Just a Useful Pawn in the Stain Sect

Lü Yang had long coveted the World Heaven Seed of Nourishing Life Master, since the Pseudo Void Certificate was fundamentally laying the foundation for his future Void Certificate.

"But... can I head to Nourishing Life Master right now?" he wondered.

He wasn’t worried about running into trouble on the way there, because the process wouldn’t enter the Current World; instead, it connected directly to the Void Land. Within the Void Sea of Light, the Void Land was undoubtedly the most mysterious and safest place. It was a widely recognized non-interference zone. The Void Land had played a crucial role in his narrow escape from True Monarch Gangxing in his Previous Life.

What was truly dangerous was Nourishing Life Master itself.

After all, Ang Xiao knew the coordinates of Nourishing Life Master and had now returned to being a Great Perfected Lord. What if he was camping there, waiting for him to enter? It wasn’t impossible! Regardless, Lü Yang wouldn’t risk his own life.

"I’ll let the avatar Empress Xiao formed using the Incense and Candle Divine Dao make the trip for me," he decided. "Anyway, the Pseudo Void Certificate requires Cultivation, not my physical presence."

His mind made up, Lü Yang immediately took action. However, before officially heading there, he planned to conduct a small experiment.

Soon, as billowing Incense Divine Power surged and the scent of Sandalwood Incense drifted through the air, Banner Spirits combined with each other, finally manifesting into Lü Yang’s figure once again.

"Let’s go check out the Current World."

Lü Yang pointed outside. Under his deliberate modification, the Incense and Candle Avatar’s current Qi trace was completely different from his own, and its appearance was vastly altered as well. Could it go out in his stead like this? If so, he might still have a chance to stir up trouble using the Incense and Candle Avatar’s power. After all, this avatar could borrow one hundred percent of his main body’s Mighty Power.

However, the moment the Incense and Candle Avatar stepped out of Emperor Ying, an intense sense of crisis instantly swept over it. Looking up at Heaven, an Enchanted Sword faintly appeared suspended overhead before crashing down like a guillotine. In the next second, the entire avatar was Slashed into pieces!

"Damn... that ruthless?"

Inside Emperor Ying, Lü Yang drew a sharp breath. How long had it been? The Incense and Candle Avatar had just stepped out for barely a thousandth of a split second! And a Sword Light had already Slashed down.

Could the Sword Pavilion Daoist Lord be splitting off a line of sight to keep a constant watch on Emperor Ying? No, that was impossible. How could a Master of Dao be that idle? True, a Nascent Soul Daoist Lord could cast their gaze upon the Current World, but doing so would draw upon their energy. It was understandable to do so for something of vital importance, but just for Killing him? To vent anger? Lü Yang believed the Sword Pavilion Daoist Lord wasn’t that short-sighted.

"Besides, it’s been ten years!" he thought. "I haven’t left Emperor Ying in a whole decade, yet the Master of Dao still reacted this fast. Has he been watching me for ten years? That’s absolutely impossible. There must be another hidden reason."

Thinking of this, Lü Yang summoned Empress Xiao. Make no mistake—since the Incense and Candle Avatar needed to be reformed after its destruction, summoning Empress Xiao was purely to infuse her with Mana to speed up the reforming process.

Three days later.

Lü Yang pushed aside Empress Xiao, who was lying next to him, and looked with satisfaction at the newly reformed Incense and Candle Avatar. "Go again. We’ll use a different method this time."

This time, Lü Yang utilized his old method of creating avatars. He first Slashed out a Split Soul, then severed all karmic links with it, allowing it to develop its own consciousness. Finally, he used Puppet to control it, turning it into an entity entirely unconnected to himself. He even changed the drop point.

"Entering the Immortal Pivot directly is too risky," he mused. "I’ll have him drop near the Star Palace. At least there’s a Master of Dao over there, so it should be a bit safer."

Soon, the new avatar set off. Yet the result was identical to the last time. The moment the avatar left Emperor Ying, the Sword Light followed like a shadow, Slashing it into pieces with a single strike!

Inside Emperor Ying, Lü Yang remained calm, not overly surprised by the destruction. Instead, he calmed his mind and gleaned a crucial realization from his avatar being Slashed just now.

"I see... I’m already dead."

A decade ago, the moment the Sword Pavilion Daoist Lord Slashed out that sword strike from the Other Shore, all the karmic links, information, and everything belonging to "Lü Yang" had been Slashed.

"I only barely survived because I hid inside the Celestial Human Residual Consciousness," he concluded. "However, in the Current World and the Sea of Suffering, my everything has already been Slashed and deemed deceased. Therefore, as long as I step outside, under the influence of karmic links, I will instantly drop dead."

This wasn’t about Killing a person. It was Killing karmic links and Killing the future. Karmically, it dictated that a person like him would no longer exist, extinguishing every possible future where he survived. If the Celestial Human Residual Consciousness hadn’t acted as the "escaped one," which even a Master of Dao found hard to interfere with, and preserved his life, he would already be dead!

"What ruthless means!" he thought. "This was caused by merely a single gaze cast by the Sword Pavilion Daoist Lord from the Other Shore. To a Master of Dao, comparing myself to an ant would be giving myself too much credit..."

Lü Yang swallowed hard, finally recovering his wits. Recalling his actions of blackmailing the Sword Pavilion Daoist Lord ten years ago, his little heart thumped wildly. To calm his nerves, he hastily pulled Empress Xiao, whom he had just pushed aside, back into his arms.

Another three days passed.

A new Incense and Candle Avatar was reformed. However, Empress Xiao, having expended too much energy in a short period, couldn’t even move a single finger.

"No more messing around. Let’s head to Nourishing Life Master."

With the experience from his first two attempts, Lü Yang completely restrained his troublemaking urges in this life. The avatar quickly connected to the Void Land and vanished intangibly. Fortunately, no Sword Light fell this time.

Lü Yang’s guess was correct. At the very least, the Void Land was indeed an absolute safe zone. Soon, he locked onto the coordinates of Nourishing Life Master again. In the next second, the avatar entered it.

His eyes met a familiar tower-like library. Densely packed Fruit Position Books were displayed, yet the place was utterly empty, without a single person in sight.

"Come out, Senior Ang Xiao."

Lü Yang glanced around and directly lit Holding Candle, then supplemented it with the blessing of Profound Water, pushing the revealing Profound Mysterious of Fruit of Lamp-Cover Fire to the Extreme. For a moment, the firelight blazed brightly. Wherever the light passed, no shadow could hide. It illuminated every corner, yet failed to reveal that familiar hazy, smoke-like figure.

Was Ang Xiao not here? He wasn’t camping him?

"That can’t be. If it were me, I definitely would have camped here..." he thought. "Or is it that, with Ang Xiao now having Great True Monarch Cultivation, I simply can’t illuminate him anymore?"

"...Hmph!"

Lü Yang curled his lip, not panicking in the slightest. Instead, he walked straight to an isolated bookshelf, reached out, and took down a Book. In the entirety of Nourishing Life Master, this bookshelf was the most special, simply because it held only Wordless Books. Only those whose Cultivation was recognized could take a book from it and simultaneously receive a World Heaven Seed for their Pseudo Void Certificate. Previously, Lü Yang had never been qualified to take a book.

Now, he finally could.

In the next second, without a shred of hesitation, Lü Yang vanished from Nourishing Life Master with the Book and the World Heaven Seed, returning once more to Emperor Ying.

"Got it!" he cheered inwardly.