Chapter 41: The Art of Possession

Falling...

All the spirits in the Astral Realm once again enjoyed the performance of Fang Xiaoling being tossed out of the window. They had been watching from below for six hours, and regardless of the tactics Fang Xiaoling employed, the outcome was always the same: she was thrown out. By now, the high platform was so crowded with fighters and martial artists that there was no room for anyone else.

"Stop!" Fang Xiaoling finally shouted, unable to take it anymore. "Masters, your moves are somewhat effective, but I really can't pull them off! A mid-air spin with a leg-wrap waist lock? A collar-grab reverse choke? What on earth is a 'deadly scissor leg'? Are you certain these are things humans can actually do in reality? And you, Bruce Lee, you’re the most infuriating one—get over here!"

Bruce Lee’s expression was noticeably less confident than before. He walked over to Fang Xiaoling with his arms hanging limp, glancing sideways at the crowd below.

"A one-inch punch to smash through a wall the moment I’m falling? Then using arm strength to hang on? Do you hear yourselves? That’s not human talk! Even the real Bruce Lee couldn't do that!"

"But in people's imagination, I can do it," Bruce Lee replied. He leaped onto the castle window, performed a backflip, and in mid-air, punched a hole through the wall beneath the window. His body and arm formed a perfect number "7." He called out to Fang Xiaoling, "See? Isn't that simple?"

"Good grief!" Fang Xiaoling slapped her own forehead. "I thought I’d gained some incredible superpowers, but what is all this? It’s all just imagination—completely useless in the real world!"

"Ms. Fang, let me offer a fair perspective," Jung said, squeezing through the crowd. "Everyone, let's head down for now. Lee, come down too; stop hanging up there."

The spirits on the platform scattered, returning to the ground, including the "7" still carved into the castle wall.

"What do you want to say? Do you have any idea how much time I have left? I might already be dead in the real world!" Fang Xiaoling crossed her arms, pouting. "I never had any hope of surviving to begin with; it was you who insisted on acting so confident!"

"Ms. Fang, I’ve been watching from the sidelines the entire time. Many of these martial arts techniques are indeed achievable by humans in reality," Jung said, looking her up and down. "The problem is that your foundation is too weak. Setting aside your physical condition, your soul doesn't truly believe you can execute those moves. Of course, I don't blame you; confidence is the result of countless hours of training. Clearly, a few hours isn't enough to turn you into a master."

"Oh, so to put it simply, I'm doomed," Fang Xiaoling rolled her eyes. "I shouldn't have bothered with you all."

The spirits, sensing the loss of morale, were about to disperse when Jung said with calm certainty, "Not necessarily. The failure of this plan was entirely within my expectations. In fact, I have a Plan B!"

Fang Xiaoling immediately leaped up, wrapping her legs around Jung's neck and pulling his arms in the opposite direction. The force instantly locked his body in place; had the Astral Realm not been devoid of physical harm, Jung would likely have been screaming in agony. Gritting her teeth, she demanded, "Why didn't you mention Plan B earlier?! You let me fall over and over again!"

Jung patted the floor of the platform to concede, explaining, "The Astral Realm lacks entertainment, and everyone was clearly enjoying watching you fall—they were all so focused, how could I bring myself to interrupt? Besides, you... you did manage to learn the deadly scissor leg, didn't you?"

"Huh?" Fang Xiaoling realized he was right. She let go of him and stood up with a triumphant smirk. "That's more like it. Fine, I'm going back to deal with her!"

"Wait, wait!" Jung grabbed her. "You can't take her on yet. She isn't a frail old man like me. Even if you lock her up for a moment, what then? If you go back now and fail, she won't give you another chance to return."

"Then... should I learn a few more moves?"

"There's no time. It took you six hours to learn one move; with less than three hours left, going back with only half-baked skills is suicide." Jung pulled a notebook from his pack and handed it to her. "This is a record of every time you were killed in the dream world. Spend the remaining three hours reviewing it."

"Your Plan B is for me to just face death?!" Fang Xiaoling threw the notebook to the ground. "Uncle Jung, I beg you, the next time I return to the Astral Realm, just stay in the circle with the kids! Stop torturing me!"

"You misunderstand! I mean for you to reflect on that semi-conscious state you experienced thousands of times in the dream world," Jung said, helping her flip to the records. "Start reviewing from the three-hundredth incident onward. The dream world is gone now. If you can keep the portal open while maintaining half your consciousness in the real world and the other half in the Astral Realm, the portal will remain forced open. The spirits of the Astral Realm can then stand within that half of your consciousness, enter the portal, and when that happens..."

Stars sparkled in Fang Xiaoling’s eyes. "What happens then?"

"Then, you can switch control of your body at will. You can control it yourself, or let a spirit from the Astral Realm who is standing within your consciousness take over," Jung narrowed his eyes. "I call it the Possession Technique."

"Then why review at all?!" Fang Xiaoling tossed the notebook aside again. "I can enter that state easily."

"Excellent, but..." Jung picked up the book, "this is all just my hypothesis."

Fang Xiaoling nearly tripped. She pointed at a group of spirits standing below and said, "Uncle Jung, please go stand over there."

"Heh, don't worry. My hypotheses never go wrong. I just can't guarantee the specific effectiveness or the stability of the possession," Jung chuckled, then lowered his voice. "The key is that with so many spirits here, only one can stand in your consciousness at a time. I’m worried they’ll fight over it."

"Oh..." Fang Xiaoling thought for a moment, and a lightbulb went off over her head. "I know! We can use a numbering system."

"A numbering system? What do you mean?"

"I'll assign a number to every spirit. When I need someone, I’ll call their number using the half of my consciousness in the Astral Realm, and that spirit can step in. Simple, right?" She spoke loudly enough for all the spirits to hear, then continued, "I have a lot of fighting to do today, so the martial arts masters will be numbered first. The rest of you, don't worry—I'll take you all to the real world to have some fun, one by one!"

A cheer erupted from the crowd.

Before long, the spirits below parted ways, creating gaps in the crowd like slices of a cake. From those gaps, the lonely, wandering spirits stepped forward, and one of them spoke in a low, somber voice.

"Ms. Fang, could you give us a chance, too? To go out and see..."

"Of course! I’ll come back and assign numbers to all of you," Fang Xiaoling said with a wide, bright grin. "But you have to promise me: no bullying anyone in the real world."

The spirits agreed. After finishing the assignments for the martial arts masters, Fang Xiaoling sat cross-legged on the edge of the platform and slowly closed her eyes. As the portal within her consciousness opened, her entire being began to emit a light warm enough to bathe the entire Astral Realm.

The spirits looked up, and Jung led them in a bow. "We bid you farewell, the Daylight of the Astral Realm."

All the spirits followed suit, bowing in unison and chanting, "We bid you farewell, the Daylight of the Astral Realm."