Chapter 327: Hot Potato

Lu Yang admitted that he had indeed panicked for a fleeting moment.

However, he quickly calmed down, because his Immortal Spirit true form had not yet been grabbed by someone, which meant there was still room for maneuver.

'The true form should not have been exposed yet.'

'This Shen Metal Qi is eighty percent likely to be problematic; it is very probably bait deliberately set to lure me out. What a broken place.'

Thinking of this, Lu Yang could not help but sigh.

Immediately, he reached out and took Qi He True Person's storage bag, opened it according to the method provided by Chen Xinan, and then swept through it with his divine sense.

The result made him instantly abandon all illusions.

He saw a mass of yellow mist settling at the very bottom of the storage bag, possessing the meaning of boundless vastness, yet resembling a stubborn piece of metal lacking a bit of polishing.

Earth Fiend 【Shen Metal】!

'Shen is the place where water and earth are born; although it is Metal Qi, it also combines the intentions of water and earth. It becomes swords and halberds when refined by fire, gains a sharp edge when tempered by water, and if the earth is heavy, it gets buried.'

Lu Yang sighed. His original intention in sending a clone to the Ten Thousand People Pit was merely to explore the whereabouts of the Shen Metal Qi, then see how things developed before deciding whether to fish in troubled waters and take the item. Instead, after this round trip, the Shen Metal Qi was directly in his hands, leaving him awkward.

'I have obtained the item.'

'But how do I deliver it to the true form? The risk is simply too great. Perhaps the moment I hand it to the true form, someone will come knocking to send me to restart.'

Ultimately, who is the mastermind behind this?

Lu Yang also knew that by expressing his desire for the Shen Metal Qi through Hong Ju, this behavior actually carried risks and made him an easy target.

But the problem is, in this broken place, he cannot play it safe!

Without taking some risks, Lu Yang simply could not accumulate enough luck to sense the Shen Metal Qi, so he had mentally prepared himself during the transaction.

'Right now, at least two True Lords are watching me!'

'Ang Xiao, Qingcheng Feixue True Lord, and Hong Yun should also be watching me, but he doesn't matter. The key is Qingcheng Feixue True Lord and Ang Xiao.'

The scene of 【Ang Xiao】 silently following him in the past was still vivid. Although Feixue True Lord did not seem to be someone skilled in this art, his realm was too high; for Lu Yang, there was no difference. Watching him without being detected would be incredibly easy.

'However, besides this, there is another possibility.'

Jiangnan, Hidden Sword Manor.

Lu Yang's Immortal Spirit true form raised his head, holding 【Li Jie Bo】, and looked up at the sky under the miraculous enhancement of 【Dongming】, a hint of solemnity appearing in his eyes.

This was a feeling that had lingered ever since he became an Immortal Spirit.

'It feels somewhat like the killing intent of heaven and earth.'

However, unlike the killing intent of heaven and earth, this Qi was more positive; as soon as his thought moved, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth would spontaneously flow into his body.

'... Heaven and earth bestowing favor?'

Lu Yang was very clear that even if his Immortal Spirit true form could deceive anyone, even True Lords could not discover it, it was impossible to deceive the heaven and earth that gave birth to him.

'It is also possible that this 【Shen Metal】 is heaven and earth aiding me.'

'After all, I am now an Immortal Spirit, which can be called the favorite child of the Old Heavenly Lord.'

'However, whether it is True Lords or heaven and earth, they are perhaps a bit too hasty. They could have done it subtly, without letting me discover anything unusual.'

At least if it were him, he certainly wouldn't have acted so deliberately; instead, he would deliberately create countless obstacles, forcing one to endure countless hardships to quietly obtain the Shen Metal, making one believe they had successfully deceived everyone, only to suddenly appear and launch a shameless surprise attack.

'Doing it so deliberately only makes me wary. Why?'

While pondering, Lu Yang was also examining Qi He True Person's memories. Suddenly, his expression changed, his brows furrowed tightly, and his face instantly turned gloomy.

'... What a Qi He!'

Previously, Lu Yang had not asked him the reason for betraying the Holy Sect, thinking he had defected to Jiangnan. However, this still vastly underestimated the lower limits of the Holy Sect's True Persons.

This person did not betray the Holy Sect; he betrayed the whole world and defected to the 【Xuan Ling Realm】!

As for the reason for the betrayal, it was actually very simple: extending life.

'In the 【Xuan Ling Realm】, the lifespan of cultivators is completely different from Foundation Establishment True Persons. There is no 【Bi Wind】 to reduce the soul, and the restrictions on lifespan are not many.'

Even the weakest Ghost Immortals have a lifespan of a thousand years!

As for gods who receive the incense offerings of a nation, their lifespan exceeds ten thousand years, let alone those above them: Human Immortals, Earth Immortals, and even higher Sky Immortals.

Of course, this does not mean cultivators in the 【Xuan Ling Realm】 can rest easy.

'In the 【Xuan Ling Realm】, once a cultivator becomes an Immortal, there is the 【Calamity of Dao Transformation】. Ghosts, Gods, Humans, Earth, and Sky; the higher the cultivation, the easier it is to be assimilated by heaven and earth.'

'Therefore, although there is much lifespan, most Ghost Immortals cannot last three hundred years, Gods sink for a thousand years, Human Immortals might last two thousand years, Earth Immortals three thousand years, and Sky Immortals ten thousand years. This is actually another form of 【Bi Wind】, just not as severe as 【Bi Wind】.'

Although there are flaws, for Qi He True Person, it was already a huge temptation.

Besides, he was already near death.

He was in the late years of his second life, his cultivation had just broken through to the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment, and the third life carried great risks; one slip could mean he might not return.

Under such circumstances, taking a desperate gamble was quite normal.

After all, Holy Sect True Persons have always put profit first and put themselves before everything. If there was an interest greater than several times the cost, they would dare to take any risk.

And this 【Shen Metal】 was his letter of introduction. A single Heavenly Gang or Earth Fiend was absolutely a great tonic for the fruit position in the 【Xuan Ling Realm】.

'No wonder!'

In an instant, Lu Yang understood: 'This is the reason for such urgency in handing the 【Shen Metal】 to me, because this thing is about to be lost!'

Besides that, the 【Shen Metal】 itself had problems.

Lu Yang learned from Qi He True Person's memories that he had left a mark on the 【Shen Metal】 using a secret technique, making it detectable by the 【Xuan Ling Realm】.

Seeing this, Lu Yang was so angry his teeth itched: 'A traitor to the realm! And the secret technique he used to mark the 【Shen Metal】 actually comes from the 【Xuan Ling Realm】; it was originally used for tracking and marking. There is a spell-casting method but no spell-breaking method. Now, this 【Shen Metal】 is clearly a hot potato!'

Xuan Ling Realm.

As a great realm, the structure of the Xuan Ling Realm is extremely special, divided into upper and lower layers. The lower layer consists of over a hundred mortal realms, while the upper layer is the location of the Heavenly Court.

The over a hundred mortal realms jointly support the Heavenly Court. Whenever a cultivator reaches the state of becoming an Immortal, they can ascend to the Heavenly Court to become a Ghost Immortal, then serve as heavenly soldiers and generals in the Heavenly Court, accumulating merit. Once the merit is sufficient, they can be enfeoffed, granted a nation, and enjoy incense offerings to achieve the status of a God.

And the center of the Heavenly Court is the Lingxiao Hall.

This hall is located at the very top of the Heavenly Court and is the residence of the Supreme. When the Supreme is in seclusion, the three Immortal Officials hold power, overseeing all affairs of the Heavenly Court.

And at this very moment, within the Lingxiao Hall.

Upon the towering treasure throne, a man clad in magnificent robes sat with eyes closed in deep contemplation; suddenly, he opened his eyes, a trace of surprise revealing itself in his gaze:

"Shen Jin has changed hands?"

(End of this chapter)