Just a Useful Pawn in the Stain Sect

Above the Sea of Suffering, a figure weaved through the horde. With each pass, visible ripples exploded outward, like stones tossed into a lake.

RUMBLE!

Each pass set off a violent ripple in the boundless Banner Spirit Sea, simultaneously blasting open a sizable hole.

But in the next moment, new Banner Spirits would fill the void, seemingly endless. The various spirits formed different arrays, like razor-sharp blades, that swirled around Ang Xiao as a dazzling display of Magical Techniques was unleashed.

These attacks were useless.

After all, Lü Yang was only borrowing the power of the Fruit of Thunderbolt Fire, and its profound mysteries were limited to the most basic applications. He never expected to be able to injure Ang Xiao with it.

The sole purpose of the Banner Spirits was to trigger All Evil Beheaded.

At this moment, Lü Yang could clearly sense that under the siege of the Banner Spirits, Ang Xiao was weakening at a visible rate.

’Unfortunately, the Talent Skill has a cooldown...’

Though the cooldown wasn’t long, it still existed. Even with the Banner Spirits’ swarm tactics, he had only managed to trigger it twelve times in this short period.

The next second, Ang Xiao suddenly exhaled deeply.

Immediately, a roiling smoke spread out in an instant, like a great hand slowly uncurling its fingers to encompass all the Banner Spirits in its palm.

Then, with a gentle wipe...

With no warning and no aftershock, as if merely wiping away a stain, the entire Banner Spirit Sea was effortlessly erased!

At almost the same instant, Lü Yang’s pupils constricted.

Because at the very moment Ang Xiao erased all the Banner Spirits, his narrow eyes had locked onto him, their sharpness startling.

At this thought, Lü Yang’s figure immediately turned illusory. He was clearly planning to once again hide within the fissures of logic to evade Ang Xiao’s attack. At the same time, he didn’t forget to use the same method as before to protect his own memories, lest Ang Xiao try something underhanded.

But Ang Xiao didn’t attack.

In fact, using the Veil of the Trees to erase all the Banner Spirits was one of his ultimate moves, especially after being weakened twelve times.

’Is it Magic?’

’It’s so bizarre, like some kind of curse... But where did he find the time to refine Magic? And he shouldn’t be able to refine it now, right?’

A True Monarch of Cave Heaven Technique is incapable of refining Magic.

This was because the Master of Dao of the Dao of Arcane Arts was still alive. After the Battle of Heaven’s Change, he had fled the Immortal Pivot, and in his wake, all Magic had vanished from within it.

As long as a Cultivator had refined a Grotto Heaven and taken control of a Fruit, they could spend tens of thousands of years trying and still fail to refine even the simplest Magic. It would have been one thing if it were the old Lü Yang, who had an Ancient Golden Core. But after he gained control of the Fruit of Celestial Fire, he should have been cut off from Magic entirely.

But why?

Why could he still use a technique so similar to Magic? Ang Xiao even felt that this technique was still far from reaching its peak.

’For a moment there, I felt a chill in my heart... as if I could actually be killed!’

While Ang Xiao pondered this, his hands did not slow in the slightest. He formed a Daoist Hand Seal and raised a single finger, and the endless smoke collapsed upon its tip.

The next second, the smoke transformed into a hazy glimmer of light.

This glimmer then gently swept over his body, and the twelve stacks of weakness Lü Yang had inflicted on him vanished without a trace into the light.

At the same time, his own Qi trace weakened slightly.

This was another application of the Veil of the Trees. In that moment, he had apparently forgotten how he had been struck with weakness twelve times; all related memories were completely severed.

As this portion of his memory disappeared, all injuries he had sustained during that time were also annihilated. Unlike Mu Changsheng’s transformation of truth and falsehood, this technique was irreversible. Severed memories could not be recovered, and all karmic links were broken, leaving no hidden dangers behind.

Of course, there was a price.

Negative statuses could be cleared and injuries erased, but the karmic links of Mana were too heavy. There was no way to use this technique to directly recover to his peak.

Moreover, because the corresponding memories were all cleared, if Lü Yang used the same technique again, he would fall for it once more. Without the relevant information, it was difficult to take preventative measures.

However, he had a counter for this as well.

Thinking of this, Ang Xiao’s eyes narrowed slightly. The hazy smoke gathered, forming what looked like a pair of lenses, and the scene before his eyes instantly changed.

In that instant, Time itself seemed to pause.

Then, it rewound.

The Fruit of Thunderbolt Fire, the Banner Spirit Sea, the strange, curse-like Magic... Scene after scene was replayed, flowing past Ang Xiao’s eyes.

This was yet another use of the Veil of the Trees.

Like a person, Heaven and Earth also had memories. The Veil of the Trees could erase them, and if it could erase them, it could naturally view them as well.

So, to be precise, Ang Xiao was only using half of the Veil of the Trees’ power, stopping at the viewing step to review what had just happened. The Position of this scene-replaying technique was extremely high; even severed karmic links could not prevent the past from being traced.

’What exactly just happened...?’

With a flicker of his Heart Thought, Ang Xiao sent a thread of spiritual perception into the illusory scene he had manifested, and he soon saw Lü Yang’s figure.

’Is that the Fruit of Celestial Fire?’

’I see. He established some kind of rule... With this level of mastery over a Fruit, there’s no way he only just attained the Fruit of Celestial Fire recently.’

’Unless his Talent is the greatest in all of history, perhaps even greater than mine.’

’But looking at him... he doesn’t seem the type.’

’In that case, he must be ancient, having used the long passage of time to make up for his lack of Talent?’

’But that can’t be right...’

Ang Xiao was a bit bewildered. According to his previous judgment, Lü Yang should have been nothing more than a contemporary Cultivator who had gotten lucky and obtained a Master of Dao’s legacy.

But now, he was displaying abilities that only an ancient Perfected Lord should possess.

It was a complete contradiction.

"Haaa..."

Ang Xiao exhaled, withdrawing from the memories of Heaven and Earth and returning to his senses. The frozen Time around him began to flow once more.

When he looked up again, a grave and wary expression appeared in his eyes. He said in a low voice,

"Compared to our first meeting in the Human World, your rate of improvement is truly astonishing, Daoist. To think you can now truly fight me head-on."

At this moment, he no longer looked down on Lü Yang.

After all, things were different now. Before, the most Lü Yang could do was flee to save his own life. Now, however, Lü Yang could actually engage him in Combat.

This was enough to make him treat Lü Yang as an equal.

The next second, just as he was slipping into a fissure of logic to prepare for a "heart-to-heart" with Ang Xiao, Lü Yang watched in astonishment as the smoke before him dispersed—

Ang Xiao had vanished.

Just like him.

"..."

Instantly, Lü Yang, who had been feeling somewhat relaxed and thought Ang Xiao could only take a beating passively, turned solemn and began to survey his surroundings.

But the next second, he seemed to realize something, and his expression changed drastically.

If this were a normal round of Combat, it would be a stalemate. However, this wasn’t just a duel. Ang Xiao could simply choose a different target.

"...You bastard!"

Before the word was even out of his mouth, Lü Yang voluntarily emerged from the fissure of logic. The instant his true form manifested, he swung his arm forcefully in Progenitor Tingyou’s direction.

BOOM!

Ang Xiao’s palm passed through the void. The hand that had been aimed at Progenitor Tingyou’s back struck empty air. Progenitor Tingyou, who should have been mere inches away, was now separated from him by a shimmering curtain of firelight, turning an arm’s reach into an insurmountable distance.

But Ang Xiao showed no disappointment at all. Instead, he chuckled.

"Now, that’s more like it."

PSHFFT!

Accompanied by the familiar sound of piercing flesh, Lü Yang watched a familiar hand emerge from his own chest in a spray of bloody light. He could only sigh in resignation.

"This trick again? It’s getting old, senior."

In an instant, Lü Yang sorted it out: the one attacking Progenitor Tingyou was the Earth-Walking Avatar. Ang Xiao’s real body had been waiting for him all along.

"A trick isn’t old if it still works," Ang Xiao said with a faint smile.

"Is that so."

Lü Yang returned the faint smile, but in the next second, he unhesitatingly shot out his hand and clamped down hard on the palm piercing his chest.

All the while, he allowed Ang Xiao to wreak havoc on his Dharma Body.

Then, the Profound Mysterious of the Fruit of Spring Water within his Past Dust Appearance roared to life. Ripples of light yellow water spread out, instantly submerging both him and Ang Xiao!

The Xiang Water, which could turn an enemy’s weapons against them, reflecting all damage received back onto the attacker!

’Fuck it, I’m taking you down with me!’