Chapter 103

As for Zhao Xuhe, Lu Yang was still very reassured.

"Senior Brother Zhao has accumulated merit across three lifetimes and possesses ample fortune; even without my help previously, he once attempted to break through to Foundation Establishment, so with my assistance now, his chances of success should be even higher."

It was merely a matter of time.

Lu Yang withdrew his gaze, turned, and returned to his cave dwelling, then summoned the Dharma Protector Goddess Su Nu and began re-cultivating the Corpse Liberation Method and the Heavenly Silkworm Secret Art at the Foundation Establishment level.

Thus, time flowed until a moonless, windy night ten days later.

"Junior Brother Lu, are you there?"

Liu Xin had arrived at the door.

Lu Yang responded by opening the cave dwelling, flashing a wide grin at Liu Xin: "You're here; I've been waiting for you for quite some time, Senior Brother. Thank you for making the long journey to deliver this in the dead of night."

Liu Xin froze: "Deliver what?"

Having done this in the life before last, Lu Yang's movements were exceedingly familiar; before Liu Xin's voice had even faded, he directly extended a massive hand of true qi.

Liu Xin, originally brimming with confidence and preparing to refine this newly entered disciple to break through to the Late Stage of Qi Condensation, had not even had time to react before Lu Yang's true qi hand seized him, instantly refining him into flying ash, leaving only a Myriad Souls Banner to clatter to the ground.

Witnessing this scene, Lu Yang felt somewhat sighful.

To this day, Senior Brother Liu, whom he had once resented yet could do nothing about, had become a stable source of supplies who appeared in nearly every one of his lifetimes.

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

"Speaking of obscuring karma, I almost forgot... the Old Ancestor of the Yun family, that Foundation Establishment cultivator who reincarnated, seems to possess an even more powerful Heavenly Mechanism treasure!"

In the previous life, he had departed too early and never waited for it.

This life was different; Lu Yang planned to replicate the cultivation path of the life before last, carefully crafting an image within the Holy Sect of a disciple who was upright in appearance but pitch-black at heart.

"Old Ancestor Yun traveling to the Dharma Refining Secret Realm cannot be solely targeted at me; eight out of ten times, he has designs on the Secret Realm itself. That Heavenly Mechanism treasure of his can deceive even Golden Core True Persons; if I enter ahead of time to lie in ambush and obtain this treasure, it will surely benefit my future cultivation greatly!"

Moreover, he had not forgotten.

Back then, when Old Ancestor Yun plotted against him in the Secret Realm, had he not been one step smarter, not only would his cultivation have come to naught, but he himself would have perished inside.

If this grudge is not avenged, his Dao Heart will remain unstable!

Thinking thus, Lu Yang silently drew a circle around Old Ancestor Yun in the little notebook of grudges in his heart, listing him as one of the key targets for this lifetime.

Inside the cave dwelling, Lu Yang sat cross-legged on a rush mat.

Before him lay Liu Xin's Myriad Souls Banner, pure white in color, looking worlds apart from the banner in Lu Yang's dantian, which was so black it appeared purple.

The next second, Lu Yang mobilized his magic power.

Liu Xin's Myriad Souls Banner swayed slightly, and Chen Chen Xinan immediately stepped out from within it; he first glanced around, then looked at Lu Yang with full astonishment.

Immediately after, Lu Yang mobilized his own Myriad Souls Banner, and soon, the Banner Spirit Chen Chen Xinan also emerged from it, staring face-to-face with the original Chen Chen Xinan in mutual bewilderment.

"Who are you!"

"Are you me?"

Both individuals spoke almost simultaneously, the difference being that the original Chen Chen Xinan was far more shocked, while the Banner Spirit Chen Chen Xinan seemed more like he was imitating the former.

Since he intended for the Banner Spirit Chen Chen Xinan to carry out an undercover mission, Lu Yang naturally had to ensure his loyalty; therefore, he subjected the Banner Spirit Chen Chen Xinan to additional refinement, leaving numerous prohibitions just as he had with Su Nu, ensuring the other could not betray him and could be turned to ash with a mere thought.

"Act."

The next second, Lu Yang waved his hand, and the Banner Spirit Chen Chen Xinan immediately accepted the order, showing no mercy whatsoever, directly pointing a finger to pierce through the original's soul.

Until the moment of death, the original Chen Chen Xinan remained in a state of bewilderment.

Who killed me?

And whom did I kill?

Burdened by heavy doubts, his soul suddenly scattered, while the karma was inherited by the Banner Spirit Chen Chen Xinan, adding a touch of vitality to his expression.

"From now on, you are the true Chen Chen Xinan!"

Looking at the respectfully bowing Banner Spirit Chen Chen Xinan, Lu Yang nodded in satisfaction, then immediately struck the Innate Primordial Unity Divine Talisman into the other's body.

The divine talisman contained a strand of his spiritual sense; under its protection, he would not be discovered by Foundation Establishment True Persons, allowing him to monitor the Peak Master Senior Butian through the Banner Spirit Chen Chen Xinan and take over his body when necessary, while also helping the Banner Spirit Chen Chen Xinan conceal his own karma.

Only after accomplishing all this did Lu Yang send him away.

As for the second Myriad Souls Banner, Lu Yang destroyed it and refined it into his own Myriad Souls Banner, thereby expanding the cave heaven within the banner.

At the summit of Senior Butian Peak, inside a tea pavilion.

Peak Master Senior Butian's mood was hardly pleasant, as the Coiled Dragon inheritance, which he had already considered as good as his, had suddenly flown away like a cooked duck.

"What a pity; although that inheritance concerns the Jiangxi region and cannot be learned lightly, I specifically created a Six Paths Nirvana Phoenix Art for Qian'er to cultivate, which could perfectly allow her to harvest and supplement from it. Now that the technique is gone, Qian'er has lost a great opportunity, and who knows when she will be able to attempt breaking through to Foundation Establishment..."

Thinking of this, Peak Master Senior Butian sighed again.

"If only my son were still here..."

Chen Chen Xinan, Peak Master Senior Butian's biological son and also his most prized disciple, had managed to refine a great divine ability at a young age, lacking only the final step to perfection.

Given time, once he broke through to the Perfection of Qi Condensation, refined Third Grade Senior Butian True Qi, and completed the great divine ability, if he then found a rare Foundation Establishment treasure to assist him, he would immediately have a thirty percent chance of attempting Foundation Establishment! Moreover, if he were willing to wait for the great battle between the Righteous and Demonic paths sixty years later, that chance could even increase by another ten percent!

My son Chen Xinan possesses the aptitude for Foundation Establishment!

Alas, heaven envies genius; a single treasure hunt caused him to vanish, and no matter how he calculated the karma, he could find no trace, only vaguely sensing that he had not yet completely perished.

"Sigh."

Peak Master Senior Butian sighed once more, when suddenly, a fluctuation of karma appeared; he abruptly raised his head, instinctively circulating his spiritual sense to look toward the great web of karma.

"This is... Chen Xinan's karma!?"

The next second, Peak Master Senior Butian surged to his feet, his vast spiritual sense tracing the source along the great web of karma, finally settling upon a cave dwelling on Senior Butian Peak.

There, within the empty cave dwelling, a weak soul floated in mid-air, nearly dissipated.

His consciousness was nearing its end; it would not be strange if his soul scattered the very next second, yet a lingering thought still echoed like a dying struggle:

"Father... forgive me..."

Boom!

Peak Master Senior Butian instantly traversed the void, entering the cave dwelling, where his surging magic power forcibly stabilized the dissipating soul, actually gathering it back together by sheer force!

Behind Peak Master Senior Butian, the phantom of a mermaid tail appeared.

【Red Fish Scales】!

This Earthly Sha belonged to 【Tun Tan】, possessing the wonder of Gui Water.

Although Gui Water is in a state of death within 【Tun Tan】, 【Tun Tan】 hides Geng Metal within it, which can regenerate Gui Water; thus, the imagery therein is "finding life amidst death."

The reason Peak Master Senior Butian in the previous life believed that even if Chen Chen Xinan's soul had truly scattered, he could still gather it back as long as it was before his eyes, was based on the wonder of this Earthly Sha; no matter how fatal the injury, 【Red Fish Scales】 could turn danger into safety.

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

With Peak Master Senior Butian's cultivation at the Mid Stage of Foundation Establishment, using 【Red Fish Scales】 on Chen Chen Xinan, a mere Qi Condensation soul, bringing the dead back to life was nothing difficult!

(End of Chapter)