Chapter 897 - 892: Victory and Defeat
Lü Yang processed the words so quickly that he almost failed to register what he had just heard. It wasn’t until World Purger Fei Xue’s voice faded that shock finally broke across his face.
He wondered, "Is the Beast Taming Peak Master the Lord of the Netherworld? Is the Celestial Human Residual Consciousness the foundation of the Netherworld? Which piece?"
In an instant, countless doubts filled his heart. But soon, a familiar sensation rapidly surged into his Spiritual Space, interfering with his thoughts. It was forbidden knowledge!
However, the current Lü Yang was a battle-hardened veteran. Having experienced the baptism of various types of forbidden knowledge, he only spaced out briefly before snapping back to reality.
Then, he saw World Purger Fei Xue sitting properly before him, her beautiful eyes watching him with a faint, enigmatic smile. She said softly, "To recover your clarity so quickly, it seems you know quite a few taboos, Daoist. Tracing this back, you should be of the same generation as Ang Xiao, but not quite from the era of the First Generation Peak Masters."
He realized, "She is probing me." World Purger Fei Xue had just tested exactly how many secrets he knew, intending to deduce his true identity from the results. He mused, "Unfortunately, she won’t find out anything."
After all, no one could have ever imagined the existence of a Marvelous Treasure like the Centome in this world. Since her foundational premise was completely wrong, no amount of guessing would lead her to the truth. Thinking of this, he let out a soft chuckle. "I’m just a nobody. I didn’t expect you to go to such lengths for my sake, Daoist."
"You are hardly a nobody, Daoist." World Purger Fei Xue shook her head. "To single-handedly resist the Pure Land and emerge victorious, your strength is exceedingly profound."
"You flatter me..." Lü Yang waved his hand, casually echoing a few modest remarks while mentally calculating the vital intelligence World Purger Fei Xue had just revealed during her probe.
He thought, "By comparison, I still came out on top. After all, I basically got a piece of forbidden knowledge for free... Damn it, the Four Peaks of the Stain Sect really do produce extraordinary talents. The Master of Ten Thousand Treasures Peak is suspected to be the Bhagavat, the Master of Heaven Mending Peak’s whereabouts are unknown, and now she tells me that the Beast Taming Peak Master is actually the founder of the Netherworld..."
No wonder every single one of them had disappeared. If it weren’t for the old monsters of the Stain Sect, it felt like the Four Peak Masters of the First Generation all possessed the potential to reach the Nascent Soul stage. In fact, the Bhagavat had already achieved Nascent Soul Attainment!
Thinking of this, Lü Yang suddenly felt somewhat fortunate. He rejoiced, "Thank goodness I didn’t choose the Fruit of Pomegranate Wood earlier! That thing is definitely a massive trap. Damn it, Crafting Peak and Demon Breeding Peak are already absurdly terrifying in their own rights. Even if Heaven Mending Peak can’t compare to them, it probably isn’t far behind."
From another perspective, however, World Purger Fei Xue definitely wouldn’t reveal any more intelligence. If he wanted to acquire more forbidden knowledge regarding the First Generation Peak Masters, his options were either to make a deal with her or... actually jump right into the trap of the Fruit of Pomegranate Wood! After all, one only knew how deep a pit was after stepping into it.
He decided, "I’ll pass on doing it myself, though. I’ll wait until my next life, after I become a Great Perfected Lord, and then nurture a talent cultivating the Fruit of Pomegranate Wood to step into the trap for me. I can just observe them using a Puppet..."
Of course, that was all a matter for his next life. Lü Yang shifted his gaze to World Purger Fei Xue in front of him. As long as he refrained from recklessly pursuing the Fruit of Pomegranate Wood, he still had to figure out a way to get answers from her.
"...Daoist, since we are going to engage in Combat, how about we make a bet on it?"
At these words, World Purger Fei Xue, who had just been absently twirling a lock of hair by her ear out of sheer boredom, suddenly looked up. She then smiled and asked, "How do you want to bet, Daoist?"
"An all-out battle between the two of us." Lü Yang said in a deep voice, "The limit will be one life. If you lose, Daoist, you will tell me all the forbidden knowledge you possess regarding the First Generation Peak Masters."
Middle Stage of Golden Core, Immortal. With this trait, World Purger Fei Xue was fundamentally unkillable. Therefore, they could only set the limit to a single life; whoever died first would be considered the loser of this Combat.
"Sure." World Purger Fei Xue didn’t mind at all and nodded straightforwardly. "As I said, Combat decides the winner and loser. As long as you win, Daoist, everything is yours.
"However, by the same token, if I win, it means the De-Chong Talisman has no fate with you, and you must not force the issue. Furthermore, you must still follow my plan to send Minor Metal Overseas, using True Demon methods to force the Great Saint of the Demon Race Overseas to defect to me, thereby helping me break through to the Late Stage of Golden Core."
"Deal," Lü Yang nodded readily.
Then, the two fell into a bizarre staring contest once more—after all, they were both Perfected Lords of the Stain Sect, and it was common knowledge that they did not keep their promises. What was to be done?
After a moment of silence, Lü Yang was the first to speak. "I have a method to swear an oath upon the Sea of Suffering. If one breaks the agreement, they will be rejected by the Sea of Suffering."
"Forget it," World Purger Fei Xue shook her head. "I know this method too. It is recorded in the ancient texts, but our predecessors studied it painstakingly and came up with a way to break it long ago."
Lü Yang was speechless. To actually dedicate research to finding ways of breaking promises... it could only be said that this perfectly matched outsiders’ stereotypes of them. The Stain Sect’s reputation was ruined by people exactly like this!
"Please make a copy of it for me."
"It’s just a small effort."
The two exchanged techniques and sat in silence for another moment. Finally, World Purger Fei Xue simply waved her hand. "Whatever, it’s just a bonus prize anyway.
"It doesn’t matter whether we abide by it or not.
"Shall we begin the fight?"
Saying this, the stunningly beautiful, classical maiden licked her red lips. Her expression was ravenous, clearly itching to immediately battle it out with Lü Yang.
On the other side, Lü Yang was similarly tempted. After all, truth be told, compared to Ang Xiao, World Purger Fei Xue’s credibility was quite high in his heart. Back when he was only at Foundation Establishment, she had aided him. Therefore, he was willing to give her a modicum of trust now.
"...Very well," Lü Yang nodded slightly. "However, the Profound Spirit Realm isn’t suitable for our battle, and it would be difficult to fight without restraint in this Grotto Heaven of mine. Why don’t we change locations?"
"Oh? Where do you want to relocate to, Daoist?" World Purger Fei Xue asked with a smile.
Lü Yang thought about it. The best place for Combat was naturally the Beiji Exorcism Institute, but if they fought there, he would have too much of an advantage as the host. He reasoned, "Moreover, Fei Xue’s Cultivation is too high; she might see through the true nature of the Beiji Exorcism Institute. It’s better to keep this card hidden. The ideal situation is to suss out her true depths without exposing my own... After all, over so many lifetimes, I have never actually seen her go all out."
In fact, even frontal Combats were rare for her. In most situations, merely showing her face was enough to make others retreat. The only public Combat she had engaged in was when she beat True Monarch Chengtian Zhengde to death, which held absolutely no reference value.
After turning the matter over in his mind, Lü Yang finally proposed, "I know a Middle Realm Heaven that has birthed a Fruit Position Prototype. It is protected by a Third-Grade Array and can obscure Karma Links."
He was referring to the Seven Luminaries Heaven. There was a Seven Luminaries Array for World Stabilization and Truth Preservation there, left behind by Fortune back when he was still the True Monarch of Celestial Destiny. It remained perfectly preserved to this day.
Since it was a Third-Grade Grand Array, it was strong enough to allow Lü Yang and World Purger Fei Xue to fight without holding back. As long as they slightly restrained their Qi traces and Positions, the worst that could happen was that they would smash the grand array to pieces. At the same time, this array could mask the Karma Links and karmic links, ensuring that their Combat would not be detected by outsiders.
The only drawback was its distance from the Immortal Pivot. Because of this, if one died, the Netherworld wouldn’t be able to retrieve their Soul in time, which posed a certain level of risk... Of course, this wasn’t a major issue for World Purger Fei Xue. At her level, only a Great Perfected Lord could intercept and detain her Soul. It was already incredibly difficult for her to truly die.
Therefore, World Purger Fei Xue only pondered for a moment before decisively nodding. She smiled and said, "Alright, we will do as you say, Daoist. You just need to lead the way."
With that, she withdrew the Spirit Light that had been covering the surrounding area.
"Qi Luo, Fellow Daoist Zhangjie and I are taking a trip Beyond the Heavens. Come along with us... Don’t worry, I will give you an explanation regarding the True Demon matter later."
On the other side, Lü Yang similarly sent a telepathic transmission to Minor Metal.
Soon after, the four of them each summoned a Flying Light and entered the Void Sea of Light. After locking onto the coordinates, they arrived at the location of the Seven Luminaries Heaven in an instant.
Following that, Lü Yang and World Purger Fei Xue each chose a position and stood firmly.
The next second, without a shred of hesitation, the two synchronously surged their bodily Mana. Like two unstoppable forces colliding head-on, they smashed into each other with a deafening BOOM!