Flower Stealing Master

Chapter 948: Inciting Defection

Hearing Daiqisi’s question, Song Qingshu seemed to fall into reminiscence. After a long while, he finally sighed. “Because this Zhang Wuji is no longer the Zhang Wuji of the past.”

“What do you mean?” Daiqisi was stunned, but she quickly realized something, her expression shifting slightly. “Are you saying the current Zhang Wuji is also someone else in disguise?”

Having witnessed Song Qingshu disguise himself as Tang Kuo Bian and the Emperor, she instinctively thought Zhang Wuji was an imposter too.

Song Qingshu shook his head. “No one is disguised as him. Zhang Wuji’s body hasn’t changed.”

“His body hasn’t changed?” Daiqisi found the phrasing strange. “Did he have a change of heart?”

The more she thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. Zhao Min loved with passionate intensity and had a fiery temper. If Zhang Wuji had indeed changed his heart, it was entirely possible for them to become bitter enemies.

“A change of heart?” Song Qingshu nodded. “In a sense, yes. And it’s not just his heart; even his soul has changed.”

Daiqisi stared at him blankly, not quite understanding what he meant by a changed soul. She assumed he was referring to a change in Zhang Wuji’s personality or something similar.

The matter of the Ming Zun’s possession was too fantastical. Knowing she would struggle to accept it outright, Song Qingshu continued to guide her. “Years ago, you sent Xiao Zhao to infiltrate the Bright Peak to find the Heaven and Earth Great Shift, correct?”

“How do you know so much about me and my daughter?” Daiqisi shot him a wary glance before nodding. “Yes. As a saintess who married a man, the Persian headquarters was furious. If caught, I would be sentenced to death by fire. So, I sent Xiao Zhao to the Bright Peak to find the lost Heaven and Earth Great Shift manual to atone for my crime.”

“Since you went to such lengths to obtain it, you must be very familiar with its history. Among the past Ming Cult leaders, what was the highest level anyone ever achieved in the Heaven and Earth Great Shift?” Song Qingshu asked.

A look of yearning crossed Daiqisi’s face. “The Heaven and Earth Great Shift is the most profound and mysterious martial art of the Ming Cult. Only the leader is qualified to learn it. Just mastering the first layer takes seven years for the highly talented and fourteen for others. The second layer similarly requires at least seven years. Some in our history couldn’t master it even after twenty-one years. These first two stages weed out most practitioners. The previous leader, Yang Dingtian, was a peerless genius. Reaching the fourth layer made him nearly invincible.”

Mentioning Yang Dingtian brought a hint of nostalgia to her face. Back on Bright Peak, he had taken her in as his goddaughter, and both he and his wife treated her like their own.

“But Zhang Wuji reached the highest, seventh layer,” Song Qingshu stated.

“I heard Xiao Zhao mention that. He reached the pinnacle in less than a day, which is simply unbelievable,” Daiqisi said, still astonished by the memory. “Perhaps it was due to his unparalleled internal energy from the Nine Yang Scripture.”

Suddenly, she remembered something and added, “Wait, Xiao Zhao told me Zhang Wuji only reached the sixth layer. There were nineteen phrases in the seventh layer he couldn’t comprehend.”

Song Qingshu snorted coldly. “The Persian and Central Plains Ming Cult have been passed down for generations, with many brilliant leaders throughout history. Have you ever heard of anyone mastering the seventh layer?”

“No,” Daiqisi shook her head firmly. Otherwise, Yang Dingtian’s mastery of the fourth layer and his near-breakthrough to the fifth wouldn’t have left such a deep impression on her. “Forget the seventh layer; even those who mastered the sixth are exceedingly rare. To my knowledge, only Zhang Wuji has done it.”

“Not quite. There’s one more,” Song Qingshu added. “The creator of the Heaven and Earth Great Shift—Ming Zun.”

Daiqisi was taken aback but then agreed. While most disciples regarded the Ming Zun as a god, as a former saintess, she had access to texts ordinary disciples couldn’t see. She knew the Ming Zun was actually a peerless, unmatched master a thousand years ago who single-handedly founded the vast Ming Cult. Later, to enhance the cult’s mystique, he was deliberately deified, becoming the figure most people knew today.

Song Qingshu continued, “No one in Ming Cult history ever reached the sixth layer of the Heaven and Earth Great Shift, so naturally, no one knew what the seventh layer entailed. Zhang Wuji, relying on the immense internal energy from the Nine Yang Scripture, accidentally reached the seventh layer. Who’s to say if that was fortune or misfortune?”

“Why would it be misfortune?” Daiqisi couldn’t understand. The Heaven and Earth Great Shift was the supreme martial art of the Ming Cult. For Zhang Wuji to achieve an unprecedented level should have been the greatest fortune.

Song Qingshu’s voice turned cold. “Because the seventh layer of the Heaven and Earth Great Shift isn’t an internal energy technique at all. It’s a method for soul possession.”

“Soul possession?” Unlike Central Plains folk, Daiqisi was from the Western Regions. She had heard of a sinister, bizarre black magic from a mysterious kingdom lost to history that could steal souls. But it seemed too fantastical; most considered it mere legend and didn’t believe it.

“Exactly. When Zhang Wuji reached the seventh layer, he triggered the possession ritual, allowing an evil soul to invade his body. Initially, due to Zhang Wuji’s profound internal energy, the soul could only lie dormant. But during Shaolin’s Lion-Slaying Assembly, when Zhang Wuji fought the Three Monks of Shaolin and suffered a Qi deviation, the evil soul seized the opportunity and took control of his body…”

Apart from himself and Zhang Wuji’s closest women—Zhao Min and Zhou Zhiruo—this was the first time Song Qingshu had revealed the possession to anyone else. However, considering the potential value of Daiqisi and Xiao Zhao, who was now the leader of the Persian headquarters, the risk was worth taking.

“This is all too absurd. How is this possible?” Daiqisi exclaimed.

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Song Qingshu smiled faintly. “Zhao Min and Zhou Zhiruo both know about this. You know them; you can ask them yourself next time you meet.”

Remembering the recent fallout between Zhao Min and Zhang Wuji, Daiqisi paled slightly. “If you say someone possessed Zhang Wuji, then who was it?”

“It’s not hard to guess. Since the seventh layer of the Heaven and Earth Great Shift is the possession ritual, the perpetrator’s identity is obvious.”

Hearing his words, Daiqisi grew even paler, murmuring to herself, “The Ming Zun!” 

Only two people in Ming Cult history had reached the seventh layer. Zhang Wuji fell victim after practicing it, so the creator of the technique must be the mastermind!