the situation. As a former spy, he was trained by the government to control his feelings to fool his enemies. In normal times he would not use these techniques to the people he cared about and would show them his true feeling. Even after he came to this world, he would not even use tricks in facing those cultivators he thought lower than himself and would just show his strength to them.

But now, this situation is different he needs to be a shadow someone who can blend with the situation and not get carried away by his own emotion.

Hence he acted the part.

…

While the fight is happening, the Hermit, who is currently cultivating suddenly feels a dangerous premonition in his heart. He feels uneasiness as if something bad is going to happen. Then he opens his eyes and abruptly looks at the direction of the center of the Dark Omen Valley.

"Did the young man fail?... Sigh… Alas, I was really hopeful that he is the one. The one who would free my trapped soul at last, but I guess I would wait again for a long time." The old man muttered with melancholy in his wizened eyes.

His heart yearns for the forgiveness of the deities in heaven for the crime he has committed. But how could he give up to his children, to the planet he has grown to love and care for. As a deity, he didn't want to abandon them and flee to the heavenly plane. How could he just do that?

Although his memories are fragmented, he still can remember that fight. However, he could not recall how he won. All he knew is that he learned it from a book.

"If the young man truly fails and the shadow legion obtained his fleshly body… then…" the old man seems to have realized something.

But he still could not make a move. If this is just a trap for him, and he fell for it, then he would not be able to escape that torturous prison. He would rather stay in this tranquil place and helping those young people.

But if that shadow being is able to get the body, then it would spell doom to many, even for him. And this realization made the old man decide.

He stood up and waves his hand in the air. A tear in space suddenly appears and the old man feels a bit weakened. He has already used a lot of his energy in making these space cracks. Like himself, the shadow being is also the same, he feels that it used its power to open a black hole in space twice, plus it lasted more than what should be expected.

Hence the old man is a bit confident that he could escape that thing if worse comes to worst.

With a quick step, the old man vanished from his spot and enters the space crack.

Upon arriving on the other side, the old man stopped and heaves a heavy sigh. He then pops a pill inside his mouth to at least replenish a little bit of his Qi, and then he continues walking.

Not long later, he appears in front of the circular clearing in the middle of the Dark Omen valley. From where he stood he can now see the kneeling young man and the Shadow Being floating behind the young man.

Ba-dump!

Worried flashes in the old man's face as he discovers this helpless scene.

But then suddenly, he saw something that he never expected to see. The young man suddenly turns around with his expression clearly shown in his eyes. The change of expression from a state of hopelessness, sadness, and despair to something happy sends chills running down his spine.

How could such a young fellow have such control over his emotion that it even fooled him, the Hermit, into believing his state? This made the old man truly astounded and a bit baffled.

However, what baffled him the most is the thing that happened next…

Shin Jiao has already seen the shock on the Shadow Being's expression. This was his chance a chance that would only appear once. If he didn't grab this opportunity to make his move, then he would be hard press in battling the Shadow Being. And there is a chance that he might fail with that option.

Hence he didn't hesitate and immediately extended his hand.

With this right hand extending towards the Shadow Being, a strange incantation appear in his mind. And from his own mouth, he said the words that have sent shivers down the Shadow Being's shadowy body.

"Essence Syphon!"