Acting on the thought, Lu Yang immediately transformed into a streak of escaping light and flew into the sky. The Myriad Spirits Banner rose high, its flag fluttering and obscuring the sun and sky. A vast shadow, with Lu Yang at its center, rapidly spread out towards the eight-hundred-li Skull Mountain.
This was especially true for the Witch Ghost Secret Realm. One by one, the Witch Ghosts were transformed into banner spirits by Lu Yang, including the eight red-robed ghosts that formed the Yama Demon Hall, as well as the guardian god Sunü.
"Even the color has changed."
As the thousands of Witch Ghosts all surged into the Myriad Spirits Banner, the originally pure white banner gradually became purplish-black, just like the guardian god Sunü.
In this way, as long as he restarted with the Myriad Spirits Banner, the Yama Demon Hall could also be perfectly inherited, ensuring that at the very start of his next life, he would have a Foundation Establishment guardian god to conceal the heavenly secrets.
The effect would likely be no worse than the Innate Primordial-Unity Qi Divine Talisman, so as not to alarm the Heaven Mending Peak Master again.
"Oh right, I almost forgot about you."
Thinking of this, Lu Yang suddenly shook the Myriad Spirits Banner and then took out an old Daoist with a numb expression, lifeless eyes, and the youthful complexion of a child despite his white hair. The Heaven Mending Peak Master!
To be precise, it was a clone soul of the Heaven Mending Peak Master, one he had personally severed from his soul in order to escape the suction force of the Yama Demon Hall. Immediately after, Lu Yang summoned Chen Xin'an. This was also just a clone soul of the real Chen Xin'an, not his true body.
After coming out, he and the Heaven Mending Peak Master's clone soul stared at each other, wide-eyed, his face full of disbelief.
"How could this be..."
"Nothing is impossible."
Lu Yang smiled faintly.
"Your father-son bond is deep. I'm a kind-hearted person, so I specially invited him into the Myriad Spirits Banner to reunite with you."
Speaking of which, Lu Yang suddenly thought of a very interesting question. Now that both Chen Xin'an's and the Heaven Mending Peak Master's clone souls had become his banner spirits, if he chose the Myriad Spirits Banner after restarting, would they still be there? If they were, would it affect the real Heaven Mending Peak Master and Chen Xin'an?
"Interesting."
Lu Yang's thoughts raced, and in an instant, many good ways to use them came to mind. In the next life, he might be able to make the Heaven Mending Peak Master take the fall for something big... Of course, that was a matter for the next life.
Pulling his thoughts back, Lu Yang looked at the clone souls of Chen Xin'an and the Heaven Mending Peak Master.
"I plan to cultivate the 'Secret of the Heavenly Silkworm by Severing Thoughts to See the Self'. You two will be my guardians."
The Secret of the Heavenly Silkworm by Severing Thoughts to See the Self was a Great Divine Ability that transformed a Qi Refining spiritual sense into a Foundation Establishment spiritual sense. To master it, one needed to sever nine clone souls from one's own soul.
According to the divine ability's description, they represented the nine extreme emotions that troubled Lu Yang's "true self": joy from sight, anger from hearing, love from smell, longing from taste, desire from thought, sorrow of the body, greed for form, hatred and rage, and ignorant obsession. These were known as the "Three Poisons and Six Desires."
Only by severing them all could one see their true self.
"The first, joy from sight."
Lu Yang silently circulated the art, his spiritual sense transforming into a blade. Then, borrowing the deductive power of the guardian god Sunü, he accurately made the first cut on his own soul. The next second, Lu Yang felt his soul lighten.
A streak of spiritual light was severed by him, and upon landing, it took root, actually transforming into a soul shadow with the same appearance as him.
"Hahahahahaha."
As soon as this soul shadow appeared, it immediately covered one eye with a hand, placed the other hand on its hip, raised its head to the sky, and then let out a burst of indescribable, wild laughter. Almost at the same time, a vast wave of emotion flooded into Lu Yang's mind.
The joy of cultivation, the joy of breaking through, the joy of dual cultivation, the joy of a successful scheme... From past lives and this one, countless feelings of joy all surfaced! Although Lu Yang was already prepared, he was still struck by this intense emotion, his eyes turning red.
Just then, Chen Xin'an and the Heaven Mending Peak Master, who were ordered to act as guardians, suddenly moved. They were seen exhaling and speaking, suddenly releasing a thunderous celestial sound: "Halt!"
The sound wave was like a clear spring pouring down, instantly soothing the countless inexplicable ecstasies that had risen in Lu Yang's heart and allowing his expression to return to calm.
"A great divine ability of the soul... truly treacherous."
Lu Yang's brows furrowed slightly. He could feel that this was only treating the symptom, not the root cause. The clone soul's influence was temporarily suppressed, but it would only erupt more violently later.
This was the difficult part of cultivating the Secret of the Heavenly Silkworm by Severing Thoughts to See the Self. The severed clone souls would continuously produce all sorts of extreme emotions to affect the cultivator.
Only by relying on oneself to suppress all these clone souls' emotions and reaching the state of a "heart as pure as ice" would the divine ability be considered at Great Completion.
"These emotions are too troublesome."
Lu Yang's brows furrowed tightly. A karmic connection existed between the clone soul and him. Therefore, even if he suppressed it, these emotions would still continuously surge forth...
Hmm?
A karmic connection? After a moment of silence, Lu Yang turned his head to look at Sunü, who was guarding beside him. If he remembered correctly, it seemed a guardian god could transfer karma?
Lu Yang gave it a try. The karma suddenly shifted. The next second, Sunü's mouth suddenly twitched without warning, revealing a wide smile, but she quickly reined it in, a look of panic on her face: "Master?"
"Endure it. Don't let it show!"
Lu Yang said sternly, unhesitatingly grafting the karmic connection of 'joy from sight' onto Sunü, making her bear the emotional impact for him.
"Continue!"
There was no time to lose. Lu Yang quickly made another eight cuts, severing all the remaining eight clone souls. Then, he grafted all of them onto Sunü.
In that moment, Sunü collapsed onto the ground, drenched in sweat. Her full head of black hair was soaked with sweat, clinging to her delicate and beautiful face. The noble solemnity she once had as a guardian god was completely gone.
Her once alluring and soul-snatching beautiful eyes now only held confusion and stupor. She was just short of drooling. And watching Sunü suffer from the chaotic emotional impact of the clone souls, revealing a look of pain and conflict, Lu Yang suddenly felt much better.
This is what a guardian god is for! Otherwise, what use do I have for her?
"Also, for the Corpse-Shedding Immortal, I also need Sunü to use her Foundation Establishment status to provide a blessing and speed up my mastery of it. In that case, let Senior Sister Yu suffer a little more."
With Sunü's help, Lu Yang believed that the Supreme Yin Corpse-Shedding Form Transformation True Art and the Secret of the Heavenly Silkworm by Severing Thoughts to See the Self, which would have originally taken at least several decades each to master, could now be perfected one by one in at most three months.
The probability of him breaking through to Foundation Establishment could also reach seventy percent in one go!
"And with the agreement regarding the Heavenly Corpse Killing Qi, I can also ask for the Ascension Token in Daoist Master Yinshan's hands."
"At that time, it will be an eighty percent chance of success."
Not low at all! Thinking of this, Lu Yang felt a little excited. After all, he was not planning to pursue some 'perfect Foundation Establishment'.
An eighty percent chance was more than enough to go all-in. Saint Sect, Heaven-Linking Cloud Sea. The Heaven Mending Peak Master silently returned to Heaven Mending Peak.
First, he activated Heaven Mending Peak's mountain-protecting grand formation. Only then did he take some mud and mold a physical body. However, before he could even stand firm, a silver bell-like voice drifted over: "Father, didn't you go to capture someone?
Why did you come back empty-handed?"
"..."
Hearing this, the Heaven Mending Peak Master's body stiffened. Then, with a helpless expression, he turned his head to look at his daughter, Chen Shuqian.
"Father slipped up for a moment. I didn't catch the person."
Chen Shuqian was taken aback upon hearing this, then she raised a delicate eyebrow.
"Father, you lost?"
"I didn't lose."
After a moment of silence, the Heaven Mending Peak Master said gravely, "That junior came to deceive, to launch a sneak attack, and destroyed my physical body, leaving me with less than ten percent of my usual strength."
"Father, you really lost, didn't you?"
"I didn't lose!"
The Heaven Mending Peak Master gritted his teeth.
"Just let that junior be smug for a few days. Do you think he'll have a good end? He'll know what's what when he tries to break through to Foundation Establishment."
"That junior calculated everything, but the one thing he miscalculated was his greed for the so-called third-grade True Qi."
The Heaven Mending Peak Master sneered.
"Qian'er, you're still young. You don't understand the treachery of the human heart. Any opportunity in this world must be obtained by paying a price."
"If the inheritance left behind by Panlong back then was really that good, do you think I would have left it for others instead of for you and Xin'an? Besides, in life, Panlong was merely a Foundation Establishment Rogue Cultivator. Do you really think his cultivation technique could be ranked as third-grade and point directly to the Great Dao of the Golden Core?"