Just a Useful Pawn in the Stain Sect

South, Gantang Dao.

Sword Light crossed the sky, quickly arriving at Gantang Dao. It suddenly parted, and Demon Subduing Zhenren emerged from within, his eyes immediately brimming with soaring ambition and lofty aspirations.

Within his Spiritual Space, a voice quietly rang out.

"Little friend, you are currently at a critical juncture in your cultivation. You should be in seclusion in the Human World. Why must you run all the way here to waste your time?"

The speaker was Dragon Map.

"Senior, you are mistaken," Demon Subduing Zhenren said indifferently. "Cultivation shouldn’t be done behind closed doors. Moreover, as a Sword Cultivator, I must always find opponents to test my sword against."

"What’s so difficult about that?"

Dragon Map still didn’t understand. "There are plenty of opponents in the Human World for you to test your sword. Why neglect the root to pursue the branches and take risks acting outside?"

"Do the ones in the Human World even count as opponents?" Demon Subduing Zhenren scoffed. "Almost all of them are Outer Heaven Cultivators. Hardly any originate from the Immortal Pivot. It’s only because I haven’t reached Foundation Establishment Perfection that I’m easily suppressed in Realm. Otherwise, none of the Liu Ying in the Human World could withstand a single strike from my sword!

"So, to test my sword, I still need to find someone from the Demon Sect!

"The Master of Heaven Mending Peak is an Inner Sect Peak Master of the Demon Sect; his status is quite significant."

Speaking up to this point, Demon Subduing Zhenren looked full of anticipation. "Back then, Demon-Vanquishing Perfected slew the Buddha’s Son to make a name for himself. Today, I’ll kill the Master of Heaven Mending Peak to establish my own fame.

"Wait until the day I achieve Foundation Establishment Perfection.

"This number one spot in Foundation Establishment will have to change hands!"

On this point, Demon Subduing Zhenren had confidence in the Fruit of Blade-Edge Metal. After all, this was a Supreme Divine Technique capable of slaying the future. What could Demon-Vanquishing Perfected possibly use to compare with him?

Thinking of this, he immediately pressed the Sword Light downwards.

Soon, Gantang Dao came into view. The layered Forbidden Arrays were completely powerless to block his Sword Light; he slashed them apart with a single strike and easily descended.

The next second, the radiance of an Ability slowly rose up.

"Who is it?"

Before the words faded, a shimmering aquatic light soared into the sky. It gathered dark clouds and churned with a draconic silhouette, anxiously blocking his path.

"Oh? Ren Water?"

Seeing this, Demon Subduing Zhenren’s eyebrows slightly twitched upwards, and he let out a mocking smile. "[Long Xingyu], is that how you use an Ability?"

Following that, with a mere shift of his thoughts, a vast Qi trace far surpassing the newcomer’s erupted like a torrential flash flood. It dispersed the surrounding Spiritual Qi, and a much more massive dragon silhouette shot straight into the clouds. A draconic roar shook the nine heavens, seizing control of the Cloud Sea within a ten-thousand-mile radius in the blink of an eye.

[Long Xingyu]!

Ren Shen and Gui You were known as the Fruit of Blade-Edge Metal. Only when Yin and Yang, Metal and Water converged would a sword strike be born. Therefore, Demon Subduing Zhenren’s first Innate Divine Technique was also Ren Water!

Two identical Abilities violently collided.

The result was undeniable. Even with identical Abilities, the Dao Foundations of the two were simply not on the same level. Master Xiao Hai was immediately struck down from the clouds.

After doing all this, Demon Subduing Zhenren nodded in satisfaction. He retracted his Ability and descended on his Sword Light, looking at Master Xiao Hai with a half-smile.

Before he could speak, Master Xiao Hai hastily bowed.

"Lower Cultivator Xiao Sea pays respects to the Upper Sect’s Perfected Person."

After he spoke, Demon Subduing Zhenren did not excuse him from the bow but asked in a deep voice, "Where is Junior Sister Ye? I read in the letter you sent that she has perished."

"To answer the Perfected Person, it is indeed so, but..."

Before Master Xiao Hai could finish, an oppressive sword pressure crashed down, causing him to fall headfirst to the ground. All his words were cut off, stuck in his throat.

"Junior Sister Ye is dead. Why are you, Daoist, still alive?"

"To—to answer the Perfected Person, the situation was critical. The attacker was the Master of Heaven Mending Peak from the Demon Sect, a cultivator at Mid-stage Foundation Establishment Perfection. As a Lower Cultivator, I was truly powerless..."

"Powerless?"

Hearing this, Demon Subduing Zhenren shook his head and said coldly, "Don’t you, Daoist, still have your life? Why didn’t you self-destruct and sacrifice your life to cover Junior Sister Ye’s retreat?

"You should know that if you had willingly self-destructed back then and sacrificed yourself to save her, Junior Sister Ye would have definitely owed you karmic links. In the future, when you reincarnated and returned, she would have naturally guided you into the sect and nurtured you with great care. This was your serendipity. Unfortunately, Junior Sister Ye never expected you to be such a coward who clings to life and fears death!

"She kindly offered you serendipity, but ended up dying unexpectedly."

Saying this, Demon Subduing Zhenren looked at Master Xiao Hai with increasing disgust. "Such actions prove that you, Daoist, are truly a petty man with no Righteous Dao in your heart.

"In the past, you could have become an Official Disciple upon entering my Sword Pavilion.

"However, with these karmic links present, I’m afraid you can only be a Servant Disciple from now on. This is what it means for evil karmic links to bear evil consequences. Daoist, you should take this as a warning."

"...This Lower Cultivator understands."

Master Xiao Hai lowered his head deeply, his tone still respectful. However, beneath his lowered eyelids, a menacing black trace of energy suddenly flashed in his eyes.

Meanwhile, outside Gantang Dao, Minor Metal, who was hiding in a mountain forest, witnessed this scene through the Heart Demon’s perspective and couldn’t help but burst into laughter on the spot.

"As expected of a Sword Species!

"TSK TSK TSK. Those words were truly more effective than my Free Heaven! Master Xiao Hai’s Heart Demon has actually strengthened out of nowhere!"

In fact, if he hadn’t intentionally controlled it, given the Heart Demon’s reckless and unrestrained style, it never would have swallowed this insult and likely would have attacked Demon Subduing Zhenren long ago.

"Look at you, getting anxious again."

Sensing the restless Heart Demon, Minor Metal shook his head and calmed it down. He thought to himself, "Now is not a good time to strike.

"According to my intelligence, this Demon Subduing Zhenren cultivates the Fruit of Blade-Edge Metal, a dignified Emperor Fruit. His status in the Sword Pavilion is probably even higher than Demon-Vanquishing Perfected. He inevitably carries life-saving items like the Imperial Decree Jade Token. Killing him now will only alert the enemy. It’s best to take things slowly."

This was Minor Metal’s Combat style.

He would plan before acting, observing and gathering intelligence on his opponent first. He would only strike when he had absolute certainty. If he didn’t attack, fine, but once he did, he had to succeed.

Right at this moment, he suddenly felt a stir in his heart.

Immediately after, he clapped his hands and smiled. "Indeed, arriving early isn’t as good as arriving at the right time. Good, good, good. I’ll just let you fight until both sides are severely injured before I make my move!"

The verdant mountains resembled an ocean, and the setting sun was as red as blood.

Outside Gantang Dao, night was approaching. The Bright Light of the sky had faded, yet a brilliant radiance rose from the ground. A moment later, a man stepped out from within.

The man was tall with features as sharp as if carved by a knife and axe. Just standing there, he naturally exuded an imposing aura without showing anger. Following behind him were the Master of Heaven Mending Peak, who was pale with unhealed wounds, as well as Tuanxu and Wu Cang, two Foundation-Stage Cultivators.

He was none other than the Stain Sect’s most unique Foundation Establishment Perfection cultivator, Great Undertaking.

However, at this moment, this Great Trueman’s eyes were full of bitterness, and his heart was filled with complaints. "You are clearly worried about a trap, yet you still sent me to test the waters..." he thought.

"Even though I was Enlightened by you, you can’t just abuse me like this. Is my life not a life?"

Fortunately, after so many years of seeing Fortune go through ups and downs while remaining the same, Great Undertaking had actually grown used to it long ago, and he quickly adjusted his mindset.

"Forget it, there will be benefits in the end anyway," he thought. "As long as the Lord can return to the Golden Position, my efforts won’t be in vain.

"I shouldn’t delay. The longer I drag this out here, the more likely something will go wrong. I need to retrieve the Grotto Heaven Fragment beneath Gantang Dao as quickly as possible and evacuate immediately!"

Thinking of this, Great Undertaking immediately strode toward the direction of Gantang Dao.

However, in the eyes of the distant Minor Metal, he looked just like a roasted piece of fat meat, leaping without hesitation straight into his gaping, bloody maw.