Just a Useful Pawn in the Stain Sect

"Something's not right!"

Staring at the gaping void before them, Ang Xiao was the first to come to his senses. 'If that nameless beast really died, why hasn't the Dao of Arcane Body reacted?'

And yet, he found it hard to believe.

'How could he still be alive?'

Two Great Perfected Lords and ten Perfected Lords... To be honest, even if he himself had been in Lü Yang's place, he would have at least been injured, though not killed.

'If that's the case—'

'It wasn't his real body!'

Ang Xiao instantly reached this conclusion, and in that same split second, he realized something else was wrong with the situation.

The next second, a roar of rage erupted from the direction of the Pure Land:

"You bastard!!!"

Everyone looked over to see Bao Lian Hidden Buddha, who had just become a Great Perfected Lord and should have been triumphant, now wearing a look of utter fury.

Then, all eyes fell upon a Golden Body Dharma Appearance behind her. It was the Pure Land's Venerable Victory Treasure Pestle Bodhisattva, who wielded the Fruit of Pine-Cedar Wood. Because its nature was similar to Bhumba Bodhisattva's Fruit of Willow-Poplar Wood, he had not anchored his existence to Bao Lian Hidden Buddha's Grotto Heaven.

Then, a crisp cracking sound echoed.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

The unsuspecting Bodhisattva opened his mouth, and with that single movement, his supposedly flawless Golden Body of Perfection was suddenly covered in a dense web of cracks.

A tremendous roar followed.

BOOM!

High in the heavens, the Fruit of Pine-Cedar Wood let out a mournful cry. Instantly, a rain of blood fell from the sky as a burning Grotto Heaven plummeted from the Sea of Suffering into the Foundation Establishment Realm.

The Golden Body shattered! The Grotto Heaven collapsed!

Worse still, his Golden Soul, which should have been able to escape, was instantly annihilated, giving the Netherworld no time to even receive it!

At that moment, nearly everyone was completely bewildered.

'What just happened!?'

Only Bao Lian Hidden Buddha understood what had happened. She spun around, her full chest heaving furiously, her beautiful eyes burning with a rare and intense malice.

"Jia You! You're asking to die!"

She never imagined the Dao Court would actually make a move!

And they had targeted Venerable Victory Treasure Pestle Bodhisattva—the only one in the Pure Land not anchored to her, who was only at the Early Stage of Golden Core, and lacked the trait of being Immortal!

'This was no accident. It was deliberate!'

The next second, Bao Lian Hidden Buddha's thoughts jumped to the Sword Pavilion. Without another word, she put distance between herself, True Monarch Gangxing, and Ang Xiao.

"You beasts! You Sword Species!"

"Are you trying to double-cross us!?"

Bao Lian Hidden Buddha was utterly convinced, her mind already filling in the details of the conspiracy. 'It's obvious! The Dao Court and the Sword Pavilion are in this together!'

'First, they team up to kill that Nameless True Monarch from the Saint Sect. The moment he's dead, the Dao Court strikes me from the shadows. They took advantage of the perfect opportunity when I was attacking the Nameless True Monarch and had my guard down. And it worked. Because of one moment of carelessness, I actually lost a Bodhisattva!'

'That's the only possibility!'

For a moment, Bao Lian Hidden Buddha's scalp prickled as a bone-deep chill swept through her. 'Are the Sword Pavilion and the Dao Court trying to kill two birds with one stone?'

'First destroy the Saint Sect, then wipe out the Pure Land?'

Just then, Ang Xiao and True Monarch Gangxing finally reacted, hurriedly sending a telepathic message. "Daoist, calm down... this has nothing to do with me!"

'Yeah, right!'

'True Monarch Gangxing, the Dao Court has been the Sword Pavilion's sworn ally for generations, and you're telling me this has nothing to do with you? What, are you going to say the Dao Court secretly colluded with the Saint Sect?'

'And as for you, Ang Xiao... you Saint Sect True Monarch!'

Bao Lian Hidden Buddha figured Ang Xiao alone couldn't kill her. If World Purger Fei Xue wasn't still present, she would have likely already fled for her life!

The next second, Ang Xiao spoke again.

This time it wasn't a telepathic message, but a deafening Dao shout that carried a hint of the profound power of the Veil of the Trees, smoothing over the negative emotions in everyone's hearts.

"Everyone, calm down! That beast isn't dead!"

"...What?"

At his words, everyone froze. They looked back toward the gaping void their combined attack had created, and only then did they finally spot a dissipating glimmer of golden light.

The ruptured golden light contained no flesh and blood. As it faded, it revealed shattered Banner Spirits, which then disintegrated and vanished into nothing. A scent of Sandalwood Incense drifted through the air. Beneath its seemingly powerful exterior, it was actually weak and powerless, at the level of an Outer Dao at best.

"Is that... a puppet? An avatar?"

"So you're saying... Gangxing was fighting an avatar this whole time?"

"And he almost lost to *that*?"

Meanwhile, from within the Holy Fire Cliff, another Lü Yang strolled out. He raised his head to the heavens and, under the watchful eyes of all the Perfected Lords, gave an elegant bow.

In an instant, everyone understood. True Monarch Gangxing, in particular, was frozen in place, his face, thick as a fortress wall, flushing a deep crimson.

'So after all that... after I expended so much energy, used the Eternal Sword, and called on everyone to attack together... we even somehow lost a Pure Land Bodhisattva in the process, and all we managed to kill was an avatar? And the whole time, his real body was watching the show from the Holy Fire Cliff, completely unscathed?'

"Heh heh..."

Lü Yang saw his reaction and grinned. Of course, he wasn't about to tell them that an avatar created with the Incense and Candle Divine Dao could perfectly replicate all of his own abilities.

'So, strictly speaking, the avatar's combat power was no different from my own.'

'The only real difference was that, compared to his main body, which was a tank with high health and defense, the avatar was formed from the Power of Incense. It was a standard-issue squishy.'

Of course, none of that mattered now.

What mattered was that not only had he successfully baited out his opponents' ultimate attacks with a single Incense and Candle Avatar, he had even unexpectedly caused the death of a Pure Land Bodhisattva!

'Good riddance!'

'Venerable Victory Treasure Pestle Bodhisattva... If I remember correctly, he was one of the people from the Pure Land who ambushed me in my Previous Life. Consider this a first interest payment for that debt...'

Meanwhile, True Monarch Gangxing turned to look at Emperor Jia You.

"Dao Court... what is the meaning of this?"

"It means nothing special," Emperor Jia You said with a faint smile. "The Sword Pavilion has never been particularly fair with us, so we simply had to return the sentiment."

For a moment, countless faces registered their shock.

Although Emperor Jia You's words were convoluted, his meaning was crystal clear. The death of a Pure Land Bodhisattva was proof of their sincerity and resolve.

'The Dao Court has sided with the Saint Sect!'

'Fuck me, if you were going to side with the Saint Sect, why were you standing with us in the South? You should've been in the North, you bastards! You wait until the most critical moment to backstab us?'

'Vermin of the East!'

'How can the Righteous Dao possibly prosper when we're allied with vermin like these!?'

Meanwhile, Bao Lian Hidden Buddha had also figured it out, and her expression was grim. 'So the Dao Court really did betray us. But if you're going to turn on us, why not attack the Sword Pavilion?'

'Why attack me?'

'Oh, right. The Pure Land and the Dao Court have a grudge.'

'Never mind, then.'

At this moment, it wasn't just the Sword Pavilion and the Pure Land who were bewildered. Even on the Saint Sect's side, the True Monarch of Contained Light and Floating Heaven was stunned for a long while before he snapped out of it.

But soon, a look of joy spread across his face.

'Well done!'

'The Pure Land lost a Bodhisattva, and the entire Dao Court switched sides. Their original twelve Perfected Lords were instantly reduced by five, while our side gained four out of thin air!'

The balance of power instantly shifted to seven versus seven.

'We're actually on even footing!'

More importantly, with Bao Lian Hidden Buddha facing Emperor Jia You and Ang Xiao facing World Purger Fei Xue, there was no longer a disparity in the number of Great Perfected Lords!

'Wait, that's not right.'

The True Monarch of Contained Light and Floating Heaven looked at Lü Yang. 'There's also him. Besides his own strength, he seems to have another Perfected Lord backing him, one comparable to World Purger Fei Xue before her breakthrough!'

'This is an advantage—a huge one!'

At this thought, the True Monarch of Contained Light and Floating Heaven, who had just been considering a retreat, immediately perked up. 'Ganging up on the weak is a time-honored tradition of our Saint Sect, after all!'

From that perspective, True Monarch Gangxing's earlier order to swarm his opponent actually had some merit to it after all!