Chapter 103: Stealing the Beam and Replacing the Pillar

As for Zhao Xuhe, Lu Yang was still very much at ease.

"Senior Brother Zhao has the merit of three lifetimes and abundant fortune. Even without my help before, he had already attempted Foundation Establishment once. With my help, his odds of success should be even higher."

It's only a matter of time.

Lu Yang withdrew his gaze, turned, and returned to his cave dwelling. He then summoned his dharma-protecting deity, the Pure Maiden, and began re-cultivating the Corpse-Releasing Art and the Heavenly Silkworm Secret at the Foundation Establishment rank.

And so, time came to a certain moonless, windy night ten days later.

"Junior Brother Lu, are you there?"

Liu Xin had come calling.

Lu Yang answered the call and opened his cave dwelling, flashing a grin at Liu Xin: "You're here. I've been waiting for you a long time, Senior Brother. Thanks for making the trip all this way in the dead of night."

Liu Xin was taken aback: ". Deliver what?"

Because he had done this in his second-to-last life, Lu Yang's movements were practically second nature. Before Liu Xin even finished speaking, he directly extended a giant hand of true qi.

Liu Xin, who had been full of confidence and was preparing to refine this newly-initiated disciple to break through to the late Qi Refining stage, hadn't even had time to react before Lu Yang's giant hand of true qi seized him. In an instant, he was refined into flying ash, leaving only a Ten Thousand Souls Banner that clattered to the ground.

Seeing this scene, Lu Yang couldn't help but feel a touch of lament.

To this day, the Senior Brother Liu who once filled him with resentment yet whom he could do nothing about had become a stable source of supplies he visited in nearly every life.

After all, the Innate Primordial Unity Qi Divine Talisman was simply too useful.

"Speaking of obscuring karma, I almost forgot—the Cloud Family Old Ancestor, that Foundation Establishment reincarnator, seems to have an even more powerful Heaven's Secret treasure in his hands!"

In his previous life, he had left early and hadn't waited for it.

This life was different. Lu Yang planned to replicate the cultivation path of his second-to-last life, carefully crafting a proper, upright disciple persona within the Holy Sect.

"The Cloud Family Old Ancestor going to the Law-Refining Secret Realm probably isn't simply targeting me—eight or nine times out of ten, he has designs on the secret realm itself. That Heaven's Secret treasure in his hands can even deceive a Jin Dan True Monarch. If I enter ahead of time and lay an ambush, obtaining this treasure will surely be of great benefit to my future cultivation!"

Besides, he hadn't forgotten.

Back then, the Cloud Family Old Ancestor had schemed against him in the secret realm. If not for his superior skill, not only would his cultivation have come to nothing, he would have died inside as well.

This grudge unrepayed, his Dao heart would remain unstable!

Thinking of this, Lu Yang silently drew a circle next to the Cloud Family Old Ancestor's name in his little grudge notebook in his heart, listing him as one of this life's key targets.

Inside the cave dwelling, Lu Yang sat upright on a meditation cushion.

Placed before him was Liu Xin's Ten Thousand Souls Banner. Its color was pure white, looking like a world apart from the Ten Thousand Souls Banner in Lu Yang's dantian, which was black to the point of purple.

The next second, Lu Yang activated his magic power.

Liu Xin's Ten Thousand Souls Banner swayed slightly, and Chen Xinan immediately stepped out from within the banner. He first glanced around, then looked at Lu Yang with a face full of astonishment.

Immediately after, Lu Yang activated his own Ten Thousand Souls Banner. Soon, the banner spirit Chen Xinan also stepped out from the banner, and the two Chen Xinans stared at each other.

"Who are you!"

"Are you me?"

The two spoke almost simultaneously, the difference being that the original Chen Xinan was more shocked, while the banner spirit Chen Xinan seemed more like he was imitating the former.

Since he planned to have the banner spirit Chen Xinan carry out an undercover mission, Lu Yang naturally had to ensure his loyalty. So he put the banner spirit Chen Xinan through extra processing, leaving behind numerous prohibitions just like with the Pure Maiden, ensuring the other party couldn't betray him and could be reduced to ash with a single thought.

"Do it."

The next second, Lu Yang waved his hand grandly. The banner spirit Chen Xinan immediately obeyed the order without the slightest mercy, directly pointing a finger that pierced through the original's soul.

Even at the moment of death, the original Chen Xinan was still in a daze.

Who killed me?

And who did I kill?

Bearing these thick questions, his soul suddenly dissipated. The karma was inherited by the banner spirit Chen Xinan, adding a touch of spirit to his expression.

"From today onward, you are the true Chen Xinan!"

Looking at the respectfully-faced banner spirit Chen Xinan, Lu Yang nodded with satisfaction, then immediately infused the Innate Primordial Unity Qi Divine Talisman into his body.

The divine talisman contained a sliver of his divine sense. Under the talisman's protection, it wouldn't be discovered by Foundation Establishment True Persons, allowing him to monitor the Mending Heaven Peak Master through the banner spirit Chen Xinan, and take over his body when necessary. It could also help the banner spirit Chen Xinan conceal his own karma.

After completing all this, Lu Yang sent him away.

As for the second Ten Thousand Souls Banner, Lu Yang destroyed it and refined it into his own Ten Thousand Souls Banner, using it to expand the banner's internal cave heaven.

Atop Mending Heaven Peak, inside a tea pavilion.

The Mending Heaven Peak Master's mood could hardly be called good at the moment. After all, the Coiling Dragon inheritance he had already considered as good as in his pocket—a cooked duck—had suddenly flown away.

"What a pity. Although that inheritance concerns Jiangxi and cannot be casually learned, I specifically created a Six Paths Phoenix Nirvana Art for Qian'er to cultivate, which could perfectly harvest and supplement her. But now the art is gone, Qian'er has lost a great opportunity, and I don't know when she'll be able to attempt Foundation Establishment."

Thinking of this, the Mending Heaven Peak Master sighed again.

"If only my son were still here."

Chen Xinan, the Mending Heaven Peak Master's biological son and his most prized disciple, had achieved great divine abilities at a young age, only one final step away from perfection.

Given time, if he broke through to Qi Refining Perfection, cultivated Zheng San Pin Mending Heaven true qi, and mastered the great divine ability, and if I then found him a Foundation Establishment rare treasure to assist, he would immediately have a thirty percent chance of attempting Foundation Establishment! And if he was willing to wait for the great Orthodox-Demonic War sixty years from now, that could even increase by another ten percent!

My son Xin'an has the aptitude for Foundation Establishment!

But heaven envied the talented. A treasure-hunting expedition led to his disappearance. No matter how he calculated karma, he couldn't find him, only vaguely sensing that he hadn't completely perished.

"Sigh"

The Mending Heaven Peak Master sighed once more. Suddenly, a fluctuation of karma appeared. He abruptly raised his head and instinctively circulated his divine sense to look at the great web of karma.

"This is. Xin'an's karma!?"

The next second, the Mending Heaven Peak Master suddenly rose. His vast divine sense traced back along the great web of karma, finally landing on a cave dwelling in Mending Heaven Peak.

He saw, inside the empty cave dwelling, a feeble soul floating in the air, nearly dissipated.

Its consciousness was already on the verge of death. It would be no surprise if it scattered the next second. Only a single lingering thought still echoed, struggling like a dying man:

"Father. forgive me."

Boom!

The Mending Heaven Peak Master instantly traversed the void and entered the cave dwelling. His tremendous magic power forcibly held the dissipating soul in place, actually pulling it back together by sheer force!

And behind the master of Butian Peak, the phantom image of a mermaid appeared.

【Red Nü Scales】!

This Earth Fiend belongs to 【Tuntan】, and possesses the wonder of Gui Water.

And though Gui Water is in a death state within 【Tuntan】, 【Tuntan】 secretly conceals Geng Metal, which can revive Gui Water — therefore the imagery within it is "life emerging from death."

The reason the master of Butian Peak in his previous life believed that even if Chen Xinan's soul truly scattered to nothing, as long as it was before his eyes, he had the confidence to gather it back together, was based on the marvel of this Earth Fiend — no matter how fatal the injury, 【Red Nü Scales】 could turn peril into safety.

The higher the Dao cultivation, the stronger the magic power, and the better the effect.

And with the master of Butian Peak's cultivation at mid Foundation Establishment, using 【Red Nü Scales】 on Chen Xinan, a mere Qi Refining soul, bringing him back from the dead would be nothing out of the ordinary!

(End of this chapter)