Chapter 157: Flip the Table, Kill Wu Cang!

For some reason, Wu Cang suddenly felt a chill.

It was as if a basin of cold water had been splashed directly onto his heart, dispelling all his agitation and causing his originally dust-covered spiritual platform to faintly emit a spark of clarity:

"Eh? Why did I come here?"

At this moment, the spiritual sense of a Foundation Establishment True Person screamed warnings frantically, causing Wu Cang to subconsciously scan his surroundings; could it be that his nighttime robbery attempt had been discovered?

Even at this moment, Wu Cang had not realized the threat posed by Lu Yang, still believing his tracks had been found by someone else; while this was partly due to Lu Yang using 【Embrace and Guard Mountain】 to conceal his karmic aura, making him hard to detect, was it not also because Wu Cang himself had been influenced in his fortune?

'This should serve as a warning.'

Lu Yang took in all of this silently, murmuring to himself in his heart; the ability to learn from lessons was especially crucial to how he had stepped his way to where he was today.

For instance, he had long since made up his mind to give Shi cultivators a wide berth from now on.

The reason was simple: Shi cultivators were too shameless.

Every single one of them was a "self" of a World Honored One; at the slightest disagreement, a Dao Lord would possess their bodies, which was just like a max-level Demon King blocking the entrance of the newbie village and slaughtering everyone!

It was simply insane.

If not for the high status of the 【Book of Hundred Lives】, which even Dao Lords could only vaguely sense without being able to truly influence, he would have likely died ten thousand times over already.

However, combining the experience from his previous lives, Lu Yang quickly summarized a method to avoid the gaze of the World Honored Ones: since the previous life was not the first time he had self-detonated before Shi cultivators to activate the Book of Hundred Lives, in the life before that, when he self-detonated the earth veins to harm Arhat Fu Long, he had also used the Book of Hundred Lives!

But why did the life before that not attract a World Honored One?

"... ecause of Heavenly Punishment!"

After much thought, Lu Yang felt this was the only possibility, for under Heavenly Punishment, all the merit and fortune on Arhat Fu Long's body had been directly zeroed out.

Therefore, the World Honored One did not descend and did not notice.

From this, it could be seen that that bizarre possession method was likely realized through merit and fortune; this was the flaw in how the World Honored Ones manipulated Shi cultivators.

And where there is a flaw, there is a solution.

"If I can thoroughly figure out the secrets within and devise a way to avoid the World Honored Ones influencing my consciousness, then perhaps visiting the Pure Land in the future isn't out of the question..."

Unfortunately, this was merely a beautiful fantasy for the future, currently still no end in sight.

Retracting his thoughts, Lu Yang looked at Wu Cang once more.

He saw that Wu Cang had already revealed an expression of impatience; although he vaguely sensed something was wrong in his heart, his immediate thought was not to flee.

Instead, it was to end the fight quickly.

"Since Fellow Daoist refuses to be reasonable, do not blame me!"

As soon as the words fell, a towering tree, reaching from heaven to earth with intertwined and knotted branches, suddenly rose above the dome of the sky; it was clearly the manifestation of Wu Cang's Dao Foundation.

Within the canopy, a crimson fruit instantly grew.

Seeing this, a confident smile appeared on Wu Cang's face.

This "Fire Within Wood" was the most profound and powerful of his innate divine abilities; combined with his innate talent 【Not Running South】, burning the Dharma Body was unstoppable.

However, the next second, his eyes widened in shock.

He saw that facing the "Fire Within Wood" he had cast, Lu Yang remained unhurried, as a dark light rose behind him and brushed straight against Wu Cang's Dao Foundation.

Whoosh—whoosh!

The next second, the fierce fire Wu Cang had just ignited was like a candle lamp beneath a mad wind; in the blink of an eye, it was blown out with a crash, and all divine abilities ceased abruptly!

【Embrace and Guard Mountain】!

Having prior experience fighting Wu Cang, how could Lu Yang give the other party room to maneuver again? He immediately slammed his newly refined innate divine ability over.

The effect was extremely remarkable; within the Foundation Establishment realm, Wu Cang's 【Coiling Dragon Divine Wood Dao Foundation】 shook violently, yet a towering mountain shadow appeared above his head, illusory and intangible, hard to touch, yet paradoxically generating real and substantial suppressing power, forcibly extinguishing his Fire Within Wood!

"... mpossible!"

Wu Cang instantly cried out in shock, feeling as if Mount Tai were pressing down before his eyes; to break free, he would need either his own profound divine abilities or immense magic power.

But he possessed neither of these.

In the flash of lightning and spark of flint, Wu Cang finally regained complete clarity and immediately turned to flee, only to see a colorful divine ability envelop the surroundings.

【Distinguish Kinship】!

This profound ability could teleport oneself or teleport enemies; if Wu Cang's "Fire Within Wood" had not been suppressed, he could have relied on the divine fire to break through its influence, but now that the "Fire Within Wood" was suppressed, eighty percent of his capabilities were instantly gone, leaving him utterly helpless against Lu Yang's teleportation!

At the same time, Lu Yang held a gourd in his hand.

【Three-Nine Soul-Consuming Gourd】!

Lu Yang pulled out the stopper, then circulated his magic power to operate it, giving the gourd a gentle shake, instantly shaking out a patch of hazy, chaotic smoke from within.

Soul-Consuming, Spirit-Scattering, God-Seizing Smoke!

This smoke was certainly powerful, but extremely difficult to hit, originally making it a very impractical combat technique, yet now in Lu Yang's hands, it produced a miraculous effect.

The next second, the colorful divine ability flashed.

Wu Cang, suspended in mid-air, found it impossible to dodge and could only watch helplessly as he vanished from his original spot, reappearing only after Lu Yang had tossed him into the hazy smoke.

"You...! If you have the guts, fight me head-on!"

Wu Cang's resentful cry emerged from the smoke, for even at this stage, Lu Yang still showed no intention of engaging him in a direct, head-on battle.

He started with strong control, giving him no chance to turn the tables.

However, very soon, Wu Cang's voice gradually grew lower; the Soul-Consuming, Spirit-Scattering, God-Seizing Smoke took effect, causing his consciousness to become increasingly groggy.

Yet he also understood that once he truly fainted, there might never be a day he woke up again, so instead he became exceptionally decisive; a scarlet light flashed in his eyes, and three brilliant beams of spiritual light appeared in his hand, clearly three lower-grade magic treasures of decent quality.

"... xplode!"

As a rogue cultivator by origin, Wu Cang might not have been cunning or deceitful enough, but to have established a foothold in the Holy Sect, there was at least one thing he did not lack.

He was ruthless!

In an instant, the three magic treasures detonated in Wu Cang's hands; the shockwave of the explosion instantly tore through the God-Seizing Smoke, blasting open a path to life for him.

Boom-boom-boom!

Riding the spiritual tide stirred up by the explosion, Wu Cang's form moved like lightning; he launched a beam of escape light, intending to flee Senior Butian Peak, from now on soaring freely through the high skies and vast seas.

The power of the magic treasure explosion also tore open the array concealing Senior Butian Peak; amidst the violent surge of spiritual energy, many True Persons within the Holy Sect had already turned their gazes over.

These were all Wu Cang's protective talismans.

After all, no matter how ferocious this Lu Yang was, he wouldn't dare kill me in front of so many people, would he?

Little did he know that every one of his actions was seen clearly by Lu Yang, whose Brow Heaven Instrument was already operating, having calculated long ago that he would react in such a manner.

"Embrace the One and guard the Center, able to distinguish sameness and difference."

Suddenly, a Daoist shout rang out beside Wu Cang's ear, carrying a grimness that nearly made his scalp explode, and then the churning spiritual tide suddenly froze!

In the blink of an eye, where was there any vast sea or open sky? He had previously been intent on fleeing outside Senior Butian Peak, seeing only blue sky and bright sun before his eyes, but in that blink, the original blue sky and bright sun had turned into black mountain walls; yet his escape light had already risen, and for a moment he simply could not stop—

"Bang!"

Accompanied by a loud crash, right under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Wu Cang smashed headfirst into the materialized 【Embrace and Guard Mountain】, instantly shattering his body into pieces!

From within the shattered Dharma Body, a soul floated out gracefully.

"Bastard..."

Wu Cang was so furious that his soul trembled; just as he was about to speak, Lu Yang grabbed him.

"Senior Wu Cang, isn't it just that you lost one round of combat to me? Why be so rash as to seek death? This junior will immediately protect your soul."

Before the words were even finished, Lu Yang fiercely stuffed him into the Myriad Souls Banner.

Only after doing all this did Lu Yang turn to look at the crowd, who were staring straight at him with expressions ranging from shock to horror, and offered a kind smile:

"Everyone, please do not misunderstand; you all saw it clearly—Senior Wu Cang momentarily lost his mind, sought his own demise, and actively crashed to his death upon my divine ability."

(End of Chapter)