Just a Useful Pawn in the Stain Sect

At the critical moment, Demon Subduing Zhenren made the most correct reaction.

His pupils shrank suddenly, but he didn’t try to dodge Great Undertaking’s full-power strike. Instead, four of his Abilities converged into one on the Magical Sword in his hand.

"Slash!"

The Sword Light roared. Among the Great Truemen in the Late Stage of Foundation Establishment, very few could block it. However, Great Undertaking’s Position of Foundation Establishment Perfection crushed everything.

In an instant, a pillar of light fell from the sky, illuminating everything inside and out of heaven and earth, dyeing the Cloud Sea crimson. At the same time, it effortlessly shattered Demon Subduing Zhenren’s Sword Light and struck him squarely in the face. Like shooting down a flying bird, it smashed him into the ground with a loud boom.

However, Great Undertaking let out a light gasp of surprise at the sight.

"...He didn’t die?"

On the ground, dense cracks spread out like a spider web. In the center was a bloodstained deep pit, and a person crawled out from it.

It was none other than Demon Subduing Zhenren!

After crawling out of the pit, he didn’t hesitate at all. In the blink of an eye, he fled deep into Gantang Dao, not even daring to look at Great Undertaking again.

But Great Undertaking didn’t give chase.

Not only did he not chase him, but he also stopped the restless Master of Heaven Mending Peak. He thought to himself, "Something isn’t right... How did he suddenly drop to the Late Stage of Foundation Establishment?"

His judgment couldn’t be wrong. Just a split second before they clashed, the opponent still possessed the Position of Foundation Establishment Perfection. But when he unleashed his full-power strike, the opponent’s Position plummeted, almost as if he were deliberately courting death... Damn it, is this an extortion scam?

Great Undertaking’s eyes twitched slightly.

He couldn’t help but suspect this, as the Sword Pavilion had a track record of such deeds! They specialized in sending insignificant disciples to fake injuries, exaggerating the issue if anything happened, and using the opportunity to extort and blackmail others...

"No matter what, I cannot fall for this trick!" he thought.

At this moment, Great Undertaking’s thoughts were incredibly clear. After all, he wasn’t here to kill anyone; retrieving Gantang Dao’s Grotto Heaven Fragment was his true goal.

On the other side, however, Demon Subduing Zhenren wasn’t nearly as calm.

"Shameless Demon!" he cursed inwardly.

The Sword Light sped away. Demon Subduing Zhenren’s eyes were bloodshot, and he had seemingly lost his mind entirely. The relief of a narrow escape and overwhelming fear filled his eyes.

The heavens took pity on him. If he hadn’t fully activated the Innate Ability of his Fruit of Blade-Edge Metal Dao Foundation just now, going all out to slay all the futures where Great Undertaking had killed him, he probably would have been reduced to mincemeat by now... There was nothing he could do; the gap between Foundation Establishment Perfection and the Late Stage of Foundation Establishment was simply that vast.

"This Demon has gone too far!" he thought angrily.

In a flash, Demon Subduing Zhenren had already fled back to the Li Family’s territory. Right then, he saw Master Xiao Hai flying toward him on a Flying Light.

The other party looked bewildered, seemingly unaware of the situation.

Demon Subduing Zhenren, however, did not hesitate in the slightest. He raised his hand and executed a slash. The Sword Light roared and vanished in the blink of an eye, instantly decapitating Master Xiao Hai.

"Daoist, your fortunate encounter has arrived!"

Demon Subduing Zhenren looked indifferent as he said calmly, "I am borrowing the vitality of your Corpse to delay the Demon for me. In the future, when I am True Monarch Cheng, I will take you in as a disciple."

RUMBLE!

Before his voice could fade, Demon Subduing Zhenren directed his Sword Technique. The freshly deceased Master Xiao Hai was immediately hurled behind him as he prepared to detonate the Corpse directly.

However, a bizarre scene unfolded.

After Master Xiao Hai’s Corpse was detonated, not a single trace of vitality emerged. Instead, a wisp of green smoke drifted up, causing Demon Subduing Zhenren to freeze in place instantly.

"What’s going on?"

However, with the threat of Foundation Establishment Perfection close by, even if he had ten thousand questions in his heart, he couldn’t afford to worry about them right now. He could only continue running for his life.

Because of this, he completely failed to notice the eerie nature of that wisp of green smoke. By the time he regained his senses, he was shocked to feel a gust of sinister wind brush past him. His Foundation Establishment Body, which was supposed to be impervious to heat and cold, suddenly felt a chill. Blown by the sinister wind, he actually began to tremble slightly.

But while fleeing for his life, how could he dare to overthink it?

Therefore, Demon Subduing Zhenren could only endure the discomfort and continue escaping rapidly. It was only when he finally entered the heart of the South that he breathed a sigh of relief.

Only then did he begin to examine himself.

"What is going on?" he thought.

"Could it be a Divine Soul attack from the Demon Sect?" he wondered.

He first cast a Purifying Heart Spell, then retrieved his Magical Sword to protect the Spiritual Space at his glabella. He used all sorts of Purifying Divine Thought methods on himself in turns.

In truth, this set of countermeasures was already extremely appropriate.

Unfortunately, Demon Subduing Zhenren had already been hit by Minor Metal’s Free Heaven. His Heart Demons were running rampant, making his emotions difficult to control, and he had fallen into a trap when killing Master Xiao Hai.

To make matters worse, because he was busy fleeing, he hadn’t dealt with it immediately.

As a result, even though he appeared fine on the surface, he was actually already beyond cure. His Soul and Spiritual Space were both covered in a layer of Profound Light.

"This man is already in my trap!"

In the distance, Minor Metal looked coldly at Demon Subduing Zhenren. Endless black energy gathered in his hand, eventually forming a ferocious ghost face, which he casually Pinched in his grasp.

Looking closely, the ghost face bore the exact likeness of Demon Subduing Zhenren. It roared within Minor Metal’s hand. Suddenly, a Profound Light spread from the ghost face, disappearing into the clouds, and then descended from the sky like a fishing line. It landed squarely in the center of Demon Subduing Zhenren’s brow, hooking onto his Spiritual Space.

Inverted Sumeru!

It was the Fifth Heart Demon Divine Technique. It possessed the wondrous ability to Erase the Self and Destroying Dao Heart. Its only flaw was that it required a certain level of Heart Demon erosion before it could be executed.

However, as long as it was successfully cast, victory was guaranteed!

"With this Ability linking to his life, it can be said that this person’s life is completely in my hands. Unless a Perfected Lord intervenes, no one can save him," he thought.

Minor Metal was satisfied in his heart and let out a cold smile.

"I will let you live for a few more days; it is not yet time to use you... Now that my Great Success of Heart Demon is achieved, without further delay, go and call True Monarch Chengtian Zhengde over!"

With a slight shift of Minor Metal’s Heart Thought, Demon Subduing Zhenren—who had long been thoroughly permeated by the Heart Demon—immediately generated the corresponding thought. He then unhesitatingly took out a Fei Xin, ignited it with Mana, and sent it straight to Zenith Cliff. Its contents were simple: a request for reinforcements from True Monarch Chengtian Zhengde.

In the distance, watching the Fei Xin tear through the air, Minor Metal took a deep breath, his eyes filled with absolute determination. "Having reached this point, I have no way back."

"If I do not succeed, I will die trying!"

He had also conducted investigations on True Monarch Chengtian Zhengde.

Especially after Lü Yang personally stated that True Monarch Chengtian Zhengde was trapped by a Heart Demon, he thoroughly reviewed the man’s entire life history.

For no other reason than to find the source of his Heart Demon.

After verifying everything, Minor Metal reached a conclusion: "If True Monarch Chengtian Zhengde is truly plagued by a Heart Demon, then the source must be Tingyou of the Wu Ghost Sect."

As the final Sect Leader of the Wu Ghost Sect, he came from a small Sect, yet he managed a lifetime of Seeking Gold, rising abruptly and almost causing True Monarch Chengtian Zhengde to fail on the verge of success. No matter how one looked at it, that prodigy had a better chance at Seeking Gold than True Monarch Chengtian Zhengde. Yet, in the end, it was True Monarch Chengtian Zhengde who proved superior.

"But this is not because of his own abilities.

"It is because of his background. At the very least, to ensure that True Monarch Chengtian Zhengde could succeed in Seeking Gold smoothly, the Sword Pavilion of that time definitely exerted a massive amount of effort."

Up to this point, there was actually nothing unusual.

After all, as a Sword Pavilion disciple, being openly shameless was already a fundamental trait. What did it matter if he relied on his background? Regardless, he was the one who had the last laugh.

However, what happened next was not right.

"After that, True Monarch Chengtian Zhengde executed a strike that annihilated the Wu Ghost Sect... but he didn’t completely kill Tingyou. He merely sealed and suppressed him.

"On the surface, it was because he had just broken through and didn’t want to suffer heavenly punishment for destroying the Lay Line... But as a Perfected Lord of the Golden Core, what does a mere heavenly punishment matter?

"Furthermore, according to the rules of the Sword Pavilion, a prodigy like Tingyou should have been killed immediately, sent to reincarnate, and then inducted into the Sword Pavilion as a disciple... Yet True Monarch Chengtian Zhengde didn’t do this. Why? What is he afraid of? Is he worried that Progenitor Tingyou will continue to compete for position with him in the future?"

Thinking of this, Minor Metal couldn’t help but shake his head.

"He didn’t dare to kill Tingyou. He didn’t dare to induct him into the Sword Pavilion. He didn’t even dare to let him walk the path of cultivation again after reincarnating, which is why he acted this way."

This was the basis of his judgment.

After all, for a Sword Pavilion True Monarch to voluntarily violate the rules of the Sword Pavilion and go to such lengths, there was no other reasonable explanation besides a Heart Demon.

In other words:

"If I want to trigger his Heart Demon and cause it to turn on him, the best method is undoubtedly to make him recall the fear that Tingyou gave him back then!"