Chapter 25: A Soul-Shaking Turn of Fortune

The explosive treasure-light surged like a towering wave, instantly tearing through the array laid down by Qingchen Fairy, then swallowed Lü Yang, Liu Xin, and Chen Xinan whole.

Liu Xin was the first to scream. To deal with Lü Yang, he had summoned banner spirits one after another, and finally calling forth Chen Xinan had drained the greater part of his true qi. At this moment he had no strength left to withstand the blast; his body was instantly set ablaze, then turned to ash, and the Myriad Spirits Banner in his hand dropped weakly through the air.

"Worthy of being a disciple of my Holy Sect."

The moment Liu Xin died, although Chen Xinan still had some strength to hold on, he could no longer maintain his own existence. He could only heave a long sigh, then drift apart on the wind.

As for Lü Yang, he was swallowed outright by the treasure-light and dissolved into nothingness.

After quite a while like this, the roiling treasure-light gradually subsided, revealing the figure of Xiao Shiye, his face alight with intense wild joy.

"I won!"

Xiao Shiye laughed in excitement. After all, though detonating a spirit treasure was his trump card, using it actually came with many restrictions and was very easy for an opponent to dodge.

To kill an enemy with this move, first one had to restrict the terrain to guarantee a hit.

Second, the blast's power couldn't be focused—its range was wide but too scattered, so the enemy had to be worn down to a certain degree before a one-shot kill could be assured.

And finally, a spirit treasure had its own self-awareness and might refuse to cooperate with self-detonation.

"Lucky for me, fortune is still on my side!"

Xiao Shiye felt that ever since joining the Initial Saint Sect, he had been as if his luck had turned around—whatever he wanted, he got; whatever he did, it was as if the gods were helping him.

Speculating on Substitute Death Yin Puppets, his luck was so good he sold at the peak, raking in several hundred thousand contribution points.

He casually took a trip to the mortal world and effortlessly picked up a dharma treasure left behind by some predecessor.

Being hunted, he just happened to run into Lü Yang, a perfect human shield.

No matter what crisis he ran into, the result was always the same: he weathered the danger, and through a series of coincidences, walked away unscathed with the lion's share of the spoils.

"What a fine Myriad Spirits Banner—from now on it's mine!"

Xiao Shiye was just about to step forward and take the treasure, but at almost the same instant, a figure wreathed in blood-light appeared at his side and reached out to grab the banner as well.

Seeing this, Xiao Shiye froze for a beat, then began trembling all over.

"What, Brother Xiao also wants this dharma treasure?"

The blood-shadow rippled, then slowly revealed Lü Yang's face. He turned toward Xiao Shiye and grinned, scaring him into a violent shudder.

Are you man or ghost?

Xiao Shiye's face went deathly pale. Looking at the Blood-Transforming Divine Light swirling around Lü Yang, the images of all those he had previously drained into mummified husks flashed rapidly through his mind.

The next second, he hurriedly released his grip on the Myriad Spirits Banner and bowed respectfully.

"Congratulations, Senior Brother. This junior brother was merely keeping the Myriad Spirits Banner safe for you—now it is returned to its rightful owner!"

"How thoughtful of you."

Lü Yang took the "Innate One-Qi Myriad Spirits Banner" with a smile, examined it for a moment, then channeled magic power into it, and from within poured out two storage pouches.

These were Liu Xin's and Qingchen Fairy's storage pouches.

Opening the storage pouches, a copy of the "Innate Dao Scripture" was clearly visible, alongside a "Secret Explanations of Arrays and Treasures"—clearly belonging to the Fairy Qingchen.

"All good stuff."

Lü Yang sighed with feeling, committing the contents of both dao scriptures firmly to memory, then looked toward Xiao Shiye, who was stepping back bit by bit, trying to put distance between them.

To be fair, Xiao Shiye's killing move had indeed been unexpected.

A spirit treasure self-detonation—even a peak Qi Refining cultivator could be blown to death by it. In theory this was an absolute kill, yet Lü Yang was the exception among exceptions.

Because he had cultivated the Heavenly Demon Blood-Transforming Divine Light.

Having become a blood-shadow, he now possessed only a human shape—form without substance. His true spirit was wholly anchored in the sword pellet; as long as the sword pellet wasn't destroyed, he wouldn't die.

And facing Xiao Shiye's spirit treasure self-detonation, the sword pellet forged from Jin Jing marrow was far sturdier than a mere fleshly body. Though he wasn't entirely unscathed, he ultimately didn't turn to ash and smoke. So once the blast passed, Lü Yang reshaped his form and reaped the greatest benefit.

Thinking of this, Lü Yang found Xiao Shiye an extremely pleasing sight.

He really hadn't misjudged the man before—this Xiao Shiye was truly a talent! Without him, how could he possibly have reaped such a bountiful harvest?

"I really must thank Junior Brother Xiao for this."

"As a token of my gratitude, this senior brother will see you off right now."

Lü Yang chuckled lightly, then swept out a great hand. A streak of blood-light fell onto Xiao Shiye, and before he could even speak, it drained him into a mummy.

This man, though left alive, still posed too great a hidden threat.

With such heaven-defying luck, what if he rose again later and came back to take revenge? Better to end it once and for all—cutting the grass and digging out the roots was the more convenient choice.

"But he actually just died like that?" Lü Yang looked at Xiao Shiye's corpse, rubbing his chin in some surprise: "With his heaven's favored-child luck, shouldn't some noble person have appeared at this moment to stop me? I even prepared myself for it, but I didn't expect it to be this easy."

Thinking of this, Lü Yang's heart stirred slightly, and he once again cast the Qi-Reading Art to look at Xiao Shiye.

A bizarre scene unfolded.

Before, when he had looked at Xiao Shiye, the man had been a pillar of treasure-light shooting to the heavens—blessed fortune right on top of his head. But now looking again, he saw that all the treasure-light had vanished into thin air.

Watching this, a thought rose unbidden in Lü Yang's mind:

This man's fortune was spent.

"Eh?"

The next second, a sigh suddenly rang out.

Lü Yang raised his head, looked toward the sky, and his expression froze at the instant astonishment was about to dawn—every thought and notion suspended in that single beat.

At some unknown moment, a human figure had appeared before Xiao Shiye's corpse.

The man wore a crane cloak, a smile playing at his lips, a feather fan swaying lightly in his hand—elegant and dashing in appearance. At first glance he seemed nothing more than a handsome scholar out for a spring stroll.

Yet with his appearance, the entire world seemed to lose its color; only the place where he stood became the center of all things, gathering every drop of fortune, wealth, and luck in heaven and earth—the darling of the heavens himself, inspiring an involuntary surge of envy and resentment.

"Is this all the harvest?"

The newcomer reached out with a beckoning gesture, and the "Innate Dao Scripture" and the Innate One-Qi Myriad Spirits Banner that Lü Yang had just stored flew out of the storage pouch and landed in his hand.

Just then, a voice abruptly came: "Daoist Hong Yun, you've come out of seclusion?"

The daoist named "Daoist Hong Yun" raised his head at the words, as if meeting someone's gaze, and chuckled lightly: "Can't be helped—whoever told me the person I chose suddenly died."

The voice sounded a little surprised at this: "Dead? Your people can still die? What happened?"

"It's laughable, really — because his luck ran out."

"I gave him so much fortune, intending for him to go fish that colored fish in the Merit Pool, but too many variables caused his fortune to be exhausted ahead of time."

"Once fortune is exhausted, death naturally comes knocking."

Having said that, Daoist Daoist Hong Yun weighed the Innate Dao Scripture in his hand, shook his head, casually put it away, and then looked toward Lü Yang beside him.

"Now this one, on the other hand, is a bit interesting."

Daoist Daoist Hong Yun calculated on his fingers, the smile at the corner of his mouth growing wider and wider: "What a tremendous variable this person is. The recent storm over the death-substitution yin puppets seems to be connected to him."

"Mm, his background is clean and verified, but why would a mortal have the cultivation of the fourth layer of Qi Refining right at the start of joining the sect? Deliberately hidden — looks like a loose cultivator who brought his own master to learn the craft, which is fine... wait, no, he learned the Divine Firmament Sword-Control True Art before even joining? Could he be a spy planted by the Jade Pivot Sword Pavilion?"

The more Daoist Daoist Hong Yun calculated, the greater the interest in his eyes grew.

Apart from the Hundred Lifes Scripture, every one of Lü Yang's secrets was divined by Daoist Daoist Hong Yun through cause and effect, laid out thread by thread like unraveling a cocoon, until at last he furrowed his brow:

"... He cultivated the Heavenly Demon Blood-Transforming Divine Light?"

The next instant, the interest in Daoist Daoist Hong Yun's eyes vanished at top speed, and he revealed an expression of "bad luck."

A body transformed into a blood shadow, the immortal path already severed. Such a cultivator was naturally not worth his expending any more effort on, and even less worthy of bearing the identity of the next "Child of Destiny."

"What a pity about that colored fish in the Merit Pool — didn't catch it this time. Looks like I'll have to wait until next time."

Daoist Daoist Hong Yun withdrew his gaze, then took a single step forward, like an angler whose bait had been used up and who could only leave empty-handed, and in a flash vanished without a trace.

Only Lü Yang was left standing where he was.

Sweat poured down like rain.

(End of chapter)