Just a Useful Pawn in the Stain Sect

"An expert at Foundation Establishment Perfection actually came..."

Within Gantang Dao, the once brimming-with-confidence Demon Subduing Zhenren felt his smile gradually fade. He had come here to kill and establish dominance, not to fight a life-and-death battle.

He could easily suppress the Master of Heaven Mending Peak.

Even if a cultivator at the Late Stage of Foundation Establishment arrived, he was confident he had a ninety percent chance of winning. However, Foundation Establishment Perfection... This was very troublesome. His life might be in danger!

At this thought, Demon Subduing Zhenren immediately felt the urge to retreat.

But how could Minor Metal allow that?

In the next second, beside Demon Subduing Zhenren, Master Xiao Hai—who had long been exploited by the Heart Demon—suddenly looked up. Formless Abilities spread out along his gaze.

[Five Poison Heart]!

This Heart Demon Divine Technique could stir the most primal emotions and desires in a person’s heart. Like plucking harp strings, it instantly ignited Demon Subduing Zhenren’s fury.

"Demon-Vanquishing Perfected killing the Pure Land Buddha’s Son was considered a standard case of the weak defeating the strong at the time. But what about me?" he thought. "Since I want to establish dominance and compete with Demon-Vanquishing Perfected, I should naturally do the same. Slaying an expert at Foundation Establishment Perfection while at the Late Stage of Foundation Establishment is the only way to showcase my Abilities. Why should I be so timid and fearful?"

Such thoughts abruptly leaped out in Demon Subduing Zhenren’s heart.

However, in the next second, a resonant Thunder Sound echoed within his Spiritual Space. "Careful! An expert is using Divine Soul methods to influence your Heart Thought!"

"Hmm? There’s another expert?"

Almost simultaneously, Minor Metal noticed something amiss and raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t expected the existence of a second Spiritual perception within Demon Subduing Zhenren’s Spiritual Space. The other party could even detect the Heart Demon. It had to be known that he had already deployed the [Formless Realm]. The Heart Demon transformed formlessly and was incredibly difficult to capture, having almost never been discovered before. Yet now, it was exposed.

"It’s not that they have some method to detect the Heart Demon, but rather that the fundamental nature of this Spiritual perception is simply too high. Is it their Position? Could it be... this is a True Monarch’s Residual Thought!?" Minor Metal instantly stood up, his brows furrowed tightly.

If it were merely a Foundation Establishment residual thought, breaking through the [Five Poison Heart] would be nearly impossible. But if it were a True Monarch’s Residual Thought, forcibly shattering it was entirely possible.

"Damn it, I miscalculated.

"If I really let this person wake Demon Subduing Zhenren, I will inevitably be exposed. The entire scheme within Gantang Dao will fail on the verge of success, and it will likely be difficult to achieve anything else."

In the blink of an eye, Minor Metal’s mind raced. "Forcibly kill Demon Subduing Zhenren? No, the moment I show killing intent, I’ll likely die even faster. In that case, kill that True Monarch’s Residual Thought? That won’t work either. Its Position is too high. Even if I could kill it, it would require a vast amount of time to grind it away bit by bit.

"Is this going to fall at the final hurdle?"

Thinking of this, Minor Metal’s expression gradually turned gloomy.

However, he quickly realized that although Dragon Map was continuously using Spiritual perception to shake the Soul and emitting Thunder Sound to try and wake Demon Subduing Zhenren, that was the extent of it.

"Hmm...?"

Minor Metal stared blankly for a moment before his gloomy expression was instantly swept away. "He actually doesn’t even have a Gold Attribute! This person comes from Beyond the Heavens and isn’t a Perfected Lord of the current era?"

Although Lü Yang had not yet spread the Thunder Skill, that didn’t mean Immortal Core Cultivators were truly helpless against the Heart Demon. At the very least, based on Minor Metal’s experience, the Gold Attribute could suppress the Heart Demon to a certain extent.

Especially the True Monarch Gold Attribute. Its suppressive power over the Heart Demon could be considered terrifying. Unless the Heart Demon had already grown to an unmanageable degree, it essentially couldn’t affect the Gold Attribute.

That was why Minor Metal initially felt his plan was doomed to fail. After all, what Immortal Pivot True Monarch didn’t carry a Gold Attribute with them? Expelling his Heart Demon Divine Technique would be incredibly easy for them. But he never expected that Dragon Map wasn’t an Immortal Pivot True Monarch, but an Outer Heaven Wanderer like the Outer Dao!

"This is truly a sudden ray of hope in the darkest hour!"

Thinking of this, Minor Metal immediately perked up. Without the reinforcement of a Gold Attribute, the impact of Dragon Map’s Spiritual perception shockwaves on his Heart Demon was pitifully small.

"Let alone waking Demon Subduing Zhenren.

"I can even use the Heart Demon to completely devour the Spiritual perception he’s using to shake the Spiritual Space... However, I can’t overdo it, or else he might just give up."

Minor Metal swiftly adjusted his strategy.

Soon after, he deliberately reined in the Heart Demon, allowing Demon Subduing Zhenren to recover a shred of clarity. Following that, he immediately swallowed a portion of Dragon Map’s Spiritual perception.

"Hmm?"

Dragon Map naturally noticed this as well. However, as the Guardian of the [Celestial Human Residual Consciousness], he was an absolute relic of the past. How could he recognize the Heart Demon?

For a moment, he thought his methods had taken effect and was overjoyed. Although he had lost a bit of Spiritual perception, waking Demon Subduing Zhenren made it worth it... But before he could breathe a sigh of relief, Minor Metal reinforced the Heart Demon’s influence, once again blinding Demon Subduing Zhenren’s Soul.

Seeing this, Dragon Map was stunned. "Again?"

After a moment of silence, he sent over another stream of Spiritual perception to shake the Spiritual Space. As the Spiritual perception shattered and vanished, Demon Subduing Zhenren regained his clarity once more.

"Bastard!"

In the next second, within Demon Subduing Zhenren’s Spiritual Space, the light and shadows of the Heart Demon converged. Minor Metal’s figure emerged, his face obscured by a dark light, his tone brimming with ferocity.

"Senior, must you insist on opposing me?"

Although he couldn’t see the other party’s face clearly, Dragon Map still heard the false bravado in his voice. He immediately dismissed it and continued to send out his Spiritual perception.

"Fine, fine, fine! Since that’s how it is, I’ll go down fighting!"

Minor Metal trembled all over in anger. He let out a loud roar, and before the newly clear-headed Demon Subduing Zhenren could even speak, he was once again influenced by the Heart Demon.

Seeing this, Dragon Map furrowed his brows. He had already consumed three streams of Spiritual perception, but each time, he could only wake Demon Subduing Zhenren for a fraction of a second. He couldn’t even discern what kind of method this was. It felt somewhat like an Illusion Realm that could stir a person’s emotions, yet its fundamental nature seemed different.

"However, my Spiritual perception is working. It’s just that the quantity isn’t enough," he thought.

Thinking of this, Dragon Map gritted his teeth. He no longer sent just a single stream of Spiritual perception; instead, he directly split off a quarter of his Spiritual perception and smashed it heavily into Minor Metal!

"Ahhhhh!"

Minor Metal’s figure violently shuddered, and the light and shadows formed by the Heart Demon nearly collapsed. He roared in indignant fury, only barely managing to stabilize his form.

Dragon Map was stunned once more.

That didn’t kill him?

His intuition told him something was very wrong. But looking at Minor Metal, who was teetering on the edge of collapse and looked as though a gentle push would topple him, he felt like he was just a hair’s breadth away from finishing him off.

"BOOM!"

Just to be safe, Dragon Map split off three more streams of Spiritual perception to attack Minor Metal, causing Demon Subduing Zhenren to continually bounce back and forth between a state of clarity and bewilderment.

"Bastard! Bastard!

"I was clearly about to succeed! As long as I swallowed him, my Dharma Gate would achieve Major Mastery. But now I’ve fallen at the final hurdle. The Heavens truly want me dead!

"I refuse to accept this!"

Under Minor Metal’s furious and despairing roars, Dragon Map continued to bombard him with Spiritual perception.

The effects were quite obvious. He noticed that compared to before, the amount of time Demon Subduing Zhenren stayed awake was noticeably longer, and it was still increasing.

Just a little bit more!

Dragon Map gritted his teeth and fired off another stream of Spiritual perception.

Even though he increasingly felt that something was amiss, the sunk costs he had already paid were right in front of him. What if this was the straw that broke the camel’s back?

Especially when he saw that during his moment of hesitation, Minor Metal’s Qi trace—which had weakened to the extreme—suddenly ticked upward. It seemed he still had ways to recover! Dragon Map grew even more restless. "No, I worked so hard to severely injure him. I absolutely cannot give him a chance to recover!"

And so, very quickly, another quarter of his Spiritual perception was spent.

Dragon Map fell utterly silent.

"This isn’t right, is it?" he thought. "When I used a quarter of it previously, he was screaming in agony. Now that I’ve used another quarter, he’s still screaming in agony..."

"You animal!!!"

Dragon Map finally realized what was going on. If it weren’t for the fact that he was currently just a residual thought without a physical body, he would probably be fuming enough to burst a blood vessel.

Seeing that he could no longer keep up the act, Minor Metal instantly dropped his exaggerated posturing and smiled in satisfaction.

"Many thanks for the generous gift, Senior.

"To repay you, I will send you on your way right now!"

He had truly racked his brains to deal with Dragon Map. After all, since becoming the Stain Sect Interim Sect Leader, it had been a very long time since he last played around like this.

He had been a bit too melodramatic just now. If he were younger, his acting would have been much more exquisite. If word of that scene just now were to spread, it would probably damage his usually composed image.

"Whatever, no one knows anyway!"