Just a Useful Pawn in the Stain Sect

The boundless Dark Land.

Above the abyss, Lü Yang abruptly opened his eyes. However, with just this single movement, his eyeballs exploded with a loud BANG, turning into two black holes. Tears of blood rolled down his face. Immediately after, visible cracks centered around his eyes rapidly spread throughout his entire body, making him look like a piece of porcelain about to shatter.

This state lasted for a long time before the cracks finally stopped spreading, saving him from truly exploding. After another while, the cracks slowly healed. Subsequently, flesh and blood regathered in the two black holes on his face, forming a bright pair of eyes that settled back into their sockets.

"PHEW...!" Only then did Lü Yang finally exhale his first breath after the restart. Subconsciously, his mind recalled the very last scene he had witnessed before restarting.

"What... was it again?" Lü Yang frowned. He still remembered what had happened: the Masters of Dao sacrificed their Cultivation, their true bodies striking from the Other Shore in an attempt to pull out the Netherworld. But what were the specific details? What did the giant hands of the Masters of Dao look like? What were their characteristics? What was the Profound Mysterious behind them? It was as if this information had never existed; he couldn’t recall a single thing.

"Isn’t this a bit too exaggerated?" Lü Yang gulped. Cultivating up to this point, relying on his innate Talent Skill and hard work, he was considered an outstanding figure among Cultivators. He had thought that, no matter what, he should be a person of consequence. But in reality? He actually didn’t even have the ability to look directly at a Master of Dao!

"No, it’s not just me. Even the Great Perfected Lords at the Late Stage of Golden Core are the same... Perhaps they are slightly better off than me, but honestly, the difference is very limited." Recalling that world-ending scene before the restart, the corners of Lü Yang’s eyes suddenly twitched. "The Masters of Dao destroying the world shouldn’t have been intentional. It was purely a side effect of their true bodies descending to the Lower Realm to take out the Netherworld... It’s just that the Masters of Dao didn’t care, which was why things ended up like that.

"Ang Xiao really stirred up a hornet’s nest this time..."

He dared to say with certainty that the thousand-year great tribulation under a normal script would absolutely not look like this. Instead, it should have been a prolonged war lasting for over a millennium. With Perfected Lords as chess pieces, the Masters of Dao played their game. To put it plainly, it was a battle of wits. The Masters of Dao maintained a veneer of harmony to reap the benefits, simply sitting back and watching the Perfected Lords trade pieces... However, Ang Xiao had completely overturned this chessboard.

He forced the Masters of Dao to personally enter the fray, turning a battle of wits into a physical brawl. The result was that all the Masters of Dao lost their dignity, indirectly causing the final apocalyptic outcome. Looking at it this way, it was no wonder that a Nascent Soul Daoist Lord had never descended with their true body before. Damn it, just looking at them would cause one to explode. Who could endure that?

Thinking of this, Lü Yang patted his chest again. If he wasn’t currently in the standby state prior to restarting, he would have pulled Empress Xiao out to calm his nerves. The recent restart was truly terrifying.

That wasn’t even the most frightening part. The most terrifying thing was the result of Ang Xiao seeking the Dao. Although he didn’t see the entire process, just by watching the ending, he could roughly guess the key points.

"That old ghost... was schemed against.

"To think the Netherworld actually has an owner?"

After pondering for a moment, Lü Yang shook his head again. "No, it’s not an owner. It should be a residual thought. Regardless, it ended up perishing together with that old ghost.

"In the end, whether it was the old immortal of the Stain Sect nurturing him, or Bhagavat supporting him, they were actually pushing him to seek the Netherworld on his own. They wanted him to crash headlong into the Netherworld’s core and perish together with that residual thought. Subsequently, this would throw the gates of the Netherworld wide open, making it easier for the Masters of Dao to step in and clean up the mess..."

It was simply chilling.

"Ang Xiao achieved Dao Heart Perfection; his thoughts wouldn’t be influenced... In other words, he truly, from the bottom of his heart, believed that the Netherworld could be sought.

"But in reality, could it?"

Lü Yang fell into a long, deep thought. He reviewed everything he had seen and finally came to a conclusion. "It could! He didn’t judge incorrectly!"

Ang Xiao was right. The Netherworld could indeed be sought, and there was indeed hope of stepping into the realm of a Master of Dao. The only problem lay in the fact that he hadn’t expected the Netherworld to already have an owner.

"This is also normal. The Netherworld has an owner, and this owner should be the Great Power who brought the Netherworld into existence through the Void Certificate back then. However, the other party was killed by the Masters of Dao in the past. What normal person would think he could still leave behind a residual thought? The Masters of Dao made a move! It’s only logical that he would die completely, without even leaving a speck of dust behind!

"This was Ang Xiao’s miscalculation.

"From beginning to end, the old immortal of the Stain Sect probably never deceived him. Otherwise, given that old ghost’s caution, he wouldn’t have failed to notice that something was wrong.

"The old immortal of the Stain Sect only concealed one thing.

"And that is the fact that the Netherworld has an owner... This is the most brilliant lie. There’s no need for deception at all; one only needs to selectively tell the truth to achieve their goal.

"What an animal!" Lü Yang couldn’t help but curse, feeling that it was unworthy for Ang Xiao. What number one Perfected Lord in the world? In the eyes of the Masters of Dao, he was probably nothing more than a key to the Netherworld! This defeat was not due to a lack of skill.

He thought, "In the end, it’s still because a Lower Cultivator can’t see the big picture clearly. A frog in a well can hardly understand the vastness of Heaven. Without the perspective of an Upper Cultivator, one naturally won’t even know when they are being screwed over!

"But to have the perspective of an Upper Cultivator, one must first become an Upper Cultivator. Yet, for a Lower Cultivator to become an Upper Cultivator, they must first possess the perspective of an Upper Cultivator. It’s simply a paradox. The only exception is if you can find an Upper Cultivator who is particularly friendly to you and genuinely willing to help. But how could there be such a person in this Broken Place!"

It was a complete dead end!

The more Lü Yang thought about it, the uglier his expression became. It wasn’t that his heart ached for Ang Xiao’s ending, but primarily because he had always regarded Ang Xiao as a benchmark for his Cultivation. This included seeking the Nascent Soul. He had just been waiting to copy Ang Xiao’s playbook!

However, Ang Xiao had failed now, and his failure was incomparably miserable. His lifelong pursuit was nothing more than a ridiculous farce in the eyes of the Masters of Dao.

Whose playbook could he possibly follow now?

Thinking of this, Lü Yang’s expression became even more bewildered. The Masters of Dao were above, the Masters of Dao were above... Was there truly no path left to walk? Was seeking the Dao merely an illusion of mirrored flowers and Shui Yue?

"Absolutely impossible!"

Lü Yang took a deep breath, recalling Ang Xiao’s final process of breaking through the barrier once more. After an unknown amount of time, a bright light finally emerged in his eyes.

"Wait... that’s right!

"It’s not completely devoid of vitality! There is still a chance!

"If the result of Ang Xiao seeking the Netherworld wouldn’t change no matter what, then why did the Masters of Dao still go to any lengths to stop him?

"Even the Saint Sect Ancestral Master made a move!

"If Ang Xiao was destined to fail without a doubt, wouldn’t it have been enough for them to just sit back and watch him smash his head until it bled in front of the Netherworld?

"Why bother taking action?"

Lü Yang’s eyes grew brighter and brighter as he grasped the most crucial clue.

"Because Ang Xiao was still hiding a trump card. He should have reached some kind of deal with Bhagavat. The specific effect should be that he could experience Resurrection once after dying.

"If the Masters of Dao hadn’t blocked his path, even if he truly smashed his head and bled in front of the Netherworld, perishing together with the residual thought at the core of the Netherworld, he could still experience Resurrection once and then charge at the Netherworld again... If this is the case, he should have been able to successfully seize control of the Netherworld!"

That was why the Masters of Dao made a move! They didn’t act to stop Ang Xiao from seeking the Netherworld, but to exhaust Ang Xiao’s chances of Resurrection... This was the real key!

And if considered from this angle—

"This time, Bhagavat probably truly didn’t harbor any malicious intentions.

"Because Ang Xiao’s chances of Resurrection were clearly in his hands. Given Bhagavat’s situation, he indeed desperately needed an ally at the Master of Dao level.

"Unfortunately, the Saint Sect Ancestral Master made a move.

"That strike of Constant was something neither Ang Xiao nor Bhagavat could resolve. In the end, they could only consume a chance of Resurrection. This was the true deciding move!"

From this aspect, two points could be summarized: First, the person scheming against Ang Xiao was definitely the old immortal of the Stain Sect. Second, Bhagavat should indeed be a Master of Dao standing on Ang Xiao’s side.

As for Bhagavat stepping in to snatch the Netherworld at the very end, that was also normal. Death wipes the slate clean. Since Ang Xiao was already dead, it was naturally impossible for Bhagavat to care about anything else. Snatching the benefits first was the priority. At most, because he was weaker than the other Masters of Dao, the portion he managed to grab wasn’t large. It could only be said that he didn’t suffer a loss.

Thinking of this, Lü Yang let out a deep breath, feeling as if a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders. The conclusion was already drawn:

He thought, "Seeking the Netherworld is not a dead end!

"Either Ang Xiao needs another life without the old immortal of the Stain Sect knowing, or there has to be a way to resolve the Constant from the old immortal of the Stain Sect."

No matter which option was chosen, there was at least a glimmer of survival!