Chapter 307: One Move Ahead
Regarding [Sky-shrouding], Lu Yang had never been stingy with showing the utmost hostility.
Whatever [Sky-shrouding] wanted to do, he would destroy; whatever [Sky-shrouding] didn’t want to do, he would facilitate. In short, he was targeting him relentlessly.
So he was very interested in Yu Suzhen’s experience.
Reaching the Great Perfection of Qi Refining in three years must have involved significant opportunities pushed by [Sky-shrouding], and who knows how many secret manipulations [Sky-shrouding] had embedded within.
With [Perfected Lord Qingcheng Feixue] watching from above, it was the perfect time to investigate!
Thinking of this, Lu Yang focused his attention and cast a secret technique. Yu Suzhen’s past memories flowed out like water.
Her experiences over the past three years.
Soon, Yu Suzhen’s memories were completely under Lu Yang’s control. Layers of dim scenes emerged, finally reflecting a specific scene before his eyes.
Initially, Yu Suzhen’s experience was just as he had speculated.
After enduring untold hardships, she finally achieved Qi Refining, joined Heaven-Mending Peak, and was targeted by Liu Xin. She then miraculously turned the tables and killed him, obtaining the inheritance of [Perfected One Primordial].
However, right here, something was wrong.
Inside Liu Xin’s [Myriad Spirits Banner], Yu Suzhen saw an existence she had never seen before. Her current cultivation was precisely due to that entity’s guidance!
Where is… this place?
In the memory, Lu Yang’s eyes widened. His gaze swept across, but he only saw a turbid river. The churning waves revealed crystalline white bones.
The river was vast and boundless.
Only in the center of the river stood a giant rock, massive as a mountain, firmly planted in the middle of the current, demarcating a specific area in the river.
Something’s not right…
Lu Yang frowned deeply. The scene before him was what Yu Suzhen saw inside the [Myriad Spirits Banner]. But his understanding of the [Myriad Spirits Banner] was far superior to Yu Suzhen’s, yet he had never discovered such a place inside the banner! Undoubtedly, this was [Sky-shrouding]’s backup plan. He had tampered with the [Myriad Spirits Banner]?
Suddenly, Lu Yang remembered.
I’ve seen this place before.
It was a memory that didn’t belong to him, yet now he recalled every detail with incomparable clarity. In that memory, he was right here in this place.
But in that memory, there was another person here.
That person stood atop the giant rock in the center of the river, staring straight at him.
Hiss!
Instantly, Lu Yang sucked in a breath of cold air. He subconsciously looked in the direction from his memory, only to see a figure actually appearing there!
No… he’s an outsider!
A trap!?
At this moment, Lu Yang was performing a “Soul Search.” The scenes before him were essentially illusions, but that figure was different—he was real and unmistakable!
He walked out… from the memory!
A place that cannot be named.
Layers of shadows, a place shrouded in void darkness. A handsome Daoist sat cross-legged in the air, looking up, his eyes flowing with starlight like rivers.
The next second, he smiled:
“Fellow Daoist is truly extraordinary. I placed a pawn in the Saint Sect, isolating karma, yet Fellow Daoist was able to calculate it and wait for me here with such a grand array…”
[Sky-shrouding]’s tone carried a long-lost sense of satisfaction. In his view, everything that had happened so far was merely a game between him and that hidden Fellow Daoist. He used Yu Suzhen as a pawn, while the opponent called upon Hong Ju, [Perfected Lord Qingcheng Feixue], and others to intercept his pawn.
This was no small feat!
To calculate my true target so precisely, it seems the matter of [Chen Earth] has been exposed. Not to mention there is a Perfected Lord watching.
Lu Yang’s guess was correct.
At this very moment, [Perfected Lord Qingcheng Feixue] was squatting nearby in the overseas region. However, her Dharma Body had merged with heaven and earth; one couldn’t see her figure unless they were a Perfected Lord.
Fellow Daoist has never acted personally from beginning to end.
Borrowing a knife to kill—masterfully done. Hiding in the dark yourself… But if you truly had the ability and your cultivation was comparable to mine, why hide in the dark?
The smile on [Sky-shrouding]’s lips gradually widened: Fellow Daoist’s cultivation isn’t high, is it?
Middle Stage Golden Core? Initial Stage Golden Core? Probably borrowing the power of a Dao Fruit… Surely not Foundation Establishment? Let me see just how many tricks you have…
By now, [Sky-shrouding] felt victory was in his grasp. Yes, he did intend to use Yu Suzhen’s hand to fish out the Primordial Dao Sin and refine it into a clone, but he never put all his eggs in one basket. Therefore, Yu Suzhen was both his pawn and the poisoned bait he had set!
In his view, that Fellow Daoist hiding behind the scenes had miscalculated only one thing.
You probably didn’t expect that I can already crudely utilize the power of the [Netherworld]. Although this [Ghost Messenger] is not my clone, it is better than a clone.
If you ignore it, it will help me bring the Primordial Dao Sin back to the Netherworld, and my scheme will succeed.
But if he intends to stop it and kills it, he will inevitably be backlashed by the entire Netherworld!
The [Netherworld]’s backlash was different from karma.
Karma was a large net full of holes and omissions. But since all people undergo reincarnation, the influence of the [Netherworld] was truly pervasive!
The [Netherworld]’s backlash strikes directly at the True Spirit. Even if you borrow someone else’s body, you can’t hide!
At that time, being in the [Netherworld], he could follow this connection to directly lock onto the hidden Fellow Daoist’s true body and uncover his background.
No matter which choice Fellow Daoist makes, I remain undefeated. In this round, I am ultimately one move ahead!
Thinking of this, [Sky-shrouding] couldn’t help but laugh out loud. This feeling of outsmarting a “Fellow Daoist” was a rare enjoyment for someone of his stature.
Well? Will you hand over the Primordial Dao Sin, or let me see your true face?
[Sky-shrouding] looked expectantly toward the physical world.
Meanwhile, Lu Yang also reacted at this moment, realizing he had fallen into [Sky-shrouding]’s scheme. However, he wasn’t particularly panicked.
My main body is far away on the horizon. Even if there’s suffering, it’s the clone that suffers…
Lu Yang observed the figure that suddenly appeared through the [Marionette]. The opponent walked out of the memory and entered directly into the clone’s consciousness sea.
Looking closely now, he saw the figure was half black and half white, looking strange and grotesque. He was tall and thin, holding a mourning staff in one hand and a soul-hooking chain in the other. He laughed with his mouth open, revealing a mouthful of sharp teeth. Squinting his eyes, he emanated a chilling light. Upon seeing Lu Yang, he spoke without introduction:
“Hey! Where did this evil spirit come from?”
Hearing this, Lu Yang smiled instantly: “Evil spirit? I think Your Excellency looks more like an evil spirit. Trespassing into another’s consciousness sea isn’t the act of the Righteous Path.”
“Impudent!”
The figure sneered coldly: “Do you take this seat for those mortal eyes of flesh? You have spirit but no soul—what are you if not an evil spirit?”
Listening to this tone… it’s not [Sky-shrouding] himself?
Lu Yang heard clearly and speculated further in his heart: What exactly is this thing? The evil spirit it speaks of… does it refer to the Dao Sin?
In this aspect, [Sky-shrouding]’s methods were actually identical to Lu Yang’s. Except Lu Yang molded a [Second Clone], while he molded a [Ghost Messenger]. Both were ignorant of their own true origins, only knowing to complete the tasks entrusted to them by the manipulator behind the scenes.
Thus, in the next second, the monster shook his head: “Forget it, I can’t be bothered to care.”
“Anyway, soulless people like you should all be reincarnated. Whether you are or not, today I will take you down together with that evil spirit outside!”
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