Chapter 202: The Bewildered Hong Ju

Heaven-Touching Sea of Clouds, Sacred Flame Cliff.

To this very day, very few within the Sacred Sect knew what had actually happened; they only assumed their own True Monarch had gone mad and come out to fight the True Monarch of the Sword Pavilion.

The only ones who truly understood the situation were the Grand True Persons at the peak of Foundation Establishment.

For instance, Hong Ju.

"Puh!!!"

Inside a quiet chamber, Hong Ju suddenly spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, feeling some wondrous essence rooted in his bloodline dissipating at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Impossible!?"

Hong Ju stared blankly at the blood he had spat out. The blood should have been a faint golden color, but now it had turned a glaring crimson.

"The True Monarch... is dead?" Hong Ju's face was blank. He was Daoist Daoist Hong Yun—or rather, when the former Heavenly Fortune Radiant Light True Monarch had still held his position, he had used his own essence blood to enlighten, shape, and ultimately certify Hong Ju as a Grand True Person at the peak of Foundation Establishment. Thus, a wisp of golden essence had always remained within his bloodline.

Yet now, that wisp of golden essence had vanished!

For such a thing to occur, there was only one possibility: the Heavenly Fortune Radiant Light True Monarch, the source of that golden essence—Daoist Daoist Hong Yun—had his soul scattered to the winds!

But how could that be possible?

How difficult was it to kill a True Monarch? With golden essence guarding the soul, even if one fell from one's fruit position, one could escape easily from other True Monarchs through reincarnation.

Unless the two sides were not on the same realm.

But how could that be? As far as he knew, the mid-stage and even late-stage Jin Dan True Monarchs within the Sacred Sect held no enmity whatsoever with his own True Monarch.

Moreover, fellow Daoists were very important to a Jin Dan True Monarch.

Therefore, even when a True Person Chongguang emerged to vie with Daoist Daoist Hong Yun for the fruit position, most of the True Monarchs on all sides merely stood by and watched, rather than intervening directly.

Except for

'Xue Feihong!?'

Hong Ju did not dare speak that name aloud; after all, this was Sacred Flame Cliff, and if he truly uttered it, True Monarch Clear and Flying Snow would surely sense him.

Still, he was certain of his guess—there was only this one possibility. Xue Feihong, that wretched woman! Once merely a junior of the True Monarch, but ever since her last reincarnation and return to the fruit position, her Dao cultivation had advanced by leaps and bounds, and now she had broken through to the mid-stage in mere several hundred years!

Simply inconceivable!

Mid-stage Golden Core, the cave heaven eternally stable—unless a Nascent Soul Dao Lord intervened, the cave heaven would no longer face the peril of falling, and reincarnation followed by return to the fruit position was also greatly accelerated.

It sounded as though it were very simple.

Yet in reality, how many True Monarchs spent thousands, even tens of thousands of years reincarnating without ever breaking through to the mid-stage, still facing the peril of their cave heaven falling?

How could that step be so easy to take?

'That wretched woman! She must have used some filthy trick—'

Hong Ju abruptly cut off the furious roar in his heart.

Because at some unknown moment, his closed-door cultivation chamber had already become dotted with water stains, and yin qi was gradually rising—this was the heavens and earth responding to the grievance and resentment in his heart.

"Urgh!"

The next instant, Hong Ju suddenly vomited out a mouthful of water. The spring water was cool, as if conjured from nothing, churning his five viscera and six bowels into complete disorder.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

Hong Ju coughed while hurriedly circulating his divine ability to sever karma, then took out the Co-Life Fate-Swapping Register and swiftly raised his brush to write:

【I have never harbored a heart of great disrespect!】

Once the characters landed, another wisp of merit and fortune surged into them, finally halting Hong Ju's vomiting of water and the collapse of his Dharma body.

"Can't hate, must smile..."

Mid-stage Jin Dan was already vastly different!

The cave heaven eternally stable, the fruit position's favor, and the connection to the heavens and earth was so tight as to be unbelievable—should mortals think of them unceasingly, there would surely be a response!

Hong Ju let out a bitter laugh.

Of course it was not for Daoist Daoist Hong Yun that he laughed bitterly. As a True Person of the Sacred Sect, the only thing that could make him laugh bitterly and despair was himself.

"I was formed from a single drop of the True Monarch's essence blood; my entire Dao path is completely entrusted to the True Monarch. Even at the peak of Foundation Establishment, there is no possibility of ascending to the position. Now that the True Monarch is dead, my days are numbered too. I'll cling to life for a few more years before my Dharma body collapses and I follow the True Monarch... I don't even have a soul!"

No soul meant no possibility of reincarnation!

If Daoist Daoist Hong Yun were still here, with the golden essence connected, he would have no worry about lifespan at all. But now, at most he could cling to life for another two or three years!

How could he be willing to accept this?

Thinking of this, Hong Ju began calculating with his fingers once more, almost sparking fire at his fingertips, determined to find the true culprit behind Daoist Daoist Hong Yun's fall!

A moment later.

"..."

Hong Ju fell silent.

His sharply chiseled face was written all over with blankness, his hands nearly rubbed raw: "How could this be... no, no, no, no... no, that's not right?"

No matter how he calculated.

Daoist Daoist Hong Yun was killed by me?

He must have calculated wrong!

"The innately evil Chongguang and Yuan Tu must have found a way to obscure the heavenly mechanisms and karma, preventing me from finding the truth. I share an irreconcilable enmity with them!"

Hong Ju lowered his hand, his eyes full of hatred yet helpless. He knew very well that the only reason he had not yet been slapped to death was purely because he still had value to use. After all, he was a Grand True Person at the peak of Foundation Establishment; the True Monarchs of the Sacred Sect wanted him to die on the battlefield.

Almost at the same moment, a streak of flowing light flew into the hall.

Hong Ju looked over with a dejected expression, only to see the spiritual light unfold into a handwritten note with just one line: Aid me in ascending to the position, and I shall grant you a lifetime of glory and wealth.

"... Chongguang?"

Hong Ju was stunned at the sight, then suddenly sat upright: "That's right. If he ascends to the position and takes command of the Covering Lantern Flame, perhaps he could also keep me from dying..."

Thinking of this, Hong Ju immediately felt the world open up before him.

Within Sacred Flame Cliff, in another great hall.

Master Chongguang, a True Person, sat properly at the head seat, while True Person Yinshan stood attentively at his side.

Just then, Master Chongguang suddenly opened both eyes, as if having received some kind of reply; his eyes narrowed slightly, and a trace of satisfaction showed in his gaze.

The current situation was far better than he had anticipated!

With Daoist Hong Yun dead, his greatest trouble had been removed, allowing him to arrange matters more calmly; the hope of Ascending to Seek Gold had multiplied several times over!

Therefore, when divine-light splendor flickered within the great hall and Lü Yang stepped out from it, Master Chongguang immediately let out a great laugh, voluntarily rose from his seat, came over to Lü Yang's side in a friendly manner, and patted his shoulder: "You've worked hard this time, Duanmu Yuan Tu."

"For Uncle-Master's sake, it's not hard work."

Lü Yang shook his head and said solemnly: "Uncle-Master mentioned earlier that there was an important matter to entrust—I wonder what it is? As long as this disciple can do it, I shall not refuse even ten thousand deaths!"

Look at that—what is called loyalty?

So utterly reliable!

Master Chongguang was not in the slightest displeased at being interrupted by Lü Yang; on the contrary, he smiled even more happily: "Since that is so, I won't stand on ceremony with you, Duanmu Yuan Tu."

After speaking, the three of them sat facing one another.

"Come to think of it, I haven't discussed this matter with you before, have I, Duanmu Yuan Tu?" Chongguang's tone was relaxed: "Duanmu Yuan Tu probably doesn't yet know how to Ascend to Seek Gold, do you?"

Lü Yang's heart stirred slightly at these words—finally, the real substance was here!

As for Ascending to Seek Gold, he was actually not entirely ignorant; after all, there was still Ancestor Tingyou within the Ten Thousand Spirits Banner. However, Ancestor Tingyou was, after all, an unorthodox lineage—

Or rather, apart from the four great powers of east, south, west, and north, every other sect was an unorthodox lineage.

The only difference was which was more unorthodox, and which less so.

For example, some sects with long lineages also had True Lords presiding over them; in the eyes of the Holy Sect, such sects could barely be called heterodox side-paths.

But that was all there was to it.

Compared with them, Chongguang, as an orthodox-lineage True Person of the Holy Sect, certainly possessed a more systematic and more precise understanding of the method to Ascend to Seek Gold.

Therefore, Lü Yang immediately sat up straight, cupped his hands, and said: "Please instruct me, Uncle-Master."

(End of this chapter)