Cultivating Immortality :I Obtained The Villain's Ascension Code
Chapter 65: If I Were the Paragon...

Chapter 65: If I Were the Paragon...

Inside the sea of consciousness, Xiao Ning sat cross-legged atop a platform of obsidian light. His Divine Sense flowed gently around the dark silhouette of the Asura Avatar, inspecting it inch by inch.

No matter what method he used—whether it was soul imprint tracing, karmic thread inspection, or even his specialized Yin-Yang origin sense—he couldn’t find anything out of place.

The avatar was perfect.

Too perfect.

"...Still nothing."

His brows furrowed slightly.

He had inspected every inch. There were no cracks, no distortions in aura, no signs of foreign intent. On the surface, it looked exactly like what it was supposed to be: a flawless Divine Avatar.

"...So, no way to detect it."

Although there was no visible anomaly, the Codex’s earlier warning could not be dismissed lightly. The logic behind it was too sound. And the clues, once lined up, pointed toward one inevitable conclusion.

He let out a soft breath.

"So... what should I do now?"

Destroy the Avatar and start again?

To rebuild his path from the foundation—body, soul, and all—was not impossible. For him, it would take at most thirty years. It would be but a brief retreat.

But the matter was not time.

It was principle. It wasn’t about whether he could—it was about whether he should.

He had already bowed once before fate, once before death. He had no intention of doing so again.

He clenched his fists quietly beneath his sleeves.

Even if the path forward was thorny, he refused to be forced into submission.

He would not bend so easily.

After a moment of silence, his expression calmed. His gaze settled again on the golden figure before him.

"Let’s look at this from another angle..."

Maybe the problem wasn’t how to destroy the sliver.

Maybe the question was: How would the Paragon try to take control?

He closed his eyes and began to think.

"If I were the Ninth Asura Paragon... and I had embedded a sliver of myself inside another’s Avatar... then what would I do upon awakening?"

The answer came to him almost at once.

"I would restrain the Nascent Soul first."

After all, the host—him—was no fool. Upon sensing a hostile will, the first instinct would be to split the soul and flee. A prepared cultivator could shatter the Avatar and escape with a piece of consciousness intact, preserving a chance to rebuild.

But if the Nascent Soul were sealed... there would be no escape.

The moment the Divine Avatar began forming—when spirit and flesh trembled between life and transformation—was the perfect moment to strike.

Yes. That would be the first step.

Then—while Xiao Ning was immersed in his heavenly tribulation—the foreign will would strike.

Seal the Nascent Soul.

Cripple the consciousness.

Hijack the soul structure during the Avatar formation process, while divine sense and soul-thread were most unstable.

A flawless takeover.

And as he thought this through, Xiao Ning’s expression became increasingly still.

"...It’s familiar."

That exact strategy...

It was what he had once used on Li Fang.

Or rather, what the Codex had done—using the Nascent Soul like a scalpel to dissect and replace.

To consume Li Fang’s will while he was weakened... and make Xiao Ning the new owner of the shell, whether body or soul.

A strange look flashed in his eyes.

Was this karma?

Or was it simply the price of walking a path outside the Dao?

Either way... it wasn’t hopeless.

No, far from it.

His gaze turned pensive. The Ninth Asura Paragon would not act all at once. It would be in steps—timed perfectly with his own advancement.

"If the Paragon intends to use the Divine Transformation as a window to strike... then I’ll just build traps behind that window."

"A Second Nascent Soul, then?" he murmured to himself.

A faint gleam flickered through his pupils as countless thoughts surged through his mind.

Unlike those crude and forceful methods that demanded precious herbs, heavenly flames, or soul-severing contracts, he had ways of his own—subtler, cleaner, and most importantly... safer.

He was not bound to the standard paths of the cultivation world in the Outer Realms.

Ordinary cultivators saw the forging of a second Nascent Soul as a heaven-defying feat—one that demanded rare opportunities, unimaginable resources, and great personal risk.

But for him... it was different.

Unlike the crude and treacherous methods known to this world, he possessed techniques far superior.

To him, splitting the Divine Soul and forming a second Nascent Soul posed little danger. He could even do it without spiritual treasures or external aid.

But... what would be the purpose?

He frowned slightly.

In the process of Divine Transformation, the Nascent Soul would eventually evolve into a Nascent Divinity—a higher form of spirit imbued with divine essence, capable of shaping reality and defying fate. However, the rules were absolute:

Only one Nascent Divinity could be cultivated.

Even if one possessed two Nascent Souls, only one could ascend. The other, upon reaching that threshold, would collapse and scatter like ash beneath heavenly wind.

A second Nascent Soul was, in most cases, a dead end.

"...But in this situation, it might be exactly what I need."

His expression grew calm.

Yes, the Paragon’s sliver had buried itself inside the Avatar. But it would require more than just a body.

It would need a source of power—a Nascent Soul to serve as its engine.

And that role would fall to his Asura Nascent Soul—formed during the fusion of the Ninefold Paragon’s Asura Scripture. That avatar wasn’t just a shell. It was designed to sync with a specific soul structure, most likely keyed to a complete Asura soul.

Xiao Ning’s own quantum Nascent Soul, while formed from a different path, had already been partially reshaped by the scripture. It wouldn’t be hard for the Paragon to hijack that process, bend it back into an Asura vessel, and take full control at the moment of tribulation.

If Xiao Ning’s soul were devoured during the merge, the Paragon would gain both vessel and power in one stroke.

"...Convenient," Xiao Ning muttered. "If I were him, I’d do the same."

"But what if I gave him exactly what he needed... and more than he could handle?"

A sharp light flashed in his eyes.

If the Paragon required an Asura Nascent Soul to anchor his resurrection, then he would give him one.

A trap.

"I’ll forge a second soul—one crafted entirely according to the Asura Scripture’s requirements."

He would lure the foreign will to seize it. And when it did...

"It’ll be the first trap."

A slight ripple passed through his sea of consciousness as new ideas began to take shape—one after another, forming an invisible array of schemes behind his calm exterior.