The illusory figure gradually solidified and turned into a white-haired old man.
As the old man appeared, a gloomy and cold aura filled the surroundings.
A member of the Netherworld race!
"He disappeared here? Did the possession fail?"
"Will our clan be exposed because of this?"
"This Daoyuan is about to end. We can't wait any longer. Our race must seize this opportunity and start anew from the Southern Region."
The white-haired old man opened and closed his mouth, emitting some strange sound waves. Not long after, figures started appearing.
"Grand Elder!"
A group of Netherworld race members gathered behind the white-haired old man. There were only more than a hundred people.
There were men, women, and children, and their levels of strength varied.
The white-haired old man was the strongest.
His aura indicated that he was at the peak of the Heaven realm, and only half a step away from the Divine realm.
The Grand Elder looked at the clansmen behind him. After experiencing the catastrophe, the Netherworld race had been struggling to survive in the nine zones. The over one hundred members of the Netherworld race here represented one-third of the remaining Netherworld race members in the nine zones.
The Netherworld race, which used to be extremely powerful, had declined to this extent.
"The Southern Region is about to undergo a great upheaval. The nine zones are also about to welcome a change. The opportunity for our Netherworld race to rise again has arrived."
"If we want to survive and rise up again, we have to keep a low profile. We have to change our identities and wait for the right timing and opportunity."
The patriarch looked at the members of the Netherworld race.
He waved his hand and condensed a map projection with his spiritual power.
It was a map of the Southern Region.
The map marked out the major forces.
One of the regions within the Great Qin Dynasty's territory was marked red.
The place marked red was Chu County.
The Grand Elder said, "After investigation, the Chu County's Chu family is the most suitable target for us in the entire Southern Region!"
"We're going there to possess the Chu family and take over their identities. For the foreseeable future, we will be members of the Chu family."
"In the future, we must act in the same way the Chu family does. We must not expose our identity. Otherwise, our entire clan will be exterminated before our very eyes."
"Do you understand?"
The members of the Netherworld race said, "We understand. We are members of the Chu family. From now on, this clan of the Netherworld race no longer exists."
The Grand Elder was very satisfied. "The Netherworld race has been struggling for a long time. Most of the inhabitants of the nine zones have already forgotten about the Netherworld race. As long as the Netherworld race maintains a low profile and appears as humans, we will have a chance to rise up in the future."
As he said, he waved his hand and released his spiritual power, enveloping the clan members behind him.
The Grand Elder's body flashed and disappeared, as he traveled toward Chu County.
The Chu family was a very special family in the entire Southern Region.
They kept a low profile and were not particularly strong. Furthermore, the location of Chu County was safely tucked away inside the Great Qin Dynasty's territory, and would not be attacked by powerful forces.
They were the most suitable targets for the Netherworld race to possess and replace.
Be it the Great Qin Dynasty or the Great Qian Dynasty, they each had their own foundations and could easily expose the identity of the Netherworld race.
Even though he was a half-step Divine realm expert, he did not dare to act recklessly.
The Netherworld race had been in a state of decline for too long.
They could not withstand another blow.
The possession ability of the Netherworld race was a taboo for the human race.
Once they were exposed, there would definitely be human experts appearing left and right to wipe out the Netherworld race.
After so many years, most of the human forces were unaware of the existence of the Netherworld race.
However, there were still records of the Netherworld race kept in the annals of some of the forces that had been around for a long time.
Especially the human kings' families!
No matter how much the Southern Region had declined, because of their special characteristics, the Netherworld race Grand Elder still needed to act carefully.
Had it just been him alone, he naturally would not need to be so careful. However, his survival was related to the survival of this entire Netherworld race clan.
He could not afford to be careless.
After conducting some investigation, he finally decided on a target.
The Chu family!
In the entirety of the Southern Region, the Chu family's situation made them the most suitable target. Their isolation from everyone else would make it difficult for the Netherworld race clan to be discovered and exposed.
The other major forces were too active.
Only the Chu family kept a low profile. They had always been guarding Chu County, and their strength could not be considered too strong either.
They only needed to possess their members and replace them, slowly assimilating their human bodies. Once the process of assimilation was complete, they would not be discovered unless the other party had special secret techniques or detection treasures.
They would become members of the Chu family in the future.
The Netherworld race had vanished from the nine zones for a long period of time. As such, human experts would not use their treasures or secret techniques for no reason to check if someone had been possessed.
In history, the Netherworld race had once wrought great havoc onto the human race. Back then, every time the human race had a big operation or gathering, there would be experts carrying treasures to detect if any of their members had been possessed.
After the fall of the Netherworld race, this practice and habit of the human race had been discarded.
This was an opportunity.
The Grand Elder was full of confidence. The Chu family did not even have an Emperor realm expert.
It would not be a problem for them to possess and replace the Chu family.
When the Asura Ancient Land opened, he would send someone with the status of a Heaven blessed of the Chu family to participate in the fight for the fate treasures.
With his many years of secret planning, coupled with the Netherworld race's special abilities, their Netherworld race clan would definitely be able to obtain a fate treasure.
With the protection of that fate treasure, they would not be exposed easily and would be able to develop and grow.
Given the strength of the Grand Elder, he arrived at Chu County very quickly.
Chu County was not small, and the resources here were abundant. Especially after the Chu family started producing and trading pills, the resources accumulated here through trade grew rapidly.
The Grand Elder headed straight for the Chu family's territory.
Their Netherworld race clan only had a total of a hundred members or so, and the target of their possession would naturally be the direct descendants of the Chu family; those with high status and outstanding talent.
The Grand Elder was very confident that, given his strength, he could ensure that the Netherworld race would be able to silently possess a direct descendant of the Chu family.
In the future, the Chu family would be one of the headquarters of the Netherworld race.
Inside a small courtyard within the Chu family's territory, Chu Xuan was cultivating when he suddenly opened his eyes.
He revealed a surprised expression as a cold and gloomy aura rapidly approached the Chu family's territory.
This intruder had a strange aura, and his strength was not weak.
He was an existence that had almost reached the Divine realm.
He was curious. Why did such an expert come to the Chu family's territory?
At the same time, he was also puzzled. The Chu family was not strong, and they were keeping a low profile.
How could they be targeted by others?
Moreover, the one who was targeting the Chu family did not seem to be a human?
That cold and gloomy aura was very unique, and his figure was akin to an illusory shadow.
He did not seem to have a physical body.
A ghost?
Chu Xuan's first thought was to think of ghosts!
Was this not very similar to the ghosts in the stories and legends of Earth in his previous life?
However, there was no such thing as a ghost in the nine zones.
The other party had already arrived at the Chu family's territory in an instant, and was about to use a secret technique to seal off the Chu family's territory.
Chu Xuan felt very helpless. Why did someone come to his doorstep again?
Ever since the heretic cult had stopped, no one had come to the Chu family's territory to mess with them, but now a strong cultivator had arrived.
Luckily, Chu Xuan's strength had increased rapidly. Otherwise, it would have been troublesome if he had encountered this enemy before he broke through.
Sitting in the small courtyard, he did not move. A stream of divine power materialized and restrained the intruder, transporting him over to the small courtyard.
The Grand Elder had been about to use a secret technique to seal off the Chu family's territory to prevent any accidents from happening, as well as to prevent anyone from sending out a message.
However, before he could make a move, he felt his hair stand on end. A terrifying power instantly materialized and sealed him and all of his clansmen!
"It's over!"
The Grand Elder felt despair. Why was this small Chu family hiding such a terrifying powerhouse?
Was there something wrong with this human expert's brain? He was obviously very powerful, but he kept a low profile. His presence here, or lack thereof, had completely fooled the Grand Elder.
This was the same as that human expert who had suddenly appeared and tricked the Netherworld race back then. Why was it happening again?
