Skull Mountain Market, inside the Blood-Robed Pavilion. Lu Yang had just withdrawn his consciousness from the Myriad Spirits Banner when he suddenly felt his vision darken, his spiritual platform clouded with dust. Then, his brow furrowed slightly as he gazed toward the distant sky.
The next second, he was already riding an escaping light, arriving at the edge of the market. He saw a magnificent light shoot from the horizon like a fiery meteor chasing lightning. It only restrained itself upon reaching the market's entrance.
A tall, heroic-looking woman appeared and walked out. ... So it's a Daoist friend from the Sword Pavilion. Lu Yang had also cultivated the Divine Firmament Sword-Riding True Art and recognized the newcomer's origins at a glance.
He immediately cupped his hands in a Daoist salute and said, "I am Lu Yang. May I ask for the Daoist friend's name?"
"Jade Pivot, Yun Miaozhen."
As soon as these words were spoken, Lu Yang's eyes narrowed. After all, Yun Miaozhen and Yun Miaoqing were two names so similar that it was too easy to make a connection.
"Has the Daoist friend come to take back her fellow disciple?"
Thinking of this, Lu Yang did not hesitate in the slightest. With a casual gesture, he directly snatched Yun Miaoqing from the Blood-Robed Pavilion and threw her in front of Yun Miaozhen.
"Miss Miaoqing has not suffered any grievances in the Saint Sect. Although she is nominally my servant, I have not mistreated her over the years, so she is still a virgin. If the Daoist friend wishes to take her back, please feel free. My cultivation level is shallow, so I will not leave the formation to see you off."
In Lu Yang's view, he had no enmity with the Sword Pavilion. After all, not only had he saved Yun Miaoqing's life, he had also preserved her chastity. As the leader of the righteous path, the Jade Pivot Sword Pavilion shouldn't have any reason to make things difficult for him.
However, he soon discovered he was wrong.
"Miaoqing... is still a virgin?"
Yun Miaozhen's beautiful eyes lowered, her gaze falling upon Yun Miaoqing. But not only was there not the slightest hint of joy, there was even a bit of disgust and helplessness. The next second, she let out a long sigh.
"What a pity! Miaoqing, you will not be able to overcome this tribulation of yours."
As her voice fell, not to mention Lu Yang, even Yun Miaoqing was stunned after hearing this, her face filled with disbelief.
"Sister... what do you mean by this?"
"You have not received the true inheritance, so you do not understand."
Yun Miaozhen shook her head.
"Your fortune is thin, and your natural fate is insufficient, yet you forcefully sought immortal destiny. You were originally destined for three calamities and nine hardships. Failing to overcome even one would have meant your Dao perishing and your death. Therefore, back then, I specifically asked Master to combine your three calamities and nine hardships into a single ten-year great tribulation."
"This ten-year great tribulation was the ten years you were trapped in the Demonic Sect."
"During these ten years, if you had endured endless humiliation, your vermilion lips tasted by ten thousand men, yet your Dao heart remained firm and your will unshaken, then this tribulation would have been considered passed."
"What a pity... you are actually still a virgin!"
"As a virgin, you have not suffered humiliation, so the tribulation will naturally not be lessened in the slightest. It might even be aggravated!"
Speaking of this, Yun Miaozhen looked at Lu Yang, killing intent in her eyes.
"This Demon has ruined your cultivation. He seems to be acting kindly, but in reality, he harbors malicious intent. He must be executed!" ...
It had to be admitted, even Lu Yang was stunned silent. Yun Miaoqing was even more unable to accept it, her lips trembling.
"So you're saying, the reason I fell into the hands of the Demonic Sect back then and became their slave..."
"Was naturally all my planning."
Yun Miaozhen nodded and said, "If I hadn't done this, you would have had no hope of reaching Foundation Establishment in this life. You are my younger sister, I naturally have to think for you. This was for your own good."
As soon as these words were spoken, Lu Yang was rendered speechless. Fucking hell, there's a lunatic in the righteous path! If before, Lu Yang still held some admiration for the Jade Pivot Sword Pavilion, this renowned leader of the righteous path, now he had no such thoughts left.
It's better to stay in the Saint Sect for now. The disciples of the Saint Sect are all such fine people, I love it here!
"Let's go. Come back with me."
On the other side, Yun Miaozhen paid no mind to Lu Yang's and Yun Miaoqing's expressions and said in a clear voice, "I will find another way for you to pass this great tribulation..."
"I won't!"
Faced with Yun Miaozhen's persuasion, Yun Miaoqing subconsciously took a step back, looking at her own blood sister as if she were a stranger. After all, she could never have imagined that her experience of falling into the hands of the Demonic Sect ten years ago, which almost drove her to despair, was single-handedly orchestrated by her own blood sister.
If she hadn't met Lu Yang and managed to preserve her life and chastity, she might have already been refined into medicinal dregs and died in some corner!
"... Behave."
Seeing Yun Miaoqing act this way, Yun Miaozhen's elegant brows furrowed slightly.
"You do not cultivate Great Divine Abilities, nor do you understand karma. Naturally, it is difficult for you to understand my painstaking efforts."
"... Painstaking efforts?"
Yun Miaoqing took another step back, her tone filled with hatred.
"Scheming to throw me into the Demonic Sect, letting me be humiliated by others, is this what you call your painstaking efforts for me?"
"I am following the flow of karma, acting on behalf of heaven. When you achieve success on the Immortal Path in the future, you will naturally thank me."
Yun Miaozhen's tone was calm. In her eyes, there was nothing improper about her actions. Everything was perfectly justified, an arrangement of karma and fate.
Seeing that Yun Miaoqing still wanted to argue, she simply waved her hand. A magnificent light enveloped Yun Miaoqing, knocking her unconscious, and then she casually tossed her aside.
"When words are disagreeable, even half a sentence is too much. I will not argue with you about this now."
Only after doing all this did she turn to look at Lu Yang again.
"What are you looking at me for, Daoist Yun?"
Lu Yang raised an eyebrow. Yun Miaozhen's beautiful eyes looked over, her expression cold. She only said faintly, "You deliberately ruined Miaoqing's cultivation.
I wish to borrow something from you as compensation." Hearing this, Lu Yang laughed heartily.
"You don't mean to borrow my fine head, do you?"
His words were dripping with sarcasm. Yun Miaozhen nodded slightly, not annoyed at all, only narrowing her phoenix eyes, revealing a bone-chilling killing intent.
"It's fine if you are unwilling. In that case, don't blame me for slaying demons and defending the Dao."
With that, she raised a delicate hand! In an instant, a clear light illuminated a ten-li radius. It was a crystal-clear, glass-like magical sword.
The body of the sword reflected the mountains and rivers for ten li around...
"Do you really think I'm afraid of you?"
Lu Yang laughed arrogantly, then turned and leaped, instantly transforming into an escaping light and hiding within the market. The Hundred Skeletons Returning to True Grand Formation and the Bloodwash Heavenly River Sword Formation Diagram activated in an instant. A hidden dragon in the abyss, who can kill me?
Seeing this, Yun Miaozhen gave a cold smile. Without the slightest hesitation, she soared into the sky as an escaping light, impartially smashing through the grand formation and rushing into the market! In that instant, countless gazes from both inside and outside the market were drawn over.
After all, with the precedent of Ouyang Haoze, everyone knew that the Blood-Robed Pavilion Master was a Ninth-Grade Formation Master. Possessing a grand formation, he could be considered innately invincible. Under these circumstances, where did Yun Miaozhen get the confidence to charge into the market alone?
Almost at the same time, several figures appeared outside the market, among them Elder Ouyang Feng of the Divine Martial Sect and Second Senior Brother Luo Wuya of the Three Rivers Society. However, the expressions of these two Qi Refining Perfection cultivators were rather solemn at this moment.
And their gazes were focused in another direction of the market, on the ordinary-looking middle-aged man who had come with Yun Miaozhen.
"'Supreme Taiyi Sword' Yun Zhiqiu?"
Luo Wuya's face was solemn, clearly not unfamiliar with the middle-aged man.
"Skull Mountain isn't in your South of the River. The Jade Pivot Sword Pavilion is overstepping its bounds."
Yun Zhiqiu chuckled lightly.
"My Jade Pivot Sword Pavilion only concerns itself with protecting the righteous path, and the righteous path knows no regional boundaries."
"Such arrogant words!"
Luo Wuya was so angered by these words that he laughed.
"You should first pray that your little junior sister can make it out alive."
Hearing this, Yun Zhiqiu glanced at Lu Yang and Yun Miaozhen, then shook his head.
"Demonic Sect, after all. They only know these underhanded methods."
"However, how can heretical paths contend with my orthodox arts and divine abilities?"
Before his voice had faded, Yun Miaozhen inside the market formed a hand seal and pointed. The glass-like magical sword she had summoned immediately burst forth with a dazzling, brilliant light.
"That's..."
Seeing this scene, Luo Wuya and Ouyang Feng seemed to have thought of something, and their expressions changed drastically.
"The Heaven Evasion Sword!? This woman actually possesses such a great treasure?"
The next second, the sword light covered the surrounding heaven and earth. Lu Yang activated the formations, but whether it was the Hundred Skeletons Returning to True Grand Formation or the Bloodwash Heavenly River Sword Formation Diagram, they were all passed through by that sword light as if they were nothing.
Boom!
When the sword light dissipated, only the two still-operating grand formations remained in the market. But inside the formations, there was no one, only a glass-like magical sword hanging high in the sky!
(End of this chapter)