Chapter 287: Evading Is Shameful, But Useful

At the edge of the Extreme Sky Cliff, inside a quiet chamber.

Lu Yang sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion, with the Demon-Slaying True Person's 【Unkilling Sword】 placed before him, his mind completely sunk into the depths of his sea of consciousness.

Within his sea of consciousness, a beam of golden light shimmered brilliantly.

The Hong Yun Golden Nature!

This strand of golden nature had been drained of its divine essence by the 【Book of Hundred Lives】, leaving only a husk, yet even so, it still exerted considerable pressure on Lu Yang.

The next second, Lu Yang opened his panel.

This time, without the interference of Heaven and Earth, he carefully and thoroughly reviewed the life of Hong Yun calculated by the 【Book of Hundred Lives】.

Only after a long while did he open his eyes.

". uper!"

He couldn't help but curse aloud.

Only now did Lu Yang realize just how much he had been sitting on a treasure mountain without knowing it, having merely used the Hong Yun Golden Nature to disguise his identity.

As a person of great fortune supported by Heaven and Earth, Hong Yun encountered countless opportunities in this life, exploring countless secret realms and dangerous lands; needless to say, this experience alone was invaluable, including methods for finding treasures within secret realms and confirming whether a secret realm had an owner.

And this was merely the trivial details.

Lu Yang spent a full three days using his spiritual sense to sweep through and organize Hong Yun's memories into archives, finally categorizing them into three major groups.

'First is cultivation and knowledge!'

'As a True Person of 【Covering Lamp Fire】, Hong Yun knew the corresponding Heavenly Gang and Earthly Sha of 【Covering Lamp Fire】 like the back of his hand; his cultivation could be called peerless.'

【Jia Wood】, 【Yi Wood】.

【Chen Earth】, 【Si Fire】,

These four paths of Heavenly Gang and Earthly Sha—their yin and yang attributes, internal transformations, and how to combine them—all had corresponding knowledge in Hong Yun's memories, vast as a smoke-filled sea!

'If I patiently integrate this knowledge and seriously comprehend it for several hundred years, completely making it my own, perhaps in the future I can use it to seek 【Covering Lamp Fire】. Even if I cannot, finding a way to seek other fruit positions related to these four paths of Heavenly Gang and Earthly Sha would likely yield twice the result with half the effort!'

Such wealth was enough to make every Foundation Establishment cultivator under heaven green with envy.

Not to mention that it also included the two secret techniques from before, the "True Interpretation of the Void Within Observing Heaven and Earth" and the "Upper Bright Golden Cup Jade Light," both complete and intact!

Of these two secret techniques, the latter's resonance with 【Covering Lamp Fire】 was secondary.

For Lu Yang, the important one was the former; this was a secret technique used to create a blessed land and grotto-heaven, extremely useful for cultivation at the Foundation Establishment realm!

'I never expected that the secret technique I traded away back then would return to my hands now...'

This is fate!

Moreover, what was traded away back then were incomplete versions with hidden traps left by Hong Yun, whereas what was retrieved now was the complete version without any hidden dangers!

"Hmm? What is this?"

Suddenly, Lu Yang's heart stirred slightly as he looked at a page within the "True Interpretation of the Void Within Observing Heaven and Earth," which clearly recorded a secret technique deduced by Hong Yun.

"【Minor Blessed Land】?"

Lu Yang read carefully, his eyes growing brighter and brighter.

The so-called 【Minor Blessed Land】, as the name suggests, is the embryo of a blessed land; not only can cultivating it form a true blessed land, but more importantly, its requirements are extremely low.

Because it does not require the cultivation base of a perfected Foundation Establishment.

Even one at the late stage of Foundation Establishment can refine it!

'Although it cannot boost cultivation like a true blessed land, the 【Minor Blessed Land】 also has the ability to hide from disasters and avoid calamities; once you dodge inside, even immortals would find it hard to detect!'

This point was especially crucial.

'As long as I can refine this 【Minor Blessed Land】, I can hide inside to avoid the scrutiny of Heaven and Earth, with no worry of being tracked down!'

'Besides that, the 【Minor Blessed Land】 can also be used to evade the 【Five Declines of the Heavenly Man】, greatly increasing the probability of perfecting Foundation Establishment; truly a wonderful technique!'

The only flaw was that it required many spiritual materials.

'However, I just obtained the 【Ten Thousand Calamities Indestructible Gilded Silkworm】 from the Ten Thousand Poisons Sect; using this as material is perfect and will greatly reduce the remaining costs.'

Thinking of this, Lu Yang immediately placed refining the 【Minor Blessed Land】 as his top priority.

Only then did he continue to observe Hong Yun's memories.

'Besides cultivation and knowledge, the second category is the secrets of Heaven and Earth!'

Seeing this, Lu Yang gritted his teeth again: 'No wonder Hong Yun ultimately chose to betray Heaven and Earth, keeping the benefits from the millennial great tribulation for himself without sharing them.'

Heaven and Earth do not support you for free! This is like an investment; after painstakingly raising you, they naturally demand double the returns to recoup their costs; otherwise, wouldn't the investment be in vain?

'The reason Heaven and Earth supported Hong Yun to become a True Person was purely for the sake of 【Covering Lamp Fire】. As the object of Heaven and Earth's support, as long as Hong Yun held his position for one day, 【Covering Lamp Fire】 would be subtly influenced for one day, and with each passing day, 【Covering Lamp Fire】 would come one step closer to being controlled by Heaven and Earth.'

'However, doing this violated the great taboo of the Dao Lords!'

'Hong Yun realized this point, which is why he chose to betray; after all, with the four Dao Lords suppressing Heaven and Earth, following Heaven and Earth offered no future whatsoever...'

True Persons of the Holy Sect have always been very clear on matters of such great right and wrong.

They only follow the winners.

'Moreover, after Hong Yun became a True Person, Heaven and Earth ceased supporting him; seeing his millennial lifespan nearing its end, this was the reason Hong Yun decided to betray...'

Mid-stage Golden Core, with an unfalling grotto-heaven.

To reach this step, one must constantly strengthen one's own grotto-heaven, plundering external resources for it, yet this goes against the original intention of Heaven and Earth.

Otherwise, if Heaven and Earth had chosen to continue supporting Hong Yun, giving him hope of reaching higher realms instead of having to start over after a thousand years, Hong Yun might not necessarily have betrayed; but treating someone like a dog to be used while stopping their wages, who the hell would be willing to keep working for you?

Furthermore, the more Lu Yang looked at this tactic of Heaven and Earth, the more familiar it seemed.

'Isn't this just throwing money to seize the market first, then turning hostile to harvest everything once a monopoly is established...'

'If I had seen this earlier, I would surely have become wary of Heaven and Earth, and wouldn't have realized so late that the World Honored One had set his sights on me...'

Alas, the past cannot be pursued.

Lu Yang composed himself and looked at the third category; this was the part he valued most.

'Five thousand years of time; Hong Yun truly did not live in vain!'

Admittedly, over these five thousand years, Hong Yun died again and again, living a life of unimaginable misery.

But he had actually realized the problem.

After all, compared to the first half of his life, the severe decline in his fortune was something even a pig could have noticed.

In fact, long before falling from his fruit position, Hong Yun, having betrayed Heaven and Earth, had anticipated this.

And he had prepared a contingency plan in advance.

'The "Ritual of Opening the Altar for Cultivating the Dao"!'

This was a second-grade true technique, deduced and recorded by Hong Yun himself.

This was not the most important part; what mattered most was that the coordinates of the realm heaven corresponding to this second-grade true technique were not recorded; it was discovered solely by Hong Yun, and only he knew of it!

Moreover, Hong Yun had processed this realm heaven to ensure it would not approach this world, thus avoiding being captured like the 【Mystic Spirit Realm】.

'This is... the final retreat Hong Yun prepared for himself!'

'Hong Yun arranged everything within the technique; relying on this technique, one can reincarnate into that realm heaven.'

'Once it truly became impossible to return to the position of True Person, he would settle for the next best thing: flee to that realm heaven, first become the master of that realm heaven, and then kill his way back... Pity that although he prepared many contingency plans and schemes, he was simply too unlucky; in his past and present lives, he never got to use a single one of them...'

After organizing this memory, Lu Yang's impression of Hong Yun instantly changed dramatically.

Thinking carefully, his current situation was actually very similar to Hong Yun's in the past; both were targeted by Heaven and Earth, and both faced an enemy difficult to resist.

'Originally, I was still worrying about what to do next, but now there is no need to think about it.'

Hong Yun had already arranged everything; he just didn't have time to implement it.

But that doesn't matter; when he implements it, he can take the Hong Yun Golden Nature along, giving him a sense of participation.

'I finally understand it now; there are no true beginner matches in this broken place; even Heaven and Earth and the Dao Lords can enter the arena to bully newcomers; trying to develop here is simply a pipe dream.'

To break the deadlock, one must jump out.

Go to a real beginner match!

'Evading is shameful, but useful!'

The moment the thought of fleeing arose, the world suddenly felt vast; Lu Yang instantly felt that his previously confused path ahead had become bright again.

Yes, go beyond the heavens!

Whatever Buddha Son, whatever Immortal Spirit, I'm not serving anymore!

Wait until I achieve the status of True Person beyond the heavens, then come back and settle scores with each of you one by one!

(End of Chapter)