Wu Shen.

[Rich-Lush Continent]

It was a dark, cloudy night in the bustling city of Yanhaven as the residents hurried home to avoid the rain. Small streaks of silver lightning could be seen in the sky, causing the people to hurry in even faster. Getting caught in a lightning storm would either result in death or severe injuries so their actions were warranted.

At a small corner of the giant city in the prestigious Wu Clan who was ranked just below the seven leading aristocratic clans of Yanhaven, a young eighteen-year-old man was laying on his bed surrounded by two older people.

"Shen'er! Why the hell did you challenge young master Chen Qing?! Did you think that just because you broke through to the Energy Eruption level you could call forth the wind and summon the rain? Sigh, now look at you. You've gotten crippled and this useless old man can't even do anything about it. The Chen Clan is simply too powerful."

An old man with long dark blue hair and an imposing figure looked like he had aged ten years as he spoke to his unfortunate son who had just been crippled in his last battle. The person who stood next to him, his maid, put her hands on his shoulder and said in a sad tone, "Master Wu Gang, young master Shen is almost dead. His injuries are way too severe. At least, let him hear some good words from his father before he goes."

Wu Gang's eyes started to redden as he folded his fists in anger, causing crackling sounds to ring out. His powerful true energy flowed out with reckless abandon, causing the ground around to crack in a spider-like formation. Several seconds later, he wiped the tears from his eyes and sighed deeply as he locked his gaze on his son.

"Shen'er, you're the last bit of family I have in this world. The Wu Clan is on the decline and all of your uncles are fighting for my spot as the clan lord. As soon as you die, I would have lost my only heir and the clan's chief of elders will force me to abdicate my position. Then, I will just live a life worse than death as my older brother takes over the throne. Sigh. Just know, I love you, my son. Forgive your useless father for not being able to protect you..."

Wu Gang didn't even move and continued looking helplessly at his son who was rapidly losing all signs of life. He couldn't help him as the clan didn't have any money for any heaven-defying medicines that could save someone with injuries of this degree.

Furthermore, the Chen Clan kept his son with them until he was almost dead then cruelly tossed him out in the streets, leaving him to rot. If not for the timely intervention of some good Samaritans who brought him back to the clan, his son would've died like a stray beast out on the streets.

"My lord, here, have some tea to soothe your mind."

The maid offered some tea to Wu Gang as she looked at the father and son duo with sympathy in her eyes. For an ordinary person like her, this situation was much too unfortunate.

Wu Gang quickly gulped down the tea without a second thought, all the while not even looking away from his son not even once. He couldn't bear to have him die while he wasn't by his side. As Wu Gang was about to touch his son's face for the last time, he suddenly felt his body go numb.

THUD!

He fell to the ground on one knee as an excruciatingly painful feeling came from his dantian region. His vision became extremely blurry and his true energy started leaking out of his body at an astonishing rate.

"P-poison?!"

Wu Gang turned around in anger and looked for the maid who was already standing far away from him at the door. The looks of sadness and sympathy that were on her face a few moments ago were replaced with a vicious smile.

"This situation is just unfortunate for all of us isn't it, Wu Gang? To think that the mighty clan lord would fall to someone ordinary like me. Master Wu Yu was right, you are an embarrassment to the Wu bloodline."

When he heard the name "Wu Yu", Wu Gang got so angry that he almost popped a vein in his neck. Wu Yu was the name of his oldest brother and the one who was closest to him in energy arts cultivation. He was also the one that always used underhanded methods to try and take the throne from Wu Gang.

As Wu Gang got weaker and weaker, something clicked in his mind. This situation was a little too well-timed. His son suddenly on his death bed from a battle that shouldn't have gone that far and high-level poison that should've taken much longer to prepare...

"This...is all one big setup. If only I had seen...it...coming...I...could..."

Wu Gang fell to the ground as all the strength left his body. He was now in the same situation as his son who he used the last bit of his motor functions to look at. It was then that he received the biggest shock of his life.

Wu Shen was sitting on the bed while holding his head as he shifted through the memories inside. The maid, who was about to leave, was in absolute shock when she noticed that he was moving around as if he wasn't poisoned at all.

'Wasn't he on death's door? What the hell is going on?!"

Unfortunately, if Wu Gang and the maid knew that the current Wu Shen wasn't the one that they knew, they would faint from the shock. This 'Wu Shen' was a reincarnated soul who was wandering about the world looking for a suitable body and happened to come across this one who was almost dead.

Running out of time, the soul just decided to absorb the original Wu Shen's soul and take over his identity while increasing his soul power at the same time.

'This is my 9th time reincarnating and as usual, most of the memories from my last life are sealed except those concerning combat. I don't even know my true name...sigh. Well, I'll think about that situation another time and take over the name of this body, for now, I have more pressing issues to deal with.'

Wu Shen looked at the made who was frozen in shock and focused his gaze on her as he exerted his will over her entire body.

'My martial will is only about 1% as strong as it was before but it still seems like I retained some basic uses of it. Still, it probably only works on normal people. Interesting...'

All sense of consciousness left her mind as the maid entered the room, closed the door behind her, and started walking towards Wu Shen. She then stopped right in front of him and bowed her head as she said emotionlessly, "Master."

If someone saw what was going on, they would be astonished. For Wu Shen to take complete control of someone's body with just his will wasn't an ability that one could access with basically no cultivation. It was unlocked when one had gotten to a much higher cultivation level and even then, this level of control was rare. It was only because of his abnormally strong soul and will that he could use this power.

As Wu Shen was about to issue his first command, he noticed a small blue light heading up into the sky from Wu Gang's body. With one quick movement, Wu Shen snatched the soul out of the air and swallowed it with no remorse.

'Donating his soul so his son could live, what a noble man.'

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A/N: This is a fanfic I just write for fun and mostly for myself so the updates will be here and there. So if the updates are too slow for you, it's fine if you stop reading.