Just a Useful Pawn in the Stain Sect

Chapter 143: Chapter 143: Senior Brother Zhao, This Is the Last Time

”Noisy.”

The words had barely left Lü Yang’s lips when Guang Ming, who had been wailing a moment before, abruptly fell silent. Kneeling on the ground, he didn’t dare to raise his head, feeling as if he’d been plunged into an ice cave.

Lü Yang, however, wore a gentle expression and personally reached out to help him up.

”How have things been in the Pure Land?”

”Thank you for your concern, Perfected Person.”

Sweat poured down Guang Ming’s face like rain. He swallowed hard and said in a trembling voice, ”Thanks to the Perfected Person showing mercy and sparing my life, I’ve been doing alright in the Pure Land...”

”Oh?” Lü Yang raised an eyebrow. ”And have you received any benefits?”

”None! None at all!”

Guang Ming shook his head frantically and said in a rush, ”Only that I was promoted by my master to the position of senior disciple of Fulong Temple. Nothing else besides that.”

”Is that so.” Lü Yang nodded in satisfaction. ”Excellent, excellent.”

Then, he finally got to the point. ”To be honest, I have a small matter I need help with. Fellow Daoist Guang Ming, would you be willing to lend me a hand?”

’Of course not!’

Guang Ming’s heart went cold, but his face showed an eager expression. ”To go through fire and water for the Perfected Person is the good fortune of eight lifetimes for this humble monk!”

Hearing this, Lü Yang’s smile grew even warmer. He said pleasantly, ”Rest assured, it’s just a small thing. I currently have an excellent talent under my command named Zhao Xuhe. Like me, he cultivates the Ninefold Dragon Metamorphosis. His Realm has long since reached the Final-phase of Qi Refining, and he’s recently been planning to break through to Foundation Establishment.”

”When the time comes, I will personally act to conceal his efforts.”

Lü Yang said this casually, but Guang Ming was terrified to hear it. He quickly patted his chest and said, ”Please rest assured, Upper Cultivator. This humble monk will be as silent as the grave about this!”

”Silent as the grave?”

Lü Yang shook his head and chuckled. ”Do I need you to be silent? Wouldn’t it be more convenient to just kill you? I want you to tell Fulong about this!”

”Ah?”

Guang Ming’s jaw dropped, leaving him even more bewildered.

Lü Yang paid him no mind and continued, ”This doesn’t count as betrayal. In fact, you could say it will help you earn some merit, so you don’t need to be so apprehensive.”

Despite these words, Guang Ming understood.

’No!’

’This... this is probably a trap! He’s deliberately using a Cultivator practicing the Ninefold Dragon Metamorphosis who is breaking through to Foundation Establishment to lure out my master. This Demon wants to harm my master?’

For a moment, Guang Ming couldn’t help but swallow.

He was now the senior disciple of Fulong Temple. With Arhat Fulong above him, there was no room for advancement. But if Arhat Fulong were to die, things would be very different...

At this thought, Guang Ming lowered his voice and rasped out a sentence:

”But... but that’s my master!”

”The master who guided me into Entering the Dao... whom I see as a father...”

Facing Guang Ming’s wail of despair, Lü Yang nodded in understanding. ”Rest assured, I have this under control. I guarantee he won’t have a complete corpse left this time.”

”...It’s a deal!”

Guang Ming agreed without hesitation. Only then did Lü Yang drift away.

After Lü Yang left, Guang Ming collapsed to the ground. As sweat poured down his face, his trembling hands took an Awakening Fragrance stick from his robes.

CLICK!

The Awakening Fragrance was lit. Amidst the curling Incense smoke, Guang Ming’s expression gradually regained its composure. An unknown amount of time passed like this before he suddenly opened his eyes.

But the moment he opened them, something was vastly different.

”...Heh heh.”

Guang Ming’s appearance hadn’t changed, but his brows were relaxed and his eyes were sharp. His entire aura had undergone a heaven-and-earth-shattering transformation.

”An ignorant junior, after all. He doesn’t understand my Pure Land’s Skill.”

”Of all the people in the world, the Monks of my Pure Land are perhaps the least susceptible to being turned. After all, when one has cultivated oneself into ’me,’ how could ’I’ possibly betray myself?”

’He brought Guang Ming here specifically to act as bait!’

’Zhao Xuhe... so he wants to lure me out and then ambush me? In that case, I’ll just play along with his scheme. He’ll find that not only did he fail to steal the chicken, but he lost the rice for the bait!’

Thinking this, Arhat Fulong stroked Guang Ming’s body, a cold glint flashing in his eyes. ’He’s a bit clever, but greedy for life and afraid of death. To think he actually considered betraying me... Fine. I’ll keep him around for now to fool that Lü Yang and prevent him from noticing anything is wrong. Once this is all over, I’ll get rid of him.’

The next second, Arhat Fulong withdrew his consciousness.

A moment later, Guang Ming opened his eyes with a dazed expression. He ignored everything else and immediately looked at the Awakening Fragrance stick placed beside him.

In an instant, Guang Ming could barely stop his teeth from chattering.

’He was here!’

This Awakening Fragrance stick was one he had specially made. It held a Profound Mysterious property: the Incense smoke would interact with his Spiritual perception, leaving a clear trace in his mind.

This trace was extremely fragile. The moment any external Spiritual perception interfered, it would be instantly erased.

But now, the trace was gone!

’That’s right, it must have been Master. He was here, but I don’t remember, don’t know, and couldn’t sense it... He already knows that Lü Yang came to me!’

Guang Ming took a deep breath, only regaining his composure after a long while.

’It’s good... that he knows!’

’At least this way, I’m still useful to Master. He won’t kill me in the short term. And I’m also useful to Lü Yang, so I don’t think he’ll kill me either...’

At this thought, Guang Ming was suddenly struck by a profound sense of powerlessness.

The reason Guang Ming had wailed when Lü Yang approached him was because he had realized he had become a pawn to be manipulated by two Perfected Persons.

If he sided with Lü Yang, his master would kill him.

If he didn’t, Lü Yang would kill him.

’As things stand, I’ve seemingly sided with Lü Yang on the surface, but in secret, I’m Master’s puppet. However, my conversation just now also contained a hint for Lü Yang...’

He had said: ”But that’s my master!”

As his master, how could he not have a way to control his disciple? As long as Lü Yang could understand the hidden meaning in his words, he would understand his true position.

Only by not offending either side could he possibly find a way to survive.

「........」

By now, Lü Yang had already put Guang Ming completely out of his mind.

Because whatever Guang Ming thought was unimportant and meaningless to him. He only needed Guang Ming to pass on the information about Zhao Xuhe.

Next, he concealed his presence and arrived at a Quiet Chamber in the Skull Mountains Marketplace.

He pushed open the door and strolled inside.

Inside the Quiet Chamber, Zhao Xuhe was in secluded cultivation, completely unaware of Lü Yang’s arrival. Seeing this, Lü Yang reached out and tapped a finger on the spot between his eyebrows.

”I’m sorry, Senior Brother Zhao, this is the last time...”

As his voice fell, a stream of yellow light flowed into Zhao Xuhe’s body. Zhao Xuhe immediately felt his spirit become tranquil and his mind expand, as if he were communing with the entire Skull Mountains.

Lü Yang smiled in satisfaction at the sight.

Just now, he had personally transferred the most important legacy of the Wu Ghost Sect—the control over the Vast Skull Mountains Ley Line—to Zhao Xuhe without reservation!

The next second, a Splendid Light bloomed at Lü Yang’s fingertip.

[Determination]!

The Great Net of Karma Links was stirred. An invisible Heart Thought entered Zhao Xuhe’s Spiritual Space. Its content was simple: whoever tried to stop his Foundation Establishment, he would fight them to the death.

Even if it meant mutual destruction!

Under the influence of [Determination], if anyone obstructed his Foundation Establishment and left him with no way out, Zhao Xuhe would decisively use the most powerful method at his disposal.

—Detonating the Lay Line!

Instantly, Lü Yang felt an intense sense of crisis... Heaven and Earth had sensed it and were sending him a warning from the unseen world.

If Zhao Xuhe really did detonate the Lay Line, Lü Yang would inevitably be entangled in the karmic links.

At this thought, the Splendid Light at Lü Yang’s fingertip abruptly shifted.

[Differentiation]!

His Innate Ability activated. Lü Yang performed a Divine Cutting between himself and the Skull Mountains Lay Line, severing all his karmic links to it. From now on, all karmic consequences would fall upon Zhao Xuhe.

’What does anything Zhao Xuhe does have to do with me?’

The Divine Power Radiance enveloped Lü Yang like a cloak, washing away the karmic links. Soon, that feeling of being ”specifically targeted by Heaven and Earth” vanished.

Only then did Lü Yang smile in satisfaction. He withdrew his finger and looked at Zhao Xuhe, who was still cultivating with his eyes closed.

’Senior Brother Zhao, you can go in peace.’

’In your next life, I’ll be sure to treat you well!’