Just a Useful Pawn in the Stain Sect

"Why do you keep haunting me like a lingering ghost!" Lü Yang stood his ground and let out a deep sigh. He didn’t even bother to put up a fight. After all, making a move against a Great Perfected Lord like Ang Xiao would only result in his own humiliation. "...How long have you been waiting, Senior?" he asked softly.

"Not long." Ang Xiao smiled faintly. "I simply finished my preparations and came over to take a look since I had some free time. I didn’t expect to witness such an entertaining show." He pinched the speck of light in his hand and asked curiously, "Daoist, you previously demanded my Gold Attribute, and now you’ve fought a fierce battle with the Old Dragon Monarch just for this speck of Gold Attribute. I wonder, what use is it to you? Logically speaking, you should want to avoid it like the plague."

"Oh? Why is that?" Lü Yang asked casually.

"Naturally, because you cultivate the Ancient Technique," Ang Xiao said matter-of-factly. "An Ancient Golden Core should instinctively avoid the Gold Attribute."

"I won’t trouble you to worry about that, Senior." Lü Yang spread his hands. "Alright, just be blunt. What exactly do you want? What must I pay to obtain this Gold Attribute?"

In his view, since Ang Xiao hadn’t crushed this Incense and Candle Avatar of his while snatching the Old Dragon Monarch’s Gold Attribute, it meant there was still room for negotiation. Or rather, the entire reason Ang Xiao took the Gold Attribute was to gain a bargaining chip. This was indeed the case. Ang Xiao’s eyes flickered slightly. Even though he had regained absolute superiority over Lü Yang, he didn’t underestimate this little bastard in the slightest.

"Then I want Emperor Ying’s coordinates..."

"Out of the question!" Lü Yang made a move to leave.

"...which I know is impossible." Seeing that Lü Yang was about to detonate his avatar, Ang Xiao swiftly shifted his tone. "Look at you, Daoist. Always so anxious. What a scandalous display of impatience."

"Hmph!" Lü Yang sneered. "If you try this nonsense again, Senior, don’t blame me for leaving outright. Once I’m gone, it’ll be exceedingly difficult for you to ever find me again."

Surprisingly, Ang Xiao nodded in agreement. "Indeed. Barring any accidents, this should be the last time we ever meet. After all, the thousand-year tribulation is approaching, and my preparations are essentially complete. Whether I succeed or fail, we are destined to be separated by life and death."

"...Hm?" Lü Yang’s expression shifted subtly. He wondered, "What does that mean? Preparations? Succeed or fail? Separated by life and death... What is this inherently evil old ghost plotting?" His confusion lasted only for a fleeting moment. In the next second, he connected the dots. His initially calm expression broke into shock as he lowered his voice. "You... are trying to break through to Nascent Soul!?"

"You truly understand me, Daoist." Ang Xiao nodded slightly. Although his full face was obscured by a veil of smoke, Lü Yang could still sense his soft chuckle. "To be honest, if you hadn’t forced me out of the Netherworld, according to my original plan, I would have had a thirty percent higher chance of successfully breaking through to the Nascent Soul Realm."

"Is that so?" Lü Yang replied noncommittally.

"Don’t doubt me, Daoist." Perhaps because he was approaching a life-and-death threshold, Ang Xiao appeared exceedingly talkative. "Without your interference, I should have been able to wait until the thousand-year tribulation. It’s only a matter of decades, or at most a century.

"Once the tribulation begins and the Immortal Pivot descends into turmoil, the backup plans I’ve laid down would be enough to help me gather all the Five Elements Fruit Positions into the Netherworld to serve as my stepping stones.

"After all, when that time comes, no one would have the spare energy to deal with my emergence. It wouldn’t be like the last time you interfered, when all the Perfected Lords in the world came out to stop me from harvesting the Fruit Positions. Let alone allowing that fellow, Fortune, to return to his position. If it weren’t for your help, by my calculations, even giving him another five thousand years wouldn’t have done him any good!

"If my plan had been perfectly executed... I would be residing in the Netherworld by then, seeking the Nether Venerable Position. Even the Four Great Daoist Lords would have been powerless to interfere. My hopes of becoming the Lord of the Netherworld in the future would have been at least seventy percent!

"Why would I be in this state? Although I possess the Great True Monarch Position, I have only gathered Three Elements. Furthermore, my foundation has been locked tight. Even if I wanted to find two more Fruit Positions to achieve Five Elements Perfection, it’s impossible now."

This was the drawback of the Pocket World Technique. The Great Dao allowed for no regrets. Once someone chose Three Elements Perfection, it was impossible to pursue Five Elements Perfection. Even when seeking to break through to Nascent Soul, they could only rely on the Three Paths Fruit Position.

If it hadn’t been absolutely necessary, Ang Xiao would never have hastily chosen two Perfected Lords to attach himself to in order to scrape together Three Elements for his breakthrough. The situation back then was simply too critical. Seeing that multiple Great Perfected Lords were about to emerge, if he hadn’t done so, he would inevitably have become a juicy piece of meat in their eyes. But as a result of that breakthrough, he gained the immense prestige of a Great Perfected Lord; however, when it came time to seek the Nascent Soul, it instantly became an obstacle, causing his chances of success to drop by at least ten percent.

As he spoke, Ang Xiao sighed once again. "Unfortunately, my luck was poor!"

Hearing this sigh, Lü Yang’s expression remained unchanged. He turned a blind eye to Ang Xiao’s resentful glare, looking completely like it had absolutely nothing to do with him.

Seeing this, Ang Xiao boiled with frustration. "Daoist, I have been perfectly frank with you today... I wonder if you could extend the same courtesy to me. May I ask, which Perfected Lord’s reincarnation are you exactly?"

Lü Yang put on an expression of utter sincerity. "Alright. Since you’ve put it that way, Senior, I’ll lay my cards on the table... That’s right. My past life was none other than the True Monarch of Radiant World!"

Ang Xiao was left speechless. A moment later, the smoke-shrouded Daoist shook his head. "You are not being honest, Daoist! The True Monarch of Radiant World? Do you think I don’t know him? I even met him five thousand years ago! That guy... Heh! The sheer audacity you have to utter such words!"

"Holy shit!" Lü Yang raised his eyebrows slightly. Ang Xiao’s reaction had completely exceeded his expectations. He had actually met the True Monarch of Radiant World... Did this person actually exist? He wondered, "I thought it was just a random Honorary Title made up by that Array Spirit of the Stain Sect to fool me! But he is actually a real Perfected Lord who existed in history?"

"Now this is getting interesting." Lü Yang smiled. "What are the exact origins of this True Monarch of Radiant World?"

Ang Xiao was left utterly speechless. He raised his narrow eyes. "Didn’t you just say you were his reincarnation? Why are you asking me now?"

"To tell you the truth, Senior, I forgot much of my past upon reincarnating, so my memories are rather fragmented," Lü Yang said, showing not a hint of embarrassment at being exposed. Instead, he looked completely relaxed. "If you don’t believe me, Daoist, you can go to the Sea of Clouds and ask. My origins were personally confirmed by the Senior Array Spirit over there."

"Array Spirit?" Ang Xiao blinked, then realization dawned on him. "So it was that Senior. That makes sense. After all, you proved the Fruit of Celestial Fire back then."

"So?" Lü Yang asked curiously. "Did the True Monarch of Radiant World really wield the Fruit of Celestial Fire?"

"Of course not!" Ang Xiao shook his head. "What Fruit of Celestial Fire? He cultivated the Fruit of Mound-Foot Fire! He merely borrowed the heavenly radiance, which granted him the power of the Fruit of Celestial Fire..."

Another massive revelation! Lü Yang’s heart stirred. Using the Fruit of Mound-Foot Fire to imitate the radiance of the Fruit of Celestial Fire... Was it a Fake Holding technique similar to the Kan and Li True Method of Positional Shift? He suddenly realized, "Wait. That’s not right. The Kanli Position Shift Array is a Dharma Gate passed down from the Pseudo-History. The fact that it exists in the Pseudo-History means that there must be an original version of this Dharma Gate in the Current World. In other words, although the Hongtian I saw in the Pseudo-History was specially pinched for me by that old monster from the Stain Sect, it doesn’t mean he didn’t borrow elements from historical figures. At the very least, this Dharma Gate of Fake Holding the Fruit of Celestial Fire might have actually been created by the True Monarch of Radiant World in the official history!"

But then, a question arose. With this thought in mind, Lü Yang spoke in a quiet, measured tone. "Using the Fruit of Mound-Foot Fire to Fake Hold the Fruit of Celestial Fire, forging an alternative path to wield an Emperor Fruit... Why would such a breathtakingly brilliant figure ultimately perish?"

Ang Xiao broke into a smile upon hearing this. "Who told you he perished?"