"I'll take refuge in your mother's head!"
Before his voice had even faded, Lu Yang had already reached the center of the eight-hundred-li Skull Mountain. A ferocious grin instantly appeared on his face as he clawed at the spiritual vein below.
Rumble.
In an instant, the heavens shook and the earth trembled. A surge of yin qi, intense to the extreme, gushed out from the spiritual vein, transforming into a boundless, murky river hanging in the air. Heavenly Corpse Killing Qi!
This killing qi, originally buried deep within Skull Mountain's spiritual vein, was now forcefully extracted by Lu Yang, instantly triggering a massive earthquake both inside and outside Skull Mountain! Then, the murky river descended from the sky, submerging Lu Yang. The sparks of fiery qi from the Blazing Fire Dragon on his body were instantly extinguished.
At this sight, the Dragon Subduing Arhat's eyebrows shot up, a look of surprise in his eyes.
"Heavenly Corpse Killing Qi. To think this place still has such a thing?"
The Blazing Fire Dragon is born from the germination of yang wood combined with yin earth. Its fire is fierce, but its foundation is wood qi, spurred on by earth. Therefore, it does not fear things that counter fire.
To deal with it, one must find a way through the qi of earth and wood.
"The Heavenly Corpse Killing Qi is in the Earthly Fiend position, belonging to Zhixu, which is also yin earth!"
"Yin earth is yielding. Yielding earth can nourish wood and cannot be overcome by it, so one need not worry about wood flourishing. Earth can absorb water and cannot be washed away by it, so one need not fear raging waters."
This stream of Earthly Fiend qi fears neither water nor wood! Although it couldn't restrain the Blazing Fire Dragon, it could take the scorching white fiery qi Lu Yang was generating in his stead, causing it to gradually dissipate into nothingness.
Strictly speaking, these two great medicines were actually compatible with each other, capable of building a Path of the Dao leading to a Dao fruit. However, upon seeing this, the Dragon Subduing Arhat showed not the slightest trace of greed. Instead, he subconsciously took a step back, as if he had seen something he was extremely wary of.
"Yanfeng, Zhixu."
The Path of the Dao formed by the union of this Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend corresponded to only one Dao fruit in the world, yet the Dragon Subduing Arhat dared not cultivate that particular fruit. Its name: Overturning Lantern Flame! 'If I take this item, I will become the Dao enemy of that fiend Chongguang.
I'd truly be asking for trouble, and the Bodhisattvas in the Pure Land might not necessarily protect me.' At this thought, the Dragon Subduing Arhat immediately shook his head and once again spat out the Blazing Fire Dragon. The intense fiery qi collided with the river formed by the Heavenly Corpse Killing Qi.
Before long, the river gradually dried up. After all, one side was supported by the magical power of a Foundation Establishment Daoist Master, while the other was merely rootless water.
"Benefactor, do you still insist on fighting like a cornered beast?"
With the appearance of the Heavenly Corpse Killing Qi, the Dragon Subduing Arhat's tone grew unfriendly. He had clearly lost his patience and no longer wished to be entangled with Lu Yang.
Boom!
His answer was a world-shaking bang. Lu Yang had thrown the entire Yama Demon Hall at him, and it came crashing down on his head like a heavy hammer.
"More of these petty tricks..."
The Dragon Subduing Arhat shook his head and repeated his old trick, releasing a protective treasured light from the top of his head. It formed a lotus canopy that made him appear even more divine. However, in the next second, his expression changed.
"Explode!"
Before he could react, Lu Yang had already formed a hand seal. The mountain-like Yama Demon Hall violently disintegrated, like a spark igniting dynamite. And the dynamite was the Heavenly Corpse Killing Qi!
Rumble!
The next second, as the murky river was detonated by the disintegration of the Yama Demon Hall, dark clouds instantly gathered over the entire Skull Mountain, and lightning snakes filled the sky!
"Not good!"
Seeing this, the Dragon Subduing Arhat lost his earlier casualness. His face turned ashen. Neither the self-destruction of the Yama Demon Hall nor the Heavenly Corpse Killing Qi could harm him.
What truly made his expression change was that as the Heavenly Corpse Killing Qi self-destructed, the entire spiritual vein of Skull Mountain was being destroyed along with it!
"Destroying a spiritual vein is a crime against Heaven!?"
The Dragon Subduing Arhat's right hand ceaselessly formed seals for a deduction, a look of shock and anger on his face.
"How does this person still have such a method? Who on earth is he?"
He had only followed the connection from the Nine Transformations Dragon Transformation Art. As for Lu Yang's karma, he hadn't actually grasped it, nor did he care much. After all, as a Foundation Establishment Daoist Master, wasn't dealing with a Qi Refining cultivator a simple matter?
But he never could have imagined that Lu Yang possessed such a method! In reality, this was the last trump card left behind by the Listening Nether Patriarch.
In the past, the Golden Core sword qi hadn't completely annihilated the Witch Ghost Sect precisely because the Listening Nether Patriarch had used the Witch Ghost Secret Realm to hold the spiritual vein of the eight-hundred-li Skull Mountain hostage.
If necessary, the Listening Nether Patriarch could detonate the entire spiritual vein of Skull Mountain, which would immediately attract heavenly punishment, stripping away one's merit and fortune. This was a great karma that even a Golden Core True Monarch was unwilling to be tainted by.
That was why the Witch Ghost Sect was left with a sliver of a chance to survive, and the choice was made to boil the frog in warm water, wearing them down over a thousand years. And at this moment, Lu Yang was using this move on the Dragon Subduing Arhat!
In the next second, the Dragon Subduing Arhat suddenly staggered back a step. The image of the Dragon Subduing Temple appeared behind him, but the Buddhist light within the temple abruptly dimmed. Once the Buddhist light had completely dissipated, countless cracks appeared on the Dragon Subduing Temple before it exploded!
The Dragon Subduing Arhat's eyes looked as if they would split open from rage. Though he was unharmed, two streams of bloody tears flowed from his eyes.
"My merit, my fortune... it's all gone!?"
Honestly, it would have been better to be injured! After all, injuries could heal. With the Pure Land of the Buddhist Cultivators supporting him, he had plenty of ways to resolve them.
Even if he died from severe injuries, he could still have a good reincarnation. After reincarnating, he would still have hope of climbing the Immortal Path again. However, with his merit and fortune gone, when his current life ended, he feared he wouldn't even be reborn as a human.
He would have to live as a pig or a dog for ten lifetimes to have a chance of clearing his karmic debt! One must know, a Foundation Establishment Daoist Master could reincarnate five times at most! Ten lifetimes as a pig or a dog was practically a death sentence for a Foundation Establishment Daoist Master.
The Dragon Subduing Arhat was currently in his prime; how could he possibly accept such an outcome?
"Why did it have to be like this? Why?"
Amidst his anger, the Dragon Subduing Arhat was also filled with confusion.
"For the karmic debt of destroying the spiritual vein, I was at most the trigger. You are the true perpetrator."
The Heavenly Dao is impartial. If he had to be a pig or a dog for ten lifetimes because of this karmic debt, then Lu Yang wouldn't be able to clear it even in a hundred or a thousand lifetimes.
Even if he did pay it off and was reborn as a human, he would inevitably suffer for half his life. Forget climbing the Immortal Path; even seeking wealth and status would be as difficult as ascending to the heavens.
It was simply a pyrrhic victory of the worst kind, killing one thousand enemies at the cost of ten thousand of his own. At this thought, the Dragon Subduing Arhat almost coughed up blood from anger again. Since you were willing to take us both down, why the hell didn't you say so earlier?
We could have talked about it! If I had known you had this kind of trump card, why would I have been so aggressive?
"You beast, you absolute beast...!"
"Hehe."
Looking at the Dragon Subduing Arhat, who had lost his composure and was cursing loudly, Lu Yang just sneered.
Karmic debt?
What karmic debt did he have? After he restarted, everything would naturally be reset to zero!
"This time, I'm just collecting some interest."
Lu Yang stared intently at the Dragon Subduing Arhat. Although this 'merit bomb' of self-destructing the spiritual vein would have far-reaching consequences, its power couldn't harm the Dragon Subduing Arhat in the slightest. However, there wasn't the slightest trace of dejection in his heart.
On the contrary, his fighting spirit was soaring. Even if his Foundation Establishment failed this time, at least he now clearly saw the hidden danger in the cultivation technique. In his next life, he could calmly make arrangements, and even turn the tables and deal a vicious blow to the Dragon Subduing Arhat!
The path of cultivation is difficult, more difficult than ascending to the azure heavens. He might not be the one who laughs best... But with the Book of a Hundred Lives, the one who laughed last would definitely be him!
"Next life, I will kill you!"
As his voice fell, Lu Yang resolutely self-destructed. His once-clear consciousness instantly fell into obscurity. In the boundless darkness, only a clear, lingering sound remained: "Book of a Hundred Lives!"