Chapter 304: Jumping Back and Forth, Playing Both Sides

Compared to Chong Guang, contacting [Hong Yun] actually took Lu Yang some effort.

Of course, it wasn’t really difficult to contact him if he wanted to. He just had to trigger some of [Hong Yun]’s core interests, and [Hong Yun] would come looking for him without him having to show himself.

Lu Yang’s method was simple. He used [Marionette] to control a local Qi Refining rogue cultivator in Jiangbei, and then influenced [Xiao Shiye]’s karma from afar. With this operation, [Hong Yun], who had treated [Xiao Shiye] as bait, was naturally alerted and came looking for him as a matter of course.

Lu Yang’s thoughts were exactly as Chong Guang had guessed.

How could Lu Yang sell such important information as a Grotto-Heaven fragment to only one party? After all, the greatest benefit of intelligence was that it could be sold multiple times!

The next second, the void split open.

Lu Yang’s eyes lit up slightly upon seeing this. “Fellow Daoist…”

Boom.

Before he could finish speaking, Daoist [Hong Yun] directly channeled his spiritual power and slapped the Qi Refining rogue cultivator into a meat paste with one palm. However, soon, two more figures appeared:

“Doesn’t Fellow Daoist want to know…”

Before the first figure could finish speaking, it was shattered by Daoist [Hong Yun] again. Fortunately, the second figure continued: “…news about your own Grotto-Heaven?”

As the voice fell, Daoist [Hong Yun], who had originally rushed over because he sensed [Xiao Shiye]’s karma being manipulated and casually slapped the intruder to death upon discovering it was just a Qi Refining cultivator, was instantly stunned. Looking intently, he finally noticed the rather eerie expressions on these “Qi Refining rogue cultivators.”

“…Who are you?”

Daoist [Hong Yun] glanced at the sky, then waved his sleeve, disappearing from the spot with Lu Yang. A moment later, a Divine Sense broke through the void and arrived.

Whoosh!

The massive Divine Sense swept across the scene like a gale sweeping away fallen leaves, but found nothing. Finally, it slowly condensed into a graceful figure as cold as frost.

[Perfected Lord Qingcheng Feixue]!

“Pity… he ran fast.”

Daoist [Hong Yun] was once a Saint Sect Perfected Lord after all. Unless she encountered him face-to-face, if he was determined to hide, even she would find it hard to discover his tracks.

Thinking of this, [Perfected Lord Qingcheng Feixue] suddenly smiled radiantly, a look of interest appearing in her beautiful eyes. “From the looks of it, could it be that person is really selling to both sides and came to communicate with [Hong Yun] again? Not impossible. If I wait for the hare to crash into the tree stump, I might actually catch him…”

Jiangbei, a remote mountain forest.

This place was located among rugged mountains, concealed by layers of formations. Each one was a superior formation for obscuring heavenly secrets, completely stripping away all karma.

The next second, the void split open.

Daoist [Hong Yun] brought the Qi Refining rogue cultivator controlled by Lu Yang directly into the formation. Then, like Chong Guang, he started with a Soul Search right off the bat.

Truly an old Saint Sect hand.

Lu Yang looked calm, considering he was used to it.

Only after the Soul Search yielded no results did Daoist [Hong Yun] finally look at Lu Yang differently and say, “Do you know the name of my Grotto-Heaven?”

This was the last test.

Lu Yang didn’t drag it out either, saying immediately, “[Eternal Brilliance Precious-Light Grotto-Heaven]!”

As the voice fell, Daoist [Hong Yun] finally exhaled a deep breath of turbid air. Anyone who could say this name was either an old Saint Sect member or had truly seen his Grotto-Heaven.

“What do you want?”

Clearly, Daoist [Hong Yun] also knew well that there was no love or hate without reason in this world. Since Lu Yang came to find him, he naturally wanted benefits.

Moreover, unlike Chong Guang, who now held the general trend as the Acting Sect Master of the Saint Sect and thus had room for maneuvering and the capital to deliberate, Daoist [Hong Yun] had wasted five thousand years. By now, he had long been forced into a desperate situation.

So his attitude was very straightforward.

Seeing Daoist [Hong Yun] being quite decisive, Lu Yang also got straight to the point: “I want the semi-True Treasure and that Innate [Dao Sin] you left in the [Emerald Sun Cultivation World]!”

“…Who exactly are you?”

Upon hearing this, Daoist [Hong Yun]’s expression became even more solemn, his brow furrowing tightly. His arrangements in the [Emerald Sun Cultivation World] should have been known to no one.

How did it leak?

The semi-True Treasure he left in the [Emerald Cultivation World], the [Imperial Palace Golden Seal Script Tushita True Edict], was actually a discarded move. He had planned to use it to falsely hold the [Golden Nature] position back then.

However, the difficulty of falsely holding the [Golden Nature] position was simply too high. Even though he used the talents of the entire [Emerald Sun Cultivation World] to refine it, the [Imperial Palace Golden Seal Script Tushita True Edict] remained a semi-True Treasure, unable to completely transform into a True Treasure. Its divine wonder was limited to deducing divine abilities. To him, it wasn’t exactly crucial.

At the very least, it could be said to be utterly useless.

Therefore, now that Lu Yang proposed wanting this semi-True Treasure, aside from surprise at the leak of information, Daoist [Hong Yun] didn’t feel much reluctance to part with it.

“But… how can I trust you?”

Daoist [Hong Yun] sneered. “As for the Grotto-Heaven fragment you speak of, do you think I don’t know? It’s just the one at the bottom of the Gantang Channel in Jiangnan!”

Hearing this, Lu Yang raised his eyebrows slightly.

But he quickly figured it out. Since Daoist [Hong Yun] could restore his Foundation Establishment Perfection and refine a Blessed Land in the previous life, he must have found the Grotto-Heaven fragment.

It seemed he had discovered clues long ago.

But why didn’t he go immediately?

With this thought, Lu Yang regained his calm and chuckled lightly. “It seems Fellow Daoist also has suspicions in your heart, suspecting there’s a problem with that Grotto-Heaven fragment, right?”

This was only natural!

Daoist [Hong Yun] was a Saint Sect Perfected Lord after all. How could he not understand the principle that behind opportunities lie traps? But the problem was he had no choice!

“…”

As Lu Yang’s words fell, although Daoist [Hong Yun] wanted to refute, he had no words. After all, this was indeed the greatest worry in his heart recently.

However, the pressure Chong Guang put on him was simply too great. As the former master of [Overturned Lamp Flame], he could even vaguely feel that [Overturned Lamp Flame]’s attention on him was gradually decreasing, being usurped bit by bit by Chong Guang. If this continued, his position would truly be taken!

He didn’t have many options.

Therefore, not long ago, he had made up his mind to go to Jiangnan and reclaim the Grotto-Heaven fragment. Even if it was poisoned bait, he had to swallow it!

However, Lu Yang’s appearance changed his mind.

“What else do you know?”

Under Daoist [Hong Yun]’s gaze, Lu Yang directly used his Divine Sense to imprint a copy of the True Interpretation of Hollow Void Inner Observation of Heaven and Earth he obtained from the Grotto-Heaven.

Although [Sky-shrouding] had erased all of Perfected One Xiao Hai’s memories of this.

Lu Yang had memorized the contents using Perfected One Xiao Hai’s body at the time. Perfected One Xiao Hai forgot, but what did that have to do with me, Lu Yang?

“This is…!?”

The moment he saw the True Interpretation of Hollow Void Inner Observation of Heaven and Earth, a look of excitement appeared in Daoist [Hong Yun]’s eyes. He felt the method before him was incredibly familiar.

“I have another related method.”

Lu Yang said calmly, “That one is more important. It is a secret technique used to connect with [Overturned Lamp Flame]. I think you should be more interested in it?”

As his voice fell, Daoist [Hong Yun] immediately closed his eyes.

Lu Yang smiled, knowing that unlike the transaction with Chong Guang, this time with Daoist [Hong Yun], he completely held the initiative.

“Fellow Daoist must go with me to the overseas region.”

With a tone that allowed no refusal, Lu Yang spoke directly: “Besides the [Imperial Palace Golden Seal Script Tushita True Edict], you must also help me subdue that Innate [Dao Sin].”

After all, he couldn’t handle that [Dao Sin] on his own.

“…Agreed.” Daoist [Hong Yun] understood he had lost the initiative, so he didn’t haggle and agreed to Lu Yang’s request decisively.

The transaction ended successfully, and both parties were happy.

After exchanging flying letter spiritual books for contact, as Daoist [Hong Yun] watched Lu Yang leave, he couldn’t help muttering in his heart:

Who exactly is this Saint Sect Perfected One?

Could he be bait set by Chong Guang to catch me? Even if not, given the Saint Sect’s style, selling information to both sides is the norm, and burning bridges after crossing is commonplace…

Will he turn around and contact Chong Guang immediately?

“Hello, hello, hello?”

Heaven-Connecting Cloud Sea, Sacred Fire Cliff.

Chong Guang looked at the flying letter spiritual book in his hand with a peculiar expression, watching Lu Yang’s handwriting appear rapidly on it:

[Acting Sect Master, I have an excellent opportunity here to entrap and kill [Hong Yun].]

[Are you interested?]

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