Swallowing the Stars: 100x Return for Teaching Apprentices

Chapter 113 Clash of Consciousnesses
In the dim, gray sea of ​​consciousness, three enormous fireballs of stars were moving along some mysterious trajectory.

Above these three enormous stars, a gigantic, thousand-winged, thousand-legged alien insect of exaggerated size floated slowly in the air.

Beneath the abdomen of the thousand-winged, thousand-legged worm, among the countless floating silver threads, three were noticeably thicker than the others, and slightly tinged with blood red, extending continuously and penetrating into the three enormous fireballs.

Moreover, just as Qi Yuan was casting the inheritance crystal containing the secret technique of "Possession" into the largest star fireball, the thousand-winged and thousand-legged alien insect, which had been bound and suppressed by Qi Yuan's power, seemed to sense some kind of crisis and began to struggle violently!
"Hiss~"

"Hiss~"

An invisible, soul-piercing scream instantly swept across the entire sea of ​​consciousness!
At the same time, the three blood-red threads that had pierced through the fireball of the star shook wildly.
Streams of crimson light burst forth from the body of the thousand-winged, thousand-legged alien insect, and then continued to drill into the three star fireballs along the three thick silk threads.

The stellar fireball was formed from the spiritual power of his disciple Longji, and it is the essence of his soul.

Those streaks of crimson light were the manifestations of the consciousness of the Time-Scraping Insect.

Its body and most of its soul power were suppressed by Qi Yuan and it could not break free, but its consciousness was unrestricted.

After all, Qi Yuan was not good at controlling souls and did not yet have the ability to directly put its consciousness into a deep sleep.

Sensing the looming danger, the worm disregarded the possibility of mutual destruction and directly split off a portion of its consciousness to frantically invade Longji's soul core!
If previously it had merely relied on its own talent to reside in Longji's sea of ​​consciousness in a parasitic manner, and suppressed Longji's own consciousness with its own super-strong soul and consciousness...

What it needs to do now is to directly usurp the other's body, completely annihilate the other's consciousness, and then replace the other's with a portion of its own consciousness, completely taking over the body.

In fact, this is quite similar to the 'possession' that Longji was preparing to perform on it.

Both aim to replace the other's consciousness with their own, thereby taking over the other's body.

However, for a normal cultivator to seize another's body, their entire soul and consciousness must completely invade the other's sea of ​​consciousness. Once the soul and consciousness leave, the original sea of ​​consciousness will lose its foundation and quickly collapse and be destroyed. It is a life-or-death method that is to succeed or die trying.

At this time, the Saga insect, relying on its own talent, can differentiate a part of its consciousness into a form similar to a child body, and only control this part of the consciousness to 'seize' another body.

Even if you fail, at most you will suffer damage to your consciousness, but it won't directly endanger your life.

Of course, unless it is truly necessary, the insect of time is unwilling to easily resort to such a tactic.

After all, failure would severely damage one's consciousness, requiring a long time to recover.

Even if it succeeds, unless it possesses a strange life form that is even more extraordinary than itself, splitting its consciousness will only weaken its own power, which is also a very bad thing.

However, at this point, it had no choice but to fight desperately!

It was a strange life form that was proficient in the power of soul and time. Coupled with the hazy senses it had in the parasitic state, it vaguely sensed that if it did not resist in time, it would soon be in some kind of life-or-death crisis!
"Hiss hiss~~~"

In its desperate state, the Time-Swept Insect became incredibly frenzied. In addition to its body struggling violently to break free from Qi Yuan's suppression, the separated part of its consciousness directly invaded Long Ji's soul core, rapidly eroding and devouring the location of his consciousness!

Longji's consciousness was naturally unwilling to simply dissipate, and the two began to clash fiercely within the core of his soul.

One side is the powerful Time-Swept Insect, which is extremely skilled in soul power, but at this moment it can only use a portion of its consciousness power.

Although one side is just an ordinary third-tier stellar-level cultivator, he can control his entire consciousness to fight and can obtain the assistance of his own soul power.

This is equivalent to one side being a peerless warrior capable of defeating ten thousand men, while the other side is a second-rate general who leads an entire guard of ordinary soldiers.

One side is invincible in one-on-one combat, while the other side is a group fighting together.

For a time, the confrontation between the two sides reached a stalemate.

Outside, Qi Yuan, who sensed this scene, finally breathed a slight sigh of relief.

He wasn't particularly skilled in the art of the soul; at most, his soul was stronger and more resilient after consuming a Soul Refining Fruit.

He could suppress the body and most of the soul power of the worm with his own strength, but he was somewhat powerless against the battle at the level of intangible consciousness.

Fortunately, judging from the situation, this disciple did not fall into any obvious disadvantage in the first round of combat.

"While resisting the opponent's mental attack, try to quickly digest and learn the 'Body Seizure' secret technique contained within the crystal."

Qi Yuan transmitted a message to his disciple, saying, "This might be an opportunity. At that time, the Scorpion Insect actually separated a part of its consciousness to invade. If we can eliminate this part of its consciousness and then take the opportunity to possess it, the success rate should greatly increase!"

"I understand," came the disciple Longji's voice, faintly.

"That's all I can do. Whether you succeed from here on out is up to you."

Although Qi Yuan was concerned, he really couldn't get involved in that kind of mental battle of wits.

Aside from continuing to help suppress the body and most of the soul of that worm, he could only helplessly watch and wait.

"Wait, something's not right! I think I've forgotten something."

Qi Yuan's heart suddenly stirred slightly—

When he bestowed the inheritance crystal upon his disciple, he had already selected it as a 'gift' to be returned by the system. How come it's been quite a while and we still haven't heard any news of a successful return?
The scene of the battle in his mind just now was described slowly, but it actually didn't take long, so he didn't notice it at first.

After all, under normal circumstances, the notification of successful return will only pop up at the moment the disciple 'accepts the gift'.

However, Longji has already begun to digest the power of the inheritance crystal, which should mean he has already accepted the gift, so why hasn't the system notification appeared yet?
A thought struck him, and he immediately brought up the attribute panel of the disciple before him. A glance at it instantly gave him a clearer understanding.
All that could be seen on the illusory attribute panel in the sea of ​​consciousness was that the column of attribute information was constantly changing at an extremely fast speed.

For example, the name field sometimes displays 'Longji Montoya' and sometimes 'Xu Hui'; the race field keeps switching between 'Dark Yi Clan' and 'Time-Slaying Insect'; even the basic return multiplier and attributes are constantly fluctuating and changing.
"Could it be that the two consciousnesses are locked in a battle and entangled, causing the system to become completely confused?"

"Damn it, is all that money I spent on that inheritance crystal, worth several thousand Chaos Yuan, going down the drain?"

Qi Yuan made his guess with a mixture of amusement and heartache.

However, at this point, there was no room for regret. He could only hope that his disciple would eventually succeed in possessing the body.
Lanting Universe Kingdom, Qianyun Starfield.

The core planet of the Hidden Cloud Starfield is 'Hanmu Star'.

On the bustling streets of a certain city on the planet Hanmu, a young man in black robes with golden hair, skin as white as jade, and a pair of crystal-clear white dragon horns strolled around casually like an ordinary tourist.

As they passed a shop specializing in 'animal training' products, the young man in black robes seemed to take a liking to it and entered to leisurely browse.

As he approached a middle-aged staff member with six ears and a strange crescent-shaped pattern between his eyebrows, the young man in black robes casually asked:
"Hello, do you have Clemens cardamom from Balong Star?"

The middle-aged man with six ears, who was being questioned, glanced at him indifferently, but asked in return, "The item that the customer needs is a limited supply for our store's Purple Crystal members. Do you have our store's Purple Crystal Member badge?"

"Is this it?" The young man in black robes took out a special medal and showed it off briefly.

Upon seeing the medal, the six-eared middle-aged staff member nodded: "This is our shop's medal. Please follow me, sir."

Shortly thereafter, in a secluded VIP lounge within the store.

The young man in black robes sat opposite the middle-aged man with six ears.

"It has been confirmed that No. 0.66 has left Hanmu Star. Based on current intelligence analysis, there is a greater than 78% chance that it has returned home."

The young man in black robes spoke expressionlessly.

"understood."

The six-eared middle-aged man nodded upon hearing this. "The intelligence will be reported through encrypted channels immediately. When you get back, you should continue to collect information about No. 0.66. Only take action when you are absolutely certain. To deal with No. 0.66, we need to deploy at least some elite Realm Lord level members. Our branch has limited forces lurking in the human territory, and we cannot afford to lose any of them easily."

"clear."

Red Leaf Star.

Although Qi Yuan had anticipated the difficulty of possessing the body of the worm, the duration of the process still exceeded his expectations.

Two whole years.

The battle of consciousness within disciple Longji's sea of ​​consciousness had actually lasted for a full two years!
Even with Qi Yuan's help to suppress it, that disciple's situation was still very difficult during those two years.

As a strange life form proficient in the power of the soul, the Time-Swept Insect naturally possesses an extremely strong and resilient consciousness!
At first, the disciple Longji was able to fight the invaded consciousness of the Time-Swept Insects to a standstill, thanks to the pure soul energy he obtained from the inheritance crystal.

However, as the energy contained in the inheritance crystal gradually ran out, he gradually fell into a disadvantageous position in the battle, relying solely on his own consciousness and the soul strength of an ordinary third-tier star.

Fortunately, whether it was because of Longji's strong will to live, or because he cared about his dozens of companions or something else that was extremely important to him, even though his consciousness was repeatedly worn down to the point of near collapse by the powerful consciousness of the Scorpion Worm, he always managed to survive with great difficulty.

Even more surprisingly, through repeated destruction and confrontation, Longji's will subtly broke through some kind of limit and completed a miraculous transformation!

It was from this point on that the balance of power finally shifted.

Consciousness is the soldier, will is the general!
With his transformed and powerful will, Longji gained the upper hand in the battle of consciousness for the first time and began to fight back quickly, constantly eroding the portion of consciousness that the Time Worm had invaded the core of his soul.

On this day, under the constant counterattack and encroachment, the part of consciousness that the Sagamon had differentiated from finally reached the brink of complete collapse.

"Hiss~"

"Hiss~"

Within Longji's sea of ​​consciousness, the Time-Swallowing Insect, with its thousand wings and thousand legs, struggled fiercely.

Countless silvery-white threads danced incessantly, while a piercing shriek from the soul echoed throughout the entire sea of ​​consciousness.

However, under Qi Yuan's suppression, its struggle was futile.

Finally, just as the part of its consciousness that had been differentiated was completely obliterated, the Worm of Sorrow made the most resolute decision out of desperation!

"Huhuhu~~~"

An extremely restless aura began to rise rapidly within the portion of consciousness contained within the Time-Swept Insect's body, and the soul energy that Qi Yuan had suppressed also began to swell slightly.
"not good!"

Qi Yuan's expression changed slightly upon noticing this, and he quickly sent a telepathic message to Long Ji, reminding him, "The Time-Swept Insect is trying to detonate its own soul and self-destruct. We can't wait any longer, let's begin immediately!"

While he was sending a telepathic reminder, Ryuji, who had just defeated the consciousness sub-body of the Time-Swept Insect, did not stop.

Driven by his transformed and powerful will, his entire consciousness rapidly condensed into an invisible blade, which then instantly plunged into the consciousness of the worm!

(End of this chapter)