The young master Su's carriage passed quickly through the estate gates, and as soon as they crossed, the red demonic buffaloes pulling it stomped their hooves into the air as if it were solid ground—and began to fly.
Their massive bodies released the fluctuations of Third-Tier beasts, clearly far from ordinary creatures.
Shooting through the sky, the carriage headed straight toward one of the main palaces within the estate.
Before, it remained on the ground only because of the city's no-flight restrictions, but inside the family property, someone with young master Su's status could fly freely to speed up travel. And so he did.
Flying swiftly, it took only a few minutes to land before the gates of the desired palace—the largest and most opulent there.
Without waiting for the coachman, young master Su opened the carriage door himself and floated down with his hands clasped behind his back. Then, with dignity and arrogance, he walked toward the palace.
Of course, this was not the real young master Su, but Mo Yexuan in disguise, using his Position Bonus — Perfect Acting — which Aotian discovered to be far more powerful than expected.
With it, he not only mimicked someone's aura and appearance, but also their mannerisms, habits, way of speaking, and ways of reacting. With the target's memories as support, not even the person's mother—or the target himself—would notice the difference.
And the best part: there was no time limit, only a limited number of daily uses.
Walking confidently, he didn't even glance at the guards at the door, who immediately stepped aside and bowed deeply with respect and fear upon seeing him.
Upon entering, he found himself in a vast and opulent hall, its decorations crafted from beautiful, glass-like crystals.
"Young master, wait for me!"
A respectful voice called out, only slightly catching his attention. He kept walking as if nothing had happened.
The one arriving was the coachman—but actually the boy's personal guard.
'Guard Xu… interesting,' Aotian thought with amusement as he remembered the name.
He had met a guard Xu once before, and had teased him greatly in the form of Bao Hui, which had been quite fun and stirred a bit of nostalgia.
But upon remembering that the guard Xu beside him now was extremely wicked, and recalling what he saw in the true young master Su's memories, his good mood faded. He only wished to cut the man in half now.
Ignoring that for the time being, he continued heading toward a private area of the palace.
"Um… young master, are you going to visit the patriarch?" Guard Xu asked, hesitant and confused.
He seemed to have forgotten the death threats from the young master moments earlier, or perhaps he was simply used to the occasional violent outbursts that quickly passed.
As long as he acted like he was walking on thin ice, he knew everything would be fine, and the young master would soon return to normal.
He simply didn't know that his young master would never return.
"Mm…" Aotian replied indifferently and kept going.
They crossed several hallways until they reached the doors of a room that, by its size and luxury alone, was clearly the most important chamber there.
Before it, two solemn guards stood motionless, emanating early Nascent Soul auras.
The guards immediately blocked the way with firm gazes, though not disrespectful. On the contrary—upon seeing young master Su, they displayed fear and deep admiration.
"Young master, the patriarch is cultivating. Please allow us to call him to meet you so that he is not harmed by an abrupt awakening."
The guard spoke tactfully, holding his breath.
Anyone hearing them would think that if the young man before them ordered it, they would invade the patriarch's cultivation room even if it caused harm.
And they would—for at this moment, young master Su's status had already surpassed that of the patriarch himself. And the patriarch would agree without daring to become angry.
It had not always been like this. A few days ago, they wouldn't have been so tolerant and obedient. They would have treated him with respect, of course—but not to this extent.
But everything changed around a month ago, when a mysterious Soul Formation cultivator suddenly appeared in the Su Family Manor, claiming he had been saved by a Su family ancestor in a cultivation ruin thousands of years ago.
He said he had been trapped in that ruin for three thousand years and had only recently escaped. And it was thanks to that ancestor's help that he survived long enough to eventually see the outside world again.
Now, to repay this karmic debt, he came to the Su family and offered them the chance to send one of their members to become a disciple of the sect he belonged to—a great Void-Tier power—thus fulfilling his obligation.
This had happened almost a month ago, and the deadline to choose the candidate was about to expire. The cultivator was soon returning to pick up the chosen one.
Unsurprisingly, the chosen wasn't the most talented in the family, but the patriarch's only direct son. And why? Clearly due to nepotism and personal interest.
The patriarch didn't volunteer himself only because there was a 500-year age limit for new disciples in that sect, so the alternative had to be his only son—still bringing the patriarch considerable benefits.
But this inflated young master Su's arrogance even further, and he began behaving as if he owned the city.
Even his father had to bow his head to him, since his status was about to skyrocket, and no one could oppose him. Of course, the patriarch could have given the chance to someone else, but it was better to endure an arrogant son than hand the opportunity to a stranger who pretended to be humble but would later stab him in the back.
In such matters, blood always ended up being thicker than water.
Unfortunately for young master Su, this arrogance and his soon-to-ascend status were exactly what brought about his downfall.
Aotian, in the form of Mo Yexuan, had been gathering information on how the continent worked in the first city he encountered after entering that continent, and discovered that obtaining high-level cultivation techniques without status was extremely difficult—even with many spirit stones.
Then he heard about a local celebrity whose prestige would soon increase even more.
And, interestingly, even though this important figure could fly through the city due to his status, he preferred to travel on the ground in his carriage, forcing people to move aside simply for the pleasure of watching his influence and power make others bow to his whims.
His cruelty was also well known, which made him the perfect target.
Thus, after a calm walk down the street, Mo Yexuan was in the right place… when the carriage came toward him.
Yes, nothing had been accidental. Mo Yexuan had not been a random victim, but a victim waiting in the perfect place at the perfect moment.
And without disappointing him, Young Master Su did not mind killing an old man in cold blood in the middle of the street, and even spoke about massacring mortals on a large scale, which only confirmed his infamy and allowed Aotian to judge him as deserving death.
Back to the present, the youth narrowed his eyes at the guards.
"Then call him," Young Master Su spoke impatiently, and the guards, without hesitation, transmitted messages into the room.
Moments later, the door and its formations opened, and a man with hair as red as the young master's, with an equally youthful face, approached with open arms.
"My beloved son. Why are you looking for your father in such a hurry? Can I help you? Just say the word, and your father will do his best to satisfy you." The man wore a fawning smile from ear to ear as he tried to embrace him.
But the youth raised his hand, an arrogant smile curling at the corner of his lips, stopping the man from approaching.
"Cut the nonsense. Let's talk inside, in private." Without even looking at his father, he immediately entered with arrogance, hands behind his back.
It did not look like a son speaking to his father, but a master speaking to a humble servant.
Even so, the man smiled obsequiously and followed quickly.
"Of course, of course. Let's go, I'll serve tea." He nodded hastily and closed the door as he entered.
But in his smiling gaze, a trace of anger and killing intent flashed for an instant before vanishing as if it had never been there.
'Endure, just endure a little longer. Soon he'll leave, and with the family gaining the status of having a disciple in the Celestial Mist Sect, we will become the uncontested suzerain of Blue Turtle Village. Perhaps this useless son, if he feels pleased, might send us a Soul Formation technique later, allowing me to advance to a higher realm in this lifetime.'
He repressed his dark thoughts and soon gazed more gently at his unfilial son, who could bring great prospects to the family.
But the moment he cast his gaze on the son, the son also looked at him, smiling softly.
"Son?" he asked in confusion. However, before he could say anything else, he suddenly lacked air and widened his eyes. "Ah!!" he cried, placing a hand on his abdomen, where the tip of a twisted staff had pierced his body from behind.
"Who?!" He looked back and saw an elderly man dressed in black, smiling at him, accompanied by a middle-aged man at his side.
"The dead don't need to know," the elderly man spoke with a smile identical to the one Young Master Su had beside him.
Resting his wrinkled hand on the victim's head, he let his energy descend, fiercely penetrating the patriarch's soul.
The man's screams of pain echoed through the large cultivation room for an instant, but did not escape beyond its walls.
Soon, the man was enveloped by shadows and became yet another shadow soldier, sinking into the old man's shadow before vanishing.
Yes, the old man was Mo Yexuan, and the Young Master Su who calmly watched was also Mo Yexuan, but not the real one.
The Mo Yexuan who had transformed into Young Master Su was merely a Divine Incarnation, a technique used by Void Refiners, something Aotian had learned from Lei Yun's feedback. This technique allowed a cultivator to create something similar to an avatar.
But this avatar had several limitations. For example, Mo Yexuan's current Divine Incarnation only possessed cultivation at the Late Soul Formation stage. And if it died, the real body would suffer severe damage, potentially taking thousands of years to heal, greatly reducing his strength.
Some techniques also didn't work, like the Enlightened Mind technique, since this wasn't a real body of flesh and bone—there was no brain to apply it to—only an energy body controlled by a large fragment of soul.
Aside from the flaws — especially the second one, which made most Void Refinement cultivators and above not dare to condense a Divine Incarnation — it was still a very useful technique.
And for Aotian, who wanted to infiltrate a sect to collect techniques without having an ancestor compromise themselves for so long, it was simply ideal.
The best part was that he discovered Divine Incarnations could use avatar abilities, and even those with daily-use limits, though using them would consume the real avatar body's daily usage, did not lessen their usefulness.
Thus, with the Perfect Acting ability of the Shadow Pavilion, not even a Mahayana cultivator should be able to notice that it was an energy entity rather than a flesh-and-blood person.
The old Mo Yexuan then turned to the middle-aged man, an outer elder of the Shadow Pavilion, who had just used Perfect Acting to transform into Patriarch Su.
"You will stay and ensure that Young Master Su becomes the disciple of that cultivator. When he takes him to that Celestial Mist Sect, you may begin acting. Clean up as much trash in the city as possible before taking everything you can and leaving. Don't forget to forge the death of this Patriarch Su before departing, so it won't interfere with the Celestial Mist Sect's affairs."
The old man gave his orders and, tearing open the void, departed.
"Yes, ancestor," the new Patriarch Su bowed respectfully toward the Young Master Su as he responded.
"Hum…" The youth nodded and turned to leave.
Patriarch Su was not completely dead, in truth. His frail soul was in the hands of Mo Yexuan's real body, being kept alive so that his Lamp in the Su Family's soul hall would not extinguish prematurely, causing complications.
But when everything was finished, there was no doubt that this soul would also be eradicated. After all, that patriarch was anything but a good person.
And Aotian was not in the habit of keeping trash.