Chapter 201: Grotto-Heaven Collapses, Fruit Seat Hangs Empty!

At this moment, not only did Lu Yang sense it, but common mortals, Qi Refining cultivators, and even Foundation Establishment True Persons across the entire world felt a resonance and looked up at the sky canopy above their heads.

Immediately, a wave of sorrow suddenly surged into the hearts of everyone.

Common mortals could hardly control themselves from wailing in tears, Qi Refining cultivators also could not help but shed tears, while only Foundation Establishment True Persons merely felt their eyes grow sore and astringent.

Immediately, the entire sky canopy turned a blood-red hue; rain poured down with a roar, each drop crystal clear; before hitting the ground they were torrential rain, but after landing they transformed into rolling red jade, merging into the earth veins, merging into the Qi, and merging into all things of this world.

The heavens and earth wept blood, and all things mourned together!

Seeing this, Ancestor Tingyou could not help but sigh: "A Jin Dan True Lord has fallen, the Fruit Seat responds, and even the heavens and earth feel sorrow over the True Lord's demise."

However, Lu Yang on the other side did not think so.

"That's not right."

As a True Person of the Holy Sect, he had never been stingy about considering things from the worst possible angle.

Lu Yang looked around; after the blood rain fell and merged into the heavens and earth, it not only caused no harm to the world at all, but was actually of great benefit.

In other words, this blood rain following the Jin Dan True Lord's fall was actually a good thing for the heavens and earth.

Did the heavens and earth really weep because of the Jin Dan True Lord's death?

Could it be that they are faking it?

Although he said so, Lu Yang dared not voice this speculation of his, after all, what if he incurred Heavenly Punishment? One must remember that misfortune comes from the mouth.

Just then, another loud boom resounded; this time it was not in the mortal realm, common mortals and Qi Refining cultivators felt nothing, only Foundation Establishment True Persons could perceive it; Lu Yang immediately retreated into the Foundation Establishment realm, looked up, and saw that a vast area within the Foundation Establishment realm was collapsing on a massive scale!

"What is this?"

The sky is collapsing!

Lu Yang stared in shock at the area undergoing collapse, only then realizing it was not the Foundation Establishment realm itself collapsing, but the area above the Foundation Establishment realm that was collapsing.

The environment of the Foundation Establishment realm is extremely peculiar.

It is clearly divided into upper and lower sections; below is like a sea of dim darkness where the 【Bi Wind】 never disperses all year round, while above is lofty and ethereal, with no end visible at a single glance.

However, now, the collapsing area has revealed an "end."

At that very end, thousands of brilliant colors wrapped in surging auspicious Qi were falling bit by bit toward the Foundation Establishment realm, giving Lu Yang an extremely familiar sensation.

It was simply like—

"Sky Collapse?"

Beside him, Ancestor Tingyou also formed the same doubt, which suddenly enlightened Lu Yang: "Exactly! It is Sky Collapse! This feeling is exactly the same as Sky Collapse!"

Sky Collapse was a technique he had learned from Ancestor Tingyou back when he was still in the Qi Refining stage; one ascends to the Foundation Establishment realm, then deliberately falls, thereby unleashing terrifying destructive power. And now, the thousands of brilliant colors falling from the sky felt exactly the same as during Sky Collapse!

Something is falling!

Lu Yang gazed into the distance, seeing from within those thousands of brilliant colors jade towers and palaces, mountains, rivers, sun, and moon, yet also vast mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

This scene reminded him of the small worlds plucked off by the various True Lords during the War for the Dao.

"What exactly is that?" Lu Yang could not help but murmur softly.

The next second, a response echoed in his ear:

"That is a Grotto-Heaven."

The speaker spoke with rising and falling tones: "The 【Cheng Tian Zheng De True Lord】 has fallen, his soul enters the cycle of reincarnation, the 【Yu Que Bao Gui Grotto-Heaven】 has fallen, and the Fruit Seat is left hanging in emptiness."

At this moment, Lu Yang felt his hands and feet turn ice cold.

However, after clearly hearing the speaker's voice, his tense body suddenly relaxed; he turned back helplessly: "Is Uncle doing this on purpose?"

"Hahaha." Master Chongguang let out a loud laugh: "Scared?"

"No."

Lu Yang stubbornly kept his mouth shut, then turned his gaze back to the gradually crumbling thousands of brilliant colors and sighed: "So, that Yushu Jiange True Lord has already fallen?"

"How could it be that easy?"

Master Chongguang shook his head: "A Jin Dan True Lord refines the Golden Nature to ascend to the Blessed Land, transforms into a Grotto-Heaven to attain the Righteous Fruit; the falling of the Grotto-Heaven is merely the first step of the fall."

"Just like that Hong Yun, when the Grotto-Heaven falls, a wisp of Golden Nature protects the reincarnation; although the soul does not die and will never be affected by the mystery within the womb, it also loses the True Lord's mighty power, unable to immediately return to the Fruit Seat after reincarnation, but must instead waste time, slowly waiting for the opportunity to return to its position."

"Of course, he was not going to live much longer in this life anyway."

Hearing this, Lu Yang felt somewhat emotional: "Does this mean he did not want to die in bed, so he actively walked out of the Yushu Jiange and chose to fight Fei Xue True Lord to the death?"

"Is that what you think?"

Hearing this, Master Chongguang could not help but glance at Lu Yang with a strange expression: "It seems your understanding of that group of sword-wielding madmen in the South is still not very clear."

"Ultimately, he is seeking karmic cause and effect."

Speaking to this point, Master Chongguang also glanced at Ancestor Tingyou beside him and said: "After all, the talent of this 【Cheng Tian Zheng De True Lord】 was not particularly good."

"A thousand years have passed, and he is still in the early stage of Jin Dan."

"In this case, even if he did not engage in magical combat and chose to turtle up, after death he would still be unable to sustain the 【Yu Que Bao Gui Grotto-Heaven】; the result would be no different."

"So he actively went out to fight, wanting to rely on shattering his own Grotto-Heaven and sacrificing himself to severely injure Fei Xue True Lord, thereby exchanging a karmic debt with the various True Lords of the Yushu Jiange, so that other True Lords could later guide him back and give him a chance to return to the Fruit Seat—I estimate this is his true intention!"

Master Chongguang's evaluation was utterly unkind.

"The Jiangnan region emphasizes karmic cause and effect; nine out of ten disciples are reincarnations; just wait, within a few years the Yushu Jiange will produce an unparalleled genius."

Just then, a bell-like laugh suddenly rang out:

"Relying on him, he dares to think he can injure me?"

As the words fell, Lu Yang subconsciously turned his head, and his eyes immediately took in a pair of autumn-water-like pupils, with traces of blood-red still lingering within the irises.

"Relying on self-detonating his Grotto-Heaven to escape with his life from my hands, taking a wisp of Golden Nature and his soul into reincarnation; before leaving, I even bit off one-third of his Golden Nature; he won't be able to reincarnate for another thirty to fifty years. Indeed, the Golden Nature of an incumbent True Lord tastes the best!"

Having finished speaking, the newcomer even stuck out her tongue, licked her lips, with an expression of lingering savoring on her face.

Qing Cheng Fei Xue True Lord!

This True Lord, whom outsiders call "the Madwoman," when she restrains her initial arrogant demeanor, appears to be a quiet and refined young lady from a noble family.

"True Lord, these are the various precious materials this disciple has gathered for you."

Lu Yang hesitated not a whit, directly handing over the pile of spiritual treasures he had just looted from a corpse, including the 【Imperial Mansion Golden Script of the True Decree of Doulu】.

"Heh."

Seeing this, True Person Qingcheng Feixue immediately covered her mouth and chuckled lightly, then waved her hand cheerfully: "Keep them yourself; in the future, there is no need to ask my permission for such trivial matters."

"This time, I will accept all karmic debts on your behalf; whether it be the Pure Land or the Dao Court, as long as I do not express an opinion, they should not trouble you before you reach the late stage of Foundation Establishment."

"Thank you, True Person!"

Only then did Lu Yang put away his storage bag; while feeling a sense of relief in his heart, he did not take True Person Qingcheng Feixue's polite words seriously. This time, he had voluntarily surrendered them, so she spoke thus to show magnanimity, but had he not surrendered them, she would likely have adopted a completely different attitude.

After all, she could choose not to accept the items, but he could not choose not to offer them!

If the items were offered, she could bestow them back; if the items were not offered, it would be a matter of principle regarding absolute loyalty, and the iron fist of the Holy Sect would come down.

Immediately after, True Person Qingcheng Feixue turned around and looked at True Person Chongguang:

"Chongguang, Daoist Hong Yun has been killed by me."

"He did not expect that I had broken through to the mid-stage of the Golden Core, and without the protection of a Grotto-Heaven, a single point of Golden Nature is no longer enough for him to escape through reincarnation in my hands."

"Everything is ready; prepare to ascend the throne."

Having spoken, True Person Qingcheng Feixue vanished from the spot.

On the other side, the usually steady face of True Person Chongguang finally revealed a trace of indescribable excitement; he immediately turned his head to look at Lu Yang:

"Yuan Tu, return swiftly to the Cloud Sea and meet me at the Holy Fire Cliff together with Yinshan."

"I have a great matter to entrust to you."

(End of this chapter)