The exploding treasured light was like a monstrous wave that blotted out the sky, instantly tearing apart the formation set up by Fairy Qingchen. Immediately afterward, it engulfed Lu Yang, Liu Xin, and Chen Xin'an. Liu Xin was the first to scream miserably.
In order to deal with Lu Yang, he had successively summoned the banner spirits and finally called upon Chen Xin'an, which consumed most of his True Qi. At this moment, he was utterly powerless to resist the explosion's impact. His body was instantly set alight, then turned to ash.
The Myriad Spirits Banner in his hand fell powerlessly through the air.
"Worthy of a disciple of my Saint Sect."
As soon as Liu Xin died, although Chen Xin'an still had some power left, he could no longer maintain his existence. He could only let out a long sigh before scattering with the wind. As for Lu Yang, he was directly swallowed by the treasured light, vanishing into nothingness.
After quite some time, the roiling treasured light gradually subsided, revealing Xiao Shiye's figure, his face filled with intense ecstasy.
"I won!"
Xiao Shiye laughed excitedly. After all, although self-destructing a Spiritual Treasure was his trump card, it had many limitations in practice and was very easy for others to dodge. To use this move to kill an enemy, one first needed to restrict the battlefield to ensure a hit.
Secondly, the explosion's power couldn't be concentrated; its range was wide but too diffuse. Therefore, the enemy had to be worn down to a certain extent to ensure a single strike could kill them. Finally, a Spiritual Treasure has its own consciousness and might not cooperate with the self-destruction.
"Thankfully, luck is still on my side!"
Xiao Shiye felt that ever since joining the Primordial Saint Sect, his luck had completely turned around. He got whatever he wanted, and everything he did seemed to have divine assistance. Speculating on the Death-Substituting Yin Puppets, his luck was so good he sold at the peak, making a bloody fortune of several hundred thousand contribution points.
On a casual trip to the mortal realm, he had easily picked up a magical artifact left behind by a predecessor. When being hunted, he just so happened to run into a shield like Lu Yang. No matter what crisis he encountered, the result was always him emerging safely from danger.
Through a series of coincidences, he would ultimately walk away unscathed with the greatest benefits.
"What a fine Myriad Spirits Banner. From now on, it's mine."
Just as Xiao Shiye was about to step forward to take the treasure, a figure wreathed in blood light appeared beside him almost simultaneously, also reaching out to grab the flag banner. Seeing this, Xiao Shiye was instantly stunned, and his entire body began to tremble.
"What, Brother Xiao wants this magical artifact too?"
The blood shadow fluctuated, then slowly manifested Lu Yang's face. He turned and grinned at Xiao Shiye, scaring him so much that his body trembled violently in an instant. Are you a man or a ghost?
Xiao Shiye's face turned deathly pale. Looking at the blood-transforming divine light swirling around Lu Yang, the images of all the people he had previously sucked dry quickly flashed through his mind. The next second, he hurriedly released his grip on the Myriad Spirits Banner and bowed respectfully.
"Congratulations, Senior Brother. This is the Myriad Spirits Banner that your junior brother was keeping safe for you. Now, I return it to its rightful owner!"
"How thoughtful."
Lu Yang took the Innate Primordial Qi Myriad Spirits Banner with a smile, studied it for a moment, then infused it with magical power and poured out two storage pouches from within it. These were the storage pouches of Liu Xin and Fairy Qingchen. Opening the storage pouches, a copy of the Innate Dao Scripture was in plain sight.
Besides that, there was also a "Secret Explanation of Formation Treasures," which clearly belonged to Fairy Qingchen.
"These are all good things."
Lu Yang sighed with emotion. He firmly committed the contents of the two Dao Scriptures to memory, then looked at Xiao Shiye, who was backing away step by step, trying to put distance between them. To be fair, Xiao Shiye's killing move was truly unexpected.
The self-destruction of a Spiritual Treasure could kill even someone at the Perfection stage of the Qi Refining Realm. In theory, it was a sure-kill move, but Lu Yang happened to be an exception among exceptions. This was because he cultivated the Heavenly Demon Transforming Blood Divine Light.
Transformed into a blood shadow, he now only possessed a human form, having shape but no substance. His true spirit was completely entrusted to the sword pellet. As long as the sword pellet was not destroyed, he would not die.
And when faced with the self-destruction of Xiao Shiye's Spiritual Treasure, the sword pellet forged from metal essence and jade marrow was far sturdier than a mere physical body. Although it wasn't completely unscathed, it was ultimately not annihilated. So, after the explosion subsided, Lu Yang reformed his body and reaped the greatest benefit.
Thinking of this, Lu Yang found Xiao Shiye to be quite pleasing to the eye. He really hadn't misjudged the man; this Xiao Shiye was truly a talent! Without him, how could he have gained such a rich harvest?
"I really must thank you for this, Junior Brother Xiao."
"To show my gratitude, your senior brother will send you on your way now."
Lu Yang chuckled lightly, then with a wave of his hand, a ray of blood light landed on Xiao Shiye. Before he could even speak, he was sucked into a dried-up husk. Leaving this person alive was too great a risk.
With such immense luck, what if he rose to power later and came back for revenge? It was more convenient to end it all now, cutting the weeds and pulling out the roots.
"But he actually died just like that?"
Lu Yang looked at Xiao Shiye's corpse, rubbing his chin in some surprise.
"With his Son of Heaven-like luck, shouldn't a benefactor have appeared at this moment to stop me? I even made preparations to deal with that, but I didn't expect it to be so easy."
At this thought, Lu Yang's heart suddenly stirred, and he once again used the Qi Gazing Art to look at Xiao Shiye. A strange scene appeared. Before, when he looked at Xiao Shiye, his treasured light had shot up to the heavens, a sign of immense luck.
But looking now, he saw that all the treasured light had vanished into thin air. Looking at this scene, a thought inexplicably arose in Lu Yang's mind: This person's luck has run out.
"Alas..."
The next second, a sigh suddenly sounded. Lu Yang raised his head and looked at the sky, his expression freezing in the instant before shock could register. All his thoughts were frozen in that moment.
At some unknown time, a figure had appeared in front of Xiao Shiye's corpse. The man wore a crane-feather cloak, a smile on his lips, and gently waved a feathered fan. His appearance was dashing and elegant; at first glance, he looked like a handsome scholar out for a spring stroll.
However, with his appearance, the entire world seemed to lose its color. Only the place where he stood became the center of all things, gathering all the blessings, wealth, and even luck between heaven and earth. He was the heavens' favorite, making one unable to help but feel jealousy and resentment toward him.
"Is this all there is to gain?"
The newcomer made a gesture with his hand, and the Innate Dao Scripture that Lu Yang had just put away, along with the Innate Primordial Qi Myriad Spirits Banner, flew out of his storage pouch and into the man's hand. Just then, a voice suddenly came from nowhere: "Hong Yun, you've come out of seclusion?"
The Daoist named Hong Yun looked up upon hearing this, as if meeting someone's gaze, and chuckled lightly.
"I had no choice. Who would have thought the person I chose would suddenly die."
The voice sounded somewhat surprised.
"Died? A person you chose can die? What happened?"
"It's laughable, but it was because his luck was poor."
"I gave him so much luck, originally intending for him to go to the Merit Pool and catch that rainbow fish. But there were too many variables, causing his luck to be depleted ahead of schedule."
"Once one's luck is exhausted, death is naturally imminent."
After speaking, Daoist Hong Yun weighed the Innate Dao Scripture in his hand, shook his head, and casually put it away. Then, he turned to look at Lu Yang.
"This person, on the other hand, is a bit interesting."
Daoist Hong Yun performed a divination with his fingers, the smile on his lips growing wider.
"This person is quite the variable. The recent turmoil over the Death-Substituting Yin Puppets seems to be related to him."
"Hmm, his background is clean, but why would a mortal have a fourth-level Qi Refining Realm cultivation upon entering the sect? He's deliberately hiding it, so it seems he's a Rogue Cultivator who brought his master's teachings with him. That's fine... wait, that's not right. He learned the Divine Firmament Sword-Riding True Art before joining the sect? Could he be a spy from the Jade Pivot Sword Pavilion?"
The more Daoist Hong Yun divined, the greater the interest in his eyes. With the exception of the Book of a Hundred Lives, all of Lu Yang's secrets were deduced by Daoist Hong Yun through karma, unraveled like silk from a cocoon, until finally, he frowned.
"... He cultivated the Heavenly Demon Transforming Blood Divine Light?"
The next second, the interest in Daoist Hong Yun's eyes rapidly faded, replaced by an expression of distaste. Transforming his body into a blood shadow meant his Immortal Path was severed. Such a cultivator was naturally not worth any more of his effort, and certainly couldn't take on the role of the next "Son of Heaven."
"A pity about that rainbow fish in the Merit Pool. It wasn't caught this time. It seems I'll have to wait for the next opportunity."
Daoist Hong Yun withdrew his gaze and took a step forward, vanishing without a trace like an angler who had run out of bait and had no choice but to leave empty-handed. Leaving only Lu Yang standing there. Sweat poured down his back like rain.