Chapter 145: Senior Brother Zhao, This Is the Last Time

"Noisy."

Before Lu Yang's words had even faded, Guangming, who had just been wailing, abruptly cut off his voice and knelt on the ground without daring to raise his head, feeling as though he had fallen into an icy abyss.

Lu Yang, however, was affable in manner, personally reaching out to help him up:

"How have you been getting on in the Pure Land?"

"Thank you for your concern, True Person."

Guangming broke out in a cold sweat, swallowed hard, and said in a trembling voice: "Thanks to the True Person showing mercy and sparing this monk's life, this monk has been getting on fairly well in the Pure Land."

"Oh?" Lu Yang raised an eyebrow: "But have you gained some benefit?"

"No! No!"

Guangming shook his head frantically and hurriedly said: "I only received my master's promotion, taking the seat of chief disciple of 【Crouching Dragon Temple】. Apart from that, nothing else."

"I see." Lu Yang nodded in satisfaction: "Very good, very good."

Then, he finally got to the main point: "To tell you the truth, I have a small matter that needs help. Would you, Daoist friend Guangming, be willing to lend me a hand?"

Of course he was unwilling!

Guangming's heart turned to ice, yet his face showed an eager expression: "Being able to go through fire and water for the True Person is a blessing this monk cultivated over eight lifetimes!"

Hearing this, Lu Yang smiled even more warmly and said amiably: "Don't worry, it's only a small matter. I currently have an excellent talent under my command, named Zhao Xuhe, who, like me, cultivates the Nine-Transform Dragon Art. His realm has long since reached Perfect Qi Refining, and he is currently plotting to break through to Foundation Establishment."

"When the time comes, I will personally step in to cover for him."

Lu Yang said it casually, but Guangming listened in terror and hurriedly slapped his chest: "Please rest assured, esteemed cultivator. This monk will definitely keep his lips sealed on this matter!"

"Keep my lips sealed?"

Lu Yang shook his head and smiled: "Do I need you to keep your lips sealed? Wouldn't it be more convenient to just kill you? What I want is for you to tell this matter to Crouching Dragon!"

"Ah?"

Guangming gaped, even more bewildered.

Lu Yang, however, paid it no heed and continued: "This isn't even asking you to betray him. You could say it would even help you earn merit, so you need not be too wary."

Though the words were so said, Guangming caught on.

'No good!'

'This is probably a trap! Deliberately using a cultivator who practices the Nine-Transform Dragon Art breaking through to Foundation Establishment to lure out my master. Does this demon want to harm my master?'

For a moment, Guangming could not help but swallow hard.

He is currently the chief disciple of 【Crouching Dragon Temple】, with Crouching Dragon Luo Han above him, leaving no room for advancement. But if Crouching Dragon Luo Han were to die, that would be a different story.

Thinking of this, Guangming immediately lowered his voice and said hoarsely:

"But-but that is my master!"

"The master who led me onto the Dao, whom I regard as a father."

Facing Guangming's wailing, Lu Yang nodded understandingly: "Don't worry, I have a handle on this matter. I guarantee that this time, he will die without a whole corpse."

"It's a deal!"

Guangming agreed decisively, and only then did Lu Yang drift away.

And after Lu Yang departed, Guangming instead slumped on the ground, drenched in cold sweat, while at the same time, with trembling hands, took out a stick of Awakening Incense from his bosom.

Snap!

The Awakening Incense was lit. Under the curling incense smoke, Guangming's expression gradually regained its steadiness. Just like that, he did not know how long had passed before he suddenly opened his eyes.

Only this opening of eyes was vastly different.

"Heh heh."

Guangming's appearance had not changed, yet his brow was relaxed, his gaze sharp, and the aura he gave off had undergone an earth-shattering transformation.

"In the end, just an ignorant youngster, ignorant of my Pure Land's wondrous methods."

"Of all the four corners of the world, those least afraid of being turned are probably the Buddhist cultivators of my Pure Land. After all, when one has cultivated oneself into 【I】, how could 【I】 ever betray 【myself】?"

He had specifically brought Guangming along this time precisely to serve as bait!

"Zhao Xuhe wants to lure me out and set an ambush to kill me, doesn't he? In that case, I'll turn his scheme against him and let him fail to steal the chicken while losing the rice!"

Thinking of this, Crouching Dragon Luo Han felt Guangming's body again, a cold glint flashing in his eyes: "Though somewhat sharp-witted, he's cowardly and truly was thinking of betraying me. Well then, I'll keep him around for now to fool that Lu Yang, lest he notice something is off. Once the deed is done, I'll get rid of him."

The next moment, Crouching Dragon Luo Han withdrew his consciousness.

After another moment, Guangming opened his eyes with a bewildered look, but paid no heed to anything else, instead looking first at the Awakening Incense placed beside him.

In an instant, Guangming could barely suppress the chattering of his teeth.

'He has been here!'

This stick of Awakening Incense was specially made by him, hiding subtle wonders. The incense smoke and his spiritual sense resonated, leaving an obvious trace in his heart.

This kind of trace was extremely fragile; once disturbed by an external spiritual sense, it would immediately be smoothed away.

Yet now, the trace was gone!

'No doubt, master must have been here. It's just that I don't remember, don't know, and can't sense it... He already knows Lu Yang sought me out!'

Guangming exhaled deeply, and only after a long while did he regain his composure.

'Knowing... is also good!'

'At least this way, I'm still useful to master, and he won't kill me in the short term. And I'm also useful to Lu Yang, so presumably he won't kill me either...'

Thinking of this, Guangming suddenly felt a deep sense of powerlessness.

At the very moment Lu Yang sought him out, the reason Guangming wailed was because he had discovered that he had become a chess piece manipulated at will by two True Persons.

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

If he didn't side with him, Lu Yang would also kill him.

'As things stand now, on the surface I've sided with Lu Yang, but in secret I'm master's puppet. Yet that conversation of mine just now actually also hinted at it to Lu Yang...'

He had said: But that is his master!

As a master, how could I lack the means to control my disciple? As long as Lu Yang can hear the subtext in my words, he will understand my true attitude.

Only then can neither side be offended, and perhaps there will be a way to survive.

At this moment, Lu Yang had already cast Guang Ming to the nine heavens.

For regardless of what thoughts Guang Ming might have, they were unimportant and meaningless to him; all he wanted was to use Guang Ming's mouth to convey intelligence to Zhao Xuhe.

Immediately after, he concealed his form and arrived at a quiet chamber within the Skull Mountain market.

He pushed open the door and strode inside.

Inside the quiet chamber, Zhao Xuhe was in seclusion cultivating, yet knew nothing of Lu Yang's arrival; seeing this, Lu Yang extended a single finger and pressed it against Zhao Xuhe's brow.

"Apologies, Senior Brother Zhao, this is the last time."

As the words fell, a streak of yellow light merged into Zhao Xuhe's body; Zhao Xuhe immediately felt his spirit relaxed and his mind at ease, as if resonating with the entire Skull Mountain.

Seeing this, Lu Yang smiled in satisfaction.

Just now, he had personally handed over the most important inheritance of the Wraith Ghost Dao—the control over the eight-hundred-li Skull Mountain earth veins—to Zhao Xuhe without reservation!

The next second, a shimmer of brilliance rose from Lu Yang's fingertip.

【Resolve Suspicion】!

The great net of cause and effect was plucked; an invisible thought fell into Zhao Xuhe's sea of consciousness, its content very simple: whoever blocks his Foundation Establishment, he will fight them to the death.

Willing to perish together in a blaze of jade and stone!

Under the influence of 【Resolve Suspicion】, once Zhao Xuhe is obstructed in his Foundation Establishment and has no retreat, he will decisively unleash the most powerful means in his arsenal.

—Detonate the earth veins!

In an instant, Lu Yang felt a strong sense of crisis. The heavens and earth had generated a response, and in some obscure way, were issuing a warning to him.

If Zhao Xuhe truly detonated the earth veins, Lu Yang would inevitably suffer the entanglement of cause and effect.

Thinking of this, the brilliance at Lu Yang's fingertip suddenly shifted.

【Differentiate Similarity】!

His innate divine technique activated; Lu Yang instantly severed his connection with the sacred Skull Mountain earth veins, never again to沾染 even a shred of their cause and effect, leaving all karmic ties entirely to Zhao Xuhe.

What Zhao Xuhe does, what does it have to do with me?

The radiance of the divine technique, like armor, enveloped Lu Yang and also washed away the cause and effect; soon, that feeling of "being specifically targeted by the heavens and earth" vanished.

Only then did Lu Yang smile in satisfaction, withdraw his finger, and look at Zhao Xuhe, who was still meditating with eyes closed.

Senior Brother Zhao, go in peace.

In the next life, I will surely treat you well!

(End of this chapter)