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[ It hadn’t been a day since the Siege of the Burial Mound, and the news had already flown across the entire cultivation world as if it had sprouted wings. The speed was only comparable to how fast the flames of war had spread back then, if not faster. ]

[ Suddenly everyone, whether they were prominent clans or rogue cultivators, was discussing this operation of vanquishment that had been led by the four great clans and attended by hundreds of sects both big and small. ]

[ Everyone Immediately clapped and exclaimed in agreement. ]

[ The moment the Yin Tiger Tally was mentioned, there was suddenly silence, as if everyone was wary of something. A moment later, someone sighed. ]

[ The subject changed, and voices were raised again in heated discussion. ]

[ After Kim Vantae’s death, judgment of his character was no longer refutable. The discussions were mostly the same, and any small voice of dissent was immediately squashed. ]

[ However, gloom still firmly enveloped everyone’s minds. ]

[ Although the Yiling Patriarch, Kim Vantae, had died at the Burial Mound, the remnants of his soul couldn’t be summoned. Perhaps his soul had also been ripped apart and devoured by the millions of ghosts. Or perhaps it had escaped. ]

[ The former would naturally be a joyous occasion for the entire world. However, the Yiling Patriarch had the ability to topple the earth and move mountains and seas—at least, that was what the legends said. It would be no great task for him to resist soul-summoning if he desired it. If his spirit returned in the future... If he took over a body and was reincarnated, then the cultivation world—the entire mortal world, in fact—would be cursed to face even greater vengeance, sinking into an endless storm of darkness and blood. ]

[ And so, when the hundred and twenty stone beasts required to seal a mountain were set down at the peak of the Burial Mound, every major clan began conducting frequent soul-summoning rituals. They also strictly monitored for cases of possession, sought far and wide for abnormal occurrences, and heightened their security to the max. ]

[ Years passed by, one by one. ]

[ Thirteen years had stretched like a silken thread across the cultivation world since the great upheaval, a period of unprecedented, almost unnatural, peace. The phantom tremors of the past had long since ceased, replaced by the mundane rhythm of sect life, the murmur of market stalls, and the distant chirping of cicadas in summer. In this prolonged tranquility, a new consensus began to solidify, silently spreading from sect halls to remote villages. ]

[ Thus, more and more people finally came to believe that perhaps Kim Vantae had not been that amazing after all. Maybe he really had perished, thoroughly and irrevocably. The initial, desperate fear that had gripped the land, the frantic searches and the lingering dread of his ghost, had slowly eroded into a detached historical fact. Even though he had once turned the world upside down, twisting the very tenets of cultivation and wielding powers none had dared to conceive, there had at last come a day when he was the one overturned. His legend, once a blazing comet, had burnt out, leaving only a faint, cooling ember. ]

[ No one, it seemed, could be worshiped on the divine altar forever. Legends were merely legends, fascinating tales for long winter nights, shorn of their power to terrify or inspire. With more years passed by, everyone started to forget about him, and started living their lives in peace. The new generation knew his name only as a cautionary tale, a specter to be dismissed with a wave of the hand. ]

[ Especially, the people who killed him. In their own happiness and arrogance, in the gilded comfort of their restored reputations and burgeoning power, they had completely forgotten one crucial fact. The peace they savored was built upon a lie of absolute victory, a delusion of finality. They had forgotten that Kim Vantae wasn't called Yiling Patriarch for nothing. His methods were not constrained by the conventional, his power not bound by mortal breath. Even if he wasn't coming back right now, doesn't mean he wouldn't come back forever, to get Justice and extract his Revenge, from his Enemies. ]

[ That was his enemies' worst mistake, to overlook such a fundamental truth. But even if they had the slightest clue about it, even if a shiver of true understanding were to pierce their blissful ignorance, they wouldn't be able to stop Kim Vantae, from crawled out of his tomb to slaughter every last one of them. ]

[ Right? ]

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AT KIM MANOR ~

[ The rain poured heavily outside as, inside, Kim Taehyung took his last breath on this earth. The escalating pain was too much, and he began to lose consciousness. Then, with a thud, his body collapsed onto the center of the array, his soul finally escaping its mortal confines. ​At that moment, another soul descended through the ceiling, floating toward the empty body. It hovered, then began the slow, deliberate process of merging with its new host. ​When the fusion was finally complete, an intense silence settled over the room. It was as if the violent transition that had just taken place hadn't happened at all. ]

[ But how can that be possible when the great Kim Vantae finally takes a U-turn on his ride to hell? How can the world still be silent when, after thirteen long years, he finally returns to this earth, again. ​Blood was oathed to spill upon his revival, but this time, we have to see if it will be his—or his enemies. ]

[ The game is on again! The very one he was forced to abandon—the one that made his life a living hell. It's the game that ripped his family apart; the game that made him a fucking traitor. But no more. This time, he is back. Will he finally win, or will he lose it forever? ]

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NEXT MORNING ~

[ Vantae received a kick just as he opened his eyes with a harsh voice thundered beside his ear. ]

[ He almost coughed up blood from the kick. His head hit the ground, and with his face turned up. ]

[ Vantae had already lost count of the number of years it’d been since he last heard a live person speak, never mind such awful caterwauling. He was dizzy, and the cracked voice of a young man was rattling between his ears. ]

[ Soon after, there was the clamoring noise of chests and cabinets alike being ransacked. It was a good moment before Vantae’s eyes could focus. A dim ceiling came into view, as did an unfortunate-looking face with a greedy glare. That face was spraying spittle all over him. ]

[ Two large men who looked like servants came over. ]

[ The quacking youth was extremely pleased. He turned to Vantae, pointing so hard at the man that he was practically jabbing his finger up his nose and into his brain. ]

[ After having kicked the man, ransacked the house, and spent all his temper, the quacking youth strutted out the door along with his two servants, slamming the door behind him. ]

[ The servants outside the door all heeded. Once the man had gone, silence settled both inside and out of the house. Vantae wanted to sit up, but his limbs would not obey him, so he lay back down and flipped over. His head continued to spin as he looked at his strange surroundings and the mess on the floor. ]

[ Next to him was a copper mirror that had been tossed onto the ground. he picked it up, wanted to take a look at the face of the body he possess. when he looked at in A dreadfully pale face appeared in the mirror. Two large blots of red were smeared unevenly on each cheek; if he were to stick out a long and vividly red tongue, then he’d be the very picture of a hanged ghost. ]

[ After seeing the face Vantae tossed the mirror aside, a little disgusted, started wiping his face and found his hand smeared with white powder. ]

[ This shocked send some energy back into Vantae, who was finally able to sit up. Only then did he notice the circle of a spell array beneath him. The array was scarlet and crooked, seemingly hand-drawn using blood as the medium. It was still damp, emitting a metallic stench. There were warped and crazed spells drawn within the array that had been somewhat smudged by his body, but the remaining shapes and characters were gruesome in their evil intent. Vantae had been called by titles such as the Supreme Evil Lord, the Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, and what not for years, so naturally, he was very familiar with obviously devious arrays such as these. ]

[ Xianshe—A type of array. where the caster of array uses their own blood and body to lure and summon a sinister ghost, to grant them their most desired wish. ]

[ The nature of this “Sacrificial ritual” was a type of curse. The caster was to harm themselves with a weapon, making cuts on their body and using their own blood to draw the array and write the spells within. They would then sit in the center of the circle and give up their mortal body to evil spirits, using the annihilation of their soul as the price to summon a nefarious, malicious ghost. This was all done in order to request the fulfillment of a wish. Thus, it was the opposite of “possession.” ]

[ While both were forbidden magics of ill repute, the difference was that the former was much less popular than the latter. After all, few wishes were so strongly desired as to make someone willingly sacrifice everything they had. This was why the technique had been nearly lost after centuries of disuse. The examples recorded in ancient books had only a handful of cases that were backed by reliable evidence, and every single one of them had been for revenge. Every malicious ghost summoned by the ritual had fulfilled the caster’s wishes perfectly, in cruel and bloody ways. ]

[ Kim Vantae refused to accept this. Since when was he categorized as a “nefarious, malicious ghost?” ]

[ While he’d had a fairly poor reputation and died an extremely tragic death, he didn’t haunt the living, for one, and he’d never sought vengeance, for two. He could swear there was not a single wandering ghost in this world who was more decent and honest than he! ]

[ But the tough thing was, the Sacrificial Ritual followed the will of the caster first and foremost. So it didn’t matter how much he objected… He was already inside this body, which was a silent acknowledgement that both parties had formed a contract. He had to fulfill the wish of the caster, or the curse would rebound, destroying the possessor’s primordial spirit and extinguishing it forever. ]

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[ Sure enough, both of his wrists had been slashed with a sharp tool, leaving them covered in crisscrossing lacerations. The bleeding had already stopped, but Vantae knew these were not normal injuries. If he didn’t fulfill the caster’s wish, then these wounds would be unable to heal, and they would worsen the longer this dragged on. If the deadline for fulfillment was missed, then he who had accepted this vessel would be ripped apart in both body and soul alike. ]

[ He triple-checked that there was no mistake and cried "This is ridiculous!" Mentally ten times before finally rising to his feet with difficulty, supporting himself against the wall. ]

[ Vantae noticed there seemed to be ink marks on the crumpled papers, so he picked one up in passing. He opened it to take a look, and sure enough, it was covered in words. He quickly went around to collect all the balls of paper. ]

[ Vantae patiently examined each sheet, and the more he looked, the more he felt something was amiss. ]

[ Through some guesswork, he figured out a few things. First, the owner of this body was named Kim Taehyung, and this place was called the Kim Estate. ]

[ Kim Taehyung’s grandfather on his mother’s side was from a rich family in this area. The family wasn’t large, and the man was not fated for a son. After years of trying, he still only had two daughters. The name of the second daughter wasn’t mentioned, but either way, the eldest daughter was born of the lawful wife. Thus, they were looking for a husband to marry into their family name. Although the second daughter was exceptional in appearance, she was born of a servant, which was why the Kim family had originally planned to marry her out without giving much thought to the groom. Who would’ve thought she was fated for a fortuitous encounter? ]

[ When she was sixteen, the head of a prominent clan was passing by and fell in love with her at first sight. The two made the Kim Manor the site of their rendezvous, and a year later, the second daughter gave birth to a son. This was Kim Taehyung. ]

[ The inhabitants of the Kim Estate would normally have held such an event in contempt, but people at the time worshiped cultivators. In the eyes of the mundane folk, cultivation clans that pursued immortality were loved by the heavens, mysterious and noble. Furthermore, that prominent clan leader would financially support this new outer family branch of his every so often. So naturally, these circumstances were special. Not only did the Kim family consider this an honor, but others were extremely envious too. ]

[ However, the good days did not last. That wandering clan leader was only hungry for the novelty of fresh meat, and he was over it after two years, coming to visit less and less frequently. After Kim Taehyung turned four, the man never appeared again. ]

[ In those passing years, the Kim Estate’s opinion changed again. The contempt and mockery returned, now with added disdain and pity. Second Lady Kim refused to accept this, believing firmly that the prominent clan leader would not turn a blind eye to his own son. And sure enough, when Kim Taehyung turned fourteen, that clan leader sent over a grand party to officially take him back. ]

[ Second Lady Kim’s head was held high again. Although she could not go with them, this event swept away all the grievances she had. Feeling proud and elevated, she proclaimed proudly to everyone she saw that her son would definitely become a leader of cultivation sects in the future—rise to the top and bring glory to the ancestors. Thus, the people of the Kim Estate changed their opinion for the third time. ]

[ However, Kim Taehyung was driven out before he managed to cultivate acclaim and succeed his father. And driven out in the most shameful way: Kim Taehyung was a cut-sleeve, a male homosexual, and he was so audacious as to harass his fellow peers. With this scandal exposed, and the fact that he possessed only average talent and no real achievements in cultivation, the sect had no reason to keep him. ]

[ To make matters worse, something went profoundly wrong with Kim Taehyung on that trip. When he finally came home, he was completely deranged. His mind had been shattered, leaving him scared out of his wits. ]

[ Having read to this point, Vantae’s brow twitched a couple times. ]

[ After Kim Taehyung returned to his old home, he was bombarded with ridicule.This time, it seemed, the situation was unsalvageable. Unable to take this blow, Second Lady Kim was choked to death by her own unappeasable outrage. ]

[ At this time, Kim Taehyung’s grandfather had already passed, and the one managing the household was First Lady Kim. This Madam Kim had never been able to stand her little sister, and she scorned that sister’s bastard son. She had a single son herself by the name of Kim Lizuan—the one who had just ransacked Kim Taehyung’s house. When Kim Taehyung first left with such impressive fanfare, First Lady Kim had felt they now possessed something of a family tie to that prominent cultivation sect and had hoped the cultivator envoys would bring Kim Lizuan along with them too. Of course, she had been rejected, or rather, ignored. ]

[ Who knew where this family got its confidence? But they all possessed a bizarre idea: they firmly believed that Kim Lizuan had potential, that he had talent, and that if he were the one who had gone with the cultivators, then he would have been recognized for his worth for sure, unlike his failure of a cousin. Although Kim Lizuan had been young when Kim Taehyung left, he had been repeatedly indoctrinated to believe this nonsense without a single doubt. Thus, he caught Kim Taehyung every other day to humiliate him, cursing him for having robbed him of his path to cultivation. ]

[ Yet he remained enamored with the talismans, the pills, and the little spiritual devices that had been brought back from the cultivation sect and would take them all for himself, breaking them as he willed. While Kim Taehyung was often in the throes of madness, he knew when he was being humiliated. He tried his best to endure it, time and time again, but Kim Lizuan’s behavior only worsened, practically emptying the entire house. At last, Kim Taehyung had enough. He finally stammered a complaint to his uncle and aunt, which was why Kim Lizuan had come knocking today, looking for trouble. ]

[ The words on the paper were tiny and cramped. Vantae’s eyes were sore from reading all this, and he thought to himself. ]

[ After his eyeballs started feeling better, it became his head’s turn to ache. Technically, the caster of the array had to mentally recite their wish. As the evil spirit summoned, Vantae should have been able to hear the details of his request. However, this forbidden magic had probably been secretly copied off a book with missing pages; it was incomplete, and Kim Taehyung had missed that step. ]

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