Chapter 1478: Beast

"Brother, have you truly let go?"

Nangong Xiaoyun watched Chen Jing, studying his expression.

Chen Jing gave a wry smile. "Sister, stop teasing me. I've been truly possessed these past few years, doing so many despicable things. I coveted my master, neglected my own sister, and even took out my anger on the innocent Jiang Fan, twice putting him in mortal danger. I have no face left to live in this world. You really shouldn't have saved me then. Wouldn't it have been better to just let me perish on my own?"

Hearing his heartfelt words, a look of joy spread across Nangong Xiaoyun's face. Out of sisterly affection, she had saved Chen Jing's soul. However, Jiang Fan had shown her great kindness, and she couldn't allow Chen Jing to harm Jiang Fan and those around him if he were set free. Fortunately, Chen Jing still retained a shred of conscience. Under her daily guidance, he finally repented and turned over a new leaf.

Nangong Xiaoyun said with relief, "It's good that you've come to your senses, Brother. Everyone makes mistakes. As long as you live properly from now on, that's what matters."

She took out a corpse. It was that of a handsome young nobleman, but it was a mortal body without any spiritual roots. "This is the body I found for you, Brother. He was a prince from a mortal kingdom, living a life of luxury and carefree ease. He recently died after accidentally falling into a river. If you take over his body, Brother, you can live as a prince. The only pity is that he lacks spiritual roots, so you won't be able to pursue martial arts after taking over his body." As she spoke the last sentence, Nangong Xiaoyun watched Chen Jing's eyes.

Chen Jing sighed. "What face do I have left to tread the path of martial arts? Even if I were given a body with a nine-grade spiritual root, I wouldn't cultivate again. I'll simply live out the rest of my days as a mortal. This is already the greatest blessing heaven could bestow upon me."

Nangong Xiaoyun secretly breathed a sigh of relief. To be absolutely sure, she decided not to let Chen Jing return to the path of martial arts. He would just be a happy mortal. Seeing Chen Jing's lack of resistance, she felt reassured.

She smiled. "Alright, Brother, then enter your new body and start a new life."

With that said, she opened the seal on the Soul Nurturing Wood and released Chen Jing's soul. Chen Jing rose and peacefully settled onto the mortal's forehead. His transparent form rapidly merged into the body. Just as he was about to fully merge, he looked back and said, "Sister, please take care for the rest of your life."

Nangong Xiaoyun's heart stirred, and a faint sadness welled within her. With Chen Jing becoming a mortal, one of them would be a martial artist treading a thorny, unpredictable path of cultivation, while the other would be a helpless mortal, subject to the fate of birth, aging, illness, and death. Their paths would never cross again in this life. Her eyes grew moist, and she said mournfully, "You too, Brother."

Chen Jing nodded, withdrew his gaze, and said, "Then I'm off."

The words had barely left his lips when his seemingly peaceful eyes suddenly gleamed with a malevolent ferocity. While Nangong Xiaoyun was lost in sentimental thought, a pitch-black beam of dark light suddenly shot from Chen Jing's soul body, striking the unsuspecting Nangong Xiaoyun. With a pained groan, Nangong Xiaoyun collapsed to the ground, writhing and rolling in agony.

Chen Jing swiftly detached himself from the corpse, his face twisted in a ferocious laugh. "Foolish girl! As a disciple of a Deva Venerable, how could I not have any means of self-preservation?" He opened his mouth, and a round, pitch-black bead, the size of a black bean, flew out. It was filled with potent soul power. It was clearly a rare soul artifact, and a low-grade spiritual artifact at that. While it posed no threat to a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, it had immense destructive power against Nangong Xiaoyun, who possessed a three-aperture Nascent Soul.

Nangong Xiaoyun's face quickly paled, and she painfully asked, "Brother, you lied to me?"

Chen Jing sneered, "My foolish sister, I cultivate the Path of Defiance! The more you tried to persuade me, the more defiant I became! How could I possibly be convinced by you?" For over a month, the resentment in his heart had not only failed to diminish but had grown even deeper. It had become ingrained, penetrating to his very bones!

"Jiang Fan stole my woman and made me listen firsthand to how he conquered her! This humiliation, I will make him repay it a hundred, a thousand times over! I will sleep with his women and make him experience this agonizing pain of a thousand worms gnawing at his heart!!!" Chen Jing roared, his voice venomous, like a vengeful ghost returned from hell.

Nangong Xiaoyun regretted her past foolishness, that she had actually believed Chen Jing had truly reformed. How could a person who even coveted his own master and repeatedly acted despicable possibly change? Hearing his intent to get revenge on Jiang Fan, Nangong Xiaoyun endured the sharp pain and scoffed: "You're just a soul body, barely able to protect yourself, and you're still thinking about Jiang Fan's women? That's like a toad trying to eat a swan!" Not to mention Jiang Fan himself, even Jiang Fan's women, whom Chen Jing most coveted, which one of them could Chen Jing possibly contend with? They were all at the Mid-Nascent Soul stage, and Fairy Yunshang had even reached the Six-Aperture Nascent Soul realm. As a mere soul body, Chen Jing would only find death if he encountered them.

Chen Jing laughed, his grin growing even more sinister. His gaze roved over Nangong Xiaoyun's petite and delicate form, and he sneered chillingly: "Other women I can't touch. But you, can't I still do as I please with you?"

"What?" Nangong Xiaoyun could hardly believe her ears. "What are you saying? I'm your own sister!"

Chen Jing scrutinized Nangong Xiaoyun's panicked yet still beautiful face, and scoffed: "My own sister? An 'own sister' should help me get revenge, not side with my mortal enemy and even try to persuade me to forget my hatred! The moment you forced me to become a mortal, the familial bond between us was severed! Now, I am Chen Jing, and you are Jiang Fan's woman."

Nangong Xiaoyun's eyes widened in disbelief. "You truly are a beast!" Coveting his master was already a violation of human morality. She never imagined he would even stoop to targeting his own sister! Nangong Xiaoyun's eyes blazed with fury, and she snapped, "Don't even think about it. Jiang Fan and I are just friends; I am not his woman. No matter how you try to get revenge on me, you can't harm him!"

Chen Jing manipulated the soul orb to fly towards her and said chillingly: "I did not kill Boren, but Boren died because of me. That's just the kind of person Jiang Fan is! If you are defiled because of him, he will blame himself and be filled with rage! Heh heh heh!"

As he spoke, Chen Jing once again activated the pitch-black orb, intending to completely knock Nangong Xiaoyun unconscious so he could take her away. There was no other way; he was still a soul body. He couldn't even defile Nangong Xiaoyun in his current state. He could only abduct her first, and then commit his atrocities once he found a suitable body.

However, just as the dark light was about to strike, Nangong Xiaoyun, who was rolling on the ground, suddenly lifted her right hand, which had been pressed beneath her. A pitch-black, ink-like dao blade, held by her at some unknown moment, was now in her grasp. And swiftly, she unleashed a strike towards Chen Jing. The long blade moved silently. A translucent black sword qi shot through the air, enveloping Chen Jing. The black orb in front of him shattered instantly. Chen Jing, meanwhile, had half of his shoulder cleaved off by the blade qi. Intense pain surged through him, and he let out a pig-like shriek.

"Argh!! When did you get a soul artifact?!"