Chapter 280: Brother Ye, I Have Avenged You!

In that instant, everyone froze.

Cheng Xian and the other Immortals from the Profound Spirit Realm were shocked that such a move could kill, while the Jiange side was simply shocked that Ye Xingfeng could actually be killed by it.

Ye Gu's beautiful eyes widened instantly.

'Impossible!'

Although Ye Xingfeng was only at the Mid Stage of Foundation Establishment and had not yet reached perfection, he possessed a sword pill of extremely high quality; his true combat strength was definitely not weak among those at the Mid Stage of Foundation Establishment.

How could he be critically injured by a single strike from Cheng Xian, leading to his demise?

This makes no sense!

Thinking of this, Ye Gu suddenly shifted her gaze, staring deadly at Lu Yang, whose face was filled with grief: "It was you! You dare harm a True Person of my Jiange?"

"Fellow Daoist, do not speak nonsense."

Lu Yang sighed, unable to hide the grief on his face: "Brother Ye and I felt like old friends upon our first meeting; we had no prior grudges. Why would I want to harm him?"

Lu Yang had thought these words would be enough to shut Ye Gu's mouth.

However, he had still underestimated the lower limits of a Jiange True Person; upon hearing this, Ye Gu actually adopted an expression of righteous indignation and stated without hesitation:

"Of course it is because we want you dead!"

"You must have seen through the thoughts of Xingfeng and me, so you deliberately set a trap to harm him! A loose cultivator who cannot recognize good intentions... truly a demonic head from Jiangbei!"

At these words, Lu Yang stared straight at Ye Gu, only to see her expression was open and honest; she felt nothing wrong with what she had said, instead becoming even more convinced: "If you were to die and undergo reincarnation, you would naturally have the opportunity to join my Jiange in the future. Who would have thought you would be so vicious!"

"Ignorant of kindness!"

With this thought, killing intent already floated in Ye Gu's gaze as she looked at Lu Yang; seeing this, Lu Yang adopted an even more aggrieved expression:

"Fellow Daoist Ye, I am also heartbroken by Brother Ye's death."

He sighed and said: "But with a great enemy before us, we must first unite our hearts and join forces against them; surely we cannot sacrifice the greater good for a small loss?"

"Hmph!"

Ye Gu was ultimately not a fool; she knew internal strife was impossible at such a critical moment, yet she was unwilling to join forces with Lu Yang, instead putting more distance between them.

Seeing this, Lu Yang felt even more aggrieved and couldn't help but sigh, thinking:

'What a pity, I couldn't take advantage of the chaos to pit a second one to death...'

—Ye Gu's guess was very correct.

Yes, it was indeed him who did it.

Relying solely on Cheng Xian's full-power strike, it was naturally impossible to kill Ye Xingfeng; even caught off guard, Ye Xingfeng could not have been critically injured by a single move.

However, adding Lu Yang into the mix changed everything.

'【The Sea of Pouring Sorrow】 allows me to transform my body into a sea of qi, gathering and scattering unpredictably, making divine abilities unable to harm me; simultaneously, the smoky qi formed by my dharma body spreads out to obscure others' spiritual sense!'

The reason Ye Xingfeng was critically injured by Cheng Xian's single strike was because his spiritual sense was obscured by 【The Sea of Pouring Sorrow】; he completely failed to detect Cheng Xian's attack, only realizing it after being hit, but by then it was too late, and his entire repertoire of divine abilities failed to manifest even a shred before he perished violently.

'This is for you hunting me down across the seas in your previous life!'

Lu Yang withdrew his expression of grief, sneering inwardly while also pulling his gaze away from Ye Gu's graceful back; he was never in a rush to settle his scores.

There was plenty of time in the days ahead!

With this thought, Lu Yang looked again toward Cheng Xian, only to see the Immortal's expression calm; after all, to him, who died was actually unimportant.

What mattered was that someone had died.

'At least one great enemy is gone, allowing me some ease...'

Pondering this, Cheng Xian glanced at Lu Yang once more, then decisively retreated; no longer engaging him head-on, he instead charged toward Yu Shao.

Pick the soft persimmon first!

'This person's divine abilities are bizarre; I cannot subdue him or reclaim 【Shen Jin】 in a short time. Rather than wasting time, it is better to achieve one objective first...'

Cheng Xian's train of thought was clear, yet how could Lu Yang give him the chance? His figure exploded with a boom, once again transforming into a sky-filling sea of smoke that spread out; within this smoky sea, clouds and mist surged, swallowing Cheng Xian whole, then manifesting layer upon layer of illusions, each one stirring the impure thoughts in Cheng Xian's heart.

"【Bright】! 【Clear】! 【Awake】!"

Standing within the sea of smoke, Cheng Xian constantly spat out true words, heavenly light and fierce fire flowing between his lips and teeth, burning all the illusory smoke around him into nothingness.

Had he still been in his peak condition, he wouldn't have minded tangling with Lu Yang.

However, at this moment his magic power was heavily depleted; if he could not secure victory quickly, once the injuries he had previously purged returned, he would perish violently without even needing to fight.

Lu Yang saw this clearly as well.

Thus, his tactic was very simple, summed up in one word: drag!

'【The Sea of Pouring Sorrow】 combined with 【Essence of Hundred Flowers】, although lacking substantial killing methods, is nonetheless unparalleled in means of bewildering the heart and confusing the spirit for prolonged engagements!'

Moreover, as time passed, Lu Yang's mastery over 【The Sea of Pouring Sorrow】 deepened; even though Cheng Xian constantly burned away the smoky sea formed by divine abilities with true words, the wonder of 【The Sea of Pouring Sorrow】 lay precisely here: everything is born from the heart. As long as Cheng Xian could not guard his mind and was swayed in intent by the illusions,

then the myriad thoughts he generated would all become nourishment for 【The Sea of Pouring Sorrow】.

However much was burned away here, that much would grow back there!

The result was that Cheng Xian's own magic power was constantly worn down, his mind teetering on the brink of collapse, while Lu Yang enjoyed the benefits of the bystander, suffering no losses from start to finish.

'And I haven't even borrowed the status of a Great True Person yet!'

At this moment, he had already assembled four divine abilities; if he further drew mighty power from the Myriad Souls Banner, allowing both Great Void divine abilities to attain their proper stature,

he would immediately reach the Late Stage of Foundation Establishment!

Although the duration would not be long and he would suffer backlash afterward, it was ultimately combat power at the Great True Person level; brought out at a critical moment, it would be enough to seal victory.

'No rush; using it now would be too wasteful.'

Lu Yang was very clear about how deceptive he currently appeared; who could expect a loose cultivator who hadn't even perfected the Mid Stage of Foundation Establishment to suddenly become a Great True Person?

However, while he remained composed, Cheng Xian could no longer hold on.

'If this continues, I will surely die!'

Within the layers of smoky sea, Cheng Xian's expression grew grave; cracks gradually appeared on his previously perfect body, signaling that the injuries he had purged earlier were returning.

At this moment, the crisis of life and death finally overwhelmed the inexplicable obsession in his heart.

'Should I... retreat?'

'In the end, why must I continue fighting? I still have a bright future ahead in the 【Profound Spirit Realm】; staying here to fight to the death with these people is simply not worth the loss...'

With this thought, the intention to retreat suddenly arose in Cheng Xian.

But how could Lu Yang give him the chance? Or rather, the intention to retreat that surfaced in Cheng Xian at this moment was precisely what Lu Yang had forcibly drawn out using 【The Sea of Pouring Sorrow】!

"Boom!"

In an instant, a point of golden light exploded within the sky-filling sea of smoke; hidden within the smoky sea and difficult to detect, it silently approached behind Cheng Xian.

Then came a earth-shaking roar; Cheng Xian's body had no time to turn around. Just like Ye Xingfeng before his death, by the time he realized what was happening, Lu Yang's blade had already plunged in. Boiling sword qi, resembling fierce fire, pierced flesh and blood, then rapidly spread to his limbs and hundred bones.

【Yu Tu Treasure Talisman】!

Being within the Jiange camp, Lu Yang naturally could not use techniques from the Holy Sect, so he could only bring out all the sword qi talismans he had previously refined alone.

Then he stuffed them all into Cheng Xian's body in one go.

"No, don't..."

Before Cheng Xian could finish speaking, thousands of sword qi erupted, shooting him full of holes on the spot.

To make matters worse, due to suffering critical injury once again, Cheng Xian's divine abilities became unstable, and the injuries he had previously purged all returned at this moment.

Once they returned, it immediately exceeded his limit of endurance.

"Crack!"

With a loud explosion, Cheng Xian's body split apart just like that, turning into countless fragments, which Lu Yang then swept up with the Myriad Souls Banner, drawing them all into the flag.

At the same time, he did not forget to shout loudly: "Brother Ye, I have avenged you!"

With Cheng Xian dead, the group of Immortals from the 【Profound Spirit Realm】, whose resolve was already wavering, became even more terrified.

And just at this moment.

"Boom!"

A loud crash rang out, scattering the clouds and mist.

High above in the dome of heaven, the green and white colors finally dispersed, revealing the figure of Demon-Quelling True Person Ye Guangji; the 【No-Kill】 sword had already returned to its scabbard.

His expression remained melancholic, his sighs full of sorrow.

Yet in stark contrast to his demeanor, blood dripped drop by drop; in his hand, he赫然 held the heads of Immortal Minghua and three Earth Immortals!

(End of Chapter)