I Became a Peak Master With No Disciples?!

"Aaghh!!" Jian Wushen suddenly collapsed to his knees, his sword clattering from his grip onto the cold stone. His face contorted in sudden, intense agony, his body stiffening as the black pulsing veins appeared on his body and immediately began to corrode his meridians.

***

Around one year ago, Elder Cang Yun of Sword Peak vanished during a routine patrol across the stormy Western Seas. The Heavenly Cloud Sect sent investigation squads, searched the dark, turbulent waters for months, and eventually concluded he had perished in a demonic ambush.

But three months later, a miracle occurred. He walked back through the mountain gates, his cultivation stable at the Nascent Soul realm and his expression calm. The Sword Peak welcomed him back with open arms, holding banquets to celebrate his survival.

No one suspected the truth. The man who sat at the high tables and toasted the elders was not Cang Yun.

The true Cang Yun had been kidnapped by the remnants of the long-forgotten Nine Shadows Sect. Taken deep into one of their hidden sanctuaries, his body was slowly hollowed out to serve as a vessel.

The entity currently inhabiting his flesh was none other than Demon Ancestor Mo, a terrifying powerhouse whom the cultivation world had not seen in three hundred years, since the Heavenly Cloud Sect and its allies burned down all nine outposts of the Nine Shadows Sect to ash. Back then, he had barely escaped with his life, and even thinking of that night made his blood boil. Rebuilding the sect member by member from the ashes, he had sworn vengeance against them. When the scouts of his demonic sect captured Cang Yun, he saw it as a sign from the heavens.

Now he had infiltrated the Heavenly Sword Peak in disguise, but he had not returned to wage an open war. The blood feud was too deep, and a direct assault would only invite the wrath of the hidden ancestors. Instead, he chose a slower, more perfect method.

He decided to rot the Heavenly Cloud Sect from its very core, starting with the inner disciple of the infamous Sword Peak.

Over the subsequent months, he quietly established his influence at the heart of the Sword Peak. He took in young disciples. During late-night sessions in his private chamber, he would summon them one by one. With a flick of his finger, he drove the demonic soul brands into their foreheads.

Their eyes would flare with a brief, vacant black light before returning to normal. They went about their daily lives normally, eating, training, and laughing with fellow disciples, completely unaware that their seas of consciousness were under the complete control of their beloved Elder Cang. It was the perfect plan for infiltration.

Demonic Ancestor Mo practiced the Nine Seed Transference Art, a forbidden technique that allowed a cultivator to possess nine vessel bodies at once by splitting their Nascent Soul. However, the art was not perfect. A soul seed could only survive for a few years inside a host before the physical vessel began to decay, forcing him to periodically find a fresh, powerful body. Yet, what the technique lacked in physical longevity, it more than made up for in its flawless disguise.

Normally, when a cultivator’s soul was extinguished, their soul flame in the sect’s Ancestral Hall would go dark instantly. But the Nine Seed Transference Art allowed Mo’s soul seed to merge seamlessly with the remnants of Cang Yun’s original soul by consuming it completely, keeping the soul flame burning faintly and mimicking the elder’s exact soul signature.

It was the perfect deception.

Unless a Saint-level powerhouse examined him directly using their Divine Sense, no one in the Heavenly Cloud Sect could ever notice the difference. He still could not comprehend how Su Ming, a mere Outer Peak Master, had managed to see through it.

But he did not want a temporary vessel. He wanted to select a talented individual and cultivate them into a supreme expert, allowing him to infiltrate the core of the Heavenly Cloud Sect, and he had found the perfect target in Jian Wushen. Unfortunately, targeting him was extremely difficult, as the boy was already a Nascent Soul genius at barely twenty years old, constantly under watch by the Peak Master.

Then, during the tournament, Zhou Heng crossed blades with Wang Tian. To his surprise, he discovered that Wang Tian possessed a unique sword physique. Better yet, the boy’s master was merely an outer Peak Master of the outer peak. He was certain the Heavenly Cloud Sect had not discovered the boy’s talent, otherwise they would never have left him to rot in the outer peak.

He took control of Zhou Heng’s body to observe him, resolving to snatch Wang Tian’s body as his new vessel as soon as possible. He even tried to recruit the boy, only to be rejected.

Demonic Ancestor Mo in Zhou Heng’s body almost coughed blood out of anger. Who was he? He was the last surviving leader of the Nine Shadows Sect, which had once ruled the demonic path under the heavens and rivaled the four righteous factions. Comparing him to a guest outer Peak Master was an absolute outrage. He had planned to let Zhou Heng defeat the boy and offer him guidance under Cang Yun, preparing him for possession.

But Su Ming’s sudden intervention ruined his perfect plan.

Back on the stone stage, Jian Wushen lay on his knees, his sword clattering onto the cold stone. The black needle of Demonic Soul Poison had pierced deep into his body, starting to infect his soul. His faction specialized in soul arts, a field where even they could contend with the righteous sects in their knowledge.

Cang Yun stood back, his facade of righteous indignation completely vanishing, replaced by a cold, wicked smile. He looked past Jian Wushen, staring directly at Peak Master Jian Wufeng, whose face had gone white with shock and fury.

"We meet again, young swordsman," Cang Yun said, his voice changing to a raspy, ancient tone that echoed in the spirit sea of everyone present. "You have now become the Peak Master. Looks like I helped you, considering I killed your senior brother back then."

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